Guardian 26,399 / Paul

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A pretty straightforward but very enjoyable puzzle from Paul.

In a lot of cases, I got the answer immediately, from the definition – leaving some interesting wordplay to work out. Then again, there were several simple charades, so a nice variety of clue types, with some smiles to help things along. Many thanks, Paul.

[To those going to York this weekend: have a brilliant time – of course you will! Have a drink or two for me as I fly off for a week’s walking in Mallorca.]

Across

1 In exercise, exalt bishop — and thank the Lord! (6,2)
PRAISE BE
In PE [exercise] RAISE [exalt] B [bishop]

5 Dance has the talent, if you 16 (6)
CANCAN
CAN [has the talent] X 2 [seeing double -16]

9 A soft fabric binding linen at first, in sewing technique (8)
APPLIQUÉ
A P [a soft] PIQUÉ [fabric] round L[inen]

10 Pure beginner? (6)
NOVICE
A beginner with NO VICE would be pure

12 Plant ending in posy behind first of flowers picked by Eric Cantona, perhaps? (11)
MANUFACTORY
[pos]Y after F[lower] in MAN U ACTOR [Eric Cantona, perhaps] – one of my favourite clues

15 Men in leggings for riders (5)
CHAPS
Double definition

18 Scottish author nevertheless Samoan at the end, by the way (9)
STEVENSON
ST [way] + EVEN SO [nevertheless] + [samoa]N – a lovely surface for Robert Louis Stevenson, who died in Samoa: he wanted his poem ‘Requiem’ on his tombstone there:

“Under the wide and starry sky,
Dig the grave and let me lie.
Glad did I live and gladly die,
And I laid me down with a will.
This be the verse you grave for me:
Here he lies where he longed to be;
Home is the sailor, home from sea,
And the hunter home from the hill.”

but it is misquoted there and elsewhere [‘…home from the sea’]

19 At that point, gathered’s gathered (5)
THERE
hidden in gaTHEREd – a nice surface followed by a pretty nonsensical one

20 Book learned in Oxford, only covers erased (11)
OBLITERATED
B [book] + LITERATE [learned] in O[xfor]D [only covers]

24,7 Fashion worn by companion in babyish sort of clothes, initially (6,4)
SHABBY CHIC
Anagram [sort of] of BABYISH round [worn by] CH [Companion of Honour] + C[lothes]

25 Promise clothes with identically matching tops for bikinis etc (8)
SWIMWEAR
SWEAR [promise] round [clothes] W[ith] I[dentically] M[atching]

26 Model, a dolly? (6)
SITTER
Double definition – in cricket, dolly and sitter are both terms for an easy catch.

27 Novel unread, it went (8)
URINATED
Anagram [novel] of UNREAD IT – it wouldn’t really be a Paul puzzle without one like this, would it?

Down

1 Drug dealer providing agriculturalist with abnormal growth, say? (10)
PHARMACIST
Sounds like [say?] FARMER [agriculturalist] CYST [abnormal growth]

2 Those bits that are extra mature, snapped off externally (10)
APPENDAGES
Anagram [off] of SNAPPED round AGE [mature]

3 Challenging body (5)
STIFF
Double definition

4 Lively man, children’s entertainer? (6,6)
BOUNCY CASTLE
Charade of BOUNCY [lively] + CASTLE [man – in chess]

6 Soldier shackling a young rogue, one solving others’ problems? (5,4)
AGONY AUNT
ANT [soldier] round an anagram [rogue] of A YOUNG

8 Christmas prize giver, gutted (4)
NOEL
NO[b]EL [Alfred] – prize giver

11 Submarine part defrauding tug? (7,5)
CONNING TOWER
Another simple charade: CONNING [defrauding] TOWER [tug]

13 Banker close to golfer, one getting green fee on the house? (5,5)
RIVER TRENT
[golfe]R + I [one] + VERT [green] + RENT [fee on the house]

14 Into bottom, bottom-pinching man with pretty woman aroused (10)
ENGENDERED
In END [bottom] we have [Richard] GERE [star of ‘Pretty Woman’] round [pinching] END [bottom] – nice one, Paul!

16 Experience an illusion having date with a large drink (3,6)
SEE DOUBLE
SEE [date] + DOUBLE [a large drink]

21,17 Old commander in love with unit or wayward battalion, ultimately (5,9)
ROMAN CENTURION
ROMANCE [love] + an anagram [wayward] of UNIT OR + [battalio]N

22 Goddess has life, if you 16 (4)
ISIS
IS [has life] X 2, seeing double

23 Don’t eat seconds in lard (4)
FAST
S [seconds] in FAT [lard]

41 comments on “Guardian 26,399 / Paul”

  1. Thanks Paul and Eileen
    I didn’t parse ENGENDERED, but otherwise no complaints. I liked STEVENSON and loved “MAN U ACTOR”.

  2. Thanks for the puzzle and the blog.

    All fairly straightforward but, like you, several of the clues (1, 24/7, 4, 6, 11, 13 and 21/17) were ‘write-ins’ from their definitions and word counts so I just had to go back and work out the word play.

    Enjoy Mallorca!

  3. Thanks Eileen. This was a bouncy castle of a puzzle: I found easy ones (1A) giving one letter which was enough to get the whole: 12A likely to end in Y, so 6D, whose U gave 4,17 and so on. Some bafflement with parsing at first, some light globes, some groans (1D). Very entertaining, thanks Paul.

  4. Thank you, Eileen and Paul.

    Plenty to like here. Loved the farmer with his abnormal growth.

    Don’t think I’ve come across MANUFACTORY before – lovely clue.

    URINATED was vintage Paul, and enjoyed his beginner having ‘no vice’.

    Surprisingly, I saw Mr Gere with Ms Roberts recently so spotted the construction of ENGENDERED, although I’d probably not use the word in this way.

    Professional and fun puzzle to round of the week.

    Enjoy Mallorca, Eileen, and nice weekend all.

  5. A pleasant workout. As Muffin, I had trouble with engendered, largely because I was trying to put gen as bottom pinching (ie curtailed) man. Doh!

    Thanks to both.

  8. Thanks Paul.
    Once I get started I keep going and your puzzle was a welcome relief from yesterday’s completely impossible (for me) puzzle. I can only reiterate what others have said before about the exclusion effect of very hard crosswords. For new solvers like my daughter who don’t have time or energy to discover words that they will never see again or impossible archaic constructions built from unheard of meanings.

    I started my cryptic journey 40 years ago in a lunchtime work group doing the Telegraph. I became a Guardian reader 10 years ago and have carried on but with a bit more difficulty. Anyway hard is OK but not all hard please – give us all a chance to get started as you invariably do. Keep drawing us in…

    Steve

  9. Thanks Paul, entertaining as ever.

    Thanks Eileen, I didn’t spot Richard GERE, nice one as you say.

    Some strangely easy clues, like that for NOEL. ‘Christmas’ was a bit of a giveaway, maybe something like festival would have been less obvious. BOUNCY CASTLE, SEE DATE etc clued as the two words in a charade.

    I liked the drug dealer.

  10. Thanks Paul and Eileen. Finished on the tube so really hoped you would say it was difficult. Despite being an Arsenal supporter loved 12ac.

  12. Thanks Paul and Eileen

    Most enjoyable puzzle and very helpful blog. PHARMACIST had me stumped for a while. Liked SEE DOUBLE with ISIS and CANCAN.

    Hope you have a super time in Mallorca Eileen.

  14. I finished without great difficulty except for not understanding 12a, 6d, and 14d, so thank you Eileen for explaining these. I thought Eric Cantona was a manager but I take it he is a player (=actor). I’m afraid I am out of touch with football these days. The last time I went to a match was to see Fulham, with Johnny Haynes and Jimmy Hill.

    Have a good time Eileen.

  15. Like poc@11, I had VIRGIN instead of NOVICE. It fits the clue very nicely (“virgin snow”/”I’ve never played before, so I’m a chess virgin”) – shame it screwed up all the crossers!

    So many smashing clues though, so I’m not bitter. Thanks to Paul and Eileen

  16. David Mop @14, the MAN U ACTOR reference to Cantona is cleverer than it seems – he has forged a significant film career since leaving playing, cf his IMDB entry.

    Starting off, I too had VIRGIN at 10a, which it could be, certainly in a Paul puzzle. But AGONY AUNT soon put me right.

    Clever puzzle but let down a bit by guessability of a few of the clues.

    Have a good time walking Eileen.

  17. Thanks Paul & Eileen. I was another 10a VIRGIN.

    ENGENDERED was last in and I had to guess it, so thanks for explaining that. The film did occur to me but I foolishly dismissed it.

  18. Hi David Mop @14

    I gave a link to the Wiki article on Eric Cantona in the blog, rather than give an explanation.

  19. Thanks for explanations – 12ac and 14dn had to go in from checkers, as all I knew about Cantona was that he was a footballer, whilst I’d heard of ‘Pretty Woman’, but had no idea of the cast.

  20. All entertaining as ever from Paul, agree that it wasn’t one of his more difficult ones, but I couldn’t parse ENGENDERED so thanks for that. Last in was URINATED – since it was Paul I should have seen that much earlier! We had a quibble/debate about banker=river fairly recently, so I won’t restart that one, and in ancy case to those of us in Nottingham the Trent does spring to mind before (say) the Soar. Liked MANUFACTORY.

    Thanks to Eileen (sorry we won’t see you in York – Mallorca sounds healthier) and Paul

  21. Thanks Eileen. Like you I found most of the definitions helpful, so finished it without really having savoured (and in a couple of instances, understood) the joy of the details…so was glad of your elegant blog. I was impressed by you so effortlessly picking up the two sports references (including the lovely MANUFACTORY)!

    I liked ‘date with a large drink’, and of course ENGENDERED – but my brain refuses to understand the word-order. Shouldn’t it be “Into bottom, man with pretty woman pinching bottom – aroused (10)” to make sense? As the inner bottom is being pinched BY the GERE, isn’t it? Or am I being stupid?

    Have a great time on your walks – we will miss you.

  22. Thanks, Eileen and Paul.

    I worked late last night, and did this one on the train home. (I live in Chicago and work in the suburbs.) Didn’t bother to Google Eric Cantona, but since I was left with MAN U ACTOR, I sort of assumed he was a footballer notorious for diving.

    “Dolly” is a new cricket term for me. I got “sitter” from the other half of the double definition and the crossing letters.

    I still kinda want to make a cryptic that’s laced with baseball slang and (gridiron) football players, and make y’all do it; it’d be sweet revenge.

  23. Hi Limeni

    Thanks for the kind words.

    “As the inner bottom is being pinched BY the GERE, isn’t it?”

    Yes – and GERE is described as ‘bottom-pinching’, which is the same thing, isn’t it? [What a difference a hyphen can make. 😉 ]

  26. Good puzzle as prev labelled, but I didn’t get on very well with MANUFACTORY. I don’t like the word, too weird and unused virtually I suspect, and Cantona is really not a ‘Man U actor’, is he.

    ENGENDERED is the expected Paul rudery, and quite good. STEVENSON I think I have seen done this way but better in another place recently, but it is still quite good, and this compiler is pretty reliable for decent technique in any case, so I was never going to be on my high horse.

    Thanks to all.

  27. hedgehoggy @26
    I’m puzzled about your comment on Eric Cantona. He played for Manchester United and is an actor. Do you think that he would have had to do both at the same time for the clue to be valid?

  28. Thanks, Eileen.

    Entertaining crossword from Paul, with plenty of healthy vulgarity to brighten up a grey day.

    For the ingenuity of their construction, I starred 12a, 25a, 27a and 14d, but my favourite, for its allusive surface, was 18a.

    I have always assumed that the more current English word ‘factory’ was derived from earlier MANUFACTORY, but the SOED suggests that the latter word appeared slightly later. However, the first meaning of ‘factory’ was ‘place where a factor works’ – ‘factor’ in this sense being someone who manages on behalf of an owner. An example might be a farm manager: ‘fattoria’ is, misleadingly, the usual Italian word for ‘farm’.

  30. I love Paul’s puzzles. Like others I tend to get the answers by the word play. URINATED was the first in and ENGENDERED the last. The latter I couldn’t parse at all,so thanks to all who pointed out how to do it. I loved OBLITERATED and STIFF.
    Thanks Paul.

  31. I thought this was another excellent Paul puzzle even though I found it towards the easier end of his spectrum. MANUFACTORY was my LOI, and I needed the final checker from STIFF before I realised what sort of plant was being referred to and how the wordplay worked.

    I hope that those of you who are going to York have an excellent time, and that Eileen enjoys her week in Mallorca.

  32. I was also a VIRGIN for a while and couldn’t parse ENGENDERED. (Although I never would have as I am notoriously useless at remembering which actors appeared in a particular film.)

    A pleasant enough puzzle but not much of a challenge for a Friday. (Thank God for MAGPIE 😉 )

    Thanks to Eileen and Paul

  33. Oh, Lordy!

    Reading this blog has brought back some terrible memories from the subconscious. I couldn’t parse ENGENDERED but I am now reminded of an anecdote – an alleged anecdote, I hasten to add – some years ago about Richard Gere and a hamster. A few of the readers of this blog will know what I am on about and it adds a new layer of subtlety to the clue.

    When I started this post, I was merely going to thank Paul for a fun puzzle and Eileen for an exemplary blog. Some great clues but I also need to thank Eileen for explaining STEVENSON which I thought lacked any cryptic qualities.

  36. Yes, Molongo – you are correct.

    I have checked out this urban myth on Google and the ALLEGED rodent was a gerbil…

  37. Thanks Paul and Eileen

    Strangely found this one not so easy – not helped by lazily writing in SUPERGRASS at 1d and made some heavy weather with a couple of others too – yet NOVICE went straight in.

    Liked many of the clues that have already been highlighted.

    ENGENDERED was last in for me which I had parsed more hopefully than anything else as
    EN – GEN (t) DERE (k) – D – referring to Bo Derek as the ‘pretty girl’ from the movie 10. Happy to see that there was a better version 🙂

    Have fun both in York and Mallorca …

  38. @mrpenney,

    I, too, live in Chicago, but past the working stage, (so have no excuse for being so late to the blog!) and I’m with you. A Cutler or Urlacher clue would have heads spinning here!!

    Lovely puzzle, despite not knowing the Man U actor or the definition for sitter. Or for that matter, agony aunt or bouncy castle. So much learning!!

    Thanks to Paul and Eileen.

  39. Parsed 12ac somewhat differently. For me ‘posy’ suggested ‘actory’, with Man U f(lowers) being those that would be picked by Eric Cantona.

  40. The only time I’ve come across MANUFACTORY is in legalese, for, yes “factory”. The term was used repeatedly for a bakery in the landmark McAdams v. Robinson property law case.

    Many thanks all.

  41. Couldn’t get a purchase on this yesterday; did it in an hour today, apart from 13 down. The definition of ‘banker’ here would be a river full to its banks but the Trent is not always thus? Other than that, very entertaining.

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