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The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/29304 (and https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/prize/29195)
What is going on here? The puzzle is lifted straight from a previous Pual crosword – the prize 29,195 of 7 October 2023. As I did not realize this until this blog was completed, I here present my version to add to that of mc_rapper67. Still, it is a delightful crossword, and bears the repetition. I suppose that there is the possibility that this offering may shortly be replaced with a fresh puzzle, which would cause a certain amount of confusion.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | DIRECT |
Frank’s result of Welsh pub crawl announced? (6)
|
| Sounds like (‘announced’) DAI (typical ‘Welsh’ name’ WRECKED (‘result of … pub crawl’) | ||
| 4 | BOW-WOW |
Show respect before my hound (3-3)
|
| A charade of BOW (‘show respect’) plus WOW (another interjection for ‘my’!). | ||
| 9 | AVID |
A short film full of energy (4)
|
| A VID[eo] (‘a film’) cut ‘short’. | ||
| 10 | RAINFOREST |
Biodiverse area with ground on fire: cover-up by right-leaning despot? (10)
|
| An envelope (‘cover-up by’) of INFORE, an anagram (‘ground’) of ‘on fire’ in RAST, a reversal (‘right-leaning’) of TSAR (‘despot’). | ||
| 11 | SLURRY |
Waste, speaking when wasted? (6)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 12 | HANDS OFF |
Don’t touch German on his way around Germany (5,3)
|
| An envelope (‘around’) of D (Deutschland, ‘Germany’) in HANS (typical ‘German’ name) plus OFF (‘on his way’) | ||
| 13, 18, 7 | BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR |
White House club wary of far-off guarded response to ambitions (2,7,4,3,4,3)
|
| An anagram (-‘off’) of ‘white house club wary of far’. | ||
| 15 | TIER |
Class warfare, I think, somewhat regressive (4)
|
| A hidden (‘somewhat’) reversed (‘regressive’) answer in ‘warfaRE I Think’. | ||
| 16 | SORE |
Ulcer or boil observed by one’s ear? (4)
|
| Sounds like (‘by one’s ear’) SAW (‘observed’). | ||
| 17 | SKEW-WHIFF |
Slightly off, s-scent of gardens? (4-5)
|
| A charade of ‘s’- plus KEW WHIFF (‘scent of gardens’ – Kew Gardens being the horticultural centre). | ||
| 21 | CENTRISM |
Money bound to inspire premier in surprisingly moderate policy (8)
|
| An envelope (‘to inspire’) of S (‘premier in Surprisingly’) in CENT (‘money’) plus RIM (‘bound’). | ||
| 22 | AFFAIR |
Overheard, a beautiful thing (6)
|
| Sounds like (‘overheard’) A FAIR (‘a beautiful’). | ||
| 24 | NICEY-NICEY |
Sycophantic luvvy ultimately backing Yankee in Jolie? (5-5)
|
| A charade of NICEYNICE, an envelope (‘in’) of Y (NATO alphabet ‘Yankee’) in NICE NICE (‘jolie’ – French for NICE, as spoken in NICE); plus Y (‘luvvY ultimately’). | ||
| 25 |
See 23 Down
|
|
| 26 | SIMPLY |
Just monkey caught by foxy (6)
|
| An envelope (‘caught by’) of IMP (‘monkey’, a naughty child) in SLY (‘foxy’). | ||
| 27 | CUTTER |
Originally clinker-built, say, sailing ship (6)
|
| A charade of C (‘originally Clinker-built’) plus UTTER (‘say’) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | DEVOLVE |
Transfer fee in conclusion very, very much appreciated when raised (7)
|
| A reversal (‘when raised’ in a down light) of E (‘feE in conclusion’) plus V (‘very’) plus LOVED (‘very much appreciated’). | ||
| 2 | RIDER |
Qualification as cowboy, say? (5)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 3 | CARLYLE |
Influential Victorian essayist clearly red-pencilled (7)
|
| An anagram (‘red-pencilled’) of ‘clearly’. | ||
| 5 | OFFEND |
Outrage, Beyond the Fringe? (6)
|
| A charade of OFF (‘beyond’) plus END (‘the fringe’). | ||
| 6 | WORDSMITH |
One skilled in communication, and bagging gold medal (9)
|
| An envelope (‘bagging’) of OR (heraldic ‘gold’) plus DSM (Distinguished Service ‘Medal’) in WITH (‘and’). | ||
| 7 |
See 13 Across
|
|
| 8 | HIGH-MUCK-A-MUCK |
Rotten scum done over, taken apart by a big gun (4-4-1-4)
|
| A charade of HIGH (‘rotten’) plus MUCKAMUCK, an envelope (‘taken apart by’) of ‘a’ in MUCK (‘scum’) plus MUCK (‘done over’ – i.e. another MUCK). | ||
| 14 | AIRSTREAM |
Current art is designed on paper (9)
|
| A charade of AIRST, an anagram (‘designed’) of ‘art is’ plus (‘on’) REAM (‘paper’). | ||
| 16 | SPECIES |
Kind that is four-eyed? (7)
|
| An implied envelope: I.E. (‘that is’) IN SPECS (‘four-eyed’). | ||
| 18 |
See 13 Across
|
|
| 19 | FRITTER |
Blow hot dish (7)
|
| Double definition, with ‘blow’ in the sense of waste. | ||
| 20 | SIGNAL |
Cue in slang I screwed up (6)
|
| An anagram (‘screwed up’) of ‘slang I’. | ||
| 23, 25 | FIRST-RATE |
Great passion consuming sweets after a turnover? (5-4)
|
| An envelope (‘consuming’) of STRAT, a reversal (‘after a turnover’) of TARTS (‘sweets’) in FIRE (‘passion’). |
I have just realised that too. I should have recognise deja vu earlier – didn’t ring a bell until NICEY-NICEY.
Thanks, PeterO, but not to the new editor
Some echoes of its outing a year ago, but only after the G-threaders said. And I notice organism has changed to kind as def for species.in 16d.
A recycled puzzle deserves a recycled quote: – “It’s déjà vu all over again”.
And it’s Groundhog Day</em +11: – Phil: “Do you ever have déjà vu, Mrs. Lancaster?” — Mrs. Lancaster: “I don’t think so, but I could check with the kitchen.”
I thought ‘I’m sure I’ve seen Dai Wrecked before’ while I was doing this. Now I know why.
That just leaves me totally deflated now as it took me far too long given that I would have done it last year. Perhaps there’s no more memory left, or I need to take a break, or……
… just 6 months ago in fact, aging brain fading …
There is more evidence that the puzzle has actually been edited since its debut – apart from grantinfreo@2’s 16d “organism” -> “kind”:
10a RAINFOREST(4,6) -> RAINFOREST(10) – more common these days
13 -> 13, 18, 7 – solvers didn’t know what order to fill in the long linked clue
3d “author” -> “essayist” – more helpful
23 -> 23, 25
@4 It’s some solace to me that a disappearing memory is not an uncommon thing. I hadn’t done this previously and slogged away today, cheating in the end with a couple of the long entries which my memory, like me, had never encountered before. Nevertheless, BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR, which I got, was my favourite clue. It’s very true. I’ll come back for more. Thanks Peter and Paul.
Another Welsh name I hadn’t heard of. NICEY-NICEY was unknown, also Distinguished Service Medal.
I’ve often wondered who decided that dogs go bow-wow. They don’t sound anything like that to me. Woof is somewhat closer, methinks.
Can’t remember whether I did this puzzle last time round.
It’s rare for me to miss a G puzzle but this one does not ring bells – unless I got part way through it last time and failed to complete. I needed help with HIGH MUCK A MUCK which is nho and I wouldn’t have got in a month. NICEY NICEY went in from crossers and is another I don’t recall encountering. Neither ring bells.
Thanks both
DIRECT and BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR started me thinking I’d seen it before.
After I’d finished I went back to see how I’d done last time.
This time it was the SE that held me up. Last time it was the NE.
Thanks both
Having completed this in complete innocence and without any memory of seeing it before, I’m now beginning to remember HIGH-MUCK-A-MUCK being new to me the last time I did it, but perhaps my brain is now playing tricks on me. Anyway, I enjoyed it all over again, for what it’s worth, and groaned at DIRECT, of course. Thanks to PeterO and (again) to Paul.
I took far longer to solve this than I should, albeit a fraction of the time to solve the prize, knowing from early on there was a lot of déjà-vu here. I thought the DIRECT clue was familiar, knew I’d seen that clue before for SKEW-WHIFF, so got HIGH-MUCK-A-MUCK and NICEY-NICEY from memory, and some crossers.
I did think some of the clues weren’t identical.
Thank you to PeterO for the blog, and Paul for the challenge.
20d – signal is hidden word backwards/revered in “sLANG I Screwed” up?
With apologies, if you press refresh in a short moment, usual service should be resumed. We have no pages from Ceefax or incidental music in the meantime.
Well, blow me down. I have looked back and found I solved maybe a quarter of this first time around, then gave up. Then, I had BROWN NOSEY for 24a. I considered that this time too, but couldn’t parse it. Interestingly, I solved AFFAIR last time but had all sorts of trouble with it this time. Finished it all though this time. Thanks, Paul and PeterO.
One of the benefits of ageing: you can enjoy all over again something you had completely forgotten you had seen or done. I hadn’t remembered this at all. Energetic stuff from Paul as always – and for the second time I hadn’t heard of HIGH-MUCK-A-MUCK.
I was certain I’d not done this before – I’d have remembered H-M-A-M which I’d nho and had to reveal – would possibly never have got it on my own. I miss very few Prize puzzles – but realised I was visiting family in Canada last October and had better things to do than online puzzles … and having clicked Refresh, I see I now have a second Paul puzzle in one day, which can’t be bad.
Not a lot of point in commenting (though it seems I didn’t last time), but the long one reminded me of the “seaside” clue from a couple of days ago – not much chance of solving it blank, but obvious from the enumeration after a few crossers were in. I feel short-changed when this happens.
I don’t believe it! Feeling smug for finishing a Paul before 9am and now discover I’ve done it before! If it gets repeated in 6 months will I have forgotten again? I thought 8d was familiar but hadn’t remembered it from last year. ( I’m amazed I haven’t had cause to use it in the last 6 months!)
I just had vague feeling I had seen similar clues before. And thought to myself on seeing High-muck-a-muck; now there’s a phrase I only know from (Paul’s ) crosswords.
Oh well – maybe doing the crossword in Grun and Indy are not helping my memory
Thanks again Setter and Bloggers
Don’t know how you all remember a puzzle from six months ago, when I struggle to remember what I had for breakfast an hour ago. (Yoghurt, Apple and bran – phew!)
I see the new one has several multi clue solutions too. I think I won’t bother.
I’ve just done the new one and it was a slog!
Just completed Paul’s crossword today – bit later than usual for me – and was completely baffled by all the “what the…?” complaints about a duplicate. Now understand that Alan Connor’s switch on and off (the technical go-to manoeuvre for most of us) has managed to rectify the problem. The correct version for today is a real head scratcher and I have not yet parsed the 22/19 “consort” clue though of course got the answer. Apart from that think I have the rest sorted. Grateful for elucidation.
TerriBlislow – Take the “essential” four letters of “German”. The first two give one word, the next the second.
Even more confusing: the new (refreshed) puzzle has retained my entries for the previous (repeated) puzzle, but the letters are scattered across the grid.
I gave up on today’s Paul 29,304 – I could not solve a single clue. Will there be a blog for it?
ignore my comment above – I have decided to do an old Everyman puzzle instead today for my daily cryptic entertainment. I generally skip Paul puzzles anyway.
The Paul crossword 29,304 on my screen bears no resemblance to the above
Wish I’d seen the repeat puzzle and done that. I got one corner of the new one, revealed the long answers and thought what’s the point. There are limits.
Shirl@25 – sorry for delay – very grateful, thanks. Kicking myself of course as I vaguely looked at the middle letters and thought nah! Am depressed at the vogue for dissing Paul. He’s a superb and original setter. Lights up my day when we get one. I do Auracaria’s from the archive on a Sunday and am often struck by the similarities in style (not talking about the bawdiness of course – which just make me laugh). Anyway, I always enjoy my daily cryptics and always marvel at the ingenuity and creativity of the setters’ work. What’s to beef about? It’s all life enhancing stuff.
Worryingly, I have no recollection of this. Probably associated with the same reason I often miss themes: once solved, a clue is removed from my memory by default.
Aaanyway, back to this… does hot in the FRITTER clue refer to temperature or spice? Can’t say I’ve ever encountered one that would qualify as hot.
Loved the SKEW-WHIFF clue! Strictly speaking the added s should precede WHIFF rather than KEW. but there’s such fun in it the clue that it’s instantly overlooked.
Many thanks, both.
Very useful: I solved 29195 during a bout of insomnia and still had the pleasure of 29304 with breakfast!
Would very much like to see a full blog of the correct 29304, which I found very challenging. I still don’t know if 3D is OVETT or OVERT (or something else), nor how the wordplay works for 1D’s NINON (if that’s the answer).
NINON is the answer. Never heard of it.
Looking forward to the comments for 29304. Thought it was quite brilliant. Ian @34, I’m sure the former is correct.
Ian – OVETT: cOe riVal yEt ofTen fasTest (letters at the heart).
NINON: 75% of NINe and 66% of ONe
I was confused. A real sense of “déjà vu all over again”. Heightened when I got to 24a NICEY-NICEY and 8d HIGH-MUCK-A-MUCK. A bit worried that I was losing my mind so I just kept going. As others have said happens to them, I tend to forget crosswords once they are done, except for stand-out clues or memorable themes, so I persevered to the end.
Have just printed off the second (correct) Paul puzzle for today but I’m not sure I have the energy for it, having ploughed though this one.
It’s all made for a very confused blog – I’ve tried to gloss over the comments alluding to the “new” puzzle in case I do decide to tackle it.
Thank you Paul & PeterO.
A two-for-one deal this morning. Both delightfully inventive and witty.
I have no recollection of this one, whether through faulty memory or because it was a puzzle I missed, I cannot tell.
Anyhow, I enjoyed the challenge. SKEW WHIFF is a wonderful expression. I got the multiple entry from the crossers to WISH FOR – I didn’t attempt to solve it from the wordplay or even bother to parse it retrospectively. I don’t like these split entry phrases – they’re irritating on a smartphone, necessitating a lot of scrolling up and down – except for Araucaria’s splendid &lit long anagrams, of happy memory.
Thanks (again!) to Paul and PeterO
Just refreshed and it’s a different puzzle with my original entries making nonsense words. I’ll have to click “Clear all” for the first time. Who’s going to blog it?
I don’t know if there’s too much blood in my caffeine system, but I’ve made heavy weather of both of this week’s cryptics so far. I had the good fortune to come to this one after the switcheroo, so I was spared the initial confusion.
Thanks for the parsing of NINON, Crucivercial @37. I remembered that Paul was a fan of Steve Ovett, so that was my FOI. I can’t parse EMMA or the first part of SNARE DRUM (got the 70’s jumper). Otherwise, there were some very clever clues – I really liked QUEEN MOTHER, MORSE CODE and TANGOED. Thanks Paul. I hope we get a blog about this one too.
I seem to have the refreshed version (also by Paul), so didn’t understand PeterO’s comments. I hope the correct one will now be blogged.
EMMA is a reversal of Hammer (films, as in House of Horror) with its first and last letters removed. The first two letters of SNARE DRUM are the first and last letters (the “coat”) of “seen”.
Lechien@42 – the SNA are the coat of “seen” with “a”, and EMMA is a reference to the Hammer horror films, reversed and with extremes trimmed off. But I don’t feel confident in the parsing of QUEEN MOTHER – presumably the “RM” from “German” is supposed to indicate it, but does “M” normally abbreviate to Mother?
ER = Queen, MA = mother
How incompetent , I know the BBC likes repeats but this is ridiculous.
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
I’ve closed comments on this as they are beginning to make little sense in the context of the posted blog