A puzzle stuffed with 15 downs!
Picaroon has excelled himself with this puzzle, with its two & lit clues and a novel typographical device (at 20 down). Many thanks to him and to my solving partner Timon (particularly for parsing 19 down). We wondered if there was a theme (there are two mathematicians and five brands or trademarks – Nurofen, IKEA, ebay, iPad, Playstation, but no overall theme that we could see).
ACROSS | ||
1 | NUROFEN |
4 plus 9 minus 1 could give this number (7)
|
*(FOUR + N(i)NE). Other painkillers are available: this trademarked name is in Chambers. | ||
5 | FRETSAW |
Female with useless fellow, flipping tool (7)
|
F(emale) + WASTER (rev). | ||
9 | PETTY |
Run away from lovely Mickey Mouse (5)
|
P(r)ETTY. | ||
10 | VIBRATORY |
Shaking cups in triumph, after eliminating clubs (9)
|
BRA (cups) in VI(c)TORY. | ||
11 | ENTANGLING |
Catching in net at sea, seeking fish (10)
|
*NET (“at sea”), ANGLING (“seeking fish”). | ||
12 | IKEA |
President has answer for specialists in assembly (4)
|
IKE (nickname of former US President Eisenhower) A(nswer). Isn’t it the customers who have to assemble Ikea’s products? | ||
14 | FRANCOPHONE |
Call on General de Gaulle, for one (11)
|
(General) FRANCO, PHONE. | ||
18 | PLAYSTATION |
Console Victoria, say, after large cuts in income (11)
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L(arge) inside PAY (income), (Victoria) STATION. | ||
21 | IPAD |
Tablet yours truly had to swallow every year (4)
|
P(er) A(nnum) (every year) inside I’D. | ||
22 | DOUBLE TAKE |
Shocked look is what Betty and Scott have, stripped naked (6,4)
|
DOUBLE T (found in Betty and Scott), (n)AKE(d). | ||
25 | PAS DE DEUX |
Choreographed a sexed-up Boxing Day dance (3,2,4)
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D(ay) inside (“boxed”) *(A SEXED-UP). | ||
26 | OUTRO |
Piece of trout, rotten piece at the end (5)
|
Hidden in “trout rotten”. I can’t resist linking to this | ||
27 | AGAINST |
V & A acquires ultimate piece of art (7)
|
A GAINS (ar)T. | ||
28 | MANURED |
Dressed football team like Liverpool (7)
|
MAN U, RED. | ||
DOWN | ||
1 | NAPIER |
Innovator with logs raised an outstanding platform (6)
|
AN (rev) PIER. The reference is to John Napier. | ||
2 | ROTATE |
Charge around, returning to participate in revolution (6)
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TO (rev) inside RATE (charge). | ||
3 | FLYING FISH |
Main high jumper prone to interrupt fellows roughly (6,4)
|
LYING (prone) inside FF(fellows) ISH (roughly). | ||
4 | NOVEL |
Fresh head of lettuce after fifteen days? (5)
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NOVE(mber) L(ettuce). November has thirty days, so half is fifteen. Took us a while to work that out. | ||
5 | FIBONACCI |
Deceit cut cocaine supply for mathematician (9)
|
FIB *COCAIN(e). Our second mathematician. | ||
6 | EBAY |
Where to flog horse mounted by earl (4)
|
E(arl) BAY. | ||
7 | STOCKPOT |
What drug dealer may do in kitchen vessel (8)
|
STOCK POT. | ||
8 | WAYFARER |
Traveller much easier on the eye, we hear (8)
|
Sounds like “way fairer”. | ||
13 | SPONGE DOWN |
Clean bumfluff? (6,4)
|
A charade of “bum” (which can mean to sponge) and “fluff” (down). | ||
15 | AHA MOMENT |
Puzzled man at home when the penny drops (3,6)
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*(MAN AT HOME). Lots of those in this puzzle! | ||
16 | SPLIT PEA |
Green food: the thing in cooked apples (5,3)
|
IT in *APPLES. | ||
17 | MALAYSIA |
It’s close to Vietnam, place in eastern region (8)
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(Vietna)M, LAY (place) in ASIA. I think that this qualifies as an & lit clue, where the wordplay and definition are all combined together. | ||
19 | WAITER |
Perhaps one’s taken in drink (6)
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I (one) in WATER: you have to read “one’s” as “one has” to make sense of this second & lit clue. | ||
20 | BEHOLD |
See what’s in thus? (6)
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EH (what?) in BOLD. I don’t recall seeing this device used before. | ||
23 | BUXOM |
Steer north through curvy region with big curves (5)
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OX (steer, rev) inside BUM (curvy region). | ||
24 | BEAN |
Area covered by Scottish hill runner, perhaps (4)
|
A(rea) inside BEN (Scottish hill). |
Too hard for me. Failed to solve 6d and 12ac.
Favourites: WAYFARER, MALAYSIA, DOUBLE TAKE, AGAINST, FRETSAW, FLYING FISH.
Also PLAYSTATION & SPONGED DOWN were good.
New: SMOKEPOT; MANURED = fertilised; John NAPIER (mathematician).
I did not parse: 4d NOVEL apart from the L.
Thanks, both.
Thank bridgesong. I agree. If the test of an excellent crossword is that it should yield very little at the first pass and respond gently and progressively to more lateral thinking then this easily meets the definition. An added bonus was the very smooth surfaces, on the whole quite remarkable. LOI was 1a, crossing letters made the answer unmistakable but defying explanation for me. I fell into the obvious trap of trying for some time and in vain to reconcile it with the clue numbers before the 25d ( one of the FOIs).
I had the opposite experience to bridgesong – I got NOVEL right away but took far too long over several others, and didn’t like the way I got them. I read a clue, was clueless, stared at the grid and, with a few crossers to help, the answer popped into my head. Didn’t feel satisfying at all, even though it produced progress. Not a complaint about the puzzle, you understand, some great clues here.
Regarding IKEA, I think the clueing is fine, since a specialist in assembly could refer to the design work for a DIY (or maybe it’s AIY) product.
This one yielded but slowly for me too – after my first run through I had only two – though there were quite a few pleasures as the 15ds occurred – including 15d, of course, as well as FRETSAW, DOUBLE TAKE, NOVEL, STOCKPOT, MALAYSIA, BEHOLD. Curiously, I had thought of FRANCOPHONE for 14a and rejected it because I couldn’t see the wordplay – until I realised that the General wasn’t de Gaulle. Thanks, Picaroon and bridgesong.
Thanks bridgesong. One mini-theme, brand names, appeared in the first three four-letter answers but that still had me struggling for ages with NUROFEN (like Biggles above). DOUBLE TAKE was excellent. Thanks for explaining 19D which for me seemed to fall short.
Couldn’t break into this one. One clue after half an hour. Went to do the Everyman instead.
Enjoyed this, especially PAS DE DEUX, OUTRO, SPONGE DOWN. AGAINST, and WAITER.
Took ages to ‘see’ BEHOLD as when I had the clue highlighted I couldn’t see the bold type. 🙁
I liked this though it took two attempts and in the end I missed seeing the mini-theme. I was very very fortunate that a friend had mentioned the name FIBONACCI in a conversation recently so I was able to solve 5d. Ticks for 12a IKEA, 13d SPONGE DOWN and 23d BUXOM, and a lovely AHA MOMENT at 15d. I also had trouble with understanding the parse for 22a DOUBLE TAKE and 19d WAITER. Thanks to Picaroon and bridgesong.
Got all except 1a, but it took several separate attempts spread over a couple of days which makes it more enjoyable. Made a pleasant change to see some mathematical notables. I’m still waiting to see a clue for which (Ada) Lovelace is the solution – would have thought the name lends itself to a cryptic creation.
MarkOnCan @9 – (Ada) Lovelace was the solution to 17D in Everyman 3905 just last month.
MarkOnCan @9. We had Ada Lovelace recently. I can’t remember the setter. I remember the clue because I looked her up. Perhaps she will appear again soon? Ada Lovelace Day, second Tuesday in October.
Never heard of her despite my all girls’ school education. Maybe if I had role models like her I wouldn’t have struggled so much with maths and continue to do with IT. I was also impressed by the female mathematicians, mostly Afro American, in the days of segregation, behind NASA’s space missions. Great movie HIdden Figures.
[ On the other hand, my son who left school at 13 taught me about FIBONACCI recently, demonstrated the sequence and showed me examples in nature.
If only, he and I had teachers like him in our youth.. Maths can be such a joy, and not just a slog.]
Took a while but got all except PETTY and WAITER.
Enjoyed it – like bridgesong says there were a lot of 15ds
Favourites included: FLYING FISH, IKEA, AGAINST, PLAY STATION, NAPIER, DOUBLE TAKE
Thanks Picaroon and bridgesong
This was a slow but satisfying solve. Didn’t parse NOVEL, thanks Bridgesong; it’s not a new device but hard to spot. Thanks also,for the link to Napier, who I didn’t look upmat the time – fascinating. And also the outro link which is delightful. I can’t remember when I first heard of Fibonaaci- some time in high school, but the series is a mathematical fav of mine.
Re PETTY: something Mickey Mouse in usage I’m familiar with is something shoddy or badly run eg a Mickey Mouse organisation/production/business, not etty or trivial.
Thanjs to Picarron and bridgesong
I’ve been doing Picaroons since 2019 and this is the fastest I’ve ever finished one of his crosswords. Took me around 90 mins all up. Usually I can spend days doing them. Well on and off in days. Thanks Pics and Bridgesong.
As enjoyable as ever from Pickers.
I agree with ngaiolaurenson@14 about PETTY: a Mickey Mouse thing or organisation is something amateurish, poorly made, more fit to be a child’s toy than a real working item.
Anyway, lots of other good clues and lots of AHA MOMENTS like NAPIER, PAS DE DEUX, FLYING FISH, BEHOLD, PLAYSTATION and DOUBLE TAKE (the last of which I failed to parse: who on earth are Scott and Betty, and what are they doing in this clue?) Couldn’t sort out WAITER or SPONGE DOWN either. Surprised that OUTRO is a real word, but it’s fun to see it: I thought the Bonzos had invented it.
Thanks for the blog, really enjoyed this, too many top class clues to list. My only minor quibble was PETTY as noted by ng@14 and gladys@17.
[ Fiona Anne – crossword speak of the day , CUPS=BRA , often support(er) is used. I am sure you spotted it )
[Forgot to say, well done PDM @11 for highlighting the role of the “calculators” in NASA.]
A pleasant surprise to see my home country get a mention, and I accept that Vietnam is close if you are in the UK. LOI for me was 1ac. I know the drug as Ibuprofen and brand names Eve (pron eebu in Japanese), Motrin and Advil. NHO Nurofen, but it was a welcome Jorum from the wordplay. I was fine with PETTY for Mickey Mouse. I think “petty” encompasses that meaning of “more fit to be a child’s toy than a real working item”, I.e. a minor, trivial matter. Thanks to P & B.
Agreed with others about PETTY, but following a little research (Googling) I have found several references to petty as a definition for Micky Mouse. Best example I think is ‘petty or Micky Mouse regulations’. I also learned that his full name is Micky Theodore Mouse. Who knew?
Thanks to Picaroon and Bridgesong. Great puzzle.
Thanks Picaroon and Bridgesong.
Satisfying fare as usual from the pirate. I regularly struggle to get on his wavelength, but it’s always worth the effort.
For the nay-sayers on petty, Chambers list Mickey Mouse (amongst others definitions) as unimportant, insignificant.
No offence intended to Paul but it’s always nice when the Saturday puzzle turns out to be one of the ‘occasionals’ and I’ve been spoilt with Brendan and Picaroon in recent weeks. This was as elegant and creative as we’ve come to expect and a puzzle I didn’t want to end. All the novelties raised smiles – the &lits, were lovely, the emboldening was spotted and great fun, I actually twigged the 15 day gimmick in time for it to help. And with a Bonzo reference highlighted by our blogger .(did anyone take the opportunity to view the Star Trek Intro/Outro? If not, here’s the quick link – amusing, but you need to hear the original first).
I thought the use of Boxing Day pushed PAS DE DEUX towards the top of the list, along with FRANCOPHONE and DOUBLE TAKE. MANURED just made me laugh. Brilliant. As did michelle @1’s Freudian slip: SMOKEPOT indeed… And Paddymelon, given your abbreviated initials often used here, does AHA MOMENT count as a namecheck??
Thanks Picaroon and Bridgesong
Thanks Picaroon nd bridgesong
I really enjoyed this, with special favourites DOUBLE TAKE and WAYFARER.
Many thanks, Picaroon + Bridgesong. A gem. Couldn’t parse NUROFEN or WAITER properly but glowed at some of the other 15Ds. It gave up its secrets only slowly. Putting Man U + Liverpool together was devilish. I read it as “side in red” so wanted RESIDED but not quite defined (ad-dressed?)
Thanks Picaroon and Bridgesong. This was an absolute joy, with – as you say – plenty of 15ds, including NAPIER which was my LOI – never heard of him, but the clue is very fair. It just ages for me to twig “outstanding platform”.
I thought the MICKEY MOUSE clue was wonderful, and had no problem with the definition – as trishincharente @21 says, “Mickey Mouse regulations” is a thing.
Also thought the IKEA clue was splendid, though yes, it is strictly the customers who do the assembly.
Gladys @17 – Scott and Betty also gave me much cause for head scratching. Spent ages wondering about the significance of them wearing a “doublet”. Infuriating! But in a good way.
My only gripe was with 20d – doing this on the Guardian Puzzles app, the bold text wasn’t distinct enough from the regular weight. I only noticed it after I eventually gave in and hit reveal… infuriating, but not in a good way.
I think bumfluff refers to young hairs on face … the beginnings of a beard … which might be referred to as DOWN.
Choldunk @27 – but then “bum” would be doing double duty. Just “fluff” is fine.
PM @23 – agreed on PAS DE DEUX – brilliant device and seamlessly worked into a beautifully smooth surface.
I thought this was Picaroon on fine form, particularly the variety of clueing noted by bridgesong. I liked the splits between General and de Gaule and between V and A, the half month, the bold face, the two football teams and more. NAPIER brought back all that time spent at school learning how to use printed log tables (in the end, not something used much in later life). I wasn’t completely sure about WAITER, which seemed to parse awkwardly given how good I thought the rest of the surfaces were, but it had to be right. Very nice, Picaroon, and thanks, bridgesong.
One of my longest ever successful solves. I was on the verge of giving up several times. Trawling through my mental list of kitchen vessels, I thought of SAUCEPAN, decided that pan was perhaps too recherche a drug so went with SAUCEPOT instead. No homophone indicator so it doesn’t work, really. Thanks to Picaroon for the 15dns and Bridgesong for explaining NOVEL.
The hardest Picaroon for a long time but an absolute joy from start to finish.
For me, the puzzle did have a theme and the key clue was, as others have hinted, 15dn. Examples were 1ac NUROFEN, 12a IKEA, 28ac MANURED, 20dn BEHOLD and the two involving Victoria (not) – 18ac PLAYSTATION and 27ac AGAINST.
One of my last ones in was STOCKPOT – because it was so straightforward!
Huge thanks to Picaroon, as ever, for lots of fun and to Bridgesong and Timon for an enjoyable blog.
Me @31 – I think the ‘but’ in my first sentence makes it a non sequitur.
Many thanks for explaining, widdersbel@28. Had missed the bum=sponge
synonym.
I solved and parsed this all, except BEHOLD, where I couldn’t see the bold on the app, but it took a few goes (helped by the app not loading another Paul crossword on Thursday this week). FIBONACCI went in early and as another person who used log tables I knew NAPIER, so thought of him on a second or third go at this, just had to parse it. I even worked out the NOVEmber trick in NOVEL, after looking up novenas and keeping on hitting nines. AHA MOMENT was one of last few in, and was a particularly irritating, well, AHA MOMENT.
This was for me one of the best and most rewarding Saturday puzzles this year. After my FOI, FLYING FISH, I got FRANCOPHONE, PLAYSTATION, FIBONACCI and AHA MOMENT (all of these among my favourite clues), and throughout the whole puzzle I found I could solve the clues because they were so good – not because they were easy. A gem (but that’s been said already).
Thanks to Picaroon and bridgesong.
What Eileen said
Thanks to her, Picaroon and bridgesong
Another great crossword from Picaroon.
I lazily put in Francophile at the beginning, but of course it doesn’t include the ‘call’. I double ticked NEUROFEN, PLAYSTATION, and AGAINST. There were plenty of AHA MOMENTs. LOI was WAITER, which certainly gave a PDM.
Thanks Picaroon and bridgesong.
For me, the best 15dn was twigging the anagram in 1ac (having avoided it thinking I needed to first solve 4 & 9).
Also really liked the two generals in FRANCOPHONE.
Perhaps the solution to 12ac should be ‘IKEA customer’?
Thanks Picaroon & bridgesong, hugely enjoyable.
It was a rarity for me, finishing a Saturday puzzle on the day itself and being able to parse the lot. I think that’s not me being particularly clever, but the consequence of an excellent puzzle. Many thanks, Picaroon – keep ‘em coming!
widdersbel @ 26 re the bold text. Had the same experience on the ordinary desktop Guardian site. BEHOLD was my last to parse for that reason.
[Roz @ 19. Yes, the ‘calculators’, the unknown women behind the famous men. were amazing as they did that without the computer power we have today.]
A top class puzzle, as Picaroon’s always are.
As others have said, a well-constructed and enjoyable challenge, though if you’d asked me after the first pass through the clues, when only PETTY fell, and that not totally convincingly, I might have given a different assessment. I also struggled at the finish, with 19d reading _A_T_R, the clue meaning nothing to me and the crossers suggesting about 30 possible answers. When I picked the paper up again just before reading this blog, WAITER immediately popped into my head, but as with PETTY I still wasn’t convinced.
Smiles were met along the way, though, especially WAYFARER and DOUBLE TAKE.
Thanks to Picaroon and bridgesong/Timon.
[I seem to remember that the brilliant women in “Hidden Figures” were referred to as “computers”, not calculators]
[Shirl: Haven’t seen Hidden Figures, but have seen many references to workers in the pre-calculator age who were good with figures as “computers”.]
Thanks Picaroon and Bridgesong. Like many above found this very satisfying. And a bit frustrating. Answers in fits and starts. After Playstation and Ipad we were looking for a tech theme. Wayfarer are a brand too. Maybe a bit late to ask a question but in 1a why is ‘number’ a definition?
[Sheffield hatter and Shirl: the first operators of a mechanical innovation in Victorian offices were known as “typewriters”. Typists came later.]
Bridgesong, I’m so glad you put in the link to the Bonzo Dog Do Dah Band at 26A. Did any one else spot that “General de Gaulle” plays accordion on it? Cant help wondering if Picaroon realised the connection.
Thanks B for the well-crafted blog and Picaroon for a top notch puzzle.
Joleroi@45
Number is a very versatile definition, in this case it is an analgesic or pain-killer which makes the pain numb hence a number.
Can someone explain why NOVEL is a fair clue, because I wouldn’t have got that in a month of Sundays?
Ant @49: just because a clue is hard, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s unfair. This one had a definition (“fresh”), and wordplay which, when interpreted correctly, together give an unambiguous answer. The setter has added a question mark, sometimes used to indicate a clue that breaks the rules (e.g. a definition by example) but I don’t think that there’s anything irregular about this one. The final “L” is clearly indicated in a conventional way (“head of lettuce”) so it’s only the reference to fifteen days that is in any way unusual. I thought at first that this might be some Latin term for 15 days that I didn’t know, before the penny dropped. There are, of course, only four months with 30 days, so there could only be one answer.
Ant @49 fairness can sometimes be like beauty very much in the eye of the beholder, and while I don’t think anyone here would describe NOVEL as a an easy clue, it was gettable as there are only a few possible answers to fit N-V-L.
This does depend on having solved all the clues that provide crossing the letters.
Assuming that one has done that I can only think of a few words that could fit and all involve 2 vowels for the blanks, which further limits the options.
The words that fit are naval, navel, nival and novel (of course there may be others I don’t know). Of these only novel matches any part of the clue.
I freely admit that I solved first and parsed afterwards and it took a bloody long time to work out, so I don’t think anyone should feel they should have got it, nor would I think less of anyone who didn’t. It was a damnably hard clue, but it was fair.
I hope that helps.
Sorry bridgesong I’m a slow typist 🙂
So basically it’s a clue that you can only get, once you have filled in most of the grid, and parsed only once you have guessed a word that fits, and then work backwards. So if you had a one word grid, Spike Milligan style, you most probably wouldn’t be able to answer it!
This is what I would describe as unfair, even if the penny did drop.
Look I get it, its fun, but maybe this one needed more than a question mark, maybe two??
Thanks bridgesong – and Timon – i had no idea how fifteen days became NOVE but for Ant@49 in my case it was a guess at the definition and working out the L that got me there, when i finally figured out NUROFEN this seemed to confirm it. Also was relieved that WAITER was correct having been none too sure of MANURED as a word. Printed it on Monday ( thank goodness as no bold issue!) and finished Friday, but very glad I persevered, a great crossword with so many clever twists as highlighted above, my only quibble that flying fishes to me are more like long than high jumpers but hardly a barrier to solving, thanks Picaroon.
Ant@53 we crossed, i can’t speak for anyone else of course but i find that most ‘harder’ crosswords contain one or more clues that i get ( or sometimes fail to get) by guessing what the definition is and then coming up with a plausible synonym that fits available crossers and whatever parsing elements i can decipher. Sometimes i can then work back to the full parsing, sometimes not. Usually when not it is a newish device or abbreviation etc that i resolve to add to my mental bag of tricks for when i see it again. Sometimes it takes a few encounters to make it stick. We’ll see how it goes with NOVE for 15 days. I would think a clue using “7 days” for FE ( or BR, UA, RY) might be considered unfair but maybe this has given someone an idea!
I didn’t know there was any other way Gazzh.
Ant @53. I disagree. I got this without the crossers. Already having L in mind, I saw that 15 days is about half a month and then went through all the months looking for the right half. So I didn’t twig the ’30 days hath’ connection, but I got the answer from the wordplay. Entirely fair, I thought.
Gazzh@55 look out in the future for 15 and a half days , this will give AUG or UST or DECE or my money is on MBER which does end a lot of words.
I too guessed straight away that “fifteen days” meant “take half of one of the thirty day months”, and only NOVEmber seemed to lead anywhere. It was one of my first entries, in fact.
muffin – Well done you. I, on the other hand, was stuck thinking of the Ides of March. It soon became clear that this was merely misdirection, but it’s difficult to clear your head (well, mine anyway) of an idea like that. So I needed the crossers and then couldn’t be bothered with the parsing. 🙂
Way too late and most people have left this conversation. But just for the record, thought this was a super crossword,numerous great surfaces, many novel (! ) but fair clues, undeclared mini-Themes (my personal favourite kind).
Thanks bridgesong for a great blog of explication, all the other learned contributors on here and of course Oucaroonm
, for a superb challenge.
Superb. For some reason I entered WELFARER (well fairer, innit?) for 8dn at first and only thought about whether that was a real word when the crossers clashed. More like this, please
Forgot to say: I thought it was NOVEL straight away from the def, the final L being obvious, but didn’t parse it till right at the end, when I had an AHA MOMENT.
Yes a great puzzle. Didn’t notice the NOVEmber though. MANURED was interesting for combining those rivals and Manure being a pet name for Man U amongst some ABUs.
Thanks both.
Gosh what a revelation to read this blog and comments! I did not finish the top left hand corner (apart from the down clues which I guessed) and I couldn’t parse many of those I did get, including novel. But I loved 15d and the lovely Ikea, iPad and EBay and I even got sponge down! Thanks everyone.
A bit late, but I thought I’d add that AGA is also a brand name.