Guardian 26,589 / Paul

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I used to look forward to a puzzle from Paul but this has changed in recent months, probably due to that old adage regarding familiarity. I would have appreciated this puzzle far more had we not had Paul on Saturday and last Wednesday. Three appearances in a fraction over a week is, in my opinion, somewhat OTT. Having said that, there was much for solvers to enjoy on this sunny morning.

Across
1 Crab, say, walked to the left, then round back of pond (7)
DECAPOD – PACED (walked) reversed (to the left) O (round) [pon]D (back of pond)

5 Damn awful forecast for the country? (7)
BAHRAIN – BAH (damn) RAIN (awful forecast)

9 Obsolete function is better (5)
OUTDO – OUT (obsolete) DO (function)

10 Wrong dose injected into fungi, might you say? That’s when everything stops (9)
CLOSEDOWN – an anagram (wrong) of DOSE in (injected into) CLOWN (fungi, might you say {fun guy})

11 Leader in Gerrard has messed up in a woeful game (6,4)
GUINEA FOWL – G[errard] (leader in Gerrard) plus an anagram (messed up) of IN A WOEFUL

12 Sound Asian link (3)
TIE – a homophone (sound) of ‘thai’ (Asian)

14 Polish composer has a thing for a couple covered in washing-up liquid? (6,6)
RUBBER GLOVES – RUB (polish) BERG (composer) LOVES (has a thing for)

18 Limited outlook shown by new king entering marriage after a little time (6,6)
TUNNEL VISION – N (new) ELVIS (king) in (entering) UNION (marriage) after T (a little time)

21 Unmarried name of Jane Eyre (3)
NEE – hidden in (of) ‘jaNE Eyre’

22 Loss of intelligence suggesting cups down the sewer? (5,5)
BRAIN DRAIN – BRA IN DRAIN (suggesting cups down the sewer)

25 Public houses lament unintentional failure (9)
OVERSIGHT – OVERT (public) around (houses) SIGH (lament)

26 Regret writer’s people listened to puzzle setter (5)
RUBIK – a homophone (listened to) of ‘rue’ (regret) ‘bic’ (writer’s people)

27 Hacks no more, say (7)
EXPRESS – EX PRESS (hacks no more)

28 Illegal drinking establishment for queen and knight? (7)
SHEBEEN – SHE BEE (queen) N (knight)

Down
1 Sydney idiot seeing medic in position worth £200? (6)
DRONGO – DR (medic) ON (in) GO (position worth £200 {Monopoly})

2 Plant sending over two fasteners, one short (6)
CATNIP – PIN TAC[k] (two fasteners, one short) reversed (sending over)

3 Tried to find passage of writing on charming daughter (10)
PROSECUTED – PROSE (passage of writing) CUTE (charming) D (daughter)

4 Coffee encountered, when tipped over (5)
DECAF – FACED (encountered) reversed (when tipped over)

5 Fans of literature — a thousand then queue up during the good times (9)
BOOKWORMS – K (a thousand) ROW (queue) reversed (up) in (during) BOOMS (the good times)

6 Scoundrel / afoot? (4)
HEEL – double def., the second cryptic

7 Taking on the issue, a bird protecting rubbish tip (8)
ADOPTIVE – A DOVE (a bird) around (protecting) an anagram (rubbish) of TIP

8 Nothing goes into seven quarters? I disagree! (8)
NONSENSE – O (nothing) in (goes into) NNSENSE (seven quarters)

13 Nuts on me later toasted, ultimately? (6,4)
ALMOND TREE – an anagram (nuts) of ON ME LATER [toaste]D – &lit

15 Dame into emptying of bounteous drinks (9)
BEVERAGES – EVERAGE (dame {Edna}) in (into) B[ounteou]S (emptying of bounteous)

16 Gig with funny men Laurel and Bob (8)
STANHOPE – STAN HOPE (funny men Laurel and Bob)

17 Partially immersed in poverty, save sandwiches (4-4)
KNEE-DEEP – KEEP (save) around (sandwiches) NEED (poverty)

19,20 Couple toyed with by Nazi, having whipped naked woman’s bottom (6,3,3)
BARBIE AND KEN – BARBIE (Nazi {Klaus}) plus an anagram (whipped) of NAKED [woma]N

23 Mites invading seraglio, tasered (5)
IOTAS – hidden in (invading) ‘seraglIO TASered’

24 Man possibly lives, if removed from life (4)
ISLE – IS (lives) L[if]E (if removed from life)

27 comments on “Guardian 26,589 / Paul”

  1. Wonderful! Really enjoyed with lots of “aha’s”. Got stuck with RUFUS for 26a for a while, but eventually saw the light. Many thanks to both.

  2. Thanks to Paul and Gaufrid. I also enjoyed this – since Araucaria’s passing, Paul has become my favourite setter.

    10A didn’t work for me as I say “fun-gee” (I checked with SWMBO who also pronounces it “fun-gee” despite the fact that I’m from oop North and she’s Home Counties).

    1D, very minor point but I had it as “in position worth £200” (= “on Go”) rather than separating out the “in/on”.

  3. A brilliant crossword, with so many standout clues, of which the Gerrard clue – referencing his infamous “title-losing” slip against Chelsea a year ago – was the pick for me.

    Can’t get enough of a good thing, I reckon.

  5. Thanks Gaufrid. No familiarity breeding contempt for me, as long as Paul maintains this Goldilocks standard of just-right difficulty and fun. Loved 14A, thinking at once of Chopin as I guess we were meant to, and wondering if a family member was a minor composer. Lots else that was up to standard, including the Barbie & Ken clue. Keep churning them out, Paul.

  6. This puzzle was really fun and I enjoyed it a lot. My favourites were 10a, 22a, 1d, 5a, 14a, 18a, 27a, 19/20 and 17d.

    New word for me was DECAPOD.

    Thanks Paul and Gaufrid.

  7. Thanks to Paul and to Gaufrid.

    Commiserations to Gaufrid for the ennui! There is a serious point in that having three in quick succession makes them easier to solve – particularly with Paul, what you see is what you get, but the difficulty is that you can’t always see it.

    My favourite was 14a – Polish composer indeed!

    Minor quibbles were:
    – the use of the same device in 1a and 4 and with nearly identical words
    – “people” in 26a doesn’t seem to have any function
    – in 19/20, of all the couples in all the world! I’d never have got it without the crossers,

  8. Great puzzle from Paul as ever. I particularly liked RUBBER GLOVES, KNEE-DEEP, DRONGO and BARBIE AND KEN (a wonderfully dark clue for such a squeaky clean couple). Sorry to hear that you’re suffering from over-familiarity with Paul, Gaufrid! If he did the puzzles every day I don’t think I would tire of it because he is so witty.

  9. Thanks Paul and Gaufrid.

    I enjoyed this, even though I got tied up for a while trying to parse RUBBER GLOVES using LOVERS, having ruled out a Chopin connection, and trying to account for EGE in BEVERAGES, having decided VERA was the dame.

    The GUINEA FOWL clue was great, and I also liked BRAIN DRAIN, DRONGO and BOOKWORMS among others.

  10. Thanks to Paul for the entertainment and to Gaufrid for a good blog, especially the parsing of ‘fun guy,’ which I didn’t see.

    The old ‘bra in a….’ trick but still smileworthy. For a real-life BARBIE AND KEN see here (apologies that it is the Daily Mail 🙁 )

    I liked the RUBBER GLOVES and KNEE-DEEP.

  11. The pick of the day, as far as I’m concerned. The Polish/rub and cups/bra devices are familiar but those clues raised a particular smile and drongo took me back to Barrie Mackenzie, like Dame Edna, a creation of Barry Humphries.

  12. Agree that there is much to admire here, but I really struggled with this. Swallowed the Chopin misdirect, had Vera as my dame so got Beverages.

    Didn’t get rubber gloves, but couple covered in washing up liquid is Paul at his best and I wish I had. Thought the Barbie clue was just too vague I personally also struggle with word play that is four parts long, I got tunnel vision on the definition and the crossers but just couldn’t parse it.

    Thanks to Paul and really impressed by Gaufrid’s parsing.

    [at least the captcha has calmed down 1-?=0 I can cope with]

  13. I too am not yet tired of Paul, and I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle, particularly the clever misdirection in many of the clues (well, it misdirected me, anyway). The bottom half filled quickly but the top was more of a struggle. My last two were OUTDO and CATNIP.

    MRG @7

    If it had just been clueing “pens”, then “people” wouldn’t serve any purpose, but I think it is there because Bic is a brand name so it is clueing the company (the “people” who make that specific “writer”).

  15. Thanks Paul and Gaufrid

    Still always enjoy Paul – retains his good attributes with each puzzle and just ratchets up and down the degree of difficulty. A couple of Aussie-related clues today and am embarrassed to confess that DRONGO was my second last in !!! A very clever clue, notwithstanding. OUTDO was my last.

    There were many excellent clues here with a wide range of cryptic devices – special mentions to 5a, 11a, 14a, 18a, 22a, 1d and 19,20d.

  16. Rain is an awful forecast? They must be soft down in Brighton! I’ll forgive Paul that because I found this one of his most entertaining for a while – loved the cheeky BARBIE AND KEN, GUINEA FOWL, RUBBER GLOVES, DRONGO and ALMOND TREE. Last in was CATNIP after DECAPOD.

    Thanks to Paul and Gaufrid

  17. Count me as another fan. And I’m with Molonglo@5 on the Goldilocks count. 40 mins of very pleasurable and witty entertainment. Which is what a crossword is for, isn’t it? (Give or take a few minutes, I suppose). I’ll not enumerate favourites, as they’ve all been mentioned, but so much to enjoy. Thanks to Paul, and hope that Gaufrid overcomes the ennui….

  18. Maiden speech, late because it often takes me a couple of goeS, but here I am sure I have met 1a with the same clue several times. Used to feel only the retired and vicars would have the time to tackle the Listener, beginning to feel the same of the Guardian, but still the best.

  19. I struggled with BAH as “damn,” CLOWN as fungi-fun guy, BIK as writer’s people (though here the solution was clear), and the GO or ONGO link to monopoly (the sum did not ring a bell in US terms), but finally managed to get through. Thanks to Paul and to Gaufrid for an excellent blog.

  20. Thanks all
    Favourites 10 ac 25 ac. Last in 18 ac.
    I agree with gaufrid re: Paul. Not personal just that we miss the slight excitement when we first see whose offering we are about to enjoy or not.

  21. It was only after I saw the “she bee” in the wordplay that I sure of SHEBEEN, and its checkers helped me with my last two answers, BARBIE AND KEN and RUBIK. I know what Gaufrid means about overfamiliarity, but I thought this was such a good puzzle I didn’t mind.

  22. Oh this was lovely even if I too got bogged down on RUBIK-yes I had RUFUS as well-and consequently BARBIE AND KEN. The latter being especially good. I’d forgotten the cube man. RUBBER GLOVES and BRAIN DRAIN and so many others were a joy. I take Gaufrid’s point about familiarity with particular setters but I still enjoy Paul’s puzzles so I’ve no complaints thus far.
    As usual, thanks Paul

  23. Thanks for BOOKWORMS (I got fixated on M for thousand and couldn’t sort it out ). Am I being exceptionally thick – why is BIK “writer’s people”?

    Anyway, lots of fun here, even if I didn’t know STANHOPE. Loved Barbie and Ken and the awful forecast, among many.

  25. Hi gladys
    In 26ac, it’s a homophone of ‘Bic’. I did put a link in my parsing to show how this was ‘writer’s people’ and jennyk @13 has spelt it out in greater detail.

  26. Yes, I knew it must be to do with the pen company, but I thought there was more to it than that. Thanks anyway.

  27. Not much to add except that I enjoyed this and that I’m not tiring of Paul either.

    There was a period recently when he seemed to be producing uncharacteristic easier puzzles which was worrying. However in his last few he has been back on form.

    Thanks to Gaufrid and Paul

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