Guardian Cryptic 28571 Paul

by

Thank you to Paul. Definitions are underlined in the clues.

Across

1. Frame in competition — lose it (5,2)

CRACK UP : RACK(a frame for holding or storing things, eg. your spice jars) contained in(in) CUP(a competition in which the winner wins, well, a cup/trophy).

Defn: To become unable to control one’s emotions.

5. Three-legged rugby player? (3,4)

FLY HALF : Cryptic defn: Half a fly would have 3 legs.

10. Somersault hit the roof (4)

FLIP : Double defn: 1st: To turn over suddenly and quickly; and 2nd: To become very angry suddenly.

11. Action of bandit with equipment breaking cover (10)

BRIGANDAGE : RIG(equipment designed for a particular purpose) contained in(breaking) BANDAGE(a cover/dressing for a wound, say).

12. Babies 2 27, rears on noisome nappies (6)

TINIES : Anagram of(answer to 2 down/ROLLING) [IN IT](answer to 27 across) + last letters, respectively, of(rears on) “noisome nappies“.

13. Stripling in 14 having dropped male off (8)

TEENAGER : Anagram of(… off) [“agreement”(answer to 14 across) minus(having dropped) “m”(abbrev. for “male”)].

14. A group of soldiers in welcome treaty (9)

AGREEMENT : A + MEN(a group of soldiers) contained in(in) GREET(to welcome when meeting someone).

16. Hand 2 27 (5)

FLUSH : Double defn: 1st: … in poker; and 2nd: …/having plenty of something, especially money.

This one’s a royal:

17. Member of old empire in La Paz must be optimistic, finally (5)

AZTEC : Last letters, respectively, of(…, finally) “La Paz must be optimistic“.

Defn: … in Mexico.

19. Astronauts together step into wind (5,4)

SPACE CREW : PACE(a single step/stride) contained in(into) SCREW(to wind/to twist round).

… going where no man has gone before.

23. Preserve order initially, drunk among native Americans (8)

CREOSOTE : [ 1st letter of(… initially) “order” + SOT(a drunk/a habitually drunk person) ] contained in(among) CREE(native Americans/a North American indigenous people).

Defn: To …/treat wood with the preservative, creosote.

24. 2 27, as peas may be? (6)

MINTED : Double defn: 1st: Rich; and 2nd: …, ie. cooked and flavoured with mint, as a dish.

26. Use spirit in container (4,6)

MILK BOTTLE : MILK(to use/to exploit) + BOTTLE(spirit/courage).

27. See 2

28. Disturb it splitting stone (7)

AGITATE : IT contained in(splitting) AGATE(a gemstone).

29. Level in rugger, having lost every other one — win following defeat? (7)

REVENGE : EVEN(level/flat and smooth) contained in(in) “rugger” minus its 2nd, 4th and 6th letters(having lost every other one).

Defn: …/payback.

Down

2, 27. Like a billionaires’ club member, author reportedly has already joined? (7,2,2)

ROLLING IN IT : Homophone of(… reportedly) “Rowling”(J.K., British author of Harry Potter fame) + [IN IT](has already joined/is already a member of, in this case, the aforementioned club).

Answer: …, “it” being money.

3. Isle with earless goat? (5)

CAPRI : “Capricorn”(a zodiac sign symbolised by a goat) minus(less) “corn”(or maize, whose seed-bearing part is called a ear).

4. Bum has soon, when whipped, come clean (7)

UNBOSOM : Anagram of(…, when whipped) [BUM plus(has) SOON].

Defn: …/to confess.

6. 2 27, as arm may be? (6)

LOADED : Double defn: 1st: …/very rich; and 2nd: …, a firearm, that is.

7. Sozzled, rich upper-class lady taking water under pressure? (9)

HYDRAULIC : Anagram of(Sozzled) [ RICH + U(characteristic of the upper-class) + LADY ].

Defn: …/employing a fluid, water in this case, under pressure.

8. Fellers, those recording information? (7)

LOGGERS : Double defn: 1st: …/those felling/cutting down trees; and 2nd: …/devices or computer programmes that systematically record data.

9. As may be bum, fairly 2 27 (7,6)

SITTING PRETTY : SITTING(as a bum/rear end may be on, well, a seat) + PRETTY(fairly/to a moderately high degree).

Defn: In a good or comfortable position, in this case, having lots of money.

The clue could also work without “fairly”:

15. Something perhaps 2 27 when you bash in peg the wrong way (3,6)

EYE SOCKET : [ YE(archaic term for “you”) + SOCK(to bash/to strike hard and violently) ] contained in(in) reversal of(… the wrong way) TEE(a peg/a short pin to hold your golf ball when you drive off the tee).

Defn: The “it” in …, in this case, that something being your eyeball.

18. Bounce around sphere? One would be 2 27 (7)

ZORBING : ZING(bounce/liveliness) containing(around) ORB(a sphere/globe).

Defn: The “it” in the clue, refering to the sport.

20. Move towards hugs for each host (7)

COMPERE : COME(to move/travel towards where the speaker is) containing(hugs) PER(for each, as in “kilometres per hour”).

Defn: …/a person who introduces performers in a variety show.

21. When darkness is coming in ironwork? (7)

EVENING : Double defn: 1st: Time of day …; and 2nd: Cryptically, the housework using an electric or steam iron to even/de-crease clothes.

22. Lose fight admitting that was painful (3,3)

BOW OUT : BOUT(a fight/a match between boxers or wrestlers) containing(admitting) OW!(an exclamation when one feels pain).

25. Unsophisticated church body touring India (5)

NAIVE : NAVE(the main section/body of a church building) containing(touring) I(abbrev. for “India”).

64 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 28571 Paul”

  2. Nice puzzle and once I’d got Ian Rankin out of my mind and then double checked the pronunciation of JK, we were ROLLING. Clever use of one of Paul’s favourite techniques. Several favourites – CAPRI for the ear trick (and I’m a Capricorn), MILK BOTTLE for the succinct charade, FLY HALF for the off beam cryptic def and BRIGANDAGE because it’s a lovely word. COTD split between the splendid anagram and surface for HYDRAULIC and AZTEC for a lovely surface and device working in harmony.

    All that said, defeated by ZORBING which I’ve seen done but never identified with a name.

    Thanks Paul and scchua – esp for the SPACE CREW illustration. What a classic team they were.

  4. Thanks Paul and scchua. Took me a long time staring at this before I found a way in but it all fell into place eventually, and despite initial fears, everything was very parsable – not something I can always say about Paul. Some ‘quirky’ surfaces, but I did like MILK BOTTLE and CAPRI, and FLY-HALF is enjoyably silly.

    As per Andy @3, I agree that ‘lose’ isn’t right as a definition for BOW OUT, but otherwise no quibbles worth mentioning.

  5. Thanks P & s. For TINIES, I interpreted ‘rolling’ as a reversal indicator for the IN IT.

    I do hope Gaufrid is OK?

  7. I used to enjoy Paul’s puzzles a lot more – he was one of my favourite setters but lately I find it hard to read his surfaces.

    Favourites: CAPRI, LOGGERS.

    New for me: ZORBING, BRIGANDAGE, FLY HALF = rugby: a half back who forms a link between the scrum half and the three-quarters. I know nothing about football, rugby or soccer, obviously!

    I did not parse: 15d.

    I think that 9d works better with the word pretty than without it.

    Thanks, both.

  8. [Roz – whenever you pop in: like others, I thank you for the recent suggestions re viewing Andromeda. I was fully prepared to wait up last night – but then read what you said about the light taking two and a half million years to reach me and decided not to hang around…]

  9. Zorbing as my last one in had me really scratching my head because I couldn’t find a likely word to fit, but once I had found orb for sphere it couldnt be anything else.
    I nearly got stuck a few times and had to rely on a couple of partially completed clues to get going again. No real breakthroughs, they all yielded gradually. I enjoyed this one and found nothing questionable.

  10. This was a challenging end to the week but felt satisfying when done. 25dn was first one in and that soon led to 2 27. Even then the linked clues were not obvious to me. I fell onto the trap of putting Incan in 17ac which held up the SW. Once I realised 18dn was Zorbing (useful to have teenage kids!) I realised my error. What I like about Paul is that even where there are linked clues you know that the source clue will have more than one interpretation. Keeps you on your toes. Thanks to Paul and scchua.

  11. For 1ac I think Paul was referring to pool (or snooker) – a frame is sometimes referred to as a “rack” and it fits better with the surface

  12. This post will be a bit rushed but I wanted to contribute. Never came across zorbing. Looks fun but I had zeroing with a ? So overall a DNF. I also had failed to parse the EYE SOcket. instead of Minted I had Monied which I still rather like as I figured peas was p’s and they can be monied. So thank you scchua for the clear explanations and Paul for the puzzle.

  13. essexboy @5 – I also read ‘rolling’ as a reversal indicator in 12a but I imagine some sticklers wouldn’t be happy with that – it seems to be more widely accepted as an anagram indicator. Luckily it works either way.

  15. I enjoyed this a lot more than Paul’s last offering; I liked his use of ROLLING IN IT as both synonym and anagrind/anagrist, and I felt the surfaces were rather more coherent this time (I agree with michelle that they tend to be rather abstruse).

    FLY HALF was fun (I’ve grumbled recently about the use of ‘six-footer’ to flag ‘insect’, as there isn’t any other sensible connotation, but this was ingenious). Eric The Half A Bee, anyone? HYDRAULIC doesn’t always imply ‘under pressure’. Is that, or the example of water as a fluid, the reason for the question mark?

    U pops up for the third time this week – this chestnut has been well and truly roasted!

    ZORBING was new to me, and my LOI, but clearly clued, so it had to be this.

    Thanks to Paul and scchua

  16. Hello everyone – thanks for your comments, Do join me and meet Picaroon tonight (7.30pm UK time) on Zoom, by subscribing to johnhalpern.co.uk

    I look forward to seeing you later. All the best,

    John

  17. Khayyam@1, so it seems, but then we don’t have fly halfs.
    I struggled with Paul today & had to reveal the key to make any real progress. Very clever all the same, especially the earless goat.
    Thanks scchua & Paul.

  18. This was tough but I got ROLLING IN IT quickly – first by guesswork then I worked it out. And then there were some neat easier clues based on that answer which helped me – like FLUSH, ARMED, MINTED

    Needed help parsing more than a few. Hadn’t heard of the word ZORBING (though have watched my nieces have a go).

    Like others I really liked FLY HALF

    Thanks Paul and scchua

  20. Took me over an hour to solve, and yet, every clue was fair. Thank you, Paul, for a stiff challenge (at least to me), and thank you scchua for the blog.

  21. Lb @12 peas is also slang for money. Can’t believe I stumbled at MILK BOTTLE going through cartons, tetrapaks and just about everything else before the blindingly obvious 🙂

  22. Couldn’t fathom out TINIES, so a DNF today. Only managed to solve ZORBING as AZTEC was pointing the way. Struggled to parse both HYDRAULIC and TEENAGER. Enjoyable nevertheless…

  23. I’m a bit too old to indulge in ZORBING but it looks great fun. I liked the ROLLING IN IT references, especially EYE SOCKET, but my favourite clue was the ‘Member of old empire in La Paz’ at 17a which was a great piece of misdirection. Like JerryG @10, I was itching to put in “Incan”, but somehow avoided the temptation.

    Thanks to Paul and scchua

  24. Great crossword, thanks Paul! I never did work out that the “rolling” author was J K, but I got the answer anyway and liked the various ways Paul used the result (I also took it as a reversal indicator for TINIES). Agree with the quibble for BOW OUT: leaving rather than losing a game. Objectors to indirect anagrams will not like the U in HYDRAULIC.

    Favourites TINIES, AZTEC, CREOSOTE,
    CAPRI, ZORBING and of course the wonderfully unclassifiable FLY HALF (I live half a mile down the road from Twickenham so I know all about those).

  25. Just being pernickety, but corn is a synonym for cereal and maize is Indian Corn with the Indian part no longer used.

  27. An entertaining puzzle. Favourite was FLY HALF, very clever and funny. ZORBING for me was one of those “jorum” clues where you work it out and then look it up to check it really exists.

    Purely by chance I was just looking at an Araucaria Alphabetical from 1975 (in Sandy Balfour’s book “A Clue to Our Lives”), and the C clue is:

    C takes the grain from the goat in a famous Italian isle (5)

    Ok, not exactly the same, but it makes you wonder if there is ever a totally original crossword clue these days.

    Many thanks Paul and scchua.

  28. Enjoyed this a lot – might have felt differently had I not got the key fairly early on, although I’d already dropped in quite a few answers by that point.

    For those who are tempted by ZORBING, be warned – it’s quite fun at first, but things then start going quickly downhill…

  29. Ben+T @28: … and I was so looking forward to giving it a go but now you’ve burst my bubble … so I’m off to get my coat…

  30. gladys @24: Does the inclusion of a flag for a single letter in the fodder really count as an indirect anagram? U = upper class is so widely used that it will immediately spring to the mind of a regular solver. I’m sure I’ve seen things like ‘thousand’ = K used in similar ways. Can someone more au fait with these things confirm whether this trick is included in the Inquisition’s Syllabus of Errors?

  31. Enjoyable, challenging puzzle, full of Paul’s intricate construction and provocative surfaces.
    Imho – when you BOW OUT you definitely lose the game and I’m with Essexboy@5 with the parsing for TINIES.
    Favourites: BRIGANDAGE, CAPRI and TINIES.
    [Smile of the day came from message to Roz from Postmark@8]
    Thanks to Paul for excellent puzzle, pics and for the invitation to Zoom event later today.
    Thanks again to scchua for blog.

  32. Thanks Paul & scchua, that was opulent fun.
    I like the proximity of EYE SOCKET to ZORBING which has an orb if not quite an orbit!
    Also like the interlocking rolling flip, hydraulic flush, and the idea of an AZTEC SPACE CREW.

  33. I’m not entirely convinced that SPACE CREW is an expression in its own right, but the wordplay for 19a is so clear it doesn’t really matter.
    Some very neat clues from Paul; FLY HALF, TINIES, CREOSOTE, HYDRAULIC (the gloriously surreal surface adding to the enjoyment) and EYE SOCKET particularly appealed.
    I hadn’t heard of ZORBING; having been enlightened, I will say that instead of a Bucket List, I have a F*** It List, of things which I’m never going to get round to doing, and…
    Near the top are running a marathon and going ski-ing. I think something has just joined them.
    Thanks as ever to Paul and to sschua

  34. Gervase@30: I’m not personally offended by indirect anagrams unless they are much worse than that single U, but some people will be.

    LordJim@27: I don’t think there are very many original clues left in the world (though FLY HALF might be one of them!)

  35. Had to use the check button a lot for this one, letter by letter. Slow going, but enjoyable as it came along. Thanks to Paul and to scchua for the blog and the pix.

    21d A steam iron is an electric iron (there aren’t any steam-powered ones),

  36. NeilH @33: Love the idea of a f-it list. Now that I’m aware of it, I realise I’ve been compiling my own for some years.

    ZORBING has now been added.

  37. Slow start but got through quicker than anticipated when 2,27 seemed initially impenetrable. Good uses of the key answer and for me this means a return to form for Paul

    Surprised at those who aver that bowing out does not imply losing.

    Liked ‘ironwork’ for EVENING, among many very good clues.

    Thanks Paul and scchua.

  38. Never heard of 18 ZORBING but put it in out of desperation and was astonished to find it was actually a word! Similarly put in 15 EYE SOCKET on the “what else can it be?” basis, so thanks to Scchua for the analysis, and to Paul for the puzzle.

  39. The good news is that tomorrow’s prize won’t be a Paul offering. He obviously has his fans but I am not among them. Don’t like his practice of interlocking clues (all those 2,27s) and his sniggering smut (bum, bum). Zorbing?

  40. Gervase @30: I don’t know if you saw the discussion a couple of months ago on the General Discussion page about degrees of indirectness in anagrams, starting with my post @59? I think at least some of it is relevant to your questions.

  42. Great fun all around. ZORBING was last in & a head scratch. I thought EYE SOCKET an inspired clue & AZTEC pretty neat also. CAPRI was a bung in & move on but otherwise ok.
    Thanks all.

  43. Thanks as ever to Paul and sschua.

    A nice end to a nice week. Should I be a bit worried that I seem to be tuning in to Paul’s wavelength? – his offerings used characteristically to stump me but now it’s all (well not all) whiz and whoosh and very enjoyable for that. The only thing that helped me get TINIES (LOI) was the thought that there hadn’t been a sufficiency of Pauline smut (only “bum” up to that point) so I had to re-focus appropriately and sure enough… (what a wonderful word is “noisome” – now to work it into a conversation).

    pnin@39: Thanks – now you’ve guaranteed a plethora of interlocking clues in tomorrow’s prize, no doubt under-pinned with a stream of noisome filth.

    essexboy@5: What’s that? What do you say about Gaufrid?

  44. Late to the gate today but worth waiting for with a pleasant late afternoon pint. I agree with commenters above that Paul is back on form with this. A cheeky indirect anagram (not a complaint, like Gladys I don’t mind them). Unlike several ZORBING was a write in having solved the key 2,27 I didn’t even notice the wordplay and thought it was a not very cryptic def! Oops! Hard pressed to pick a favourite out of AZTEC, HYDRAULIC, FLY HALF, TINIES, BRIGANDAGE, CAPRI.

    Thanks Paul and scchua

  45. [Alphalpha @43 – I was a bit concerned after reading some recent posts on the General Discussion thread. It may be I’ve got completely the wrong end of the stick, but if he’s not well I’m sure all of us here on 15² would want to send him our best wishes.]

  46. Alphalpha, check out the last few entries on General discussion, whatever is going on Eileen appears to be in the loop, and I’m sure she or Gaufrid will keep us informed at the appropriate time.

  48. [Tyngewick @47: oddly enough, that term seems to come up on a regular basis when I’m doing Guardian crosswords. But not as a solution to a clue. 😀 ]

  49. Thanks for the blog , I did enjoy this , as mentioned above I also took frame to mean snooker.
    [ MrPostMark@8 I humbly suggest that you start one of your regular posts as it is going dark, have a break halfway through and you should time it right to view Andromeda. ]

  50. [Roz @ 49: given that my posts are considerably shorter than they used to be – pithy almost – I can only assume you are rightly referring to my pedestrian typing speeds 😉 ]

  51. [PostMark@: you’re not throwing sugar at a Saudi prince (in case you thought you were). Much chuckling here.]

  52. Thanks both for the puzzle and the blog. Favourite BRIGANDAGE I think.
    [Much intrigued by the continuing interest in Messier 31. But of course, at this time of year it is at its closest to us.]

  53. [Gonzo it is nothing to do with being closer to us . Any movement in the Earth’s orbit is completely insignificant compared to the distances involved. In fact M31 is getting closer all the time and will eventually merge with the Milky Way.
    It is simply a very good time to view the furthest naked eye object, dark sky with the moon set and high in the sky in the evening so not as much atmospheric distortion. ]

  56. [Roz @53: that’s good news for PM. By the time he finishes typing his next post the Andromedans should be close enough to communicate with via wolf-whistles.]

  57. Thanks scchua, the parsing of EYE SOCKET eluded me entirely. I had a lucky escape from Zorb Football on a stag do thanks to a cancelled flight, unanimous verdict was “never again”. This was another good one, thanks Paul.

  58. [ MrEssexboy@56, hard to be accurate but about 5 billion years before the collision so perhaps the new pithy style will help. The Andromedans are actually better known as the Clangers, ]

  59. A good thing I didn’t attend Paul’s meet last night, it would have been a big spoiler I reckon. I had to check the pronounciation of JK’s surname. Having got ORB in ZING, I had to check it was a word. Chamber’s definition of a sphere within a sphere didn’t look like the images I’ve seen of the sport.

  60. I interpreted the use of ‘rolling’ in 12a as neither an anagram nor a reversal, but rather cycling the last letter of INIT around to the start. Rolling from ABCD to DABC.

  61. drswirly @60 – yes, hadn’t thought of that. Interesting to have a transformation (INIT → TINI) that can be effected equally by three different operations (cycling, reversal, anagram) and an indicator word (‘rolling’) which could conceivably mean any one of the three. I’m struggling to think of another word with same trivalence (although looking again at your chosen moniker, ‘swirling’ might come close).

    [Roz @58 – so that’s where the Clangers live! Re the whistling, Oliver Postgate claimed later that they were actually “swearing their little heads off” 🙂 ]

  62. John aka Paul@16. I find it very disappointing that your only comments on blogs of your puzzles are about the zoom thing, both here and on the Guardian site. Solvers take your puzzles on in good faith, and give considered responses, mostly very favourable, but you never reply to them, or to any queries. Maybe it’s policy, but it just seems that the solvers comments don’t matter. But I know you won’t be reading this, so it doesn’t matter.

  63. [MrEssexboy @ 61 , BBC4 had a themed Postgate/Firmin night quite recently, I loved it. They did show actual scripts for the Clangers including the swearing. ]

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