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Top quality stuff from Paul, as usual. I got very stuck on this for reasons that I don’t really see in retrospect, so I’m curious about how tricky other people found it!
Across
8. Lily, girl accommodating retired soak (8)
MARIPOSA
MARIA = “girl” around SOP = “soak” reversed
Definition: “Lily”
9. State where I invested in cereal crop, wasting capital (6)
OREGON
EGO = “I” in [c]ORN = “cereal crop, wasting capital”
Definition:
10. Considered some communist, leftie revolutionary (4)
FELT
Hidden reversed in “[communis]T LEF[ie]”
Definition: “Considered”
11. Upset mind originally entertained by stance adopted by John Travolta? (10)
DISCOMPOSE
M[ind] = “mind originally” in DISCO POSE = “stance adopted by John Travolta?”, referring to his role in “Saturday Night Fever”
Definition: “Upset”
12. Tank ending in ditch surrounded by rubbish (6)
THRASH
[ditc]H = “ending in ditch” in TRASH = “rubbish”
Definition: “Tank”
14. Fixation on facial organ as going down, currently? (8)
EARTHING
THING = “Fixation” (as in “that’s her thing”) after EAR = “facial organ”
Definition: “going down, currently” – the play on words here is “currently” alluding to electrical current; EARTHING is connecting an electrical device to the ground for safety
15. A sticker brought into play, nice one! (7)
ATTABOY
A followed by TAB = “sticker” in TOY = “play”
Definition: “nice one!”
17. Classic music genre rejected by Roosevelt, briefly (3,4)
THE OAKS
SKA = “music genre” reversed by THEO = “Roosevelt, briefly”, referring to Theodore Roosevelt
Definition: “Classic” – there’s always some subject matter that really frustrates particular solvers, and for me horse racing is pretty close to the top of the list…
20. Asian rarely seen collecting post (8)
NEPALESE
(SEEN)* (rarely is the anagram indicator) around PALE = “post” (as in “paling”, I think)
Definition: “Asian”
22. School punishment element observed in silence (6)
GATING
TIN = “element” in GAG = “silence” (as a verb)
Definition: “School punishment”
23. Artist reportedly removed a wheel clamp close to the ground? (5,5)
FRIDA KAHLO
Sounds like (“reportedly”) “freed a car, low”
Definition: “Artist”
24. Day book’s last prayer (4)
MONK
MON = “day” + [boo]K = “book’s last”
Definition: “prayer” (as in “one who prays”)
25. Splitting trousers from behind, weapon ultimately exposing blubber (6)
SNIVEL
[weapo]N = “weapon ultimately” in LEVIS = “trousers” reversed (“from behind”)
Definition: “blubber”
26. Meeting relations (8)
CONGRESS
Double definition: “Meeting” and (sexual) “relations”
Down
1. Christmas attire: appear with this when half-cut (drunk) (5,3)
PAPER HAT
(APPEAR TH)* – the TH from the anagram fodder is half of “this”
Definition: “Christmas attire”
2. Possession of Scotsman in fact likely to be lifted (4)
KILT
Hidden reversed in “[fac]T LIK[ely]”
Definition: “Possession of Scotsman”
3. Gadget with bidirectional functions, I see! (6)
DOODAH
A “do” is a funtion, so “bidirectional funtions” is DO OD, and then “AH” is “I see!”
Definition: “Gadget”
4. Acquire layer of coal to haul up in Welsh town (7)
MAESTEG
GET = “Acquire” + SEAM = “layer of coal” all reversed
Definition: “Welsh town”
5. Plain city where tailless school cat raised (8)
GOMORRAH
HARRO[w] = “tailless school” + MOG = “cat” all reversed
Definition: “Plain city” – Sodom and Gomorrah were referred to as “cities of the plain” in the King James Version of the bible
6. 24 down 10, doctor operated to save skin on thigh (4,6)
DEEP THROAT
T[hig]H = “skin on thigh” in (OPERATED)*
Definition: “24 down 10”, since Mark Felt was the real identity of the source Woodward and Bernstein referred to as “Deep Throat” in their investigation of the Watergate scandal
7. Alcoholic drink is cradled by server, uncorked? (6)
POISON
[s]POON = “server, uncorked” around IS
Definition: “Alcoholic drink” as in “What’s your poison?”
13. Sinners supposedly recollecting dead man in prayer (4,3,3)
ADAM AND EVE
AVE = “prayer” around (DEAD MAN)*
Definition: “Sinners supposedly”
16. Too much fine drinking upset minister, getting sick (8)
OVERKILL
OK = “fine” around REV reversed = “upset minister” + ILL = “sick”
Definition: “Too much”
18. Generosity in affectionate act inspiring promotion of close relation, finally (8)
KINDNESS
KISS = “affectionate act” around END = “close” + [relatio]N = “relation finally” reversed
Definition:
19. Look again, as wreck uncovered hell! (7)
RECHECK
[w]REC[k] = “wreck uncovered” + HECK = “hell!”
Definition: “Look again”
21. Wicked queen on phone (6)
ERRING
ER = “queen” + RING = “phone”
Definition: “Wicked”
22. Mole in crotch, by the sound of it? (6)
GROYNE
Sounds like “groin” or “crotch”
Definition: “Mole”, as in a breakwater
24. Indicate evangelist (4)
MARK
Double definition: “Indicate” and “evangelist”
Thanks mhl. Yes, it was tricky. I’m not sure whether Paul is getting harder or I am getting slower, and I’m not sure I want to know! After a couple of passes I had only two small islands in the NW and SE corners and the remainder succumbed only reluctantly. Looking back on it now though there is nothing that is not fair and reasonable and I guess that is the real test. I needed assistance from Google to find out about Mark Felt, Frida Kahlo and Maesteg but may have had something of an advantage in remembering MARIPOSA, a luxury liner on the Pacific. Still not too sure about tank = thrash though.
Yep, needed a bit of check button help with this. Dnk the lily, the Welsh town, or the ‘plain’ aspect of Gomorrah, though all gettable. Eyebrow raised at trash, since to me to tank means something like when eg a team or player stalls, loses nerve. And had no memory of Mr Felt, so looking him up revealed his nickname, hence a clear dnf there. Otherwise quite enjoyable, liked attaboy and Adam and Eve. Poison for drink sounds recent. Thanks Paul and mhl.
Like Biggles A, I found this tricky – more so than any other Saturday Guardian over the last several weeks.
In 11a I thought of DISCOMMODE (not a bad fit for the clue) before finally getting DISCOMPOSE, which had the advantage of allowing POISON to go in.
Answers were rather slow to come in the top right especially but also in the bottom right, and parsing became a bit of a luxury. After completion I went back and finished parsing most clues to my satisfaction, but there were a couple that I had to check here.
I liked DOODAH and ATTABOY the most. I got FRIDA KAHLO just from the H – I would never have worked it out from the wordplay (a homophone), but it was easy enough to match it after finding it.
Thanks to Paul for a challenging puzzle and to mhl for the blog.
Snap on DISCO MODE Alan B. Needed to look up Mr Felt and the spelling of Ms Kahlo, quite a tricky one overall.
Thanks to MHL and Paul (I think:-)) It was bloomin’ hard and we tanked after a flying start with at least two in each quadrant very quickly. Still picking away on Thursday and had to seek online help. Had to wait for this blog to find out parsing for OREGON and why Mark Felt, but know we know the latter we can appreciate 6d muchly. The ‘dreadful’ (groan inducing) cluing for FREDA KAHLO also made us laugh (got her from crossers not the clue) but Attaboy our last in and we very grumpy with that with (mutterings of ‘two words surely’) and groynes which we thought quite obscure enough let alone mole being an alternative name. [I have a photo featuring a stern notice from Bournemouth Council about not climbing on their groynes which amused at the time. Now wistful of 6 months without seeing the sea ]. KINDNESS was very satisfying.
@5 * now we know!
[My comment is going to sound quite similar to several others above, especially grantinfreo’s@ 2, as I seem to have shared similar solving experiences.].
I was almost a dnf, as I also got stuck, mhl. I only had three to go when a fellow solver helped me by pointing out that MAISON at 7d was incorrect. Once I erased the wrong crosser I managed to get 9a OREGON and then filled in POISON. My friend also said he thought I might know the music genre at 17a if I thought about it a bit more, so then I guessed SKA and realised it was THEO Roosevelt not FDR, Ted or Teddy, so I could complete the puzzle with THE OAKS (not that I had heard of the “classic”).
My fave was the already highlighted FRIDA KAHLO at 23a. Like other solvers who have already commented, I needed to look some things up – I had a lot of trouble parsing DEEP THROAT at 6d and also had to do a reference check on the unfamiliar Welsh town MAESTEG at 4d (not complaining, just saying). At the time, I thought a couple were a little unfair – 5a GOMORRAH (“Plain city”? – so thanks for the reminder of the Hebrew scriptures reference, mhl), 12a THRASH (“tank”? – an unfamiliar synonym) and 21d ERRING (“Wicked” seemed a bit too strong) – but those were just IMHO.
Fun just the same, so thanks to Paul, and also to mhl for the blog. [I also liked yesterday’s similarly tricksy Paul, but too late to the party now to comment on that one.]
I can’t remember what I had for breakfast, but did remember Mark Felt as Deep Throat and that was my way in. MAESTEG and GROYNE were guessable but required Google-checking to be sure. Otherwise, much the same comments as JinA@7. I think it was just the right difficulty for a “prize”.
After spending an hour or so with this crossword I folded it in half and put it in my recycle bag. After seeing the solutions (thanks mhl) I made the right decision. At my age even an hour wasted borders on tragic. Fortunately, Paul’s gentler side, Mudd, had an excellent offering in the FT on the same day.
I spotted “Mark Felt”, wondered if there was a theme, and still somehow managed to not see “Deep Throat”. Kicking myself, in retrospect.
Would never have got “Gomorrah” from “plain city” in a million years. The place seemed anything but plain to me. 🙂
I enjoyed this but perhaps the GK elements broke my way eg I remember Maesteg from the old era of rugby; city of the plains quickly triggered thoughts of the biblical phrase; I follow horse racing so “classic” puts me on alert.
Tank for thrash is fine. When Villa beat Liverpool 7-2, Liverpool tanked; but also Villa tanked Liverpool. Chambers is clear. “x tanked y” is quite a common usage.
I wasn’t a massive fan of mariposa. Quite a few girls names seemed possible and sop for soak is fair but not (to me) obvious. And itenot s though it was a particularly sparkling surface. Anyway, our LOI.
Overall found it a little easier than some of Paul’s recent offerings.
I remember being struck by how many clues seemed to depend on synonyms that I thought were unusually obscure – things like tanks and groynes. That said, I did like MARK and FELT and his pseudonym and even the disco poser and I relished the stunningly awful punning that was FRIDA KAHLO. Years and years ago, when I had time to read Proust, I remember noticing that the original title of ‘Cities of the Plain’ had been ‘Sodome et Gomorrhe’ – finally I’ve found a use for that piece of trivia! Tricky but rewarding. Thanks Paul, thanks mhl.
Thanks for the blog. Slowed myself down by putting in DISCOMMODE and FRIDA KHALO. Hence some of the downs would not go in. Had to get to the end of the downs with MARK and then that gave me DEEP THROAT to sort out the top right corner. RECHECK had to be right and made me recheck my spelling so FRIDA KAHLO became last one in.
Great thanks, Paul and mhl. This took the full week but that’s the way I like ’em. I’ll never remember MARIPOSA and likely never forget FRIDA KAHLO. “What’s your poison?” seemed dated to me. Texts from brother use “Attaboy!” to convey congrats. So that was my fave, closely followed by OVERKILL. Sadly erred with ERRING, writing ERRANT as LOI. Classic!
Another one here who found this very hard. Managed about half on Saturday including DISCOMMODE – wrong!
Sunday, really grabbed it by the (deep) throat with the help of Google and any other aids to hand and managed to suss out Mark Felt and Frida Kahlo. THE OAKS had me off on a musical route for ages, despite having got THE O early on.
I loved it! A great workout and immense satisfaction to finally reach the finish.
Huge thanks to Paul and mhm for the blog.
*mhl – sorry!
This did take two sittings last Saturday but I’m not sure I experienced quite the battering recorded by some others here. I think Andrew B puts it perfectly @11: perhaps the GK elements broke my way. I used to play rugby against MAESTEG and, whilst I’m no Biblical scholar or even churchgoer, “cities on the plain” is a phrase I remember (perhaps precisely because it is so unhelpfully vague. “Where’s Gomorrah?” “On the plain…”). I did share the experience of the other B, Alan B @3, in getting FRIDA KAHLO from the H and an inspired guess.
However, I have no cause to be smug in that I’ve never heard of MARK FELT, so DEEP THROAT went in totally unparsed and I fully expected it to be something else when I logged on this morning. The other two posers were the two POS’s – MARIAPOSA was a dnk but it had to be that and I was a million miles away from thinking of DISCO POSE which I only spotted in retrospect.
KILT and SNIVEL both brought a smile, NEPALESE is beautifully smooth and, like others, I enjoyed ATTABOY. I have two favourites: EARTHING is delightfully defined (and how good Paul avoided the obvious ‘Take us to your leader’ based clue). THE OAKS is a classic in every sense of the word. And, to me, the absolute stand out clue from last week. Even when I’d written it down, I still didn’t see the answer for a moment. (Like mhl, horse racing leaves me cold – maybe an aficionado would have spotted it sooner)
Thanks Paul and mhl
Another here who has never met tank=thrash before: I guess from Andrew B’s comment that it must be “quite common” in football, which explains why I don’t know it. I do watch racing, though, so THE OAKS wasn’t an unknown.
Very slow going for most of this: for quite a while I only had the four little ones in the NW and SE. I knew GOMORRAH and MAESTEG so eventually the top half went in; then a long pause until OVERKILL opened the floodgates for the bottom bit, with GATING the last (my school didn’t do it).
Had to look up MARIPOSA and MARK FELT. Liked ATTABOY, the DISCO POSE and the EAR THING. Definitely on Paul’s tougher side.
Thanks Paul and mhl
A challenging but enjoyable puzzle. I learnt who DEEP THROAT was!
As joleroi @5 has indicated, you needed to know of FRIDA KAHLO not to spell her “Freda”, as either homophone works.
DNF, because ATTABOY evaded me completely, so thanks to mhl for explaining it, but generally I found this fascinating. MARIPOSA was hard with the initial letter not crossed, but fortunately I guessed the girl was Maria before checking it.
DISCO POSE refers to both Travolta’s rôle, and his actual stance in the film’s publicity – see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Saturday_night_fever_movie_poster.jpg
‘Mole’ might be used in crosswords more than it is because, as well as having useful letters, it is one of the English words with six independent definitions (ref Chambers). ‘Mole in crotch’ may cover a different meaning.
My thanks to Paul as well as mhl.
[sjshart @20: nice observation re mole. And I think we can top Chambers: there’s also a mole wrench – essentially a type of pliers/pinchers but with additional levers to enable them to grip (and certainly abbreviated occasionally to just mole in our family). There is also the eternally youthful diarist, Adrian, and a couple of English rivers bearing the name.]
[Just looked up “mole”: interested to hear that the little animal has “fossorial forefeet”.]
Like THE OAKS, this was a test for stayers rather than a sprint. The hidden clue was that, as we all know, POISON won THE OAKS in 1843.
I also enjoyed ATTABOY and the EAR THING.
Thanks Paul and mhl
[Actually, further thought on mole, whilst clearly repeating the animal definition, we do have one of the protagonists in Wind in the Willows which could be useful to a setter. I mention this because last year I experienced a mole on my allotment for the very first time. And realised how my entire impression of the animal has been influenced by the book. Frankly, I’ve been rather fond of them and have been guilty of completely anthropomorphising. Then he started uprooting all my seedlings, undermining the paths, destroying seedbeds. How rapidly my attitude to the lovable plucky little beast changed to one of murderous intent!]
Agreed, it was very tricky, the north east corner was a barren zone until I twigged Gomorrah and Oregon, a chat with my wife got the disco aspect to JT, but actually ended up with a DNF, my first this year.
I think a lot of it came down to unusual word selection and phrases, and clues with devious misdirection.
He’s one cheeky chappy Paul, but we do love him!
Postmark/Gladys/Penfold@21-24, yet more on mole – one of the rivers is in north Surrey, not far from Epsom Downs, where THE OAKS is run (my part of the country originally). But it would be stretching things to say there is a hidden theme here.
Thanks for the blog. Pleased to hear others struggled with this too. For a Paul this had a lot of words I didn’t know in the context given. Usually, of all the setters, his dictionary and mine ovelap pretty well.
I didn’t help myself in the NE corner by putting in DISCOMFORT for 11a thinking DISCO FOR T(ravolta) was a bit weak. Would never have finished without a hint from a friend that the definition for 6d was Mark Felt and not just “mark”. I’d never heard of him, but a quick search revealed the pseudonym.
Mariposa, maritosa, tanitosa, taniposa… which was the likeliest lily? In the end I lucked out, as (I think) our US friends say.
muffin @19: ah yes! FREDA KAHLO, the fondly remembered Blue Peter artist-in-residence 😉
Favourites: John Travolta and the DOODAH.
Thanks Paul and mhl (btw I think you’re missing a def for 9ac)
I also had DISCOMMODE and persisted with it right until the end which meant the NE was the last to fall – on Sunday. Even without that self-inflicted hold up we found this a very challenging and satisfying puzzle from Paul – thanks to him and mhl – and also for admitting bloggers can also struggle and wonder why afterwards!
Could not get into this. Solved 7 clues then decided to just come here and read the blog.
Thanks, mhl
Like Ant @25 I found the NE much trickier than the rest, having completed the rest last Saturday, but DEEP THROAT and the amusing DISCOMPOSED eventually gave me the way in during the week. I hadn’t heard of MARK FELT but like PostMark @17 I got it from the reasonably straightforward anagram. Nice clue for GOMORRAH, though I had no inkling of the reference to ‘plain’. Thanks for the explanation mhl.
I have used tanked in this way for THRASH in football matches but I thought it might raise a few eyebrows a quarter of an inch. My favourites were DOODAH, THE OAKS, (how does FDR fit in here, I thought?), FRIDA KAHLO but ATTABOY was the stand-out clue for me. Very difficult, even for a prize, as others have stated but well worth the effort.
Ta Paul and mhl
There’s a poster who hates clues with girls’ names. (I can’t remember who) and when combined with a plant you may or may not know, it makes for a dispiriting 1 across STEWANDRA? EVREPOTA? Like others I confidently entered DISCOMMODE and, being unaware of Mark Felt, never corrected myself so a DNF for me. I grew up around Epsom Downs, too, so THE OAKS was a favourite. I used to think that the River Mole was so-called because it went underground.
[sjshart @26
As I remember, the River Mole was the river that Taffimai Metallumai and her parets lived next to in The Just-So Stories.]
I’m a Frida Kahlo fan who recently read All the President’s Men, so I had a good start, but I was beaten by ATTABOY. Tab = sticker still seems unconvincing.
Thanks to Paul and mhl.
I found this completely Impenetrable
I found this almost completely penetrable, after a long period when it didn’t seem so at all. A thoroughly enjoyable experience.
Thanks to Paul and mhl.
Could you pass the tea tray please? No the large one – actually, give me both.
I was well defeated but I did enjoy the experience. Squinting a bit at DISCOMPOSE, EARTHING and MAESTAG but acknowledge that others were fair enough and found me wanting. I did enjoy OVERRKILL which came late in the day after much musing. DOODAH appeared recently enough so a pounce.
Paul seems to have found another level at which to have us dance.
Quite a struggle but worth it.
8a My son and I independently came up with MARITOSA which equally fits the wordplay. When we checked Google asked “Did you mean MARITOSA?”
15a LOI by a couple of days when it suddenly leapt out. Sidetracked my self with UN – Nice one and ON (stage, brought into play). Ended up with the right answer, a piece of dated (American?) slang which is the sort of clue I expect from Paul.
Thanks to him and mhl.
I got 3/4 of this with very few problems, helped along considerably by my sideline passion of boardgames, which pointed towards DEEP THROAT and MARIPOSA (qf Matthias Cramer and Elizabeth Hargrave). Some of the more obtuse definitions held me back until late-morning – MONK and GOMORRAH especially.
DISCOMPOSE was outrageously silly, although I should know better than to expect anything else 🙂
Thanks Paul and mhl
Beaten by NE corner even after sleepless nights and much cheating! Committed similar errors to those already mentioned. If you THRASH your motorbike at 100mph down the motorway, that’s the same as TANKing it, I think.
Mark @17 : MARIPOSA was a dnk but it had to be that… Well, unless you happen to recognise ‘soak’ as a synonym for SOT; not knowing any lilies I just wrote in MARITOSA with a shrug. Would never have got ATTABOY in a million years, but was glad to have got as close as I did, as this was a very tough puzzle.
In fact I’d left about 10 clues unsolved last weekend and only picked the paper up again late last night, when nine of them fell quite quickly, of which Travolta’s DISCO POSE was a favourite. I seem to remember being tickled by the ‘removed a wheel clamp’ homophone last Saturday, and I got DEEP THROAT despite having no recollection that his name was ever in the public domain (I thought it was Donald Sutherland). I got THRASH quite early, but didn’t write it in until getting a confirmatory crosser, and DOODAH took a long time to come. Almost a week in fact.
Thanks to Paul and mhl.
Thanks for the blog, mhl. I won’t be too verbose because it’s mostly been said already. My experience was similar to yours and, like Dr Whatson@8, I thought that this level of difficulty was just about perfect: a few visits to solve but some lovely penny drop moments for the last few in, with POISON and GROYNE for me too. Always appreciate a bit of googling and learning new GK.
Thanks for the duel to Paul. I thought you were going to have me but got there in the end.
Thank you mhl, I had no idea what was going on in OREGON but have seen EGO=I twice this week now so hopefully it will stick.
Andrew B@11 and I should never be on the same quiz team as we seem to share the same GK, Maesteg my FOI [and impressed you played them PostMark!].
In sporting terms we would often say that someone got “tonked” when I was young, which could be the W Mids accent for tanked, so I may drop my eyebrow raise there, especially as Graham@40’s biking connection is pretty good I think.
Never heard of “Mark Felt” and for a long time I was trying to think of some suitmaking term but in the end resorted to google for that, the flower and the groyne, got lucky with GATING and ATTABOY (Auriga@34 i think these tabs must be those little coloured stickers that you put on a long document to note a page of interest).
Favourite PAPER HAT (it’s not Christmas until I have one on), thanks Paul.
Too tough for me! I never got ‘into it’ last weekend, looked sporadically through the week and made the most progress on Friday evening with ‘Blog deadline’ looming. Thoroughly well beaten with blank spaces where DISCOMPOSE, ADAM AND EVE, OVERKILL ATTABOY & SNIVEL should be.
Certainly plenty of fun along the way, no hard feelings. Well done Paul. Thanks mhl for explaining it , and to all the learned contributors on here!
Well said EpeeSharkey@ 44. I remember the days of Bunthorne and spending a fruitless week on Prize crosswords, no blog in those days, had to wait until Monday morning 9 days later. As said above , no hard feelings.
I had the same experience as you, mhl. The night before I got five answers. The next morning the pretty much slid into place, with a little help from the check button for FRIDA KAHLO (but no hope for the parsing)
and GATING. The last two, GATING and GROYNE I got just this morning.
The US term for (electrical) EARTHING is “grounding.”
Having never heard of a mole wrench, i looked it up and found out it’s what we call a vise grip.
As far as I know, nobody ever called the first President Roosevelt Theo — if they had, we’d probably have theo bears instead of teddy ones.
Decades of reading Dick Francis have grounded me pretty well in racing. especially British. But cricket still defeats me.
I’d never heard of MAESTEG, but the wordplay made it findable, and my minimal acquaintance with Welsh made it plausible.
I looked up the synonyms for “mole.” Several of them are metaphorical extensions of the animal meaning )the spy, the breakwater, the tunneling machine), and two are derived from other words. The chemical mole from “molecule,” Mexican mole, pronounce mo-lay, from a Nahuatl word for sauce — the most well-known one contains chocolate, but isn’t sweet — it uses the bitterness of a small amount of unsweetened chocolate as a flavoring. That sauce is mole poblano, now usually used with chicken, a European import, but originally with turkey. It’s really good. Now that was more about moles than any fule would want to no.
MARIPOSA, as well as being a lily (i now know) is also Spanish for butterfly.
Thanks, Paul and mhl.
[Valentine @46
That’s two weeks running that you have referred to using the Check button in a Prize puzzle. There isn’t a Check button for these over here – is it different on your side?]
Valentine @46: …nobody ever called the first President Roosevelt Theo. The clue doesn’t require that anyone ever did: ‘Roosevelt, briefly’=THEO(dore). Thanks for the info re mole poblano – as a vegetarian there’s no chance that I’ll be trying it with chicken, but it might work mixed with chilli beans.
[muffin@47. Yes, I too was puzzled by Valentine’s reference to the check button – grantinfreo@2 mentions this also. If either can clarify, I would be very interested.]
I asked muffin’s question a couple of years or so ago.
I gather that after the solution to a ‘Prize’ is published the various buttons are enabled, but I haven’t verified it.
I just meant I’d used the check the following week when all was made plain. It works the same over here as over there.
sh@48 “mole” just means, “sauce” and it can go on anything you like. It might be good on tofu!
What on Earth is a check button ?
Guys@47/49: My Stateside experience is that there is no check button for prize puzzles UNTIL one week later when the answers are revealed.
Roz @53: you are the true purist. Some of us lesser beasts need the comfort blanket alas
You guys are correct, unlike for the dailies there is no check button for the Saturday puzzle. I was talking out of my whatsit, sorry.
I really do not know AlanC , explain it to me as though I am a five year old please .
Roz, online you can check if your answer is correct or not. I’m sure we all try to use it sparingly but sometimes in desperation…
Thank you Alan I see now, I needed that for DISCOMMODE and FRIDA KHALO.
Dare I ask what auto-complete is ? I have seen it mentioned a few times.
Ah, now I’m a 5 year-old in 1965, not a Scooby, sorry.
[As AlanC explains, it is on Earth, Roz@53 – really. It is a solving online thing and I know you solve on hard copy. If you have entered a solution in which you are not completely confident, it enables you to see whether or not it is correct. It also enables you, if you are struggling with a clue and the crossers have delivered, for example, two consonants one space apart, so that a vowel must be the intervening letter, to determine which of the five vowels (and occasionally y) fits. Some regard this as ‘cheating’ – see recent correspondence on General Discussion. Solvers are answerable only to their own consciences – no one else, above or below, is keeping a tab or summoning the cruciverbalist police on IXIXIX.]
Roz – autocomplete is where your word processor or browser guesses what you are going to type, based on your most used vocabulary, and if you’re a head-down-watch-the-keyboard typist like me, you can accidentally confirm a word like discommode when you were intending to type discompose, or vice versa. Not in a crossword grid, of course!
Thanks anyway Alan, probably best I do not know. Ignorance is knowledge.
Thanks for the other answers , I was slow typing. I thought auto-complete could be when it did the whole crossword for you.
There is a Reveal all option but that is the road to ruin 🙂
Roz @64 – “I thought auto-complete could be when it did the whole crossword for you.” Haha!
I enjoyed this a lot. I seem to remember it took quite a long time, but Paul is always rather tricky. My favourite was ATTABOY, closely followed by FRIDA KAHLO. I had to guess DEEP THROAT as hadn’t heard of MARK FELT, so I think that was LOI for me. Last Saturday seems a long time ago. Brendan’s prize offering today is brilliant.
Yes Alan@65 , think I am glad these things were not around when I was learning.
Drofle@66 I have just found out what it is and the check button.
Brilliant but flawed, I will say no more.
Yes, a difficult one and only filled the top right on Friday after realising, with two crossers in, that the school was Harrow. I did look for a city called Tacorrah before I twigged.
I also wondered about tank = thrash, which doesn’t seem to be supported by Collins online, but checking my 80’s BRB, it only has ‘tank’ as in its transitive form, so perhaps tank = fail is the more modern usage? I thought of the motorbike mentioned by Graham@40 but that didn’t seem very convincing, although that was what I took as the explanation.
I thought having to know both mole and groyne as synonyms of breakwater all in one clue was tough. I got it from speculation about a homophone for ‘groin’ and checking.
I also thought the def for EARTHING was a bit suspect. Electrical earth isn’t necessarily “down”. I don’t really think of the ear as being on the face, either, but close enough, I suppose. [Anyone remember the mouse with an ear on its back, btw? Gruesome.]
Sh@41, the identity of Deep Throat only came out relatively recently (see Wikipedia), which is probably why you (and I) hadn’t heard of it.
Roz @53: It’s a feature on these new-fangled computer thingies.
Trying to solve this puzzle wasn’t helped by having it almost totally obscured on my phone by advertising for … er .. not sure… the Guardian crossword app, is it? Surprised no one else (except Roz) has mentioned it here (although some have asked about it on General Discussion)
To be pedantic, MOLE and GROYNE have rather different functions. Groynes are wooden structures on beaches, built out perpendicular to the shoreline, with the intention of restricting “longshore drift” – i.e movement of beach deposits in a constant direftion along the shore. Thie is particularly important in England on the south coast, as otherwise all the sand, pebbles etc. would be constantly moved east.
Good point Muffin @69. There is a famous ghost story adapted for the BBC, Oh Whistle and I’ll come to you , a key scene on the beach with the groynes.
[Indeed, Roz’70. Starring Michael Hordern and directed by Jonathan Miller, from the story by MR James,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYjtxHHjZ00
[ Thanks for the link ! We have the BFI complete box set of the ghost stories for Christmas series, mostly MR James but The Signalman by Dickens as well. ]
@TonyC 68: same annoying ad on the iPad too, but I find now that refreshing the page makes it skedaddle, whilst as long as you have cookies enabled your entries will remain.
Looks like I’m the only one who got “Souser” early on for 7d (definition alcoholic, the Ouse being a river = drink) and then had to take it out when I got “earthing”. “Poison” seemed like a much less satisfying answer!
But this is one of the rare ones I completed (although needed some research for Deep Throat, as did many it seems) so it also gets a big thumbs up. Favourite was Gomorrah, although it took me a long time to get.
muffin @69, thanks for explaining what groynes are. I know exactly what you mean. I remember them from childhood trips to Clacton. What about moles, then?
Gonzo@73, thanks for the info. I thought it was refreshing the page that made it come back. I didn’t really investigate, just stopped doing the crossword to next time I had the laptop out. It’s on the crossword blog now as well.
[Postmark@24: Jasper Carrott has had his problems with moles…
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=93mgyE2ctwg ]
re 14ac. Ears a facial organ? I’ve never met anybody with ears on their face.
Me@38
Google asked if I meant MARIPOSA of course.