Thanks to Paul for the challenge. I was getting nowhere until 18 across was cracked. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1. Scientific solver admits he is perplexed by abbreviation of name on computer (7,5)
APPLIED MATHS : Anagram of(…is perplexed) ADMITS HE placed after(by) “Apple”(name on computers made by Apple Inc.) minus its last letter of(abbreviation …).
Defn: Discipline used, with other tools, to solve many scientific problems.
9. Force cutting signal, energy maintained (5)
IMPEL : “imply”(to signal/to hint at) minus its last letter(cutting …) containing(… maintained) E(symbol for “energy” in physics).
10. Crop circles as chopped down seed (6,3)
CASHEW NUT : CUT(to crop/to shorten by, well, cutting) containing(circles) [AS + HEWN(chopped down/cut with a tool such as an axe)].
… before they’re processed and end up in your snack bowl.
11. Sultan leaves home (7)
SALADIN : SALAD(food often made from leaves/leafy vegetables) + IN(at home/not out and about).
Defn: … during the time of the Crusades.
12. See 19
13. Had thug sent suggestive signal? (10)
HOODWINKED : HOOD(hoodlum/thug) + WINKED(sent suggestive signal by closing and opening one eye quickly).
Defn: …/been tricked.
15. Work done, thus holds back (4)
OPUS : Reversal of(… back) [UP(done/over, as in “the President’s term is up in November”) contained in(… holds) SO(thus/therefore or thus/in this way)].
Defn: … from a writer or composer, say.
18. Two short tools for fool (4)
HOAX : “hoe”,”axe”(two tools) minus their last letters, respectively(short …).
Defn: …/to deceive.
19, 12. 1917 18 across where infant lying, funny feeling justified, one certainly admits (10,7)
COTTINGLEY FAIRIES : COT(a small bed in which an infant lies) + TINGLE(a funny feeling/a slight prickling or stinging sensation that one sometimes feels) + {[FAIR(justified/proper) + I(Roman numeral for “one”)] contained in(… admits) YES!(certainly!/agreed!)}.
22. Channel carrying hydrogen across its length (7)
THROUGH : TROUGH(a channel/a ditch used to convey a liquid) containing(carrying) H(symbol for the chemical element, hydrogen).
Defn: …/moving in on one side of it and out of the other side.
24. See 18 down
25. Feeling of great happiness about black plant (9)
EUPHORBIA : EUPHORIA(a feeling of great/intense happiness) containing(about) B(abbrev. for “black”).
Some of the varieties: 
26. Scorer has run out of play, perhaps? (5)
SATIE : “satire”(an example of/perhaps, a dramatic play) minus(has … out of …) “r”(abbrev. for “run” in cricket scores).
Answer: Erik, French composer/producer of music scores.
27. 1995 18 across: a deception say, not up for review (5,7)
ALIEN AUTOPSY : A + LIE(a deception/an untruth) + anagram of(… for review) SAY, NOT UP.
Down
1. Ladies and gentlemen carrying father up and down over peak in America, spotted horse (9)
APPALOOSA : LOOS(slang for the “Ladies” and “Gentlemen”/toilets for females and males) placed below(carrying, in a down clue) [reversal of(… up, in a down clue) plus(and down)] PA(a familiar term for one’s father) placed above(over, in a down clue) 1st letter of(peak in, in a down clue) “America“.
2. Man’s place in 1912 18 across, left in hole beneath one’s feet (8)
PILTDOWN : L(abbrev. for “left”) contained in(in) PIT(a hole in the ground) + DOWN(beneath/below one’s feet).
Defn: The place in East Sussex where bones of a prehistoric man was supposedly found.
3. Member of old empire, preserved? (5)
INCAN : [IN CAN](preserved, as with food in a can/tin).
4. Sour cream offset with acid, nothing less (9)
DISAFFECT : Anagram of(cream/to beat into a creamy mixture) [“offset” plus(with) ACID] minus(… less) “o”(letter representing 0/nothing).
Defn: …/to alienate.
5. Plant ice axe initially under murder victim (6)
ABELIA : 1st letters, respectively, of(… initially) “ice axe” placed below(under, in a down clue) ABEL(Biblical murder victim of Cain).
6. Feature of Riyadh, an oil-rich capital (5)
HANOI : Hidden in(Feature of) “Riyadh, an oil-rich“.
Defn: … city of Vietnam.
7. Stick wobbly bottom in goulash, being vulgar (6)
KITSCH : Anagram of(… wobbly) STICK + last letter of(bottom in, in a down clue) “goulash“.
Defn: …/in poor taste, being excessively garish.
8. Stoppage in force once beginning to slow (6)
STASIS : STASI(the former/once secret police force of East Germany) + 1st letter of(beginning to) “slow“.
14. Fear of novelty washer in replacement of a hip bone (9)
NEOPHOBIA : O(an object shaped like an O, say, a washer/a flat ring between adjoining surfaces) contained in(in) anagram of(replacement of) A HIP BONE.
Defn: …/anything that’s new or unfamiliar.
16. Girl almost taken in by trivial prediction (9)
PALMISTRY : “miss”(a young unmarried girl) minus its last letter(almost) contained in(taken in by) PALTRY(trivial/insignificant).
17. Unruly as punks, one finally arrested comes quietly (6,2)
SNEAKS UP : Anagram of(Unruly) AS PUNKS containing(… arrested/caught) last letter of(… finally) “one“.
18, 24 across. Murder riled screws, first sign in 1983 18 across (6,7)
HITLER DIARIES : HIT(slang for a contracted murder) + anagram of(… screws) RILED + ARIES(the first of the signs in the zodiac).
20. Country quarantining small spaniels? (3-3)
YES-MEN : YEMEN(a Middle Eastern country) containing(quarantining) S(abbrev. for “small”).
Defn: Obsequious persons/brown-noses described symbolically by ….
21. Hair and metallic mineral stink (6)
FURORE : FUR(the soft fine hair of some animals) plus(and) ORE(metallic mineral/naturally occurring material from which metals may be extracted).
Defn: …/an overt angry reaction.
23. Fend off leader of pirates in film (5)
REPEL : 1st letter of(leader of) “pirates” contained in(in) REEL(a film, or, rather, a section of a film/movie, from the days when movies, featuring or not featuring pirates, came in physical reels).
24. Selection of people: four originally darn trousers (5)
DRAFT : 1st letter of(… originally) “four” contained in(… trousers) DRAT!(like “darn!”, a mild expletive).
Defn: … for a specific purpose, say, for military service.
Great blog and a real fun crossword.No complaints from me.
Thanks Paul and scchua
Floundered through this, with little or no memories of the fairies or the alien, vague ones of the diaries, only Piltdown coming readily to mind. Post-solve, had a fun time looking at the naughty postcards (quaintly harmless by today’s standards) of Donald (?) McGill, who reminds someone on the G thread of Paul. Euphorbia and appaloosa, too, had to be dredged up, the latter helped by knowing ladies and gents would yield loos. Abelia was a ‘do what it says’. The yes-man/lapdog/spaniel cluster bubbled up from previous cws. So, as I said, a bit of a flounder with a couple of check buttons, but quite fun anyway, thanks Paul and scchua.
Not helped by entering CASSIA for 5d, which I thought was a little unsavoury when I landed on it.
I solved this in terms of idrntifying the definitions and finding the correct words to match them, but could not parse a good deal. After REPEL and THROUGH, I found ALIEN AUTOPSY by looking up films but then HITLER DIARIES was not a film… Once I had that from the crossers, however, it gave me HOAX and the rest of the connected clues.
Now I see all the parsing I find this all very elegant, but why does “trousers” (in DRAFT) mean contained in? sschua, I think the PA up bit (=AP) before the PA down in APPALOOSA has got a bit lost in the blog. (I did know the horse and loved that clue; thank you for the picture!) Many thanks to Paul for the challenge and to sschua for the explanations.
Thanks to Paul for the pleasing puzzle and Scchua for the entertaining blog.
I don’t think that I’ve seen cashews on the tree before, so I was just looking them up. It’s appropriate that HANOI crosses CASHEW NUT as, apparently, Vietnam is the world’s leading producer of cashews. The nut in the middle of the photo looks very angry.
That was tough! Normally I find it fairly easy to get on Paul’s wavelength, but for ages I was staring at HANOI and REPEL and not much else.
Eventually cracked 27ac and Googled it to make sure, and Google offered “Alien Autopsy Hoax”, at which point I started to see a bit of light.
Nearly a DNF as I tried to shoehorn something into PETTY for 16dn; and APPALOOSA (yes, it wouldn’t really be Paul without a reference to toilets somewhere, would it?) and ABELIA were new ones on me.
For some reason I can’t put my finger on – for normally Paul is my favourite compiler – this wasn’t as enjoyable as yesterday’s Crucible, and felt like a bit of a slog. But thanks to Paul for blowing the early morning cobwebs away and to sschua for the helpful blog.
After a similarly slow start (echoing NeilH@6), I really liked it as I was on a bit of a roll once I got ALIEN AUTOPSY at 17a using a couple of crossing letters, and then saw that HOAX at 18a was the connecting word for those other clues. I am so glad that I do crosswords and not cold solves of individual cryptic clues, as today the crossers were invaluable aids. I remember doing an in in-depth(!) case study of the Piltdown Man hoax when I was teaching archaeology to my Ancient History students. A great way to teach the science of radio-carbon dating, half life etc. Favourites for me were 2d PILTDOWN (obvs.), and I also ticked 11a SALADIN, 1d APPALOOSA (my FOI, which remarkably for me, I saw straightaway ! as the grid was emerging from the printer), 3d INCAN and 7d KITSCH. It took me a while to twig to APPLIED MATHS for 1a, as I was looking for a person not a thing. Thanks to Paul for some great fun. And to scchua who always give us a colourful and fascinating blog – and of course the explanations for some elements beside which I still had question marks.
[I also did the Crucible this afternoon as I was too busy celebrating my 37th wedding anniversary, an announcement that we are going to be grandparents, and the investiture of the judge yesterday to attempt it. (Echoing a favourite recent clue, there was some CHAMPERS consumed.) I thought it was a great puzzle with some very clever clues and inclusions.]
I think I’m less with copmus @1 and more with gif @2 (though without the naughty postcards). Clever, certainly, and with several of his usual trademarks (I’m another who immediately thinks ‘loos’ when I see him clue ladies/gentlemen. One of these days, he’ll use that to signify people or genders and we’ll all be misdirected up a toilet route).
No particular gripe about any clue but I found some of the surfaces clunky – perhaps due to the challenge Paul faced in clueing some of his theme solutions. I have to admit to turning to Google for the fairies, diaries and autopsy. I’d heard of them all but could never have associated them with the dates.
Spaniels as YES MEN was new to me, as was the horse; KITSCH is a neat anagram though I was less keen on the surface; DRAFT and STASIS both appealed. Favourites were SALADIN and INCAN which are both very smooth.
18 was clearly key: I spent some time trying to justify ‘twit’: “two short” giving me ‘tw’ leaving IT as tools which would have been a stretch.
JinA @7: how you spotted APPALOOSA so quickly, I cannot imagine. I followed Paul’s instructions and got the result but, as you say, needed the crossers for confirmation. Beobachterin @4: ‘trousers’ came up recently: to trouser is to take or steal. If you like, to pocket. So it’s a decent container indicator.
Thanks Paul and sschua for the blog
Thanks scchua, once again I missed lots of the detail here and your blog has been invaluable in clearing that up. But most of all thank you for the cashew nut picture, what a bizarre growth (like an angry toadstool) and worthy of an alien autopsy in its own right.
I am another who struggled to make headway until i gave in and googled the horse which I couldn’t quite accurately recall (and the use of Gentlemen rather than Gents threw me totally!). But this led to the key (don’t think i have ever heard HOAX as a verb for FOOL although I am sure it is fair enough).
Somehow I didn’t like ” abbreviation of name on computer” for APPL, the phrase “pointless technology company” popped into my head as an alternative but maybe that’s because it has been used too often?
I think the various hoaxes were all clued well especially 27A, but my favourite is DISAFFECT which took a while to unravel. Thanks Paul. And congratulations Julie In Australia on your various milestones, not least completing what I thought was a very hard offering from Crucible.
I got the HOAX quite early on, but needed Google’s help to find out what they all were. The ALIEN AUTOPSY had completely passed me by (second child born that year, if that’s an excuse).
To my mind SATIE is a bit obscure – and for Paul who only usually uses names that don’t require specialist knowledge. Overall I’m not really sure why, but I didn’t enjoy this as much as most of his puzzles.
Worked through this slowly but steadily over the day, in between other things. I knew I had to get 18a, and for some time (already having APPALOOSA, which came quickly to me as it did to JinA) was thinking it ended in AX, but could not for the life of me find the first tool. Once there, I did cheat a little, looking at the wikipedia list of hoaxes, which gave me the fairies. Then I had enough crossers to grind out answers one by one. I didn’t see the parsing of everything,m so thanks scchua for those I missed. I liked NEOPHOBIA, HOODWINKED, FURORE and PALMISTRY (tried prophecy, but it wouldn’t fit). Shrugged at the spaniels (nho). Thanks, Paul, for a workout.
Another many thanks to scchua for the wonderful pics.
Haven’t got time to read the essays on here but hats off to anyone who could do this without Google.
Not very enjoyable for me. Could not have solved this without a lot of help from google. After I had 18ac, I ‘solved’ the hoaxes via google and parsed later.
New: EUPHORBIA, NEOPHOBIA (O = washer?), ABELIA, Appaloosa, PILTDOWN, Spaniel = yes-man
Thanks, Paul and sschua for the blog
For the second day on the trot I got the answers but not the clues (in a few cases).
Once I got Hitler for the H I got HOAX and from there it was a different crossword.
I filled it in piecemeal e.g HIT and check, which gave me the H for 18a, and Hitler from there was easy.
As others have said, great work from scchua today.
OPUS was interesting – I got that from OP (work) and US (back end of thus) , but I had lots of inspirational luck. e.g. I entered KIRSCH in 7d as my last answer. Hoped it was a stew which it isn’t but so close to the answer if stopped me revealing it.
Enjoyed this on immensely once it was over. Not so much during lockdown though.
Very enjoyable puzzle. Thanks Paul. It took me ages to get the theme until Alien at start of 27 came together. I confess to some Google use thereafter!!
JerryG @ 15
Jerry with a G? Very amusing, intentional or not.
Got there eventually but took a while. Luckily, 18a popped out at me and then I was on the lookout which helped with the various hoaxes all of which I am sorry to say I knew of as I am a confirmed saddo…
HarpoSpeaks @10 – I found SATIE straightforward but possibly because just this past weekend there was mention of Vexations by SATIE on R3 (half-a-page of music to be played 840 times over).
HOODWINKED just fell in as I remember this being one of the words on the Zoom calls. Which a) proves that I was on the call and b) something does sometime stick in this old and fuddled brain.
Hard work but good fun and thanks to Paul and scchua!
Well I thoroughly enjoyed this, was reminded about how great a part April Fool hoaxes played in the past, when it was just newspapers, the radio and the TV. Spaghetti growing on trees was one of the more successful ones, in the mid-Fifties, I think. Thought I’d mention it, with the debate about cashew nuts rumbling on. Liked the so typically Paul SALADIN.
Michelle @13 – I thought that the WASHER may have some reference to Neoprene, the synthetic rubber most washers are made from these days? Having spent the best part of 2-days in mid-lockdown replacing a leaking shower unit I distinctly remember reading far too much about Neoprene washers…
Ronald @18 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVo_wkxH9dU “Harvest in Ticino.”
‘Funny feeling’ that I had read or seen something recently about Conan Doyle believing in the COTTINGLEY FAIRIES.
It was a fun solve, although I didn’t get HOAX for a while. I’m surprised that Paul didn’t use Scratching Fanny [The Cock Lane ghost], although perhaps that would have been too much even for him.
Thanks Paul and scchua.
Many thanks for the hints, if I live to be 100 I will never solve a Paul puzzle. Odd because I have no problems with the other setters.
Tough going today but we enjoyed it, despite it being a DNF (defeated by SATIE).
Favourites were COTTINGLEY FAIRIES and CASHEW NUT.
Thanks to Paul and scchua!
What a gem of a puzzle. Almost every clue pleased, and some were quite unique (CASHEW NUT was my favorite). I was slow to get the crucial HOAX, but got to it via the brute-force solving of ALIEN AUTOPSY, and then having the Eureka moment. Last-one-in was APPLIED MATHS, which is ironic, since that is what I used to do.
One sign of a great puzzle is wishing it would go on for ever, and the feeling of letdown when it ends – and on the subject of time, this one broke-the-hour, which I use as another good sign of a worthy challenge.
I never look for themes, but this one was unavoidable (and fascinating/nostalgic, even though I was only familiar with three of them). Also, I never notice setter names, but from now on I’ll certainly keep an eye on this one. Thanks Paul.
Well that was hard but fun too. Like scchua I realised i had to get 18a, so I looked up horses’ names and remembered from somewhere that Appaloosas were spotted (much later managed to parse it and then was amazed at not seeing it straightaway) and so worked out 18ac (which I liked – it was neat). Then, like others, off to google to get the various hoaxes (which I did manage to parse) and that gave me some crosses for lots of other clues (I still needed help from the dictionary and check this button). Liked a lot of the clues once I got there. DNF – the last three including OPUS and STASIS I could not get at all. And there were a few I needed to check here to find out how to parse. But I did enjoy it.
Thanks to Paul and to scchua.
Yes, good fun, even if it was a real slog at the start to get the first few entered. PILTDOWN was my way in to 18a and the rest of the related clues. I’d never heard of the COTTINGLEY FAIRIES or ALIEN AUTOPSY, but both were solvable from the wordplay and it was very interesting to read about both afterwards.
I like clues for humdrum words which are harder than the word would suggest, so I’ll opt for THROUGH as my favourite today.
Thanks to Paul and scchua.
I see Paul’s name, cast my eyes over the clues and notice all the references to 18 across, think “This’ll be an interesting challenge” and set to work with a smile. 1A was a splendid start, though I’ve always preferred pure maths.
Realising I had to crack 18A early, I parsed it but took another couple of minutes to rifle through my metaphorical toolbox and find which pair of 3-letter implements needed truncating (“Awl? Nope…Saw? Don’t think so…”) to form a word. After that, all others that referenced 18A were write-ins, sometimes without having to read any more of the clue than the cited date. It’s lucky that I recently re-read a book that mentioned the Conan Doyle-deceiving 19, so it was still fresh in my mind. All very cleverly compiled, with a sly hint at the theme in the clue to 10.
So anything round, say a washer, can be used to indicate O? That gives compilers a lot of scope.
It’s always nice to expand one’s vocabulary; I’m no gardener, so ABELIA is new to me, and I didn’t know ‘spaniel’ could mean a yes-man, but then most dogs can be arse-lickers.
Wasn’t ALIEN AUTOPSY a film with Ant and Dec? Anyone seen it? Is it as bad as I suspect?
Assuming you were thinking of the US in your explanation of 15a, the election is Nov 3, but the President’s term is up at noon on January 20. It’s not going to be a comfortable time.
Once I got the essential 18a I saw PILTDOWN right away, but after a while I accepted that I would need google to track down the other three, which as it turns out I had either never heard about or forgotten. Using outside help to fill in such a large part of the grid decreased my feeling of accomplishment on completing it, but it was still fun. Like Mark @8, my favourites were SALADIN and INCAN. Thanks to Paul and to scchua for parsing the convoluted 19,12 combination.
Like many of the above I realised 18a was the way into this and had to be cracked first: isn’t it funny how short, seemingly-simple clues are often the hardest? After that I was on a roll.
I love a good hoax, me, especially ones that take in the Great & the Good (Conan Doyle with the fairies, poor old Hugh Trevor-Roper with the diaries).
[I even wondered if Nat Tate was going to make an appearance:-https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nat_Tate:_An_American_Artist_1928–1960 ]
The rest was equally satisfying, especially INCAN and ABELIA which were deliciously neat, and HOODWINKED: one of those clues where a little word punches above its weight.
Thanks to Paul for the fun, and to Scchua for the always-entertaining blog: I had no idea that’s what cashew nuts look like (& lord knows, I eat enough of them) but the illustration for KITSCH seems a tad off – that’s everyday-wear round these parts, especially now that the hunting season’s started…
Hi everyone. Thanks for all this brilliant feedback.
A reminder I’m doing Zoom with Paul earlier this time – at 4pm today. To register for a reminder, please subscribe on my homepage: johnhalpern.co.uk
Thanks, and see you later!
John aka Paul
There was so much blank for so long that I feared this was to be a DNF, but I reckoned 27a would have to start with ALIE and be followed by an acronym, soon unscrambled. It was then a matter of HOAX-spotting; the achilles heel of a themed crossword. Let’s hear it for PALMISTRY too in this regard.
Many thanks to Paul and sschua.
I thought it was up to Paul’s usual standards, although it stretched the test of General Knowledge perhaps more than usual in a cryptic crossword. The Cottingley Fairies and Alien Autopsy are subjects that perhaps require more than an ability at word play. Similarly with APPALOOSA which is a new word to me, but the ‘Ladies and Gentlemen’ in a Paul clue screamed out something to do with public conveniences.
Even after getting 18ac identifying the hoaxes wasn’t easy, as I’m terrible with dates – the fairies were last as I’d forgotten where they were from (1917 got me thinking of ‘The Angels of Mons’, which gave nothing which might fit)
Looking at the pictures nowadays, they were so obviously simply photos of cutouts that it is hard to understand why so much effort was expended on proving that photographic fakery was not involved.
peterM @33: I suspect that in 1917, for a grim reason an awful lot of people were rather eager to believe in The Supernatural…
Both Sir Oliver Lodge and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (the man who publicised the Cottingley Fairies) had lost sons in the Great War and were ardent Spritualists.
[Julie in Australia @7 I don’t live that far away from the Piltdown Man site and there used to be a pub called “The Piltdown Man” very close to the site where the skull was “found.” Haven’t been that way for a while – it’s very close to a constant favourite day out of mine, Horsted Keynes station on the Bluebell Line – but last time I did it was closed.]
Beobachterin @4 – I read the “TROUSER’S” = drunk as an anagrind; maybe it’s a particularly southern expression but to be trousered is to be paralytic.
I must the odd one out today. HOAX went in on my first pass along with EUPHORBIA and that helped slide plenty of answers in.
APPALOOSA was my favourite clue, and KITSCH was Paul at his – er – finest. SALADIN made me smile when I finally worked out what was going on
MaidenBartok @35: I hadn’t heard of trousered meaning drunk but I don’t think it’s an anagram indicator on this occasion. (And not sure what anagram you were looking at?) Trouser as a verb is defined as stealing (particularly) money with a synonym being ‘to pocket’. If Drat (=darn) pockets F (being the original letter of ‘four’) you get draft. As scchua indicated though that mightn’t be clear unless you knew of trouser in the sense it’s being used here.
So happy to have finished a Paul – it matters not (to me) that I did not parse a small handful and that google helped on a couple. A really fun puzzle I thought.
I was surprised that the spaniel was not a poodle. as that seems to be the more usual YES-DOG. I had not heard of ABELIA but love clues where you just follow the instructions and the answer appears! Satie came to me quickly but that’s because Gnossiennes: No. 1 is a personal fave (even though I’m not big on classical stuff).
HoofitYouDonkey @21 wins the prize for the best user name IMO (when will we get to attend live footie again? *sighs*)
Many thanks to Paul and to scchua.
Thanks both,
This took a while and I might have given up if there hadn’t been a Zoom with Paul scheduled for today, but it was worth the effort. I needed google for a Alien autopsy even tho’ I had the second word and for the Cottingley Fairies. My parsing of 8 down was off, as I assumed it had something to do with the SAS. Anyway, back up the ladder to finish painting a window.
Thanks Paul and scchua
Sorry to disagree, but I thought that this was most unsatisfactory – not a proper crossword at all. As with others, I wasn’t getting anywhere much until solving HOAX. As I have lots of trouble remembering “which year”, I just Googled “Hoax” plus the relevant year and immediately got all the linked answers; I never would have got any of them without doing this.
I did like THROUGH.
me @40
Perhaps a bit harsh. I had heard of all the hoaxes, in fact. Maybe I was fustrated by not being able to fit San Seriffe in!
Mark @37 I’m happier with your and scchua’s logic than with mine! 🙂
Loads of fun from Paul as ever, particularly the HOAXes. Many thanks to him and to scchua.
I managed 10 entries on first scan through, none of which were the hoaxes and the dates were meaningless to me. Solving 27 eventually, by parsing it first, was the key to getting the rest of the hoaxes (all of which I’d heard of) from just a few crossers, no parsing required. Ironically, HOAX went in after the hoaxes. The theme must have made it easy for those familiar with these.
I thought “lying” in “1917 18 across where infant LYING, funny feeling justified, one certainly admits (10,7)” should have been “LIES” as it doesn’t read well as it is unless I”m missing something.
“…beneath one’s feet.” seems a strange alternative for “down” and do you send a “WINK”?
A few held out for a while like SATIE which I’d never have got without the crossers. I was thinking of SCRIBE as a scorer used in metalwork but didn’t recognise SCIBE as a word until I thought of satire and SATIE.
Paul must have been disappointed having to stick something as mundane as THROUGH in to fill the grid.
Thanks Paul and scchua.
Unusually, didn’t enjoy this Paul. Without knowing the fairy hoax I was forced to Google, and ‘cream’ seems a bit of a stretch for an anagram indicator. Still a fan – even Liverpool have the odd off day!
Oofyprosser@45 – I also thought ‘cream’ was iffy as an anagrind until I remembered that you cream butter and sugar together to make a cake.
One might quibble about INCAN which is an adjective. Member of old empire, suggesting a noun, would simply be an INCA.
Pentman @47
Although it doesn’t contradict your point, originally the Incas were just the rulers of the Empire. The Spaniards misinterpreted this distinction.
Pentman @47: that’s a fair point and I wondered about it myself. I think there are examples – though I’m not enough of a scholar to know if they are questionable – where adjective and noun coincide. I was thinking of Chinese and, for some reason, Malaysian when I justified. Strictly speaking, both are adjectives but I can imagine someone saying “I met a Malaysian today” or “there were several Chinese on the bus”.
Mark @46 I see your point.
I guess it’s a creep in the language where usage of words becomes more and more lax. A person from Malasia might say “I’m Malayan.” or ” I am a Malay.”. To me, if someone says “I met a Malaysian today.”, I think the word “person” is understood to follow Malaysian. You would never hear someone claim “I’m a Scottish.” but they would say “I’m a Scot.” It’s always puzzled me what an English person would say. They will say “I’m English.” but seldom say “I’m an Englander.”
muffin@48 When I was in Peru, I met many pure descendants of peoples from the time of the Incan empire who are proud of their traditions and resent the Spanish conquest still, and especially Francisco Pizzaro. Before I went, I read Hiram Bingham and “The Last Days of the Inca.” by Kim MacQuarrie which are thoroughly recommended reads.
Only finished thanks to Google, so a bit of a slog and I decided not to wrestle with the parsing of the hoaxes as I knew I could rely on fifteen squared, so many thanks Scchua. Rodshaw at 23: I am one who is glad to ‘break the two hours’, but at least I know that there are no degrees of uniqueness.
Have to agree with Muffin@40. And Paul is absolutely my favourite setter, so I was a bit disappointed today. I finished, but felt it didn’t really count, having Googled the hoaxes. Never mind. Onwards and upwards.
Meant to say – thoroughly enjoyed the blog though. Thanks to Scchua.
Job @51 I’ve been enjoying cryptic puzzles for over sixty years, and still remember the first cryptic clue I ever solved. The gold-standard back then was a puzzle in The Observer – I believe this may have morphed into Everyman. Back then I was lucky to break-the-day, since solving was a weekend slog (well actually, a pleasure, not a slog). The point is that once hooked into the genre everyone has their own experience and solving criteria (as you say, there are no degrees of uniqueness). I wish you much continued pleasure and success with all your future solving.
Tyngewick @ 39
I hope you painted the frame, not the window.
Paul has been very good lately and, for me, this was the pick of the recent ones. An absorbing puzzle, though not easy. I only had two in after the first pass of the across clues.
I managed to complete it without looking up hoaxes, although I did need to confirm the COTTINGLEY FAIRIES. SATIE was LOI and toughest.
Sadly unable to make the Zoom call as the time on a weekday doesn’t work for me. Any chance of posting the “word to clue for next time” here, John/Paul @30?
Many thanks, S&B.
Would have made a great Saturday prize puzzle but too tough for me today.
Thanks Scchua and Paul. I really enjoyed this so carried on this morning…came up 5 short, have never heard of Satie (even if I had remembered scorer could mean writer of music, which I foolishly forgot). I was going to have a winge about ‘cream’ but in retrospect I think it’s a very good anagrind to use for “X” with “Y” as mixing “X” with “Y” is what creaming is. I just wasn’t smart enough to see it!
I put this by to do other things and only got round to it today. What fun remembering the hoaxes. Some of my pupil though Applied Maths was a hoax. Am rorry no-one seems to have spelt out what each of these was.
Thanks to Paul for a lot of fun, though I abominate “scorer” for composer as much as “flower” for river.
Coming to this blog a week late, I haven’t read all the comments. I got as far as Pedro @12 – “hats off to anyone who could do this without Google” – and just have to say that I’ve been on holiday (camping in the Lakes and Scotland) with no access to the internet and it took me until Sunday to complete this one. I had to get all the crossers before ALIEN AUTOPSY came to mind, and I didn’t even have HOAX at that stage. Luckily all the other hoaxes were known to me, but I have to say that despite the sense of achievement this was hard work throughout, especially as the batteries had failed in my camping lantern on the Friday. (Though not as hard as KISSIMMEE in the “prize” that was blogged the day after this.)