Guardian 29,801 – Paul

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Another Paul puzzle on the easier side, where I was helped by getting the two long down answers early on. Thanks to Paul

 
Across
9 LOON PANTS 1970s clothing not very good on idiot (4,5)
LOON (idiot) + PANTS (not very good)
10 ATOLL Coral island where first twelve characters left (5)
A TO L (the first twelve letters of the alphabet) + L
11 FRANTIC Wild stunt by footballer taking out centre (7)
F[ootballe]R + ANTIC (a stunt)
12 OTHELLO Terminations from Iago and avengement, what do we have here then? (7)
Last letters of iagO and avengemenT plus HELLO (what do we have here?), and the whole clue could be a desciption of the play
14 BENEVOLENT Charitable fund-raiser perhaps having bagged £0, mountain to climb at first (10)
BEN (a mountain to climb) + O L (zero pounds, £0) in EVENT (a fund-raiser, perhaps)
15 ORLEANS Banks after bullion in French city (7)
OR (gold, bullion) + LEANS (banks)
17 MARCONI Company entertained by short film from Hitchcock, pioneer of broadcasting (7)
CO in MARNI[e] (Hitchcock film with Sean Connery and Tippi Hedren)
19 THE GAME’S UP Grouse beater’s work done then? Got you! (3,5,2)
Grouse beaters scare the birds to make them fly away, so THE GAME’S UP (in the air)
22,13 NEWSROOM ‘Latest’ read by anchors reviewed – here? (8)
NEW (latest) + reverse of MOORS (anchors)
23 NARRATE Describe Scottish island to the west, only outsiders on there (7)
Reverse of ARRAN + T[her]E
24 HOUDINI Undo chain? I can having escaped after wriggling, as escapologist (7)
Anagram of UNDO CHAIN I less CAN
26 NYALA Somewhat horny, a large antelope (5)
Hidden in horNY A LArge
27 LAUNDRESS Washerwoman’s Sunset Strip strip? (9)
LA (Los Angeles, location of Sunset Strip) + UNDRESS (strip)
Down
1,4 ALL FUR COAT AND NO KNICKERS No lady really keeping warm while cold down there? (3,3,4,3,2,8)
Wearing a fur coat would keep her warm, while have no knickers would leave her cold “down there”; I suspect this expression may be unfamiliar to some
2 NOT A SOUL Aunt’s loo rebuilt for population of ghost town? (3,1,4)
(AUNT’S LOO)*
3 SPOT Jam stain (4)
Double definition – for the first, jam and spot both mean a difficult situation
5 ASHORE A positive picked up on the beach? (6)
A + homophone (to some) of “sure”
6,17 WASH YOUR MOUTH OUT Do that and don’t talk dirty! (4,4,5,3)
Metaphorical and literal definition
7 COLLIE Rank, porky dog (6)
COL (colonel, army rank) + LIE (porky = pork pie = lie)
8 BLOODTHIRSTIEST Most gory Horrible Histories told, and brilliant after disembowelment (15)
Anagram of HISTORIES TOLD B[rillian]T
16 ALAKAZAM South vanishing from US state, country sawn in half – as if by magic! (8)
ALASKA less S + half of ZAMbia
18 ONE-LINER Row in divorce city blowing up – funny (3-5)
LINE (row) in reverse of RENO (US city famous as a divorce venue); “funny” as the definition is a noun: “he told a funny”
20 EARWAX Aware about mark suggesting slip, something unpleasant found in canal? (6)
AWARE* + X (teacher’s mark for an error)
21 EVENLY Flush lavatory, emptying beneath plane (6)
EVEN (plane) + L[avator]Y – rather a weak clue as “flush” and “plane” have the same meaning, to the extent that the parsing would work either way round; though the lavatorial surface perhaps redeems it a little
25 URDU Tongue inside your dungarees (4)
Hidden in yoUR DUngarees

75 comments on “Guardian 29,801 – Paul”

  2. Thanks Paul and Andrew
    NHO ALAKAZAM. Not sure why 14a needed “to climb”. Doesn’t 7d need some indication that the rank is abbreviated?
    I agree about EVENLY – I had a question mark against that one too.
    Favourite FOI OTHELLO.

  3. Fun puzzle, thanks Paul and Andrew. I agree with even and plain being a bit too samey, and just as you suggest as a non-brit it took me a little while to find the right “all x and no y” aphorism. It turns out there are quite a few!

  4. I always enjoy Paul, and breezed through this quite quickly by my standards.

    Lots to like, including LAUNDRESS, ATOLL, BLODTHIRSTIEST and ALAKAZAM.

    I only vaguely knew the long phrase, so it never became a write-in. I’m not so sure about EVENLY or the apparently superfluous but misleading words in the clue for BENEVOLENT.

    Good fun though, thanks Paul and Andrew.

  6. A phrase used often by my mother during my Bootle childhood, not one I expected in a crossword! Gentle treatment from Paul today, with some nice clues including OTHELLO. Thanks both.

  8. I think the long one is specifically a northern expression. My mother-in-law from Blackburn used to say it, as did, more frequently, my wife’s aunt from Accrington, but I’ve rarely heard it elsewhere.

  9. BENEVOLENT was LOI and a whole lot trickier than the rest for me. ‘Mountain to climb’ is a perfect fair way to define a BEN but those two extra words added potential for confusion and then defining EVENT as ‘fund-raiser perhaps’ is, again, totally fair but somewhat tangential. Sort of a ‘second tier’ def insofar as the event would be the concert, the race, the jumble sale but its aim makes it a fund-raiser in addition. Well, that’s my excuse.

    Thanks both

  10. If ‘to climb’ was removed from the clue for BENEVOLENT, then the surface wouldn’t make sense. It is needed for that surface.

  11. Always feels good to finish a Paul, even if (or because) it is an easier one.

    I liked BLOODTHIRSTIEST, COLLIE and FRANTIC. Needed a check button on for the long one, having confidently put in “trousers” after figuring out “AND NO”, but I vaguely remembered the phrase after getting the crossing C.

    ALAKAZAM felt like one of those you-know-it-or-you-don’t sort of clues to me (and luckily I did), especially with the crossers all being the same letter. But maybe I’m underestimating how commonly known the word is.

    Thanks Paul and Andrew

  13. That took, possibly, quarter of an hour. Can’t remember when a Paul was completed in such short time. But still some nice surfaces. LOI earwax. Fave prob collie.

  15. It’s more fun than All hat no cattle, and with a different meaning. So, Oofy and muffin, what kind of person was it for — outwardly flashy but actually poor? Morally loose?

    Cruisy one from Paul, ta, and to Andrew too.

  16. Enjoyable puzzle, though I stumped myself by thinking that ALAKAZAM had a C rather than a K.
    BLOODTHIRSTIEST is brilliant and there are some other very good ones, too. A few bits of trademark Paul, which I don’t mind at all.
    Idle thought – a sound-not-very-much-alike which even I wouldn’t have dared to use in setting a puzzle, and after fifteen comments the Homophone Police remain silent. Probably either stunned into catatonia or having given up in despair, I suppose.
    Thanks to Paul and Andrew.

  17. An attempt to defend EVENLY 🙂

    ‘flush’ could mean ‘even’ or ‘evenly’ depending on the context,
    whereas ‘plane’ means ‘even’, but not ‘evenly’.

    A clever misdirection?

  19. Just read the Chumbawamba lyrics — none the wiser … probably some cultural refs there over my head …

    Got it, ta muffin 🙂

  20. My quickest Paul solve ever. Not even slowed down by reading Iago as Lago and being mightily confused. It could have been quicker but AFCANK was the last one it just not coming to me until I spotted knickers. I should have guessed what cold down there meant with Paul.

    Liked BLOODTHIRSTIEST and the reference to Horrible Histories. My child watches it and I have learnt quite a bit of history. Ashamed to say I find it quite the fun watch.

    Thanks Paul and Andrew

  21. There is also a Mike Harding play called Fur Coat and No Knickers in case Chumbawumba is too modern a reference for solvers 🙂

    It’s a phrase I have only heard in the North of England

  23. Levenite @21 My ex-wife, born and raised wholly in and around Dover, was much given to using the phrase. I think I may have heard her mother use it, and she was from South Wales. Is it perhaps current also in those parts? Can anyone from that area confirm?

  24. My granny in Belfast used the long phrase often, so I think it has travelled much further than the North of England. There were a lot of obvious answers, like OTHELLO, MARCONI and HOUDINI which made this much easier than the usual Paul. (Hitchcock’s obsession with Tippi Hedren was very creepy). I thought WASH YOUR MOUTH OUT, THE GAME’S UP and BLOODTHIRSTIEST were superb. Lots of fun.

    Ta Paul & Andrew.

  27. muffin @12, my housemate’s from Burnley. Emigrated ’59 so of course dnk the band, but she’s chuffed at the mention.

  28. A combination of some nice early long clues and a helpful grid made this a relative breeze for a Paul puzzle. I am always particularly happy when a Paul goes in well; however rarely 🙂

  30. muffin @8 as an Accrington lad myself I knew the phrase well! I presume it was/is used across a wider radius but maybe east Lancashire was its epicentre 😁

    A relatively genteel Paul overall, I thought – even had a couple of write-ins, very rare for me with this setter. Not complaining!

    Thanks both

  31. Good fun, although I needed a lot of crossers to get AFCANK; WYMO was also good. In addition, I liked OTHELLO, THE GAMES UP, LAUNDRESS, and the good anagram spot for BLOODTHIRSTIEST.

    Thanks Paul and Andrew.

  32. I’m struggling to see how Sunset Strip can be used to indicate LA. It is in LA but not a synonym for LA nor an example of LA. It is akin to using Fleet Street to indicate London. Perhaps I’m missing something.

  35. Last few were tough for this Canadian. Loi 9a LOON PANTS (nho, known as Bell Bottoms in North America), and 1/4 A F C A N K (nho, and not helped by a vague clue)

    I wasn’t really grabbed by many of the surfaces. 15a ORLEANS and 21d EVENLY were exceptions, both with surfaces that read very well. Also appreciated 24a HOUDINI, a childhood hero of mine

  37. That was a shock. Almost finishing a Paul crossword! Last time it was a Paul, I think I managed only five. This time we were only stuck on two letters! I got as far as ALAKA*A*, but couldn’t guess the rest.
    Was solving with my husband: I’d never heard 1d, but he knew it. Can’t say I like the phrase! Which spoilt it a bit. Otherwise it was fun to nearly get there.
    Loved your comment, ayeaye@25 🤣

  39. Nho the long one, but grew up in the SE, if that’s any excuse.

    Briefly wondered if rank=COL came from the chessboard’s files and ranks compared with a spreadsheet’s rows and cols, but the correspondence goes the wrong way for that.

    What I wore in college in the 70’s might be LOON PANTS, but that’s not what we called them then. Not sure we called them anything much, come to think of it.

    Fave BLOODTHIRSTIEST

  40. Mooring a boat is different from anchoring it. I know fur coat and no (or nae) knickers, but without the introductory ALL. Fun though.

  42. I’ve never heard of loon pants either, but they seem to be what we called bell bottoms.

    I agree with copland above @40. Anchoring a boat is dropping an anchor, which grips the bottom. Mooring it is tying it to something fixed, either a dock or a “mooring,” a floating line attached to the bottom.

    How is ARRAN a description of the islands? It’s their name.

    Khayyam@3 How do you search for “all x and no y” phrases?

    Thanks to Paul and Andrew.

  43. Well, I’m almost n=1 here. Pretty well impossible, never having heard of LOON PANTS or the expression at 1/4d (I guessed ALL FOR NOWT AND NO KNICKERS from the crossers) meant I wasn’t off to a good start. ALAKAZAM isn’t in any of the usual references + Merriam-Webster and I guessed the ‘country sawn in half’ as CAN{ADA}. OTHELLO and the yucky EARWAX almost made up for the frustrations though.

    As the expression goes, way beyond my pay grade.

    Thanks to Paul and Andrew

  44. Another nice me. Funny coincidence, there is a close equivalent of ALL FUR COAT AND NO KNICKERS in URDU which goes: oopar se sherwani andar se pareshani – meaning an ornate coat on top and trouble/confusion below.

  46. Growing up in rural Ireland I knew the AFCANK expression (although used in the context of someone trying to convey wealth when they had none – there wasn’t a sense of loose morals…or maybe I was just young and naive!). It’s taken nearly a year but I’m getting into Paul’s wavelength and completed this, although no doubt the next one will burst my bubble!

  48. Well, easy definitely is a relative concept, so I hope newer solvers don’t despair when the experts use the term in a somewhat off-the-cuff manner (I’m probably somewhere in between). As it happens, Paul in his latest mail to subscribers said he hoped we would find it a bit easier than some of his work. Seems to have worked out alright.

  49. Very enjoyable. I knew the fur coat and knickers phrase from growing up in the south west. I think being in my fifties it was a phrase that I seem to recall hearing on the telly a lot. Maybe sitting with my parents watching stuff like Coronation Street and The Likely Lads, and other shows set in the north…

  50. Very enjoyable, and a quicker than usual solve for a Paul for us! Our favourites NOT A SOUL and THE GAMES UP.

    Muffin @12 all fur coat and no knickers was (and still is) in common usage here in Yorkshire so not just a Lancastrian phrase. Always thought Chumbawumba were a Leeds band – didn’t realise they were originally from Burnley.

  53. Fun puzzle, and nice to have an easier Paul, fit for a Tuesday.

    Nho LOON PANTS, so that one was just a guess; didn’t we also know them as bell bottoms in the UK (or at least southern England) too? Same goes for the lovely AFCAN KNICKERS in fact, though I was sure from the enumeration – and the checkers for AND NO (which I got in early) – that it would be along the lines of “all mouth and no trousers”, and indeed I even had trousers pencilled in for a while.

    Faves were the knickers, OTHELLO (a loverly &lit), THE GAME’S UP and EARWAX.

    EVENLY was a bit confusing, and I agree that moor isn’t anchor though it didn’t hold me up. BENEVOLENT was a bit loose exactly as PostMark@9 describes and so I needed most of the checkers.

    muffin@2: agreed. Rank, short and porky dog might have been fairer, although it might just fall foul of the the delightful rule about the ordering of English adjectives; I’m certain I’d say short, rank and porky instead. And I agree with ayeaye@25 about NOT A SOUL: I liked the clue but the “perfect clue” involving ghost town would surely be based around both that and that its opposite!

    I appear to be alone in not understanding WASH YOUR MOUTH OUT; what’s the “do that” referring to? Or is it that the literal definition covers the whole surface and the metaphorical one only covers the second half? If so, it was a bit meh to me.

    Thanks both

  54. AiD@10, well yes, but conciseness is one of many factors by which to judge a clue, and to some it can be a slight detriment when “filler” is needed for the sake of the surface – although in this case I thought the surface was lovely and forgave it its sins.

    Dom Rice@45 and NEWSROOM: “read by” is there to make the surface work (the news would be announced by the the anchors but not produced by them) and functions (fairly, albeit sneakily, since “by” alone also works) as a juxtaposition indicator in the cryptic reading (implying that the solver should read one part of the wordplay by (next to) the other.

  55. AP @51 – WASH YOUR MOUTH OUT is an instruction not to swear – and where I grew up, children swearing had their mouths washed out with soap.

    I enjoyed this – late to it as I was blogging the FT. But I knew ALL FUR COAT AND NO KNICKERS, who knows where from, so that sailed in. LOON PANTS took a while to drag up from the depths, but it was a very 60s/70s name for bell-bottoms.

    Thank you to Andrew and Paul

  58. Shanne@53, yeah that part is fine; I just don’t get what the “do that” part is all about. “Don’t talk dirty” is equivalent to “wash your mouth out” all on its own. The clue’s certainly not a standard DD (whether both halves a literal def, both halves a cryptic def, or one of one and one of the other).

  59. Coloradan@ 54[ I should have remembered that. I’ve played that arrangement. And the ‘other’ King was king first.🙂]

  62. GinF @15: (pace muffin@18) The expression when I heard it was definitely intended to imply that a lady had obtained her fur coat through the judicious doffing of nether garments and would usually refer to someone (youthful and fragrant) who had married well (old and stinking) who now presented herself for assimilation into ‘polite’ society. A very ‘middle class’ expression in my estimation but used by snobs manquée as a social stepladder and a contribution to the pecking order.

  64. Mig@58, yes that’s what I referred to when I said@51 that “the literal definition covers the whole surface” – but “the metaphorical one only covers the second half”, and so it’s pretty unconventional…

  65. AP @51 – It’s been answered before, but I can’t help but share one of my favourite jokes now.

    “My mum told me to wash my mouth out with soap and water. I think it worked, but it tasted fucking horrible.”

  66. Possibly a record time for a Paul for me and my wife. I’m from suburban Surrey and 1 down was a comparatively commonly heard phrase growing up but less so now.
    Thanks to Paul and Andrew.

  67. AP@62, ah I see. I wonder if both parts (“Wash your mouth” and “talk dirty”) can be taken both literally and metaphorically

  68. Favourite LAUNDRESS, and AFCANK. I knew the latter but couldn’t quite remember what words 2 and 3 were until I got crossers. Also liked NARRATE because Arran has been one of my favourite places since childhood.
    Didn’t know ALAKAZAM – googled ‘alaka’ which led to the answer.
    Re LOON PANTS – I confess I owned a couple of pairs – they had bell bottoms but were also skin tight down to the knee – most uncomfortable especially for a male!
    Very enjoyable. Thanks Paul and Andrew.

  69. Balfour @23 just popping on to say I’m from South Wales and can confirm the saying is very familiar to me. I am also possibly naive but hadn’t understood it to relate to loose morals – more that the person had spent everything they had on the outer, visible layer – and so had nothing left for the more important things.

  70. I got a kick out of 1D. At one point we lived in Texas and they have a comparable expression, “All hat, no cattle”.

  72. Very discouraging to see that everyone but me found this easy.

    1,4 AFCANK was impossible, as I had never heard the expression and there was no wordplay to make guesswork possible. But the saying was a fun discovery.

    And, although I was a teen/young adult in the 60s and 7Os, I didn’t know that bell-bottoms were also called LOON PANTS. (Not in Canada 🇨🇦)

    Still, there was lots to like, as usual with Paul. Favourites included 27 LAUNDRESS for the Hollywood tease, and 8 BLOODTHIRSTIEST for the most gory surface and excellent anagram.

    Thanks P&A for the pleasure and assistance.

  74. I’m a 50ish year old from NE England and didn’t instinctively know the phrase AFCANK, but my husband from the Midlands did. Alakazam, on the other hand, was familiar to me through Tom Lehrer’s little-known educational song “Silent E” in which “he turned a DAM – alakazam! – into a DAME, but my friend SAM stayed just the SAME…

  75. My 20-year-old who was doing the crossword with us (in a late-delivered Guardian Weekly which is why I’m so late to the Fifteensquared party!) remembered the word ALAKAZAM from the theme tune to the CBeebies programme “Alphablocks”! I will spare you the link to that one…

    We only knew LOON PANTS as bell-bottoms, but we are too young to remember them properly.

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