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A tricky solve with some neat surfaces. My favourites were 8ac, 14ac, 6dn, 13dn, and 16dn. Thanks to Paul.
There is a mini-theme around the names of comedy sketches.
| ACROSS | ||
| 8 | FOREWARN |
Prime number heard fighting with indefinite number (8)
|
| definition: “Prime” as a verb meaning to prepare someone for a future situation
FORE sounds like (“heard”) ‘four’=”number”; plus WAR=”fighting” plus N=”indefinite number” e.g. in a maths equation |
||
| 9 | NOISE |
Clamour from attention seeker, case of someone beyond redemption, ultimately (5)
|
| OI=exclamation to attract attention=”attention seeker”, plus outer letters (“case”) of S-[omeon]-E; all after the last/ultimate letter of [redemptio]-N | ||
| 10 | HIND |
Fellah in deer? Not entirely! (4)
|
| HIND is hidden inside (not all the letters of / “Not entirely”): [Fella]-H IN D-[eer]
&lit definition: a HIND is a female deer, so a “deer”, but not entirely a fellah (alternate spelling of fellow/fella) edit thanks to Adrian Hunter in comments: “Fellah” as definition, meaning a peasant – HIND is also a Scottish word for ‘peasant’; with “deer” as an additional definition within the surface |
||
| 11 | RETOUCHING |
Our etching, though sketchy, improving (10)
|
| anagram/”sketchy” of (Our etching)* | ||
| 12 | KIDULT |
Stuff lying around flat interminably, one hasn’t quite grown up (6)
|
| KIT=”Stuff” around: DUL-[L]=”flat” as an adjective, without its last letter/”interminably” | ||
| 14 | RENOUNCE |
Surrender, wobbling one run short of century, ending on ninety-nine (8)
|
| anagram/”wobbling” of (one run)*, plus C [short for century] plus ending of [ninety-nin]-E
the surface references ‘runs’ in cricket: ninety-nine runs would be one short of a century |
||
| 15 | FOUR CANDLES |
See 24 Across
|
| 17 | ROUTINE |
Procedure on defining both possibilities for batter? (7)
|
| RE=about, concerning=”on”; edit thanks to KVa in comments |
||
| 20 | JERRYCAN |
Sin ends in tragedy, prophetic in month of Aquarius, say – the Water Carrier? (5,3)
|
| ERR=”Sin” plus the ends / last letters of [traged]-Y and [propheti]-C; all inside JAN=January=”month of Aquarius, say” | ||
| 22 | WREATH |
Name associated with lectures announced award (6)
|
| sounds like (announced): ‘Reith’, as in the Reith Lectures broadcast on BBC radio [wiki] | ||
| 23 | AFICIONADO |
Cold Scottish island toured by a dog expert (10)
|
| C (Cold) + IONA=”Scottish island”; inside (toured by) A FIDO=”a dog” | ||
| 24, 15 | FOUR CANDLES |
Cryptic clues for gags with sketch (4,7)
|
| definition: a comedy sketch by the The Two Ronnies [wiki]
anagram/”Cryptic” of (clues for)* around AND=”with” “gags” used as a containment indicator |
||
| 25 | WHO’S ON FIRST |
See 22 Down
|
| 26 | TWO SOUPS |
Liquid starter from waitress, so doubled up, put in sketch? (3,5)
|
| definition: a comedy sketch written by Victoria Wood [wiki]
anagram/”Liquid” of (w so so put)* …w from “starter from waitress”; so so from “so doubled up”; put from surface |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | DOMINICA |
Wee collected by clinician north of a Caribbean country (8)
|
| MINI=”Wee” in the sense of ‘small’; inside DOC=doctor=”clinician”; above/”north” of A (from surface) | ||
| 2, 3 | DEAD PARROT |
Sketch very average, rubbish (4,6)
|
| definition: a comedy sketch from Monty Python [wiki]
DEAD=”very” as in ‘it’s dead easy’, plus PAR=”average” plus ROT=”rubbish” |
||
| 3 | DEAD PARROT |
See 2
|
| 4 | INUTERO |
Base 17 yet to be delivered? (2,5)
|
| anagram/”Base” of ROUTINE, from 17ac
“Base” as an adjective meaning improper or corrupt for the anagram indicator |
||
| 5 | INNUENDO |
Popular as might be spanking bottom, oh I say? Nudge, nudge, wink, wink! (8)
|
| sounds like (I say): ‘in new end oh’
‘in’=”Popular” ‘new’ as in the phrase [brand] ‘spanking new’ ‘end’=”bottom” ‘oh’ from the surface |
||
| 6 | SILHOUETTE |
Use toilet humour at first comedically in basic sketch? (10)
|
| for the definition: a sketch as in an outline, rather than a comedy sketch
anagram/”comedically” of (Use toilet h)*, with the h from h-[umour] at first |
||
| 7 | FENNEC |
Fox News in charge, toxic in the extreme (6)
|
| N N (n for new twice, so new-s), inside FEE=”charge”, plus the end/extreme of [toxi]-C | ||
| 13 | UNDERSCORE |
Highlight when still a teenager? (10)
|
| to be UNDER [a] SCORE [of years old] is to be younger than twenty, e.g. a teenager | ||
| 16 | EN CROUTE |
Coming or going round top of creek – as salmon might be? (2,6)
|
| definition: a cooking technique often used with salmon
EN ROUTE=”Coming or going“, edit thanks to KVa in comments |
||
| 18 | NO TRUMPS |
Possible call from male in rush, on getting up (2-6)
|
| definition refers to bidding No Trumps in the card game bridge
M (male) in SPURT=”rush”, plus ON (from surface); all reversed “up” |
||
| 19 | UNEARTH |
Find intimate in book without cover (7)
|
| NEAR=”intimate” in [R]-UTH=”book” of the Bible without its first letter/”cover” | ||
| 21 | EFF OFF |
Heading for Exmoor, oxygen-fuelled females take a hike (3,3)
|
| first letter of E-[xmoor] plus O (oxygen) inside F F F F (each f for ‘female’, so “females”) | ||
| 22, 25 | WHO’S ON FIRST |
Western entertainer gets a grip of issue, something wooden in sketch? (4,2,5)
|
| definition: a comedy sketch made famous by Abbott and Costello [wiki]
W (Western); plus HOST=”entertainer” around both of: SON=”issue” plus FIR=”something wooden” |
||
| 24 | FOOL |
Sweet clown (4)
|
| double definition, with the first definition referring to a ‘fool’ as in a dessert item i.e. a “Sweet” |
Didn’t know WHO’S ON FIRST.
Couldn’t parse FENNEC.
Very clever, notably when “wee collected” and “use toilet humour at first” turn out to have nothing to do with Pauline blueness but to be neat misdirections.
Thanks to Paul for the tough workout and to manehi for the excellently supportive blog.
Thanks Paul and manehi.
Top faves: HIND, TWO SOUPS, INNUENDO and WHO’S ON FIRST.
EFF-OFF
Females for four f’s: Not sure I enjoyed it.
ENCROUTE
Took ‘coming or going’ as EN ROUTE
EN ROUTE round (around) C.
I may be wrong.
KVa@2
EN ROUTE I agree with you, otherwise the “or” is unnecessary
Biffed routine, completely missing the out-in trick, talk about dim! Jerry can, otoh, I nutted out but it’s the sort of clue that gives the ginf brain more ache than aha. Dead parrot popped out, then the fork handles, never knew others so there was a bit of shrugging. A fellah, google tells me, is a peasant farmer, so … ?? Fennecs, otoh, are indeed foxes, and super cute with long ears, happy to be introduced to them, thanks Paul, and thanks manehi.
Ticks for the cricket references in RENOUNCE & ROUTINE but that was it. Maybe I just got out of bed on the wrong side today
Cheers P&M
ROUTINE
(A minor point)
The blog has: plus OUT and IN
It should be ‘around OUT IN’ as ‘defining’ is the containment indicator
(defining=determining the boundary of). We have seen ‘describe’ as a
containment indicator but I don’t remember seeing define in this role
before.
Thanks manehi, this was indeed hard graft for me today, not helped by by lack of familiarity with the oeuvres of Abbott & Costello and Victoria Wood. I like SILHOUETTE and the ROUTINE/IN UTERO combo. Thanks to Paul
I liked the semi &lit aspect of TWO SOUPS. Nice to be reminded of the classic sketches. Both the solution and clue for INNUENDO were thematic in a way, thinking of the Monty Python sketch.
I found this tough too – only a few clues in from the clues (FENNEC, NOISE, HIND, JERRY CAN, FOOL, AFICIONADO, DOMINICA and HIND), the rest back parsed from crossers, solutions and loads of use of the check button to work stuff out. I didn’t know WHO’S ON FIRST, but the others were all familiar. When I got TWO SOUPS I was expecting FOUR CANDLES (but in which form: fork handles?).
Thank you to manehi for the blog and Paul for the work out.
A first for me – had a little look at just past midnight when this appeared on line. Couldn’t manage a single clue. Then in the cold light of this morning had another go and managed to tentatively to put in EFF OFF at 21d. Only that one. That pretty much summed up what I should do next….out of my league today.
I knew three of the four comedy sketches, but I had to work out TWO SOUPS from the wordplay. I liked that there was another ‘sketch’ just to keep me on my toes. I guessed 4d and then solved 17a assuming it must be an anagram of IN UTERO. I also had to guess WREATH because I didn’t know of the Reith lectures.
I had to ignore my brain insisting that AFICIONADO should have a double letter somewhere.
Thanks, Paul and manehi.
I took ‘heading for Exmoor’ as EFF, rather than needing four females
Paul is one of my favourite setters, mainly for his ingenuity and humour. However I never find him easy. (I wish.) Here the difficulty was ramped-up by my lack of GK; I’d never encountered the fennec, the Abbot & Costello sketch or the kidult. But all were fairly-clued so I got there in the end (and learned something along the way).
Lots of ticks: for FOREWARN, RENOUNCE, INNUENDO, AFICIONADO (my COTD) and ROUTINE / IN UTERO – and it was nice to be reminded of four of my all-time favourite comedy sketches. (Though it should surely have been FORK HANDLES as in “handles for forks”?)
Thanks to Paul and Manehi
Thanks Paul and manehi
FOUR CANDLES was my first thematic, but I couldn’t parse it so wasn’t confident until I saw TWO SOUPS as well. I hadn’t heard of the WHO’S ON FIRST sketch, but it did remind of the infamous DOORSJEFFERSON AIRPLANE gig that didn’t start until the early hours of the morning as they were arguing about who should go on first (or second, rather).
I thought “book” for RUTH was a bit unfair – a closer hint would have been better.
Favourites FOREWARN and AFICIANADO.
Petert@8 I think all four “sketch” clues’ surfaces allude, to some extent, to the content of the sketch; TWO SOUPS most clearly.
As usual with Paul, it took a while to get started but was worth the pain in the end.
Thanks, Paul and manehi.
I wish I’d spotted the anagram fodder in the clue for FOUR CANDLES so I could have inked in the right alternative from the start, so thanks manehi.
[Incidentally, if you were somewhat underwhelmed by the ending of that sketch, you’re not alone: see Ronnie Barker’s comments at the end…]
The classic sketch is usually referred to as FOUR CANDLES, even though ‘andles for forks are what was really meant. I didn’t know the TWO SOUPS sketch and had IN STORE instead of IN UTERO.
Hard work today: parsing NOISE should have warned me what to expect. I liked the unexpected cleanliness of SILHOUETTE and DOMINICA.
Like ronald @10, EFF OFF was my first one and I nearly did exactly that, as the rest of the grid stayed empty for a while. However I twigged the theme eventually and was looking for DEAD PARROT, FOUR CANDLES and TWO SOUPS and lo and behold. Didn’t know the A & C sketch but fairly clued. Like others really liked the ROUTINE/IN UTERO combo and the other nod to Monty Python with INNUENDO as Petert @8 notes. I also agree with KVa @6 that ‘defining’ is the containment indicator for ROUTINE. Hadn’t heard of KIDULT. Tough but most entertaining.
Ta Paul & manehi.
AlanC @18 – Kidulthood gave me KIDULT. (Very violent, we used bits of it to discuss bullying – in a unit for kids who’d fallen out of mainstream school, and they all reckoned the depictions of bullying were real.)
Who’s On 1st? — 2 Soups — 4 Candles — [Can’t link Dead Parrot to 3, though.]
At Ronnie B’s funeral, they had double the usual number of acolytes, so that there would be not just 2, but 4 Candles.
[…apart from it being the solution to 3 down. Duh!]
[The four candles are now a frequent subject for Christmas cards, as here, and there is also now a pub of that name.]
Thanks Shanne @19: I remember watching that groundbreaking movie and it really resonated with me, as I worked as a young PC in Acton, West London in the early 80s.
Glad I wasn’t blogging this! Well done, manehi.
I’d seen the word “sketch” a few times, so Two Soups went straight in (good luck solving that if you didn’t know it!), after which I actively sought out Four Candles and Dead Parrot. I didn’t parse aficionado and had never heard of Who’s On First, but it could only be that in the end. No Trumps, just 10 days since Breandan’s No Trump – great minds?
Thanks Paul and Manehi.
I got to HIND through the Scots word for a rustic or peasant, and thus synonymous with Fellah (a peasant). HIND occurs ‘not entirely’ in ‘in deer’.
My computer and I solved this with ROUTINE and TWO SOUPS unparsed. I liked the prime number for FOREWARN, the wordplays for JERRY CAN, SILHOUETTE, AFICIONADO, NO TRUMPS, and the definition for UNDERSCORE. It was a bit tough if you didn’t know some of the sketches; for me, WHO’S ON FIRST and TWO SOUPS.
Thanks Paul for the torture and manehi for making sense of it all.
Glad I had a quiet morning to wade through this one, but enjoyed Paul’s wordplay, as usual. TTS&B.
Very clever and loads of fun! Once I twigged to the ‘themette’, I went looking for Dead Parrot and Four Candles.
Never heard of ‘Two Soups’ but will see what I can do to rectify that gap in my education.
Big thanks to Paul and to manehi for the clear and helpful enlightenment (on those I was unable to backward engineer).
Wonderful….. Fresh, as ever, and thereby refreshing! How does he keep on doing it? We are so blessed to be solving in the time of Paul….
Many thanks, both and all
SomeoneNamedGeof @29. You can go on YouTube. I did, also never having heard of the TWO SOUPS sketch, and I’m afraid that, stony-faced throughout, I barely got through it. I didn’t warm to Victoria Wood’s comedy 35 years ago, I’m afraid, and time has clearly done nothing to change that. She has many AFICIONADOs, however, whom I must just leave to their enthusiasm.
Not my favourite compiler.
I’m not into comedy sketches. I don’t have a TV
It’s interesting how we’re all different. I would have recognized WHO’S ON FIRST and DEAD PARROT even in non-sketch contexts, but nho TWO SOUPS or FOUR CANDLES. I took a look at TWO SOUPS – there is no way it would have passed muster today.
Re defining: is determining the boundary the same as being the boundary? No, but close enough, especially for Paul.
Re NO TRUMP(S): having one a day is not too often, imo.
Small wonder that so few here know WHO’S ON FIRST; it’s about baseball, so I imagine it doesn’t translate all that well into British. By the same token, I had never heard of TWO SOUPS or FOUR CANDLES. I revealed those. I also revealed a couple others, as I was in a “totally not in the mood” mood by the end.
In general, I dislike themed crosswords that require actual knowledge of the theme.
Didn’t understand TWO SOUPS, never heard the term KIDULT, didn’t like EFF OFF other than that I enjoyed it.
At the risk of having to get my coat, I don’t think Who’s On First is a sketch. It’s a routine. It has no setting, and no characters, and tells no story. It’s just a couple of cross-talk comics cross-talking.
Okay, I’ll get my coat.
UNDERSCORE was a lovely cd, worthy of Rufus. An online midnight peek is a real help for me when it comes to solving Pauls, a sleeping brain begins the unravelling of his deviousness. I’m with William F P@30, we are indeed blessed, thank you Paul, and manehi
Thanks for the blog , never heard of TWO SOUPS or WHOS ON FIRST but the wordplay was clear once I had all the crossing letters . The FENNEC fox and Arctic fox show the two extremes of adaptation . Quite a few clues going on to the third line which is never a good sign .
An aficionado is not an expert but someone who is keen on or a devotee of something, however ignorantly.
That was a grind. Helped a bit by expecting to see DEAD PARROT and FOUR CANDLES which gave me a foot hold. Not seen WHOS ON FIRST or TWO SOUPS but managed to parse and had a view on YouTube afterwards.
Some good clues in here but I think KIDULT gets the award this time.
Thanks Manehi (needed the blog for a few today) and Paul.
Was convinced Suriname would accommodate ‘wee’ somehow
endwether@@41 I tried to make Suriname work too. It didn’t.
Once I had DEAD PARROT I thought there would be more Monty Python, but no. The I found WHO’S ON FIRST and looked for more comedy bits, but the other two were ones I hadn’t heard of, though I have heard of the two Ronnies.
Thanks, Paul and manehi.
Very tough but mostly fair in the parsing. Fair amount of check button and I revealed DEAD PARROT after completing the NW and getting stuck, also revealed UNEARTH at the end instead of going for the fill-in-the-blank utilities, though both were fair when I worked it out. NHO Reith lectures or TWO SOUPS, and either I don’t pronounce NEW quite as Paul does or I don’t pronounce INNUENDO that way–I think I was trying to make “as might be” into “nu?” the Yiddish word approximately meaning “well?”, with “spanking” as some kind of insertion indicator.
Ticks for FOREWARN, NO TRUMPS, EN CROUTE, UNDERSCORE–nice wordplay and surfaces there.
[I feel like “Who’s on first?” doesn’t require too much specific baseball knowledge–for those who want something more, and are nostalgic for baseball players of the early ’10s, here’s a rewriting with actual players starting with Chin-Lung Hu. And even after watching the video linked by Blaise@16, I’m not sure what the joke at the end of Four Candles is!]
matt w@43. Wasn’t he going to ask a big busty lady for some knockers? To be honest, some of the ‘humour’ was rather forced.
Roz@38. Good point. Perhaps we’re in need of a three-line whip…
Roz @38 Two of Everyman’s down clues on Sunday ran to four lines. Maybe another reason for thinking that a shake-up in respect of Sunday setting might not be a bad thing?
Like Valentine@42, the first sketch I solved was DEAD PARROT; then I got INNUENDO (nudge, nudge), so I thought the theme would be Monty Python. But two of my all-time favourite comedy routines, WHO’S ON FIRST and FOUR CANDLES put me straight. I didn’t know TWO SOUPS, but with crossers and wordplay, I made the correct guess.
All that came after my futile first foray, where I only solved three clues. That makes for a very satisfying solve, when the rest eventually falls into place.
My only failure was 7d FENNEC. I was sure the “News in charge” was NIC, so I went looking for a three letter “Fox”, and with Google’s help came up with the Australian writer, Len Fox. I then assumed I had a jorum, LENNIC for “extremely toxic”. It never occurred to me that Fox would be the definition.
I too was surprised that the “wee” in 1d and the “toilet humour” in 6a didn’t lead to Pauline solutions.
Thanks Paul for the witty and challenging puzzle, and manehi for the very helpful blog.
Two Soups is really called Waitress but never mind eh…clever puzzle I think and thanks to setter and blogger as always
The Fennec Fox was my favourite tea-card in my album of Typhoo cards when I was little (does anyone else remember those? Other categories than animals were available!). I was delighted to see some later at London Zoo.
endwether@46: I meant the original ending with “billhooks”! Pillocks? Bollocks?
A really great crossword with a brilliant theme and some tricky clues. We guessed Four candles might be in there somewhere. Who’s on first and Two soups were finds. Thanks to setter and blogger.
Balfour@45 I try not criticise Everyman too much , it is not aimed at me anymore but I suspect some of the puzzles would never get published elsewhere . I will give the new Observer the benefit of the doubt for now but suspect I will have to stop buying it and no more Azed or Everyman for me .
Matt@49 , Ronnie Barker said the billhooks was meant to be bollocks but he was never happy with the ending .
Muffin@48 , are you sure it was Typhoo ? My parents used to collect PG Tips cards , I still have the albums for “Race into Space” and the Dinosaurs .
[You might be right, Roz. I remember the cards were hidden in packets of loose tea, but entirely sure which brand.]
[ I do not remember this but the albums I have say Brooke Bond PG Tips , 50 little cards and yes they were in packets of tea . Perhaps Typhoo had a rival collections ? ]
Normally Paul’s puzzles elicit a much busier response than the just over 50 plus on here yesterday. Does this tell us something about the nature or difficulty level of this particular puzzle. I know there are number crunchers out there who might analyse this kind of thing…
IIRC, when Ronnie Corbett was in his coffin, there were four candles clearly placed on it. IIRC.
I didn’t think I’d complete this one…but I did! The answers came verrry slowly, so it was very satisfying to enter the last letter. I was lucky to stumble across FENNEC during a search, and then figured out the nho KIDULT, loi
I’m amazed at how many commenters have never heard of WHO’S ON FIRST, including the esteemed Roz, who knows everything (else). It’s one of the greatest comedy routines of all time, to the point where the title has cliché status in North America. Dear imaginary nonexistent reader, if you’ve never heard it, here’s a good version
On the other hand, others may be shocked to hear I’d never heard of the TWO SOUPS sketch. I enjoyed watching it for the first time. I did know, and love, the DEAD PARROT and FOUR CANDLES — classics!
ROUTINE should be considered part of the theme