Guardian 26,343 by Paul

45 comments on “Guardian 26,343 by Paul”

1. Enjoyed this one. I would have laughed at 28,6 except he’s no joke! Good clue.

   So many that is difficult to pick the best, but I liked 18 and all the Paul trademarks.

2. Thanks Paul and flashling
   At first pass I only had RIFF and DIDO, but I then made slow progress from the bottom upwards. The breakthrough, of course, was WATERGATE, but I had to use Google to find the real name of “Deep throat” (at the time, Al Haig was suspected, wasn’t he?). I wonder if there is a reason for a partly Watergate-themed crossword now?
   I think the “gap” in 17d is there only for the surface – ANGSTROM (unit, properly) is just a length, like “metre” or “mile”, though it is a very small length.

3. Thanks for a great blog, flashling.

   Well, almw3, I did laugh at 28,6, just as I did at Tramp’s great clue a couple of weeks ago, discussed here http://tiny.cc/0wsvkx this very week.

   I agree that it’s hard to pick favourites but I really liked 18ac, too.

   [muffin, it’s forty years this month since Nixon resigned.]

   Great stuff, Paul – thanks for the entertainment.

4. Thanks, flashling. Got a good start with this one on the first pass, but really struggled to get over the line. And couldn’t parse several, so thanks for the explanations.

   I got RAZOR without too much difficulty, but ‘bends’? If Paul had been referring to a Z-bend (which exists, I discovered), then presumably he would have written ‘bend’. I wonder if he meant that the letter Z has two bends in it?

   GIN AND TONIC my favourite this morning.

5. Thanks Paul and flashling. I thought we might be in for a Paulian lavatorial theme, with 27a and 2d, but he restrained himself. And 11a could have been a lot worse!

6. @eileen. Your link says Forbidden when I click it – intrigued now.

7. Hi almw3

   That’s weird – it works for me. Try this: http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/crossword-blog/2014/aug/11/crossword-roundup-michael-gove-out-of-the-cabinet-but-not-off-grid

   [It’s Alan Connor’s Guardian crossword blog.]

8. Eileen @3
   Thanks – I had missed that “anniversary”.

9. Thanks, flashling.

   Pleasantly lavatorial puzzle from Paul. Despite a sprinkling of easy clues I found this a bit trickier than usual, with the NW quadrant giving a bit of trouble; I got WATERGATE quickly, but forgot the link to 11a, stupidly.

   Favourites were the G&T and COMMODE.

   Although ‘I’m not sure’ is an acceptable definition for the popular meaning of AGNOSTIC, it is unfortunate that this word has been debased from Huxley’s original coinage: agnosticism, for him, was the philosophical position that the existence or otherwise of a deity is intrinsically unknowable, and has nothing to do with indecisiveness.

10. Thanks Paul and Flashling.

    My favourites were 2d, 27a and 12a (LOI) and I also liked 7d, 5a, 19d, 24d, 1d.

    New words/people for me were ANGSTROM and MARK FELT.

    I was unable to parse 18a, 3d, 9a.

11. I take it that the asterisks in 1dn indicate an expletive deleted? Bravo as usual for the entertainment, Paul. Thanks for the blog, flashing. I did not parse “adieu”, although it could not be otherwise.

12. @eileen. Thx that one worked

13. Thanks, flashling. Unlike you, BATSMAN was my last entry – I was sure I was looking for a superhero…

    The G&T really hit the spot – easy after the B&B yesterday, though.

14. Thanks flashing and Paul

    Tough but enjoyable. I had to guess and check 8d. It took me quite a time to parse 18a and 9a.

    I ticked several inc. 28/6, 9a, and 11a.

15. I remain surprised (if not stunned) that no-one else commented on Puck’s no fewer than FIFTEEN occurrences of double letters yesterday (maybe my post last evening was too late for others to see). This cannot possibly be chance, surely?!

16. William – take another look.

17. KD @4 – I think Paul did mean that Z has two bends. I suspect he preferred his surface to the simpler ‘Laugh about rounding a bend – it’s sharp’ because you don’t usually talk about “rounding” sharp bends.

18. Re Z bend(s) I did wonder about mentioning that and / or explaining it for readers in other lands to whom it may not mean much. And then I thought life’s too short 🙂

19. B and B would be a double letter, too, William @ 15.

    Thanks, flashling. BATSMAN was nearly my last one in too.

20. Gervase @9 – Some would say that ‘I’m not sure’ for AGNOSTIC is “incorrect”. They would be wrong of course.

    But I can’t agree that the word has been “debased”. Huxley’s original coinage not only makes a precise assertion about religion but also raises the more profound philosophical question of what can be “known” at all. A question that arises widely, notably in number theory (see Godel) and quantum mechanics (see Heisenberg). And in science (or natural philosophy, if you prefer) in general (see Popper).

    The word has been adopted/adapted for common parlance in relation to belief and opinion, as distinct from knowledge. Its meaning of uncertainty has enriched the language, and not only of religion. Collins has examples.

21. Am I the only one who (knowing Paul’s prurient predilections) confidently entered PORN FILM at 8dn? All the crossing letters work except one…

22. Enjoyed this a lot – quite challenging in places but easier once DEEP THROAT and WATERGATE became clear. Last in was DIDO after COMMODE. The NW corner also took a while, especially TOILET and BATSMAN. Liked GIN AND TONIC, DIDO and PIAZZA.

    Thanks to flashling and Paul.

23. @9
    Not being sure is not necessarily, in fact not often, the same as indecisiveness.

24. Rather more difficult than the last couple of PAUL puzzles. I got the mini theme quite quickly- although I had to look up MARK FELT despite the fact that”believed to be”should have given it to me-and I really loved COMMODE and DIDO. I got MICHAEL GOVE without parsing the clue. What does that tell us?
    Thanks Paul.

25. With TOILET and COMMODE coming early, I wasted precious time looking for other lavatorial references, not twigging the real theme till very late in the day. Didn’t know, or had forgotten, MARK FELT, which obviously didn’t help, even though I knew it must be right. A good workout though, time well spent on a bus across central London.

26. Hi rhotician @20 and Gervase

    I am reminded of a conversation I had many years ago with a distinguished philosopher. I rashly said something about the ‘sociology of knowledge’ and was told ‘Sociology of knowledge, no. Sociology of opinion, perhaps’.

27. Thanks all
    I failed to parse 18a although it was one of the first I solved. ‘petrel’ escaped me. Last in was ‘nadir’, I liked it. Other likes were 13 and 17 down. I don’t like ‘brandy’.

28. “filmed” seems unnecessary in 1ac?

    realised quickly that “greasiest lips” meant “g” and “t”, solved the clue from the crossers, but had to come here to realise that it was “g and t”! Strange but true…

29. Re the Z bends – As a UK resident I should have got that much sooner, but my brain insisted that a couple of bends = two Us = W until PIAZZA put paid to that theory.

30. An enjoyable solve that I found a lot trickier than most of Paul’s recent puzzles, and I needed aids to get the FELT part of 8dn even though, in retrospect, it should have been obvious with the two checkers already in place. I liked the “one going down the lane” definition for 14ac. I didn’t really like “a couple of bends” to define the Z in RAZOR, but as I’d already got PIAZZA it didn’t hold me up and it’s a minor quibble.

31. I had MARK HELD (as in “we hold these truths…”) for 8 but checking proved me wrong…give it to Tramp or Brendan for a T Rex theme and we could have had MARC FELD

    For the bends I was trying to fit in U & S – I used to be a builders merchant…

32. One thing I forgot to mention earlier on, and nobody else has picked up on was the BATSMAN clue – as a follower of cricket, “collecting a knock” seems a rather forced description of what a batsman does. Has a knock maybe, buy collects? I suppose it is arguable that a batsman’s best innings/knocks constitute some form of collection, and they do talk about bagging pairs, so maybe I’m being too pedantic (or missing something more obvious).

33. ‘buy’ should be ‘but’ in case anyone who found the previous comment confuusing

34. The real Paul is back.

    After almost nothing on the first pass I eventually solved the bottom half of the puzzle.

    The top half took a little longer. LOI was TOILET. I had to look up who DEEP THROAT really was as I take very little interest in what happens across the pond. I did parse everything though!

    I too didn’t like BRANDY. Not sure why both the asterisks and hot were there.

    Thanks to flashling and Paul

35. What is the signifgance of *** in 1dn?

36. I found this hard, with quite a few “brick wall” periods. However, it was well worth it, with a number of laughing out loud moments. (Then again, for a sixty-year-old, sat with a pint and a piece of paper in front of him, in a Yorkshire pub, that’s perhaps not without its qualifications).

    My last one parsed was GIN AND TONIC. I don’t know why: we’ve had another with initials just recently.

    I thoroughly enjoyed COMMODE, and I thought the surface to DALMATIAN was a belter of a double bluff. The definition could be either or both of start and/or finish of the clue for me.

    Hearty thanks to Paul, flashling and posters.

37. Jovis, thanks for asking, I meant to as well. I can only think it alludes to “bloody” written as B?!?*?! etc. as people do on blogs to avoid the profanity filter, but why only the three then?

38. Martin @36:
    “Then again, for a sixty-year-old, sat with a pint and a piece of paper in front of him, in a Yorkshire pub, that’s perhaps not without its qualifications”.

    In a Yorkshire pub?
    So, why not join and meet many of us in York at the 25th of October?
    A lot of us are sixty years old and sit with a pint! 🙂

39. Absurd to be worrying over *** at this time of night but it has puzzled me ever since first looking at the crossword this morning. I can’t imagine Paul shying away from using the word “bloody” in a clue. Has it anything to do with the three stars you sometimes see round the neck of a bottle of brandy?

40. Thanks Paul and flashling

    Had a very hard time getting started on this – GLEAM, OAST and CARDINAL stood as lonely soldiers for most of the day … finally DIDO and MICHAEL GOVE closely followed by the themed three and we were finally off.

    Finished in the NW with 1a, 2d and 1d in what turned out a very satisfying and humorous solve … Paul back in top form !!!

41. Hi Jovis … my interpretation was that B*** would be read as ‘bloody hot’ in the surface and B RANDY (hot) in the construction …

    So the *** were just performing double duty.

42. By Jove, Jovis – you may just have it! At least I hope so as that clue was bugging me. In fact, it still is somewhat….perhaps someone will wake to an even more illuminating lightbulb?!
    I found the horizontal unches interesting; we have AAAAA in central row and OOAAOAA in first! What’s all that about? Something Pauline evocative of the other ‘deep throat’ meaning I’m thinking?!

    rhotician – sorry I missed your post (an unusually early night means I didn’t check after midnight…) Nice to be vindicated – where are others’ perspicacity I wonder? And well recalled about an earlier use of double letters by Puck – will keep an eye out in future; I think a certain Greek letter used the same trick a few months back à l’autre côté….which was roundly praised (perhaps because he’s known for his Ninas and such….?) And you’re absolutely right about the meaning of ‘agnostic’ by the way!
    And Brucew@aus – thanks for your (late night here) acknowledgment also.

    Dave Ellison – interesting; that makes SIXTEEN!

43. Hey, Sil that would be lovely: I was going to research the particulars. I will check with OH, family commitments etc.

    Many thanks for the flag.

44. PS @ Jovis 39:

    Ah, the relief!

    Wiki seems to seal that. The could stars form an imagined emblem on the constructed solution, as they do on a bottle of Brandy.

    B*** as a possible word would then be just a red herring.

    Thanks!

45. As we were blogging the puzzle from Another Place today we decided to have a go at this crossword by Paul.

    Very enjoyable it was too! There have been a few puzzles by Paul recently which were OK but nothing special as far as we were concerned but this one proved a bit of a challenge and brought a smile to our faces with 28/6.

    Thanks to flashling and Paul!

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