Guardian Cryptic 29289 Pasquale

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Thank you to Pasquale. Definitions are underlined in the clues.

Across

9. Spaceman got nr. Mars, going off course (9)

ARMSTRONG : Anagram of(…, going off course) GOT NR. MARS.

Defn: … who was the first person to walk on the moon.

10. In lake there is a fish (5)

LOACH : LOCH(Scottish for “lake”) containing(In … there is) A.

11. Herald in old city at end of month (5)

AUGUR : UR(a city of ancient Sumer) placed after(at end of) AUG(abbrev. for the month of August).

12. Having a coat under the table (9)

PLASTERED : Double defn: 1st: … of a soft mixture of sand, cement and water; and 2nd: …/very drunk.

13. Mister, one you caught as old forger? (7)

MONEYER : MR(abbrev. for “Mister”) containing(… caught) [ ONE + YE(old-fashioned word for “you”) ].

Defn: …/one who forges metal objects, in this case, coins/money.

14. Lonesome artist retreating after short gibe? (7)

INSULAR : Reversal of(… retreating) RA(abbrev. for “Royal Academician”, an artist who is a member of the Royal Academy of Arts) placed after(after) “insult”(a gibe/a slight) minus its last letter(short …).

17. Lines by female boxer, 4 (5)

HENRY : RY(abbrev. for “railway”, lines on which trains travel) placed after(by) HEN(the female of, say, a bird).

Defn: English boxer/pugilist surnamed Cooper(answer to 4 down).

19. Face in sleep turning over (3)

PAN : Reversal of(… turning over) NAP(a short sleep).

Defn: American slang for “…”.

20. Type of outfit if tum is abnormal (5)

MUFTI : Anagram of(… is abnormal) IF TUM.

Defn: …/plain clothing worn by one who wears a uniform in his/her job.

21. Violent speeches? I stared nastily (7)

TIRADES : Anagram of(… nastily) I STARED.

22. It’s said you will record fuel used in winter (4,3)

YULE LOG : Homophone of(It’s said) “you’ll”(contraction of “you will“) + LOG(an official record of events).

Defn: … in the form of a large log of wood burnt on Christmas Eve. Or, if you like, a log-shaped cake eaten at Christmas – food that provides you with energy/fuels you.

24. Gem picked up by 9? (9)

MOONSTONE : Cryptic defn: Neil Armstrong(answer to 9 across) might/could have picked up a rock from the moon.

26. Support for Tory PM no longer (5)

TRUSS : Double defn: 1st: A framework supporting a roof, bridge or other structure; and 2nd: Former Tory PM, in office for no longer than 50 days.

28. Singer, 4, caught in a deception (5)

ALICE : C(abbrev. for “caught” in cricket scores) contained in(in) [ A + LIE(a deception/untruth) ].

Defn: American rock …, with a stage name ending in Cooper(answer to 4 down).

Shock rocker:

29. Nothing in their cup, sadly, rich in nutrients (9)

EUTROPHIC : O(letter representing 0/nothing) contained in(in) anagram of(…, sadly) THEIR CUP.

Defn: …, describing a body of water, a lake, say, with an excessive growth of aquatic plants, like algae, that feed on such nutrients, and which in turn results in the killing of animal life as the decomposition of these plants deplete the oxygen supply in the water.

Down

1. Priest who sounds like a beast (4)

LAMA : Homophone of(sounds like) “llama”(a domesticated pack animal found in the Andes).

Defn: … in Tibetan Buddhism.

2. Pianist, 4, at home cuddling cat with little energy (6)

IMOGEN : IN(at home/not outside) containing(cuddling) [ MOG(an informal term for a cat) plus(with) E(symbol for/little “energy” in physics) ].

Defn: English pianist surnamed Cooper(answer to 4 down).

3. As one who sees things looking up? (6-4)

STARRY-EYED : Cryptic defn: Description of an optimist who sees things looking up/improving, which, if used literally, can also describe one who is looking up and staring at stars/with stars in their eyes.

4. Gosh – a funny trickster! (6)

COOPER : COO!(like “gosh!”, an expression of surprise) + PER(a/for each, as in “ten cents a pop”).

Answer: Tommy …, a Welsh prop comedian and magician/trickster.

5. Farmland’s getting pouring rain south of Indian city (8)

AGRARIAN : Anagram of(pouring) RAIN placed below(south of, in a down clue) AGRA(Indian city, site of the Taj Mahal).

Defn: …/of or relating to cultivated land.

6. Idiot in Conservative group (4)

CLOT : C(abbrev. for “Conservative”) + LOT(a group/a set of people or things).

7, 23. 4’s contribution to humour? (6,2,6)

BARREL OF LAUGHS : Cryptic defn: A barrel is made by a cooper(answer to 4 down) and is a part/contribution to the answer, whilst Tommy Cooper(answer to 4 down), as a comedian, contributes to humour.

8. Rebuked youngster, learner expelled (4)

CHID : “child”(a youngster) minus(… expelled) “l”(letter displayed by a learner driver).

13. What I wear on head is rubbish! (2,3)

MY HAT : Double defn: 2nd: Like “Rubbish!”, an expression of disbelief.

15. Model needs encouragement, having wasted time (10)

SIMULATION : “stimulation”(encouragement/something that arouses or urges) minus(having wasted) “t”(abbrev. for “time”).

16. Regretting downfall: little good (5)

RUING : RUIN(downfall/collapse) + G(abbrev. for /little “good”).

18. Drug problem, so sir can suffer (8)

NARCOSIS : Anagram of(… suffer) SO SIR CAN.

19. Quietly hang round, getting us to eat a piece of cake (8)

PUSHOVER : P(abbrev. for “piano”, a musical direction of play softly/quietly) + HOVER(to hang round/to linger close at hand) containing(getting … to eat) US.

Defn: …/something that is very easily done.

22. Labour MP, 4, reporting electronic check (6)

YVETTE : Homophone of(reporting) [ “e”(prefix for things electronic) + “vet”(to check/to screen) ].

Defn: UK Labour MP surnamed Cooper(answer to 4 down).

23. See 7

24. What may sound like old law-maker’s drink (4)

MEAD : Homophone of(What may sound like) “Mede”(a member of an ancient Iranian people who inhabited the area known as Media, and embodied in the phrase “law of the Medes and Persians”/a rule, custom or law that is unchangeable).

Defn: Alcoholic … of fermented honey and water.

25. Some fell by the wayside – biblical issue (4)

SEED : Double defn: 1st: What fell by the wayside in the biblical Parable of the Sower; and 2nd: …/offspring.

27. It is heard in these brief periods (4)

SECS : Homophone of(… is heard) “sex”(sexual intercourse euphemised as “it”).

Defn: Short form of “seconds”/… of time.

81 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 29289 Pasquale”

  1. It feels like all the tough setters, have been reasonably gentle this week. The COOPERs were all familiar except IMOGEN (thought there might be a mini theme with PAN appearing as well). From Wikipedia ‘Realising that Imogen had an exceptional musical talent her parents sent her at the age of 12 to Paris to study for six years at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique. This was considered a provocative move by the music establishment, and there was a lengthy correspondence in The Times between Thomas ARMSTRONG, Principal of the Royal Academy of Music in London, and Martin Cooper, arguing the pros and cons of taking a gifted child out of conventional education to specialise so early, and in a foreign country’.
    The four-letter clues were nicely done as well as MOONSTONE, COOPER, INSULAR and PUSHOVER. TRUSS and CLOT needs no further comment.

    Ta Pasquale & scchua for the super blog as ever.

  2. After yesterday’s delight from Pangakupu this seemed to me a more straightforward puzzle and suggestive again of a change in editorial policy that means Monday’s might no longer be an easy slipway into the week and Friday’s might be solved (by me) on the day rather than requiring Friday and Saturday both. Favourites were AUGUR (if only because it showed that ‘old city’ and ‘Ur’ have at last become linked in my mind), SIMULATION for a lovely smooth surface which took me a while to spot and SECS, probably, because it was my LOI and that nearly always gets a tick – I feel happy when the penny finally drops – but also for memories of primary school confusion with going up for ‘seconds’ of school dinner. Thanks Pasquale and scchua.

  3. Thanks Pasquale and scchua
    I liked all the COOPERS, and 7,23 was my favourite – obvious from the crossers, but it took some time to parse – in fact I got COOPER from it rather than vice versa.
    I was a bit thrown for PAN = face, so I “checked” it. In what context are they equivalent?
    I don’t think I have ever said COO or MY HAT!

  4. Thanks Setter and Blogger.

    Nice, low key, repeated name that really helped once penetrated. A few previously unknown words but they fitted in/were clued perfectly.

  6. Didn’t know most of the COOPERS except for ALICE at 28a. Fortunately (or unfortunately?), I did know TRUSS at 26a. I liked 12a PLASTERED, 3d STARRY-EYED, 6d CLOT, 7,23d BARREL OF LAUGHS (cf. muffin@3, a clever play on the COOPER idea), 13d MY HAT and 15d SIMULATION (as mentioned by paul@2), although for some reason there was a slight feeling of déjà vu with those last two. I didn’t really understand the context in which PAN at 19a might be used for “face” either, muffin, but the American solvers might be able to enlighten us. Thanks to Pasquale and scchua.

  7. I found this a quicker solve than Pasquale can be, but full of entertaining devices.

    I link the coo ejaculation, meaning gosh, with schoolboy stories, like the Jennings books, often said together, and “My hat!” with Bertie Wooster.

    [muffin@5 – no problem with Wordle here.]

  8. Nho “mede”, but I wos brung up by wolfs.
    [muffin – I managed to get into Wordle eventually but UK problems persist]

  9. Julie@6, muffin@3 – having checked, deadpan comes from 1920s USA slang, when faces were being called PANs.

  11. Not quite just like that, but fun nonetheless, though Henry and Imogen were dnks and Yvette had to be confirmed by my visiting Londoners. Thanks to the Don and to scchua, great pics as always.

  12. Unusual to see a theme from Pasquale, but this was enjoyable. If a face can be a mug then I thought it could probably be a pan from somewhere or other as well. Never heard of Mede, but I have drunk mead once or twice.

    Thanks Pasquale and scchua.

  13. I too found this easier than some of this setter’s puzzles – helped by all the anagrams – but as always it was very enjoyable.

    My favourites included: YVETTE, AGRARIAN, INSULAR, IMOGEN, CHID (which I think I might have seen before)

    Thanks Pasquale and scchua

  15. I enjoyed this. Not the toughest, perhaps, but no pushover either. Clearly (and fairly) clued. Thanks to Pasquale and scchua.

    Muffin@5 I haven’t yet managed to access Wordle this morning. I’ve been trying (on and off) since 7.30am. I checked with one of those websites that tells you whether or not a site is ‘down’ and it seems lots of people are reporting problems.

  16. Thank you scchua.
    I spent way too long looking for an anagram (funny) of gosh a for another first name in the key clue 4d COOPER once I’d got it from ALICE, even though per for a was in my cryptic toolbox. Was able to get the other 4s thanks to wordplay and Google.
    It occurred to me that column 6 and 15 CLOT SIMULATION may also be related to Tommy COOPER and BARREL OF LAUGHS. … playing the fool?

  17. I am all at sixes and sevens when it comes to what level of difficulty to expect. This must be the fastest Friday Guardian crossword I’ve ever completed with only MONEYER holding me up a bit at the end. Which is NOT meant to be a brag – there have been plenty of puzzles I’ve agonised over for far longer. But I didn’t expect it with Pasquale at the end of the week. No particular fave today, though I did smile at the clue for HENRY. Nice to see ALICE COOPER get a mention, School’s Out being very much part of my educational recollections – though it is far from being his best track.

    Thanks Pasquale and scchua

  19. For once I found a Friday puzzle pretty straightforward. Didn’t know about Mede, so all very useful to know (I think), and also didn’t realise that Tommy Cooper was Welsh. Brilliant comedian with very funny bones, but my partner just never ‘got him’. No accounting for comedic taste.

  20. (Oh.Alan C. Dont know what happened there. Arthritic fingers. Lots of paddymelons. Surprised that went through.)

  22. (Me@20 cont. And also doing this in bed on small phone, which is what is to me. I usually use a desktop. I don’t know how people do crossies on a phone. You can’t see the whole picture.)

  23. Thank you Pasquale for the entertaining puzzle and scchua for the informative blog.
    I liked the centrally placed, trickster PAN.
    I really wanted ‘Mini’ at 24d but it would have been at the expense of ALICE.

  25. Enjoyable but…. Is it reasonable in 2024 to expect younger solvers to know Tommy, Henry and Alice Cooper?

    OK for oldies but not anyone under 50.

    Thanks all the same Pasquale and scchua

  26. paddymelon@22 – you can see the whole grid on the screen in the app, which is where I solve. It does make fat-finger mistakes a bit more likely, however…

  27. Enjoyable puzzle.

    I needed some help from google for the UK GK such as pianist IMOGEN Cooper, boxer HENRY Cooper and comedian Tommy Cooper. Never heard of any of them but I do know of the singer ALICE COOPER. And sadly, like JinA@6, I do know of the 50-day PM TRUSS.

    New for me: PAN = face (US informal); EUTROPHIC.

    Favourites: YVETTE, STARRY-EYED.

    Thanks, both.

  28. Thanks Pasquale and scchua

    [Technical note re 12: there is no cement in plaster, of which the primary component is gypsum. if it’s got cement in it’s a render and is used externally.]

  29. ArkLark @25 “Is it reasonable in 2024 to expect younger solvers to know Tommy, Henry and Alice Cooper?”….. If it’s not, then it’s time they educated themselves…..

    [muffin @5… it took a bit longer than usual this morning, but I got in there OK.]

  30. After failing miserably with yesterday’s (following the high of Wednesday), I was happy to see Pasquale in the driving seat and had a reasonably clear run with today’s. I really liked the COOPER device – both the clue itself (as @7 Shanne said, I’m re-reading Wodehouse at the moment, and it was a common saying of irritating boy scout, Edwin) and the related clues too.

    Thanks scchua for the parsing of MEAD too…I got the correct answer, but I didn’t know why!

  31. I’d never heard of most of the Coopers, but they were clearly-enough clued that I managed anyway. Still a DNF for me as I couldn’t figure out 25dn (SEED), even though in hindsight it’s perfectly clear.

  32. Good fun. I liked the rhyming clue for LAMA & 4d for the great man himself. Watching his sad demise on live TV we all thought it was part of the act. Unfortunately not.

    Cheers S&P

  33. Much easier than I was expecting – but no less enjoyable. Have never heard of MONEYER or LOACH, but it had to be them, didn’t it? Many thanks Pasquale & scchua.
    I was once in a fairly crowded lift when the door opened & in walked Tommy Cooper. I swear all he did was press his desired floor, then leave when it arrived – and yet, by the time he did, all of us were helpless with laughter, giggling like ninnies. Somehow he just seemed to radiate humour…

  34. It wasn’t so much TC’s magic tricks that enthralled me but his one-liners. Like when he went shopping for camouflage trousers but couldn’t find any.

  36. Tim C @29 – is that reasonable? These are pop culture figures of their time, not known to today’s under 40s or so. It would be interesting to see how we oldies fared if a puzzle was full of recent such figures.

  38. ArkLark @36. I think it’s fair both ways. There have been recent modern references that have been over my head

  39. One person’s obscure GK is another’s obvious reference. I went from the neat IMOGEN straight to COOPER (a wonderful pianist!) as an obvious link for me and then got all the other thematics. A lovely crossword. Thanks to the Don and schuss.

  40. TRUSS’s brief, tumultuous tenure as prime minister – in six stark charts.’ Scroll down to: ‘Truss’s net satisfaction dropped from -2 in her first month to -51 in her second. This is the biggest drop that any prime minister has had since Ipsos’s records began with James Callaghan in 1977.’ It’s a vertical line, straight down.

  41. Relieved to see I’m not the only to reverse engineer COOPER from one or more references. 7D is very cleverly done.

    EUTROPHIC was new to me. NHO Imogen Cooper, but the wordplay and crossers were straightforward enough and easy to verify via DuckDuckGo.

  42. ArkLark@25. Alice is still touring and as he points out his audience now includes grandparents, their children and their grandchildren. I know the names of quite a few 21st century pop artists without ever having heard any of their songs. Adele is a staple of US crosswords. I wouldn’t know her if she was playing a gig in my back garden.

    Still baffled by why PAN = face.

    Thanks Pasquale and scchua.

  43. I struggled for a while to get COOPER, thinking that gosh would be cor. Once that was sorted out, everything went in quite smoothly, although I DNK mede and MONEYER.

    I looked in vain for ‘Tommy’ in the grid, although he was obviously included in the clue for COOPER. Maybe, Tommy would have fitted in 16 with Oxfam at 20 and a bit more engineering. I did like the other use of COOPER for BARREL OF LAUGHS – very good! I also liked the wordplay for IMOGEN, but didn’t appreciate seeing TRUSS again. [Before she was elected, I said I would leave the country if she got in, but luckily my passport renewal took too long – or so I claimed!]

    Thanks Pasquale and scchua.

  44. Before I looked at the downs, I had STING for 28a, and thought “that will help when I get to 4d”. But it didn’t… Then the penny dropped for COOPER, and I spent some time trying to figure out what Sting had to do with Cooper! Thanks, Pasquale and scchua.

  45. I can hardly believe that I didn’t twig key clue COOPER almost till the very end. Which of course held me up with things not fitting together meaningfully. Stoopid me, as I often listen to Planet Rock, fronted by this enduring showman several times a week. He never seems to age, unlike endearing types Tommy and our ‘Enry. Though I didn’t know the pianist. Lots to like and admire in retrospect. Last one in PLASTERED. I do like the word CHID, not often used these days

  46. More graphs: co-operate,COOPERate,coöperate.
    The hyphen began its decline in the US in 1912. The New Yorker diaeresis is still going strong, though.
    The hyphen held on in the UK till 1990. Not much call for diaereses here.

  47. @42 Pete HA3 – the usage in “deadpan” and “smack in the pan”, I think. It wasn’t immediately obvious to me either.

  48. Did a bit better than yesterday, on the anagrams anyway, got a bit stuck when I instantly put Gove in 6d my mistake.

  50. No CONTEntious clues today. Enjoyed this and learned about a few UK COOPERs, although I knew ALICE. And learned a couple of new words that I may never need. Loved BARREL OF LAUGHS. Thanks, Pasquale and scchua.

  51. Great, I thought, a puzzle full of people I’d never heard of!

    It turned out to be not so bad, as there weren’t all that many, and wordplay wasn’t too intimidating. Wikipedia got a good workout.

  52. Like John@39 Imogen was the first Cooper I got. I remember her being interviewed by another pianist Joseph Cooper, no relation, who hosted a TV music quiz for many years. Alan@1 does not mention that Martin was Imogen’s father.

  53. Togs @52: thanks for reminding me of Face the Music, my first exposure to classical music. Joseph.Cooper had such a gentle way about him.

  54. It took a while for the penny to drop on Tommy Cooper, but after that it was not too difficult; and I knew the other Coopers e.g. Imogen. Some question whether it is fair on younger solvers to expect them to know about Tommy. I’m in my sixties, so that isn’t a problem. But I’ve also heard of comedy figures before my time e.g. Max Miller, so I think it is reasonable. Anyway, although I’m not a fan of keystone clues it was a fun puzzle (eventually..). With thanks to Pasquale and scchua.

  55. No one has mentioned Ogden Nash yet?

    The one-l lama, he’s a priest.
    The two-l llama, he’s a beast
    And I will bet a silk pajama,
    There isn’t any three-l lllama.

    Anyway, like so many others, the only Cooper I’d heard of was Alice. Shock and surprise–he’s the only one who isn’t British. (And for the record, I’m 49.) None of this got in the way of the solve, because Pasquale’s wordplay is always impeccable. Needed the blog to understand what Medes had to do with law–I mean, I assumed they had laws, but…

    I can offer no help on PAN=face. If it’s American slang, it surely dates from when my long-deceased grandparents were children.

  56. I found IMOGEN and YVETTE gettable from the wordplay; the others I knew.

    [I find it interesting how many people, not just here but those I know, who play Wordle. I used to play it (under a different name of course – Moo I think) with a friend in college with pencil and paper, 50 years ago. Used to play up to 8 letter words. Totally got it out of my system then, and haven’t played it since. But I’m happy it’s now been found by millions. And kudos to the guy who wrote the app (wrong to say invented the game), a Mr. Wardle!]

  57. [Dr.W: the genius move that made Wordle go viral was being able to share your results without spoilers, with those green and yellow squares. So everyone was comparing notes, so for once a word game could be a social experience. The timing was also right: someone I know said that Wordle was the sourdough starter of Omicron. It also helps that Wordle is basically easy, so relatively few people were put off when they did poorly.]

  60. My first Pasquale, and I found it an extremely enjoyable puzzle with a lot of clues that were rewarding to read and solve, yet not over-dense. So many ticks, all noted above. And that, despite not knowing all the Coopers.

    I note comments that this was easier than his usual fare. Nevertheless, I look forward to the next puzzle from him

    Thanks Pasquale and sschau

  61. PAN is indeed American slang from the 1930s and every one of you has heard it in the one place that I’ve heard it, i.e. in the lyrics to Hooray for Hollywood:
    “That screwy, ballyhooey Hollywood, Where any office boy or young mechanic Can be a panic With just a good-looking pan!”

    Pasquale was kind to me today and went so far as to give me EUTROPHIC, a word from my world. I only failed to parse MEDE and COOPER. (Forget pan! Has anyone ever uttered “coo”?)

  63. [ mrpenny@55, thanks for the Ogden Nash poem. He did add an addendum of sorts: “The author’s attention has been called to a type of conflagration known as the three-allarmer. Pooh.” Clearly he refused to hand over his silk pyjama. ]

    Imogen Cooper was my way in to the 4d sequence of clues, having got IMOGEN from the wordplay at 2d. Ms Cooper being the only Imogen pianist I know of, that gave me 4d COOPER, which I could not parse. The only other one I knew was Alice, but the others were gettable from wordplay and confirmable from Wiki. I’m not alone in selecting 7,23 BARREL OF LAUGHS as the clear COD winner.

    EUTROPHIC (29a) was a Thing that I was pleased to Learn Today.

    RE 24d MEAD, my knowledge of the Medes and Persians comes from My Word, where someone (Norton or Muir) explained the derivation of the aphorism “One man’s Mede is another man’s Persian”. On their behalf, I’ll get my coat.

    Thanks Pasquale and scchua for the fun.

  64. A fine puzzle, and very light on obscurities for Pasquale (though I’d never heard of Imogen COOPER). Everything was smoothly clued, but I thought STARRY-EYED was just lovely. Wishing everyone a great weekend!

  66. [I used to work with a guy from Edinburgh who often used to say “it’s not worth knocking your PAN in about it” as an equivalent to “it’s not worth doing your head in over it”, so that helped me with pan=face.]

  67. [cellomaniac @63: thanks for that little gem. It is lovely to be reminded of the brilliant quips of some of the old masters. I might have quoted these before – memory fails – but I recall two that were attributed to the late Willie Rushton: on being asked to name those responsible for bringing ice cream back from the Middle East, he volunteered Walls of Jericho and Lyons of Judea. Even better, when asked what women used to turn their hair platinum, he suggested absinthe on the basis that ‘Absinthe makes the tart go blonder’. Apologies to those who might be offended; it was a different age.]

  68. Postmark @67 – Good memories. Tommy Cooper also observed that cars were first mentioned in the Old Testament…”…and Moses came down from Mount Sinai in his Triumph…”

  69. Great fun today, thank you Pasquale. I knew all the Coopers except Imogen but she was the first one in and via Google led me to Cooper! (If memory serves, Henry’s brother was a butcher in Wembley, near where I lived as a child. Rumour was that Henry would occasionally put a shift in on a Saturday to the surprise of customers.)
    Excellent blog scchua!

  70. Thanks Pasquale. I managed to solve this with COOPER being my LOI and knowing only one of the Coopers in the grid (ALICE). I think that speaks to how well Pasquale can write a clue. My top picks were PLASTERED, INSULAR, EUTROPHIC, SIMULATION, RUING, and SECS. Thanks scchua for the blog.
    [Martyn @60: In case you don’t know Bradman in the FT is Pasquale. Either way you can’t go wrong.]

  71. PostMark@67: I believe it was Rushton who in 1968 brought back Tony Hancock’s ashes to the UK “in an Air France bag”. He said of this: “my session with the Customs was a Hancock’s Half Hour in itself..”. Sadly, Rushton only made it to 59.

  72. Heard of all the Coopers apart from Imogen whose existence was revealed online. 13a and 29a new for me.
    27d I had ‘tick’ as you hear a clock tick and ‘be there in a tick’ meaning brief moment which held up bottom right for a while but at least prevented me writing in Truss for a while.

  74. [ PostMark@67 (I hope kenmac will forgive this extraneous comment), my favourite My Word aural wordplay was from Frank Muir: The late Dean Martin, who somehow got into heaven, visited Sinatra and Davis Jr in hell, where they were running a nightclub. On returning without his instrument he bemoaned, “I left my harp in Sam ‘n’ Frank’s disco.” ]

  75. [My favourite was a story about a pet hamster that died, was processed, then buried. Daffodils grew over his grave. The petshop man said “that’s odd; we usually get tulips from hamster jam”.]

  76. Nope, total brain fail. Got most of the non-COOPER clues, but completely failed to notice the Cooper theme for the ones I’d heard of (and the barrel of monkeys). I hang my head in shame. If I’d been able to parse 4, that would have helped.

    Lacking ALICE, I thought that “What may sound like old law-maker’s drink (4)” was going to be MARK — Maker’s Mark bourbon (“Maker’s drink”) sounding like “(letter of) marque”. I thought of MEAD, but had never before heard “law of the Medes and Persians”. Also NHO LOACH.

  77. [muffin @75: A man goes to a florist looking for flowers but he only sees ferns. The florist tells him “with fronds like these who needs anemones”?]

  78. [PostMark@67 🙂 HoofItYouDonkey@68 🙂 nuntius@71 🙂 Cellomaniac@74 🙂 muffin@75 🙂 Tony Santucci@77 🙂 – Good ones.]
    29d – EUTROPHIC – its Ancient Greek derivation suggests it should mean “well-nourished” – oed.com has ‘
    1. 1931– Medicine. Tending to promote nutrition.
    2. 1959– Of a lake, swamp, etc.: (over-)rich in organic or mineral nutrients and having as a result an excessive growth of algæ and other plants, with depletion of oxygen and consequent extinction of animal life…’
    But all the citations for both definitions mention lakes. Curious.
    “Darius the MEAD was a king and a wonder…”

  79. Oh, I loved this and completed it in under an hour!! Very delighted!! Thanks Pasquale! Now to read the blog and see if my parsing was right!

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