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A fun solve – my favourites were 4dn, 7dn, and 23dn, and I had a happy grimace for 3dn. Thanks to Paul
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SINEWY |
Tough, one novel Sandy’s penned? (6)
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I="one" + NEW="novel"; both penned inside SY (S & Y, S and Y, Sandy) |
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| 4, 29 | CHARLES INGRAM |
Millionaire briefly plying rich man with lagers (7,6)
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Charles Ingram [wiki] 'won' the TV quiz show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, but was not able to keep the winnings due to suspicions of cheating anagram/"plying" of (rich man lagers)* |
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| 9 | REVEALING |
London borough behind minister’s brief (9)
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definition: 'revealing' or 'brief' clothes that do not cover much of the body EALING="London borough", behind REV (reverend, "minister") |
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| 10 | DIGIT |
Say what to do to get that whole number? (5)
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"Say" applies to "whole" in the surface, which sounds like 'hole' DIG IT = "what to do to get that [hole]" |
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| 11 | WORSE |
Aggravated, son donned trousers (5)
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S (son), trousered inside WORE="donned" |
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| 12 | ADDRESSEE |
A flower adorning garment for recipient (9)
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A (from surface) + DEE=river="flow-er" around DRESS="garment" |
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| 13 | PEPPERY |
Hot shower steamy, ultimately (7)
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PEPPER as a verb=to scatter over, to bombard with e.g. bullets="shower" + last/ultimate letter of [steam]-Y |
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| 15 | NUMBAT |
Dead ant less filling, one feeds on termites (6)
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definition: a species of marsupial, which feeds on termites NUMB="Dead" + A-[n]-T without its middle letter (less its "filling") |
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| 17 | BOTTOM |
Black article scraped off back of sofa bed (6)
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B (Black), plus OTTOM-[an]="Sofa" with an=indefinite "article" taken off the back |
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| 19, 2, 26 | WONDERS NEVER CEASE |
Dalliance in essence over, Andrew? I don’t believe it! (7,5,5)
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anagram/"Dalliance" of (essence over, Andrew)* "Dalliance" in the sense of 'toying'/'trifling'/'playing' with something, to indicate the anagram |
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| 22 | THREE-IRON |
Club in there, or bats (5-4)
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definition: a golf club anagram/"bats" of (in there or)* "bats" meaning crazy |
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| 24 | AGAIN |
Encore: a band not entirely welcoming one (5)
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A (from surface) + GAN-[g]="band not entirely" around I="one" |
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| 26 |
See 19
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| 27 | BIRD TABLE |
Where crumbs may be taken from book in story of a sentence? (4,5)
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B (book) inside BIRD TALE="story of a sentence?" – 'bird' is slang for a prison sentence |
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| 28 | SPENSER |
Old English poet meaning to cover page with rhymes, primarily (7)
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SENSE="meaning" around P (page), plus R-[hymes] |
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| 29 |
See 4
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 | SCREWUP |
Drink spiked by staff – sabotage (5,2)
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SUP="Drink" around CREW="staff" |
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| 2 |
See 19 Across
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| 3 | WHALE MEAT |
Flesh from the ocean offered 24 in old song, loosely speaking? (5,4)
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24 refers to AGAIN, the solution to 24ac WHALE MEET AGAIN, "loosely speaking" sounds like 'We'll Meet Again', as sung by Vera Lynn [wiki] |
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| 4 | CAGED IN |
Noise after composer of noteless music shut up (5,2)
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DIN="Noise" after CAGE="composer of noteless music" – reference to John Cage and 4'33" [wiki] |
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| 5 | ADDLE |
Turn seat, lifting lid (5)
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[s]-ADDLE="seat" with its top letter/"lid" removed |
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| 6 | LEGISLATE |
Lay down rules where supporter is delayed (9)
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LEG="supporter" + IS LATE="is delayed" |
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| 7 | SITTER |
Poser: one surely won’t be missed (6)
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double definition: one who poses or sits for e.g. a photo; or an easy target (e.g. to 'miss a sitter' shooting for a goal in football) |
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| 8 | PIRACY |
Goody-goody above naughty crime (6)
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PI (pious, "Goody-goody") + RACY="naughty" |
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| 14 | PROCREATE |
Top career excited father (9)
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anagram/"excited" of (Top career)* |
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| 16 | MANHATTAN |
Ray secures lid on new cocktail (9)
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MANTA="Ray" as in the fish, around HAT="lid"; plus N (new) |
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| 18 | MARS BAR |
Sweet thing in pub with poisonous atmosphere? (4,3)
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definition: brand name of a chocolate bar a BAR/"pub" on the planet MARS might not have a breathable atmosphere |
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| 19 | WINTRY |
Obtain and taste bitter (6)
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WIN="Obtain" + TRY="taste" |
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| 20 | SUNBEAM |
According to Spooner, cake layer light (7)
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Spoonerism of BUN="cake" + SEAM="layer" (e.g. a seam of coal underground) |
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| 21 | STACKS |
Small nails – a lot (6)
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S (Small) + TACKS="nails" |
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| 23 | EXECS |
Powerful people announcing the score of the Roman Empire? (5)
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sounds like ("announcing"): 'X X' XX is 20 (a "score") in Roman numerals |
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| 25 | AMBER |
Slope initially dropped a shade (5)
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[c]-AMBER="Slope" with its first letter/"initial" dropped |
Surprisingly quick fix for a Paul, and enjoyed getting the answers from the wordplay, on the whole, rather than the other way around. LOI was ADDLE, the parsing of which defeated me, as did WHALE MEAT. Thanks, manehi for explaining them. Favourites were PEPPERY, SUNBEAM and EXECS. Many thanks Paul for a diverting challenge and manehi for the usual first class blog.
Good fun and mercifully free of cross references. Top ticks for WHALE MEAT, EXECS and SINEWY
Never heard of the millionaire, but a bit of google guesswork yielded the surname
Cheers M&P
Thanks Paul and manehi
Too many unparsed for me to enjoy it, but I did like WORSE for the construction (and definition!), and EXECS.
Needed a wordsearch for INGRAM – never heard of him.
In 18d an unbreathable atmosphere isn’t necessarily poisonous, and the Martian atmosphere isn’t (probably).
Don’t know where, don’t know when whale meat sounds like … sorry, couldn’t resist…
I did recognise CHARLES INGRAM, so I enjoyed the definition. My favourites were EXECS, MANHATTAN and WONDERS NEVER CEASE. NUMBAT was new but fair. One of his more straightforward offerings.
Ta Paul & manehi.
I had to Google to remember why I knew CHARLES INGRAM – and I’ve seen James Graham’s play, Quiz, as part of the audience on stage.
Helpful anagrams for the long multi-light clues, but hard to unscramble on a phone, without finding pen and paper
Thank you to manehi and Paul.
Thank you manehi. Don’t know much about football, but SITTER I knew from cricket.
Needed you for the parsing of MANHATTAN. Manta ray, while familiar, didn’t occur to me. I got stuck on Man Ray, the photographer and artist.
Got WHALE MEAT from definition and crossers, but very loosely speaking, beyond the bounds of any homophone IMO, and an old song , which is familiar to me but would never have got. Unfair I say.
I liked PIRACY, EXECS and NUMBAT.
Jim Capaldi had an album called “WHALE MEAT AGAIN”.
Pleased to learn of a new animal in NUMBAT, especially one gettable from the clear clueing. I had to stretch for CHARLES INGRAM, though, and I imagine that was an obscurity too far for some non-UK solvers. Once again, fairly clued.
Loved WHALE MEAT, if only for the ire it will undoubtedly provoke.
Thanks to Paul and manehi.
I laughed at the pun of “WHALE MEAT again”. It reminded me of Peter Kay’s misheard song lyrics and the classic song “Sam and Janet’s evening”.
Favourite was EXECS.
The NUMBAT is an endangered species and it made a change from Armadillos, Aardvarks and Echidnas which didn’t fit. It’s related to the Quoll and Tassie Tiger (now extinct… maybe). They are welcome to come and eat the termites who want to destroy my house any time.
@charles 9 – I wondered as I put whale meat into puzzle whether Paul reads websites and decided to really annoy the “homophone police”.
The puzzle had everything in it that Paul fans love and that the less keen dislike. I love Paul’s puzzles; so this was a treat
Thanks Paul and Manehi
ginf @4: 😊
Has The Guardian changed its online crossword format? I could scarcely find this on my phone, and then it was much more difficult to fill in. Just when I was enjoying it, now it’s much worse. I might have to cancel my subscription
paddymelon @7… WHALE MEAT is “beyond the bounds of any homophone” because it’s not meant to be a homophone, hence the “loosely speaking”. No one ever seems to ask the question if clues like this are meant to produce homophones (when the word homophone is never used) as opposed to something sounding broadly/roughly/approximately/nearly/loosely/inexactly/imprecisely/thereabouts similar, then why do setters continue to write such inexact sounding clues and why do crossword editors continue to allow them. Answer: because they’re not meant to be homophones, and the sooner we avoid using that word to describe them, the better.
Thanks Paul and manehi!
Top faves SINEWY and EXECS.
WHALE MEAT: quite loosely speaking!
MARS BAR: Agree with muffin@3. Is there something else hidden in the clue?
Like the ‘pub’ even the ‘atmosphere’ could be BAR! Unable to go further with that.
Asking a whimsical question: Does the chocolate bar spoil the atmosphere in the bar?
Not convinced…
Favourites: SINEWY, DIGIT, EXECS. Groaned at the combo of 3/24 when I finally parsed it.
New for me: CAMBER (for 25d); Charles Ingram. Also, I’m from Oz but I never heard of a NUMBAT before!
I could not parse 7d.
Thanks, both.
Tim C@14
WHALE MEAT
Agree. You have said that before.
KVa@15 and muffin @3 Chambers has poison = “any substance which, taken into or formed in the body, destroys life or impairs health”. I would have thought that covers an unbreathable atmosphere. I struggle to understand how breathing in mostly Carbon Dioxide, Nitrogen and Argon could not be considered noxious.
Well, I’ve bitten, Charles@9 and Matthew@11 regarding the phoney thing. But it seems that Paul is piggy-backing on others, as mentioned by TimC@8. I’m clearly out of my kulcha zone.
Sailed through this, though couldn’t parse everything. Was welcome after yesterday’s struggle. Loved EXECS and MANHATTAN. Thank you to Manehi for the explanations and to Paul for the puzzle.
For me this was relatively straightforward, fortunately – the inevitable phrasal solution hit me immediately, I remembered the name of the game show alleged cheat, and I knew the marsupial. WHALE MEAT AGAIN was a pun used several times in I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue, which I am old enough to remember fondly.
SINEWY, DIGIT and WINTRY were my picks. EXECS was my LOI – a fun clue (a homoionym, as essexboy used to call them).
The Martian atmosphere is extremely thin and mainly composed of carbon dioxide, but it contains about 600ppm carbon monoxide, so I suppose it is technically poisonous, but this would be the least of your problems if you tried to breathe it.
Thanks to S&B
Tim C @18
Carbon monoxide is poisonous because if inhaled even if mixed with oxygen it may well kill you; carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and argon are not as they have no effect if oxygen is present – just as well, really, as they are all present in air!
WHALE MEAT may not be a homophone, and may not be meant to be a homophone but it certainly produced the biggest groan this year.
Groan accustomed to it, loosely speaking!
Fortunately I’m not a groanophobe so enjoyed this characteristically creative offering from Paul.
I went for Man Ray instead of Manta, which held me up a little.
I like that Paul is gently goading us at 3d.
Loved XX score, WORSE, and the ‘sofa bed’.
Thanks Paul and manehi.
Just couldn’t get to the – well, BOTTOM – of how to parse 17ac. The clever EXECS took a while to twig, with nothing suitable seeming to fit there with all the crossers impatiently in place. Stumbled finally to a finish with the NUMBAT, which felt like something out of Edward Lear. Found this a less bruising than normal Paul puzzle however…
After all the Oz-related complaints yesterday, it’s my turn today to mutter darkly about obscure people from far-away TV shows – I eventually worked out CHARLES INGRAM as a likely solution to the anagram but needed Google to confirm who he was.
Whale meat again is the punchline of various corny old British jokes. I preferred EXECS for the Roman score and DIGIT for the way to get the (w)hole. As for the convoluted BIRD TABLE – let’s just say I didn’t spot it. But I enjoy the way Paul requires you to think round corners.
WHALE MEAT AGAIN is an old joke so didn’t cause me any difficulty. I think it was even used during the war when referring to the supposed constituents of canned meat (or spam).
I wondered why SPENSER is an ‘old English poet’, when he didn’t write in Old English and his contemporary Shakespeare wouldn’t be referred to that way.
Hi manehi,
Just testing something. Did you get this?
KVa@24, 🙂 🙂
poc @28. I think that is Paul trying to mislead a little. Spenser is an English poet of old, rather than a poet in Old English.
More fishy I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue jokes here including the “Vera Lynn Special” at an Alaskan restaurant.
This felt like pulling teeth, but we got there in the end. WHALE MEAT and EXECS the favourites of the bunch. Cheers Paul.
poc @28: That clue caused me to half raise an eyebrow as well. It just about works if you read it as Old, English poet, but you’re right that Early Modern English poet would be more accurate! But why not just Poet….?
FrankieG@32. I’m not going to carp on about fishy homophones any more. Page 86 in your link is hilarious. Thank you.
Me@35. The Fishermen’s Songbook, I mean, that Frankie G has very kindly shared.
Whale Meat Again, fine album by Jim Capaldi if I remember rightly!
I thought this was vintage Paul, very inventive and full of smiles.
I particularly liked BOTTOM for the simplicity of structure and clarity of surface.
Thanks Paul and manehi
Paul is so unpredictable but I ended up enjoying this one. Having not enjoyed Vlad’s yesterday, I wish the Grauniad would be more consistent.
Thanks both.
Really enjoyed this even though I was very slow to get going. Charles Ingram was one of my FOI’s, I think his name has stuck because of the various dramas about the coughing major. I also got 3dn quite quickly, initially from the definition but laughed out loud once I understood the rest. I also remember the Jim Capaldi album.
Thanks to Paul and manehi.
I got Whale Meat instantly, remembering when I was told (sung) that joke by a schoolfriend in the 60s.
Long live awful puns.
That song always reminds me of this classic bit of cinema.
CHARLES INGRAM was the only arrangement of those letters that resulted in a name, so I plunked it in and then looked him up. Similarly, the NUMBAT was unfamiliar, but the wordplay was clear.
I agree that the description of Spenser as an “old English poet” was odd; it’s not even necessary for the surface or useful as misdirection. But he did deliberately use what were already archaic spellings and usages to make his poetry seem “olde,” so maybe it’s forgivable.
As some others, it was difficult for me to get going, and even after getting the WNC I still got a bit stuck.
Well, we know to expect pun-y answers from Paul and WHALE MEAT AGAIN and EXECS produced broad smiles. I was pleased to put together NUMBAT but initially thought: “that can’t be a real word”. I enjoyed the wordplays of SINEWY, BOTTOM and MANHATTAN, and the good anagram and definition for CHARLES INGRAM.
Thanks Paul and manehi.
I must have been on Paul’s wavelength today, immediately seeing (for a change) that Sandy was S and Y, so SINEWY was obvious. That gave me W____/____ for “Flesh from the ocean” – what else could it be? And that gave me AGAIN (being familiar with the pun)… and so on. (I should make it clear that this isn’t my usual experience with Paul.)
Regarding the quibbles about SPENSER: the clue doesn’t say he wrote in Old English. He was English and he is certainly old (the upper case O is cleverly at the start of the clue) – born about 470 years ago. “His contemporary Shakespeare wouldn’t be referred to that way”? Well it’s a cryptic crossword – nobody in real life would refer to a river as a flower, a composer as a barman, or indeed a poet as a linesman! 🙂
Many thanks Paul and manehi.
Re Mars bar, I was a bit puzzled, but didn’t think of the planet for explanation. Rather, although the grammar didn’t fit, I thought that a pub would be spoiled by people being unpleasant to each other, ie a poisonous atmosphere would mar a bar.
I believe that during the war whale meat was on the menu due to food shortages, and so the Vera Lynn song was often sung like that ironically. A lot of these patriotic songs had humorous lyrics. So the arguments here about homophones and such like are somewhat superfluous.
Huge thanks to manehi for the blog, and to Paul for all the laughter his clues provoked in me. Too busy chortling at times to parse it all, what joy.
Matthew Newell@11, fair enough for Paul! I did find myself saying “XX” out loud to try to figure out what accent I was used before realizing it was pretty straightforward.
Enjoyable for me though it was tough going with fairly liberal use of the check button, mostly because I didn’t spot the anagrind in 19ac etc. and needed to get all the crossers for CHARLES INGRAM–that scandal has not crossed the pond. I think of OTTOMAN as a footstool but wikipedia says it can be a backless sofa and I guess that’s needed for the surface. Anyway lots of very fun constructions, thanks Paul and manehi!
Excellent puzzle. Solved CHARLES INGRAM just by breaking down the anagram, I then had to look him up. I personally didn’t like EXECS.
Whale meat again: I remember Paul’s recent ” two french eggs” for deserve. Wonder what Mr H will think of next! Still enjoyed doing it and all up to his usual high standard
Thank you Mr Moneypenny for that glorious clip!
And thanks to Paul and manehi. I laughed and cried in equal quantities!
Old English poet in 28 might momentarily confuse, but you’d probably struggle to find the name of a poet who wrote in Old English, because apart from possibly Caedmon ( which would fit without any crossers in place) they all remain anonymous.
Perhaps a bit of prescience on Paul’s part today with Rory McIlroy presently leading the Sawgrass field in Florida, with his THREE IRON a very important part of his armoury. He can hit the ball 260 yards with it, apparently. Wish I could get it even half that far…
On what planet does DIGIT sound like “dig it”? Does “badger” sound like “bagger”?
WHALE MEAT AGAIN totally defeated me.
TimC@10 Pangolin doesn’t fit either.
TimC@18 Something is poisonous if its presence makes you sick or kills you. It’s not poisonous if the absence of something else (say, oxygen) is what kills you. If we were restricted to a diet of straw we’d all starve to death, but nobody says straw is poisonous.
The only time I’ve ever heard “We’ll meet again” is over the closing credits of Dr. Strangelove, so it gives a creepy overtone to the song.
Did anybody else have trouble following Frankie G’s link?
JerryG@39 Coughing major?
Thanks to Paul and manehi for a lively morning.
Even though I am a fan of groanworthy homophones (and the more groanworthy the better), and they don’t come much more groanworthy than WHALE MEAT AGAIN, I didn’t get the parsing of 3 down until I read the blog.
I think TimC @14 has a point. How about we call them heterophones?
Lots to enjoy here. Paul’s surfaces are sometimes a bit iffy, but that for WONDERS NEVER CEASE was brilliant. Definite upticks for SPENSER, CAGED IN and EXECS.
Thanks to Paul and menehi
3d Worth checking out the late great Jim Capaldi (drummer in Traffic) for the eponymous album and title track WHALE MEAT AGAIN on YouTube.
Sorry 8 Tassie Tim – missed that you already cited Jim Capaldi
Valentine @52
You have missed the point (as I had too) that the “whole” doesn’t qualify “number”; the “say” means “take it as hole”, which you would need to dig.
1940’s joke “Whale meet again” Ah yes I remember it well! Homophones always elicit a groan.
Much fun and ADDLE was my LOI too.
Whale meat again.
Valentine@52 – Fishermen’s Song Book
Jo Brand: “This Is Dead And Gutted To The One I Love”
Barry Cryer: “Long Trawl Sally”
Tim Brooke-Taylor: “Twist & Trout”
Jeremy Hardy: “Skate, Ruffe and Rollmop”
Barry Cryer: “Get Me To The Perch On Time”
Jo Brand: “Flash! Bang! Wallop! What A Pilchard!”
Jeremy Hardy: “And from the Sex Pilchards’ album Never Mind The Pollock, Anchovy In The UK and Cod Save The Queenscalp”
Tim Brooke-Taylor: “Whale Kipper Whelk Home In The Eel Side”
Jeremy Hardy: “Hey Hey We’re The Monkfish”
Tim Brooke-Taylor: “Bream The Impossible Bream”
Tim Brooke-Taylor: “Happy Dace Are Here Again”
Jo Brand: “Prawn Free”
Barry Cryer: “Roll Over Bait”
Jeremy Hardy: “Baby you can Drive My Carp… Sorry, I lost the will to live for a minute!”
Barry Cryer: “We’re all going on a Summer Halibut”
Jeremy Hardy: “Remember You’re A Winkle”
… and Seafood Song Book
John Finnemore: “Hey Hey We’re the Monkfish.”
Barry Cryer: “Bohemian Anchovy.”
Tim Brooke-Taylor: “Whelk Kipper Welcome in the Eel Side.”
Miles Jupp: “Like a Sturgeon.”
Tim Brooke-Taylor: “Crash Bang Scallop, what a pilchard.”
Miles Jupp: “I Should Be So Guppy.”
John Finnemore: “Wake Up Little Sushi.”
Miles Jupp: “Tell me why I Don’t Like Barramundis.”
John Finnemore: “Saturday Night’s Alright for Whiting.”
Miles Jupp: “I’m a Shoal Man.”
John Finnemore: “I See You Baby, shaking that bass.”
Miles Jupp: “If you liked it, you should have put herring on it.”
Thanks for the blog , pretty good overall . I was hoping for a science theme on Einstein’s birthday and Pi day but fat chance.
I wanted to post at 1.59 and 26.5 seconds but no paper and no blog.
Thanks, FrankieG
Mars atmosphere, even perfect composition would be no good for humans, the pressure is only one tenth of the Armstrong limit.
We’re not happy with ottoman as a backless sofa, as a sofa is a couch with back and arms. Can’t scrape the back off both the word and the sofa . . . I don’t think that’s a UK/US difference, is it?
Paul, Paul, Paul … ouch! Some good clues but some very iffy clues. 3 and 18 = SMH stuff.
I’m another who only knows of ottomans as foot stools. Also new to me was SITTER (in the easy target sense), BIRD TABLE and the Vera Lynn song, Vera Lynn herself also being new to me.
I will say that despite my difficulties, this was one of the gentler offerings from Paul recently. He seems to have taken quite a dastardly turn as of late!
Easiest Paul I have seen !
I went wrong in the NE with an unparsed EIGHT that I meant to come back to, which made 5d impossible – the only word I could get to fit was ARETE). Also didn’t get ‘Goody-goody above naughty’ at all, and just wrote in BIGAMY as the blank space was annoying me
Good to read here that this was one of Paul’s easier offerings. 🙂 Luckily I enjoy a challenge, though I am getting a little fed up of coming here and reading all the complaints. For heaven’s sake, if you don’t like it, go and do something else!
Thanks to Paul for his efforts in trying to amuse and puzzle us, and many thanks to manehi (almost a pun there – or is it a heterophone now?) for explaining all those that remained a mystery to me.
I guess it’s only me that put BIGAMY at 8d. I could almost make it work so put it in and forgot all about it. And like done others I couldn’t parse BOTTOM, but don’t know why not as it’s really very straight forward.
Thanks to Paul and Manehi
HarpoSpeaks@70. “I guess it’s only me that put BIGAMY at 8d.”
Yep, only you Harpo. Apart from sheffield hatter speaks but no one is listening@69. 🙂
I know that BOTTOM seems straightforward in retrospect, most crossword clues do, after all; but I’m not the only one here who didn’t immediately think of an ottoman as a type of sofa. I’m familiar with it as “a low, stuffed seat without a back, sometimes in the form of a chest”, which is the first definition in Chambers. That doesn’t say ‘sofa’ to me (“a long, upholstered seat with back and arms”); full marks to all who got it, but it’s a bit of a stretch. I’m not saying it’s wrong or unfair, just that it’s not worth beating yourself up about not getting it. This is just one instance of why this didn’t seem as easy to me as it evidently was to others.
Thanks both,
Just for the record, an alternative parsing of 10 is to use ‘dig’ and ‘get’ as synonyms for ‘understand’. Then a ‘digit’ is a ‘whole number’.
Gervase@21 I remember it from Bill Oddie singing it on ISIRTA. Even further back.
No one will see this, but I found this utterly incomprehensible (apart from tacks!) and the convoluted answers hardly helped! Back to Everyman and Monday for me. 🙂
Aural wordplay – not many complaints this time. Even paddymelon has come around. Maybe TimC and I can finally retire our complaints about the complaints (at least for a while). But we shall remain vigilant.
Thanks Paul for the challenge and the laughs, and manehi for the excellent blog.
Cellimaniac@74 “aural wordplay” – that’ll do me! Were it adopted as a standard description by bloggers I feel the irrelevant moans would remain unaired!
I’m very very late to the party but am bound to add my bit since, as ever, Paul’s creative entertainment brings me such pleasure – and joy!
I’ve said it before, often, and will doubtless say it again: how does he keep on doing it?!
And it was worth the wait just for the denture loosening joy of the whale meat. (a pun I don’t recall having met before so a genuine tooth-jolting guffaw)
….and thanks for another brilliant blog, manehi, so generously given ….