Guardian Cryptic 27,480 by Picaroon

by

There’s a lot to like about this Picaroon puzzle, but one glaring spelling mistake ruins the whole.

Unless someone can convince me that there is such a word as PALAEONTOLIGIST, this puzzle was imperfect.  Which is a huge shame, as the rest of the crossword was, in the main, excellent and challenging, with some fantastic clues, with my favourites being 10ac, 16ac, 241c, 8dn and 15dn.

Thanks, Picaroon

Across
1 PHOTO FINISH Climax that’s close, if in posh hot pants (5,6)
*(if in posh hot)
9 CELLIST Maybe Irishman gathering lily in bower (7)
CELT (“maybe Irishman”) gathering LIS (“lily”)
10 PYRAMID Low walls queen knocked over in burial place (7)
DIP (“low”) walls MARY (“queen”), and the whole reversed (knocked over), so P(YRAM)ID
11 BEEKEEPER Overseer of colony‘s alarmed cry, breaking pager (9)
EEK (“alarmed cry”) breaking BEEPER (“pager”)
12 SHEBA Not a sound president backing Arabian kingdom (5)
SH (“not a sound”) + <=ABE (“president” Lincoln, backing)
13 GENT Land bordering northern cove (4)
GET (“land”) bordering N(orthern)
14 ADULTERATE Make impure drug, cutting what mature people pay (10)
E(cstasy) (“drug”) cutting ADULT RATE (“what mature people pay”)
16 SPOILSPORT Misery, as loot gets left (10)
SPOILS (“loot”) + PORT (“left”)
19 EDIT Current ebbing for a change (4)
<=TIDE (“current”, ebbing)
21 DEISM Belief in crusade is misplaced (5)
Hidden in “crusaDE IS Misplaced”
22 TRANSPIRE Happen to find terrapins at sea (9)
*(terrapins)
24 CHIMERA Heroin imported by organised crime, a monstrous thing (7)
H(eroin) imported by *(crime) + A
25 INVOKED During onset of violence, agreed to be called up (7)
IN (“during”) + V(iolence) + OKED (“agreed”)
26 TOUT LE MONDE Sell fruit outside of Dieppe for everyone (4,2,5)
TOUT (“sell”) + LEMON (“fruit”) + D(iepp)E
Down
1 PALAEONTOLIGIST A boring dim person interested in being a scientist (15)
A boring PALE (“dim”) + ONTOLOGIST (“person interested in being”)

PALAEONTOLIGIST does not appear in any of my dictionaries, nor in any online dictionary I can find.  If you google “palaeontoligist”, you will get results, but nearly all of them will then refer to palaeontolOgists.  I think this is an error, and unless anyone can convince me otherwise, this should have been spotted by the editor.
2 OPINE Suppose it’s round and long (5)
O (“round”) + PINE (“long”)
3 OCTOPOD Love fish, eating best marine creature (7)
O (“love”) + COD (“fish”) eating TOP (“best”)
4 IMPERIL Perhaps, like Napoleon, avoiding a risk (7)
IMPERI(a)L (“perhaps, like Napoleon” avoiding A)
5 INRUSHES Streams of people arriving like baby Moses? (8)
In the Bible Moses was found IN RUSHES
6 HAMMER AND SICKLE Working man’s marched like an emblem of his kind? (6,3,6)
*(man’s marched like)

Not keen on the definition here.
7 ICE BAG What physio may use to kill yak making ascent (3,3)
ICE (“to kill”) + <=GAB (“yak”, making ascent)
8 ADWARE Daughter admitted to knowing online programs (6)
D(aughter) admitted to AWARE (“knowing”)
15 FLAMBEAU Female left male lover carrying a torch (8)
F(emale) L(eft) + M(ale) BEAU (“lover”) carrying A
16 SEDUCE Notice short fascist’s allure (6)
SE(e) (“notice”, short) + DUCE (“fascist”, as in Mussolini, il Duce)
17 PITFALL Spooner’s to install curtain? It’s a potential danger (7)
FIT (“install”) + PALL (“curtain”), and then the initial letters swapped (Spooner’s)
18 REALISM It could be Mailer’s approach to literature (7)
*(mailer’s)
20 TWEEDY Tense and feeble, like the rural upper classes? (6)
T(ense) + WEEDY (“feeble”)
23 SEVEN Number that’s square, like four or sixteen (5)
S(quare) + EVEN (“like four or sixteen”)

*anagram

72 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,480 by Picaroon”

  1. Completely agree with loonapick both on the quality of the clues, and on the startling error – I was waiting for the blog to be posted, in order to discover if I was missing something obvious. I can’t now believe that anyone else will come up with a non-error explanation, or will they?

  2. Thanks Picaroon and loonapick

    Loonapick – small typo in your comment on 1d – I don’t think any dictionary will have PALAEPONTOLOGIST, either 🙂

  3. Meant to add, generally liked this apart from 1d, which also held me up on 21a until I decided 1d must be misspelled. I wasn’t too keen on OKED (rather than OK’D) as a word in 25a, though I expect it’s in dictionaries.

  4. Thanks to Picaroon and to Loonapick for the blog.

    Not surprisingly, there’s a long discussion going on over at the Graun about 1d.

    By the way, Loonapick, there’s an errant ‘P’ in your comment about it.   And, whilst I’m being picky, it would be “il Duce” of course (as distinct from his mate “el Generalissimo”, for example).

    [ Actually, I’m normally a very late poster, so I’ve really come onto this board in order to give a cheerio call and thanks to JulieinAustralia for her kind words of some weeks back.   I did reply a couple of times but I was so late I think everyone else would have moved on by then.  So apologies to Admin if I’m breaking the rules, but:  “Greetings to the Sunshine Coast from Melbourne.   let us know about your Music Festival when next it comes up!”

  5. We crossed beaulieu.   I agree with your comments, by the way, although I confess I quite enjoyed OKED at the time.    I suspect this was due more to my having figured it out than to its inherent elegance.   It does look rather odd when stripped naked like that.

  6. Struggled with 1dn for obvious reasons.  Beeper for pager took me back to those long forgotten days before mobile phones were prevalent and pagers going off the small hours bringing news of overnight software failures and bleary-eyed staring at program dumps. Also didn’t parse PYRAMID. Clearly not fully with it.

  7. PS to beaulieu’s comment @2: dictionaries are unlikely to list PALAEONTIGIST either. Tricky word(s) to handle.

  11. Aaargh! Besides the PALEONTOLOGIST issue, I had ADDICT (AD = notice, DICT[ator] = short fascist) instead of SEDUCE, so couldn’t get SPOILSPORT. Loved TOUT LE MONDE, PHOTO FINISH,  OCTOPOD and others. Many thanks to Picaroon and loonapick, and egg on face of crossword editor (is there one?).

  12. I really enjoyed this crossword and have to say it was full of good, satisfying clues. My faves were 1a PHOTO FINISH, 11a BEEKEEPER, 26a TOUT LE MONDE, 4d IMPERIL, 5d INRUSHES, 18d REALISM (great anagram) and 20d TWEEDY.
    I have made a lot of mistakes in my life so even though I was quite flummoxed by 1d PALAEONTILIGIST (sic.), all I could think was that it was an error and I immediately felt sorry for Picaroon, who is one of our best setters.
    So thanks to Picaroon for the fun and for demonstrating yet again that we are all human, and to loonapick for the blog.

  13. Sorry drofle@11, we crossed, or I would have acknowledged some favourites in common.
    [Great to hear from you, Gert Bycee. Melbourne is my favourite Australian city after Brisbane – my son and his wife lived in Northcote for five years before moving to Brooklyn. I did my Celbrancy studies at Monash, mostly online but with several visits for workshops at Caulfield. The NGV is one of my favourite places to visit! Byron Bay Bluesfest was again wonderful – my 15th year! Sorry fellow posters for going off topic.]

  15. Thanks Picaroon and loonapick

    I had a variant parsing in 12: yes ABE for Lincoln/president is a chestnut, but a more direct connection is President ABE of Japan.

  16. @SimonS

    Alas your idea for the modernisation of the Lincoln Memorial can’t work………..Japan still has an Emperor and Shinzo Abe was merely PM.

  17. Lots to enjoy (putting to one side the egregious error). Though didn’t think much of 13ac or 17d. A bit of editing could have made this a corker. Struggling to see seduce as allure. Can someone give me a context in which they can be used as synonyms to put me out of my misery?

  18. Thanks both. Anyone else try to shoehorn in SHEKI for 12a? (well, it could have been where a sheik lives!)

  19. Picaroon is such a respected setter that when one comes across something like 1d it is the default to give him the benefit of the doubt.But all setters are human so that points to the editor.

    Great shame as this was akin to a slightly iffy cork in a fine vintage of Lafite.I loved the rest of it.

  20. @18 Shirl: yes, I toyed with SHEKI at first, before solving 8d prompted the journey back through US history.

    Incidentally, @9 Judy in NZ is quite right to point out that you can find PALAEONTOLIGIST online via Wikipedia, and indeed by googling and insisting that yes, you do mean that spelling. But all those rare instances are clearly typos or simply spelling mistakes. One day in the future someone may cite today’s crossword as authority for the word PAL- (sorry, can’t bring myself to write it again). Incidentally again, are there others who post from New Zealand? which island?

  21. An excellent puzzle with an unfortunate error. Lots of brilliant clues from the elegant 6d to the simple but very nice 13a

     

    many thanks Picaroon and thanks as always loonapick

  24. To Drofle @11 – I put Ad-duce in 16 down – Ad=Notice, Duce=Fascist – the whole kind of working. I guess that’s misdirection.

    Thanks to Loonapicaroon

  25. Thanks to Picaroon and loonapick.  Much fun except … I had some trouble with ICE BAG and SEVEN (my LOI) but much enjoyed the rest.

  26. Thanks to Picaroon and loonapick for putiing me out of my misery. Just spent 2 hours on 1d, and eventually decided it must be a variant spelling. Apart from that a very enjoyable puzzle with lots of nice clues, particularly liked beekeeper, pyramid, ice bag and spoilsport (I also thought seven was quite clever). As an aside I am sure I have seen tweedy quite recently, but I might be wrong. Thanks again to Picaroon and loonapick.

  27. Brain not in gear today; I found this harder than yesterday, and was forced online to the check button – which at least had -IGIST proudly displayed! But I couldn’t get beyond KIT BAG for the physio, the CELLIST not having delivered thanks to my unfamiliarity with LIS.

    Rather surprised at three consecutive French words cropping up with TOUT LE MONDE, and even more surprised to find it listed amongst a whole load of TOUT … phrases (and the flower tous-les-mois) in my Chambers.

  28. I am normally one of Picaroon’s biggest fans, so we can forgive him the occasional lapse, but where was the editor? A shame, because the rst of the puzzle was fine.

    Thanks to Picaroon and loonapick

  29. Lots of fuss on the Guardian site today about 1d. We’re all influenced by too many politicians from other ‘democracies’, who never make mistakes, but only misspeak; and by our education system (see excellent article in ysterday’s Observer by ex-teacher, who gets it dead right). Admit the error, learn from it and move on. Looking forward to another enjoyable solve tomorrow: very glad I became a subscriber.

  30. I did the paper version of the crossword and came here expecting that something would have been done about the 1d/21a clash but apparently not.  Quite apart from the spelling of palaeontologist (which surely has to be that) the clue demands ontologist as a ‘person interested in being.’   I do sometimes wonder what the crossword editor is employed to do:  I don’t believe that Picaroon (who is a great setter) got this wrong, which surely implies that he must have entered a different word at 21a which, perhaps, our editor deemed inappropriate in some way?

     

    Whatever, thanks to Picaroon and to loonapick – who must have really thought he’d drawn the short straw as he struggled with that one!

  31. Thanks to Picaroon and loonapick.

    Ah me, I didn’t notice the mis-spelling – having got DEISM first, I just ploughed on with PALAEONTOLIGIST and was happy to get it LOI.

    After a slow start and then steady progress I was in Goldilocks mode until held up in the NW corner.  Then a lovely PDM with ICE BAG led to CELLIST (LIS was new to me as well as others) and then it had to be “cove” equals GENT which I thought weak. And so PALAEONTOLIGIST without a backward glance and to here for the parsing (ontologist also new to me – now to use it in conversation).

    More bees today I see.  Beehives and bees are all the rage apparently.

  32. I’m a real newcomer to cryptics (just a few weeks) so still very green and learning the rules. But really enjoyed adulterate because (illicit) drugs are often adulterated and ‘cutting’ is the act of adulterating them (adding baby formula to coke for example).

  35. I’m afraid this one’s only fit for the bin.  I DNF’d it after abandoning it once I had, in disbelief, ‘revealed’ PALAEONTOLIGIST (sic).

    Sorry.  Both the setter and Editor need a firm rap on the knuckles.  This sort of thing should not happen in a Guardian crossword.  I’ll say no more.

    Probably just as well I’m away (and off the ‘net, mostly) for a couple of weeks after today – so no crosswords.  Relief!

    Thanks to loonapick (only) for doing his best.

  36. Bob @30: I’m not sure about the idea of there having been a different word at 21a originally, as I can’t think of anything that would fit the pattern D?O?M.

    Shame about the glitch. I thought it was a very good puzzle otherwise.

  37. Laccaria @35, nothing is meant to be perfect, every rug woven by hand has an imperfection so as not to offend the gods, but perhaps you are somewhere up above?

  39. Cookie @37.  I think I’m one of the most tolerant of solvers.  Many times I’ve passed over imperfections in the clueing, in the grammar, in the definitions, which others have cried ‘foul’ over.  Indeed, if you compare my occasional comments, on Big Dave’s Rookie Corner, with Prolixic’s analyses, you’ll see how easy-going I can be….

    Nevertheless, sometimes something goes so fundamentally wrong as to wreck the whole spirit of the puzzle.  A blatant mis-spelling of a solution word is an example of this.  Mis-spellings or typos in the clues are more tolerable.  We had a puzzle a few months ago in which one of the clues was completely missing: all we had was “????”.  Lots of arguments about that, but many solvers (including me) guessed the answer.  And the setter apologised.

     

  40. BL @ 30

    The Chambers wordsearch doesn’t offer any options for D _ O _ M

    Laccaria @ 35

    I don’t normally read your posts as they are long and tedious, but today’s was short, so I did. Given the quality of your early puzzles, and the fact that you have never set anything that comes anywhere nearb the standard of Picaroon, perhaps you should check your glazing.

  41. These puzzles are very doable with the check button.
    1dn? Look up spelling and go through the vowels to find the rogue letter.
    Heresy to say that crosswords online do not need a vast intellect.

  43. NHS @38

    “Something odd with my post, awaiting moderation: can someone explain please?”

    Yes, I can. Two usernames with the same IP address. An invalid email address submitted with your comments. Conclusion, sock puppet.

  44. Gave up on this after seeing the spelling mistake and having spent a great deal of time looking for alternatives. This was just shoddy!

  46. Simon S @40 (Pattern D-o-m). How about DNORM?  Summat to do with statistics – don’t ask me what.

  48. PALAEONTOLOGIST, along with scores of other words with the same root, is listed in SOED. Many thanks, Loonapick.

  49. Bob Sharkey @48

    I suggest that you read the blog and posts more carefully!

    At least it foiled “Wordsearchers” (me included) 🙂

  50. A thousand apologies for the clash between 1 down and 21 across in this puzzle. It’s not a spelling mistake – the clues for both lead to the right answers, but unfortunately they don’t cross on the same letter. I’m sorry for not spotting the mistyping in the grid.

    An amended version of the puzzle, with answers which intersect on the same letter, will appear in due course.

  51. Thanks Picaroon. I was so concerned with spelling the first bit of 1d I  didn’t notice the ending.

     

    Thanks also loonapick

  53. Thank you Picaroon and loonapick.

    So it was a weaving fault after all.  I enjoyed the puzzle, but had no internet connection until mid-afternoon, hence my late post @37.

  54. I came here to check in 1d too. Put it in anyway, to complete, even though no variation found online.

  55. Thanks, loonapick.

    I’ve been out all day since solving the puzzle, with no time to comment before I left, bemused, of course, by the misplacement in the grid at the intersection of 1dn and 21ac – most unfortunate and bravely acknowledged by Picaroon @50.

    As he says, the clues for both lead to the right answers and I’ve been amazed that no one [as far as I can see but I may have missed it] has actually commented on what a super clue 1dn really is – one of the very best, for me. And how could anyone think that a setter of Picaroon’s calibre* could mistakenly complete the definition of any kind of scientist with ‘OLIGIST’? [I recently on a blog supplied the link to this.]

    * I can never write/read this word without hearing and grinning at Tony Hancock’s pronunciation of it. 😉

    Obviously, I have no idea how the glitch occurred but it certainly didn’t ruin the puzzle for me.

    Many thanks, as ever, with commiserations, to Picaroon.

  57. Thanks to both for the efforts.

    I finally had to resort to the check button with 1D but found little to criticise in the rest.

    In reply (late I am sorry but that is my fault) to a couple of earlier questions.

    Xjpotter@17 – Chambers gives the first definition of “allure” as “To entice, seduce or attract”.

    Quenbarrow@20 – there are more kiwis reading this list. I live in the South Island where we currently do have power, unlike the big auk up north.

  58. To change the subject, did anyone else notice that Picaroon defined CELLIST as ‘bower’ and not as ‘fiddler’  ….. ?  🙂

  59. Thanks Mystogre. I see that allure is a verb, just haven’t ever come across an example of it used as a verb. Has anyone?

  60. Very late to post today, and that serves me well in that the 1d conundrum has been resolved and Eileen@55 sums it up for me with her eloquent and supportive contribution – thanks Eileen.

    Sil@58 – I thought “bower” was brilliant – it took me ages to see it as someone who uses a bow – rather than someone who bows (down) or the love nest. In the same vein it took almost as long to see misery as a person, and then only because the beginning S and the PORT ending got me to the solution before the penny dropped. ICE BAG parsing defeated me – I’d forgotten about ICE as kill and never thought beyond the bovine yak. Lots more I liked, but then I am a Picaroon fan.

    Thanks for the puzzle and the explanation Picaroon, and to loonapick for the help with parsing.

  61. WhiteKing, I’d hoped that you (and others) would see my comment re CELLIST as a nod to some critical remarks Picaroon had to endure in the blog of his previous crossword.

    Not sure you (and others) did.

    That said, I’m pretty sure Picaroon himself will understand my ‘smylie’!

     

  62. Sil – I’d forgotten about the “is a cello a fiddle?” debate – I just amazed by the way that the best setters can consistently come up with interpretations of the English language that stretch the boundaries and hide all the information to solve the clue in plain sight.

  63. Xjpotter@59: I’m always very late (too late …) but your question also was posted late.

    ‘Her smile was very alluring’ – allure must have been a verb.

  64. From what I see, I think the left bottom corner in the grid will require more than one change to fix the typo in 1d. My sympathies are with Picaroon. I know that after a crossword is done, it requires careful checking and rechecking from different angles, one by one, to eliminate errors. Don Bradley has some good tips in a useful note in his manual on this aspect.
    Crossword software does show errors in grid fills if that option is summoned. But here again the words have to be in the inbuilt dictionary, I guess. If I use an Indian word and if it is not there, any error in my typing of that word won’t show, will it?

  68. In India, we have turned metric but real estate developers still mention the dimensions of houses and apartments in sft, where s is square. Prices are also quoted in so much per sft. I can’t think of s being used independently for square.

  69. The puzzle has now been corrected. 1d is now palaeontologist (spelled correctly), and 21a and 16d were changed to new clues and solutions to make everything fit.

     

  70. The solution to the new clue for 16d is a word that I have never come across before.

    The new solutions do indeed cross with the correct spelling of 1d, but I remain puzzled by the explanation @50.

  71. Late in the day …. many thanks to Picaroon for clearing up the problem!  I’m surprised that two intersecting words with different crossers could get as far as publication – the crossword-compiler software won’t let that happen in a saved file!  So I thought it was a genuine mis-spelling – apologies for being rather terse last week.

    Simon S @ 40 – couldn’t respond to your rather ad hominem comment before now, I was ‘in transit’.  Perhaps me being compared, as almost a complete beginner, to the likes of Picaroon should be taken as a compliment, albeit undeserved!  Anyway, if you really feel comfortable posting comments like that, perhaps you’d like to clear it with Gaufrid first?  Are you someone’s “dog-in-Penarth” or some-such name on the Graun, by any chance?

  72. There seems to be some confusion in respect of clues 21Across and 16 Down. The answer to 21 across was BROOM; the question was Flowering shrub with flower changing hands (5). This gives the’o’ in palaeontologist.

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