Guardian 29,002 / Paul

84 comments on “Guardian 29,002 / Paul”

1. Liked WINDRUSH GENERATION.

   I could not parse 24d.

   Thanks, both.

2. Tricky but achievable – aways enjoy a Paul! It always takes me ages to spot the reverse anagrams but it’s very satisfying when I do. 11a was probably my favourite clue. I hope cobro enjoys this puzzle as much as I did.

   Thanks Eileen & Paul

3. Thanks Paul and Eileen
   Slow start, but after I saw the long one it all went quite quickly.
   Living in a County Palatine (Lancashire) I took some time to see Palatine as hill!
   Tiny typo, Eileen – VID not VED in 21d.

4. I liked this crossword too with lots of current digs.

   (Typo in the blog – VIEWED is vid around ewe)

   Thank you to Eileen and Paul.

5. I got GENERATION but took me a while (accompanied by a smile) when I got the WINDRUSH part. Agree with Eileen that this was Paul at his sharpest and best. A pedant might object that some of the synonyms weren’t exact, but fair in the context I think. 23 and 24, 10 using the same device, and Eileen is right to question the definition in 24, 10 but I think it’s forgivable and clear enough once you understood what was happening. 2,3,18 was my way into the puzzle. Agree with Eileen’s favourites. Thanks to her and to Paul.

6. Lots of fun, with a fair few enjoyable PDMs along the way, notably the oxygenation and the ‘sheepish part’. Found the surface for WINDRUSH GENERATION fairly clunky.

   I’m not sure a witch is always evil – see Hermione Granger or Mildred Hubble.

   Thanks to Paul & Eileen.

7. A Paul puzzle is such a fine end to the week. If there are any complainants, WHAT PLANET ARE YOU ON ? My fave was VIEWED and I really liked MELTING POT, ICONIC, COSINESS ( the last two the mathematician in me ) and ROCK SALT.

   Conic as I see it is an adjective from cone and cone = witch’s hat = pointed. Of course, it was “conic sections” ( family of curves “sliced through a cone ), I was thinking of, as a mathematician ).

   That final one’s a (4,4) and here’s a (4,4) group with a number released just after I started my graduate career. I have seen the odd debating item about this tune that, now, in the PC age and with wokeness all around, it would be banned from radio and TV. But, imho, it was a product of 1969 and it has to be judged by the steering lines and feelings that were around in 1969.

   https://youtu.be/naLnOMbtZoY

   Thank you Paul and Eileen.

8. I always look forward to Paul’s offerings, and this was as enjoyable as ever. I particularly liked 22d for its hilarious simplicity. NHO phrasal (17ac), but it’s logical enough.

   One big red flag for me; Eileen has already raised a question over 9ac. I dislike the current over-use in media of the word ‘iconic’. Every time it is used its meaning is diminished. Paul’s clueing – “well known” – really doesn’t help!

   Thanks to Paul and Eileen

9. Thanks muffin @ 3 and Shanne @4 – blog amended.

   Flea @7, it was the ICONIC definition I was objecting to – see Wallyzed @8.

10. Not a single answer first time through! Then I got PHRASAL and I was away.

    Excellent crossword, thanks Paul. What planet… my favourite.

    24, 10 ROCK SALT Had in mind the sort of cellar in which you used to store coal, so thought some one might keep rock salt in one; but why?

    Thanks Eileen, also

11. Still my favourite setter after all these year. ROCK SALT is classic Paul, I think.

12. Well this one took a while but one of the advantages of split answers is that they provide more connectivity than just the grid and so can often provide a lead when you’re stuck. No problem with WINDRUSH as I saw a film about it a few years ago.
    Lots to like and particular favourites were BACHELOR if only for the sublime Johann Sebastian, VENOUS which was a clever clue, COSINESS for the maths reference and ROCK SALT for the reverse anagram.

13. Like you, Eileen, I used to think of Paul as one of my favourite setters but not so much of late. However, I did enjoy this, with VIEWED one of my favourites. I wonder whether you did his Mudd puzzle on Tuesday. I thought 26a in that puzzle is worth going in a book of great clues to remember.

14. [If anyone does Wordle, today, for the first time I remember, it’s a US spelling.]

15. Oh. Eileen, I see it’s the ICONIC definition you’re querying. Isn’t this the worthiness of veneration we all feel inside when we chose an emoji, an icon. ? ? “Worthiness of veneration” is equatable to ICONIC.

16. Dave Ellison @10, like you I was thinking coal or wine, but a salt cellar is a small bowl on a table with a small spoon to dip in and sprinkle salt (sometimes called a salt pig these days). It was a clever misdirection which had me going for quite a while.

17. My 15 crossed and the first question mark in 15 was meant to be a smiley emoji which didn’t post properly on the device I’m using !

18. I’m an unashamed Paul fan and this was a joy for me. It wasn’t easy but gradually revealed itself. I agree with TimC@12 that split answers help the overall solve. Loved What Planet… and Rock Salt best. Thanks P and E.

19. Typical Paul, which means good as far as I’m concerned (though less schoolboyish these days, as noted by Eileen). Favourites VENOUS, the WPAYO one and VIEWED (which took me a while to parse).

    Don’t quite understand objections to ICONIC – yes, it’s overused these days, but surely it’s meanings have included “well-known” for ages? And ROCK SALT could refer to the origin of the powdered salt in the SALT CELLAR, as distinguished from sea salt etc.

    Thanks Paul and Eileen.

20. … its meanings … (stray apostrophe!)

21. [muffin @14 – it’s happened before – the memory helped me today!]

22. [Sorry – this is the link]

23. Took me a long time to complete this even after getting the very long one quickly. I rarely get reverse anagrams and I think it is a long time since I have seen one and so they were not on my mind at all.

    liked: WING IT, ADIPOSE TISSUE, BACHELOR

    Thanks Paul and Eileen

24. This is the first Paul I’ve managed to complete: with a little help from the check button here and there. Mercifully no keystone clue, which I tend to dislike (I know others disagree). Some excellent clues which were by no means a write in (I have to say that and persuade myself I’m gradually getting better at completing cryptic puzzles). I especially liked VENOUS with reference back to 3 D…It helped that WHAT PLANET ARE YOU ON? was one of few clues that fell into place immediately. With thanks to Paul for a great end to the week; and to Eileen of course.

25. Paul remains my favourite setter, but this was not his finest hour. Over with quite quickly and without the usual laughs. I liked it, but I didn’t love it.

    Favourite was ADIPOSE TISSUE

    Thanks Paul and Eileen

26. I also got nothing on the first read through, then I found WING IT and WHAT PLANET ARE YOU ON and I was away. A wonderful Paul, whose puzzles I usually find almost impossible especially when it’s a prize so I can’t check my guesses and eliminated the wrong ones. OK so that’s cheating, but I still count myself as a beginner, having only started during Lockdown.
    Thanks Eileeen, a lovely blog as usual, and thanks Paul for being on my wave length today!

27. Eileen: Thank you as always for your enlightening blog. You mention 20ac as a possible instance of Paul’s schoolboy humour but for the life of me I can’t see humour of any sort in that clue or its solution. Am I missing something?
    Thanks also to Paul.

28. Martin @ 27:Agreed..I wonder if she means 21 D? I was diverted for some time by thoughts of buoyancy aids and life jackets, until the penny finally dropped.

29. Nuntius@28: a sheepish part/role wouldn’t necessarily be something questionable, would it?

30. Sorry, Martin @27 and Nuntius @28 – I meant OVERUSED as (‘perhaps’) an attribute, not an example, of Paul’s schoolboy humour. 😉

31. Easier for me than most by Paul. I’m a bit on the fence about his work, but the clues are always ingenious and often entirely unpredictable. I also don’t do well with reverse anagrams, so MELTING POT needed the crossers and I couldn’t parse ROCK SALT. Would also slightly query ICONIC. Enjoyed WITH IT and REDNECK a lot. My thanks to Paul and Eileen.

32. I always enjoy Paul’s offerings and this didn’t disappoint. Melting Pot was my favourite. It took me ages to spot the ewe in Mae West!
    Thanks, Paul and Eileen.

33. OK – dunce hat on. Why does Vermouth = “it”? And where does ROCK come from in ROCK SALT?

34. R@33 IT’s short for ITalian vermouth – allegedly – sill makes me cringe every time I see it

35. ragged @33 – ROCK is the indicator for the reverse anagram: ‘to make LAST’, you have to ‘rock’ SALT.

36. eileen – so is ‘possible’ part of the definition then? Because otherwise it does nothing. But it is not underlined in the blog.

37. I agree that this was back to Paul on top form, at least from my viewpoint.

    ROCK SALT was my LOI and I see Eileen’s problem with it in a salt cellar, but beaulieu @19 has a creditable defence. I guess Paul could have used mill instead. Anyway, I spent quite some time thinking of an expression for ‘make last’ that would fit in.

    I liked the Master of Music in BACHELOR, the wordplay in OVERUSED, WHAT PLANET … for the worried NASA executives, and FAT DEPOSIT for, as Eileen said, a very timely reference.

    Thanks Paul and Eileen.

38. PS I tried cooking pot at the beginning.

39. ragged @ 36, – you’re quite right, of course – my mistake! I’ll amend the blog.

40. My mother used to love a GIN and IT!

41. Sorry, I didn’t mean to pick fault – I’m just trying to understand as I’m fairly new to this. I don’t think I’ve come across the concept of reverse anagrams before, although I did get MELTING POT and I can see how it works.

    Actually, I have a decades-old memory of my grandfather chuckling over something like
    Gegs (9,4) = SCRAMBLED EGGS
    and explaining it to me, so I guess that’s sort of the same thing.

42. WINDRUSH GENERATION got me going after a bit of a panicky run through with nothing to show for it. Thought ROCK SALT excellent, though took me towards the very end to see it. The Loaf in LOVE AFFAIR made me smile. The last two in WARDEN and WITH IT – really should have got that one much earlier on, obviously wasn’t quite on the ball today. Heart always gives a little leap when I see Paul is the setter for the day, he didn’t disappointing…

43. Reverse anagrams are a new concept to this relative newcomer to cryptics, although I did get both answers without entirely parsing. I shall try to be aware of them in the future!

44. …disappoint…

45. Thanks, Paul & Eileen. Like everyone else, I found this most enjoyable.

    Robi @37 – I would tend to think of “rock salt” as the stuff you put on your driveway when it’s icy, definitely not something for the table, and I would guess that’s why Eileen queried it too, but beaulieu’s take on it seems fine to me.

46. Agree with Eileen here. Have sort of gone off Paul recently but this for me was back on form. Can someone please enlighten me why “it” equates to vermouth? Not come across it before, and Paul often uses Sex instead, but that wouldn’t work with the surface

47. ragged @41 – absolutely no need for apology: it was a genuine oversight on my part.

    I hope you (and Jacob @23) understand ROCK SALT now. If you look back at MELTING POT, you’ll see it works in just the same way. I always enjoy reverse anagrams.

    Do you remember GEGS featuring in the brilliant ‘Drop the dead donkey’?
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOxT-zB7Cnk

48. Widdersbel @45: Well Tescos sells (or did) a rock salt grinder for the table (not that I’ve ever bought one). However, I’m not sure if anyone would use a salt cellar for rock salt (halite), in contrast to a grinder or mill, as the crysalts are quite big; but am not sure… Perhaps for chips (?)

49. Widdersbel @ 45 – my thoughts exactly.

    Setting son @46 – welcome if you’re new to the site and my apologies if you’re not. Please see comments 33 and 34

50. If some commentators on the Guardian website are unaware of the Windrush Generation then they clearly only visit the site for the crossword. The scandal has rightly received a huge amount of coverage in the paper over the past few years.

51. Like Eileen, I really enjoyed this solve. Thanks to both Paul and Eileen. All my favourites have been mentioned already. I still appreciate Paul’s setting a great deal.

52. I liked the sheepish part of Mae West and the surprise you get when you find the right function for COSINESS.

53. And I do have ROCK SALT in my cellar to de-ice the drive.

54. There were a couple I didn’t manage to parse but enjoyed it a lot.
    Eileen, like others I didn’t understand your referral to 20ac which had three negatives strangely I thought. Nor your further comment about it.
    Thanks both

55. I don’t know if you would keep ROCK SALT in a salt cellar or a coal cellar or neither, but who cares? This was fun and my only real complaint is that it was over too soon as all the pennies dropped. I got GENERATION ages before the rest of it, and likewise the BU in the middle of TRIBUTE long before the rest. Liked BACHelor, the clever VENOUS, MELTING POT, LOVE AFFAIR and of course What Planet… But favourite is all those bees busily buzzing about in NOBODY ELSE. Thanks Paul and Eileen.

56. @ Eileen — in ADIPOSE TISSUE, if DEPOSIT is part of the anagram fodder, isn’t the definition simply ‘fat’?

57. My quickest Paul ever, much helped by spotting WHAT PLANET ARE YOU ON straight away. Steady going after that without major obstacles, so a lucky wavelength match for me today. Loved the reverse anagrams too.

    Thanks Paul and Eileen

58. Lots to like about this one, and my experience was much as described by Gladys @55. VENOUS was especially clever, and left no doubt that the answer was correct.

    Thanks to Paul and Eileen.

59. Rob T @56 – yes, of course it is! Another slapdash piece of underlining today – my apologies. I’ve hastily amended the blog.

60. Tim the late toffee@54 – Eileen could have written ‘I wasn’t sorry not to see examples of Paul’s, perhaps overused, schoolboy humour,’ however, as OVERUSED was a solution today, Eileen used 20A instead of the actual word. She wasn’t implying it was an example of such humour.

61. tim the late toffee @54 – my apologies: I overlooked your comment.
    Sorry to have caused confusion – I hadn’t noticed the three negatives! – in a throwaway remark in my preamble:
    “I’m not a prude but I wasn’t sorry not to see examples of Paul’s (perhaps 20ac) schoolboy humour.”
    To clarify, I hope:
    “Although far from being a prude, I hope, I’m quite happy to forgo Paul’s schoolboy humour, which is, perhaps, OVERDONE.”
    … although I know many others love it!

62. Thank you, Larry – we crossed! 😉

63. The first one I put in was 21d. Thought it must be missee: ie some reference to s film she was in. Soon found out I was up the creek. As a Paul fan found this up to his usual high standards

64. Cedric @63 – I was all set to google MISSEE, too, until the penny dropped just in time. 😉

65. Thanks Paul for a solid crossword and Eileen for a most helpful blog. I knew nothing of the WINDRUSH GENERATION and I appreciate the explanatory link. Besides missing part of that answer I ended up revealing VENOUS (too clever for me) and PHRASAL (unknown word for me). I had many favourites including BACHELOR, WING IT, REDNECK, LOVE AFFAIR, WITH IT, and ROCK SALT, the latter for the reverse anagram. [ I second what Hovis @13 said about Mudd’s Tuesday crossword.]

66. Very enjoyable. I much prefer puzzles which don’t rely heavily on a keyword, which seems to have been Paul’s favoured style recently. Lots to like, but at the top for me were PALATINE, SWITCH ON, MELTING POT, and TRIBUTE. Thanks Eileen for the excellent blog and especially for explaining Mae West. I enjoyed trying to imagine Mae West being sheepish but the clue doesn’t enter my favourites list as I thought “vid” should have some sort of indicator for a diminutive. Many thanks Paul.

67. Thanks Eileen and Larry. I am now 22d

68. I managed to complete this but with lots unparsed. The reverse anagrams are too meta for me.
    But ta both.

69. tim the late toffee – Hurrah! 🙂

70. Thanks, Eileen, for that excellent link to the Windrush story. I had heard of it, so had solved the clue, but not known the full story. I haven’t played the embedded clips yet, but look forward to it.

    Fun to have a sort of name check in the clue for 6d LOVE AFFAIR.

    The Roald Dahl story reminds me that I’ve been told that Agatha Christie’s books were originally racist and antisemitic, and that American editions of them were revised to be less so. (Googling internet confirms this.) The book I knew as And Then There Were None had been called in Britain Ten Little … followed by a truly offensive racist word. It still had that title in Britain until 1985.

    The seven hills of Rome (which I memorized as a teenager for no particular reason) reminded me of the lots-more-than-seven hills of my former home town, San Francisco. So I looked them up and there were 42 on somebody’s official list, though I didn’t quite believe that all of them deserved to be there, and was unsure whether Twin Peaks should be one hill or two.

    I harrumphed at there being such a word as “phrasal,” but on looking it up I found that a phrasal verb is one that changes its meaning when included in a phrase, such as “blow” becoming “blow up,” which has a quite different meaning.

    Loved the reverse anagrams. Thanks, Paul and Eileen.

71. We really enjoyed this puzzle. Paul’s puzzles are often beyond us, but this was great. I don’t know why it is that the same setter can sometimes be impenetrable and at others, although still challenging, achievable. A great sense of satisfaction to complete it. Thank you to Paul and Eileen

72. Everyone seems to understand 20 ac but me. Tbe underlined definition indicates a plural noun, whereas the answer is an adjective.

73. I meant 25 ac of course

74. Hi jeceris @73

    The underlined definition is ‘ in de-oxygenated channels’ – adjectival.
    Collins, ‘venous: of or relating to the veins’. Chambers: ‘contained in veins’.
    That’s why I picked out VENOUS in the preamble for (the precision of) its definition.

75. Thanks Paul and Eileen.

    BACHELOR was my loi – stared at it for ages. (Help?)

    Great fun. It seems I quibble alone about ‘brought’ in the clue for TRUFFLES – it seems superuffles.

76. And thanks Flea and Eileen for the links. Just the ticket for the train journey I’m on today.

77. 77 sunset strip

78. Really enjoyed that. Had a real issue with the pointless “schoolboy humour” that in the past seemed to be Paul’s trademark (he used to be my least favourite setter, for that reason)… so was very pleased to find nothing of the kind in today’s puzzle. Just an appropriately challenging, witty puzzle. I think this is the first puzzle I remember with not one but two reverse anagrams? My LOI was WARDEN, and needed Eileen’s explanation to show me that the parsing of that one was in fact very straightforward! Thanks to Paul and Eileen.

79. Paul @66: I’ll go one further than you concerning “vid”. It is not only that should there be an indicator of an abbreviation…film and video are two different media for making motion pictures, one chemical, one electronic. If they were synonymous, the ICONIC Kodak company would still be WITH IT.

80. [ Muffin @14 Actually it’s clever as it’s a perfectly respectable British English noun too (search the Screwfix web site).]

81. On the rare occasions on which I come across 19d I’m reminded of this:
    Auntie Mary was morose
    And her views on life were bitter
    For she was so adipose
    No ordinary seat would fit her.
    I should think that you’ld be glum
    If you’d been born with Auntie’s sitter.
    Thanks as usual to Paul and Eileen

82. Thanks for the schoolboy humour, Pino. 🙂

83. The elegance of ADIPOSE TISSUE and the creative beauty of WHAT PLANET ARE YOU ON …… who else but Paul?
    As I often wonder, how does he keep on doing it?

    Many thanks, both and all

84. Andrew @79 you’re right of course, but I don’t object to conflating the two in crossword land as some might use the words interchangeably in ordinary life e.g. “I’m staying in tonight to watch a film/ movie/ video.”

Comments are closed.