The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/29371.
I think this should not be as divisive as the last Paul that I blogged, but none the worse for that. I suppose there might be some objection to the thematic 14A SUPERMARKET brand names. 3D CRADLESONG is outstanding.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | NOTICED |
Distinguished, though undecorated? (7)
|
| NOT ICED. | ||
| 5 | TEST BED |
Outstanding money group rejected for laboratory (4,3)
|
| A reversal (‘rejected’) of DEBT (‘outstanding money’) plus SET (‘group’ if you are not a mathematician – or if you are, but have no problem with an indication by example). | ||
| 9 | SHEBA |
Lincoln to the west borders quiet ancient kingdom (5)
|
| A charade of SH (‘quiet’ as an imperative) plus EBA, a reversal (‘to the west’ in an across clue) of ABE (‘Lincoln’). The kingdom remembered for its queen. | ||
| 10 | FRAUDSTER |
Shark that’s rude farts when swimming (9)
|
| That kind of shark. An anagram (‘when swimming’) of ‘rude farts’. | ||
| 11 | ACCELERATE |
Rev fills a box with church literature lacking in content (10)
|
| An envelope (‘fills’) of CE (‘Church’ of England) plus LE (‘LiteraturE lacking in content’) in ‘a’ plus CRATE (‘box’). | ||
| 12 | DONG |
Asian money sound as a bell (4)
|
| Double definition, the first being the Vietnamese currency (with various diacritics if you are being picky). | ||
| 14 | SUPERMARKET |
Fat bags for every brand that’s a big seller (11)
|
| An envelope (‘bags’) of PER (‘for every’) plus MARK (‘brand’) in SUET (‘fat’). | ||
| 18 | WAR AND PEACE |
Classic published about which written huge pile of notes, work recited (3,3,5)
|
| A charade of WAR AND, an envelope (‘about which written’) of RAN (‘published’) in WAD (‘huge pile of notes); plus PEACE, sounding like (‘recited’) PIECE (‘work’, particularly musical). | ||
| 21 |
See 6 Down
|
|
| 22 | GLITTERATI |
The rich and famous pigs at one with leader in government? (10)
|
| A charade of G (‘leader in Government’) plus LITTER (‘pigs’ – the question mark is called for here, I think) plus ‘at’ plus I (‘one’, Roman numeral or impersonal pesonal pronoun). | ||
| 25 | GELATERIA |
Visiting Cambridge later, I assume summer tourists would go there (9)
|
| A hidden answer (‘visiting’) in ‘CambridGE LATER IAssume’. | ||
| 26 | GUISE |
Front men on the radio? (5)
|
| Sounds like (‘on the radio’) GUYS (‘men’). | ||
| 27 | TRINITY |
College essay’s covered in that stuff (7)
|
| An envelope. but not the way round that it might seem at first. A envelope (‘covered’ as transitive) of ‘in’ plus IT (‘that stuff’) in TRY (‘essay’), for the college in Oxford, Cambridge, Dublin and elsewhere. | ||
| 28 | LIDLESS |
With top off, female working in 14 across? (7)
|
| The ’14 across’ SUPERMARKET is the German-based LIDL, and with the feminine suffix -ESS, might give a ‘female working’ in one of their stores. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | NASDAQ |
Exchange coupon, finally joining 14 across queue, say? (6)
|
| A charade of N (‘coupoN finally’) pluas ASDA (’14 across’ – SUPERMARKET) plus Q (‘queue, say’). | ||
| 2 | TRESCO |
Island 14 across opened by king (6)
|
| An envelope (‘opened by’ – not starting with) R (rex, ‘king’) in TESCO (’14 across’ – SUPERMARKET). Tresco is one of the Scilly Isles off Cornwall. | ||
| 3 | CRADLESONG |
Garden’s cold, almost shivering in the night air (10)
|
| An anagram (‘shivering’) of ‘gardens col[d]’ minus the last letter (‘almost’), with a cryptic definition. Chambers lists the answer as hyphenated, but, as with many such compounds, separate words, hyphenated and oneword are all reasonable, perhaps with a progression over time in that order. If I were to give out ticks, that would get a handful. | ||
| 4 | DEFER |
Put off as revolutionary supplied with rations again? (5)
|
| A reversal (‘revolutionary’) of RE-FED (‘supplied with rations again’). | ||
| 5 | TRATTORIA |
Restaurant where a rubbish dessert served up, one scoffed (9)
|
| An envelope (‘scoffed’) of I (‘one’) in a reversal (‘served up’ in a down light) of ‘a’ plus ROT (‘rubbish’) plus TART (‘dessert’, assuming the sweet kind). | ||
| 6, 21 | SODA LIME |
Chemical used in anaesthesia, it appears I’m a surrealist! (4,4)
|
| SO DALI ME. A mixture of caustic soda and quicklime, used, for example. with a circulating inhaled anaesthetic to scrub carbon dioxide from the patient’s exhaled breath. | ||
| 7 | BUTTOCKS |
Uprising overblown in English county seat (8)
|
| An envelope (‘in’) of TTO, a reversal (‘uprising’ in a down light) of OTT (over the top, ‘overblown’) in BUCKS (Buckinghamshire, ‘English county’). | ||
| 8 | DEROGATE |
Belittle Greek character impaled from below (8)
|
| A reversal (‘from below’ in a down light) of ETA (‘Greek character’) plus GORED (‘impaled’). | ||
| 13 | BARELEGGED |
With pins visible, a bleeder badly cut by mount (10)
|
| An envelope (‘cut by’) of GG (horse, ‘mount’) in BARELEED, an anagram (‘badly’) of ‘a bleeder’. | ||
| 15 | POPULARLY |
Messed up with payroll, by and large (9)
|
| An anagram (‘messed’) of ‘up’ plus ‘payroll’. | ||
| 16 | TWILIGHT |
Figure-hugging clothes fade briefly in autumn (8)
|
| An envelope (‘clothes’) of WIL[t] (‘fade’) minus the last letter (‘briefly’) in TIGHT (‘figure-hugging’). Autumn is the twilight of the year. | ||
| 17 | GRIMALDI |
Principality’s family 14 across that’s ghastly? (8)
|
| GRIM ALDI (’14 across that’s ghastly’ – ALDI being the German-based SUPERMARKET). Prince Ranier of Monaco (III if you are counting) was a Grimaldi, as is his son, Albert II, the current Prince. | ||
| 19 | NATIVE |
Green dresses perfect ultimately for mother (6)
|
| An envelope (‘dresses’) of T (‘perfecT ultimately’) in NAIVE (‘green’). ‘Mother’ as in mother country. | ||
| 20 | RIDERS |
Romantic novel authors from Hollywood discussed? (6)
|
| Sounds like an American mispronounciation of WRITERS (‘authors from Hollywood discussed?’), for the romance novel by Jilly Cooper. | ||
| 23 | TRAIL |
Track runs between 7 down (5)
|
| An envelope (‘between’) of R (‘runs’) in TAIL (‘7 down’ – BUTTOCKS). | ||
| 24 | ETUI |
The Four Tops in elegant tuxedos, unique in fashion designer’s case? (4)
|
| First letters (‘the four tops’) of ‘Elegant Tuxedos Unique In’. |
Thanks for the parsing of SODA LIME – all I could think was a fizzy drink.
I tried for ages to put some variation of PLUTOCRACY into 22ac, but it resisted all trying.
GRIMALDI, though I had this early on, was the one that gave 14a for me, eventually.
Thanks Paul, too.
And so to bed, again
COTD: SODA LIME
Other faves: GLITTERATI, CRADLESONG, TWILIGHT and ETUI.
RIDERS
I am saying this based on how I hear my American friends’ t in several words.
Their t sounds almost like d to me. Writer(s) is one such word. ‘Matter’ is another.
When they say ‘hotel’, I think I hear the t as t.
It’s just the American ‘writers’, I guess (not mispronounced but pronounced their
way).
Thanks Paul and PeterO!
Excellent puzzle and a high-quality blog!
Yes, quite challenging but doable in the end. When I got 14a I started looking for Waitrose and Sainsbury’s, but it seems today was a day for the shorter ones only, which makes sense since they could all be disguised inside longer words.
Talking of short ones, was glad to see Paul restrained himself with one of the short answers – you know which one I mean.
Happy to see both my old College and University get a name-check.
Thanks P&P
Quite chewy, took ages. Asda and Lidl were the least familiar, although we might have some in Oz; Aldi we do have, there’s one in South Freo. I’ve heard reviews of Jilly Cooper but dnk Riders, so a bung and pray. Grimaldi too was only the faintest echo. Thought plutocrats for 22, but couldn’t find any pigs. All good fun, ta PnP.
I can imagine this being tough for our overseas solvers but I enjoyed Paul’s incorporation of the various brand names. I came back to 1d and 2d in my second pass, having been wondering if and how he would fit in some of the big names. Both TRESCO and NASDAQ are nice spots, as is LIDLESS with a very Paulian definition. The GRIMALDI pun, I have encountered before but it’s neatly done. Just imagine if he had included CO-OP: Eileen would have had an opportunity to post the link to her fave Two Ronnies clip! Other ticks today go to ETUI, NATIVE, TWILIGHT, GLITTERATI, CRADLESONG, ACCELERATE and the neatly done BUTTOCKS.
Thanks Paul and PeterO
Ran out of time, gave up on 25ac, 20d.
New for me: TEST BED; SODA LIME; TRESCO; CRADLESONG.
Favourite: LIDLESS.
Thanks, both.
The common US pronunciation of “t” and “d” between vowels sounds the same – it’s an “alveolar flap”. So rider and writer are often homophones.
I must get out more.
I thought that RIDERS had far too vague a definition; how many romantic novels are there for the solver to pick from? I ended up revealing that one. I needed a check to eventually solve WAR AND PEACE, because I was stuck on “out” for “publish”. LIDLESS elicits a groan now it’s explained, but I did like NASDAQ and GRIMALDI. The theme was pretty meh to me, and I did need Google at times to verify my answers.
I solved about half, then, having got well and truly stuck, started revealing. A few too many UK-specific clues for my liking, although we do have many of the supermarkets here. And I’d heard of Tesco — who hasn’t?
I usually finish about half of Paul’s offerings — this was in the other half. The clues I did manage to solve today I enjoyed.
Faves GRIMALDI, LIDLESS & the fabulous RIDERS although I believe the correct literary term for this work is bonkbuster
Cheers P&P
Kva@2 – I agree regarding American ‘d’ for ‘t’ not great. But I equally depricate the current almost universal absence of a pronounced ‘t’ here in the UK. It’s ‘twenny’ for ‘twenty’ and a glottal ‘nogh’ for ‘not’. Drives me mad.
I like Paul anyway but this was superb. Grimaldi, cradlesong, NASDAQ – all top drawer.
Thanks SS PeterO and Paul
I had ‘Goons’ for GUISE – it sort-of works as a dd, men (soldiers) at the front, and of course the radio show (later on TV), but didn’t fit with RIDERS which I revealed (but doubt if I’d have got even with correct crossers)
Other than that, typical Paul, made harder for me as solved on my phone – I’m away from my laptop.
Favourites NASDAQ, SODA LIME, BARELEGGED and especially LIDLESS.
Thanks both.
TonyM@11
This is my weak area. Despite my extensive interaction with native speakers of English (and watching a lot of teleseries and movies), I don’t hear many words and end up guessing them. I miss the subtle British humour often.
No complaints. Just sharing…
I’m a Paul fan, and I thought this one was excellent. A lot of chuckles – GRIMALDI, NOTICED and SODA LIME, some excellent anagrams – CRADLESONG and FRAUDSTER, and a fun theme too.
Thanks P&P
Lots of fun clues, and as a British I do know the SUPERMARKETs, NASDAQ only rang very faint bells, and Jilly Cooper also wrote Rivals, which held me up. Could see Paul chuckling when he spotted the anagram for FRAUDSTER.
Thank you to Paul and PeterO.
I got RIDERS but I can’t remember what my reasoning was. I was thinking of Jilly Cooper and it fitted the crossers probably.
GRIMALDI led me to SUPERMARKETS so that meant I could go back to the themed clues. The NW corner was completely blank and all the rest filled in because I like a few crossers.
Thanks both.
Thanks PeterO for the excellent blog and Paul – super fun.
I imagined the glitterati at twilight sipping lime sodas, or at a trattoria & gelateria (all of which are beautifully clued).
And ‘shivering in the night air’ was indeed lovely.
TEST BED could be grimly paired with TRINITY.
This looked impossible late last night, with just SHEBA and ETUI solved, but this morning I guessed and then parsed 14. That led smoothly to about half the solutions, but I still needed a lot of guess and check to finish. Better than I feared, but I agree with gregfromoz @8 about the RIDERS “definition”.
Quite tricky but with some lovely clues. I thought GELATERIA was a great hidden. And the idea of the female Lidl worker being a LIDL-ESS raised a big smile.
KVa @2: that’s an interesting point about the difference between the American pronunciation of T in WRITERS and in “hotel”. Is it that when the T is at the start of an unstressed syllable, it sounds more like a D, but at the start of a stressed syllable (or the start of a word) it is a T sound?
Many thanks Paul and PeterO.
That makes sense Lord Jim@20 – the “t” sound is pronounced when my American friends say “return”, but the “d” sound is evident when the final syllable is unstressed like “writer”, “waiter”, “water” etc.
I enjoyed SHEBA, FRAUDSTER – and especially GRIMALDI for evoking a mental picture of that ghastly bunch being forced to queue up at the checkout with ordinary people.
As for RIDERS, if I were Roz I’d be giving it a Paddington hard-stare.
Actually I did try to read a Jilly Cooper work once: to borrow from the peerless Dorothy Parker, it wasn’t a book I tossed aside lightly – it was one I threw away with great force.
Thank you Paul & huge thanks to PeterO for the lucid explanations of the more convoluted parsings.
Failed completely with RIDERS, and wasn’t at all convinced until I suddenly remembered the “Hello Mudder, Hello Fadder” song https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yG7IakxDOqE So that’s OK then. Very nearly failed on CRADLESONG too – a great anagram.
All good except RIDERS. Not a romantic novel and I never moan about sounds like. Until now. Spent too long trying to get LA for Hollywood into the solution. Is the d for t really West Coast US?
CRADLESONG a nice word, even if when I shiver nothing actually changes position. Just, well, shivers and ends up where it started.
I did get my daily snigger from 7d.
Thanks to Paul and PeterO.
Coincidentally the cover of RIDERS featured a pair of BUTTOCKS albeit clad in jodhpurs
In my first sweep through I managed to solve about ten clues and thought – here we go, a Paul puzzle that’s going to yield quite swiftly. But then ground to a complete halt. With most of the crossers in for 3d I wondered if Charleston might be the answer – the Bloomsbury Set farmhouse does have a wellkept garden. But no, and even when I finally wrote in CRADLESONG I couldn’t parse it. Nor RIDERS or TWILIGHT, or to be perfectly honest, several others. Perhaps too many. Did like POPULARLY and LIDLESS. And wasn’t sure if Deter or DEFER was required at 4d until the F crosser slipped into place…ETUI also seems to have become a cryptic staple.
RIDERS
Thanks Lord Jim@20 (and Lechien@21). That must be it.
Pete HA3@24
I hear my Canadian friends speak like ‘that’ too. Must be a North American thing.
I find these variations and accents fascinating. Paul may be called crazy by some for
coming up with such punny clues. I have only admiration for his unconventional
clueing.
Thanks for the blog, much better again , limited theme used well and only one clue to be solved out of order, we did not even get 14s until after 14.
My favourites all been mentioned, RIDERS a very weak definition as said, WAR AND PEACE almost as verbose as the novel.
Happy Beltane to all , try and celebrate in the traditional way .
RIDERS/WRITERS -could even be Aussie let alone a particular section of Los Angeles
Never heard of the book although Jilly Cooper rings a bell.
Should have been a clue for WAIT ROSE
I almost gave this one a miss, as I have not enjoyed Paul’s recent outings at all. But I’m glad I relented, as I did like this puzzle.
Even the aural wordplay worked for me today, with one cast iron homophone and a nod to the USAnian alveolar flap pronunciation of T between a stressed and an atonic vowel, as others have explained.
Some great surfaces here (not always a Paulian trait 🙂 ) – NOTICED, ACCELERATE, GLITTERATI, TWILIGHT, NATIVE particularly. And I also enjoyed LIDLESS and CRADLESONG (LOI for me as I spent too long thinking that ‘night’ was part of the wordplay).
Thanks to S&B
RIDERS
Conscious, sub-conscious or a coincidence seen only by my twisted mind?
RIDERS ON THE STORM: The brilliant swansong of Jim MORRISON.
A struggle but (just about) worth it.
Bodycheetah @10: I thought they were called bodice-rippers?
Can never come across BUTTOCKS without evoking the excellent Mr Hanks in Forrest Gump pronouncing it but-tocks.
Many thanks, both.
[William @32: ‘Bodice-rippers’ are historical romantic novels. ‘Bonkbusters’ like Jilly Cooper’s oeuvre, have contemporary settings and are more explicit]
Paul back on good form, I thought.
When the fat in 14 was not lard, I spotted the SUET that led to SUPERMARKET, so off I went. I liked the well-hidden GELATERIA, the good anagram for CRADLESONG, the wordplays for ACCELERATE, NASDAQ, and LIDLESS (and its definition), and also the definition for GRIMALDI. Yes, a bit UK-centric but I guess overseas solvers could have searched the Web for UK SUPERMARKETs.
Thanks Paul and PeterO.
This was perfect for me. I got the theme which is unusual for me and helped a lot. I did wonder if it would work for solvers based outside the UK…. Many of the related clues made me smile. I agree the clue for CRADLESONG is beautiful. That was a favourite, as was FRAUDSTER. Many thanks Peter O and Paul 👏.
[Decided to a avoid supermarket Muzak as an ear worm because I didn’t want to inflict such a thing on others. Instead, I chose this… Bizarrely it’s sponsored by Asda, or was when I copied the link.]
https://youtu.be/AIOAlaACuv4?si=-mpJdi409iIGdYMZ%5D
Nearly didn’t bother because of the setter and struggled a bit. 5 blanks in SW corner. Can’t blame Paul this time.
I’ll admit that the consonants I say in writer and rider are the same, or nearly, usually (and I’m surprised that there seem to be people here who find that offensive or declassé or something). But the vowels are not the same, at least in my dialect, and I believe therefore also that of southern California. Writer has a shorter I, and rider a longer one. (They’re both funky diphthongs, so I’m not being technical here…but they’re definitely different.) So…still a dodgy homophone. I’m not complaining about that–I’m used to those from this setter. Anyway, that plus the definition referring to a novel I’d never heard of made that one a failure for me.
We have Aldi here–the nearest is a shortish walk from my home, but to get there you pass two other supermarkets on the way, so I don’t go there often. But the others are foreign to me, so I needed a Wikipedia list of British supermarket chains to complete this. I seem to recall another puzzle with a similar theme a few years back–at any rate, this was not the first time I had to call up that list to do a Guardian cryptic.
I can never complete a Paul puzzle so I come here for the answers and parsing. Then I learn something. Now I know that shivering indicates an anagram, scoffed indicates an envelope, autumn can be twilight, Tresco is a Channel Island, and adding ESS can make a word female. Having failed at 14 across I completely missed the theme but heartfelt thanks to PeterO for the blog and to Paul for the brain exercise.
@31 – absurd! Surely a reference to Jilly COOP-er!
@34 – yes, but then there is the 80’s UK romance novel and the remote UK island to contend with, not to mention the usual foolery like “GG”
are any anagrams in this crossword to get me started?
Steffen @40 yes, but neither of them is easy! 3D and 10A are both anagrams. The easiest clue today is 25A, which is a hidden answer (and an Italian-derived word). Also try 24D, which is an initial-letters clue.
Steffen @40 There are some puzzles that can only be completed by genius level solvers. I usually skip over Paul’s unless I’m home sick with nothing else to do. The anagram was for 10 across. Fraudsters? Who in real life ever uses that word.
The theme was my second one in, and though not crazy about it , found it helpful. Liked “Nasdaq” and “Grimaldi”, didn’t like “Lidless”, didn’t try to parse “War and Peace” (Very glad I didn’t, thank you PeterO, very grateful)
DNF due to “Riders” which I now realise was clued so vaguely, I would never have got it.
Thank you to Paul and to PeterO for the blog.
After a couple of quick runs on Monday and Tuesday, I really hit the buffers with this one today. The theme helped – although I am not a fan of crosswords that require you to get a key answer to help with other clues – and some lovely little puzzles that were very enjoyable food to chew over. Favourites were: CRADLESONG (never heard of the word, but the anagram was clearly clued); ETUI (a word I strongly associate with crossword solvers, who often mention digging an obscure word out the their etui, so this felt quite meta); GUISE; and DEROGATE. I was happy to learn about TRESCO in the Scilly Isles. Thanks Paul for a day’s work and PeterO for a superb blog.
Really enjoyed this. LOI was RIDERS which is pretty poor considering I live in New York!!
Stylistic point, which may seem pedantic, but not to the natives: TRESCO is one of the Isles of Scilly, or the Scillies, not the ‘Scilly Isles’, which is a usage much deprecated
[As an English North Westerner I was mildly disappointed not to see BOOTHS – a local supermarket chain so refined that it makes Waitrose seem like Asda 🙂 ]
Top notch puzzle! The parsing of WAR AND PEACE eluded me but the answer was obvious.
I thought GRIMALDI, SODA LIME, FRAUDSTER and CRADLESONG were brilliant.
Thanks Paul and PeterO
Phew! Eventually finished all but one. I failed on RIDERS (which I’m not impressed with, having seen the blog). But very proud of my partner and myself for managing to work out the rest 😊.
Gervase@47
Yes, was also on the lookout for (the excellent) BOOTHS.
( Particularly with it being polling day tomorrow. Lot`s of opportunity for Pauline mischief.)
This is the first puzzle in a long while that I gave up on with maybe just over half of it solved, and even then with some help with a few of the clues. I’ve a foot in either camp as regards Paul, I’ve liked plenty of his puzzles and more recently there have been one or two which I haven’t enjoyed. This one very much in the latter camp for me, I just wasn’t on the wavelength and it was a joyless slog. On revealing the rest and looking here, I made the right decision to give up.
Though a straightforward, and, sadly, speedy solve, my favourite setter still manages to deliver. Whether being tricksy or, as here, relatively unchallenging, his brilliance and originality shine through…
(I have to admit some discomfort with the RIDERS/writers soundalike; and I’m usually not one to quibble about these. It wasn’t until I’d read some of the wise comments here that comfort returned!)
How does he do it?
Many thanks both and all
Very satisfying to finish. Bit more like the old style Paul. Riders, however, for me, is a stretch. As a long time lover of US film and TV l threw it in as LOI kinda hoping is wasn’t right. Thanks very much Paul and PeterO
Me at 50
All the supermarket thinking must have led me to the greengrocer`s.
Maryland weighing in here, about 20d. I admit I don’t hit a crisp T in writer, but I do say a pretty hard D in rider, so the words are very close but not identical. I revealed that one because I didn’t know the novel or its author.
I was familiar with all the supermarkets except Asda. I revealed that one, also.
Veronica@49 , RIDERS was a very awkward clue, a vague definition that is not strictly true plus an unusual soundalike, these are typically words that sound similar but here we had to think about someone else saying it to make the sound similar.
Great puzzle for me in that completing it filled my allotted time perfectly. As pointed out by Peter, CRADLESONG is a classic. GRIMALDI made me laugh out loud, and GELATERIA is a super example of its genre.
Thanks both.
‘Autumn’=’twilight’? Ye gods and little fishes, what next? Winter=BUTTOCKS?
Not for me (more or less with scraggs@51 (although not the joyless bit – there is always some level of entertainment)).
Defeated by the best clue, CRADLESONG, which is how it should be. Pass the tea tray.
Thanks both.
Despite my very American accent and the fact that I live about 20 minutes from Hollywood, I couldn’t RIDERS. Never heard of it and I don’t think I could bear to read it even at gunpoint.
I agree with mrpenney @37 that there can be detectable differences in pronunciation for some words, but my “latter” and “ladder”, for instance, are identical and I believe that’s true for both US Americans and most Canadians. If you can’t make yourself understood from context, you just have to go back and repeat the word with an unvoiced “t”. For some reason though, I pronounce “button” as but-n. Maybe some linguist can explain that.
I think it’s also funny that, if you ask an American to do an English accent, they are more than likely to convert the double t’s to glottal stops, or should I say, glo’al stops?
Despite the App saying it was ‘closed’ Paul still appeared in it today. To celebrate this I completed both the Cryptic and the Expert Sudoku.
Will tomorrow’s puzzles appear in the App? Tenterhooks!
BlueDot@60: linguist here. In “button,” the final sound is made further forward in the mouth than the final sound in “writer,” so the conditions aren’t quite the same. Some people use a real “t” sound in “button,” usually if the last syllable is pronounced with an actual vowel in it; others use a glottal stop, usually when the last syllable is pronounced with just the vocalized “n.” Thanks for asking!
Excellent xword.
Perhaps to the untrained ear the pronunciation in our southern states of WRITER sounds like RIDER. However, much as I loved the rest of the puzzle, I found that clue not up to Paul’s usual high standards.
Gervase@30
Some good surfaces, yes, but 13d?
“With pins visible, a bleeder badly cut by mount”
I am quite a newbie to cryptics, having had a bash most days since Christmas with varied success. Thank you PeterO for the explanations, as I found this hard! Fifteensquared has been a very helpful source of support and information, thanks everyone.
Alphalpha @59
The quotation “Autumn is the twilight of the year” comes from Ernest Dowson – not the best-known 19th. century poet, but he seems to have had a way with phrases, as he is also responsible for “Gone with the wind”, “Days of wine and roses’, and “I have been faithful … in my fashion” – and the OED awards him the first written use of the word socca (soccer).
Amanda @66
As you may see fron other comments, you are not the only one to find Paul hard. If I and other bloggers have got you so quickly as far as to tackle him, it is reward enough. Keep up the good work!
Alphalpha–I think Autumn is synonymous with Twilight in the context of your autumn years or your twilight years.
PeterO and Jay: Ta both. One for the memory banks perhaps.
Iriquois
Nasal release
I’m a fan of Paul’s, but thought the clue for WAR AND PEACE extremely wordy and convoluted. I especially enjoyed this (hard) crossword, as I am on holiday on the beautiful island of Tresco as I write.
Probably repeating what’s already been said, but I wouldn’t characterise Riders as a romantic novel. Perhaps that’s what passes for romance these days! Thanks to the two Ps.
NHO “cradlesong”, still no idea what it means. Got the rest, though as an American I bristle (bridle?) at the notion that we pronounce “writers” like “riders”. It might be true on tape, but not in our heads. Of course, there are as many American dialects as there are British dialects, so I’m sure there are some where it’s true. Also not crazy about ‘pigs’ in GLITTERATI.
Elsewise, some delightful clues here.
Cradlesong is a lullaby sung to babies to get them to go back to sleep in the middle of the night.