The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/29116.
Yesterday’s Picaroon is a hard act to follow, but Paul provides a rather different take on crossword setting. Fortunately, I solved the keystone 4D POND LIFE straight off, with its second meaning almost providing a secondary theme of terms of abuse. Even with that start, I found the puzzle hard, particularly in the SE corner.
| ACROSS | ||
| 7 | TADPOLE |
Little European 4 (7)
|
| A charde of TAD (‘little’) plus POLE (‘European’). | ||
| 8 |
See 12 down
|
|
| 9 | DUCK |
Steer clear of 4 (4)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 10 | BOWED DOWN |
Person grabbing tie, individual showed respect (5,4)
|
| A charade of BOWEDD, an envelope (‘grabbing’) of WED (‘tie’, verb) in BOD (‘person’); plus OWN (‘individual’, adjective). | ||
| 12 | WALLY |
Plonker, partner coming after wife (5)
|
| A charade of W (‘wife’) plus ALLY (partner’), for a term of disrespect for a man. | ||
| 13 | IN ITSELF |
Essentially silent, if bewildered (2,6)
|
| An anagram (‘bewildered’) of ‘silent if’. | ||
| 15 | STYE |
Bacterial infection you once discovered by the way (4)
|
| A charade of ST (street, ‘way’) plus YE (‘you once’). | ||
| 16 | PULSE |
Beat runner, for example (5)
|
| The runner (bean) is an example of a pulse – a member of the pea family. | ||
| 17 | NEWT |
4 behind 23 and 6 hearing old sovereign? (4)
|
| Ouch! KINK (‘23’) EARN (‘6’) NEWT – say it a little carelessly, and it sounds like (‘hearing’) King Canute (‘old sovereign’). | ||
| 18 | CRACKING |
Very quick, when working out? (8)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 20 | BUSBY |
Travel past item of headgear (5)
|
| BUS BY (‘travel past’). | ||
| 21 | SYNAGOGUE |
Place for prayer when keen on iniquity, reportedly (9)
|
| Sounds like (‘reportedly’) SIN (‘iniquity’) plus AGOG (‘keen’). | ||
| 22 | DUKE |
Ultimately blunted instrument: Prince Andrew, say (4)
|
| A charade of D (‘ultimately blunteD’) plus UKE (ukulele, ‘instrument’). | ||
| 24 | BULRUSH |
4 in audible Pamplona stampede? (7)
|
| Sounds like (‘audible’) BULL RUSH (‘Pamplona stampede’). | ||
| 25 | SLOVENE |
European gaining access to husband’s love nest (7)
|
| A hidden answer (‘gaining acces to’) in ‘husband’S LOVE NEst’. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | OAHU |
First of all, our adventurer happening upon a Pacific island (4)
|
| The ‘primarily; clue – sorry, wrong setter – (‘first of all’) ‘Our Adventurer Happening Upon’. | ||
| 2 | SPIKE LEE |
Small fish served two ways for director (5,3)
|
| A charade of S (‘small’) plus PIKE plus LEE, a reversal of EEL (‘fish served two ways’). | ||
| 3 | BLOBBY |
Shapeless length in copper (6)
|
| An envelope (‘in’) of L (‘length’) in BOBBY (policeman, ‘copper’). | ||
| 4 | POND LIFE |
Frogs, say — or toads, worms and rats? (4,4)
|
| Double definition, the second being a contemptuous term fo despicable people. | ||
| 5 | STROPS |
Games set up for pets (6)
|
| A reversal (‘set up’ in. down light) of SPORTS (‘games’); pet is a minor tantrum. | ||
| 6 | EARN |
Deserve Ashes trophy, did you say? (4)
|
| Sounds like (‘did you say?’) URN (‘Ashes trophy’). | ||
| 11, 20 | WHIRLIGIG BEETLE |
Try sending up musical icon of the sixties in audition, 4 (9,6)
|
| A charade of WHIRL (‘try’ – “Give it a whirl”) plus IGIG, a reversal (‘sending up’ in a down light) of GIGI (‘musical’) plus BEETLE, sounding like (‘in audition’) BEATLE (‘icon of the sixties’). The beetle, for whatever reason, skates in circles on the water surface. | ||
| 12, 8 | WATER BOATMAN |
4, wetter setter? (5,7)
|
| Definition and literal intrpretation – BOATMAN being the Guardian setter. | ||
| 14 | LOWRY |
Artist‘s line on the ground? (5)
|
| A pun on LOW RY – that is, railway – (‘line on the ground’). | ||
| 16 | PRIGGISH |
Intolerant greedy banks reeling, at first (8)
|
| ’An envelope (‘banks’) of R (‘Reeling at first’) in PIGGISH (‘greedy’). | ||
| 17 | NOSEDIVE |
Drop clearly seen climbing briefly across peaks of other states (8)
|
| An envelope (‘across’) of OS (‘peaks of Other States’) in NEDIVE, a reversal (‘climbing’ in a down light) of EVIDEN[t] (‘clearly seen’) minus its last letter (‘briefly’). | ||
| 19 | CANARD |
Porky 9 (6)
|
| Double definition – ‘porky’ as pork pie, lie. | ||
| 20 |
See 11
|
|
| 21 | SCUM |
Algae, 4? (4)
|
| Double definition, this time with POND LIFE (‘4’) in the derogatory sense. | ||
| 23 | KINK |
Twist knife initially with blood over it (4)
|
| A charade of KIN (family, ‘blood’) plus K (‘Knife initially’). |
Thanks, Paul and PeterO!
Liked NEWT, BULRUSH and POND LIFE.
Really enjoyed this one! As usual with Paul’s themed offerings, I was about halfway in before I managed to deduce the answer to the key clue, but that came more or less simultaneously with the unlikely brain flash of WHIRLIGIG BEETLE! (It seems to me that the reason I know of that splendid beast is not because we had a pond growing up, but because it featured in the random assortment of topics in the front of the AA Road Atlas that served as backseat reading on long car trips.)
Thanks, PeterO. I forgot to check 23 and 6 after NEWT, so missed out on the fun. Also carelessly thought it was K + INK.
Thanks also Paul for an enjoyable crossword yet again.
Fortunately POND LIFE jumped out at me, but nho WHIRLIGIG BEETLE. I’ve learnt to allow a lot of slack in Paul’s homophones, especially in rhoticity. Ouch, indeed! Very neat hidden SLOVENE.
Thanks Paul and PeterO.
I guessed 17a but was baffled by the parsing, and wow, that was contrived.
Often I skip crosswords by Paul because I find them to be more tedious than fun. This occupied the middle ground for me. I did some guessing, then checking, but not enough to ruin my experience. Except for WATER BOATMAN I got there in the end and enjoyed clues like SYNAGOGUE, EARN, PRIGGISH, and KINK. Thanks PeterO for the blog.
MACO89 Paul’s most outrageous clues seem to be always linked to a themed clue allowing him room for expression shall we say>
17 across: I was trying hard to make Old King Cole work until the penny dropped – love these rubbery homophones. Thanks Paul.
New for me: English painter Lowry, L. S.
I could not parse 17ac apart from def of NEWT = pond life.
Thanks, both.
19d took me far too long as I worked my way through types of duck before the answer came to me. Should have thought what Paul would mean by porky. Like others, laughed and groaned at 17a, NEWT. 19LOI as I didn’t (and still don’t) think of CRACKING as meaning very fast, and spent too long trying to think of a musical term, which Paul tends to reference. Thanks PeterO and Paul.
Loved KINK-EARN-NEWT – not one for the purists, perhaps, but great fun.
Thanks, Paul & PeterO.
Thanks for the parsing. I didn’t see how BOWED DOWN worked and gave up on NEWT. Fortunately, I came across WATER BOATMAN in a previous crossword, so that helped.
No hope of parsing NEWT which was a bung, but like Widdersbel @11 I loved it once it was explained. So clever, and impressive of you to decode it PeterO. Also impressed by a mind like Paul that can come up with something like that.
In STYE I kept trying to work tHEe and tHOu into the solution because of the “discovered” and I’m still not sure what it’s doing there apart from making a decent surface.
KINK-EARN-NEWT! The biggest groan I’ve had since YUL-NEVER-WORE-COLOGNE a while back…
Guardian Cryptic 28,080 by Paul
Great fun as usual with Paul. As a youngster I had the “Observer’s” book of pond life (can’t remember its actual title) which helped with a couple of clues. I couldn’t make up my mind about NEWT – it relies on two dodgy homophones – I don’t pronounce EARN and urn the same, and being a Scot, do pronounce the R in both – but decided its “ouch!” factor as mentioned by PeterO excuses it. Other favourites include IN ITSELF, BOWED DOWN, LOWRY and several more.
Thanks Paul and PeterO.
Excellent Paul as always. Water Boatman was an early one for me and it led to the theme. Living 20 odd miles from Salford I took far too long to get Lowry. I didn’t see the clever homophone but I love it in retrospect. Thanks P & P.
(Tomsdad@10, how about, ‘he set off at a cracking pace’?)
As I went through this I thought “this will divide opinion”. Paul seems to be the marmite compiler. I am very much a fan, and this was among his best. Not terribly difficult but immensely creative and just plain funny.
WATER BOATMAN was foi for me, which made POND LIFE a write-in and everything went very smoothly from there. I collected beetles as a boy so WHIRLIGIG was an old friend. And really, how can one not be delighted by KINK EARN NEWT?
Many thanks to Paul and PeterO.
I enjoyed this, although SCUM and POND LIFE were favourite descriptors (of the pupils) of a teacher I supported more often than I would have liked – because unsurprisingly said pupils’ behaviour in his class was dire. Fortunately the teacher moved on, to a school where the kids behaved! (I bet that didn’t last.)
So long since I’ve pond dipped – must find a reason to do some.
Thank you to PeterO and Paul.
While I generally approach a Friday Paul with trepidation, I actually found that more accessible than yesterday’s. I think if you can tune into Paul’s wavelength early enough it’s usually a fun solve. No hope of parsing NEWT from the referenced clues but the explanation made me laugh.
One tiny quibble: referencing a fellow Guardian setter as the solution (rather than in a clue) is perhaps a tad unfair on newer or occasional solvers. But it’s Friday and perhaps such larks are to be accepted. That aside, a fabulous puzzle.
Thanks both.
I think we should coin the word “similiphone”.
Paul is pre-eminent of course, but there is a rare weak moment at 19d: a porky is of course a lie, but a canard often isn’t – a false rumour can begin and spread through a misunderstanding, with no intention to deceive.
Yep the three bits of the old king were cheekily ghastly, go Paul! Bowed down was a bifc, too lazy to back-parse the bits. Thought synagogue straight away, but balked momentarily at agog for keen. The beetle and the boatman only vaguely familiar, but all part of the fun, ta PnP.
I’m another who saw WATER BOATMAN pretty swiftly, followed by POND LIFE, then DUCK. So, for once, I didn’t find myself gazing blankly at Paul’s interlinked clues and wondering what it all meant.
SLOVENE was very neatly hidden, TADPOLE and BULRUSH made me grin – and King Cer-nute dawned on me just as I took a mouthful of coffee. (The tshirt is now being soaked clean.).
Actually the sorta-homophone also sorta works as just 23D & 17A – provided one properly stresses the second K – which, knowing Paul’s brilliance, can’t be accidental.
I could only part-parse 10A and 17D – so thank you PeterO for your ever-clear and helpful blog – and a huge thanks to Paul for the entertainment.
Another fan of Newt, which was my way into the key. STROPS took ages. I kept trying to think of how snoops could be games to give spoons for pets. A very enjoyable puzzle, though.
Auriga @21 — I’m currently reading Ximenes on the Art of the Crossword and he preferred to use the word ‘pun’ for such clues, which I think works much better than the often contentious ‘homophone’ 🙂
Great fun and ouch indeed! One of his best.
Ta Paul & PeterO.
Robert@22: yes, indeed. A canard may not be wholly accurate, but that doesn’t make it a lie/porky.
Robert@22: … and actually, I think the “weak moments” are not that rare: Paul quite often sacrifices the semantics at the altar of clever-clogs style. I tend to appreciate the cleverness involved in not bending the word senses.
Phew! Very tough. Managed to finish but missed the parsing of the wonderful KINK-EARN-NEWT, which was worth any amount of homophone stretching!
Yes tough to get going on this and failed to solve the NEWT riddle. CANARD didn’t quite fit “lie” for me but I’d better remember it.
Thanks Paul and PeterO
Had to reveal the BEETLE as I’ve never heard of it. I wonder if anyone managed to work it out solely from the fodder. Also didn’t like NEWT, which seems loose even by Paul’s standards, though not in this case for rhotic reasons; it’s a considerable stretch even as a pun for either CNUT or CANUTE.
Entertaining puzzle. Theme revealed itself for me at a CRACKING pace (that and CANARD were my last entries, and took quite a while).
I liked the well-disguised SLOVENE and the outrageous set of homoiophones for NEWT, referencing the Norse monarch now usually named Knut.
[I’ve always thought POND LIFE a rather odd choice for a term of abuse. There are few things more beautiful than water lilies (ask Monet). And describing algae as SCUM is a slur in itself :). Scum is a good Germanic word, but its cognates in other languages have the far pleasanter meaning of ‘foam’. Foam rubber in Swedish is the wonderful ‘skumgummi’]
Thanks to S&B
The top half of this fairly flew in, before I got very bogged down with the rest. Bit by bit it went in from there.
Wasn’t quite sure about ‘cracking’ for ‘very fast’, which was my LOI as I tried to either justify it or find an alternative. I’ve heard “he’s going at a cracking speed”, but just thought that was a version of “excellent” – but Chambers supports it.
I loved NEWT, just the sort of silly, stretchy fun I associate with Paul. SLOVENE very smartly hidden, and had me hunting for a word meaning ‘husband’/save to stick an E in for some time, which is the sort of misdirection that’s very satisfying to eventually overcome.
Thanks Paul & PeterO.
Even after solving TADPOLE and DUCK, it took me a while to see POND LIFE as I struggled with this.
I liked BOWED DOWN for the ‘person grabbing tie’, the well-hidden SLOVENE, and of course NEWT once PO had explained it.
Thanks Paul and PeterO.
Not my strong suit, this theme. Thanks for explaining WHIRLIGIG BEETLE; no way would I have figured that one out. I agree that the definition for NEWT was groan-inducing.
For once I really enjoyed this, (would have posted earlier but for much needed hair cut). LOI 17a but loved it once I realised.
CRICETO @ 15 I checked 28,020 and actually I think that one was even better ie even more cringe worthy
Thanks to Paul for the challenge, although not as enjoyable as others throughout the week. Like Peter we solved the keystone 4D early on, and picked up on the second theme of abusive slang words.
Many thanks to PeterO for the blog and help in parsing LOWRY
COTD = STROPS I also appreciate Paul’s continued attempts at baiting a certain member of the Royal Family.
I can’t say I’m a great fan of keystone puzzles. Fortunately, I got the keystone on this fairly quickly, but there’s something about the reference back to the keystone indicator that I always find a bit irritating. Am not sure why. Anyway, most of it fell into place without too much difficulty, though like PeterO I struggled a bit with the SE. With thanks to Paul and PeterO.
I found this difficult, didn’t get POND LIFE for a good while. (I think of POND LIFE as invertebrates, not the likes of DUCKs.)
I got as far as thinking 17a must refer to a KING Ker-somthing, but the last step had to wait some.
Thanis to Paul and PeterO.
The usual fun and games with Paul. All ready with my little green net on the end of a thin bamboo stick once POND LIFE swam into view early on. Hoping for a Devil’s Coachman or a POND skater, perhaps. But ultimately totally defeated by the SE corner, and never would have come up with NEWT through that very iffy homophonic device. Had Pressing instead of CRACKING at 19d, so failed to get CANARD too. I still enjoyed the pondside reflections, though…
I am clearly in a minority but this was very little fun for me, especially the SE corner which remained mostly blank.
Oh well. Horses for courses, I suppose.
Interesting that Timothy Spall has played both Lowry and Turner.
Thanks Paul and PeterO
Doesn’t CANARD in the pond life sense need a foreign language indicator?
Another thumbs-up for Paul and his groanworthy homophones/puns.
I was surprised to not to see more thumbs-downs here, but I guess those who don’t like that sort of thing know to avoid Paul by now.
5 for 5 (ignoring HAIR from Wednesday) – my first complete week! 😀
NEWT was fantastic, I love a good groaner. I didn’t realise BULRUSH only had one L.
Thanks for the blog, I suppose NOSEDIVE was quite neat with the climbing EVIDEN(t) , the rest was rather tiresome, including the grid.
[AlanC @27 , your return to Number 1 yesterday is duly noted. 24-15 the gap is single figures. ]
Roz @47: I agree about the grid. 88 black squares compared with only 63 in the one Picaroon used for yesterday’s puzzle. Fewer solutions and a lot of little words made me feel a bit short changed.
Thanks PeterO, I found this a bit of a grind too but that’s probably because of the nth bottle of wine last night, certainly the time it took to solve eg 21a is nobody’s fault but mine, and last-in NEWT raised a weary smile when I finally twigged the pun. My only real complaint is the PIKE and EEL are fishES surely, but that’s small fry I suppose. Thanks Paul.
Gazzh @49
Odd concept – one fish, some fishes, lots of fish. I would agree that one pike and one eel thus constitute fishes!
Anyone else have Loval for the artist at 14d – L (line) on Oval
(Kennington as was for ground)?
Many thanks P & PO.
I was thinking more along the lines of KINK-NEWT-EARN, which also works the way the clue is phrased: 4 behind 23 and (then) 6! And I was racking my brain for a King Newton 🙂
If dukes are the instrument one makes use of in fisticuffs, then rendering the instrument blunt by removing its last letter produces one DUKE in 22A.
I parsed 17A differently:
Behind KINK and EARN ——KN
Old sovereign —EWT (South Africa issued sovereigns in 2006 for the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT))
KN (sound) + EWT=NEWT
What a weird experience. I didn’t know the “pond life” expression, so I couldn’t penetrate the puzzle – the 12 clues interconnected clues defeated me. I wasn’t happy, and I gave up early.
Then I read PeterO’s blog, and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the solutions and parsings of all the clues I didn’t get. The humour in Paul’s cluing, once I understood the clues, was great. My all-time favourite was the outrageous “aural wordplay” of KINK EARN NEWT for 17a.
It is instructive to be totally defeated but not find the experience to be negative. For that, PeterO and the commenters are to be congratulated. Thanks all, including Paul, for the pleasure.
Re that 17a NEWT, I make another pitch for the term “aural wordplay”. It embodies puns, homophones, and similiphones (I like that one too, Auriga@21), it emphasizes the role of “play” in our pastime, and puts the rhotic/non-rhotic complaints in their rightful place.
Thanks for the support muffin, I always thought that two cod (say) are fish, but a cod and a haddock (say) are fishes, but am prepared to be corrected. I had second L so was looking for -SOLE LOS for a while. Stambridge again I had the L and that did cross my mind but couldn’t remember having met such an artist so kept my pencil retracted. I also thought LEVEL. may have been a technical term for a horizontal line in a sketch but held back. Jay@54 that is remarkable parsing!
fyi – the BULRUSH clue is very timely. Today is San Fermin – first day of the bull runs in Pamplona.
And this year is the centenary of Hemingway’s first visit.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/66132722
Loved KINK EARN NEWT
muffin @44
It’s CANARD in the duck sense (9a) not in the pond life sense
I’m late but wanted to say I thought this was great fun with lots of smirks and a great laugh out loud moment when KINK EARN NEWT finally resolved, not least because of the reactions I knew it would elicit. I wasn’t disappointed. Thanks for the fun, Paul. And thanks for the blog, PeterO.
pavement @58
CANARD is French for DUCK ( as well as the disputed other meaning), so needs an indicator.
I am getting worse as the weeks go by.
Where do the “numbers” fit in with the clues, like “4” & “9”?
Some of the mental gymnastics needed to solve these clues is mind-bogglingly impressive.
Steffen @61: in all cases where the “4” appeared, the definition was an example of the answer to 4D, namely an animal or plant (or algae) that is an example of POND LIFE, the remainder of the clue being the wordplay that leads to that example. In 19A, the only clue with the “9”, it is a case of a double definition, so the answer to 9A (DUCK) and the “Porky” are both examples of CANARD. The use of numbers in 17A (both 23 and 6) have been exhaustively discussed already.
22A. Initially I had Lyre (“liar”) for Prince Andrew; not a blunted instrument as such, but it just seemed apt!
A day too late, but sorry to hear about Nutmeg’s passing. I liked her puzzles.
17AC was terrible IMHO. I guessed newt correctly and thought of King(k) Canute. But the kink-earn-newt sound string just didn’t fit my ear to verify.
Maybe it’s just one of those cultural differences between the U.S. and the U.K., two countries separated by a common language. ??
Thanks for the fun, Paul, and thanks too to PeterO for explaining the parsings for WHIRLIGIG and NOSEDIVE, both of which eluded me.
….always fresh. Said it before (often) and will doubtless say it again – how does he keep on doing it?! It’s worth being a cryptic solver for the joy of his envelope pushing. “King Canute”? I mean really……
Ever thankful
RobT@26
Yes, “pun” will do fine. Probably don’t need a new word.
I originally had the same thought as muffin @40 that cluing CANARD as “duck” needs some sort of foreign-language indicator. I’ve only ever seen the word used in English in the “false-report” sense. But some dictionaries back Paul up on this, presumably because French words are often used in a culinary context (e.g., “canard à l’orange”).