The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/27979.
Strangely enough, I often find Paul’s weekday Guardian puzzles harder that his Prizes, and this was no exception. There was plenty of cunning misdirection, and on top of that, there is the theme woven around 1 5. I solved 5D FIGURE fairly early, but, even after French numbers kept popping up, it took a while for the penny to drop on 1D NICE, used here for thematic purposes, as often, to indicate the French city. Thanks, Paul, for a brilliant construction, and a top-notch puzzle.
| ACROSS | ||
| 7 | SINATRA | Material without intro is for backing singer (7) |
| A reversal (‘for backing’) of [t]ARTAN (‘material’) minus its first letter (‘without intro’) plus ‘is’. | ||
| 8 | ANTIQUE | Old opponent fairly devoid of it (7) |
| A charade of ANTI (‘opponent’) plus QU[it]E (‘fairly’) minus IT (‘devoid of it’). | ||
| 9 | See 17 | |
| 10 | NOT SO DUSTY | Pretty good sound toys stuffed, tummies originally getting squeezed (3,2,5) |
| An envelope (‘getting squeezed’) of T (‘Tummies originally’) in NOSODUSTY, an anagram (‘stuffed’) of ‘sound toys’. Typo corrected. | ||
| 12, 14 | SPICE TRADE | Predict sea changes in old business (5,5) |
| An anagram (‘changes’) of ‘predict sea’. | ||
| 13 | OMELETTE | Not a sausage, fight to eat dry dish (8) |
| A charade of O (nothing, ‘not a sausage’) plus MELETTE, an envelope (‘to eat’) of TT (teetotal, ‘dry’) in MELEE (‘fight’). | ||
| 15 | See 16 down | |
| 16 | TENET | Teaching English, shelter dons (5) |
| An envelope (‘dons’) of E (‘English’) in TENT (‘shelter’). | ||
| 17, 9 | PLAY DEAD | Appear late in day having failed in appeal (4,4) |
| An envelope (‘in’, the second one; the first just links definition and wordplay) of AYD, an anagram (‘having failed’) of ‘day’ in PLEAD (‘appeal’). | ||
| 18 | GEMSTONE | Seem not unsettled by last trace of whopping shiner? (8) |
| A charade of G (‘last trace of whoppinG‘) plus EMSTONE, an anagram (‘unsettled’) of ‘seem not’. | ||
| 20 | See 19 | |
| 21 | ACQUAINTED | Familiar odd punches beaten by one shot (10) |
| An envelope (‘punches’) of QUAINT (‘odd’) in ACED (tennis, ‘beaten by one shot’). | ||
| 23 | See 26 | |
| 25 | LIP-READ | Rip-off in guide, watch my words? (3-4) |
| An envelope (‘in’) of IPR, an anagram (-‘off’) of ‘rip’ in LEAD (‘guide’). | ||
| 26, 23 | DRIVING TEST | 1 5 invested in most uninteresting assessment that’s on the way (7,4) |
| An envelope (‘invested in’) of VINGT (French |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | NICE | Delightful topping to be used later (4) |
| [o]N ICE (‘to be used later’) minus the first letter (‘topping’). | ||
| 2 | SANDWICH | Golf course offering up a couple of slices? (8) |
| Double definition, the ‘slices’ being of bread. | ||
| 3 | BRONZE | 1 5 with underwear on, not a sculpture (6) |
| A charade of BR[a] (‘underwear’) minus the A (‘not a’) plus ONZE (French, 11, ‘1 5’). The clue tells you to put the BRA first (‘on’), then remove the A. | ||
| 4 | INNOCENT | 1 5 supporting local officer’s first baby (8) |
| A charade of INN (‘local’) plus O (‘Officer’s first’) plus CENT (French 100, ‘1 5’). | ||
| 5 | FIGURE | Price fruit higher than flower (6) |
| A charade of FIG (‘fruit’) plus URE (River, ‘flower’). | ||
| 6 | SUIT | Case one of four (4) |
| Double definition: a court case, and a deck of cards. | ||
| 11 | THORNIEST | Out of tune, this tenor most sharp (9) |
| An anagram (‘out of tune’) of ‘this tenor’. | ||
| 12 | SEIZE | 1 5, appropriate (5) |
| Double definition, the first being the French 16. | ||
| 14 | See 12 across | |
| 16, 15 | TROPICAL FISH | 1 5 consuming very good source of veal with hot, wet colourful things? (8,4) |
| A charade of TROPICALFIS, an envelope (‘consuming’) of PI (‘very good’) plus CALF (‘source of veal’) in TROIS (French 3, ‘1 5’); plus H (‘hot’). | ||
| 17 | PUTATIVE | Supposed musical sheep flipped (8) |
| A reversal (‘flipped’) of EVITA (‘musical’) plus TUP (ram, ‘sheep’). | ||
| 19, 20 across | SQUARE METRE | Measuring unit concerned with setter dividing second 1 5 (6,5) |
| An envelope (‘dividing’) of RE (‘concerned with’) plus ME (‘setter’) in S (‘second’) plus QUATRE (French 4, ‘1 5’). | ||
| 20 | MODERN | Current shade up during day (6) |
| An envelope (‘during’) of DER, a reversal (‘up’ in a down light) of RED (‘shade’) in MON (‘day’). | ||
| 22 | CHIN | Hit when good health reduced by half (4) |
| A reference to the toast CHIN-CHIN. | ||
| 24 | SANK | 1 5 in public inquiry reportedly went down (4) |
| Sounds like (‘in public inquiry reportedly’; I am not sure why Paul uses this circumlocution – perhaps to emphasize that the vowel is not an exact match?) CINQUE (French 5, ‘1 5’). But see Ilan Caron @4. | ||
I really enjoyed this puzzle and was pleased that I could parse all of my answers, although at first I thought I may not be able to finish it.
I loved the theme of NICE FIGURE, and my other favourites were DRIVING TEST, PUTATIVE, PLAY DEAD, SQUARE METRE, TROPICAL FISH, INNOCENT, and ACQUAINTED (Loi).
Thank you Paul and Peter.
This was very peculiar. It’s not often that I twig the theme in time to be helpful, but in this case two examples were enough, and they helped with the rest. All this, and I still hadn’t “figure”d out 1 5. I can’t help thinking this was not the expected trajectory, although of course there is no right or wrong way.
Just a typo re 26, 23: vingt is French 20 not 5.
I think 24D is a tour de force! CINQ (not cinque) is hidden in “public inquiry”
It took a while to get the key answers 1 and 5 but then the associated solutions fell into place. This was tough but enjoyable. I feel this was worthy of a Saturday prize puzzle. Ia agree withIlan Caron @ 4 the correct French spelling is CINQ (cinque only used in certain English names). In 10a the T is to be inserted in NOTSODUSY. Thanks Paul and Peter.
Spotted the theme quite quickly for a change but the rest took much doing – enjoyed the struggle though! Many good clues but 7ac and 16,15d were my favourites today.
Thank you Paul and Peter0.
24 must take the prize for the most complications for one four letter clue! First you have to get 1 and 5 and work out that a “NICE FIGURE” is a number in French – then that 24 is a homophone of such a number, and then that the number itself is also hidden in the clue. A little masterpiece (and I failed on most of it).
I now realise I had not parsed 24 correctly – I was thinking of homophone of sank and cinq.
One of Paul’s best for a while.I concentrated on non-themers to start then I saw SEIZE and BRONZE so I followed “french numbers” to nail a couple more themed clues leaving 1 and 5 till it was beyond all reasonable doubt. 24 was très jolie.
It all flowed so naturally after last week’s Prize (which wasnt bad but….}
Thanks to Peter and Paul
michelle@8-it IS a homophone of SANK and CINQ
Yep agree with copmus re 24. Bit rusty after a week being pampered by our son in Sinny then today interrupted by a long lunch, stared dumbly at LOsI 4 and 5d and cheated with a solver. But yes, a good prizeworthy Paul. Appear late was neat, as was quaint punching aced and good oldies evita and tup. Thanks both, good to be home.
Thanks Paul and PeterO
This looked impenetrable at first – for some time I just had GEMSTONE and THORNIEST. SPICE TRADE gave me SEIZE and hence the theme. I didn’t parse NOT SO DUSTY.
A lot of “guess the answer, then parse”. Of these, my favourite was DRIVING TEST.
Sandwich has something to do with Cinque Ports.
Thanks Paul and PeterO.
I revealed OMELETTE and one or two others (which I’m sure I’d have seen eventually, but after a while I start to think it’s time to do something useful…). Even so I thought this was excellent, with a theme that helped greatly with the solving. Like some others, I twigged the French numbers before solving 1 and 5.
In particular I liked PLAY DEAD and TROPICAL FISH, for Paul’s witty definitions.
Thanks for the blog, PeterO.
At last! – a reminder of why Paul used to be one of my top favourite setters.
I loved it – many thanks, Paul.
Like Eileen, Paul used to be one of my favourite setters, but I find his current puzzles more aggravating than entertaining, and this one was no exception. I did manage to complete it without aids, but the contortions were too much for my taste.
As always, I am pleased for those that really enjoyed the puzzle, and appreciate fully that the editor tries to accommodate the varied preferences of different solvers.
copmus and grantinfreo
I meant that I had not picked up on the hidden CINQ “in publiC INQuiry”, which then leads to homophone (reportedly) of CINQ = SANK. Sorry, I am not expalining very well even now! Earlier, I had only parsed the homophone, but not the hidden bit.
Found this very tricky, and needed several revelations in the blog to fully understand what had been going on here. Took sheep to mean the plural form, so was trying to shoehorn in an unnecessary s in 17 down.
I thought this was a great puzzle, but I was pushed to get out the door so didn’t parse everything after filling the grid. To my annoyance I had CHIP for 22d, thinking that perhaps ‘chipping’ was the same as ‘chipper’. And then the face/palm moment – in 24d I thought ‘public inquiry’ was an indicator for ‘sounds like’ so I wrote in SENT (as in ‘sent down’) – even though it doesn’t actually sound like CENT! Really, really enjoyed this, despite my post-completion frustrations. Thanks Paul and PeterO.
Well this was a tough challenge to return to. I too had FIGURE a long time before NICE (toyed with FINE) and even longer before the penny dropped but then it did help with TROPICAL FISH. I didn’t parse OMELETTE or GEMSTONE but like Eileen this to me was Paul at his inventive best. Thanks to him and PeterO and to other contributors – in particular for the full explanation of 24d which, like Michelle, I’d missed.
As with all of Paul’s recent puzzles that I remember, this was great fun. I got started on the theme with quatre (in SQUARE METRE) and SEIZE, and that proved very helpful with the other thematic clues. I would never have got either NICE or SINATRA without revealing the crossing letter, but apart from that little corner I enjoyed everything in this puzzle.
Thanks Paul and PeterO.
At first look this seemed impossible. At second look it seemed damned near impossible. At third look some chinks of light appeared and then gradually a beautiful flower unfurled. Thank you Paul – it is a rare thing to produce a puzzle which opens up in this way.
I am another who got a couple of French numbers, then “figure” and only saw “nice” late on. I am sure Paul would not mind how we solved it so long as we enjoyed it! I thought the cluing here nearly impeccable and, although there were some extraneous words (such as “last trace of whopping”) they made perfect sense and added to the surface.
Thank you PeterO for blogging it.
Took a while, but briliiant!
Thanks both,
This was like pulling teeth for me, but nonetheless rewarding to solve. Sloppy parsing meant I had ‘sunk’ – ‘it’s got ‘un’ in the middle so it must be right’ – instead of ‘sank.’ Superb clue now I see it.
One of Paul’s better ones. SQUARE METRE was my entry point to the NICE FIGUREs – before that it seemed impenetrable apart from a few unthemed ones.
Thanks to Paul and PeterO
This seemed to take me forever with almost nothing on first few passes. Then I got the spice trade anagram and driving test. After this it began to unpack, albeit very slowly. I got nice early on, but had an unparsed number for 4d, this meant that the NE was the last to fall after I realised my mistake. Favourites have all been mentioned and thanks to Paul for a challenging but ultimately rewarding challenge and PeterO for the blog.
Super puzzle. Fun but challenging, an enjoyable solve from start to finish.
I somehow managed to finish this while believing throughout that the references to 1 5 were references to fifteen, not 1,5. Just didn’t spot the gap. I twigged that the theme was French numerals, but remained puzzled what that had to do with “fish” (once I’d solved 15). My best guess was a game, possibly a card came, called “fish” where something was counted in French. Without seeing the theme “nice” itself seemed inadequately clued, although I thought it couldn’t be anything else. Only when I came here did things become clear.
Still a very enjoyable puzzle despite making things hard for myself.
Well this was a workout on a cold Friday! Mr Bayleaf and I saw cinq in public enquiry in 24d right at the start and wrote it in, assuming reportedly went down was more wordplay for it. Only when we hadn’t found an answer to fit 26 23, did we see our mistake. 1d was our LOI, completed when we realised we’d just got to come up with something French!
Sandwich isn’t a golf course, of course. Royal St. George’s is the most well-known golf course situated in Sandwich.
I’m not sure I’ve come across not so dusty before. The crossword as a whole however was definitely not so shabby.
I really enjoyed this! A lovely theme and lots of different ways of exploring it. The last down made me think of SUNK (UN in SK-what’s going on) then I read the, a bit iffy, homonym indicator and corrected to SANK (snap with Tyngewick at 24).
I drink a glass of VIN (followed by G&T) to both Paul and to PeterO for the blog.
Very clever, but a DNF for me. I biffed SWIPE for 12d before I’d twigged the theme and forgot to go back and check it. Most annoying. I missed the extra wrinkle in SANK and I also failed to parse NICE. But definitely a nice puzzle. Faves were SPICE TRADE and SANK.
Isn’t 16a the wrong way round? It’s E(nglish) donning (putting on) TENT, n’est-ce pas?
Thanks, Paul and Peter.
My father in law, who lived in Geneva, used to tell my children that if three French felines fell into a lake, the bystanders would say “Un, deux, trois cats sank”. Most enjoyable. – thanks to P and P.
I couldn’t agree more with your opening remarks, PeterO. My experience with this one exactly.
Many thanks for the parsing of 21A, which for some reason I just couldn’t see!
Extremely difficult. Rather too difficult for me though. I admired this puzzle in the end but—-!
Thanks Paul.
This is a superb crossword puzzle. Paul back to his best!
Thanks to PeterO and Paul
Very nice.
I got NICE and the French number device fairly early which helped, but when I also solved FIGURE I expected a Pauline “Buxom” or the like which had me chasing shadows for a bit.
I’m another who can’t parse 16a
Backwards parse it you must, young Skywalker.
DNF. 7ac flummoxed me. I was looking for a material topped to give a backing singer.
Oh and NICE was the LOI I got.
NICE was my LOI as well. I kept cudgeling my brain for a four-letter word meaning “French”, forgetting about this standard crossword trick.
Very difficult but satisfying in the end. I particularly like the intricate and compact construction of the clue for SANK.