Guardian Cryptic 27,044 by Paul

by

The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/27044.

I found the top half fell out quite easily, but the bottom took a little longer. The sum is a combination of inventiveness and wit which Paul is able to produce with remarkable frequency.

Across
1 RESIST Fight exists amid calm (6)
An envelope (‘amid’) of IS (‘exists’) in REST (‘calm’).
4 DESPOT Bully has knocked over the Wimbledon favourite — ’e is knocked out! (6)
A reversal (‘knocked over’) of TOP SE[e]D (‘the Wimbledon favourite’) minus E (‘ ‘e is knocked out’).
9 PULL THE OTHER ONE Jerk with relations taking drugs? I don’t think so! (4,3,5,3)
A charade of PULL (‘jerk’) plus THE OTHER (sexual ‘relations’) ON E (‘taking drugs’).
10 FITTER Gas worker in better shape (6)
Double definition.
11 BACKLASH Adverse reaction, as German behind bars injects man with vaccine from behind (8)
An envelope (‘injects’) of KLAS, a reversal (‘from behind’) of SALK (‘man with vaccine’ for polio) in BACH (‘German behind bars’ – very devious).
12 BERLINER German ship to go after the end of four months? (8)
A charade of BER (‘the end of four months’ – SetpemBER to DecemBER) plus LINER (‘ship’).
14 LEG WAX Casual squeezes, say: women’s painful experience (3,3)
An envelope (‘squeezes’) of EG (‘say’) plus W (‘women’ or ‘women’s’ – also applying to the definition) in LAX (‘casual’)
15 QUAVER Note brief question about a formation of flying geese (6)
An envelope (‘about’) of ‘a’ plus V (‘formation of flying geese’) in QUER[y] (‘question’) minus its last letter (‘brief’).
18 OLD FLAME Lover subsequently put out? (3,5)
Definition and literal allusion.
21 LEFT BACK Player went to assist (4,4)
A charade of LEFT (‘went’) plus BACK (‘assist’).
22   See 2
24   See 26
25 ABSURD Ludicrous, a shambles initially among stuff that’s contrary (6)
A charade of ‘a’ plus BSURD, an envelope (‘among’) of S (‘Shambles initially’) in BURD, a reversal (‘contrary’) of DRUB (‘stuff’ in the sense of defeat).
26, 24 HEY YOU WHAT’S THE BIG IDEA ‘Oi, you need to explain toughie’, he said. By the way, it’s impossible! (3,3,5,3,3,4)
An anagram (‘impossible’) of ‘toughie he said by the way’.
Down
1 ROUTINE Metal collected by rake, standard procedure (7)
An envelope (‘collected by’) of TIN (‘metal’) in ROUÉ (‘rake’).
2, 22 SPLIT SECOND Flash 21? (5,6)
A charade of SPLIT (LEFT) plus SECOND (BACK).
3 SAHARAN It gets hot on Irish islands, very hot! (7)
A charade of SA (Sex Appeal, ‘it’) plus H (‘hot’) plus ARAN (‘Irish islands’).
5 ETHICAL The liberal state supports one being moral (7)
A charade of ETH, an anagram (‘liberal’) of ‘the’ plus I (‘one’) plus CAL (California, ‘state’), with ‘supports’ indicating the order of the particles in a down light.
6 PARALEGAL Friend holding a large potty for attorney’s assistant (9)
An envelope (‘holding’) of RALEGA, an anagram (‘potty’) of ‘a large’ in PAL (‘friend’).
7 TUNISIA Land fish, catching two, including first of skate (7)
A double envelope (‘catching’ and ‘including’) of S (‘first of Skate’) in I I (Roman numeral, ‘two’) in TUNA (‘fish’).
8 GOOBER Alumnus feeding energetic type a peanut (6)
An envelope (‘feeding’) of OB (Old Boy, ‘alumnus’) in GOER (‘energetic type’). There is a Southern US folk song called “Eating goober peas“.
13 LEVITATES Sponsor of art wearing trousers apparently is needing no support? (9)
An envelope (‘wearing’) of TATE (‘sponsor of art’) in LEVIS (‘trousers’).
16 URETHRA Type of bend on rather flexible duct (7)
A charade of U (‘type of bend’) plus RETHRA, an anagram (‘flexible’) of ‘rather’.
17 ROASTER List including a chicken, perhaps? (7)
An envelope (‘including’) of ‘a’ in ROSTER (‘list’).
18 ORKNEY Precious thing, important outlying northern island group (6)
A charade of OR (‘precious thing’ – gold? It’s more the colour than the actual precious metal) plus KNEY, an envelope (‘outlying’) of N (‘northern’) in KEY (‘important’).
19 DESPISE Look down on river holding drinks up (7)
An envelope (‘holding’) of SPIS, a reversal (‘up’ in a down light) of SIPS (‘drinks’) in DEE (‘river’).
20 MANTEAU Soldier dressed by setter put on a posh coat (7)
A charade of MANTE, an envelope (‘dressed by’) of ANT (‘soldier’) in ME (‘setter’) plus (‘put on’) ‘a’ plus U (‘posh’).
23 CHIVY Badger starts to chase Himalayan climber (5)
A charade of CH (‘starts to Chase Himalayan’) plus IVY (‘climber’).
completed grid

37 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,044 by Paul”

  1. Thanks, PeterO.

    For me it was the top right corner that gave most difficulty, with BACKLASH last in. I also had trouble parsing ABSURD: thanks foe explaining it.

    I wonder if 1a 4a is a message to US readers?

  3. Prolific and entertaining he may be, but surely it’s a little over the top for Paul to have provided three out of the last eight puzzles? At the very least this reduces the opportunities for other high-quality setters such as Arachne and Tramp, to name but two …

  4. Hmmm….. my favourite setter but all a bit laboured today I’m afraid. Thanks Paul and PeterO. I’ve always spelled it ‘chivvy’ but I see that ‘chivy’ is an alternative, although surely that would be pronounced to rhyme with ‘ivy’?

  5. Thanks Paul and PeterO

    I really didn’t enjoy this. Lots of silly surfaces and obscure clueing. I’m not sure why I bothered to finish – in fact I didn’t, as I revealed 26,24 and 14 (not a helpful definition).

    I agree with Aoxomoxoa about CHIVY – I was really surprised that Chambers gives it as an alternative spelling.

  6. Thank you Paul and PeterO.

    I found this quite hard going, especially the parsing, which I failed on for ABSURD. BACKLASH was my last in, as it was for Miche @1. LEFT BACK and SPLIT SECOND were great and so was DESPOT!

    CHIVY is given as an alternative spelling for “chivvy” by the COED.

  7. Thanks Peter and Paul (and Mary)

    GOOBER new to me. Some obscure clueing I thought. Liked ROASTER and URETHRA.

    I thought a Berliner was some kind of doughnut.

  9. Hammer @7
    I don’t speak German, but I have been told that JFK should have said “Ich bin Berliner” (I come from Berlin) rather than “Ich bin ein Berliner” (I am a doughnut).

  10. @Hammer 7
    A Berliner is a type of doughnut.
    A Berliner is also a resident of Berlin.

    @muffin
    JFK’s remark was perfectly correct, extremely well received in Berlin, and it is one of life’s mysteries how the urban myth “I am a donut” sprang from it

  11. Tough, but we completed it with several unparsed. It didnt give us the normal Paul pleasure. Like others we had to look up chivy and goober, and failed to see “impossible”as an anagram indicator. Thanks PeterO for the parsing of several. Thanks to Paul too.

  15. This was too tough for me – took me ages to get the long one, and even then CHIVY and WAX defeated me (not sure I’d ever seen it with one V before). All fair enough in retrospect

    Thanks to Paul and PeterO

  16. Yes, all a bit convoluted from Paul today, but enjoyable nonetheless. The long one (HEY YOU …) was almost my LOI – not such a brilliant clue, methinks; and for some reason I just couldn’t get SAHARAN. Thanks to Paul & PeterO.

  17. Thanks to Paul and PeterO. I knew GOOBER from the song but could not parse LEG WAX, DESPOT, or PULL THE OTHER ONE. URETHRA was LOI. I found this puzzle tough going but still much fun.

  18. Good stuff from Paul. Agree that civvy should have two v’s, despite the dictionaries saying otherwise. And Saharan is a made-up word if I ever saw one. Thanks to everyone.

  19. I attributed my slowness with this to the continuing presence of the decorators- yes, they’re still here paint fans- but both others appear to have shared my difficulties. I can’t say I thought this vintage Paul but it was mostly pretty good. I needed to come here to get some of the parsing- BERLINER and ABSURD-but I can’t say I didn’t enjoy it. Of course, when you’re confined to one room–
    Thanks Paul

  20. Thanks Paul and Peter.

    It seems to be my week for slow starts; not even 3/11 of a solution first time through with this one. Found most of it tough, but constant chipping found me there in the end.

  21. Tenerife Miller @ 18 – They are ALL made-up words, aren’t they? But I have seen Saharan before, eg sub-Saharan Africa

  22. I’m with Copmus. I thought this was Paul at his very best. Wonderful. I couldn’t get any purchase for ages and then found a way in with 10ac. Gradually, very gradually, I began to make progress. I disagree with Muffin. I thought the surfaces were very satisfying. This was really tough going for me but also hugely satisfying because I got there in the end.

  23. Wiki leaves a few things out on the subject of Berliner. Kennedy said what he intended to say; had he omitted the article, he would have been asserting that he was a native of the city, rather than a spiritual resident of it, which would have been demonstrably false. Also, words for foodstuffs vary by region, and the type of doughnut known as Berliner in some regions isn’t called that in Berlin. For fairly obvious reasons.

    I liked the puzzle.

  24. xjpotter @22
    I do have history of disliking more Paul puzzles than I like, but honestly, the surfaces! 2a, 11a, 12a (my favourite, despite the surface), 14a, 25a, 26,24, 6d, 7d, 13d, 18d – all more or less nonsense.

  25. I used to be a fan of Paul’s but as the number of crosswords has increased the quality has suffered. Chivy is the American spelling and needs to be marked as such. The long answer at 26 and 24 is just a collection of words, and not a recognised phrase. I finished it out of cussedness, but I wish I hadn’t bothered.

  26. I’m with muffin and others. Some nice touches, but overall I found it an exercise in “cleverness” for the benefit of setter not solver. Manteau is a french word and should be indicated as such in some way. And before anyone brandishes Chambers I’ve consulted Chambers Online which says:
    “Sorry, no entries for manteau were found.”
    The long anagram cannot be solved forwards – it’s impossible!

  27. Quaiteaux @23, Wiki says

    There is a misconception that Kennedy made a risible error by saying Ich bin ein Berliner. By using the indefinite article “ein,” he supposedly changed the meaning of the sentence from “I am a citizen of Berlin” to “I am a Berliner” (a Berliner being a type of German pastry, similar to a jelly doughnut).

    The indefinite article is omitted in German when speaking of an individual’s profession or residence but is still used when speaking in a figurative sense. Since the President was not literally from Berlin but declaring his solidarity with its citizens, “Ich bin ein Berliner” was the only way to express what he wanted to say.

    Furthermore, although the word “Berliner” is used for a jelly doughnut in the north, west and southwest of Germany, it is not used in Berlin itself or the surrounding region, where the usual word is “Berliner Krapfen.”

    Since we use Wiki, I think it is our duty now to aid when there are errors – I feel guilty because there was an English Wiki article on a French subject in a crossword recently that was incorrect, the French Wiki article was correct, but I did not feel my English was good enough to contribute.

  28. This crossword was a real pleasure to solve – almost. I was without reference aids and for that reason had to leave 8d GOOBER unsolved. I also thought the clues to 14a LEG WAX and 20d MANTEAU were not up to the standard of the others.

    However, I admired Paul’s ingenuity and humour and was chuffed to get the long anagram at 26,24a with only a few crossers – and of course with the help of the witty phrase “Oi, you need to explain.” There were many other very good clues that kept me entertained and my brain pleasantly worked over.

    Thanks to Paul and PeterO.

  29. I’m with Muffin, as usual. I didn’t get the first A in SAHARAN, though I should have done, given the number of crosswords I’ve done. Isn’t it time that SA and IT were pensioned off?

  30. Just to be clear, Muffin is one of my favourite contributors. I nearly always agree with her comments, just not always about Paul. What I love about these surfaces is that even if they are on the edges of comprehensibility they contain within them exactly what is required to find the solution. What I really don’t like are elaborate surfaces with redundancies. No redundancies here.

  31. Hi xjpotter
    Thanks for the compliment! I agree about redundancy, but the concept of “good surface” means that the clue as written should make sense. I’m afraid that I found that a lot of these didn’t.

  33. David @25 says

    Chivy is the American spelling

    Strange that George Bernard Shaw should use this spelling in Pygmalion in 1914

    Poor girl! Hard enough for her to live without being worrited and chivied.

    OED has “chivy” as equivalent form of “chevy”. This is definitely an English spelling!

    I must agree with the “weird surfaces” comments. Obviously our illustrious ed doesn’t agree. 😉

  34. John Crellin @ 26

    My eChambers, bought a couple of years ago, *does* have ‘manteau’. Don’t know why the (presumably) more up-to-date online version doesn’t.

  35. xjpotter @30

    I agree with the points you made about surfaces. I would only add that one thing I don’t like is clarity or precision being sacrificed for the sake of a smooth or ‘clever’ surface.

    I know some solvers set great store by the quality of the surfaces. The quality I like most is being misled by the surface and then being able to appreciate the setter’s true intention. That happens a lot, of course, and I suppose that quality could simply be called the art of clue-writing.

    I had no problems with most of the clues of this puzzle, even though many of the surfaces may not score well with some solvers.

  36. BNTO @33, not only GBS, Charles Dickens used chivy in Bleak House in 1853

    “…Mrs Sangsby she was allus chivying on me – like everybody everywheres.”

  37. Agree with Alan B (as usual!) and xjpotter, but not dear muffin I’m afraid – though interested to hear he’s not undergone gender realignment!
    Paul is one of the few I can gladly stand 37.5% of the time!
    And thanks to Peter O.

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