Paul turns up in the Saturday Prize slot, once again coinciding with my monthly blog.
On the whole, this was straightforward enough but three clues [9 and 20 ac and 21dn] took as long to parse as the rest of the puzzle put together. As it turned out, it was just a case of [eventually] doing what it said on the tin and they ended up, with 8ac, as my favourite clues.
Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Thanks, Paul, for the puzzle.
[In the week since I solved and blogged this puzzle, events have moved swiftly. During that time, many of you have said how much you value this website of ours. As one of those ‘at risk’ by virtue of age [but with no underlying health issues], living alone and relying on crosswords, as well as friends and family networks, to help keep me sane, this community is a lifeline to me and I just want to thank you all for your encouraging comments. Take care, everyone and stay well.]
Across
8 Girl I see in place of a couple of gentlemen (8)
VERONICA
IC [I see, text speak] in VERONA, where Shakespeare’s two gentlemen came from
9 A capital in Africa, to the west? (5)
ABUJA
The answer was clear but I just couldn’t see how to parse it: ‘to the west’ usually indicates a reversal in an across clue but that didn’t work – and what was the A at the beginning doing? After long staring, then going away for a while and coming back to it, the penny dropped: The A is part of the wordplay, followed by a reversal [going west] of JUBA, the hitherto unknown to me capital of South Sudan, giving the capital of Nigeria – in West Africa! Thank you Google – and nice one, Paul
10 Reportedly contemptible look (4)
MIEN
Sounds like [reportedly] mean [contemptible]
11 Make a move for that lady, fit (2,8)
GO TOGETHER
GO TO GET HER
14 Those are for runners with good reasons to fail (4,4)
NOSE RAGS
AN anagram [to fail] of G [good] + REASONS
15 Country in muddle, so thought-provoking (7)
LESOTHO
Hidden in muddLE SO THOught-provoking
17 Tramp banking on sovereign (7)
MONARCH
MARCH [tramp] round [banking] ON
20 Go down, not up initially — climb with difficulty (8)
SCRAMBLE
I wavered for a long time between SCRAMBLE and SCRABBLE, both fitting the definition but both seemingly unparsable; eventually, I realised I had to separate ‘go’ and ‘down’ so it’s SCRAM [go] + BL[u]E [the familiar ‘down’] minus the initial letter of ‘up’
22 Free seat, I say, for adults? (6)
STEAMY
An anagram [free] of SEAT + MY [I say] – definition as in ‘adult fiction’
23 Depreciating profits evident originally, steps quickly taken to catch old scoundrel (10)
PEJORATIVE
PE [first letters – originally – of Profits Evident + JIVE [steps quickly taken] round O [old] RAT [scoundrel]
24, 12 Snake more certain to bite head of firm is one on the board? (10)
WINDSURFER
WIND [snake] + SURER [more certain] round F[irm]
25, 2 Workers feeling miserable easily (5,4)
HANDS DOWN
A charade of HANDS [workers] + DOWN [miserable]
26 Party intellect, predatory (8)
RAVENOUS
Another charade: RAVE [party] + NOUS [intellect] – I always think of NOUS as meaning common sense [it always sounds ‘Yorkshire’ to me – but I know it’s Greek 😉 ] but Chambers gives ‘intellect’ as the first definition
Down
1 Setter standing in undies, unfortunately — and not much else! (8)
SEMINUDE
A reversal [standing, in a down clue] of ME [setter] in an anagram [unfortunately] of UNDIES
3 Quick footballer, swift perhaps? (6)
WINGER
Double definition, ‘winger’ indicating a bird
5 Halfwit carried by mythical ship beneath southern sea (8)
SARGASSO
ASS [halfwit] in ARGO [Jason’s mythical ship] beneath [in a down clue] S [southern]
6 Baked item sounding a pain in the backside? (6,4)
BUTTER CAKE
Sounds like buttock ache [pain in the backside] – I hadn’t heard of this cake
7 Villain demanded to ride horse (3,3)
BAD EGG
BADE [demanded] on top of [to ride, in a down clue] GG [horse] – I think the verb should be ‘commanded, rather than ‘demanded’
13 Trifle, dessert with a roly-poly (4,6)
FOOL AROUND
FOOL [dessert] + A ROUND [roly-poly]
16 Tribe has translated for scholar of ancient language (8)
HEBRAIST
An anagram [translated] of TRIBE HAS
18 Imminent revolt constraining dynasty (6,2)
COMING UP
COUP [revolt??] round MING [dynasty]
19 Reckless behaviour wrong in prohibitionist (7)
DEVILRY
EVIL [wrong] in DRY [prohibitionist]
21 Shortage of staff with cook finally leaving nursery (6)
CRÈCHE
CRE[w] [staff, shortened] + CHE[f] cook minus the final letter – how many others looked for a word to take ‘k’ from?
22 Not given ring, female sweetheart put off (6)
SHELVE
SHE [female] + L[o]VE [sweetheart] minus o [ring] – is there a hint of a female not given a ring being left on the shelf?
24, 4 Arm grabbing clear, sparkling tipple — sampling it? (4,7)
WINE TASTING
WING [arm] round NET [clear, as in wages] ASTI [sparkling tipple]
Typical Paul – some body humor, a rambling surface or two, and plenty of cleverness to admire. GO TOGETHER, NOSE RAGS, and SEMINUDE stood out for me. Thanks to Paul for some entertainment in my confinement and to Eileen for her usual thorough blog (yes, I was trying to take K away from something in 21d). Stay well, Eileen and all others on this site.
Thanks to Paul and Eileen. I had no success in parsing ABUJA but did get SCRAMBLE.
Thanks Eileen. Another enjoyable test from Paul. Again, it looked daunting at first but it steadily yielded and I got there but, like you, only after wasting rather too much time on the SW corner. SCRAMBLE and CRECHE were my LOIs, they wrote themselves in thanks to the crossing letters but it wasn’t until some time later that I managed to explain them.
I echo your bracketed sentiments, the community is even more important to me now.
My personal challenge with ABUJA was different from, well, probably everyone else’s. Having learned in school the capital of Nigeria was Lagos, I just can’t seem to shake it, even though that stopped being the case nearly 30 years ago.
On the first day of trying, I found this puzzle almost impenetrable. After sleeping on it, I fairly zoomed through it. Go figure!
Thanks, and stay safe.
Not alone, Dr. Wh, I too still think of Lagos. Re the puzzle, DaveinNC sums it up. Yes, stared at scram bl[u]e for a bit, and evil in dry took a minute or two, but no real holdups in a nice Saturday morning stroll. Thanks Paul and Eileen and all the best to all 225 companions (wonder how many there are, thousands wouldn’t surprise me).
I don’t know what it is, but i seem to click with Paul. Ulike Eileen i read nursery, immediately thought creche, and then parsed it. I got Abuja but couldn’t understand why. Well done Eileen. And ditto your sentiments re this site.
Thanks Eileen – esp for the parsing of CRECHE. Great mix here of soft (top left) and hard. Tick for the two African capitals and the 14A anagram hidden in humdrum words. 20A was tough like the Matterhorn: Edward Whymper only half ironically entitled his autobiography SCRAMBLEs Amongst the Alps.
Failed completely on ABUJA, I’m afraid. I now realize that although I went to an atlas looking for possibilities, having just checked its publication date, I see It’s a 1985 edition and unaware of the current Nigerian capital, as, embarrassingly, was I. I need to update my reference library. Otherwise, fairly straightforward, with a chuckle at the cake, although I failed to parse CRÈCHE properly. Stay well, everybody.
DaveinNCarolina has it right at @1 – this was classic Paul, very clever and with a variety of clueing that few can match. Hugely enjoyable.
I too took a long time over CRÈCHE, though looking back it’s hard to see why.
i hesitated over two, even though they were obviously the answers – RAVENOUS means hungry, which is not the same thing as predatory. And the point of a SCRAMBLE is that you have to use your hands as well as your feet, not that it’s necessarily difficult – I’m sure that would be the general view among those of us who’ve spent time bagging Scottish mountains. But I see that Paul has dictionary justification for both usages, so quibbles overruled.
Thanks to him, and to Eileen for the immaculate blog. One of the (very few) silver linings to be seen in the present crisis is the resurgence of community spirit, and in its way this site exemplifies that. Best wishes to everyone out there.
A postscript to bring things down to earth – I was a little disappointed to see NOSE RAGS rather than SNOT RAGS, which would have been much more Pauline and was a term much used by we schoolboys in the 50s.
Thanks Eileen I had scrabble unparsed but don’t think I would have parsed scramble and could not see how to parse creche. Veronica was one of my favourites also as was Abuja once I’d worked it out with the help of google.
Thanks to,Paul for the fun.
I am thankful also, as I assume many of us are, to be in lockdown in the age of the internet. As one who also lives alone, this and other on-line communities (some newly created) are a godsend. Best wishes to all from down under.
Thanks Eileen. If I’d been writing a blog I’d have said almost exactly the same. Unlike you though I didn’t have the perseverance to work out the parsings.
As a (very) occasional commenter, thanks for the enjoyment and stay safe everyone
Very interesting comment on today’s (28093) puzzle – no entries being taken ‘in the present circumstances’. No such statement in the Times or i.
Well, like Eileen and others, some of the parsing got me flummoxed. 9, 20, 23 & 22dn to be precise – as so often, fairly obvious once explained! I didn’t get stuck in Lagos, but I did get sidetracked by Accra for a long time but both seemed just too obvious and the parsing escaped me utterly; in fact I came to the blog expecting it to something else entirely, so it was a relief to see Abuja was correct. I also remembered using a Snot Rag when I was a boy, but Nose Rags is wholly new to me. Perhaps it’s a regional thing – but then I had no idea either that Nous was from Greek, so there you have it 🙂
In common with all, I imagine, here’s hoping you all stay well and get through this madness.
I found this very difficult but got there in the end. Had a problem to parse MONARCH as I thought the banking was arch! And failed to parse SCRAMBLE as I thought the go down was something to do with scrum. On checking ‘dry’ in Collins, I found this for the noun (which I was doubting): ‘US and Canadian an informal word for prohibitionist.’ So, can’t criticise Paul for that one (although maybe a ‘US’ would have helped.)
I particularly liked the setter standing in undies (sounds like Paul), and despite the somewhat strange surface, I, of course, liked WINDSURFER.
Thanks to Paul for a good workout and to Eileen for a very helpful blog.
[Keep well, Eileen – this site and your blog is invaluable to those of us with brains frazzled by this emergency.]
Unlike some others, I found this a quick solve and I felt overall that the puzzle was much less demanding than the usual Paul. Slightly disappointing.
And like others, I had to use references to find the African capitals. But the clue itself is fairly straightforward, surely?
Favourites were GO TOGETHER and CRECHE.
I too echo Eileen’s sentiments – crosswords, and learning Russian, are what are keeping me sane in this difficult time.
Thanks to Paul and to Eileen.
Thanks for the blog and introductory comments Eileen, and to everyone else for their affirmative comments about the value of communities. We have much in common and many differences – and it is by making the most of both of these qualities that we’ve evolved as we have. Wouldn’t it be a magnificent paradox if the need to isolate from each other brought humanity together?
As for the puzzle looking back I realised it had got covered up with 19d unsolved and an unparsed and incorrect ARUBA for 9a. As DaveinNC l@1 says it was typical Paul. I had question marks against SCRAMBLE and CRÈCHE so thanks for that parsing as well Eileen and to Paul for the challenge.
I really enjoyed this, and I would describe this as Paul at his best and most inventive. Too many clues to list and highlight as favourites. I did try to remove a K from somewhere to get CRECHE, but I gave up pretty quickly to try and parse it properly. I failed, so thank you Eileen for the explanation. I had exactly the same experience as Eileen’s with ABUJA – a great clue. PEJORATIVE was a bit of a challenge, but that too turned out to be good and sound.
Thanks to Paul and Eileen.
Not much to add to all of the above other than to say I love Paul’s puzzles, I love your blogs Eileen and stay safe everyone.
Thanks Eileen and Paul. Like most got stuck on some parsings although a bit unusually for Mr K and I, novices as we are, we worked out creche (after meandering after a word without a k of course). Never heard of DRY. We were looking for a word for wrong inside TT. Trying to put dry and prohbitionist in the same sentence and failing! This weekly blog was always a part of our Saturday morning things to look forward to ritual so even more now.
Typical Paul, so typically enjoyable. 9a was a bit unfair on those of us who prefer to solve unaided. When mentally scrolling through the short list of African capitals that I knowI remembered that Lagos was no longer capital of Nigeria but not what had replaced it.
Thanks to Paul and Eileen.
On the plus side, if the weather stays this nice I might even make myself stay out longer on my bike and get fitter.
While the second word of 6d was pretty clearly CAKE, I had not heard of BUTTER CAKE either, and it took me a while to see it. But it is, according to Wikipedia, ‘one of the quintessential cakes in American baking’. Perhaps our US friends can comment?
Thanks Eileen for explaining some of the hardest parsings, ABUJA in particular. Perhaps it shows the age of many of us, that we use atlases which predate Nigeria getting a new capital, and South Sudan becoming independent.
Thanks Eileen and Paul.
After much head scratching we parsed SCRAMBLE and CRÈCHE, but needed to come here for the parsing of ABUJA.
Keep safe all.
I had a few left unfilled and despite ‘lockdown’ and being indoors all week managed to lose the paper and hence DNF
Still blank for me :
I could see ABUJA but not JUBA as a capital, so thanks for that research Eileen. DRY = prohibitionist? Maybe though it seems a bit of a reach.
BUt the one I am really struggling with is DEPRECIATING = PEJORATIVE — DEPRECATING surely would work but not DEPRECIATING
Anyway, good fun, with many enjoyable solves amongst the ones I had done (like others the PITA confection was a LOL) so cheers Paul and thanks to you Eileen and best wishes for safe solving to all other members of the FifteenSquared community.
To Epee @24
According to my Chambers, depreciate can mean to disparage, so I think depreciating=pejorative is OK.
I’m always happy to provide the perspective of one US solver.
Robi @15, I’m surprised to learn that DRY as a noun is listed as US and Canadian usage. I’ve never run across it and, like you, was questioning its equivalence with prohibitionist.
sjhart @22, I’m also unfamiliar with BUTTER CAKES, but then I don’t pay much attention to names of baked goods, so perhaps that’s just me.
Deminues also fits the clue at 1d. I mean, it might be a French word imported into English. Or it might be entirely a figment of my imagination. I eventually got the far more obvious correct answer.
Hi Epee Sharkey @24 – I don’t understand your struggle with PEJORATIVE.
Chambers: ‘Depreciate’ – to undervalue, to be contemptuous of the value of, to disparage [also given as a definition of ‘deprecate’]
‘Pejorative – derogatory, disparaging, depreciating’.
Apologies for the crossing, Anna @25.
hello bloggers, setters and all you wonderful members of this btl community. I don’t often comment, but was inspired to by your intro today Eileen and the lovely responses of others to it. I too have come to rely on this site for a newly-regular daily fix. We are isolated yet united by a common passion, and I’m so grateful to you all.
Very difficult to get started on this but after several attempts I managed to crack it – well,sort of. I never got round to parsing ABUJA and finally gave up on trying. I didn’t realise that Lagos was no longer the capital of Nigeria so—-!
In the end quite a nice puzzle. Liked BUTTER CAKE even though it’s the first time I ‘ve encountered it.
Second week of isolation for me but I’m lucky to have a garden and a nearby field so I can walk my dog. Things could be a hell of a lot worse!
Stay safe folks!
Once again probs with accents. Where I come from Butter Cake sounds nothing like Buttock Ache. I would suggest that solvers test out these supposed homophones with a variety of regional accents. Try this one in your best West Country and you will what I mean.
I circled round Accra for ages like some others. And now I’m off to make a butter cake (kouign amann where we are). Best wishes to all.
I’d never heard of butter cake – it was obviously butter because the backside is where goats traditionally butt you… and the homophone just never clicked. We don’t call them nose rags round here either. Some of Paul’s trademark slang is I suspect local to his area and upbringing, and not so widely known as he thinks.
I did like SEMINUDE though, among many.
Very enjoyable. I also needed check Google maps for the capitals, but the clue makes a beautiful &lit. I liked SCRAMBLE and HEBRAIST the best, for the surfaces. Anyone else try DRIFTER (banking = DRIFT + ER) at first for 17? Held up the east side a bit.
A friend of mine from St Louis once brought in St Louis Gooey Cake to work. Apparently that’s the local BUTTER CAKE speciality and it was wonderful. Some very pleasant memories elicited by 6.
Lots of fun. Thanks, Paul and Eileen.
Enjoyably challenging. I had “batter buns” (it does sound like a “pain in the backside”) instead of BUTTER CAKE so there was no way for me to get ABUJA or MONARCH. Still I liked this crossword. Thanks Paul and Eileen.
Living here in Spain this has been an horrifying week with infections and deaths going through the roof. Solving this seems an age away now but I do remember enjoying it very much. Favourites were as I remember it, CRECHE, GO TOGETHER, and WIND SURFER for the neat definition which fooled me for too long. Many thanks Paul look after yourself!!
Yes Eileen, you and me both as far as risk is concerned, in this Andaluz village we are a tight knit community that looks out for one another, as I know is also the case in the UK. I had tears in my eyes at the solidarity shown to the health workers by the well earned applause. It is so sad to have very little contact with ones friends but I’m sure it is vital at the moment to stand apart from risk. 225, as I always refer to this community, is vital for my peace of mind and I salute all the bloggers and posters for helping me keep sane. And Eileen a particular thank you to you, for always seeming to strike the correct note.
Thanks Paul (BUTTER CAKE – haha) and Eileen (AJUBA – I would’ve never).
I messed up and was left with S_E_E_ for SHELVE. Don’t ask. [Ok, I only ever fill in the crossers when inking – I misspelt RAVENOUS.]
But great fun.
See y’all at the far side of this.
DaveinNCarolina,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_state
Anna @ 16: “And like others, I had to use references to find the African capitals. But the clue itself is fairly straightforward, surely?”
Pino @ 21:L “… a bit unfair on those of us who prefer to solve unaided.”
I’m with Pino on this one. If the answer is an African city you can’t remember and the word play involves reversing another African city you’ve never heard of, the words “fairly straightforward” would not be on the tip of my tongue.
Tony Collman @ 39 – I can’t see the relevance since the issue was about using ‘dry’ as a noun whereas the example you cite uses the word in [one of] its adjectival sense[s].
Nice Paul puzzle – as ever. I ticked GO TOGETHER and also enjoyed [the] SCRAMBLE
Many thanks, both and all….
William @ 41
It was really about whether dry could substitute for prohibitionist wasn’t it? I imagined that you might also describe dry states as ‘prohibitionist states’. Perhaps I was wrong though? I don’t think prohibitionist is technically an adjective, but I still think it could be used adjectivally in the same way that you can describe a radio fitted in a car as a car radio despite ‘car’ not appearing in dictionaries as an adjective. Then again, ‘dry’ isn’t in the dictionary as a noun either except in the phrase ‘the dry’ (out of the rain), so I think my explanation must be what Paul was thinking of, unless someone has found a reference to ‘a dry’ meaning a prohibitionist?
I wrote this and forgot to post it, so now I will, even though it’ll mostly waste its fragrance.
“Nous” sounds both Greek and British to me, too, though not particularly Yorkshire — I associate it with London police in procedural detective stories. And I’ve often wondered how a Greek word got into colloquial English. Any theories?
Dave@26 I’m familiar with “dry” as prohibitionist (from the homeland of prohibitionism). This state, that town are dry. My state used to be dry on Sundays.
sjshart@22 Unlike you, I thought 6d had to be “butter” something because of butt and backside (perhaps more American than UK?) but couldn’t think of the second word. Butter roll? butter buns? butter what? It took the crossers to make me think of cake. And unlike Dave,I pay lots of attention to names of baked goods and any other kind of food, but I’d never heard of a butter cake either, American though I am, so I googled it and found that it’s “America’s favorite cake.” News to me. A lot like pound cake, apparently, but a bit lighter. I’d be tempted to try Wikipedia’s recipe, but I’d have nobody to share it with.
And thanks Stephen mccrory@32 — I couldn’t manage to think what “butter cake” was supposed to sound like, and it certainly doesn’t sound like “buttock ache” when I say it. And Linda, I thought a koign amann was very different from what the butter cake looks like on the Wikipedia page!
My favourites were RAVENOUS, WINE TASTING, DEVILRY, VERONICA.
I could not parse CRECHE.