It gets increasingly hard to think of anything novel to say in this bit, so, as usual: this crossword is great – Paul’s the best đ
Across
9. Trump’s change of policy dealing with mug (5-4)
ABOUT-FACE
ABOUT = “dealing with” + FACE = “mug”
Definition: “Trump’s change of policy”
10. Enhance diet thus, originally in difficulty (3,2)
ADD TO
D[iet] T[hus] = “diet thus, originally” in ADO = “difficulty”
Definition: “Enhance”
11. Be off with Conservative deal â catastrophe! (7)
DEBACLE
(BE C DEAL)* – the C is an abbreviation of Conservative
Definition: “catastrophe!”
12. Trouble in huge drunk guzzling last of gin (7)
UNHINGE
(IN HUGE)* around [gi]N
Definition: “Trouble” – the closest I can get (not very close) to making this work is “he was troubled” / “he was unhinged”, but maybe there’s a better explanation of the definition part?
13. Prayer required to join Republican Party (4)
RAVE
R = “Republican” + AVE = “Prayer”
Definition: “Party”
14. System broken by main Irish party, open your eyes! (5,5)
WAKEY WAKEY
WAY = “System” around KEY = “main” + WAKE = “Irish party”
Definition: “open your eyes!”
16. Feed hare the wrong way, true to form (7)
NURTURE
RUN = “hare” reversed (“the wrong way”) + (TRUE)*
Definition: “Feed”
17. Vacuum-packed whiskey? (6-1)
DOUBLE-U
This was one of our last clues – fun, but tricky to see! There’s a double-U in “vacuum”
Definition: “whiskey?” in the NATO phonetic alphabet is W
19. On a trip in the air, as a jet-setter? (4-6)
HIGH-FLYING
HIGH = “On a trip” (as in drugs) + FLYING = “in the air”
Definition: “as a jet-setter”
22. Throw something in a brown envelope? (4)
BUNG
Double definition: “Throw” and “something in a brown envelope?” (a “bung” can mean a bribe)
24. Abominable feeling rejected, son taking time out (7)
NOISOME
EMOTION = “feeling” reversed (“rejected”) but with S = “son” replacing T = “time”
Definition: “Abominable”
25. Purplish-pink haze initially obstructing sun, say? (7)
HEATHER
H[aze] = “haze initially” in HEATER = “sun, say?”
Definition: “Purplish-pink”
27. Rock hid alpine plants (9)
DELPHINIA
(HID ALPINE)*
Definition: “plants”
Down
1. Asian characters with bureaucrat seen struggling to comprehend European character (8,7)
MANDARIN CHINESE
MANDARIN = “bureaucrat” + (SEEN)* around CHI = “European character” (a letter of the Greek alphabet)
Definition: “Asian characters”
2. Jazz band particularly inadequate â unconvincing style? (4-4)
COMB-OVER
COMBO = “Jazz band” + VER[y] = “particularly inadequate”
Definition: “unconvincing style?”
4. Grand very good price? Steep! (8)
MACERATE
M = “Grand” (as in 1000) + ACE = “very good” + RATE = “price?”
Definition: “Steep!”
5. In shelter, stick vegetable (6)
LEGUME
GUM = “stick” in LEE = “shelter”
Definition: “vegetable”
6. Ready: set up to tackle Wimbledon’s top seed (6,3)
CASHEW NUT
CASH = “Ready” followed by TUNE = “set” (not sure about this, unless it’s to set/tune a TV channel?) reversed (“up”, since this is down clue) around W[imbledon] = “Wimbledon’s top”
Definition: “seed”
7. Midnight mass’s ending in dark and damp European city (6)
GDANSK
[ni]G[ht] = “Midnight” followed by [mas]S = “mass’s ending” in DANK = “dark and damp”
Definition: “European city”
8. Nervous: my old age pitiable â it was all so blissful once (5,5,5)
LOVE’S YOUNG DREAM
(NERVOUS MY OLD AGE)*
Definition: “it was all so blissful once” – this was another one that was tricky for us, and we needed almost all the crossing letters to get, even though the construction was clear. It’s a very nice anagram for this answer, clearly! However, though I’ve heard the expression, it’s unfamiliar enough that I’d never have brought it to mind for “it was all so blissful once”…
15, 26. Kansas gallery after painting (9,5)
SUNFLOWER STATE
TATE = “gallery” after SUNFLOWERS = “painting” (by Van Gogh)
Definition: “Kansas”
17. Tobacconist inhaling good quantity of muck (8)
DUNGHILL
DUNHILL = “Tobacconist” around G = “good”
Definition: “quantity of muck”
18, 3. Ludicrous, ultimately embarrassing and a slight con: UK â seen as this? (8,5)
LAUGHING STOCK
(G A SLIGHT CON UK)* (the G is from [embarrassin]G = “ultimately embarrassing”
Definition: “seen as this?” in the context of the whole clue – a topical semi &lit
20. One’s played God, unwittingly inspiring transgression and revolution, first of all (6)
GUITAR
First letters of (“first of all”): G[od] U[nwittingly] I[nspring] T[ransgression] A[nd] R[evolution]
Definition: “One’s played”
21. Beaten side latterly, with stuffing knocked out, surrenders (6)
YIELDS
(SIDE LY)* – the LY is from L[atterl]Y = “latterly, with stuffing knocked out”
Definition: “surrenders”
23. Chairman hugging companion, butch (5)
MACHO
MAO = “Chairman” around CH = “companion” (Companion of Honour)
Definition: “butch”
Thanks to Paul and mhl. I did not get either sense of BUNG and was stumped by DOUBLE-U but I did get LOVE’S YOUNG DREAM thanks to the THOMAS MOORE love poem.
This was a tale of two sittings (apologies to Dickens). When I “finished” there were still 3 I couldn’t justify despite how long I stared at them, so I left them blank. “If you haven’t parsed them, you haven’t solved them, so who are you fooling by filling them in?!” Next morning, 3 pennies dropped satisfyingly in the space of a couple of minutes. So was this fun? Friday night, not so much; Saturday morning, you bet!
I agree with mhl’s comments about 12a UNHINGE – I interpreted it that way too, but was not happy. It seem to me that the two -ED words are not the same grammatically, since in the case of troubled there is an unmentioned agent, but unhinged is just an adjective. Therefore you can’t just take off the ending and expect the results to be the same.
Thanks.
What is Trump doing in 9a? Is ABOUT-FACE an Americanism? (As an American, I use and hear it all the time, but no idea about usage elsewhere.) Or is it a political commentary?
Enjoyable Paul for the weekend. Ta MHL for parse of 24a noisome, was always uncomfortable fitting in the feeling.
Raised eyebrow at chi as European letter, but admit Greece part of Europe, ’tis to the west of the Bosphorus. I also see gallery in clues (cf 15,26) getting somewhat stale, they become a case of looking for whatever to join with ‘Tate’. In this case too easy to find required moniker for Kansas. Maybe other constructs might refresh, my last thoughT after meal eaten you might say.
4d and 6d better clues for the misdirects.
Thanks mhl. My experience was like yours with 8d and 17a, which I thought was brilliant, among the last to go in. I’m sure your explanation of 12a, my FOI, has to be correct in the context of mental health but I share your misgivings. A niggling doubt at the back of my mind led me to check the cashew nut is a seed. I found that it is but that it isn’t a nut.
Yes I hesitated about entering ABOUT FACE which as Iroquois suggests does appear to be political commentary. I have heard it said that the UK should be grateful to Trump for enabling the country to not be the worlds biggest 18, 3 ; but that was before Boris became PM
Agree entirely with Iroquois #3. Baffled by the brown envelope in 22A but had to BUNG the answer in: my SOED has as second meaning for the word purse, then pickpocket.
Yes, fun puzzle. Was annoyed with self for not twigging double u until all crossers in, didn’t know that moniker for Kansas, wondered whether wakes are originally Irish and, fag ads being long gone, took a while to remember Dunhill. And yes chi as European is a bit sneaky but not incorrect. Enjoyed it, thanks Paul and Mhl.
[Gaufrid if you’re about, I can’t find a blog for Genius 195. A rare finish, for me, and was looking forward to the comments!]
In 6d, a composer will SET words to music, ie give them a TUNE. Parry tuned Blakeâs words, to give us Jerusalem.
I agree with acd@1 that the Thomas Moore poem is the best source of LOVEâS YOUNG DREAM meaning âit was all so blissfulâ.
Does anyone share my doubts about MANDARIN CHINESE? I believe that is the language itself, not the characters in which it is written, nor the characters who speak it. They are both simply (the) Chinese. (One could argue that the Mandarin Chinese are the countryâs administrators, but then âbureaucratâ does not serve well in the clue.)
An enjoyable puzzle, at the right level of difficulty, thanks to Paul, and thanks, mhl.
Was this an easier-than-usual Paul? I am normally stumped by his puzzles (I managed a mere 6 solutions in Thursday’s) but astonished myself by finishing this one in 2 or 3 sittings.
A further point. ABOUT FACE was originally (according to Chambers) a US military command, which may explain the Trump reference. In Britain, I am more familiar with volte-face, as the French have a useful term for this (even if they donât have a word for entrepreneur, according to a Trump predecessor).
My favourites were DUNGHILL, WAKEY WAKEY, LAUGHING STOCK, LOVEâS YOUNG DREAM, COMB-OVER, GDANSK.
I was not sure how to parse CASHEW NUT + BUNG.
Thanks Paul and mhl.
sjshart@10, yes I have definite doubts about MANDARIN CHINESE being defined as âAsian charactersâ. To compound the issue you mention, Mandarin is the name for a spoken language. It is written in Chinese characters but so are Cantonese, Shanghainese, Hokkien etc. They are all Chinese languages (not merely dialects, they are mutually unintelligible when spoken but identical when written.) There is no specific Mandarin Chinese character set. (Someone might point out that Simplified characters are used by mainland Mandarin speakers, but the Taiwanese speak the same language and write it in Traditional characters.)
Did it slow me down in solving the clue – no. So the clue is effective as written, but grates since it is incorrect. The great majority of Guardian solvers wouldnât know and donât care. Fair enough.
Finished this in two sittings, I agree it seemed on the easy side for a prize crossword. Thanks to setter and blogger.
As usual, took a while to get onto Paul’s wavelength, but getting LOVES YOUNG DREAMÂ fairly early on helped.
Didn’t quite finish as I refuse to look up general knowledge and hence did not get SUNFLOWERS/TATE. Should have stared for longer at the crossers, I suppose.
I didn’t have a problem with trouble and UNHINGE.
One of the few I tackled while away and glad I did. Picking up on a few points above, I thought that “about face” is an American military command, where in the UK we’d say “about turn”, which is why Trump is referenced. Chinoz @4 mentions west of the Bosphorus, but as we learned recently with a solution involving “Ural”, that is actually considered the geographical divide between Europe and Asia. So when I was in Istanbul recently I never made it to Asia at all, in spite of being the other side of the Bosphorus it seems!
Biggles A @5 – an enormous number of things we call nuts are actually seeds. I seem to recall an episode of “The Unbelievable Truth” in which the host mercilessly teased the players with a long list of such, asking them to say which were actually nuts. There might have been one true nut in there somewhere.
Same reservations about unhinged and Mandarin but so many other fun clues here I can forgive those. “Wakey wakey”, “double-u” – brilliant!
Thanks to MHL and Paul, and all the education on Mandarin Chinese and About Face. Is READY a synonym for CASH? Lacking Dr Whatson’s discipline we put in Cashnew Nut without parsing comforting ourselves with understanding ‘having the readies’ from our youth but not in the singular. Mr K and enjoyed other clues more, particularly Vacuum packed Whiskey which we did parse but only after getting the crossers, even then I was still trying to construct an anagram of Dyson.
What a super Prize Crossword, and such a contrast to whatever it was we plodded through the day before! Paul at his effortless sure-footed hilarious self, in my opinion. Thanks All!
I rather enjoyed this unlike Thursday’s Paul which I gave up on.
I did have trouble with WAKEY WAKEY and I still don’t understand the parsing. Liked COMBOVER.
Thanks Paul.
Thanks to sjshart@12 and TheZed@17 for the information about ABOUT FACE, and I agree completely with KLColin@14 about MANDARIN CHINESE. Regarding CASHEW NUT, in the US we rarely say the “nut” part–I expect most would consider it a nut (erroneously, I guess!), but its name is just “cashew.”
Sorry about posting so late – I completely forgot it was Saturday!
An enjoyable puzzle on the whole, though perhaps a little easier than some Pauls?
Like others, I wasnât too sure why Trump has a mention in 9ac – the clue seems to work just as well without.
Similarly in 13ac I donât think we need the word ârequiredâ.
22ac: I think the association of a bung with a brown envelope is a little far-fetched, though I do acknowledge the question mark in the clue.
6ac:Â do we not talk about the âreadiesâ in the plural?
I think that chi for the letter is absolutely OK.
When I did my O-level Chinese, we were told not to call it Mandarin Chinese but putonghua. Otherwise, I totally agree with the comments of KLColin at 14.
I liked VACUUM.
Thanks to Paul and to mhl.
Thanks mhl and Paul.
A fun and informative crossword (I always look up general knowledge).
Nothing wrong with MANDARIN CHINESE imo, the definition says ‘Asian characters’ and one thing that is composed of Asian characters is Mandarin Chinese. Just as ‘mammal’ can clue ‘dog’.
Very enjoyable.
I wondered about Trump’s role in 9a, so I googled “Trump about-face” and it does seem there are a very large number of policy changes by Trump reported as ‘about-faces’. Maybe because that’s what American writers would use?
I had the same thoughts as KLColin about Mandarin Chinese and I think Gonzo has not understood the relationship between speaking and writing in Chinese. I also believe it is correct to refer to ‘dialects’ of Chinese, even though they can be mutually unintelligible. The same can be true of Arabic dialects (with which I happen to be more familiar). Also, there is not just one form of Mandarin Chinese and putonghua (meaning ‘Chinese Language’) is the official form. A lot of this I learned (and maybe misremembered) from the Wikipedia on Mandarin Chinese.
@TheZed, it was panellist Richard Osman on an episode of The Unbelievable Truth, not chairman David Mitchell, who teased with a series of ‘nuts’ which are not nuts (and finally with the hazelnut which is).
@Anna, the phrase ‘brown envelope’ became synonymous with ‘bribe’ during the “cash for questions scandal” of the 90’s.
Thanks to both for the entertainment and there was a bit more than usual as I had never heard of the brown envelope.
in 6d, you set up an instrument by tuning it. Or is that one too many ups?
it took a long time for the penny to drop on 8d.
Paul – ever my favourite. Thank you again and MHL of course. I suffered from many of the issues raised above but in the end I donât care – it was fun and as ever difficult to penetrate at first but thatâs good isnât it? Loved 14 and 17 and 2 but thanks again MHL for clarifying 6
This was a very enjoyable puzzle with so many clues to commend and really minor niggles which previously contributors have commented on and others have also shown to be debatable as complaints.
My favourites were DOUBLE-U, BUNG, WAKEY-WAKEY and NOISOME. Superb and well blogged mhl.
Meant to post earlier so hope the appreciation is still appreciated by settee, blogger and everyone else.