A very satisfying puzzle, I thought. We got most of it on an initial pass, but it took a few other looks through the week to fill in the south-west corner. Lots of great clues – thank-you, Paul!
Across
1. Fail to comprehend performance that’s sweet (7)
LACTOSE
LOSE = “Fail” around ACT = “performance”
Definition: “that’s sweet” – lactose is a type of sugar found in milk
5. Worst possible thing where one deals with a breakdown (3,4)
THE PITS
Double definition: “Worst possible thing” and “where one deals with a breakdown” – this phrase (“the pits”) always reminds me of John McEnroe calling an umpire “the pits of the world”
11. Last of the rubbish written about vehicle taken back, as claws drawn in (10)
RETRACTILE
[th]E = “Last of the” + LITTER = “rubbish” around CAR = “vehicle” all reversed
Definition: “as claws drawn in”
12. Land bordering a western country (6)
MALAWI
MALI = “Land” around A + W = “western” – bit of an old crossword chestnut this one, I think, albeit with lots of variations
Definition: “country”
13, 6, 4. I’ve no cash, and I threaten all in need of treatment? (8,6,7)
NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE
A lovely &lit: (I’VE NO CASH AND I THREATEN)* – the anagram indicator is “in need of treatment?”
Definition: the whole clue
14. Direction turned another way (5-4)
NORTH-EAST
(ANOTHER)* + ST (street) = “way”
Definition: “Direction”
16. Rapid group at sea (5)
FLEET
Double definition: “Rapid” and “group at sea”
17. Add ten, providing nothing rejected (5)
AFFIX
X = “ten” + IF = “providing” + FA (“*!#? all”) = “nothing”, all reversed
Definition: “Add”
19. Brexit no deal initially unfolding, potentially volatile situation? (9)
TINDERBOX
(BREXIT NO D)*
Definition: “potentially volatile situation?”
23. Murder squeezing in boozer — might these get you in? (8)
CROWBARS
CROWS = “Murder” (the collective noun for crows) around BAR = “boozer”
Definition: “might these get you in?”
24, 19. A nasty vice being impudent — lippy here? (6,4)
VANITY CASE
(A NASTY VICE)*
Definition: “lippy here?” (“lippy” is slang for lipstick)
26. Queen, perhaps yet to snub English Oscar winner, cheers (4,6)
MANY THANKS
MAN (chess piece) = “Queen, perhaps” + Y[e]T = “yet to snub English” + HANKS = “Oscar winner”
Definition: “cheers”
27. Imitative behaviour has crossword writer doubled up (4)
MEME
ME = “crossword writer” repeated (“doubled up”)
Definition: “imitative behaviour” – one of the definition of “meme” is “An element of a culture or system of behaviour passed from one individual to another by imitation or other non-genetic means.”
28. Soft little things, the English to the Australians, one and all? (7)
POMPOMS
POM is Australian slang for the English, so “one and all?” gives you POM and POMS
Definition: “Soft little things”
29. Naval weapon, flipping scandal, with inclination to waste billions (7)
TRIDENT
DIRT = “scandal” reversed + [b]ENT = “inclination” without “billions”
Definition: “Naval weapon”
Down
2. I’m surprised a soldier lifted a Native American (7)
ARAPAHO
OH = “I’m surprised” + A + PARA = “soldier” all reversed
Definition: “a Native American”
3. Greek letter something to pick up, briefly (5)
THETA
THE TA[b] = “something to pick up, briefly”
Definition: “Greek letter”
7. Mediocre earner needing sink and kettle, say? (9)
POTBOILER
POT = “sink” (as in snooker) + BOILER = “kettle, say?”
Definition: “Mediocre earner”
8. Cultivation shown by jailbird in hat (7)
TILLAGE
LAG = “jailbird” in TILE = “hat”
Definition: “Cultivation”
9. Totally perplexed, when all humour has drained away? (2,4,4,3)
AT ONES WITS END
Cryptic definition: “when all humour has drained away?”
Definition: “Totally perplexed”
15. Message on the box, switch hit and power terminated (4,3,2)
THIS WAY UP
(HIT)* = “switch hit” + SWAY = “power” + UP = “terminated”
Definition: “Message on the box” (lovely misdirection here)
18. Nowhere near end of disorder, back in confusing mess (7)
FARRAGO
FAR = “Nowhere near” + [disorde]R = “end of disorder” + AGO = “back” (as in “10 years back”)
Definition: “mess”
20. Figure going into another dip shortly, one covering one’s face (7)
DIVISOR
DI[p] = “dip shortly” VISOR = “one covering one’s face”
Definition: “Figure going into another”
21. Excessive land of Suleiman the Magnificent, for example? (7)
OTTOMAN
OTT (over the top) = “Excessive” + OMAN = “land”
Definition: “Suleiman the Magnificent, for example?”
22. Result of lack of planning putting leader on edge (6)
MAYHEM
MAY = “leader” + HEM = “edge”
Definition: “Result of lack of planning”
25. Hunter-gatherer possibly missing nuts? (5)
NOMAD
NO MAD = “missing nuts?”
Definition: “Hunter-gatherer possibly”
Once again with Paul this took me longer than it should have done, the answers went in readily enough but, owing to clever misdirections, quite a few explanations eluded me for some time. 28a was FOI and, I don’t know why, but 1a the last. I dithered between ONES and YOUR for the second word in 9d until 13a revealed itself and because of the topicality of a TV series tried to make 10a FAIR.
Thanks to Paul and mhl. A very slow start for me, with several items new to me (e.g., RETRACTILE, lippy for lipstick), and I had trouble parsing LACTOSE (though now I don’t see why). I did finish and much enjoyed the process.
Thanks mhl and Paul.
13,6,4 didn’t thrill me at all. “I” is the personal pronoun applicable to humans (and, some times, to talking cartoon characters). NHS should be “it” does not etc. I know Paul pushes the envelope, but this is a bridge too far…
Also, 24/19 should really be 24/10.
FA for “f*@$-all” is not in American English, so AFFIX was the second-to-last in for me. The last was the crossing FARRAGO, which was simply unfamiliar. Otherwise, pretty satisfying.
Thanks mhl. Coincidentally MEME came under family discussion here as a buzzword. Research showed it to be a Richard Dawkins coining, and derived from Greek mim?ma ‘that which is imitated’. Liked this puzzle a lot, which nicely filled a Saturday lunch hour: though I did have to look up redskin groupings (clearly crucial) to crack 2D.
I was in parsing hell this week. Filled it in but couldn’t figure out why on several clues.
THE PITS. I got stuck on ‘where one deals’ in a casino, so couldn’t parse the breakdown bit.
RETRACTILE. Could only see CAR backwards.
AFFIX. No idea at all.
POMPOMS. No idea at all except for pom
THETA. Could not see anything
FARRAGO. FAR … and then nothing.
So I don’t know if it was me with a hangover, or Paul being particularly obscure. Anyway, all good now
Yes molonglo@6, like you, I had to check my guess from the wordplay for 2d to confirm that ARAPAHO is a Native American tribal group.
I liked 23a CROWBARS, 26a MANY THANKS (that definition of MAN – “Queen, perhaps” – was most ironic but very very clever), 21d OTTOMAN and 22d MAYHEM.
In fact I pretty much liked it all, though it was certainly not an occasion when I got most of it with one pass like mhl and partner. Much more challenging than that for me.
As a sailor, I am quite red-faced that 16a FLEET, was my LOI.
26 across to Paul, mhl and other posters.
PS I meant to say that this Aussie did appreciate the little joke in 28a POMPOMS.
Yes, pompoms was cute. Didn’t have too much trouble with this, about a 2-cuppa if I remember. Took a while to get the murder (a d’oh chestnut, and Freo is full of the noisy black blighters) and the queen, yes also pretty cute, JinA. Started off thinking “a pot boiler’s earnings aren’t necessarily mediocre”–d’oh again! Also slow to get sway as power, neat clue. And dear old St Theresa again in mayhem; if her popularity was anything like her cruciverb frequency she’d be laughing.
Good Saturday fun, thanks Paul and Mhl.
I’ve had a few DNF. In the last few weeks. A lot of those also fell into the DNC (did not Care) category too.
This though was a delight, some tricky some less so and a few gems.
The wordplay for NHS, TINDERBOX TRIDENT were masterful, and appropriate as editorial content for Grauniad to boot.
As an occasional chess player I also appreciated the misdirection on MANY THANKS, which I also direct to mhl and Paul
The anagram fodder for 13,6,4 should be I’VE NO CASH I THREATEN ALL. Thanks for the blog Mhl.
Ilippu, you’re a bit of a “grumpy old Hector” this morning. What’s wrong with a bit of anthropomorphism?
Imagine a play where the NHS is in a room talking to British Rail. It could happen 🙂
A bridge too far my a**e.
Mhl, you may have got most of it on an initial pass, but I had my slowest start for a long time, emerging with just MEME, and even there a niggling feeling MIME was a better fit to the definition, if not the wordplay. But then, possibly because it’s where I was, I got AT ONES WITS END, and then it all fell slowly into place, I enjoyed what I assumed was a Tory conference theme – nobody seems to have mentioned that so far – and I loved the NHS clue, although I wish it wasn’t true. Nice work, Paul, and thanks mhl.
I agree with Alex @13. Has Ilippu never played charades? ‘My first is ……, my second is…….’ etc. The answer doesn’t have to be a person.
A lovely puzzle, with some notably good surfaces. I particularly enjoyed 22dn. Thanks to Paul and mhl.
Thanks Paul and mhl
ARAPAHO should be familiar to anyone who remembers Ian Dury’s Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick:
In the wilds of Borneo
And the vineyards of Bordeaux
Eskimo, Arapaho
Move their body to and fro.
Another slow start for me. I had POMPOMS on the first pass but I wasn’t sure so left it blank until the crossers came quite a lot later. NHS got me started along with MEME and the,quite brilliant CROWBAR- leaning those collective nouns at school was bound to pay off! RETRACTILE was new to me.
Thanks Paul.
26a to Paul and mhl. Indicating MAN by “Queen, perhaps” in that clue was brilliant, as others have said. I also really liked 22d MAYHEM.
Re 9d, it quite often happens that the answer is clearly a phrase containing either “one’s” or “your”, but you don’t know which it is until you’ve got a crosser. I think it more usually turns out to be “one’s”, but you can never (one can never) be sure.
Another thing that happens quite often is that I can somehow see that a word is intended to be an anagram indicator, although I couldn’t explain exactly why it is. A case in point is “impudent” in 24, 10 (which as ilippu says was wrongly stated to be 24, 19). Chambers gives for “impudent”: “shamelessly bold; impertinent; disrespectful; insolent”, none of which particularly seems to me to indicate changing the order of the letters.
Thank you Paul and mhl.
Great fun, especially the anagram for the NHS – I am sorry that ilippu @4 did not appreciate the clue, many people recently wished the NHS “Happy 70th Birthday”, sometimes adding “Get well soon” ..
Generally good fun. I had to cheat on 2d. I read the “a” before “Native” as part of the wordplay not the definition so I was looking for a 3 letter soldier. ANT didn’t fit and ANAMAHO isn’t a native american so I Googled a list.
Thanks to Paul and mhl
Yes, Simon S, the Drury song was on the playlist when our boys were partying, but I doubt my knowing Arapaho comes from there, more probably from reading Mrs ginf’s huge historical fiction collection, spanning eras and continents.
Never heard the Drury song, but I did know ARAPAHO from Spitting Image’s Chicken song –
Skin yourself alive
Learn to speak Arapahoe
Climb inside a dog
And behead an Eskimo
Thanks to Paul and mhl. I am another who started off quite slowly,but once the long anagram went in the rest followed quite steadily. Last one in was meme after musing for a while between that and mime. Generally I found it a fun solve with lots of typical Paul clues. I liked the pits, affix and crowbars and thanks again to Paul and mhl.
I had a couple of amusing misparsings which were more Pauline than Paul: firstly in 36a, MANY THANKS, I took “queen, perhaps” to mean one of those men who happens to be “an effeminate homosexual” one (or, you might say, “more Pauline* than Paul”).
Secondly, I initially entered WOMAN for 25d on the basis that some hunter-gatherers were women (“Hunter-gatherer possibly”, DBE) — I leave the rest of the parsing to the reader …
I didn’t know lippy before, but guessed what it meant after solving.
It took me a long time after pencilling in THIS WAY UP for 15d, before I realised “power” was for -SWAY-, not the P terminating my candidate answer.
As Epee Sharkey and at least one other has pointed out, 13, 19 and 29 were great examples of crossword-as-political-commentary. And well timed!
@grantinfreo, Mrs May is so happy about all her crossword mentions, she’s not only smiling, she’s dancing! (Well, trying to; I’ve heard a couple of topical gagsters suggesting the “moves she busted” were reminiscent of a removal man struggling with heavy furniture).
*1. adj, 2. Woman’s name
Did anyone else detect a distinctly political theme to this one? I don’t think DIVISOR, FARRAGO, MAYHEM, AT ONES WITS END, THE PITS and references to the NHS and throwing things at the television (plus BREXIT explicitly forming part of the anagram fodder) are coincidental. OTTOMAN (Turkeys’s alleged accession to the EU) and NOMAD (citizen of nowhere?) could also be coded references to the dreaded Referendum…
Dave D@25: Yes, definitely. One what wonders what will happen in the end…
Great puzzle. A Pom is a rather loose concept, based more on visible or audible characteristics than nationality (provenance) as such. A Scottish friend who went to a public school thought he would be safe when he visited Sydney. Sadly, no…
And again. Another wholly unacceptable production. It’s time the Guardian widened its pool of prize compilers. Regulars clearly like – or have got used to – this compiler’s disregard for any sense of protocol and convention. For newcomers it’s a totally impenetrable and inconsistent effort.
@Agmac,
I happened to pick up this late comment from an old feed. Did you mean to post here months after the event? If so, can you give examples of the breaches of protocol and convention you mean?