It fell to Paul to round off the year with a Prize puzzle that I enjoyed solving, apart from one or two quibbles.
I think if there were no name on the puzzle it would be fairly easy to guess the setter, from the presence of three types of clue in which Paul tends to specialise – 26 and 28ac and 7dn. It was fun to see them all in one puzzle.
My favourites were 1, 12 and 19ac and 20dn. Thanks, Paul and a Happy New Year to you and to everyone else.
Definitions are underlined in the clues
Across
1 Sauce I don’t know at all, edges of label cut off (7)
PASSATA
PASS [I don’t know, as in Mastermind and other quizzes] + AT ALL [minus l l [first and last letters – edges – of [l]abe[l]
5 Vegetable container covered in fruit, knocked over (7)
SPINACH
A reversal [knocked over] of CAN [container] covered in HIPS [fruit]
10, 11 Prefer sugar granulated or in cubes? There is no choice (4,2,2,4,2)
LIKE IT OR LUMP IT
The answer is obvious but the wordplay doesn’t really work for me: at Paul’s invitation, I think I’ll choose the latter 😉
12 Wooden building rented out by Earl Grey, perhaps? (6)
CHALET
CHA [tea – Earl Grey, perhaps?] + LET [rented out]
13 Opposing players in periodical kicking leader under the table (2,3,3)
ON THE SLY
ES [East South, opposing players, in bridge] in [m]ONTHLY [periodical] minus its first letter [leader]
14 Leader once as PM, less hot around the Palace of Westminster, perhaps? (2,7)
JO SWINSON
JO[h]NSON [current PM, less h [hot] round SWI[1] [postcode of the Houses of Parliament, Palace of Westminster] for the leader of the Liberal Democrats from 22nd July to 13th December 2019
17, 16 What’s not true, you see, starts with Boris around, by the look of him? (5,5)
FAIRY STORY
FAIR TORY [Boris, by the look of him – fair in the sense of fair-haired, of course] round the initial letters [starts] of You See
19 Bully ruing action having lost in battle (9)
AGINCOURT
An anagram [bully] of RUING ACTION [minus [having lost] ‘in’
23 Where hula dancer might perform, on well after backing singer (8)
HONOLULU
A reversal [backing] of ON + OH [well, I suppose] + LULU [singer]
24 Winning club, positive (6)
UPBEAT
A simple charade: UP [winning] + BEAT [club]
26 Instrument blown: were only Victoria, Emma, Mel B and Mel C performing? (10)
DIDGERIDOO
A typical – if X then presumbly Y- Paul clue: if only the other four Spice Girls performed, DID GERI DO O [nothing]?
27, 3 A lovely surprise (9)
BOMBSHELL
Double definition
28 Treasure, like US singer? (7)
CHERISH
Another typical Paul clue, one of his whimsical ones: CHER-ISH [like CHER, the crossword favourite US singer]
29 Into river, pad let down (7)
DEFLATE
FLAT [pad] in DEE [river]
Down
2 Quick expulsion, by the sound of it, as a pack of lies reported? (7)
ATISHOO
Sounds like [reported] ‘a tissue’ – I’ve seen a number of versions of this clue and it doesn’t quite work for me: tissue by itself doesn’t mean ‘pack of lies‘
4 Artist created new romantic hero (7)
TRISTAN
An anagram [created] of ARTIST + N [new]
6 Old governor, good and dead (6)
PILATE
PI [good] + LATE [dead] – I’ve said a number of times that I think ‘Why does PI mean [very] good?’ ought to be in our FAQ list: I’ll try to forestall queries today by saying that it’s in Chambers as short for ‘pious’
7 Stool, might one sit beside chair? (6,3)
NUMBER TWO
… and thirdly, an example of the type of clue perhaps most readily associated with Paul: Number Two in an organisation might sit beside the Chair[person] in meetings
8 Scary work in a fridge (7)
CHILLER
Double definition
9 As a result, Farah in marathon taking days, oddly — this chap lasted a week! (7,6)
SOLOMON GRUNDY
SO [as a result] MO [Farah] in LONG RUN [marathon] + the odd letters of D[a]Y[s] – I really liked the construction of this clue: MO in LONG RUN for Farah in Marathon was inspired! – just a pity that the definition gave it away so soon – but, if you didn’t know it, the nursery rhyme about Solomon Grundy is here
15 Duck under branch gripped by bird, not one for hawk (9)
WARMONGER
O [duck, in cricket] under ARM [branch] in [gripped by ] W[i]NGER [bird, minus i – one]
18 Cut, boil has exploded (7)
ABOLISH
An anagram [exploded] of BOILHAS: not the first synonym I would think of for ‘cut’ and I can’t find any dictionary evidence for it – any offers for examples?
20 No regret standing between walls of Newgate cell (7)
NEURONE
A reversal [standing, in a down clue] of NO RUE [no regret] in first and last letters [walls] of N[ewgat]E
21 Welcome again, maître d’s bubbly (7)
READMIT
An anagram [bubbly] of MAÃŽTRE D
22 Presumption if heart is about right (6)
HUBRIS
HUB [heart] + IS round R [right]
25 Tiny thing left in place of tower (5)
BABEL
BABE [tiny thing] + L [left] – I think some may be unhappy with ‘in’
Thanks to Paul and Eileen, I struggled throughout the week and got close to the finish line, but JO SWINSON and ATISHOO defeated me,
Thanks Eileen. I made heavier weather of this than I should have and the NW corner held me up. I’d never heard of Jo Swinson and had to seek assistance there and like you was unconvinced with 2d.
Lots of entertaining clues from Paul. SOLOMON GRUNDY and DIDGERIDOO stood out for me. I did spend a minute trying to make the wordplay for 10,11a work, and like Eileen, I decided it didn’t. I was also held up for a while by ATISHOO. Perhaps it’s my US-conditioned ear, but I hear the sound of a sneeze as one or two syllables, as in CHOO or AH-CHOO. Got past it in the end and was chuffed to have solved and parsed everything by midweek.
Thanks to Paul and Eileen.
I wanted to like 10,11 as well, but however I read it I couldn’t make it fit the answer, obvious though it was once some crossers were in. However I enjoyed the steady solve with lots of inventive clues.   I couldn’t remember which number 7d was and needed a crosser to correct myself.   Thanks for the blog Eileen and thanks to Paul for his enjoyable puzzles throughout the otherwise miserable 2019.
I was so pleased that Paul gave us our puzzle today. And as soon as I saw the word ‘stool’ in 7dn, I knew it had to be a smutty reference!
An excellent puzzle with many great clues. My favourites: PASSATA, CHALET, HONOLULU, CHERISH, (the -ish ending for ‘like’ seems to be getting more common now?), ATISHOO.
And a special mention for DIDGERIDOO. (Although I guessed the answer from the crossers and had to google who the people were).
A couple of minor quibbles. I’m not quite sure that 10ac quite works. And is it not the case that, while all neurones are (nerve) cells, not all cells are neurones?
Nonetheless, a thoroughly enjoyable puzzle for the last Saturday of the year. Thanks to Paul and to Eileen.
Can I add that I’m perfectly happy with the ‘in’ of 25 dn. As I have said before, it introduces the definition without being part of it.
I agree, Eileen that abolish is not the best synonym for cut although both can mean to delete, erase. (Chambers online gives this definition for abolish). I suppose you could cut / abolish this clue from your memory.
I did not have a problem with ABOLISH and ‘cut’, but I take Eileen’s point and I have not been able to find that meaning in Chambers, the OED or Webster’s. The argument by Larry@7 is interesting but inconclusive.
I thought JO SWINSON was clever, and am pleased she has achieved something, even if not quite what she aspired to last year. I also liked DIDGERIDOO and SOLOMON GRUNDY. As for 10/11a, ‘granulated’ has no relevant place in the clue. It was an attempt to be clever but failed to work, as we all seem to agree.
Quite a difficult puzzle in my view, taking me to midweek to complete the last few. Thanks, Paul and in particular Eileen.
If you are made redundant, your post is cut/abolished: it works for me even if it isn’t in Chambers.
Happy New Year.
Yet another reminder of this wonderful setter’s outstanding ability to be fresh and creative. One of the few who has never bored (proof of the joy he derives from his art). As I’ve stated before – how does he do it?
Eileen – you may be right of course – but I had LIKE IT OR LUMP IT as a (rather weak, atypically) CD.
Many thanks to Paul and Eileen (I bet you never thought, back in the days when you were huddled round the daily Guardian cryptic in your schoolteachers’ common room, that you’d be enjoying your 9th decade as the world doyenne of crossword blogging. Not that you’d have known what ‘blogging’ meant back then!)
I enjoyed this. Just the sort of Paul puzzle I like. I particularly liked seeing JO SWINSON and HUBRIS together. Surely no coincidence. I remember thinking when she made the speech suggesting she could be Prime minister that she would regret it and so it has proved!
Thanks Paul.
I enjoyed this, especially parsing DIDGERIDOO. I agree with Eileen about 10, 11. I can’t make it work, even as a weak CD.
Thanks to Paul and Eileen.
Very enjoyable, especially DIDGERIDOO, NUMBER TWO, CHERISH. I thought the wordplay for LIKE IT OR LUMP IT didn’t really add up, but it went in straight away from the definition and enumeration, so I couldn’t really say it was unfair. One of those clues that works more by suggestion than strict analysis. Wouldn’t like to see too many like that, though.
Anna @5&6, I agree that saying wordplay is ‘in’ the definition is perfectly acceptable. I’m surprised to see Eileen doubt it as it’s very common, isn’t it? On the other hand, I don’t see the objection to defining a NEURONE as a “cell” just because it is a particular kind of cell. It’s perfectly normal to define answers by mentioning what they’re an example of, though of course when it’s the other way round (say ‘neurone’ for CELL) it needs to be indicated that it’s a definition by example.
[William F P @10, I liked the description of Eileen as “the doyenne of crossword blogging”. In fact, thinking about it, didn’t Arachne suggest that very soubriquet in her 80th birthday tribute?]
“It’s perfectly normal to define answers by mentioning what they’re an example of”
Since I wrote that I’ve learnt the word ‘hyponym’. NEURONE is (I think) a hyponym of ‘cell’, so the latter is an acceptable definition for the former. It’s right to say “A neurone is a cell” even though it’s wrong to say, without qualification, “A cell is a neurone”.
Not all cells are neurones in the same way that not all blown instruments are didgeridoos – fun as that might be.
Thanks to Eileen and Paul