Guardian 27,207 / Paul

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An enjoyable Paul puzzle to end the week.

On ‘ordinary’ [non-blogging] days, I go through the clues in order, parsing as I go. This morning, I was slightly worried to realise that I was leaving rather a lot of parsing to come back to. In the event, most of it proved not so daunting – 1dn held out the longest.

As everyone knows, Paul is capable of writing as polished surfaces as the best of them [like 9ac and 14dn here, for instance] but he can produce some downright weird ones – I’ll leave you to pick examples.

Many thanks, Paul.

Definitions are underlined in the clues.

Across

9 A small drink including minimum of table wine for starters (9)
ANTIPASTI
A NIP [a small drink] round T[able] + ASTI [wine]

10) Scrub backs in the lower area, various vertebrae (5)
ERASE
Last letters [backs] of thE loweR areA variouS vertebraE

11 Utter fool to get help
SUCCOUR
Sounds like [utter] ‘sucker’ [fool]

12 More war-wounded, number hard to forget?
EARWORM
Anagram [wounded] of MORE WAR
I was remarking yet again at choir practice this week how infuriating it is that these always seem to be my least favourite numbers

13 Channel slips by this? (5)
GULLY
Cryptic definition, referring to fielding positions in cricket, I believe

14,22 Extreme agony among legation trained to embrace sport (9,7)
INGROWING TOENAIL
IN [among] + an anagram [trained] of LEGATION embracing ROWING [sport]

16 Man of God in Ireland, eg reformed chief executive (8,7)
DIRECTOR GENERAL
RECTOR [man of God] in an anagram [reformed] of IRELAND EG

19 Army rank rejected in case of gerund being a lexicographical oddity (5,4)
GHOST WORD
HOST [army] + a reversal [rejected] of ROW [rank] in G[erun]D

21 Small group covering article in soil, turned over (5)
TRIAD
A [article] in a reversal [turned over] of DIRT [soil]

24 Man bit arm (5)
PIECE
Triple definition

25,23 Cutting hedges optional — sense avoiding the thorny bits? (9,7)
SELECTIVE HEARING
SHEARING [cutting] round [hedges] ELECTIVE [optional]

Down
1 Long canine in Dracula, I guess, as long when oddly shaped? (7,3)
SAUSAGE DOG
Anagram [shaped] of the odd letters of DrAcUlA i GuEsS aS lOnG -grrr!

2 Label outlining conclusion of anal pedant (8)
STICKLER
STICKER [label] round [ana]L

3 Weird seeing something brown in blue (6)
SPOOKY
POO [something brown] in SKY [blue]

4 Druggie into Jailhouse Rock (4)
USER
Contained in jailhoUSE Rock

5 Free design smeared on grey (10)
DISENGAGED
Anagram [smeared] of DESIGN + AGED [grey]

6 Slowly drain English river and Irish county (4,4)
WEAR DOWN
WEAR [English river] + DOWN [Irish county]

7 Thespian, one supporting someone with a ladder (6)
JACOBI
I [one][ after [supporting,in a down clue] JACOB [someone with a ladder] for thespian Derek, one of our national treasures

14 Faith being questioned in party heading for office, amid dubious claims (10)
ICONOCLASM
CON [party] + O[ffice] in an anagram [dubious] of CLAIMS

15 Avaricious type like godhead coming in earlier after greedy principal (4-6)
GOLD-DIGGER
DIG [like] + G[od] in OLDER [earlier] after G[reedy]

17 Salts with it in boxes (8)
CITRATES
IT in CRATES [boxes]

18 Having scratched bottom, chance to embrace scent around rear of khazi, causing inflammation of nose (8)
RHINITIS
RIS[k] [chance, having scratched bottom] round HINT [scent] round [khaz]I

20 Specialist with bat or jemmy, perhaps? (6)
OPENER
Double / cryptic definition

21 Suspicion surrounding Beethoven’s Ninth in electronic music (6)
TRANCE
TRACE [suspicion] round ninth letter of beethoveN

22 Mistake reporting Italian river in Bangkok?
Sounds like [reporting] Thai Po
TYPO

23,8 Break in end of paragraph where N-Z found to include L (4,4)
HALF TERM
paragrapH + AFTER M [where N-Z found] round L – I know many people who are looking forward to around 4.00 this afternoon: have a good one! – and I hope the sun continures to shine 😉

49 comments on “Guardian 27,207 / Paul”

  1. Thanks Paul and Eileen
    I think the weird surfaces outnumbered the polished ones today! Several I got from definition and didn’t bother to parse. TYPO was my favourite.

  2. Brava, Eileen, for sorting out SAUSAGE DOG. It went in easily enough but left to me, parsing would still be in progress.

    GHOST WORD is new to me. “A word recorded in a dictionary or other reference work which is not actually used”. There are some fascinating examples here

    The “Thai Po” is classic Paul, good fun.

    CITRATES was LOI and took ages as I stayed wedded to “in” being involved for ‘with it’.

    Fun close to an interesting week, many thanks, John.

    Nice weekend, all.

  3. 7d JACOBI was my LOI and a favourite. Agree re TYPO being a lot of fun. Also liked 2d STICKLER and 3d SPOOKY.

    Yes some inusual surfaces. Still not sure what khazi (except for providing the “i”) or scent have to do with 18d RHINITIS. They really jarred.

    Still had some enjoyment along the way, as I always do with a Paul.

    Many thanks to Paul and Eileen.

  4. Found this very difficult and not as much fun as Paul’s puzzles usually are for me – maybe a bit convoluted with all those long, wordy clues?

    I could not parse 1d, 15d.

    New for me was CITRATES.

    My favourite was HALF TERM.

    Thanks Eileen and Paul.

  5. As so often with Paul, many of these were easier to guess from the definition than to derive from the parsings. Plenty to enjoy, especially SPOOKY, but as others have said some of the surfaces are pretty nonsensical.

    Thanks to Paul and Eileen

  6. I had a long stare at the beginning and thought it must be a very difficult Paul, but got there in the end and particularly enjoyed INGROWING TOENAIL, SELECTIVE HEARING, DISENGAGED and HALF TERM. Lots of fun. Many thanks to Paul and Eileen.

  7. I enjoyed this one. 1dn was fairly obvious though parseless.

    Julie , Hint comes from scent rather than Eileen’s trace. Same idea though.

    Good to see earworm used. I liked the triple piece and selective hearing.

  8. Thanks, Rewolf, for indirectly pointing out my 22dn in 18dn: I think my brain must have been leaping ahead to 21dn – I knew I’d seen it somewhere. I’ll amend it now.

  9. Gave up on parsing 15d. Originally had GULCH for 13a. Shows how au fait I am with cricket terminology.

  10. Well I enjoyed the solve, weird surfaces and all.

    Thanks to Paul for the crossword and Eileen for the explanations

  11. 1d was as other have said easy to write down but a booger to parse so well blogged. last in and favourite was TYPO.s

  12. Thank you Paul and Eileen.

    I failed to parse SAUSAGE DOG, Eileen’s grrr is appropriate, apparently dachshunds are the most aggressive dog breed, they make great little guard dogs, when we lived in Uganda they were the the dogs the most feared by robbers etc. – I hope Paul’s ankles are not bitten for that one.

  13. As with Drofle@6 I stared at this a long time with only a couple in after pass 1, but then the answers came in, even if I couldn’t parse many eg 1d – so thank you Eileen. Totally missed case of Gerund delivering GD. Also last in was Jacobi – thought this was referring to Jacobian theatre.

    Thanks to Eileen and Paul.

  15. I thought suspicion = trace was a bit weak. No complaints with the rest although I didn’t finish it.

  16. Thanks to Paul and, as ever, to Eileen for perspicacious application of nutcrackers to such as SAUSAGE DOG, GOLD-DIGGER, and HALF TERM. For total elegance I dare to take leave to suggest that “GREY [aged]” might be swapped around?

    I found this uneven and somewhat impenetrable, but then I had a late night marking the end of school days for alphalpha junior, so am not in the best frame of mind to apply the blunt butter knife which serves for me where others use a mental scalpel. I did enjoy SUCCOUR (an Aha! moment), EARWORM and DISENGAGED. GHOST WORD led me to consider further arguments relating the sometime ubiquitous KAYO, but I haven’t the pep for it today.

  18. Quite a typical Paul puzzle with lots to chew on and plenty of laughs.

    Unfortunately, I didn’t finish, as I fell into a trap at 17. Anyone else have CUPRATES (UP = with it, as in hip)? The only thing that fitted 19 after that was GROUP WORD, so I came here to find out why army should be ROUP and what a group word was! Oh well, chalk it up as a win for the setter.

    I like Paul in these moods. Particular favourites were INGROWING TOENAIL, ERASE (beautifully misdirecting use of “scrub backs”), HALF TERM and SELECTIVE HEARING. I haven’t seen the selection/anagram device in 1d before, as far as I can remember. Took a while to parse that one.

    Thanks, Paul and Eileen

  19. Thanks to Paul and Eileen. Like others I had trouble parsing several items – e.g., GULLY (my usual lack of cricket terms), HALF TERM, SAUSAGE DOG – but did get through and enjoyed the process.

  20. Weird ones indeed, Eileen. At your invitation I pick 1d SAUSAGE DOG and 15d GOLD-DIGGER as the weirdest – like michelle @4, I left these two unparsed.

    This was great fun, though, and, as is usual with Paul, I enjoyed the variety of well-crafted clues and a level of challenge that kept me interested and made me think.

    Thanks to both Paul and Eileen.

  21. Well, I agree about odd surfaces. I had parsing problems too. I almost parsed SAUSAGE DOG which was so obviously the answer that I decided not to delve any deeper. HALF TERM delayed me as well. I didn’t know GHOST WORD but I’d got the crossers so—. I liked TRIAD, TRANCE and JACOBI.
    Thanks Paul.

  22. Even RHINITIS failed for Paul today, I’d say. An off-day before days off perhaps!

  23. Thanks Paul and Eileen.

    Surely ‘extreme agony’ is not a definition of INGROWING TOENAIL. The latter might produce agony but I don’t see it as a definition?

  24. Hi Robi @23

    I agree entirely – I left it to others to comment and I’m surprised that you’re the first, at this time of day.

  27. Entertaining! Failed on PIECE despite playing chess. Extreme agony is fine. The toenail is at extreme of body. OUSE DOWN seemed valid alternate at first.

  28. Not much to enjoy in this one, I’m afraid: too much cruciverbal gibberish at surface level and the smut only makes it worse.

  29. Robi & Eileen @ 23 & 24: I understood ‘extreme agony’ to mean agony at the extremities, i.e. toes.

  30. Choldunk @27
    Like you, I thought of ‘extreme’ agony in the sense that you described, but I still thought it a rather loose definition. At the time of solving this clue I thought ‘Cause of extreme pain’ would have been a better start.
    I too wondered if this point would be picked up!

  32. It must have been a long time ago since I commented on a Paul crossword.
    Always good precise cluing, always enjoyable.

    Indeed, Eileen, every now and then, it has to be said that his surfaces can be pretty meaningless, weird or even ugly.
    But was Araucaria the master of perfect surface readings? Don’t think so.
    And was he good? Think so.

    The one real objection we had today was exactly the one Robi raised @23 (14,22).
    For exactly the same reason.
    I’m quite sure that Paul – looking back at this clue – won’t be too happy.
    But does he look back at his clues?
    Not sure, he’s writing so many of them for so many publications.

    1d is a bit clunky, isn’t it?
    I saw straightaway how the clue might work, I was actually afraid that it would work that way, and it worked that way.
    As such nothing wrong with it but nevertheless.

    Enough nice clues to take Fifteensquared’s Cambridge branch into a bright Bank Holiday weekend.
    A weekend that for other parts of the country will be as dark as dark can be.
    It makes you aware of that a crossword is just a crossword and nothing more.

    Thank you, Eileen (and Paul).

  34. Not Paul at his best but very clever as ever and new in places. My favourite setter and I’m always tickled by the grumpy comments about his being “off colour”. 1d was excellent.

  36. Cookie @
    You have a talent for finding illustrations online of what goes on on these pages! Rather than ask you how you do it I’ll just enjoy them when they come.
    I’d forgotten what the wordplay was in 14a, but it came back to me as I watched the clip. The first part of the clue wasn’t so much fun (at least, not for me), but the surface was one of many good ones and deserving of an apt illustration.

  38. Gofirstmate @28

    There isn’t any smut in this puzzle.

    Or perhaps it’s only in the eye (or mind) of the beholder 😉

  39. Ma’s out, Pa’s out, Let’s talk rude!
    Pee Po Belly Bum Drawers.
    Dance round the garden in the nude

    All a bit juvenile.

  41. I tried to parse 23,25 after getting the answer and thought heathering might be some sort of thing which would mean selective heathering might fit the clue then avoided the (ie removed “the”) giving selective hearing. The things you persuade yourself, heh !

  43. A delightful (Sunday morning with coffee – for me) solve.
    I disagree with (some) others on (some) aspects. For example,
    I thought “extreme agony” a witty, and apt, definition for INGROWING TOENAIL. Well, it made me smile.
    The surface for 18dn was perfectly sensible – and Pauline (Paulean?).
    As one who prefers a tricksy clue over a story-telling surface (though I do relish the latter) I loved the constructions of SAUSAGE DOG (my COD) and HALF TERM, in each case the parsing supplying the fun. Indeed, I’m often bemused by those who don’t bother to parse…
    Incidentally, GULLY is a double definition rather than a CD, surely? Similarly, OPENER is perhaps more double than cryptic.
    I agree this might have been a little towards Paul’s harder end, but all the better for it.
    Many thanks to Paul for great entertainment – yet again…how does he do it? And to Eileen for her unceasing efforts.

  44. I don’t suppose Paul looks at the comments on fifteensquared often, but this (scroll down to the end) might amuse him since he included the word ’embrace’ in the clue 14,22 – I wonder if he was thinking of pétanque when he wrote it?

  46. I convinced myself that 5d was DISCHARGED. I parsed it as grey=CHAR; and DISGED was not quite an anagram of design, so I was convinced I’d spotted a Paul error. Till I came here.
    Agree with all of William F P’s comments @43.
    Careful Cookie @44. You’ll have the smut police after you. But shouldn’t you have said “scroll down to the bottom”?

  47. Am a rare and always late poster because I (try to) do the Guardian puzzles when they appear in the Guardian Weekly so number 27,207 was included in the GW edition of 16.06.17, available online today. (Just seen that I wrote more or less the same thing on New Year’s Eve 2014!)

    Nevertheless I always enjoy looking at the blogs and discovering how answers I could not get are arrived at. I wonder what answers will be arrived at after the latest general election??

    Best wishes to all from Germany and many thanks to Eileen and Paul,

    Martin

  48. 9 ACROSS: How is ‘t’ a “minimum of table”? Does ‘minimum of’ always means ‘the first letter of’? Is it an abbreviation of ‘table’? Is ‘t’ also an abbreviation of ‘tulip’, ‘toaster’ etc.?

  49. I’m not convinced electronic music == trance ? That was my last in, and I was looking for something like Musique Concrete, or Moog or whatever (but none of them fitted)

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