Guardian Cryptic 27,942 by Paul

by

The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/27942.

A splendid crossword, in which I particularly note Pauline whimsy and invention bursting through at 14A PECCADILLO and 3D HAYDN; and an example of what a cryptic definition should be like at 18D RUSH HOUR.

Across
9 EXTRADITE Legally hand over classic horror story penned by West Country runner (9)
An envelope (‘penned by’) of TRAD (‘classic’) plus IT (Stephen King ‘horror story’) in EXE (River, ‘West Country runner’).
10 COOEE Checking on our electrics, extension leads over here! (5)
First letters (‘leads’) of ‘Checking On Our Electrics, Extension. An exclamation to attract someone’s attention.
11 OVERDUE Late battle unfinished, one gutted about it (7)
An envelope (‘about it’) of VERDU[n] (First World War ‘battle’) minus the last letter (‘unfinished’) in OE (‘OnE gutted’).
12 MOONSET When astronomical body going down, doctor ready to act? (7)
MO ON SET of a film.
13 REIN Check on hip (4)
A charade of RE (‘on’) plus IN (‘hip’).
14 PECCADILLO Minor error, result of crossing chicken with armoured animal, might you say? (10)
Whimsically treated as a portmanteau word, combining PECKER (‘chicken’) with ARMADILLO (‘armoured animal’).
16, 26 THE REAL THING  Authentic expression of concern by parliament (3,4,5)
A charade of THERE (often “there, there”, ‘expression of concern’) plus ALTHING (Icelandic ‘parliament’).
17 SCOURGE Curse when senior officer’s overcome by sudden rush (7)
An envelope (‘overcome by’) of CO (Commanding Officer, ‘senior officer’) in SURGE (‘sudden rush’).
19 COPPERHEAD Reptilian chief of police? (10)
Definition and literal interpretation. A COPPERHEAD is a poisonous snake; I once spent the night in a shelter where one was warned not to dangle ones legs over the front ledge because copperheads lived underneath.
22 AS IS A relation, unaltered (2,2)
A SIS (‘a relation’).
24 ACRYLIC Special paint — a small amount not quite covering blubber (7)
An envelope (‘covering’) of CRY (‘blubber’) in ‘a’ plus LIC[k] (‘small amount’) minus its last letter (‘not quite’).
25 PAK CHOI Unruly chap punched by king, attention-seeker leaves (3,4)
A charade of PAKCH, an envelope (‘punched by’) of K (‘king’) in PACH, an anagram (‘unruly’) of ‘chap’; plus OI (a shout, ‘attention-seeker’). Round our way, the Chinese cabbage is known as bok choi.
26   See 16
27 END RESULT Tiny bit of lettuce stuck in dentures unfortunately — that’s what happened (3,6)
An envelope (‘stuck in’) of L (‘tiny bit of Lettuce’) in ENDRESUT, an anagram (‘unfortunately’) of ‘dentures’.
Down
1 DEMOCRATIC PARTY Egalitarians supposedly come apart, with dirty tricks inspiring criminality at first (10,5)
An envelope (‘inspiring’) of C (‘Criminality at first’) in DEMORATICPARTY, an anagram (‘tricks’) of ‘come apart’ plus ‘dirty’.
2 ETHERISE Heading for escalator, the lift put out (8)
A charade of E (‘heading for Escalator’) plus ‘the’ plus RISE (‘lift’). With an alternative spelling:

Like a patient etherized upon a table.
3 HAYDN Austrian composer leading Punjabi in hunting game, we hear? (5)
HAYDN SIKH sounds like (‘we hear’) HIDE ‘N’ SEEK (‘hunting game’). Sikhs form the majority in Punjab State.
4 SIZEWELL Measure hole in nuclear site (8)
A charade of SIZE (‘measure’) plus WELL (‘hole’). SIzewell is a village in Suffolk, England, giving its name to the nearby nuclear reactors.
5 DERMIC Skinny vermin almost entirely squashed by upstanding cardinal (6)
A charade of DER, a reversal (‘upstanding’) of RED (‘cardinal’) plus MIC[e] (‘vermin’) minus the last letter (‘almost entirely’). I suppose that ‘squashed by’ serves to indicate placed in close contact (or maybe firmly sat upon).
6 ACCORDION Line, one nailed by a fool one’s played (9)
An envelope (‘nailed by’) of CORD (‘line’) plus I (‘one’) in ‘a’ plus CON (‘fool’, verb).
7, 21 TONSIL HOCKEY Beginning to tire, school in terribly important, passionate game? (6,6)
A charade of T (‘beginning to Tire’) plus ONSILHOC, an anagram (‘terribly’) of ‘school in’, plus KEY (‘important’).
8 BEETHOVEN’S FIFTH German’s noted classic, H? (10,5)
H is the FIFTH letter of BeetHoven.
15 GENEALOGY Under top of glass eye, a long wiggly line (9)
A charade of G (‘top of Glass’) plus ENEALOGY, an anagram (‘wiggly’) of ‘eye a long’.
17 STAMPEDE Charge, as letter may be requiring postage, ultimately (8)
A charade of STAMPED (‘as letter may be’) plus E (‘postagE ultimately’).
18 RUSH HOUR Jam session? (4,4)
Cryptic definition – and one of the better ones.
20 PARKIN Secure packing chest for gingerbread (6)
An envelope (‘packing’) of ARK (‘chest’) in PIN (‘secure’).
21   See 7
23 SKEET Shooting stick’s outside, supporter set up (5)
A charade of SK (‘SticK‘s outside’) plus EET, a reversal (‘set up’ in a down light) of TEE (‘supporter’).
completed grid

40 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,942 by Paul”

  1. I found myself on Paul’s wavelength today until I got tripped up by PARKIN, a word I didn’t know. Several clues raised a smile, including the two mentioned above as well as 8d, which could not be improved upon for the brevity of its wordplay.

    Thanks to Paul and PeterO.

  2. Likewise I too found myself on Paul’s wavelength today, although I unthinkingly put in Beethoven’s ninth instead of fifth so a dnf. I have a vague idea though that I have seen that clue before or something similar at some time. Also needed the blog to help parse 16,26 and 9 not being a connoisseur of parliament names nor horror titles.
    Lots to enjoy today in the whimsical vein- liked DERMIC,enjoyed PECCADILLO and COPPERHEAD and agree that jam session is a great cryptic defn.
    Thanks to Paul and PeterO.

  3. Well well, the things you learn, thinking no, Althing can’t be a real thing surely, but there it was; who knew! So yep, pretty much ditto the above. A recent theme helped with ‘It’ in 9ac, nice indigenous Ozism in cooee, etherism slighly erk, skinny for dermic is cute, bit of slap and giggle at 7,21, and vaguely remembered parkin from previous cws. Couldn’t think of Sikh to go with Joe, which was a bit lazy/dumb, but all fun. Thanks P and P.

  5. Can’t exactly quantify this, but it just seemed you needed to know a bit more than usual to get through this. Plus be alert to some inventive wordplay – all in all a good workout for the old grey matter. I think we saw SIZEWELL a few weeks ago, which helped. PECCADILLO was surprisingly foi, I have to imagine it was because of a recent encounter with ELP’s Tarkus, which was an “armoured dillo”.

  6. … not to be confused with “dilloing in his armour”, Dr. Wh. Terrific outfit, ELP; loved their eponymous first album the best.

  7. Hard work for a start but I ended up really enjoying this. Eventually all parsed except for the Icelandic parliament which I must try to remember for the future.

    ETHERISE for ‘put out’, RUSH HOUR, GENEALOGY and plenty of others were all v. good but clear winner for me was HAYDN, with the excellent ‘hide ‘n’ seek’ homophone.

    Thanks to a Paul and PeterO

  8. Peccadillo reminded me of the village that we pass the road sign to everytime we take the A30 from Exeter into Cornwall. What do you get when you cross a parrot with a pachyderm? Polyphant!

  9. I prefer the sixth and the ninth to the fifth but alas neither meets the wordplay.Tricky puzzle and great blog. Thanks Paul and Peter O

  10. Very challenging and I had to come here for some of the parsing. It took me ages and ages to see 5d DERMIC. Chuckled at the old TONSIL HOCKEY, 7,21d. 19a COPPERHEAD was a particularly great clue (and I now have “Copperhead Road” by Steve Earle as an earworm). I was a bit chuffed that I recalled the parliament for 16,26a, and I think like gif@3 that I have met 20d PARKIN before (my vague memory is that Eileen explained it as a cake sometime in the past). I also recently saw a ghastly trailer for the new “It” film, so I was able to get EXTRADITE at 9a. Like gif, the afore-mentioned Aussie poster, I liked 10a COOEE (parochial I know!), and I did enjoy solving the two long ones at 1d and 8d. However, I must grizzle that “unfortunately” was the correct adverb for the “tiny bit of lettuce” for “L” – really! – in 27a END RESULT (only consolation was it wasn’t “L” for “student” I guess).

    Thanks very much to Paul for such a tough Thursday and to PeterO for a thorough blog.

  12. Yes, on Paul’s wavelength too, but held up by the NE corner, as Cooee was not initially obvious to me, and Tonsil Hockey had disappeared some time ago from my lexicon.

  13. Managed to stay on Paul’s wavelength in spite of some attempts to throw me off.

    I knew “Althing” from reading Njal’s Saga many years ago, and it has always struck me as rather nice that the modern Icelandic Parliament has such a long history to its name. Also a pleasant pennydrop moment to see it as an element of 16,26

    Thanks to Peter and Paul.

  14. [The grand final was a bit of a washout, JinA, as the Giants never got within cooee after the first quarter]

  17. Tough but rewarding in the end. PECCADILLO and the FIFTH were particular favourites. DNK the parliament – kept trying to work owls in after yesterday’s OWLERIES.

    Off to put up more curtain poles. A man’s work is never done. Still brownie points for owning up to the 21/22 Ashes trip!

    Thanks to Paul for the brain exercise and to PeterO for the elucidation.

  18. Very well done on the parsing, PeterO!

    An excellent crossword and no doubt I am wrong on the few definitions I thought questionable. I would have thought that extradite is the opposite/complement of hand over, i.e. I extradite/you hand over are the same act from different viewpoints.

     

  19. Thanks both,
    I couldn’t parse 3 or 16,26, but otherwise an engaging puzzle which ‘gave’ steadily.

  20. A strange solve for me. It seemed like a typical Paul solve at first, with little on first passes, but gradually unpacking. However today I got to a point at which all the right side was completed, but absolutely nothing in the left side. However got there in the end with Haydn last one in (guess on the grounds he was the only Austrian composer I know that fit). Favourites for me were rush hour, etherise and peccadillo. Thanks to Paul for the challenge and PeterO for the blog, particularly fit the parsing of Haydn and the real thing.

  21. DNF due to Haydn failing to come to mind, perhaps because I was stuck on leading Punjabi being P. I enjoyed Cooee when I finally saw it (It’s Australian? I always thought it was an old London thing. Live and learn…), peccadillo, copperhead (Like Julie, I’m humming My name’s John Lee Pettimore…), and “H?” had me laughing and groaning, as that one took me ages/all the crossers.
    Cheers Peter and Paul

  22. By no means a pushover but it was all gettable and great fun.  Paul on top form I thought.  Just as well we have 225 or I would be puzzling over a fair bit of word play. So many thanks PeterO.  Like you PeterO I had HAYDN as my COTD (probably of the week), and I also enjoyed THE REAL THING once the ALTHING was explained. And BEETHOVEN’S FIFTH, was a real gem.  Many thanks Paul for a couple of hours of sheer pleasure.

  24. copmus and ngaiolaurenson, we could have had BEETHOVEN’S NINTH if Paul had used N – what a super clue 8d was!

  25. I enjoyed this work out very much. [Can’t resist reminding you of what you probably know already, but re 10 ac, cooeeing along with miaouing are the only two words in English with five consecutive vowels. There are none with any higher number.]

  26. Thanks Paul and PeterO.  8d BEETHOVEN’S FIFTH was indeed a great clue.

    Xjpotter @25 – Hampsthwaite, a village near here, has six consecutive consonants.  I don’t know if anything beats that?

  27. We found this very hard and not much fun – whereas we normally really like a Paul. Rather too much GK: Althing seriously obscure for those without degrees in Anglo-Saxon Celtic and Old Norse Studies, and COOEE is inexcusable! Local, extinct and, insofar as it ever was a word, invariably written COO-EE. Yorkshire Lass and I not happy bunnies.

  29. Xjpotter, there was a 5-vowel word with no consonants that someone here cited last week; I think, but I could be wrong, that the discussion was triggered by Nietzsche.

  30. How I learned to stop worrying and love Paul’s crosswords…

    Another cracker: they always are with Paul.  I used to find them a bit daunting, but having got more onto his wavelength, these are some of the puzzles I enjoy the most: never a gimme, but always worth the effort.

    Numerous clues today were ticked as favourites, nothing unparsed, lots of wit and invention, nothing unfair.  Last two in were in the NW, and were two of my favourites, probably because of the late penny dropping moments: HAYDN was hidin’, despite him being one of my favourite classical composers, whom I always ‘wittily’ refer to as “Haydn Seek”; the A led to TRAD IT (it had to be within EXE), and the final satisfying answer, to go with DEMOCRATIC PARTY and ETHERISE.  PECCADILLO felt like a new category of Spoonerisation had been invented, and TONSIL HOCKEY rang a bell: I have only ever come across this sport twice, both in crosswords.

    Great stuff Paul and thanks to PeterO

  31. [gif and jia: maybe peurile of me, but I was always amused by the idea of two Australians of a certain age seeing each other across the street in Paris, and shouting out “COOEEE”]

  32. ngaiolaurenson@2, although I enjoyed the clue for 8d, I also felt it had a familiar ring to it.

    As others have said, some great clues with the usual wit and cleverness that we expect from Paul. I always played Tennis rather than hockey in my heyday and had never really been aware of this alternative (even more middle class?) sport!

    Loved the example from gif@14. Although I’ve never had the pleasure of going down under, I could just hear this being said by one of your compatriot commentators. I always enjoy the accents.

    Thanks for the expert parsing which I needed for a couple as others have already mentioned.

  33. Euouae has 6 vowels and never seen it in a crossword. Love parkin though seems a northern thing.
    Got several unparsed as ever 6 and 16,26 being prime. Another dnf but getting the hang of this as that’s three in a week completed…..nicely enjoyable. Cheers both.

  34. Thanks to Paul and PeterO.

    BEETHOVEN@S FIFTH was FOI so a long backward slog but worth it for RUSH HOUR.  MOONSET was a new one on me, although it makes sense – now to work it into a conversation….

    Very enjoyable.

    Bear of little brain@31: I’m intrigued – what do you think a Parisian would hear?

     

  35. Re the COOEEE comments: It’s interesting that this is possibly the only example of a genuinely expression of indigenous Australian origin that has has co-kpted by the English. But the are articulated very differently and have different meanings. In England (not sure of the rest of the UK) it tends to be quiet and msans “Hello, anyone at home?”, whereas in Oz it means “I’m over here!” which may be a great distance away. (I once directed a play in Australia which was set in the closing days of the Raj and this had to be explained to ths actor who had this as her ope inv line,)

  36. Re the COOEEE comments: It\’s interesting that this is possibly the only example of a genuinely expression of indigenous Australian origin that has has co-kpted by the English. But the are articulated very differently and have different meanings. In England (not sure of the rest of the UK) it tends to be quiet and msans \”Hello, anyone at home?\”, whereas in Oz it means \”I\’m over here!\” which may be a great distance away. (I once directed a play in Australia which was set in the closing days of the Raj and this had to be explained to ths actor who had this as her ope inv line,)

  37. One comment was probably enough and the word, of course, was ‘opening, rather than ‘open inv’. And goodness knows where all those oblique slashes came from! I now see there are other typos as well. Curse predictive text and curse septuagenarian fingers! 🙁

  39. I’ve never actually heard anybody say “there, there,” but is “there” by itself an expression of anything?

    P(ARK)IN was in a Paul puzzle just over a year ago, Eileen blogged that one.  I quoted a song about Parking then, won’t bore you with it again.

    Many years ago in the New York Times big Sunday crossword puzzle there were words whose clue was a single letter.  When you worked out the pattern (that’s the way with the NYT puzzle often, there’s a pattern you have to deduce), it was “Y = Fourth of July,” “O = Second in command,” and so forth.  Beethoven’s Nth may well have been one of them.

  40. Delighted to learn about euouae, which does seem to be a word even though it started off as a mnemonic.

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