I found this a very slow and tricky solve. Favourites were 25ac, 2dn, 6dn, and especially 27ac. Many thanks to Paul for the puzzle
…I started looking for a theme after getting TRUMP and BOLSONARO, but haven’t found anything more
| ACROSS | ||
| 9 | NEXT WORLD |
Heaven observed: head turns when this happens, by the sound of it? (4,5)
|
| definition: ‘next world’ refers to a life after death
sounds like/”by the sound of it”: ‘Neck’s twirled’=”head turns when this happens” is “observed” there to justify the past tense in ‘twirled’? |
||
| 10 | OUTDO |
Better off, con (5)
|
| OUT=”off” e.g. ‘the lights went out/off’ + DO=to cheat someone=”con” | ||
| 11 | SPLICED |
Stopping cut, power connected (7)
|
| SLICED=”cut”, with P [power] inside | ||
| 12 | TONNAGE |
Duty put Harry in mood (7)
|
| definition: tonnage is a duty/tax imposed on cargo
NAG=pester=”Harry” in TONE=”mood” |
||
| 13 | NICK |
Appropriate condition (4)
|
| =”Appropriate” as a verb, to take/steal; and =”condition” e.g. ‘in good nick’ | ||
| 14 | DEPRECIATE |
Faltering trade, piece lower in value (10)
|
| anagram/”Faltering” of (trade piece)* | ||
| 16 | NO-TRUMP |
Bid cut after review of great deal (2-5)
|
| definition: a bid of No Trump in a game of bridge
RUMP=”cut” of meat, after reversal/”review” of TON=large amount=”great deal” |
||
| 17 | MAKES DO |
Grabbing new desk, old chairman manages (5,2)
|
| MAO Zedong, former chairman of the Chinese Communist Party=”old chairman”; around anagram/”new” of (desk)* | ||
| 19 | SURPASSING |
Better than America looking back, group embracing success (10)
|
| US=”America” reversed/”looking back” + RING=”group” around PASS=”success” | ||
| 22 |
See 20
|
|
| 24 | ALMEIDA |
Every one detailed, I made plays for the theatre (7)
|
| definition: a theatre in London
AL-[L]=”Every one” with the last letter/tail removed, plus anagram/”plays” of (I made)* |
||
| 25 | FALLACY |
Error in emergency call, a firefighter sent the wrong way (7)
|
| hidden “in” and reversed/”sent the wrong way”: emergenc-Y CALL A F-irefighter | ||
| 26 | TUNER |
Skilled listener: fish in one’s ear? (5)
|
| definition: someone with the listening skills to e.g. tune a piano
sounds like/”in one’s ear”: ‘tuna’=”fish” |
||
| 27 | BOLSONARO |
South American politician, or an old pig from the right (9)
|
| definition: Jair Bolsonaro lost the recent presidential elections in Brazil
reversal/”from the right” of OR AN O SLOB, with O (“old”) and SLOB=”pig” |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | ANTS IN ONE’S PANTS |
Nervous tension as maladministered pension claimed by workers (4,2,4,5)
|
| anagram/”maladministered” of (pension)*, inside ANTS + ANTS=”workers” | ||
| 2 | EXPLICIT |
Uncensored photo catching face of lothario in withdrawal (8)
|
| PIC=”photo” around L-othario, and inside EXIT=”withdrawal” | ||
| 3 | TWICE |
Ultimate in disappointment, wife getting diamonds another time (5)
|
| disappointmen-T + W (wife) + ICE=slang for “diamonds” | ||
| 4 | DREDGE UP |
Discover advantage in fruit like a peach, shortly (6,2)
|
| EDGE=”advantage”, inside DRUP-e=”fruit like a peach, shortly” | ||
| 5 | EDITOR |
Same thing lacking heart penned by sovereign journo (6)
|
| DI-[t]-TO=”Same thing” lacking its central letter/”heart”, inside ER (Elizabeth Regina, “sovereign”) | ||
| 6 | POUND CAKE |
20 22: up for something sweet? (5,4)
|
| inserting the answer to 20, 22 makes the wordplay ‘RUM AND COKE up’
anagram/”RUM” of (and coke up)* gives POUND CAKE |
||
| 7 | ITHACA |
Island boasting a vehicle, out of bounds (6)
|
| ‘with a car’=”boasting a vehicle”, taking away the boundary letters/”out of bounds” gives w-ITH A CA-r | ||
| 8 | LOVE ME LOVE MY DOG |
This contract’s unconditional: these two setters must be appreciated! (4,2,4,2,3)
|
| definition: an idiomatic request for unconditional acceptance
LOVE/”appreciate” both ME=Paul, the “setter” and MY DOG=which may be a “setter” breed |
||
| 15 | CUBA LIBRE |
20 22, island beverage primarily: something restorative about it (4,5)
|
| definition: a name for a RUM AND COKE cocktail
BALI=”island” + B-everage; all inside CURE=”something restorative” |
||
| 17 | MANIFOLD |
Piece provided, worn pipe (8)
|
| definition: a manifold pipe is one that branches in multiple directions
MAN=chess “piece” + IF=”provided” + OLD=”worn” |
||
| 18 | STOWAWAY |
Fare-dodger observed commandeering tug, certainly (8)
|
| SAW=”observed” around TOW=”tug”, plus AY=yes, indeed=”certainly” | ||
| 20, 22 | RUM AND COKE |
Alcoholic drink with mother: surprisingly uncorked bottles! (3,3,4)
|
| MA=”mother”, bottled inside anagram/”surprisingly” of (uncorked)* | ||
| 21 | SHABBY |
Battered cod has head of bream alongside (6)
|
| anagram/”cod” of (has)*, plus B-ream, plus BY=”alongside”
“cod” as an adjective meaning ‘sham’ for the anagram indicator |
||
| 23 | SLOOP |
Sailing boat in small puddles, capsized (5)
|
| POOLS=”small puddles”, reversed vertically/”capsizes” |
NEXT WORLD:
I agree with your parsing, manehi! Said that, I feel there is something odd about the clue.
BOLSONARO: Meant to be a semi &lit or is it not proper to say so?
Enjoyable start to Friday. Thanks P and M.
Necks twirled wins the GoD, but yes had the same ? re ‘observed’. Almeida had to be dredged, or maybe fished, from the neural depths. 27ac very apt [sending a post-election secular prayer for the earth’s lungs]. Nostalgia evoked by pound cake [mrs ginf would insist on finding one, not a sponge, for the sherry-drenched base of the Christmas trifle, a huge multi-layered affair]. Mostly fun, tho a dnf, had help to get Cuba Libre and a couple of others, thanks both.
Agree with KVa@2, that the &lit is intentional and deserved (except perhaps he’s not that old). I found this quite tricky with the NE corner last to be solved. Stared at 8d for a long time trying to make sense of the crossers. Hadn’t heard of the cocktail in 15d and didn’t see beyond CUBA as the island, so a parse failure. Thanks to manehi for the blog and, of course, Paul for the tough challenge.
I reckon 9 is well clumsy even if “observed” excuses the tense problem.
Loved the homophone. I remember that when the RN recruiting slogan was “Join the Navy and see the world” someone added “Join the Ulster Defense Force and see the …”
…which was how I justified “observed” in the clue.
Another who found this chewy, but with different bits being harder. ALMEIDA went in on first pass, partly because I haven’t got there, yet, and would love to. My last corner was the north-west, with EXPLICIT, NEXT WORLD and DREDGE UP my last in, mostly unparsed, but I find getting to the end of a Paul crossword I come here to check rather than puzzling out the parsing.
Didn’t know drupe, but need to remember it for the future, having looked it up.
Thank you Paul and manehi.
27: Clue of the Year.
Thanks Paul & Manehi. Agree this was a tough one, but enjoyable. The hidden FALLACY is very neat.
I’m very familiar with the theatre. Seen some great stuff there over the years. Coincidentally, there used to be a bar round the corner from it on Upper Street called Cuba Libre, which was a favourite spot for hungover Sunday brunches back in the day.
Neck’s twirled isn’t past tense, it’s passive. Possible explanation for observed is that it was meant to indicate the homophone (observed/said), with another indicator added later having forgotten what observed was doing.
Clue for BOLSONARO very good, funny to think that the clue is sitting there all the time just waiting for someone to spot it.
Another cheer for 27a here. Just wish I’d known that version while the man was in power – it might have been some light relief from getting annoyed at what he was doing.
Very entertaining. Only one split entry and that gave Paul an opportunity for two more tasty servings from the cocktail shaker.
Other favourites were the homophone, the Brazilian politico and the beautifully hidden FALLACY.
Last in were TONNAGE (‘mood’ = TONE is a bit off-centre for me, and the solution didn’t leap out from the definition) and SHABBY (‘battered’ seemed so much more likely to be an anagrind).
Thanks to S&B
Unfortunately, Paul inhabits a different world from me and I failed to complete the puzzle.
James @12: ‘Neck’s twirled’ can be analysed as ‘neck is twirled’, which is passive, as you point out, but also ‘neck HAS twirled’, which is past (present perfect, to be pedantic 🙂 ). As KVa @1 remarked, there seems something odd about the clue, but it was fun anyway.
Tough puzzle.
Liked BOLSANARO, STOWAWAY, TUNER; ITHACA (loi).
I could not parse:
16ac
20/22 apart form MA – mother
6d
cod in 21d – is it the anagrind? how does that work? is it from cod = play a joke or trick?
New: MANIFOLD pipe; LOVE ME LOVE MY DOG; DRUPE fruit (for 4d).
Thanks, both.
First I guessed that there was some major stargazing event coming up to give NEXT WEEKS, then, having learnt to ignore “observed”, it took me ages to find the SAW in STOWAWAY. All worth it for 27across, though.
I did like seeing BOLSONARO-for me it was
Good riddance of the year
Michelle@17, I think “cod Latin” (the church variety) describes a mashed-up or wrong version of true Latin, if that helps.
Gervase @16, true enough, I was assuming ‘is twirled’; suggesting the mysterious ‘observed’ is there to iron out an inconsistency that only exists if you unnecessarily choose ‘has twirled’ seems a little perverse.
Re the fish in the ear, I couldn’t get the Babel Fish from Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy out of my head (or indeed my ear). Great puzzle – loved the linked clues. Thanks Paul and Manehi
Much of me trying to unravel the top half of this hinged on my acceptance of the “sounds like” element of 9ac. Quite a struggle overall, and guessed at CUBA LIBRA, which I didn’t know. Nor POUND CAKE. Took a while to satisfy myself with the correct insertions of the long down clues at 1 and 8. Very tricky, I thought, this morning, but still a fun challenge. Many thanks Paul and Manehi…
Excellent although drupe is new to me?
Two mugs of coffee and a sausage sandwich required for this one! Got a lot more of these than usual (for Paul) from first principles so either he’s getting less obtuse or I’m getting smarter – my money’s on the former
I had some vague notion that “heaven observed” suggested observing it from the here and now hence NEXT WORLD but ITHACA beckoned and frankly I was just glad to fill the grid by that point 🙂
Cheers P&M
Very tough. ended up revealing a couple and needed help with parsing a few.
Some lovely clues, mostly already mentioned like the well hidden FALLACY.
Thanks Paul and manehi
For once I completed a Paul crossword!!! And I agree it was great fun!
LOI Dredge up which I couldn’t parse as NHO Drupe.
Thanks Paul and manehi, here’s hoping tomorrow won’t be too difficult
Paul gave us DRUPE two years ago as part of a clue for QUADRUPLE here
Sorry, link didn’t work another go
Yes, very tough, could have been a Prize Puzzle.
Another who DNK drupe, and I also thought the island of CUBA LIBRE was Cuba, doh!
How great was the hidden FALLACY! I also liked the neck’s twirled, the POUND CAKE for the clever use of rum in the answer – and RUM AND COKE itself for the uncorked bottles. My clear favourite was BOLSONARO with a perfect extended definition (or semi-&lit) – yes, good riddance!
Thanks Paul and manehi.
Quite tricky, but all gettable in the end with some smiles. Paul tends to use these “indirect synonyms”, for want of a better phrase, in clues like TUNER – the definition is clearly correct, just not the first thing you’d think of, going in either direction.
Too bad the ITHACA clue didn’t say City instead of Island, for then the answer HAVANA would have worked with the wordplay, and tied in with CUBA.
This was one of those puzzles that remind me why Paul used to be one of my favourite setters – with ingenious constructions and generally meaningful surfaces. Quite tough going but in a good way.
I had a real treat this morning: a friend came round and we solved the puzzle together, over coffee. We liked the clever 20,22 and its associated clues, though we failed to parse CUBA LIBRE, getting no further than CUBA for the island: we didn’t even identify the definition, thinking that the cocktail could be ‘a hair of the dog’ and therefore ‘something restorative’ – Doh!
Other ticks were for MAKES DO, the well-hidden FALLACY (we tried hard to fit in MAS as a wayward fireman), BOLSONARO, ITHACA, LOVE ME LOVE MY DOG and STOWAWAY.
Many thanks to Paul for an enjoyable puzzle and manehi for a great blog.
I feel we’ve earned an earworm so here’s Peter Shelley oozing sincerity and a peculiar inability to sit on a stool properly
Plenty of fun, and plenty I couldn’t parse, especially the astonishing RUM AND COKE. Thanks to Paul (see you tomorrow maybe) and manehi for the much-needed help.
Thanks Manehi for the excellent blog and explaining CUBA LIBRE, ITHACA and NO TRUMP. Another uptick (make that a huge shout out!) for BOLSONARO. Not easy, as is right for a Friday, but for once I completed the Friday puzzle in one sitting. Not sure what I’ll do tomorrow after my Saturday morning hike. Also liked MAKES DO and my LOI, a lovely penny-drop moment when I gave up on ‘hal’ and finally got TONNAGE. Thanks Paul.
Matt @20 – cod in that sense means “fake” or “imitation” rather than “mashed up”. It’s clear that’s what Paul intended, and I’m sure I’ve seen it used as an anagram indicator before. I don’t find it hugely convincing, but I was able to solve and parse it so no complaints from me.
I do find it odd, though, that most solvers seem to tolerate vagueness in anagram indicators a lot more than in other types of indicators. As long as there’s a general sense of something being not quite right, that generally seems to be accepted as good enough.
Paul@35, I do hope those unfamiliar with our blog aren’t thinking that today’s setter is having his tuppenyworth here, as one or others do – Tramp for one. Though of course setter Paul is actually a John, isn’t he…?
Ronald@37 – It would be amusing if the setter had to come here to have his own clues explained to him. I’m sure it’s possible though, given that there’s often a significant time lag between setting and being published – plenty of opportunity to forget!
James @12
I agree that there is no tense problem in 9A. ‘Observed’ is something of an orphan, but I think I am not doing damage the clue to expand what it is saying to “It is observed that the head turns when the neck is twirled” – but twirling does seem a rather cavalier way to treat a neck.
Great puzzle with some tricky parsing. Needed the blog to explain ITHACA and SHABBY.
BOLSONARO is pure genius! Also loved OUTDO and MAKES DO
Thanks Paul and manehi
The RUM anagrind fooled me but guessed ALMEIDA. Still wondering why “observed” in that clue.
Thanks both
BOLSONARO is brilliant.
8D made me groan out loud when I finally extracted it from the crossers.
Several failed parsings despite filling the grid.
NICK is a funny one, since it’s a double definition where *neither* definition is seen in US English. (As an Anglophile, I did know them both.) I’ll echo the praise for BOLSONARO (the clue, not the man!) and the cocktails.
This memorable ad offers a slightly whimsical interpretation of how the Cuba Libre got its name. (Yeah, I’m pretty sure this is the first time I’ve intentionally linked to an advertisement. It won’t likely happen again.)
Are pools small puddles? I would’ve said it was the other way round.
Anyway, another excellent Paul puzzle. Especially BOLSONARO, which for some reason brought to mind the VIRGINIA BOTTOMLEY anagram from about 30 years ago.
Too tough but ta both.
I thought 9ac was fair and clever.I failed on 15d – did not know what the cocktail was. Also I did not realise tonnage was a tax as well a description of weight. Good crossword as Paul’s always are
Thanks for the blog, I will join in with the praise for FALLACY, the use of RUM for POUND CAKE was very clever , TUNER was very good and it nearly lasted out for my journey home.
And I am still lower in the charts than AlanC , revenge tomorrow.
I got there in the end, but only by making liberal use of aids. I very much enjoyed puzzling over the two long phrases and then getting them after half guessing a word or two.
I’m with bodycheetah @25 re “observed” – it’s only the next world if viewed from the perspective of the preceding one. The “observed” is also necessary for the surface reading of the clue – it’s the sight of heaven which is the event (“when this happens”) that causes heads to turn.
Thanks too (I think) to bc for Peter Shelley and his dog. Clearly they could both do with a biscuit, or perhaps they might like to share one.
And after mrpenney’s commercial I’m in the mood for some rum and coca-cola.
Agree with Pork Scotch @44 about the pool/puddle relationship. Certainly nothing dry about the blog today. Thanks manehi, and Paul for a nice chewy biscuit to go with all that liquid.
Lots of rum takes on wordplay in this. Paul on sparkling form again, I’d say.
I saw “observed” in 9a as pertaining to the head in the cryptic reading, so, when observing the head, it turns when the neck’s twirled. As essexboy says, it’s necessary for the surface.
My picks were ANTS IN ONE’S PANTS (maybe should have had “lots of workers” to indicate ANTS used twice), POUND CAKE and SHABBY, which was a fishy peach (?!).
Thanks, Paul and manehi.
Thanks Paul, very enjoyable!
Minor quibble, I don’t think LOVE ME LOVE MY DOG is really a valid entry. Is it in the dictionary?
Thanks manehi as I didn’t know the fruit (or had forgotten it maybe) and wrote in 15d without even thinking that the island wasn’t Cuba, assuming the LIRE was some medical or classical term. I am aligned with the consensus again, but despite the attempted NLP I am sticking with an alternative rum long drink as my go-to, and on that subject here’s something up-to-date to go with bodycheetah and essexboy’s links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4f2el1M-Pw
Josh@51 that was my last in and I was worried that it was going to be one of those phrases that were outside my regional/generational experience so I see what you mean but I do think it is well known enough as a phrase to qualify even though the cryptic reading was a bit tortuous i thought. It is in the Cambridge online dictionary but of course that fine institution is not particularly known for lexicography.
I really liked the construction and subtle Paulinity of 2d, thanks Paul.
Thanks both, interesting that Chambers omits the cola from it’s definition of Cuba Libre, but mentions lime.
I have never heard of LOVE ME LOVE MY DOG except as the title of a pop song from the 70s, so at best this is very obscure usage.
OTOH, I’d love to see a clue for ‘journalist’ where the answer wasn’t EDITOR.
Didn’t know the fruit either. Someone should make a beer out of it. Brewers Drupe.
Josh@51 and MACO @55 the song is so bad that it is unforgettable for all the wrong reasons once heard, this makes it less obscure.
Finished this morning by realising how ITHACA worked (and checking it is an island). Needed the blog to parse CUBA LIBRE. As others, I had fixated on Cuba being the island. Thank you manehi.
Paul is still my favourite setter. I like how many different confusions he incorporates into his clues. I think my favourite was POUND CAKE. When I finally worked that one out I laughed aloud.
Particularly liked SHABBY (a brilliantly misleading surface), enjoyed the puzzle as a whole, with the ingenious re-use of RUM AND COKE (but not allowing it to dominate). Defeated by CUBA LIBRE. Ah, well. Thanks, both.