An entertaining and largely straightforward puzzle from Picaroom – lots of very nice clues to enjoy
Eileen mentioned that we have a little boy now, 2 months old today, and I thought you might want to see a photo of him helping to solve this puzzle: Update: sorry, actually I’ve removed the photo now, since we haven’t talked about our policy about baby pictures online yet.
Across
1. Bird putting away pie has first-class beak (10)
MAGISTRATE
MAG[pie] = “Bird putting away pie” + IST RATE = “first class”
Definition: “beak” – slang for a magistrate
6. President’s eighth vehicle? (4)
BUSH
BUS = “vehicle”, and “Bus H” might be the eighth one, after Bus A, Bus B, etc.
Definition: “President”
9. Cop working with lawyers is a plant (3-7)
COW-PARSLEY
Lovely clue, this one: (COP LAWYERS)*
Definition: “a plant”
10. Somewhere to kip either side of Dagenham (4)
DORM
D OR M is “either side of D[agenha]M”
Definition: “Somewhere to kip”
12. Delaying, blocking one with this tactic? (12)
STONEWALLING
STALLING = “delaying” around ONE + W = “with”
Definition: “this tactic?” in the context of the whole clue
15. Mafia boss hides cockney behind new decorative covering (9)
CAPARISON
I had to dredge this word up from crossword-only memory! CAPO = “Mafia boss” around ARIS = “cockney behind” (several steps of rhyming slang, apparently, from arse -> bottle glass -> bottle -> Aristotle -> aris) + N = “new”
Definition: “decorative covering”
17. Reverse of zero times this is number 54 (5)
XENON
NONE = “zero” + X = “times” all reversed
Definition: “number 54” – Xenon has atomic number 54
18. Put out Scottish team to get stripped off (5)
ANGER
[r]ANGER[s] = “Scottish team to get stripped off”
Definition: “Put out”
19. Rock music’s inspiring No 1s in prospect (9)
PROGNOSIS
PROG’S = “Rock music’s” around NO followed by IS = “1s”
Definition: “prospect”
20. Favouring mine, one a politician’s appeasing (12)
PROPITIATORY
PRO = “Favouring” + PIT = “mine” + I = “one” + A + TORY = “politician”
Definition: “appeasing”
24. Stroke sheep’s back and goat’s back (4)
PUTT
TUP = “sheep” reversed + [goa]T = “goat’s back”
Definition: “Stroke” (in golf)
25. Jack and Kelvin slicing wound that’s not dressed (5-5)
STARK-NAKED
TAR = “Jack” + K = “Kelvin” in SNAKED = “wound”
Definition: “not dressed”
26. Got up in something between red and white (4)
ROSE
Double definition: “Got up” and “something between red and white”
27. Promote latest odds in contest, which has many dimensions (10)
HYPERSPACE
HYPE = “Promote” followed by SP (Starting Price) = “latest odds” in RACE = “context”
Definition: “which has many dimensions”
Down
1. Minute clothing label is fake (4)
MOCK
MO = “Minute” (as in a short length of time) + CK = “clothing label” (short for Calvin Klein)
Definition: “fake”
2. Peer’s wife getting into crack (4)
GAWP
I like this one as well: W = “wife” in GAP = “crack”
Definition: PEER
3. One may forget how to get in bar? (12)
SCATTERBRAIN
Reverse clue: if you “scatter” (anagram) “brain” you might get “in bar”
Definition: “One may forget”
4. What a recidivist does to get hashish, for example (5)
RESIN
A recidivist would sin again, or RE-SIN
Definition: “hashish, for example” – one of the forms hashish comes in is resin
5. Art’s lifted mood now, Keats reveals (3,4,2)
TAE KWON DO
It took me ages to see this one because I was stuck on T_E being THE! Hidden reversed in “[mo]OD NOW KEAT[s]”
Definition: Art (the martial art)
7. More possibly out playing with key player (10)
UTOPIANIST
(OUT)* = “out playing” + PIANIST = “key player”
Definition: “More possibly”, referring to Thomas More, author of “Utopia”
8. Make uniform in nursing terribly soigné (10)
HOMOGENISE
(SOIGNE)* in HOME
Definition: “Make uniform”
11. Six leaner and sporting six-footers (12)
ALEXANDRINES
(SIX LEANER AND)*
Definition: “six-footers” – this was a new word for me – an Alexandrine is a line of poetry with 6 iambic feet in a row, thus a “six-footer”
13. Fighter protects old man where work is rough (5,5)
SCRAP PAPER
SCRAPPER = “Fighter” around PA = “old man”
Definition: “where work is rough” – I really like this definition 🙂
14. Deep Throat may reveal this stuff in dodgy toilets (10)
EPIGLOTTIS
PIG = “stuff” in (TOILETS)*
Definition: “Deep Throat may reveal this” – a nice joke on Deep Throat’s role as informer in the Watergate scandal.
16. Ripping story about shipwreck in shaky grounds (9)
SOPHISTRY
(STORY)* around (SHIP)*
Definition: “shaky grounds”
21. Knocked back pill, red and sweet (5)
TORTE
E = “pill” + TROT = “red” all reversed
Definition: “sweet”
22. One seabird’s rising, another’s coming down (4)
SKUA
AUK’S = “One seabird’s” reversed (“rising”)
Definition: “another” (coming down just suggests it’s in the normal reading direcction for this answer)
23. Python seized by intrepid lemur (4)
IDLE
Hidden in “[interp]ID LE[mur]”
Definition: “Python” referring to Eric Idle, one of the members of Monty Python
Thanks mhl. I needed Google assistance to find out about prog rock music, the members of the Flying Circus and Cockney rhyming slang but found this an enjoyable mix of relatively straightforward answers providing the crossing letters for those which required rather more thought. I tried in vain to fit TONSILITIS into 14d. I was hung up on CYBERSPACE for 27a and it took some time to guess the correct answer. ROSE was obvious for 26a and I thought something between red and white might have something to do with the War of the Roses. There are other colours for the flower.
In 12a I think there may be a connection in the use of blocks for making a stone wall.
Thanks to Picaroon and mhl. Enjoyable. I knew ALEXANDRINES but had trouble with the CK in MOCK and did not know COW-PARSLEY.
PDM. Rose is a colour!
…of wine
Thanks Mhl and Picaroon
Thanks mhl – your summary is right on. Had to verify on line ‘aris’ with its close connection to the great philosopher in 15A. Tick for TAEKWONDO.
Thanks to picaroon and mhl. I was particularly tickled by the six-footers in 11D which were not insects. In 15A CAPARISON is one of the original malapropisms.
Didn’t know what an Alexandrine was, or that More had written Utopia, and had forgotten about the label, so mock was a shrug, but otherwise fairly plain sailing from the Pirate. Liked the beak in 1ac, and the structure of stonewalling, and yes the scrap paper where you do rough work. Enjoyable puzzle at the easier end of the prize spectrum, thanks Picaroon and thanks Mhl.
A mixture of many clues I was able to sort out with sufficient thought, and some I really struggled with. In the end, I didn’t finish it, for two reasons. Firstly, I was so fixated on the President being FORD (but where did the ‘eighth’ come in???) that the NE corner wouldn’t fall. When I came here and saw the shrubs, I mentally kicked myself and filled in the remaining 7d, 8d and 10a quite quickly. Secondly, I had PATS for 24a – sheep’s back = P + goat’s back = ATS. Well, it seemed to work at the time, even though I did notice the definition and answer didn’t match in number. Too many nice clues amongst the rest to pick them out. Thanks for the assistance, mhl, and of course to Picaroon for the challenge.
I started this last weekend and got about half a dozen before I had to leave it, and only got back to it this morning (Oz time) after a really busy week. I found this one a tough but fair solve, and liked and many of the clues: 20a PROPITIATORY, 3d SCATTERBRAIN, 5d TAE KWAN DO (as for molonglo@5), 13d SCRAP PAPER (agreeing with gif@7) and 14d EPIGLOTTIS (I agree re Deep Throat, mhl: the capitals were a clever distraction). 15a CAPARISON was unfamiliar to me and I only got it from the crossers, and I see mhl had to dredge that one up to solve it too. Thanks to mhl for the blog, including the full explanations of some parsing in a couple which I couldn’t quite see, and thank you as well to Picaroon for the puzzle.
I don’t feel I shone with this one, missing the parsing for a number – MOCK, STONEWALLING, STARK-NAKED, PUTT (and TassieTim wasn’t the only one who thought the only presidential vehicle was a Ford) and the end fell at one last hurdle, completely unable to see TAE KWON DO. Thanks for the explanations, mhl, thanks for the challenge, Picaroon.
Came back to this tonight and realized that I had left the northeast corner largely unfinished. With four crossers in for 11d, I finally worked out the anagram for ALEXANDRINES (unknown to me, but where else could the X go?), and that opened up the remaining answers, pleased to have remembered the cluing devices used in BUSH and DORM. I didn’t take notes on what I solved last week, but the clues mentioned by JinA @9 were certainly among my favorites. Thanks to Picaroon and mhl.
A dnf, not knowing ALEXANDRINES, and not deducing the anagram even with all the crossers, and I made the same mistake as TassieTim@8 and Keith@10 with the unparsed FORD. COD is 7d UTOPIANIST with its cleverly hidden definition. Thanks to Picaroon for the challenge and mhl for the explanations.
Thanks Picaroon and mhl
I agree entirely with cellomaniac above about COD.
I found this a relatively hard one, and by Sunday evening it was DNF, as I never worked out PUTT and just made a wild guess at what P-T-could be (there was plenty of choice).
I too looked for insects at 11d but, as an old student of literature, I recalled ALEXANDRINES which, instead of the five iambic feet (one unstressed, then one stressed, syllable) normally used by poets from Chaucer onwards, including Shakespeare (‘Methinks I am a prophet new inspired’), adds a sixth. They were much liked by classical French playwrights, but also used as the last line of each stanza by Spenser in The Faerie Queene and Keats in The Eve of St Agnes. Pope disliked them, describing one ‘Which, like a wounded snake, drags its slow length along’.
My same studies made me think of Thomas More immediately at the start of 7d, but I was surprised there was a word UTOPIANIST. I thought the word was ‘Utopian’, but both are indeed in the dictionaries. I agree it can be named COD, though there is much competition – thanks to Picaroon, and to mhl for the post.
Deep Throat, before being the source of the Nixon revelations, was the title of an unpleasant porn film (let’s just say it involved that part of the body) from which the informer took his pseudonym. I could not say whether Picaroon had both references in mind.
I’m not sure I’d go with “largely straightforward” as my overall rating of the clues; I thought there were some lovely quirks in here that required some teasing out. But I’m pleased to report everything – bar ALEXANDRINES – fell in good order last Saturday morning. I do admire the economy with which Picaroon has clued – my old favourite phrase “few superfluous words” comes to mind.
Initial pass revealed little though ‘beak’ was surely going to be teacher or judge and the ‘pie’ got me started. Prog rock is my thing so I was drawn to PROGNOSIS. Porn isn’t my thing either (Per sjhart 214) but, for some reason, the Deep Throat reference actually got me thinking about tonsils from which I worked my way to the answer. What a surface! I know some of the devices used are well-worn but BUSH, DORM, SKUA and IDLE all appealed. XENON was superb – though that recent prize featuring all the atomic numbers has wised me up – and SCATTERBRAIN earned a tick for both surface and device. COW PARSLEY is my COTD for that splendid surface though I agree with others here that UTOPIANIST is first rate.
Two snippets that might be of interest: there is actually a fashion brand called OCK (I only know because I Googled) so I parsed 1d as M+OCK (and wondered if the appearance of another brand name would cause comment). Secondly, though a slight diversion, cyberspace (as opposed to hyperspace), now such a common concept, dates back to the 1960’s as a word but, in the sense it is used today, was first used by author, William Gibson, in the mid 1980’s. His book Neuromancer was a cyberpunk landmark and well worth a read for those who enjoy the genre.
Thanks Picaroon and mhl for the helpful blog. I needed you to remind me of ARIS – though assure you I mean nothing personal in that!!! 😀
Re ARIS – I knew all those misspent hours watching Minder would come in handy one day!
I agree with all the praise – especially for the six-footer which turned out not to be a daddy-long-legs, or any of his friends-and-relations.
Thanks P and mhl
17: essexboy @16: (and PeterO @6:) nice reference!
As some of you also found, the NE corner was m last to fall, with the tricky BUSH.
Concerning CAPARISON, my little dictionary of Cockney rhyming slang only gives Aris -> Aristotle -> Bottle separately from Bottle & Glass -> Arse, but as mhl points out it goes all the way too with Aris -> Arse (hence ‘cockney behind’, as mhl points out), in which the derivation is far from obvious.
Many excellent clues here, already pointed out, with clever misdirections. I liked STARK-NAKED best, with SNAKED = wound. In STONEWALLING it was interesting that ‘blocking’ was used to indicate blocking from the outside, whereas it could also mean from the inside (as I first thought). TAE KWON DO took me too long, but ‘reverse hiddens’ often do!
Many thanks to Picaroon, and to mhl for the blog. (I failed to parse PROGNOSIS properly and needed to some here for that.)
Good Prize puzzle that I enjoyed solving.
I had a QM against ‘aris’ – never heard that one before. I had double ticks for SCATTERBRAIN (I love reverse clues), TAE KWONDO (nicely hidden) and EPIGLOTTIS (good mislead with Deep Throat).
Thanks Picaroon and mhl.
Alan B @18: it doesn’t feel that long since I bid you adieu. Good to see you’re living up to your promise already – and so early in the day, too! Perhaps the dismal weather across the UK has given you the same excuse for a late start that it’s given me. I, too, enjoyed being misdirected by ‘wound’ and I should have acknowledged the cleverness of TAE KWON DO but, fortunately, it’s earned its share of praise above.
A DNF for me, although I’ll use the poor excuse that I’m easily distracted on a Saturday. TAE KWON DO, PUTT and CAPARISTS were left unsolved. MAGISTRATE was fun but otherwise I felt a bit up against the wall. Which is a good thing in a Prize, of course. Thanks to Picaroon and mhl.
Mark @20
Thanks for your sentiments. Since the lockdown the Saturday Guardian has been one of my weekend staples, and I solved this one last Sunday. Obviously it’s easy then to choose a time to read the blog and post something to it.
Is everyone OK with HOME for nursing? It feels a little unsatisfactory to me…Otherwise this crossword was a good one. Thanks for the blog!
Sorry – seen it now! HOME is in! Sorry to doubt you Picaroon!
20 across, I get “mine” can be *pit* but just *p* seems quite a leap as the *i* and the *a* have their own parts as explained, as is *tory*. That just leaves the *p* to be parsed by “mine”?
Cilla @25
mhl has missed a bit of the solution – it’s PRO PIT I A TORY
It’s always good to get 1ac first and, as soon as I solved MAGISTRATE, I knew I was in for a treat.
So many lovely clues: COW PARSLEY, PROPITIATORY (I enjoyed building that one, along with STARK NAKED), ALEXANRINES, for its misdirection, PUTT, which made me smile and SOPHISTRY, for its definition.
When I saw the name of one of my favourite poets in the clue for 5dn, I thought I was looking for the title of a poem [beginning with THE, of course] and was slightly disappointed when it was obviously nothing to do with him but was completely mollified when I saw how cleverly hidden the answer was.
I’ve seen clues playing on Sir Thomas More and Utopia several times over the years (‘More work’, for instance) but this one was up there with the best of them.
I found this puzzle a delight from start to finish, which, as always, came too soon. Many thanks to Picaroon for a lovely puzzle and mhl for a great blog. (Glad to see you found time for it Mark – I’m sure you won’t mind my telling folk here that you and Jenny celebrated the arrival of a baby boy a couple of months ago. Congratulations! 😉 )
Congratulations, Mark. I’m in awe that you find the time to solve these crosswords and then post such well-written comments (they’re practically mini-essays!).
Thank Goodness I just popped in mid afternoon and am quickly able to head off any misunderstanding. ‘Mark’ in Eileen’s comment @27 is, I think, Mark Longair aka mhl, our blogger today. And I assume it is he who deserves congratulations. (I rather suspect, mhl, you now have time to solve and blog in the early hours of the morning if my memories of having a two month old are anything to go by). I’m aware Alan B and I swapped messages earlier and he might have thought I was the new father. (I’ve been accused of mini essays before and I don’t think you could describe the blog in those terms) Once again, my name is the source of confusion. I need to act…
Hi Mark
Could I ask that if you change your handle, you let us know what your new one is? I wouldn’t wish to miss your comments (though it’s possible that I could spot the style!)
My apologies if my comment did, in fact, give rise to any misunderstanding.
Thanks, Eileen 🙂 – I’ve added a photo to the post of me stealing minutes to solve this one while the wee lad is asleep.
I enjoyed a lot of these clues. I didn’t know “reverse clue” as the technical term at 3d but I like the device occasionally. Similarly, the device at 6a is welcome once in while. I assume that vehicle 20 is broken down. I liked 8d for the clever wordplay even though UTOPIANIST is an ugly word and my Chambers only gives “utopianiser” and ‘utupist” – which are even worse.
Thanks to Picaroon and mhl.
mhl @32: sweet! It does rather look as if it’s the middle of the night! Doubly impressed to see you doing it with P&P as well. Now I don’t travel by train, I rarely fill in a newspaper.
muffin @30: I’m afraid my style does rather give me away, I know. (The other day, when t’other Mark posted a one liner as first comment of the day, Pedro (I think) observed that he thought I’d been out of character!) But I’m not planning on Verbosity as my new moniker. It’s fairly straightforward but has reason behind its choice. See you on Monday…
Hi Mark (mhl) @32 – Aah, bless! Glad to see you’re initiating him early! 😉
[My congratulations are of course directed towards the Mark who deserves them. No-one is to blame for any misunderstandings here. And note that I did not say ‘essays’ – that would have been impertinent, and my name is not Pierre or Pedro – I said ‘mini-essays’.]
I found this hard but doable. Thank you Picaroon and mhl. I came here to find out the parsing of TORTE, the ‘red’ part had flummoxed me. Trot didn’t help much to start with, but the penny has just dropped: good old Leon Trotsky aka Snowball. One I didn’t know and will now remember.
Great photo!
For 2d, I had “gawk” – with “gak” being slang for cocaine. Seems equally valid, no?
Me@33
“utopist” of course. Apologies to the BRB.
Thanks, mhl, for the excellent blog, and many congratulations on the new arrival!
Great photo, mhl, and as Eileen says, it’s never too early to get them started. Congrats.
I’m pleased to report I’m getting better at these – thanks to the tutorials I’m getting here : )
I had to cheat on ‘Tae Kwon Do’ – ‘though it’s obvious when you know it! Couldn’t parse ‘Caparison’ or ‘Prognosis’ – without mhl’s explanation, I still wouldn’t have a hope. I had some problems with ‘Torte’ but I can’t remember why. ‘Trot’ for ‘Red’ appeared elsewhere recently. I managed the rest, albeit with help from Morewords still.
I’m proud to say that this week I found and parsed all but 12A which I’d never heard of. I look forward to next week’s blog to check my conclusions.
[Belated congratulations on the arrival of your beautiful baby boy, Mark aka mhl. That is a lovely photo – thank you for sharing it.]
What do you call a woman who has had an operation on her piles?
A neater ‘aris.
I dnk aris so could not parse CAPARISON, though I knew the word I had to cheat on BUSH but once found the parsing was clear. And IDLE came in useful again very recrntly: now I see why I knew it. Altogether a lovely puzzle. Many thanks to Picaroon for the challenge and to mhl for the blog (and congratulation on the new arrival).
24ac, PUTT, was devious. Having the P crosser made me think that was the sheeP’s back for a while.
I couldn’t understand the parsing in 1dn, MOCK. A minute is a bit long for a mo(ment), isn’t it? More like a second. CK didn’t click, either. Still biffed it though.
4dn One of the forms cannabis comes in is cannabis resin, aka hashish (the Arabic word for it). Cannabis resin is not “a form of hashish”, it is hashish. The “for example” is there because hashish is a type of resin, not the other way round. (you wouldn’t need to write “for example” in the latter case, anyway).
5dn TAE KWON DO. I noticed on about Thursday that I hadn’t got this one. I had also thought it must be THE something. Got it in the end.
RE the rhyming slang, the chain is: ‘bottle and glass’ stands for ‘arse’ and is abbreviated (as usual) to the first element, ‘bottle’. But ‘Aristotle’ stands for ‘bottle’ and is similarly abbreviated to ‘Aris’, so ‘Aris’ can mean ‘arse’. I have known it meant that for a long time, but originally thought it was just a coy/humorous way of pronouncing ‘arse’. ‘Bottle’ can also be used as a verb as: “How did you get that hash into nick?”. “I bottled it”.
Very enjoyable! My favourites were GAWP, IDLE, SCATTERBRAIN, SCRAP PAPER, SOPHISTRY, STARK NAKED.
Did not parse 21D TORTE.
New: ARIS – behind / Shortened from Aristotle, Cockney rhyming slang for bottle, itself shortened from bottle and glass, Cockney rhyming slang for arse; RANGERS (Scottish team). Thank you, google!
And thanks, B+S
I didn’t know “aris”. I wildly speculated that in a Cockney accent perhaps “arse” was sometimes pronounced with two syllables — sort of like the pronunciation of “film” as “fillum” by some Irish people. It didn’t seem likely, but it was the best I could think of.
I got ‘Putt’ quite easily, thanks to a quote from Gervase Phinn. Leading an assembly on the lost sheep, he asked the children why they thought the shepherd would leave the 99 unattended to find the missing one. A farmer’s child piped up, ‘Happen it t’were the tup’.