Guardian 27,870 – Paul

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I enjoyed this – after slow progress at first it gradually revealed its secrets in a very satisfying way. Thanks to Paul.

With BAMBOOZLE, BANJOIST and ZITHERS in top NW corner I thought we might be in for a pangram, but there’s no Q, V, W or X

 
 
 
 
 
 
Across
1. BAMBOOZLE Throw drink over Labour leader after British PM’s predecessor? (9)
B[ritish] + AM (predecessor of PM in time of day) + L[abour] in BOOZE, with the surface perhaps referring to the current trend of throwing milkshakes at politicians
6. FIDO Change reversed, having shaved my dog (4)
Reverse of MODIFY, with MY “shaved” from the outside. Are any dogs called Fido these days?
8. BANJOIST Don’t allow supporter to see player (8)
BAN + JOIST
9. BODICE Old bones alongside black garment (6)
B[lack] + O DICE (bones)
10. EDISON Creator, one upset about Hades (6)
DIS (hell, Hades) in ONE*
11. EARLIEST First: last of course is later, however (8)
[cours]E + (IS LATER)* – I don’t remember seeing “however” as an anagram indicator before, but it’s as reasonable as many
12. PLAY UP Throw a tantrum when baby eats plant (4,2)
LAP LAY (to plant) in PUP
15. SLITHERY Sturdy case: more flexible parts sliding around (8)
LITHER in S[turd]Y
16, 21. BATTLE OF THE BULGE Hitler’s offensive struggle with weight? (6,2,3,5)
Double definition – the Battle of the Bulge was a German counter-offensive starting in late 1944, and there’s a film of the same name
19. GOPHER Viable plan to trap pub rodent (6)
PH (Public House) in GOER (viable plan)
22, 3. SPRING ONION Vegetable issue inspiring panic at first, beetle reportedly beginning to nibble on one (6,5)
P[anic] + RINGO (one of the Beatles) + N[ibble] + I in SON (issue)
24. NO GOOD Rotten muck in gesture (2-4)
GOO in NOD
25, 1 down. CHOPPING BOARD Something found in kitchen, one-legged pig hiding in empty cupboard (8,5)
HOPPING BOAR (one-legged pig) in C[upboar]D. It seems a bit of a blemish that we have BOARD in the answer and, mostly unused, in the wordplay in “cupboard”
26. BEND Turn back on man while sleeping? (4)
Last letter (back) of maN in BED, i.e. “while sleeping”
27. STRAPLESS Worry about itinerant pal lacking support (9)
PAL* in STRESS
Down
2. MAJESTY Joke leader’s assumed great power (7)
JEST in MAY (Theresa M, soon to be an ex-“leader” of the UK)
4. ZITHERS Spot, for the lady, some instruments (7)
ZIT (spot) + HERS
5. EMBARKING Getting on, this setter is flipping barmy (9)
Reverse of ME + BARKING (mad, barmy)
6. FADDISH Join in search, interesting for a short while (7)
ADD (to join) in FISH (search)
7. DUCK’S ARSE Style of drake, with cuss? (5,4)
(DRAKE CUSS)*, with a kind of &lit definition, if you count “arse” as a “cuss”
13. LOATHSOME Vile profanities in opera lacking appeal (9)
OATHS (more swearing!) in SALOME (opera by Richard Strauss) less SA (Sex Appeal)
14. PRECLUDES Some way through introductory pieces, music finally stops (9)
[musi]C in PRELUDES
17. TABLOID I appreciate that offer to cover characters central to plot in newspaper (7)
[p]LO[t] in TA (thanks, I appreciate that) + BID (offer)
18. FIERCER Processing of ferric oxide, ultimately more intense (7)
Anagram of FERRIC + [oxid]E
20. PORK PIE People making peanuts heading for insolvency in opening story (4,3)
KP (brand of peanuts, often seen in pubs) + I[nsolvency] in PORE (opening). Pork pie is rhyming slang for “lie”
22. SLOOP Ship — that which you can bet on having capsized (5)
Reverse of POOLS. The football pools were badly hit by the introduction of the National Lottery, but I see they still exist in a small way
23. NINES Squares introduced to fashion, in essence (5)
Hidden in fashioN IN ESsence. Nine is a square number

35 comments on “Guardian 27,870 – Paul”

  1. After the quickest ever write in with BATTLE OF THE BULGE which helped with the SW corner, slowed completely with the NE grinding almost to a halt. Really liked the hopping pig but it was a shame about the BOAR(D), as you say. Went all round the orchestra in my head to find the player but there were no BANJOISTs – great clue.
    All in all some gentler relief after the last two days, and lots of fun. Thanks, Paul and Andrew.

  3. Thanks Paul and Andrew

    Fairly straightforward, though I didn’t see the anagram component of DUCK’S ARSE. Favourite was BANJOIST.

    “Plant” for LAY in 12a, though not wrong, seems rather loose.

  5. Agree with muffin re 12a, but lots of fun wth a few chuckle groans, like Ringo in the onion and the hopping boar. And a deal easier than Imogen and Pasquale, during both of which visitors arrived, so finished next day. Hadn’t heard of KP peanuts, or have eaten them in a pub without noticing, but it had to be pork pie. The duck’s arse hairdo was popular with our ‘bodgies’ (a sort of pre-ted species) in the ’50s. Thanks for the fun Paul and thanks Andrew.

  6. “Bend” took me the longest time, with the rest being delightful as they unfolded. I missed the anagram too, in “duck’s arse” having quickly read it as “belonging to a drake” and “cuss” meaning “style” – the clue was better than I gave it credit for.

    Andrew – you have “lap” not “lay” in 12a. I too had pangrammatic thoughts but quickly ran out of room for Q, X etc. For “however” as an anagrind, it seems to make sense – you can take this however you want.

    Anyhow, I really enjoyed this. No quibbles over the clues which unfolded bit by bit very pleasingly. A few made me wonder if I was in a comedy club not solving a crossword – “hopping boar”? “bamboozle”? Lovely. Many thanks Paul and Andrew.

  8. I enjoyed this a lot. Favourites were CHOPPING BOARD, SPRING ONION, LOATHSOME, ZITHERS, SLITHERY, FIDO, BAMBOOZLE.

    Solved PORK PIE but had never heard of KP peanut brand, so I could not parse that.

    Thanks Paul and Andrew.

  9. Same as others, good progress until the NE corner when FADDISH & BODICE took ages due to the unexpected synonyms of fish = search; and bones = dice.

    Can’t imagine ever wanting to his the word LITHER (unless I were a desperate poet trying to rhyme either) so SLITHERY came slowly, too.

    I had intended to grouse about the nonsensical surface of the FIDO clue but grantinfreo said it better than I would have done.

    The hopping pig was fun but COD for me was BAMBOOZLE.

    Many thanks, Paul, nice week all.

  10. Thought this one of the more straightforward Paul puzzles, the hopping pig more like his usual fun and games…

  12. Thanks to Paul and Andrew

    Great fun. I need cheering up these days!

    Some write-ins, such as 21 and 25, but others a lot trickier. 8ac a clear favourite. 7dn was frequently said to me at school when my unruly fair hair refused to lie down.

    22ac made me think of the recent film “Yesterday” which imagines a world in which The Beatles never existed: when the hero googles “Beatles” all he gets is pictures of beetles. Well worth seeing.

  14. To add to Marienkaefer @13 for Judy @11 “bones” is a not uncommon slang term for dice, especially in America. There is a song in Porgy and Bess “Roll dem bones” about playing craps, and a short story by Fritz Leiber (second shout out in two days) “Gonna Roll The Bones” which pick up on that usage. Etymologically “alea” apparently originally referred to a bone or joint before becoming the common word for a die as in “alea jacta est”.

  15. I solved and parsed all  this, without help from here (aren’t I wonderful for my age!), but I don;t understand why 15 across is a “creator”.  Is it just because he was an inventor?  If so, it seems a bit weak to me.

  16. Thanks to Paul and Andrew. My experience sounds like some others. A typical Paul solve for me, started of very slowly with only battle of the bulge on first pass. Then it was a solve of four corners with the SW first to crack and the NE holding out the longest. Faddish and slithery were the last ones and another fan of bamboozle and the hoppin boar. I also liked gopher and thanks again to Paul and Andrew.

  17. I agree with Geoff Wilkins @15 that creator=Edison is a bit loose.

    NW was almost last for me, not helped by pencilling in spring green for 22a 3. It fell into place when I finally got Zithers.

    Bend was last in because I couldn’t be bothered once I had the crossers. I used knight (n) for man which works if bend=turn back, but Andrew’s suggestion is better.

  19. I got stuck on bones = sawbones = DOC, was there a garment called a BODOC(S)?  Check button left me with B_D_C_ and all became clear.

    Andrew —  thanks for the parsing of SPRING ONION.

    25, 1d I have a hard time picturing a normally four-legged animal with only one leg left hopping.  It feels too cruel to think about.

  20. Howard March @17:  My BEND parsing was the same as yours.  Hard to say which the setter intended as they both work fine.

  21. An absolute delight! Paul at his wittiest and most devious. Typically hard to start but accelerating toward the finishing line. 6 across had me giggling before I had even solved it.

  22. Quite tough, though not in comparison with Saturday’s jigsaw with missing pieces. FADDISH and BODICE were last in.

    Thanks to Paul and Andrew

  23. Found this one hard, especially the NE corner. For a long time I had ????S WEAR for 7d, taking cuss too literally, until GOPHER clicked (not my first thought for a rodent!).

    Best clues for me were the old bones BODICE and LOATHSOME, with a nod to Richard Strauss.
    In retrospect the clue for DUCKS ARSE was really excellent, not to mention FIDO (shaved or otherwise).

    Thanks to setter and bloggers.

  24. “while sleeping” does not provide BED. It could provide “abed” or “in bed”… but not just bed.

  26. I thought this quite tough but I’ve been on antibiotics for a tooth infection and they’ve made me even more woozy than usual. As others have said the NE was the hardest and I couldn’t parse FIDO or SLITHERY. Indeed, I still don’t understand the latter. I also thought EDISON was a bit naff..BAMBOOZLE and BANJOIST were lovely. I thought BATTLE OF THE BULGE was distinctly Rufusian!
    Thanks Paul.

  28. Thanks to Paul and Andrew. I’m another who had trouble parsing PORK PIE but overall I found his a bit easier than my usual struggle with this setter.

  30. One-legged pig up there with the happy parasite – thank you Paul! And really liked FIDO. Although we completed, Andrew’s excellent blog was necessary for justification of PORK PIE and BEND, so many thanks to him too.

  31. Late to comment, but I had to toot my horn to someone about finally solving a Paul, and Mrs. DinNC has no interest in puzzles. Lots of fun as noted by others, and a welcome relief after being bloodied for the last two days. Thanks to Paul and Andrew.

  32. Ultimately defeated by BODICE, SLITHERY and FADDISH in NE corner so grateful for the expert parsing, thanks Andrew. These were fair clues and I’m kicking myself for not getting the latter which was not remotely obscure.

    As others have said, a typical Paul solve with penny dropping moments throughout so thanks for that, Paul. My favourites matched others but I also think BAMBOOZLED was Clue of the day.

  33. BAMBOOZLE* of course! As I’m posting again will take the opportunity to praise Hitler’s offensive!

    Great puzzle Paul.

  34. I really enjoyed this one.  The only one I couldn’t parse was LOATHSOME because I’m so accustomed to “appeal” = “it” and I wasn’t aware of any opera called Litome or Lomite.

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