Guardian 28,947 – Paul

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Phew, that was hard work. It took me a long time to get going with this, even after solving the crucial 10 across. Thanks to Paul.

After getting 10a I was wondering what sort of PLAYERS I was looking for, and hoping it wasn’t going to be obscure (to me) footballers. But as it turned they are all (apart from the synonym at 1a) actors from the early days of film, and fortunately all the names were familiar to me, so I got there in the end without aids.

 
Across
1 PERFORMER Through, old 10 (9)
PER (through) + FORMER (old).
6 BEVY Number of ladies drink (4)
Double definition – in the drink sense perhaps more usually spelled “bevvy” (short for beverage)
8 PICKFORD Best car for old 10 (8)
PICK (best) + FORD, giving our first named PLAYER, Mary Pickford
9 HARDLY Learner inspired by old 10 not at all! (6)
L in [Oliver] HARDY
10 PLAYER Person in the van covering for musician (6)
LAYER (covering) with P[erson] leading or “in the van”
11 SWAN SONG Old 10 at end of evening, sunset (4,4)
[Gloria] SWANSON + [evening]G
12 KIND OF Pretty female attending family celebration (4,2)
KIN (family) + DO (party, celebration) + F
15 ECSTATIC Airborne traffic, ultimately, still high (8)
Last letters of airbornE traffiC + STATIC (still)
16 GOLDFISH Old 10 embracing the same foxtrot — is one’s memory short? (8)
OLD (“the same”, referring to the first word of the clue) + F[oxtrot] in [Lillian] GISH
19 LARDON Teacher after caper cut piece of bacon or pork (6)
LAR[k] + DON
21 HANNIBAL Dynasty has backed party in general (8)
HAN (Chinese dynasty) + reverse of LAB[our] IN
22 BUSTER KEATON Old 10 in general thwarted by Spooner? (6,6)
Spoonerism of “Custer beaten”
25 CHAPLAIN Old 10 tackling a clergyman (8)
A in [Charlie] CHAPLIN
26 TSAR Ruler thwacking student across rump, originally (4)
First letters of Thwacking Student Across Rump
27 SULTANATE A last tune composed in Oman, for example (9)
(A LAST TUNE)*
Down
1 PHIAL Old prince shortly drinking a bottle of medicine (5)
A in PHIL (the later Prince Philip – I somehow doubt anyone ever caled him Phil)
2 REKEYED Plant opened by appropriate tool, entered again (7)
REED (plant) “opened by” KEY (a tool for opening)
3 ODOUR Oxygen dismal in air (5)
O + DOUR
4 MEDUSAE Sea harness restraining a jellyfish (7)
MED (sea) + A in USE (to harness). I thought of MEDUSA early on but discounted it as it wouldn’t fit, only later seeing the sneaky plural
5 REHEARSAL Trial judges ingenuine? (9)
HEARS in REAL (“in genuine”). The OED marks “ingenuine” as rare, and it can mean either genuine or not genuine (cf flammable/inflammable)
6 BARISTA Obstacle, as it’s windy for server (7)
BAR + (AS ITS)*
7 VALENTINO Red perhaps worn by uncapped genius, old 10 (9)
[t]ALENT in VINO (e.g. red wine) but isn’t the inclusion the wrong way round?
13 IDOLATERS Pagans, ones about to procrastinate? (9)
Procrastinaters might be described as “I DO LATER”S. Better parsing from Mike: DO LATER in 1S
14 FAIRBANKS Old 10, adequate old goalkeeper (9)
FAIR (adequate) + BANKS (Gordon B, goalkeeper who played in the 1966 World Cup final). The player is Douglas Fairbanks, presumably Senior rather than Junior to fit the theme
17 DONATOR Angel in bronze lifted through gate (7)
Reverse of TAN in DOOR. An angel is a backer of e.g. theatrical productions, but they’re usually hoping to make a return rather than just donating money
18 HELICAL One Manx cat in suffering, coiled up (7)
1 CA[t] (tailless cat) in HELL
20 ROSELLA Parrot soared, everyone soared (7)
ROSE + reverse of ALL – one for our Australian solvers?
22 BRAGA Crow going over a Portuguese city (5)
BRAG (to boast, crow) + A
23 ELITE Best part of planet I left, after launch? (5)
Hidden in reverse (i.e. after an upward launch) of planET I LEft

107 comments on “Guardian 28,947 – Paul”

  3. Andrew I think 6d is Obstacle, as it is windy for server. Therefore Bar + (as it)* and 7d is worn by as put on.

  5. What a fun puzzle. Andrew, I don’t share your worry about VALENTINO. (t)ALENT is worn by VINO as in covered by.

  8. Parsed IDOLATERS as Mike @1. Like you Andrew, I thought it was going to be old footballers (Gordon BANKS did appear), which I would have liked but old actors were right up my street as well. I watched Chump at Oxford with Laurel & Hardy yesterday so I was looking for at least one of them. I had to work my way up with TSAR and SULTANATE foi. Absolutely superb puzzle with way too many ticks and very pleased to have finished, what at first, looked like an impossible endeavour.

    Ta Paul & Andrew.

  9. BARISTA doesn’t need the “‘S” in the anagrist.
    I don’t think the inclusion is the wrong way round in VALENTINO. I read it that the uncapped genius wore the ‘red’, hence the ‘red’ (vino) was worn.
    I parsed IDOLATERS slightly differently. IS (ones) about DO LATER (to procrastinate), but I think I prefer your version Andrew. I did wonder about the equivalence of Pagan and Idolater in there. Are Pagans necessarily idol worshippers?
    Favourite for me was ROSELLA, a beautiful bird I see sometimes, narrowly beaten in spectacularity by the Rainbow Lorikeet who I used to feed from a spoon. Their aggressiveness is a down side.

  10. Crispy@7
    I missed the point. I thought Flinthead was suggesting a different definition.
    Sorry, Flinthead. Thanks, Crispy.

  15. Got 10 almost immediately but my smug confidence evaporated rapidly. Paul is often daunting at forest but once a few crossers go in it all starts to flow

    Top marks for REHEARSAL, MEDUSAE & and the succinct BEVY

    Cheers P&A

    [ps: where have the killer sudokus gone!?]

  18. Wow – as Andrew said, hard work. A lot of staring for the first ten minutes. Didn’t get PLAYER till near the end, but saw BUSTER KEATON so knew what was going on, more or less. Favourites were GOLDFISH, KIND OF, SWAN SONG and IDOLATERS. Many thanks to P & A.

  19. I struggled on my first attempt but battered my way to about halfway, then at the second sitting the rest fell into place. I couldn’t parse the crucial 10a and I only solved it after finding the theme the hard way. My way in was Hardy and Chaplin, so I was thinking comedians to start with before the light dawned. Most of the players were familiar after I found them, but it’s not a subject I think about much so I mostly got them from the wordplay then recognised the name.

    All seemed obvious in retrospect (the sign of a good clue in my opinion) except I couldn’t decide between Bevs (Beverages) or Bevy for 6a. Both still seem equally good to me.

  20. I agree this was challenging to get into, even with PLAYER solved. Musicians, actors and sportspeople all seemed possible and Paul has form for using key words that can have multiple categories of answer. It was a bit of a relief when I began to realise they all appeared to be film stars – though the Golden Age is not the one with which I am particularly familiar. Amusing to see that Andrew fell into exactly the same hole as me with MEDUSA/E.

    Favourites today include HARDLY, KIND OF, ECSTATIC, LARDON, HANNIBAL, the aforementioned MEDUSAE, BARISTA, IDOLATORS (parsed as Mike) and HELICAL. COTD, because I love a neat Spoonerism, is BUSTER KEATON. I suspect it’s been done before but it’s a lovely spot.

    Thanks Paul and Andrew

  21. Just a plug for the poor goldfish, I’m sure I’ve heard somewhere that there’s evidence they can learn and retain learnings long-term.

  22. [AlanC @12: there is a setter over on MyC who will be very pleased if they see this thread, having clued SWAN SONG in the same way and making use of that very coincidence. To come up with the same idea as Paul and then see it lauded in the Comments will be very rewarding. Even better – if slightly stretchy – I see from Wiki that it was almost her own swan song: she made just three movies afterwards and they were very low profile.]

  24. Andrew, thank you for 21: shows how occidentocentric I must be that I didn’t get it. [To respond to #21 grantinfreo, I put four small goldfish into my new pond in May, and I’m sure that (once they stopped hiding and got used to us) they expect the food to be put in a certain area of the surface. Put it somewhere else and they are much slower to find it.] I’ve complimented Mr Halpern on this puzzle on the G page, but I’ll repeat here that I found it very enjoyable and clever, especially the little extras he managed to get in – General, Sunset and probably others.

  26. As is often the case, I reverse-engineered PLAYER from other clues, with HARDLY and VALENTINO being my first couple in. Yes, the clue for SWAN SONG with the reference to “Sunset Boulevard” (brilliant film), as pointed out by AlanC @12, was very clever. I’m glad there weren’t more thematic entries as I’d just about exhausted my list of silent era stars.

    Along with Tim C @9, ROSELLA was my favourite. Whichever of the several species you care to pick, they’re all beautiful birds and we’re so fortunate to have them here.

    Thanks to Paul and Andrew

  27. Well sometimes solving Paul’s puzzles is like trying to lip-read a goldfish, but this one hit that ideal Paul spot where you think you are never going to get anywhere, but it finally all falls into place. I think it’s a particular achievement when some of the themed clues like SWAN SONG and BUSTER KEATON are among the best.

  29. Great puzzle, my experience much like others above.
    [The Guardian and other newspapers have suffered a major hacking which they suspect is from criminals wanting money. It has affected the back page. Let’s hope other clever people manage to catch them. I was once hacked over Christmas and the wonderful computer woman at the university traced them to two teenagers in Paris, delighted they had hacked in Cambridge!]

  33. Another finding fhis tough but ultimately satisfying. I started then had to leave it with just a few clues at the bottom solved (TSAR and SULTANATE were my first in), but coming back to it on the tube it all went in much easier.

    Thank you Andrew and Paul.

  34. Found this one tough going. Was unable to solve 10ac on first pass of clues so I had to skip all of the related clues for a while. Finally found a way in with 22ac BUSTER KEATON.

    I could not parse 10ac PLAYER; 7d; BANKS in 14d but guessed it is an old football player.

    Liked IDOLATERS, SWAN SONG, GOLDFISH, KIND OF (loi).

    Thanks, both.

    I parsed 6d as BAR + AS IT* (Andrew’s version has an extra S unaccounted for)

  35. Recognized the names, but apart from some of Chaplin’s oeuvre the only actual visual memory is of Keaton having lunch on that little flatbed railcar. So, lots of crossers needed for the solve.

  36. Always love a Paul crossword.

    Really liked KIND OF.

    Swan Song comes up fairly often in cryptics and, of course, carries the actor connotation here. Was clued by Picaroon as “New boy dips into illicit money, a career-ending moment” in 2017.

    I was once fortunate enough to meet Gordon Banks and his wife. They were so charming and engaging.

    Thank you to Paul and Andrew.

  37. [Tim C @31: apols – did skim through the earlier posts but think I ran away at the sight of Azed’s name so didn’t take it on board. It is just asking for it, isn’t it? ]

  38. I’ve made it a challenge to try to fully solve a Paul puzzle unaided. Have not done it yet, though I’ve come close twice 🙂

    Very nice as always, thanks Paul!

    On 16A, “the same” to me should refer to GISH, not to OLD. I can’t quite see how that works.

  39. Ouch – 75 mins, but pleased I only needed to look up a few of the oldies to confirm the wordplay.

    I think Paul is at his best when he juxtaposes the scrupulously fair with the utterly ridiculous. Scrolling through the impenetrable wall of “old 10″s before finding TSAR and SULTANATE at the bottom for some light relief, for instance. I liked ELITE for the clever reversal indicator, ROSELLA for the rather confusing surface, and IDOLATERS as a great bad joke.

    Not sure I love it when Paul blurs the boundaries – when you’ve got both thematic nonsense and terrible puns flying around, do you really need the slightly questionable devices in REHEARSAL and HELICAL? I guess “Manx cat” must be old hat for many, but separating “ingenuine” is bordering on unreasonable for me.

    That said, I’m always an aPaulogist and I very much enjoyed the puzzle. Thanks P&A.

  40. Thanks for the blog , a very traditional theme, I like SWAN SONG even better now after Alan C but sorry I have seen the BUSTER KEATON trick far too many times, the problem of not being a GOLDFISH.
    REHEARSAL was a great Playtex and MEDUSAE was very clever.
    Only unknown actor for me was GISH.
    I even knew Gordon Banks, I used to see him shopping in Longton, he was very tall although I was very small then.

  41. [ For fans of Arachne she has a Rosa Klebb puzzle in the FT today , I am told the FT is much easier to find and use now ]
    [ AlanC I commend your restraint and discretion in not mentioning the theme for Monday’s puzzle ]

  43. Nice puzzle, good blog.

    I think Andrew is technically correct regarding VALENTINO, but more and more I’m seeing binary infix operators, like “worn by” here, being used in either direction, despite the definite sense in the surface. It used to bother me a bit, but now I just accept it.

  44. Sorry to be a spoilsport but I reckon the theme was Chestnuts(or retreads)
    Custer Beaton and Swanson(g) have been round the block a few times.
    Didnt stop it being a fun puzzle ( I liked seeing Lilian in there)

    But i do tend to snore when people laud these oldies but goodies as if they were freshly picked

  45. “the later(sic) Prince Philip – I somehow doubt anyone ever caled him Phil”
    Maybe not to his face, but commonly (in one sense or another) nicknamed Phil the Greek.

  46. Like others found this quite high on the toughometer but the answers slowly revealed themselves after prolonged application of the Paddington hard stare. Great puzzle and too many favourites to list. Many thanks to Paul and Andrew.

  47. For the contributors about fish having no memory, I can assure you that mine hear me rattling the door on my shed and come up to the same place where they get fed every time.

  48. [Roz @42: no, so will revisit sometime Maybe the fake Dean? My bruv & sis are massive fans, so they’ll just tut when I ask them. I once shook hands with the great NI keeper, Pat Jennings and felt v small also-he had hands like shovels].

  50. copmus’s chestnuts or retreads were fairly fresh in my experience, so I found the puzzle very entertaining. I, too, solved 10a early on and was worried that my lousy knowledge of sportspeople (footballers in particular) would make for a real struggle ahead. But, hey! It turned out much better for me. All these actors were before my time and I have never seen performances by Gish, Fairbanks, Swanson, Pickford or Valentino — but I am of an age when these names were legendary and widely-known. Oh! well, when I was a kid I certainly saw Keaton, Chaplin and Hardy.

  51. I parsed 1d as P HAL [Prince Hal] drinks letter I for figure 1 for A, which is surely a common crossword convention. Shame if Prince Philip is already being regarded as old in the sense of historic, as with the actors!

  52. Agree with Andrew’s summary – It looked impenetrable so slow start but finished at a gallop. Some lovely surfaces from Paul who obviously had a great time constructing today’s puzzle. Favourites:
    1ac, 7dn, 13dn, 20dn

  53. Unlike some others I found this a breeze, unexpectedly. Despite copmus’s curmudgeonliness @44 I enjoyed BUSTER KEATON and SWAN SONG, neither of which I recall having seen before, but my crossword memory is very short, unlike the traduced GOLDFISH.

    Lots of other favourites. I parsed ‘airborne’ as E, which I thought was rather clever, but Andrew’s parsing is clearly more likely! IDOLATERS I parsed as Mike @1 – I’m sure this has also been done before, but it’s a great clue, so wotthehell 🙁

    Lilian GISH had an exceptionally long career in the movies, from a young girl in the early silences to a grande dame decades later. She once said:

    “You know, when I first went into the movies Lionel Barrymore played my grandfather. Later he played my father and finally he played my husband. If he had lived I’m sure I would have played his mother. That’s the way it is in Hollywood. The men get younger and the women get older.”

    MAC089 @45: Araucaria once has the lovely clue: Royal couple flirt (8).

    Thanks to S&B

  55. [ AlanC @48 he plays one of the young students who play tricks on L + H , easy to spot if you are actually looking for him.
    Definitely (9) ]

  58. Another Paul non- starter where unable to get 10a means half the clues are inaccessible and I’m not bright enough to get enough of the non 10a linked clues to get a start.
    Oh well, hopefully Paul won’t be in prize duty this week.
    Thanks both.

  60. 10a was LOI for me, but I did get most of the rest without checks/cheats.
    I still needed the blog to parse 10a and 7d though, so thank you Andrew.

  61. So glad I persevered with this. At first I thought the keyword PLAYER would prove too wide in scope a remit. But in the end it was mostly about the old stars of the screen. Particularly liked the rather naughty but nice KIND OF, and ECSTATIC. Though couldn’t quite manage to parse IDOLATERS and GOLDFISH. Had Medusas instead of MEDUSAE for a while which unnecessarily held things up in the last corner to yield, the NE. Last one in, and possibly cotd for me therefore, SWAN SONG. Thanks Paul as usual for the fun and games, and Andrew for clearing up the uncertainties….

  62. Have now retrospectively looked through all the posts, and am surprised that no-one so far has commented on the 2 goalkeepers, Jordan PICKFORD the present day custodian of the onion bag, and the late great Gordon BANKS. When I had both in my sights early on, that’s when I began to wonder whether keyword PLAYER might have a wider context…

  66. I always feel particularly chuffed when I manage to complete a Paul puzzle. PLAYER went in fairly early – but, like others, I knew it was just as likely to lead to various different kinds of entertainers, or to former sports stars, or even old equipment (phonographs, records, pianolas). Then CHAPLAIN and HARDY arrived in quick succession and got me out of a fine mess. I don’t normally care for quasi-Spooner clues – they’re generally lame at best and sometimes downright meaningless – but this one worked well, fitted the theme, and even included a reference to one of Keaton’s masterpieces!
    Thank you Paul, and thanks also to Andrew for the blog

  68. AlanC, you can’t stop half-way like that. ROSELLA Ayane plays for Spurs, Aguinaldo BRAGA was born in Brazil but played for North Macedonia. (Moi, sports-challenged?)

    Fiona Anne @67, how about nil per os = nil by/through the mouth?

    Thanks P&A, my LOI and favourite was the non-themer REKEYED.

  69. HYD @58 you are quite safe from Paul, this Saturday will be a Maskarade special with a dual theme, Millwall/KPR goalkeepers and Schopenhauer . Two separate grids with linked clues.

  73. Unlike others, I found this pretty easy for a Paul. I caught onto the theme without solving 10, and I was wondering if 10 would end up having multiple meanings. I didn’t put in players until I had all the crossers. This shows you can solve a puzzle like this without getting the key answer first, if you just solve from the cryptics.

  74. I could probably be heard purring as I lapped up this delectable offering. Really enjoyable – thanks both.

    I parsed PHIAL as did Martin@51 – never even occurred to me to think of the late Duke. REKEYED got the elevated pollex from me as well (eb@68).

  76. [ AlanC I do hope it does not come true or I will be in big trouble for spoilers. It is surely time that Maskarade gave us a music theme. ]

  77. Thanks Paul and Andrew
    I dislike this sort of thing, and it wasn’t helped that the clue for 10a was so poor – “covering” for LAYER is very loose, and “person” for P is naughty, unless “van” is doing double duty, in which case it is still naughty. I had guessed several of the derivatives before having any idea of 10a. GOLDFISH was the first tentative entry, and I agree that their short memory span has been disproved.
    “or pork” seems totally unnecessary in 19a.
    I did like IDOLATERS.

  79. 2 sittings needed for today’s offering – lunch and tea – but well worth it for the chuckles and groans…and that’s just the blog comments.

    Marvellous puzzle, thanks P and A.

  80. in 19a, got DON but couldn’t think of “Lark” as “caper.” So biffed in LARDON not knowing why. Got hung up for ages at 1d trying to work in “Hal,” the usual prince. This one’s not nearly so old, though did live to a greater age I believe.

    Thanks to Paul and Andrew.

  81. AlanC @78
    “Loose” rather than wrong. “Layer” is a long way down the list of synonyms for “covering”, as far as I’m concerned. And how can you justify the P?

  84. Happy to finish without a reveal but it was a helluva tussle & certainly not unaided. I parsed 10a correctly despite not appreciating what in the van meant. Loved the theme which was right up my street – BUSTER KEATEN, GOLDFISH & SWANSONG my top 3. Mr G pressed into a fair bit of confirmatory assistance (jellyfish,parrot & helix) & used the check this button a few times making a correction en route. Failed to parse VALENTINO having missed the uncapped genius & didn’t know bevy = women.
    Thanks both.

  86. Came to this late today but Mr Halpern up to his usual high standard. To get Buster Keaton clued in with general was brilliant. In my opinion The General is one of the finest and funniest of all silent films. Thanks for the fun and the blog.

  88. Thanks Paul for the challenge. I ended up revealing PICKFORD and MEDUSAE but I slowly solved the rest. I thought SWAN SONG was great but after the comment by Alan C @12 I think it’s brilliant. Count me as one who enjoyed BUSTER KEATON; as an avid student of the Battle of the Little Bighorn I never tire of “Custer beaten.” I also liked REHEARSAL for its economy as well as the sneaky separation of ingenuine. Thanks Andrew for the blog.

  89. Great puzzle. Thanks, Paul and Andrew.

    Oldmucker @87, from Collins online:-
    Bevy… 2. a group, esp of girls

  91. Late to the party again today and nothing much to add to west has been said already but have to add my thanks to Paul and Andrew. Superb puzzle, top blog. I had a very similar solving experience to you, Andrew, and the same reservations about VALENTINO, but there’s probably a reason why it works that way round – I just CBA to think about it any further.

    @various – Surely “in the van” is just indicating the first letter of person? It doesn’t need to do double duty as a positional indicator since it comes first in the clue anyway.

  94. The answers absolutely flew, which is rare for me and I see unusual for most today. I got 10 (agree with comments above that P is fine and there is no double duty for ‘van’) straightaway, and the theme was right up my street. ROSELLA was new to me. Favourite was HELICAL for the tail-less cat. Thanks Paul and Andrew.

  95. Roz @85 – I see I’ve just repeated what you already said. Accidental mansplaining, sorry.

    Muffin @77 – P is not an accepted standalone abbreviation for person (only as part of phrases like VIP) so “in the van” is needed to indicate the letter selection.

  96. No problem Widdersbel, I am often in the blog late , lots of comments , try to read everything but easy to miss things.

  97. My first sighting of the BUSTER KEATON spoonerism must have been around twenty-five years ago in an Araucaria puzzle and I’d like to think that he was the originator. I have always remembered it but never seen any reference to it since, until Barry Cryer, surely incorrectly, attributed it to one of his fellow script writers in a retrospective interview earlier this year.
    Great puzzle. Loved it

  99. Roz – always the problem with the Guardian blogs, too many comments to read through carefully (and apologies to Andrew for adding to the traffic to your inbox).

    You’re absolutely right about VALENTINO, by the way. Makes perfect sense to me now, not sure why I queried it.

  100. Paul is just brilliant. Didn’t get anything for a while but they started flying in. So much fun. Thanks P and A.

    On the topic of ‘person’ discussed above: Latin ‘persona’ is abbreviated ‘p’ in pp (= pro persona).

  101. CalMac@100
    Pedants’ corner. According to Chambers the expression is “per procurationem” – “through the agency of”. That way if I were signing for you I would write “pp Pino, CalMac”. If it were “pro persona”- “on behalf of the person” – it would be “Pino pp CalMac “. People used to say “pp” = “per pro” and translate it wrongly as “for and on behalf of” leading to the incorrect “Pino, pp CalMac”.

  103. Widdersbel@99 when I am at work I always do the Guardian on my way home on the train so always late to the blog. I do like to read the comments but we all have a tendency to skip and scan a bit I think.
    For worn I only think it makes sense on the outside but I rather think it is used more often the other way round.

    len@97 I have no actual evidence but allegedly Torquemada used it first in the 1930s.

  104. Beautiful!
    How does he keep on doing it? And he (very nearly) always satisfies this solver…
    Many thanks, both and all

  105. Pagans are not usually idolaters. Nature worshippers; followers of old (polytheistic) religions… But not worshippers of idols.

  106. Roz @76. Your fears are unfounded! I did groan today when I saw Maskarade’s name and again when I read the instructions, but it turned out to be quite straightforward until the last few incomplete answers, which then caused several Doh!!! moments when the light dawned. Now what do I do to get through the rest of this extended weekend?

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