Guardian 29,474 / Picaroon

86 comments on “Guardian 29,474 / Picaroon”

1. Once I’d finished trying to cover my reproductive organs with a STAPLE I realised there was something fishy going on. I didn’t find this as easy as some people on the Guardian site seemed to. Top ticks for ALL ENDS UP, EXERCISE and LOAN SHARKS

   Cheers P&E

2. bodycheetah @1

   Ouch!

3. Thanks Picaroon and Eileen
   Rapid solve for a Picaroon, but clever use of the unmissable theme. I tried EARFLAP first at 14, but was surprised to find that EARLAPS are a thing. Favourite PONGED, for the pseudothematic “smelt”.
   I knew DORADE as a fish, but Google tells me that DORADO is one too!
   I wouldn’t have described a skate as a shoe.

4. I was trying to cover my reproductive organs with a pelta (s). So this “easy” anagram caused multiple problems

   Very enjoyable – loved exercise and singe especially

   Thanks Picaroon and Eileen

5. A piscatorial pleasure

   Many thanks to Picaroon and Lucky Eileen

6. First couple of passes yielded practically nothing, and I thought this was going to be a real challenge: after that though, a fair number of them tumbled in quite quickly, which was surprising and satisfying. That left a few I had to chew over. Disappointed to have to reveal ALLOA, but I realised my brain wasn’t going to stretch to sitcoms at this point in the day.

   Fun stuff anyway and, to echo bodycheetah @1, not as straightforward as many seemed to find it.

7. A long train journey this morning meant I was able to look at this one much sooner than normal. I’m not used to being done this early and not having lots of comments as well as the blog to read!
   The fish theme definitely helped with clues that might have taken a while like STURGEON or RED HERRING. Without the obvious theme it might have been tougher.
   My favourite ALLOA, mainly because it brought back childhood memories of the sitcom.
   Thanks Picaroon and Eileen

8. Thanks to Picaroon and Eileen. For similarly out-of-touch oldies as me, ‘foo fighters’ (1a) was a Second World War term for UFOs and the musical beat combo took their name from it, as I learned today.

9. On the easier side perhaps, but a very pleasant solve, nonetheless.

   CARREFOUR interested me as I’d always assumed one of their first stores was at a crossroads (being the literal translation) but I now learn that it was a portmanteau word formed from 2 of their earlier financial backers..Messes Carret & Fournier.

10. Thanks, muffin @3 – I’ll ‘redden’ DORADO.

11. muffin @3, neither would I (skate = shoe) but having done a quick search they do seem to be fairly commonly described by shops and other sellers as ‘skate shoes’.

12. I thought was fun too, and also wanted an earflap not EARLAPS, SINGE is clever too.

    Amused by how few people thought of stamens and anthers as sexual organs for PETALS – you’ve all obviously avoided the joys of teaching science to teenagers.

    Thank you to Eileen and Picaroon.

13. [I never watched Allo Allo in England, but we have a German friend who adores them. Every time we visited we had to take her more DVDs, and she now has the full set. We have thus only watched it in Tubingen!]

14. I also noticed some dismissive comments on the G site, saying it was good for a Quiptic, but it took me a while to get started like bodycheetah @1 and scraggs @6. However, it did fall in reasonably quickly after that. Like bwae @8 I also learned something about one of my favourite bands.

    Ta Picaroon & Eileen (‘difficulty scale’ 😉)

15. Thanks to Brian @8 – I needed that explanation! I’d heard of the band the Foo Fighters, but had no idea of the derivation of its name.

16. Thanks brian-with-an-eye @8 – I’d forgotten that I meant to research / ask for help with that one! I’ll amend the blog.

17. To misquote Douglas Adams – So short and thanks for all the fish. Thanks both.

18. This felt like a bit of a mixed bag – or maybe creel – at times. Thought both EARLAPS and PLEDGEE rather strange and awkward to solve, but really liked LOAN SHARKS and particularly JACK SPRAT. Coupla dim and distant recollections evoked by Picaroon’s puzzle this morning. Being impressed when reading Dorothy L Sayers whodunnit Five RED HERRINGs as a teenager. And a quote from a b/w Arthur Askey film that for whatever reason has stuck in my brain ever since. He tucks into caviar with the appreciative line: “The roe of the virgin STURGEON”…
    Many thanks for the fun and the memories, Picaroon and Eileen.

19. …Arthur Askey in Friends And Neighbours 1959.

20. @william №9

    Love the nugget of info re Carrefour (which I had assumed was crossroad based too). As my Mother’s side of the family were (a long way back) Huguenot silk weavers called Fournier I wonder if there is a very distant family connexion

21. Thanks, Mathew…or even relatives of the great mathematician!

22. 25ac ‘skate shoes’ as worn by skateboarders. Quite in fashion now.

23. As Eileen said, ALLOA was a bit tough for us Antipodeans. But I was familiar with the sitcom, as it went to air here many moons ago. And cod/fake apparently is a British thing, according to Collins — I’d never heard of it. Also I needed some help to work out how M is head of SIS. Otherwise this puzzle was good fun, as Picaroon’s tend to be.

    I surprised myself by remembering the French supermarket.

24. Alan C

    I was the first to comment in the Grauniad and said I found it disappointing.

    But, this is subjective in two ways, It was (in my opinion) well below Picker’s usual standard. And while I found it easy, I know that others will struggle. This, however, is not mere hubristic boasting because I know that, sooner rather than latter, I will be baffled by a puzzle that others sail through.

    Picaroon’s poor is better than my best.

    23s CARP should also be in red. No, that IS hubris.

25. You stupeed wooman (said I to myself in an appropriately cod French accent), can you not see zat ze sitcom ees ‘Allo ‘Allo? But I missed it, though I got the town.

    I didn’t find this particularly easy. I’ve heard of earflaps, but EARLAPS are new. Had to Google to find the right RUDD. Skate=SHOE? Well, if Picaroon says so. Modern skates (both ice and roller) do incorporate a shoe, but it wasn’t always so.

    Liked DROWN, EL DORADO, LOAN SHARKS.

26. 23d

    Now this IS real hubris

    Someone moved the keyboard, It can’t possibly have been my mostake.

27. Tough puzzle for me though the theme helped with a few clues which for the most part seemed to be clever rather than enjoyable.

    Gave up on 6d and 10ac (never heard of the sitcom or ALLOA, town with population of 14,440) as my mind was totally blank on Scottish towns, sitcoms and East London.

    New for me: foo fighters = a type of UFO; ALL ENDS UP; PETALS = reproductive organs; EARLAP; PLEDGEE; LOAN SHARKS.

    Favourites: BASS, PONGED.

    I didn’t parse 21ac.

    Thanks, both.

28. Thanks, Swarbrules @24 – of course it should: I knew I was giving a hostage to fortune – there may be other careless omissions, so I’ll apologise in advance, as I have to go out soon.

29. PS @26: have you heard of Muphry’s (sic) Law? 😉
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muphry%27s_law

30. Petert@17: very droll

    A lovely romp. A theme that was hard to miss and plenty of wit in including the many entrants. Yes, easier than many Picaroons but not sure I’d put it in the quiptic category. I was unaware of the Foo Fighters/UFOLOGIST link but it had to be that and, whilst I am pleased to see a clue that will appeal to our Antipodean solvers who often have to contend with obscure UK GK, RUDD left me defeated. PLEDGEE is a horrible word but that’s not the setter’s fault!

    Thanks Picaroon and Eileen

31. PM @30 – I agree re PLEDGEE but at least it makes sense, unlike ‘attendee’ and, worse, ‘standee’, as I’ve seen on buses!

32. I do appreciate the majority of people on here are in the upper age bracket but come on…skateboards have been around and common since I was a teenager (or younger) and I retire next year! Skate shoes are nothing new. They’re even advertised as ‘old skool’.

33. A beautiful shoal – thanks Picaroon and Eileen.
    Favourites were the ‘gut wobbling’ UFOLOGIST, ‘notice what comes in spring time’ and ‘loaded or rolling’.

34. Good moaning. Listen very carefully, I shall say this only once. ALLOA was not a problem for this adopted Aussie. I didn’t find this that much different to any other Picaroon, a setter who is starting to raise a smile with me when I see his name.
    CARREFOUR came from the depths from my visits to Paris. RUDD was a nice nod to the Austrian Guardian.

    Michelle @27, Petals aren’t reproductive organs, they just cover them.

35. So is cod roe fake caviar?

36. Apparently 12a “French supermarket” CARREFOUR stopped sponsoring Le Tour de France in 2018.
    Instead they’re currently sponsoring La Vuelta a España, and stage 6 “bizarrely set off” from inside one of their branches in Jerez last Thursday.

37. Michelle @27 – Foo Fighters were the name given to WW2 pilots who claimed to have seen UFOs. (My favourite clue incidentally). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foo_fighter . A fishy tale from Picaroon and a clear blog, as ever from Eileen. Thank you both.

38. Tough even with the theme. As an amateur botanist, I’d say both TEPALS and PETALS were valid but crossers resolved that.
    Thanks both.

39. Thanks Picaroon and Eileen

    I think there is an additional themer in the wordplay for PESTO as TOPE is also a sort of fish.

40. brian-with-an-eye@8 – for me a TiLT, too. — Petert@17 🙂 — Bodycheetah@35 🙂
    Thanks P&E (=18d EXERCISE)

41. Deegee@32: I assumed that “skate” was a noun: a shoe in its own right (like a trainer or brogue) rather than an adjective like a tennis shoe or a dancing shoe.

42. Nice fish pie.

    I suppose that I am going to have to be the one who refers to the British pub signs that are often put on low wooden beams, viz: Duck or grouse.

    I liked ALL ENDS UP, LOAN SHARKS, SINGE, TEA BREAK and, of course, GROUSE.

    Thanks Picaroon and Eileen.

43. Really enjoyed Picaroon’s angle today.
    Thanks he and she.

44. Thanks, Simon @39 –
    I can’t amend the blog until I get home, mid-afternoon.

45. That was fun 🙂 I make that 2 references to Paul in two days, too! I wonder if there’s a reason.

    I too found this a little easier than other Picaroons, but I drank far too much beer last night so was grateful for the puzzle being gentle. Thanks both!

46. Foo fighters go back even farther than the WWII RAF. An American newspaper comic strip in the 30’s was the rather daft adventures of a fireman named Smokey Stover. It was filled with goofy sayings, sometimes just on the walls in the drawings, such as “notary sojac,” and especially FOO, which was dotted through the strip here and there. I remember the strip from the 60’s and 70’s. I quote Wikipedia: “The term “foo” was borrowed from Smokey Stover by a radar operator in the 415th Night Fighter Squadron, Donald J. Meiers, who, according to most 415th members, gave the foo fighters their name.” The RAF’s “f***ing foo fighters” were any flying object or phenomenon they couldn’t identify.

    Thanks Picaroon and Eileen

47. As predicted, I had to reveal ALLOA, knowing neither the sitcom nor the town. Also forgot that cod=FAKE (I tried HAKE first, unparsed). I didn’t know the French supermarket, though I followed the directions in the clue and got there.

    DORADO is better known on menus (over here, at least) as mahi-mahi.

48. Cannot parse 16 dn 🙁

49. phil @48
    “Char” as a verb, meaning to burn slightly or “singe”.

50. A nice surprise to find a Thursday at just the right level for me (which I define as one that I can _almost_ finish).

    A hook, or angle, that tickled my brain.

    TIL – Foo Fighters

    Liked – LOAN SHARKS

51. A very cleverly worked puzzle indeed, and I enjoyed the regular subversion of the obvious theme in fishy clues giving non-fishy answers and v.v.

52. Fun fishy puzzle, though I did have to reveal ALLOA (I had seen a bit of the sitcom but not so it sprang to mind, the town is just under the population threshold for Wikipedia’s list of municipalities in Scotland). Very nice semi&lit or whatever for EL DORADO and I appreciated the subversion of “head of SIS” for M. Thanks Picaroon and Eileen!

53. Thanks both.

    There is little greater pleasure than seeing the Picaroon byline on a crozzie and this lived up to expectation even though, like Perfidious Albion@45, I was slightly under the overhang of last night’s fun. As a result I missed out on FAKE, being unable to equate ‘following’ with ‘f’ (I know, it’ll be obvious when someone spells it out). I can’t believe I missed the theme.

    Strange how ‘ruddy’ and ‘bloody’ have become completely synonymous – I’d have thought that ‘ruddy’ was a politisisation (there’s definitely a better word) of ‘bloody’ and (like, say, ‘Jiminy Cricket’ or ‘Jeepers Creepers’) would need some indication as to that. I still got it but only with the assumption that there was a PM called RUDD unknown to me (and so it proves). A solid 5.

54. I was finishing this crossword listening to Joe ROOT compiling his 33rd test century.

55. Thanks Picaroon. That was great fun until I hit the NE corner where I revealed the nho CARREFOUR, ALLOA (no chance at that one), and FAKE. All else went in rather easily with my top picks being DROWN, ALL ENDS UP, PONGED, EXERCISE, and GROUSE. [PostMark @30, Eileen @31: I also think PLEDGEE is an awkward word but my least favourite word with a double E ending is ‘tutee’.] Thanks Eileen for the blog.

56. Bit surprised lots of people found this unduly easy as there are a few potential obscurities/oddities (ALLOA, CARREFOUR for example). I thought it was a fairly typical i.e. highly enjoyable Picaroon puzzle. I thought TAN was an excellent surface.

57. Immaculate, as ever, from Picaroon.

58. FOO is often used in the programming world, too, as a place holder. I have never liked it, being unsure what it meant. It also seems to trace its origins back to Smokey Stover as Valentine@9 said. Other equivalents are: qux, waldo, fred, xyzzy, and thud, apparently, which I like even less. Donald Knuth introduced it.

59. Tony Santucci @55

    But, as I said re PLEDGEE, ‘tutee’ at least makes sense, as being the person who is tutored (like ‘payee’, the one being paid), whereas ‘attendee’ and ‘standee’ are the subjects of the action. I know they’re both in the dictionaries but to me they’re an abomination!

60. Mandarin @56
    Anyone who made a habit of watching the Saturday football results would be familiar with “Alloa Athletic nil”. (I may be doing them an injustice – I haven’t watched the results for years!)

61. Thanks Picaroon and Eileen. It takes a lot of setting skill to overcome fish fatigue.

    I can’t work out how exactly ALL ENDS UP means COMPLETELY in a way that matches, am I missing something?

62. “Beaten all ends up” is used to mean “beaten comprehensively” or “beaten completely”.

63. Just finished this enjoyable puzzle, thank you Picaroon, late in the day as usual as I struggled with some of the parsing. Thanks for the explanations Eileen, very helpful as always. I still don’t understand in 4d how you would know to use the T from coast? Also in 3d what is the significance of boring?

64. thanks mufffin. i get char= singe, it’s the parsing i don’t get

65. phil elston @64 – a bass is a low voice, as in soprano, alto, tenor, bass (SATB arrangements), so a bass = singer, a tailed bass is a SINGE(r).

    Amanda @63 – 4D Like minnows close to coast, causing irritation (6)

    close to coasT – is the closing letter of coast, so the T + ITCHY (causing irritation) gives T ITCHY

    3D 3 Drunk has no boring escapades – they generate great interest (4,6)

    Drunk (HAS NO)* is the OAN SH bit, with drunk as an anagram indicator. That group of letters goes into (boring) LARKS (escapades) to give L OAN SH ARKS – which are the “they generate great interest” bit.

66. phil @64
    A bass is a singer (as soprano, alto, tenor are). Take the last letter (tail) SINGE(r), as the blog says.

67. Amanda @ 63

    T is ‘the close’ to coasT

    And boring means ‘drilling into’, so an anagram of HAS NO is drilling into LARKS

68. Muffin @60 – those results used to be on the radio as part of the Saturday news, read famously by James Alexander Gordon – so Partick Thistle 0 – Alloa 0 as a senseless rhythm. The link is to a 2022 article from the Guardian bemoaning the end to those results – by that time on BBC Radio 5, but I used to hear them on Radio 4, back before Radio 5 was established.

69. Ah, thank you for the explanations, so simple when you know… I was thinking of close as in nearby not close as in the end. Also never got beyond boring as tedious (slapping head emoji)

70. Nice Picaroon whimsy, and we managed to sort out the bits of GK or UK usage where we were at first stymied. (Didn’t know Carrefour, don’t use TITCHY to mean that, for instance.)

71. Muffin @60: I would never have got ALLOA were it not for the classified results. Off-topic a bit, the scoreline most dreaded (according to Mr Gordon?) was East Fife 4 – Forfar 5

72. Eileen @59: Thanks, I see your logic. Dictionaries often reflect common usage, abominations included!

73. Robin@61 A bowls match consists of a number of ‘ends’. Presumably if a player loses every single end he is beaten all ends up. I’m not a player or follower of the game so this is supposition.

74. I’ve had time out for cooking / eating, so thanks to others for enlarging on the blog.

    Ah, the football results: I go right back to the 50s – radio ‘Sports Report’ – sitting hardly daring to breathe, let alone speak, as my grandpa checked his pools coupon. I learned a lot of Scottish geography just listening and found the cadences in the report fascinating, as in the litany of the shipping forecast, which I can recite, from my late-night / early morning radio listening in bed.

    Thanks, Tony @72 – not really wanting to prolong this but I found this in Collins, under ‘-ee’: suffix forming noun indicating a person who is the recipient of an action (as opposed, especially in legal terminology to the agent, indicated by or or er) … (my highlighting ;-)).

75. Regarding Alloa.

    I learnt, as a child, that this was an exceptional if little known place: the county town of Scotland’s smallest county, Clackmannanshire.

    So, obviously, I followed the Athletic as my Scottish Team. Nearly as much fun as following my beloved Crewe Alexandra.

    So really pleased to see ALLOA as an answer. Thanks to the pirate and Eileen, we enjoyed this.

76. Eileen – I used to do a lot of committee meeting minutes, which in the list of participants used to distinguish between “members” (those entitled to attend) and “attendees” (those attending on receipt of an invitation). I wonder if “attendee” works in that sense? Though I generally agree with you in not liking it!

77. Thanks for that, Mandarin @76 – it seems a very ‘nice’ distinction. 😉

78. The comments section in the Graun seems to be getting worse for spoilers. Somebody mentioned a situation in France in connection to 10a – a sitcom related to France? That basically narrows it down to one. Somebody else mentioned that it was nice to see a non British PM in 1d. Somebody else bemoaned the French supermarket. There were more. Every day there seem to be people making what they think are witty or clever remarks, which only serve to, at least, ruin the misdirection and steer towards the right area, if not explicitly giving away the answer.

    Can a link to 15 Squared not be pinned at the top of the comments?

79. 10 FC @78, a good suggestion, though of course it would have to be made to the Grauniad’s Crossword Editor. On the other hand, if I look at the comments before completing the puzzle, am I not asking for trouble?

80. Mandarin@76 Wouldn’t the second group of people be “invitees”?

81. A very belated thank you to Picaroon and Eileen. Enjoyed this very much and the blog was entertaining, especially ALLOA, football results etc, and words ending with EE 😎. Since no one has posted one yet, an earworm from the FFs…
    https://youtu.be/eBG7P-K-r1Y?si=Iivr1KR3nfu9O0Xj

82. Picaroon’s pleasing piscatorial puzzle!

    Brilliant as usual. Got most of it out on the first pass. North East held me up a little bit as I had not heard of the town or the French supermarket chain. However the clueing was precise and allowed me to finish the crossword.

    Thanks James and Eileen

83. For Ronald@18
    Caviar comes from the virgin sturgeon
    The virgin sturgeon’s a very fine fish
    The virgin sturgeon needs no urgin’
    That’s why caviar is my dish

84. 0akvilleReader@83, Ronald@18
    That’s why caviar’s such a rare dish?

85. I rather enjoyed this more than most because there wasn’t one clue where I couldn’t see the wordplay (even if belatedly) – except that is for FAKE. I spotted the definition as cod meaning fake instead of a fish but could not fathom the rest.
    I’ve learned here that sometimes initial letters are used even if not explicitly indicated. I’m aware of a few such as c for caught but never f for following. I also knew about dropping ‘h’s in cockney land but the east end clue eluded me this time – perhaps because I was unable to break it down.
    Thanks very much Eileen and Picaroon.

86. Phil @85 – glad you enjoyed the puzzle.

    Use of initial letters as such is usually indicated by ‘initially’, ‘primarily’, etc but c and f are recognised abbreviations – c for ‘caught (by)’ in cricket scores and f for ‘the next page’ (see here)
    https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ff.
    Similarly NSEW for points of the compass, R and L for left and right, H and C for hot and cold (on taps), etc. etc. These can (usually!) be found in a dictionary.

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