Guardian 27,858 / Paul

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Paul makes his customary weekly appearance on Thursday, since he filled the Prize slot last Saturday.

It’s a fairly typical mixed bag, with some straightforward clues to help get us started, together with some more complicated ones, especially as far as the parsing is concerned. I think there’s perhaps more UK general knowledge needed here than usual: I’ve provided links where I thought they might be helpful.

Thanks to Paul for an enjoyable puzzle.

Definitions are underlined in the clues.

Across

1 Spirit blown over, filling topsail? (9)
SPINNAKER
A reversal [blown over] of KA [spirit – see here] in SPINNER [top]

6 Sandpiper in need of sandpapering, it’s said? (4)
RUFF
Sounds like [it’s said] ‘rough’ – in need of sandpapering

8 Algiers at odds with old palace of Constantinople (8)
SERAGLIO
An anagram [at odds] of ALGIERS and O [old]

9 Set free, leader of coup in deeply unpopular revolutionary (6)
DETACH
C[oup] in a reversal [revolutionary] of HATED [deeply unpopular]

10 Colours adorning the surface of vessel (6)
FLAGON
FLAG [colours] + ON [adorning the surface of?]

11 Musical predicament inspiring prayer, looking back (8)
SPAMALOT
SPOT [predicament] round a reversal [looking back] of LAMA [pray-er] for the musical version of ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail, with a pun on Camelot in the title

12 Computer assistant thus recalled god (6)
OSIRIS
A reversal [recalled] of SIRI [computer assistant] + SO [thus]

15 Keeping it in the family, a little stone pot is mine (8)
NEPOTISM
Hidden in stoNE POT IS Mine

16 Poet trims around tree (3,5)
PAM AYRES
PARES [trims] round MAY [tree] – a little local knowledge needed for this poet – you can hear a sample here

19 Regal office shed, we hear (6)
THRONE
Sounds like [we hear] ‘thrown’ – shed

21 Wave away solicitor deciding procedure (5-3)
SHOOT-OUT
SHOO [wave away] + TOUT [solicitor]

22 One person receives correspondence (6)
PARITY
I [one] in PARTY [person]

24 A metropolis (unfinished) I appreciate that needs knocking over in area of old Athens (6)
ATTICA
A reversal [needs knocking over] of A CIT[y] [a metropolis unfinished] + TA [I appreciate that]

25, 2 More extensive coverage for reasonable help in a play (4,4,2,5)
LOOK BACK IN ANGER
LONGER [more extensive] round OK [reasonable] BACK [help] IN A

26, 4 Perhaps like one’s wireless even more! (4,5,2)
WITH KNOBS ON
Cryptic [?] definition – old wireless sets had lots of knobs

27 Seriously primitive lodging house (9)
EARNESTLY
EARLY [primitive] round NEST [house]

Down

1 Fine rise (5)
SWELL
Double definition

3 State capital not half material (5)
NYLON
NY [state] + LON[don] capital not half]

5 Ferrari probably favourite where superstar would put foot down? (3,6)
RED CARPET
RED CAR [Ferrari probably] + PET [favourite]

6 Take back ultimate piece in artefact old archaeologist brought up (7)
RETRACT
A reversal [brought up] of  [artefac]T + [Howard] CARTER [old archaeologist, who discovered Tutankhamun’s tomb]

7 Takes account of some fish nets cast (7,2)
FACTORS IN
FIN [some fish] round ACTORS [cast]

13 Get hollow pasta? This is different (9)
SPAGHETTI
An anagram [different] of GET P[ast]A THIS – clue as definition

14 Substitute rat with grouse in a stew (9)
SURROGATE
An anagram [in a stew] of RAT and GROUSE

17 End a nonsense, penning short story (7)
ABOLISH
A BOSH [a nonsense] round LI[e] [short story]

18 New arrival has me pinching my own bottom? (7)
SETTLER
SETTER [me] round [pau]L [my own bottom]

20 Dish, exquisite taste (7)
RAREBIT
RARE [exquisite] + BIT [taste]

22 Highly corrosive ring (5)
PHONE
PH ONE [1] – specifying high acidity: see here

23 Naff, like a nail? (5)
TACKY
TACK-Y [like a nail] – a typical Paul clue

39 comments on “Guardian 27,858 / Paul”

  2. Thanks Paul and Eileen

    I nearly entered KNOT too, Shirl, but it wouldn’t need the “sounds like” indicator.

    Favourite was RED CARPET.

    ATTICA was a bit misleading, as Athens was part of Attica rather than vice versa, but I suppose you could read “area of Athens” as “area where Athens is”.

    pH 1 isn’t “highly corrosive”. A 0.1M strong acid would have a pH of 1 – much lower pHs (including negative ones) are possible.

  4. Thanks to Paul and Eileen.

    Reasonably slow going for me in two sessions. I took a while to get those last two – 22a PARITY and 22d PHONE.

    I appreciated the links, Eileen, and I needed your help with parsing SPAMALOT even though it was the obvious answer. I enjoyed solving 1a SPINNAKER, 25a 2d LOOK BACK IN ANGER and 5d RED CARPET.

  5. Found this a bit rough (in need of sanding?), with surfaces somewhat lacking. Started off well enough with the red car and throne, but a few after that just didn’t parse. Thanks Eileen for putting right. 14d a good mis-direct. Not familiar with may trees in the antipodes – they would have to be called November trees ! But filled in end of day before dinner, so thanks Paul.

     

  6. Thanks Eileen and Paul. Funny that Pam Ayres and spaghetti should appear in the same puzzle, as I once tried to establish an organisation called SPAGHETTI (Stop Pam Ayres Getting Her English Travesties Televised Internationally).

  11. I always enjoy Paul’s puzzles and this was no exception. I was somewhat thrown, however, by entering CRONOS for 12a as my first one in (CRON is a job scheduler in UNIX and SO backwards is OS; so “computer assistant” “thus recalled” gives CRON-OS, and CRONOS was the father of Zeus in Greek mythology). So confident was I that I entered it as a definite and then took a long time to realize my mistake. I was going to list it as a favourite clue as well!

    It didn’t spoil my enjoyment when it eventually dawned on me that there was another (arguably more reasonable) possible solution. So thanks to Paul for another fine puzzle and to Eileen for the (as always) excellent blog.

  12. Nice one, Rick @11!

    max @3 and Julie @7 – I don’t quite get your parsing of 12ac: where’s the inclusion indicator?

  13. Thanks Eileen and Paul.

    My “explanation” for SPINNAKER started off well (NIPS backwards), but I see why I couldn’t get the rest, now.

    I was trying to fit Plaka in 24ac (ATTICA), but soon gave up on that.

    I found this medium tough; I should have been quicker on many answers, which, though clear now, just wouldn’t spring to mind.

     

    Some enjoyable clues today: WITH KNOBS ON, RED CARPET amongst them

  14. Thanks Eileen – I should have got pH ONE (but I didn’t!) and thanks to Paul for an entertaining solve.

    I thought NEPOTISM was nicely hidden and I liked SPAGHETTI. Does FIN = some fish?

  15. [I agree there is no inclusion indicator, Eileen: your parsing is definitely the accurate one.]

  17. Robi @14
    I hope FIN is ‘some fish’, because that led me to the answer FACTORS IN, which I was pleased to get from the wordplay before the definition. That highly satisfying mode of solving also got me PAM AYRES, whom I’ve heard of but had forgotten, and the answers to some other good clues.
    I found this crossword highly entertaining and tricky in places, although I also thought SWELL and PHONE rather weak. My favourites were the two clues I first mentioned, plus EARNESTLY, SHOOT-OUT and SETTLER.
    Thanks to Paul and Eileen.

  18. My favourites were RETRACT, ATTICA, PHONE, FACTORS IN, SURROGATE, SPAMALOT.

    I was unable to parse 1a and 22a.

    New for me were Pam Ayres and ‘with knobs on’ but they were easy enough to solve with a bit of help from google.

    Thanks Paul and Eileen

  19. There appears to be no end of informal British phrases that I need to learn, the latest being WITH KNOBS ON. These days I associate wireless with phones rather than radios, so I confidently entered the equivalent American phrase WITH BELLS ON. Also didn’t know the poet and had forgotten about the Monty Python play, although both were gettable from the clues. My favorites (oops, favourites) were SETTLER and PHONE. I wasn’t bothered by the latter, as I expect a bit of looseness from Paul. Thanks to him and to Eileen for the parsing of several.

  24. Good, what I’d regard as a medium level difficulty Paul puzzle. Once I’d worked out the parsing, I liked FACTORS IN and the ‘what on earth?’ surface for SETTLER. Favourite was WITH KNOBS ON, one of those nonsensical sounding phrases which I hope remain in use long after anyone remembers where they came from.

    Thanks to Paul and to Eileen.

  25. Thanks both,
    I thought this was Paul on top form. Many witty clues. I enjoyed the retro ‘wireless’. The aren’t many devices ‘with knobs on’ today; it’s all dials and keypads. I substitute ‘wireless’ for ‘radio’ when wanting to appear crusty. (Likewise ‘frock’ for ‘dress’ although the former seems to be coming back in.)

  26. Enjoyed this more than a lot of Paul’s recent puzzles, perhaps because it was a little easier.

    Thanks to Paul and Eileen

  27. Thanks to Paul and Eileen. Maybe I was not on Paul’s wavelength today, because I generally found it tough going. After first couple of passes I had virtually nothing. However eventually it began to unpack, but there was a lot of guess and after the event parsing for me. However got there in the end with Attica and Spamalot last ones in. Favourites have all been mentioned and thanks again to Paul and Eileen.

  28. I started with Osiris and then confidently wrote in FAIR MAID OF PERTH at 25,2, thinking ‘reasonable help’=’fair maid’ and that I’d come back to the parsing later. Yes I know it’s a novel not a play but thought I might have misremembered. And then I wrote in SHOWBOAT at 11. Not surprisingly it all took me longer than it should have done. I had a lot of fun, as I always do with Paul, well nearly always. I have been waiting for 225 to find out the parsing of 1ac. Thanks Paul and Eileen.

  29. Great stuff. SETTLER a real gem. I really liked OSIRIS, PHONE and SPAGHETTI too. Is there a term for the sort of anti-&lit in the SPAGHETTI clue? Surface almost giving the opposite of the answer…

    Thanks to Eileen for the blog, particularly parsing SPINNAKER, and to Paul

  30. Thanks Paul and Eileen.

    An enjoyable and not overly difficult solve.

    20dn reminds me of a favourite entry in my rather battered 1974 Chambers: “Welsh Rabbit … sometimes written ‘Welsh Rarebit’ by wiseacres”.

  31. Thanks Paul and Eileen. A thoroughly enjoyable puzzle even if I couldn’t quite get to SPAMALOT or ATTICA. I also thought of BIRD for 6a but didn’t write it in because I realised 7d must be FACTORED IN and I got to RUFF soon after. Strangely I parsed SPINBAKER, OSIRIS and PHONE correctly straight away – some days I’m just on Paul’s wavelength.

  33. This took quite a time. Could have been the heat or me just not on the wavelength but it took me two sittings and I didn’t parse PHONE and I had ITHICA for 24ac of which I’m now duly ashamed. Liked SPAMALOT.
    Thanks Paul.

  34. I think UK knowledge was required only for Pam Ayres and “with knobs on”, both of which I left blank. But I was also defeated by PHONE, SPAMALOT and PARITY so I can’t blame a cultural divide.  My fave was FACTORS IN.

  35. I enjoyed what I could do of this very much – am surprised ‘Ferrari probably’ = red car passes without comment? Is that true? I’m aware the Grand Prix one is red but it didn’t occur to me that the road ones are mostly that colour too?

  36. Stuart @ 35

    I think, without statistical support, that a large proportion of Ferraris are red, presumably to associate with the various racing teams in their history, though other colours are available. I think Miles Davis had a yellow one.

  37. Thank you Paul and Eileen. This one took me two sessions, including an overnight brain reboot.

    I liked pray-er, which fooled me at first. After remembering that there was a musical called Spamalot, I rushed to the dictionary in search of a second meaning for “lama” but found only the usual one. It took a few minutes for the penny to drop.

    Isn’t 26,4 a double defintion rather than a cryptic definition?

  38. Thanks to Eileen, for the brilliant blog, and to Paul
    Spinnaker: wonderful clue. I was unable to parse the answer because I kept thinking of Greek raki instead of the Egyptian soul,which eluded me, though I well remember that it was explained in detail in a song in the final series of The Sopranos. That, and other allusione, convinced me that Tony Soprano did die.

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