Guardian 27,152 – Picaroon

by

A very satisfying puzzle from Picaroon today, where I initially made slow progress but gradually made my way through it thanks to sound and inventive clueing. Nice one.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Across
1. REPUBLICAN PARTY Right outfit‘s pretentious on barman in theatre (10,5)
PUBLICAN in REP (repertory – theatre)+ ARTY (pretentious)
9. PHOTOED “It’s stifling in Post Office”, newspaperman snapped (7)
HOT in PO + ED
10. RANSACK What wine smuggler did to get rifle (7)
The smuggler RAN SACK (wine)
11. EYE Object in orbit letter’s spoken of (3)
Homophone of (the letter) I – the orbit is the eye socket
12. WHITTINGTON Time to stop women chatting up London’s mayor (11)
T in W + HITTING ON (chatting up) – Richard (Dick) Whittington, former Lord Mayor of London and pantomime hero
13. SATYRIASIS Day younger goddess admits a rampant desire (10)
SAT[urday] + YR (younger) + A in ISIS
15. ODIC Like poems close to Leonardo DiCaprio’s heart (4)
Hidden (almost at the “heart”) in leonardO DICaprio
18. DONE Over 501 (4)
D (500) + ONE
20. FOREFINGER Digit‘s good, dividing number reportedly better (10)
G in “Four” + FINER
23. SUBURBANITE Bishop and pope occupying hotel rooms? One has a trek to town centre (11)
B + URBAN (one of eight Popes) in SUITE
25. SOB Lazy individual shedding pounds and blubber (3)
SLOB less L
26. LAKSHMI Divine female has milkshakes (7)
(HAS MILK)* – she is the Hindu goddess of wealth, fortune and prosperity
27. UNAWARE Pirouetting in the raw, a nudist in the dark (7)
Hidden reverse of thE RAW A NUdist
28. POVERTY-STRICKEN Poor Sky TV reception — right shambles! (7-8)
(SKY TV RECEPTION R)*
Down
1. REPRESSED Hacks through grass that’s kept down (9)
PRESS (hacks) in REED
2. PROTEST Person who’s paid before international rally? (7)
PRO (person who’s paid) + TEST (an international match)
3. BOOKWORM Man who’s learned caution: leader of mob holding bank up (8)
BOOK (to caution, as the police might do) + reverse of ROW + M[ob]
4. INDRI Primate of country in Asia nearly crossing river (5)
R in INDI[A] – a type of Lemur
5. AIRSTRIKE Offensive broadcast to stop working (9)
AIR (broadcast) + STRIKE (stop working)
6. PANINI What cook uses, one eating popular Italian food (6)
IN (popular) in PAN I – some people get very upset at the use of panini as a singular, though it doesn’t bother me; Picaroon avoids the issue by the use of the generic “food” here
7. ROASTED Getting stick about high teas, having dressed down (7)
TEAS* in ROD
8. YUKON It’s foul running water in North America (5)
YUK (“it’s foul!”) + ON (running)
14. AMORALITY Lack of principles said to obstruct friendship (9)
ORAL in AMITY
16. CARIBBEAN Cold cut of meat containing a seed from Cuba, say (9)
A in C RIB + BEAN
17. LITERATI Top select group, one defending art, perhaps (8)
ART* in [E]LITE + I, &lit
19. NABOKOV Russian writer knocked back very fine port (7)
Reverse of V OK OBAN
21. GAS MASK Good question about old lady’s wartime protection (3,4)
MA’S in G ASK
22. ARCHER Person parading topless, who might take a bow (6)
[M]ARCHER
23. SALOP County‘s low quality food packaging area (5)
A in SLOP – old name for Shropshire
24. INUIT Northerner‘s brief stay at a hotel in Paris? (5)
1 NUIT (French night)

40 comments on “Guardian 27,152 – Picaroon”

  1. It took me a while to get going but I enjoyed this puzzle.
    I liked LAKSHMI.
    New words for me were SALOP, SATYRIASIS, INDRI.
    I needed help to parse 17d (I thought that it was [e]lite [f]rat = top select group) as well as 11a and 10a.

    Thanks Picaroon and Andrew

  2. Yes a nice one with fair clueing, even though the solutions weren’t always too obvious at first sight. As usual with Picaroon some lovely surfaces, too many to list.

    Thank you Picaroon & Andrew.

  3. Very pleasing blend of smoothness – neat surfaces, as already noted – with knottedness; hard to see anything in the clueing that could be seen as dubious, though others may be going to dispute this. Especially liked 23 across and down, but hard to select. 13ac: with all the crossers in place, it was tempting to write in SATURNALIA, but that didn’t quite parse, so it was worth persisting. Many thanks to Picaroon for the puzzle, and to Andrew for doing justice to it.

  4. Thanks Picaroon and Andrew

    Too many “guess first, then try to parse” ones for me to enjoy this as much as usual with Picaroon (1a, 13a and 23a for example).

    I didn’t parse ROASTED, as I took “getting stick” as the definition. I took LITERATI as “gliterati” minus its first letter. Google does generally spell this with three Ts, but there are a few examples with just the two. However it leaves the “one” in the clue dangling a bit.

    Favourites were UNAWARE and LOI EYE.

  5. Thanks, Andrew

    ‘Satisfying’ is a good description: many ‘ahas’ of appreciation, especially for WHITTINGTON, SUBURBANITE, SOB, AMORALITY and the sublime POVERTY-STRICKEN – all for the surfaces – and I also liked the neatness of DONE.

    I’ve stopped being [mildly] irritated by the use of PANINI as a singular – it’s practically ubiquitous – and I’m even getting over the shock of seeing, on my way into town, a sign for ‘panini’s’. 😉

    Many thanks to Picaroon, as always, for a most enjoyable start to the day.

  6. I lazily wrote in Saturnalia, despite having recently clued satyriasis as ‘Excessive desire wartorn country’s harbouring towards fundamentalist group’
    Thanks Picaroon, Andrew

  7. Lovely puzzle – lots of clues ticked. Just couldn’t get AIRSTRIKE. Favourites were SUBURBANITE, POVERTY-STRICKEN, ARCHER and LAKSHMI. Many thanks to Picaroon and Andrew.

  8. I put in SATURNALIA thinking “I’ll go back and parse that later”. My bad, as they say nowadays.

    A nicely-judged Thursday puzzle. Not easy, but leaving you with the feeling that you’ll get there eventually.

    Thanks, Picaroon (and Andrew).

  11. Thanks to Picaroon for the usual high-class puzzle and to Andrew for the blog.
    I also thought of SATURNALIA, which was in last week’s Tramp, and after seeing the NUIT device for the second day running I was harrumphing before seeing the light!
    @Eileen not as annoying as LATTE= Coffee

  12. I figured that SATURNLIA was more of a festival or orgy rather than the def given and after a bit of scrambling found a new word.If I can remember that clue I’ll get the spelling right in future. Its a beauty. As was the rest of the puzzle which was hardly a surprise from Picaroon. Both he and Arachne set a very high standard in cluing.

  15. SATURNALIA here as well. I can see how SATYRIASIS – a new word to me, sheltered upbringing or what? – makes sense, but that assumes familiarity with YR = younger, which (unlike dictionary compilers) I have neither seen nor used.

    Otherwise, good standard from Picaroon as ever, though I had to come here to check LITERATI.

  16. Lots to like about this puzzle, especially WHITTINGTON, POVERTY-STRICKEN, BOOKWORM, ROASTED, INUIT and SALOP the last of which raised a smile.

    I did wonder if I detected a political theme to this puzzle, what with REPUBLICAN PARTY being joined by REPRESSED, AIRSTRIKE, POVERTY-STRICKEN, AMORALITY, PROTEST, RANSACK and GAS MASK. There was even room for a former Tory politician as well as a former London Mayor.

    Thanks to Picaroon and Andrew (especially for his parsing of LITERATI!)

  17. Thanks Picaroon and Andrew.

    I tried saturnalia at the beginning but then realised it didn’t work.

    Hard going and my LOI was AIRSTRIKE, although in retrospect the clue wasn’t that difficult. Anyone else try an anagram of ‘offensive’ at the beginning? The ‘defending’ was a somewhat unusual container or maybe it’s in the sense of ‘backing?’

    I tried putting ‘Papa’ in for pope but it didn’t seem to give SUBURBANITE. I liked the INUIT among others.

  18. A lovely and amusing puzzle, thanks Picaroon.
    Eileen – with you all the way on lah-tay and my fillings come loose when I hear ‘brooshetta’.

  19. Thank you Picaroon and Andrew.

    I enjoyed this puzzle even though, like muffin @4, I had to parse many answers post solve. With SALOP I was held up for a while trying to use SOP, I always associate SLOP with ‘basin’, ‘bucket’ or pigs’ swill, but checking in the dictionary put me right.

  20. bagel – with you, too. [I’m sorry about this but it’s really Andrew who started it, as I’m sure he knew. I’m going out now, 😉 ]

  21. I am the old git who orders “a panino”. With black coffee.

    Chorizo, anyone?

    Thanks Picaroon and Andrew.

  22. Thanks to Picaroon and Andrew. I got SATYRIASIS early on but struggled with LACHSHMI, INDRI, and SALOP (though I did eventually remember the latter from previous puzzles). Very enjoyable.

  23. SATYRIASIS was a new word for me.

    I’m a horrible person about the word Panini, and–hello, Eileen–I once actually complained to a restaurant about a sign that offered Panini’s. I think this officially makes me a pedant.

    I have no trouble though with “latte.” It does appear on the menu (at least usually over here) as caffe latte, which is fair enough to the Italian language. The fact that people order it as just plain “latte” is our fault.

  24. We enjoyed this like everyone else. The one we failed to parse was Whittington. It was obviously the answer once we had a few crossers, buut we did not know “hitting on” as “chatting up” But thanks to Picaroon for a nice solve and to Andrew for the blog.

  25. Another top class crossword from Picaroon. I agree with Andrew that it was not as tough as it appeared at first glance. Nothing too obscure. AIRSTRIKE was last in and that was one of the simpler clues.

    Thanks to Picaroon and Andrew

  26. Thanks to Picaroon and Andrew. I filled the bottom half quickly, and then got a bit stuck going north. 13ac was a new word for me …

    It felt a bit local too: I am a 23ac, living in East Finchley, where everyone loves our local 27dn. My local hospital is the 12ac.

    baerchen, Eileen: there is a sign in a local shop which says “Pilates? I thought you said ‘pie and lattes'”

  27. Same as most of the above: SATYRIASIS last in.
    ‘Panini’ don’t trouble me much, it’s just normal usage. Nobody these days is bothered that spaghetti are plural.
    Good puzzle, thanks to all.

  28. I started this,did a couple, and came to a complete stop. When I came back to it I started to do better until I completed the puzzle with EYE. Looking back, there are some lovely clues- WHITTINGTON was excellent- and, with the exception of SATYRIASIS, I couldn’t see what my problem was. I think my alcohol level has become dangerously low!
    Thanks Picaroon.

  29. Can’t see the problem with imported words being repronounced. It’s living language.
    There’s no law that says they should be pronounced as they were in the source language. I wonder how people pronounce “chow mein”or “sashimi”? I remember hearing Neil Kinnock choosing Carrrrmen (stress on the “men”) on Desert Island Discs. Sounded so pretentious, a bit like asking for a panino.

  31. Saturnalia here, dammit. 3d — I dunno about that definition. It could equally describe a man or woman addicted to bodice-rippers.

  34. Got everything except SATYRIASIS, though I’m not sure I’d have got SALOP if I hadn’t had SALOPIAN o my yesterday in another crossword. Lovely clues – INUIT raised a smile.

  37. Needed help on the parsing for WHITTINGTON and didn’t know SATYRIASIS but got it from the clue. Laughed at RANSACK which was simply clever.

    Off for a quick paninoi!

    Thanks Picaroon and andrew

  39. Eileen @5 – how are you doing with “a biscotti” and “a graffiti”

    Didn’t we have Saturnalia recently?

    Spaghetti has become a mass noun, like “oatmeal.” I’ve never heard anyone say “spaghetti are”, though I do remember a young man holding up one strand and saying “uno spaghetto!”

    Keith @30 — I once asked for a latte in my local Italian deli, and when the waitress said, “caffe latte” as she wrote it down that cured me.

    Fortunately I didn’t think of SATURNALIA, so SATYRIASIS posed no problem. But PHOTOED and PROTEST completely flummoxed me.

    Thank you,Picaroon and Andrew.

  40. 22D “Person parading topless, who might take a bow (6)”
    I had (ERSON)* + A to get “SENORA” which I thought a clumsy clue, but stuck it in anyway, so that was a setback.

Comments are closed.