Guardian Cryptic 27218 Paul

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A nice one from Paul, to whom thanks. A couple of tricky definitions held up completion for just a while. Definitions are underlined in the clues.

Across

1 Grid filler might stop (5,7)

POWER STATION : POWER(might;strength) + STATION(a designated stop for a train, say).

Cryptic defn: …, the national electricity grid, that is.

9 See 18

10 Way about in a manner of speaking (9)

DIRECTION : RE(about;with regard to) contained in(in) DICTION(a manner of speaking;a style of enunciation in speech).

11 Strike out a blunder, finally, that’s ringed (7)

ANNULAR : ANNUL(to strike out;to invalidate) + A + the last letter of(…, finally) “blunder“.

12 Fire, perhaps, as heater (7)

ELEMENT : Double defn: 1st: Fire is one of;perhaps the 4 classical elements in ancient Greek philosophy and science; and 2nd: One of the components giving off heat in an electric heater.

13 Impersonate trollop adopting dubious art, one as authoritarian woman (10)

DOMINATRIX : DO(to impersonate, as in “please do Elvis”) + MINX(a trollop;a boldly flirtatious girl or woman) containing(adopting) [anagram of(dubious) ART + I(Roman numeral for “one”)].

15 Somewhat under­prepared, gymnast nervous (4)

EDGY : Hidden in(Somewhat) “under­prepared, gymnast“.

18, 9 Turn and go up 1 across (9)

WINDSCALE : WIND(to turn or coil round) + SCALE(to go up a steep or vertical surface, eg. a wall).

Defn: Former UK nuclear power station currently being decommissioned.

19 For example, French people about to stop accessing motorway feature (10)

COMEDIENNE : [ MEN(people, or about half of them) containing(about) DIE(to stop;to end) ] contained in(accessing) CONE(a temporary motorway feature, for diverting – and delaying – traffic).

Defn: An example of which;for example is Dawn French, well known for playing the Vicar of Dibley.

22 Howl biting hard into middle of lopsided tongue (7)

SWAHILI : [ WAIL(to howl;to cry loudly) containing(biting) H(abbrev. for “hard”) ] contained in(into) the central two letters of(middle of) “lopsided“.

Defn: …;language.

24 Anchor at hand (7)

PRESENT : Double defn: 1st: To present and coordinate a television or radio programme; and 2nd: Within easy reach;at that particular place.

25 Strike brief with a 1 across (9)

BATTERSEA : BAT(to strike with – well -a bat) + TERSE(to be brief;curt) plus(with) A.

Defn: A decommissioned power station in London.

26 Old tennis champion is upset (5)

EVERT : Double defn: 1st: Chris, former tennis champion, who won 18 Grand Slam Women’s Singles Championships; and 2nd: To turn outwards or inside out;to upset.

27 A field away from 1 across turning on pipe, energy producing mushrooms! (12)

CHANTERELLES : Reversal of(… turning) [ “Sellafield”(a UK nuclear facility that includes the decommissioning of the former WIndscale plant and reprocessing spent nuclear fuel, and potentially the site for a new power station) minus(… away from) “A field” ] placed after(on) [ CHANTER(the pipe of a bagpipe with finger holes) + E(symbol for “energy” in physics) ].

Down

1 Flat-dweller in situ, moving among leaders in strategy (9)

PLAINSMAN : [ IN + the 1st lettes,respectively, of(… leaders) “situ, moving among” ] contained in(in) PLAN(a strategy;a course of action).

Defn: A flatland dweller.

2 Minute left in the embrace of hairy king lasting 168 hours! (8)

WEEKLONG : WEE(minute;small) + [ L(abbrev. for “left”) contained in(in) KONG(second name of King Kong, the hairy fictional ape) ].

Defn: … or a week.

3 Finding method that’s revolutionary (5)

RADAR : Cryptic defn: … that’s a palindrome(revolutionary).

4, 7 1 across installed here, I’m in meltdown (5,4,6)

THREE MILE ISLAND : Anagram of(… in meltdown) INSTALLED HERE, I’M.

A WIWD(wordplay intertwined with definition) clue, as that US power station suffered a partial meltdown.

5 In conversation, discretion is nailed (6)

TACKED : Homophone of(In conversation) “tact”(discretion;diplomacy).

6 Second in poll, potentially shocking for green (5)

OLIVE : The second letter of(Second in) “poll” + LIVE(of an electrical connection that can potentially give an electric shock).

Defn: A shade of the colour green.

7 See 4

8 Supercilious, not like swine? (6)

SNOTTY : NOT [contained in STY](like swine are).

14 Argued, having day without love, nothing to touch fondly (4,5)

TOOK ISSUE : TUE(abbrev. for “Tuesday”) containing(without) [ O(letter signifying 0;love in tennis scores) + O(letter signifying 0;nothing) + KISS(to touch fondly with the lips) ].

16 1 across — brown book doesn’t need one (9)

DUNGENESS : DUN(a brown colour) + “Genesis”(the book in the Old Testament) minus(doesn’t need) “I”(Roman numeral for “one”).

Defn: A nuclear power station in Kent, England.

17 Capacity fit for 1 across (8)

SIZEWELL : SIZE(capacity;how big something is) + WELL(fit;satisfactory).

Defn: A nuclear power station in Suffolk, England.

18 Did you see me scoffing a black, edible root? (6)

WASABI : [WAS I?](did you see me …?, as in “did you see me doing that?”) containing(scoffing) [ A + B(abbrev. for “black”) ].

Defn: … which tastes like strong horseradish and used with Japanese food.

20 Property last on terrace, say (6)

ESTATE : The last letter of(last on) “terrace” + STATE(to say).

21 Good gone bad, one fancied? (6)

PIGEON : PI(good, from “pious”) + anagram of(… bad) GONE.

Cryptic defn: Reference to “fancy pigeons”, a type of domestic pigeons, bred by pigeon fanciers.

23 First letter on hunger? (5)

AITCH : A(first letter in the English alphabet) + ITCH(a hunger;a longing for). Another WIWD clue.

24 Delicate material under 1 across (5)

OR Delicate material under power station (5)

PLACE : LACE(delicate cloth material) placed below(under, in a down clue) P(symbol for “power” in physics).

Defn: …;a person’s rank or status.

37 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27218 Paul”

  1. Thanks scchua, and, as ever, Paul

    I think 8dn is ‘not’ in (a) sty so ‘not’ is like a pig in its shelter……

    Togo

  2. Excellent puzzle although it took a while.

    8d is ‘NOT’ in ‘STY’

    Loved 24d – very clever.

    Thanks both.

  3. Found this one more of a challenge to parse than to solve – once POWER STATION was in place the rest became a lot easier, as all of the power stations were familiar. Last to parse was WEEKLONG – took me ages to see the hairy king! All quite entertaining despite some pretty meaningless surfaces…

    Thanks to Paul and scchua

  5. Thanks Paul and scchua

    I expect that Paul had more fun setting this than I had solving it. For a long time I was looking at a grid with just EDGY entered, then I guessed CHANTERELLES, saw “Sellafield” and hence POWER STATION, then it was just a case of fitting in as many as I could remember (though I failed to get Fukushima in!)

    I took “Strike” as BATTER in 25a, so couldn’t parse the SEA bit.

    I liked SNOTTY (not in sty, which swine would be) and PIGEON.

  10. Much too late to get in with the SNOTTY parsing… Like Muffin @5 I was initially held up at 25ac by taking BATTER not BAT as ‘strike’. Unlike Muffin I came late not early to CHANTERELLES: agree with Togo @6 in specially liking that and COMEDIENNE (how familiar will that ‘French’ be to overseas solvers?).

  11. Thanks Paul and scchua.

    Dawn French, didn’t see that one, doh! And I wondered what MEDIEN meant. Fancy Paul cluing WEE as minute.

    I did like the flat-dweller and the SNOTTY swine.

  12. Thanks to Paul and scchua. Very difficult for me (tougher than several recent prize puzzles). I did get POWER STATION early on and knew several (THREE MILE ISLAND, BATTERSEA, DUNGENESS) but not WINDSCALE and SIZEWELL and did not spot the Sellafield ELEMENT in CHANTERELLES (a mushroom new to me). I guessed COMEDIENNE from the crossers but did not parse it (I missed Dawn French) and also missed the PRESENT-anchor connection. A struggle.

  13. Thank you Paul for a tricky puzzle and scchua for a very helpful blog.

    Like beery hiker @3, I found this harder to parse than to solve. I wanted to enter SNOOTY at 8d, but it would not parse, and 12a had to be ELEMENT. Then got tied up with COMEDIENNE, trying to account for the lost M in COMME (“for example”, in French), ‘Motor way’? Then had trouble with WASABI, it is a stem, not a root…

  14. Not much luck here despite getting the top half solved (eventually), though I did need to check 11a ANNULAR in the dictionary. Thought I was on the road to success when I got POWER STATION at 1a with several other clues referencing it, but sadly I only knew THREE MILE ISLAND at 4d 7d due to the nuclear accident, and BATTERSEA at 25a from the Pink Floyd album cover of “Animals”, and did not know the other power stations.

    If I had solved 19a, I would have known Dawn French for 19a COMEDIENNE as “The Vicar of Dibley” was shown in Australia, and we have also see her in numerous other roles. But sadly BATTERSEA was my only solve in the bottom half.

    Favourite of the ones I did solve was the authoritarian woman, DOMINATRIX 13a.

    Thanks to Paul and scchua.

  15. For once I had finished before the blogger [09:35] (I seem to “get” Paul much easier than any other setter, perhaps my mind is as dirty as his 😉 )
    Still failed to parse everything, so thanks to scchua for working it all out.

  16. Thanks to Paul and scchua

    I found this a tricky solve on a rather 15ac day.

    Feeling slightly pedantic, I am not sure that Windscale is/was strictly speaking a power station. The Windscale piles produced plutonium, and there was a prototype gas-cooled reactor. The power station on the site was called Calder Hall.

  18. Like muffin @ 5 I found this very hard work and was also staring at a grid with just EDGY entered for a while, then got CHANTERELLES. Finally completed the puzzle apart from COMEDIENNE (lovely clue, now I know the answer). Favourites were PIGEON, CHANTERELLES, THREE MILE ISLAND and SNOTTY. Many thanks to Paul and scchua.

  19. As soon as I saw that I was expected to know the names of British power plants, I knew I was in trouble. I got most of the top half, eventually, but then decided to throw in the towel.

    Definitely NOT a puzzle designed to please the un-British among us, as Julie in Australia and ACD [in someplace in the American northeast, I’ve gathered over the years] have already pointed out.

  21. Hard work but ultimately satisfying. The gateway POWER STATION was no write-in and there were some great clues including COMEDIENNE, CHANTERELLES and even the unexciting looking but v. clever AITCH.

    Thanks to Paul for a thoroughly enjoyable challenge and to scchua for the usual clear and helpful blog.

  22. My, this was hard to get going! Similar to muffin@5 and others, I had only EDGY, SNOTTY and ESTATE for a long time. I finally had to cheat on the long anagram for 4d to make any progress, but now regret doing so. I had guessed very tentatively STATION for 1a, had a tentative PLAINSMAN (couldn’t parse it) and something about WEEK for 2d; if only I had written the P and W in I would have solved 1ac. Lesson 1 for the future – be more bold; lesson 2 (yet again), PI is also Good, not just G.

    Thanks Paul and scchua.

  23. After getting 2d WEEKLONG and 15a EDGY I wondered if I was going to make headway with this puzzle as it was somewhat dependent on the theme. Fortunately the W of WEEKLONG was enough for me to get 1a POWER STATION, and from that piece of luck most of the crossword followed. I thought the theme was incorporated very well, making the crossword interesting and entertaining for the most part.

    I felt for the non-British among us, although 4/7d THREE MILE ISLAND was obviousy accessible to some non-Brits!

    As other commenters have said, solving was one thing and parsing quite another for rather too many clues, and that left me somewhat disappointed at the end. However, I can’t point to any unfairness in the clues – only a few examples of clunky surfaces.

    I left 27a CHANTERELLES at the end because it was doubly obscure (for me).

    Thanks to Paul and scchua.

  24. 1. Am I alone in thinking that 24 down is unique in that the definition is part of a different answer?

    2. If I moved to a different country, I would expect crosswords there to feature topics relevant to that country.

  25. Paul’s toughness is legendary!

    I think there are two ways of parsing 3d. RADAR is a palindrome, as you say – but most forms of Radar employ a rotating antenna – also ‘revolutionary’ I suppose. So it could be just a cryptic def.

    24d is the difficult one. Is it fair to cross-reference 1a but then use the two words of 1a in a different manner – one as part of the wordplay and the other as the definition? Probably some other editors wouldn’t allow that.

  26. Don’t understand 24dn. Where is the definition? Otherwise a great crossword from our favourite setter.

  27. I came to this rather late and
    I found it quite a straightforward solve-although I gave up on the parsing of COMEDIENNE. LOI was WEEKLONG- I really kicked myself when I finally saw KONG.
    Thanks Paul.

    Ps. I hope all who can have voted!

  28. Thanks both,

    I was having difficulty with 19a but accidentally did a reveal when I was checking another clue. Then I realised I wasn’t going to get it in a million years. Super puzzle, one of Paul’s best. Favourite was 8d.

  29. Reply to Tenerife Miller (26)

    The definition is in the answer to 1 across – the word “station” here meaning “place” as in “know your place/station”.

    Really enjoyed the puzzle by the way.

  30. We completed this with great difficulty. Our hope is to do the crossword together over brakfast. This time we managed only 2 clues (edgy and weeklong). When we got back together we got 1 across and quickly finished the top half. But the rest slower. We completed it but failed to parse comedienne and chanterelles. Still – a great challenge and very satisfying to finish it. Thanks to Paul and Scchua

  31. Thanks setter and blogger.

    I think this teeters over the precipice of acceptability; clues such as COMEDIENNE and SWAHILI – and to a slightly lesser extent DOMINATRIX, TOOK ISSUE and WASABI – were like unpleasant Russian dolls, requiring multiple solves then to be packed one inside the other. It’s no wonder the blogger is receiving hosannas today. And the surface for POWER STATION wasn’t great, which is a shame for a gateway clue and which will have caused many a pot-shot at the WPB. The W from WEEKLONG (liked that) eventually led to a dawn chorus, followed by a shaft of light and a parsing disappointment: well – it’s just a string of synonyms with no surface meaning that I can spot.

    I did like PLACE and SNOTTY. And I do like Paul.

  32. Alan B @ 23 – A quick google of British power stations helped make quick work of this puzzle since the wordplay was so straightforward. Of course, TMI was an immediate write-in and all Doctor Who fans already are familiar with Battersea Station. Maybe I just got enough sleep last night but I felt this was the easiest Paul puzzle I’ve seen in a very long time. I couldn’t parse PLACE though, but as usual, it seems so obvious in retrospect.

    Thanks to Paul and to Scchua.

  33. Bleudot @32
    I’m not quite sure why you addressed me in particular, but it might be because I said “solving was one thing and parsing quite another for rather too many clues”. (And a couple of other commenters had similar experiences.)
    I can only say well done for finding the wordplay straightforward and making quick work of this crossword. I had to proceed more slowly (for which not being online to Google or anything else was only one reason and probably not the main one), and I had to work out THREE MILE ISLAND rather than just write it in.
    The majority of clues were well-crafted as I always expect from Paul, and the only two I had great difficulty with were COMEDIENNE and CHANTERELLES.

  34. Quite a lukewarm reception for this puzzle, reading all the comments so far.
    Whether it was one of Paul’s easiest or not – Bleudot @32 thinks it is, I do not – I/we thought this was Paul as we like him.

    23d (AITCH) is a marvellous clue and together with the FT’s Orense’s ‘Fill in forms at election? (4)‘ my Clue of the Day.
    1ac came quite early but didn’t guarantee an easy solve.
    19ac (COMEDIENNE) was our last one in and another one that deserves to be nominated for Clue of the Day.

    You’re absolutely right, beeryhiker @3, when ‘complaining’ about meaningless surfaces but, as I said recently, was Araucaria your man when it came to beautiful surface readings?

    The clever use of the theme in 24d (PLACE) and 27ac (CHANTERELLES) was something that did my cryptic heart beat faster.

    Only having the final T in 26ac, we’d hoped for COURT being the answer but alas!

    Full marks to Paul.
    Apparently, going a step up does confuse those who expect a crossword at his usual (what we think) easyish level (like last Saturday’s prize).
    In my/our opinion, today Paul made clear why he is still one of the very best.

    Many thanks for the blog, scchua.

  35. Too hard for me. Usually I can solve Paul’spuzzles, but not this one. I failed to solve most of the SE – 19, 24, 26a and 14, 17, 20, 21, 24d.

    Of the ones I solved I could not parse 1d, 8d nor did I know what 27a WIND SCALE means.

    Thanks Paul and scchua

  36. Brian Clough Fan@24, (even though this is posted so late that you probably won’t see it) – that certainly wasn’t a complaint that the puzzle had references to several British Power Stations, just an observation about why my solve was only partial. I appreciate that I have chosen to do puzzles from the UK, and enjoy acquiring new information. I learn more from those I can’t solve than those I can! And Paul remains my favourite setter; just one example of why that is so is that it was especially fun for me to retrieve BATTERSEA from my general knowledge bank for 25a.

  37. Maybe it was just the order in which we solved it, but was anyone else struck by the large number of Es among the crossing letters (13 out of 58, and coincidentally also only 13 crossing letters that score more than 1 in Scrabble)? Great crossword nevertheless.

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