Thanks to Paul for the puzzle…
…with a nice theme around ‘out-of-this-world’ names for candy. My favourites were 12ac, 26ac, 2dn, and 22dn, and I’ll need some help parsing 16ac.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1, 10 | STARBURST GALAXY |
Out-of-this-world 23 coming together, system rapidly forming (9,6)
|
| definition: a galactic system with rapid star formation
STARBURST sweets and GALAXY chocolate are two examples of CANDY/23dn, with names that are “Out-of-this-world” |
||
| 6 | HASH |
Weed in pig’s ear? (4)
|
| double definition: marijuana; or a messy situation | ||
| 8 | MILKY WAY |
Use unknown technique for out-of-this-world 23 (5,3)
|
| definition: a type of CANDY/23dn with a name that is “out-of-this-world”
MILK=take advantage of=”Use” + Y (mathematical “unknown”) + WAY=”technique” |
||
| 9 | TONGAN |
Recovered, trouble far from islander (6)
|
| reversal/”Recovered” of: NAG=to trouble someone, plus NOT=different/separate from=”far from” | ||
| 10 | STARBURST GALAXY |
See 1
|
| 11 | ICED OVER |
Divorcee, after breaking up, froze (4,4)
|
| anagram/”after breaking up” of (Divorcee)* | ||
| 12 | TARDIS |
Vicious swine sent back in time machine (6)
|
| definition: the name of the time machine in the TV series Doctor Who
SID (Sid Vicious the musician) + RAT=a contemptible person=”swine”; all reversed/”sent back” |
||
| 15 | GREAT AUK |
Dreary lecture, reportedly – that would never take off (5,3)
|
| definition: a flightless bird
sounds like (reportedly): ‘grey talk’=”Dreary lecture” |
||
| 16 | PUMP ROOM |
Question having caught cold: is spring here? (4,4)
|
| definition: a room with a mineral spring for drinking water
I think this is PUMP=press for answers=”Question”… not sure how to get to the rest |
||
| 19 | RESITS |
Extra tests: restrain oneself, turning tail (6)
|
| definition as in ‘re-sitting’ an exam
RESIST=”restrain oneself”, with the last letters (i.e. “tail”) in reverse order (i.e. “turning”) |
||
| 21 | DEMPSTER |
Old scandalmonger keeping politicians in check (8)
|
| Nigel Dempster was a journalist writing for gossip columns
MPS (Members of Parliament, “politicians”), inside DETER=”check” |
||
| 22 | LAUNCH |
Eat around a fire (6)
|
| definition as in to launch/fire a missile
LUNCH=”Eat” around A (from the surface) |
||
| 24, 20 | FLYING SAUCERS |
Out-of-this-world 23, smashing stuff in the kitchen? (6,7)
|
| definition: another type of CANDY/23dn with a name that is “Out-of-this-world”
if saucers are sent flying in a kitchen, they are likely to smash |
||
| 25 | BITTERNS |
Some birds pecked others (8)
|
| BIT=”pecked” + TERNS=”others”=another type of bird | ||
| 26 | BERG |
Austrian maestro with an uber-Germanic piece (4)
|
| Alban Berg the Austrian composer
hidden in (a “piece” of): [u]-BER G-[ermanic] |
||
| 27 | SERIOUSLY |
Very much for the love of God! (9)
|
| double definition: as an adverb with similar meaning to ‘extremely’; or as an exclamation (‘Seriously?!’) of exasperation | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | SHIVA |
Say no more, narcissist has doffed cap for supreme Being (5)
|
| definition: Shiva the Hindu god
SH (shhh! = be quiet = “Say no more”); plus [d]-IVA=”narcissist” without the first letter/”cap” |
||
| 2 | AWKWARD |
Difficult work, or not, opening present (7)
|
| W-[or]-K without or i.e. “or not”; inside AWARD=”present” as a verb | ||
| 3 | BAWDY |
Explicit case of wood in tree (5)
|
| outer letters/”case” of W-[oo]-D; in BAY=type of “tree” | ||
| 4 | RHYMING |
Song about India in raga oddly similar in sound (7)
|
| HYMN=”Song” around I (India in the NATO alphabet); inside odd letters of R-[a]-G-[a] | ||
| 5 | TO THE REAR |
Child, and corn she has on the backside? (2,3,4)
|
| TOT=”Child” + HER EAR=the ear of corn that is hers=”corn she has” | ||
| 6 | HANG-OUT |
For ‘haunt’, try entering an anagram of that! (4-3)
|
| GO=”try”, entering an anagram of (haunt)* | ||
| 7 | SPACE DUST |
Capacity remains for out-of-this-world 23 (5,4)
|
| definition: another type of CANDY/23dn with a name that is “out-of-this-world”
SPACE=”Capacity” + DUST=”remains” |
||
| 13 | AZURE BLUE |
A river down below capital of Zimbabwe in shade (5,4)
|
| A (from surface) + URE=an English “river” + BLUE=”[feeling] down”, after the capital letter of Z-[imbabwe] | ||
| 14 | SHORTAGES |
Rags, those sent abroad, insufficient amounts (9)
|
| anagram/”sent abroad” of (Rags those)* | ||
| 17, 23 | POPPING CANDY |
Sweet thing, flower impressed by dancing when excited (7,5)
|
| POPPY=”flower”, with anagram/”excited” of (dancing)* inside | ||
| 18 | MARS BAR |
Out-of-this-world 23 warps beam (4,3)
|
| definition: another type of CANDY/23dn with a name that is “Out-of-this-world”
MARS=damages=”warps” plus BAR=”beam” |
||
| 20 | FLYING SAUCERS |
See 24 Across
|
| 22 | LOTTO |
Chance to win big wasted, lead blown (5)
|
| [b]-LOTTO=slang for drunk=”wasted”, with the first/lead letter removed/blown away | ||
| 23 | POPPING CANDY |
See 17
|
Great fun from Paul and considerably easier than yesterday. Armed only with a G, POPPING CANDY jumped out at me and I realised I had the keyword. Having already pencilled in GALAXY, things came together after that. My last ones in were TONGAN and GREAT AUK having finally cracked the haunt.
I liked STARBURST GALAXY, RHYMING and BITTERNS. The Meldrews will be out, but what’s not to like? Well, Star Bars by the looks of things.
16a ROOM sounds like RHEUM again, caught as in heard?
Thanks Paul and manehi
PS Nice to see a flower being the horticultural version for once!
Indeed, tough but enjoyable, as usual from Paul. I parsed 16ac as ROOM being a homophone for RHEUM.
Paul back to his annoying linked clues after a few more conventional puzzles. Definitely not in my wheelhouse. I’ve never heard of POPPING CANDY and so couldn’t see what the theme was about. I also didn’t know most of the other sweets referred to. The non-linked clues were mostly tractable, but I echo manehi’s uncertainty about PUMP ROOM though I see others have sussed it.
Is AZURE BLUE different from AZURE? Seems redundant.
16a Room sounds like Rheum (“a cold in the head” Chambers def. 3, noted as ‘obsolete’)
Thanks Paul and manehi
A couple I didn’t parse, but the ROOM is a soundalike for RHEUM – we had this recently.
I didn’t read the clue for 1,10 carefully enough, so thought I hadn’t heard of a STARBURST GALAXY candy.
Favourite RHYMING.
For 16ac., PUMP + ROOM -sounds like rheum.
26a cold = rheum (homophone room£ perhaps?
Bravo to Paul another excellent crossword. He does pull out some crackers when he is at his best.
I have a habit of not getting the linking word early in Paul puzzles but POPPING CANDY was straight in. I also seemed to be an expert on out of this world candy as they went in quite smoothly.
PUMP ROOM was last in and I didn’t know the homophone but it had to be. Didn’t know DEMPSTER but the wordplay was clear.
So many ticks STARBURST GALAXY pick of the bunch but enjoyed all candy clues.
Thanks Paul and Manehi
Last ones in were TONGAN and HANG-OUT, particularly liked BITTERNS and RHYMING, nice to see a different song being used for a change, and enjoyed remembering all the silly sweets, pretty easy for a Paul really!
Being unfamiliar with the candy products mentioned, this was a real slog. Can’t say I enjoyed it but I’m sure Paul enjoyed setting it.
New for me: SPACE DUST; POPPING CANDY; FLYING SAUCERS candy, STARBURST GALAXY candy.
I could not parse 9ac, 16ac, 2d.
Re 21ac I had no idea about DEMPSTER = scandalmonger. An online search did not bring up anything useful. Then I did a search here at 15^ and discovered that Nigel Dempster was a gossip columnist in the Daily Express, Daily Mail and (until he fell out with them) Private Eye. Wow, that’s some useful trivia. Google’s AI bot has not caught on to it yet 😉
Good stuff from Paul today. I’m not a big fan of linked clues (and Paul is, of course). Somehow I cracked this one and I had CANDY reasonably early having seen MILKY WAY and MARS BAR by linking their two clues. POPPING was my LOI: never heard of ‘popping candy’ and missed the parsing until I’d bunged it in as the only possibility. Thanks to Paul and our blogger.
My FOI was MILKY WAY from the wordplay which gave me a good clue about the theme and made MARS BAR a write-in as well, LOI was TONGAN and I had to come here for the wordplay.
Thanks Manehi.
Would never have parsed Tongan in a month of Sundays
First one that flew in (apologies) was GREAT AUK, and as I wasn’t quite sure what kind of flightless bird it could be, I looked it up. To discover it had become extinct in sad circumstances if the story has provenance. A few years ago I came across a remarkable reconstituted skeleton of a Dodo in The Yorkshire Museum in York. Somehow the Dodo has more of a myth like reputation than the bird at 15ac. And it is a frequent visitor to the makeup of cryptic crossword clues.
I did manage to finish this, with last one in SHIVA. And enjoyed a fairly uncomplicated journey, which for me is unusual with a Paul puzzle…
CANDY? Oh dear, nasty Americanism. As usual, I muddled through Paul’s obscurity wondering why I bother. My least favourite setter and it baffles me why some folk seem to like his puzzles. But while some do, we’re stuck with him.
Another brilliant puzzle from Paul. Seemed impenetrable at first but yielded bit by bit. I’m pretty sure I would never describe the linked items as candy but that didn’t detract from the fun.
I did like DEMPSTER though may have seen it before.
Thanks Paul and manehi
Alastair@15
I totally agree with you. But it’s what we have come to expect from the american Guardian.
17,23d is a disgrace.
And please don’t tell me the setter lives in america. I live in Finland but wouldn’t write in Finnish for a British newspaper.
It’s a pity, because, apart from that, the puzzle does show touches of a master setter at work. I particularly liked the ICED OVER anagram.
I hadn’t heard of “popping candy” before (I presume it’s that “space dust” stuff that pops on the tongue) so the linking word took me a while. I don’t have any quarrel with US English, but it would never occur to me to call Mars Bars etc “candy.” Enjoyed the puzzle all the same.
POPPING CANDY is the product category name in the UK. I have purchased it myself as a cooking ingredient. I’m not aware of it being called anything else.
Maybe Paul could have called it something more British-sounding to satisfy the preferences of our more sensitive readership. However, I feel that confectionery reclassification may be beyond his remit and would have caused chaos with the solve.
I enjoyed this though I hadn’t actually heard of STARBURST GALAXY as a thing, and didn’t succeed in parsing AWKWARD. I did get PUMP ROOM, allowed myself a mild “Oh, the homophone police will be up in arms, tee hee” and had a moment of feeling slightly clever that I’d got something that manehi had missed.
And then I encounter Alastair @15 and Anna @17. You didn’t enjoy it. I get that. One man’s meat, etc. But one of the delights of the English language is the idiosyncratic stuff the Americans and the Australians have contributed. And “like taking candy from a baby” is a reasonably familiar expression. While personally I detest POPPING CANDY it can be purchased in England and indeed I’ve seen recipes using it. With respect (an English-ism that will probably puzzle American readers, to say nothing of those in Finland), including it in a crossword is not a “disgrace”. It’s something you’d prefer not to have. End of.
Pompous rant over. Thanks to an unusually unsmutty Paul and to manehi, and may we all enjoy the sunshine while it lasts.
A couple of later posters (for example, NeilH @20) have made the same error that I originally did. STARBURST GALAXY isn’t a “thing; it’s two “candies”, STARBURST and GALAXY.
Enjoyed the puzzle and the blog. Thanks Paul and manehi.
My faves:
MILKY WAY, PUMP ROOM, TO THE REAR, HANG-OUT and LOTTO.
A relatively quick solve for this setter. FOI TARDIS, got MILKY WAY from the enumeration, confidently entered GALAXY (although not STARBURST) and consequently looked for a space theme until the penny (chew) dropped. Favourites: HEMP, DEMPSTER and BITTERNS; failed to parse LOI PUMP ROOM. Thanks to Paul and manehi.
sorry, HASH, not HEMP.
Tricky for me as I didn’t know POPPING CANDY, which is not in WordWeb, Chambers, the ODE and Collins. However, it is in Wiktionary and the Cambridge Dictionary. I solved FLYING SAUCERS and SPACE DUST before I got the theme phrase from a word search, although I thought it was some form of CANDY. I liked Sid Vicious in his TARDIS, SERIOUSLY for the love of God, SHIVA’s narcissist, and TO THE REAR with child having corn on the backside.
Thanks Paul and manehi (I couldn’t parse TONGAN, thanks).