Guardian 28,507 – Paul

124 comments on “Guardian 28,507 – Paul”

1. I know that Paul is a very clever setter, but this was far too tricky for me, who enjoys the success of Everyman and the Monday puzzles. I still can’t see how ‘frame’ is a definition of TREE. I managed a meagre three clues on the first pass. So for me it was not so much a DNF as a DNS. Thanks to Paul and Andrew. Now onto the Quiptic.

2. From a groan at 12.33am when I must’ve been too tired to think to a reasonably speedy completion on awakening six hours later. Like @Andrew, 12A was a giveaway start. Very enjoyable.

3. Journeyman@1. Think of shoe trees, for example. Needed 10A for the theme. Thanks both.

4. I also found this hard going, but could guess 8a (really my first word association with Monopoly) to then get 12a.

5. Paul on a Monday? Yew must be joaking!

   It already looks as if BAIZE was the way in, combined with BIRCH in my case. A goodly while spent staring at an almost empty grid (MAIZE and HYPE the only two entered) and wondering if this was going to be uncrackable. And then those two TREEs which led to 15a – and, even then, some pondering to resolve the parsing. After which the rest of the puzzle steadily unravelled. A bit of a shock to the system for the beginning of the week but perfectly welcome.

   Some lovely constructions in here: LOI POPULAR, MAYFAIR, FLORIST, CONE, PARK LANE, INITIATED, HAWTHORN and RARELY all got ticks. I wouldn’t normally spell the diminutive for biscuits with a K – biccie would be my choice – but I’ll cut Paul some slack and nominate that as my COTD. It combined both tea tray and laugh out loud for me with that cunning definition. Nice not to be left up a gum tree today.

   Thanks Paul and Andrew

6. Very cleverly constructed – getting 19 tree-related clues into a 30-word grid is fine work. Some very neat clueing – POPULAR, CORIANDER, FLORIST, QUARTILE, HAWTHORN and especially the delightful BRICKIE. But somehow just not as enjoyable as Paul usually is, and for me, ROWAN was a cleverness too far. Thanks Andrew especially for the parsing of 20a, and Paul for a tough workout.

7. Just to be different, MAIZE and HYPE together were my way in. M_______ for ‘official’ – what else could it be but MANDARIN? And H_______ with a THOR (lucky guess) in it… and I was on my way.

   I think I got all the trees and tree parts before I managed to solve TREE!

   BRICKIE took another cuppa (with biccy) at the end. Does Paul have CHOCKIE on his BICKIES?

   I enjoyed this, but do sympathise with Journeyman @1. Has the tradition of a gentler Monday been abandoned? That seems a shame, since not everyone can or wants to access the Quiptic online.

   Thanks Paul and Andrew.

8. Thanks to Paul and Andrew.

   A double bonus for me – a tricky Paul on a Monday and an early blog.

   I feel I should call for a stewards inquiry on ROWAN. We are asked to think of a phrase that is a homonym of a word in the clue. Mess about with it by reversing it and chopping the ends off and…hey presto you have the answer. Is that an acceptable crossword convention? I’d be interested to know the views of the more experienced bloggers on here.

9. This type of crossword is a waste of time. If you don’t get the key clue, i.e.15a, the whole thing is a non-starter. Hopefully there are no more like this…

10. This was a step or two above my level to be enjoyable. My way in was Pear. I ended up checking off a list of trees and then trying to work out the parsing. All good though. Thanks Andrew & Paul.

11. David @9 – you don’t have to get the key clue – as others have said there are different routes in to this sort of puzzle. I thought it was hard for a Monday, but witty and inventive.

12. Correction – obviously you *do* have to get the key clue eventually but other clues can provide the solution!

13. My experience was pretty much the norm: BAIZE, BIRCH AND HYPE to get the theme and POPULAR as LOI.
    Certainly a surprise for a Monday.
    Thanks to P&A.

14. Pleasant surprise to see Paul on Monday and had same pathway in as Auriga @ 13 with POPULAR holding out too long. Andrew, small typo for INITIATED, should be IT + I. Good tricky challenge

    Ta Paul & Andrew

15. I misfired on 6d with FIRE but luckily the FIR fitted with CONE and 1d so I left it there, not completely parsed. I didn’t mind this for a Monday, thanks Paul, as I had time today to spend on it and I enjoyed deducing TREE even though I couldn’t parse 15a. but it was still a DNF because as well as missing PINE I missed BrICKIE despite thinking about possibilities of biscuits/cookies. Note to self:layers are not always hens! Thanks Andrew for explanation of ROWAN and TREE which escaped me.

16. Started out with QUARTILE MAIZE and HYPE straight in then ground to an absolute halt, but a comment on the guardian (not a 7A opinion) with the crossing U gave me the theme.

    Difficult start to the week and needed the blog to parse BRICKIE and ROWAN.

    Lastly a shame no sign of a Chilean pine anywhere. This theme would have been a perfect opportunity!

    Thanks Paul and Andrew.

17. Wow! I thought this was great fun, but not really Monday fare so some folks are understandably unhappy. Like others, I thought BRICKIE and POPULAR were just great. My way into the theme was via HAWTHORN (having seen that Jean Harlow was too long, the only other name that came to me was Goldie Hawn). Couldn’t parse ROWAN or PINE (thought it must be a reference to pine needles). Many thanks to Paul and Andrew.

18. Thanks Paul and Andrew
    I don’t like this sort of puzzle. Very clever, but it falls into the “more fun to set than to solve” category for me. Once 15 is solved, it becomes a “how many trees can you think of” exercise.
    Identical start to you, Andrew, though after BAIZE I did wonder if Paul was intending to revive last week’s COVE/CREEK controversy.
    I didn’t parse ROWAN or PINE.

19. All I can say is thank GOODNESS there is a Quiptic this morning!

    Thanks Paul and Andrew!

20. This took me a long time as I got MAYFAIR early on, but parsed it as A in MY and FAIR so put in 15A as LADY. I was also distracted by 1D as the bishop on C1 is actually a black bishop, in the sense that it only moves on black squares; white’s white bishop starts on F1, so I spent too long trying to get an F into 1D. A clever puzzle, but a bit heavy for a Monday morning

21. Muffin@18: I agree. While acknowledging Paul’s ingenuity, I deepy disliked this effort. He was for years my favourite setter but in my book has lately become too clever by half.

    I also query the equivalence of RARELY with “very little”. To me it means “seldom” or “infrequently”, not the same thing at all.

22. Talk about mixed feelings: first glance – my favorite setter; second glance – hostile grid; third glance – only one solved (FLORIST); many more glances – very few in & no idea about 15A.
    Almost walked away several times, but – it being Paul – persevered. Then 15A fell and the rest flew in, until LOI (PARK LANE).
    Overall for me this was the hardest puzzle in ages (and certainly for a Monday), but just managed it at one sitting, and ninety minutes.
    Thanks Paul for providing a great challenge. I had this coming to me for complaining about the ease of Mondays. No more complaints from me.

23. The parsing of PINE and ROWAN eluded me. Will have to remember the “blunted” trick for a shortened word. IMHO ROWAN was a bridge too far.

24. My way in was HELM.

    Liked CONE, MAYFAIR, PARK LANE, BRICKIE, POPULAR (loi).

    I did not parse 20ac ROWAN.

    Thanks, both.

25. I elbowed my way in to this via POPULAR where the in was shouting “def!”

    Never over-keen on Mr Halpern’s strained definitions, particularly in this case where the key to the puzzle involves tree as a synonym for frame.

    I also think he strays into the unfair at ROWAN where I’m required to come up with INAWORD for ‘briefly’ before clipping and reversing it.

    Hey-Ho, it certainly made a change on a Monday!

    Many thanks, both.

26. Many thanks to Paul-and Andrew for parsing TREE , QUARTILE and CONE
    My entry was the monopoly clue 7 letters-lets run MAYFAIR up the flagpole and see if anyone salutes.
    And they did -it gave me OFFICE which lead to the gateway being TREE
    I think with a simple theme word like that it has to be cleverly hidden no matter what day of the week it is.
    So i twigged the theme early but took a while getting to the chequered flag.
    Nice change on a Monday instead of “nice gentle start to the week?

27. Didn’t help that PARK LANE was enumerated as (8) in the print version but TBH by that point I’d almost completely lost interest. Didn’t we have a very similar heavily-themed and cross-referenced puzzle from Paul fairly recently?

    For what it’s worth I had ticks for QUARTILE and CORIANDER because it included two tree references without referencing 15 🙂

28. And IE = “for example” – ouch!!

29. [Me @19: Quiptic done mainly to prove that I haven’t somehow lost the ability to parse anything other than ‘BAIZE…’

    In reference to 3d, here is one sur l’ocean grace-a Ravel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2y6MXI-UpI Calming music is just what I need after that crossword…]

30. Togs @20: Nice thought RS the cheese board. I don’t know enough about the game so must tread gingerly here, but the white bishop could start on c1 too, couldn’t it?

31. …chess board grrrr…

32. Thanks to Andrew for parsing PINE and ROWAN. I decided not to bother with this unless I got 15A PDQ, and luckily realised that a TREE could be a wooden structure (think of the old gallows at Tyburn Tree). Despite my general loathing of themes and cross-reference clues, I rather enjoyed this. MAYFAIR and PARK LANE were the biggest hold-ups. I last played Monopoly about 1961 !

33. As a virtuoso of typos, William @31, I can only say that I wish that some of mine were as felicitous. Had me thinking about White Stilton and Stinking Bishop on a fantasy cheese board.

34. Like William@31 I’m no fan of chess, and for all I knew the piece in question could have started at 18. It didn’t hold me up unduly.

35. Another who failed to parse ROWAN. Tortu[r]ous…

36. I am entirely with muffin@8 on this one. The cleverness in the process of compilation has to be balanced and tuned to the solving process to produce a really good puzzle, I think. This became a dull plod: think of all tree words, biff them in and, if one could be bothered, have a go at trying to work out how to retro-fit the clue. I failed to retro-fit PINE and ROWAN, and found little wit or style in the others. Sorry.

37. Spooner’s catflap @33: love the idea of virtuosity in typos, haha!

    On our board, do let’s use The Mozzarella gambit.

38. [William @37: Given how useless I am at the game, Stinking Bishop would be more appropriate…]

39. …in hindsight, that sounds like a Freddie Forsyth novel.

40. Thanks for the blog, slow to start , I got BAIZE but it was HELM at 22AC before I got the tree idea, then it was very quick , but I do love trees.
    Agree that BICCIE should not have a k , will check later.
    4D is two words surely.
    May and Hawthorn are the same tree but does not really matter.

41. An unexpected hard centre from Paul this morning. Lots of Paul’s usual stretched synonyms to wrestle with and an unhelpful grid. My way in was via HYPE and I DARE SAY, which gave ASPEN and then TREE, though it was a while before I spotted the pan-TREE and the rest was far from a write-in. I never did parse the difficult ROWAN, or CONE (I suspected something to do with chess but I didn’t know what), and didn’t get BRICKIE at all.

42. I loved this monkey-puzzle (Blah @16!). Times Refugee’s example @32 for TREE is interesting, on looking up Tyburn Tree I found that Tyburn means “place of the elms”, a former village near where Marble Arch now stands.
    Thank you Paul and Andrew.

43. Ok, I would like to share with everyone the fruits of my exhaustive research into the game of chess (3.5 mins).

    It seems there must always be a white square to the right Sen from the perspective of the players. Therefore the white bishop would begin on c1.

    Paul; 15-love.

44. …seen grrr

45. Chambers – biccy and biccies , Pau is wrong twice.
    As for frame, Spooner’s Catflap may perhaps delight us with some references to the gallows – tree.

46. I don’t really agree with the definition of quartile (2 down). A quartile is the score below which one fourth of a distribution lies.

47. William @ 43 you are reading too much in to white bishop. It does not say white SQUARED bishop. The white PLAYER starts with two bishops on C1 and F1 .

48. Tough for a Monday! There is a small mistake in the explanation of 11D as it is I and IT that are added to DETAIN.

49. bodycheetah @ 28

    It’s “bourbon, for example” giving BICKIE, so no erroneous association.

50. Didn’t enjoy this one at all.

    For me, ROWAN is unreasonable, and it’s ‘biccy’ or ‘biccies’ – ‘bicky’ is a complete invention.

51. Roz @ 45

    From the current Chambers app:
    “biccy or bickie /bik?i/ (informal)
    noun (pl bicc?ies or bick?ies)
    Short form of biscuit”

52. Spooner’s catflap @33 (and William @37 & MB@38): if we’re going to be playing chess on our cheese board, let’s hope it doesn’t end up stale, mate

53. [Roz @45. Thank you for encouraging my doubtless to many annoying custom of seeking out literary vindications of contentious synonyms. I thought on this occasion that an 18thC text with much emphasis upon criminality and the penalties visited upon its perpetrators would be the most likely source, so what better than Henry Fielding’s satirical heroic celebration of the life of Jonathan Wild (1743)? This did not disappoint. Of the numerous examples of ‘tree’ referring to the gallows. I will append just an excerpt from the passage where Wild is finally brought to Tyburn to be hanged. (The ‘ordinary’ here is the chaplain.)

    “When he came to the TREE of glory, he was welcomed with an universal shout of the people, who were there assembled in prodigious numbers to behold a sight much more rare in populous cities than one would reasonably imagine it should be, viz., the proper catastrophe of a great man.

    But though envy was, through fear, obliged to join the general voice in applause on this occasion, there were not wanting some who maligned this completion of glory, which was now about to be fulfilled to our hero, and endeavoured to prevent it by knocking him on the head as he stood under the TREE, while the ordinary was performing his last office.”

    Enough from me today.]

54. Being a cookie (even though half baked), I definitely back the shortened form BICKIE for biscuit, it is given in Collins online – perhaps also in Eileen’s tree version?

55. On a less ghoulish note, how about a clothes tree or a saddle tree?

56. [ Just out of interest, I googled “frame tree” and clicked on “Images” — some lovely piccies (or should that be “pickies”) ]

57. I got PEAR, but then fruit didn’t fit into 15. However, with BAIZE all was clear. I liked the pantree once it was revealed by Andrew – and I also failed to parse the somewhat tortuous ROWAN.

    Good setting to include so many trees.

    Thanks Paul and Andrew.

58. Neill97@46

    IIRC from long ago maths quartile can be used both to indicate the quartile values which divide a set, but also said subsets. Hence three quartile values split a set into four equal quartiles.

59. I am wondering what Friday’s puzzle will be like if the week follows the usual pattern….

    I enjoyed the cryptic and have just about finished Everyman.

60. ooops meant the quiptic

61. [ S c @ 53, utterly delightful, if people get annoyed then that is their problem ]
    [ MrEssexboy @ 55 , nice examples, is a clothes tree the same as a clothes horse ? They are often wooden. We also have mug tree and someone mentioned shoe tree ]

62. Paul on a Monday indeed! I went straight for 15 and luckily saw the PAN TREE straightaway. That made filling in most of the themed clues a lot easier, although I had no idea of the parsing of ROWAN, so thanks Andrew.

    Thanks to Paul for a fun puzzle

63. I suspect I’d have enjoyed this a bit more later in the week – it’d be a shame if the Guardian abandons the tradition of slightly easier Monday puzzles for those of us that (frankly) need them. It was being able to do one of the Monday ones in the printed edition a few years ago that first piqued my interest, and learning that they appeared regularly was my foothold once I started solving more often.

64. Roz @47: you’re quite right. Not being a player I was confused by white piece and white square…

    …I’ll get my coat.

65. I started off by doing today’s Wire on the Indy first. That was tough enough and I was looking forward to a bit of respite, but no such luck. No hope in parsing TREE which I “retro-fitted” from first BIRCH then BAIZE. ROWAN also remained unparsed and I was put off by the ‘Part of’ in 21, as CORK by itself is an example of a type of TREE.

    I was just about to give up on 24a when I finally saw BRICKIE (BICKIE is fine by me and is in various other references, even if ‘bourbon’ as an example was only vaguely remembered).

    Very hard work even if the grid was filled correctly in the end. I only hope the Slormgorm in the FT, which I’m about to do, gives me a gentler time.

    Thanks to Paul and Andrew

66. Loved this one. I had PINE as SPINE minus the point S, not minus the first letter. Which of course makes no difference whatsoever, except that I thought point for first letter was a bit loose otherwise.
    Agreed on ROWAN, way too many steps needed and “briefly” must have about 1,000 synonyms too many to make it fair. Perfectly gettable as a tree with those crossers though.

67. Biccy/Bicky/Biccie/Bickie is a bit of verbal slang whose written form hasn’t yet settled down to an accepted spelling, so as far as I’m concerned BICKIE is as good as any other.

68. I thought this one quite misjudged. I got the theme word fairly quickly from other answers, but had to wait for the blog to parse it. Inaccurate def of QUARTILE (Neill97 is right, though probably only professional statisticians realise the difference); since when does “point” mean initial? SPINE has the compass points. I had to guess this, LIME and PINE seeming equally possible and obscure. Got ROWAN, but not fully parsed.
    A Monday puzzle that takes longer than the previous day’s AZED cannot be right.

69. Same as ArkLark@62, so it can be done.

    I felt for non-UK solvers when doing BRICKIE, MAYFAIR and PARK LANE.

70. Had a TREEless landscape for quite a while, so scratched around, starting off with a likely -ED ending for 11down, which gave me a helpful D for my foi (phew!) CORIANDER. “The squeaky board in the butler’s pantree” that I dimly remembered from a school play of Wind In The Willows – or was it Toad of Toad Hall? – got me going on the arboreal trail at last. Thereafter lots of fun, as usual with Paul, and LOI was the one that made me smile the most, ultimately, BRICKIE…

71. Seeing Paul’s name first thing on a Monday morning made my heart sink – especially as my poor brain has still not yet recovered from Friday’s examination… so I have to confess I clicked the REVEAL button on 15a, just to give myself a way in. And after that it actually proved not nearly as taxing as I feared, so maybe I should have persevered. I doubt I would ever have guessed at frame=tree, and the subtractive homophone is beyond my level of cruciverbalism (especially on a Monday morning), but as others have said, it probably would have become apparent eventually. Oh well!

    Like everyone else, I would never have parsed ROWAN in a million years, so thanks Andrew for cracking that one open for us, and for the rest of your exemplary blog.

    I did just about get the parsing of 13a I DARE SAY, though I’m really not keen on “to pen” for an insertion indicator.

    And thanks, Paul, for the mental workout.

72. poc @21 re RARELY and very little: how about “the butterfly is seen rarely nowadays / the butterfly is seen very little nowadays”. The grammar isn’t great (“very infrequently” would be better), but it would be acceptable usage.

73. Goujeers @68 “A Monday puzzle that takes longer than the previous day’s AZED cannot be right.” I agree with the principle, but you must have rattled through the Azed.

74. My way in was ASPEN. Having got HYPE, and only HYPE, I needed a country with P as its third letter, thought of Nepal and assembled ASPEN and had the category.

    I’d forgotten that British Monopoly was based on London, so I was trying to remember bits of Atlantic City in a game I’ve only played half a time once. I also don’t think of may as a tree. Along with box, I think of it as English. Once I had three crossers I remembered that Mayfair is a part of London — a city I know more about than Atlantic City.

    Bickie, brickie and bourbon biscuits are all very British. I do enjoy coming up with Briticisms, but sometimes they escape me for too long. I find on looking them up that Bourbon biscuits are Peek Freans — those used to be available in US supermarkets, but I haven’t seen them in years. I’d forgotten they existed.

    Do green baize tables still exist? I’ve only met them in books.

    I biffed in ROWAN from the crossers because it was a tree, with no idea why. I’d never have thought of “in a word.” Thanks, Andrew.

    SC@43 I generally find my way in through folksongs. Here it’s MacPherson’s Farewell, in which MacPherson breaks his fiddle rather than let anyone else play it, and when the reprieve arrives an hour late because they set the clock back. The chorus goes
    Sae rantinly, sae wantonly, sae dauntinly gaed he
    He played a tune and he danced aroon, below the gallows tree.

    Thanks Paul for a pleasant workout and Andrew for several rescues.

75. Sorry, it’s “MacPherson’s Rant.” I had confused it with another song that was somebody’s lament, I forget whose.

76. Brilliant song Valentine @ 74, the may tree is just hawthorn, very pure white blossom in May.
    Green baize is used for snooker tables , also card tables but mainly only seen in casinos these days.

77. drofle@72 : How about “the very little butterfly is seen rarely nowadays” ?

    Sorry, I’ll catch the bus home now….

78. (From the bus stop)

    I always found it quite amusing that Billy Twelvetrees, the Irish rugby international, was nicknamed “36” by his team mates.

79. Goujeers@68, this has echoes of the median = average debate from a long way back. I have more sympathy with this one though, in that “the upper quartile” would be taken, in non-maths world at least, to mean the top fourth based on some attribute or another.

80. I’m with David Bradbury@9 here. The entire puzzle depends on 15ac, and not only is it a convoluted definition, it has only two crosslights and one of them depends on 15ac itself!

    So it’s either figure out 15ac from “___E” or work out one of the ones that depend on it without knowing the definition; and many of those are double definitions or homophones (e.g., if you get the first letter of “official” it could be MARSHALL).

    At the best of times I don’t like clues that depend on clues that cross them, but this pushes it well past the limit.

    At least there’s a Quiptic today.

81. TR @78. Billy Twelvetrees is an English rugby International and hails from West Sussex. I believe it was his Gloucester clubmate (and Irish international) Geodan Murphy who was responsible for the ‘36’ tag.

82. [Grizzlebeard @81
    It was before he moved to Gloucester – it was at Leicester.]

83. Thanks @Grizzlebeard81 – my memory is rather like a Gruyere cheese nowadays.

84. I have never liked Paul, and this effort confirms it. He has always been too difficult and totally unamusing.
    Especially on a Monday.
    A pantry’s last 3 letters are pronounced as ‘tray’, not ‘tree’.
    And I’m not convinced by the arguments equating ‘tree’ with ‘frame’.
    As for’Rowan’…….Help Ma Boab

85. On his zoom on Friday JH mentioned this one today-monday. Everyone was gob-smacked and I think so was he! However it made a change from the usual Vulcanite et al. Debate ensued on how difficult the Graunie should be: definite consensus that there should be no dumbing down. Ref previous comments re yesterday’s Azed: tough and fair as ever. Certainly harder than today’s offering. No Paul zoom tonight he’s off on his hols-maybe just as well. Thanks for excellent blog.

86. hilt @84: I can’t help with four of your complaints but, with regard to the middle one, I’m not sure you’re in the majority with pantry being pronounced pan-tray. Whether they liked it or not, most commenters so far appear to accept the homophone and I, for one, have never heard the vestibule (or cupboard) pronounced in your way. From which part of the world do you hail? Is it a regional thing?

87. My heart missed several beats when I eagerly opened the website expecting to see a Vulcan puzzle, only to be confronted by a Paul themed puzzle.
    I casually looked at the crossword and filled in 8a, which made 15 obvious. I then steamed on, Titanic like, expecting to meet an iceberg very soon, but they had all melted and to my intense joy, completed my first Paul puzzle. Though I have to confess I have yet to check the parsing of 15!
    The whole thing was a joy, very clever and one can only continue to marvel at the skill and ingenuity of the setters.
    I expected to meet an obscure tree, but one never came.
    Thanks both, now for the blog.

88. Regarding the ‘Billy Twelvetrees’ comments, the best example of a nickname from football was the QPR and Crystal Palace defender Fitz Hall, who was known throughout the game as ‘one size’.
    Regarding the crossword, thanks for the explanations for TREE, CONE and ROWAN, l agree the ROWAN parsing was a parse too far. My LOI was MANDARIN, I constantly forget the ‘official’ definition.

89. Well done HYD @87 and you actually made a very good point that I missed , and others I think.
    There were no obscure trees here, not usually the case with an extended theme.
    Was there someone called “chariots” Ofiar ? , do not the actual details.

90. I am afraid I barqued up the wrong tree with this one.

91. [Roz @89
    Martin Offiah, rugby league player, was nicknamed “Chariots”.]

92. Thank you Muffin , I knew I had heard it but no actual details.

93. My way in was Baize. A clever little problem which got a lot easier once the main hurdle was crossed.. C-one was a lovely, subtle problem

94. HIYD @88: having witnessed, via your posts, many of your past attempts to crack a Paul, I share in your delight at despatching this one. May it be the first of many.

    [Roz @89 & muffin @91: not strictly on the surname/pun theme but very nearly. John Eales – Australian rugby captain and all-round achiever was known as Nobody on the basis that Nobody’s Perfect. ]

95. Super puzzle, though not quite Mondayish. I saw the TREE immediately and it was a steady plod from there on until I was left with an unsolved POPULAR (I didn’t know poplars are boxes, but I may never forget that now, so thanks, Paul) and BRICKIE, which I would never have got in another day or two, partly because ‘bickie’ is completely unknown to me in that spelling and partly because the uncapitalised ‘bourbon’ in the clue led me in the wrong direction, as someone else suggested above, not altogether fairly in my opinion. Thanks to setter and blogger.

96. BigNorm @95
    “Boxes” is the inclusion indicator, rather than the type of tree!

97. BigNorm @ 95: poplars aren’t boxes. ‘POP-LAR’ is ‘boxing [in]’ U.

98. Couto @96 How so?

99. Hoof It @99. Couto is a troll and will not reply. However, on this occasion I tend to agree.

    ROWAN was obvious with the crossers, but I congratulate Andrew for the parsing.

    I was looking at BISCUIT for a long time, but CORK ruled it out. BICKIE? Good grief.

    Luckily I had more enjoyable things to do today.

100. Forgot to say: if the answer is B(R)ICKIE, why clue it as ‘bourbon, for example’? Give us a break. What about ‘bourbon for a toddler’? Does Paul say “BICKIE” to his nearest and dearest? If so, how has he survived so long without receiving an axe in his skull. (Regular users of this site will, I hope, realise that I am a) joking and b) usually not so violent in my imagery )

101. Not my cup of tea – Paul is slipping out of my top ten setters – not that it should bother him. Good to see lots of people enjoyed it although I think the grumbles about the clue for ROWAN are well founded. Thanks to Paul and Andrew for the unexpectedly tough blog.

102. My way in was ASPEN, via curtailed Nepal (but first thought was LAPSE via decapitated Nepal).
     HULL works as a solution for 21d.
     Thanks to Andrew & Paul

103. The problem with this kind of puzzle is that, apart from annoying the solver immediately, the surface readings are compromised. Almost all of them.

104. The problem with ROWAN wasn’t getting the answer (no options) but pasing it. So, DNF…

105. It occurs to me that as well as having a collection of three-letter British river names, one of the UK’s less-recognized natural resources (and two two-letter non-British ones, the Ob, which appeared recently, and the Po, which we haven’t seen in a while) I should be assembling a collection of three-letter trees: May, Fir, Oak, Ash, Yew, Elm, Box, and what have I missed? And come to think of it, three-letter fish: Gar, Ide, Eel, Cod, Ray …

106. I would make the distinction that someone hinted at earlier – the tree is hawthorn; may is the blossom it carries. I think it’s the “may” referred to in the old expression “ne’er cast a clout ’til may be out” – advice on clothing that relates to the blossom rather than the month.

107. muffin @107: that’s my understanding too. This suggests that it’s a Scots saying; north of the border “it aye comes oot at the end o Mey”, and any clout/cloot-casting should be deferred until then!

108. Dutch @ 104

     I don’t think surface readings have been a major concern for JH for a couple of years or so.

     Hence my introduction on the g thread of the concept of his “ that’ll do “ clues.

109. Dutch@104 The trouble with that kind of comment is that it asserts an opinion to be an absolute truth. The actual truth is that some solvers are not immediately annoyed; neither do they all necessarily find the surfaces compromised.

110. You are right about the saying and the blossom but when I was growing up people would refer to it exclusively as the may tree or may hedge, never hawthorn.

111. Hated BRICKIE. I mean, bickie? Really?

     Couldn’t parse ROWAN so thanks Andrew.

     Thanks for the rest, Paul

112. Happy with BICKIE. It’s in the Chambers app. I had thought that bourbon was a rye whiskey, but it appears it’s a MAIZE one. My heart sank with all the references to 15, but my entry to the theme was ASPEN. I was surprised by the enumeration for 4dn, but guessed it was a typo. ROWAN only went in when it was R_W_N.

113. An Arboreal Arcadia…

114. Petert @ 90. lol
     Had no idea about b(r)ickie. But I don’t mind. TILT
     And also stumped by ROWAN.
     Thanks Andrew.

115. Running a couple of days late so had two Pauls to complete without even the break of a weekend. After last Friday’s offering which I found a slog I was not looking forward to Monday’s puzzle. However, it was a delight – a very obvious theme (gettable by a variety of routes) and no deliberately obscure words. Of course, I couldn’t parse it all – I never can – but the vast majority were easy(ish) to find. I was led astray by bourbon, not by the lack of a capital B but because I could only think of whiskey.

116. Far too late I know but Roz@89 and 92 and muffin@91. Offiah was given his nickname while still playing Rugby Union for Rosslyn Park.
     Re tree = frame, I suspect that Paul was thinking of “roof tree” (Chambers: the ridgepole: the roof).

117. A first post here.
     Just wanted to say that, as both an erstwhile “slammer” (of the spirit in question) and (also erstwhile) amateur astrologer, QUARTILE was a doddle for me.
     If one can’t get in the door, one can try the window.
     Thanks to everyone, I’ve greatly enjoyed reading this blog.

118. Welcome MimiBwcyd!

     V late to this and I can only marvel at the mind (Andrew’s) that could parse ROWAN. Those who do e.g. Azed – is this not a step too far? A pure Russian doll.
     But I did enjoy the puzzle.

119. Pino @ 117 , thank you for the full story, very clever whoever came up with it. Is this why they sing ” Swing Low …. ” ?

120. Very clever and satisfying puzzle. Got Tree eventually from mandarin but still not convinced by the explanation for ROWAN.
     Annoyed at not parsing CONE – got sidetracked thinking about COLumns and rows.
     Belated thanks to Paul and Andrew

121. Roz@120
     Ì think “Swing Low” was sung in rugby clubs before Offiah became famous. I’ve always thought that it was popular there because it had a very singable tune and could be accompanied by gestures, one of which is obscene.

122. Thank you Pino, now you mention it , I do remember that and other rugby songs in our college bar – time to leave.

123. The print edition had 4d as an eight-letter word. Which “Park Lane” isn’t.

     That shouldn’t annoy me as much as it does, but it’s the sort of small-but-significant error that crops up much more often than it used to.

     It reinforces my guess that since the Guardian’s cost-cutting a few years back – when they went to tabloid format – there isn’t a dedicated crossword editor, but just a genrral “puzzles editor” who oversees the crossword along with the Sudoko and everything else – and who isn’t a crossword person.

     Inevitable, I suppose, but sad.

124. Another brilliant Paul. No one to touch him at his best, as he is here.

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