Paul rounds off the week with a mixture of straightforward clues to get us started and some more challenging ones to make us think.
It took a few minutes to get started – my first entries were at 23 and 24 ac. At one point, I had the whole of the bottom half filled in and nothing in the top half but, looking back, I can’t really see why.
My favourite clues were the two involving French leaders at 8ac and 13dn, along with 11ac and 5, 19 and 22dn.
Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Thanks, Paul, for an enjoyable puzzle.
Across
8 French leader fed a starter of Italian pasta (8)
MACARONI
MACRON [French leader] round [fed] A + I[talian]
9, 15 Deeply personal feeling in fat cat, perhaps can end in sacking (5,7)
HEAVY PETTING
HEAVY [fat] + PET [cat, perhaps] + TIN [can] + [sackin]G
10, 25 Model last seen pocketing a thousand — sound reasonable? (4,5)
TALK SENSE
An anagram [model] of LAST SEEN round K [a thousand]
11 Where statement made, Wolves’ number one is sent off: fight ensuing (7,3)
WITNESS BOX
W[olves] + an anagram [off] of IS SENT + BOX [fight]
12 After setback, feline and alien join forces (4,2)
TEAM UP
A reversal [after setback] of PUMA [feline] + ET [alien]
17 Messy bed vacated, case dismissed (7)
UNKEMPT
[b]UNK EMPT[y] [bed vacated] minus first and last letters [case]
20 Skiver ecstatic, a worker claims (8)
ABSENTEE
A BEE [a worker] round [claims] SENT [ecstatic]
22 Come and see smoke (4,2)
ROLL UP
Double definition – the first could include ‘and see’
23 Speculate about reserve, where prices fall (4,6)
BEAR MARKET
BET [speculate] round EARMARK [reserve]
24 Praise cold weather (4)
HAIL
Double definition
26 Lack of warmth sees English Christian back in coat (8)
FROIDEUR
A reversal [back] of E [English] DIOR [[Christian] in FUR [coat]
Down
1, 14 Johnson’s initial muddling apt, one’s weakened growth adversely affecting house prices? (8,8)
JAPANESE KNOTWEED
J[ohnson] + an anagram [muddling] of APT ONE’S WEAKENED – not only might this rapidly-growing plant affect house prices but vendors are now required to state whether it is present on their property
2 Standard card (4)
JACK
Double definition
3 Court in school upset close harmony of the 1950s (3-3)
DOO-WOP
A reversal [upset] of WOO [court] in POD [school of whales]
4 Going beneath major artery, risk blunder (7)
MISTAKE
MI [M1 – major artery] + STAKE [risk]
5 Ram deprived of fleece, tool having cut it (8)
SHOEHORN
HOE [tool] in [having cut] SHORN [deprived of fleece]
6 Old printer component idle say, when not quite turning? (5,5)
DAISY WHEEL
An anagram [turning] of IDLE SAY WHE[n]
7 Indian city ruddy uplifting, setter maintains (6)
MYSORE
ME [setter] round a reversal [uplifting] of ROSY [ruddy]
13 French leader‘s work trip underhand? (10)
MITTERRAND
ERRAND [work trip] under MITT [hand]
16 Compounds idiot considers great (8)
NITRATES
NIT [idiot] RATES [considers great]
18 Wet love, devoted cuddles (8)
PLUVIOUS
PIOUS [devoted] round LUV [love]
19 Scottish man flu symptom reported, what might the malingerer take? (4,3)
WEEK OFF
Sounds like [reported] ‘wee cough’ [{man} flu symptom for a Scot]
21 Animal traps right in front (6)
BREAST
BEAST [animal] round R [right]
22 Hunter blowing top about a time limit (6)
RATION
[o]RION [hunter] minus initial letter [blowing top, in a down clue] round A T [time]
24 Skin somewhat ticklish, I declare (4)
HIDE
Hidden in ticklisH I DEclare
Too many unparsables and vague definitions for my liking. Errand – work trip??. Pious – devoted?? etc
Thanks Paul and Eileen
More enjoyable than I often find Paul. Favourites were FROIDEUR and RATION. I didn’t parse PLUVIOUS.
I didn’t manage to parse PLUVIOUS, though on reflection it’s pretty straightforward. I don’t, on this Good Friday, have any problem with a pious person being one engaged in devotions.
Some really enjoyable ones here, notably 9, 15ac (could only have been a Paul), and 1,14 which brilliantly turned out not to be a comment on the Dear Leader’s mishandling of things.
5dn was one of the neatest misdirections I’ve seen for a while.
For some reason this was a bit of an uphill battle for me. I saw the repetition of “French leader” in 8a and 13d and thought that was a bit of a double-up on Paul’s part, but then when I saw it was about two different leaders, I was quite okay with it. In fact when I looked back at the puzzle I thought MACARONI at 8a was possibly my favourite clue. I also admit that I had to check the spelling of MITTERRAND at 13d as I don’t think I realised before that it has two Rs. I see you liked those clues too, Eileen. JAPANESE KNOTWEED at 1d14a was totally unfamiliar to me (which seems like it might be a good thing), so I needed the anagram fodder and crossers to deduce that one. Got caught out yet again by not recalling that school can be POD as in whales so 3d DOO-WOP took time to figure out – it was a fun clue. Like muffin@2, I couldn’t parse 18d PLUVIOUS – it’s always good to come here to 15² for assistance. And of course for the camaraderie. Thanks to Paul for today’s challenge, to Eileen for the usual comprehensive blog, and to all contributors for continuing to create community on this site.
[We crossed NeilH@3 or I would have mentioned you in my comment on the parsing of PLUVIOUS too]
9,15 is classic Paul, and why I love him.
9, 15 is classic Paul and my least favourite clue
Thanks Paul and Eileen. I liked the “fat cat” as HEAVY PET in 9, 15, and the clever SHOEHORN at 5d.
(I wonder if this puzzle was compiled before the virus crisis? Both 20a and 19d seem a bit unpleasant in present circumstances.)
I loved this – my favourite crossword in months. The uncommon FROIDEUR and PLUVIOUS held me up at the end, making it even more satisfying to have everything finally in and parsed. Almost picked at random among so many gems, but I’ll go for the ‘Scottish man flu symptom…’ and the brilliant SHOEHORN as my favourites.
A wonderful Easter present.
Thanks to Paul and Eileen
9, 15 is an &lit, too? (sack= bed)
That Japanese knotweed doesn’t just affect house prices adversely; it can make them impossible to sell. According to wikipedia “It cost £70 million to eradicate knotweed from 10 acres of the London 2012 Olympic Games velodrome and aquatic centre.” According to a gardener friend, the way to get rid of the horrible stuff is to chop the stalks and inject industrial-strength glyphosate (“stump killer”) into the hollow stems. And repeat for three to five years… Good luck!
A good Friday workout from the main man. I particularly enjoyed (the timely) BEAR MARKET and SHOEHORN (spent ages removing top and bottom letters from words for ram until the obvious parsing occurred).
Thanks to Paul for the challenge and to Eileen for a blog that made it all look so straightforward – which it assuredly wasn’t.
Off to do Lockdown job number 3. My suggestion we simply move house was met with some FROIDEUR (another goodie).
Good and safe weekend all.
blaise @11 – yes, if you scroll down far enough [!] that’s the treatment recommended in the link that I gave.
Vintage and very enjoyable Paul. So a big thank you to you! Favourites were WITNESS BOX, DOO-WOP and of course HEAVY PETTING. I have never heard of JAPANESE KNOTWEED nor its affect on house prices. But once I picked out the anagram it was something worthwhile learnt. Thank you Eileen, as ever, for the blog, I particularly needed your help for PLUVIOUS.
With this type of puzzle I enjoy seeing the solutions more than I enjoy solving them. HEAVY PETTING is very witty – after the event. Most of the solutions went in from the definition and crossers and the parsing and penny dropping moments cake later. I find it hard to engage with puzzles where the initial reading of the clue doesn’t make sense. MrsW comes to the rescue as she can come up with synonyms without needing the wordplay.
My favourites were the more succinct UNKEMPT, ABSENTEE, MISTAKE and BREAST.
Thanks to the ever inventive Paul and to the resolute Eileen!
There were five clues I failed to parse, but six that I was pleased to highlight as favourites: TEAM UP (for the feline that was not a cat!), DOO-WOP, MYSORE, MITTERAND, RATION and SHOEHORN. I liked the two French leaders too, MACARONI being my first in.
Thanks to Paul for an entertaining puzzle and to Eileen for all the parsing and the link.
Thank you Paul for a challenging puzzle and Eileen for an informative blog.
Lord Jim @8, re 19d, it seems that men are vindicated as regards complaints about flu symptoms, they certainly are suffering much more than women from this nasty new virus.
I’m not sure that LUV for love is quite fair: it’s certainly original.
Like others I failed to parse PLUVIOUS but I have no problem with the pious bit of it. I knew the printer must be some sort of wheel but failed to guess what.
Loved SHOEHORN and BEAR MARKET and the wee cough. As I work for a conveyancing solicitor I am well aware of the horrible JAPANESE KNOTWEED. It spreads like wildfire and is perfectly capable of forcing its way up through concrete, and you need to pay specialist firms a small fortune to get rid of it. Even having the stuff in next door’s garden can affect the price of your house.
I thought this was excellent. Paul takes us into so many different areas, in both the clues and answers. Thanks to him and to Eileen.
After a good start seing MACARONI at once, I was held up in the SE by two unfamiliar words crossing.
Thanks to Eileen for enlightenment on some of the parsing and to Paul for another cracker.
JinA @4 sums up my experience. I’ll add that this was more parse-able than most Paul puzzles, at least for me, as I managed to figure out everything except the elusive PLUVIOUS. Thanks to Eileen for that as well as for the rest of her informative blog, and thanks to Paul for the entertainment.
Slow going at the beginning but got there in the end.
I ticked HEAVY PETTING, SHOEHORN and WEEK OFF.
Thanks Paul and Eileen.
Great puzzle. I went for a jog without having solved UNKEMPT and PLUVIOUS, but on returning UNKEMPT jumped out at me; it was still hard work to get PLUVIOUS. Loved FROIDEUR, HEAVY PETTING and WEEK OFF. Many thanks to Paul for the great entertainment as always, and to Eileen for her indefatigable blogging.
To continue with the point made by Lord Jim @8, it’s true that it can be a malingerer who takes a week off, just as an absentee can be a skiver, but in both cases it isn’t necessarily so. Paul in effect created a mini-theme of two clues like he did with the French leaders, and It’s just a tad unfortunate that this crossword has appeared in these times.
I also noted and appreciated Cookie’s remark (@17) about the effect of the virus on men and on women – I have seen the stats.
Great blog and challenging puzzle.
Thanks Eileen and Paul
My first one in was 8a and the RH side flowed nicely but the LH side definitely put up more of a battle
Thanks to Paul for the challenging entertainment and to Eileen for the blog
JAPANESE KNOTWEED was my first in, and I was feeling incredibly pleased with myself – but then things slowed down. A lot of these were guess-first, parse-later – such as FROIDEUR and ABSENTEE, some I could only semi-parse, like DOOWOP (got “woo”, clean forgot about whales) whilst UNKEMPT and PLUVIOUS I couldn’t even begin to parse. So, many thanks to Eileen for all the help!
I enjoyed the two French presidents, and rolly and the wee cough made me giggle. Thank you Paul for the entertainment.
WhiteKing @15
I think I could have written the first part of your comment about solving many clues from the definition and crossers and working out how it’s done afterwards. (I also liked the concept of cake later [for ‘came later’] – rewards for doing these puzzles are always welcome.) It’s still satisfying to solve puzzles like this, but puzzles, even tough ones, that give me enough to work on to get at least part of the answer, from which I can get the rest of it or the whole of it in either sequence, are always the most satisfying, and there have been two outstanding examples of that very recently.
As always with Mr H a real challenge but great satisfaction when you get there.The French leader’s aspects is why he is top of my list of setters. As he lives in Brighton I hope his neighbours resist the urge to hit the beach. Also Eileen great blog.Hope you all get through the weekend as on the south coast it’s hot and sunny
PLUVIOUS gave me most pause for thought, as I was thinking for a while that dutiful (devoted) might be the envelope. Bit of puffing and panting before I got HEAVY PETTING as LOI. Great fun here and there, as is usual with Paul.
I don’t know if it was intentional on Paul’s part, but mentioning French twice elsewhere made solving FROIDEUR and PLUVIOUS much quicker than would have been otherwise.
It took all the crossers for me to see UNKEMPT; did anyone get it with a blank grid?
AlanB@28 – thanks for expanding on my comment. Cake later is odd as autocorrect inserted cake and I human-corrected it, but autocorrect obviously prefers cake and changed it again without me noticing!
Dr WhatsOn @ 31
I thought the same. PLUVIOUS also made me think of the French Revolutionary Calendar, in which Pluviôse is the second of the winter months.
I rather like the English (satirical) equivalent: Nivôse, Pluviôse and Ventôse are rendered Slippy, Drippy and Nippy!
Thanks as always to Paul and Eileen.
Could somebody explain SENT = ECSTATIC in 20a?
This made me grin. I’m beginning to wonder whether Paul’s day (or rather, night) job is stand-up comic. Couldn’t put this down. Thanks to Paul and Eileen.
Simon: from Collins, 8. (transitive) slang to move to excitement or rapture;
this music really sends me
Simon @34, the connection that made it work for me was the Sam Cooke song, “You Send Me” (yes, I’m showing my age).
Simon @34
Collins – ‘send: [slang] to move to excitement or rapture’
Chambers: ‘send: [orig of jazz] to arouse someone to ecstasy’
DaveinNCarolina – [we crossed] yes, as teenage girls we would talk of being ‘sent’. 😉
Sorry, il principe – I didn’t notice I’d crossed with you, too.
Thanks paul, thanks Eileen.
I found this stodgy, but maybe I’m just not in the mood. For all that I gave myself a fillip for FROIDEUR and PLUVIOUS.
On reflection I wish I’d been in the mood to enjoy what should have been a pleasant wrestle.
I made very heavy weather of this despite a really good start. MACARONI,WITNESS BOX,DOO WOP and MISTAKE were write ins but then things began to go awry and it became like pulling teeth. I managed to muddle through until UNKEMPT and PLUVIOUS. I succeeded with the latter but I couldn’t parse the former.
Not my favourite Paul.
Still,thanks anyway.
LOI for us was the fat cat – just when we thought Paul might have become a reformed character! Unusually managed to complete and parse all, but it took a long time: like Eileen, bottom half filled before anything much above. Felt tough for a non-prize. Thanks to Paul and Eileen, and to all posting here and keeping this lovely conversation going.
I loved the surface of 1d, 14. I smiled at the thought that you would not get that clue in the Telegraph. Thanks Paul and Eileen
Never posted before, but wanted to take the opportunity to thank Paul for the many happy hours his puzzles have given me over the years. Funny, clever, fair, erudite and inventive, he is Araucaria’s natural heir. I’m in my 80s now and currently disgusted at the government’s treatment of my generation, the culmination of 40 years of treating as irrelevant all of those groups seen as peripheral to the market economy. So in desperate times, sitting in the sun this afternoon and completing the crossword gave me an inordinate amount of pleasure, not least in recalling all of the countless summer days of the past when I did exactly the same thing with Araucaria’s puzzles. So thanks Paul. Loved the bawdy Shakespearean wit of 9 15 by the way.
Loved the fat cat.
My two fat cats turned 8 yesterday, which is a digit they resemble when curled up next to each other.
Happy Easter all.
Could be telling on the age of crossword people ‘daisywheel’ they really were a brief event, even then a limited market
Fine end to the week. I liked HEAVY PETTING and the anagrams in JAPANESE KNOTWEED and DAISY WHEEL the best. I enjoyed learning all about MYSORE on Wiki too. FROIDEUR was particularly relevant today, as it’s cold and blowing a gale here. Even snowed briefly this morning (first time since around November!).
Thanks for the work out, Paul. I stupidly rationalised UNKEMPT as (B)UNKE(R) (E)MPT(Y), so needed the blog there. Thanks, Eileen.
Delightful puzzle – I loved “deeply personal feeling” – hard enough to be interesting but not so hard as to make me teaar out what’s left of my hair. Held up for a while by inability to spell FROIDEUR (not FROIDURE!) and inability to remember the once ubiquitous DAISY WHEEL printer.
I enjoyed this a lot but can someone explain the “man” in “man flu”? First of all, is it really needed for the clue? A quick google turns up endless pages about a man flu meme making fun of men being big babies. Is that what’s being referred to or is the term a quirk of Scottish English? Is it a backformation to distinguish it from bird flu or swine flu?
Wrote 8a in straightaway so thought this is promising but next in was 24a and guess (correctly) for 23a. This proved to be the story of this crossword, too many unparsed to mention. I had MAKE at 10a so failed on 2d. Thanks Eileen for all the explanations.
Bleudot @51
I think ‘man’ is needed if ‘flu’ is there, otherwise ‘wee cough’ is too mild to be clued as a ‘flu symptom’.
Of course you could dispense with both the man and the flu, and just say ‘cold’ – but then you would lose the humorous touch, and the appropriateness to the clue’s surface, which as you rightly suspect references the man flu meme.
Eileen@13. Glad to see the RHS are treating it seriously. My gardener friend is from Cornwall wherre it’s a real and widely spreading pect.
Saved this one to start with my tea and became so engrossed the tea went cold. Stuttering progress followed by long pauses, and the occasional chuckle (WEEK OFF and HEAVY PETTING in particular). Great fun, thanks to Paul and Eileen.
Thank you so much Len. Your kind words are very much appreciated.
And, as always, thanks so much to every contributor to this fine site.
With best wishes – and take care,
John aka Paul
Thanks for dropping in, John / Paul.