Guardian 28,894 – Paul

by

Friday fun from Paul…

…with a lot of vessels in the clues; several of them providing the definition, others significant parts of the wordplay. Thanks to Paul.

 
Across
9 ESOTERICA Unusual items, no good in different categories (9)
Anagram of CATEGORIES less G
10 AORTA Vessel in felucca or tanker (5)
Hidden in feluccA OR TAnker
11 VATICAN CITY Small state in India defended by two vessels, cavalry on the borders capturing it (7,4)
I[ndia] in VAT + CAN, + IT in C[avalr]Y
12 FRIGATE Vessel opening after day (7)
FRI[day] + GATE
13 MUMMY Cleopatra‘s milk supplier? (5)
Double definition: Cleopatra was presumably mummified after her death, and mothers provide milk to babies (or possibly just a cryptic definition?)
14 CARGO SHIP Mythological vessel’s command­eered by token vessel (5,4)
ARGO’S in CHIP (token in a casino)
16 THREE MEN IN A BOAT Something to read on cracking theme with vessel after vessel (5,3,2,1,4)
RE (on) THEME + NINA (one of Columbus’s ships) + BOAT
19 LOVEBIRDS Solid verb forms for flyers (9)
(SOLID VERB)*
22 CURATOR Endless poison’s fed to keeper (7)
TO in CURAR[e]
23 CHARTER PARTY Nautical agreement where companion given role aboard vessel (7,5)
CH (Companion of Honour) + PART (role) in ARTERY. Also spelt as a single word, it’s ‘a maritime contract between a shipowner and a “charterer” for the hire of either a ship for the carriage of passengers or cargo, or a yacht for pleasure purposes.’
24 SEIZE Capture 16 when crossing the Chanel? (5)
SEIZE is French for the number 16: the last word of the clue should surely be “Channel”
25 POTPOURRI Mixed bag in sink on tip, even bits of fruit (9)
POT (to sink, e.g. a snooker ball) + POUR (tip) + the even letters of fRuIt
Down
1 HEAVY METAL Arsenic, for example — a noted conversation stopper? (5,5)
Double definition: as loud music, Heavy Metal could prevent conversation with its “notes”
2 MORTIMER Initial of mine on gold watch for author John (8)
M[ine] + OR + TIMER – this writer
3 TETCHY Irritable, score having replaced everything in tally (6)
ETCH replacing ALL in TALLY
4 SIGN Initial ship gone, every other one leaving (4)
Alternate letters of ShIp GoNe
5 CAR FERRIES Vessels in decay loaded with iron on banks of river (3,7)
FE (iron) + R[ive]R in CARIES (dental decay)
6 MANITOBA First of mariners in a boat at sea somewhere in Canada (8)
M + (IN A BOAT)*
7 BREATH Inhalation on filling vessel (6)
RE (on – also used in 16a) in BATH
8 SALE OR RETURN Result rare, on breaking retail agreement (4,2,6)
(RESULT RARE ON)*
14 CHERRY RIPE Singer on grass penning epitaph for old English song (6,4)
CHER (singer) + RIP (epitaph) in RYE
15 POTTY-TRAIN Loco and carriages show how to go (5-5)
POTTY (mad, loco) + TRAIN (carriages)
17 EMBITTER Setter upset, beer upset! (8)
Reverse ME (setter) + BITTER (beer)
20 VERMIN Commandos transported by vessel, obnoxious types (6)
RM (Royal Marines, commandos) in VEIN
21 PHAROS Wonder if pub has a shortage of wine (6)
PH (Public House) + A ROS[é]; the Pharos (Lighthouse) of Alexandria was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
22 CASK Vessel in question south of Cuba, originally (4)
C[uba] + ASK

77 comments on “Guardian 28,894 – Paul”

  1. Really enjoyed this crossword, fastest ever Paul for me.
    Re 24: I thought a typo also, but two suggestions among the comments were: ‘a cheeky bit of francophony’ from @ozofriendly, and ‘franglais’ from @copmus. I think they might have something there.

  2. Second to comment and I have nothing to say. I was wondering who John Portimer was for a while….
    Thanks Paul and Andrew

  3. Well, I found this considerably plainer sailing (pun intended) than the last two outings from Paul. And very enjoyable too. Made up for the lack of difficulty with bags of wit and charm – particularly enjoyed the well found anagram for ESOTERICA, the small state in India, TETCHY, POTPOURRI, among others.

    Nho CHARTER PARTY or CHERRY RIPE but both were very gettable from the wordplay, good clues.

    Had a strange blind spot with 24a – even though I speak French! I’m blaming the typo, which I’m sure is a typo not deliberate.

    Thanks for the blog, Andrew.

  4. Quickest Paul solve in a long time but very enjoyable with the various vessels. Thought SEIZE was fiendish and HEAVY METAL hilarious.

    Ta Paul & Andrew.

  6. Re 13 (MUMMY), it seems that Cleopatra was not mummified, but simply entombed, after her suicide. Possibly, the Googlesphere suggests, this was a decision by Octavian to disgrace her, since royals were supposed to be mummified to obtain eternal life. (I so wanted the answer to be CAMEL.)

  7. Spent a while trying to find a word for young donkey (milk provider) that fitted __M_Y and when that failed googled “young ass” – oh dear – god knows what my targeted ads will be now 🙂

    Fave was CURATOR – “to” just looked so insignificant in the wordplay and yet …

    And there’s a NINA albeit in THREE MEN IN A BOAT

    Cheers P&A

  8. Not Paul at his toughest but hard enough. I had a query about MUMMY for ‘Cleopatra’ and I read YesMe2 @6’s comment with interest. Never heard of CHARTER PARTY and took a long time to see the very tricky ‘Wonder’ def for PHAROS as my last in.

    Thanks to Paul and Andrew

  9. Clever to get so many “vessels” into the puzzle, and some clues – THREE MEN IN A BOAT, SEIZE (come on, people, it’s the Grauniad, it’s a misprint), CHERRY RIPE, POTTY TRAIN, EMBITTER come to mind – are really neat. POTTY TRAIN is the Paul of old. And most of the surfaces are decent, too. It can’t be easy to be as prolific as Paul, and I’m happy to see him back to something like his best form.
    Arsenic, though, isn’t a metal, heavy or otherwise. It’s a metalloid. I’m a bit surprised that clue didn’t use “lead” with a bit of misdirection to make us think it was a verb.
    Thanks, both.

  10. YesMe2 @6, I so wanted the answer to be ERNIE.

    I thought 16 was a peach of a clue, and Chanel (No. 16) inadvertently supplied la crème. Thanks P & A.

  11. Paul you forgot to post it for digital subscribers – again. Or is this a crusade to bolster newsstand sales?

  12. Like WordPlodder@8 I found this hard enough! But loads of fun, particularly HEAVY METAL, POTTY-TRAIN and EMBITTER. Many thanks to P & A.

  13. Not usually my favourite setter but enjoyed this.

    Nho CHARTER PARTY but the word play led easily to it.

    SEIZE is of several exceptions to the “I before E when the sound is EE” rule. In fact there are so many exceptions, one wonders if rule is justified at all.

    Felt PHAROS was the pick of the bunch today, and not too many bonkers surfaces.

    Many thanks, both.

  14. William @13 – For personal reasons, I am certainly with you on the i before e stuff.
    (I remember a very long time ago Ted Willis gently took the mickey out of this “rule” by having one of the dafter characters in Dixon of Dock Green suggest that it was “E before I except after Y, as in YIELD…”)

  15. Somewhat ghoulish juxtaposition via the lactating mummy … sort of Vincent Price meets Woody Allen with a hint of Rosemary’s Baby. Trust Paul!

  17. Agreed with just about all of the above comments, and with AORTA, Vein and Artery all included it wasn’t a totally nautical theme. POTTY TRAIN raised a smile, as did HEAVY METAL, and very much a gentler than normal challenge from Paul this morning…

  18. When I saw Paul’s name at the head, I thought, “Oh no! And it isn’t the weekend yet!”. But this was rather gentle for Paul, and very enjoyable with the almost-double theme (blood vessels and maritime vessels – two themea for the price of one, which I thought was a neat trick).

    I totally misread 24a, so any typo went “woosh!” over my head. As did any potential jokes for francophones.

    Thanks to Paul and Andrew

  19. Solved SW corner last.

    I did not parse 14ac apart from ARGO; NINA in 16ac; 22ac.

    I agree that 24ac is a typo, Chanel should be Channel. 16 in French = seize.

    New for me: CHARTER PARTY.

    Thanks, both.

  20. While the gridfill flowed readily, there were quite a few shrugs. Charter Party, Sale or Return, Pharos, and the song (but not the confection!) were unfamiliar, and no way would I have got Columbus’s boat Nina. So, ta Paul, lots to learn, and ta Andrew .. succinct blog as per.

  21. AlanD@11 – I’ve been using the subscriber app for about four years. When a crossword doesn’t appear on it my first thought is always “probably a Paul today”. I’ve wondered in the past if he submits his puzzles later than other compilers.
    Thanks to Paul and Andrew

  23. A swift but enjoyable solve with a fun theme. Favourites were POTTY TRAIN and the sly SEIZE.
    Thanks to Paul and Andrew.

  24. Paul light with a enough tricky clues not to make it too plain sailing. I did wonder if the URN in SALE OR RETURN had originally been planned as part of the vessel theme. There is a (probably coincidental) Nina in the central column that describes what this puzzle is.

    PHAROS held me up – I was trying to get a ‘Stevie’ connection. I liked SEIZE but think jury is out on typo until Paul gives his verdict, though it doesn’t properly make sense if the Coco version was intentional. Nho a CHARTER PARTY either.

    Good Friday stuff. Thanks to Paul and Andrew.

  25. Well this was a theme right up my sea lane. This was a really enjoyable Paul and the intertwining of surface and solutions was very neat. THREE MEN IN A BOAT, POTTY TRTAIN and CHERRY RED were my podium. As the first has reminded me to re-read one of my favourite comedic novels, today is a double plus. If there was going to be a typo, at leat it was one that still steered us in the direction of things French!

    Thanks Paul and Andrew

  27. I needed the blog to tell me that Nina was a boat in TMIAB.
    Favourites were HEAVY METAL (I note that Wiki lists Arsenic as one), TETCHY (for the substitution) and POTTY TRAIN (for the show how to go).
    bodycheetah @16… the name of the chocolate bar well loved by me and other Aussies probably originated from the song at least according to this.

  29. Paul or Boatman? By no means the trickiest for this setter.

    I liked the inclusion of one of Columbus’s ships – especially as it was a NINA, as others have remarked. Other favourites were PHAROS and SEIZE – the typo reinforced for me the French indication, deliberate or not.

    CHERRY RIPE may be best known as a song, but it is a setting of a poem by Robert Herrick, one of several to ‘Julia’. My favorite starts:
    Whenas in silks my Julia goes
    Then, then methinks how sweetly flows
    The liquefaction of her clothes

    One grumble: arsenic is certainly ‘heavy’ but is not strictly a metal – rather a semi-metal or ‘metalloid’.

    Thanks to S&B

  30. My FOI – AORTA. That’s Strine for “somebody should do something about it”, as in “Aorta send Peter Dutton to Manus on indefinite detention and see how he likes it”. I did wonder if Cleo was mummified – unlikely, it seems. Good stuff. Thanks, Paul and Andrew.

  33. [CHERRY RIPE brought back a bad memory for me. When I was about seven, I had a class teacher who was known locally as a singer. This ogress – she was large, overweight and towered over us little kids – inflicted whole-class singing on her charges every week. If we didn’t perform to her satisfaction she would bellow so the whole school could hear, or even hit us with a ruler. It’s no wonder that I didn’t like music throughout for a long time afterwards.

    A while back, I met someone about ten years younger than me at a school reunion. She had had the same ogress and had retained the same memory of CHERRY RIPE.]

  34. There is NO typo.in 24a. It’s a brilliantly clever play on words. Chanel 16 (seize) is the name of a perfume.
    Thanks to Paul for a great puzzle and to Andrew for the helpful blog.

  35. Yes, great fun dealing with all these vessels. My favourites already mentioned in dispatches.
    Many thanks to Paul and Andrew, and thanks to preceding contributors for an interesting read. [Loved your contextual use of “AORTA”, TassieTim@30]

  36. I wondered if Paul had something up his French sleeve with Chanel, but decided it was just a typo. Nothing for a Roman to carpe about, anyway. I enjoyed this.

  37. A couple of tricky parses in here, although I was my own worst enemy by misreading the enumeration for 8/18D, so was looked for a (4,8) for rather a long time.

    Stand-out was HEAVY METAL, which was juuust on the side of fair, but as it fell on that side, it was marvellous. Smart variations on the theme as well, from boats to tubes to tins.

    Thanks Paul and Andrew.

  38. Ah, ok Julie @34, the crossing is the movement of clue elements rather than the normal “sounds French”. Makes perfect sense now.

  41. Loved this from start to finish even though it was much easier than standard Paul fare.

    Faves were VERMIN and CHERRY RIPE.

    Confused a bit by Chanel until the obvious smacked me in the face. Still think it’s a typo.

    Thanks Paul and Andrew

  42. Slowly pieced together the vessels and it was fun.

    Despite the comments of Julie@34 and Salad@38, I prefer to think that Chanel is a typo; why does ‘crossing the Chanel’ make better sense than ‘crossing the Channel’. Anyway, perhaps Paul will put us out of our misery.

    I liked VATICAN CITY for the misleading ‘small state in India’, POTTY-TRAIN for the definition, and the aforementioned SEIZE for the misleading use of 16.

    Thanks Paul and Andrew.

  43. Salad@38: Could you please elaborate? I have stared and stared at it (24) but can’t figure out what you mean.

  44. wordworrier @38 I meant that we are to put the 16 after (crossing) the Chanel. I think. but if the is no Chanel no. 16 then I retract the statement. “:?”

    Come on Paul, spill the beans!

  46. Gervase @31 – No apologies called for.
    It did surprise me that, Paul being Paul, there wasn’t any reference to the first four letters of the element in question. Perhaps he’s decided to stop arsine about.
    I’ll get my coat.

  49. Salad @44: Thanks for clarifying. As you say, it would have been fine, but…. And yes, Paul, please tell us. Some on the discussion page insist it’s not a typo but a brilliant play on words, but of course they can’t say any more there. Wish one of them would come over here and explain.

  50. Alans @48 – just meant that it is a bit of a ‘CAN DO’, as in ‘container party’. An atrocious pun for which I only half apologise.

    Re the typo/clever clue, it would seem Paul-ine for him to be enjoying our mystification so I, for one, am saying no more about it.

  51. Re the putative typo, I recall there was a Chanel No 19, and of course ‘The Fast Show’ had Chanel 9 🙂

  52. Typo apart, did Paul intend us to mislead us into imagining the Border Force capturing THREE MEN IN A BOAT crossing the Channel?

  53. Relatively accessible for a Paul (relatively). Liked POTTY TRAIN, EMBITTER and MUMMY.

    I’d bet hard cash that ‘Chanel’ is a typo. Justifications that it’s deliberate aren’t making any sense to me…

    Cheers both.

  55. Gervase @47 – Indeed. And I’ve always had a suspicion that the Bard, who had a fair streak of mischief as witness his notorious doggerel referring to Dodging Exhall, Papist Wixford, Beggarly Broom and Drunken Bidford, quite deliberately arranged for Bottom to wear the head of an ass, a word which is often pronounced to rhyme with farce.

  56. Did anyone else try DEATH METAL for 1d? I was pretty sure that was right until 11a ruled it out.

    Funny how the singer nearly always turns out to be CHER (14d).

    Enjoyable puzzle. Many thanks Paul and Andrew.

  57. Many thanks, Paul, Andrew and all. Much enjoyed. Was on wavelength until for some potty reason putting in SEINE for the elusive SEIZE.

    Wanted PHENOM rather than PHAROS for a while. Yes, it was nice to have the AORTA, VEIN and ARTERY subtheme.

  59. Sometimes I skip Paul (but I never skip Mudd) but I’m glad I solved this one albeit with a couple of errors. I really liked VATICAN CITY, CARGO SHIP, TETCHY, CAR FERRIES, POTTY-TRAIN, and EMBITTER (great surface.) Thanks to both.

  60. Thanks for the blog, a good set of clues but again on the friendly side, we need a Big Bad Wolf tomorrow.
    Perhaps Paul is Everyman and Pharos is the follow on clue to the recent Alexandria .
    Petert@52 has a good point, K was named after a Hungarian and Harris was Polish.
    Even if Chanel No16 did exist , I fail to see how that part of the clue would give SEIZE, I am in the misprint camp.

  62. William @13: I’d genuinely never heard that pronunciation/spelling rule for English before. The only similar one I know is for German where I was taught you pronounce the second vowel (ein, sieben etc)- this feels “borrowed” from that. All I know is the “after C” one which is obviously nonsense. My own personal rule is “I before E except when it isn’t (and possibly also on Tuesdays).

    Lovely puzzle. Made me want to have a re-read of Three Men In A Boat. Such a fun read.

  64. [I find that the difficulty or easiness of a cryptic crossword solve depends very much on my own state of mind, including how well I slept and how much time I have available to solve it. When I was working, all crosswords were therefore hard and seldom completed. In the Covid lockdowns, solving became increasingly easy as there were no other demands on my time. Now that I can fully exploit the endless free time of retirement, I have less and less time for the crossword and the pressure of trying to solve it quickly before catching a bus or train makes the solving that much more difficult.

    So when I comment I am careful to say “I found this easy” or “I found this difficult”. Other commenters seem to find the word “gentle” slips off their typing fingers more easily without the need to interpose “I found this”. The crossword itself, however, is not (generally speaking) gentle or more gentle than usual, and there are no doubt many people like me, and for many reasons, who did not necessarily find the solve easy, and came here for enlightenment or to find some solace in the fact that others made the same (possibly stupid) mistakes as they did.

    I have said this before with little effect, but I do wish that people who are about to type “this was gentle” would just have a little pause before typing.]

  67. Thanks Andrew as I would never have parsed the JKJ classic (got a good way into it, enjoyed it but then somehow put it down and lost it) and couldn’t parse 23/21 beyond PART, I will blame the physical split for that but probably unfairly. While I don’t think this quite hit the giddy heights of his recent prize effort it was still excellent with a few that had me scratching my head into the afternoon, thanks Paul.

  68. Gervase @32. I had Queen for 13 originally,which does work perfectly when you consider the mother cat!

    Thanks Paul and Andrew

  69. [sheffield hatter @64: I always assume the phrase “I found this …” is implicit in all posts that address difficulty level or the overall quality of a crossword. These assessments are opinions no matter how factual they sound.]

  71. Marvellous fun – one might almost suggest this is a Muddy puzzle from Paul.
    I confidently entered ASSES for 13a – well, it is a Paul. 1d put me right.
    Thanks for the blog Andrew.

  73. Greenlander@72, for what it’s worth, I totally agree with you. Paul’s puckish sense of humour. And I thought it amusing.

  75. wordworrier@74, I admit that the clue would still work perfectly well if spelt with a double n (either capitalised or not). I feel that Paul’s sense of humour is on display (as said by Rosella@73), in that he is further hinting at the translation to French being the right path to follow. For those of us not in the UK, the word channel does not instantly invoke the image of the expanse of water separating England from France… and many setters have been castigated in the past for being too UK centric. I, for one, appreciated the extra nudge.
    The alternative is to believe that Paul made an error and it was not picked up by Guardin editors either. Considering the critical importance of every word/letter to a cryptic clue, I would prefer to think that this was not the case.

  76. Greenlander @75: This is late, but if you see it, thanks. Your explanation suggests the two items cited in the first comment here were more or less correct.

  77. Very belatedly : 24a also held me up for a while {despite having reasonable French} as I immediately thought of No 5 {THE Chanel} and assumed there had to be a V in there – but no suitable words obliged me. But eventually SEIZE, which has to mean a typo in the clue, occured to me. May I also say that I very much agree with sheffield hatter 64, on a good day I can breeze through an xword which would baffle me on a bad one.

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