Guardian Cryptic 26,811 by Paul

by

The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26811.

Two in a row for me from Paul, with much the same experience: an enjoyable puzzle as usual with lots of varied envelopes.

Across
9 ESPLANADE Depraved noble doesn’t begin to accept proposal for coastal walk (9)
An envelope (‘to accept’) of PLAN (‘proposal’) in [d]E SADE (‘depraved noble’) minus the first letter (‘doesn’t’ begin’).
10 AMOUR University in foreign capital, contrary affair (5)
An envelope (‘in’) of U (‘university’) in AMOR, a reversal (‘contrary’) of ROMA (‘foreign capital’).
11 TONNAGE Pick at sound bags, as weight carried on ship (7)
An envelope (‘bags’) of NAG (‘pick at’) in TONE (‘sound’).
12 SEA BASS Sole gutted, a low fish (3,4)
A charade of SE (‘SolE gutted’) plus ‘a’ plus BASS (‘low’).
13, 3 ERIE CANAL A real nice kinda American waterway (4,5)
An anagram (‘kinda’) of ‘a real nice’.
14 JEAN HARLOW Jack has made a howler with an actress (4,6)
A charade of J (‘jack’) plus EANHARLOW, an anagram (‘made’) of ‘a howler’ plus ‘an’.
16 FAGGOTS Meatballs bought in packs of twenty? (7)
I was about to say that the connection of fag – cigarette – with faggot is dubious, but I think this is another envelope (‘in’), of GOT (‘bought’) in FAGS (‘packs of twenty’).
17 BROTHER Relative torpor ultim­ately probing knickers (7)
An envelope (‘probing’) of R (‘torpoR ultimately’) in BOTHER (‘knickers’ as a mild expletive).
19 RISING DAMP Domestic problem having to tell mother to cut rent (6,4)
An envelope (‘to cut’) of SING (‘tell’) plus DAM (‘mother’) in RIP (‘rent’).
22 ARES Deity wanting manna for the gods, by all conclusions (4)
Last letters (‘by all conclusions’) of ‘mannA foR thE godS‘.
24 VAMOOSE Take flight that’s sound from Jersey, boarding vessel (7)
An envelope (‘boarding’) of MOO (‘sound from Jersey’ cow) in VASE (‘vessel’).
25 ALIMENT A couple of fruits, the second hollow food (7)
A charade of ‘a’ plus LIME plus N[u]T (‘couple of fruits’), the latter minus its middle letter (‘the second hollow’).
26 TRAIL Follow bird past entrance to tunnel (5)
A charade of T (‘entrance to Tunnel’) plus RAIL (‘bird’).
27 MADELEINE Cake singer stuffed in hole (9)
An envelope (‘stuffed in’) of ADELE (‘singer’) in MINE (‘hole’), for the confection that launched Proust.
Down
1 CENTRE OF GRAVITY Ferret gone, virtually spiralling into hole where downward force acts (6,2,7)
An envelope (‘into’) of ENTREOFGR, an anagram (‘spiralling’) of ‘ferret gon[e]’ minus its last letter (‘virtually’) in CAVITY (‘hole’).
2 SPANKING Brisk corporal punishment (8)
Double definition.
3   See 13
4 CARELESS Without a concern, needing the bus then to tour Egyptian capital? (8)
An envelope (‘to tour’) of E (‘Egyptian capital’) in CARLESS (‘needing the bus then’).
5   See 23
6 KALAMAZOO Priest captivated by buzzing toy in Michigan city (9)
An envelope (‘captivated by’) of LAMA  (a one-l lama he’s a ‘priest’) in KAZOO (‘buzzing toy’).
7 NO-BALL Extra head apiece (2-4)
A charade of NOB (‘head’) plus ALL (‘apiece’), the definition referring to cricket.
8 CROSSWORD SETTER Who created this chromium-coated badge containing more than one steel? (9,6)
A double envelope (‘coated’ and ‘containing’) of SWORDS (‘more than one steel’) in ROSETTE (‘badge’) in CR (chemical symbol, ‘chromium’).
15 DOWN TOOLS Strike not working with pawns (4,5)
A charade of DOWN (‘not working’) plus TOOLS (‘pawns’).
17 BOMBARDS Gang up on troubadours for attacks (8)
A charade of BOM, a reversal (‘up’ in a down light) of MOB (‘gang’) plus BARDS (‘troubadours’).
18 HERMETIC Adopting leader in Mephistopheles, apostate completely isolated (8)
An envelope (‘adopting’) of M (‘leader in Mephistopheles’) in HERETIC (‘apostate’).
20 SAM CAM Con PM’s other half goes in — here? (3,3)
 Edited later: An envelope (‘goes in’) of AM (PM’s other half) in SCAM (‘con’). The definition must be ‘con PM’s other half’, but I am not sure how ‘here’ gets you there.
21 DREAMT Opening of market in free trade had a vision (6)
An envelope (‘in’) of M (‘opening of Market’) in DREAT, an anagram (‘free’) of ‘trade’.
23, 5 SILLY SEASON  When not much happening, edge on nose, say, being reshaped (5,6)
A charade of SILL (‘edge’) plus YSEASON, an anagram (‘being reshaped’) of ‘nose say’.
completed grid

47 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 26,811 by Paul”

  1. Thanks PeterO & Paul.

    20d. You’ve missed out the explanation of this clue – the word play is very clever; AM in SCAM. ‘Con PM’ could be a very apt description of Dave in some peoples’ view – intentional presumably. 🙂 I’m not sure what type of clue this is – is it what is referred to as an ‘&lit’? Also wasn’t sure if there was something more significant to ‘here?’ than I can see.

  2. Thanks Peter. 20D made me gnash my teeth at the very end: all smooth until then. Looked it up afterwards and remain unhappy – not with the special knowledge available to UK residents but with the “in here”. SAM CAM not available on Google: only Mrs’s full name. I liked everything else though.

  3. PGreen @1 where does the AM in SAM Cam come from – we couldn’t understand the parsing of this clue and it looks like PeterO couldn’t either? Thanks for the rest of the blog though

  5. Thanks PeterO and Paul
    20d should the final ‘here’ be ‘her’? The first part of the clue then reads simply as an instruction to insert ‘am’ (pm’s other half) in ‘scam’ (con).
    Overall an enjoyable puzzle. I particularly liked 24a.

  7. Thanks Paul and PeterO

    Always enjoy tackling a Paul puzzle and this was no exception – started over lunch and took three more shortish sittings as I could grab them to finish it off.

    Finished with SAM CAM which I was able to finally construct from the wordplay, enter it into Wiki and the PM’s wife appeared ! And yes, I’d think that it was an &lit clue.

    Smiled when CROSSWORD SETTER went in and was pleased to parse FAGGOTS (had not heard of the pork meatball definition before and ‘pack of 20’ for FAGS was clever).

    Good finish to another great week in the Grauniad !

  8. An enjoyable puzzle. For me, it was easier than most by Paul because I did it in less than in half an hour. I particularly liked ERIE CANAL and VAMOOSE. Thanks, Paul and PeterO.

  9. Thanks to PeterO and Paul.

    As PGreen says, SAM CAM was a very clever clue indeed, not that I got the parsing.

    A great puzzle which was not as daunting as I first thought

  10. As Bracoman @ 9 says, a great puzzle. I was also bemused by SAM CAM, and couldn’t parse it – very clever clue. Other good ones were CROSSWORD SETTER, VAMOOSE, MADELEINE (I spent a long time trying to fit a three-letter singer into ‘mortice’ for the hole, and only worked it out when I had all the crossers) and JEAN HARLOW. Many thanks to Paul as ever, and to PeterO.

  11. Thanks Paul and PeterO.

    This was an enjoyable solve, even though NO-BALL did not make sense to me, I should have thought “cricket”. SAM CAM and SILLY SEASON were fun, the latter brought to mind a newspaper headline about a film star, or some such person, having a “nose job”.

  13. A fairly routine Paul, not unpleasant and not particularly challenging. Last in was JEAN HARLOW, favourite was BROTHER

    Thanks to Paul and PeterO

  14. PGreen @1

    Apologies for the mix-up over 20D. I did not write it up on the first pass because I could not (and still cannot) see the significance of ‘here’, and when I did type in the comment much as you see it now, I evidently did not hit the right button to save it. I should have done a better job at proofreading. Incidentally, ‘con’ could be short for Conservative. The suggestion by Tupu @5 is interesting, but would make for an even stranger surface. I wonder if the clue was written before the crossword was constructed, with the intention that it should appear at 10D rather than 20D.

  15. Thanks Paul and Peter O. Paul is my fave setter but today I thought he was under par. Or perhaps I am. Pick at sound bags? What kind of surface is that?

  16. Gladys @12, I too had CAREFREE for a while, until I worked out who the actress was. That meant that I could go with proper English FAGGOTS instead of some foreign ones ending with E.

    I think I have a smiley face after finishing a Paul crossword more often than with any other setter. Loved the depraved noble, and now Adele knows she has finally made the big time – ‘singer’, is a cryptic crossword!

  17. Thanks Paul and PeterO
    Another Paul crossword that I enjoyed more than I expected to. Favourites were VAMOOSE and CARELESS.

    [Have you heard the story about Jean Harlow meeting Margot Asquith (possibly apocryphal, as all the best stories are). Harlow repeatedly addressed Lady Asquith as “Margott”. Eventually she replied “No dear, the T is silent – as in Harlow”.]

  18. SAM CAM made no sense to me because the ” – here?” implied the answer would be a place and I wasn’t aware of the PM’s wife’s name. I like PeterO’s suggestion that it was originally targeted for 10d. That would have been perfect. As is, it might be better as “Con PM’s other half goes in here”. I hope there’s a cleverer explanation.
    Apart from that, a fun puzzle. I liked ERIE CANAL and RISING DAMP the best. Both great surfaces.
    Thanks be to Peter and Paul.

  19. Thanks to Paul and PeterO. For some reason I found this puzzle easier than the usual Paul offering, even though several terms were new to me. E.g., I did not know FAGGOT = meatball or bother = knickers and had not encountered DOWN TOOLS as a phrase. I did get NO-BALL despite my limited knowledge of cricket. Last in were ARES and, of course, SAM-CAM (which I could parse but had to look up). I had fun with this puzzle.

  20. Thanks Paul and PeterO

    I agree that the ‘here’ in 29D could be a placeholder, but unless we’re looking at radically different grids there isn’t a 10D.

    5D, 7D or 21D are the options. Any suggestions?

  22. I find I always enjoy Paul’s puzzles, and this was no exception. I felt I was lucky to get 8D (CROSSWORD SETTER) quite quickly – my 4th or 5th in – and from there it seemed to flow. I was impressed with the variety of compilers’ tricks and devices used so well and entertainingly in the clues.

    20D (SAM CAM) puzzled me at first like it did most of us, it seems. I’m sure it’s an ‘&lit’. The whole clue reads very smoothly as “Con PM’s other half goes in here” when you remove the punctuation. The dash is needed (I think) to make sense of “Con PM’s other half goes in”, which is the complete cryptic construction, and you are left with “here” meaning “here at 20D”, reprising its use in the literal reading.

    I too thought 11A (TONNAGE) was a bit clunky.

    Gladys @12

    Absolutely – CAREFREE is as good as CARELESS – until you have to accommodate the actress and the faggots.

    muffin @17

    I know that one about Jean Harlow and Margot Asquith. Apocryphal it may be, but it’s funny every time.

  24. All fun until the three I couldn’t get: I figured SAM CAM must be Mrs. Cameron, so I BIFD it; DOWN TOOLS isn’t an expression I know for a strike; and then, um, FAGGOTS.

    Is it wrong of me to raise my eyebrows at seeing that word in print? No newspaper editor this side of the Atlantic would ever have let him get away with it, as the word is considered offensive. (Of all the mean words for gays, that’s the one that’s a definite no-no here.) So even with it being defined as “meatballs,” they’d probably put the kibosh on it here.

    I’m not offended, for the record. Just surprised.

    –M.

  25. mrpenney@24
    I was given faggots to eat when I was young. That I didn’t like them doesn’t alter the fact that they are (or were) a recognised part of the British diet. I think that the offensive connotation is a US import into Britain. I wonder what it derives from?

    P.S. think of them as (approximately) “lamburgers”.

  26. mrpenney @24

    I’m sure everyone over here knows of the ‘offensive in the US’ use of the word ‘faggot’, but it is also a perfectly normal word for a particular kind of meatball that I am quite likely to see in a butcher or supermarket if I go there now.

  27. NO BALL was meaningless to me. Presumably it means “extra” but I know nothing about cricket so no surprises that this was my LOI.
    There wasn’t anything wrong with this puzzle,and Paul is my favourite setter, but somehow I didn’t enjoy this as much as I usually do. Perhaps Paul is usually excellent and this was merely good- or perhaps I’m having a bad day!
    Incidentally, SAM CAM was a write in for me so I didn’t spend any time on the wording of the clue -SCAM around AM was good enough for me. I assumed “Con” referred to Conservative but the other meaning of it is quite apt for the current PM!
    Thanks Paul.

  28. I don’t suppose “SAM CAM” is used mainly in the Grauniad is it? Because that would make “here” a reference to the paper.

    If a word, FAGGOT, has an entirely inoffensive meaning, and it is clearly being used in that specific way, then you have to think anyone who then takes offense is the sort of brainless idiot that gets a thrill by making a sanctimonious outburst and therefore is just looking for an excuse to do so, no matter how unjustified that would be to any sane person. They should see a therapist.

    Words are not of themselves offensive, you have to want to be offended to think otherwise. Or are people totally ignorant of the old saying about sticks and stones? People should pay it more heed and adopt it as an unbreakable rule.

  31. I was a little surprised, and I’m British. Again, not offended.

    Wasn’t “Sam Cam” a publicity stunt that the Camerons pulled prior to one of the general elections, involving getting Mrs. Cameron to walk around their well-appointed house on a webcam and spout various types of “Aren’t we a nice family” platitudes?

    I never watched it, obviously, and it’s probably not what’s meant here. But who knows.

  32. Derek @28

    I’m still convinced ‘here’ in 20D (SAM CAM) means ‘here at 20D’ (as I said @22). It’s always nice when setters drop in to explain a particularly puzzling point or two, but I don’t think Paul is normally so inclined.

  33. Muffin @25: this is interesting on the etymology of “faggot.” The suggestion that it might derive in part from “faygele” has the ring of truth to me. (So much American slang is Yiddish in origin, so it makes sense.)

  34. And Trailman @30: That website says Mr. Brain’s has a petition campaign against Facebook to “Free Faggots!” Which is too funny for words.

    In other news, I’m totally not getting any work done, obviously.

  35. Thanks, PeterO and Paul.

    Alan Browne @26 – and mrpenney @24

    “I’m sure everyone over here knows of the ‘offensive in the US’ use of the word ‘faggot’…”

    Well, here’s one who didn’t. I’ve now looked it up in Chambers and see that it’s there, along with ‘old woman’ – and I’m sure I’ve been called a silly old faggot more than once, without taking exception – except to the ‘silly’, of course.

    I now have to hold my hands up and quote my comment re HASLET in Gozo’s puzzle in the FT just a couple of days ago:
    ‘I’d forgotten all about HASLET. When I was a child, there was a pork butcher’s in the village, which sold it, among other weird and wonderful things like brawn, chitterlings, faggots, of course, and more that I don’t really like to think about.’
    and apologise to anyone who might possibly have been offended.

    Now that I’m aware of another meaning, the idea that Paul – of all setters – should clue this word without the merest whiff of a nod [mixed metaphor, I know] to it is quite hilarious!

  36. Eileen @35

    Re knowing about faggots: sorry – I made a slight misjudgement.

    I laughed on reading your reference to Paul in this context. When I solved the clue with the definition ‘meatballs’, and being aware of who the setter was, I laughed then as well.

  38. Thanks PeterO and Paul.

    I didn’t particularly care for this – Sam cam, what is it?

    “needing the bus then” = car less? I think that is nonsene.

    If you are car less, you can walk, bike etc. It is the obvious answer “careless” that allows such a parsing. Paulitis, I’m afraid.

  40. ilippu @38

    I’ve come back to this rather late and noticed you have an unanswered question concerning 20D. Sam Cam (Samantha Cameron) is the wife of the British Prime Minister. The name is headline fodder or subeditor speak – I don’t know if it’s ever used, except by some-one speaking in headlines.

    PeterO probably meant to put this fact in his explanation of the top of this blog.

    I thought 4D (CARELESS) was ok, if far from being anywhere near the best clue. To make the cryptic device work you obviously have to imagine a scenario: “I’m carless.” “You’re needing the bus, then.” Not very bright or realistic, perhaps, but it seems to work.

    The odd thing is that CAREFREE is just as good an answer as CARELESS, except (as I said in an earlier post) you have to accommodate the actress and the faggots (so to speak) at 14A and 16A.

    Sorry you didn’t enjoy this one. I did, and thought it was up to the standard I expect of Paul.

  41. I solved this with the TV blaring out “Shetland” or whatever as we had vistors!

    An enjoyable Paul as ever but I still don’t understand the discussion about 20D. Neither do I see a reasonable parsing?

    Thanks to PeterO and Paul

  42. I lips @38 and Alan Browne @40

    Yes, sorry again, I should have mentioned Samantha Cameron. I’m sure she made an appearance in the original explanation. The one I did not get around to saving.

  43. Thanks PeterO and AB@40 for Sam Cam. I got Sam but not Cam.

    Re careless I got the answer and parsing right, but I’m afraid there is no way to go from clue to answer…if, for example, my normal mode of transport is bike.

    I have noticed Paul and some other setters use this device “inference from onesided conversation” …only some times the answers can be unique.

    Anyway…thanks again to both of you.

  44. Great puzzle.

    20d I only biffed and the crossers worked. I couldn’t see the WP side of it for the life of me.

    Explained now (thanks PG @#1).

    Reading “goes in — here” as one of those “gives you” type intros I think it can be called full & lit – and there are other nice layers to be pulled from those few words. Altogether a cracking clue.

    How proud I would have been had I seen all the possibilities at first sight. Not to be – long as that first sight was.

    Many thanks to both setter and blogger.

  45. BTW (14a) – surprised to find an actress in the Guardian. I thought they had all become actors.

    I suppose it’s easier with bishops; there were never any bishopesses in the past.

  46. ilippu @43

    Re 4D (CARELESS) again: what I forgot to explain in my post @40 was the role of the question mark. I’m sure the setter intended this to mean that an element of the whole word is not unique, and it’s up to the solver to pick the one that fits the rest of the clue and reject all other alternatives.

    As it turns out, the answer is not unique on this criterion: you could have CARLESS (yielding CARELESS) or CARFREE (yielding CAREFREE), but that’s another story.

    I have no axe to grind and would not try to defend this clue if I thought it was sloppy. I really think it works with the ‘?’ (and would not without it).

  47. Thanks PeterO and Paul.

    I’m still not convinced about SAM CAM (but who is). It was the obvious answer though, so just put it down to experience.

    I did ponder whether FAGGOTS was also referring to bunches of sticks for kindling which would have added a further level to the clue.

    Aren’t words interesting?

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