Super puzzle. Thank you Paul.
It took me a while to catch on to the theme which I would describe as hidden in plain sight. I experimented with all sort of fiendish thematic possibilities until I spotted the bleedin’ obvious. I thought the clues were well up to Paul’s usual idiosyncratic and entertaining standard too. A very satisfying solve.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | MEAGRE | Poor game worked on (6) |
| anagram (worked) of GAME then RE (on, regarding) | ||
| 4 | SOPRANO | 15 on 5 scored highly (7) |
| anagram (resort, re-sort) of ON PAROS (5) – high part in a music score | ||
| 9 | KEFALONIA | I leak info about article (9) |
| anagram (about) of LEAK INFO then A (indefinite article) | ||
| 10 | ROADS | Figurative career choices, I say? (5) |
| sounds like (say) “Rhodes” (I, island) | ||
| 11 | NAXOS | I recall almost all there eating beef (5) |
| a reversal (recall) of SANe (all there) containing (eating) OX (beef) | ||
| 12 | WINDSOCKS | Airport fliers caught in snow skid all over the place (9) |
| C (caught) inside anagram (all over the place) of SNOW SKID | ||
| 13 | SPICILY | I pinched rear of cop in a sexy manner (7) |
| SICILY (I, island) contains (pinched) coP (last letter, rear of) | ||
| 15 | RESORT | Holiday homes or possible location of holiday (6) |
| 17 | SINGLE | One left in burn (6) |
| L (left) inside SINGE (burn) | ||
| 19 | TEENAGE | Young cuckoo eaten by goose, having dropped guts (7) |
| anagram (cuckoo, mad) of EATEN then GoosE (no middle letters, having dropped guts) | ||
| 22 | HEARTACHE | Pick up hairy thing, suffering (9) |
| HEAR (pick up) TACHE (moustache, a hairy thing) | ||
| 24 | TAMBO | Old African leader getting wee cut from circular instrument (5) |
| TAMBOurine (circular instrument) missing URINE (wee) – Oliver Tambo, president of ANC | ||
| 26 | NAIVE | Wet behind the ears, water running back (5) |
| EVIAN (water, brand of mineral water) reversed (running back) | ||
| 27 | ETERNALLY | Ultimately dependable teammate behind winger always (9) |
| depandablE (last letter, ultimately) then ALLY (teammate) following TERN (bird, a winger) | ||
| 28 | SINCERE | True as religious teachings (7) |
| SINCE (as) RE (Religious Education, teaching) | ||
| 29 | GREASE | Musical location of many I’s, we hear? (6) |
| sounds like (we hear) “Greece” (location of many Islands) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | MYKONOS | I: setter’s I keeps working (7) |
| MY (setter’s) KOS (island) contains (keeps) ON (working) | ||
| 2 | AFFIX | Stick mark on ballot paper, if nothing turns up (5) |
| X (mark on ballot paper) IF and FA (nothing) all reversed (turns up) | ||
| 3 | RELISHING | Loving son snared by hen, girl I suspect (9) |
| S (son) inside (snared by) anagram (suspect) of HEN GIRL I | ||
| 4 | SPANNER | Turner‘s viaduct? (7) |
| double definition – something that turns, something that spans | ||
| 5 | PAROS | I thus blow up (5) |
| SO (thus) RAP (blow) reversed (up) | ||
| 6 | ARAUCARIA | Puzzling old friend, artist in middle of saucy song (9) |
| RA (Royal Academician, artist) inside sAUCy (middle of) ARIA (song) – pseudonym of the late Rev John Graham, crossword setter | ||
| 7 | OBSESS | Keep thinking only about entering classes boxer set up (6) |
| found inside (entering) claSSES BOxer reversed (set up) | ||
| 8 | ANYWAY | Still a 5th Avenue, perhaps? (6) |
| A NY WAY (a New York way, 5th Avenue perhaps) | ||
| 14 | IMITATION | Poor substitute shows weakness, missing header (9) |
| LIMITATION (weakness) missing first letter (header) | ||
| 16 | SWEETENER | Eastern doubly eclipsed by western brews — something in the tea? (9) |
| E E (eastern, doubly) inside (eclipsed by) anagram (brews) of WESTERN | ||
| 18 | EXCRETE | English XI go (7) |
| E (English) X and CRETE (I, island) – go to the toilet | ||
| 19 | THEMED | Where the I’s are found and what I’s are (6) |
| THE MED (the Mediterranean, where the islands are found) – the I’s in this crossword are the theme | ||
| 20 | ECOTYPE | Officer in Jag involved in a specific race (7) |
| CO (commanding officer) in E-TYPE (Jaguar car) | ||
| 21 | CHINOS | I must collect new bags (6) |
| CHIOS (I, island) contains (must collect) N (new) | ||
| 23 | THESE | Not entirely competent, he set cryptic clues? (5) |
| found inside (not entirely) competenT HE SEt | ||
| 25 | MALTA | I drink ale, primarily (5) |
| MALT (drink) and Ale (first letter, primarily) | ||
Thanks PeeDee. In my experience these days Paul yields very little on the first pass and leads me to wonder if I am going to finish this time but it is an enjoyable and satisfying process as the answers gradually unfold. It took me far too long to recognize the theme and even then I needed to be persuaded. MALTA was the entry but my sparse knowledge of the Greek islands held up the NW corner for me and I had to seek Google assistance. I spent some time trying to find a place named SOPRANO on PAROS!
I think in 15a holiday= rest contains=homes or.
Thanks Paul and PeeDee – I agree entirely with your intro.
15a took me a while to see, but I think the wordplay is REST (holiday) containing (homing) OR, and “possible . . .” is the definition.
Biggles A – we crossed, but glad to see someone else thought so too.
PeeDee, yesterday’s one-letter jobs were truly in plain sight: here the I was in the deep dark. MALTA thankfully also came to me soon enough but it took a fair while to winkle out ROADS, EXCRETE and last of all CHINOS. You’re on a roll, Paul.
Thanks to Paul and PeeDee. Too tough for me. Late in the week I made progress, but my knowledge of islands in The Med was limited, especially KEFALONIA.
Loved the challenge of this great puzzle. Took a while to get the Is, but once clocked fell into place nicely.
I parsed 15a as REST (holiday) homes OR to get the solution. Minor quibble. Took me a while, but that surely is the beauty and joy of a prize puzzle.
What a week, Saturday through to Friday!
Loved them all.
Not quick enough Biggles A and Quirister!
My one finger typing lets me down, re RESORT. Off to bed to prepare for the morning’s challenge…
My way into the theme was via AFFIX then NAXOS. Lots of fun to unpick the rest. Very nicely written. My only query was why 8 has the article in it. For my money, the clue would be better as “Still 5th Avenue, perhaps?” since 5th Avenue alone is a New York way, rather than a 5th Avenue.
Thanks, Paul and PeeDee
Yes, more creativity from the indefatigable Paul. Can’t quite remember which one revealed the trick, but yes I think it must have been Malta, as most of the others are less familiar. ‘Homes’ as container in resort was pretty smooth, caused a groan when I twigged. And 10ac was neat, with a great def. All good fun, thanks P & P.
“I” liked this puzzle very much but for me it was a puzzle done in two halves, with the left hand side going in first and then a longer tussle with what was for a while, a mostly blank right half. I really enjoyed picking out all the Mediterranean islands and place names and shouted “Eureka!” when I finally saw 19d THE-MED, my LOI. I finally understood why MALTA was in there at 25d as well as S(p)ICILY at 13a, when there were so many of the place names in Greece (and GREASE at 29a was a lovely pun!). More used to spelling KEFALONIA at 9a as CEPHALONIA but it was quite gettable. I loved all the little tricks Paul played with 13a SPICILY containing Sicily, 18d EXCRETE containing Crete and 21d CHINOS containing Chios. But God forbid another homophone discussion about 10a ROADS punning RHODES! I thought 22a HEARTACHE and 8d ANYWAY were other great clues, and what a clever hidden that was for 23d THESE. Lots and lots of fun and games. Thanks a million to Paul and PeeDee.
Despite my pleasure at seeing a Paul crossword I bailed on this with quite a few clues left unsolved. I saw the theme early but my GK of Mediterranean islands is limited; when I began searching for names of islands on the internet I realized that this was turning into a schoolboy exercise more than a joyful puzzle. Fortunately Paul’s gentler alter-ego had a fine crossword in the FT on the same day so all was not lost. I do admire his amazing ability to set so many quality puzzles in such volume. Thanks to both.
JinA @10 mostly speaks for me, including THEMED as my loi. Other responsibilities, along with my slow solving speed, have recently forced me to limit my cruciverbial entertainment to the Prize and the Quiptic, so I’m even more appreciative of a Prize that is both challenging and entertaining. Unlike molonglo @4, I found my way in through CHINOS (hmm, Chios sounds like it could be the name of an island … well, what do you know? It is!). I’m not ashamed to have resorted to google for the names of a few of the other I’s and happy to have finished and parsed all. Many thanks to the prolific Paul and also to PeeDee.
I loved this and got the Island theme early on, although it was much later that THEMED went in. But even then there is a big enough selection not to give write-ins. Paul at his best makes each clue a challenge but one that yields with perseverance and I happily chipped away, not able to suppress a ‘Ha!’ when Oliver Tambo was revealed
This was one of the most enjoyable prize puzzles in quite a while. I really like the transition from blissful unawareness to “wait a minute” to figuring it out. Naxos was my entryway, by the way.
Took me forever to get going, but in the end I loved it. (I did wonder if our non-European friends would find the island GK daunting though.)
Ticks all over the place, but a special mention for SPICILY, the RESORT (which I parsed as per @1. 2 and 6 above)/PAROS/SOPRANO combination, and of course ARAUCARIA.
It intrigues me how the ideas for these puzzles take shape in Paul’s head. In this case I wonder if the thought of breaking down THEMED into THE MED was the catalyst for the whole crossword?
There also seems to be a sub-plot going on in the nether regions. SINGLE, TEENAGE HEARTACHE, NAIVE, ETERNALLY SINCERE, and of course GREASE the musical… it all put me in mind of this (with apologies to those with a low schmaltz-tolerance threshold).
[JinA @10: I was all set to complain bitterly about those who fail to pronounce the h in Rhodes 😉 ]
Many thanks Paul and PeeDee.
I thoroughly enjoyed that, although I certainly didn’t find it easy, even once I finally worked out what ‘I’ must mean. It seems I wasn’t the only one to get in through MALTA, which apart from anything else is the island I know best, having spent a decent part of my childhood there (my father worked for the Cable and Wireless station on the island). I think I’ve said before that while solving a puzzle unaided is very satisfying, I rather like it when a puzzle sends me looking for things I don’t know, and that includes the Greek Islands (Regrettably, I’ve not yet been to any, and now that’s nothing more than a post-pandemic ambition). So some enjoyable vicarious travel, including wandering around PAROS on Google Maps, looking for the names of possible RESORTS! Other than that, a lot of very neat clues, a reminder of Araucaria, a lavatorial duo, and a generally fine time. Thanks for that, Paul, and thanks PeeDee.
Thanks Paul and PeeDee
MALTA was my way in too, but the islands required too much electronic help for it to be much fun. I did like THEMED (I wonder if that was where he started?) and TAMBO.
MYKONOS – one of several islands I hadn’t heard of – has been in the news this week, as the ManU captain has been arrested there.
KeithS @16
I also spent some time trying to locate the resort of SOPRANO on PAROS!
Unlike many of you, I worked out PAROS and NAXOS first, so assumed all the Is were Greek islands, and was puzzled when Sicily appeared in SPICILY. Eventually getting THEMED late on, I worked it all out, but still took a while to get GREASE. I enjoyed the puzzle, because the theme was initially elusive.
As to RHODES, JinA@10 and essexboy@15, I treat this as this is the anglicised version of its name, Rodos, and the fount of all knowledge, Wikipedia, believes it has a softer r in Greek than the hard r in English. I am a bit surprised Paul didn’t somehow introduce Cecil Rhodes, and the Oxford students’ requirement that he ‘must go’ – he would certainly have pronounced his name ‘Roads’.
Well done, Paul and PeeDee.
Perfect for August, a proper holiday puzzle, annoyingly got the island theme early on, but didn’t realise my search, only needed to be THE MED, until my last one in yesterday!
i must add my plaudits to the many others for an extremely satisfying puzzle. Saturday morning to late on Tuesday is good value for money. GREASE was the – eventual – entry, as there are not too many one-word titles of Musicals.
Admiration and thanks to Paul & PeeDee
Thanks to all for explaining 15. I didn’t like my own attempt much, but couldn’t think of anything better.
Yes, like Caesario @21 it was GREASE that gave me the islands, but I struggled to finish, with an unjustifiable DESCANT instead of the correct answer at 4a holding me up for a long time. The impenetrable 7d, with its cunningly disguised inclusion, was one of the last to submit, but I had to give up with 21d still awaiting this morning’s blog. CHINOS was on my list of possibles, but my inflexible brain failed to connect bags with trousers or jeans; I also had CHUNKS as a potential answer!
phitonelly @8 I don’t think anyone has responded to your suggestion of dropping the A from 8d’s clue. It looks to me like it’s needed for the first letter of the answer. Your way would produce NYWAY, it seems to me. I get your point that 5th Avenue is a New York way, but while ANYWAY can be deconstructed into A NY WAY, I don’t see how 5th Avenue on its own can be transformed into the right answer without the article.
I LOVED THIS! Easily my favourite cryptic to date.
phitonelly & sheffield hatter – you are right about “a” being redundant in the clue: I though so too at the time of writing the blog. My other thought was “Do I care?” and the answer was a resounding “No!”. Such things only bother me if the puzzle has failed to engage my interest and it seemed a bit churlish to go and nit-pick an entertaining clue in such a fun puzzle.
On the other hand, the blog is not intended as a critical review but is intended as an aid to aspiring solvers. Perhaps I should point these things out so that someone who is trying to make sense of every letter in every clue can have their mind put at rest: its not just your misunderstanding, there isn’t a watertight explanation to be found. I never quite know what to write in these situations.
I was completely DNF’ed by this. Tip of the hat to Paul – much more probing than yesterday’s solve.
Well that was a step up in difficulty and quality from even other excellent puzzles. A classic example of staring at large amounts of empty grid wondering what the heck is going on, slowly chipping away until some enlightenment dawned (I think “malta” might’ve been my first “i”) and even then it took a bit of work to narrow it down to the-med islands and the different ways they were used. So glad I did not have to rely on my GK of resorts on Paros of which I’d never heard before last week…very clever!
Brilliant fun and a genuinely worthwhile challenge, superbly graded in difficulty. Many thanks Paul and PeeDee.
PeeDee @25. You appear to have misunderstood my response to phitonelly. It seems to me that the A is necessary to make the clue fair. So is the question mark at the end. Without the A, the solver has to construct the non-standard phrase “a New York way” and be sure that ANYWAY is the answer the setter was looking for, with very little to support the idea. I reckon that’s a bit of a reach.
And yes, I know that this is a setter who clued six answers in yesterday’s puzzle with a single letter, and who clued a dozen Mediterranean islands in this one with the letter I. But there are limits!
The Fleet Foxes have some advice for Harry Maguire
And you will go to Mykonos
With a vision of a gentle coast
And a sun to maybe dissipate
Shadows of the mess you made
Thanks Paul and PeeDee.
I think it was the Saturday before this appeared that I commented on here that the prize puzzles currently seemed to be easier than some of the weekday ones. Naturally the laws of hubris and nemesis came into operation and I really struggled to get into this one. However it was well worth the struggle, and I particularly liked the key clue 19d THEMED when I eventually got it.
With 6d ARAUCARIA and 14d IMITATION being in corresponding places in the grid, I wondered if this was possibly a tribute to a particular puzzle by the former? But I guess someone would have commented on that by now, so probably not.
Many thanks Paul and PeeDee.
Even by Paul’s standards this was brilliant, one of the best puzzles I can recall in ages. As is often the case with his puzzles, an initial scan revealed very little except the hints from 29a, 1d and 19d that something was afoot. Unlike yesterday’s single letter clues though, the single letter I was this time cleverly hiding in plain sight, usually as a plausible first person pronoun, once as a latin numeral. Some themed clues are clunky to read, but these all flowed naturally.
First in though was a hopeful guess about the Jag, which led to GREASE/Greece, and that was the key to the islands, with THE MED helping to narrow down the geography – or broaden it slightly, to allow for MALTA and S(P)ICILY. Then it was a case of admiring how many Paul managed to include (two of them in 1d), along with the usual wit, variety and economy, and trademark naughtiness (wee, go and FA all putting in an appearance).
So a typical Paul: from a tough start to an immensely satisfying completion, with many great clues along the way, including the SOPRANO ‘scored highly’, HEAR TACHE, A NY WAY, and the two unrelated synonyms for SPANNER.
But ARAUCARIA was on another level (as he should be): the wordplay and surface both superb, and the definition, Paul’s ‘puzzling old friend’, actually caused my eye to moisten for a moment, the first time I can recall that happening in nearly 50 years attempting to solve these things. What a delightful tribute to the genius Reverend who brought us so much pleasure, and who I am sure would have enjoyed this brilliant puzzle. If they ever come up with an annual award for crosswords (the Aroscaria?) then this puzzle and that clue get my nominations.
Thanks to Paul, and to PeeDee for unravelling.
Really enjoyed this but it took quite a while to unpick all those I s. My way in was via SOPRANO and RESORT both of which I got fairly early on. I was then desperately trying to find the anagram of sopra which took a while until the island dragged itself from my subconscious. Really liked CHINOS and MYKONOS which manages to include two I s! I must admit I didn’t spot the double relevance of THEMED until I came here.
Thanks Paul once again for a lot of fun and to PeeDee for the blog.
Very clever and great fun like most commenters have said – but it was a dnf for us as I didn’t spot the hidden OBSESS so didn’t have the O and didn’t see RESORT as RE SORT and like some others spent time looking for places on Paros. Now I see the device it is obvious – but that’s what makes it a great clue. And I’m chagrined to not have got the scoring reference – a well disguised crossword stalwart.
Many thanks to Paul, PeterO and all contributors.
Hated every minute!
sheffield hatter @28 – sorry, my mistake, I got the wrong end of the stick there! I thought you were agreeing with phitonelly.
My thought on 5th Avenue was:
“What is 5th Avenue?” Two options to answer this:
Option 1 “5th Avenue is New York way”
Option 2 “5th Avenue is a New York way”
For me only option 2 makes any sense, so 5th Avenue produces “A NY WAY” by itself, so the A in the clue is redundant.
You make a very good point that adding the extra A gives a hint and makes the clue solvable by “mere mortals”, and personally I’m all for prioritising solvability and enjoyment over strict adherence to grammatical correctness. Nevertheless, for those for whom such technicalities matter I think the A is still technically redundant.
Mr SR and I have metaphorically peered over the garden wall, watching everyone else playing here for many a year, and we’ve (I’ve, to be strictly honest; Mr SR is more your strong, silent type*) have wanted to shyly offer a jersey for a goalpost or something to try to join in for some time.
This was the puzzle that finally made me comment, with the elegant tip of the hat to Araucaria being the last little push needed.
Found the whole crossword an absolute joy.
Many thanks to Paul and PeeDee (always admire the bloggers’ grace under what, to me, would seem quite scary pressure to solve and parse everything in time).
For what it’s worth, we agree with Sheffield hatter @28 about the “A”.
David Gomm @34: are we missing some in-joke or something?
*Ah. I’m informed that this is purely lack of opportunity to get a word in.
Cheek. I was most succinct here…?
Lots of people seem to have really liked this, but I would like to know if they got all the islands without using Google, OneLook, or similar? I certainly didn’t, and that reduces the satisfaction in “completing” for me.
Hi StoneRose and welcome to our world below the line. (Thanks for the jersey!)
I think I have some insight into how David Gomm @34 feels. There are times when my brain feels fuzzy and stuck, and I don’t have the flexibility to get out of a wrong groove. And then I come to this website and nearly everyone is saying what a good crossword, how easy (but not too easy!) and how delightful it was. Rather than throw stones at their greenhouse, I just duck down on my side of the garden wall and let them get on with it. I know there’ll be times when I have a joyous crossword experience, just not quite yet…
Thanks, PeeDee.
Late last night I thought “I’ll just have another look at last week’s prize before reading the blog,” only to see that I’d set it aside with about ten clues solved (none themed) and forgotten to go back to it. So I had another crack, and got to bed quite a bit later than intended. It took a while for the “I” penny to drop – I think GREASE was the hint – and it was a slow, steady solve after that. Kudos to anyone who finished it without reference materials: I hadn’t heard of Paros or Chios.
Nice to see an affectionate nod the the old Monkey Puzzler, too.
Hi Muffin @37. After JinA’s heartfelt plea @10 for “no discussion of the homophone” and Dave in NC’s cheerful admission @12 that he Googled the islands, I hope we’re not going to have another of those discussions of what constitutes cheating! It’s not possible to cheat at a prize crossword, let’s get that one out of the way. All I know is that when, in the past, I have used tools other than my brain to find lists that help to complete a themed crossword I have not enjoyed the experience as much as when I get as far as I can and then stop. That’s just me, and I certainly don’t criticise anyone who thinks differently.
I had a short list (a shortlist?) of words that I could fit in at 21d, some of which could have been, or included, the names of Greek islands. I could have written one in, but wouldn’t do that without completely solving the clue. I could have looked up the island part. Or I could have left the light unfilled. Your use of the inverted commas around “completing” suggests you’re fairly close to my way of thinking.
My way into the theme was SPICILY, the only word meaning “sexily” that fit with what I had and contained a P. Then Naxos and Mykonos fell pretty quickly. (Naxos I know from Ariadne auf …, and Mykonos I know because it’s the pretty one in all the travel brochures.) I got THE MED reasonably early, so was waiting in vain for some of the islands farther west. But that’s not a complaint!
SH @40
I think we sort of agree. It’s much more satisfying to solve without resorting to the Internet.
Sheffield Batter/Muffin: as a data point, I needed Wikipedia help to learn of Chios and Kefalonia, and I reverse engineered Paros from SOPRANO but hadn’t heard of it.
On a Prize puzzle with an unfamiliar theme, I don’t consider online lists to be cheating. If I’m doing that, I’m learning something about the theme, so there’s still a benefit. I do *prefer* solving without that type of internet assistance, but it’s not to my way of thinking enough of a cheat to ruin the experience.
muffin – my tuppence on Google is that a puzzle where I don’t Google anything is a puzzle where I don’t learn anything.
As is usual with Paul, there were a handful of “it must be that, but why?” answers, that I’d scribbled tentatively to one side before unlocking the theme. Fortunately, I’m OK with consulting lists when it comes to proper nouns (see also: rivers).
I didn’t even spot the hidden answer in 23d, and parsed it as an anagram (“not entirely competent”) of “HE SET”.
Mmm – interesting point, PeeDee. I see what you mean, but education isn’t the principal reason I do crosswords!
Can I make a personal request for people to restrain form making comments such as “Oh no, I hope we are not going to have the XXX debate again…”
I love it when new people come to comment on my blogs (welcome to the StoneRoses!) and comments like those above make it seem as if the site is for “regulars only”.
Everyone has to have the XXX debate for the first time. You had your turn once, now let others have that debate for their first time too. The day that we stop repeating discussions is the day newcomers no longer come here, and that spells the end the the site for us all.
Understood PeeDee @47, but I think JinA @10 spoke for a lot of us when she (good-humouredly) pleaded for a truce in the ‘homophone wars’. I think I recall Eileen making a similar request in the preamble to one of her recent blogs.
Of course it’s an entirely legitimate debate, and as you say someone might have stumbled on today’s blog, quite unaware of the exhaustive discussion of the topic yesterday (and on many previous days).
But for me, having been treated to a large portion of lovely homophone-themed chocolate gateau only 24 hours ago, it’s a bit soon for another helping, so I appreciated the cry of ‘please, no more chocolate!’
Kefalonia is the setting for that terribly overrated book Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. (Overrated because, apparently, all the interesting political bits are just wrong.)
I enjoyed this a lot. I tried to work out the names of all the islands I didn’t know. For the ones that I could not work out I used Anne Bradford’s excellent book of Crossword Solvers’ Lists to find them as well as to confirm some others (although KEFALONIA with that spelling is not there).
I thought THEMED was the best of a very good set of clues. I remember a similar puzzle from quite a long time ago in which featured exactly the same device: ‘I’ stood for ‘island’ whenever it was used, and in fact it stood for ‘Scottish island’ on that occasion. That also might have been set by Paul.
Thanks to Paul and PeeDee.
I found this challenging and enjoyable. It took me quite a while to twig what the I’s were, but once I did, I found I’d heard of all of them. I did check the spelling of MYKONOS. I think it was 18d, EXCRETE which was the key for me, by way of the typically Pauline “go”.
I also wondered about the A in ANYWAY and thought it unnecessary, but I don’t think it was necessarily wrong to include it. The whole question of articles in clues is a bit of a can of worms, isn’t it?
I think THEMED was my LOI, or very nearly so. It’s the puzzle which is themed though, isn’t it, not the I’s: they are the theme (that on which the puzzle is themed)? I still said “aha” when I realized what the answer was.
Couldn’t parse TAMBO, thank you PeeDee.
What got me in was MYKONOS and NAXOS both looking like solutions, but where were the definitions? Ahhh … that’s what all those I’s are doing! I felt totally unashamed of googling Greek islands I’d never heard of, looking for starters for a long name beginning with K.
Thank you PeeDee (do you know that you share a name with a river in the American South?) and once again Paul.
I was very, very late getting the theme, so I found this puzzle quite difficult, but all the more satisfying as a result when it finally yielded.
I’m always particularly surprised by how hard it can be to spot hidden-word clues such as 7dn and 23dn, when the answer is right in front of you the whole time. My other favorite was 24ac. Since it’s Paul, I was looking for a toilet-based interpretation of “wee”, but it still took me ages to figure out what was going on there.
I initially parsed that 23dn in the same way as BiglyNifty @45, namely an anagram of HE SET, with “not entirely competent” as a strange and long-winded anagrind. It seems to me that this parsing does work, but no doubt the other is the intended one.
sheffield hatter, PeeDee and Tony Collman @51,
Thanks for your thoughts on 8 (ANYWAY). I see the point that the clue as written helpfully nudges the solver in the required direction and it certainly didn’t stop me solving it or impinge on my enjoyment of the puzzle as a whole. To Tony’s comment about articles in clues being a bit of a can of worms, hear, hear! As an amateur clue writer, I constantly run up against the problem of whether or not to include them and frequently seem to get it wrong. That’s partly why I noticed it here. I wonder if professional setters struggle with this too.
Valentine @52 – thanks for that. I chose the name PeeDee because when I volunteered to help write the blogs Gaufrid asked me to give him a username for the admin site. I had no idea that this would turn out to be my pseudonym. If I had known I would have found something more interesting than my initials which seem particularly unimaginative, but I am stuck with it.
I now know that I represent not only a little known Native American tribe but also (according to Google) The Great PeeDee River ! Fabulous!
A very late post for me having driven 10½ hours to the West Coast of Scotland for a week’s break. Nothing particular to add to the posts above but it was worth noting that I seem to be the only one who found his way in to the theme via Kefalonia. It had to be an anagram, Kefalonia was the only one, I looked it up having a vague memory it was somewhere in the Med – as muffin suggested, probably from the Captain Corelli book – and found it to be an island. Bingo. Suddenly clues that had seemed impenetrable all made sense.
My only other comment would be to echo the plaudits of 1961Blanchflower @31 for ARAUCARIA. Masterful clueing.
Thanks Paul. And PeeDee for both blogging and commenting.
Mark @56
You aren’t staying in Boris’s tent, by any chance?
If you check lists too early on google, you are not letting the brilliance of the setters lead you to the answers. Why the rush to find the solution? Often, in these puzzles with themes, the solutions will come. Why want to finish so quickly? Have confidence in your abilities and the setters. The previous week, I finished the puzzle without looking anything up after lunch on Saturday, and felt cheated since I didn’t have anything for Sunday. This one, I finished before dinner ( chinos not a problem, and islands in the Med came from Malta and spicily being my ways in). Kefalonia was an anagram crossed in several places. Paul sometimes takes me a time to get into, but he is honest. don’t recall doing a Nutmeg before, but haven’t finished yet, hooray! I can confirm that sheffield hatter is a hatter and not a batter @43 even if we support desperate rivals. COYH!
nascotwoodfrog @58. I like your approach – “letting the brilliance of the setters lead you to the answers.” Very nicely put.
[I assumed that Nascot Wood was in W*tford, and a quick Google search confirmed it! Unfortunately, it looks like the first meeting of our teams for many years – 26 September at Vicarage Road – will be unobserved by supporters.]
Muffin@57
I knew all the islands bar PAROS which with the crossers and wordplay I didn’t need to Google. Does that count?
I don’t claim any particularly specialist knowledge. I got Kefalonia from the book you mentioned and Naxos (FOI)from the opera “Ariadne auf Naxos”. Sicily (the only one I’ve been to), MaIlta, Rhodes and Crete everyone knows, and I don’t know where Mykonos and Chios came from. I doubt if it was from my studies of the classics which ended in 1958.
An enjoyable struggle. Thanks to Paul and PeeDee
Thanks to PeeDee and Paul
What happened to the Aegean?
Hi Dansar, the Aegean is still where it always was and according to the International Hydrographic Organisation (whoever they are) is a subdivision of the Mediterranean.
Thank you PeeDee,
I did look up “Aegean” in Collins before posting and there was no mention of that. I now see that entering “Aegean Sea” yields : “An arm of the Mediterranean Sea”.