Guardian Cryptic 26734 by Paul

49 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 26734 by Paul”

1. Super stuff from Paul. The GONADS clue was a classic of its type and had me chuckling over my yum cha.

2. Thanks manehi and Paul

   In Italian, sera “will be” stresses the last syllable (with a grave accent on the a), sera “eveing” stresses the first.

   I found this easy for a Paul, with some nice clues. I especially liked the clue for WILLIAM TELL. LOVE AFFAIR was good too. 12a reminded me of the old joke “What’s brown and sticky?……………………………a stick.”

   I didn’t like the lack of a foreign language indication for FRAULEIN, and (although I wasn’t offended!(, I thought that “kit in shorts” was a bit loose for GONADS – suppose you aren’t wearing shorts?

3. Great fun thank you Paul, hard to pick a favourite but I think 25a for making me giggle even though I had to explain to the boss what I was laughing at!

   Thanks to manehi too.

   Now to start the day job which isn’t going to be half as much entertaining as this crossword was.

4. Actually, on second thoughts I think “will be” is SARA, with the stress on the second syllable in Italian, so the clue doesn’t work. Perhaps he was thinking of Spanish?

5. ………as you said originally, manehi – sorry, didn’t read the blog carefull enough.

6. Thanks manehi. Took an hour, partly because of the cleverly misleading United in the top left – it hinted you might need insider knowledge on the club – and the howler in the bottom right (theItalian for ‘will be’ is sara’). The other holdup was the beat FRAULEIN for which 23A was hardly any help at all, and14A not a lot more. Wry grins galore, including for
   GONADS.

7. Neat FRAULEIN

8. Muffin @6 – I’m not too bothered about words that are so well established that they are in the dictionaries (others including signorina and signorita) being included sans indication. Somewhat reduces the challenge otherwise.

9. ulaca @8
   I take your point, but just adding “in Germany” at the end would still keep a decent surface and make it fairer, though easier, as you say.

10. Lots to enjoy. Looking for someone to share 25a with now. I always find subtraction clues like 10a (j)iffy more difficuly to spot. Am I alone? Thank you both. A good end to the week.

11. Thanks, manehi.

    Off to a flying start with this: 12ac straight in – KNOTTY, of course. Not. [Still think it’s better.]

    Grumpiness soon dispelled by the quality of the rest of the puzzle, which was a whole lot of fun – best Paul puzzle for ages, I thought. [Think I’m once again with crypticsue regarding favourites. 😉 ]

    Many thanks, Paul, for brightening up another dull morning.

12. It’s ironic that where Paul does indicate a foreign language (26), he gets the wrong one!

13. muffin and others if you refer to the Wikipedia article about the Doris Day song Que Sera, Sea, there’s an interesting discussion on the language issue.
    I don’t suppose the uncertainty over the language will be a big hindrance to most people solving the clue.

14. This made for a very bright start to the day. I laughed out loud over confetti, gonads and fungal. Great work Paul, thank you.

15. Yes, another great puzzle from Paul. GONADS was LOI for me (then LOL!). Favourites included AERATE, FUNGAL, WILLIAM TELL, SOMEWHAT (brilliant!). Many thanks to Paul and manehi

16. David @13
    Thanks for the tip – interesting. I would disagree about the incorrect grammar, though – I think “che sara sara” makes sense in Italian.

17. The specific theme is London football teams – seven are referenced, at clues 8, 15/24, 23/7, 25 and 26 across, and 5 and 18 down. There are a few other football references too. Congratulations to Paul on starting with West Ham United and completely ignoring Chelsea. No doubt Leyton Orient, Barnet, and Dagenham & Redbridge were discarded only on the ground of impracticality but since a FEDORA covers a barnet maybe there was a chance for at least one.

    GONADS, last in for me too, is wonderful stuff and precisely why I look forward to solving Paul’s puzzles.

18. I forgot to mention: why is ARROW a quarrel? I couldn’t parse this, and wondered whether ‘conversation’s ending’ was (semi)NAR, followed by ROW.

19. . . . now I see a quarrel is a crossbow bolt.

20. drofle @18
    “Quarrel” is an alternative name for “arrow”, particularly with reference to a crossbow, in which the “arrow” is also known as a “bolt”.

21. Thanks Paul & manehi.

    Very entertaining; LOI was GONADS, which produced a cheesy grin. In the Wiki article that David @13 references, it says: ‘Christopher Marlowe’s play Doctor Faustus (written ca. 1590; published 1604), whose text[11] (Act 1, Scene 1) contains a line with the archaic Italian spelling “Che sera, sera.’ So, Paul (sort of) justified in an archaic way. I thought a LOVE AFFAIR was one where people scored quite frequently!

    Super clue for SOMEWHAT.

22. Sera is French for “will be” to. I suppose there are French speakers in northern Piedmont… Hm.

23. And it’s “too” not “to”.

24. Perhaps its Paul Pogba parlaying in 26a.

25. Thanks Paul and manehi.

    A slow start for me, but got there in the end. I’d earlier temporarily wrong footed myself with 10ac, mentally pencilling in (B)less instead of (J)iffy.

    ATAVISM was new to me and my LOI was 25ac.

26. Yes this is a step up from Chifonie in terms of playfulness, but the accurate clueing is maintained. The Guardian has (a) compilers that do not understand cryptic grammar (b) compilers who play with a straight bat like Rufus and Chifonie, and (c) those who are more adventurous while still paying attention to good technique like Paul.

    HH

27. A fairly straightforward solve for me, with some satisfying penny-dropping moments and a few smiles. The non-Italian “sera” didn’t bother me because I didn’t know the linguistically correct version so I just got it from the song.

    Thanks to Paul and manehi.

28. One of Paul’s better ones, this was both entertaining and challenging in places, with a lot of devious misdirection. GONADS last in – a typically groanworthy Paul clue. Liked SOMEWHAT, WILLIAM TELL, FUNGAL, TROUBLE AND STRIFE and FRAULEIN.

    Thanks to Paul and manehi

29. Lovely ladies and gents, thanks so much for your comments, as ever.

    My cock-up with se/ara. Not really quite sure how I let that slip. Could do better.

    All best, and apologies again,

    John (Paul)

30. Thanks to Paul and manehi. My first pass through the clues left me with just about nothing (a disccuraging start), but then I made progress in the SE corner and other items fell into place. I’m weak on Cockney slang, but TROUBLE AND STRIFE did come to mind after FRAULEIN appeared on the scene (as did SPINSTER). For me, a slow beginning but a satisfying end.

31. What a complete delight. Just what crosswords are for…… Lovely to use Wags as the anagrind in 23/7

32. I made rather heavy weather of this perhaps because of the sporting references. Still a Paul is a Paul so no complaints even though it did take me longer than usual. I liked CONFETTI, GONADS and SERAGLIO-and, yes, I got this via memories of the Doris Day record! I confess I had to guess IFFY and STICKY -LOI- took far longer to see than it should have.
    Thanks Paul.

33. I maintain that the drink is “bevvy” and I found some support.

    http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bevvy

    Other than that, I loved this puz.

34. El Ingles @33
    Presumably it’s a contraction of “beverage” rather than “bevverage”?

35. El@33 The great god Chambers has both spellings so bevy must be ok.

36. Re me @11n

    Twelve hours later: am I really the only one to have thought KNOTTY for 12ac?? [Still think it’s better 😉 ] Paul’s done the brown sticky thing before – I thought this was a nice new slant.

37. I meant ‘could have been’, obviously’ – it clearly wasn’t possible.

38. Eileen@32, I missed knotty, but was tempted very briefly by the less pleasing thorny.

39. Sorry should have been @36

40. A very enjoyable puzzle from Paul.

    Lots of misdirection which made it more of a challenge. (for me anyway)

    As my language skills are English, German and French(in that order) I of course didn’t notice the “sera” language error. The song made it easy for us igoramuses. (Sometimes knowledge can be a hindrance 😉 )

    Thanks to manehi and Paul

41. 10a isn’t strictly accurate because a JIFFY means just about anything *except* a second. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiffy_%28time%29

42. Eileen @36: you are not alone – ‘knotty’ is good wrong answer which held us up for an hour or so.

43. Eileen@36 No, you’re not alone. KNOTTY was so obviously correct!

44. How gentlemanly of the setter to step in and apologise for the minor inaccuracy which didnt stop anyone twigging the clue.

45. Thought this more entertaining than recent Pauls for two reasons. It was just that tad tricksier than usual and…..his GONADS.
    One irritation, however, was my writing in KNOTTY early on which stymied me in the north west for some while. I knew, when I entered, it that perhaps a pencil entry might have been better but soon forgot – so some fluency was lost. My own fault I guess, but reassuring to see others fell into the same trap!
    I didn’t notice the Italiaspagnolic upcock – maybe I should have.
    Thanks to Paul and manehi.

46. Thanks Paul and Manehi

    One answer remained unsolved for me and it was Gonads.
    annoying to miss the pun/clue of the day

    As the man himself said
    could do better

47. Last cab off the rank I suspect. Off into the ether unseen…

    Excellent, fun puzzle. As for many others, GONADS brought a smile as LOI and SOMEWHAT, FUNGAL and FEDORA were other good clues. I wasn’t too bothered by the boo-boo with SERAGLIO, but thanks to Paul for being so good and owning up.

    In the words of the great Doris Day:
    Que sera, sara,
    What ever will be, will be…

    Or something like that anyway.

    Thanks to Paul and manehi.

48. Thanks Paul and manehi.

    Brilliant.

    Laughed out loud (in the dentist’s waiting room) at GONADS and giggled at FUNGAL.

    Enjoyed TROUBLE AND STRIFE and STICKY.

    Haven’t seen ED Balls since before he was made redundant.

49. Thanks Paul and manehi

    Found this quite difficult to get started but once ‘the skin was broken’, it made for an excellent solve !! Made a similar initial error with 12a by writing in GRAINY (from days of chopping old box tree logs for the fire!) – note to self, don’t be too hasty writing in the cd answers without crossers.

    Loved the misdirection with a number of clues – especially with 22d where Roger Federer kept blocking the proper parsing of the clue – took ages to think of Mr Balls. At 22a was looking for a word starting with F (for female) that meant entertaining for way too long. The use of the football teams was another clever way of leading one away from the required definition – particularly the ‘West Ham United’ and ‘Spurs’ clues.

    Ignorance with much of the Spanish and Italian languages, together with memory of the Doris Day song shielded me from the error at 26a.

    GONADS as the last one in brought a huge grin on the train ride home and a fitting end to a classic JH puzzle !!!

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