I was my own worst enemy here, putting a wrong answer for 19 across and inexplicably using X instead of Z in 23 down. However, that aside I found this a very entertaining and not too tricky puzzle. Thank-you, Paul!
I think my favourite clues here were IN A STATE and MERINGUE for very different reasons.
Across
10. Online buyer sorry about return of bag (1-4)
E-CASH
EH = “sorry” (as in “Eh?”) around SAC = “bag” reversed
Definition: Online buyer (i.e. it can buy things online)
11. Woman shortly, I suspect, delivering the Queen’s Speech? (5)
MIAOW
(WOMA I)* – “suspect” (as an adjective) is the anagram indicator
Definition: “the Queen’s Speech?” (a “queen” is a female cat, apparently)
12. Old writer occupying peak in Jerusalem — a mountain! (9)
SQUILLION
QUILL = “Old writer” in SION (more often transliterated as ZION) = “peak in Jerusalem”
Definition: “a mountain!” (as in “lots and lots”)
13. Thinkers arranging beer in line on the counter (7)
CEREBRA
(BEER)* in ARC = “line” reversed (“on the counter”)
Definition: “Thinkers”
14. Slight lead after a fall, everyone left behind (7)
AFFRONT
FRONT = “lead” after A F[all] = “fall, everyone left behind”
Definition: “Slight”
17. Painting located in London museum? There you have it! (5)
VOILA
OIL = “Painting” in V&A = “London museum”
Definition: “There you have it!”
19. Law enforcers satisfied (3)
MET
Double definition: “Law enforcers” (the Metropolitan Police in London) and “satisfied” (as in “the condition was met/satisfied”). I made this puzzle tough for myself by putting FED here at first, and not thinking that that would just be a singular “law enforcer”…)
21. Knockout solver? (7)
CRACKER
Double definition: “Knockout” (as in someone very attractive) and “solver?” (someone who cracks a problem)
24. Capital party for male mogs only, we hear? (9)
KATHMANDU
Sounds like “cat man-do”. This clue reminds me of one of the few cats that has ever been leader of a political party.
Definition: “Capital”
26, 25. Musical item with scores reportedly chasing old silent movie star (5,4)
HARPO MARX
HARP = “Musical item” followed by MARX (sounds like “marks”) = “scores reportedly” after O = “old”
Definition: “silent movie star” – Harpo Marx didn’t talk in the Marx Brothers movies
28, 20, 9. Forgotten now, carrier of pooh sticks? (5,5,3,6)
WATER UNDER THE BRIDGE
Double definition: “Forgotten now” and “carrier of pooh sticks?”
29. Pink loose robes, crimson when turned round (9)
UNDERDONE
UNDONE = “loose” around (“robes”) RED = “crimson” reversed
Definition: “Pink”
Down
1. One crew, not a couple (4)
ITEM
I = “One” + TE[a]M = “crew, not a”
Definition: “couple” (as in “they’re an item”)
2. Darn pants or trousers, say, after skirts in rage (6)
REPAIR
PAIR = “pants or trousers, say” after R[ag]E = “skirts in rage”
Definition: “Darn”
3. Fail, as Russian roulette player will wish to do? (4,1,5)
DRAW A BLANK
Double definition: “Fail” and “as a Russian roulette player will wish to do?”
4. Fleece pulled up on stormy seas, port found in Ukraine (6)
ODESSA
DO = “Fleece” (as in “to scam”) reversed on (SEAS)*
Definition: “port found in Ukraine”
5. Instrument lobbed up in wheeze, throwing toys from pram? (8)
PETULANT
LUTE = “Instrument” reversed (“lobbed up”) in PANT = “wheeze”
Definition: “throwing toys from the pram”
7. I fail financially to support soldier in legion (8)
MANIFOLD
I + FOLD = “fail financially” under MAN = “soldier”
Definition: “legion”
8, 6, 22 across, 27. No chance the Prince of Darkness will slip up then? (4,4,7,4)
WHEN HELL FREEZES OVER
Double definition: “No chance” and “the Prince of Darkness will slip up then?”
13. Conservative: I win having lost Conservative city (5)
CIVIC
C = “Conservative” + I + VIC[tory] = “win having lost Conservative”
Definition: “city” (as in “the city/civic centre”)
15. Instrument untangling long fur, help Manx (10)
FLUGELHORN
(LONG FUR HEL)* – the last part of the anagram fodder is from HEL = “help Manx” – Manx meaning “tailless”
Definition: “Instrument”
16. Thinner track going uphill, what else can I say? (5)
TURPS
RUT = “track” reverse + P.S. (at the end of a letter) = “what else can I say?” (I think that is a little weak to be honest.)
Definition: “Thinner” (I took aaaages to see this)
18. Saint terribly worried, terribly worried (2,1,5)
IN A STATE
(SAINT)* is from “Saint terribly” + ATE = “worried”
Definition: “terribly worried”
19. Dessert that would come back when booed, did you say? (8)
MERINGUE
Brilliantly groan-worthy: if you “boo” something that might be to add “boo” to it, and “boo-meringue” sounds like “boomerang”, and a boomerang might come back
Definition: “Dessert”
22. Blood and water etc I had: rinse cut around that (6)
FLUIDS
I’D = “I had” with FLUS[h] = “rinse cut” around the outside
Definition: “Blood and water etc”
23. Crystalline mineral unknown, image about right (6)
ZIRCON
Z = “unknown” (in algebra) + ICON = “image” around R = “right”
Definition: “Crystalline mineral”
24. Fruit that won’t take off (4)
KIWI
Cryptic definition or double definition, I guess? Referring to “kiwi fruit” and that Kiwis are flightless birds
Thanks mhl. Very few revealed themselves at first pass but 8 etc was one of them and provided a useful start. The SW corner held out the longest and 19d was LOI. As soon as I’d had the initial M the answer sprang to mind and became increasingly obvious as the crossing letters emerged but it took a long time to see why. Not a device I remember encountering before but another fine example of Paul’s ingenuity. I wasted some time trying to find a floral connection in 29a and didn’t help myself by putting in ‘fire’ for the first word of 3d.
19d was also my last and favourite. Took me too long to get WHEN HELL FREEZES OVER.
Thanks both
This was brilliant and very hard at the same time. There were several clues that could be entered only because of the crossers and something in the clue that resonated, but the whole mechanism didn’t become clear until the next day: REPAIR, MERINGUE, CEREBRA, CIVIC and MIAOW. If I hadn’t been able to get the two long ones without crossers I don’t think I could ever have gotten far.
The puzzle was replete with correspondences (I think a better word than synonyms) that were far from obvious, but once seen seemed to fit perfectly – things like “throwing toys from the pram” and “there you have it”. One of these though did seem a little off – “what else can I say?”; I would have thought PS was more like “now I’m going to tell you what else I have to say”. But as usual, close enough.
Got through it slowly – very slowly but enjoyed it.
Got stuck on the NW and couldn’t get my last two – 2d and 11ac. Went back to it yesterday and decided that 2d must be REPAIR although couldn’t parse it which meant 11ac must be MIAOW though couldn’t see why. Then suddenly dredged up a memory from a long ago puzzle – that a breeding cat is called a Queen. Solved.
Also didn’t parse MERINGUE, KIWI
Favourites included: SQUILLION, PETULANT, CEREBRA, IN A STATE
Thanks Paul and mhl
I found the left hand side of this puzzle far easier than the right, and now that I look back I missed the unfamiliar E-CASH at 10a so I was a DNF. But still, there was lots to like. I particularly appreciated the long answers 28a,20a,9a WATER UNDER THE BRIDGE* and 8d,6d,22a,27d WHEN HELL FREEZES OVER. 15d FLUGELHORN was fun to crack once I spotted the “Manx” trick. When I worked out from the crossers that 19d must be MERINGUE and said it aloud, I smiled broadly at the concept of a “boo-meringue”! Thanks to Paul and mhl.
P.S. I remembered the competition with the sticks floating under the bridge in the Pooh Bear books sticks and was just a tad cross with Paul for not using a capital “P” in the clue, but then I looked it up and learned that it is a game widely played in the UK and that there is even an annual World Championship! So I promptly forgave Paul.
Another one here that bunged in Fed instead of MET at the start. I took a while trying to work Tom into a capital and then when KATHMANDU appeared I had to smile. Another smile when I worked out BooMERINGUE. I also liked CEREBRA for ‘on the counter’ and VOILA for reminding me of my student days in South Ken.
My problems from yesterday (also Paul) with the pdf being different to the web/app version continued with today’s prize by Crucible with the pdf consisting of 4 blank pages and a 5th page containing just the solution to yesterday. Strange.
Had to look up a reminder of pooh sticks, but it, and ‘when hell etc’, opened things up. There’s a Sinai, but Sion rather than Zion? Well ok, if that’s, er kosher. There’s a q and a z, but can’t see a j, so no pangram. All good, ta both.
This one was typical of Paul, where you think you’ll never figure it out and then it all comes in a rush. I had the answer to the Devil’s problem in the back of my mind, but couldn’t recall the phrase I was trying to remember for quite a while. On the other hand, I’ll never forget Pooh sticks, since I once botched up a TftT blog where that was the answer. It was actually petulant that proved most elusive, and I finally biffed it and then worked it out.
I found this relatively straightforward for Paul. though the 8, 6, 22 combination took a while. MERINGUE was my LOI as I could see that it had to be the answer, and then, as mhl says, some time later a big groan as I realised the wordplay.
Grantinfreo@8, Sion is quite commonly used as a transliteration of the mount in Jerusalem, so I don’t think there’s a problem there. Thanks mhl and Paul
Thanks for the blog, BOOMERANG was very novel, HARPO MARX neatly deceptive , I thought the CRA bit was neat for CEREBRA. Overall I thought Paul gave too much away for a Saturday puzzle.
I hope AlanC was satisfied with 19Ac .
Thanks mhl and Paul. Unlike others, it seems, I found this considerably easier going than yesterday’s Paul – it definitely helped that the two long ones came to me quite quickly, which gave me a strong foothold. The (boo)MERINGUE also made me laugh/groan. As did KATHMANDU.
The only bits that held me up were the Manx trick (though I’ve seen it done before) and “line on the counter”, which is very neat.
I found this harder than I’d expected. After working through all the across clues one by one, all I had penciled in was FED, which clearly wasn’t a good start. Fortunately I did better on the downs, and the various doubly-defined phrases helped fill things in. I did like the Pooh sticks reference, and thought “silent movie star” muddied the waters cleverly. MERINGUE was clued very cleverly, but so much so it went right over my head until I came here. Fortunately it had eventually been clear from the crossers. Groan indeed! Thanks, mhl, and thanks, Paul; I really enjoyed this.
Well, I totally messed up the NE corner.
*) For 1 down as a dd of STEW (short for steward) and then as a homonym “[it]s two”
*) For 11a I had WIDOW: (hang in there) with me) from W(woman) + I’D OW[e], and the Queen is now a widow when she gives her speech.
But couldn’t get 2D to work.
Now I can see what I missed (or what was missing in the clue), but it is funny!
Thanks, Paul & mhl!
I used to play pooh sticks on a bridge over a local creek. My Dad used to read us Christopher Robin stories at bedtime — but he could never read the heffalump chapter — just broke down in laughter at Piglet’s tongue-twisting lines. 🙂
Thanks Paul & mhl. Paul for a fine and varied challenge and mhl for explaining it all.
I got this done correctly and completely in not a very long time. But several parsings eluded, notably MERINGUE and CEREBRA.
really enjoyed “WHEN HELL …”
Thanks again everyone
Very enjoyable as always from Paul, but I agree with Roz in that the long answers (funny as they were) made for a speedy solve. mhl, a correction for the bottom of your blog: the plural of kiwi (bird) is kiwi (there is no ess in the Maori alphabet).
Thanks mhl and Paul.
[ Interesting Paul @17, so that is why we say Maori ( for plural ) instead of Maoris ? ]
I’m not convinced by 3d. Were I to play Russian Roulette, I would be hoping that the chamber aligned to the barrel was empty rather than containing a ‘blank’ . Such rounds contain explosive charges but no projectile. When discharged at close range they can be lethal. Just saying!!!
Thanks both.
Nice for ‘Bonehead of Croydon’ to finish a Paul puzzle and a Paul puzzle to boot!
As others have alluded, not to tricky and I had to pinch myself at the speed at which the answers fell into place. The long answers were the key and they fell very early.
Thanks again.
Much enjoyed, making good progress in different quarters, leaving odd holes. These all eventually fell with many a Paul-induced smile though I never parsed MERINGUE! Thanks mhl.
Not sure if this was incidental or by Paul’s design. But so many of the crossing letters in the puzzle were really helpful ones like M, W, C, V, K + H, with quite a few start/end letters as vowels. Not something that has caught my eye before.
That’s right Roz. The article differs to denote plural, but the object remains the same as the singular. It doesn’t apply to appropriations like Kiwis as slang for New Zealanders, and over here for the fruit we only refer to kiwifruit.
Another one who started with FED, FIRE A BLANK, and tried to put a tom in KATHMANDU. I did finish, but wasn’t that sure of some of the parsings – MERINGUE (groan). I needed a few crossers to get WATER UNDER THE BRIDGE and WHEN HELL FREEZES OVER, but when they came, it got easier.
JinA @5 – pooh sticks is also widely played in Australia (at least, whenever I walk across a bridge with a decent flow of water under it!) 😉 Thanks, Paul and mhl
Kicking myself as I didn’t finish this, missing PETULANT and MERINGUE connected to MET as I put in FED but never got round to querying it! With hindsight MET was obviously the key to getting the stubborn down clues, but I have a bit of a blind spot when it comes to changing answers that I am convinced are correct. I need to find my reverse gear!
On the plus side, I was pleased to pop back to this yesterday when TURPS suddenly clicked into place. I had just completed the other Paul and decided I was briefly tuned into the right wavelength. It partly worked 🙂
Good puzzle, thanks both:
Roz @11: I was indeed, but I took ages to complete this, even having got the long ones reasonably early. Needed to come here to parse MERINGUE (groan indeed). FLUGELHORN was neat.
Ta Paul & mhl
Donning my overthinking hat: the PS part in TURPS bothers me. Writing a PS means definitely having something else to say, but the clue wording implies the opposite… just me?
HIYD @ 20
Another bonehead from Croydon here!
Some nice wordplay in this puzzle, and, unlike yesterday’s offering, not chockablock with americana.
And I agree totally with Roz – it was far too easy for a Saturday.
Thanks to Paul and to mhl (excellent blog)
RobT @27. I was thinking the same, but then I thought of the begging letters I sometimes get from charities, where there’s *always* a PS – and it just repeats part of the message, as if to give more emphasis, or in case you weren’t paying attention before. That’s pretty much “What else can I say? Nothing. Oh, I’ll just repeat myself, then.”
RobT I think of “What else can I say?”as meaning I have thought of something else to add. As someone who still writes letters , mainly to annoy our sprogs, I will often leave it for a day when I have finished , knowing I will think of something to add as a PS.
I had left this unfinished, with PETULANT, MANIFOLD and E-CASH unsolved, but came back to it yesterday and completed after doing Paul’s Friday offering. I’d had a possible E-POCH (with COP for ‘bag’, as in catch) but didn’t put it in and finally got the previously unheard of E-CASH using fresh eyes. PETULANT is one of those where I can’t guess the answer from the definition, and the crossers weren’t helping, but ‘wheeze’ doesn’t really mean PANT, so I was stuck. (OK, I just found it in my thesaurus, but I’m still not convinced. 🙂 ) MANIFOLD, on the other hand, is a favourite word of mine, having been intrigued as a boy when hearing it used in terms such as manifold gasket (it’s in an internal combustion engine) and then coming across it in the Manifold Valley in the Peak District, so I should have got it much sooner.
I had earlier held myself up by forgetting where the H goes in KATHMANDU (KATMANDUH? KATMANDHU? Doh!), but HARPO MARX came to my aid.
Thanks to Paul and mhl.
Even though I failed with REPAIR and MIAOW I found this very user-friendly for a Paul prize. There were many good clues including AFFRONT, VOILA, PETULANT, MANIFOLD, FLUGELHORN, and IN A STATE. Thanks to both.
Yet another delight from Paul.
Like HoofitYouDonkey (love the name. Are you a Boro supporter?) I got the long answers first time through but was finally beaten by SQUILLION, PETULANT and MANIFOLD.
The quibbles over PS shouldn’t detract from the cleverness and wit of the clue. Thanks to mhl for explaining the wonderful MERINGUE. And to Paul, as ever.
There were some great clues here. “Silent movie star” for HARPO MARX was cleverly misleading. And when the penny finally dropped for MERINGUE it brought a huge grin, and then I had Charlie Drake’s “My Boomerang Won’t Come Back” going round my head. (I won’t give a link because it could be regarded as offensive now, but I loved it as a kid.)
Many thanks Paul and mhl.
[Calgal, if you come back, I’ve just seen your query on the last Quiptic about the origin of “pants” to mean bad / rubbish / awful. I don’t think it came from “Liar, liar, pants on fire”. I believe it originated in the nineties in phrases like “That’s your dad’s old pants, that is”, meaning that something is not very good. (The idea being that your father’s old underwear was probably not the height of fashion, or in the most pristine condition). It became shortened, as in “That’s complete pants”. Its main use now is of course by crossword setters as an anagram indicator.]
I was another who started out with FED for 19a – fed=GMAN featured in the previous day’s Guardian cryptic, so it was still lurking near the surface of my mind, and I cheerfully assumed that Americans refer to “the Fed” for the organisation just as we do with “the Met”. Eventually it became obvious that it couldn’t be.
13a Why does “on the counter” = “reversed”?
19d The kangaroo can jump incredible.
He has to jump, because he’s edible.
I could not eat a kangaroo,
But many fine Australians do.
Those with cookbooks as well as boomerangs
Prefer him in tasty kangaroo meringues.
(Ogden Nash, of course)
gladys@35 “The Fed” in the US is the Federal Reserve, I think the equivalent of the Bank of England.
I got stuck last week, picked the puzzle up this morning and finished it with the help of Mlle Check. Thanks, Paul and mhl (I needed you!).
Valentine @36. Think of ‘counter’ as in a counter attack, or perhaps countering someone’s argument.
Thank you mhl for the parsing of CEREBRA. I have been puzzling on and off all week as to why CRA means Line On The Counter. A new (to me) sneaky way of clueing reversed!
[I think I may be the UKC (University of Kent at Canterbury – I think they’ve dropped the C now) poohsticks reigning champion. Unless it’s been revived since the 1970s!]
Worked at it on and off though the week as usual. Overcame the sticking points with fresh eyes. Liked the two multi-word answers when I finally got them. Also, Miaow, Affront, and the use of Manx in 15d. Forgave random French word in 17ac as it was such an easy clue.
My son tells me that E-CASH was used by a US bank in the 1990 but hasn’t been available for some years. I appreciate “e-” being used as a prefix to indicate online but I think it should only be used when it’s part of a real word.
Thanks Paul and mhl.
Good puzzle, quite hard iirc. Thanks both.
Tempting though it is, I don’t think ‘on the counter’ works. Counter on its own means ‘the reverse’ or ‘in the reverse direction’, so ‘on’ is out of place.
After getting the ‘catman do’ homophone, I was taken aback at first, as I never knew KATHMANDU had an H in it. I wonder why we don’t pronounce it?
I’m surprised to find that ‘queen’ for a female cat is thought recondite by some, apparently. What about ‘tom’ for her sire? Is that better known?
I also guessed MERINGUE early (from the M and R, I think), but refused to write it in until the groan finally arrived. Most amusing.
I think the first use of MANIFOLD I really remember is in the comic song Ernie (The Fastest Milkman In The West), by Benny Hill:
But a woman’s needs are manifold
And Sue she married Ted
But strange things happened on their wedding night
As they lay in their bed
Was that the trees a rustling
Or the hinges of the gate
Or Ernie’s ghostly goldtops a-rattling in their crate
They won’t forget Ernie (Ernie)
And he drove the fastest milkcart in the west
Of course, ZIRCON is also Russia’s hypersonic missile:
On 18 July 2022, it was reported that Zircon would be adopted by the Russian Navy by the end of 2022.
Wikipedia
Very topical! ODESSA, too!
Paul Tutukaka@17, there may be no ess in Maori, but there is in English and there’s no reason why ‘kiwi’, as an English word (albeit adopted from Maori), shouldn’t form a regular plural with -S. Otoh, it’s quite normal to refer to a plurality of animals of a kind using the singular form
Gonzo@41, ” ‘on’ is out of place”. On the contrary, surely?
Tony Collman@42. KATHMANDU. Nepali has aspirated and unaspirated consonants which are phonologically distinctive.
The language was transcribed according to English orthographical conventions.
Th is the representation of the aspirated T. KATMANDU and KATHMANDU would have different meanings.
Tony @42 , surely it is a woman’s needs are many fold. Or is this another bathroom on the right ? Manifold would work better.
Thanks, paddymelon@43. How surprising (and fortunate) to find someone who appears to be familiar with the language of Nepal.
Roz@44, good question, but I’m not sure how well-informed it really is. In fact, the lyrics which Google offered me by default did have “many fold” (sic), which I could not find in dictionaries, so I ‘corrected’ it to MANIFOLD, along with various other minor edits, such as a missing apostrophe.
Checking again, in response to your comment, I find that ‘manyfold’ (single word) is in the dictionary, meaning ‘many’ (eg Collins). However, interrogating same said oracle on the difference between ‘manyfold’ and ‘manifold’ returns:
As adjectives the difference between manifold and manyfold is that manifold is various in kind or quality, diverse while manyfold is (dated) many.
https://wikidiff.com/manifold/manyfold
I take it Benny meant the former, but it’s possible he just meant ‘many’ and used what wikidiff regards as dated language (even in the early seventies?) for the sake of scansion.
Why, what does your ‘eternally true’ exposition of English vocabulary, The Chambers Dictionary (1993), have to say about it all?
[Tony@45. No, not familiar with Nepali. Just knew what to look for. However I think I made a mistake about the transliteration of the consonants. It appears to have been based on the International Phonetic Alphabet. I once tried to learn Tibetan. The lama said that what I needed to learn was patience. 🙂 ]
Tony , he definitely says manyfold (meni..) not manifold ( mani….) , I have read many scientific papers on this. Chambers93 gives manyfold= many in number . It has the same for manifold but also various in kind or quality , which seems more appropriate.
Late thanks mhl and to Paul for what I remember as being a very entertaining puzzle (as it should be for one containing the great Harpo). Gonzo@41 I thought of “On the counter” in the sporting commentary sense of a counter-attack = coming back at the other side. Tony Collman, paddymelon etc I have seen “Katmandu” before but I think only in old atlases. [Transliterating non-Roman alphabets, especially for tonal languages, must have been a nightmare and “pre Globalisation” I wonder if each country did it their own way to match its own native tongue as closely as possible, which could give rise to many subtle differences?]
[Paddymelon@46, “It appears to have been based on the International Phonetic Alphabet”.
I looked up Nepali in Wikipedia and it is written in the Devangari script. A table in the article, transliterating the symbols of that script, uses the IAST (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration) and IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) with superscript ‘h’ denoting aspirated plosives. Presumably, that is why the ‘h’ has been inserted into (what Gazzh@48 reminds us was) the old-fashioned spelling I was familiar with: to indicate that the ‘t’ sound is aspirated (just as you originally suggested).
“The lama said that what I needed to learn was patience”.
Lamas always say that, though, don’t they? 🙂
Btw, in your original post @43, I think you meant ‘distinct’, not “distinctive”.
Roz@47, yes, you’re right about the pronunciation, so it must be ‘manyfold’ (even though, as you say, ‘manifold’ might be better). Surprised to learn there is even one scientific paper about Ernie!]