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Paul’s puzzles often frustrate, but always entertain. This was not frustrating at all, but was certainly entertaining. The anagrams for PUBLIC SPEAKING (well, most of it) and FLAT EARTH SOCIETY were excellent. As usual when I have to blog a Paul puzzle, the pressure of solving and parsing means that I don’t get the time to sit back and appreciate it, but I did enjoy this one.
Thanks to the first couple of commenters for pointing out the error in my parsing of CODEBREAKER.
Thanks Paul.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | ANAGRAM |
With this, what I may need becomes themed in a way (7)
|
| “what I may need” is an ANAGRAM of “themed in a way” | ||
| 5 |
See 10
|
|
| 10, 5 | JUST MARRIED |
As newlyweds slightly damaged, one trapped (4,7)
|
| JUST (“slightly”) + MARRED (“damaged”) with I (one) trapped | ||
| 11 | BLOODY MARY |
Taxpayer ultimately being squeezed by wretched PM – something alcoholic required! (6,4)
|
| (taxpaye)R [ultimately] being squeezed by BLOODY (“wretched”) + (Theresa) MAY (“PM”) | ||
| 12 | PRAYER |
Grace perhaps, through catching some light (6)
|
| PER (“through”) catching RAY (“some light”) | ||
| 13 | MALINGER |
Country ending in recession, many leaving country avoid work (8)
|
| MALI (“country”) + [ending in] (recessio)N + GER(many) (“country” with MANY leaving) | ||
| 14, 28 | FLAT EARTH SOCIETY |
Debunking of fairy tale the cost for conspiracy theorists (4,5,7)
|
| *(fairy tale the cost) [anag:debunking of] | ||
| 16, 6 | BOOTS AND ALL |
Two items of footwear left with everything one’s got (5,3,3)
|
| BOOT + SANDAL (“two items of footwear”) + L (left) | ||
| 17 | FLUSH |
Flat hand (5)
|
| Double definition, the second referring to a “hand” in poker. | ||
| 19 | ILLIBERAL |
Real jerks backing legal draft I rejected, undemocratic (9)
|
| *(real) [anag:jerks] backing <=(BILL (“legal draft”) + I, rejected) | ||
| 23 |
See 24
|
|
| 24, 23 | PUBLIC SPEAKING |
With pressure on, Paul being sick unfortunately – giving Ted Talks etc? (6,8)
|
| P (pressure) on *(paul being sick) [anag:unfortunately] | ||
| 26 | ANTITHESIS |
A report about damaged tin foil (10)
|
| A THESIS (“report”) about *(tin) [anag:damaged] | ||
| 27, 29 | CODEBREAKER | One ripping up verses, perhaps, after first found in Christmas cracker (11) |
| ODE BREAKER (“one ripping up verses, perhaps”) after [first found in] C(hristmas) | ||
| 28 |
See 14
|
|
| 29 |
See 27
|
|
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | NEUTRAL |
Renault coloured grey or beige? (7)
|
| *(renault) [anag:coloured] | ||
| 3 | GUTSY |
Stout belly surprisingly empty (5)
|
| GUT (“belly”) + S(urprisingl)Y [empty] | ||
| 4 | ALBERTA |
Banff originally in with it, a Canadian province (7)
|
| B(anff) [originally] in ALERT (“with it”) + A | ||
| 6 |
See 16 Across
|
|
| 7 | ROMAN NOSE |
Chap certainly not into flower, strong smeller? (5,4)
|
| MAN (“chap”) + NO (“certainly not”) into ROSE (“flower”) | ||
| 8 | EERIEST |
Piece from electioneer, I established, most weird (7)
|
| Hidden in [piece from] “electionEER I ESTablished” | ||
| 9 | COSMETOLOGIST |
Astronomer captures alien for features editor (13)
|
| COSMOLOGIST (“astronomer”) captures ET (extraterrestrial, so “alien”) | ||
| 15 | TOSCANINI |
Maestro in performing encore lifted up at end of opera (9)
|
| <=(IN + IN) [performing encore, i,e. appearing twice, and lifted up] at end of TOSCA (“opera” by Puccini) | ||
| 18 | LEPANTO |
Battle fitting last of scrap into shed (7)
|
| [last of] (scra)P into LEAN-TO (“shed”)
The Battle of Lepanto in 1571, a victory for the Holy League over the Ottomans, is considered the last major battle in the Western world to have been fought by oared vessels. |
||
| 20 | IMPOSER |
Visited by male, I question unwelcome guest (7)
|
| I + POSER (“question”) visited by M (male) | ||
| 21 | ARIADNE |
Princess and I are entwined (7)
|
| *(and i are) [anag:entwined]
Ariadne was the daughter of Minos of Crete, most famous for helping Theseus escape the Labyrinth. |
||
| 22 | MISHIT |
With this I’m making a blunder? (6)
|
| *(this im) [anag:making] | ||
| 25 | BACCA |
Sponsor picked up for a quid, say? (5)
|
| Homophone/pun/aural wordplay [picked up] of BACKER (“sponsor”)
For “bacca” and “quid”, think tobacco. |
I filled in most of the top half quite quickly, which I thought was unusual for a Paul puzzle, but slowed down in the bottom half. I took too long to unjumble ARIADNE, and I only worked out FLUSH by trying to list words that would fit and it didn’t help I wasn’t entirely sure about the two crossing answers.
I liked FLAT EARTH SOCIETY, BOOTS AND ALL and PUBLIC SPEAKING.
For 27.29, I had ‘cracker’ as the definition and wordplay ODE BREAKER (one ripping up verses, perhaps) after C(hirstmas).
Thanks Paul and loonapick.
I had ‘cracker’ as the definition in 27, with ‘ode-breaker’ in the wordplay.. but that’s moot, I suppose .. (oops.. duped comment) .. A nice, relatively gentle Paul, IMO. Thanks, loonapick!
Thanks, both – you’re right – I’ll edit when I get a chance later!
I found this very enjoyable too. Thanks to loonapick for the blog and Paul for the puzzle. I too liked the anagrams in 14,28a FLAT EARTH SOCIETY and 24,23a PUBLIC SPEAKING. Many other ticks from my solve, including 11a BLOODY MARY, 13a MALINGER and 9d COSMETOLOGIST.
Lovely start to the day! Great fun and lots to admire: ticks for ANAGRAM, JUST MARRIED, BLOODY MARY, MALINGER, FLAT EARTH SOCIETY, TOSCANINI and BACCA.
Thanks to Paul for the fun and to Loonapic for an entertaining blog.
Thanks Paul and loonapick
Quick solve for a Paul. Favourite LEPANTO.
I don’t think ILLIBERAL means the same as undemocratic.
Yes, this was the better side of Paul, for the most part. More multi-light answers than are really good for you, but at least there were no cross-referenced clues. And the one obligatory non-rhotic homophone was far from the most outrageous one he’s ever come up with. (I’d never heard tobacco called BACCA before, so that one was my last one in.)
Banff is in ALBERTA, of course, adding a little extra zip to that clue.
Did anyone else see the clue for 1ac and try to look for a theme? That’s not really Paul’s style–when he does have a theme it’s all but impossible to miss–but it still seemed possible. Or maybe there is one that I didn’t see.
Paul at his gentlest, I thought. Many lovely clues, especially enjoyed LEPANTO, CODE BREAKER, PUBLIC SPEAKING and COSMETOLOGIST. Muffin @6 – if you construe “Liberal” in its broader sense (as in ‘liberal democracy’) I think it’s reasonable. Bit of a stretch perhaps, but hey, this is Paul. Many thanks to Paul and loonapick
Damaged newly-weds, squeezed taxpayers, undemocratic conspiracy nuts, Paul being sick and ripping up verses, all redeemed by the grace of prayer! Ah, gotta love a St Paul 🙂 .
I see Collins has BACCA as “tobacco (informal)”. Chambers just carries “baccy” and “bacco”. The ODE only “baccy”, noted as “informal British”.
Probably the quickest solve of my favourite setter, just on his wavelength today. FLUSH and ANAGRAM were gems but my favourite was FLAT EARTH SOCIETY for the surface. Loonapick, when you’re editing CODEBREAKER (I parsed it as Matthew @1), there’s a slight typo in your been, for the explanation of LEPANTO.
Ta Paul & loonapick.
Add me to the people having “cracker” as the definition for CODE BREAKER. BOOTS AND ALL isn’t a familiar phrase (I tried WARTS AND ALL but it didn’t work), I haven’t met a COSMETOLOGIST before and I agree with muffin@6 that illiberal doesnt quite equal undemocratic.
But quibbles aside, this was fun in spite of the usual heap of Paul multi-light answers – even more irritating now that the Guardian software can’t cope with them. Favourites FLAT EARTH SOCIETY, ANAGRAM, ROMAN NOSE, PUBLIC SPEAKING, NEUTRAL and ARIADNE for avoiding all the usual princesses.
Yes, I wondered about a theme after the 1a clue, but hidden ones aren’t Paul’s style. Also wondered if it might be a fission clue, using “the Med” for something involving seas…
If Paul is counting the number of people scratching their heads and looking for a theme to solve 1ac, he can add me to his roll of victims.
Lots of fun surfaces, good to see the tin foil hat morons getting a jab. I would complain (as Roz is usually on later and so I can get in first…) that a cosmologist and an astronomer are rather different beasts.
[For those of an etymological bent, “cosmos”, from the Greek κόσμος, does not just refer to the universe, but also to a sense of order and harmony within a system, which is how Alexander Humboldt used it in his publication of that name, which covered astronomy, Earth sciences, human history, philosophy…]
Not sure I’d heard the expression “boots and all” so had “socks and all” initially (which fits everything except one crosser) but was put right by the simple “eeriest” pretty quickly.
Many thanks Paul, and loonapick.
I’m another one who found this very digestible for a Paul. My top picks were ANTITHESIS, ANAGRAM, FLAT EARTH SOCIETY, GUTSY, ROMAN NOSE and LEPANTO.
I’d nho COSMETOLOGIST nor BOOTS AND ALL (tho of course warts and all) but I enjoyed both nonetheless.
I needed the blog for the parsing of TOSCANINI (v clever) and BACCA (nho that usage of quid, nor indeed that variant of baccy). I shared muffin@6’s quibble about ILLIBERAL, which caused that to be one of the hardest clues, I thought. Last one in was the shortest clue, FLUSH, which was a goodie.
Thanks both!
Well. I thought anagram was an anagram of armagna(c), which is a region on The Med. (themed) 🙁
Agree with muffin@6. ILLIBERAL was my LOI, held up by the liberal ? definition, although had most of the wordplay.
Also liked LEPANTO (nho, thanks loonapick for the extra info). Happy to get it from the wordplay.
Surprised that BOOTS AND ALL was unfamiliar to some, until I looked it up and found that it’s more well known in Aussie and Kiwi.
This was Paul in easy mode, solved fairly quickly with a smile on my face. COSMETOLOGIST was new to me, and I liked FLAT EARTH SOCIETY and LEPANTO very much. Thanks to Paul and loonapick.
I thought the clue that yielded up ANAGRAM was vintage Paul. For me this felt as straightforward a challenge from this setter that I have come across for some time. Though the unravelling of some of the parsing took a while. Thoroughly enjoyed myself in the wee small hours this morning .
For those not familiar with this fearsome maestro here’s Toscanini destroying a double bass section. Did anyone else get all operatic and think (Kathleen) ‘Battle’ would be SOPRANO? No such thing as an easy Paul in my book but yes this was kinder than some, thank you Paul and loona
Apart from the unknown (but gettable) BACCA, which as previously noted is not in Chambers, my only nit is ‘coloured’ as anagrind. This being Paul, one is resigned to virtually any descriptive word or phrase being used for the purpose, but is there an actual justification?
Pleased to remember LEPANTO from the painting, and appreciated the wordplay. I add myself to those misdirected by 1a in seeking a theme, which is why it was my LOI. Never heard the expression BOOTS AND ALL either, so for I while I had ‘_S AND ALL’ entered from the wordplay and doubted it could just be boot until the ROMAN NOSE confirmed it. Easier than we’ve become accustomed to with Paul lately, but lots to enjoy. Liked ROMAN NOSE, TOSCANINI and FLAT EARTH SOCIETY. Thanks to loonapick and Paul.
Very enjoyable, lots of great clues with amusing surfaces.
poc @21: Chambers includes for “colour”: to disguise; to misrepresent, distort.
(Eileen, if you’re around, I remember you saying that if you ever set a crossword it would be under the name of ARIADNE. Is there any chance of that happening?)
Those unfamiliar with BACCA are forgetting the Star Wars character, Chewbacca, who featured as CHEWIE in Brockwell’s puzzle just last week. A quid of chewing tobacco lodged in the cheek used, I believe, to be virtually obligatory for baseball pitchers, but the incidences of mouth cancer arising from chewing BACCA have largely put a stop to the practice
poc@21 – Paul has used coloured as an anagrind before, most recently about a month ago. See 10a (GRACE NOTE) here, plus the discussion:
https://www.fifteensquared.net/2025/03/05/guardian-cryptic-29634-by-paul/
Balfour @24: I had the very same thought about CHEWIE last week, but apparently George Lucas named the character after his dog, which is Chewbacca in Russian – собака (sobaka)
…or maybe both, who knows?
Beautiful puzzle!
I thought the ANAGRAMs in 1a were just brilliant!
BOOTS AND ALL came so easily to this Aussie that I forgot to go back to parse it – so missed SANDAL.
I also loved FLAT EARTH SOCIETY for the great surface!
PUBLIC SPEAKING was a nice misdirection, I initially tried to include ‘I’or ‘me’ for Paul.
And I loved the elegance of the clue for TOSCANINI.
Thanks Paul and loonapick.
Weirdly I visited Toscanini’s grave yesterday in Milan so he was nice and fresh in my mind.
TomH @29: very fresh, I would imagine 😉
Thanks for the blog , I did not find this as easy as most people , slow and steady today . TOSCANINI was very clever use of encore and good anagrams for PUBLIC SPEAKING and FLAT EARTH SOCIETY .
I seldom worry much about definitions but I do agree with Muffin@6 , many democracies are ILLIBERAL but perfectly democratic . Also JackOFT @13 makes a valid point , I am a cosmologist in some sense , our MiddleSprog is an astronomer , our fields are very different .
Anyone else first try to parse 13 ac with the two neighbouring counries? There’s a neat clue in there somehwere.
As ripe as they come
I was quite enjoying this, I might be starting to get Paul’s humour and wit so I was a bit gutted I had to reveal LEPANTO and TOSCANINI. A lean-to being a new word for me.
Delayed by wanting CODEBREAKER to be LINEBREAKER as it seemed like a Paul thing to do to have a ‘line break in the middle of a split clue. Turns out it’s not a real word anyway.
Liked BLOODY MARY and ANTITHESIS
Thanks Loonapick and Paul
Oh dear–when I’d finished most of the puzzle, I saw CODE BREAKERS as a possible theme thing, bunged ENIGMAS for 1ac, and hopped over here to see what the rest of the theme might be and how the wordplay worked. Well done Paul, got me and very nice ANAGRAM there. Excellent puzzle overall, and thanks for the blog loonapick!
Endwether@32 – To avoid work country joins with neighbour losing independence ( 8 ) .
Roz @36 . Ha! Brilliant! Trust you.
Much more enjoyable than my usual experience with Paul, helped by the clever long-ish anagrams. After writing in 1AC I was briefly worried there might be a related theme, but it turned out not.
15D defeated me, although in hindsight it’s perfectly clear.
Thanks Paul and loonapick.
Would somebody explain the ANAGRAM clue?
Thanks, Paul and loonapick.
Valentine @39: The expressions “what I may need” and “themed in a way” (in the clue) are anagrams of each other. “With this” refers to the answer – with an anagram, the first expression becomes the second one. Nothing to do with themes. Hope that makes sense.
ANAGRAM is just superb!
Thanks Paul and loonapick
I’m another who’s unfamiliar with BOOTS AND ALL, so I had SHOES AND ALL until the crossers forced me to change.
I’ve also nho BACCA – I can see why it would refer to tobacco, but can someone explain the relationship to “a quid” please?
Thanks to Paul for being unusually lenient on us, and to loonapick for the blog.
TTP@42 quid = chewing tobacco
Thanks endwether
Though I couldn’t parse everything, I found this much more doable than either Monday’s or Tuesday’s. I loved 1a. I didn’t understand the parsing until I came here but now I do, I think it’s brilliant. I’m beginning to warm to Paul.
Thank you Jack of Few Trades @40! And Valentine @39 for asking! I had to go out so couldn’t look here till now. Thanks everyone, very enjoyable especially the ones I just guessed!
Having filled in exactly zero squares on my first pass, I was both relieved and surprised to have finished this – although I was forced to 13a to do so!
A fairly quick Paul solve, but not at all easy. As someone with a political science background I ground my teeth on filling in ILLIBERAL for undemocratic; not even remotely acceptable as a definition (democratic but illiberal includes a host of countries, with the most obvious being Turkey, Russia, Israel and large swathes of South East Asia.) But otherwise an enjoyable outing. Thanks Paul and loonapick.
“Stingy” would have been much better than “undemocratic”.
I failed to finish. TOSCANINI is unknown to me and I wasn’t bright enough to spot the ‘encore’ device. I had also had enough by then so LEPANTO came from a word list, though it is a very neat and solvable clue. I couldn’t find FLUSH or CODEBREAKERS, but it is rather nice.
I thought that there were rather a large number of anagrams today and that maybe 1ac was a hint. Very enjoyable even if it required more time than I wanted to give it today.
Thanks Paul and Loonapick
I seem to have my dunce’s cap on this week and found this a struggle to finish off with CODEBREAKER, ILLIBERAL & BACCA taking an age to unravel
ANAGRAM was a cracker and has been done quite a few times before in different ways. My clue database is a bit out of date but here are thirty variations on the theme with links to the original crosswords
Cheers P&L
muffin @49 I’m sure Paul is saving “stingy” for a “like chief of police” type clue 🙂
A very different Paul today. Good fun and no paulisms! Extremely enjoyable.
Paul usually provides us with a good laugh and this time it was FLAT EARTH SOCIETY (which once claimed Patrick Moore as a member!). Good clue too. Reminds me of the two rival internet forums on that theme: The Flat Earth Society and The Flat Earth Society – don’t ask why there are two – I believe there was an almighty row leading to a schism. Anyway I joined up and tried posting on both of them, being banned several times (don’t ask!). I believe I still have a login on one of them…
All good Pauline fun!
Also liked BLOODY MARY (despite being TT!); CODEBREAKER; ANTITHESIS; ANAGRAM; ILLIBERAL.
Never heard of LEPANTO (I’m not the only one) and COSMETOLOGIST was a guess, though I’ve come across COSMETICIAN. Not really my sphere of GK!
I tried hard to put DEANIRA (another princess – the one reputed to have killed Herakles by sending him a poisoned vest) in place of ARIADNE but I looked up the spelling and it should be DEIANIRA – too long. Took me a while to spot ARIADNE. Must get my anagram-grey-matter up to speed!
Thanks to Paul and Loonapick.
bodycheetah @51 A few years back, Everyman would occasionally use the ANAGRAM solution (with variants) with proper names. You could add these to your list. One I remember was Enid Blyton and tiny blonde; another was Eric Clapton and narcoleptic.
Quite tricky to get into with the number of multi-part clue, but some very well crafted material here that kept me engaged enough to follow through to the end.
It was only the SE combo of Bacca and Code Breaker that eluded me.
This xword is pure genius, is Paul a kiwi?
Paddymelon @17, so unfamiliar in fact that I worked it out but didn’t write it in because it is not even a thing. I have never had that before, there’s always been a “Oh, yeah, I think I heard that once.”
That was one of the first Pauls that I’ve been able to do most of.
Happy with that!
Fantastic fun… even with my missteps ❤️
Like Zurichwelsh, this is the first time I’ve correctly completed one of Paul’s. I’m also a bit slow 😉 but happy to get there in the end.
Very pleased to complete a Paul, even if it’s on the “gentle” side. A real confidence-booster after recent struggles
Mrs Mig and I both enjoyed FLUSH
Finally caught the ANAGRAM trick, having been beaten by it before, including some from bodycheetah’s list @51
Including Banff as part of the clue for ALBERTA led us toward the solution instead of away from it. Better misdirection to use a city in another province, like Burnaby (BC), Brandon (Manitoba), or Brampton (Ontario). Nonetheless, thanks for the Canadian reference!