Guardian 29,352 – Picaroon

77 comments on “Guardian 29,352 – Picaroon”

1. Ha! Expected to find Roz or AlanC here.

2. Very enjoyable. New to me IMPASTO, APOGEAN, STELA (I knew stelae), and both Rachel & Bridget Riley. CATFLAP was my favourite.

3. What an excellent puzzle, thought OBELI and CATFLAP absolute corkers. Couldn’t parse APOGEAN, so many thanks Andrew for the enlightenment. Last one in was PEERLESS, which pretty much describes this setter…

4. Thanks Picaroon and Andrew
   Great fun. Rapid start with the 1s going straight in. Sticky end, with unparsed APOGEAN and STELA last in.
   Lots of favourites, with CATFLAP top.
   Perhaps you should have mentioned that Obelix is one of Asterix the Gaul’s sidekicks.

5. Nice smooth Picaroon; it felt more approachable than most of his until 18d and 24d. Two very tricky words (for me) and both involving tricky tricks – the ‘let’s’ in STELA and the combo of ‘ego’ and ‘pan’ in APOGEAN. RADIO, APRON STRINGS, RIDER, PLATOON and RETAILING all earned ticks with PROMONTORIES being COTD – very neatly done for a longish word. PANTHEISM is clever – but will be a clue to confuse solvers in years to come when everyone has forgotten who played who in the Bond franchise.

   Thanks Picaroon and Andrew

6. That was enjoyable, several anagrams to get into it, so a foothold to work my way in. The definition for CAT FLAP amused me, and I suppose I shouldn’t have parsed PANTHEISM by working out Ralph Fiennes had to be M.

   Thank you Andrew and Picaroon.

7. Thanks to Andrew.
   Some unfamiliars, as per Geoff Down Under@2. All useful learning though.
   But so many clues I loved: 8a RADIO, 21a GROUCHO, 27a FALL ON DEAF EARS, 1d APRON STRINGS (cf. PostMark@5), … and I could go on.
   Agree with you Ronald@3, Picaroon is indeed 25a PEERLESS. Thank you to him for this enjoyable puzzle.

8. Enjoyable puzzle.

   Favourites: CATFLAP, ROCK OPERA, RADIO.

   New for me: I checked via google for the fact that Ralph Fiennes plays M in James Bond movies. The last time that I saw a Bond movie was decades ago when Timothy Dalton was the lead actor!

   Thanks, both.

   Postmark@5 – re your comment “PANTHEISM is clever – but will be a clue to confuse solvers in years to come when everyone has forgotten who played who in the Bond franchise.” It’s hard enough for me now!

9. Yes, I guessed who M had to be currently. I can outdo you, michelle – I’ve never seen a Bond film that didn’t star Sean Connery!

10. Smooth stuff from The Pirate this morning. Unlike others above, slow start and then suddenly, it was done.

    Loved CATFLAP & PANTHEISM.

    Still not quite sure about RADIO = broadcast. No doubt someone will provide a sentence in which they are substitutable.

    Many thanks, both.

11. RADIO
    (William@10)
    Collins says this:
    You can refer to the programmes broadcast by radio stations as the radio.
    Also ‘to radio’ is ‘to transmit over the radio’

12. Apart from a few confirmatory googles, plain sailing with just the right level of challenge for me. Loved both the cat clues. Makes the grim weather more bearable!
    Thanks both.

13. Many thanks to Picaroon, and to Andrew for the blog – I couldn’t work out what Ralph Fiennes had to do with PANTHEISM. But could someone explain why ‘pale’ in the clue for 22d? It seems redundant – unless it’s part of the definition, but coral isn’t a ‘pale’ colour, and indeed Andrew hasn’t underlined it.

14. William@10: used as an adjective, RADIO news=broadcast news? I had to think about that one, though the penny dropped enjoyably when I realised who the famous Christian was.

    I got everything except APOGEAN, for which I needed a wordfinder. Several Toms and cats today, all of them enjoyable, though CATFLAP just beats ROCK OPERA to my top spot. Picaroon is a master of misdirection: even once you can see how it’s done, it’s still magic.

15. Overall, an enjoyable ingenious challenge, though in terms of obscure answer/tough clueing, APOGEAN seemed like an OUTLIER. I too was at a loss about Ralph Fiennes. Thanks to Picaroon, and Andrew for the elucidation.

16. I interpreted the savage in 18D as the Greek god, who was quite the wild goat.

17. Much more logical parsing for 2 Down than my own, ARIDER, without the first letter, as in truth, I’m not even sure it’s a word!

18. Highly enjoyable. I started briskly (this seemed less piratical than usual, but perhaps I was just lucky to spot the tricks early) and then slowed down for the last few – APOGEAN was my LOI and took a while to justify.

    Many ingenious and amusing clues with a wide range of references, both high and lowbrow. RADIO, PANTHEISM (I did see Skyfall 🙂 ), GROUCHO, IMPASTO, OBELI, CATFLAP, OP ART, PROMONTORIES, STELA all got stars from me.

    Many thanks to the industrious pair of Picaroon and Andrew

19. Agree with Gladys @14 . Coral is defined (chambers) as deep orange-pink. Not a pale colour. But still easily gettable.

    I enjoyed this a lot as I sat listening to the wind howl outside. Thanks Picaroon and Andrew

20. Lovely puzzle

    Favourites included: PANTHEISM, PEERLESS, OBELI (which I think I have seen before), ROCK OPERA, APOGEAN, STELA

    Thanks Picaroon and Andrew

21. It’s judygs@13 who made the coral comment – but I agree. Not my idea of a pale colour.

22. On the obliquity scale, pan for savage is only about 6.5, but even after sussing reverse ego, it was still the last bit to click. Lots of othrr nice smooth stuff, the apron strings, the deaf ears, the other ‘pan’ one. All fun, thanks Pickers and Andrew.

23. APOGEAN
    (grantinfreo@22)
    PAN (Collins)
    If someone or something that they have done is savaged by another person, that person criticizes them severely.
    The show had already been savaged by critics.

    Your obliquity scale needs recalibration or replacement! 🙂

24. Yep KVa, probly just me being dim!

25. Like quite a few on the G thread, I was defeated by 18. The rest had me purring.
    PM @1: I slept in this morning 😊

    Ta Picaroon & Andrew.

26. A mention for Spooner’s catflap, who we, regrettably, haven’t seen for a while. As well as those mentioned above I liked PLATOON.

27. All done without aids, but I failed to parse 18d, which I solved from the definition having missed the ‘pan’/’savage’ connection. As always, cracking stuff from Picaroon.

28. STELA comes from Ancient Greek στήλη (stḗlē) via Latin stēla. Doublet of stele
    STELE Doublet of stela. comes straight from Ancient Greek, if you “eliminate the middle man” [Laurel & Hardy(1932)]
    Either can mean OBELIks.

29. I’m another who failed to parse APOGEAN. I was thinking of PAGAN for savage but couldn’t find the anagrind or the rest of the fodder.
    My favourite was what Douglas Adams claimed was Isaac Newton’s greatest invention “After all, gravity was just lying around for anyone to notice…”

30. Afraid I used every aid available (bar those web sites that answer the clues entirely) but it was a fascinating challenge and while some were the only things that fitted I couldn’t parse them. I’ve had eight days without the Guardian so I’m probably a bit rusty (hope so!) but thank you Picaroon for the fun, you never disappoint! And thanks Andrew for excellent parsing.

31. APOGEAN took me longer than the rest of the clues combined – I’d inadvertently switched off my misdirection radar – big mistake with Picaroon 🙂

    I could have ticked just about everything but faves were PANTHEISM, PROMONTORIES & INCESSANT

    And top marks for GROUCHO, obviously

    Cheers P&A

32. Gladys @14: Thanks for that. Interestingly, KVa (@11) has found a link as verbs, and you as adjectives. They both seem pretty reasonable now although I don’t think I’d ever use either.

33. Richard @17 – same here 🙂

34. That was a lovely puzzle with some tricky parsings for me. APOGEAN was my LOI. RETAILING and PROMONTORIES were favourites.

    Blaise@28, I had the same thought re. Douglas Adams. Gravity…they even keep it on at weekends.

    Thanks Picaroon & Andrew

35. And me for ARIDER @17, but came to the right conclusion.

    Stubbornly refused to let me in on the first few passes but after finally getting 1D and then 1A it was a slow but steady solve.

36. Did anyone else put in CARPETING (ET in CARPING) for 7 down? Held me up for ages.

37. I’d like to chip in to add my congratulations to Picaroon for this thoroughly enjoyable and very nicely crafted puzzle. I concur with pretty much all the views expressed above — the doubts about CORAL and the ephemeral reference to Fiennes’s role, as well as all the plaudits for some excellent clueing. I do like setters to attend to the surfaces and Picaroon has done just that today.

38. Thanks for the blog, CATFLAP has a great definition, HEATPROOF very neat and clever ordering for RETAILING .
    APOGEAN I like the wordplay , not sure about the definition but I have not looked it up yet .
    Apogean tides are certainly the trough not the peak, perhaps a peak point of the orbit but we never say peak, maybe the peak height of the sun above the meridian .
    INCESSANT earned a severe Paddington stare.

39. Thanks Andrew, I had the same sense of Pan as Roger GS@16, I think yours works a bit better as mine sort-of needs the “a” to do double duty. And luckily I always thought Coral was a pale pinkish orange, not so according to a google of Coral shirts – it was even the Pantone colour of the year in 2019, no less:
    https://www.croftdesignstudio.co.uk/pantone-colour-of-the-year-2019-living-coral/
    Thanks Picaroon!

40. Very good. I spotted APOGEAN almost immediately but failed to completely parse it, not noticing that ‘savage’ was being used as a verb.

    I particularly liked OBELI(x) crossing with STELA, as the character is always seen carrying a menhir.

41. [ MrPostMark @1 , AlanC is The Beatles , I am Joe Dolce ]

42. I especially liked the misdirection in OP ART. I looked up Rachel Riley and was trying to find a Countdown connection but OPT was obviously going to be penning something and then I remembered Bridget Riley (whose work I’ve seen in Brisbane) and it all made sense. Thanks Picaroon for that and many of the other clues, especially the long ones.

43. I thought Ralph Fiennes was the explorer, so I only got the M bitby plumping. I didn’t parse RADIO or APOGEAN. I didn’t try very hard, but missing Christian Dior is annoying. I also had a bit of a problem with RETAILING, I had the R,T and G. It had to be ING,I put the E in above the T to make a French and then filled in the rest with something I’ve forgotten and realised it was wrong, so I pressed the check button to clear the drops and it took the E as well.
    Thanks both.

44. I solve on the app which is handy, but doesn’t have those useful buttons you get on the website.

45. Roz@40🤣🤣

46. [ Roz @40: What’s the matter you?😂 }

47. A lovely start to the day 😎. I confidently assumed 1D was HEART OR PURSE until I got 1D. Probably this says it all about my style of motherhood 🤣. Thank you to Andrew for your expert explanations. I’d got PROMONTORIES but couldn’t deconstruct without you. Favourites were OBELI (which was new to me until I looked it up) and CAT FLAP, although I liked most of them. As with many of you who posted already, I found the reference to Ralph Fiennes confusing 🤔. In the end I just ignored it and got the answer anyway, which makes me think it was superfluous. Giving the benefit of the doubt to Picaroon, who think is a great setter, one of the best, I guess he put it in to confuse. Many thanks to P and A 🎆.

48. Petert@26…I too liked PLATOON.
    I sometimes sleep under a thin blanket with a Plato quote on it:
    “No law or ordinance is mightier than understanding.”
    …and nicbach@42, the explorer is a Ranulph Fiennes. Heard him give a really excellent talk in Brighton a few Sundays ago

49. For me, the clue for PANTHEISM was laugh out loud. Why all the mutterings about the inclusion of Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes (sic)? Bond films have a huge audience, so it was hardly abstruse, and I thought there was an appetite for more contemporary allusions 🙂

50. Muffin @4
    “Perhaps you should have mentioned that Obelix is one of Asterix the Gaul’s sidekicks”
    Mr SR said “Does he mean sidekix?”
    I know: I’ll get his coat.

    Great puzzle (I thought coral could have shades from pale to deep) and enjoyed reading the blog – thanks both!

51. Enjoyable stuff from Pickers – I especially liked CATFLAP (so neat yet so tricky!) GROUCHO (OK references to ‘Marx’ often point this way, but this is real cool wordplay!), APOGEAN (took me a while to realise it’s PAN as a verb); ARGON, OBELI (should it be “Gallic” rather than “Gaulish”?); IMPASTO (had to check spelling but remembered the word); APRON STRINGS; ROCK OPERA. But the rest is a bag of goodies too.

    The one I wasn’t quite sure of was TAROT, but just because “not leaving navy” seems to be the wrong way round: “navy leaving not”?? Perhaps it should be “not forgetting navy”.

    Thanks to Picaro[o]n (congrats on recovering your missing ring!) and Andrew.

52. Gervase @48

    I’m not complaining, thought it was a brilliant puzzle, just observing that you can see a film and have no idea who the actors are. When I recognise actors it’s generally in terms of “wasn’t s/he character x in film/programme y?”. But maybe that’s just me.
    Much appreciated Picaroon & Andrew

53. I usually fare better with Picaroon than I did today. I completely missed the Bond reference (like others here, I lost interest many years ago) and and bunged in an answer for want of anything better. I also failed to parse 4D, although it is perfectly fair in hindsight. NHO Bridget Riley nor Op Art, and having googled the latter feel no more enlightened.

    On the plus side other clues were happily within my GK, and I was pleased with myself for spotting the “reverse anagram” in 14D as those often elude me.

    Thanks to Picaroon and Andrew.

54. Roz@37 Apogean is almost an autantonym as the lowest tides occur when the moon is at its Apogee

55. TAROT , I have seen this idea a lot, leaving=abandonig so can be thought of as – not (pause) abandoning navy.
    TAROT is a great card game , the French students taught me. Need an extra large deck and large hands to hold so many cards.

56. Peter@53 it is why I was wondering about crest . Does APOGEAN have other meanings apart from orbits ?

57. Like many others APOGEAN was my last in, and I justified it like Roger GS@16 with reference to Pan the goatish god, though Andrew’s version is obviously more accurate. I only got two answers on my first pass through, and went and did the killer sudoku instead, in an effort to fire up my neurons. Made good progress after returning and enjoyed the crossword as a whole, with Picaroon’s challenging, inventive and witty clues never disappointing.

    Thanks to setter and blogger as always.

58. Usual excellent quality throughout with plenty of wit.

    ROCK OPERA my favourite.

    Thanks Picaroon and Andrew

59. Roz@53 The OED has “pertaining to an Apogee” and a third definition of Apogee as “hence any peak or climax”

60. Very entertaining!
    Heaps of clever clues, my faves being GROUCHO, TRIESTE, PROMONTORIES & CATFLAP. I’d forgotten who took over from Judi Dench but, like Pauline@46, I managed just fine (fiennes?) without it.
    I couldn’t parse APOGEAN either – but having read all the above, I now feel okay about that.
    Loved the idea of Obelix using daggers instead of a whacking great standing stone.
    Many thank to Picaroon and Andrew!

61. Andrew — or the earlier days of the first tea party, when there was not yet any US government or any US at all.

    So does Navy = N?

    US houses don’t have airing cupboards, as far as I know, I’ve just read about them in books. We do have catflaps, but we don’t call them that. I don’t know what we do call them.

    Never heard of either Riley, though of course you don’t need to know anything about them to solve the clue.

    Thanks Picaroon and Andrew.

62. Well, if RN=Royal Navy then I guess N on its own is legitimate for Navy.

    [Sir Isaac Newton, no less, made a catflap in his door for his cat. And a smaller hole for her kittens. But he didn’t invent the catflap: there are medieval ones in existence.]

63. ROCK OPERA made me laugh aloud. Brilliant.
    Also the surface reading for PANTHEISM gave me a really funny mental image.
    Lovely crossword, though a strange take on what colour CORAL is (and I failed to get TRIESTE).

64. Thanks Picaroon. I enjoyed this with PANTHEISM, ARGON, APRON STRINGS, RIDER, PROMONTORIES, and my COTD, CATFLAP earning ticks. I failed with PEERLESS and APOGEAN. Thanks Andrew for the blog.

65. Busy day today, so very late to the party.

    My ticks / favourites have all been mentioned, so I’ll just comment on a couple of comments.
    muffin@9 – I can outdo you, as well as michelle: I don’t think I’ve ever watched a Bond film.
    Gladys @ 14, I’d just like to echo your comment on Picaroon’s misdirection – well put.
    Laccaria @50 re ‘not leaving navy’: this is a frequently recurring topic of discussion. I usually suggest reading it as ‘leaving behind‘.

    Many thanks as ever to Picaroon and to lucky Andrew – two weeks in a row!

66. I have two possible explanations for Picaroon’s use of “pale” to describe coral. Underwater, coral comes in a variety of strong colours, including green and purple, but the coral jewellery I have seen is typically a pale, er coral colour. The appearance of coral underwater is largely due to small organisms residing in the coral structure which don’t survive out of water. And so perhaps the colour fades.

    The other, more alarming explanation is that one of the dramatic effects of global warming/heating is bleaching of coral caused by raised ocean temperature. Another major bleaching event is in progress on the Great Barrier Reef at the moment. Perhaps “pale” is Picaroon’s subdued reference to man’s ongoing impact on nature.

67. I was coming here to complain that DIORA, the bishop of Rochester consecrated between 765 and 772 by King Ethelbert, hardly counted as famous, but Christian DIOR certainly counts. Thanks Picaroon and Andrew! [Slinks away shamefacedly]

68. Thanks Andrew, definitely needed your parsing explanations today (for PANTHEISM and RADIO)! Relatively straightforward thanks to the four long ones around the edge going in early on, but the last two interconnecting answers needed serious thought, as both OBELI and STELA were new words to me. All good stuff.

69. The best I’ve ever done on a Picaroon puzzle but it took hours. Failed on APOGEAN and PANTHEISM and couldn’t parse CORAL. Dior was on my mind as I had just finished watching The New Look, which had some interesting history, so RADIO was foi. Never heard of Obelix but the clue was clear. Thanks Picaroon and Andrew.

70. simonc @35,
    Yes!

71. I solved the puzzle without much difficulty, but I now see why I couldn’t parse many of the obvious answers. I liked Pan as a savage god better than the actual parsing. Pantheism? Radio? I haven’t a clue, but that Niobe it.

72. Many congratulations OR#68. Just keep going and it gets easier. I’ve been trying properly at times when I am not working (lengthy hospital stay on this occasion) for the last few years and consider I now have modest ability, in large part due to all who contribute to this website. I don’t think I will ever achieve the coveted@1 entry 😉 …

73. Great misdirection throughout, starting for me at 1across AIRING CUPBOARD, looking for a place for drying out as something like a rehab facility. And horny in NARWHAL, particularly having got the N, as nympho (+1 letter).

    CATFLAP to me should be defined as thus Tom gets out. Reminded me of going up to a stall in a local street market, which was for the Wildlife Rescue Service, and I mentioned the number of possums we had coming in the house. My husband beat a hasty retreat as he could see what was coming next,. They jumped on me when they heard “cat door”, (a hole, really, having removed the flap) as that meant I was allowing the cat out at night, cats being destructive to possums of course. It was very hard to convince them that my cat and the possums used to sit together and feed from the same bowl.

    I did learn something though. You should have no fewer than 5 cats as they stick together instead of roaming and killing the wildlife. No thanks. After our dear moggy died, no more. But now we have to close the door to stop the snakes coming in!

74. gladys @61. What I love about the Isaac Newton/catflap stories is that despite his evident grasp of fundamental physical phenomena he didn’t suss out that the kittens could get through their mum’s pet door…

75. More on CATFLAPS. We don’t have a moggy ourselves but I’ve watched the cats at my sister’s house working their way in and out…
    With the type of flap they have there, the cat needs to paw at it quite vigorously to get it to open. Both their cats have learnt this technique very well and are able to pass in and out without hindrance. But a smaller animal might find it difficult – with the obvious advantage that rats wouldn’t be able to get in.
    So it’s not inconceivable that Newton’s idea of a smaller flap for the kittens makes sense. Let’s hope he didn’t have a rat problem (since he lived through the Great Plague of 1666 – probably not).

76. Many thanks to Picaroon and Andrew!
    Our concern was that this was a Thursday or Friday difficulty level. Or is the new editor shaking things up?

77. Loved the puzzle – thanks to Picaroon and Andrew. The misdirection in 6d with Rachel Riley was brilliant.

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