Guardian 27,962 / Paul

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We really struggled with this one, perhaps because of a combination of some tough clues, obscure answers, and the grid being low on checked letters. Good puzzle (thank-you Paul!) with some wonderful surface readings, but a tough solve for us 🙂

Across

8. Reject hard line taken in deal (5,3)
THROW OUT
H = “had” + ROW = “line” in TOUT = “deal” (I guess this might be “to tout” (as in to sell tickets) being similar to “to deal”, but it seems a bit weak to me. “They tout tickets” / “they deal tickets”, I suppose.)
Definition: “Reject”

9. Guide well short of capital (5)
USHER
[g]USHER = “well” without its first letter (or the capital letter in the clue?)
Definition: “Guide”

10, 17. Expensive footballer, a fair whack? (4,7)
HIGH STRIKER
HIGH = “Expensive” (seems a bit weak to me) + STRIKER = “footballer”
Definition: a fair whack – I never knew the name of these games before, but it’s the thing you get at fairs that you hit with a mallet to try to ring the bell at the top

11. Members affected by this blow, a thousand perceived the wrong way (5,5)
KNOCK KNEES
KNOCK = “blow” + K = “a thousand” followed by SEEN = “perceived” reversed (“the wrong way”)
Definition: “Members affected by this” – “members” as in “limbs”

12. Beat meat, just cut (6)
HAMMER
HAM = “meat” + MER[e] = “just cut”
Definition: “Beat”

14. A suspicious device packed with explosive gas carried out (8)
ACHIEVED
A + (DEVICE)* around H (Hydrogen) = “explosive gas”
Definition: “carried out”

15. Money once invested in extreme elements of execrable school (7)
EDUCATE
DUCAT = “Money once” in E[xecrabl]E = “extreme elements of execrable”
Definition: “school” (as a verb)

20. Honeysuckle left suspended, getting half of rain (8)
LONICERA
L = “left” + ON ICE = “suspended” + RA[in] = “half of rain”
Definition: “Honeysuckle”

22, 16. Effin’ Jeffrey Archer novel? (4,2,3,5)
THE LORD OF THE FLIES
Jeffrey Archer is famous for lying, and he’s a lord, so might be Lord of the Lies – the “Effin'” suggests perhaps “Lord of the F— Lies” F in “Lord of the Lies” (Thanks to DuncT and Skinny for pointing this out)
Definition: “novel”

23. Parting words making Oates laugh (5,5)
HASTA LUEGO
(OATES LAUGH)*
Definition: “Parting words” – Hasta Luego is “See you later!” in Spanish

24. Piece: one nailed by fiddle (4)
COIN
CON = “fiddle” around I = “one”
Definition: “Piece”

25. Cotton reels I lost, some rolling over (5)
LISLE
Hidden reversed in [re]ELS I L[ost]
Definition: “Cotton”

26. Love poem about heart in euphoria, might Oxford get into it? (8)
OVERSHOE
O = “Love” + VERSE = “poem” around [eup]HO[ria] = “heart in euphoria”
Definition: “might Oxford get into it?”, referring to an Oxford shoe

Down

1. Finch finally back with swallows in country (8)
THAILAND
TAIL = “back” + AND = “with” around [finc]H = “Finch finally”
Definition: “country”

2. Gravy: cook put a sock in it (4)
DOSH
Nice evocative surface reading 🙂 DO = “cook” + SH = “put a sock in it”
Definition: “Gravy”

4. Affected country, one sat upon (7)
OTTOMAN
OTT (over the top) = “Affected” + OMAN = “country”
Definition: “one sat upon”

5. Money stolen, lead fired (8)
BUCKSHOT
BUCKS = “Money” + HOT = “stolen”
Definition: “lead fired”

6. Light fluffy rice inspiring old maestro (10)
CHANDELIER
(RICE)* around (“inspiring” or “drawing in”, like breath) HANDEL = “old maestro”
Definition: “Light”

7. Current activity that’s unproblematic (6)
BREEZE
Double definition: “Current activity” as in wind currents and “unproblematic” (though I’d argue that breeze and unproblematic aren’t substitutable – it’s be “a breeze”)

18. Buttonholing doctor, notice awfully sad face? (8)
EMOTICON
MO = “doctor” in (NOTICE)*
Definition: “sad face?” – the question mark indicating definition-by-example

19, 13. Showman: Tory wet repelled by one (7,10)
CAMERON MACKINTOSH
CAMERON = “Tory” + MACKINTOSH = “wet repelled by one”
Definition: “Showman” – I probably should have heard of him, but hadn’t…

21. Old people welcoming end of political authority (6)
ORACLE
O = “old” + RACE = “people” around [politica]L
Definition: “authority”

22. Eye dish (6)
LOOKER
Double definition: “Eye” (something that looks in crosswordese) and “dish” (some who’s a looker)

24, 3. Beauty bedding a fit provider of social service (10)
CASE WORKER
CORKER = “Beauty” around A + SEW = “fit” (To sew a dress / to fit a dress aren’t quite the same for me, but Chambers has “to piece together” as one definition for “fit”, which I guess is quite close to “sew”…)
Definition:

22 comments on “Guardian 27,962 / Paul”

  1. Thanks for the blog, mhl. My experience was similar to yours. Although I ultimately filled the grid, this was an even slower burner than usual for a Paul crossword. The bottom half went in relatively quickly but the top was held up by entries for a few, especially the first couple of down clues where I struggled: with the order of the wording in 1d – specifically ‘swallows’ – in the word play which misled me. Then 2d where the synonyms for ‘gravy’ and ‘cook’ did not come easily, with gravy not in common use across the English speaking world IMHO while cook seems a loose synonym for ‘do’. Final gripe was that, in 10,17 I was not keen on Expensive giving High (just as mhl says): I was not helped by never having heard the of the term ‘high striker’, of course this was ultimately a fair clue (I can pun too).

    Having said all that, I really liked some of the clues with my favourite being the reference to the not so honest Lord.

    Thanks for the tough workout, Paul. No doubt more of the same with today’s prize.

  2. Thanks mhl.  This was a very decent challenge.  Had to google the Tory wet.  22,16 looked a likely novel title, and ‘Lord of the Rings’ held me up until the truth dawned, with a belly-laugh.  My only squirm with the puzzle was the HASTA LUEGO clue, which jumped out as an answer: grim, honourable and by no means laughable are the parting words of the Oates who left the tent to die: “I am just going outside and may be some time”

     

     

     

  3. Thanks mhl. Like you and Ed the Ball I found this hard going and had the same reservations. Also had to consult Google for 19,13, 10,17 and 20a. The NW corner held me up and I hadn’t helped myself by entering ‘shell out’ for 8a. That doesn’t account for ‘hard’ I know but it seemed reasonable at the time.

  4. As has been said, some iffy or non-straightforward definitions/synonyms. What I’d like to know is this (and it may vary by setter): do they say, right I’m aiming for a hard puzzle today, so let’s throw in a bunch of very loose synonyms, or is it the case that there is always some natural variation in directness and when by chance a puzzle has a lot of the indirect kind, bingo you have a prize candidate? Any setters reading this?

  6. Damn, couldn’t think of a ‘suspended’ for the flower, too dim to think of a two-worder, nice one Paul. Otherwise yes a stiffish gridfill, with only dosh, emoticon, coin and looker on first pass. The Spanish goodbye was a dnk needing all crossers, and I missed its Antarctic ref, no laughing matter as molonglo@2 said. Can’t think how to swap mere and just (maybe bisected, mer/ely) would be better. And, like Mhl, had a ? next to ‘sew’ for ‘fit’. Good workout in all, thanks both.

  7. This spent the week clipped to the kitchen lampshade as I added a word or two now and then, ending up with most of them, but not BREEZE.  I put in HIGH STRIKER without knowing why.  But I loved the cook putting a sock in the gravy!

    Thanks Paul and mhl.

     

  8. A good puzzle from Paul – like others, I found it harder to get started and it kept me going till Sunday afternoon.  I remember that a couple of weeks ago someone was saying that they liked Paul because he used street language.  Well, that helped me this week.  I don’t think I would have got DOSH except for the fact that I was specifically looking out for slang.

    HIGH STRIKER was new to me, but got it from the crossers.  It was my LOI.  And I wasn’t too happy with -sew- for ‘fit’ in 24 and 3 dn either.  Apart from that there was nothng much not to like.

    I specially liked OTTOMAN.

    Thanks to Paul and to mhl.

  9. I parsed LORD OF THE FLIES slightly differently, in that ‘effin’ suggests putting an ‘F in’ the description of Jeffrey Archer “LORD OF THE LIES”

    Tough but fair, on the whole, I thought.

    Thanks to Paul and mhl.

  12. I saw caseworker then had to work out why which was the case with quite a few of the clues. Finished it Sunday afternoon so well pleased with myself.

  13. This was more difficult than usual and not one of his better ones for my money. Struggled with some parsing eg Thailand (what is the “in” doing?). Lord of the Flies no doubt seemed amusing to the setter

  14. Thank you Paul, you defeated me again. And thank you Mhl for the solution. I told myself before I looked that I was going to kick myself for failing to get several of the answers, and I did, but there were several things I’d never heard of – high strikers and showmen for example, and I suffered from the same problems that many previous posters did. Loved 22 when the penny finally dropped.

  15. I often come here for a bit of solidarity after a tough puzzle, and it’s nice to find that people aren’t calling this one a doddle! I tried to tackle it with a severe hangover on Sunday having been at an SF convention on Saturday, and I eventually finished it on Wednesday, I think! The fact that I managed to piece together the unknowns of LONICERA, HIGH STRIKER, HASTA LUEGO and CAMERON MACKINTOSH testifies to the puzzle’s fairness despite its difficulty. Thanks for the challenge, Paul!

  16. A Sunday afternoon solve for me too. Took me some to get started and,exactly how I got CAMERON MACKINTOSH I’m really not sure. Still all my struggling was made worthwhile by the brilliant LORD OF THE FLIES. Still, Paul puzzles seems to be a lot harder of late!
    Thanks Paul.

  17. Yes, even tougher than last week’s Vlad to me. I solved then parsed (or not) most of the clues – in fact I think only LISLE and CAMERON MACKINTOSH we’re solved from the “bottom up”. I missed solving DOSH as well. Thanks to Paul and mhl for the blog.

  18. Very hard, in part because of the dodgy clues as pointed out above to which I would add 10,17 which I learned from wiki is something you whack, not a whack. There is a difference. Thanks to Paul and mhl.

  19. CAMERON MACKINTOSH, LONICERA and HIGH STRIKER were all new to me as well. Having the M _ C for the first made me try to think of any MAC name that could fit and when I came up with MACKINTOSH out of nowhere I realised the split in “Tory wet”. (Not sure what mlonglo@2 means when he says he “had to google the Tory wet”?). I think I just googled ‘showman Mackintosh’ to get the full name and reading about him wondered why I didn’t already know the name. For LONICERA, I googled ‘honeysuckle’ and looked for a word that fit. HIGH STRIKER I fully constructed from wordplay with the help of crossers, though and confirmed.

    I did know HASTA LUEGO, but thought it likely many might not, so wondered if the definition was really adequate. Of course ‘Spaniard’s parting words’ or similar would have spoilt the reference to Oates. Although that was a very serious matter, btw, it does seem possible Oates himself thought their irony amusing.

    I’m another who thought ‘expensive’ a poor synonym of HIGH (if goods are expensive, their prices are high, not the goods) and can’t see how ‘fit’ is a synonym of ‘sew’. The Chambers definition clearly refers to such as jigsaw pieces fitting together, doesn’t it? I don’t think it justifies the clue at all, I’m afraid. Perhaps there’s a better explanation?

    “Effin’ JeffreyArcher” I thought brilliant though, even if it could perhaps really have done with something like ‘read out’ at the beginning.

  20. Thanks Paul and mhl.

    That’s three prizes in a row I did not finish. Am I losing my powers? Comforting to know others found this one trickier than usual too! No complaints. Just beaten.

  21. Reassuring to find others found this a struggle too, but I kept at it and have no real quibbles with anything, though ‘fit’=‘sew’ is a bit of a stretch, as others have said.

    Clue of the day was undoubtedly the effin lord, which has had me chuckling all week. I actually prefer mhl’s original parsing of this, Effin’ and F both being polite versions of the swearword.

    Jeffrey Archer has now been the subject of two disobliging Guardian clues, including one of Araucaria’s most brilliant. I wonder if he knows.

  22. @g larsen

    If he’s read the Wikipedia for the Old Vicarage, Granchester, he does. Hard to imagine Archer googling his own name or address, though, isn’t it?

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