A fun solve with some tricky surfaces/definitions. My favourites were 4dn, 11dn, and 16/1. Thanks to Paul for the puzzle.
| ACROSS | ||
| 7 | MADE IN BRITAIN |
See 5 Down
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| 8 | BELARUS |
Autocracy with real subversion? (7)
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"real subversion" is split as: 'real sub // version' anagram/"version" of (real sub)* |
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| 9, 21 | SWAP SHOP |
Give-and-take retailer was ruined, old man keeping quiet (4,4)
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anagram/"ruined" of (was)*; plus POP=father="old man" around SH=sound used to tell someone to be "quiet" |
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| 10 | DETERRENT |
Obstacle in hollow filled with French earth (9)
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DENT="hollow" filled with TERRE="French" word for "earth" |
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| 12, 15 | SHOCK JOCK |
Stern, say, man with strap-on locks (5,4)
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definition refers to Howard Stern [wiki] the US radio personality and 'shock jock' JOCK=an athlete wearing a jockstrap="man with strap"; "on"/after SHOCK=a shock of hair="locks" |
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| 13 | ONE IN TWO |
Old, awful wine, not half! (3,2,3)
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O (Old) plus anagram/"awful" of (wine not)* |
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| 15 | SHOCK JOCK |
See 12
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| 16 | GREBE |
Olive briefly sheltering black bird (5)
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GREE-[n]="Olive" briefly, around B (black) |
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| 17 | BIDE |
Wait, old leader’s back’s gone! (4)
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BIDE-[n]=former US president="old leader" with the back/final letter gone |
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| 18 | TEA PLANT |
Where something latched onto about programme leaves producer? (3,5)
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definition: a producer of tea leaves TEAT=a place where something can latch onto; around PLAN="programme" |
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| 20 | THREW |
Cast done talking? (5)
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definition: past tense of cast as a verb meaning to throw sounds like (when "talking"): 'through'="done" as in e.g. 'I'm done with you' / 'I'm through with you' |
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| 21 | SAVILE ROW |
Bunfight that’s sickening ends it a fitting way? (6,3)
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definition: a street or "way", known for tailoring or "fitting" VILE ROW="Bunfight that's sickening" goes after ("ends"): SA (Sex Appeal, "it") |
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| 22 | HUGH |
Grant for example cut, according to dictator? (4)
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definition refers to Hugh Grant the actor sounds like (when dictated / "according to dictator"): 'hew'="cut" |
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| 24 | CORNISH |
As cream may be, grainy? (7)
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definition refers to CORNISH [clotted] cream CORN-ISH could mean 'like grains of corn' or 'grain-y' |
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| 25 | TREACLE |
Percentage of litre, a clear, sweet liquid (7)
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some part (a percentage) of: [li]-TRE A CLE-[ar] |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 | GOALLESS DRAW |
See 16
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| 2 | STOPCOCK |
Copper ring in standard tap (8)
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PC (Police Constable, "Copper") + O=letter in shape of a "ring"; both in STOCK as an adjective="standard" |
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| 3 | DIK-DIK |
Antelope raising twin goats (3-3)
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upward reversal ("raising") of KID KID (twin i.e. two of the same word for 'goat') |
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| 4 | DERRIERE |
Cheeky thing south of London in song on the radio? (8)
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definition refers to cheeks as in buttocks if DERRIERE is added after (south of) 'London', then the combination sounds like (on the radio): 'Londonderry Air', the name of a song |
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| 5, 7 | MADE IN BRITAIN |
With article breaking, bear in mind it could be – ours? (4,2,7)
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anagram/("breaking") of (a bear in mind it)*, with one letter a=indefinite "article" [or perhaps the indefinite article a is breaking into an anagram/"could be" of (bear in mind it)*] |
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| 6 | BIRTHDAY SUIT |
See 17
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| 11 | TWO-SEATER |
Possible couch potato internalising variety of woes (3-6)
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TATER="potato" around anagram/"variety" of (woes)* |
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| 12 | PAVING STONE |
See 19
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| 14 | GOLF WIDOW |
See 23
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| 16, 1 | GOALLESS DRAW |
Some FO-OTBALL result? (8,4)
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"Some" used to indicate something hidden inside [F] O – O [TBALL], and the O-O or nil-nil would be a GOALLESS DRAW |
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| 17, 6 | BIRTHDAY SUIT |
Emperor’s new clothes, third stuffed into brown case (8,4)
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definition refers to the fable of the Emperor naked in his 'new clothes' anagram/"stuffed" of (third)* in BAY="brown" + SUIT=legal "case" |
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| 19, 12 | PAVING STONE |
Flag in Spain gone with TV broadcast (6,5)
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definition: 'flag' can mean a flat paving stone anagram/"broadcast" of (Spain gone TV)* |
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| 20 | TAWDRY |
Vulgar, a word that’s void in essay (6)
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A (from surface) + W-[or]-D void of its inner letters; both inside TRY="essay" |
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| 21 | SWAP SHOP |
See 9 Across
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| 23, 14 | GOLF WIDOW |
Might her inattentive husband be, reportedly, playing around? (4,5)
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"playing around" sounds like (reportedly): 'playing a round [of golf]' GOLF WIDOW is a phrase suggesting that a husband is always absent due to golf |
I just wonder whether with all the brickbats flung at Paul over his most recent offering this meant that this was a much more gentle affair. Or would that be down to the crossword editor? Found this remarkably straighforward and enjoyable today apart from the very last one, which was the unknown to me SHOCK JOCK, which sadly I had to reveal…
Thank for a super puzzle Paul, that got my birthday off to a cracking start! Even got in a birthday reference, how did he know…?
The only reason I still attempt Paul’s cryptics is to make sense out of it.Unfortunately,I’m just not and probably never will be at his wavelength.The crossovers?the solutions which go across a few squares doesn’t help either.Only for Paul loyalists.
Thanks manehi.
ronald@1. I get a feeling that it’s the boys’ club with Alan Connor/Editor and Paul. SHOCK JOCK also my LOI. But the rest was pretty cruisy.
I don’t know why the split entries put me off as much as they do. I think it’s just laziness on my part. I liked BELARUS and DERRIERE, but I can’t get the word order to work for SHOCK JOCK.
I know I’ll be in the minority, but I thought this was more difficult than Paul’s last offering. I enjoyed both, however.
Thanks to Paul and to manehi for explaining obscurities like Howard Stern.
Deliberate interference to show the difficulty of reverse engineering comment reference numbers.
This was originally unapproved.
Ronald@1 opposite experience for me, I’m afraid. With the last one I thought I was starting to “get” Paul, but this was back to square one for me. I filled in everything except 8A, but a number of parsings went over my head, and I did not get much joy from it.
Cocks, diks and derrieres – welcome back to the Paul we know and love 🙂
Podium places for BELARUS, SAVILE ROW & the football result whose parsing eluded me until the very end
CORNISH caused a chuckle when the penny finally dropped
Cheers M&P
Many thanks for the very helpful parsing. We enjoyed a number of Pauline lightbulb moments, and grins. Not to mention the usual Comment moans from Aussies about Paul being unapologetically Anglocentric!
Deliberate interference second of three comments.
Originally unapproved.
Another satisfying solve on the gentler side despite all the split clues. I thought DERRIÈRE was outstanding and I also enjoyed, DETERRENT, TWO-SEATER, GOALLESS DRAW, SHOCK JOCK (I thought he was reasonably well-known), TEA PLANT, CORNISH and TAWDRY.
Happy birthday Lockjaw @2.
Ta Paul & manehi.
Entertaining as ever, and I imagine ‘two-seater’ references all the two-part entries. Perhaps it’s a car with a DIK-DIK dickey seat in the ‘stern’ or DERRIÈRE?
I especially like the barely hidden 0-0 result, the ‘subversion’ and ‘playing around’.
Thanks to Paul and manehi.
Well – in the interest of supplying some balance, Paul is probably my favourite setter. I enjoyed this one because I could only see one answer – THREW – on my first pass, but then everything gradually revealed itself in a tricky, but pleasing way.
DERRIÈRE appeared very recently somewhere else. Brendan also clued it in the same way in 27967.
MADE IN BRITAIN – “in” appears in the clue as fodder and in the solution, so doesn’t really get “anagram-ised”.
All good fun, thanks to Paul and manehi.
@12 Wallyzed I also love Paul’s puzzles, I don’t understand the negativity! Definitely a favourite along with Picaroon – which reminds me, I haven’t seen Picaroon for a while, has he gone elsewhere?
@10 AlanC – thank you!
A slow but satisfying solve, full marks from me for DERRIÈRE (which provoked a chuckle once the penny dropped) and DETERRENT Paul continues reliably to provide satisfaction and amusement.
Thanks manehi and Paul
Some good clues. STOPCOCK was very good. 8ac I didn’t like. I find that lazy clueing.
I passed on this one, though I did have a quick glance and got GOALLESS DRAW.
Lockjaw @14
Picaroon has become crossword editor at the Telegraph, so is no longer allowed to set for the Guardian.
Definitely nicer than Paul’s last showing but I agree with Petert @5 – the multi-line clues do put me off and I also don’t know why! Still though, lots of fun, and TWO-SEATER got a proper smile when I figured it out.
Rats @16 – I’ve seen this style of clue a lot more with modern cluers, definitely seems to be becoming increasingly popular. If you’ve seen Minute Cryptic before, their submitters often love to hide anagrinds like this.
And happy birthday Lockjaw @2!
@14 Lockjaw. Alas, James has taken up a post with the Telegraph as Editor and will not be setting puzzles. I miss his puzzles dearly 😭
Final interference post. Again, initially unapproved.
I imagine that all “@ref” style references to have gone haywire.
Now, who has a solution for this situation?
Due to lack of time had to reveal DERRIERE, and reach for the tea tray. Classic Paul – awful pun and body part in the same clue. Can’t understand the fuss about his puzzles. The Cambridge oddity apart, he is the most consistently inventive setter. Thanks both.
Love Paul precisely because he stirs up a bit of argy, and is as Oofy @20 says consistently inventive. Real sub, version of, is fine by me (lot of autocracy in the ex SRs; wonder if there’s any nostalgia for them).
Thanks to Paul and manehi.
For all the talk of negativity, nobody has overdone it today. So that’s a welcome change. Maybe the “never agains”, some of whom are clearly excellent solvers, have stuck to their word.
I found this rewarding, if not as easy as some have suggested. The dash in fo-otball was generous and that was one of my first in, it may have taken a while without it. I liked the PAVING STONE. My sister somehow wound up doing a brief assistant stint in the early days of Howard Stern whilst on a Camp America trip, so I had a slight advantage compared to most Brits there. Despite suspecting many lateral definitions from the outset, some solutions took a while. My last two in were BELARUS and DERRIÈRE.
Thanks Paul and manehi and fellow solvers.
Last week I posted rather unfavourably about this setter, and was mildly castigated for my negativity. For the sake of balance, therefore, I’m pleased to say I rather enjoyed this offering. Still with Paul’s trademark bonkers surfaces, but with sufficient wit and fun to get away with it.
Had to reveal SHOCK JOCK so a dnf, really. The Londonderry Air gag was my favourite.
Many thanks, both.
Paul is one of my favorite setters and this puzzle did not disappoint. Thanks for a fun solve!
Paul is my favourite setter too! Always a challenge mixed with plenty of smiles. So many enjoyable clues here but DERRIÈRE wins the prize today.
Thanks Paul and manehi
This was much more accessible for me than the Cambridge effort, but I usually find Paul hard work: sometimes rewarding, sometimes not. The way in was via HUGH and the GOALLESS DRAW, and then things gradually emerged, though I didn’t know which Stern was the SHOCK JOCK. With all the multi-light entries, I got confused and spent time wondering why STONE PAVING was a thing – I wish Paul wouldn’t do that so much.
The London Derriere pun dates back a long way – I think I’ve seen it in a Carry On film, but I can’t remember which one and there are lots of them. Thanks manehi for sorting out the “sickening bunfight” and the “man with strap” for me.
Will we get scolded again for complaing?
Marmite yet again. I struggled grudgingly through just to keep up my Grauniad streak.
Ever grateful to manehi for explaining clues I fail to get, and always find a Paul crossword a joy as he makes me smile. Sorry Picaroon has moved to the Telegraph.
@30
Not for “complaing” – maybe for lack of proofing.
Seriously though, you didn’t use any harmful or hateful language. Complaining is fine, though it’s preferable to include sensible reasons why.
DERRIÈRE was LOI. Guessed it based on Paul’s trademark style 🙂 Did not dare to press the Check All button.
Now I see that i got SHOCK LOOK (I imagined that this would mean stern!) instead of SHOCK JOCK.
I expect Paul to pop up soon with a tougher one (keep ‘em coming, Paul). So, off to the gym to become fitter 🙂
Truly enjoyed the puzzle and thanks for a very helpful blog
[kenmac @ 8:54, 9:04 & 9:42
Not entirely sure of your point, but I noticed recently some clever chap/ess came up with the time-stamp reference to posts. Is this your solution?]
I find the split entries useful when otherwise stuck in a corner.
As an aye-aye I have an affinity with dik-diks. Thanks Paul and manehi.
I find the split answers very off-putting.
Much more enjoyable than Paul’s previous outing!!
Thanks both, now to peruse the blog.
Colin H @ 10
Not just Anglocentric as in UK, Anglocentric as in English. In Scotland we would never say “taters”. They are tatties.
The combination of Paul and Brummie at the beginning of the week almost makes me want to give up on crosswords. There is almost no crossover between their worlds and mine.
I found this of typical Paul difficulty, but I did find the split clues more than normally aggravating. Was pondering whether to mention that, when I came here to find that several others had already done so, so I needn’t bother!
Liked PAVING STONE, GOLF WIDOW, GOALLESS DRAW (which I first tried to enter as no-score draw, which I’ve always liked better because of the “rhyme”).
I couldn’t get DERRIERE, but I see quite a few solvers make it their favourite clue. It’s like a Vulcan cryptic definition, where you either get it or you don’t. The nearest I got was REAR_E_E_, so I was on the right track but I had nothing to work with.
Most of the rest had helpful wordplay to go with the increasing number of crossers, so I enjoyed this puzzle for the most part. I thought ‘where’ in 18a was a little misleading – ‘something latched onto’ gives TEAT, so what is ‘where’ doing?
Thanks to Paul and manehi.
Just for balance, I absolutely love Paul, and this was no exception
Paul at the top of his game. Yes the clues over two entries are a pain but that’s Paul. Couldn’t get shock jock though. Laughed at least four answers regarding Paul’s trademark reference to body parts! Ta for an excellent blog .
Thanks both and I was entertained although I revealed a lot of it. I find I have to be in the mood for a Paul and also to have time to give – he usually repays the effort. In this case I felt the excursion was worth it for GOLF WIDOW.
The ‘Londonderry Air’ was in fact collected (as an air – no words) in Newtown Limavady in or around 1870 so I wish to propose a motion that it be re-named ‘the Limavady air’ which has potential to be less divisive. Although a good old joke would thereby be extinguished.
Has anyone heard the phrase “sex appeal” used since 1983?
After last week I was all set to give up even attempting a Paul crossword but today’s clean sweep has lured me back! Thanks to manehi and Paul.
I failed to solve three. But I liked this a lot. What I like about this sort of (accessible?) Paul crossword is that perseverance pays off!
However, I’m not a fan of lengthy clues, either, especially if they don’t read easily. My test for good surfaces is “can I read it out to my fellow solver, nice and easily, and expect him to remember it, because it makes sense?” Paul doesn’t often pass this one.
An enjoyable and accessible offering from Paul today. First read through yielded a goodly number across the board.
After some baking and pie making I motored on to the end over a coffee. Only one defeated men- Shock Jock. I suspected that Stern was a person, but failed Google the name.
I am another Paulophile.
But then I like all the compilers.
LobsterDarts @43, is it like some kind of off-colour telethon?
Great puzzle today, thanks Paul and manehi for the blog.
Just dropping in really to say how much I kicked myself when I needed a word search for DERRIERE my LOI. Then remembered the setter and should have gone directly for the posterior reference!!
Favourite was 23 for the aha moment/groan.
I didn’t finish the last (heavily Cambridge-themed) Paul, but (even though an Oxford man) enjoyed what I had managed to solve and regretted that the discussion got so spiky that comments had to be turned off. It’s a bally cryptic crossword, for goodness sake!
(On the off-chance that Soup looks in here – it’s a long time since I took the train from Norfolk to Cambridge. Do the name boards on Cambridge station still announce CAMBRIDGE – The home of Anglia Ruskin University?)
I thought this was Paul at his best. A bit of nudge-nudge (the definition of DERRIERE as “Cheeky thing” – I don’t think DIK counts); some ingenious definitions (“a fitting way” for SAVILE ROW is a delight); the trademark Paul lift-and-separate for BELARUS.
Sometimes the surfaces are Paul’s least strong point, but there were some brilliant ones here, notably the near-&lit for MADE IN BRITAIN.
The brilliant exploitation of the expression “couch potato” was also very neat. Rab @37 – I would never say “taters” either, they’re spuds. But I know that some people somewhere probably do say “taters”, and IMHO that’s good enough, just as a “homophone” isn’t really a “sounds the same as” so much as a “sounds vaguely similar to, possibly when uttered with a particular accent”.
Like I said, it’s a crossword. And having compiled a fair few myself, I know it ain’t easy. Thanks, Paul, for putting in the hard yards, and thank you manehi for the customarily conscientious blog (even though I only needed you for the explanation of one answer).
Phew back to an enjoyable Paul and thanks for parsing some I couldn’t, which brought some additional laughs.
This was difficult but enjoyable. I prefer Paul like this, not when he requires a google-fest as in the Cambridge puzzle.
I found it enjoyable, with the setter’s sense of humour coming through. I thought several clues were much easier to solve than parse.
Liked STOPCOCK, DERRIÈRE and THREW best
I needed help to parse SAVILE ROW. I am still not sure why CORN is grainy and I disliked BELARUS as it lacked any instruction to divide subversion.
Thanks Paul and manehi
kenmac@22, indeed the issue is seen in @20 referencing @16 which is actually in position @18.
I’ll give my further thoughts in Site Feedback.
kenmac@22, your interventions resulted in, for example, Oofyprosser’s comment @20 being renumbered as @23. If I’m reading a subsequent comment that refers back to Oofy@20, it’s not difficult for me to find it @23. And most of the time the discrepancy is only one or two at most, so this is even less of a problem. However, if a commenter thinks that finding Oofy@20/23 is too difficult, referring back to Oofy@20 (9:49am) will make finding it easier.
In other words, I don’t think it is an unsurmountable problem that needs fixing. You have enough to do, and do it so well, that you needn’t spend your valuable time on this minor issue.
Nice one, Paul. I can’t believe I failed to get 4d DERRIERE, which turned out to be one of my favourites, along with the CORNISH grain at 24a and the image of Donald being stuffed naked into a hold-all at 17,6 BIRTHDAY SUIT.
Thanks P&M for the pleasure and mirth.
I enjoy Paul’s puzzles. Iike many others I DNF his Cambridge Odyssey but today’s was fine though it took me ages to get tea.
With Paul I content myself with getting one to three, then revealing some – and seeing if I can figure it out when I know the answer (very enjoyable with Paul) – then seeing if I can get further, and repeat.
For whatever reason, I found this more difficult than last week’s Paul offering (which I revealed most of), and didn’t manage a single entry today. But I see that plenty of people got on well with it, and maybe I’ll make more inroads into his next one. A shrug of the shoulders and I’ll see what tomorrow brings.
For what it’s worth, I thought that this was a little harder than some of Paul’s recent puzzles (though not harder than the notorious Cambridge puzzle). Favourites were GOALLESS DRAW and TWO-SEATER.
[The latter brought to mind a dreadful joke my dad used to tell about a young lady potato bringing her fiancé David Coleman or John Motson home for dinner and her father reprimanding her that “you can’t marry him, he’s just a common-tater”.]
As a Cornishman (at heart and by upbringing) I immediately whipped in the answer to 24A as “CLOTTED”…
Took ages (and an impossible crosser) for the penny to drop
Thanks Paul and manehi
This may be opening a can of worms..but, now we have a bit of distance..consider a clue like stern/shock jock. If you know H Stern and the term Shock Jock, this is a write-in once you have a letter or two, or even just from the enumeration. How many other shock jocks can you name? Now imagine a puzzle with a large majority of clues like this, where they are “write-in if you know it” vs “virtually impossible if you don’t”.
To me, this is why last weeks’ puzzle caused such opprobrium, especially as its esoteric knowledge was in an elitist area. I don’t condone the rudeness, and certainly didn’t participate, but I hope this offers some explanation- even the blogger himself admitted he lived in the place in question and could see an answer out of the window!
And yes, of course we should all follow the site rules,
Best wishes to all: setters, bloggers and solvers alike.
Today’s heavily contrived crossword is brought to you by the letter “W”.
Although in fairness GOALLESS DRAW was clever.
Also thought this was harder than the weekend puzzle but I suspect this is the difference between my weekend brain and stressed out work brain.
I liked this, ultimately. But since I tend to use shorter entries as a toehold into the grid, I found it a little off-putting that nearly all of them were part of Paul’s usual array of multi-light entries. Throw me a bone here! Yes, I did get there in the end, albeit with SAVILE ROW unparsed, and found more chuckles than grumbles along the way.
That’s interesting mrpenney@64, I invariably do the same. Always start with the 3s and 4s, maybe the 5s but would choose hyphenated and multi-word entries before the 6s and upwards! Call me a serial flitter.
Which means I do miss any special cleverness that is occasionally baked into doing the clues in order.
And as such, I had exactly the same experience as you, which was indeed off-putting. I got most of it in the end though.
Loved BIRTHDAY SUIT and GOALLESS DRAW (my FOI).
Thanks both
Couldn’t stare at it any more with six to go. Paul seems to go in phases for me. I also liked 16/1 GOALLESS DRAW. Nice pdm for 22a HUGH
2a THREW, I had THROW, figuring it was some odd (British) pronunciation of THROUGH, as in the Cheese Shop sketch, “through the head”
I enjoyed 8a BELARUS. Initially I was trying to make NUCLEAR to go with DETERRENT, but no go
I had 21a SAVILE ROW but couldn’t parse it. Why is “bunfight” = ROW?
Veronica@45 2:52, I like your smell test for a good surface. Mine is similar: could I read it to a stranger, and it would make sense to them? More often than not Paul doesn’t pass the test. 20a “Cast done talking?” and 3d “Antelope raising twin goats” probably the best ones today
I tend to agree with Cellomaniac@54 5:23 re comment numbering. I’ve never had a problem finding the relevant comment, even when the numbers are off by one or two. If anyone wants to go to the trouble, they can include the time stamp for added precision
I was another who was completely stumped by Paul’s offering last week (my incompetence, not his), so it was very comforting to have got back on his wavelength today. Thanks P & M.
Martyn@5:02pm – no-one seems to have answered you. Corns are small grains – which is why “corned beef” is so named, as it was preserved with corns or grains of rock salt.
Mig@8:13pm: A bunfight is a minor argument, hence row or tiff.
I enjoyed this though my biggest gripe was that I don’t like starting a puzzle to find the first across and down clues both direct me somewhere else. I feel a bit cheated of my start!
I’ve only heard “bunfight” to mean a feast or celebration.
I think some people are confusing a bunfight with a beanfeast. A bunfight is definitely a spat.
Excellent crossword today. I got there but I really had to think my way through it. I would say that that is Paul’s forte, paying attention to how the puzzle is going to unfold and reveal itself a bit at a time.
@19 Muffin 9:36 and @21 Rats 09:38 Re. Picaroon – oh dear, they just gave James Bond a desk job at the Met. What a shame. Please come back Picaroon!
Digger @71
See here. There are other similar references.
I enjoyed this one. I couldn’t make much progress through yesterday’s, but I find Paul’s clues much more guessable and fun even when I can’t parse them entirely, so as a beginner his puzzles are very welcome.
I also miss Picaroon.
Thanks Jack Of Few Trades @69, muffin@70, Digger@71 re “bunfight”. I’d only heard the term as a feast, not as a spat. Chambers just has “a tea party; a noisy occasion or assembly”
So, strictly speaking, a bunfight is a row, because it’s noisy, not because it’s a fight?
Petert@76, seems to be either/both
Hi kenmac 22,
If I understand you correctly – and I’m not sure that I do tbh – I thought that I did that in the blog devoted to this problem?
Thanks for all the hard work.
I thought this was great. I had to cheat deterrent even though I had the terre in the middle. Belarus and goalless draw my favourites. Didn’t parse derriere but got it from the definition and the crossers. Agree with the comment above about it = sex appeal = sa. Very dated and kind of cringe
We didn’t know the squabble meaning of bunfight either. The tea party meaning is clearly the original and the row or spat is a later meaning born of misunderstanding or humour. But that’s language for you!