Guardian Cryptic 27,535 by Paul

by

Very enjoyable with some excellent surfaces and clever cluing – favourites 13ac, 14ac, 23ac, 25/4, 26ac, and 16dn. Thanks to Paul

Across
1 FRUMPISH Low part embraced by bass, say — that’s plain (8)
RUMP=”Low part” inside FISH=”bass, say”
5 WARHOL Artist‘s military leave? (6)
WAR HOLiday=”military leave?”
9 RESIGNED Gender is in question, so philosophical (8)
“philosophical” in the sense of being calm or accepting in the face of difficulty
(Gender is)*
10 BODRUM Party moving to the left, then right, in poor Turkish city (6)
DO=”Party” reversed/”to the left”, plus Right; all inside BUM=”poor” quality
12 GROSS Sickening total (5)
double def
13 TARPAULIN Jack and I wearing heavy-duty cloth (9)
TAR=sailor=”Jack”, plus PAUL=”I” the setter”, plus IN=”wearing”
14 DISHEARTENED Down — becoming dn? (12)
taking the heart or central letters out of “Down” leaves just “dn”
18 TRICK OR TREAT Boy caught by rock, deal with idle threat of children (5,2,5)
RICK=”boy”, inside TOR=”rock”, plus TREAT=”deal with”
21 CLOSE DOWN Discontinue dose, foolishly swallowed by buffoon (5,4)
(dose)* inside CLOWN=”buffoon”
23 LAUGH Crack up back of gluteal area, you disgust me! (5)
back letter of gluteaL, plus Area, plus UGH=”you disgust me!”
24 MUSKET Old banger, American truck finally impounded by police (6)
US=”American” plus the final letter of trucK, inside METropolitan “police”
25, 4 SWING LOW SWEET CHARIOT Number of England supporters, faction involved in leisurely fighting over sugary tea? (5,3,5,7)
“Number” as in song
WING=”faction” in SLOW RIOT=”leisurely fighting” which also goes around SWEET CHA=”sugary tea”
26 NINETY Not all of century, ten I need back? (6)
Hidden/”Not all of” and reversed/”back”, inside centurY TEN I Need
27 CLOSETED Last of those coldest tumbledown houses shut off (8)
(e coldest)*, taking an e as the last letter of “those“
Down
1 FORAGE Found without a search (6)
FORGE=create, set up=”Found”, around A
2 UNSHOD Barking hounds awaiting a farrier? (6)
(hounds)*
3 POGO STICK Very good work coming up that’s right for a bouncer (4,5)
SO Good OPus=”Very”, “good”, “work” all reversed/”coming up”; plus TICK=”that’s right”
4   See 25
6 AROMA Imbued with love, member given a bouquet (5)
O=”love” inside ARM=”member” plus A
7 HURDLING Event in sport inspiring daughter (8)
HURLING=”sport” around Daughter
8 LEMONADE French daily quaffing a drink (8)
LE MONDE=”French daily” newspaper, around A
11 URBAN RENEWAL Slum clearance we learn unlikely under pope (5,7)
(we learn)* after URBAN, the name of a few popes
15 TRAMLINES A minstrel going off the rails (9)
(A minstrel)*
16 STOCKMAN Possibly lower tender in ordinary castle? (8)
=a tender of cattle, and a cow is possibly a “lower”
STOCK=”ordinary”, plus MAN=chess piece=”castle”
17 LIMOUSIN Cat not getting on with tailless vermin in French region (8)
LIon=”Cat” without “on“, plus MOUSe=”tailless vermin”, plus IN
19 PULLET Articulate what to do with the wishbone in chicken (6)
=a young hen
sounds like ‘pull it’=”what to do with the wishbone”
20 THAWED Heath bearing fruit that’s softened (6)
TED Heath, Prime Minister in the 70s, around HAW=”fruit” of the hawthorn
22 EVERT Football team, not cricket side, turn out (5)
=to turn outwards or inside out
EVERTon=”Football team”, without on=”cricket side” on the batsman’s leg side

36 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,535 by Paul”

  2. Thanks Paul

    Quite easy, but fun (though I haven’t fully parsed the long one – any help there, manehi, please?).

    Favourites were LEMONADE and WARHOL.

  4. Thanks manehi

    For those not in the know, SWING LOW SWEET CHARIOT has become the song that supporters of the England Rugby Union team sing – not heard quite as much in the last few matches!

  5. Thought about a different sport for 7d, but couldn’t see how milk turning sour was classed as an event.

  6. This went in at a canter after yesterday’s crawl. Some excellent clues – I had more downs ticked than manehi as I liked FORAGE for the alternative meaning of found; UNSHOD because it took me a while to see it as an anagram as well as STOCKMAN. I didn’t parse 25etc. so didn’t tick it. What to do with our elevenses now? Thanks to Paul and manehi.

  7. Thanks manehi, ‘EVERT’ is a new word to me, and I only parsed the football connection some time after deciding that was the only answer (first trying ‘elect’ and ‘event’). The online thesaurus had to be consulted to get a couple in the NW, but overall, I still enjoy Paul more than any other setter, in no small part due to juvenile smut like 23!

  8. The answer to 14 across leapt straight at me and helped me to suss out 3d, 8d and (or so I thought) 25,4. Except that the C of disContented was in the wrong place in the Chariot…

  9. Thanks muffin@4 for elucidating ‘number’ – I switch channels instantly if I see that’s on, so have avoided hearing it.

  10. Excellent, thanks Paul, and maheni.

    I seem to remember BOUNCER for POGO STICK, and, on checking, I’m surprised how often it has appeared in the Grauniad; there are more entries than this, but 225, unfortunately, didn’t include clues in the earlier years. I wonder if you could guess who the setters were?

    Bouncer, moment after bribe taken up secreting pass (4,5)

    Youngsters bound to get along with them (4,6)

    Old shabby togs the best clothes for bouncer (4,5)

    Bouncer quietly getting Oscar to leave club (4,5)

  11. Thanks to manehi and Paul. @Blaise, I also confidently entered DISCONTENTED only to have to scribble it out later. Loved the puzzle but thought Paul could have wangled Chris EVERT into 22 for a sporting trifecta!

  12. As for WhiteKing@6, a breeze compared to yesterday’s Vlad, although I stared at 5a for a while before the war and the hol popped out, even though he’s an occasional cruciverb [and I love his Marilyns].

    Thanks Paul and Manehi

  13. Grantfreo@12 – WARHOL was my loi and also involved staring for a while – the HOL came first and then WAR after a couple of minutes.

  15. Dave Ellison@10 — could #2 be Rufus and #4 Arachne?  #3 is a bit Imogen-like, and #1 is so difficult that I’m guessing Vlad.

  16. Thanks to Paul and manehi. Well that is my three week success run ended, because I chucked in an unparsed eject for 22d. That said overall an enjoyable nearly solve that was typical Paul. A few easy clues and then lots of “lightbulb moments” and chuckles. Last two Bodrum and disheartened (I convinced myself that I was looking for a grammatical term). Favourites very similar to manehi. I also learned something new today. In checking Bodrum I discovered there was a city in Turkey called Batman (wonder if we will ever see that). Thanks again to Paul and manehi.

  17. Dave @10, thank you for finding those clues and putting them in the form of a quiz. I agree with Alliacol @15 that #1 is so hard it feels like Vlad or even Enigmatist; #2 is surely Rufus; #3 has that deliberately awkward construction requiring you to insert imaginary commas to make “old shabby togs” the object of “clothes”, which feels like something Boatman or Tramp would do; #4, concisely built up from standard parts, seems like an Everyman clue.

  18. Another fine Paul puzzle, smooth and satisfying.  My favourites were URBAN RENEWAL and NINETY.  Last in: WARHOL and BODRUM, where I needed the crossers to complete.

    I read 27 slightly differently – an anagram (tumbledown) of COLDEST around (houses) E (Last of those).

    Thanks, Paul and manehi.

    Dave Ellison@10

    I’d go for… 1. Paul 2. Rufus 3. Pasquale 4. Chifonie

  20. Thanks to Paul and manehi. Enjoyable. I struggled with BODRUM (my LOI) and was not quick to equate Met with police for MUSKET as opposed to the more usual suspects, but was pleased from a US perspective to get EVERTON and parse LIMOUSIN.

  21. I really enjoyed this.  Favorites included DISHEARTENED, MUSKET, UNSHOD, and my CotD, NINETY.

    I parsed 27ac the same way that phitonelly @18 describes.

    Like WhiteKing @13 and (possibly) grantinfreo @12, WARHOL was my LOI, by a wide margin.  I had the Pavlovian response of seeing “artist” and thinking it had to be “RA” (which, by process of elimination, would make “leave” the definition portion, but that obviously didn’t work).

    Many thanks to Paul and manehi and the other commenters.

  23. Dave Ellison@10, great quiz. Lots to do with culture: I can’t match clues with setters but my order of ascending difficulty is 4, 3, 1, with 2 being a dnf due I think to an unknown slang expression [but maybe aging synapses].

  25. I’m rather surprised that BODRUM is felt to be obscure, it is one of the more popular holiday destinations in Turkey. PetHay@16 I traveled in Turkey in the Eighties and discovered there was a place called Batman which I wanted to get to but,alas, I never did!
    Nice puzzle but I didn’t find it particularly easy. Worth the effort though. I liked MUSKET-old banger indeed-and LAUGH. The excellent THAWED was LOI.
    Thanks Paul.

  26. Bullhassocks @7 –

    I share your high opinion of Paul’s “juvenile smut”,  but I feel that during the past several months (possibly longer), Paul has been employing less of that style of clueing than he used to.  [Case in point: using “poor”, instead of something more bawdy, to clue BUM in 10ac today.]

    Perhaps others have commented on this trend in discussions of recent Paul puzzles, and I have missed those comments.  [Also, more often than not, I do not do the weekend Prize puzzles, so I should allow for the possibility that Paul is employing just as much juvenile smut as ever, but doing so mostly in his Prize offerings rather than the weekday Cryptics.]

  27. Happily, I finished this one. Loved 14 and also 24 (which was my LOI).

    I got 27 the same way as phitonelly@18.

    Thanks to Paul and manehi.

  28. I enjoyed this, as I do most of Paul’s puzzles. Particularly liked 7d as I was trying to think of a French charlady, saw LEMONADE fitted but dismissed it – until I spotted Le Monde

     

  29. Alliacol @15 1 correct

    Poole @ 17 0 correct

    Phitonelly @ 18 1 correct

    Really quite hard to determine the setter, so well done for getting any of them; and, despite knowing the answer, quite hard to parse the clues, I thought.

    They were Paul, Nutmeg, Crucible and Arachne, respectively, but no Rufus!

    (22 Dec 2016, 26 Mar 2015, 5 Feb 2013 and 19 Dec 2012) There were others, including several not from the Guardian.

     

     

  30. Really enjoyed this, though struggled to complete. My foi was WARHOL because of its faint resemblance to AWOL – you see my train of thought? Favourites were STOCKMAN, LAUGH and PULLET.
    Thanks to Paul and manehi.

  31. I’m not finding much time for crosswords this week, but I’m glad I made time for this one, which was tricky in places and a pleasure to solve. It’s all been said, including the bit about WARHOL being the last one in. (Why is that? 5a is a fairly straightforward clue, with only two likely paths that the wordplay will take you down. In my case, it might be because I had more or less forgotten about him, not having seen or heard his name for years.) BODRUM was new to me, as was the connection between the song at 25a/4d and ‘England supporters’.
    Thanks to Paul and Manehi.

  33. DaveMc@26: I think you may be right. Paul may, regrettably, have toned it down in response to the small prudish minority of online commenters who seem unable to cope with any sort of profanity. I do hope not; it is after all, an inseparable part of language without which a lot of discourse, including crosswords, would be far duller.

  34. Bullhassocks@33 – if you remember back to the discussions that have been had in the past, very few of the commenters (if any) expressed offended prudishness. By far the commonest view was that smut was a tiresome thing in a time when people are able to cope with all sorts of profanity. People who can deal equably with sex, bodily functions, etc, were not particularly keen on having to bother with those who could not. Whilst there might still be occasions in this world where smut might be a valid way of dealing with “unmentionables”, it was largely agreed that the Guardian crossword did not need to be one.

  35. Van Winkle – Perhaps you should be a little more circumspect (and accurate) by stating “…the commonest view expressed…” rather than “…the commonest view…”?
    Personally, I always enjoy Paul and, with his easier ones such as this, solve too quickly to even notice the surface. This is my failing, born out of innate impatience. For example, I solved, parsed (and thoroughly enjoyed) LAUGH without noticing the clue’s surface until coming here. Nicely smutty, nicely Paul (and further proof one can learn something from 225 even when one has solved a puzzle fully!)
    Nice crossword – as ever. Many thanks, both and all.

  36. I was LMAO with 23! Well not quite but I do enjoy the humour with such clues. I’m with bullhassocks @7 on this.

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