Guardian Cryptic 27,273 by Paul

Great fun from Paul – many favourites including 1ac, 22ac, 2dn, 4/19dn, 15dn, 23dn, and especially 12ac.

Across
1 FOX NEWS Female faking sex now, organ not to be trusted? (3,4)
=news “organ not to be trusted”
F[emale] plus (sex now)*
5 CLEAVER Chops primarily one’s splitting, as tool (7)
C[hops], plus LEAVER=”one [who]’s splitting”
9 LARGO Broadly similar, gold cups (5)
=broadly and slowly
Hidden in [simi]LAR GO[ld]
10 OBSTINATE Stubborn stain needs to be shifted (9)
(stain to be)*
11 IN EVERY WAY Completely fashionable, sewn? (2,5,3)
IN=”fashionable”; plus EVERY WAY=”sewn“=S[outh] E[ast] W[est] N[orth]
12 KING Top guy, Ali departs African capital having shut up Foreman, finally (4)
KIGALI=”African capital” of Rwanda, minus ALI and around [Forema]N
the surface references The Rumble In The Jungle, where Ali defeated Foreman in Kinshasa, another African capital
14 MANSPREADING Liberal Democrats initially anger PM, a sin taking more than one seat? (12)
=taking up extra space with spread legs
(D[emocrats] anger PM a sin)*, with “Liberal” as anagrind
18 HORSE-TRADING Hard or firm, call commercial breaks shrewd business (5-7)
H[ard] OR; plus SET=”firm”; plus RING=”call” on the phone, with AD=”commercial” breaking into it
21 DUPE Trick unionists’ alliance, ultimately (4)
DUP=Democratic Unionist Party; plus [allianc]E
22 SUPERMODEL Moss perhaps old, presume going to seed? (10)
=referring to Kate Moss
(old presume)*
25 WORDSMITH Gold medal alongside pens for prolific writer (9)
OR=”Gold” in heraldry, plus DSM=Distinguished Service Medal; both penned inside WITH=”alongside”
26   See 7
27 DAYLONG Always pound squeezed by foreign currency for a short period (7)
AY=”Always”, plus L[ibra]=”pound”; both inside DONG=Vietnamese currency
28 RESERVE Book store (7)
double definition
Down
1 FILLIP Lift prince by the ears? (6)
=a boost/lift of e.g. morale
sounds like [Prince] Philip; and the surface alludes to Prince Charles’s ears
2 XERXES Relations with 12 looking up for old 12 (6)
=a Persian king
SEX=”Relations”, plus REX=KING=12ac; both reversed/”looking up”
3 EXONERATED Previous individual assessed, found not guilty (10)
EX=”Previous”; ONE=”individual”; RATED=”assessed”
4, 19 STORY EDITOR Originally starring George Osborne, say, one employed to change film script (5,6)
S[tarring], plus TORY EDITOR=”George Osborne, say” – the former Tory Chancellor turned editor of the Evening Standard
5 COSTARRED Round middle of tree, apple was also highly featured (2-7)
[t]RE[e], inside COSTARD=a cooking “apple”
6 ERIE Lake near river, oddly drained (4)
the odd letters drained away from [n]E[a]R [r]I[v]E[r]
7, 26 VLADIMIR PUTIN  World leader — negotiating with Trump and I invalid (8,5)
(Trump I invalid)*
8 RE-ENGAGE Funny parts author, scratching head, gets to attach again (2-6)
GAG=”Funny”, parting [Graham G]REENE=”author, scratching head”
13 MAGNUM OPUS Sorcerer’s inspired upon newly embracing Mahler’s first great work (6,4)
MAGUS=”Sorceror”, taking in/inspiring (upon)*, and around M[ahler]
15 SPROUTING In season, blossoming? (9)
OUT in SPRING, &lit
16 SHADOWED Dogged attitude defining leaders in broadcast (8)
=Dogged as a verb=followed
leading letters of A[ttitude] D[efining] in SHOWED=”broadcast”
17 PROPERTY Nose picking beginning to obsess cheeky character (8)
PRY=”Nose”, around O[bsess] and PERT=”cheeky”
19   See 4
20 GLANCE Look good with weapon (6)
G[ood] plus LANCE=”weapon”
23 ETHER The heavens opening in earnest, the rainstorm’s beginning (5)
E[arnest], THE, R[ainstorm]
24 ASBO Order to be civil, it having restricted youth? (4)
=Anti Social Behaviour Order
AS BO[y]=”having restricted youth”

34 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,273 by Paul”

  1. Thanks Paul for a fine and fun puzzle, and to manehi for help with more parsing than I care to admit. I got off to a very slow start and thought I was in for a hard time but once VLADIMIR PUTIN, FOX NEWS and MAGNUM OPUS went in the rest yielded quite steadily. Many many great clues but I will mention 1a and 1d and 14a, which brought a twinkle to the eye.

  2. Very enjoyable. Thanks to Paul and manehi.

    Many of my favourites have already been mentioned, but I also circled 5a CLEAVER, 7,26d VLADIMIR PUTIN, 8d RE-ENGAGE, and 13d MAGNUM OPUS as super clues. The use of “sewn” for 11a IN EVERY WAY was very clever too.

    I must admit I couldn’t parse 6d ERIE, as I got the R, I and E as the odd letters from “drained” rather than from “near river”. Doh! I hadn’t heard of an ASBO (24d), my LOI, so after guessing it from the wordplay, I had to google it to check what the abbreviation meant.

    What a terrific week of challenge it’s been from five fine setters!

  3. Paul in top form, includind 1D and1A in particular – a good chuckle right at the outset. Thanks manehi for elucidating for me the splitting in 5A and the PRY/nose in 17D.

  4. Adi @ 5 – I think AY is Scottish. Quite common crossword fare.

    I got through this rather more speedily than the usual Paul puzzle. Couldn’t parse a couple; favourites were FILLIP (LOL), MANSPREADING and SUPERMODEL. Many thanks to Paul and manehi.

  5. Pleasant enough but the standards this week have been so high that I found this a bit humdrum, though Paul is always entertaining. ASBO was last in.

    Thanks to Paul and manehi

  6. As entertaining as we’d expect from Paul. I liked the way the ‘old friends’ eg 28a, 20d etc, gave helpful checking letters for the more ‘tricky’ clues

    Thanks to Paul and manehi

  7. good fun, with plenty of fresh and entertaining clues. Like many others, I’ve no idea how Paul does it.
    This puzzle was remarkable for the number of uses – into double figures – of single-letter indicators like originally, finally, primarily, ultimately, initially etc.
    Thanks to S&B

  8. This was great fun – and a fitting end to a great week for crosswords (echoing Julie @4), in which I found the time to try them all.

    I dimly remembered MANSPREADING from a previous crossword (an Imogen last November, where it was ‘man-spreading’), but I’ve never met the word anywhere else. The clue, though, clearly led to an obviously correct answer.

    I liked particularly the references to real people and things: Fox News, Putin, Trump, Moss and Osborne. Having said that, I thought 12a KING was a bit clunky, but the connected pair KING and XERXES was very neat, and 2d XERXES was one of my favourite clues today. Another was 1d FILLIP.

    Many thanks to Paul and manehi.

  9. Thanks Alan – I didn’t think of searching for the hyphenated version but there is also this one:
    Arachne 26720: Manspreading, perhaps, blighting men’s igloo? (9)

  10. And thanks for that other reference, beery (@15). Now that you’ve cited it I remember that one too, where the neologism ‘manspreading’ is in the clue and not the answer.

  11. Thanks to Paul and manehi. As usual I needed some help in parsing (e.g., STORY EDITOR) but I proceeded smoothly and much enjoyed the process.

  12. Very entertaining effort from Paul again.
    I liked the very simple but beautiful “Book store” clue. KING is brilliant because of the surface. I took a while to see 22, having first tried Moss as a driver (Stirling Moss), then, seeing “mould” for the last part, guessing it was a botanical definition. The U crosser from the excellent SPROUTING put me right finally.
    ASBO is a little odd. “It” seems to have no function except as linker. I wondered if there was a missing reversal indicator with “It” being SA. I would feel more comfortable if the clue had read “Order to be civil when having restricted youth?” A minor qualm in a fine Friday puzzle.

    Thanks, Paul and manehi.

  13. Thanks, Paul and manehi.

    Very enjoyable.

    Martin @11 Congratulations, and I hope many more for you.

  14. The top half went in apace – the bottom much more slowly. Like others I like contemporary references and the nice twist on the Trump-Putin saga. It will be interesting to see if Trump’s current distraction tactic (I’m loathe to credit him with anything as coherent as a strategy) with the North Korea bluster makes an appearance. DUPE was also a nice political reference.
    My LOI was PROPERTY and it wasn’t until I came here that the character definition became obvious. Let’s hope tomorrow’s prize keeps up the week’s standard. Thanks to Paul, manehi and everyone.

  15. Thanks Dave@19. Don’t really know why I haven’t got on with Paul so far, though I do remember one of his, for me, brilliant clues from somewhere:
    Side order of synthetic cream (10,4)
    if you haven’t come across it before.

  16. A fitting end to a fine week. I sometimes have a go at the editor for not checking puzzles before publication, but all credit to him for such a fantastic sequence. It’s always good to have a chuckle at 1a, and FOX NEWS certainly did that!

    For too long I had SPRINGING at 15d, which would have been prosaic indeed, thus this and SUPERMODEL – the latter hiding in plain sight – were delayed.

  17. Martin @21 – that one was by Orlando (puzzle no. 24199). It is a fine clue all the same…

  18. beery @24, Martin @25
    … and the blogger of that old Orlando puzzle wrote: ‘had I not known it was by Orlando I would have guessed Paul.’

  19. I found this more difficult than usual for Paul especially on the W side- DAYLONG and ASBO held out the longest. The way in came with the truly brilliant FOX NEWS which has had me smiling since I solved it.
    All is forgiven.
    Thanks Paul.

  20. Sorry, I’m really not seeing SPROUTING. It doesn’t mean “blossoming”, and why does “in” give “out”? I suppose “out” means ” blossoming”, but…

    Loved SHADOWED for the “dogged”!

  21. ..oh, and FOX NEWS, of course.

    I suppose SPROUTING is OUT in SPRING, but “sprouting” means “sending shoots up”; “blossoming” is making flowers, which happens subsequently.

  22. muffin @28, @29
    In the wordplay, OUT is meant to mean ‘blossoming’, which I think it does, and you put that in SPRING (season). The extended definition has a question mark, which to me indicates that it is should be taken as more fanciful than literal. Then you just have to decide if it works – or is just too fanciful!

  23. Interestingly topical stuff (I particularly liked 1ac), but with some tricky moments.

    I bunged in RUSE fairly confidently at 21ac, assuming unionists’ = RU’s, which held me up for a while.

    I agree with phitonelly about 24dn: I’d have been more comfortable with “when” instead of “it”. And my mind also went to Stirling (and Bros, and even The IT Crowd) before Kate.

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