Punk makes a rare appearance in the Independent. His alter ego in the Guardian, Paul, is a setter who for me has – of late, at least – proved consistently unsolveable. So I approached this one with some trepidation.
But in fact it was a delight to solve and blog. Lots of Mr Halpern’s ribald humour and left-field thinking, but it fell out nicely, with only one or two bits of parsing holding me up when I came to write the blog. Bravo.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Difficulty stopping offensive remarks in island nation
BARBADOS
An insertion of ADO in BARBS. The insertion indicator is ‘stopping’.
9/18 Conveyance that’s certainly rolling around filled by grotesque one-legged creature?
SHOPPING TROLLEY
An insertion of HOPPING TROLL in YES reversed. The insertion indicator is ‘filled by’. Well, if the troll had lost a leg, he’d have to hop, wouldn’t he? This is Punk.
10 Since bound to be on a slant
ASLOPE
A charade of AS and LOPE.
11 Awkward moves – to pop music?
DAD DANCING
A cd. ‘Pop’ music might be for dads, mightn’t it?
13 See something like The Sixth Sense?
ESPY
More of this setter’s trademark cluing. ESP is Extra Sensory Perception, a ‘sixth sense’, so something like that might be ESP-Y. Punk’s alter ego, Paul, has form with describing an octopus as ARMY.
14 Art of rowing, arguably, where domestic chores would get done?
SCULLERY
More whimsy. To SCULL is to row a boat, so the art of that might – if you think like Punk – be SCULLERY.
16 Pig’s unlikely boast when guzzling on – chance would be a fine thing!
IF ONLY
An insertion of ON in I FLY. Which a pig is unlikely to do, if the proverb about pig is true. The insertion indicator is ‘when guzzling’.
17 Ballet princess when slipping over regretted oath, to some extent
ODETTE
Hidden reversed in regrETTED Oath. ODETTE is the Swan Queen in Swan Lake.
19 Second chooser, one making a choice
SELECTOR
A charade of S and ELECTOR.
21 Dope with a little brain, foolish
INFO
Hidden in braIN FOolish.
22 Writer with page to make cryptic, solution providing some relief, early on?
GRIPE WATER
(WRITER PAGE)* with ‘to make cryptic’ as the anagrind. Nurse Harvey’s Gripe Water was the best-known brand in days gone by.
24 Fish dipping both sides in sea
MARLIN
An insertion of R and L in MAIN. The insertion indicator is ‘dipping … in’.
25 Over a few days, third of milk fed to King’s hairy baby?
WEEKLONG
Punk is inviting you to insert L, the third letter of ‘milk’ in WEE KONG. King Kong was hairy, so …
27/6 Opera company, vehicle bringing delicate things to the table, for audition?
D’OYLY CARTE
Ready for some more whimsy? Here it comes: if you called for a vehicle to transport your doilies to the table, you could ring for a DOILY CART, which is aural wordplay (‘for audition’) for the famous company. And doilies, by their nature, are delicate, as this picture shows.
28 In work escorting lady, ultimately – and getting the urge?
YEARNING
A charade of Y for the final letter of ‘lady’ and EARNING.
Down
2 When surface wiped, silver possibly remains
ASH
I am going for [C]ASH. Works for me.
3 Piebald sozzled, two of its legs gone?
BIPEDAL
(PIEBALD)* with ‘sozzled’ as the anagrind. Four legs good; two legs bad.
4 Dictator’s Canute, say? Reluctantly stoop down
DEIGN
Knut was Danish, so this is aural wordplay (‘Dictator’s’) for DANE.
5 Mean family discontented after gin is drunk
SIGNIFY
A charade of (GIN IS)* and FY for the outside letters of ‘family’. The anagrind is ‘drunk’.
6 Cook bit of fish? Snapper finally eaten
CHARGRILL
An insertion of R for the last letter of ‘snapper’ in CHAR GILL. The insertion indicator is ‘eaten’.
7 Outstanding artwork finished up being broken by priest
RELIEVO
An insertion of ELI in OVER reversed. The insertion indicator is ‘being broken by’.
8 Pale, top line blurred in the paper
EN PAPILLOTE
(PALE TOP LINE)* with ‘blurred’ as the anagrind. The cooking technique.
12/15 Where case taken from ambulance stretched out?
ACCIDENT AND EMERGENCY
The ‘case’ for ‘ambulance’ is A [and] E, which is where the stretcher patients would be taken. After a long wait in the car park, probably.
19 Limit in power where boat launched
SLIPWAY
An insertion of LIP in SWAY. The insertion indicator is ‘in’.
20 Old player, opener for Pakistan left prodding every inch of cricket pitch
CHAPLIN
An insertion of P for the initial letter of ‘Pakistan’ and L in CHAIN, which being 22 yards, is the exact length of a cricket pitch. The insertion indicator is ‘prodding’.
23 Final word of reverence before medicine at the bottom pushed up – that’s that!
ENEMA
A reversal of AMEN and E for the final letter of ‘medicine’, with an extended definition and a scatalogical reference not entirely unknown in this setter’s puzzles.
26 One in order, one fewer picked up?
NUN
Aural wordplay (‘picked up’) of NONE. Which is one fewer than one.
Many thanks to Punk for the start to the Independent‘s puzzling week.
Not familiar with the Graun versions, but this was fun! Needed the blog for the outstanding artwork… trying to force P into RELIEF, didn’t get very far… also tried to invent some Spanish newspapers for 8d until I saw sense, but the list could go on…
Favourite was probably the flying pig…
Thanks Puck and Pierre
First thought Cook must be doing dd, then remembered that just about anything pronounceable can be a fish (char, chad, shad, par, gar …). All good fun, ta Punk and Pierre.
It was a lot of fun. Liked the whimsies/CDs in general.
COTD: A&E stretched out
Liked the piebald losing two of its legs (BIPEDAL)
Also liked WEEKLONG and ENEMA.
Thanks Paul.
Super blog. Thanks Pierre.
Brilliant! Laughed out loud several times while solving this. Especially liked the hopping troll and the King’s hairy baby
That was an unpleasant juxtaposition of the two answers by KVa. WEEKLONG ENEMA
🙂
Great to have Punk back. His last puzzle was over a year ago and we’ve only had five Punk puzzles in total in the past five years. Lots of the expected wit and humour as shown by Punk in his previous offerings. If I could nominate a trademark clue it would be ENEMA. Loved the DAD DANCING, WEE KONG, D’OYLY CARTE and the Uxbridge Dictionary SCULLERY as well. EN PAPILLOTE went into the new words file.
Thanks to Pierre and to Punk – hope we see you back soon though with all your other cruciverbal identities, I don’t know how you’ll find the time.
A really amusing puzzle. Hard to pick a favourite, but IF ONLY made me smile.
Thanks both. Some great stuff here. WEEKLONG was quite an extension of licence, but consistent with the tone. For me, SHOPPING TROLLEY was worth the admission money alone. DAD DANCING a very close second, noting ‘pop’ is a little used variant for dad, and wishing to add that personally my form of the art draws most attention when I am moving wholly unnaturally to music I’ve simply not heard before.
I loved the wit and ingenuity on display throughout this puzzle – with the one- legged troll taking the gold medal.
15squared commenters often remark on their PDMs. For me today, the PDM was learning that Punk is an alter ego for Paul, with whom I’m v familiar from the Grauniad and of whom I’m a great admirer.
Thanks to him for the umpteenth serving of wonderful entertainment, and to Pierre for the blog.
Loved the groany whimsy – eg ESPY, SCULLERY and IF ONLY. But goodness, I’m fed up of clues where the answer is ENEMA, yawn, and no, I’ve never had one, so it’s not personal, just a tired idea. On the other hand, lots of fun, and thanks to Punk and Pierre (whose blogs are always entertaining)
I’ve had problems with Punk puzzles in the past, but I nearly finished this. Brain failure with 10ac and I didn’t know the cooking term.
Thanks to the Pun K(ing) for that after an extended break and Pierre
My top clue is A and E stretched out. Economical. Also liked the appearance of wee kong. Punk might visit more frequently. Thanks for the blog Pierre.
We have been known to groan out loud when we encounter a Paul crossword in the Guardian. We prefer his puzzles in the Indy and this was great fun. We laughed out loud on more than one occasion and agree with Widdesbel@4.
Thanks to Punk and Pierre.