Paul moves to the midweek slot today.
A fairly typical medley of clues, I think: some good [10,7, 22, 23, 26,2ac, 13dn], some quirky [11ac, 6dn] some bland [15 and 20ac, 21 and 24dn] and enough, I hope, of Paul’s schoolboy humour to please those who like it.
Thanks, Paul, for the puzzle.
Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
8 Plant that may destroy a toilet? (8)
LAVENDER
LAV[atory] ENDER
9 Chance in card game initially blown (5)
EVENS
[s]EVENS [card game] minus its initial letter
10, 7 During safest lap, surprisingly, vehicle at the back crashed out (4,6)
FAST ASLEEP
An anagram [surprisingly] of SAFEST LAP + [vehicl]E
11 Having broken marriages, you can rely on him for a creepy feeling (3,7)
THE WILLIES
HE WILL [you can rely on him] in [having broken] TIES [marriages]
14 Touch number read as Arabic in church monument (8)
CENOTAPH
A reversal [as Arabic – read from right to left] of PAT [touch] + ONE [number] in CH [church]
15 Whip up and turn over US snack (3,4)
EGG ROLL
EGG [whip up] + ROLL [turn over] – is this specifically US?
17 What might secure bottom, but not one side (7)
ARSENAL
An ARSE NA[i]L [minus i – one] might secure bottom: this was my penultimate entry and it plumbed the depths for me; for anyone who doesn’t know, this is the side
20 Seaside location, sunny and happening (8)
BRIGHTON
BRIGHT [sunny] + ON [happening]
22 Footballers’ exchange covered by radio network (3-3)
ONE-TWO
Hidden in radiO NETWOrk
23 Dear little cuckoo harmed (3-7)
ILL-TREATED
An anagram [cuckoo] of DEAR LITTLE
24, 12 Double locks in attempt to secure new file (4,6)
RING BINDER
RINGER [double] round [locks in] BID [attempt] round [to secure] N [new]
25 Copper river in shade of green? (5)
SARGE
R [river] in SAGE [shade of green]
26, 2 French victim of assassination pierced by a single shot — political target? (8,4)
MARGINAL SEAT
MARAT [French victim of assassination] round [pierced by] an anagram [shot] of A SINGLE
Down
1, 3 Eg Guardian leader in Guardian has got me, but not you, excited (8,6)
MANAGING EDITOR
AN anagram [excited] of IN G[u]ARDIAN GOT ME minus u [you, text speak]
4 Passion in forest, city wanting it (7)
ARDENCY
ARDEN [forest] + C[it]Y – I don’t think I’ve ever come across this word
5 Creator does without hint (8)
DESIGNER
DEER [does] round SIGN [hint] – the old crossword trick with ‘does’
6 Dreadful experience on different drug for morning or evening, perhaps (5,5)
HELLO THERE
HELL [dreadful experience] + OTHER [different] + E [drug] – presumably the greeting ‘[Good] Morning / Evening’?
13 A stuck-up politician, rude (10)
DEROGATORY
A reversal [up] of A GORED [stuck] + TORY [politician]
16 Tool, visibly sore, covered in soap (8)
LATHERED
LATHE [tool] + RED [visibly sore]
18 Bird entertained by boy in garden, holder of massive flower (5,3)
ASWAN DAM
SWAN [bird] in ADAM [boy{?}] in garden – the massive ‘flower’ being the River Nile
19 Science a little bit grisly, ultimately (7)
ANATOMY
AN ATOM [a little bit] + [grisl]Y
21 Fancy sauce (6)
RELISH
Double definition
22 Dropping yellow, German artist unfinished (6)
ORDURE
OR [yellow, in heraldry] + [Albrecht] DURE[r] [German artist, unfinished]
24 Protest about method of travel (4)
RAIL
Double definition – though the first is usually ‘rail against’
As Eileen said. Marmite.
This took ages; must be the lingering effects of the season, beach sand’s got into the brain, not to mention other indulgences. Knew ‘different’ would be ‘other’ but ‘hello there’ was still loi, great clue. GK, too, was slow to kick in, like “now who was that bloke Charlotte Corday knifed in the bath” and ditto re the German etcher. Good fun though, thanks both. And a belated HNY to all.
Arsenal, Brighton, One-Two was the result between the two sides on December 5th.
Is it childish to enjoy the arse nail? Guilty.
Re 4dn ARDENCY – you have come across it Eileen. In fact you blogged Picaroon’s Prize 26,340 in 2014 which included it with a similar clue. I only know Arden as forest because of that and Arachne’s 2016 offering.
I also found this slow-going and took ages to see 8a LAVENDER, 11a THE WILLIES and 6d HELLO THERE. I liked several of the ones you favoured, Eileen, although I actually didn’t mind 20a BRIGHTON. I was so convincced 24d was DEMO/MODE (M.O. for Modus Operandi/”method”, with some letters “travelling”, so that I made a real hash of the south-east early on. I finally got back on track (!) with RAIL. I also talked myself into the singular “DEATH THROE” for 6d for a while, though it just didn’t feel right so I used my Johnny(!)/eraser and in the end “HELLO THERE” became my favourite clue.
With many thanks to Paul for some good fun despite the head-scratching – and of course for the toilet humour – and to Eileen for her usual thorough explanatory blog.
[And Happy New Year wishes to you too, grantinfreo@2. Good to see you posting. What a dreadful summer for Australia – hopefully some good rain coming to the east coast. How about WA? Are you feeling much effect from the cyclones?]
[gif – meant to the Eastern states… including some good falls in the dry outback today, and positive predictions for some of the fire-affected areas in Vic. and NSW.]
[Hi JinA, no, Freo has been totally balmy and the couple of fires we’ve had so far weren’t too bad, ditto the cyclones. Really feeling for the eastern states, terrible].
Thanks, KLColin @5 – I see that CENOTAPH appeared in that one, too.
That was a fair bit tougher than many recent offerings. I also enjoyed a guilty smirk at “arsenal”, thought “lavender” very Paul-ish and “relish” a lovely example of a double definition. It was obviously so but nonetheless a very smooth example of the genre. “Arden” as a forest should be familiar from “As You Like It” as well as to anyone who travels through Warwickshire – the latter is probably more obscure than the former though.
An interesting contrast with yesterday where I solved quite a few and then painstakingly parsed. Here I often found myself solving part of the clue, writing it in and then adding the rest in bit by bit. I still didn’t see the parsing of “ring binder” though, which I biffed.
I’m not sure “adam” can be called a boy in the garden as he was formed as a man in the story, but I guess Paul was trying to avoid giving too much away. Ditto “yellow” for “or” I thought was marginal as “or” is gold and it’s one of those “A=B” and “B=C” therefore “A=C” things, but English is not necessarily transitive which is what makes it so danged hard to perfect.
Nevertheless a good fun and tricky puzzle – thank you Paul, and Eileen for the smooth rendering of the parsing.
TheZed @10 that’s why I had a question mark at 18dn: the Adam in the garden was definitely not a boy and I think it spoils what would have been a good clue.
Re 22dn: as I said in the blog, OR = gold or yellow in heraldry and is listed as such in Chambers – and see here https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/easter/preparing-for-easter-adventure-quests/our-guide-to-heraldry/ . I’ve seen it countless times in crosswords.
Eileen @11 I was adding my own concern re “adam” and expanding on it – perhaps adding verisimilitude to an otherwise hirsute and convincing narrative, but I felt it worth chipping in to confirm you were not the only one to find it a dodgy synonym. Perhaps I should’ve added a “metoo” to my post.
Regarding “or”, in heraldry it is specifically a metal rather than a colour. This is important because the rule of tincture forbids placing a metal upon a metal, or colour upon a colour. So “yellow on green” would not work but “gold on green” would (although there is no traditional heraldic colour of yellow, but the point is the same). It’s a bit niche, and “or” is represented by yellow in drawings (or black dots in B&W versions of old), but given the use of “or” is only heraldic it can only mean the metal, and I thought it worth mentioning that I found the definition a little stretched. Not wrong, or unfair, just a little stretched. And these blogs are often (for me at least) a chance to learn something about the words in the clues, so for once I thought I’d share a bit of obscure knowledge 🙂
I gave up on this puzzle as I was taking too long to solve it plus I didn’t have so much spare time today. I failed to solve 9, 11, 17a (eww) and 5d. Thank you, Eileen – I never would have been able to parse ARSENAL. To be honest, I almost feel proud of myself that I could not solve or parse that!
Of the ones I solved, I could not fully parse 24/12.
I’m afraid Paul’s schoolboy humour found me out today. Held up up THE WILLIES and ARSENAL, so the north-east corner took some while to unravel. Brain on the wrong wavelength, obviously.
Thanks for blog Eileen-better than the puzzle especially the ? next to boy-I think it spoilt the whole puzzle rather than that clue
So lest it sounds like sour grapes, i was half asleep when I started-then got stuck and realised I’d put FELL ASLEEP instead of FAST ASLEEP-rather apt.Then I had a dip in the pool(a bit warm in spite of shade cloth)
I dont begrudge him the Gunners result but I preferred Saturday’s Prize although it was like Seneca.
Thank you to Paul and Eileen
The usual quirky Paul mix – I particularly liked stuck up for gored at 13dn and the massive flower in 18dn.
I wasn’t going to comment except I need to make a shameful confession as a Gooner: I got completely stuck on 17ac and had to resort to Crosswordpuzzlehelp.
copmus @15 – I can’t think why on earth Paul used ‘boy’: it’s just so wrong – and not even indicating an abbreviation of a male first name, as some setters irritatingly use it. 😉
Thanks, Eileen.
I also blinked at “boy in the garden.” I’d quibble, too, with 15a: to egg is not the same as to egg on. Other than that, great fun, and I am childish enough to have laughed at “arse nail.”
Miche @18 – I looked sideways at 15ac, too, but didn’t take time to look it up. I’ve done so now: Chambers gives ‘[with on] to incite, urge on’ and Collins ‘usually foll by on …’
Is SARGE necessarily a copper?
Re 15: I, too wondered how this was specifically US. Google informs me that Egg Rolls are a form of deep fried appetiser found in American Chinese restaurants. Spring rolls are similar but are not usually deep fried. (As a Scot I would beg to differ)
This seemed a little too convoluted for my taste. Although I enjoyed LAVENDER and THE WILLIES (no schoolboy humour there), I thought ARSE NA(i)L was just too silly. I suppose when Paul saw ‘arse’ staring him in the face, he couldn’t resist it.
Thanks Paul and Eileen.
I was another who found this tough going, and another held up for ages in the NE. Nearly gave up a couple of times, but persevered and got there in the end. Last two were arsenal and hello there, which in the end was one of my favourite clues along with ring binder and the cleverly hidden one-two. Thanks to Paul for the challenge and Eileen for the blog.
This totally defeated me, although as a novice i was proud to solve approx half. I love Paul, even more so having read Eileen’s brilliant parsing. Someone commented recently that they could guess everyman setters from individual style. I’m not there yet but i think i would recognise Paul from his toilet humour, as with BUTTONHOLE in Saturday’s prize.
Well, I like Paul’s overgrown-schoolboy sense of humour – I like to be entertained and amused by his crosswords. And the Forest of Arden is in As you like it and surrounded Shakespeare’s childhood. According to the National Trust: “The English Forest of Arden stretched from Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire to Tamworth in Staffordshire, covering vast swathes of land including the present cities of Coventry and Birmingham”.
A bit tough even by Paul’s standards, but enough wit to reward the effort of solving. (I’m another who had a sheepish grin at ARSENAL.) My only niggle is about MANAGING EDITOR, which I had to reveal in order to get going on the last several clues. I’m still not convinced that it quite works, as I don’t see any indication that ‘has’ should be omitted from the anagram fodder. ‘Has’ sometimes indicates an inclusion or a charade, but neither of those situations applies here. Anyway, thanks to Paul and to Eileen for the parsing of 11a.
Another tough puzzle to get going on (taking the clues in order, BRIGHTON was my FOI). I enjoyed the puzzle and still think Paul has lots of good ideas.
I liked the ARSENAL construction. Thanks, Andy @3, for the added football context. 4 also has a football surface, I think, to go along with the mini-theme. I liked the surfaces in general but particularly the MARGINAL SEAT one, where the whole clue pertains to the historical event (not that I was familiar with it, you understand!). My favourite clue, after the necessary research.
“Boy in garden” didn’t bother me, but perhaps it’s not a great choice. I agree with DaveinNCarolina @26 about the “has” in 1/3. The irony is that it’s not needed for the surface. Not sure why Paul used it.
Overall, a highly entertaining puzzle. Surprised by the few negative responses. Thanks, Eileen and Paul.
18 misdirects with use of ‘flower’ to mean ‘river’. If one were a setter, could one get away with a single word clue? Eg, if the answer were ‘Rose river’, would ‘flower’ suffice as a clue? Sort of a reverse double definition?
Just askin. I have no intention of attempting to set a puzzle.
Thanks to Paul and Eileen.
A slow chewy enjoy for me with LAVENDER, CENOTAPH and ORDURE getting the coveted tick, and THE WILLIES, ARSENAL and HELLO THERE meriting the unwelcome ttch. But good fun overall.
Nitsuj@24: You’ll have someone else’s finger up your nose if you reveal the answer to a clue in a live prize crossword – for future reference. That aside: HELLO THERE.
Starsngarters@28: I think you might get a bouquet for “Flowers. (4,5)”.
As for “boy in garden”, it was at one time a common expression “for a long time ago” to say “when Adam was a lad”.
Decorating interfered with solving this puzzle, or maybe vice versa. A dnf for me as I didn’t get ARSENAL or ORDURE, and I didn’t parse RING BINDER or MARGINAL SEAT. I even failed to spot that ONE TWO was hidden! I didn’t have many ticks either – LAVENDER ILL-TREATED HELLO THERE and DEROGATORY. Definitely 1-0 to Paul today – thanks to him and Eileen for the comprehensive blog.
A tad embarrassed to admit that we had 15a as ‘egg flip’, which led to some confusion …
Apologies. Shan’t do that again!
Not a very good Paul. I failed on HELLO THERE and guessed ARSENAL and EVENS and had to reveal.
Disappointing!
‘enough, …, of Paul’s schoolboy humour to please those who like it.’ as Eileen says, applies to me.
Otherwise I would agree with Peter above.
Thought the same as gladys re SARGE
Like PA @ 35 I didn’t get 6d or 17a. I got 9a but as a rugby fan couldn’t see where ” card” fitted. At 17a I was stuck on “one side” indicating R or L so didn’t think of football though jokes about arse and Arsenal are common enough. At 6a I just didn’t work out what was the definition. Now Eileen has pointed it out I think it’s too convoluted and to me HELLO THERE has overtones of surprise, possibly even camp that aren’t present in the neutral ‘Morning or ‘Evening. Otherwise my views were the same as Eileen’s to whom many thanks, and also to Paul.
SARGE is an example of a Copper, just as FRITILLARY is an example of a plant and SETTER an example of a dog. Other usages don’t invalidate them being defined as such for the purpose of a clue.
I enjoyed this – thanks Paul and Eileen. MARGINAL SEAT was very satisfying.
Perhaps Paul meant “boy” in the Scottish sense. I was once amused to find the “boy” helping a farmer with the parking was about 80 years old.
One of the worse stumbles through a series of Paul obscurities.
thanks Eileen. I struggled with this (only just finished it), feeling, as I so often do, that I am not on Paul’s wavelength, so it was nice to come here and see that so many others did also. Chuckled at lavender, failed to parse arsenal correctly (amusingly thinking the definition was what secures, with arse not applicable left!) and did think ‘ugh’ on reading the blog and the actual parsing. Had to use aids to complete but did like Hello there (my penultimate) and Marginal seat. Agree with the quibbles raised. Cheers
I have underachieved lately with Guardian cryptics and was determined to see this one through having initially put it down – hence my very late post – especially as I have enjoyed Paul’s ‘trademark’ puzzles over the last several months.
I enjoyed this mostly, but I ‘agree with the quibbles raised’, as ngaiolaurenson said just before me. I had crosses against four clues, but twice as many ticks, so it wasn’t that bad an experience. I won’t tell you how much trouble I had trying to fit Cain, Abel and Seth around a bird in one of the clues!
Thanks to Paul and Eileen.
Don’t forget, Paul is a Brighton supporter. Didn’t parse ring binder and thought hello there not restricted to morning or evening.
I usually love Paul’s crosswords, but didnt enjoy this at all. Too many dodgy definitions eg ‘”hello there’ and contorted clues. Took me forever to finish and had to cheat on several
Not a vintage Paul, but as always plenty of ingenuity and a dnf for me: as a Spurs supporter I refuse to write in all the letters of ARS#NAL. Thanks Paul and all.
Re gladys @30, pedro @36, Gonzo @38: I think this is the reason the clue ends with a question mark, which is often used to indicate a definition-by-example.