Guardian 26,763 – Paul

by

Lots of Christmassy references in the clues from Paul today, and not too hard a puzzle for those who have a lot of other things to do. Thanks to Paul, and Merry Christmas to all. See you next year!

 
 
 
 
 
 
Across
1. FRAGILE Smooth wrapping paper, easily damaged? (7)
RAG (newspaper) in FILE (to smooth)
5. BUSTARD Sprout inspiring celebrated bird (7)
STAR in BUD
9. OFTEN Oliver Twist, perhaps, in the Queen’s Speech on a regular basis (5)
“Often” used to be pronounced “orphan” by in some accents, including the Queen’s, and perhaps still is
10. ISLE OF MAN British dependency no good for flamingoes in a storm (4,2,3)
FLAMINGOES* less G
11. EPIGLOTTIS Spot recalled into which hefty eater takes a great deal — that’s behind the tongue (10)
PIG + LOT in reverse of SITE
12. INDY Popular daily, vacuous newspaper in short? (4)
IN (popular) + D[ail]Y – nickname for The Independent
14. MONARCHISTS Christmas crackers to grip on, those for Elizabeth? (11)
ON in CHRISTMAS*
18. SPOONERISMS Those making rowdy brawls from fairy lights, perhaps? (11)
“Lairy fights”, which could mean “rowdy brawls”, is a spoonerism of “fairy lights”. In the absence of other wordplay and the crucial checking letter, I wondered if this could be SPOONERISTS, but there seems to be no such word
21. NUTS Crackers — what are they for? (4)
Double definition: nuts = mad = crackers, and a (topical) reference to nutcrackers
22. BOWDLERISE Censor wicked and loathsome extremists heading for Richmond in US state capital (10)
W[icke]D + L[oathsom]E + R[ichmond] in BOISE (capital of Idaho)
25. IMPULSIVE Hasty devil, posh as it happens, scoffing last of vol-au-vents (9)
IMP + U + [vol-au-vent]S in LIVE (as it happens)
26. TITHE Tax contributing to development, it helps (5)
Hidden in developmenT IT HElps
27. NOWHERE Christmas present in obscurity (7)
NOW (Christmas) + HERE (present)
28. MINORCA Little time on Whale Island (7)
MIN[ute] + ORCA (killer whale)
Down
1,6. FLOWER SHOP Those in the red hats initially stuffing turkey in retail establishment (6,4)
OWERS (those in [the] red) + H[ats] in FLOP (turkey, as in a unsuccessful play, etc)
2. ANTRIM A Norway spruce in part of Northern Ireland (6)
A + N + TRIM
3. IAN FLEMING Man in life, flawed genius primarily, as writer (3,7)
(MAN IN LIFE)* + G[enius]
4. EXIST Cardinal virtue finally turning up, little time to live (5)
Reverse of SIX (cardinal number) + [virtu]E + T[ime]
5. BILLIARDS Game all I cooked in partridges etc (9)
(ALL I)* in BIRDS
7. ADMONISH Advise against a plate of food Boxing Day (8)
MON[day] in A DISH
8. DANDYISM Foppish behaviour in mind say, dude’s first to gyrate (8)
(MIND SAY D[ude])*
13. CHESTERTON Box clever in the end, entering school as writer (10)
CHEST (box) + [cleve]R in ETON
15. NARCOTISE Make dull creations lively (9)
CREATIONS*
16. ASUNCION A newspaper I love in outskirts of Chilean capital (8)
A SUN + I O in C[hilea]N. Asunción is the capital of Paraguay
17. SOUTHPAW What’s up high, punched by old boxer? (8)
O in (WHAT’S UP)*. Southpaw is (mostly US) slang for a left-handed boxer, or a left-handed person generally
19. MISTER Scrooge investing capital in theory — that’s how he’s known (6)
T[heory] in MISER
20. GENEVA Wilder verbal attack starts in European city (6)
GENE (G. Wilder, actor) + V[erbal] A[ttacks]
23. DREAM Ultimately, reverie in short? (5)
[reveri]E in DRAM (shot of whisky etc, a “short”), &lit
24. FLUE Down which Father Christmas sped, did you say? (4)
Homophone of “flew” . If you don’t like “Down which Father Christmas” as a definition, perhaps you can take the clue as another &lit.

31 comments on “Guardian 26,763 – Paul”

  1. Opted for ‘Spoonerists’ at 18a, on the basis that the clue for ‘Spoonerisms’ would read ‘these’ rather than ‘those’. Id there’s nomsuxh word as ‘Spoonerist’ there should be.
    Seasons Greetings to all.

  4. For the record, in 12 across the letters ail should be in square brackets. I wondered whether vacuous was doing double duty as part of the definition but that would be out of keeping with the season of goodwill, I suppose.

  6. Thanks, Andrew.

    As you say, a perfect puzzle for today – lots of fun but not taking too much time, which is quite precious.

    Favourites were SPOONERISMS, which made me laugh, as I’m not keen on them, NUTS [small but perfectly formed], MONARCHISTS, FLOWER SHOP and ANTRIM.

    Many thanks to Paul and a very Happy Christmas to all. 🙂

  8. Thanks Paul and Andrew
    I’ve often said that I don’t warm to Paul puzzles, but I absolutely loved this one. Starting with the laugh out loud OFTEN, I continued to be amused by the cleverness and humour of the clues. Other favourites included (amongst many), the &lit? IAN FLEMING, MONARCHISTS and SPOONERISMS. The only fly in the ointment for me was my inability to parse DREAM – for some reason I took “ultimately reverie” to be the R rather than the E.
    Now to cooking – curry tonight!

  9. Great puzzle! Favourites were MONARCHISTS, NUTS, FRAGILE and SPOONERISTS. Season’s greetings to all and I look forward to more cruciverbal enjoyment next year. Many thanks to the ever-inventive Paul, and to Andrew.

  10. Thanks Andrew. Same as GC@1 for ‘spoonerists’. And I laboured a bit with 22A when three crossers looked like a perfect fit wit Montpelier, capital ofVermont. Otherwise great stuff, and grins not only for the fairy lights but also the Queen’s Speech.

  11. Thanks Paul and Andrew.

    Just the right puzzle for today, but I wonder how many solvers caught their breath at 5a when the dreaded Brussels came to mind? I needed help in parsing FLOWER SHOP. MONARCHISTS, FRAGILE, SPOONERISMS, OFTEN and many others were great.

    Happy Christmas to all.

  12. I was in the LATE camp yesterday, and the SPOONERISTS camp today. Never mind. A fun puzzle, and as others have said, just the right level of difficulty for today. Season’s greetings to one and all.

  15. I struggled with all of this (probably because I was trying to do three other things at the same time) especially the SE corner. Got there in the end, with GENEVA my LOI. Had the same trouble as molonglo @10 with 22a, and needed help with the parsing of 5a, 9a, 1d, 4d and 7d, so many thanks to Andrew for the blog.

    In the end I think any problems were to do with my (scatter)brain, not the cluing. Thanks to Paul, especially for NUTS.

    Merry Christmas to all setters, bloggers and commenters.

  16. I also thought 18A should be SPOONERISTS because of ‘Those who …’, but to me this is a made-up word. If you Google it you will find it, but who recognises the word? SPOONERISMS would have been a tad more difficult to clue using the kind of device Paul used, so perhaps he persuaded himself that ‘Spoonerist’ is acceptable.

    The use of the word ‘extremists’ instead of ‘extremes’ or ‘extremities’ in the clue for 22A (BOWDLERISE) is very strange in my view. The clue was quite easy to solve, but that was because I worked out what Paul must have meant by ‘extremists’. It is almost as if, having decided to use the first and last letters of both ‘wicked’ and ‘loathsome’ he had to use the word ‘extremists’ in order to give the clue a decent surface.

    Tramp for one would probably praise the surface of this clue, and no wonder – it reads very well – but IMHO this is at the expense of using a faulty cryptic device. Or have I missed something? I would welcome other views.

    Despite this I enjoyed the puzzle very much and appreciated all the neat constructions. A great diversion on a busy day.

    Thanks to both Paul and Andrew.

  17. Thanks to Paul and Andrew. I needed help seeing-hearing OFTEN as orphan – and I associate SOUTHPAW with baseball, not boxing – but much enjoyed this puzzle.

  18. 9a see Pirates of Penzance:
    General. Tell me, have you ever known what it is to be an orphan?
    Pirates. (disgusted) Oh, dash it all!
    King. Here we are again!
    General. I ask you, have you ever known what it is to be an orphan?
    King. Often!
    General. Yes, orphan. Have you ever known what it is to be one?
    King. I say, often.
    Pirates. (disgusted) Often, often, often. (Turning away)
    General. I don’t think we quite understand one another. I ask you, have you ever known what it is to be an orphan, and you say “orphan”. As I understand you, you are merely repeating the word “orphan” to show that you understand me.
    King. I didn’t repeat the word often.
    General. Pardon me, you did indeed.
    King. I only repeated it once.
    General. True, but you repeated it.
    King. But not often.
    General. Stop! I think I see where we are getting confused. When you said “orphan”, did you mean “orphan” – a person who has lost his parents, or “often”, frequently?
    King. Ah! I beg pardon – I see what you mean – frequently.
    General. Ah! you said “often”, frequently.
    King. No, only once.

    etc…

    General. (irritated) Exactly – you said “often”, frequently, only once.

  21. Oh,come on, it’s got to be SPOONERISTS. I didn’t check but surely—. Anyway, a bit easy for Paul but very pleasant.
    All the best to him and everybody else!

  22. I said in 16 that the smooth surface of the clue at 22A was “at the expense of using a faulty cryptic device” [referring to the Paul’s use of ‘extremists’ to indicate the first and last letters of words]. What I meant was “at the expense of using a sound cryptic device”. (Not enough sherry.)

  23. A bit late – busy day – spent much time on it but much enjoyed.

    Surely all our compilers can be classed as Spoonerists.

    Compliments of the season.

  25. Thanks all
    I too wrote in spoonerisms without checking.
    Last in was often although I had no idea why it was correct.

  29. I left this half-done yesterday as kitchen duty took priority. DH comes from a Polish refugee family, so we celebrate both Wigilia and Christmas, which involves a lot of cooking. I’ve finally had time to finish it (the crossword – not the cooking!)

    This was fun, with some lovely clues. I particularly liked SPOONERISMS (I didn’t have a problem with the -ISMS ending), MONARCHISTS and NUTS.

    Thanks to Paul and Andrew, and Merry Christmas to any other late visitors.

  30. Thanks Paul and Andrew

    Only got to look at this one today and found it uncharacteristic of Paul’s normal work and actually struggled with it a bit. The last three seemed to take an age to finish off – OFTEN (just didn’t click to the ‘orphan’ pronunciation for a long time), FLOWER SHOP (had the H in SOP for a while and then tried to work with FLOWER – until the penny dropped that a turkey was a FLOP) and MISTER (just took forever to see it). Maybe it was the day after Christmas spirit(s), but it was harder work than it should have been.

    Not to say that it wasn’t enjoyable – loved the misdirection with ASUNCION (did try to justify Santiago at first) and the new word BOWDLERISE (with the little known, outside the US, BOISE).

    Wondered whether NOW meant Christmas because it was actually 24/12 or that it was ‘present time’.

  31. Thanks Paul and Andrew.

    Unusually straight in with 1ac and zoomed through from there.

    But thoroughly enjoyable. Especially liked OFTEN, SPOONERISMS (no problem with THOSE things) and BOWDLERISE.

Comments are closed.