Guardian Cryptic 29,652 by Paul

67 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 29,652 by Paul”

1. I found this tough to get into today, but smiled when I saw the YELLOW JERSEY and MAILLOT JAUNE double, which helped considerably. Liked PICKLED ONION, as I would, and CREDULITY. Thanks to Paul and manehi.

2. GLUTEI
   Def: Behind muscles

3. KVa@2 agree, “behind” is part of the definition, very “Paul”.

4. SPONGE BAG
   Should ‘cup of tea for some’ be taken as BAG, considering that Chambers says it’s ‘old sl’?

5. Very tricky in parts. Agree with KVa @2 tha the def for GLUTEI includes “behind”. I was defeated by PHARAOHS and couldn’t see how ROSWELL worked, so thanks to manehi for sorting that out and to Paul for the challenge

6. I confidently entered GOBSMACKED for 19a, which held me up quite a bit. Think it fits the clue just as well.

7. 12a ROSWELL: def just “site of incident?” — 4d TOLERANCE: ‘TO LE-[t]=”for rental”, “cut”…’

8. Minor typo: Surely TO LE(t) is “for rental” cut short.
   Kicking myself for not spotting them until the end because 1A and 27A should have been right up my street. Literally: the Tour de France often visits my home town on the last day, and the hill up through the Forêt de Meudon is the last chance to pick up points for the king of the mountain. …and set off the speed traps on the way down on the other side. It didn’t happen last year because the Olympics took over that part of the course for the cycle road racing and the marathons…
   (Sorry FrankieG. We crossed. That’ll teach me not to ramble on…)

9. Like you, Hovis, I got distracted by an incorrect solution to 19a. In my case, however, it was DUMBSTRUCK!

10. Without crossers, 19a might just as well be GOBSMACKED or DUMBSTRUCK (which I tried).

    Slow going, as manehi said. I thought the “first gear” in 27a might be some kind of baby clothing – of course, in theory you are meant to have solved MAILLOT JAUNE by then to help you, but in fact, that was one of my last in.

    I liked the TOO MANY / PHEW link, and the PICKLED ONION, but most of these were just hard work.

11. Nho of MAILLOT JAUNE, and it’s hardly a familiar term among English speakers so should at least have had ‘foreign language’ indication. On the plus side none of the sound-alikes were objectionable for a change.

12. I don’t think of myself as a Paul fan, and I think some of his clues are definitely unfair e.g. the homophone definition in 24a/8d, but maybe seeing his name and wondering if I am going to be able to finish this puzzle means I feel much happier when I do manage to solve it. Now I worry that thinking like this means I actually am a Paul fan.

    I solved YELLOW JERSEY quite early, but only got MAILLOT JAUNE very near the end, but I think this is the right order to solve them because 1a indirectly refers to 27a. On the other hand, I had entered CUPID’S BOW before solving LIPPY, and PHEW before TOO MANY.

    I didn’t understand 25a until after I had completed the grid and asked aloud “Why does ‘cup of tea’ mean BAG?”, and then immediately realised why.

    I entered SPEECHLESS in my first pass through the clues with no checking letters, and I don’t agree that the suggested alternatives GOBSMACKED or DUMBSTRUCK really work because I think ‘mum’ means choosing not to speak, rather than not speaking due to confusion or astonishment.

13. Grid filled but a victory on points for Paul today. My top two were the two tops and the MAILLOT JUNE will be familiar to anyone with a passing interest in the Tour de France

    Let the quibblefest commence

    Cheers P&M

14. No quibbling here! It was indeed a slow solve, but a very satisfying one, and I enjoyed the twin Tour de France clues and PHARAOHS. Thanks Paul and manehi.

15. I slowly filled the grid with much reverse-parsing and some not-parsing-at-all. 15A and 24/8 illustrate why I find Paul’s puzzles more frustrating than satisfying.

16. My musical knowledge is basic, so 21D was new to me. I stuck LAG inside PAL, thought “that can’t be a word… can it?” then ddged it.

17. Cycling well down on my sports list, so for jaune I was first thinking gilet, oh well. Also had totally forgotten that UFO
    incident. Toughish solve. Liked bag as cup of tea for some [then again, there’s Same thing’s gonna happen again, that’s the bag I’m in (Fred Neil, anyone remember him?)]. Pro/phet/fit was a bit sly. Enjoyed, ta Paul and manehi.

18. Only relevant thing surviving from theory is that a plagal cadence finishes on the subdominant … could be wrong.

19. I’ve completed Paul’s last two but had to use some reveals to finish this off today. Considering only a few Paul puzzles ago I was staring at the emptyish grid blankly I will take it as a victory.

    Liked FORTUNE TELLER

20. I also struggled to begin with and after finishing I definitely consider it a victory. Got 1a from the wordplay but failed to connect it to the bottom of the crossword until after getting 27a, just before 16d, my LOI. Needed manehi for the parsing of several. Plenty to like, no annoying cross references apart from 1a and 27a, which for once were pleasing, only a couple of split answers, and no toilet humour. Well done Paul! And thanks manehi

21. Typical clueing here with some not able to be parsed, an historical reference which was more a GK question than a clue…

22. Now defeated two days on the trot. Must try harder at the back of Lower Remove. Got about half a dozen small ones in the wee small hours, but then very little further progress later. But did enjoy the usual Paul ingenuity as I revealed the last few. Nowhere near wearing that YELLOW JERSEY at any stage today…

23. As an American who’s just getting into cryptics, this one was pretty rough! I only got 2 and a half filled in before I started using the ‘reveal’ button liberally. SPONGE BAG is new for me, as is the use of BAG = “cup of tea”. Also never heard FUG, or PI meaning ‘pious’.

    I did enjoy METEORITE and PICKLED ONION. Thanks Paul and manehi! This site has been invaluable in figuring out how to parse the trickier clues

24. Thanks for the blog , steady cold solve but once I used the grid there were so many helpful letters . Good to see the split clues and the two cross-references were in the correct order .
    The top and bottom was a very nice touch and “calendar girl” much better than just girl .
    CREDULITY a very neat piece of deception .

    I suppose a sly reference to the Swedish football team is too topical for this puzzle .

25. I have little interest in most commercial sporting events, especially cycling, one of the most drug riddled in the World. I have never heard of Maillot Jaune and certainly won’t be losing any sleep over it.

26. grantinfreo @18. A plagal cadence is indeed the sub-dominant chord which resolves to the root. i.e. IV to I,

27. Grantinfreo@18 – a plagal cadence falls from the subdominant to the tonic, it’s the classic ‘Amen’ cadence at the end of hymns. A plagal mode (cf authentic mode) is a set of pitches for a Gregorian chant, the music theory is more involved but the beauty of the modes is self-evident. Talk of popes, I put POPISH instead of PAPIST so DNF but enjoyed the battle very much, thank you Paul and manehi. (Sorry overlapped with Stanchion)

28. [Ed@24. It has been said many times, both here and elsewhere, if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything. ]

29. When solving YELLOW JERSEY I thought the reference might be to what Gordon Banks wore when he was England’s number one, which felt a bit of a stretch. And I’m a big follower of the Tour de France!!! The penny drop moment when I finally saw MAILLOT JAUNE was quite something. 😁

    This was a fairly slow and steady solve for me, on the train between Sheffield and Newcastle, with breaks for killer sudoku and just staring out of the window, but I always felt confident of finishing, which makes a nice change.

    Thanks to Paul and manehi.

30. I knew ACER as the genus of the maple because when I first encountered it years ago it seemed strange that the Latin word ACER also meant sharp (think acrid, acerbic). The contrast with sweet maple syrup stuck with me.

31. I can’t claim to have finished that, far too many stick it in a word list and then parse, but I enjoyed it. I needed a doctor friend’s help for GLUTEI. I had never heard of PLAGAL. Weirdly I was convinced that it parsed as DELAY-COMPANION, with ‘defends’ as stopping. As I had the ‘g’ and ‘l’, I figured the companion would be ‘gal’, as in ‘she’s my gal’ so then the word list revealed the rest. I think that is what I enjoyed about the puzzle, it kept defeating me on how to parse, but unlike last Saturday’s prize gave me some avenues of attack.

    Incidentally I had PICKLED ONION as the most excellent form of that bulb. ‘Lit’ being used by the kids to mean ‘awesome’. Manehi’s parsing is much better. Thanks all

32. I’m running late today as I had routine appointment at the doctor’s. But I’ll just add that PHARAOH is actually a corruption of the Egyptian for ‘the big house’ (pr a, sorry can’t write it properly here). This came to mean the king in the same way as ‘Downing Street’ is used to refer to the prime minister/government.

33. SH@28 Ed may be doing the setters a favour. I’m sure they’re busy collating every individual solver’s areas of ignorance into a giant reference to help ensure that nothing ever gets into a crossword that anyone, anywhere doesn’t know 🙂

34. Emmeline Pankhurst , Steve Biko , Susan B Anthony , George Jackson , Vida Goldstein , Malcolm X , Malala Yousazai , Medgar Evers ……..
    What were you playing at ? If you can’t say anything nice , don’t say anything .

35. Ed@25 Not sure why you feel able to make such a sweeping comment about something you admit to knowing nothing about. The truth is that cycling’s historical problems with doping has forced the sport to introduce measures over the last 20 years that have made the sport cleaner than all those other sports you don’t like.

36. Thanks Paul and manehi
    No-one else seems to be puzzled by 1d. Why is rite/right “claim”?

37. Muffin @35 it’s in Chambers: A right or ground for demanding

38. Thanks Bodycheetah. Difficult to think of a sentence in which they would be interchangeable.

    Wiki talks about “claim rights” as a thing, but that doesn’t mean the words are equivalent.

39. My favourites today were TOLERANCE, METEORITE, CREDULITY and FORTUNE TELLER. GLUTEI raised a wry smile. A win on points for Paul because I didn’t manage to parse everything. Thanks to him and manehi for the fun.
    [Ros@ 34, not sure what your comment is referring to? It’s probably just me…]

40. Right = just or legal claim , especially for mining .

41. Pauline @38 I am referring to the motto of the privileged , white male . Often used on here , see @28 .

42. Recently started doing Grauniad cryptics after a long abstinence (time on my hands following retirement).
    At first I looked at Paul’s in blank stupefaction. Now I’m starting to enjoy them, in fact I sometimes solve them.
    Nearly did this one but got thrown by putting CANDESCENT for 13a.
    Much to like here but 5d “berk” =”tit” ?
    Surely this expresses a much lower opinion of a person?

43. Thought I‘d well and truly ruined this one by accidentally scanning through the blog early in the morning thinking I was looking at an old Paul until realised totally unfamiliar.
    I should not have worried – by lunchtime everything had completely gone out of my head bar repeated something sonwhereorother about biking – but anyway, spouse finally got YELLOW stuff and we both enjoyed it lots!
    [Muffin @37 I was looking for the Paul with the Brynner reference – was it really your daughter‘s joke? How so?]

44. [Caroline @43
    I included it as a comment on a blog here. Paul saw it and later used it in a clue. He gave credit in the puzzle too, sort of (though not very politely!)]

45. [See 7d here]

46. [Roz@41. So you’re here defending someone who has come on here to abuse all professional cyclists, race organisers and fans of cycling, as well as our setter Paul. For the record, when I have previously seen the slogan, “if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything” it has come from women.]

47. [Thank you Muffin and mega-well done you and daughter! We missed this puzzle at the time and it went into our store —from which more recently pulled out so never saw the blog until now – yes, I too think clue of the year!]

48. I got a bit more than a third of this one and, having come here, I’m not surprised that that was where I finished. Well done to all who cracked it and thanks to our blogger, as usual. I got DUMBSTRUCK at 19A which slowed things down until the PHARAOHS appeared, but even with CUPID’S BOW, CREDULITY and STERNE all in place I couldn’t find SPEECHLESS. I got the YELLOW JERSEY straight away but 1A would never have occurred in a month of Sundays. I’ve never heard of it, don’t know enough French to work it out even if I’d spotted the ‘clever’ clue and, I’m afraid, feel that our setter has cheated rather with this one by not even giving a hint that we were looking for a foreign language answer (which I never like anyway). I confess that I find Paul’s offerings generate variable reactions from me, ranging from very positive to the reverse. Today, I’m not a fan, sadly. But that won’t stop me next time Paul sets the challenge.

49. [Caroline @47
    If you follow the link I gave at 45, more is explained in the posts below the blog.]

50. Wow.
    After a complete failure yesterday, got within 2 of completing a ‘tough’ Paul crossword.
    Failed on 1d and 12a.
    Looking forward to checking a couple of parsings.
    Thanks both.

51. MAIL = DELIVER?? SEND is closer, I would have thought?
    Had not heard of ROSWELL and the wordplay was probably too obscure for me.
    METEORITE I would not have got.
    I enjoyed the TDF reference and missed the ‘bottom’ significance in 1a. Thanks for that.
    Fav was probably FORTUNE TELLER.

52. [ SH@46 of course some women say this , many women were against universal suffrage . It does not change the fact that it is the motto of the privileged , white male , whoever they get to say it for them . Know your place , do not complain , we know best .
    I like to see people object to the puzzle if that is what they think , I imagine that most setters will accept this . As for cycling , if people really think it is free from drugs then I envy them for their innocence and naivety . Perhaps they should join the spring lambs in the fields . ]

53. Well done HYD@50 , next time you claim to be too dumb for Paul I will remind you of this puzzle which was by no means easy .

54. [Roz, my problem is that Ed attacked cycling from an acknowledged position of total ignorance. As far as we know, no one is oppressing him – he tried to do the Guardian crossword and didn’t much enjoy the experience, so came here to mouth off.

    But you want to equate him with Steve Biko and Emmeline Pankhurst?]

55. [ I am not equating Ed with anything , I am just pointing out the purpose of that saying and I never like to see it used anywhere to try and shut people up . ]

56. 12ac a complete gap in my GK. Though I’m much more familiar with ROSWELL Pits, created when they dug the gault clay out of the ground and created areas of water with Ely Sailing Club, Cambs, using part of them now…

57. Thanks Roz @53 – Paul certainly gets the grey matter going

58. 13a reminded me of the visit 40-odd years ago to my class of inner city 10 year olds by an English advisor who wanted to show how topics could be used to develop language. I told him that we were studying the many birds that frequented the grounds so he chose that topic. Displaying several pictures, he pointed to a photo of a starling and asked
    ‘How would you describe that?’
    Iqbal answered ‘It’s IRIDESCENT.’
    The gobsmacked advisor turned to me and asked what it meant. I told him to ask the child,who said it meant ‘like a rainbow.’
    End of visit.

59. Thanks Stanchion and Hadrian @ 26 and 27.

    [Saying nothing that’s not nice about a person’s appearance may be charitable, but saying nothing that’s not nice regardless of their views or their behaviour may be copping out].

60. [SH and Roz@various: I have always taken that phrase to mean ‘don’t be gratuitously insulting’, which strikes me as, generally speaking, good advice. I can see how you could take it to mean ‘sit down and shut up – all is well with the world’, but I don’t really think that is how it generally either used or taken. The latter can be – and is – said in many other, much more threatening ways.]

61. [Thanks Tim@60 for reminding me. That comment that I deprecated (see #25 and mine at #28 above) was in breach of Site Policy no.2. . I should have said this at the time but it didn’t come to mind. And, yes: “don’t be gratuitously insulting” is good advice whether in person or on the internet.]

62. Never thought I’d get this finished, but eventually managed it – and I only failed to parse FORTUNE TELLER. I wasn’t helped for a long time by entering DUMBSTRUCK for 19 across. Thanks, Paul, as ever, and to manehi, too.

63. @Ed 25.

    Hi Ed, yes when I have to struggle with a clue it can make me feel a bit daft, and I don’t like that either.

    I don’t see anything wrong with your expressing your annoyance in words on the internet though. Language evolved to convey emotion, and much more, besides mere information. To see others do that can give us the comfort of not being alone in feeling whatever it might be too.

    It’s only a crossword in the end though.

    Thanks all.

64. I found this very slow, but I made it through in the end and found it very satisfying. Both ACER (meaning a tree) and PLAGAL were jorums for me, but the wordplay got me to them. I failed to parse a few, but on coming here I see they make sense now.

    I particularly liked the misleading / unexpected definitions in 27ac (YELLOW JERSEY) and 7dn (GLUTEI).

    On the other hand, both 22ac (PICKLED ONION) and 24ac (FORTUNE TELLER) seem to me to lack a proper definition, which might be regarded as unfair. Regarding the latter, I understand a cryptic definition to be a clue that turns out to be a proper definition once one has seen past the misleading surface to the correct parsing, and since a pickled onion is not in fact “lit” in any sense, it doesn’t seem to me to qualify. But I’m only a little bit unhappy about those clues.

65. A great workout, as always from Paul.
    An excellent blog, manehi: clear, patient and thorough.
    Thank you.

66. Thanks Paul and Manehi!

67. Ouch. Only got a smattering. ‘Nuff said

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