Guardian Cryptic 27547 Paul

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Thanks Paul for an enjoyable one. Definitions are underlined in the clues.

Across

9 A 20, exceptionally rare (9)

PRICELESS : Double defn: 1st: Hilarious;a scream, answer to 20 down.

10 Bound to hold money at first, spend less (5)

SKIMP : SKIP(to bound;to jump) containing(to hold) 1st letter of(… at first) “money“.

11 Punk is beaten up by fifty associates (5,2)

LINKS UP : Anagram of(… beaten up) PUNK IS placed after(by) L(Roman numeral for “fifty”).

12 Coarse material from a Nazi leader? (7)

HESSIAN : HESS(Rudolf, Nazi leader, once deputy to Hitler) + -IAN(suffix forming adjectives from nouns, as in “Newtonian mechanics”).

13 Inhabiting Transylvania, Gothic villain (4)

IAGO : Hidden in(Inhabiting) “Transylvania, Gothic“.

Defn: … in Shakespeare’s play, Othello    .

14 Children recalled eating meat, one in balls (10)

DELIVERIES : Reversal of(… recalled) SEED(children;products of one’s male semen) containing(eating) [ LIVER(the flesh of an animal’s liver used as food) + I(Roman numeral for “one”) ].

Defn: … bowled in cricket.

16 See 23

17 Hail on moon, mind how you go (7)

CHEERIO : CHEER(to hail;to praise;to applaud) plus(on) IO(one of planet Jupiter’s moons).

Answer: An expression of good wishes to someone going.

19 Fashionable bit about page viewing (10)

INSPECTION : IN(fashionable;trendy) + SECTION(a bit;a part of something) containing(about) P(abbrev. for “page”).

Defn: A once-over.

22 See 7

24 Motorway exit? That’s not sexy (4-3)

TURN-OFF : Double defn.

25 A stinker, abominable clue getting some stick (4,3)

POOL CUE : POO(an excrement;a stinker) + anagram of(abominable) CLUE.

26 Into clothes runs a snake (5)

KRAIT : KIT(one’s set of clothes) containing(Into …) [ R(abbrev. for “runs” in cricket scores) + A].

27 Too simple, might you say, to secure capital in retrospect — could this help? (9)

OVERDRAFT : OVER-DAFT(what one might use to describe;might you say, someone who is too;excessively simple-minded) containing(to secure) 1st letter of(capital in) “retrospect“.

Answer: Something which could help one in securing capital;financing.

A WIWD (wordplay intertwined with definition clue).

Down

1 Period in gym when core ignored, I bet a schoolboy error? (8,7)

SPELLING MISTAKE : SPELL(a short period of time, as in “a cold spell”) + IN + “gym” minus its middle letter(… when core ignored) + I + STAKE(to bet, as in “to stake your reputation on it”).

2, 3 Doctor might find One Direction to be the dark secret of a child? (8,5)

MIDNIGHT FEAST : Anagram of(Doctor) MIGHT FIND + EAST(one direction;a compass point).

Defn: A child’s activity not to be disclosed to his/her parents.

3 See 2

4 Cheese, be mouldy please! (3,5)

BEL PAESE : BE + anagram of(mouldy) PLEASE.

5 Saint and queen accessing two narrow areas (6)

ISTHMI : [ ST(abbrev. for “saint”) + HM(abbrev. for “Her Majesty”, otherwise known as the Queen) contained in(accessing) II(Roman numeral for “two”).

Answer: Plural of “isthmus”, a narrow strip of land separating 2 bodies of water.

6 I help with church lesson, issue lost on some figure (9)

ISOSCELES : I + SOS(a signal asking for help) plus(with) CE(abbrev. for the Church of England) + “lesson” minus(… lost) “son”(issue;male offspring).

Defn: On;with reference to some figure, eg. a triangle, having 2 equal sides.

7, 22 Row attributed to nuclear test site, sensitive area? (6,4)

BIKINI LINE : LINE(a row of similar things) placed after(attributed to) BIKINI(Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, a former nuclear testing site).

Answer: Term for the area around the edge of the bottom half of a bikini, usually used in reference to the removal of pubic hair there, which could be a sensitive;painful procedure.

8 In course of lifespan, is home let temporarily? It’s standard fare in Europe (7,8)

SPANISH OMELETTE : Hidden in(In course of) “lifespan, is home let temporarily“.

15 This is right, one viewed from the south in fact? (4,5)

TRUE NORTH : Reversal of(… viewed from the south, in a down clue) [ R(abbrev. for “right”) + ONE] contained in(in) TRUTH(fact;reality).

Defn: The direction along the Earth’s surface along which one would be looking from a (relative) south position, as opposed to the magnetic north, which is the direction a compass needle would view.

A WIWD clue.

17 Las Vegas employee with a worse lung problem? (8)

CROUPIER : CROUP(an infection causing a problem with the lungs of children) + -IER(suffix indicating a higher degree of, or “worse” in the case of a problem).

“Okay, boys. Place your bets and look  at your cards…” (or don’t look?)

18 Artist has designed action that’s perfect for a British summer? (8)

RAINCOAT : RA(abbrev. for “Royal Academician”, an artist who is a member of the Royal Academy of Arts) plus(has) anagram of(designed) ACTION.

Defn: Something perfect of the British summer weather given its perverseness (indicated by the question mark).

20 Second best joker (6)

SCREAM : S(abbrev. for “second” in time notation) + CREAM(the best;the top).

21 Covering bottom of utensil, often slippery — is it? (6)

TEFLON : Last letter of(bottom of, in a down clue) “utensil” contained in(Covering …) anagram of(… slippery) OFTEN.

Answer: Trademark name for a layer of synthetic resin covering the bottom of, say, pots and pans, so that they are non-stick;slippery.

A WIWD clue.

23, 16 US songwriter, guy who tried, when suffering, to inspire love (5,7)

WOODY GUTHRIE : Anagram of(…, when suffering) GUY WHO TRIED
containing(to inspire) O(letter indicating 0;love in tennis scores).

42 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27547 Paul”

  1. Minor quibble:

    The usual sources seem to agree that the plural of ISTHMUS (geographical) is ISTHMUSES.

    But ISTHMI is more usual in the anatomical usage.

    Collins accepts both for both in US English.

  2. Trovatore @1:  Can’t ever imagine my having the need to use either!  I imagine Mr Halpern had little choice faced with _ S _ H _ I.

    Surprising hidden SPANISH OMELETTE…could’t believe my eyes.

    Failed to properly parse TRUE NORTH and still haven’t.  I assume viewed from the south is doing double duty.  What’s WIWD, please?

    Other than that, an enjoyable mid-weeker.  Many thanks, both.

    Nice week, all.

  4. My favourites were 2/3, 27a, 1d, 5d, 14a, 4d (loi).

    I see now that I did not parse TRUE NORTH correctly.

    Thanks Paul and blogger.

  5. Some good fun here though I did not parse everything and had to come to the blog to see how 27a OVERDRAFT and 15d TRUE NORTH worked. Best clue (IMHO) was 23,16d WOODY GUTHRIE (what an inspirational legend!), while other favourites were 12a HESSIAN, 1d SPELLING MISTAKE, 2,3d MIDNIGHT FEAST 7,22d BIKINI LINE and the very clever hidden as aforementioned, 8d SPANISH OMELETTE.
    Nice one, Paul, and thank you for the blog, scchua.

  6. (Sorry michelle@4, we crossed, or I would have acknowledged some similarities.)

  7. Thanks scchua. Some clever, carefully constructed clues here. Paul at his masterful best I thought, if not perhaps his most amusing. The 15 letter answer that was (well and truly) hidden is hard to top. And I did smile at CROUPIER.

    I think 15dn is an attempted &lit, in which case the definition is the whole clue so no need to determine where the definition and wordplay start and end.

  9. Great puzzle. I got the potentially tricky ISTHMI and ISOSCELES quickly, which helped, and eventually everything slotted in although I wasn’t sure TRUE NORTH was correct. Favourites were DELIVERIES, CHEERIO and of course SPANISH OMELETTE. Many thanks to Paul and scchua.

  10. Thank you scchua. DELIVERIES at 14 held me up longest, needing artificial help in the end. (I suppose ‘Children’ could also be seen as a supplementary definition, at the point of birth anyway.)

    Good to see the trademark Paul quota of the cloacal and the concupiscent in POOL CUE and BIKINI LINE too, albeit of a very mild strain, so hopefully not much to offend the pearl-clutchers this time.

  11. Can 8d claim any kind of record for longest hidden word(s) in a crossword puzzle? Loi was 20d, typical Paul clue…

  12. Enjoyable breakfast brain unscrambler. Thanks to Paul and Scchua. One small point. 14 across is not about meat. In fact it’s an offal clue.
    Apologies!

  16. Thanks to Paul and scchua. Lots of fun, specially SPANISH OMELETTE. The two long down items on the borders got me started, but HESSIAN gave me pause because it’s burlap in the US. I was pleased to see the appearance of WOODY GUTHRIE (is his “Pastures of Plenty” known in the UK?). I’d never seen the plural of isthmus before. It reminded me of the story about a zookeeper who was a stickler about spelling and needed a replacement. He send his order: “Send me a mongoose.” Then added: “Please send me another one.”

  17. LOL  Dutchman @12, and @William and Alan.

    To tell you the TRUTH, (and I don’t know which way is up from Down Under) I’ve enjoyed the contributions here  far more than the crossword.

    Some wordplay clever after the solve, eg  DELIVERIES.  I thought I was onto Paul’s wavelength with spermatazoon, (one in balls) but it didn’t fit.   Other clues felt  overworked, with  boring surfaces.  IMHO, 1D was just a laboured charade, with a letter missing.

    SPANISH OMELETTE is impressive for the 15 letter hidden, but apart from that it leaves me cold.

    And what sort of a definition is  ‘dark secret of a child’?   Shades of English boarding school story books, which I used to read avidly, until I was ‘sent away’. In Queensland Oz, in summer,  it  was my duty to hide the choc chip icecream AND the watermelon under my pillow until the coast was clear. eeeyyyukkk!!  (Off topic? At least that memory’s  brought a smile after my  grumpy experience of Paul today.)

  18. And ACD,  You got me laughing with  your mongoose crack. WOODIE GUTHRIE and ISTHMI were my picks.

  19. paddymelon@17: lovely contribution, thanks a lot! Not off-topic at all IMHO. From all the horrific stories of boarding school life I have heard I am just glad I was never at one!

    Many thanks Paul and scchua.

  20. paddymelon@17, I agree re 1d. It’s what I call a jigsaw clue, e.g. find a synonym for this, subtract the first letter of that, reverse it inside the other and then add something else. Not much ‘aha’ results. Hey ho, I still admire the setters’ efforts and the occasional fiendishly clever clue makes up for the slog.

  21. Ditto re boarding school, glad I was never ‘sent’. My co-ed secular day school was relatively benign (and boasts a luminary or two, e.g. Bob Hawke).

  23. Thanks to Paul and scchua. I enjoyed this but it was still a struggle in places, left hand went in quite readily, but right hand held me up. It took me ages to spot the cleverly hidden 8d, and then by isosceles and last one deliveries. With this one I resorted to what word might fit and then parsing with a “doh moment”. I liked the long hidden clue along with midnight feast and bikini line, though lots of other nice clues. Thanks again to Paul and scchua.

  24. paddymelon@22, at the risk of a bust by the relevance police I have to brag: Mrs ginfreo is a mate of Tim’s grandparents and was at his mum and dad’s wedding.

  25. Well, I can’t agree with paddymelon @ 17 or grantinfreo @ 21. I thought it was a delight. So many laughs along the way and too many favourites to list.

    We needed scchua’s help to parse 9a PRICELESS, but Job ( Mr pvb ) and I helped each other parse 17a CHEERIO and 15d TRUE NORTH.

    Thanks a lot Paul and scchua

  26. Grantinfreo (lovely spot)@24 Many years ago Frank told me it was uncool to namedrop-Bob and Miles said the same to me later.

  27. Gentler than the last two days for me, and none the worse for it. 8d is brilliant and was spotted by Mrs W. Having said it was gentler it was still a dnf as I had ISTHMA (with the two bit unparsed) which meant the only word that fitted was MENAGERIES which didn’t parse but could just about be stretched to mean children. Mrs W had gone out by this time so wasn’t there to rescue me from my ineptitude.
    No boarding school stories from me, but I enjoyed the contributions.
    Thanks to Paul and scchua for parsing CHEERIO and OVERDRAFT.

  28. Copmus, is that Sinatra, Dylan (he visits one of our neighbours) and Davis? As someone here sometimes says, I’ll get me hat.

  29. One of Paul’s better weekday puzzles, not his trickiest but a nice variety of clue types. Didn’t see SPANISH OMELETTE until I had a few crossers including the P, which suggests that was a good clue…

    Thanks to Paul and scchua

  31. paddymelon@17

    i took ‘dark secret of a child’ to be ‘night-time secret of a child’ which might have made the answer too obvious so Paul changed it to ‘dark’ = ‘night-time’?

  32. Thank you Paul and scchua.

    I enjoyed this puzzle, especially the SPANISH OMELETTE and the MIDNIGHT FEAST.  The latter reminded me of our French mistress, she always seemed to know when we had had one (and she used to hint, by twitching her nose, that she knew we kept two pet rabbits in a field near the school).  Incidentally, she escaped from Poland in WWII; it is little known that from 1940 to 1942 it was mostly non-Jewish Polish intelligentsia who were put to death.

  33. I enjoyed this.  My favorites (in no particular order) were BEL PAESE, WOODY GUTHRIE, and SPANISH OMELETTE.

    HESSIAN had to be the correct answer based on the crossers and the wordplay, but like my fellow US solver ACD @16 I did not know it as a type of fabric, and when I Google-confirmed it afterward and saw a picture, my reaction was the same: “Oh, you mean burlap!”  [This being a Paul puzzle, my second thought was how Paul might clue BURLAP, and I came up with: “Coarse material about stroke on upper thighs (6)”.]

    I solved OVERDRAFT based on the wordplay alone, which I enjoyed, but feel that the definition aspect of the clue is all wrong.  The only meaning of OVERDRAFT that I know is the act of writing a check/cheque on insufficient funds, causing the account to become … apologies for the tautology … overdrawn.  I think that such an act would not help one in securing capital or financing — in fact, it would have the opposite effect.

    Many thanks to Paul and scchua and the other commenters.

  34. DaveMc @33 – in the UK certainly an overdraft can describe a prearranged facility to take more money out of your bank account than you have put in. A simple but expensive way of taking out a loan.

  35. Thanks Paul and scchua. 19 took me longer than the rest of the puzzle put together, and even then I didn’t really solve it. Took “children” to be the definition and, to put an end to the puzzle, did a half-hearted parse, although I had to use “one in” twice, and have the reversal indicator leapfrog the “eating meat” bit. So it was I in (one in) DEES (recalled one in balls) containing LIVER (eating meat).
    I liked 6 and 23.
    DaveMc: Here (it may be different where you are) an overdraft can also be a maximum level of being overdrawn agreed with the bank – thus allowing you to secure capital, in the sense of “get money”.

  36. Van Winkle @34 and Bear of little brain @35:  Thank you both for explaining the UK meaning of OVERDRAFT as a prearranged or pre-agreed credit facility.  Definitely a TILT (Thing I Learned Today) for me!

  37. Thanks to Paul and sschua.

    No complaints here and much admiration for SPANISH OMELETTE. Minor eyebrow wiggle in that the surface for DELIVERIES is a bit on the clunky side for a Paul, but really not too much of an issue and much to enjoy.

    It’s too hot for crosswords.

  38. I didn’t fill in ISTHMI because I couldn’t believe it was a word! (I’ve only ever seen or known ‘isthmuses’.)
    The long hidden at 8d was amazing. It was my nth answer to go in, where n is too large to admit.
    I really liked the British humour about a British summer in 18d RAINCOAT. I also liked MIDNIGHT FEAST and WOODY GUTHRIE for their very neat constructions.
    Like a couple of other commenters, I found the wordplay somewhat laboured in some clues, among them DELIVERIES, OVERDRAFT and TRUE NORTH.
    Thanks to Paul and Scchua.

  39. Hi late to party as have been attempting over course of 2 days. Got c 75% which I was very happy with, couldn’t get the NE corner including the mega-hidden of 8d but very much enjoyed.

    Small question – I had thought about Cheerio for 17 but didn’t put it in as I couldn’t see how ‘on moon’ was io. Even if I had heard of Io, i still don’t really understand how ‘on’ In an across clue becomes ‘plus’ or ‘followed by’, is that a usual convention? Thanks.

  40. Even later to the party … finally gave up on 14ac because I had ASTHMA for 5dn. Just me? Sort of makes sense – one is A so two could be AA, and (with some personal experience) I know asthma involves narrow areas (or passages anyway). Hey ho. Enjoyed the rest of it anyway. Thanks to Paul and scchua.

    SD @ 39 – yes “on” is quite commonly used for “put next to”. Like “stuck on”, I suppose.

  41. Missed the party altogether. Was it yesterday?

    A few I couldn’t get or parse but coming here I can see they were actually pretty good clues in spite of some unsmooth surfaces.

    8a certainly one to remember.

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