Guardian 27,027 / Paul

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I was expecting Paul today, since he seems to appear every week these days – and here he is on top form.

There is some very witty and ingenious cluing here and some real gems, like 10ac and 8dn. I had one or two lucky breaks: guessing 1dn from the enumeration and being pleased to see that it parsed; knowing about 8dn; having heard 27ac mentioned on the World Service in a wakeful period during the night and – like the rest of you – having met [remarkable coincidence] 22ac in its singular [verb] form in the Arachne puzzle I blogged last week.

A thoroughly enjoyable solve – many thanks, Paul.

[Looking forward to meeting old and new friends in York tomorrow.]

Across

7 Tourist, one tangling with traffic initially (9)
TRAVELLER
T[raffic] + RAVELLER [one tangling]

10 I’m leaving, stop breaking my heart? (5)
ADIEU
DIE [stop] in [breaking] [p]AU[l] [‘my’ heart]

11 At home, unknown character occupying new home in Jersey etc (4,3)
CHEZ MOI
Z [unknown character] in an anagram [new] of HOME in CI [Channel Islands – Jersey etc]

12 Fool, as in cards (7)
JACKASS
AS in JACKS [cards]

13 Stall, as Spanish car (4)
SEAT
Double definition

14 Good old girl in a revolutionary, hardly heard? (10)
PIANISSIMO
PI [good: this is a FAQ – it’s short for ‘pious’] + a reversal [revolutionary] of O MISS [old girl] IN A

15 Sell nonsense in head, there’s nothing in it (4,3)
NULL SET
Anagram [nonsense] of SELL in NUT [head]

17 Vicious in a swarm, moreover (7)
BESIDES
SID [Vicious] in BEES [a swarm]

19 Bearer of gifts controlling racket is an old revolutionary (10)
SANDINISTA
SANTA [bearer of gifts] round DIN [racket] IS

22 Punched by right hand of Dempsey, strong thing felled — end of fight! (4)
KAYO
[dempse]Y in an anagram [felled] of OAK [strong thing] – it’s actually a reversal: could ‘felled’ indicate this, do you think?

23 Love in man making beastly noises (7)
OINKING
O [love] IN KING [chess man]

24 Tangle in mobile transmitter finally sorted out (7)
EMBROIL
Anagram [sorted out] of MOBILE + [transmitte]R – the second use of ‘tangle’, in neither case an anagram indicator

26 In the end, vote was carried — break down! (5)
ERODE
[vot]E RODE [was carried]

27 In eating droppings, function as dinosaur (9)
IGUANODON
IN round [eating] GUANO [droppings] + DO [function]

 

Down

 

1 Those hurtful things taken on board, bully can’t set on kids (6,3,6)
STICKS AND STONES
Anagram [bully] of CAN’T SET ON KIDS in SS [‘taken on board’] – a reference to the saying’ Sticks and stones may break my bones but words / names will never hurt me’
I’ve always disagreed with this and was interested to find one or two poems doing the same when I looked it up

2,3 Broadcast covering party wearing a rigid outfit? (8,4)
BASEBALL TEAM
BEAM [broadcast] round BALL [party] in A SET [a rigid] – this is how the clue appears in my paper: I see the online version has ‘American outfit’

4 A leg bandaged by lean skier, perhaps (8)
ALPINIST
A + PIN [leg] in LIST [lean]

5 Roman emperor set empire’s rule in bronze (6)
TRAJAN
RAJ [empire’s rule] in TAN [bronze]

6 Awfully cross, in a stupor (8)
NARCOSIS
Anagram [awfully] of CROSS IN A

7 One rule I had lifted for religious festival (6)
DIWALI
A reversal [lifted] of I LAW [one rule] I’D [I had] – a topical clue: Diwali starts this Sunday

8 20 18, card of countless torments (5,2,8)
CURSE OF SCOTLAND
A lovely anagram [torments] of CARD OF COUNTLESS: there are several explanations of why this refers to the NINE OF DIAMONDS [20,18] – see here

16 Lively, seen to keep slowing down (8)
SPIRITED
SPIED [seen] round RIT[ardando] [slowing down – musical term]

17 Having lost semicircular shape, flower is flatter (6,2)
BUTTER UP
BUTTER[c]UP [flower] having lost its semicircular letter

20,18 Tailor so in demand if no member in a suit (4,2,8)
NINE OF DIAMONDS
Anagram [tailor] of SO IN DEMAND IF NO

21 Girl evidently one of my solutions? (6)
INGRID
IN GRID!

25 Hard thing to get live screening working (4)
BONE
BE [live] round ON [working]

36 comments on “Guardian 27,027 / Paul”

  2. Thanks Paul and Eileen

    I enjoyed this much more than some Paul puzzles; particular favourites were NULL SET (real mathematics!), SANDINISTA and OINKING. I too guessed 1d (FOI) from the enumeration, then parsed it, though “bully” is an odd anagram indicator. I didn’t parse BASEBALL TEAM or ERODE.

    I heard about the fossil IGUANODON brain on the Today programme this morning too.

    I don’t think “felled” does work as a reversal – the change in position is only 90 degress worth.

  5. Eileen @4
    Funnily enough I’ve looked back at my crossword to discover that (for some unknown reason) I’ve written in iguanAdon too!

  6. Thank you Paul and Eileen.

    I found this on the easy side for a Paul crossword, thus most enjoyable for me. CURSE OF SCOTLAND was new, but solvable with the crossers. Like Jason @1, I took “felled” to mean “fallen over”, it might work better as a reversal indicator in a down clue?

    Favourite was INGRID!

  7. muffin, on second thoughts, I think I was more probably thinking of the connection with ‘iguana’ that we heard on the radio.

  8. muffin @2, each household in our village has the right to fell a tree on the mountainside each year for fuel, and that tree nearly always falls at an angle much greater than 90°.

  10. I found this one quite challenging – entertaining and informative. CURSE OF SCOTLAND was unfamiliar to me, INGRID last in (no excuses for that). Liked BESIDES.

    Thanks to Paul and Eileen (see you in York)

  11. I’m not always a Paulophile, but I loved a lot of this. ‘Vicious in a swarm’, ‘stop breaking my heart’ and ‘to get live screening working’ were an absolute joy; also it was interesting to discover ‘Curse of Scotland’ for the first time.

    I think probably the definitions were quite easy today – which is no bad thing, given the occasional tortuosity [nice word – even if spellchecker disagrees] of Paul’s wordplay.

    Thank you Eileen for enlightening a couple of the more obscure parsings, and Paul for a fun start to the day.

    Hope the Yorkists have a great gathering (never thought I’d say those words!).

  12. Great to see Paul in such form-this and Punk were both superb.Several laughs today like17-PIANISSIMO was particularly clever.

  13. 2,3 BASEBALL TEAM was the only answer that fitted the lights with the crossers but was not logically derived from the clue without the word ‘[North] American’, missing from the print edition. Another Grauniad typo?

  14. I found this both challenging and entertaining, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I didn’t know about the CURSE OF SCOTLAND, but I managed to get it from the clue. I knew KAYO only from the other recent crossword (although the clue today surely doesn’t work for the reason already hinted at). I also knew NULL SET, it being right up my street.

    There were many excellent clues. Yes, I liked 10a ADIEU, also 11a CHEZ MOI, 17d BUTTER UP and all three long ones.

    I won’t be at the York gathering at the weekend, but I wish all the best to those who will be.

    Thanks to Paul and Eileen.

  18. Lovely crossword – thanks, Paul – and thanks to Eileen for explaining the parsing of 10 ac and for the link explaining the Curse of Scotland – new to us. Otherwise the clues fell into place one by one: rather easier than usual for a Paul – giving us several smiles.

  19. Thanks to Paul and Eileen. I had trouble with SEAT and DIWALI and got KAYO thanks to previous puzzles (and enjoyed reading about the varying explanations of the CURSE OF SCOTLAND).

  20. Nice one. However, there is a very subtle clue in KAYO-22a- remember Dempsey and Makepeace the tv series. end fight! Clever.

  21. All good stuff as usual from Paul. Favourites included BUTTER UP, ADIEU, PIANISSIMO (LOI), NULL SET and CHEZ MOI. Many thanks to Paul and Eileen.

  22. I didn’t realize this was Paul’s until I had finished which is probably a good thing since he tends to psych me out.

    But wrt 10A, is is just me (my?) or do other have concerns about “my=Paul”? I can see “me=Paul” but wouldn’t possessive implies “Paul’s”?

  23. No problem with 22a. Write OAK standing proud as the tree would …

    O
    A
    K

    … then having stood it proud topple it, falling to the right … KAO

  25. I’m rather late today because my iPad has developed keyboard problems & it’s taken me until now to remember to try on the laptop! Much of what I’d like to say about the puzzle has already been said, but just to say that I agree with all the complimentary comments.

    That said, found it to be bit of a challenge at first but the problems we’re entirely of my own making. Having spotted the playing card theme quite early I entered ‘queen of diamonds’ at 8d (with only the theme as justification!), so progress was slow after that. It wasn’t until I worked out 20,18 that I realised my mistake & managed to work out the brilliant anagram at 8d. I had heard the term before – isn’t it amazing the amount of seemingly useless information we have hidden in the recesses of our brains?

    Thank you very much for the enjoyment Paul. Thanks too for an excellent blog, Eileen – pleased to know that I’m not the only one to have messed up with the droppings!

    [Look forward to seeing folks in York tomorrow.]

  26. I had more problems with this -especially the W side- than I usually do with Paul.BASEBALL TEAM was a lucky guess although this was because of the omission in the clue in the print version. I didn’t know what NULL SET was but that was easy to get. I’ve come across CURSE OF SCOTLAND before and assumed it referred to NINE Of DIAMONDS. I liked INGRID and SANDINISTA.
    Oh, I was another IGUAN-A-DON annoyingly.

  28. Thanks both. I much enjoyed this. Did anyone else bung in ‘slings and arrows’ for 1d then wonder how to parse it?

  29. I found this tough but enjoyable. Some of the best misdirections had me looking for anagrams in the wrong places. Nice to see a slight ‘cards’ theme running through. I parsed BASEBALL TEAM differently. BALL inside BASE (broad) and TEAM (cast). But this doesn’t explain ‘rigid’ so I realise now is wrong, but at least I got the correct answer – even if accidentally. Thanks to Eileen and Paul.

  31. I rather like Van Winkle’s rationalisation of “felled” for 22a. The letters would be on their sides, though 🙂

  33. JuneG @ 25 says “Look forward to seeing folks in York tomorrow.” I’m not going to this great event, but having a few friends round for egg on toast, and we’re all looking forward to forks in yolk.

  34. I was another ‘slings and arrows’ man.

    Not having heard of NULL SET, I had NULL EST, simply on the basis that it felt consistently Latin.

    I had also not heard of the Curse of Scotland; given the wonderful variety of imaginative slang expressions available in Scottish parlance, it’s disappointing that it turned out to be something as prosaic as a playing card.

  36. Wow, this was my first crack at a Guardian and I can say I am impressed. This takes cryptic crosswords to a whole new level for me. Didn’t get far, as was expected, but looking at the answers and working on the parsing was reward enough! There are some very clever clues in this lot. Particularly liked INGRID and ADIEU. I’ll have to get used to the setter’s style a bit more before I give this a serious crack.

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