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It’s been a bit of a blast from the past this week, with Brendan, Orlando and Arachne taking the midweek spots. We end the week with Paul; still a regular, of course, but one who has been around as a setter for longer than many. I found this one quite hard: there were a couple of times where I ground to a halt, but then got one more answer which led to a few more, and it all came out nicely in the end. Thanks to Paul.
| Across | ||||||||
| 7. | ROUGHAGE | This food’s indigestible — that’s as much as a lady will admit? (8) The lady will only admit her ROUGH AGE |
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| 9. | RIOTER | With order originally maintained, author losing head as one joining the fray? (6) O[rder] in [W]RITER |
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| 10. | STIR | In protest, I refused to move (4) Hidden in proteST I Refuse |
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| 11. | LORD HELP US | Behold peril initially in hurdles to negotiate — we’re in trouble! (4,4,2) LO (behold) + P[eril] in HURDLES* |
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| 12. | AIR CON | Catching rear in mirror, a superstar appearing cooler (3,3) [mirro]R in A ICON |
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| 14. | SQUIRREL | Hoarder — gentleman collecting right and left (8) R in SQUIRE + L |
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| 15. | HOOVER | House done, clean the carpets (6) HO + OVER |
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| 17. | HELIUM | Gas starts to inflate umpteen wheel surrounds (6) I[nflate] U[mpteen] in HELM (wheel, as on a ship) |
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| 20. | COLD FEET | Previous charge in court bringing feeling of uncertainty (4,4) OLD FEE in CT |
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| 22. | TANTRA | Bronze sculptures perhaps turned round to reveal mystical text (6) TAN (bronze-coloured) + reverse of ART |
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| 23. | TEA SERVICE | Fragile thing, problem leading to fault (3,7) TEASER (problem) + VICE (fault) |
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| 24. | BASH | Party remains behind leader in bewilderment (4) B[ewilderment] + ASH (remains) |
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| 25. | MODEST | Small in two ways? (6) MODE (a kind of way) + ST (street, another “way”) |
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| 26. | GORGEOUS | Lovely ovoid shape in spoiled egg, sour (8) O (ovoid shape) in (EGG SOUR)* |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 1. | FORTYISH | Female with chequered history, supposedly maturing by now? (8) F + HISTORY* |
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| 2. | IGOR | Prince, villain having ousted a king (4) IAGO less A, + R. From the prince of Borodin’s opera, based on a story of a historical figure |
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| 3. | MARLIN | Fish without a memory, hauled up (6) Reverse of NIL RAM (random access memory, as used in computers) |
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| 4. | ART HOUSE | Cinema gets you in the end (3,5) THOU (you) in ARSE |
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| 5. | DOLLAR SIGN | Figure of a child dressed in rags, the mark of Trump’s economics? (6,4) DOLL (“figure of a child”) + (IN RAGS)* |
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| 6. | BEMUSE | Worker wrapping up the whole puzzle (6) Reverse of SUM (the whole) in BEE |
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| 8. | EGRESS | Leaving home, freeloading daughter made ungracious remarks, all concluding (6) Last letters of homE freeloadinG daughteR madE ungraciouS remarkS |
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| 13. | CROP DUSTER | Drop sprays in general — does it? (4,6) DROP* in [General] CUSTER, and an &littish definition |
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| 16. | EXECRATE | Despise boss a certain amount (8) EXEC (executive, boss) + RATE (a certain amount) |
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| 18. | MORESQUE | Coming from North Africa, religious teaching in appropriate place? (8) R.E. in MOSQUE – Moresque is a variant of “Moorish”, used to describe some forms of art |
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| 19,22. | STRING THEORY | Narrative about to chime with the conjecture of quantum physicists (6,6) RING (chime) + THE in STORY |
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| 21. | OBERON | Spirited king serious, on having lost crown (6) SOBER ON less its first letter. Oberon is king of the fairies (who might be spirits), particularly familiar from A Midsummer Night’s Dream |
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| 24. | BEEB | Auntie showing up just the same? (4) “Auntie Beeb” is a nickname of the BBC, and BEEB is a palindrome, so in a down clue it “shows up just the same” |
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My feelings are exactly those of Andrew. Stop-and-start all the way.
No particular complaints, though. I liked COLD FEET best.
Thanks Paul and Andrew
I’m with Andrew – and Anna, adding ROUGHAGE and FORTYISH. I can’t believe how long it took me to parse 8dn!
Thanks to Andrew and Paul.
Agree. Ta for parse for 12a aircon (icon=superstar is a stretch) and 2d igor, which it it had to be once 2a and 10a in place. Stuck on generic synonym for crook, but exemplar being referred to. Solution for 16d considered for a while, until at last exec seen and it had to be.
Thanks Paul&Andrew.
Yes, fits and starts – I thought this was going to be too much of a slog to keep my interest, but then I got 4d, which kept me going.
“Moresque” new as a variant of “Moorish”, but guessable/gettable.
Thanks Paul and Andrew
Thanks Paul and Andrew
Hard work. I didn’t parse RIOTER, AIR CON, HELIUM or IGOR. Favourites were CROP DUSTER and STRING THEORY.
New words for me were MORESQUE, STRING THEORY – I guess that I knew them in the back of my mind, but I have never used either of them.
I could not parse 19/22 or 2d.
My favourites were COLD FEET, MARLIN, MODEST (Loi).
I thought it was a bit much to have two clues (1d and 7a) about women’s ages in one puzzle. It would have been nice to have one of them about men instead of both of them about females. I think that many men are age-conscious these days. For example, they dye their grey hair a darker, “younger” colour. It is not only women who try to look younger than they actually are.
The one I didnt/couldnt parse was ART HOUSE and I’m no surprised.
This was a tough slog-felt like I was doing an exam.Very Gordian
Thanks Andrew and Paul.
Thanks to Paul and Andrew. My experience similar to most above, in that a slow solve in fits and starts. I ended up one or two unsolved in each corner. However got there in the end with last ones roughage, art house, morisque and modest (as I said one in each corner). That said, although quite tough, still a very enjoyable challenge. Favourites for me were string theory, modest and cold feet. Thanks again to Paul and Andrew.
I really enjoyed this as far as I could take it. I got started in the SE corner with STRING THEORY, GORGEOUS, BASH and MORESQUE. After a lull, I needed a break in the top half, and it came with BEMUSE and LORD HELP US (the ‘we’ pointing me to US rather than UP). ART HOUSE was tough – I didn’t know the phrase, and I couldn’t get BAT HOUSE (‘thou’ in ‘base’) out of my head.
I had to leave the SW corner for lack of time, being at least temporarily stuck there, wanting also to visit the blog.
A good crossword with some really good clues. Thanks to Paul and Andrew.
I finished this in 2 + 1 sessions: the first at midnight, the second at 3am when I couldn’t sleep. I seem to go against the flow with Paul’s puzzles, in that when everyone else finds them relatively easy, I find them hard, and vice versa; so this one I though fairly straightforward. I even had no problems with Eileen’s 8d at 3am.
The third session? I had finished the Killer Sudoku in the doctor’s waiting room this morning, and, bored, thought I would fill in the crossword again. LOI? 8d! and I couldn’t see the explanation immediately – don’t know what that says about my memory.
Michelle @ 6 Along with floccinaucinihilipilification, I have never used string theory in a conversation.
Thanks Paul and Andrew
Is IAGO a commonly used synonym for villain? I don’t recall seeing it before. If not, it seems a little vague.
For me, this puzzle was spoiled by a couple of awkward “in”s where the cryptic part would read much better with “of”: “leader in bewilderment”(24a) and “rear in mirror”(12a). Of course, then the surface needs fixing up, but this is what our setters are generally so good at.
Thanks.
NM@ 11 Iago, the villain in Shakespeare’s Othello, turns up in crosswords quite a lot, but the clues with him in are usually more helpful when it comes to defining ‘villain’
Not my favourite Paul crossword – I too solved in fits and starts and noting much made me smile
Thank you (and sorry) to Paul Thank you also to Andrew
CROP DUSTER could have invoked the Rev Mr Spooner, but didn’t. Refreshing.CROP DUSTER could have invoked the Rev Mr Spooner, but didn’t. Refreshing.
I haven’t heard AIR CON this side the pond, we mostly call it A/C over here.
I don’t know whether I’ve seen MORESQUE before or just think I have.
Funny how different we are. ART HOUSE got trismegistus going early, and it was almost my last in. Very last was MODEST, which is now a tick.
Speaking of EGRESS, the story is told of my fellow Connecticut Yankee P T Barnum that he put up a sign at his shows saying, “This way to the Egress.” Locals not knowing the word (it does sound like some sort of exotic creature) would head that way and before they knew it they were outside the grounds and had to pay to get in again.
Apart from a few easy starters, I found this pretty heavy going, but the last few fell pretty quickly, with AIR CON last in. MORESQUE was new to me to but easy enough to deduce and check.
Thanks to Paul and Andrew
My loaf feels as pummeled as the one I was kneading this morning. An unsteady solve, with the pleasant feeling of the odd break-through, stumble and fall followed by a pick-me-up. I was rather put off by a number of clues that just seemed over-long for what they tried to achieve. For example: “with order originally maintained” to insert an “o”. Also “catching rear in mirror” for an “r” (which make me ask what “appearing” is doing in the clue), “ovoid shape in”. These, and others, seemed to me to result in pretty clunky surfaces as a result. By comparison there were many elegant and tidy clues including “hoover”, “squirrel”, “cold feet” and “moresque” which was a great example of a word most of us would not know but would be able to get from the clue.
Overall a bit of a curate’s ovoid shape for me this one – too much good to dislike it, but too many clues seemed over-worked for it to be a gem like yesterday’s.
Very tough for me, but a great challenge and worth the (very long!) time I spent on it. Scuppered in the SE by putting an unparsed ‘bill’ instead of SIGN for 5d and ‘i’ not E for the unknown 18d.
Loved the ‘Fish without a memory’, but favourite and clue of the week for CROP DUSTER.
Thanks to Paul and Andrew
I take great exception to trade marks in crosswords, which inevitably means that they are used generically. 15 is the most egregious example I have seen yet. Is there any convention about this?
Peter @19 – not in the Guardian. And although it is a trademark, it was already an accepted part of the language when I was a child in the early 70s, and is in plenty of dictionaries…
PeterG81 @19 surely it’s not a problem where that trademark has become an accepted word in the English language? Would you object to “bubble wrap”, “frisbee”, “jacuzzi”? I thought the use of “marmite” the other week far more egregious than “hoover” here, especially as it is in the verb form which the OED does not list as a trademark, where it does the noun.
You could add “biro” to that list, thezed
I seem to be in the mainstream today in that I agree that this was pretty tough but with enough goodies to make it enjoyable. AIR CON was LOI as I was convinced the second word had to be CAN for ‘cooler’ but of course—. Actually, the East side went in far more easily than the West but I did like FORTYISH,OBERON,EXECRATE and HOOVER.On the latter, I think the word has almost transcended being a brand name. We have a Dyson but still refer to it as a Hoover!
Thanks Paul.
Add THERMOS to the above. I know fellow bloggers will be surprised that my FOI was BEEB though l am a Kenyan and this is Brit slang. LOI COLD FEET. Surely, isn’t that word in 4d too indecent to be used on a crossword?
* in, not on a crossword,oops.
Late to comment, having made a mess of this. Did anyone else try SLIGHT for 25a (s for small and light being of small weight)?
Thanks to Paul and to Andrew for a most helpful blog.
I’m with David Ellison on this, probably because wandering about doing other things at same time, must have been a pause for thought sort of crossword. Egress fine by me (SOI?) because think Paul has become quite keen on that sort of construction recently? Nice crossword, thanks to Paul and Andrew.
Thanks to Paul and Andrew. Slog and fits and starts describe my experienece too.
I couldn’t parse ART HOUSE. End = Arse never occurred to me, which I like to believe is an indication of how classy I am, thanks for asking.
Thanks to Andrew and Paul
A bit wordy in places but nothing really unfair. I enjoyed it which is the main thing I suppose.
On brand names, heroin and escalator are two which have entered common usage.
This was actually quite an unacceptable puzzle.
So many described it as either a slog, dull or the equivalent.
This wouldn’t happen if we had a functioning editor.
It’s about time we did. Two years is a long time.
Alex @31 not sure where your evidence is for this puzzle being unacceptable – I count 5 of the 30 comments as being negative, maybe 6 if you include my curate’s egg. That’s a bigger majority against it being a slog than certain recent votes in our mother of all parliaments. No-one said “dull” and those who said “slog” often added something about it being worth it.
Have done most of the puzzles late this week due to being temporarily back in the classroom with students, supervising exams. Have enjoyed them (the puzzles and the young people I have been with). However I failed in the north-west on this one, only getting to it this morning Aussie time.
Most discussion has been had, so I’m just here to thank Andrew for helping me to see the ones I missed, other contributors for the chat, and Paul for the enjoyment of the ones I did solve, including 25a MODEST and 4d ART HOUSE,
Pardon the split infinitive – clearly too long between teaching gigs.
Is Alex the other Brendan under an alias?
I always come late to this party as never start until the late evening and finish off after breakfast. Surely all crosswords are acceptable – it’s just their complexity and the time taken to solve them that are variables. It’s a shame that Paul didn’t invent a new word “mortyish” for 1d being males approaching their dotage who feel obliged to dye their hair. For 22a I interpreted its start as bronze = tan by spending time in the sun. Thanks to all contributors – I enjoy their observations and even the occasional rant.
Thanks all, setter, blogger and contributors,
This was testing, but I enjoyed it. Some of it was Paul at his best, including 4 down which was LOL moment for me.