I was quite surprised to see that it’s five months since I blogged a Paul puzzle. (Please read through to the end of this preamble!)
From time to time, I comment that a Paul puzzle reminds me of why he used to be one of my favourite setters. I’m afraid this is not one of them. Seeing so many composite clues scattered at random throughout the grid puts me in a less than good mood from the outset and makes me less receptive, perhaps, of some clues that I would otherwise rate more highly. I’m no prude but I think we must have here a record number of salacious clues, which can become tedious, although I know that others will disagree quite forcefully.
Edit: I solved the puzzle, drafted a blog and wrote the above paragraph (which I have left in, to demonstrate how one’s mood can affect one’s reaction to a puzzle), in the early hours. Having had some sleep since then, and thus feeling rather less grumpy, I solved the puzzle again when I got up and found that some of the surfaces, in retrospect, told more of a story and thus made more sense than I’d thought (13ac and 21dn, for instance) and I ticked 12ac INTERPOSE, 15ac EASILY, 9ac RENAMED, 27ac DISHONOUR, 28,11 SNOOKER TABLE, 29ac BEAT IT and 21dn BRIEFS and made some minor adjustments to the blog.
Thanks to Paul for the puzzle, which I enjoyed much more the second time around – I will now retreat below / behind the parapet!
Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1 Drop is put into drink (6)
DISOWN
IS in DOWN (drink)
4 Oxygen-fuelled lifting device found after little time – not long? (3-4)
TWO-INCH
O (oxygen) in WINCH (lifting device) after T (little time)
9 Gentleman sent back in exchange for lawyer (9)
BARRISTER
A reversal (sent back) of SIR (gentleman) in BARTER (exchange)
10 Excitable, somewhat touchy perhaps (5)
HYPER
Hidden (somewhat) in toucHY PERhaps
12 Cook tries open sandwich (9)
INTERPOSE
An anagram (cook) of TRIES OPEN
13 It becomes more peaceful for wild animals (7)
DINGOES
DIN GOES – so it becomes more peaceful
15 Hands down back of settee, a number of items not quite retrieved, unknown quantity (6)
EASILY
[setteE] + a reversal (retrieved) of LIS[t] (number of items, not quite) + Y (unknown quantity) – read rather like a telegram, this paints a recognisable picture: we’ve all been there, I’m sure
17 Leader in Russian preserved by a paper, still (2,4)
AT REST
R[ussian] in A TEST (a paper)
19 A cruciverbalist residing in Split given new identity (7)
RENAMED
A + ME (cruciverbalist) in REND (split)
22 Travelling in car, thunderous – if so, what’s up? (4,5)
RAIN CLOUD
An anagram (travelling) of IN CAR + LOUD (thunderous)
24 Bump on the rear sounded – little accident (5)
PRANG
[bum]P + RANG (sounded)
26 Hunter with shaved head, one might be bald (5)
EAGLE
[b]EAGLE (hunter minus initial letter – shaved head)
27 Shame miserable clothing is being worn by husband (9)
DISHONOUR
DOUR (miserable) round (clothing) IS, all round (being worn by) H (husband) Edit: thanks to KVa @2 for the correct parsing
28, 11 Corner insert fit for pocketed item? (7,5)
SNOOKER TABLE
NOOK (corner) ‘in SERT’ (lift and separate) + ABLE (fit)
29 Balance at the limits having sex on your bike! (4,2)
BEAT IT
B[alanc]E + AT IT (having sex) – another vivid picture, with an amusing and well- disguised definition
Down
1 Section in contract withdrawn (7)
DEBITED
BIT (section) in DEED (contract)
2 Remove untidy vegetation (5)
SCRUB
Double definition
4, 5, 23 Insolence shown after performance: Congress let it go (4,3,5,5)
TURN THE OTHER CHEEK
TURN (performance) + THE OTHER (congress – both terms for sexual intercourse) + CHEEK (insolence)
6 Short investigation into fruit served up for a piece of cake (2,7)
NO PROBLEM
PROB[e] (investigation, short) in a reversal (served up) of MELON (fruit)
7 String runs through pipes (6)
HORSES
R (runs) in HOSES (pipes) – of racehorses, particularly, I think
8 *one* flight (6)
STAIRS
I (one) in ** (stars)
14, 3, 25 Average postcard unnecessary then? (7,2,5,4,5)
NOTHING TO WRITE HOME ABOUT
Cryptic definition
16 Cock-up over character without children (4,5)
SINE PROLE
A reversal (up, in a down clue) of PENIS (cock – Collins: ‘taboo slang word’, Chambers: ‘vulgar slang’) + ROLE (character) – a legal term, Latin for ‘without issue’
18 As requested, 19 down pulled up? (2,5)
TO ORDER
A reversal (pulled up) of RED ROOT (the answer to 19dn is RADISH)
19 Edible plant, a food under review, originally (6)
RADISH
R[eview] + A + DISH (food)
20 Follow communist, gentle pace (7)
DOGTROT
DOG (follow) + TROT communist)
21 Pants, where fire breaks out in lying? (6)
BRIEFS
An anagram (breaks out) of FIRE in BS (abbreviation of bullshit – lying: a reference to the taunt, ‘Liar, liar, pants on fire!’ – this morning, I found some interesting information here)
He can be very divisive Eileen but I’m pleased you’re happier now.
Boy that was a toughie but worth sticking with. I liked BARRISTER, HYPER, DINGOES, SNOOKER TABLE, SINE PROLE and the two long down clues. EASILY was a bit long-winded but nicely descriptive and STAIRS was inventive.
Ta Paul &
[One of the consistent early commenters on the G thread, received gratuitous abuse from an oxygen thief, but was roundly supported by other contributors. The offending post has since been removed. Detestable].
Thanks Paul and EILEEN
Loved STAIRS (A 5-star clue) and SNOOKER TABLE (from Paul’s special pool)!
Liked many other.
EASILY (simply a short story).
DISHONOUR
IS+being worn=ON by H DOUR clothing ISHON
NOTHING TO WRITE HOME ABOUT really made me smile, but then I can’t remember the last time I actually sent a postcard!
Ta Paul & Eileen.
Thanks Paul and Eileen
I found this fairly straightforward, though I didn’t parse BARRISTER, EASILY, or SNOOKER TABLE. Favourite PRANG.
I puzzled over EAGLE – it had to be that, and the hunter a beagle, but thought that a rather loose reference.
That was on the tougher side for Paul for me. I’d never heard of “string” for HORSES, but a lot of the other clues made me smile. I liked DINGOES and SNOOKER TABLE. It took me a while to get the parsing for SINE PROLE too, but it was well clued.
Thanks Paul & Eileen for sticking with it.
AlanC @1 – I’m flabbergasted at the speed of your reading and typing: I posted the blog at 9.22. 😉
For the whole way through till the very last clue inserted this felt rather straightforward and almost benign for a Paul puzzle. But the cock-up component of SINE PROLE did make me smile even more than NOTHING TO WRITE HOME ABOUT, I’m truly ashamed to say…
Eileen @7: 😊I had composed my comment, like you, in the early hours, although I was only grumpy about the abusive poster, I referenced.
AlanC @9
🙂
I’m glad you reviewed your opinion Eileen. I always find Paul a tough but enjoyable challenge and he is probably my favourite setter. This took some effort but as others have noted there are some cracking clues today. As for the trademark smut, was Paul really supposed to ignore the upside down genitalia in 16dn?
Thanks P and E
A String of HORSES might seem an odd collective word for horses, but if you’ve ever seen a trainer’s horses going in single file up to or on the gallops at somewhere like Newmarket or Malton, that’s exactly how they look at that moment…
I enjoyed this, and the salacious aspect of the clues as mentioned in the blog almost entirely passed me by. Maybe it’s too early in the day. 16d I had to reveal and it was only subsequently I ‘got’ it. But this was one of those Paul puzzles that I could (and did) get quite happily tangled up in rather than feel exasperated with, and it’s a reminder that this is often the case.
AlanC @9 – the commenter in question has also posted an apology, for what that’s worth.
Middleham’s where I’ve seen them, many a time, ronald @12.
My (paper) edition of Chambers lists one of the definitions of ‘string’ as ‘a drove, number of horses, camels, etc’.
Perhaps 7dn should have a question mark – definition by example?
I’m with Eileen’s initial comment. I do find Paul rather tedious these days.
I’m afraid I’m with Eileen’s earlier comments, although I did like some of the clues: INTERPOSE, DINGOES, BRIEFS, SNOOKER TABLE and the RADISH/TO ORDER pairing.
I don’t mind a bit of ribaldry but it is rather overdone here, and those split entry ‘well known phrase or sayings’ are tiresome, particularly when dotted randomly about the grid. I suppose it makes the setters task easier – far fewer clues to write. Araucaria did it now and then, but he came up with those brilliant &lit long anagrams, which made it all worthwhile.
Far too many solutions went straight in from the definition and the enumeration, rather than being pieced together from the wordplay, which I always find unsatisfying. Overall, my reaction was NOTHING TO WRITE HOME ABOUT. Sorry!
But it served to keep the brain active.
Thanks anyway to JH and, of course to Eileen.
If I type *one* in Whatsapp it appears as one. But I suppose “One flight” would have been unfair to non-users…
Paul on top form with a number of inventive devices on show.
References to male genitalia in SINE PROLE are going to irk some solvers, but not this one.
Took an age to spot the ‘in sert’ gag at SNOOKER TABLE, likewise the neat parsing of DISHONOUR, whose spelling might throw our transatlantic friends.
COD for me, though, was the brilliant BEAT IT. So neat.
I’ve griped in the past about this setter’s bonkers surfaces, but this was a cracker, so chapeaux to Paul.
Many thanks
STRING was familiar from the play rehearsal in the old US TV comedy The Honeymooners, where a character declaims “I own a string of Pelopponese!” (polo ponies)
Except for the Latinism this was a set of very accessible terms and GK which brought to mind (by counterpoint) this week’s article bemoaning the use of outdated references and abbreviations in puzzles.
28,11 I thought was cryptic def, with “corner insert” clearly something to do with that strange sport…
29 I read as the limits of BalancE AT then the hoary 1920’s usage IT, but the actual solution is more elegant and current.
BRIEFS was both last and best for me.
STAIRS
Blaise@19
The first thing that came to my mind was ‘bold one’. It’s a Paul after all. 🙂
Brilliant, creative fun as ever.
I loved the neatly concealed HYPER, the surface for EASILY, the ‘pocketed item’ and the combustible BS.
Thanks Paul & Eileen
KVa@2: thanks for explaining the ON of DISHONOUR, which I couldn’t account for.
I learned SINE PROLE from a previous Paul puzzle (no. 27081), where the clue is less outrageous, but similar. It made me laugh, anyway. I found some of the rather allusive definitions like STRING and TWO-INCH tricky, but liked those for SNOOKER TABLE, BEAT IT and RAIN CLOUD, and enjoyed the dingbat clue for STAIRS (I know not everyone likes them).
I always thought the leisurely pace was a JOGTROT.
Thanks scraggs @13: it does appear to be a genuine apology, so hopefully the elderly gentleman in question, will return to the fray.
AlanC @25, yes hopefully so.
‘Scruggs’ might become my own dark alter ego 😉
I see you’ve edited, but it did amuse me!
🤩
Thanks, KVa @ 2 re DISHONOUR: I missed that.
Is a “string of” (horses) the same as a string? Just asking.
Roger@21 I took the limits of BALANCE AT to be BE AT, and then added IT.
If it is AT IT, then AT is in the clue already, which rather detracts and which I don’t think Paul usually does
I must admit I didn’t notice any salaciousness, and I quite like the composite, scattered answers.
Thanks Paul for an enjoyable time; and to Eileen for the blog.
Blaise @19: Not just WhatsApp. For those of us old enough to remember typewriters (which also means old enough to remember some of the stuff crossword compilers consider general knowledge…) will know there was no way to create bold or italic letters for a manuscript with most fixed bar machines. For typesetting you would put *text* to indicate bold, and underlined text for italics. Ditto in handwritten manuscripts. Many typesetting systems recognise *text* to this day, just as some modern word processors have hidden alternative commands which correspond to older programs.
Paul is not my favourite setter – less down to the smut, most of which I ignore, some of which can be very entertaining; more due to the proliferation of multi-light answers, the cross-referencing and often ugly/meaningless surfaces. Today we only had a couple of the former, there was barely any of the latter and, as Eileen’s later thoughts suggest, the surfaces were OK. I will certainly acknowledge that there are gems in pretty much every Paul puzzle: STAIRS was very clever and I had big ticks for HYPER, INTERPOSE, BEAT IT, NO PROBLEM, STRING and BRIEFS. I had NO PROBLEM with the reversal of ‘penis’ – which, I suppose, is certainly one way to arrive at SINE PROLE. Apart from a few obvious exceptions, words are there to be utilised by setters and the string presented itself.
Thanks Paul and the less grumpy Eileen
I forgot to mention TWO INCH. Am I missing something obvious – is this a well known phrase? Would it denote a prolific thief? Would SEVENTEEN KILOMETRE be an acceptable answer to a clue?
JoFT @31 – a few commenters here still use that device to indicate bold text.
I have to go out now until late afternoon. I will try to keep up with comments but can’t make any more amendments to the blog until I get home.
I’m quite dismayed at the amount of prudery being displayed. Let’s praise Paul for his witty cluing, not behave to him like Mrs Grundy …
Eileen@14. Me too! Especially sitting outside that tea shop right opposite Middleham Castle, watching Mark (now his son Charlie, who’s taken over the reins from his Dad) Johnston’s STRING going to and fro the gallops from their nearby racing stable…
Some mixed feelings but I liked most of it. Thanks to Paul and Eileen, as well as to fellow solvers for some interesting contributions to the discussion. 13a DINGOES was neat.
Sine die pops up fttt but I must’ve missed previous outings of sine prole, a dnk. I’m with William @20 and others, no complaints at all, happy for Paul to keep on being Paul. Thank to him and Eileen.
[ronald @ 36, hoping you’re still there: I tried to reply before but I was on a bumpy bus!
Oh yes! I revisited Middleham just last month, on a family holiday in Wensleydale. Years ago, we had a number of b and b stays at the Black Swan, as was – while still in bed heard the horses clopping over the cobbles on the way to the gallops, did the tour of MJ’s stables, too. Later, we bought a mobile home overlooking Ferdie Murphy’s place at West Witton and would see him leading his string up there through the village, from the opposite direction – lovely man, always had a cheery word. Happy days – had to give up the mobile home years ago. 😒 ]
Sometimes I’m Paul’s wavelength, sometimes not. This was the former case! Solved them all, though NHO “string” for horses. Quite like the radish/red root pairing.
ode.com has an entry for TWO-INCH, a. with a citation each for ‘boord [i.e. pillory]’ and ‘pipe’, while ‘rope’ gets two quotes.
You might think a 2″ rope would be “not long”, but it’s referring to the diameter or girth. How long is a piece of STRING?
I have to speak up in defence of Paul here. My absolute favourite Guardian setter by a long way. His contributions as Mara at The Times are also enjoyable but less distinctive.
I’m not sure what people have got against the multi-part answers. I quite like them as they help to open up different areas of the grid.
Some really good clues today but my biggest ticks go to DISOWN and BRIEFS, both brilliant.
Many thanks Paul and Eileen.
For so long I have grumbled about Paul being too obtuse. I finished this in half an hour.
I filled in 14D as soon as I read the clue.
The rest followed in relatively short order.
It always makes me happy to see Paul’s name at the top of the page: I know I’m in for some tricky and wicked/cheeky challenging fun.
Even better when Eileen’s on blog duty. I love the fact Eileen puts in extra time to converse and discuss matters with the rest of us.
Thank you both!
Personally, it’s not Paul’s multi-word multi-slot clues that annoy me, but his fondness for linking them: clue A being a multi-word, clue B referring to A, clue G referring back to B, etc etc.
Happily, this had very little of that lark and contained some absolute crackers – NO PROBLEM, BRIEFS, INTERPOSE and BARRISTER being my faves.
Also STAIRS, now that Eileen has kindly explained it.
As always with Paul, a fair number were guess-first parse-second, but I’m way beyond caring about that.
As always with Paul, a fair bit of schoolboy smut, which provokes grins from those who like that kind of thing, and weary shrugs from the rest of us.
When he’s on form, though, Paul is brilliant – and if it means the occasional upturned p-e-n-i-s, well, I can live with that…
Thank you Paul and Eileen.
I had a whoop of delight for NO PROBLEM as I thought Paul had joined me in the CIA (Campaign for Indirect Anagrams) but the joy was short-lived when I realised the fruit was a MELON rather than a LEMON
Other top ticks went to STAIRS and the (NHO) SINE PROLE which had me going through a seemingly endless list of synonyms and euphemisms before the blindingly obvious shone through the post-holiday brain fog
Cheers P&E
It took me a while but I enjoyed it. LOI was HORSES; I just couldn’t see it!
Paul is my favourite setter, always a touch of originality.
SNOOKER TABLE and NOTHING TO WRITE HOME ABOUT were great
Thanks Paul and Eileen
As always with Paul, I completed the grid with a number of parsings escaping me, so thank you for that, Eilleen, and Paul for the challenge.
16D was my favorite for the clever “Cock-up”. And I think it is fair to say that while “cock” alone is vulgar, “cock-up” is a commonly used expression?
An enjoyable challenge from Paul, so many clever and witty clues.
Thanks Eileen for parsing help with the ON in DISHONOUR and the ‘in SERT’ part of the clever SNOOKER TABLE.
SINE PROLE was a new word for me that I guessed, googled, then retro parsed.
My favourite was STAIRS. I also really liked the average postcard NTWHA, SNOOKER TABLE, DINGOES and BRIEFS.
Thanks to Paul and Eileen.
Thanks both,
Especially for the surface and the parsing of 29 AC, which I didn’t get first time around but which has now given me a big grin.
I’ve never seen a grumpy Eileen before. I’m pleased you felt differently in daylight and it was very lovely that you told the rest of us 😎. The link to pants on fire was interesting. Many thanks for your blog. Also, thanks to Paul – I really enjoyed it. Too many favourites to mention them all but I thought STAIRS was brilliant. I also liked the paired RADISH and TO ORDER.
Same comment as yesterday for me… not usually my favourite setter but I liked this one. When I was at University, one of the colleges had a boat named Sinep. Reaction to clues like that can be idiosyncratic. I tend to be huffy about them when it’s Paul in the Guardian but no problem with them when it’s Cyclops in Private Eye as long as they are not misogynist, ‘ooh, er Missus,’ type of jokes. I also think a lot of references are very outdated. I think calling sex ‘the other’ went out with 70s sitcoms. There was an article in yesterday’s Graun about crosswords being perceived by younger people as outdated and misogynist. Paul contributed to it.
[Dave F @54
I read that article. It said that “singer” is nearly always Elvis. Surely they meant Cher?]
Paul on good form so l am happy. Big ticks for 13ac, 28/11, 8dn, and 18 dn. To me this was more like the ‘old style’ Paul, when for many years he was my favourite setter… before it seems l lost his wavelength. I enjoyed this muchly. Thanks Paul and Eileen
Eileen, thanks as ever for the delightful blog and the article about “pants on fire.” The author of it doesn’t seem to know that outside the US “pants” means only “underwear,” not “trousers.”
Since when is PRANG a “little accident”? I think of it as a crash in an airplane — RAF slang from WWII. Hardly little.
I’d never heard of SINE PROLE, and wondered what the “prole” part meant. Website after website told me what the phrase meant in English but not word by word in Latin, and I’d about given up, thinking “Well, Eileen can enlighten me,” when I hit on a site from the American Heritage Dictionary (which I could have taken off the shelf if I’d thought of it). The American Heritage, for those who don’t know it, is a good complement to the OED. The OED tells you all about the word’s history in English, and the AHD tells you about its Indo-European root(s) and its cousins in other languages. I wondered once why “white” had cognates in several languages, but “black” didn’t seem to have any, so Iooked it up in the AHD. “Black,” it turns out, is from a root meaning “burnt” (hence charred) or “burning,” and its cognates in English are words like “blaze” and in other languages “blanc” etc. So black used to be white.
Ronald@12 and Eileen@14 I’ve seen them in Saratoga Springs NY, a racing town.
Thanks, Paul and Eileen.
Valentine @57
I was one of the lucky ones who was able to learn Latin at my (state) secondary school but I think I came across the derivation of ‘proletariat(e)’ first in English or History lessons, from the Latin ‘proletarius’ one of the lowest class in ancient Rome, ‘whose only
contribution to the state was his offspring, from proles offspring'(Collins).
There’s also ‘prole: n, adj derogatory, slang, chiefly Brit short for proletarian’ ‘ (Collins) – which I’ve never heard used, except in reports of a police officer using it a few years ago to a member of the public (but I can’t find a reference to it).
Eileen@58
“If there is hope, it lies with the proles” – Winston Smith in 1984.
Thanks for a great blog, an unusually demanding task, I think, with this intricately excellent crossword: a big thank-you to Paul as well
Eileen, are you thinking of “Plebgate” by any chance? Only in that case it was of course “pleb” rather than “prole”, and used against the police rather than by them 🙂
A good Paul puzzle. Didn’t find it too hard, but perhaps fortunate that both the long clues happened to fall into place immediately. Favourites were STAIRS, DINGOES and the RADISH / TO ORDER pairing.
Like some others who posted on the Guardian blog, I could do without the schoolboy “humour” which is sometimes more like a dirty old man than a schoolboy. I’m not a prude, I just find Paul’s attempts at humour tedious. I agree with comments made by PostMark@32 – Paul is also not my favourite setter for the same reasons. Ditto Wellbeck@46 (“it’s not Paul’s multi-word multi-slot clues that annoy me, but his fondness for linking them”).
I gave up on 15ac, 16d, 21d and I did not parse 4/5/23, 28/11.
Thanks, both.
You’re right, of course, Jim @60. Your link didn’t work for me, so I’ll try this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plebgate (probably the same as yours!)
I totally misremembered – it happens a lot these days. 🙁
I’m in the camp that enjoys Paul’s schoolboy humor, but I understand that taste varies. I particularly enjoyed the unexpected PENIS in SINE PROLE.
I found this more difficult than the usual Paul, but it’s always possible that I’m just having a bad day.
I had forgotten the expression “on your bike”, although I think I’ve seen it before, so I was puzzled by 29ac. I failed to get 21dn (BRIEFS), although in hindsight it’s perfectly reasonable.
Lord Jim, again, @43
“I’m not sure what people have got against the multi-part answers. I quite like them as they help to open up different areas of the grid.”
That’s not entirely true, especially when they’re not even in order and have no wordplay, like 14,3,25: I had quite a few crossers in before I got that one.
There are several setters who almost invariably manage to get the components of the clue on the same row or column and I (and others) almost invariably comment on it.
Many thanks for all the comments and for your indulgence: as Alan said @1, this puzzle was always going to be divisive. I must admit I’m broadly with michelle, PostMark and Wellbeck.
A brief thought re ‘sine prole’: it’s worth filing away because I’ve seen it more than once used in its abbreviated form (like Starting Price) to clue ‘SP’.
Thanks FG@41 for the explanation of TWO-INCH (I had to use my Institution’s sign-in to get access to your link). I did wonder if it might have had some connection with a 2 by 4, and your BOORD maybe suggests that
I’m obviously getting old – the only sex references I saw while solving were the clichéd IT @29a BEAT IT, and THE OTHER @ 4&5d.
I missed the one at 16d SINE PROLE because I didn’t get that clue. It was a case of ‘a little learning’, and thinking of French rather than Latin legal language, so I couldn’t get my brain to look beyond ‘sans issue’.
But then, on reading Eileen’s engaging blog and others’ comments, I noticed one (clearly not misogynist) that no one has mentioned – 4a TWO-INCH coupled with 14d etc., NOTHING TO WRITE HOME ABOUT.
Thanks Paul for the dirty diversion, and Eileen for cleaning some of it up.
Long may Paul continue to set in his own inimitable style. When l first started doing the Guardian Prize ten years ago it was attempting and eventually completing the Paul Prize crosswords that got me hooked. To me, he will always be someone l treasure.
I’ve always been a Paul fan. I find his clueing more inventive than the average setter and I have to use the old noggin a little more, which is a reason I do these puzzles. The multi-light answers don’t bother me at all. Like Gervase said, Araucaria often used them and wrote some of the best clues in history as a result.
Good puzzle. My faves were DINGOES and RAINCLOUD. I totally missed the parsing of STAIRS, so thanks for that, Eileen. And to Paul for the fun.
Thank you. And it’s so nice to know I’m not the only one you gets crabby at crosswords. Especially in the early hours. And I’ll say it again, I’d be completely lost without you and the other bloggers here. You are stars.
Late to the table.
I thought BRIEFS was very good, but have never heard of a DOGTROT as a single word.
Can anyone honestly say that they could put together SNOOKER TABLE, from the surface, without assistance from any crossers?
Thanks to the equally, but differently, brilliant Eileen and Paul.
Kirsty and Wellcidered
Bless you both.
Thanks again, all – I think I’ll be going to bed soon. 😉
My humble and always tardy view is that this was a more accessible Paul than usual perhaps because the long answers were not reliant on a keystone clue. Dogtrot was not a term I have come across before – there’s a foxtrot joke there somewhere but I can’t find it – and several made me smile such as no problem, stairs and dingoes. Maybe because I solve the puzzles in several sittings I miss some of the subtleties and in this case, smut/ribald humour but Paul is what Paul is and variety is the spice etc.. Thanks to him and Eileen for her diligent and informative curating today.
I haven’t done the crossword yet, but I was struck by Eileen’s prologue and skipped to the final paragraph while averting my eyes from any solutions embedded there, and I have not read any comments below the blog.
I totally agree that mood can make a lot of difference to how individual solvers see a puzzle. Other states of mind can also be important, like impatience – “I’ve only got half an hour I hope it’s not too tricky” – and distraction – “where on earth have I put my wallet?” But those are quite easy to spot, whereas mood is perhaps not so easy, so well done Eileen. 🙂
Maybe I’ll have time to look at the crossword now…
Sheffield hatter @75 – well done on your self-discipline!
Best wishes for your solve, if you do try it! – would be glad (as always) of your comments, if you do.
Muffin @55 yes I thought that too.
Excellent, just beaten by 16d. Great clue.
Thanks both.
Thanks for responding, Eileen.
I completed this very enjoyable offering from Paul, having to assuage my impatience by using a little distraction to allow me to think of the last two, TWO-INCH and HORSES. I knew that meaning of ‘string’ from my racing background, but didn’t get around to thinking of the very simple reversal of the clue, taking R out of HO(R)SES to get the equally simple ‘pipes’! And the stupidly obvious WINCH also escaped me, more down to tiredness than anything, I guess. Very pleased to have finished before midnight.
I didn’t parse SNOOKER TABLE but it’s pretty clever, isn’t it. (Doesn’t take a lot to flummox me!) And it took me an unconscionable time to see NOTHING TO WRITE HOME ABOUT. Doh!
Favourite was probably TO ORDER, for the very clever reversal of the nearby red root.
Thanks to Paul for the brain stretch and to Eileen for the excellent blog – best preamble ever on this site. (I’ve only dipped into some of the comments and I don’t want to get involved with talking about “schoolboy humour”, so I’ll keep my thoughts on that for another day. Oh, all right then: it’s just words and word play. There.)
No one will read this but just want to say like many others that Paul is my favourite setter. Has been ever since Araucaria died, and remains my favourite.
I did
I did too Xjpotter. It’s probably Picaroon for me, with Paul a very close second.
Thanks all.
I enjoyed this on the whole, and learned three new words: sert, dogtrot, and string referring to horses. I’d query “retrieved” to mean reversed, though.
Eileen@57 I’m late with this, but since you’re the blogger, you’ll get it anyway. I was also lucky enough to have Latin in high school, but “prole” didn’t come up. I first ran across it in “1984” (the book, not the year, which was a much earlier one in my case), where the bottom class of people are proles. So prole to me meant someone at the bottom of the social scale.
As for the Latin, I didn’t go beyond the second year, but had plenty of acquaintance with Latin later on in Renaissance music. Church Latin, of course, is much simpler in syntax than the works of the Latin poets, but it kept me in touch with the declensions and conjugations.
I heartily agree with everybody’s enjoyment of your blogging. I don’t put this in comments others will read, it would seem unkind, but you’re by far my favorite blogger, and I light up when I see your name.
Thank you, Valentine, if you’re still hovering – I’ve been out for the day.
I don’t always see late posts, unless I’m particularly looking for them: for some reason, those emails go straight into my Trash folder.
Re Church Latin, I’ve just been asked to help out my church choir with an upcoming anthem, re pronunciation, which, of course, is rather different from that which I (was) taught!