I really enjoyed this. It all went in without any problems but with lots of entertainment and smiles along the way, with a mini-theme to help keep things going.
I know Paul’s somewhat risqué humour sometimes palls [sorry, that was accidental but I’m leaving it in] with some solvers – and from time to time I agree – but I found today’s examples [16ac, 21,20 and 24,3] so clever – and amusing – that I hope no one will take too much offence.
Many thanks, Paul, for all the fun.
Across
1 Beginning of spring? That should get you going (4,5)
JUMP START
Jump start = beginning of a spring
I really liked this one – I solved it on a sunny Saturday morning, when Spring really did seem to have started – and it got me going on the puzzle!
6 Cool — nothing to add! (4)
NEAT
Double definition
[the idea of adding anything at all to malt whisky was anathema to my husband]
8 Sack of fruit with old plant (8)
PLUMBAGO
PLUM BAG [sack of fruit] + O [old]
9 Arctic resident maintaining temperature — that makes sense (6)
INTUIT
INUIT [Arctic resident] round [maintaining] T [temperature]
10 Statement by filmed divorcee, retracted (6)
REMARK
Reversal [retracted] of KRAMER [either of the divorcees in the film ‘Kramer vs Kramer’]
11,1down 23 in a short run features in Guardian story (8,5)
ANGELINA JOLIE
IN A JO[g] [a short run] in ANGEL [Guardian] LIE [story]
12 Wolves team surrendering lead twice, shooting high (3-3)
ACK-ACK
[p]ACK [Wolves team, minus first letter [surrendering lead] twice = anti-aircraft fire
15 Dear me, my mongrel whined! (8)
YAMMERED
Anagram [mongrel] of DEAR ME MY
16 One getting fuel emptied into buttocks, blows up (8)
INFLATES
I [one] + F[ue]L [fuel emptied] in NATES [buttocks, which I first learned – and remembered – from crosswords]
19 Spirited point in wise broadcast? (6)
YEASTY
EAST [point] in YY [sounds like – broadcast – wise]
I’m not entirely convinced by the definition: Collins 5: ‘restless, agitated or unsettled’; Chambers: ‘frothy or foamy; insubstantial’. [I don’t really think I’ve ever met this adjective.]
21,20 Spillage of onanist on pioneering physician providing parts for 23 (8,7)
JENNIFER ANISTON
IF [providing] in [parts] JENNER [Sir Edward, pioneer of the smallpox vaccine, ‘father of immunology’] + an anagram [spillage] of ONANIST
22 Reportedly take offence at description of female in union (6)
BRIDAL
Sounds like [reportedly] ‘bridle’ [take offence], with no ambiguity – hurrah!
24,3 23 has a wrinkly bum (6,5)
HILARY SWANK
Anagram [bum] of HAS A WRINKLY – lovely!
25 Comment as a huge amount inside volcano backfires (8)
ANNOTATE
Reversal [backfires] of A TON [huge amount] in ETNA [volcano]
ANNOTATE actually means ‘comment on‘ [see the blog and comments on Monday’s Quixote puzzle]
27 Odd bean, say, for bootlegger (3,6)
RUM RUNNER
RUM [odd] + RUNNER [bean, say]
Down
2 A couple of doctors like a port (7)
MOMBASA
MO MB [a couple of doctors] + AS [like] + A
4 An old tree full of life originally, an exceptional thing (7)
ANOMALY
AN O [an old] + MAY [tree] round L[ife]
5 Stick-like and sticky? But the name hasn’t stuck! (9)
THINGUMMY
THIN [stick-like] + GUMMY [sticky] – I defy you not to have had a grin at this one [and, while we’re at it, what’s brown and sticky?]
6,26 Love in contrivance of 1 down and a late 23 (7,4)
NATALIE WOOD
Nothing to do with Angelina, at 1 down, except that they’re both actors – a typical Paul trick, of the type that I love: O [love] in an anagram [contrivance] of I [one] DOWN and A LATE – and, of course, Natalie Wood is a late actor – brilliant!
7 Alliance lamenting jerks (9)
ALIGNMENT
Anagram [jerks] of LAMENTING
13 Formerly little money in ransom I set, necessary to rise (9)
CENTESIMO
Hidden reversal [to rise] in ransOM I SET NECessary – former small change in Italy
14 Toy with lift key here — helium unnecessary for toy operator (4-5)
KITE-FLYER
Anagram [toy with] LIFT KEY [he]RE minus he [helium]
[I couldn’t decide whether the repetition of ‘toy’ was a strength or a weakness here – I was too achingly reminded of ‘The Kite Runner’ – both book and film.]
17 Rope in ground keeping beam up (7)
LANYARD
Reversal [up] of RAY [beam] in LAND [ground] – this took me back to my [brief] time as a Sea Ranger
18 Contemptuous remarks, as bones turned up in the middle of Portsmouth (7)
SARCASM
Reversal [turned up] of SACRA [bones] in portSMouth
22 Stop a couple talking a foreign language (5)
BANTU
BAN [stop] + TU [homophone [talking] of two [couple]
23 One taking a part, a part that’s uninitiated
ACTOR
[f]ACTOR [a part without its first letter – uninitiated] – it seems nicely fitting that the final answer is the gateway [© Kathryn’s Dad, I thnk] clue
Thanks Eileen. I enjoyed it too. I particularly liked 6,26 though I had to spend some time staring at it before I could unpick the anagram fodder.
I give up on brown and sticky; the mind boggles.
@Biggles A
A stick!
@Biggles A
Didn’t that win an award as the world’s best joke or suchlike?
(I tried it on my son when he was about nine and he remained solemnly agape for a very long five seconds or so before breaking into giggles).
Sorry: @ Tim!
Thanks Eileen. Agreed – I had a ! against several of the clues, but that was as far as my outrage went. Solved over the lunch hour, which is just right. It didn’t open up for me until the bottom right corner, but then gave 1d as the first actor and the rest was plain sailing.
Thanks, Eileen. I agree that this was Paul in fine form and also that the best thing about his puzzles is that most of the smuttiness is “in the eye of the beholder”.
Curiously, I failed to parse correctly the key clue ACTOR; I was misled by the ‘a’ part and so had it as A [se]CTOR, with a feeling of unease at removing two letters from the start. Oh well. Thanks for putting me straight. 🙂
Thanks Eileen and Paul. I enjoyed this.
I think you are missing an IN in 11,1.
I found this a very “run of the mill” puzzle with very little to get excited about. Surprising as it was a Paul.
Slightly disappointing for a prize! Surely this was a “Thursday” puzzle?
Thanks to Eileen and Paul.
Thanks, R_c_a_d @7 – corrected now.
[Hi Biggles, Tim and Martin – I included the stick joke because I think I remember Paul using it once.]
You are welcome Eileen. I am also a fan of the stick joke 🙂
A agree that this was a reasonably straightforward Paul puzzle but it was still an enjoyable solve IMHO. I remember that it took me a while before I saw what Paul was doing with “1 down” in the clue for NATALIE WOOD. Definitely my favourite clue.
Thanks Eileen,
I really enjoyed this and love Paul’s clues which are so different to other setters.
I found it hard to get into but finally finished it on Monday. I am content to get a few
clues on the Saturday and then just leave it till another day. I sometimes forget about it
completely.
I loved Jennifer Aniston and Hilary Swank. Only Paul could have devised these.
Thanks Paul for all the fun.
Thanks Eileen and Paul
Very well clued and enjoyable. I had to check Hilary Swank.
21,20 is a magnificent clue – first spotting that aniston is an anagram of onanist, and second getting in the biblical reference “spill” as the anagrind. I wonder what put the seed in Paul’s mind for that one …
And then to produce such a magnificent anagram for 24 23, resisting the obvious temptation for cluing along more 21,20 lines ..
Great stuff and thanks Paul and Eileen.
didnt warm to this puzzle unusually because i normally like PAUL
What I also found fascinating about this, though I agree with Andy B @ 11 that it was one of the easier “Pauls”, is the fact that until recently, most of these “actors” would have been “actresses”. A thematic misdirection, I suppose. Thanks, Eileen and Paul.
Jeff Cumberbatch @ 16 – it’s straight out of the Arachne textbook. There was another good misdirection the other day – “defeat” led to “waterloo”.
Thanks Paul and Eileen
Didn’t start this one until Thursday and found it about average difficulty for him. Started off easily enough with YAMMERED first in – but the entire left hand side took a bit of work.
Had more effort unravelling the logic of a couple of the actresses (JOLIE and WOOD) as in solving them as the right answer.
Thanks Eileen: did you know that researchers into vision were puzzled when they found a neuron which only responded to an image of Jennifer Anniston?
The stick joke reminded me of the old one about the S&IoWRMSPCo’s vessels – which no longer works, as they’re no longer steam-powered and do not need to reverse out of Cowes.
From what I remember (having completed it on a train over a week ago – I was away from the web over the weekend) this was one of Paul’s easier ones – the less familiar words (PLUMBAGO and CENTESIMO) were fairly obvious.
Thanks to Eileen and Paul
Yes, 21,20 was naughty enough to be Private Eye. Dorothy Parker called her pet canary Onan because he spilled his seed. Thanks Paul and Eileen.