It’s unusual to see Paul on a Tuesday but I’m not complaining – I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle, with a favourite earworm to accompany the solve and blog and to set me up for the day.
No problem in spotting the theme, clearly indicated at 26/19. My favourite clues were 9ac IBIDEM, 15ac TEMPESTS, 21ac DANSEUSE, 7dn POETASTER, 13dn LHASA APSO and 22/14 BRIEF ENCOUNTER.
Many thanks to Paul.
Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1 The limit starts to need adjustment in principle (4,5)
LAST STRAW
An anagram (to need adjustment) of STARTS in LAW (principle)
6 Father of poetry? (4)
POPE
Cryptic definition: the Pope is the Holy Father and Alexander Pope is the poet
8 With last of goulash consumed, have too much stew (8)
OVERHEAT
OVEREAT (have too much) round [goulas]H
9 On the same page, I stay calm, ultimately (6)
IBIDEM
I BIDE (I stay) +[cal]M
10 Gold on key, little time for lead (6)
ESCORT
ESC (key) + OR (gold) + T (little time)
11 Less in order? (8)
TAKEAWAY
TAKE AWAY (less, in arithmetic)
12/24 26 19’s bottle-opener applied to thin bottle (6,6)
BLITHE SPIRIT
B(ottle) + LITHE (thin) + SPIRIT (bottle)
15 Forecasters recalled problems in storms (8)
TEMPESTS
A reversal (recalled) of MET (Meteorologist Office – forecasters) + PESTS (problems)
16 Dabbler teases swingers (8)
HAMMOCKS
HAM (dabbler) + MOCKS) (teases)
21 Doctor of Literature endlessly circled by European ballerina (8)
DANSEUSE
SEUS[s] (Doctor of Literature, endlessly) in DANE (European)
22, 3 26 19’s tart? (6,5)
BITTER SWEET
Oxymoronic taste
25 Sovereign on flag, an individual from western Europe (8)
IRISHMAN
IRIS (flag) + HM (His / Her Majesty – sovereign) + AN
26, 19 Chicken expecting turkey, perhaps – to wit? (4,6)
NOEL COWARD
Cryptic definition: chicken ( coward) expecting Christmas
27 Once ref roughed up by Royal Engineers, impose rule again (9)
REENFORCE
An anagram (roughed up) of ONCE REF + RE (Royal Engineers) – this word needs a hyphen
Down
2 Overcoat or tutus for tailoring (7)
SURTOUT
An anagram (for tailoring) of OR TUTUS –
4 Rap artist thanks junk (3-1-3)
RAT-A-TAT
RA (artist) + TA (thanks) + TAT (junk)
5 Cocktail: fancy drinking the blue one shortly (6,3)
WHISKY MAC
WHIM (fancy) round SKY (the blue) + AC[e] (one, shortly)
6, 1 26 19’s kind of wire in sensitive area (7,5)
PRIVATE LIVES
LIVE (kind of wire) in PRIVATES (sensitive area)
7 Inferior versifier, one sampling American author? (9)
POETASTER
POE TASTER (one sampling Edgar Allan POE, American author)
13 Dog also has a pee when tickled (5,4)
LHASA APSO
An anagram (when tickled) of ALSO HAS + A P
17 Wind in low cloud slowing, mostly (7)
MISTRAL
MIST (low cloud) + RAL[l] (abbreviation for rallentando, musical direction to slow down)
18 Uncontaminated, set free over bug (7)
STERILE
An anagram ( free) of SET + RILE (bug)
20 Greeting witness heard? (7)
WATCHER
Sounds like (heard) ‘wotcher’ / ‘wotcha’ (greeting) – this seems to be the wrong way round!
My careless mistake: the answer is WOTCHER (witness heard)
22, 14 26 19’s fire once ignited in fictional schoolboy (5,9)
BRIEF ENCOUNTER
An anagram (ignited’ of FIRE ONCE in (Billy) BUNTER (fictional schoolboy) – there can be only one earworm today (a classic rendering)
23 Knock out boxer as everyone gulps (5)
ERASE
Hidden in boxER AS Everyone
This was a blithe experience, with an easier than usual Paul today. PRIVATE LIVES and BRIEF ENCOUNTER led to NOEL COWARD and the rest of his works. Lots of ticks but favourites were POPE, WHISKY MAC, HAMMOCKS, DANSEUSE, WOTCHER and IRISHMAN of course. POETASTER was new.
Ta Paul & Eileen.
Eileen, the check button shows the answer is WOTCHER.
I had SURTOUT for the overcoat
I’d give this a B- overall
Cheers P&E
Thank you Eileen. I thought 20 down was WOTCHER, which I had learned recently from another cryptic. Going back to check this online, that was the answer.
Quite right, Alan C and Bodycheetah – I’ll amend the blog forthwith!
I think 3dn is Surtout – an overcoat in the old days and an anagram of OR TUTUS…. Thanks Paul and Eileen
Whoops, too late with my comment…
Bodycheetah, I also had SURTOUT and was pleased to solve it from my school day French. I know Eileen solves from the print version and maybe didn’t have the advantage of the check button.
Moi aussi. Whoops.
Thanks Paul and Eileen
Bad start when FOI turns out to be wrong – I had a perfectly reasonable SIRE at 6a.
After some crossers were in I saw BLITHE SPIRIT, and thus the theme, but then several were solved just from a list of works – unsatisfactory as far as I’m concerned.
I didn’t parse WHISKY MAC or BRIEF ENCOUNTER.
Yes, SURTOUT and WOTCHER.
Yes – I’d never heard of SURTOUT but as you say, the schoolboy French occasionally comes in useful 🙂
I’d never heard of POETASTER either. And Dr Seuss, much as I love him, was a bit of a stretch for literature
The clue for NOEL COWARD was funny, and I got the rest from wordplay. But I liked the non themed answers, in particular, POETASTER, HAMMOCKS (Paul misdirecting here with swingers) TAKEAWAY, DANSEUSE.
I (finally) spotted the theme when I solved PRIVATE LIVES by the letter count but could not parse it. After that, it was easier to solve the 26/19 theme clues, and I learnt that Coward wrote the screenplay for BRIEF ENCOUNTER (great film).
I could not parse 6ac or 6/1d.
New for me: WHISKY MAC.
Favourite: DANSEUSE.
Thanks, both.
Like Eileen, I also entered WATCHER for 20d.
Paul is the master of the master-clue and cross-references.
So many witty and inventive clues were presented that it’s difficult to plump for individual favourites.
BRIEF ENCOUNTER was so powerful that the original 1945 film starring Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson was remade for TV, this time featuring Richard Burton and Sophia Loren.
Couldn’t decide which of two earworms to put in, so I’ve posted both
https://youtu.be/HPnJM3zWfUo?si=D3IcWC04v6wfhLmi
https://youtu.be/HrSs3Fvbvcc?si=uaqQVymnYoF7aUyq
Thank you Paul and Eileen.
Thanks, Eileen, as I’d forgotten RAL[l]. I think it’s my brain that’s slowing down… BTW there’s a tiny typo: lHasa apso: maybe your subconscious was saying “oh, to ‘ell with it?”
Thanks, Blaise – corrected now.
I can see, muffin@6, that anyone who knew (or looked up) the works of COWARD would find some of these a write-in. However, I didn’t have that advantage and was pleased to be able to work the titles out from the clues themselves. Interesting in 17d to have a shortening of an abbreviation! A fun solve – thanks to both Paul and Eileen.
I sometimes think people breed exotic dogs just to make life easier for setters (as it were).
I also put in WATCHER until the check button said otherwise. My way into the interconnected clues was PRIVATE LIVES, after which the rest fell like dominoes. Failed to parse IRISHMAN.
Rather a lot of less familiar vocabulary today with IBIDEM, SURTOUT, and POETASTER. I remember WHISKY MAC from a beautifully scented apricot coloured rose of that name.
Eileen: it’s LHASA APSO with an H not a double L, according to the anagram fodder.
Hiya everyone. Paul’s a bit like Marmite for my taste; love him or hate him. I quite liked this one though. But I always like Eileen’s blogs. 🙂
It’s LHasa Apso in 13D BTW.
[Thank you for the earworms Flea@14. The first one might be why we Aussies often (used to?) win the cricket. 🙂 ]
Hi gladys and Camilla – please see comments 15 and 16. 😉
For me, it’s never quite such a satisfactory experience when you solve clues from the theme rather than the wordplay, but this was still fun and I agree with paddymelon’s choice of favourites. I was half expecting the earworm to be Billy Joel [Love the Stanley Holliday and looking forward to Emma Rice’s version of Brief Encounter at the Royal Exchange.
Not my favourite type of crossword. Lots of split entries with cross referencing, which is irritating when solving on a smartphone, and a theme which, once discovered, makes the rest of the puzzle fall out in a heap.
Nevertheless I had fun with this – some imaginative clues which raised smiles. Impenetrable at first, with only non-themed clues dotted about the grid, but I spotted PRIVATE LIVES, which gave the game away and the dam burst. However, the rest of the plays went in from memory and a few crossers, so there wasn’t much of a subsequent challenge.
I particularly liked TAKEAWAY, DANSEUSE, WHISKY MAC (not what I would consider a cocktail, but if this just implies a mixed drink, so be it).
Knowing the words does make things easier – IBIDEM and POETASTER were write-ins for me, fortunately, which helped to crack the code.
Thanks to Paul and Eileen
A Paul on a Tuesday was a nice surprise. FOI was 26,19 which helped with the rest.
Liked RAT-A-TAT, POETASTER, IBIDEM, PRIVATE LIVES and BRIEF ENCOUNTER.
Fave, though, was WOTCHER which brought back memories of my maternal grandfather who, being a countryman of the old school, would always greet us with a broad smile and a hearty ‘What cheer?’
PRIVATE LIVES was the way into this for me as well. POETASTER is familiar but only from crosswords – someone recently clued it with reference to The Raven so it was reasonably fresh in the mind. I did get WOTCHER but am more familiar with the shorter alternative, wotcha. Like paddymelon, I needed the French lessons of pushing 50 years ago to make sense of SURTOUT. HAMMOCKS was my favourite clue but I found the puzzle somewhat thin when it comes to pleasing surfaces.
Thanks Paul and Eileen
Stumbled rather fortunately into unlocking who or what was the key component in Paul’s puzzle this morning. The crossers I and F prompted me to BRIEF ENCOUNTER. In my ignorance I only knew this as that famous 1945 film, and the wonderful Celia Johnson. Had no idea that it was originally a NOEL COWARD play, or that he’d appeared in the film himself briefly a la Hitchcock. Thereafter I’m afraid I rather cheated by looking up Mr Coward’s works. Gosh, wasn’t he prolific? I did know of Bill Bunter, who of course helped with my initial way into this. Last one in IBIDEM.
The usual Paul entertainment scattered around the grid, great fun…
Not my favorite Paul, I’m afraid. Several NHOs solved by brute force, and others by reference to a list of works after solving the key clue, leaving numerous answers unparsed and overall a disappointing solve.
Oh, well. Others enjoyed it, so horses for courses, and back at it tomorrow.
ronald @27 – BRIEF ENCOUNTER was a film: the play it was based on was ‘Still life’ – see the Wikipedia link I gave in the blog.
I struggled with this and couldn’t complete it, not helped by a very poor knowledge of Noel Coward’s work (although I was aware of a number of them and did not realise they were his) however I was also hampered by not having heard of poetaster, ibidem, danseuse or surtout.
Eileen@29…sorry, I know so little if anything about Noel Coward, and that he actually wrote the screenplay for that film. Have in fact learnt that for the very first time today. I’ve followed Celia Johnson’s career much more closely, however, having read the biography written by one of her daughters. And the fact that her Johnson family were a Cambridge one, her father’s generation living just up the road from where I live now. But that’s the beauty of crosswords, and adding to one’s (limited) personal knowledge a little day by day…
Sorry, ronald @31 for a possible misunderstanding. I didn’t mean to correct you – far from it: the thing I learned today, from Wikipedia, was that BRIEF ENCOUNTER was based on a play. Like you, I only knew it as the film.
“What Eileen said” – and !RISHMAN “of course” as AlanC@1 – [The Rachmaninoff link – conducted by Preview Andrew – “not necessarily in the right order”]
The sad thing about BRIEF ENCOUNTER is that I’ve become the boring husband struggling with the crossword instead of the romantic Trevor Howard character.
Really liked this one, but also understand why others might not have enjoyed/appreciated the theme. I am just a bit intrigued about how that penny-dropping moment happens – I found 26/19 and its cross-references impenetrable. Then I thought of COWARD for chicken, and Lo and behold! I cracked the whole puzzle open (after a dismal start). Thanks to Paul for a puzzle that pleased me, both thematically and in terms of lots of other clever clues. Your blog was, as always, much appreciated, Eileen, including your attention to detail as you interacted with some of the comments on your solve.
I don’t anything about NOEL COWARD so when 26, 19 fell into place as first one in my initial reaction was to throw my phone into the bin. However, turned out I could get them all without consulting a list of works. BRIEF ENCOUNTER was my favourite by miles as I learned something and because it’s a truly ingenious anagram/envelope. Of the non-themed clues, OVERHEAT made me smile. “Iris” = “flag” is another one for my mental library of uses you only ever seem to see in crosswords aka “The Llano Files”.
PRIVATE LIVES was my way in to a fun solve, after some initial anticipation of not being able to crack the theme.
When I first glanced at 20d, I thought, Too bad the answer isn’t WOTCHER, I’ll have to mention that when I post. Wait a minute …
I’m not saying this is the intended answer to 6a, but there’s another possible connection to be made from the fact that the Italian for Pope is Papa.
Thanks Paul and Eileen
Mine too Dr W@37. No complaints from me. This was Paul at his usual best. For a short while I thought 16ac might be an example of his trademark smut but fortunately the penny dropped before I wrote it in. Thanks Paul and Eileen for the high class blog.
So WATCHA was wrong-must buy a new Chambers.
I’m another one who got NOEL COWARD on first try and much of the rest of the puzzle was a bit of a non-event after putting the obvious (to me, I accept not to all) plays and songs. But still a few tricky and enjoyable clues before the finish, and I also got watcher/ WOTCHER the wrong way round, being much more familiar with the ‘wotcha’ spelling. Thanks Eileen and Paul.
Not my fave Paul. Don’t know the works of Noel Coward and NHO POETASTER, LHASA APSO or SURTOUT. Always spelt it WOTCHA so a bit delayed on that one too. All of which made the solve difficult for me (won’t just google to get answers). Got there in the end but did like some of the cryptic clues- LAST STRAW, IRISHMAN, HAMMOCKS.
Anyone looking up the works of NOEL COWARD and then complaining that the crossword was too easy has only themself to blame. I found this quite a challenge as I never look up anything if I can help it and I got all the titles from the word play and crossers, with BLITHE SPIRIT giving me the way in.
One of my last in was POETASTER, having spent too long trying to remember McGonagall and then finding it was too long and didn’t fit either the crossers or the word play, but I was still pleased to have remembered it!
Thanks to the high muckamuck (nice surprise to see you on a Tuesday) and Eileen (always good to see you are blogging).
I loved this! Paul on top form, and the theme cracked when I got BRIEF ENCOUNTER so that made it all gettable.
I thought the clue for BITTER SWEET was brilliant and succinct!
Also loved NOEL COWARD, IBIDEM and IRISHMAN
THANKS Paul and Eileen
My way in was to have solved the NW corner fairly readily, and realising that LIVES and SWEET at 1d & 3d would make sense as part of two of the theme titles. Subconscious then told me to revisit an earlier passing thought that Paul hs a predeliction for cluing ‘coward’ as ‘chicken’ or vice-versa. After that, solving for midweek was just like Goldilocks’ third tasting of porridge.
Thanks to Paul & Eileen.
hs = has
Started with ‘Dada’ as the father of poetry and went downhill from there.
No fault but my own.
I do know Noel Coward’s work and Billy Bunter got me in, eventually.
But, if I must quibble, may I ask if that was just a bit tough for a Tuesday? We aren’t all as bright as Paul and Eileen.
SH @42
I take your point about looking up Coward’s works, but I simply wouldn’t have solved it without. I knew “Blithe Spirit” because I once saw a school performance, but the only other one I had heard of was “Brief Encounter”, and I didn’t know that was Coward (and I couldn’t parse the clue anyway).
As an aside, I can’t understand how anyone can watch “Brief Encounter” without wincing at Celia Johnson’s accent – she made the Queen sound common!
Like JinA@35, I couldn’t get the key clue at 26,19, and so the cross-referenced clues were impenetrable. Unlike JinA I had to reveal it, and from then on the puzzle was doable and fun. I thought the clues for all the plays were uniformly good. If I had to pick one it would be 6,1 PRIVATE LIVES.
Thanks, Paul for the fun and Eileen for the great blog and follow-up comments.
I wonder why people are so keen to reveal what they NHO?! If I had never heard of Noel Coward I would keep it to myself – after all, my dears, this is The Guardian!!
[In Which We Serve is another splendid film. Celia Johnson plays Noel Coward’s wife and very affecting she is too (even with the cut-glass accent — Muffin @47). It was produced as morale-lifting war propaganda, so very stiff-upper-lip, in that it celebrated the courage of the crew of a torpedoed frigate. For this reason the Admiralty hated it, referring to it as In Which We Sink]
Alec @49
Of course I’ve heard of Noel Coward – he was in the original Italian Job!
I used Bunter once in a cryptic rendition of my name, thinking of Lord Peter Wimsey’s VALET. But the person I was writing it for got stuck on the schoolboy and never figured out who’d written the clue.
I really should have caught on to BLITHE SPIRIT sooner than I did — I played Madame Arcati in a high school production. But I’ve never heard of BITTER SWEET.
Didn’t get TEMPESTS, didn’t think of the MET.
I had Dr. Seuss’s To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street as child. Later, driving in Springfield, Mass, I came across Mulberry Street. It really was nondescript!
Ever since I heard of the Mistral as a child, I’ve been interested in winds with names — the Sirocco, the Harmattan … Less known are the Canadian Chinook in the west (which I’ve experienced during a winter in Calgary, when the warm wind would blow down through the cloud-formed Chinook Arch over the Rockies and melt all the snow to make tee shirt weather for a day or two) or the Williwaw in the east.
Eileen — what does a Rachmaninoff symphony have to do with Still Life or Brief Encounter?
And thanks as ever to Paul for the challenge and Eileen for the thorough accompaniment, not just at first but along the way.
Valentine @52
It’s his second piano concerto (not a symphony) and was used as the theme music for the film – see here: https://www.classicfm.com/composers/rachmaninov/guides/rachmaninov-facts/brief-encounter-3/
I chose that link because it’s my favourite version, by the brilliant Vladimir Ashkenazy – see here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Ashkenazy
I’ve been privileged to be at several concerts here in Leicester, where he conducted the Philharmonia Orchestra: an absolute delight to watch – and to listen to, of course. If you don’t know the work, I urge you to follow the link I gave in the blog.
{Apparently the Mistral is responsible for the clarity of the air in the Arles area, hence its popularity with painters.]
Mild protest on 16 ac – a ham is not a dabbler, likely to be a pro in fact
(I saw Donald Wolfit once)
My biggest failure for ages. Didn’t get the theme and only 5 answers. Every time I struggle with a crossword there’ll be lots of comments here saying how easy it was. Oh well, never mind.
Thanks, all, for the comments – and the usual apologies for the silly errors.
I’ve been away from the blog for a chunk of the afternoon at a lovely funeral. When I came home and read and responded to Valentine’s comment @52, I settled down to indulge myself, listening to the concerto in full.
(Croc – welcome to the site if you’re new and my apologies if I’ve missed any
previous comments from you. – hoping to hear more.)
Alastair @56 – Courage, mon brave!
Have to join in. Despite a busy day I did get around to solving this and was delighted to find Noel Coward and his works.
I did actually produce “Blithe Spirit” as a school play. Wonder where Muffin saw one? Great fun with flying bits of scenery. At the end of show party the cast put on a record and I said “That’s nice” to the the withering reply “IT’S THE BEATLES,SIR!”
Whilst I’m rambling I recall a brilliant amateur production of “Private Lives” in which the lead was a good pianist and played and sang “Some Day I’ll Find You”
I too saw Donald Wolfit’s “Lear”
In a Mistral day in Nice a window was blown down and narrowly missed decapitating me.
Hi Croc@55, I think in this case, Paul meant ‘ham’ as in ‘radio ham’, ie an amateur enthusiast, though I don’t think it’s often used without the ‘radio’ prefix, and even that is probably fairly antiquated these days.
If that is the Keith Thomas at #58, Salutations Sir, (and rot REF)
My Wolfit was 12th Night at the Theatre Royal Newcastle c 1950 – his Lear was probably better
And thank you Bullhassocks #56, but is even a radio ham a dabbler (dilettante?) Perhaps so.