This wasn’t easy – in the initial stages, it felt like I was stuck after every other entry. Thanks to Paul. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
This was one for fans of homophones: 5 in all, where the whole wordplay was homophonic.
Across
7 Criminal admits licking something fried (7)
CROUTON : CON(short for “convict”, a convicted criminal) containing(admits) ROUT(a licking;a total defeat).
Defn: … eg. in your Caesar salad.
8 Best man didn’t notice a formality in speech (2,5)
MR RIGHT : Homophone of(… in speech) [“missed”(didn’t notice;overlooked) “a rite”(something done to comply with convention, regulations, or customs;a ritual) ].
Defn: … searched for by any woman to be her partner.
9 Sell car back (4)
FLOG : Reversal of(… back) GOLF(a Volkswagen car model).
10 Back, then racket forwards in sport (6,3)
SECOND ROW : SECOND(to back;to support, eg. a formal proposal) plus(then) ROW(a racket;a din).
Defn: Forwards in the second row of a scrum in rugby.
12 Quiet table switching political allegiance twice? (5)
ALLAY : “array”(a table;an arrangement of quantities or symbols in rows and columns) with replacement twice of(switching … twice) “r”(abbrev. for “right”, denoting where one’s allegiance lies within the political spectrum) by “l”(abbrev. for “left”, the opposite end of the spectrum from “right”).
Defn: …, as a less common word for “quieten”.
13 Shooter in star causing unnecessary distress (8)
ALARMIST : ARM(a shooter;a firearm) contained in(in) A-LIST(descriptive of a celebrity;a star).
15 What queen has, sacrificing knight for rook (4)
CROW : “crown”(what a queen has on her crown) minus(sacrificing) “n”(abbrev. for “knight” in chess notation).
Defn: …, the bird, not the chess piece.
16 Group rooted to the spot, force people to speak? (5)
COPSE : Homophone of(… to speak) “cops”(the people in the police force).
Defn: A dense group of trees.
17 Obstinate type, cross (4)
MULE : Double defn. 2nd: A hybrid;an offspring of a male donkey and a female horse.
18 Husband into juvenile behaviour? Not much! (8)
FARTHING : H(abbrev. for “husband”) contained in(into) FARTING(an example of juvenile behaviour).
Defn: … of the former UK money, equivalent to a quarter of the former penny.
20 Loose horse, another on the outside? (5)
BAGGY : GG(a childish term for a horse) contained in(… on the outside) BAY(another horse, this one of a brown colour).
Defn: …, describing pants for example.
21 Blaze initially beyond fury, something exceptional needed to contain it — might this help? (9)
FIREBREAK : 1st letter of(… initially) “Blaze” placed after(beyond) IRE(fury;anger) ] contained in(… needed to contain it) FREAK(something exceptional;unusual).
Defn: A strip of ploughed or cleared land that might help contain a forest fire.
22 Focus of beam, say, without a light (4)
EASY : Middle 2 letters of(Focus of) “beam” + “say” minus(without) “a“.
Defn: Borne or done without much effort, as in “light duties”.
24 Unfamiliar rule written by enemy, detailed (7)
FOREIGN : REIGN(rule) placed after(written by) “foe”(enemy) minus its last letter(detailed).
25 Article quite new? Not this (7)
ANTIQUE : AN(an article in English grammar) + anagram of(… new) QUITE.
Defn: .., ie. an article that is not new.
Down
1 Test for a lover to embrace (4)
ORAL : Hidden in(… to embrace) “for a lover“.
Defn: A spoken test.
2 Residence in block, a squat (8)
BUNGALOW : BUNG(to block, say, an outlet) + A + LOW(squat;disproportionately broad or wide, and hence short).
3 Warm actors, not cold in play (6)
TOASTY : “cast”(a group of actors) minus(not) “c”(abbrev. for “cold”) contained in(in) TOY(to play with;to flirt with).
4 Hearing case, figure in dock (8)
TRUNCATE : Homophone of(Hearing) [ “trunk”(a case;a chest) “eight”(a figure between 7 and 9) ].
Defn: To cut off the end of something.
5 Two characters together, like sheep (6)
DIGRAM : DIG(to like;to be a fan of) + RAM(a male sheep).
Defn: …, eg. “sh” in “sheep”.
6 I’m relieved only a small number reported? (4)
PHEW : Homophone of(… reported) “few”(only a small number).
Defn: An expression I utter when I’m relieved.
11 Drink in artificial glass, we hear? (9)
CHAMPAGNE : Homophone of(…, we hear) [ “sham”(artificial;fake) “pane”(a plate of glass as part of a window) ].
12 Tube from Chelsea, or taxi? (5)
AORTA : Hidden in(from) “Chelsea, or taxi“.
Defn: … in the body, carrying blood from the heart.
14 Crack attack (5)
SALLY : Double defn. 1st: A wisecrack;a witty or lively remark; and 2nd: A sudden attack on the enemy from a defensive position.
16 Game reserve is breeding buffalo, originally in captivity? (8)
CRIBBAGE : 1st letters, respectively, of(…, originally) “reserve is breeding buffalo” [in CAGE](in captivity).
Defn: … played with cards.
17 Land seen in charming drawing? (8)
MAGNETIC : NET(to land;to catch) contained in(seen in) MAGIC(wonderful or exciting;entrancing;charming).
Defn: …;attracting.
19 Failed state? (6)
TURKEY : Cryptic defn: Reference to something that is a failure.
20 Monarch inviting all into the bedroom for sport (6)
BIKING : BI(bisexual and thus inviting all;both sexes into the bedroom) KING(a monarch).
Defn: … involving bicycles.
21 Trifle with dessert (4)
FOOL : Double defn. 1st: To play around with; and 2nd: … made of cold pureed fruit and cream or custard.
23 Hit idler (4)
SLUG : Double defn.
Hello all.
Just to say, this puzzle was created at a Guardian masterclass by its brilliant attendees. Whilst the hand of Paul was certainly interfering quite a bit with the process, much of this puzzle was created by talented rookie setters! My job is in peril.
Thanks to all those who attended, and it would be great to see others of you at future masterclasses via the Guardian website. And here’s my shameless self-plugging bit: I have other chances to meet you at my website http://www.crosswordpaul.com where I can be hired, bespoked or evented via the tabs at the top of the page. Do subscribe, and thanks to you all once again!
With much respect,
John (Paul)
Thanks scchua and Paul (and pupils!)
Very similar experience for me – slow progress, but never actually grinding to a halt. There were lots that I liked today – SECOND ROW, FOREIGN, ANTIQUE, DIGRAM and MAGNETIC. I tried (and checked) SLAM and SLOB for SLUG without seeing the second definition in either case, but I didn’t see it for SLUG either!
I didn’t parse ALLAY.
Why is FARTING “juvenile behaviour”? Surely it’s a natural bodily function, only juvenile if the timing is inappropriate?
Like scchua I found this hard and had to turn to his excellent blog more than once for help. As I proceeded I was thinking that some of the puzzle was not what I would normally expect from Paul; so many thanks to John (Paul) for the explanation. Having said that, I thought the clues were all fair and there were some (such as 5d and 20d) which gave rise to a chortle or two. So many thanks to Paul and the attendees at his masterclass for the puzzle (whoever you all are, you did a fine job) and to scchua for the (as always) very helpful blog.
muffin @2 I gather that making a show of farting is juvenile behaviour as the rest of us are normally trying to avoid embarrassment.
Toughest weekday on ages and I think the project worked well-maybe should have n=been on a Saturday.
Thanks to scchua, Paul and all his attenddees
Hi copmus
Yes, but there is nothing that indicates “make a show of” or “take pride in”. As I said, it’s all about the timing. Do you never fart?
I enjoyed this and enjoyed reading JH’s comments. I found this an unusual solving experience: sometimes I was racing through the clues and other times completely stuck, much as scchua suggests. I wonder if this had anything to do with not being able to get into the setters’ mindset, as there wasn’t a single mindset to get into. I also noticed the unbalanced nature of the type of clues but the group effort explains why that would be so.
I thought farting for juvenile behaviour was amusing. OK it isn’t technically correct but it would makes sense to anyone who has had to look after a bunch of sniggering schoolboys for any length of time.
Thanks to all involved.
Wow, this was hard! Sad to say, I gave up with less than half completed.
To my mind, there weren’t enough easy clues to get me going. Another was that I kept thinking “This doesn’t feel like a Paul. What’s the matter (with me)?” Thanks, Paul, for explaining that it wasn’t (only) you.
In retrospect, the clues are fair and not terribly difficult, but it was an odd, rather disconcerting, experience.
Thanks to scchua, Paul and the apprentice setters.
muffin @5 Do I never fart? Ask copmissus!In early marriage it is avoided but as things go on esp with a veg curry,,,,,,,,,,
But the snoring is the reason for sleeping in separate rooms (mine that is). But still happily spliced!
Well, I was going to say that this was not up to Paul’s usual standard! I think for a class effort a nicer grid could have been chosen.
Thanks to John Paul et al, and to scchua for the nice blog. Wot no anagrams?? Apart from a partial.
I resorted to word searches a lot to complete the puzzle. I didn’t find it a very entertaining process, apart from one or two good clues. For the next class, perhaps an anagram or two would be helpful.
Same as Median. On a different day might have persisted longer. Not sure I would ever have got 16ac. Even now it feels both clever and vague. But thanks Paul and scchua.
One new word (digram) several check buttons and quite a few filled in because they fit and then make sense. Loved it. Thanks Paul and scchua…
Quite a slog today. I’m with muffin @2 (as often seems to be the case) re FARTING – too vague an indicatio for me. Not an anagram to be seen… These are often my way in. Also ORAL seems to be compilers word of the month – seems to be cropping up everywhere – Was in the Times on Tuesday.
Before coming here, I prepared myself to say things like: “This was bloody hard”, “I couldn’t understand why I couldn’t get on Paul’s wavelength” and “Is this a particularly ‘unfriendly grid'”? (Not that I fully get what the latter actually means, but I was introduced to the unfriendly grid concept recently on this forum).
But then I came onto the blog, and realised it has all been said!
So now all I have to say is that I am okay (if just a tad bruised) about being defeated by my favourite setter (and co.).
I admit that I did stuff up 24a by putting in STRANGE – taking the end off STRANGER (detailed) – well, it sounded good at the time. By then I had NW and NE, but I had already spent far too long out of a busy day on this puzzle. But then, when I couldn’t get 19d TURKEY to complete the SW, and with most of the SE still an arcane mystery, I gave it away and came here.
Well done, scchua, and huge admiration to anyone who solved this one!
Aside from my tale of woe and honest confession of an epic fail, I actually came on here to say only one thing really: that 11d, CHAMPAGNE, will always be remembered after today, as one of my favourite homophones of all time. I am ‘umble enough to remember my early solving days, when cracking even one such (cracking) clue would be cause for celebration.
So here’s cheers to Paul and his co-conspirators.
(Evven though I know that co-conspirators is a tautology)
PS There is no way I could ever aspire to be a setter, but gee I wish I could have been a fly on the wall at that Masterclass, John@1!
Thanks Paul et al, scchua
I thought it was a very good puzzle, and not tooo hard. I liked MR RIGHT, SECOND ROW, FARTHING, BUNGALOW, CRIBBAGE, MAGNETIC and others. When I was a boy, it was common to make farting noises using hands, armpits etc. I never do that now, never.
Thanks to Paul, class and scchua. Like others I found this very tough and it was a grind out rather than a steady solve. I had a lot of guess and parse after, but got there mostly. I did have to do a word search for digram which I had never heard of (last one in). However still enjoyable in a masochistic sort of way and I did like biking, baggy, firebreak and alarmist (sure I have seen A list/star in another puzzle recently). Thanks again to Paul and scchua for help with some parsing.
I shared the feeling that there was something unfamiliar and not consistently Paul-like in this puzzle – even though Paul’s own work has many variations – and of course John@1 confirmed this; how could one not warm to the explanation, and thus retrospectively to the puzzle? Nothing unfair in it, given that we are accustomed by now to abbreviations like TV or Mr (8ac) being clued as two-letter words. My one quibble is a non-puzzle one, the acknowledgment, by John@1, of the work of ‘attendees’…. has this horrible word ever appeared, or could it appear, as a Guardian solution? I’m sure someone with mastery of the archive will have an answer, preferably negative. People who actively attend are surely attenders, or participants, as opposed to the passive category of nominees, examinees, etc. But thanks anyway for the link to the Paul website. A nice complement to his brilliant book on the centenary of the crossword.
I found this one of the least enjoyable puzzles in a long time, and unusually gave up, with just over half complete.
As others have said, there’s a combination of unattributed multiple setters (so no consistency to the clueing), a horrible grid (three puzzles in one, which exacerbates the difficulty), a lot of very loose definitions (‘something fried’ [could be a doughnut], ‘forwards in sport’, ‘group rooted to the spot’, ‘tube’), and one word (digram) that isn’t supported by Chambers, though I haven’t looed anywhere else. I also think that 19 is trying to be a double definition, but that the first part doesn’t work.
It’s probably me, of course.
Hi Simon @18
Would “State a failure” be better for 19? At least the parts of specch match for each definition.
queenbarrow@17: With regards to the word “attendee” appearing as a solution in a Guardian crossword, have a look at 2d in Cryptic crossword 27,253 set by Pasquale on 19th July 2017:
https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/27253
http://www.fifteensquared.net/2017/07/19/guardian-27253-pasquale/
Apologies quenbarrow – mistyped your name!
This certainly wasn’t 22a and digram was new to us. Otherwise a good workout for lunchtime. Thanks to everyone
No surprise that I also struggled with this and gave up with the right half empty and the left half about two-thirds full. Of the ones I solved I liked CRIBBAGE and was delighted to get FIREBREAK.
Disappointed not to have seen CHAMPAGNE, as it bears some resemblance to a favourite bit of wordplay of mine from the film Love is the Devil (a biopic of Francis Bacon) where Francis strides into a bar and orders ‘Champagne for my real friends and real pain for my fake friends’.
Thanks to the setters and scchua, and hats off to those who completed it!
I tried GROVE early on for 16a, but gave up when nothing else fit. Eventually COPSE made itself plain — same idea.
It have always thought of a two-letter combination as a digraph, DIGRAM is new to me.
“Bung” brings to mind “beetlebung,” a word used only on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, off Cape Cod, which is the spiky lower right-hand corner of Massachusetts. In the town of Chilmark is an intersection called Beetlebung Corner — because it marked a grove (or copse) of beetlebung trees, of course. Wood from these trees made both the bungs for barrels and the beetles to hammer them in with, a popular belief being (I was told) that a bung goes in farther if it’s hammered with a hammer made from the same kind of wood. So now there’s something to add probably to everybody’s vocabulary, though it’s not a word you can use for much beside telling this story.
21d….Fool? Mess, surely?
I ended up using a wordfinder for some of the answers (e.g. SLUG) and like others, couldn’t decide whether it was Paul or me having an off day. All was explained when I read John’s post, of course.
Might it not have been better for the Guardian to have indicated that this was a collaborative effort edited by Paul (perhaps they did in the paper version)? I for one would have approached this with a different mindset, and no doubt been impressed by the potential setting talent of the future rather than disappointed by what I saw as a great setter falling slightly short of his usual high standards. Just as I enjoy a slightly unpolished but enthusiastic performance from a youth orchestra far more than a mechanical run-through by a professional one.
I hope this doesn’t come across as patronising, as that’s the opposite of my intention. I just feel that if we had been told the provenance of the clues, there would have been a much more positive reaction all round.
Found this challenging, but managed to complete it at our third session (sadly, failed to parse 5 and 20 down – thanks scchua for enlightenment). Many lovely clues, and none I would complain about. Thanks all.
Many thanks to Paul and scchua.
It was a puzzle that really benefited for having two minds working on it (as ever, each saying whatever [stupid] thing comes into the brain). People above have mentioned loose definitions, but I had a definite feeling of ‘yes, that’s it’ on a number (e.g. CROUTON).
SE corner held out longest. We had SMACK for 14d, but I did check it on the Guardian website as the last letter seemed unlikely for 20ac, and we got the correct answer eventually. Took a while to parse/work out MR RIGHT and ALLAY and COPSE, but very pleased once we had done so, and after trying FAKE, SHAM rendered the rights goods. LOI SLUG, but last one parsed was EASY. I hadn’t come across ‘focus’ for the middle letters of a word before … is this something relatively common I’ve just missed?
Not thrilled with BIKING – it seems a lot of clue for the answer, but it’s OK. There do seem to have been a number of oral exams lately, not to mention puddings, not to mention the A list.
I’m with Robi – this was nothing like a Paul offering and I ground rapidly to a halt after five or six solutions. While I don’t think a combined offering was a bad idea I agree a better grid could and perhaps should have been used, and there should have been some rubric somewhere to indicate that this wasn’t a normal puzzle (there wasn’t, even in the printed version.) A bit too hard for me, and possibly proof of the old adage that an elephant is a mouse designed by a committee !
Oh, and of course thanks to Scchua and Paul !
This was a dnf for me, with 8a, 4d and 20d not solved. Thanks for the explanations Scchua.I should have got all three but I think my brain was hurting after the struggle.
DIGRAM was new to me, and my Chambers only had DIGRAPH, but I couldn’t see what else it could be.
I didn’t like the way the BIKING clue seems to equate promiscuity with bisexuality, and I was thrown a bit as I think of the sport as cycling.
I did think the puzzle was a bit strange and couldn’t get into the mindset, and now I see that it’s because more than 1 setter was involved. Perhaps the setter should have been given as Paul et al.
I did like ALLAY and BAGGY, but on the whole didn’t enjoy this much. Sorry, setters.
Thanks to Scchua and Paul et al.
Crossbar @31
Cycling in general, certainly, but for some reason it’s always mountain-BIKING.
Muffin@31 I’d forgotten about that! You can probably gather from this that I neither do the activity nor follow the sport 🙂
That should have been muffin@32
I’m happy I’m not alone at finding this unusually hard. An epic fail for me, i got a few then came here.
It’s a typical rookie error making a puzzle overly difficult. Of course the answer is clear to the setter. something to discuss at the next masterclass?
many thanks paul, i very much like the spirit of putting together a puzzle in a masterclass, and special thanks to scchua for mega-enlightenment – well done cracking this one.
FOI (and one of the few) was 9a = MART! Tram(car) back and mart = sell according to Shakespeare and Chambers. This error clearly prevented me from finishing.
Thanks to Paul and Scchua. Tough going for me. I had to look up DIGRAM and I’m not good with homophones (e.g, MR RIGHT, COPSE) though I really liked CHAMPAGNE.
I didn’t enjoy this either, resorting to various cheat methods after it was half completed – my worst attempt in years. I am with cruciverbophile and JohnB that a rubric should have been included – it wasn’t up to Paul’s quality at all, with one or two exceptions (CHAMPAGNE, for example). Unusually, I had no problem with the homophones being homophones, today.
I thought several definitions were too vague: 1a, 16a, 18a; and for “bi” in 20d.
Thanks scchua and to various anons for the efforts.
Please, Editor, do not repeat this experiment.
Dave Ellison @38
I actually had more “favourite” clues than I usually do with Paul, though it’s well recorded that (in contrast to many), he’s not one of my preferred compilers.
muffin @ 39
That may be because he didn’t set ‘em!
My point, Simon (though not made explicitly, I admit)
I finished this but found it a slog. Not enjoyable at all.
I do feel that solving a cryptic involves some kind of communication with the setter. John’s post informs us why this didn’t happen.
I’d go as far to say that this is the least enjoable puzzle I can remember for many a year.
Please don’t inflict another salmagundi like this on us again. It’s not big and it’s not clever. 🙁
lurkio@42 I do agree with you that solving the puzzle is about communicating with the setter, or at least the setter communicating with the solver. And if more than one setter is involved this should be made clear beforehand.
11d reminds me of a joke in a Becket novel: ‘Why did the barmaid champagne? Because the stout porter bitter.’
I had the same (non)solving experience as many and gave up with 4 still to do after a fair amount of guess, check and parse (or not). Looking back at it I had a lot of individual clues ticked, and everything was fair, but I didn’t find it an enjoyable puzzle overall. As others have said an explanatory intro would have helped and I applaud the editor for being innovative, even if it didn’t quite come off.
I’d like to nominate Scchua for entry into the bloggers hall of fame for untangling this one, and to Paul et al for pushing the boundaries.
This was different from my usual experience with a Paul puzzle, and I see that others felt the same. If I can make a subjective comment about it, I would say it lacked Paul’s usual lightness of touch.
I started with CHAMPAGNE – a good clue. After that, I found the crossword quite challenging and the standard of clueing somewhat variable. It’s simpler to highlight the ones I had problems with: SECOND ROW (a weak definition), ALARMIST (shooter merely an example of a weapon or arm), COPSE (the choice of ‘group’ and ‘to the spot’), FARTHING (‘juvenile behaviour’), EASY (‘focus’ apparently meaning the middle two letters of four), DIGRAM (is it a word?), BIKING (an inappropriate attempt at a definition). I was going to add ALLAY and TURKEY to this list, but the ‘?’ in both cases telegraphed whimsical definitions that I thought on reflection were rather neat. (Having two such clues in a crossword is not excessive!)
I had no such reservations about any other clue, and there were some excellent ones: MR RIGHT, CROW, BAGGY, FIREBREAK, FOREIGN, BUNGALOW, CRIBBAGE, TRUNCATE and MAGNETIC.
Thanks to Paul and all involved in this, and to scchua.
I meant to report also the irony that the only clue I failed to parse was EASY!
It’s all been said above really. A bit of a slog I didn’t persist with.
Well! First thing to say is, a DNF for me, stuck on TRUNCATE. I got it after trial-and-error using Check landed me with the initial T.
I honestly wouldn’t expect even Paul to deliver up not one, not two, but five homophones.
And a shame after I wrote in ALLAY and thought it one of the best clues I’ve seen for quite a while.
I have a few other gripes here – probably already noted by others. But – aha! – I’ve just noticed Paul’s explanation at #1. So it’s not really a ‘Paul’ after all. That would never have occurred to me!
OK: A CROW is not a rook. Look them up. Corvus coronae versus C. frugilegus: quite distinct species – and fairly easy to tell apart. I suppose a rook is a member of the crow family – but members of that family are not referred to as “crows”. You wouldn’t call a magpie or a jay a “crow”. Corvids, perhaps.
FARTHING was probably devised by someone who know’s Paul’s sense of humour – but it’s by no means ‘juvenile’ behaviour. Everyone breaks wind, whatever their age…
SALLY baffled me. I’ve never heard of the word as meaning a witty remark – although it is there buried in Chambers. I was forced to think the association “sally” -> “go” (at something) -> (have a) “crack” (at something). Vague indeed!
BIKING – well I suppose it is a sort of ‘sport’ but the word usually stands merely for riding a motorbike, usually in a non-sporting context.
On the whole a toughie – and perhaps the comments (which I’ve suffered as a wannabe setter) that rookies tend to set too tough, ring true after all!
I’m now beginning to wonder if Boatman’s got anything up his sleeve for his impending follow-up class in April….
Thanks anyway to Paul (and acolytes) and scchua.
Incidentally, @scchua – your comment on ALARMIST seems to imply that you think it can only be a noun. Not so, it’s also an adjective – so “causing unnecessary distress” is quite grammatically Ok as the definition.
Holy moly!! This was a challenging puzzle! Much more difficult than I usually find Paul’s puzzles to be, so reading John @1’s explanation (as well as the posts of many commenters who also found this challenging) was very helpful. I was pleased that, after some slow going in the beginning, I picked up momentum and solved most of the puzzle at a decent, if not blistering, pace . . . but then I came to a complete, crunching halt in the NE corner, most of which remained unsolved (and seemingly unsolvable by me) for hours. I finally had the PDM for MR. RIGHT, and from there managed to claw my way eventually across the finish line, but all I could say when I finally got there was “PHEW”!! My favorite today was BIKING. CROW (for its misleading surface), CHAMPAGNE and MAGNETIC were not far behind.
Many thanks to Paul and scchua and the other commenters.
You’re right, laccaria@50. Thanks. Comment deleted.
Rereading the rest of the forum long after the main event, I realised I didn’t thank scchua, so belatedly, I wanted to express my appreciation for the explanations.
Thank you Paul (and class), and sschua. This was a DNF; I got defeater by Mr Right and Digram.
To weigh in on “farting”, I have often use the term “farting around” to mean stupid behaviour. Not sure if that’s common in the UK, or what is meant here.
Sorry; thanks to Wiglaf. A brain fart, you might say.
I expect you all know this but it amuses me:
A CROW in a crowd is s ROOK.
A ROOK on its own is a CROW.
I’m not sure if this supports your argument or not, Laccaria@49. 🙂
Laccaria @49
Re SALLY: I too understood your meaning of this word – as in having a ‘crack’ or having a ‘go’ at something. I would never have thought of the meaning of ‘wisecrack’. The other meaning (‘attack’) was a little easier, but the clue as a whole, being a DD, was tough for me.
Laccaria @49
I’m not disagreeing that “a crow is not a rook”, but for a slightly different reason. It would be like saying “a mammal is an elephant”.
The crow family (corvids, as you say) includes (in Britain) carrion and hooded crows, ravens, rooks, jays, magpies, jackdaws and choughs; these are all “crows”. So “a rook is a crow”, as “an elephant is a mammal”.
In your post you are using “crow” to mean specifically “carrion crow”.
Ah! All is now clear! Like others I struggled with the ‘unfamiliar’ Paul. Agree with comments about ‘farting’ not being necessarily juvenile. But several lovely clues. My Favourite too was ‘champagne’. I have one quibble: surely ‘quiet” isn’t a verb? Shouldn’t it be’ quieten’ as in fact Schua put in his blog?
I’m reassured on coming here to find that others found this definitely on the hard side. But no clues to complain about, and some really excellent ones.
I can’t understand the complaints that it was somehow remiss or unfair for us not to have been told beforehand that this was sham Paul, not the real thing. Surely surprise and deceit are always part of this game?
Many thanks to Paul, the aspiring Pauls and sschua.
g larsen@60. I agree about the surprise and deceit (or at least misdirection – maybe deceit is a bit strong). But as the crosswords are attributed to a particular setter, and the attribution is in a way part of the clueing, then the attribution should be accurate.
Thanks Crossbar@61. I would agree with you if Paul’s name had been placed on top of some completely unconnected setter’s effort. But Paul has told us that he supervised and contributed to this puzzle, so I still think there’s no reason for complaint.
But I’ll accept misdirection instead of deceit!
I don’t start crosswords until after lunch these days and by dinner time yesterday I still hadn’t finished this. I only finally completed this at lunch time today after a workout in the gym. My completion was thanks to every aid I could think of including Mrs PA.
That said, the NW corner went in relatively easily but the rest came slowly and painfully with DIGRAM being LOI. I’d never heard of the term but I’ll certainly remember it in future AND the clue was excellent. Indeed, most of the clues were excellent in retrospect.
However, as many others have said,this was hard!
Thanks Paul et all.
Ps I was going to say that I liked FARTING but I thought it might be taken the wrong way.
We didn’t tackle this till today (even later than PA (63)). Once we realised that some of the answers were un-gettable in our zone, rather than use aids as PA did, we simply started looking up the answers to finish and still couldn’t parse quite a few such as MAGNETIC.
I agree with cruci…@26 and others that it is good to have an occasional collaborative effort but it should have been indicated at the beginning.
Hopefully we will see more of these where it says (as has been suggested) Paul et al
We tried a few words ending in Y for 14d but none of them meant ‘attack’. Got the right answer eventually though.