The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/27074.
I did not think this was top-notch Paul, particularly because of the number of envelopes with a single letter inclusion; but there is much to enjoy, with 10A ALLOA my favourite (and one of the last in).
| Across | ||
| 9 | METRONOME | Ticker no good in underground dwarf? (9) |
| A charade of METRO (Paris ‘underground’) plus [g]NOME (‘dwarf’) minus the G (‘no good’). | ||
| 10 | ALLOA | Lowlands town then lower, low in police inquiry might you say? (5) |
| The (apocryphal) ‘police inquiry’ would be ” ‘allo, ‘allo, ‘allo? (What’s going on here?)”; follow ALLOA with lloallo, which sounds much like (‘might you say’) ‘lower low’ and that is what you would get. The ‘lowlands’ are Scottish; I only know the town from its soccer team Alloa Athletic. | ||
| 11 | RELAPSE | Setback as initiative primarily missing from revolutionary framework (7) |
| A reversal (‘revolutionary’) of ESPAL[i]ER (‘framework’) less I (‘Initiative primarily’) | ||
| 12 | VESTIGE | Underwear I fetch is short, creating suspicion (7) |
| A charade of VEST (‘underwear’) plus ‘I’ plus GE[t] (‘fetch’) minus its last letter (‘is short’). “There was the VESTIGE of a smile on his face”. | ||
| 13 | IOTA | Greek character is out tracing Athenian origins (4) |
| First letters (‘origins’) of ‘Is Out Tracing Athenian’. | ||
| 14 | BEAN SPROUT | Chinese shoot person, but a liberal (4,6) |
| An anagram (‘liberal’) of ‘person but a’. | ||
| 16 | GASEOUS | Georgia, its location full of oxygen — the state of oxygen! (7) |
| A charade of GA (‘Georgia’, USPS standard abbreviation) plus SEOUS, an envelope (‘full of’) of O (chemical symbol, ‘oxygen’) in SE US (southeast United States, ‘its location’). | ||
| 17 | CHAGALL | Artist, name embodying hideous woman (7) |
| An envelope (’embodying’) of HAG (‘hideous woman’) in CALL (‘name’). | ||
| 19 | MUTTONHEAD | Oaf, a dog in his hat? (10) |
| A charade of MUTT (‘dog’) plus ON HEAD (‘in his hat?’). | ||
| 22 | AFRO | Back following a style (4) |
| A charade of ‘a’ plus FRO (‘back’, as in “to and fro”). | ||
| 24 | DRIFTER | Tramp in snow, perhaps? (7) |
| Definition and whimsical allusion. | ||
| 25 | WITNESS | See last of sunset in red and white before heading for shelter (7) |
| An envelope (‘in’) of T (‘last of sunseT‘) in WINES (‘red and white’ – what about rosé?) plus S (‘heading for Shelter’). | ||
| 26 | ISAAC | Hearts of faith forsaken, each biblical patriarch (5) |
| A charade of I SA AC (‘hearts of faIth forSAken eACh’). | ||
| 27 | BASILICAN | Shinto leader in state of release with positive affirmation of the church (9) |
| An envelope (‘in’) of S (‘Shinto leader’) in BAIL (‘state of release’) plus I CAN (‘positive affirmation’) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1, 5 | A MARRIAGE MADE IN HEAVEN | Mr and Mrs God? (1,8,4,2,6) |
| Cryptic definition. | ||
| 2 | ATHLETES | Almost all these trained to keep fit, ultimately sportspeople (8) |
| An envelope (‘to keep’) of T (‘fiT ultimately’) in ATHLEES, an anagram of AL (‘almost ALl’) plus ‘these’. | ||
| 3 | POPPY | Blooming thing, like modern music (5) |
| Definition and whimsical allusion. | ||
| 4 | HOPELESS | Desperate, unlike the “Road To” films? (8) |
| Cryptic reference to Bob Hope, who with Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour starred in the film series. | ||
| 5 | See 1 | |
| 6 | MARSUPIAL | Foolishly, Paul’s aim to box head of rampant kangaroo, perhaps? (9) |
| An envelope (‘to box’) of R (‘head of Rampant’) in MASUPIAL, an anagram (‘foolishly’) of ‘Paul’s aim’. | ||
| 7 | ULTIMO | Centre of Hull bypass drawn up last month (6) |
| A charade of UL (‘centre of HULl’) plus TIMO, a reversal (‘drawn up’ in a down light) of OMIT (‘bypass’). This more often appears in crosswords abbreviated to ult. | ||
| 8 | PARENTAL CONSENT | Permission for a minor split in rearrangement of plans at once (8,7) |
| An envelope (‘in) of RENT (‘split’) in PAALCONSENT, an anagram (‘rearrangement’) of ‘plans at once’. | ||
| 15 | POGO STICK | Bouncer, moment after bribe taken up secreting pass (4,5) |
| An envelope (‘secreting’) of GO (‘pass’) in POS, a reversal (‘taken up’ in a down light) of SOP (‘bribe’) plus (with ‘after’ indicating the order of the particles) TICK (‘moment’). | ||
| 17 | CRABWISE | Curve lifted over web is turned sideways (8) |
| A charade of CRA, a reversal (‘lifted’ in a down light) of ARC (‘curve’) plus BWISE, an anagram (‘turned’) of ‘web is’. | ||
| 18 | ALFRESCO | Outside company of great king, daughter snubbed (8) |
| ALFRE[d]’S CO (‘company of great king’) minus the D (‘daughter snubbed’). | ||
| 20 | TAIPAN | One in touch with an Australian snake (6) |
| An envelope (‘in’) of I (‘one’) in TAP (‘touch’) – or perhaps better A (‘one’) in TIP (‘touch’) – plus ‘an’. I only knew the other definition of TAIPAN, a foreign businessman in China. | ||
| 21 | HEREBY | Energy in plant above satisfactory, finally, as a result of this (6) |
| An envelope (‘in’) of E (‘energy’) in HERB (‘plant’) plus (‘above’ in a down light) Y (‘satisfactorY, finally’). | ||
| 23 | STOLE | Item made of fur, poached (5) |
| Double definition. | ||
Thanks, PeterO and Paul. Agree that it was a bit one-dimensional in places, though there was some good fun in places. Curiously, ALLOA was my first in!
Not vintage. 19a doesn’t work. Paul could have had ‘dog on lead’ or somesuch. Happy to be up early and get it done in one cup of tea though!
I thought this was fine, with some good words such as MUTTONHEAD and BASILICAN. Thanks to hearing the football results on the BBC World Service sports report for many years (Stenhousemuir 1 Partick Thistle 0; Hamilton Academical 2 Stranraer 1), and its appearance elsewhere a little while ago, I could get ALLOA though the parsing defeated me. TAIPAN is timely as a man is currently critically ill in hospital in Queensland after having been bitten within the last few days by this highly venomous snake after it “slithered into his lounge room”. Enough to give you nightmares. Unfortunately he tried to get rid of it with a pair of kitchen tongs, in retrospect perhaps not the most wise thing to have done. Let’s hope he recovers.
Thanks to Paul and PeterO.
Disappointed to finish with one unsolved clue 10a ALLOA, having never heard of the Scottish town. However I seem to recall the use of ‘ALLO as in “‘allo, ‘allo, ‘allo, what’s all this then,” in a previous Guardian crossword, so perhaps should have cracked this by the parsing.
Speaking of parsing, I needed to come here to understand 11a RELAPSES and 15d POGO STICK.
Speaking of recurring clues, has 22a AFRO, also appeared before?
Maybe beery hiker who posts so informatively on these things can confirm these ringing bells.
Among others, my favourites were 24a DRIFTER, 25a WITNESS (clever use of the old red and white distractor), 4d HOPELESS, 8d PARENTAL CONSENT, and 23d STOLE. but COTD for me, as a marriage celebrant, had to be 1/5d A MARRIAGE MADE IN HEAVEN.
So with all those favourites, I count this as a fair bit of fun from Paul, and thank him for the challenge and PeterO for the helpful blog.
[Yes Wordplodder@3, I also saw 20d TAIPAN, as an unusual coincidence given the current news story about the elderly man from Cairns fighting for his life after being bitten by one. Julie in Queensland]
I found this a bit of a slog with quite a few contrived and clunky surfaces. My general knowledge let me down on ALLOA but otherwise the other clues fell into place with time and perseverance. Thanks, PeterO, for explaining MUTTONHEAD which I’d been unable to parse. And thanks also to Paul.
Well I really enjoyed this offering from Paul – perhaps because I managed a straight solve without recourse to electronic aids – even for TAIPAN which, for some reason, I was able to recall. I didn’t mind the envelopes – I guess was on Paul’s wavelength today. This was one I didn’t want to end.
Ticks from me for METRONOME, GASEOUS, AFRO, WITNESS, PARENTAL CONSENT, POGO STICK. Best of the lot – BEAN SPROUT, where I couldn’t get ‘shoot’ as a verb out of my head.
Talking of repeated appearances, IOTA is another regular.
Thanks Paul and PeterO (without whom, I’d never have understood why RELAPSE was correct)
This was enjoyable. Thanks to Paul, and to PeterO: like some others I needed you to parse RELAPSE.
Julie in Aus – AFRO came up recently as a homophone part of a clue for APHRODITE (Crucible 27,060). I’m not sure about ” ‘allo, ‘allo, ‘allo”, but I think we had Letsby Avenue (“let’s be having you”) a while ago – something else the British bobby is supposed to say.
Absolutely with the ones who loved this. Just what was needed. Got off to a laughing start with 1d and ALLOA and really only held up by failing to parse RELAPSE.
Thanks Paul and PeterO
I’m another who enjoyed this, and loved the groanworthy puns at 9 & 10.
My fairly minor quibble is SOP as BRIBE. To me, the former is a post-facto concession to appease someone, while the latter is an inducement to get someone to behave in a particular way. The equivalence doesn’t appear to be supported by Chambers, but I haven’t checked other sources.
Thank you Paul and PeterO.
I found some of the parsing quite difficult, but enjoyed the crossword. ALLOA was new to me, I would never have been able to parse it! I did not equate “desperate” with HOPELESS, and again failed to parse.
Talking of topical clues, what about Paul boxing a kangaroo, watch this.
Great fun – thanks to Paul and PeterO.
Swept down from NW corner to SE east before taking way too long to get PARENTAL CONSENT but then slam-dunked the rest with favourite ALFRESCO as LOI. I too remember ALLOA from the football results; reminds me that the chap who read the results was quoted as saying that the result he always dreaded would be East Fife 4 Forfar 5. (http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-23447439) gives it all – happy days.
Lots of lovely clues – and we managed to parse them all! Sarted at once with 1d which meant lots of first letters. Between the two of us we remembered Alloa from football results and taipan from somewhere in the past. The parsing of relapse was a big smile. Thanks Paul and PeterO
Thanks Paul and PeterO.
An enjoyable solve although I couldn’t parse ALLOA – ha, ha!
Thanks Cookie @11, what a great clip!
Simon S @10 – see here.
Simon S @10
Several dictionaries, including the OED, give bribe explicitly as a definition for sop. The most common definition is along the lines of “something that you give to someone to make them stop opposing you, causing trouble for you, or asking for something more valuable” which is not necessarily post-facto, and not far from bribe.
Mark @7
You and the panda that eats shoots and leaves.
My first sweep having failed to produce much of a return, I was pleased to solve 1,5 Dn which set me on my way. Being an Anglo-Scot, Alloa is very familiar to me, and it was POGO STICK which ended up being my LOI. I especially liked DRIFTER, METRONOME, WITNESS and HOPELESS the last of which made me smile. Thanks to Paul for a very fair challenge and to PeterO for his parsing.
I managed all but Alloa – which I lazily revealed – but couldn’t parse 11a or 15d. Rewolf @ 2 I’m wondering why you think 19a doesn’t work. Thanks to Paul and PeterO.
Not his most challenging, and not his simplest either – but as always with Paul plenty of entertainment and some interesting words. I tend to think of lowlands as further south than Alloa, but I suppose that is fair enough. I don’t have the spreadsheet to hand right now so can’t answer the AFRO question.
Thanks to Paul and PeterO
Good enough fun. I get the impression that the editor is giving us a fairly easy run prior to the blockbuster we can expect on Saturday, but who knows what tomorrow may bring.
Thanks for parsing POGO STICK, PeterO. Some of the constructions were a bit complex – perhaps Paul’s weak spot, in general.
Thanks for helping with parsing, as needed to biff several, and never did get RELAPSE !
I have now managed to get hold of the spreadsheet. There are 12 previous clues for AFRO:
Fawley 21839: Hairstyle rejected – some ‘scissor factor’? (4)
Rufus 21844: Shape for a hairstyle (4)
Araucaria 21870: Hairstyle for a revolutionary (4)
Orlando 22150: Seafront centre hairstyle (4)
Orlando 22386: Hairstyle for revolutionary or sportsmen (4)
Shed 22516: Bringing a brother round for a hairdo (4)
Paul 24453: A short, green jumper in the style of a young Michael Jackson? (4)
Boatman 24508: A frothy display atop (4)
Rufus 25257: Hairstyle for a make-over (4)
Rufus 25952: Hairstyle for a transformation? (4)
Brummie 26022: Continental-style leaf-roof houses (4)
Paul 26738: A short jumper in style going over head? (4)
Thanks Paul and PeterO
I found this hard and not very enjoyable. I didn’t parse RELAPSE or POGO STICK either.
As I can speak Italian, I found ALFRESCO as one word to look odd, though that’s how Chambers has it.
I agree with Gillian@17. MUTTONHEAD works a treat- dog on head= dog under
hat. What’s wrong with that?
I enjoyed this a lot. Perhaps it wasn’t his best but nothing to complain
about either. LOI was TAIPAN which I had to check. Great fun.
Thanks Paul
Thanks to Paul and PeterO. To my surprise (given the comments above) I did manage to parse RELAPSE and POGO STICK (I’ve seen sop=bribe often in the past) but took forever to find ALLOA and TAIPAN and was dubious about POPPY. Lots of fun here.
Love Paul. Amazed he resisted the proferred smut in 17ac, however.
MartinD @25
I finally worked out what you were referring to. It would have to be specific rather than general, though, as the second syllable is “al” rather than “awl”.
muffin@22
I seem to recall that alfresco (or al fresco) is not current Italian usage for “outside” – can’t recall what is, though…
southofnorth @27
You are quite correct. It would be translated as “in the fresh” (air implied). “Outside” is “fuori”.
That reminds me. When we first stayed in Italy (before we had any of the language), the hotel had a sign by the door. It had a picture of a dog, and said “Io aspetto fuori”. We assumed it meant that the dog had a furious aspect. In fact it meant “I stay outside”.
We got to know the dog quite well. He was called “Salti”, which we translated as “Bouncer”. He liked to some on walks with us, but his main job was to keep the many cats out of the restaurant. However he had come to an arrangement with one particular cat – he let this one in, in return for the cat pushing some of the food off the table for the dog!
Re Gillian @17 and Peter how does ‘in his hat’ mean on head?
Dog in his hat could work for
Helmetpoodle. i.e dog in his hat meaning dog under hat. Especially if it was a down clue. Not that that word exists. But oddly it’s not a bad word for oaf! Anyone still with me?
Rewolf@30
I like Helmetpoodle, might use it next time I meet an oaf. The plural for oaf is of course: “Run!”
Well, I enjoyed this, perhaps more so because I haven’t had time for crosswords for a couple of days and I was getting withdrawal symptoms. 1d, 5d was my first entry, and one of my favourites. My last ones in were the same ones which seem to have given many people some trouble – POGO STICK, RELAPSE and ALLOA. Even once I got them, all three took quite a while to parse.
Thanks, Paul and PeterO.
I think some are being rather sniffy about this – I enjoyed it. METRONOME and MUTTONHEAD were genuine laugh-out-loud moments, and 1d is pretty good too.
I couldn’t parse 15d though, so thanks for that.
Thanks beery hiker@21. I knew you’d come through with the AFRO cross references. I particularly recalled the seafront one and the jumper/Michael Jackson one.