Cryptic crossword No 29,784 by Paul

83 comments on “Cryptic crossword No 29,784 by Paul”

1. For 11 I had 3 of the 8 letters of TWO WEEKS. Not sure if that the blog says?

2. if that’s what…

3. Hats off to those who even attempt let alone complete this.For me this is my second and definitely last go at anything by Paul.The first part of clue 10A. best sums up this puzzle.

4. JAY(L) – hopefully you’ll get to enjoy the challenge of Paul. It’s a different way of thinking, usually with lots of groans as you work a clue out. He’s using all sorts of slightly twisted tricks, but the satisfaction of working it out is amazing.

   Thank you to loonapick and Paul

5. Liked EEK, A BONE TO PICK, RECEIPT, SQUARE BRACKET, RECEIPT and INDIA.

   Thanks loonapick and Paul.

6. Great stuff as usual from Paul. Favourites EEK (parsed as Justigator@1, but either way works), PIMPERNEL, RECEIPT, SQUARE BRACKET (for the squab racket!), TABBY and many others.
   Thanks Paul and loonapick.

7. I parsed EEK as 3/8 of TWO WEEKS but I tried WOW first but nothing would cross it. Full of admiration for 23a but otherwise not my cup of Darjeeling

8. Same experience as John W with 11a – 3/8 of TWO WEEKS could just as easily be WOW, until the crossers showed otherwise. And elsewhere… well, less said by me the better. One for the fans, I think. Thanks anyway Paul, and thanks loonapick – rather you than me!

9. I experienced this as a game of two halves. The bottom half of the puzzle I managed to complete (and really enjoyed A BONE TO PICK), then ground to a halt. Eventually I revealed the top half, and while there were maybe one or two I might have got, then overall it was the right decision. Much of the parsing I just can’t imagine myself being able to navigate.

10. As so often with Paul I solved about half of the clues fairly quickly and then had to think very hard about those remaining. JAY@3 I would encourage you to persevere – Paul’s puzzles are witty, ingenious and definitely tricky, but they become easier over time as you get to understand his approach and (importantly) his sense of humour. I enjoyed this immensely. Thanks Paul and loonapick.

11. Failed on TINGE, not interpreting ‘what may be sharpened’ as G. Neither did I spot the REES URGER or the SQUAB RACKET but then it is Paul, isn’t it? PARK LANE was very neat and a nice use of the ‘London tree’ and A BONE TO PICK is a splendid reverse hidden. I’m not 100% convinced by ‘vacancy in Tonypandy’ as a device and surely the ‘in’ in INDIA is doing double duty? The solution is ‘shown in’ the wordplay and then the ‘in’ becomes the IN. Otherwise ‘shown’ alone is trying to do the job of linking definition and WP which I don’t think it does.

    Thanks Paul and loonapick

12. I find Paul’s puzzles quirky, witty and usually tricky, but very satisfying if I can solve them. My way in today was A BONE TO PICK, at which he had me. Then I completed the more accessible bottom half before the top, which I found quite difficult.
    I didn’t parse PIMPERNEL. I parsed EEK as 3/4 of WEEK, both parsings work.
    Favourites were A BONE TO PICK, EEK, TABBY, SENIOR, RECEIPT, TRESPASSER.
    Thanks to Paul and loonapick.

13. Please someone explain how GETTING is a synonym of RECEIPT.

14. Another one who, like scraggs@9 had all the bottom half before much of the top half. Also I was another “wow” and very pleased to think of taking 3/8 of “two weeks”. I know some people argue that in a crossword there are crossers to help distinguish equally possible solutions, but it’s hard to feel generous about that when you are staring at a blank grid and hoping for any crossers at all!

    Many thanks to Paul and loonapick.

15. NNI@13 I suppose that if you’re in receipt of something you get it (at least that was my logic!:)

16. A similar experience to SueM @12, with A BONE TO PICK, my way in and then completing the bottom half quickly. Thankfully PUBLIC TRANSPORT, which I managed to parse, gave me the necessary crossers to tackle the more tricky top half. I liked EEK, TREE SURGERY, TRESPASSER, RECEIPT, ONAGERS and TABBY. Incidentally, there is a Nina of REUTER in the sixth row, whose first name was…Paul.

    Ta Paul & loonapick.

17. PostMark@11 I think you have to read ‘shown in chart as ‘in diagram’ and it becomes a clue without a link word.

18. Anyone else thinking Paul compiled this during a particularly frustrating train journey?

    JAY(L)@3: keep at it. A year or so ago my reaction to Paul was the same as yours. Even looking at the blog was of little help. Today I managed to complete (and parse!) all but three which I eventually solved with the help of a word finder (so a DNF for me). His anagrams (although often the fodder is disguised) are the way in. Set yourself a goal of solving just one or two of the next one and build from there.

    I’m actually beginning to like Paul…

    Thanks to loonapick. Hats off to you for taking in the challenge of blogging Paul!

19. Finished it, far from unaided, but still very satisfied. Liked EEK (which I parsed as Justigator@1 and many others; agree that both parsings work though); PUBLIC TRANSPORT, TRESPASSER, SQUARE BRACKET, CARROT TOP, GNOCCHI. Thanks Paul, and loonapick for the parsings, a few of which I didn’t get (like TABBY and INDIA – good ones)!

20. JAY(L) @3, I know exactly what you mean!
    I did finally manage to complete this, due solely to grim determination not to be defeated by the thing. Speaking personally, I had scant satisfaction – but I notice FFS has been scrawled around my printed copy, rather a lot.
    Paul is one of the reasons I’m doing fewer and fewer Guardian crosswords, these days. Obscure words and GK are subjective matters – but a host of weak or iffy synonyms is not my idea of fun. (I could list today’s, but life’s too short.)
    Mind you, A BONE TO PICK was very well hidden – and almost, almost, worth the misery of the rest of it.
    I’m with JohnW @7: other than 23A, really not my cup of Assam.
    Heartfelt thanks to loonapick for all the explanations.

21. Very tricky in places. I had to resort to some cheating and even then didn’t understand all the parsing. But worth it for A BONE TO PICK which was a brilliant hidden.

    I thought of EEK as 3/8 of WEEK WEEK (= two weeks).

    Petert @17: I would agree that the “in” doesn’t have to do double duty in INDIA. As an alternative to your reading, you could see “Country shown” as effectively the definition (a country is shown here in the answer) and the rest as wordplay.

    Thanks Paul and loonapick.

22. Tough but one of my favourites for a while.

    Enjoyed the PUBLIC TRANSPORT and RAIL REPLACEMENT SERVICE connection.

    Didn’t understand EEK and the maths is exploding my brain.

    Liked SQUARE BRACKET as well.

    Two toughies back to back I feel. Have me got something hellosh coming on Friday because I still haven’t finished the Enigmatist Prize.

    Thanks Loonapick and Paul

23. One man’s meat, etc. I thought one or two here were a bit meh (MEAT-MAN; RHUBARB – really?), but compared with yesterday’s admittedly very clever gratuitous viciousness from Vlad, I thought this was good fun. The long anagrams are brilliant, A BONE TO PICK is the neatest “container” I can recall seeing. Just a bit of the customary Paul smut with NUTCRACKER.
    Sometimes in the past Paul’s surfaces have let him down, but there are some excellent ones here, notably the Welshman in Tonypandy and the apparent offenders (They were probably holding up bits of cardboard).
    24d would, perhaps, be improved by removing “shown”, leaving simply “country” as the definition. But that’s a minor cavil.
    Thanks to Paul and loonapick

24. Hmmm…all in and (mostly) parsed, but I still can’t warm to this setter.

    The G in TINGE is one of many things that can be sharpened, along with a fair number of other notes.

    It’s the absence of any readable surface in many of his clues that I find grating.

    Hey-ho, others seen to enjoy these so I’ll get my coat…

25. I got there in the end, and a Paul with no “homophones” or an excess of linked clues is always a plus. I frowned at SENIOR (senor is not a word) and why specifically London trees in 17d? I have to wonder how many people tackle those long anagrams without artificial aids. I tend to just wait for the crossers and look at the definitions. Despite all that, I did enjoy this.

26. poc@25 The London Plane is a type of plane tree.

27. poc@25 – the tree is called a London Plane.
    I did have TINCE instead of TINGE at one point – but then I checked, as unsure, and discovered it is a word, seemingly, only used by my family. To mean a little bit…

28. As always, my heart sinks when I see it’s Paul. As usual, I struggle through with a lack of pleasure, just refusing to be beaten.
    Yes, he has his fans and very occasionally his puzzles are good but only rarely.

29. I knew 14d had to be CARROT TOP, but, as a red-head who was asked as a teenager if I rinsed my hair in carrot juice, I really wished it wasn’t… 🙁

30. I do hope that in the end those who find any of the (free if you want, unlike a number of top-class crosswords) offerings just too difficult to be enjoyable might with time change their minds. These things are cryptically-clued puzzles, and of course sometimes one just can’t see the wood for the trees. However, if one perseveres enough, it is astonishing what one can drag from one’s memory. And there is never any shame in having to Google a word you’ve never heard of, because that is surely the definition of learning. Similarly using the “anagram helper” – which simply saves on ink, because in the past we wrote these things out – or an online “crossword solver” are not cheating. They are just ways which gradually help you move towards the best solve you can do, and then finally you get it all, if you are brilliant (like the lovely bloggers PeterO, Eileen, Loonapick etc. etc).
    So all of you stick at it, please! It is so much a better use of your time than watching, for instance, “reality TV”, in my opinion.

    And like @Staticman1 at 22, I am for the first time in a long time completely stuck with the Enigmatist Prize. I’m actually still 7 short (nearly all SW) and invented 1D but it didn’t really help!!

31. If you don’t like Paul much, try this one: https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/prize/25879

32. Well, parts of this were: “See what fits in and then try to parse it” for me. However, I did eventually finish it, and parsed most, although I couldn’t for some reason see the DIA(gram). I also wondered about getting=RECEIPT but it sort of works.

    Like others, I liked the well-hidden A BONE TO PICK, RAIL REPLACEMENT SERVICE, ARRESTEES, FORTNIGHT and SENIOR (I don’t think we need to haggle over the lack of a tilde).

    Thanks Paul and loonapick.

33. Thanks Paul, another satisfying solve.

34. Another peach from one of my favourite setters. Unlike others I can’t really see a single error or problem with this puzzle, with the single exception that the surface reading of 1ac might have been improved. Thanks Paul – illegitimi non… etc.

35. Rees is not spelt like that anywhere in Cymru. Wherin does it mention / refer to half of 16, the answer was patent with the crosssers. Not another second on this…BAH!

36. Paul in top form today – loved it. Lots of favourites inc ONAGERS for its construction; SQUARE BRACKET and INDIA for the fun; RAIL REPLACEMENT SERVICE for even thinking about an anagram; A BONE TO PICK for the audacity (is this the longest hidden clue?) Looking forward to his next. Didn’t envy loonapick’s job in blogging this one but well done, and it helped me parse a couple I could not.
    Huge thanks to setter and blogger.

37. This was maybe the 3rd or 4th Paul I’ve managed to complete in what I is maybe my second year of solving, so I’m feeling pleased with myself – which no doubt contributes to my enjoyment of the puzzle.

    JAY(L) @3, as others have said I’d urge you not to give up on Paul – even the majority that I’ve failed to solve have provided enjoyment and often a groan as the parsing is revealed.

    Like others, I tried WOW before the initial E led me to change it to EEK. That in turn led me to FORTNIGHT through thinking of EEK as 3/8 of WEEKWEEK ( which I guess is close to the blog, but the maths was easier!).

    Thanks Paul and loonapick.

38. NNI@13, Robi@32: I think Paul is intending us to read “getting” as a verbal noun (or gerundial noun – doubtless the classicists will put me right) as in “The pleasure of Christmas is more in the giving than the getting of presents” where I think “getting” and “receipt” could be swapped without problem.

39. @35 Rees is a pretty common surname in Wales.

40. JAY(L) @3 Paul very much divides opinion, like Marmite. His fans, of which there are many as you can see, admire his wit, cleverness, and originality.

    Personally I am in the other camp, typically finding much to admire (A BONE TO PICK may be the cleverest hidden words I have seen) but not much to enjoy.

41. Totally agree with Candymandad54@36 Paul always seems to get the right balance between entertainment and challenge which I find very encouraging.
    Thanks to Paul for the puzzle and Loonapick for the blog.

42. Another brilliant effort from Paul. Plenty of humour amid his railway grief!

    The “lover with sensation in tool” had me smiling too.

    But the encouraging Welshman won first prize.

    Thanks Paul and loonapick

43. Loved this, as always with Paul. I’ve finished Saturday’s Enigmatist….by copious and unapologetic cheating. It was the first time for many a year I have hit a complete brick wall.

44. Thanks to loonapick for parsing it all, which I couldn’t manage today even with help. I still enjoy Paul’s humour and mischievousness and agree with Andy Luke @30, having originally found Enigmatist impossible I find I’m on the right wavelength sometimes.

45. Finished after a struggle, with some reveals in desperation. Thanks to bloggers here for parsing explanations. Now going to lie down in a darkened room……

46. A typical and enjoyable Paul puzzle. I solved this one by following my dad’s hardy perennial tip of “if it looks a bit difficult, start at the bottom and with the short ones”. A BONE TO PICK is hands down the best hidden/container clue I’ve ever seen. Like many a Paul clue of its ilk, I’d be fascinated to know if anyone solved RAIL REPLACEMENT SERVICE by working out the anagram rather than getting it from definition plus enumeration and crossers.

47. If I had to describe my reaction to this in one word it would be “Wow!”

    The clue I had particular difficulty with was RAIL REPLACEMENT SERVICE. The individual words are all well-known of course, but the phrase is not a “thing” outside of the UK (other overseas solvers please chime in). I resorted to word-search, but it did not show up there. Knee replacement surgery did, but no matter how much I tried I couldn’t make it fit.

48. I’m relatively new at this whole cryptic thing, and I’ve found that Paul is a setter I seem to struggle with. I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing, it just means it takes a bit longer to inhabit the proper headspace before things start falling into place. Certainly, his puzzles without fail teach me a thing or three (I had never heard of an onager or a London plane before, and King Lear is one of Shakespeare’s works that I am not familiar with. Or “with which I am not familiar,” if you like.
    Lots of people here talking about cheating, and it’s clear that we all have out own definitions of what it means to cheat. I don’t know if I would say I cheated. I didn’t reveal anything, but certainly I had to play “letter bingo” for some of the words, using the check feature to avoid an exhaustive search of the sub-taxa of genus Equus, for example.
    Anyway, I don’t think cheating really matters in this context. It’s not as though the non-Prize puzzles are a contest, and I reckon that even if you do use some sort of assistance to figure a clue out, the very fact that you’re here and reading this comment (and thus this blog) means that you want to make the effort to learn to parse the clues and improve your solving, which is to be admired!

49. @3 It’s worth persevering with Paul, it took me a while. I have been doing this crossword for over 50 years and, apart from the late, great Araucaria, Paul has become my favourite compiler.

50. Staticman1@22, you may be overthinking EEK. 16d is Fortnight which is two weeks or WEEK WEEK, 8 letters, so just pick 3 of them (3/8) for a synonym of “gosh”.
    Like you and Andy Luke @30, I’ve also ground to a halt in the south of the Enigmatist Prize, 8 short in fact. What fun!

51. Re, fortnight which = TWOWEEKS, of which 3/8 = Wow or Eek. Wow seems the better synonym of Gosh to me. But unfortunately was “wrong”.

52. As usual with Paul some quite brilliant cluing especially the hidden “a bone …..”. Down where Paul lives we’re for ever having 28/21 at weekends especially having to get from London to Brighton via East Grinstead and a bus! Favorite though was carrot top. Great blog too. Ta to both

53. Thanks for parsing receipt for me I used to struggle with Paul’s puzzles but I’ve finished the last few usually with a bit of guesswork.

54. Tough puzzle. Had to declare victory with about 2/3 complete. Not all parsed. Favourites 12a TREE SURGERY (for the delightful “Rees urger”), 5d ARRESTEES (for a strange word that has a really nice ring to it), 23d AIRER (ditto), 14d CARROT TOP (for the beautifully smooth surface). I was pleased to get nho 28,21 RAIL REPLACEMENT SERVICE and 7d ONAGERS.

    23a Agree that A BONE TO PICK was very cleverly hidden, though not difficult to solve

55. I prefer Paul when he deploys his Paulish tendencies sparingly, as here: the definition of Tabby is very him, and there’s one smutty clue but not too many. Found this one very satisfying. Lots of cleverness in the wordplay. Rail Replacement was an elegant clue, 1 across was basically gobbledegook but never mind.

    Grumpy people on here complaining because they couldn’t do it is a bonus – must check back again for the next Paul puzzle.

56. @ian you are right. Didn’t realize you needed a degree in… Whatever the hell Paul is smoking, just to complete a simple crossword.

57. It’s taken me all day, but I got there! Great fun, challenging as expected. I”ve gone from running scared from Paul a year ago to relishing the challenge, so I urge others who still avoid his puzzles to keep coming back. In fact they’re a pretty good metric of progress. I suspect I won’t go near the Enigmatist prize though!

    Loved EEK when I finally got there (which then yielded SQUARE BRACKET, my LOI). Fortunately I didn’t see the perfectly valid WOW as an alternative, because I happened to get the E just before I attempted it in earnest.

    I thought A B T P was a wonderful, albeit easy, hidden which made me LOL, and other faves were TREE SURGERY, SENIOR and RECEIPT. I had no concerns about the surfaces, unlike others here; I found them mostly sound and/or amusing, including 1a. One does sometimes have to find the “angle” to make sense of a surface, in puzzles by all setters. There almost always is one, though.

    poc@25, mandarin@46: I use the anagram helper underneath the online puzzle, especially for the convoluted ones. After a few shuffles I can usually spot contenders for at least part of the solution. Today I quickly arrived at SERVICE (and then confirmed it via the checkers it threw up), but it was quite a long time before I got to RAIL REPLACEMENT for which I needed the P and the last two Es in place.

    Robi@32 actually I do haggle over the missing tilde because as a Spanish speaker it completely throws me. Never in a month of Sundays would a sound like SEÑOR come to mind if I’m looking at a a bare N! Unlike the case for other tildes in “school languages”, the Ñ is a totally separate letter of the alphabet with its own “chapter” in the Spanish dictionary etc; and it’s pronounced “ny”, kind of like canyon/onion but more “self-contained”. In fact it’s literally spelt that way in Catalan for example. So it always catches me out when Ñ substituted for N in these puzzles, with no Spanish indicator to guide us! I recall it happening at least three times so far this year…

    Thanks to Paul for the fun, and to our blogger.

58. Isn’t Ian Shale’s ‘contribution’ @55 in blatant violation of Site Policy #2? Admin …???

59. Balfour – agreed, and removed

60. For myself, not being adept, it was the sort of crossword I managed to complete after a bit of a grind. I arrived here then with fingers crossed, hoping I wouldn’t be met by multiple comments telling me how easy it was – phew.

    Thanks Paul and loonapick

61. A good brain-stretcher this morning.
    We forgot that derogatory UK slang term for elders, our one blank spot.

62. I usually enjoy Paul, but today – couldn’t get going at all. Very disappointed in myself.

63. Lynn Mulligan@62: Don’t be – or I will have to join in the auto-disappointment. You can always tell when Paul is going to be accessible – today I started revealing early and had to keep at it.

    But a great hidden which will cause a sleepless post-prandial lull.

64. Not one answer on first pass, but eventually cracked it. Paul and one or two others are vital as toughies. If I could easily solve every day, I would soon stop bothering. Failure is an essential part of my fascination!!

65. NNI@13 i wasn’t happy about that either.

66. NNI@13 though i suppose the receipt of something is the getting of something.

67. Mandarin@46: RAIL REPLACEMENT SERVICE was my first one in, so perhaps I did work out the anagram. But surely with any clue where you suspect an anagram you also study the rest of the clue for hints as to what you are looking for. Otherwise the setter might just as well give you only the anagram fodder followed by ‘(anag)’.

    I go back as far as manhattan@49 with Guardian crosswords and I too look forward to Paul’s puzzles. There’s always something to surprise and amuse.

68. wow held me up for an age until pimpernel set me right (and I thought myself very clever for thinking to use an eight-letter synonym for fortnight) – should have got public transport much earlier because I suspected a P beginning and had a hunch it related to rail replacement… – should have got tabby earlier because it’s a very Pauline device (Phallic? (5)) – so bottom half done in good time and top half a bit of a grind

69. Last in for me were SENIOR and RECEIPT. The reversal of piece in the latter was a surprise to me, and the use of wrinkly for an old person was another; now that I am old and wrinkly I suppose I should take offence!

    I don’t think a TRESPASSER is a criminal, but otherwise no complaints. Solved without the use of aids, unless we count three pints of bitter at my local.

    Thanks to Paul and Loonapick.

70. Thanks loonapick and Paul

    I usually think I’ve got a chance with Paul but my experience was similar to PostMark @11 and I found the top half tough. too many clues I couldn’t figure out from enumeration, crossers and what might be a definition. 12a I found inpenetrable (I went through Dai etc but didn’t get as far as Rees) and 6/2 also. My own knowledge gap meant I’d never heard of 7 (or the kings daughter) so NE killed me

    I do get the impression Paul is getting even funkier, and I’m not sure I like it.

71. Meant to add – I’m not sure Paul any longer believes the old maxim that a crossword is battle where the setter is trying to lose gracefully

72. Thanks Paul for the workout and loonapick for the elucidation. Progress was slowed in the North by 2 misguided convictions: that “Mark of literature” had to be Samuel Clemens, and that “3/8 of 16 down” had to refer to 6D ☺

73. 5d brought a chuckle to this crusty old heathen, who is definitely bound for the inferno 🙂 . (Reminded me of Russell Crowe at the Oscars: God bless America, God defend New Zealand, and thank Christ for Australia!)

74. I always enjoy a Paul and always solve them but no way could I ever emulate loonapick and parse every clue.

75. RAIL REPLACEMENT SERVICE is the first anagram I’ve had to write down the letters for in a few months (I’ve been trying to improve my mental ability rather than innate skill) but I saw SERVICE straight away and got it from that.

    A BONE TO PICK fell quickly but it’s a brilliant hidden phrase.

    Need to brush up on Shakespeare’s secondary characters.

76. As beastly as it was brilliant, you can see how long it took me… I agree with Manhattan@49, I think he’s the best, it’s always magic when his cadences eventually fall, a complete master. Thanks loonapick, I’ll never be able to solve them so quickly!

77. Quite chuffed I managed to get a few clues. How you manage to solve it by 6.48am I have no idea – it does feel a bit cheaty compared with the olden days when we had to wait until tomorrow’s paper. I fear you had a broken night’s sleep – it’s not worth it!

78. I agree with SH that TRESPASSER, in its usual sense meaning someone making unauthorised access to land, generally relates to not a criminal but a civil matter.

    However, there’s a prayer, which uses the noun trespass as a general term for wrongdoing, so I suppose that it works on that basis.

    Mrs E and I slept soundly after this.

    Thanks one and all.

79. SH@69 et al trespassing on railway land (in the UK) is a criminal offence and that’s enough for the clue to pass muster

80. We had to sleep on a couple of them and RECEIPT was LOI and we were unable to parse it, but thoroughly enjoyed this. Favourites too many to mention. Thanks Loonapick and Paul.

81. “Chest hidden in London tree – somewhere in that city”

    is rather unfair. Should be:

    “Chest hidden in tree – somewhere in London”

    as London is not part of the wordplay.

82. I always like Paul because there are a few smiles along the way, and although its tough I can normally get there in the end. I had to come here for the parse on 7d which id only got through brute force.
    My version of 11a is three letters out of two weeks. For a while i was thinking 4/8 of a fortnight is a week then its also three out of that, but too convoluted 🙂

83. We finished it! Woop woop! Rather like the marriage banns, our third session of asking ourselves if there’s any just cause or impediment why we can’t get these clues. And coming at it fresh, words drop out of the ether.
    Needed some parsing help but most satisfying.
    Mrs S and I tend to get different clues, but _sometimes_ get the same clue simultaneously without even knowing what the other party is looking at. ESP I suppose.

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