A characteristically clever puzzle from Picaroon.
As Mitz made clear in his annual statistical summary, Picaroon is rapidly drawing level with Paul in the number of puzzles published, so it was no surprise (and no disappointment) to see his name again this week. As always, there are some misleading definitions and a variety of wordplay on offer. If there was a theme, it eluded Timon and me, but it kept us pleasantly occupied for an hour or so.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | CASTLES IN SPAIN |
Moves chess pieces, with son suffering checks for crazy plans (7,2,5)
|
| CASTLES (moves chess pieces), IN SPAIN (son in pain). I think that “son suffering checks” is a way of showing the envelope indicator, i.e. suffering (pain) checks (contains) son. | ||
| 9 | ICE SKATER |
Princess tucked into sweets with Rector and Dean? (3,6)
|
| KATE (princess) inside ICES (sweets) R(ector). Nice to have an alternative to Di for princess. | ||
| 10 | UNTIE |
Loose woman in the family losing face (5)
|
| (A)UNTIE. “loose” here is a verb. | ||
| 11 | FATWA |
Judgment carrying a lot of weight shortened conflict (5)
|
| FAT (carrying a lot of weight), WA(r). | ||
| 12 | REIMBURSE |
Make good beer one’s mixed with rum (9)
|
| *(BEER RUM I(one)’S). | ||
| 13 | OVERHEAR |
Like GIs in WW2, it’s said — and what the buggers do! (8)
|
| Sounds like “over here”: GIs in England during WW2 were said to be “overpaid, oversexed and over here”. | ||
| 14 | AKIMBO |
As members may be with a novel personal problem (6)
|
| A KIM (novel by Rudyard Kipling) BO (personal problem). | ||
| 17 | SIESTA |
After start of swingers’ party, fellow’s wanting a rest (6)
|
| S(wingers) (f)IESTA. | ||
| 19 | WORMWOOD |
Women love jollies by club, getting taste of absinthe (8)
|
| W(omen) O (love) RM (Royal Marines, or “jollies”) WOOD (club). | ||
| 22 | ALCOHOLIC |
One’s pickled fish in a couple of litres, I see (9)
|
| COHO (type of salmon) inside A L L (couple of litres), I C (sounds like “I see”). | ||
| 24 | SALSA |
Saucy stuff in Latin, two lots of it going around (5)
|
| L(atin) inside SA SA (sex appeal, or IT). | ||
| 25 | LIMIT |
Check this person’s getting into bed abroad (5)
|
| I’M (this person’s) inside LIT (French for bed). | ||
| 26 | CONSTRICT |
Running about at first, getting severe cramp (9)
|
| C(irca) (about) ON (running) STRICT (severe). | ||
| 27 | TAIL-END CHARLIE |
One’s behind nurse admitting trouble with cocaine (4-3,7)
|
| AIL (trouble) inside TEND (nurse), CHARLIE (cocaine). We thought this was RAF slang from WW2, but Chambers doesn’t confirm this. The definition seems a little vague: Chambers has “a person who comes at the end”. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | CHIEF CONSTABLE |
Force head cook to consume current prison food (5,9)
|
| I (symbol for current) inside CHEF (cook), CONS’ TABLE (prison food). Very nicely constructed clue, with a wholly misleading definition (well, it misled us for a while, anyway). | ||
| 2 | SHEATHE |
That lady’s keeping warm, getting cover (7)
|
| HEAT inside SHE (that lady). | ||
| 3 | LIKE A SHOT |
Liberal president gets equally popular at once (4,1,4)
|
| L(iberal) IKE (former US President) AS HOT (equally popular). | ||
| 4 | SATURDAY |
Barbecued meat wraps you picked up on road when footie match is on? (8)
|
| U (sounds like “you”) RD (road) all inside SATAY (barbecued food). | ||
| 5 | NORDIC |
Swedes, say, are done with rice, endlessly cooked (6)
|
| *(DON(e) RIC(e)). | ||
| 6 | PLUMB |
Smack bum without hesitation, given choice at first (5)
|
| PLUM (choice) B(um). | ||
| 7 | INTERIM |
Picaroon’s supporting football club in transition period (7)
|
| INTER (Milan), I’M. | ||
| 8 | HEREFORD CATTLE |
Kind of stock car owned by present Conservative PM briefly (8,6)
|
| FORD (car) after HERE (present), C(onservative) ATTLE(e) (Prime Minister, briefly). Another very clever clue. | ||
| 15 | KAMA SUTRA |
In part, USA makes up advice for Congress (4,5)
|
| Hidden and reversed (“up”) in “part USA makes”. The capital C on Congress is of course just there to mislead. | ||
| 16 | VOLCANIC |
Liable to explode, am I able to cut a lot of spice up? (8)
|
| CAN I inside CLOV(e) (rev). | ||
| 18 | ENCOMIA |
Praises high income tax with no 25s (7)
|
| *(INCOME (t)A(x)) | ||
| 20 | OIL MILL |
Time to leave work by philosopher, where work is pressing (3,4)
|
| (t)OIL(work) (JS) MILL (philosopher). Chambers has this as a hyphenated compound. | ||
| 21 | FLACON |
Firm pastry cases in glass container (6)
|
| CO (company, or firm) inside FLAN (pastry). | ||
| 23 | HOTEL |
Golf follower getting height on ball allowed to rise (5)
|
| LET (allowed) O (ball) H(eight). HOTEL follows GOLF in the Nato phonetic alphabet. |
Not heard of the expression CASTLES IN SPAIN so after getting the first word was stuck for a while.
First time seeing KATE as the princess in ICE SKATER – always used to be DI. (like you said a nice change)
OVERHEAR made me smile and also liked CHIEF CONSTABLE, SATURDAY, HEREFORD CATTLE
Thanks Picaroon and bridgesong
Yes rear gunner was TAIL END CHARLIE I think. Nice one Picaroon and …thanks for the fish….new to me …bridgesong
Nice puzzle, just the right difficulty, although it took me longer than I care to admit to get SIESTA.
It never occurred to me before that FLACONs and flagons are both containers for liquid, although the latter are usually not glass. (The words are etymologically related, unsurprisingly.)
Thanks both
I seem to have been on Picaroon’s wavelength last Saturday, as this was a pretty quick solve. I had time to indulge in an earworm from Jimi Hendrix’s Spanish Castle Magic after solving 1a.
In the clue for 22a there is no need for a “sounds like” indicator for ‘see’=C, as it’s in the dictionary. (Third sub-heading in Chambers.)
Thanks to Picaroon and bridgesong.
Picaroon good value for money as usual.
Wasted time trying to make 21 be FLAGON because I didn’t know the other word, and took ages to see why plumb=smack ( …in the middle of). Smiled at OVERHEAR: liked the advice for Congress and the golf follower, also TAIL END CHARLIE, CHIEF CONSTABLE and LIKE A SHOT.
Loved this- so many clever clues and witty surfaces- and not least because of a flying start with CASTLES IN SPAIN. This helped by my affection for Sammy Davis Jnr’s rendition of Back in Your Own Back Yard (“You’ll find your castles in Spain through your own window pane”).
Another popular cultural reference, a Tommy Trinder joke that became part of the nation’s collective memory of WW2 also made OVERHEAR a write in.
KAMA SUTRA was exceptionally clever with ICE SKATER, AKIMBO, SIESTA and HEREFORD CATTLE not far behind.
PLUMB as a synonym for smack held me up, but cricket was helpful: when batters are plumb LBW they are smack in front of their stumps. “Smack in the middle” is a similar usage.
FLACON, new to me, and CONSTRICT were last ones in.
I’m not sure if there is a term which describes the technique of taking a familiar adjective/noun pairing (loose woman; stock car; pastry cases) but changing the part of speech of one of them to misdirect. It’s a familiar cryptic ploy but Picaroon is a master of it and the examples above were especially satisfying.
Thanks Picaroon for all of the fun and bridgesong for some tricky parsing
I eventually got all of these out, but could not parse LIKE A SHOT. I stared at it for some time, but could not see what was staring back at me, plain as day. Enjoyed this puzzle from Picaroon, and thanks to bridgesong for the explanation.
Agree with lenmasterman’s picks@6, and also with comments about Picaroon’s forte (fortay?) in the second last para.
KAMA SUTRA was well-disguised, hiding in a brown paper cover on the back shelf (or so they tell me).
LIked CASTLES IN SPAIN (yes. I think so too. IN PAIN checks S), CHIEF CONSTABLE, HEREFORD CASTLE and HOTEL.
KAMA SUTRA
Liked your comment paddymelon@8 🙂
Thanks, Picaroon and bridgesong!
Thanks bridgesong. Another very pleasant interlude. Unlike Fiona Anne @1 CASTLES IN SPAIN went in for me immediately and since I’m not well enough disciplined to address the clues in order, the first few down answers quickly followed. Put me down as another who tried his best with FLAGON.
Ike and Abe are usefully familiar presidents. Fish, otoh, well just about any pronounceable letter combo might be one, ie nho coho. Ditto lensterman re the overpaid and oversexed GIs, thousands of the buggers overhere during the war [one of ’em married my Dad’s boss’s daughter and pinched Dad’s job!]. All good fun, thanks Pickers and bridge.
A real delight from start to finish. My margin notes beside 1d CHIEF CONSTABLE say “Picaroon is fun!”, while I have “Ha Ha!” written beside 15d KAMA SUTRA (and if I could write on my screen I’d have the same remark beside your brown paper cover suggestion, paddymelon@8). Other ticks for 9a ICE SKATER, 13a OVERHEAR, 14a AKIMBO, 3d LIKE A SHOT and 16d VOLCANIC – so much to like, and several others have already earmarked some of my favourites! I had to look up the unfamiliar FLACON at 21d to be sure it was a word when that was what the wordplay gave me, and TAIL-END CHARLIE was a new one on me (though fortunately my slang drug references – all learned from cryptics – are up to date). Thanks to Picaroon for the lovely puzzle and bridgesong for the blog.
[My Mum loved the GIs being “over here” during wartime, gif@11, as they lavished chocolates and real nylon stockings on the Aussie girls. One of them from Cleveland Ohio was going to send for her after the war but the warship he was on was sunk by the Japanese off Guadalcanal. She then fell for my Dad, an Aussie army officer, who was a bit jealous of the “Yanks”, when she met him at a dance on her 21st birthday – she always said she liked a handsome man in uniform. Fortunately even though Dad was from Victoria and she and her family were born and bred Queenslanders, he was a more acceptable beau than someone who would have whisked her off to the USA!]
Great puzzle many thanks to the setter and blogger. I have a letter written Christmas 1941 to my mother from a rear gunner in a Wellington bomber. They were colleges at a local council in rural NSW , Australia.
Colin flew over 15 mission before his plane was shot down and he died 3 months later from the wounds he sustained. Those men were very brave.
I have heard and used the term “Tail-end Charlie” to refer to the last walker of a group of walkers.
[Julie in Australia@13. Very funny. A Victorian beau more preferable to Queenslanders (I’m one) than a GI guy. That must have been a hard choice for them, except for the greater geographical distance. ]
For the origin of Castles in Spain/in the air, this is interesting:
https://idiomorigins.org/origin/castles-in-spainin-the-air
One of my favourite songs and artists of all time is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGvUIlSIjxk
Some very nice clues here from Picaroon, and I thoroughly enjoyed this, despite spending a while at the end stuck on the intersecting WORMWOOD (clearly I don’t know enough about absinthe), OIL MILL (I guessed the philosopher, but didn’t associate mills with oil), and SALSA (I can’t believe I missed the SA = it part). In the end, I checked Chambers and was reminded of the jolly marines and the rest went in from there.
Particularly liked the well disguised CHIEF CONSTABLE, the neat reversal of KAMA SUTRA, and the neat way ‘stock car’ and the brief Conservative PM were used in HEREFORD CATTLE. (I’m sure I wasn’t the only one trying to fit a more recent PM in there.). I know flagons because some of them have dragons, but FLACON was new to me. Thanks, Picaroon and bridgesong.
For those whose cultural heritage doesn’t include dragons and flagons:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WzmnSyqv37A
It’s a long time since I saw that, but it sticks in the mind…
[Hi JinA, sad about the GI beau, but then we wouldn’t have had you! Great story!]
[Great comedian that guy, KeithS. I had The Little Fiddle on vinyl as a kid]
Thanks Picaroon for another enjoyable crossword. It took me awhile to complete this because I got delayed in the SW corner for a bit but everything eventually fell into place. My favourites were OVERHEAR, AKIMBO, SATURDAY, HEREFORD CATTLE, and HOTEL. I couldn’t parse CONSTRICT and SIESTA so thanks bridgesong for the blog.
[Thanks Julie in Australia @13 for your story. It always astounds me how slender the threads our lives get spun from. We have all won a lottery of sorts just by our very existence.]
Sheffield hatter @4: you’re right about See=C being in Chambers, so I’ve deleted the comment.
C for see is so commonplace with textspeak as to make ICU ambiguous. I found this went in pretty steadily, with everything parsed.
I’ve heard TAIL-END CHARLIE walking too, definitely about me, on the Pennine Way the first time in an ill-fitting backpack. (The pack rubbed, I missed a leg catching buses to hospital to treat the infected result and thereafter wasn’t committed to finishing that year.)
Tough, enjoyable puzzle. The top half was easier for me, solved SW corner last.
Liked PLUMB, UNTIE, WORMWOOD, KAMA SUTRA, VOLCANIC, HOTEL, LIKE A SHOT, SIESTA, OVERHEAR (loi).
New for me: CASTLES IN SPAIN, TAIL END CHARLIE, ENCOMIA.
Thanks, both.
We enjoyed this crossword, as others did.
I also want to say that I appreciate your blogging style, Bridgesong – enough information to unravel the parsing when we need it, the occasional comment when you have something interesting to say, but no unnecessary waffle. Thanks.
I completed most of this last weekend but just opened it to see that half a dozen connected clues were unfinished. I confess I only broke the deadlock with the help of the word-finder feature in my Chambers app, but one solution led to another and I finally completed the grid shortly before typing this. Some excellent clues such as OVERHEAR, HEREFORD CATTLE and CHIEF CONSTABLE. I’m rather annoyed that KAMA SUTRA took me so long, as I generally find such hiddens fairly quickly but for some reason had a blind spot on this one for an embarrassingly long time.
Picaroon is increasingly at or near the top of my favourite setters list.
Thanks!
Thanks paddymelon for your illuminating comments. I always liked the distinction between a neurotic as one who builds castles in the air, and a psychotic as one who lives in them. A psychiatrist is someone who collects the rent
Another week where I wished I had written my thoughts down immediately upon finishing the puzzle as the specifics of the experience have generally faded a week on. I do recall enjoy it greatly (like I’ve just enjoyed today’s) but not a lot else! Getting old!
With the prompt of the blog, ICE SKATER, OVERHEAR, AKIMBO, CHIEF CONSTABLE, INTERIM, KAMA SUTRA, OIL MILL and HOTEL are all clues I now remember delighting in. Overall, the same splendid solving experience I expect when I see this setter’s name appearing.
Thanks Picaroon and bridgesong
I agree largely with lenmasterman @6 (and loved his contribution @27). There were many clever clues, with lovely surfaces – it really is worth going back and rereading them – and some exceptionally so, even by Picaroon’s standards.
I had about a dozen ticks, so will not list them all but just mention the inspired KAMA SUTRA and OVERHEAR, both of which made me laugh, especially as the latter reminded me of my aunt’s GI beau called Darrell, from Mississippi, (my little brother asked if Mississippi was his mummy) who lavished the chocolates and nylons mentioned by JinA. (I was grown up before I realised that my future uncle, whom I met when he returned from the war, had been her boyfriend before he went away.)
Many thanks, as ever, to Picaroon, for a hugely enjoyable puzzle and to Bridgesong (and Timon) for a fine blog.
Like PostMark I can’t remember exactly what I thought about this crossword but I do know it was as enjoyable as ever
Many thanks to Picaroon and bridgesong
A super puzzle with all sorts of tricks and misdirections. I agree with PostMark’s favourites, especially CHIEF CONSTABLE. I wonder if the prisoners were dining in WORMWOOD Scrubs. I was also struck by the antipathy shown by some against Anto last week for his SOD OFF clue but no-one seems to object to Picaroon’s use of ‘buggers’. Unconscious bias perhaps? Anyways, a real treat. Thanks for sharing JinA
Ta Picaroon & bridgesong.
A lovely puzzle and a masterclass in clever and witty misdirection. lenmasterman @6 (penult para): I think this sort of device (“loose woman” etc) was the original crossword meaning of “lift and separate” – see here – before that was repurposed for the “indeed” = “in deed” sort of clue.
Many thanks Picaroon and bridgesong.
This was really quite a car crash for us. Had to give up last night. We have begun to think of ourselves as old but for this we are too young. Phrases that we have never heard of. The one that made me cross this morning was Hereford Cattle. We live in Shropshire the county adjoining Herefordshire where the animal population in terms of numbers are; sheep, pheasants, Herefords and humans. The other one we missed was Kama Sutra which might explain everything.
An excellent crossword, much enjoyed and appreciated for its typically well-engineered clues, as so many others have also commented.
Thanks to Picaroon and bridgesong.
Much enjoyed. COHO and FLACON new to me. Thanks Picaroon and bridgesong.
Lots to enjoy as usual with Picaroon.
Never happy with clues like KIM=novel and INTER= football club which have become crossword staples but I probably thought were unfairly vague the first time – how many novels and football clubs are there to choose from?
Thanks too to bridgesong.
Lord Jim@32: Many thanks for the reference.
Thanks Picaroon and bridgesong. It took a few unfruitful sessions to finish this, finally unlocking the SE corner by looking up the key ingredient of absinthe. Well, not finishing, really, because I came here to have LIKE A SHIP and SLEEPY explained to me.
Excellent as ever. Thanks, both.
Enjoyed this, finished it all last week.
Pino@33 There are thousands of novels in the world, but few of them have titles short enough to be an element of wordplay. Store in your pocket KIM, SHE and EMMA. Don’t bother with Crime and Punishment or The Hound of the Baskervilles.
Thanks to Picaroon and bridgesong.
As with Rob T@26, Picaroon is nearing the top of my favourites list, and this puzzle illustrates why – wit, clever and varied devices and overall just good fun. And thanks bridgesong for the excellent blog.
Thanks also to lenmaster@27 for the castles joke, and to all the commenters who contributed the great stories and reminiscences that add so much to this site.
PostMark@28, I always wait a week before tackling the Prize and Everyman puzzles. This blog is much more fun that way, even if I’m often too late to comment.
Isn’t TAIL END CHARLIE a cricketing reference, alluding to a batsman No 11, typically the worst in the team?
Anyway as ever with this setter the puzzle a delight.
Valentine @40
Yes, they’re all stocked away. I may even have read “She” when I was at school.
I was waiting for someone to agree with but it is not going to happen .
Will just note SALSA , it=SA just about acceptable once a year, twice in one clue is too much.
I got stuck half-way in this one, failing to complete the bottom left to upper right section. I found it a bit hard and I didn’t want to waste time searching in hope for obscure references. Having read the published answer and Bridgesong’s explanation above, I can see that it was all doable, and so I should have persevered for longer. I didn’t know the fish, ‘Coho’ or, ‘Charlie’ as slang for cocaine. I did look briefly for animal stocks, but I didn’t find Hereford Cattle. That clue seems to me to be over-contrived rather than clever. I did know Tail-End Charlie as RAF slang, but needed to get more letters in to spot the answer. Ho Hum. On to the next one.
You want the best? Picaroon it is!
Brilliant puzzle. Too many good ones to enumerate them, but others have picked out the best ones, anyway.
1ac I’m more familiar with ‘castles in the air’, but I pulled SPAIN from the recesses somewhere. [Thanks, SH@4 for the Hendrix reminder. I’d never made the connection with the phrase. Someone in the comments to the YouTube says the Spanish Castle was a club in Seattle where H used to play in the early days (‘needs citation!’, but I’m happy to believe it anyway).]
9ac ICE SKATER: The QM is part of the dbe, I think: (Christopher) Dean?
13ac, OVERHEAR: I was born in the fifties, but I do remember my parents telling me that’s what was said. Interested to learn that it came from Tommy Trinder (thanks lenmasterman@6). Still over here, of course. I mean, Hitler has definitely gone now, but you never know who you might need defending from, eh?
24ac, SALSA: typo — SA is ‘it’, I think, rather than ‘IT’.
23dn H (height) on O (ball) LET< (allowed, to rise)
[Julie@13: "real nylon stockings". Lol. None of that silk rubbish, then?]
[Paddymelon@16, thanks for the song. Haven't heard that for about fifty years. I was lucky enough a few years ago to attend the recording at BBC Maida Vale for the World Service of an interview with McLean, interspersed with performances. A terrifically warm and amusing personality, as well, of course, as a brilliant singer/songwriter. I think the recording may still be available, but the search function on BBC Sounds isn't great and I couldn't find it for you.]
22ac bridgesong@22. Your parsing still refers to a homophone ("sounds like").