Guardian 27,297 / Puck

59 comments on “Guardian 27,297 / Puck”

1. An enjoyable crossword. I knew both birds which helped enormously. Initally, I biffed piano forte from the letters and had to correct later on.
   I had never come across Flapdoodle and wrote it in from the cryptic.

2. I was bowling along quite nicely then got stuck on the NW corner. Tried “sis” and “bro” for “relative” but for some inexplicable reason I never thought of “son”, so was left with —OROUS. Whether the O would have helped me to TOMORROW and thereby FRAPPE, well, we’ll never know.

   I’ll lick my wounds and look forward to Saturday’s Prize.

   Thanks, Puck and Eileen.

3. That was more like it. Very precise clueing. Many thanks Puck and Eileen. Couldn’t parse 22ac. And didn’t know dpi. Oddly loi was 9ac which was obvious only the moment after the penny dropped. Can’t see a theme either but agree that there are ominous signs of one.

4. Thanks to Puck and Eileen.

   Quite a challenge for me from one of my favourite setters, but when I got 23a HOOTENANNY (my favourite clue) early, and then FLAPDOODLE@11, I was on my way.

   I actually twigged that the repetition at 25a and 8d “May claim this” might refer to your PM; although I didn’t know the “STRONG” and STABLE” slogan. But those two words seem to be pretty characteristic of conservative election campaigns around the world.

   I did not parse the “Patience” part of the STRONG clue though.

   Re TOFFEE 3d – are the two Es quarters of the compass?

   Just a tiny typo in 4d HAND-PICK, Eileen.

5. Thanks, Julie @4 – blog amended.

   Yes, quarter does usually indicate compass point and that’s how I took it – but I don’t get the ‘altogether’.

   May’s ‘strong and stable’ was widely exploited by journalists et al as ‘weak and wobbly’.

6. As you said Eileen – well-constructed, witty and sparkling clues. My favourites were 14a, 22a, 23a and 1d. As Xjpotter@3 my LOI was 9a. I thought the clue for 17a was trying too hard and I didn’t parse 26a although it’s obvious enough now. No theme spotted by me either – but that’s usual. Thanks to Puck for the fun and Eileen the exposition.

7. Did anyone else flirt with taradiddle for 11a? I’d never heard of flapdoodle.

8. My second favourite setter, well on form today. Couldn’t parse FLAPDOODLE.

9. Thanks Puck for a sparkling puzzle.

   Thanks Eileen for a nice blog. As well as STRONG and STABLE, I think the WHIP POOR WILL might relate to William Hague’s advocacy for a soft Brexit. Maybe some of the other references such as DO-GOODER and LAID-BACK refer to the remainers? And MAY is probably in a right FLAPDOODLE about it all. There is also a NINA: ‘Ah, read eg EU dopy’, which MAY or MAY not be a coincidence.

10. I found this one quiite straightforward by Puck’s standards, and FLAPDOODLE was the only one that held me up for long, though I couldn’t parse STRONG because the poet was unfamiliar. A very nice puzzle.

    Thanks to Puck and Eileen

11. Thank you Puck and Eileen.

    An intriguing puzzle, very enjoyable. Both FLAPDOODLE and HOOTENANNY were new to me, but gettable from their clues. I failed to parse STRONG and only partially parsed HAND-PICK, having forgotten Dots Per Inch.

12. Eileen, I took “altogether” in 3D as an indicator for putting “toff” and “ee” together to make sweet = TOFFEE.

13. Thanks to Puck and Eileen. Tough going for me. I did know FLAPDOODLE and HOOTENANNY but not DES RES and STRONG and STABLE.

14. A very enjoyable puzzle, deserving of the praise given to it. 1d TOMORROW tops the list of my favourite clues, for its succinct and witty definition and the excellent surface.

    I agree with what’s been said about clarity and precision in clueing. Just to take one example: I’ve never heard of WHIPPOORWILL, and I couldn’t believe it was a word, but I solved it (on the bus) straight from cat + bad + intention and checked it when I got home.

    I will venture to say that in a week of 5 very contrasting puzzles this one was the best in quality, from the point of view not only of a solver but also of an occasional setter getting inspiration from the professionals.

15. Etiquette, Alan! (@14)
    Many thanks to both Puck and Eileen.

16. Back here after a hiatus–partly because I do half as many crosswords these days, partly because I have little to say about the ones I do, and partly because I’ve been doing them later in the day after things had already been said.

    I failed on DES RES which is a Britishism. Is FLAPDOODLE an Americanism? That’d explain all the people who don’t know it. HOOTENANNY is definitely an American word.

    I also couldn’t parse STRONG, though I’d heard about the “strong and stable” thing, so I BIFD it.

17. Might the double letters hint at ‘doublespeak’, ‘double-dealing’, ‘double Dutch’, or something similar?

18. [Welcome back mrpenney, I was worried and posted a message a few weeks ago.]

19. Excellent mainly because the surfaces were so good, unlike some of yesterday’s…

20. What a lovely puzzle, and crammed full of lovely words. Glad I managed to get the unknown FLAPDOODLE, though the two I had most trouble with were the crossers of LEERIEST and EYEGLASS…

21. Like Chris in France @2, I tried every jokey familial abbreviation — SIS, BRO, NAN, MUM, DAD and more — and never thought of the non-abbreviated SON.

    Yank that I am, I have heard of whippoorwills (American nightjars, if that’s any help — didn’t do a thing for me), but I still couldn’t get the answer till I hit “reveal.” You can hear the bird’s eponymous call, though, if you google it and go to YouTube. I hadn’t heard it before and it’s far from obvious why anybody thought it sounded like “Whip-poor-will.” Bob White, now, that’s a bird that says its name. I used to imitate them when I heard one, and sometimes could get one to answer.

    I’ve also run across DES RES somewhere, but didn’t get that either. I thought I remembered that Huckleberry Finn had somewhere in it “This page reserved for kisses and other flapdoodle,” but couldn’t find that anywhere.

    This is my first puzzle in five days or so, having been away for a bit, so I don’t know about the comments on the other days’ puzzles, but this was a delightful welcome home.

    Thanks to Puck and Eileen. Eileen, most of the doubled letters seem to be O. Which word had three pairs? I couldn’t find it.

22. According to Moaljodad in the other place:

    “If there is a subject theme I can’t see it, but there are 19 examples of a particular thing in the grid.”

    Can someone please put me out of my misery and tell me what they are? The trouble with looking for patterns is that you tend to find too many; Theresa May, cats, birds, and things-to-do-with-music (though hootenanny, piano stool and ukulele don’t seem to go together very well) are some of the mini-themes I have played with. Also short forms of men’s names (Bill, Will and Des).

    I was quite pleased to get close to the end on this one. I hadn’t heard of flapdoodle and as it was the antepenultimate, I revealed it – I don’t think I would ever have got it from staring at the grid. Then I got fed up and revealed the last two, though “toffee” I think I should have got once I had the F from flapdoodle in.

    I felt a bit iffy about 19d – using the definition as anagram fodder? – but there was lots to like. Faves were 20a, 22d and the Theresa May pair.

    Thanks to Puck, Eileen – and to anyone who can solve the mystery “theme”!

23. Hi Valentine @21 – didn’t you notice when you typed the name of your bird? 😉

    and Trismegistus @22 – well, I hadn’t counted but there seem to be 19 examples of double letters.

24. Thanks both,

    An unusually wide range of entertaining devices. I cheated with a wild card search of OED for my last three, and each time was astonished that I’d missed the answer. I think that must indicate very good clues – fairly clued, hard to find and obvious in retrospect.

25. Trismegistus@22. I think 19d works ok as an &lit so not really doing double duty.

26. Eileen @23 – I started counting double letters and got to around 15 before getting bored. I did think after reading Valentine @21’s comment (which must have come up while I was typing mine) about double letters that that might be the “theme”. But then I thought, if that proves to be the case, then it will be like Christmas come early. And Christmas is always such a huge anticlimax (well, after about the age of twelve it is…)

    So I think I am resigned to the disappointment, though perhaps I should admire Puck even more for getting so many words in with doubled letters – if that indeed was the intention!

27. Why is by handy?

28. Tc@27 I took this to be “near by”, so within easy reach

29. The best of an excellent week. Lovely surfaces – and the double letters didn’t help one bit! Thanks to everyone.

30. My Blue Heaven indeed – I loved this, the best for the week. Challenging, but satisfying rather than exhausting (as some hard ones can be) and including fun words such as WHIPPOORWILL, FLAPDOODLE and HOOTENANNY. Thanks for explaining the parsing which I missed, eg the DPI in 4d and DAY BED.

    Almost unfair to pick a favourite but the surface for DES RES brought the biggest smile.

    Thank you to Puck and Eileen

31. Hi Wordplodder @30 ‘My Blue Heaven indeed’: I nearly said that that’s where I first heard ‘whippoorwill’, as a child – such a strange-sounding word that I remember looking it up.

32. Hello Eileen @31. Yes, My Blue Heaven was certainly the first time I’d ever heard of ‘whippoorwill’ which I still instantly associate with the song. Very corny I’m sure, but I still like it.

33. Haven’t heard Hootenanny used since the sixties folk boom- and I had to look up FLAPDOODLE. I struggled a bit with this and I can’t think why now I’ve seen the completed grid. I especially liked LAID BACK and TOMORROW- and the references to the hapless Theresa! I suspected a theme but I can’t see one. Perhaps Puck is teasing us!
    Thanks Puck.

    Ps I think “poet” is pushing it a bit for Patience Strong!

34. @21 Valentine

    I did go and listen to “Whippoorwill” and “Bob White”, and I have to say that I do think that the former is more believable than the latter.

    But then, there is a lot of interpretation in these things. My dad used to insist that the yellowhammer was singing “A little bit of bread and no cheese” – couldn’t see it myself, but please, you be the judge:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxwghyuHzzQ

    🙂

35. Enjoyed this, but failed ito get WHIPPOORWILL which I had never heard of, and ended up unsure of SE.
    Also missed the parsing for STRONG though I guessed the answer. Not sure why you need both ‘may claim’ and ‘this’ for the def, reads funny to me.

    Many thanks puck and eileen

36. Thanks to Puck for an excellent puzzle, and to Eileen.

    Valentine @21

    When I first heard a whippoorwill (they’re remarkably loud), I was in no doubt about the bird’s name, which I knew probably from My Blue Heaven. Perhaps it is not so much the phonetic values, but the rising inflection on WHIP, followed by a slight hesitation.
    The OED does not give your quote for FLAPDOODLE, but it does give another from Mark Twain “A speech, all full of tears and flapdoodle”. It also gives a contemporaneous quote from Charles Kingsley, so the word seems not to be exclusively American.

37. There obviously aren’t many Jools Holland fans here – he has a hootenanny party on BBC2 on New Year’s Eve.

38. Hi WhiteKing @37 – that’s the only place I’d ever heard of it!

39. High incidence of good surfaces suggests to me that there probably isn’t a theme.

40. Great puzzle – took me quite a time to finish, but very satisfying. Favourites were DES RES, HOOTENANNY and LAID-BACK. Many thanks to Puck and Eileen.

41. Eileen @23 — Ha! I missed the two p’s in WHIP POOR WILL across the word boundaries. Thank you for putting me out of my misery.

    I’ve heard of “My Blue Heaven” but don’t think I’ve actually heard it, or if I have I don’t remember the whippoorwill. It occurs in other songs, though.

42. On the subject of consecutive double letters i have a word with 3. Are there others, or one with 4?

    Bookkeeper

43. Woolly

44. Thanks Puck and Eileen – this was nice – I kept feeling that I was getting stuck and then had a tangential flash of inspiration – my only “cheat” was that I had a vague memory of “flapdiddle” and looked it up – which then alerted me to “flapdoodle” which fitted the bill and was presumably the basis of my vague memory (and I think my favourite clue) – oh dear, I wrote Des Res in without parsing (I didn’t bother thinking about it) because it was so clearly the answer – Suzee would never have let me do that 🙂 anyway once I thought about it the parsing became clear – I don’t think Jules Hollands’ New Year’s Eve shindig is spelled the same way – I think it’s hootnay (without checking) – but I am certainly a fan and it helped me – lots of variety and nice misdirection – a pleasure…

45. DP @44 – your memory of Mr Holland’s new year show is not the same as mine. As for WHIPPOORWILL I have Sad Song by M Ward to thank for my familiarity…

46. I seemed to be on the right wavelength, so made fairly short work of this one. I’m another who first came across WHIPPOORWILL in My Blue Heaven.

47. People of a certain age (mine!) will remember Professor Yaffle in Bagpuss dismissing a ridiculous suggestion as ‘Fiddlestcks and FLAPDOODLE’

48. “From a whippoorwill way up on a hill they took a blue note. Pushed it through a horn until it was worn into a new note” – from The Birth of the Blues. Now I’ll have to listen to Classic FM (25 +1 day) to gt rid of the earworm.
    Thanks to Puck and Eileen

49. Only 2

50. Thanks Puck and Eileen. I got most of this but gave up on a few. Des Res was a new one on me.

    Regarding “flapdoodle”, I recalled that from Huckleberry Finn, which contains an incident where the king gives a speech “all tears and flapdoodle” about how sad he is to have found his long-lost brother only to find that he is diseased.

51. And my Whippoorwill came from a familiar JJ Cale song.
    It’s the very first word of ‘Magnolia’ – later, in 1973, covered by Poco on their album ‘Crazy Eyes’.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2eTYu-N6hc
    Yes, boys & girls, it’s not all Classic FM nowadays! 🙂

52. Sil – I’ve had the J J Cale song in my head since I finished the puzzle – glad to find (finally) that I wasn’t alone.

    Thanks as ever to Puck and Eileen

53. Whippoorwill is the triplet.

54. Iain @53: explain, please.

55. Sil @53 – I think that Ian@53 must be responding to Valentine @21. See replies @23 and 41.

56. Rewolf @42 subbookkeeper.

57. Seven Double Os … thought it could lead to a theme but (even after a week of convoluted thought)

    neither

    laid-back do-gooder, who’ll swear by whip(ped) frappe and sonorous appeal of ukulele, who will prance and badinage tomorrow on stable piano stool in oporto des res

    nor

    leeriest daybed hootenanny flapdoodle where strong boor in eyeglass spoonbills poor handpick(ed) gallic toffee

    brings to mind OO7

58. anyone else put MOUSSE (moue + se) for 3d? That stopped me getting flapdoodle until I checked mousse online and figured it must be toffee.

59. There are 19 double letters in the puzzle.

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