Guardian 26,792 – Paul

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A few of today’s clues seem to have escaped from the Quiptic, but there were a couple of others whose parsing took a while to sort out. Lots of references to dances of various kinds, but nothing too obscure, I think. Thanks to Paul for a brief but enjoyable puzzle (and apologies for the later-than-usual publication of this blog).

 
 
 
 
 
 
Across
1. CUTELY See past contract in a delightful way (6)
CUT (contract) + ELY (see, diocese)
4. AS IT IS In the present state, article lies about leader in Ireland (2,2,2)
A + I in SITS
9. ANTI Adversary in Satan, ticklish (4)
Hidden in satAN TIcklish
10. QUALIFIERS Those going through life with US and Iraq in conflict (10)
(LIFE US IRAQ)*
11. CASTLE Man thrown, lake emptied (6)
CAST + L[ak]E – a Castle is a “man” in chess
12. FUMBLING Bum kneaded during dance — that’s groping (8)
BUM* in FLING
13. NEW JERSEY Calf, perhaps, in a state (3,6)
The calf could be a new[-born] Jersey cow
15. I SPY Is party lacking in cunning game? (1,3)
IS PARTY less ART
16. DATE See fruit (4)
Double definition
17,23. FINANCIAL TIMES Initially, two dances for the organ? (9,5)
This took me a while to spot: the Financial Times is often called the FT, and in the phonetic alphabet those two letters are Foxtrot and Tango – both dances
21. CAKEWALK No sweat with this dance (8)
Double definition – if something is a cakewalk then it’s very easy, or “no sweat”
22. MUTUAL Fall in the US not entirely reversed, fifty shared (6)
Reverse of AUTUM[n] + L
24. DUMB WAITER Back of wrist held in interpretation of rumba with wide lift (4,6)
[wris]T in (RUMBA WIDE)*
25. MOOR Othello in James Bond? Not quite (4)
James Bond was played by Roger MOOR[e] in seven of the films
26. ANGLER One patiently sitting at the riverside left in rage (6)
L in ANGER
27. CRISIS Goddess going after credit crunch (6)
CR + ISIS
Down
1. CON GAME Dance with me for some hanky-panky? (3,4)
CONGA + ME
2. TWIST Dance that’s literarily unexpected (5)
Double definition – 1960s dance, and an unexpected ending to a story (i.e. in literature, or “literarily” (I misread this as “literally”, which might almost work)
3. LIQUEUR Endless line of people in the money, no longer in need of a drink (7)
QUEU[E] in LIR[A] (former currency of Italy, though still used in Turkey)
5. SHIMMY Dance throw over a short distance (6)
I MM (i.e. one millimetre) in SHY
6. TRIPLE SEC 3 becomes 9? Then the magic ends (6,3)
TRIPLES + [th]E [magi]C. Triple sec is a liqueur (3 down)
7. SPRINGY Giving is seasonal? (7)
Double definition – springy = like spring = seasonal
8. RAFFLE TICKETS A few initially left troubled in the grip of disease — might they be lucky? (6,7)
A + F[ew] + LEFT* in RICKETS
14. JITTERBUG Little hesitation shifting butt around in dance — this one? (9)
ER (hesitation) in BUTT*, all in JIG
16. DRACULA Horrifying figure, character rising up, calculating to the core (7)
Reverse of CARD* (character) + middle letters of [calc]ULA[ting}
18. ADMIRER Lover stupidly mad with passion and fervour, ultimately (7)
MAD* + IRE + [fervou]R
19. AT A LOSS Stuck to salsa dancing (2,1,4)
(TO SALSA)*
20. PAVANE Dance exercise covers a leading position (6)
A VAN in PE

35 comments on “Guardian 26,792 – Paul”

  1. Thanks Andrew for the blog and esp for explaining FINANCIAL TIMES – what a great clue.

    You have a typo in 2dn – it’s LITERARILY (literally!) – a word not recognised by some spell checkers.

    And thanks to Paul for reeling off another witty puzzle

  2. Thank you Andrew.

    An enjoyable if quicker than normal solve.

    Paul has managed to make use of 12 dances, either directly or indirectly, without leaving one with the feeling that the lights have had to be ‘shoe-horned’ into the constricting theme.

    SPRINGY was outrageous of course and will no doubt raise a few feathers but I loved it. The FT clue was brilliant and I’m now surprised we have seen it before.

    The 3 in TRIPLE SEC is doing double duty isn’t it? Not that that detracts from the clue at all.

    Can’t say I’ve ever come across the expression ‘con game’ but I see what he’s getting at.

    Thanks for the fun, Paul.

  4. Bravo,Andrew,for the parsing of 17,23. So ingenious! First rate blog throughout. Some excellent clues, favourite 6d. Weakest 25. Enjoyable solve as always from Paul. Thank you, Andrew and Paul

  8. Thanks Paul and Andrew.

    I got off to a flying start with FOXTROT (1d) and AXIS (9a), but soon realised that 1a had to be CUTELY.

    I wonder which VAN Paul had in mind (20d), ‘vanguard’ or the tennis ‘advantage’, perhaps tennis since there is ‘exercise’ in the clue?

    FINANCIAL TIMES was great!

  9. Thanks Paul and Andrew.

    Didn’t understand FINANCIAL TIMES until I came here, but it’s a nice one. 🙂

    Peter @5; you must get the king rooking then. 😉 I liked NEW JERSEY, sounds like a Christmas present to me.

  10. Easiest Paul for a while, but none the worse for that. CASTLE was last in. Liked NEW JERSEY and DATE

    Thanks to Paul and Andrew

  11. Only disappointment was lack of Okie Cokie and Lambeth Walk- but that would need a holiday grid.
    Great fun and nice blog

  12. I enjoyed ‘dancing’ with Paul – thanks to him and Andrew.

    Cookie@8 VAN is used a lot in cryptic crosswords to mean in the lead, in first place, in leading position.

  13. Thanks to Andrew for the blog. You explained the organ FT which I had solved but failed to parse.

    1a fooled me for a long time. I have observed that ‘see’ in crossword land is often used as a diocese but I have normally forgotten this by the next time it occurs. 🙁

  14. I couldn’t get PAVANE, am yet another who couldn’t parse FT (and hadn’t heard of TRIPLE SEC). Favourites were DRACULA, JITTERBUG, I SPY and LIQUEUR. Thanks to Paul and Andrew.

  15. chas @13 – and the diocese in question is nearly always ELY (but even then it often takes me ages to spot it – on this occasion I spent too long trying to think of words ending in LO).

  16. Thanks to Paul and Andrew. Like others I got FT as organ but could not parse it. Ditto for the EC in TRIPLE SEC. I took a while getting CAKEWALK and RAFFLE TICKETS but did make my way through. Lots of fun.

  17. Thanks Paul and Andrew

    Quite quick (especially for a Paul – not normally one of my favourites) but very enjoyable. I loved TRIPLE SEC, SPRINGY and FINANCIAL TIMES.

    I didn’t parse MOOR, but then again I’ve never seen a Bond film that didn’t have Sean Connery in it.

    Just one point, 22a. Isn’t “fall” in the US er……………..”fall” rather than “autumn”? “Fall in Britain” would make more sense.

  18. I was relieved to get stuck into this after yesterday. A very fine crossword, I thought. My only query was ‘adversary’ indicating ‘anti’ (although it is easy enough to see why this might work), and I needed a bit of help understanding how 6D (TRIPLE SEC) was constructed. I had no problem with CASTLE as an alternative name for ‘rook’ in 11A.

    Thanks to Paul for the entertaining brain exercise, and to Andrew for a clear blog.

  19. Rog@15 Once I’ve got diocese then I always try to fit in Ely somehow – and it usually does go. It’s that first step of translating ‘see’ that’s the holdup. If the word ‘spring’ (for example) appears in a clue then I know it has more than one meaning so I’m alerted. But ‘see’ sigh…

  20. crypticsue @12, thanks – I left that definition out on purpose to prevent a discussion, for me “in the van” means at the back of the train!

  21. Rather a mixture as the blog notes, and not quite as enjoyable as I usually find with Paul. But there was some good stuff here. FINANCIAL TIMES I now see as quite brilliant- I didn’t see the parsing before coming here- and CUTELY(LOI) made me laugh. SPRINGY was excruciating and I didn’t care much for CON GAMES.
    But,as I’ve said before, a Paul is a Paul.
    Thanks mate!

  22. Thanks Paul and Andrew

    A good puzzle once again from Mr H. With all the chat about see/Ely, let us not forget that he also used the as-misleading see/date in 16 – deliberately, I shouldn’t wonder, akin to the appearances of lead yesterday.

  23. Enjoyed this, thank you Paul. Among my favourites were New Jersey, date and dumb waiter at first pass and, not being a serious chess player, I had no problem with castle.

    My prize for clue of the day must go to 17/23ac now that the parsing has been explained; many thanks to Andrew for that.

  24. Thanks all
    A Paul on a Thursday too!
    Last in was cutely plus con game, this was unknown to me.
    I liked qualifier and dumb waiter.

  25. I’m in a minority here, in respect of its difficulty: I found it not tough exactly but slow going in places. This might be a confidence thing. Yesterday, I saw references to elements etc, I thought ‘OK’; today, I saw dances, and I thought ‘oh-oh’.

    Still, it all worked out. Took me ages to see what was going on with FINANCIAL TIMES but I’m hardly alone in that. I got double-bluffed on 6d; after learning over the ages that a number such as 3 in a clue might have nothing to do with the clue numbered three, I resolutely failed to reference said clue, until shortly after checking Google to find out what a TRIPLE SEC might be.

  26. A nice easy puzzle from Paul. (I too failed to parse Financial Times but it had to be!)

    Nothing much else to add but only posted to ask what Peter’s post @5 meant? Of course everyone understands that “castle” for “rook” is considered informal, incorrect, or old-fashioned but I don’t think this stopped anyone solving the clue! (Nor does it stop the SOED using one word to define the other in each definition 😉 )

    What I really don’t understand is “(sore loser)” (An anagram perhaps. There is a drug called Prucaloprode wihich is marketed under the proprietary name Resolor but this lacks the “se”)

    Anyway perhaps I can resolve the misunderstanding. The “man” Paul was referring to was “Roy”.

    Thanks to Andrew and Paul

  27. I didn’t find this easy, getting stuck in the NW for quite a while. Eventually CUTELY broke the logjam and the last few came quickly. I couldn’t parse Foxtrot Tango, and although I knew TRIPLE SEC was some kind of alcoholic drink, I still didn’t make the connection between the 3 in the clue (already used to get “triples”) and LIQUEUR.

    Thanks, Paul and Andrew.

  28. Can someone explain the FT/organ connection? Is it a reference to the prominence of the Financial Times or is it a common way of referring to that paper in the UK?

    I have to laugh when I think of the Wall Street Journal being referred to as an organ, considering the sociopathic tendencies of its editorial staff. I suppose it might be a diseased organ – or organ failure.

  30. Most enjoyable. FINANCIAL TIMES was quite brilliant.
    In a Paul puzzle I naturally expected “hanky-panky” to have a sexual connotation but if I looked it up I would no doubt find that it can refer to any sort of monkey business.

  31. Thanks to my namesake for the blog, and to Paul for another entertaining and (for me) reasonably accessible puzzle.

    At the time I decided to call it a day, I had failed to solve Pavane and Cakewalk.

    Like others, I admired Financial Times and Triple Sec. I think there are some who post here who dislike things where parsing the solution is harder than finding it, but for me that’s part of the fun. Re the pink organ, I managed after a while to work out that FT had something to do with it but needed the blog to understand it. I noticed that the initial letters of “two” and “for” were T & F but couldn’t work out why “dances” might mean “put behind” or “swap places with”, even in Crosswordland.

    And can anyone who still follows this blog at this late hour explain why some people consider Springy to be “outrageous”/”excruciating”? To my inexperienced mind (and within the context of this strange world that I seem to have wandered into), springy = giving seems ok as a slightly loose synonym and springy = seasonal also seems fine as a cryptic definition; and certainly less outrageous/excruciating than, say flower = river.

    Andrew

  32. I’m with you on that one, another Andrew (@31). I thought the clue for 7D (SPRINGY) was a perfectly normal cryptic clue for the reason you gave. I also thought this clue had a good surface and was readily solvable. Given that it had 7 letters I thought of ‘springy’ and ‘summery’ straight away and left it at that for a little while before the penny dropped on ‘giving’.

  34. Thanks Abdrew and Paul.

    Enjoyed this. Especially liked FINANCIAL TIMES, NEW JERSEY and RAFFLE TICKETS.

    How curious that both this Paul and the Magwitch in the FT on the same day were of a similar character – both being puzzles that could be done with a bit of lateral thinking but without the need for solving aids such as dictionaries or on-line encyclopaedia.

    Done over a few visits, it makes this type of puzzle the more rewarding and enjoyable.

  35. Thanks Paul and Andrew

    Did this one the day after it was published but only got to check it off over the weekend. Remember it being very enjoyable … don’t recall it being easy.

    Only one that I didn’t parse was DRACULA, mainly because I couldn’t count, had CULA as the centre letters and was trying to do something with ARD – doh !!! Funnily enough the FINANCIAL TIMES = FT = Foxtrot Tango went pretty much straight in with a smile, so was surprised to see how much trouble it had caused others.

    Thought that it was a great effort to get so many theme words into the grid without bringing in the obscure words.

    Good stuff, but that is pretty much par for the course with this fellow!

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