Guardian Cryptic 28,828 by Paul

by

I got stuck for a little while in solving…

…then sped to the end after putting in COUNTRY AND WESTERN (without parsing it until later), which is referenced in other clues to indicate COUNTRY, or WESTERN, or COUNTRY AND WESTERN STARs. Favourites were 9ac, 10ac, 13ac, and 22dn. Thanks to Paul.

ACROSS
9 AMERICANO
Bubbly came in, or a hot drink (9)
anagram/”Bubbly” of (came in or a)*
10 RARER
Less cooked, flipped over rump prodded by skewer, finally (5)
reversal/”flipped over” of REAR=”rump”, around final letter of skewe-R
11 HIVED
Number of suits in outhouse not originally stored away (5)
IV=4 in Roman numerals=”Number of suits [in playing cards]”, inside s-HED=”outhouse” without the first letter/’origin’
12 TURNED OUT
Untutored maverick evicted (6,3)
anagram/”maverick” of (Untutored)*
13 SURGEON
Sea swell aboard cutter (7)
SURGE=”Sea swell” + ON=”aboard”
14
See 22
17 APHID
Insect flying without left wing catches head on hatstand (5)
r-APID=”flying” without the left-most letter, around first letter/”head” of H-atstand
19
See 22
20 BELOW
Roar half-heartedly — for the next clue? (5)
definition: the next clue printed BELOW this one

BE-LL-OW=”Roar” with half of the middle L’s removed
21 NIGERIA
22 across, India, a 22 across (7)
definition: a COUNTRY (solution to 22ac)

NIGER=22ac=’country’ + I (India, Nato alphabet) + A
22, 19, 14 COUNTRY AND WESTERN
Music where woman’s parts reversed? (7,3,7)
“woman’s parts” indicates splitting the word ‘w/oman’ into two parts: ‘w’ AND ‘Oman’

‘w’ giving WESTERN and ‘Oman’ giving COUNTRY, so WESTERN AND COUNTRY, then the words are “reversed” in order
24 SINGAPORE
22 across in rift: annoyed about that (9)
definition: a COUNTRY

IN GAP=”in rift”, with SORE=”annoyed” going around
26 AXIOM
A team order established principle (5)
A + XI (eleven, “team” in e.g. football) + OM (Order of Merit)
28 AROSE
A wine came into being (5)
A + ROSÉ=”wine”
29 DIALECTAL
Face a Celt screwed up, in a manner of speaking (9)
DIAL=”Face”, plus anagram/”screwed up” of (a Celt)*
DOWN
1 CASH
Change 22 19 14 24 down (4)
double definition, including a reference to COUNTRY AND WESTERN STAR Johnny Cash
2 DENVER
22 19 14 24 down in US city (6)
double definition, including a reference to COUNTRY AND WESTERN STAR John Denver
3 MIND-READER
Psychic in fear entering water off Marseille? (4-6)
IN DREAD=”in fear”, inside MER=French word for ‘sea’=”water off Marseille?”
4 PARTON
Opening section curtailed for 22 19 14 24 down (6)
definition: reference to COUNTRY AND WESTERN STAR Dolly Parton

PART ON-e=”Opening section curtailed”
5 BORROWED
Not one’s own terrace: dug hole around it (8)
ROW=”terrace”, with BORED=”dug hole” around it
6, 8 TRUE GRIT
Deplore minimum of gravitas in almost entirely banal 14 (4,4)
definition: title of a WESTERN film

RUE=”Deplore” + “minimum of”/’only one letter of’ G-ravitas, all inside TRIT-e=”almost entirely banal”
7 ARBOREAL
Airliner emptied, a line appearing under drill on a plane, say (8)
for the definition: ‘plane’ is a name for a tree of the genus Platanus, so ARBOREAL=’on a (for example, plane) tree’

A-irline-R emptied of its inner letters, plus A + L (line) after BORE=”drill”
8
See 6
13 SPAIN
Drive round a 22 across (5)
definition: a COUNTRY

SPIN=”Drive” as in ‘take the car for a spin’, around A
15 SUBJUGATED
Jumble due, bag just put down (10)
anagram/”Jumble” of (due bag just)*
16 NO WAY
22 across observing king’s abdication? Don’t hold your breath! (2,3)
definition: phrases used to indicate that something is unlikely

NO-R-WAY=22ac=’country’, with R (Rex, “king”) removed/abdicating
18 HIGH NOON
12 up for 14 (4,4)
definition: title of a WESTERN film

NOON=12 (o’clock), so HIGH NOON=”12 up”
19 ANACONDA
Spiv in 22 across doffing cap, reptile (8)
CON=swindler=”Spiv”, inside c-ANADA=22ac=’country’, minus its top letter/”cap”
22 CRETAN
Islander certain to move when island disappears (6)
anagram/”to move” of (certain)*, minus ‘i’ for “island”
23 TWITTY
22 19 14 24 down idiotic? (6)
definition: reference to COUNTRY AND WESTERN STAR Conway TWITTY

I’ve not seen TWITTY as a word, which would make this a double definition

alternatively TWITTY could be ‘something that would mean’ “idiotic”
24 STAR
Brief spark for a shiner (4)
‘start’=”spark” e.g. ‘the event sparked/started a debate on…’

so STAR-t=”Brief spark”
25 ACER
Tree in great danger, ultimately (4)
ACE=”great” + ultimate letter of dange-R
27 MALI
22 across, not a 14 22 across (4)
definition: a COUNTRY

MAL-AW-I=22ac=’country’, minus A W (not A W-[estern] / “not a 14[across]”)

95 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 28,828 by Paul”

  1. This was as tough as usual from Paul. Thanks Manehi for parsing 22 etc and 17.
    The alternative on 23 looks right: I can find it in dictionaries

  3. I cornered myself on 11 with HENAD. Dictionary says that is the same as monad. N is “Not” originally stored away in HEAD (a ship’s outhouse). D’oh.
    Thanks Paul & Manehi

  5. Yes, MIND-READER was good. The whole puzzle turned on seeing the gateway answer about half-way through when thinking I was stuck, and then the floodgates (no pun intended) opened.

    It’s funny how you come to remember certain things. When I ran into ACER as the genus of the maples many years ago, I thought it was weird because it is Latin for sharp. I never did discover the connection, but it did stick in memory.

  6. Reputedly, the two kinds of music Keith Richards says he doesn’t like are country and western. However I loved this COUNTRY AND WESTERN (22,19,14) based puzzle, and particularly the gradual discovery of all the countries and the STAR(s) (24d) contained therein. I thought 23d TWITTY actually worked well on all three levels suggested by manehi.
    I thought “Bubbly” in 1a and “maverick” in 12a were very clever anagram indicators. One of manehi’s picks, 13a SURGEON, actually got triple ticks from me. I also liked MIND-READER, paddymelon@4. Meanwhile,1d CASH, 2d DENVER and 4d PARTON all made me smile, And then of course we had the other kinds of WESTERNs at 6/8d TRUE GRIT and 18d HIGH NOON which made for a fun tangent.
    All in all a difficult challenge in places, but well worth it! Many thanks to Paul and manehi.

  8. Not my forte, but High Noon and True Grit are standards, and then Dolly, Johnnie and John are mainstream, and I’d even heard of Twitty. Well under the hour, quick for a plodder, so for the bright sparks pretty much a write-in I’d guess. That said, I forgot about plane trees, so arboreal was as per the tin but with a def shrug. All good fun, ta P and m.

  9. Triple theme! Definitions much easier than the parsing which I failed on the key clue. Still, I was relieved it contained the three C&W stars I was familiar with (TWITTY not so). I’ve not come across rue as a synonym for deplore; only the former meaning deeply regret and the latter strongly disapprove. An enjoyable solve, but the definitions made it much quicker than usual for me.
    Thanks manehi and Paul.

  10. Some clues in the blog are different to my (printed out) copy. They are:
    11 across – Two couples accommodated in shack, though not originally moved together
    7 down – [Airliner cleared out well, almost everything on plane, say?]
    25 across – [Lead lighter?]
    It’s hard to understand how this happens. Is there not a common electronic source for both app/web/print?

    Favourites for me were TRUE GRIT (2010 film better that the 1969 one), ARBOREAL, STAR (with the paper clue) and the best C&W for the W&C ‘woman’.

  11. Tim C that’s weird. Have to see what JH has to say about it in the morning. Sorry, this evening.

  12. Thanks manehi for the parsing of 22,19, 14. I stared at it for ages without any illumination, though the initial guess from the enumeration was soon borne out by the various 22, 19, 14, 24’s, though it took me a while to remember Conway 23.
    Enjoyed the crossword anyway, but it would have been much more satisfactory to have parsed the key clue.

  13. Tim C @10

    I have an automatic process that prints the PDF version at about 00:05 and my clues match yours. If you choose the “print version” instead, you get the same clues as on-line.

    Weird

  14. That was tough until I realised an unparsed COUNTRY AND WESTERN, as a whole and in parts, was the key. Another one grateful to encounter mostly mainstream familiar Westerns and C&W stars. Did not know TWITTY, although we own stuff by Dolly and Johnny, may have had some John Denver once upon a time.

  15. Julie in Australia @6. I didn’t know Keith Richards said that. The other reference, of course, is in The Blues Brothers, when they turn up at Bob’s Country Bunker and Jake asks what kind of music they have. The barmaid/co-owner replies “Oh we have both kinds: country and western.”

  17. Back in 87, when Nashville’s ‘Music Square’ was caught between inner city decay and glitzy regeneration, I spent an hour eating a meagre catfish in radioactive breadcrumb balloon whilst looking out across the street to ‘Twitty City, the Conway Twitty Museum and Record Store’.

  19. JinA @6: I’d go one step further than Keef insofar as ‘and’ is my least favourite conjunction because it appears in the middle of Country and Western! My entire knowledge of the genre was exhausted in the first four Down clues! Add that to the fact that my least favourite Paulian crossword is the multi-solution interlinked and I’m astounded – and delighted – that I enjoyed this so much! I got COUNTRY by cracking NO(r)WAY>NO WAY and then the grid rapidly collapsed. DNF, though, as nho TWITTY. Very difficult when it’s a two word multiple definition, one requiring knowledge of the field and the other a made-up word.

    Favourites included CRETAN, MIND-READER, SUBJUGATED, BORROWED, SURGEON and RARER.

    Thanks Paul and manehi

  20. Thanks Paul and manehi.

    I found this enjoyable crossword a quick and fairly easy solve. I chuckled at the incongruity of the fate of the fly in 15a, one of Paul’s better surfaces.

  23. [kenmac @22 thanks. The link to that must be delayed for a while. Probably automatic. I’m happy to wait a bit. 🙂 ]

  24. Whilst you are probably right manehi, I thought the theme words came with Paul’s customary humour from WC (womens) reversed. Thanks to both.

  25. Classic Paul. At first it looks impossible and then the key theme clue pops into your mind and the puzzle opens up. Also classic Paul in that the theme spins off in different directions. Lots of great clues already mentioned. Thanks Paul and manehi.

  26. I have seen 9A before but always get thrown by it, as where I live it is a cold drink, particularly welcome in the current heatwave.

  27. I just bunged in COUNTRY AND WESTERN without being able to parse it. PeterH @24, that’s a good idea, but the clue says “woman’s” and not “women’s”. A WC wouldn’t normally be called the woman’s, so I think manehi’s version must be right. It is convoluted though!

    An enjoyable puzzle. Thanks Paul and manehi.

  28. I had exactly the same as Tim C and, frankly, though I correctly guessed 7D, 24D and the 22D combo – parsing them was impossible, with the clues as shown. (All three had square brackets around them – is this significant?)
    At the time I just assumed this was Paul being even more frustrating than usual – but now I’m less certain. Is it actually the Grauniad that’s to blame??
    Either way, I printed up my copy around 8am, French time, as usual – and since I habitually attempt the daily crossword over breakfast, am not wild about having to wait until later in the day….
    Or have I misunderstood that part of the explanation as well??
    Once I’d figured out the combo, much of the rest fell into place, though I was surprised at how many C&W acts I could name.
    I liked AXIOM.
    Thanks to Paul and manehi

  30. Pretty much echo Mark @19 about inter-linked clues, so I was also surprised that I really enjoyed this and it became a bit of a write-in after getting C&W early without parsing. Thanks for the link, Bodycheetah @18, one of my favourite singers. There’s also a Paulian RANDY across the bottom, a good ol’ C&W first name (i.e. Travis).
    [Thanks for your offer of technical assistance this morning Roz, that did make me chuckle]. Great finish to the weekdays.

    Ta Paul & manehi

  31. This infuriated my daughter who is here on holiday and who never does crosswords. “What kind of person who does Guardian cryptics knows anything about Country music or Westerns! It’s ridiculous! “ She still managed Acer and Mind-reader, and rose giving arose.
    I really enjoyed it, although never heard of Twitty, what sort of name is that?

  32. Well that’s definitely the quickest I’ve ever done a Paul puzzle! The theme helped enormously. I got COUNTRY AND WESTERN as my FOI (FTI?) as a lucky guess based on word length but didn’t parse it until I came here. But the rest clicked into place nicely. Am I finally tuning into Paul’s wavelength?! After finishing this I nipped back to my unfinished Paul Prize from last Saturday and a solution just popped into my head for a clue that had stumped me all week…

    ACER was new to me but I had two crossers and parsed the R from wordplay so it was a few bungs on the second letter til it clicked.

    Liked: HIVED, NIGERIA, SPAIN, AXIOM.

    Thanks both.

  33. This puzzle displays almost everything I dislike about Paul’s offerings: tricksy interlocking clues, obscure themes, iffy clues,. I omit his trademark smut but I have to say that the identity of the setter helped with 22a.

  34. I’m with you, northnorthwest @29. Despite the pleasing ones, I found this a bit meh – due to a combination of those tortuous parsings (esp C&W itself) and the ‘write in’ nature of a lot of the answers once the C&W/westerns/countries themettes were clear. Thanks, Paul and manehi.

  35. There is also EURORA coming down the right side which google tells me is an Estonian company dealing with all cross-border compliances that people and companies face when shipping goods from one COUNTRY to another. I’ve got my coat….

  36. [AlanC @35: somewhat frustrating, then, that Estonia has an Eastern and a Southern border but no WESTERN … May I share your coat? ]

  37. For one dreadful moment I wondered what Paul was up to with “woman’s parts” and the fairly obvious solution to 22, 19, 14, as my first one in was CRETAN, supplying the C. However, all was well, and this became almost a write in thereafter. Took a while for Ms PARTON to appear, as I knew she would somewhere, as I’m afraid to admit she’s about the only COUNTRY AND WESTERN singer I know, about from Mr CASH…enjoyable fun and games as always with Paul…

  39. (Can I share my two favourite C&W titles. Drop Kick Me Jesus Through the Goalposts of Life and I’d Rather Have a Full Bottle in Front of me than a Full-Frontal Lobotomy. Also, what happens if you play a C&W record backwards? Your wife comes home, your dog comes back to life and you’re no longer an alcoholic. Coat also being fetched.)

  40. [To which might be added, JerryG @39, the splendid ditty, ”I used to be your number one but now you treat me like a number two’. Yes, really.]

  41. Don’t fetch your coat JerryG. Tell me another one similar to what happens when you play C&W backwards. Classic.

  44. Wellbeck @28 has a point when he refers to “the 22D combo”. That confused me and I initially put question marks next to 14 across and 19 across which I foolishly took to refer to 22 down and so ended up wasting time trying to think of famous Cretans. Doh!!
    The square brackets Wellbeck refers to are also a puzzle and they differ between the printed version (22 across, 7 down and 24 down are surrounded by square brackets) and on-line (no square brackets). Some major editing/process problems I think.

  45. Hey careful Rob T @43. I was born there…. 🙂 That joke’s only told by disgruntled Burnley fans when we beat them.

  47. Thanks for the hints, I needed help with a couple of parsings, most notably COUNTRY AND WESTERN.
    TRUE GRIT went in as an early bung-in, it should have led me to the theme, but didn’t.
    C&W music is not for me, any genre that has a line “And papa said to mama, as he passed around the blackeyed peas,Well, Billy Joe never had a lick of sense; pass the biscuits, please” (Bobby Gentry – Ode To Billy Joe), I can pass on.
    Thanks both again.

  48. “We have both types here”
    Fortunately we were spared having to watch The Good Ol Boys.’I believe it was Gram Parsons who ditched the word “western” and since then we have had fine country music fron Steve Earl etx
    Bit lets not forget Johnny and Dolly-true greats

  49. HIYD@47: I think that the dinner time discussion in The Ballad of Billy Joe is a great piece of lyric writing. The only Bobby Gentry track I own. Not so keen on the dying dogs and poor boys killing women thata lot of C&W concerns itself with.

  50. Chardonneret@31 I’m 100% with your daughter there? Hope she’s not finding it too hot in France. Here in the Aveyron temperature up to 38° not conducive to tackling Paul!

  51. I’m not a huge fan of C&W but I make an exception for Johnny Cash – even went to one of his gigs. However I was familiar with all the musicians. I didn’t bother to try and parse COUNTRY AND WESTERN. The definition was so obvious and it was straying into Pauline humour which I find a yawn I’m afraid. After that all the countries fell in fairly quickly too, as did the films though they’re not my thing, either.

    I did like MIND-READER, BELOW and SURGEON.

    So thanks Paul, and manehi for the parsing.

  52. Thanks Paul & manehi. Like others, I’m not a huge fan of numerous interlinked clues but I did enjoy this one, and agree that MIND-READER is a standout clue, though there’s also much else to like.

    Chardonneret @31 – why shouldn’t Guardian cryptic crossword solvers be interested in country music? Are we only allowed to like chess and cricket and Gilbert & Sullivan operettas? Pffft. I’m not ashamed to say my cultural interests are broad enough that I’m familiar with all the music and film references in this puzzle.

  53. Thanks for the blog, add me to the list of people who enjoyed this despite not being a fan of multiple themes and split entries. The knowledge for the themes was pretty friendly, only had to guess TWITTY.
    I think Paul has messed up his particle physics for 11Ac, an outhouse is a microBarn and a shed is a yoctoBarn, very different.

  54. [ AlanC@30 I am always happy to share my vast knowledge of all matters IT, the key is to use the little picture to get on the main page if you have trouble with the Guardian bit. I hope my technical nomenclature is not too complex. ]

  56. Thank you Paul and manehi.
    woman = w Oman = western and country = very clever indeed.
    HoofItYouDonkey @47, please try again with ‘Ode to Billie Joe! Those seemingly banal lyrics are hiding something strange and unnerving.
    Or you could try ‘She done tore out my heart and stomped that sucker flat’.
    But better to stick with the wonderul Hank Williams!

  58. Tommy Carpenter @56 – Quite agree on Ode to Billie Joe, great song. I love the biscuits line – the way the sheer mundanity of it masks the sadness and despair.

  59. Americana rather than AMERICANO, would have been a nice addition to the theme. My sort of modern Country.

  60. nicbach @49 – listen to the Delta Sweete – a whole album of that kind of thing (not including Billie Jo though). Just magnificent. OK, that’s enough off topic stuff from me. Sorry, I’ll shut up now.

  61. I had no hope of parsing COUNTRY AND WESTERN. It became obvious when I had some crossers, so I biffed it in.

    TimC@41 What do you get when you play New Age music backwards? New Age music.

    My printer is misbehaving, so I had to do the puzzle online this morning instead of in bed last night, which means I occasionally resorted to the Check button. Enjoyed it, I like interlinked puzzles. (Araucaria used to create very elaborate ones.) Thanks to Paul and manehi.

  62. The different clues issue gets curiouser. If you open the pdf it displays the correct version but if you then download it the clues in question are the older/incorrect ones. Did manage to parse 7 down and 25 across from the old clues but was baffled by 11 across.

  64. Thanks Paul – loved the interlocking themes, a real tour de force. Thanks also to manehi for the couple I couldn’t parse. [I understand and share some of the sceptical comments about C&W. Bob Newhart said it best when he said “I don’t like country music, but I don’t mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means ‘put down’.” But, it’s a broad church (as it were) and there’s lots to celebrate – so just for balance let’s mention Gillian Welch, Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons, Alison Krauss (without Robert Plant), Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, The Carter Family ….]

  66. Tough puzzle. Guessed 22/19/14 but could not parse it. Also did not parse 17ac, 3d (only got as far as DREAD in MINER).

    New: TWITTY = idiotic as well as singer Conway Twitty.

    Liked SINGAPORE.

    Thanks, both.

  67. Thank you manehi: enjoyed it, solved it; but unimpressively, since the parsing of the long one was too clever for me. One up to you John. Lovely puzzle of the involved sort I really appreciate: shall tell him so this evening.

  68. I actually finished this one by myself, without any help from G, which is pretty unusual for a Paul. The C&W theme (which I couldn’t parse, so thank you Manehi) helped. I don’t really understand why some people don’t like crosswords with linked clues or split entries etc. If it was like that every day I might get a bit fed up but surely life is the spice of variety. Or something like that.
    On another note, am I the only person left who actually buys the newspaper, and attempts the crossword with a pen over breakfast?

  69. HYD @47: not sure whether to thank you or not for the ear worm (in the local with my son and he’s fed up listening to me jumping off Tallahassee Bridge). Roz @54: nomenclature = brainbox? Candymandad54 @64 (sounds like a Qaos clue) – great quip from a wonderful US comic.

  70. I’m surprised that several people here had never heard of Conway Twitty. The man had 55 number one hits on the country charts (more than Cash, Parton and Denver combined), and a pop number one with It’s Only Make Believe. When he died in 1993, it was massive news here in the U.S.

  71. Thanks Paul – loved the interlocking themes, a real tour de force. Thanks also to manehi for the couple.
    [Big shoutout to Candymandad54 @64 for his post listing some of my favourite Country Singers.]

  72. I’m reminded of the great drummer, Buddy Rich, when he was in hospital, towards the end of his life, for a major operation. He was asked if there was anything he was allergic to. ‘Yes,’ he replied, ‘country and western music ‘!

  73. AlanC @69 – Profuse apologies.
    If it’s any consolation, I am also suffering from many walks along Choctaw Ridge.

  76. HarpoSpeaks@68. No, you’re not. I’m a pen&paper woman, and I know Roz is. I’m sure there are others. Personally I can’t do a crossword without a pen in my hand. My late husband and I used to refer to the pen as the thinking stick.

    Thank you manehi for the parsing of COUNTRY AND WESTERN. I got nowhere near that despite spending all afternoon (on and off) worrying at it. I also couldn’t parse STAR. I did think of Start, but dismissed it. Doh!

    Totally agree with JerryG@25. I almost always nearly despair of getting anywhere with a Paul puzzle, but I know if I keep at it there will almost certainly be an Aha! moment which then makes the rest much easier (I wouldn’t say write-in!)

  77. Yes Moth , I cannot concentrate unless I am holding a pen. I buy my paper early but I do not look at the crossword until my way home on the train, I like it to last 20 minutes.

  78. I love the witty surface readings like “22 up for 14” etc. I thought the key clue was abysmal. Not my kind of puzzle. Too mechanical, not enough art, though I appreciate the setters efforts. Basically a grid fill exercise rather than clueing.

  79. [ AlanC@69 , you with your English degree and me a humble scientist . I was mocking my lack of knowledge of IT terms, though I am rather proud of it really . ]

  80. HIYD@47 – you have rightly taken a lot of flak for that comment. If you do not understand the idea of ‘Southern Gothic’. then try some Flannery O’Connor.

  81. [AlanC @75
    I’m glad you remembered – I’ve been biting my cheek so as not to make the impolite correction 🙂 ]
    As for the puzzle, I suspect that Paul had much more fun compiling it than I did solving it.

  82. Oh yes, and it was a pity that Emmylou couldn’t be fitted in. Her Daniel Lanois albums are the only “country” I like (unless you include Lanois himself).

  83. Three errors:

    7D: I tried to make the “say” be a homophone indicator, rather than indicating an example of a wider category, so the ARBOREAL referred to a type of plain, rather than an attribute of a tree.
    4D: I had the opening section of a room be its partition, which is curtailed by removing the “…iti…” hence PARTON.
    22A-19D-14A: I was fixated by the quote from Hamlet concerning a woman’s parts and could not get my mind out the gutter long enough to parse it:

    “Do you think I meant country matters?”
    “I think nothing, my lord.”
    “That’s a fair thought to lie between maids’ legs.”

    [Nothing being slang for vagina…as in Much Ado About Nothing]

  87. I enjoyed this puzzle. Got all the words, only failing (as so many others) to parse C&W. (Best for me on a Paul Puzzle.) Only one unfamiliar word at 29a.

    At the beginning, I noted all the inter-related clues, which told me 22 was the key to the puzzle. From STAR and CRETAN, I got SINGAPORE, which gave 22=COUNTRY and the rest fell into place.

    Last to parse (after I shut down my computer) was HIGH NOON. I of course was looking at 12a, and even looked at “12 up” (TRAP) — which I suspect was intentional.

    Favorite clues for me were ANACONDA, 17a, where “Left wing” = “R”, and 7d for the Aha! moment of how ARBOREAL could mean “on a plane”.
    I think 16d may also be a homophone?

  88. I learned to enjoy country music while driving solo cross-country. It was a leisurely trip from Dallas to LA, avoiding the interstates wherever possible. I found listening to the C&W ballads (especially since I didn’t know them) kept my mind alert.

  89. And of course, I enjoyed all the countries from around the world in the puzzle.

    While puzzling over 22/19/14, I came up with an (unpolished) clue:
    Country and western star standing in London. (6)
    Answer

  90. manehi — great blog — While I correctly parsed most of the answers, to explain them clearly is difficult. And BRILLIANT parsing of 22/19/14. — that’s why you’re the blogger and I’m only the reader!

  91. I didn’t try to parse COUNTRY AND WESTERN as “woman’s parts” scared me.
    Not a great theme for me but enjoyed it.
    Thanks both

  92. So, we have a clue that most people here could not parse even after working out the solution from crossers and the derived answers. Maybe a result of the weak indication of definition by example and (worse) a partitioning of “woman” that owes more to the needs of the clueing than any natural subdivision (unless your native language is Lisp)..
    Otherwise mostly a quick solve.

  93. I really enjoyed this puzzle, more for the geography than the music though. I completely blanked on DENVER but in all fairness, it’s easy to forget that it’s in the middle there. Also, when I was a kid listening to 8-track recordings of John Denver, I never dreamed I was listening to C&W despite his thankfulness for being a country boy. To me he’ll always be a pop singer.

    As for dear Conway, I know who he is but I’m not surprised others don’t. He had nowhere the crossover appeal of the other stars cited.

  94. This crossword proves that you don’t have to like C&W to know all about it! Like so many others, I got the 22, 19, 14 theme without parsing it, and after reading AndrewTyndall @88 I’m not sure that our blogger has got the only way of parsing it!

    Possibly my quickest ever Paul solve, with only BORROWED holding me up at all, once I’d solved 14a by referring back from 6, 8 – and that only because ‘dug a hole’ is a poor synonym for BORED, in my opinion. (I haven’t checked whether Chambers agrees with me. 🙂 )

    I also failed (ie couldn’t be bothered – the answer was clear) to parse APHID, because I couldn’t see ‘flying’=(R)APID.

    Favourite was ‘deplore minimum of gravitas in almost entirely banal (western)’ for the extended description of C&W artist Glen Campbell’s performance in TRUE GRIT. Chapeau!

    Thanks to Paul and manehi.

  95. In desperation I parsed 22, 19, 14 as WOMAN’S = LADIES= WC the parts of which when reversed = CandW. Pretty improbable but not much more so than the real answer.

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