Guardian 27,619 / Paul

36 comments on “Guardian 27,619 / Paul”

1. Fairly straightforward i thought, though surprised to see the slang The Munchies, which only certain types if people would know!

2. All was going swimmingly as I worked through this in my favourite riverside café without the use of any reference sources, but I came unstuck in the NW and couldn’t for the life of me solve the last three clues!
   Never heard of impurities called DOPANTS (1a) – which I thought might be DE-PANTS though I couldn’t parse it – or PARKIN cake (2d) – where I had PATTIE ?. All that mess in the top right meant I couldn’t get 9a either.
   The rest was certainly fun all the way, as you say, Eileen: I especially liked 14a THE MUNCHIES (though I am claiming the Clinton defence), and MATT the dull gospeller at 24d.
   Many thanks to Paul for the enjoyment, despite my crash and burn at the finish, and to Eileen.

3. I really enjoyed what I could fill in, though of course with a Paul DNF. THE MUNCHIES was brand new to me, also DOPANTS. If ITERATION is repeating, what is REITERATION? Just asking.

   Many thanks Paul and Eileen.

4. But I did manage to complete Paul’s prize offering on 15 Sep.

5. Hi JinA

   DOPANTS: Chambers simply has ‘[electronics] a substance used in doping’ but I found this in Wikipedia: ‘A dopant, also called a doping agent, is a trace impurity element that is inserted into a substance (in very low concentrations) to alter the electrical or optical properties of the substance’.

   I always thought PARKIN was a  Yorkshire delicacy but Chambers says it’s Scot and N Eng’ so perhaps rather parochial, anyway. 😉

6. Couldn’t parse ITERATION or SPRIG, but they’re obvious now. My mother used to make PARKIN, so that was easy.

   Thanks, Paul and Eileen.

7. The usual good and witty puzzle from Paul. As I like his style of setting, I usually persevere and manage to complete his puzzles, but this time I had exactly the same blanks in the NW corner as you, JinA@2. Eventually I revealed DOPANTS, and then could write in the last two, though I didn’t parse CORPS – obvious with hindsight of course.

   Thanks Paul and Eileen.

8. Dopants beyond my ken, so couldn’t finish off nw corner. A pity, enjoyed the rest as always with a Paul puzzle…

9. Aah the munchies – happy days long long ago going to the corner shop for large rizlas – what else could they be used for – coming back with 20 assorted chocolate bars but no skins man. Why are puzzles so nostalgic?

   Anyway excellent as ever from Paul and Eileen.

10. Thanks both. DOPANTS are a vital part of integrated circuits, changing the properties of the silicon semiconductor. That’s from my memory, from uni c 1971!

11. Being a decade your junior Eileen, I, like BlueCanary, knew the munchies, but like others I stared in vain at the last three in the NW, and even cheating with aids didn’t help. And I came to today’s feeling cruciverbally smug (from elsewhere), so that’ll larn me!

    Otherwise yes a fun solve, with a (groan-ish) chuckle at 16d, a d’oh at 27a, a ‘slow!’ next to dec oct, ditto for Garda (dnk, despite Mrs ginfs antecedents on one side, plus touring), and ‘chestnut’ next to men ace.

    Thanks Paul and Eileen.

12. Nice one, Paul.

    Thanks Eileen; I was wondering about the surface of 22 until I realised that dish could mean a beautiful woman, so I like it now. Paul was on good behaviour when clueing SCREWING UP.

    I particularly enjoyed the racketeer and the ‘cottish’ bed.

13. …missed a non-grocer’s comma…Mrs ginf’s

14. I too had never heard of dopants.    I had heard of the Munchies, but I thought it was used as a general term for being hungry these days

    Thanks to Paul for the fun and Eileen for the blog

15. Further to dopants – once an integrated circuit had been treated with them, they were said to be ‘doped’, also a state many early programmers were often found in, leading then to 14a.

    Trust me on this.

16. LOI was CORPS because I failed to see the homophone marker. DOPANTS are part of my chemical past. I have never associated THE MUNCHIES with dope, however. Never understood why PARKIN is confined to the North.

    Thanks to Paul and Eileen.

17. Thanks to Paul and Eileen. My experience sounds similar to many others. A lot went in quite readily, but got held up in the NW, with dopant last one (just like JinA spent lots of time musing depants which did not make sense). Loved the munchies (knew the term, but it actually brought up the disturbing image of The Scream by Munch). I also liked Scottish and screwing up, and thanks to Paul and Eileen.

18. Thanks to Paul and Eileen. I had the same problems with DOPANTS, but I also struggled with Lake GARDA, CHITTAGONG and PARKIN, though I did eventually parse those three.

19. Thanks both. Big ticks against 21 and 25.

20. I too had DOPANTS and PARKIN sitting there unsolved when I decided to hit the cheat button. I’ve often noticed that one of the biggest areas where British and American English diverge is dessert.

    THE MUNCHIES was fun, as was the simple but elegant THAW. PENINSULA also seemed quite well done.

    As every late-night taqueria in America (and every late-night kebab joint in London) can attest, a hard night of drinking will also give you the munchies. So you need not have done anything illegal to get them….

21. Never heard of DOPANTS, and I have a hard time thinking it’s a word — as I did about ASSENTIENT yesterday. But now that it’s explained I’ll grant it wordship in its technical orbit. THE MUNCHIES, though, were quite familiar.

    A British friend sang me “We kept on eating parkin, We kept on eating parkin, We kept on eating parkin, and that’s why we’re so brown,” so I knew about it.  I even think that at some point I’ve had some.

    I had no idea that ON SIDE meant able to score, but it sounded like cricket, and that’s a sport where you score.

    I don’t think DEPUTISE means stand in — it means to make someone a deputy, not to be one.

    JinA — I love the picture of you solving the puzzle in a riverside cafe, and now I wish we had one.  We have several cafes and a good-sized river, but not together.

    Martin@3 — what reiteration is is too many syllables.  It must be more impressive if it’s longer, no?

    BlueCanary @9 — what on earth are rizlas?  And why no skins man?

    Thanks to Paul for an enjoyable puzzle and to Eileen for her usual friendly blog.

22. Great puzzle – lots of fun clues from Paul, as usual.

     

    Valentine @21 : ONSIDE is “legally able to score”, since if a footballer was deemed offside when scoring the goal would be disallowed. Rizlas are the main brand of cigarette paper in the UK for making roll-up ciggies. They’re also known as skins.

23. Valentine @ 21

    DEPUTISE can also be intransitive, at least on this side of the Atlantic: “I deputised / stood in for my boss, who couldn’t attend the meeting”.

24. One assumes Valentine is from the Americas as he/she is unfamiliar with some British usages.

    ON SIDE in fact is a reference to football (soccer) in this case.

    DEPUTISE certainly does mean to act as a deputy.

    Rizlas are cigarette papers used for smoking rolling tobacco and possibly some other substances.

25. > I’ve often noticed that one of the biggest areas where British and American English diverge is dessert.

    Indeed; hurrah for the 22a!

    Several of these clues (8d, 14a, 18a, et al) were cleverly misguiding. I thought they’d be piecemeal, but turned out to be two or three big words aside or inside each other. Nice work.

26. Thanks Paul and Eileen

    I attempted most of this while driving, my wife reading out the clues and also contributing (I was paying attention to the road as well!)

    A DNF, in fact, as THE MUNCHIES meant nothing to either of us – does us credit, yes?

27. Like a number of us I gave up with the NW corner,ho hum. I did know THE MUNCHIES though and I agree they are just as likely after a few beers ! I too thought Paul’s Prize puzzle on 15th Sept was easier. Thanks to Paul and to Eileen.

28. Never heard of THE MUNCHIES but then I belong to the alcoholic generation. Still, the OED has it.I couldn’t parse CONSIDERATE but then football refs are beyond me. I didn’t know DOPANTS or DECOCT but they were reasonably easy to get. I did screw up 9ac -I had CARDS. “on the cards” up for discussion/Hearts= a suit? It seemed plausible at the time. I did enjoy this though!
    Thanks Paul.

29. A great puzzle.  Thanks to Paul and Eileen.  I enjoy the puzzles, and I love the blog!  I wish I could comment earlier – by the time I get here I feel like all the best lines have already been used, sigh.

     

30. Is “lippy” slang for lipstick (or liposuction)? If not, then how does the definition in 7d work?

    A DNF for me because I’ve never heard of “parkin”. I do know the word “dopants”, although I was briefly misled into thinking that to “de-pants” someone is to remove their underpants. (Presumably such a word would be hyphenated, and anyway impurities part didn’t make sense.)

     

     

31. Ted @30

    Yes, “lippy” is a loose form for “lipstick”.

32. Decoct. Now there’s a word I haven’t used for forty years since hanging around the botany lab at uni. It occasionally comes to mind when making tea these days.

33. I solved half of this in a favourite cafe not by the riverside.  I managed to solve clues to words and phrases I haven’t heard of (DOPANTS, DECOCT and THE MUNCHIES) but when I found time later to ‘finish it off’ I failed to solve what were on paper easier clues: MENACE, CORPS and SCREWING UP.

    It was good fun most of the way, RUNNERS-UP, HEARTEN and MATT being my favourite clues.

    There was no need for the ‘?’ in the clue to RUNNERS-UP.  It is not a DBE, because ‘runner’ is an example of ‘bean’, not the other way round.  The setter might have thought that ‘seconds’ might be an example of ‘runners-up’, but one definition of a runner-up is one who comes second, the other being anyone who finishes behind the winner – which could explain the ‘?’.

34. Thanks, muffin! @31 I hadn’t heard that term, and a quick and cursory dictionary search didn’t turn it up.

    I wouldn’t want you to draw too many conclusions from this, but at one time in my life I heard the phrase THE MUNCHIES quite often, so I was surprised at how many people were unfamiliar with it. But of course I routinely flaunt my ignorance of terms that are extremely familiar to others. The crossword world is clearly full of people who move in very different linguistic circles.

35. Sadoldsweat @24  Yes, I’m in the US (and apparently sometimes confuse football terms with cricket ones) and I’m a woman.

36. Just thought I ought to add that 21 across THAW, “What melts?” strikes me as one of the the neatest clues ever!

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