Guardian 29,612 – Paul

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I didn’t seem to be on the right wavelength at all this morning so found this quite hard, though in retrospect almost everything seems reasonably straightforward, with the exception of one clue that I can’t full explain. Thanks to Paul.

 
Across
1 MOULD Blight form (5)
Double definition
4 DOORSTEP Where milk once regularly placed with piece of bread? (8)
Double definition
8 COCK‑A‑DOODLE‑DOO Wake-up call, cross-party talks? (4-1-6-3)
I can’t make out any wordplay here, unless the two DOs are parties, or the crowing cock is a “cross party”
10 EARTHMEN Discrimination therefore involves a thousand people (8)
EAR (the ability to discriminate sounds) + M (1000) in THEN (therefore)
11 COOKER Range from Ark ultimately covered by dove? (6)
[ar]K in COOER (as a dove might be described)
12 IRASCIBLE Funny serial about shaving people from behind, very prickly! (9)
Reverse of BIC (makers of razors, so “shaving people”) in SERIAL*
15 BASRA Arabian Peninsula city Arabs rebuilt (5)
ARABS*
17 SUNNY Bright boy speaking up? (5)
Sounds like “sonny”
18 TETHERING Chaining cycle, punctured tyre on it (9)
T[yr]E + THE RING (Wagner’s cycle of operas)
19 ABLOOM Line in a report that’s out (6)
L in A BOOM (loud noise, report)
21 PARALLEL March slightly lacking in recollection of spring, for comparison (8)
RALL[y] (march) in reverse of LEAP
24 JOSEPHINE BAKER Jazz Age superstar, wild thing masking pain, she be dancing? (9,5)
(PAIN SHE BE)* in JOKER (wild thing, as in “jokers are wild”)
25 REPEATED Plant saving fuel, plant saving fuel? (8)
PEAT (fuel) in REED (plant), and the wordplay is REPEATED
26 MANGY Scruffy legion fed gruel, primarily (5)
G[ruel] in MANY (legion)
Down
1 MICHELIN STAR For which Roux trains when cooking? (8,4)
MICHEL (Roux, chef) + TRAINS, and it’s an &lit or clue-as-definition
2 UNCERTAIN A nice turn that’s high up in the air (9)
(A NICE TURN)*
3 DEATH The inevitable schadenfreude at house arrests (5)
Hidden in schadenfreuDE AT House
4 DO ONE’S BIT Muck in bidet soon spattered about (2,4,3)
(BIDET SOON)*
5 ODDS C_A_C_? (4)
C A C are the ODD letters of ChAnCe, which can also mean “odds”
6 SEE DOUBLE Get large drink and experience its effect? (3,6)
SEE (get) DOUBLE (large drink)
7 E-BOOK Digital reference, nothing in Japanese city coming up (1-4)
O in reverse of KOBE
9 TRIANGULARLY Moving left and right with angularity, one way, then another and back? (12)
Anagram of L R ANGULARITY. Not a word I think I’ve ever come across, and the repetition of ANGULAR in answer and fodder makes this rather weak, I’d say
13 CEYLONESE Content to leave early in matches with East Asian, once (9)
EarlY less its ”content” in CLONES (matches) + E. “Once” because we would now say Sri Lankan
14 ENTRAINED Ten wheels came down on public transport (9)
TEN* + RAINED (came down)
16 SPILLIKIN Thin piece that’s served up I finish off in bites (9)
Reverse of I KILL in NIPS. A piece in the game Spillikins, also called Pick-up Sticks
20 LOOSE Hanging head in embarrassment, going places earlier? (5)
LOOS (places to go, going paces) + E[mbarrassment]
22 ALBUM Salt pocketing black book (5)
B in ALUM. I originally had BIBLE here, thinking salt=bile=bad temper
23 SHOT Still ruined (4)
Double definition , with “shot” as a (still) photo

77 comments on “Guardian 29,612 – Paul”

  4. I’m not going to waste any more of my time doing Paul’s puzzles. After half an hour here I had 4 answers, with quibbles about 3 of them. In particular, surely BASRA is at the head of the Persian Gulf, not on the Arabian Peninsula?

  5. Good challenge. Some very enjoyable moments, like working out that the ‘Odds’ must be the odd letters of ‘Chance’.
    ‘Cooer’ was clever, too. Won’t find that in a thesaurus, but clearly correct.

    Of course I DNF. ‘Abloom’ and ‘Loose’ beat me. And the ‘wake up call’ was not parsed by me, at all. Crossers made it clear, though.
    But those are signs of my weaknesses, not the setter’s.

  6. Yet another Paul I had to give up on – they are becoming too tough for me.

    Thanks, Andrew for many explanations and Paul, too

  7. I guess you could say something like It takes ear to tell the difference …?
    It took mental alphabet to get to j and remember ‘jokers wild’, and I’d forgotten loo as place to go, d’oh, so even then abloom took a hard stare. So the SE corner was a bit of a nightmare. Good workout, ta Paul and Andrew.

  8. Enjoyable puzzle. Again. Not easy. A wide selection of excellent clues. I think REPEATED for my favourite and COOKER too. And MICHELIN STAR. Almost as good as this week’s Prize. Thanks for the blog. I had one def for 8a so in it went. Thanks Paul.

  9. muffin@4 That got me too.
    But there are only so many cities that are anagrams of ‘Arabs’ so in it went.

  12. I sympathise with Muffin @4.
    I ploughed on with this, grimly determined not to let Paul defeat me, but ended with several crossed-fingers entries and a lot of incomplete parsing.
    16D was a guess based on the crosses: when I learned, from Andrew’s awesome blog, the lengths required to parse it, I’m glad I didn’t bother.
    Same with 8A
    Grateful thanks to Andrew for all the explanations.

  13. COCK-A_DOODLE-DOO
    Had the same parsing as Crispy and others:
    cross=COCKER DOODLE
    party=DO
    talks—>homophone indicator.

    Loved the puzzle. Thanks Paul and Andrew.

  15. Surprised to complete a Friday Paul with just a couple of flesh wounds (5d and 8a) and the full parsing on SPILLIKIN beat me as though I’d spotted I KILL, I then couldn’t work out where the SPIN came from! Doh.

  16. Thoroughly enjoyable offering from Paul, imaginative and entertaining. COOKER provoked a grin and COCK-A-DOODLE-DO was my COD, with MICHELIN STAR a close second.

    Thanks Paul and Andrew

  17. Found this really tough with ten guesses only partially parsed. Some NHOs (never heard ofs) like 16d SPILLIKIN didn’t help.
    I did like 25a REPEATED, my LOI.
    Thanks to Paul and Andrew.

  18. P.S. Would never have understood how my guess – ODDS at 5d – related to the clue no matter how long I looked at it. Thanks for the enlightenment, Andrew.

  19. I was tempted to pass on this puzzle as I am never on Paul’s wavelength but I persevered and was surprised to finish it although I could not parse 8ac, 10ac, 18ac, 9d.

    Favourites: ODDS, DOORSTEP, LOOSE, REPEATED (loi).

  21. MICHELIN STAR is a fine clue and COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO is pretty good too. REPEATED is clever but doesn’t quite work for me. I am another who failed to finish without aids. ABLOOM was my downfall.

  22. One of his best, and I agree with PostMark that it was worth it just for MICHELIN STAR. I also enjoyed DOORSTEP, IRASCIBLE, COOKER, CEYLONESE, JOSEPHINE BAKER and REPEATED. I couldn’t parse ODDS, which reminded me of yesterday’s oddly enough.

    Ta Paul & Andrew.

  23. Definitely tricky, with some tortuous constructions, but I got there in the end.
    Great to see a Paul puzzle without loads of cross-references, split entries and non-rhotic ‘homophones’ 🙂

    LOOSE and then ABLOOM (not much to get a grip on here) were my last entries. C-A-D-D went in from the enumeration and I didn’t stop to parse it. By coincidence, Ludwig’s ODDLY from yesterday made ODDS easy to spot.

    MICHELIN STAR and REPEATED were the highlights for me (and DO ONE’S BIT raised a snigger).

    Thanks to Paul and Andrew

  24. ODDS
    I liked it initially. Now I have a question:
    Isn’t C-A-C- not ODDS of ODDS (chance) rather than just ODDS?

  25. After a fast start, the final five clues held me up for quite a while. NHO SPILLIKIN, so it was satisfying to fill in from the word play. Couldn’t parse COCKADOODLEDO, thanks Crispy@1. Loved C_A_C_, (although I suspect that it might be Marmite), which allowed me to get another favourite, DOORSTEP. Long, hard stares needed for LOOSE (very Pauline) and ABLOOM. Very much liked this one. Thanks Paul and Andrew.

    PS in case anyone is interested in knowing more about the extraordinary Josephine Baker. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nHUh_yjLaA

  26. KVa @24 It’s the odd numbered letters of the word ‘Chance’. The odds of chance (the odds). Seemed to work for me. It was one of my favourites.

  27. I failed to parse ODDS simply because I didn’t notice the underscore before the question mark.
    SPILLIKIN I vaguely remembered. Can’t help wondering if adding “that’s picked up” to the definition part wouldn’t have improved the clue while introducing an element of misdirection.

  29. On first pass the only clue I had managed to solve was the rather forlorn MANGY, but then slowly began to fill the grid. Had very little idea about the parsing of ODDS, though the crossers indicated it couldn’t really be anything else. Similarly with IRASCIBLE, LOOSE, REPEATED and SPILLIKINs, which was a game I loved playing as a child.
    In the end defeated as my jazz knowledge is limited so didn’t know JOSEPHINE BAKER, and the rather tortuous TRIANGULARLY was beyond my ken.
    Did laugh, though, when I solved the COOKER.
    I don’t suppose it’s of any significance that the double O appears eight times in the grid. One less, and I might have been looking for a James Bond theme, perhaps.
    Like others, I thought MICHELIN STAR the outstanding pick this morning…

  30. Paul always divides opinion, but for me his very smooth clues are a delight, and as usual I laughed out loud at some of the word play. Thanks for help parsing, Andrew, and for all the joy, Paul.

  32. I made heavy weather of this but put that down in part to Wetherspoons selling Old Peculiar & Essex Beast for £1.99 a pint last night

    Top marks for MICHELIN STAR, REPEATED & ENTRAINED

    Is the cockerdoodle just a bit of Paul whimsy? He’s used his “get out of jail free” card with the question mark

    Cheers A&P

  33. Hugely entertaining! Luckily I was on Paul’s wavelength. At least I thought I was until I ground to a halt with about five to do. But all fairly clued as ever.

    Favourites were MICHELIN STAR, COOKER, PARALLEL, LOOSE and ABLOOM (my LOI).

    I agree that 9d was a bit of a let-down. Otherwise, a fun challenge.

    Thanks Paul and Andrew

  34. I did this on my phone before I’d got the actual paper, and it’s not nearly such a good experience (IMO). I usually need to jot things down to work them out whereas on the phone it’s too tempting to just guess and check. I ended up not quite finishing and with a couple unparsed. Oh well.

    Favourites were MICHELIN STAR and JOSEPHINE BAKER. 25a REPEATED was a bit similar to the reverse clue yesterday.

    (Lippi @20: we still get milk on the DOORSTEP too!)

    Thanks Paul and Andrew.

  39. I loved this! Chewy and fun, even though I didn’t manage to parse them all.
    My first in and favourite was JOSEPHINE BAKER, from the definition, then parsed. Such a delightful and appropriate surface – ‘wild’ ‘dancing’ etc.
    I also enjoyed ODDS, COOKER, EARTHMEN, IRASCIBLE, TETHERING, REPEATED.
    I failed to parse MICHELIN STAR (didn’t know Michel), PARALLEL (looking at parade not rally), and COCKADOODLEDOO – congrats to Crispy for cracking that one.
    I’d never heard of SPILLIKINS but solved and parsed it anyway. We called the game pick-up sticks.
    Thanks for the great puzzle, Paul and Andrew for all the explanations – not easy today.

  40. Each time when I thought to give up, another answer emerged from my brain. Was pleased to get through this, though I needed the parsing for ODDS. Agree that TRIANGULARLY was a little weak, but quite liked TETHERING.

  41. Glad I’m not alone in having no idea how COCK A DOODLE DO parsed (and in never having met that particular doggy hybrid, or rather that “word” for it.)

    I enjoyed the coo-er, and REPEATED (well, we’re in February, the Groundhog Day month), and the reminder of munching “DOORSTEPs” of bread from my childhood. Yes, I still get milk delivered to mine. Another childhood memory was the vase full of wooden spills on the hearth, ready to take a flame from the fire to light candles or cigarettes – SPILLIKINS must have begun using these.

    But I found much of the rest tediously difficult and needed lots of aids, so I can’t claim to have finished it.

  42. I keep trying Paul’s offerings, but more often than not find then frustrating and unsatisfying. Hey-ho, different strokes for different folks, I guess.

    Many thanks for the blog, Andrew.

  43. I started well, thinking that this was an easy one, but was soon disabused. I thought MICHELIN STAR was a rather weak cd until I saw the blog – but it’s obviously a fine clue in retrospect. I liked TETHERING, REPEATED, CEYLONESE, SPILLIKIN and LOOSE. Wiki says about BASRA: Located near the Iran–Iraq border at the north-easternmost extent of the Arabian Peninsula.

    Thanks Paul and Andrew.

  45. I always enjoy tackling a Paul and this was no exception, although perhaps (very slightly) less tricky than usual. I have the impression that that some of our number on this site seem determined to find fault with him for no other reason than an ingrained dislike, spanning many years.
    I have only recently returned to this site (which I admire, by the way), mainly to see if this prejudice has abated after all this time. For some, perhaps it has. For others, evidently, not so much.
    Oh, well!

  46. GertBycee@45, I know it’s a bit too extreme to use the words love/hate relationship as to the feelings I have had over the years with Paul as a setter. Recently there have joined the Guardian stable several excellent new setters. But for all these new arrivals I still get that initial lift of the heart (in anticipation) when I discover that Paul is the setter for today’s puzzle/tussle. For all the oft times controversy and all the ups and downs, and of course the acrosses…🙂

  47. Muffin@4 Me too. I enjoyed 5D, the remainder was a reminder of why I should skip Paul.

    I’m happy for those solvers who find him so delightful, but he is just not my taste.

  48. MCourtney@26
    ODDS
    Thanks for your response. I wasn’t familiar with the usage ‘the ODDS of chance’.
    I must be wrong in my interpretation as several commenters have liked the clue.

  50. Paul, one of my favourite setters, on good if reliably tough form here today. I needed some external reference help and a reveal but some of the clueing was just marvellous. As per others, MICHELIN STAR was a particular highlight for me.

    Cheers both

  51. Well, I finished. Second time running for a Paul. Needed lots of help and had to come here to parse quite a few. But still …

  52. Wow, it’s like musical tastes isn’t it? Some like The Fall, some prefer Taylor Swift. Whatever. I absolutely love Paul’s offerings and this was up with his best. I always seem to be able to complete his puzzles but only with a lot of persistence, so that plus his trademark wit and cheeky rule bending makes him very much a personal favourite. Life would be dull if we all agreed.

  53. I thought I was going to be defeated again by Paul, but got there in the end. Hard work but enjoyable and , as always with Paul, fair

  54. Too hard for me. Having spotted that marathon race fitted 1D, I Googled “Roux marathon” only to discover that Michel is noted for running 8 marathons. Another hidden Pauline gem?

  55. Everything a crossword should be IMHO. Too hard… but then I’m kicking myself when I finally get it (or reveal). The need to think laterally and then more laterally and then really outside the box is so much more stimulating than following the usual codes.

  56. The first Paul I did was ridiculously scatalogical, so I’m glad to find he’s capable of making good normal crosswords.

  57. Normally I don’t even try with Paul but I was on his wavelength today with only three reveals. Quite a pleasant surprise!

  58. Thanks both and I was somewhat entertained (LOOSE, DO ONE’S BIT, E-BOOK) but less than enchanted.

    But this is Paul. For me the general reaction is that I don’t have time for this (literally) because I won’t crack it in the time (25 minutes or so) I allot to the beloved pastime. I know it will be a struggle but with Paul I can be sure that it will all work out in the end. (Less so with Harpo and Ludwig earlier in the week although persistence would have been rewarded as it turned out.)

    My point is that we have had three puzzles in a row worthy of a prize slot (I will cheerily masticate on a prize for the week, no worries). I wandered into this quagmire (blogmire?) some time ago (how long – it seems long…?) after spotting a letter to the Guardian bleating about the rising level of difficulty in the crosswords. I am reluctant to put pen to paper but….

    Dear(insert appropriate salutation)……

  59. Very enjoyable if tricky! Got cock a doodle do without knowing why, as often with Paul. Get the answer then work out the parsing!

  61. Yes.
    Mrs and Mrs S chuckled, groaned , cheered and revealed in equal measure this evening; happy with the ones we solved, sometimes kicking ourselves for the ones we missed and sometimes aware of our still lowly status in the pantheon of solvers.
    Ah well. All’s fair in love and crosswords!
    Time for a little port and then to bed.

  62. I parsed LOOSE as head=loo on a boat, andS and E where places to go. Rather weak, buthen this is a Paul puzzle. Happy to see a better one.
    ODDS were just odd letters of the alphabet and the odd letters of whatever word it was CBA to look further.
    I only got the DO in CCD, never come across the dog in either form.
    I too only saw the kill in SPILLIKIN.

    I am amazed so many commenters have not heard of Josephine Baker. She deserves to be remembered for may reasons
    Thanks both.

  63. Just put the milk bottles on the DOORSTEP for tomorrow’s delivery.
    Thanks to Paul, who has always been my favourite setter since we lost Araucaria, though I was defeated today.

  64. Just here to record that for the first time ever I completed a Paul, albeit with a couple being entered by the guess, check and reverse parse method! Andrew’s parsing of 5 is much better than my weak explanation and makes it a better clue than I’d realised.
    Thanks Paul & Andrew.

  65. This took me all day – several tube journeys and an evening glass of wine – perfect Friday fodder. Were Paul were not so prolific I’m sure he would be even better appreciated. ODDS and REPEATED my especial favourites, DOORSTEP my LOI – and Lippi@20 we have exact same order!

  66. Even by Paul’s standards, this was terrible. I could not get beyond about 60% of the way and as I read this blog I feel like there is absolutely NO way that I would have ever gotten any further!

  67. gladys@41. Thanks for your memory about SPILLIKINS. We only had spills a couple of days ago in a crossword, first time I’ve encountered them. I can just imagine the spills spilling in front of the fire and people trying to pick them up. I prefer your story about the origin of SPILLIKINS to Wiki’s The origin of the game of pick-up sticks is disputed, but it is believed to have developed from the yarrow stalks used for divination with the Chinese I Ching.

    We Aussies are a bit more prosaic and called the game Pick-up sticks, probably because most of us didn’t have the tradition of hearths and spills, or yarrow stalks and I Ching for that matter. They were plastic when I was young, probably around the time that plastics were taking on.

  68. PDM@67 , first of all thank you so much for your support during my recent ban, it helped KenMac and I to behave like grown-ups ans resolve the stalemate.
    SPILLIKINS , I still have the game at home , it is called Jack Straws and yes it is also plastic . Another disputed origin of the game is using pieces of dried straw , perhaps there are several origins.

  69. [Oh, Roz@68. That’s so good to hear! I’ve been so happy to see you back lately, but didn’t want to say anything for fear of upsetting the apple cart. Glad that you and KenMac have come to an understanding. A lot of us missed you. And I missed you when all of the planets aligned here recently. 🙂

  70. As usual, maddeningly tough. But there were some absolute gems: specifically, MICHELIN STAR, REPEATED and ODDS!

    Thanks both

  72. [ PDM @ 69 I have not been in much to thank you so the end of this blog seemed perfect. We were lucky with the planets in the UK , for the best week we had pretty clear skies, numerous students for my star walks . ]

  73. OSW@38 – Why do you (attempt to) solve cryptic crosswords then? I can accept the fact that some may not find Paul as enjoyable as I do but unreasonable comments like yours should be discouraged on 15²

    Etu@71 – Hear, hear!

    Many thanks, Paul

  74. Quite a few -OO- clues in here. Imogen, Harpo, and Paul all giving us a workout this week. I found this in the usual Paul vein: very little on first pass but gradually gives itself up.

  75. I only finished half of it and, having seen the answers, realize that some clues were just too unfathomable for me. Does the word SPILLIKINS refer to the spill that we used to Iight the fire ?
    I did get this one quite early on.
    COCK A DOODLE DOO
    My mother’s lost her shoe
    My father’s lost his fiddling stick
    And we don’t know what to do.

    Thanks Paul and Andrew.

  76. I didn’t even get half of this, but that doesn’t mean I thought it was a terrible puzzle. While I didn’t enjoy attempting it – abject failure is seldom fun – I thoroughly enjoyed reading Andrew’s excellent blog, and appreciating Paul’s cleverness and wit after the fact.

    Thanks, Paul for reminding me of my limitations, and Andrew for explaining what I couldn’t.

    Incidentally, re 5d ODDS, surely the synonym for ODDS is CHANCES, not CHANCE.

  77. Got most of the top half, missed most of the bottom half. Paul in good form though — mostly great clues!

    Not sure about 25a REPEATED. I’m wary of clues that don’t have a definition. Same with 5d ODDS. They should be clever, but something bothers me about them

    23d I had FLAT for “Still [not sparkling] ruined [collapsed]” instead of SHOT

    Didn’t know the bread meaning of DOORSTEP. Here it’s “crust” or “heel”

    Gervase@23, but this does include a non-rhotic homophone — COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO. The vast majority of Paul’s homophones involve playing with the non-rhotic R, to my annoyance

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