Guardian Cryptic 29,624 by Paul

83 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 29,624 by Paul”

1. The lack of comments on the G thread up to this point (only 5) is very striking, but these early commenting hours are generally occupied by antipodean solvers who may, therefore, have abandoned ship given how UK-centric this puzzle is or who may be poring over the London tube map. Frankly, I found most of it a write-in and by some distance the quickest Paul I have attempted. A bit disappointed therefore. But thanks to PeterO for clarifying the trickier parsings.

2. Had fun with this one. Although I haven’t lived in London since 1975, I was familiar enough with the tube map then that even now I can tell you which line each of the mentioned stations are on (I just checked, got ’em all). Sadly, I think non-Londoners might be at quite a disadvantage here, given Paul’s penchant for not-so-direct synonyms in the wordplay.

   When I saw the enumeration for 10a, no crossers, my immediate thought was MAIDA VALE, followed by, Nah, that’s way too obscure, might be GREEN PARK. I was apparently getting ahead of myself.

   Regarding MAESTRI, the related French word maîtres uses the same letters, so I had to think for a bit, but the Italian word is closer in meaning.

   Fun puzzle. Tx, P&P

3. IMPORTANT
   ‘stymied by’ – an unusual indicator, and it seems to me the wrong way round
   I thought so too.
   RAITH ROVERS (a minor point)
   (A ITHRS features/includes OVER) on/by the side of R

   Thanks Paul and PeterO.

4. No write in for me I struggled to finish. I had several answers but no explanation for them, other than the definition: BOWLS OVER, RAITH ROVERS, HAIRSPRAY…, so thanks PeterO.

   Thanks Paul, too, for a just doable challenge; and so back to bed.

5. This antipodean definitely found it tough going with the UK GK. A few of the names were knocking about in the back of my brain but I’d never heard of RUISLIP or the RAITH ROVERS. The wordplay eventually led me to them but with very little confidence until I checked. Fosters of course is familiar but I’ve never heard the expression “up the gum tree”.

6. GUMTREE is an online small ads service in the UK.

   I was thinking not that many tube stations, then looked COCKFOSTERS, BARKING and RUISLIP are at the ends of lines, BOWls over, MAIDA VALE, GREEN Park, WEST HAM, ARSENAL, BANK, VICTORIA and WATERLOO are mid line (Arsenal, Bank, Waterloo and Victoria are in clues), and Arsenal has a station although Highbury and Islington is easier to get to. There are two stations at Bow, Road and Church (District line and DLR), and quite a few at Ruislip.

   I didn’t find this easy, even as a more or less Londoner. Football, so RAITH ROVERS took me ages.

   Thank you to PeterO and Paul.

7. Balfour@1. I was wondering if there was a public holiday somewhere, not many posters on the G site either.

   It does take a lot longer to solve when the answer is somewhere in X, or a Scottish team, as you have to work from first principles, if you don’t want to google lists or maps, which I don’t. The set of possibilities is unknown, the crossers aren’t much help, and the word the patterns don’t jump out readily.

   I did know MAIDA VALE as I boarded there with a family when I was studying in London in the mid 70s. They weren’t affluent, but had inherited the flat and needed someone to help with their costs. I guessed the bitter meant there was ALE in it, and I quite like homophones.

   BOA and BARKING and HAIRSPRAY amusing.
   Did know Helen SHAPIRO. Today’s earworm, her biggest Aussie hit. Probably apt too. Nuh, not responsible.

8. This antipodean appreciates the early and comprehensive blog. Thanks PeterO. Liked BIG GUNS after it was explained and partial to a Chelsea bun so disappointed not to see it. Lots of envelopes. Sounds cooler than ‘container’. Perhaps one day this sort of puzzle from Paul will be a write-in for me. But I doubt it. Then again, SHAPIRO was a write-in (tho unparsed). Spunky voice. Thanks Paul.

9. Was a bit disappointed by the obvious football teams, written in without parsing, but the superb STOMACH and BIG GUNS restored the faith. Good fun. Thanks both.

10. P.s. Helen Shapiro. What a voice for a 16-year old

    https://youtu.be/5I2cG-ed6hw?si=V_NZ9aaust6NQdnk

11. Re 24a PeterO. In snooker, I think you would be ‘stymied’ if balls you mustn’t hit are in the way of any useful shot, so you are surrounded. I think ‘it’ is the right way around.

12. This was a reasonably quick solve for a Friday Paul and most enjoyable indeed. Themes of London and footy right in my comfort zone and enjoyed spotting all the familiar locations listed by Shanne @6. I parsed BOOTLICKING as Wellington BOOT plus LICKING as in someone meeting their Waterloo/defeat. Loved VAMOOSE, SCARBOROUGH, STOMACH, BIG GUNS and SHAPIRO. Great end to the week.

    Ta Paul & PeterO.

13. Someone who is a bit crazy i.e. BARKING, is described by Londoners as two stops short of Dagenham East.

14. …. Four stops actually.

15. BOROUGH is also a London Tube station.

16. Thanks Paul and PeterO
    Like drawing teeth. Several annoying misuses of “in” (22a, 3d, 13d).
    I liked SLEIGHT.

17. Great fun from Paul. Like most of those familiar with London much of the puzzle was a write in – but still some chewy bits.

    Thanks Paul and Peter

18. [COCKFOSTERS reminds me of the definition of Amersham in “The meaning of Liff“:
    “The sneeze which tickles but never comes. (Thought to derive from the Metropolitan Line tube station of the same name where the rails always rattle but the train never arrives.)”]

19. Re 24 and RussThree @ 11. That would be *snookered* . Stymie is similar on a putting green. Or was until the rule was changed in the 1950s

20. Familiarity with all those London Tube stations definitely helped. As smooth a solve for a Paul puzzle as I have experienced for some time. Last one in the tiddly RUN, with the SW corner last to yield as Peter O found earlier…

21. I had the top half completed but it’s not the friendliest of grids with only the two linkers between north and south so it took a while to crack into the lower half. I wasn’t sure whether the theme was going to be tube stations or football teams but opted for the former and was pleased to recognise them. I struggled a bit with MAIDA VALE, not spotting the device nor appreciating that it was an affluent part of London. I parsed BOOTLICKING as AlanC @12. SHAPIRO, BIG GUNS and VAMOOSE my favourites.

    Thanks Paul and PeterO

22. Please could someone help me with how ‘tight’ is an anagram indicator.

    Thanks.

23. SteveThePirate@22: “tight” is (UK?) slang for drunk, if that helps.

    Quite a few “write in the answer then parse” here but being from just outside London and having worked there half my life, the answers were familiar. Plaudits and kudos to anyone working out “Raith Rovers” from scratch – it went in for me with enumeration followed by more a justification than a full parsing.

    Some lovely misleading definitions by examples – “those from Chelsea” had me thinking of pensioners and tractors but not buns.

    Thank you Paul and PeterO

24. [Isn’t it “up a gumtree”? And Helen Shapiro was only 14 when she had her first two hits in 1961. She’d just turned 15 when she was Walkin’ Back To Happiness]

25. I’m afraid I often find Paul puzzles irritating these days, despite their ingenuity, but here was another without ‘homophones’ to annoy the rhotic or lots of cross-references and split entries randomly disposed – so I enjoyed it a lot. It was not a write-in for me, but it yielded steadily; fortunately there were no unfamiliar teams or places.

    BOOTLICKING is capable of being parsed in different ways, none of them grammatically exact – I just took it as allusive, which worked for me.

    I’ll plump for AlanC’s selection @12, plus the well disguised STOMACH.

    Isn’t the expression ‘up A gum tree’?

    Thanks to Paul and PeterO

26. FrankieG @24: You got to the eucalyptus first! 🙂

27. JOFT@23 similar experience with RAITH ROVERS pencilled in for ages but slightly lost the will to live parsing it 🙂

    Really enjoyed the puzzle overall. Fond childhood memories of SCARBOROUGH and was looking at a flat in MAIDA VALE only yesterday so that helped

    Cheers P&P

28. I usually enjoy Paul, but found this too much of a struggle to parse for it to be fun. VAMOOSE made me smile. Thank you to PeterO for much needed explanations of the ones that defeated me.

29. Thanks Jack of few Trades @23

30. I was half expecting to see Mornington Crescent, but just whispered it to myself as I finished. I quite enjoy that moment of delay between solving and parsing that you get with clues like Maida Vale.

31. Was waiting for Mornington Crescent….the main reason for our familiarity with London tube stations, despite never having lived there.

32. muffin @16: ‘in’ is a perfectly respectable link word, as far as I’m concerned

33. Stevthepirate @ 22. I suppose if “drunk” indicates an anagram, “tight” must be allowed as well, but I don’t like it either. I enjoyed the crossword though. on’t knock Paul – you’ll miss him when he’s gone. I like his mixture of rudeness (usually) and old-fashionedness – you don’t get many blighters these days.

34. Thanks for the blog, GUMTREE had a nice definition and HAIRSPRAY was neat .
    Good to see London get some attention , the forgotten city of the UK , normally completely ignored by all the media.

35. How does ‘tight’ indicate an anagram? I have read the comments above but find the suggested relationship to ‘drunk’ tenuous at best.

36. Ground this one out, although enjoyable to do so.

    I thought STOMACH was well-hidden and I enjoyed the wordplays for BIG GUNS, EXTOL and BARKING. I also liked the ‘made of ale’ homophone and the BEAR HUG Spoonerism.

    Thanks Paul and PeterO.

37. Thanks to Paul. Tough but fair and an enjoyable workout. Needed help with some of the parsings, for which thanks to PeterO, but I think this was Paul showing us why he is a master of his craft.

38. I found this tough but fair and an enjoyable workout. I agree with Cobbler@37 it’s not often that we get such a playful puzzle from the maestro.
    Thx to Paul and PeterO for help with parsing.
    Favourites: STOMACH; BIG GUNS; SHAPIRO.

39. Not often that I cruise through one of Paul’s offerings – in fact, he beats me more often than not. No real hold-ups today though: it’s nice to get one back occasionally. Thanks to Paul and our blogger, as usual.

40. I always remember the old advert for Fosters lager. Foreign tourist asks, ‘How to Cockfosters’ ? Paul Hogan replies ‘ Drink it warm mate’

41. Toyed with MONARCH for a while for 21d. It sort of works (sufficiently in Paul’s loose allusive world anyway), if a maiden were imagined entering Bank station over its arches.
    Agree with PostMark@21 about grid – tantamount to two separate puzzles, which I don’t enjoy as much as those neatly knitted.
    Thanks to PeterO.

42. MAIDA VALE was such an awful pun, I loved it. Thanks Roz for your consideration of neglected regions. Maybe Wales will crop up in a cryptic sometime, with Welsh spellings of course
    Surely Walking Back to Happiness was Helen Shapiro’s biggest hit, maybe not down under.
    Nice to hear this was a write in for some. Could you give me yoy definition of a write in?
    Thanks both

43. Jacob@35: I don’t understand your objection…”tight” absolutely is slightly old-fashioned UK slang for “drunk”, as backed up by multiple dictionaries. Is the issue that you don’t like “drunk” as an anagrind?

44. nicbach@42: Assorted tableware left out in Welsh town (8)
    Coed place sounds promising (4)
    Composer is not very big in Caerdydd (4)

    I am beginning to reach the limits of my Welsh language skills, which are mainly based around mountains and town names I have to admit!

45. Two reveals, and not a quick solve for me by any means. A curate’s egg for me, a roughly even mixture of Paul’s clueing that I get on with, and the remainder not so much. It took several passes to get a single clue in so I’m glad I persevered.

    First time I’ve ever heard of ‘tight’ being a synonym for ‘drunk’.

46. nicbach @42 I can’t speak for BigNorm@39, who also found this puzzle easy, but for me it is when, in clue after clue, the wordplay and the definition are immediately and simultaneously apparent without any wrestling required, and/or when the definition is obvious from the enumeration and whatever crossers I may have – such as RAITH ROVERS here, which, as I spent my earliest few years in Kirkcaldy I would have been ashamed not to spot straight away – and the parsing follows easily. Maybe it is in part a question of being ‘in the zone’, as sporrtspersons call it (even at 3.00 a.m. on a Friday) and in part a question of knowing the setter’s mind . Here, for example, I knew that by ‘food processor’, Paul would mean STOMACH even before I spotted that it was hidden in the wordplay.

47. [RAITH ROVERS reminds me of this.]

48. Nicbach@42 , my own personal definition of a write-in . Every Across clue solved in order and put in the grid . Fold the paper to hide the grid . Every Down clue solved in order without the grid , write them in . This is very rare . This method does make it last longer on my journey home .

49. Tough going for me with the UK knowledge, particularly in the top half. muffin@47, that’s exactly why I was able to get RAITH ROVERS, more precisely a review of a jazz album that explained why one of the songs was called “Streets of Raith.” Couldn’t parse that one though as I couldn’t figure out how to fit OVER or ROVE in. Ticks for SCARBOROUGH, VAMOOSE, SLEIGHT, and LOI HAIRSPRAY.

    Thanks Paul and PeterO!

50. Definitely not a kind puzzle for those of us from elsewhere. In my time in London (four days total) I did manage to pick up knowledge of about half the Tube stations featured here, so it wasn’t a complete disaster for me, but it was definitely a DNF, with several reveals. I also hadn’t heard of RAITH ROVERS. But hey, when you are a Chicagoan who does British crosswords, this is going to happen to you every so often.

    As turnabout is fair play, here are some el stops:

    Chicago neighborhood with a piece of wood. One. One? (5,6)
    Atoll with a carnival area (6)
    Hooker at first topless, heading in the direction of a CTA station (6)
    Duck and bunny in airport (5)
    Train station that’s like the Owl and the Pussycat’s dinner? (6)

    (I could probably do better if I put any real time into it.)

51. Paul with a theme – that’s a treat! Like some others before me, I was hoping to see a MORNINGTON and a CRESCENT (which would have been my LOI’s, of course ha ha! 🙂 ) but it wasn’t to be. I know how hard it is to fit every themer you want into a 15x15er!

    Not sure how “affluent” MAIDA VALE is – perhaps someone from the area can enlighten me. Probably not quite up to the Kensington-and-Chelsea, Knightsbridge, or Hampstead mark. But I may be wrong – London is pricy all over!

    Anyway I’ll give a tick for MAIDA VALE; these ‘sounds-like’ clues (we’re not allowed the H-word these days are we!) are always a bit controversial, but with a decent Cockney accent it works fine.

    Also ‘likes’ for BEAR HUG, VAMOOSE (yes I did know the word); SLEIGHT, BARKING, GLIMPSE, MUFFLER, HAIRSPRAY, GREEN (got to include that!), etc. etc. But that’s just a selection.

    Thanks to the two P’s – Paul and Peter (yes I know Paul’s really a “John” but that doesn’t alliterate…)

52. [MrPenney@50: I’ve heard of O’HARE airport of course. Can’t do any of the others. But you’re right: Grauniad crosswords do tend to be UK-centric, putting solvers from elsewhere at a disadvantage.]

53. Nothing much to add about the puzzle – agree it was good, and easier than usual for Paul.
    Regarding ‘tight’=drunk, I think that as well as being old-fashioned as mentioned by JoFT@43, it was also slightly more ‘refined’ than some other synonyms. I still remember coming home, obviously the worse for wear, at the age of about 16 and my rather uptight, public-school educated father exclaiming in disgust ‘You’re tight!’. Most of my friends’ fathers would have used earthier language.

54. Even though I’m a Londoner, as usual, most of this was beyond me.
    Thanks tor the enlightenment.

55. [Answer key: Logan Square, Midway, Howard, O’Hare, Quincy. The clue for Howard is a bad clue, but I’ve always been struck by the fact that northbound Red Line trains (also I suppose eastbound Yellow, but I never ride those) go toward Howard, and those words differ by only one letter. With a little more hammering, there’s a good clue in there somewhere, but I didn’t take the time to hammer.]

    [Midway Airport is named for the battle named after the atoll; the carnival midway is named for Midway Plaisance, a boulevard in Chicago; the two names actually have nothing to do with each other, and the airport is nowhere near the boulevard. The CTA stop is at the airport, of course.]

56. I can get the last two of mrpenney’s five, which I think is not bad having spent barely more time in Chicago than he has in London.

    RAITH ROVERS and Helen SHAPIRO were new to me. I have heard of Chelsea buns but they are a long way from the top of my mind, ditto most of the tube stations.

57. MrP
    There was a clue a few days ago – I can’t remember when, or the exact clue – that seemed to place an EL in New York. I raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment. Does NY have an EL?

58. Muffin @57: yes, some of the lines in Brooklyn and Queens (and I think maybe also the Bronx) are elevated. The overall system is still called the subway–the exact reverse of how the underground portions of the Chicago system are still called the el.

59. I’ve lived in London for 43 years so I’m intrigued that 3 different commenters @30, 31 & 51 have mentioned that they were hoping to see Mornington Crescent. I’ve walked through it, but it wouldn’t be the first place I would think of in London, especially as Camden is close by and particularly famous. It seems its appeal has passed me by, so my next daily stroll will be there.

60. AlanC – It is a game from ” I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue” , don’t ask the rules.

61. Mornington Croissant is more interesting .

62. Haha, ta Roz, not familiar. I’m sure you also found my beloved London footy team, KPR, hidden in plain sight 😉

63. [ AlanC , tonight BBC4(TV) 10.30 – Folk Hibernia , all Irish music , The Pogues and much more . ]

64. As usual, I was not on this setter’s wavelength and it seemed a bit too footbally for me. I lost interest and gave up on the SW corner – failed to solve 16, 24, 27ac and 16,17,18d.

    Of the ones I solved, I could not parse 1ac, 22ac, 28ac.

    New for me: singer Helen SHAPIRO; RAITH ROVERS.

65. [I’ll be watching that thx. I’m going to see the Mary Wallopers in Brixton next month. Have a listen if you don’t know them].

66. In the spirit of mrpenny giving the answers, I should to my Welsh clues too, so look away if you still want to solve them:
    Abertawe (anagram of tableware – l)
    Wood (meaning of “coed” in Welsh, and soundalike for “would”)
    Bach (meaning “small” in Welsh) and in tribute to nicbach who asked the question

67. mrpenney@,There was back in the day the Second Avenue El, which I find from wikipedia was the last of four elevated lines built in 1880. Here’s the article. If you go there, do read the last of the newspaper articles, about the chaotic beginning of an elevated line whose stairway wasn’t wide enough for even one stout man. https://www.nycsubway.org/wiki/The_2nd_Avenue_Elevated

    JOFT@66 I thought “coed” was pronounced “coyd,” to rhyme with Boyd.

68. Valentine @67
    Yes, “coyd”, but I think the soundalike is the wood/would one.
    For those unfamiliar with Abertawe, it is perhaps better known as Swansea!

69. [Roz@60: on the contrary: the Rules of Mornington Crescent are perfectly clear, and are available in the public domain. See here.]

70. As a Londoner born & bred (though currently living far far away from it) I loved this and simultaneously sympathised with anyone attempting it who lacked a clear mental picture of Harry Beck’s iconic tube-map.
    And, like Petert, Panthes and Laccaria, I, too, was hoping Mornington and/or Crescent would appear. Hey ho.
    Speaking of clues connected to place-names: now is as good a time as any to state that one of the reasons I come to this site is the hope that mrpenney has written something. His comments, along with Roz’s, always brighten my day.
    As did this crossword.
    Many thanks to Paul and PeterO

71. [Valentine @67: Indeed, as in the Chicago-Welsh version of the poem:
    Toity poiple boids
    A-sittin’ in the coed
    A-boipin’ and a-choipin’
    And eatin’ doity woims

    Thanks to muffin @68 for the additional explanations]

72. Jack@71 I think that would be the Brooklyn-Welsh version — or voishn, maybe.

73. Incidentally, Welsh is a very confusing language, as it has something called “mutation”, which means the first consonant can change depending on what precedes it. JOFT gives “bach” as small, but in more contexts it is “fach”.

74. muffin @57 & mrpenney @58
    I recall a prominent scene in the film of The French Connection set on and under an NYC EL.

75. AT SEA was my success today.

76. Laccaria@52- yes Maida Vale is very affluent, houses looking onto the canal (Little Venice) go for tens of millions and it has amazing huge communal back gardens, as compared to the communal ‘front garden’ squares in the rest of London . Much too expensive for us musicians, but we enjoy the BBC studios, recently bought by Hans Zimmer. Petert @30, I prefer the gap between parsing and then spotting the definition than the other way round, but horses for courses. Thank you P and P!

77. Steffen@75 nice one, they all count! I recommend an all-day approach- Paul especially benefits from countless revisits throughout the day, if you have the time. One by one more answers gradually and magically reveal themselves

78. Sagittarius @15 – so is BOROUGH. Oops.

    In my defence, as someone who sees entirely too much of the Central line, I try to avoid the Northern, although one job had me attend a weekly meeting at South Wimbledon the night I ran Guides, so I had to face both lines at rush hour. I get to Borough from London Bridge (if I don’t walk there from St Paul’s).

    Steffen @75 – getting back into crosswords a few years back, I had tabs of half completed crosswords on the laptop I’d return to until I’d solved them, over a week or more. And then come here to work out the parsing. But on paper we had to wait at least until the next day, if not a week, so had torn out bits of paper to refer back to.

    Sorry, really late getting back to this, at the family funeral that’s been dragging on a while today.

79. JOFT@43
    I think the issue for me is whether you have to ‘solve’ rather than just spot the indicators before you solve the clue.

    Tight -> drunk -> anagrind

    How do you feel.about cluing sanity something like

    Gutless Tory is an untaped playlist of mental health

    Where playlist -> mixtape (untaped) -> mix -> anagrind

80. Brutal.
    Not everyone is from London.
    Even the Sottish clue was heavily contrived.
    Worth avoiding Paul.

81. Find Paul difficult always, Somewhat like a game of chess. There’s always a challenge. Couldn’t solve many simply because of parochial references. Could guess though, and waited for PeterO’s explanation. Loved BOOTLICKING for its weird crypticism (coining one there)

    Thanks both

82. I thought 15a was BIG BUNS, which would be tackled by those from Chelsea, but I couldn’t work out how the nal got removed from Great Arsenal. I hope this piece of misdirection was deliberate.

    I couldn’t get RAITH ROVERS as I’ve never heard of the team, and there isn’t a town called Raith so it’s hard to guess the first part even if you think the second must be Rovers.

83. Not very friendly for international solvers. Only got a smattering of solutions. Abandoning ship was the right thing to do

    I might have gotten SCARBOROUGH if it had been clued as a suburb of Toronto!

    [PeterO@74, I just watched The French Connection last week, in honour of the now late Gene Hackman, and yes there’s a thrilling extended chase scene involving an El train and a speeding car underneath it — superb!]

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