dd = double definition
cd = cryptic definition
rev = reversed or reversal
ins = insertion
cha = charade
ha = hidden answer
*(fodder) = anagram
What a horrendous day. Last night, lightning struck and fried my modem. This morning, I had to quickly buy a replacement (still not working smoothly) and then the hiccup with the Guardian site. Thank you BeerMagnet for pointing out where I could download the pdf version. This is hurriedly done and I beg your indulgence in case of mistakes caused by the rush to get this up so that I can still make my Hash run.
Paul, as usual, is at his tricky best
P/S Thanks to tuck, errors now corrected. Okay, I’m off
ACROSS
8 JONATHAN AITKEN J (joker) ON OATH (having sworn) minus O (nothing less) + AN + *(I taken) Jonathan William Patrick Aitken (born 1942) is a former Conservative Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom, and British government minister. He was convicted of perjury in 1999 and received an 18-month prison sentence, of which he served seven months.
9 ARENA Rev of AN ERA (a time)
10 ASHY Cha of A SHY (throw or fling)
12 JUMPER Very tricky dd One is a garment and the other is the jump-cable you connect to someone’s car to start another with weak battery
14 TWO-EDGED T (last letter of breast) + ins of O (ring) in WEDGED (trapped)
17 ESSENCE Rev of EC (Community) NESS (head) E … thanks to Gaufrid
20 LITERATI LITER (American spelling for litre) + Rev of IT A (first letter of accelerate)
23 SCHUMACHER Ins of CHUM (pal) ACHE (hurt) in SR (middle letters of pal’s race)
24 FIRE LIGHTER Thanks to tuck, liar fighter 🙂 allusion to Jonathan Aitken who threatened to sue a paper for libel (do read the Wikipedia entry)
25 SWORD OF TRUTH Ins of WORD (promise) in SOFT (not hard) RUTH (pity)
see Wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Aitken
26 EXPONENT EX (no longer) Ins of ON in PENT (confined)
DOWN
1 HOT STUFF dd
2 MARY WHITEHOUSE *(author see why i’s) beautiful &lit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Whitehouse
3 SHOWER dd Bate’s Motel
4 ANXIETY Ins of *(exit) in ANY (whoever)
5 KATE MOSS rha
6 SECOND BEST cd
7 LASSIE Ins of ASS (fool) in LIE (instruction to dog)
and of course we all know that famous dog
13 PERSECUTOR *(our respect)
16 TEA CADDY What a lovely definition “leaves here” Supposed to be spoonerism for KEY DADDY (essential father)
18 CLEARING Ins of EAR (attention) in CLING (stick)
21 INCISE sounds like in size
22 ABRUPT alternate letters from barbar cut path
24 FINE Another good dd
pdf here:
http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Guardian/documents/2009/08/10/gdn.cryptic.20090811.pdf
online still blank
Many thanks, Uncle Yap, I suspect that Paul’s puzzle has been censored.
Possibly, he had inadvertently included a Code Word that signalled some momentous event.
And will he still get paid now that his puzzle has failed to appear?
Thanks to Beermagnet, I’ve now got it!
beermagnet says:
August 11th, 2009 at 6:45 am
Bryan,
I managed to find the pdf for 24,775:
http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Guardian/documents/2009/08/10/gdn.cryptic.20090811.pdf
The normal online version is still blank at the moment.
I’ve finished a truly great puzzle and well worth waiting for!
I don’t know how to blog but I shall be happy to share my thoughts if anyone should care.
Just to let you all know it’s now available on the Guardian page as normal.
Obviously someone forgot to press a button this morning.
Hope you get it in time for your blog Uncle Yap
As I’m lucky enough to have got a paper copy today here’s most of the answers to 24,775 by Paul:
Down.
1. HOT STUFF
2. MARY
3. SHOWER
4. ANXIETY
5. KATE MOSS
7. LASSIE
13 PERSECUTOR
16. TEA CADDY
18. CLEARING
19. LIGHTER
21. INCISE
22. ABRUPT
24. FINE
ACROSS
8. JONATHON
9. ARENA
10. ASHY
11. WHITEHOUSE
14. TWO EDGED
15. OF TRUTH
17. ESSENCE
20. LITERATI
22. AITKEN
23. SCHUMACHER
24. FIRE
25. SWORD
26. EXPONENT
Nt sure about 12 across..possibly BUMPER, but can’t get it cryptically. I think 6 down is SECOND something or other, but can’t quite get the second word. Sorry I haven’t had time to set out how I came to these, but if anyone ges stuck with how I go to them, leave a message here and I’ll post a reply a bit later.
Thanks Steepenwolfe – it’s actually Jonathan in 8dn. And 12ac is JUMPER, 6dn SECOND BEST.
A strangely dated theme, I thought – Aitken was convicted of perjury just over 10 years ago (June 1999), so it’s not quite an anniversary.
I think 24,19 is fire lighter hence liar fighter
16 down is supposed to be a Spoonerism on key daddy, but I think it’s a bit weak
10 across is a + shy as in coconut shy (fling)
17ac – I still cannot see how this clue works. There seems to be one E short (E’S + (C in SEN… E?), and as Uncle Yap states, what’s happened to the (sen)T?
Kate Moss had me beat – great def.
Nick
Talking to myself… 17ac again.
Could this be a real non-Ximean type clue with lots of double duty going on?
C = community head(1) + NESS head(2) with (E’s)=EE sent around(1) i.e. going around E+CNESS+E then reversed – around(2).
A bit contrived, but at least all the components are there 😀
Nick
Re 17ac:
My take:
Community – ESSENE
(community) head: – C
e’s sent round – the C is shifted
for
basic thing – def
e’s should have been ‘e’s (the first apostrophe for syncopation)
17a is EC (community) NESS (head) E reversed (‘s sent round)
Gaufrid,
You got it!
But what does e mean?
Though I solved it, I can’t see how TEA CADDY can be a valid Spoonersism for KEY DADDY. Though I got as far as _A_E MOSS, it still took me a long time to realise the answer to 5d — nice clue.
Thanks, Uncle Yap. Great blog as usual, despite your fried modem! And thanks to Gaufrid for clarifying 17ac.
A lovely puzzle from Paul. 5dn made me laugh out loud!
I was held up for a time by putting CRACKER instead of LIGHTER at 19dn. I find Spoonerisms hard going, but thought 16dn didn’t quite work.
Did anyone else take JUMPER to be a reference to a horse, ie a starter in a race?
trying to workout 5d, is it reversal of some in kats from kit-kats – fingers?
Andrew dated re J.Aitken but up to the minute re Schumacher
Lanson, it is hidden/reversed in ‘fingerS SOME TAKen’.
Nick
14a What indicates it is the last letter of breast?
OK – I have have just seen it – “close to” as in “closure of” and not “near to”.
Brai going!
12. Jumper
I think the second meaning of jumper might be simply one who jumps.
Jump can be a synonym of start as
in ‘the sudden noise made him start’
re 12a – I understood ‘starter’ in the sense of one who starts – or jumps – having perhaps been startled
Thankyou, Uncle Yap (and others) for your explanations of the answers I didn’t understand!
I thought bumper might do as in a bumper (or top) crop and a bump start but jumper is better.
I too thought the references to Aitken a bit stale to say the least. There was an air of kicking a man when he is down worthy of the Daily Mail here.
Does tarnish really work as a synonym for second best? If I had a silver medal, I might regard it as disappointing but hardly tarnished.
Spoonerisms are a pain at the best of times but even worse when they are blatantly WRONG…. KEY DADDY is NOT a Spoonerism for TEA CADDY…. (it would be KEY TADDY)
That was difficult, even by Paul’s standards.
Got 12ac wrong – I had it as ‘supper’.
23ac baffled me until I looked at the Beebs sports site, and went doh!
The so-called Spoonerism at 16d was annoying – most unlike Paul here.
Other than that, delightful
Jumper is a woolen top and also a set of jump leads used to start a car.
12a. Jumper is a garment for your torso (a top) and what you use to start your car (a set of electrical jumpers)
Sorry finbar. Didn’t see your comment.
Uncle Yap – I bet you’d wished you had of invested in a ‘surge protecter’ don’t you ?
Hi all!
My mistake re the Spoonerism – so sorry to all those who may have been confused, and many thanks for your comments. All feedback is very useful, good, bad or indifferent. I learn a lot from this site, so many thanks to all concerned, and do keep posting!
All the best,
Paul
It’s The Guardian, Paul, everyone should expect a cock-up now and then!
I’ve read every explanation of ESSENCE and I just don’t understand the ‘e’s sent round’ bit in any of them. They all seem equally plausible or equally implausible. Sadly I think it was simply a bad clue that needs a torturous explanation to justify it. Which is quite unusual for this excellent setter. As people are talking of cock ups it reminds me that I do miss your ‘rude jokes’ Paul 🙂
Many thanks, Paul
For a long time I was quite sure that some subtlety in your clueing of TEA CADDY had gone over my head and I hesitated before entering it as my last solution.
Then, when the official online versions finally appeared, I was delighted to get everything right except JUMPER: I had opted for BUMPER.
I thoroughly enjoyed your puzzle, as always.
Knowing of your predeliction for Antipodean stuff, here’s a place in New Zealand that you may use with my compliments:
Tetaumatawhakatangihangakoauaotamateaurehaeaturipukapihimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuaakitanarahu
It’s 92 letters.
Gary, Re: ESSENCE I think Gaufrid hit the nail on the head at #15 with (EC,NESS,E)<
That is: EC (Community) NESS (head) E (‘e’), the whole lot reversed (sent round). Extra clue trickiness provided by “e’s” meaning “e is”.
I wouldn’t say 2dn is an &lit.
It’s a regular anagram clue where the surface is admittedly relevant.
To be &lit, the whole clue is part of the wordplay.
Difficult Paul for an Aussie.
Tad is Welsh for father, so maybe this caddy is for Welsh tea.
To be honest, I don’t know whether the Welsh say a more familiar ‘Taddy’. If they don’t, they should from now on, to preserve Paul’s reputation – though his apology does that for me.
Why is second hand tarnished
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