Guardian 29,152 / Paul

59 comments on “Guardian 29,152 / Paul”

1. Paul’s usual style with some immaculate clues and clever witticisms. Loved NEVADA, GET HOLD OF, CROP ROTATION and CROISSANT.

   Thank you Paul and Eileen.

2. Not up to Paul’s highest standard IMO, though I did like BOTTOMLESS PIT, TOMFOOLERY, CROP ROTATION and GET HOLD OF.
   I don’t much care about surface readings, but even I thought they were particularly meaningless here. WHOOP-DE-DO an expression I’ve never seen before.
   I find Paul scatters less-difficult clues in such a way that they give a few useful crossers, and then I can solve the next tranche of clues, and so on – so a dnf is rare for me. Of course this is how all crosswords work, but Paul seems especially good at doing it.
   Thanks Paul and Eileen

3. I managed to finish with a lot of ‘hit and hope’ this morning, but pleased to have done it in one sitting.
   Thanks to Paul and to Eileen for the helpful blog.

4. ICE CUBES
   a thousand or a million, say=CUBE or CUBES?

   A minor point:
   a million is the CUBE of 100.

   Thanks, Paul and Eileen!

5. Parsing has been difficult all week, so thank you Eileen for the elucidation.
   I too have never heard WHOOP DE DO so the D was my Last Letter In.
   Thanks to Paul for the challenge.

6. Totally agree with Eileen’s favourites including her top one and also loved CROP ROTATION. I completed this from the easier bottom upwards. Needed BOTTOMLESS PIT parsed.

   Ta Paul & Eileen.

7. Tiny bug, Eileen: A million is the cube of 100, not 1000. (I knew my maths degree would come in handy one day)

8. …but thanks for parsing SEEN OFF. I assumed that Cardiff was a SEE in the episcopal sense and that blinded me to the elegant reverse inclusion;

9. What’s going on? Picaroon has for a long time been my favourite setter, and I’ve always run a mile when I’ve seen that Paul is the setter. But I was disappointed with Picaroon’s yesterday (which I didn’t finish) and thoroughly enjoyed Paul’s today.

   Chuckled at the Australian connection in ARVO. Couldn’t parse NEVADA, but after reading here about the geese chuckled again. Not being terribly familiar with the work of Sir Henry Rider Haggard, SHEEP DIP took me a while, but elicited a smile. I won’t be so pedantic as to pint out that music is notated, not noted. 🙂

   Thanks for an enjoyable solve, Paul, and the blog, Eileen, which I’ll now read in detail.

10. GET HOLD OF was my favourite, too. It took me ages to give up trying to think of synonyms for garage and see that it was “body in garage” as the definition.

11. point

12. I knew I’d get the Maths wrong! – thanks, KVa and Blaise,

13. Carelessly misspelt ‘plagiarising’ si a dnf for me.

14. CROP ROTATION
    Considering the ‘formation of TUC’, ‘CUT(CROP)’ needs to be rotated.
    TUC, say?
    CROP’s other synonyms could be rotated to form other words like PINS.
    The ‘say’ conveys that possibility, I think.
    The ? may be there because of the surface?

    ICE CUBES
    Probably, if we read it as ‘decorate (ICE) CUBES such as a thousand or a million, then it makes
    sense.

15. Ticks for ARVO, TOMFOOLERY, and CROISSANT

    WHOOP-DE-DO is often used sarcastically

    BOTTOMLESS PIT is probably the first time I’ve seen Paul line up a two-part answer in the grid – keep up the good work 🙂

    Cheers E&P

16. Seen Off was very nicely hidden and my loi as a result.
    I recognised whoop-de-do but I have only ever seen it used sarcastically, so it actually tends to mean not exciting at all.

17. bodycheetah @15 and Ravenrider @16
    Yes, I meant to say that I’d found that use, too, in the online dictionaries – rather like ‘Big deal’, I suppose.
    And I was pleased to see the BOTTOMLESS PIT line-up, too!

18. GET HOLD OF possibly the best clue of the week. I’ve never heard the expression WHOOP-DE-DO, either. ICE CUBES is a poor clue: local requirement is a very vague definition. I’m finding Paul’s puzzles more accessible these days.

19. Quite enjoyed this, despite Paul’s trademark bonkers surfaces.

    I only have access to Chambers and can’t find any animal reference under carnal. Anyone?

20. I liked the simple 17d. Thanks to Ronnie Barker.

21. I found that tough – needed quite a bit of help and had a few unparsed. I agree with beaulieu @2 about Paul scattering less difficult clues in a helpful way – and thank goodness.

    GET HOLD OF was one I didn’t parse – but I agree it’s great.

    Thanks Paul and Eileen

22. WIlliam @19 – Chambers lists ‘sensual’ under both ‘carnal’ and ‘animal’.

23. William@19 :
    Carnal desires equates to animal desires and also this thesaurus declares a synonym

    https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/carnal
    Fifth down in left column.

24. Ah, Paul this morning, what a treat. Is my habitual reaction. And this didn’t disappoint, apart from being unable to parse one or two – CAR ALARM (loi), NEVADA. Saw a much younger Bob Geldof almost reincarnated on Sunday at an Audley End House open air concert when Johnny Borrell didn’t need any encouragement to GET HOLD OF his mike to belt out the rock roll for an hour and a bit with his band Razorlight….

25. One Look gave me Whoop de do-worst clued in the puzzle.But there were some good ones as mentioned above lixed in with a couple of chestnuts
    Difficult following Vlad and Picaroon .
    Thanks for blog, Eiloeen

26. Remembered ARVO came up recently. Thought Paul might be recycling but it was Picaroon in March this year.

27. Eileen, what a trojan. Paul 3 times in 8 days, in all of his manifestations.
    I’m a sucker for rebuses or their ilk. Did like CROP ROATATION and BAD CREDIT.

28. Favourites: ARVO, MINOR SCALE.

    New for me: ROWEL. WHOOP-DE-DO.

    I could not parse:
    11/12ac
    18ac
    27ac
    1d
    19d

    Thanks, both.

29. One of those strange experiences where you run into a brick wall with 8 or 9 solutions, take a break, return and find the fresh eyes seeing things in a totally different way leading to the solve. Usual Paulian mix of clever constructions hidden within a mixed bag of surfaces. WHOOP-DE-DO new to me but gettable from the WP. GET HOLD OF is delightful and I shall be smiling at Bob the Rat for ages to come.

    Thanks Paul and Eileen

30. Oh, so that’s why it’s BOTTOMLESS PI(T)! Failed to parse that one – shame on me – and took forever to work out what sort of ALARM 21/26 was and why, or to resolve the obvious anagram for MINOR SCALE. Sometimes you just get these blind spots. Like Ravenrider@16, I have only heard WHOOP DE DO used sarcastically, and not sure I knew it was American.

    I smiled at the Australian PM, Bob the Rat and the body in the garage, but a ‘meh’ for the definition of ICE CUBES.

31. As a non-drinker who buys water or soft drinks in pubs, the ice cubes got a wry grin from me as all soft drinks come in a glass filled with ice cubes and a slice of lemon, so in my experience all locals require ice cubes in large quantities.

    Another who loved Bob the Rat. I found this a gentler romp than the last couple of days, yesterday particularly, and really enjoyed it.

    Thank you to Paul and Eileen.

32. “Chassis” is not the body of a car, it’s what the body is attached to.

33. Eileen. You’ve never heard the expression Whoop-de-do? It’s been in use for many many years as a put down to something hyped up but not really that interesting

34. I have always thought that Whoop-de-doo was the more common spelling for something hyped up whilst whoop-de-do was for an exciting event , do = party
    Mark Knopfler great song Whoop de doo, and a great rhyme to tickety boo

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTn8_lNZHFA

35. Lovely end to the week with many smiles, even if I didn’t parse all the answers.
    10@ I’d spell as whoop-idoo, but it’s not in my dictionary either. Perhaps the expressions are derived from making whoopee?

36. What Eileen said.

    This is the third time this week I’ve needed two sittings: the first is when the puzzle drops (7pm EDT), the second when I wake up in the morning. I don’t know if the puzzles are getting harder, I’m getting slower or what. Maybe it’s just a phase. All good fun though.

    Thanks

37. Good fun thanks to Paul. I smiled broadly at 10 WHOOP-DE-DO and 22a DO ONE’S BEST. Some goodies emerged when I cracked the downs too – 3d TOMFOOLERY, 5d CROISSANT, 15d GET HOLD OF, 16d ICE CUBES and 19d NEVADA. Oh, and I loved 24a where I tried to fit our PM Albo but of course it was ARVO!
    Some happy mischief from Paul today so I’m grateful – also thanks to Eileen for the blog, and especially for explaining 11,12 a little more fully than I had.
    [Sorry I wrote this before the blog was up and then I went out to see some live music tonight Australian time , but now it’s past my bedtime so I’m sorry not to add acknowledgement of similarities with some earlier comments, which I have only skimmed through.]

38. I somehow found that to be the most accessible Paul puzzle in my solving memory, with over half of it going on the first pass and most of the rest falling steadily thereafter. A handful held me up longer but generally it felt like someone had asked Paul to try setting a Quiptic 🙂

    I shall savour this feeling and not expect it to become the norm…

    Thanks both!

39. Yesterday I commented that “One of these days I will remember that the only film any crossword setter has ever seen is ET.” And here we are again.

    Anyway, an enjoyable finish to the week after two tough days.

40. Friday Paul has become a much gentler end to the week. Loved BOTTOMLESS PIT-, what wonderful clueing. DIETARY my LOI, was trying to avoid the obvious ET and get his first film Duel in there somehow.

41. i got all last night except the SW corner. This morning counting backwards from the double F in Cardiff got me started, and in it filled.

    Loved echoes of Agatha Christie in the CHASSIS clue.

    Never heard of Arvo the PM, but circled the bit that looked as if it might be somebody’s name — I’ve heard of Arvo Part the composer.
    And now you tell me he’s a time of day! Well, I knew that, I just forgot.

    I’ve heard of Bob Geldof and Band Aid, but not of the Boomtown Rats, so that was a baffler.

    It’s been so long I’d forgotten about the novel SHE.

    Thanks to Paul for the challenge and Eileen for the accompaniment.

42. I found out that there is such a thing as an AIM ALARM (=A[N]IM/AL-ARM), where AIM stands for advanced independent monitoring, but unfortunately this didn’t help with the crossing clues at all! And, WOLF @40, I also worked on DUEL. Thanks, Paul and Ellen.

43. Looks as if we had an American advantage with whoop-de-do, but we were happy to see that years of doing these cryptics gave us the UK GK for porridge.

44. I thought I was a dual DUEL but it seems that there are three of us.
    I smiled a lot.
    Thanks Eileen, I missed two of the reverse anagrams.

45. Normally I would skip Paul on a Friday but I’m glad I gave this a go. I thought this was one of the best crosswords of the week (along with Tees in yesterday’s Indy). My top choices were FLOATER, DO ONES BEST, BAD CREDIT, BOTTOMLESS PIT, CROISSANT, ICE CUBES, and NEVADA (loved the European geese seen in flight). I couldn’t parse CROP ROTATION. Thanks Paul, and Eileen for the blog.

46. Enjoyed this a lot. A lot of bung and… oh *that’s* how it’s parsed, very clever! such as NEVADA, WHOOP-DE-DO, GET HOLD OF, and SHEEP DIP. Also for once I figured out the clues where the cryptic was in the answer such as CROP ROTATION and BOTTOMLESS PIT. The enumerations were very helpful here!

    Only one I couldn’t parse was “FLAMBE”; I figured that “B” must be food through something I’d never heard of.

    Thanks Paul and Eileen!

47. TassieTim@42. I too discovered AIM alarms today! Thanks Paul and Eileen.

48. ARVO was new and missed by me. Didn’t parse the BOTTOMLESS PIT, CROP ROTATION and SHEEP DIP but it was late.
    Thanks Paul and Eileen

49. Is 1 across a very insensitive clue and answer? We have had many asylum seekers losing lives in the Channel, off Tunisia and off the Canary Isles in unseaworthy vessels “raft with holes not floater then”

50. I have long since learned to stop worrying and love Paul’s puzzles and this was a lot of fun from my favourite setter post-Araucaria.
    Emphatic ticks for CROP ROTATION, DIETARY (I was another one searching for Duel once the D appeared, but the clue construction was great even if it marks the thousandth appearance of ET!), and a tick plus exclamation mark for the “waspish insect” turning out to be a CROSS ANT.
    Lovely stuff Paul, and customary thanks to Eileen for sorting it all out.

51. Paddy Melon @27 — if you are still around — are you using “rebus” here to mean a reverse clue? If so, I wholeheartedly agree with you. If you add BOTTOMLESS PIT (as Matt W @46) just did, that is three reverse clues in a single grid. Very impressive indeed.

52. I had one quibble: BOTTOMLESS PI(T) works as a down clue but not when it’s across. Otherwise very enjoyable. Thanks to Paul and Eileen.

53. Thanks Paul for a great puzzle, and Eileen for a great blog. Fifteensquared is great too and I should post thanks more often.

54. Thanks very much Eileen, I tried duelling too and for a while thought the nameless animal was AL lacking JACK which clearly didn’t help. KVa@14 yes I wondered if both the say and ? were needed, maybe as you suggest Paul was just being extra helpful. A lot of invention as usual and plenty of smiles, thanks Paul.

55. To answer your question Cliveinfrance @49 – yes, if you try hard enough and really want it to be

56. I’m astounded that so few people have heard of the very commonplace WHOOP-DE-DO tbh, though parsing the solution and spelling it isn’t completely straightforward, and there’s nothing at all wrong with ICE CUBES either. More accessible than most of Paul’s crosswords, I had 4 left after 31 mins (DIETARY, NEVADA, ARVO, SEEN OFF).

57. Wiktionary is very confused and confusing about WHOOP-DE-DOO: this appears to be the main entry…
    https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/whoop-de-doo
    …mentioning ‘(now often sarcastic)’ – and with an extensive selection of ‘Alternative forms:
    ‘whoop de doo, whoop-dee-doo, whoop dee doo, whoop-de-do, whoop de do, whoopy-doo, whoopy doo, whoopy-do, whoopy do,
    whoopee-do, whoopee do, whoopee-doo, whoopee doo, woopy-doo, woopy doo, woopy do, woopty-do, woopty doo, whoopty doo’
    ..most with separate entries and entirely different quotations.

58. All of the above FrankieG. And i dont mean that sarcastically. Thank you for your research. I’ll bear that in mind if it comes up again.

59. Yes, nice one FrankieG. I thought Paul’s clue for such a difficult to spell word was a little unfriendly. ‘Recalled by wife’ was misleading – it’s ‘everything else recalled and placed by wife’ if it’s anything. I got as far as WHOOP-TE-DO, which is almost on Frankie’s list @57. Should have seen ODD for ‘occasional’ but I’d reached the point of not caring all that much, which was a shame as I enjoyed most of this, even those that people have denigrated.

    So I thought it’s only fair to denigrate one myself. 🙂

    Belated thanks to Paul and Eileen.

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