Thank you to Paul. Definitions are underlined in the clues. (Sorry for the late blog.)
Across
1. Grease, where Virginia McKenna finally has taken lead from Travolta (4,3)
WOOL FAT : WOOLF(Virginia, English writer) + last letter of(… finally) “McKenna” plus(has taken) 1st letter of(lead from) “Travolta”(who, by the way, acted in the movie, Grease).
Defn: … derived from sheep wool, also known as lanolin.
5. Scarf worn by one on border in unconventional community (7)
BOHEMIA : BOA(a long scarf made of feathers or similar material) contained in(worn by) [ I(Roman numeral for “one”) placed after(on) HEM(border/edge) ].
Defn: …, made up of people with unorthodox political or social viewpoints.
9. Wheels land, stunt in the end nailed (5)
MOTOR : MOOR(an expanse of open uncultivated land) containing(… nailed) last letter of(… in the end) “stunt”.
Defn: An informal term for which is ….
10. Hard to see more than 3, 10 high (9)
PIXELATED : PI(a mathematical constant whose value is greater/more then 3) + X(Roman numeral for 10) + ELATED(in ecstasy/high).
Defn: Describing an image broken into large pixels, thus making the total image ….
11. Welsh table has a grammatical term studied by learner (10)
LAVERBREAD : [A + VERB(a grammatical term, in this case, a word describing an action) + READ(studied an academic subject at university) ] placed after(by) L(letter displayed by a learner driver).
Answer: Welsh table/food dish made from laver, a seaweed.
… not at all bread.
12. Record is secreted in the White House, perhaps? (4)
DISC : IS contained in(secreted in) DC(abbrev. for District of Columbia, USA in which several Federal buildings, eg/perhaps the White House are located).
Defn: A phonographic ….
14. Speeding craft has wheel torpedoed by pilot (5,6)
SPACE ROCKET : SPROCKET(a device that is a wheel with one or more rows of teeth on its perimeter) containing(torpedoed by) ACE(a pilot who has shot down many enemy aircraft).
18. Sequence beyond cleansing, ready to go (6-5)
TOILET-TRAIN : TRAIN(a sequence/series of connected events or thoughts) placed after(beyond) TOILET(the process of cleansing/washing oneself).
Defn: To ready/prepare one (a child) to be able to go/use the toilet.
21. Check what comes down gets picked up (4)
REIN : Homophone of(… picked up) “rain”(that which comes down from the sky).
Defn: To …/restrain.
22. Chip in bone has opened cut, note, after surgery (10)
CONTRIBUTE : RIB(one of a series of bones in the upper body) contained in(has opened) anagram of(…, after surgery) CUT, NOTE.
25. Under ten, I adjusted contract (9)
INDENTURE : Anagram of(… adjusted) UNDER TEN, I.
Defn: A legal ….
26. Use energy, and old giant toppled over (5)
EXERT : E(symbol for “energy”, in physics) plus(and) reversal of(… toppled over) T-REX(or Tyrannosaurus rex, a very large dinosaur/an old giant).
27. Salesperson covering carpeting (7)
REPROOF : REP(short for “representative”, a salesperson) + ROOF(a covering, say, over one’s home).
Defn: …/scolding.
28. A bill in play for good work! (7)
ATTABOY! : A + [ TAB(a bill/statement of charges for food and rinks) contained in(in) TOY(to play with/fool with) ].
Answer: Like “good work!”, an expression of admiration to a man or boy for something done.
Down
1. Trash miles below for refuse collector (6)
WOMBLE : Anagram of(Trash) [ M(abbrev. for “miles”) + BELOW ].
Answer: A fictional creature inhabiting Wimbledon Common, London known to pick up litter/collect refuse.
2. Short act over in play – it’s the interval (6)
OCTAVE : Anagram of(… in play) “act over” minus its last letter(Short …).
Defn: In music, … between the first and last in a series of eight notes, one having half or twice the frequency of the other.
3. Why one might have combs in safe places (10)
FORTRESSES : [FOR TRESSES](the answer to why one might have combs/tools for arranging hair/tresses).
4. Half-hearted bowler, say, drunk (5)
TOPER : “topper”(informal term for a top hat, or thing that covers the top, an example of which/say, is the bowler hat) minus its middle letter(Half-hearted …).
Defn: A ….
5. River crossed by dog taking a snapper (3,6)
BOX CAMERA : CAM(the river in eastern England) contained in(crossed by) BOXER(a breed of dog) plus(taking) A.
Defn: … or a device that takes snaps/photographs.
6. Spot of bother showing full amount to the auditor? (4)
HOLE : Homophone of(… to the auditor) “whole”(complete/showing the full/entire amount).
Defn: …/a awkward situation.
7. Spirit broken by cruciverbalist’s stuff, I suppose (8)
METHINKS : METHS(short for “methylated spirit”) containing(broken by) INK(what a crossword solver might use/cruciverbalist’s stuff).
8. Shockingly bad at cutting diamonds, hand back crown (8)
ABDICATE : Anagram of(Shockingly) BAD + [AT contained in(cutting) ICE(slang for diamonds, the precious stones) ].
13. Nickel, say, 20% of that where I had invested in agreement (10)
COINCIDENT : COIN(an example of which/say, is the American nickel) + CENT(one of five which make a nickel/20% of the latter) containing(where … invested) I’D(contraction of “I had”).
15. A rush coming through ocean water – that resembles grass (9)
ASTROTURF : A + [ TROT(a quick-paced movement/a rush) contained in(coming through) SURF(ocean water breaking on a shore or reef) ].
Answer: Artificial grass surface.
16. More violent rioters on the rampage, thousand kettled (8)
STORMIER : Anagram of(… on the rampage) RIOTERS containing(… kettled/confined demonstrators to a small area by the police) M(Roman numeral for a “thousand”).
17. Did it having bagged last of garbage? (6,2)
TIDIED UP : Cryptic reverse clue: Reversal of(… UP) DID IT containing(having bagged) last letter of(last of) “garbage”.
19. Palatial European banks finished (6)
SUPERB : SERB(a native of Serbia, a European) containing(banks) UP(finished/over, as in “your time is up”)
20. Labour led by dope in high society (6)
GENTRY : TRY(to war out/labour) placed below(led by, in a down clue) GEN(informal term for information/dope).
23. Greek character turning up at what time? (5)
THETA : Reversal of(… turning up, in a down clue) [AT + EH?(an exclamation made to request information, like “What?”) + T(abbrev. for “time”) ].
Defn: Character in the Greek alphabet.
24. Hooked on point, object’s hooked! (4)
INTO : Hidden in(…’s hooked) “point, object”.
Defn: …/greatly interested in something.
A bowler is not a topper.
Just came here to say I failed miserably on this. Just not on Paul’s wavelength today. A TOPpER is specifically a top hat (cf Chambers), ‘table’ (11a) for food is dubious, Wombles are not on my radar (I’m from the Noggin The Nog generation), etc. etc. At least the homophone was unobjectionable and there were no multiply-linked clues, so that’s something.
I took Paul to be using ‘topper’ here as a quirky definition of a hat (something that goes on top of the head, of which a bowler is an example) rather than as the usual informal term for a top hat.
Arguably iffy, but I think it works.
Tony@1
Mm, but any kind of hat could be something that goes on top, ie ‘a topper’.
Many thanks to Paul for the puzzle and scchua for the blog.
Sorry, crossed with Rog@3
I needed a few word searches to get this over the line. CONTRIBUTE was clever but took me an age to see the definition. I couldn’t decide whether “topper” was anything that goes on top, a topspin bowler, or just very loose.
A tough but enjoyable puzzle! Got there in the end. Thanks Paul and scchua!
Fabulous fun. Ticks for PIXELATED, TIDIED UP, TOILET TRAIN and many more
But no egregious homophoneys or dubious double-definitions – what’s the world coming to?
Cheers P&S
If it is 3.00 am and I see a Paul, or Vlad, or Enigmatist, I usually close it and leave it until the morning. One consequence of proceeding is that what passes for my brain these days becomes over-stimulated and I cannot get back to sleep. But proceed I did with this, and was duly left with LOI, LAVERBREAD, where I was thrown by ‘table’ but rescued by its having featured by Brockwell only last Friday. Earlier in the solve, BOX CAMERA came readily, having appeared in Vlad’s Prize on the 14th, where it was a ‘shooter’. But needless to say, insomnia followed. I should observe my own precepts.
I struggled with the topper / bowler thing too – exacerbated by the fact I had never come across the word “toper” before.
A glacial solve as is often the case with Paul but made my way through it. ATTABOY and WOOL FAT were new to me.
I was fine with topper being any type of hat. I have come to expect these whimsical synonyms from Paul.
Liked TIDIED UP
Thanks Paul and Scchua
Not happy that “table” just meant something to eat. I was trying to dig up something about word mutations in Welsh instead. Otherwise, all fair clues even though I dnf. Many thanks to blogger for elucidation.
Had a problem spelling PIXELATED properly, but grateful for the education. I found this difficult, particularly in the SE corner (where I groaned at THETA when I eventually saw it). Did get off to a flying start with WOOL FAT though, despite having to find out that that was another term for lanolin. Wasn’t particularly held up up TOPER, though I understand the objections. Did enjoy TOILET TRAIN and METHINKS. Thanks to Paul and Scchua.
Too difficult for me. Needed to check letters to get started on some solutions and this blog for some parsings. In topper, only one of the middle two letters is removed, so half-hearted. Didn’t know toper, so failed on this one. I couldn’t parse 14a, because I had not heard on sprocket. And if I treally want to be fastiduous, scchua, it is “greater than” in 10 across and it looks like the picture for astroturf is actual real grass… Thanks Paul, and scchua for very clear explanations
Yes, I was another one who was convinced PIXELATED was spelled/spelt another way, possibly with a double L. And the SE corner was the last to yield for me too, with GENTRY and SUPERB final two in. TOILET TRAIN typically Paulian. And I wouldn’t care to remember how many years ago it was that the WOMBLEs were strutting their stuff in SW19, so that took a while for the penny to drop.
Many thanks Paul and Scchua…
Very enjoyable. All the objections raised so far had me almost imperceptibly raising an eyebrow, but fell on the side of fair in my opinion. And I certainly want my setters to be distinguishable, so quirkiness from Paul is a good thing.
Whew! Needed a few Check Buttons along the way, but all were confirming, thankfully.
In DISC, would have been happier with the equivalencing of White House and DC if the clue had indicated one was contained in the other (“perhaps” doesn’t really do that), but oh well.
Liked TOILET TRAIN
Staticman1@10 ‘A glacial solve’ is the perfect description of my experience! I was determined to finish it somehow but it took a while and I can’t say I enjoyed it much.
Was the pixelated image of Virginia Woolf?
This was slow going for me but very entertaining. I really liked WOOL FAT for the clever construction and amusing surface, and TIDIED UP which was a great &lit. Also “Why one might have combs” = FOR TRESSES raised a smile.
I had some of the same question marks as other people. On reflection I think “topper” is ok (whimsically) for a hat generally. For LAVERBREAD, I was puzzled by the definition. For “table” the SOED includes “Provision of food for meals; supply of food; fare”, but is that rather an obscure usage?
Many thanks Paul and scchua.
Completely stumped by 11across. Try for play in 28ac is debatable.
Another offering from the complier I no longer enjoy
Before I twigged the dinosaur connection in EXERT, I remembered a cooking fat called TREX, and wondered if it was a deliberate allusive cross-reference to the grease in 1 across.
Too hard for me, but then Paul always is too hard for me. I laboured to the finish having to reveal a few answers when I was totally stuck. In fairness, most of the clues were really clever in particular TIDIED UP and WOMBLE both of which made me smile. Didn’t like topper for bowler.
Paul’s always enjoyable to this crucuverbalist, who uses a pencil or a screen rather than ink.
I thought that “land” in 9 referred to the landing (= mooring) of a ship.
I was hopeless at this last night. I got a few answers on the bottom and none on the top. Morning session over breakfast with the check button and trying random letters finally filled it all in.
nho LAVERBREAD. Didn’t remember Virginia Woolf (shame on me), but did remember lanolin, so WOOL FAT made sense when I finally stopped trying to think of a four-letter creature that wasn’t duck. Didn’t think of pi, though I do know that it’s more than three (I’m sure I’m not the only one to try to work in “four.”)
I learned about Wombles from an earlier puzzle, but didn’t know what they collected.
“Sprocket” is a word I’ve heard but isn’t part of my active vocabulary.
I vaguely remembered that “rep” was some sort of fabric, but couldn’t manage to make a carpet of it.
Nice to see the Cam getting a showing — part of the UK’s national treasure of three-letter rivers, but not seen as often as others. Will we see the Fal soon?
Thanks to Paul and scchua.
Do people actually eat LAVERBREAD? It looks revolting enough to be good for you.
I have to say I did today’s puzzle but derived no pleasure from it.
DrW @ 16 Metonymy: “DC” frequently stands in for the executive office and its staff (The White House) when discussing policy, politics, or actions taken by the administration.
Not one of Paul’s more appealing offerings to me, I’m afraid. ATTABOY, whatever the dictionary might say, is not a word and never will be for me; a topper is not a ‘bowler, say’ – it’s a topper; table and dish aren’t the same to my mind … I could probably go on, but I’ve said enough, I think. No fun at all today, sadly.
Tomsdad@12, ronald@14: The script of Frank Capra’s 1936 Mr Deeds Goes to Town contains the word ‘pixilated’. Two elderly ladies so-characterize Gary Cooper in the climactic courtroom scene.
Ed @20
It’s “toy”, not “try”. Perfectly valid!
pixel derives from picture element, so cant be pixilated (from pixies) in this context
Wool fat lead me to lanolin. Follow it. Crosswords are good for you. Thanks Paul as ever.
Nice to see Paul getting a toilet reference in somewhere! Failed to solve that clue, finished the rest but still a couple I couldn’t parse (thanks scchua). Still, always nice to complete a Paul with less than three reveals.
Well, I got there. Wasn’t helped by the fact that ‘web camera’ sprang to mind first. I googled ‘weber’ to see whether it was an obscure (to me) breed of dog and was delighted to find an unexpected reference: “Weber dog” likely refers to the renowned fashion photographer Bruce Weber, who is famous for his iconic, intimate, and often black-and-white portraits of his own Golden Retrievers.” Dogs and cameras! Naturally, I bunged it in and that somewhat hindered progress with 5a. Also befuddled by ‘exert’, which was clearly the answer, but having convinced myself that ‘ex’ was indicated by ‘old’ I was stumped as to why ‘tre’ might be equivalent to ‘giant’. So thanks, Scchua, and also Paul, of course.
Thanks Paul, Think I’m getting better at Paul – another solve without recourse – although several parses, of course, after the event. Really surprised nobody has mentioned the genius clue for COINCIDENT – one of my favourites in a long time! Inclined to agree that the use of topper as a synonym for bowler is a bit of stretch, but then it was an easy enough solve and Paul wouldn’t be Paul without a bit of controversy!
Big fan of Paul usually, though I know many are far less keen.
On this occasion… I thought it was weirdly impenetrable and, even when progress was glacially made, far less fun than usual. Can’t really work out why, but so it goes sometimes, I guess. Liked TIDIED UP the most.
Thanks to JH and scchua for the blog…
Boy that was tough. I am on the side of the fence that absolutely loves Paul’s offerings, and today’s was no different.
It surprises me that some solvers (e.g,@20) say they don’t like Paul’s puzzles, and yet they take the time to do them and then complain on this site. I can only conclude that self-flagellation must be one of their pleasures in life.
Like some others, I started very slowly (5 on the first go) and then slowly made steady progress. Those are some of the most satisfying puzzles to complete.
13d COINCIDENT was my favourite – the 20% was sheer genius. One for Eileen’s notebook?
Thanks Paul and sschua for the verbally and visually colourful puzzle and blog. (Laverbread, yuck.)
I completed a fair bit of the grid during the hotel breakfast that followed a boozy charity dinner in London last night. At lunchtime, after a meeting, I smirked at PIXELATED on the platform at London Bridge. However, the alcohol, sleep deprivation and difficulty level combined to make things very slow after that. I think GENTRY and ATTABOY were the final two, completed on the sofa back on the south coast. Challenging for sure.
Thanks Paul, scchua and everyone else.
Both PIXELATED and ‘high’ are slang meaning ‘drunk’
PS. Just read the most recent comments. I agree with Peter and Cellomaniac about COINCIDENT being great (I still prefer PIXELATED though, Pi = “more than 3”, haha!)
This was hard-going at first, but in the end I rather enjoyed it. It took me a while to parse EXERT.
My favourite setter in challenging form. Haven’t heard of LAVERBREAD outside crosswords that I may or may not vaguely recall, and from the photo I am happy to remain unacquainted.
Not sure about “Short” shortening “over” rather than “act”, the word it is next to, but it’s a minor quibble as the surface is cleverly deceptive.
Favourites were FOR TRESSES (my sort of joke I’m afraid) and TIDIED UP, mostly found in a neat reversal of “did it” indicated by UP in the answer. I’m never sure what constitutes an &lit (or even why it’s called &lit), but was this one?
Thanks to Paul and scchua
My favourite setter in challenging form. Haven’t heard of LAVERBREAD outside crosswords that I may or may not vaguely recall, and from the photo I am happy to remain unacquainted.
Not sure about “Short” shortening “over” rather than “act”, the word it is next to, but it’s a minor quibble as the surface is cleverly deceptive.
Favourites were FOR TRESSES (my sort of joke I’m afraid) and TIDIED UP, mostly found in a neat reversal of “did it” indicated by UP in the answer. I’m never sure what constitutes an &lit (or even why it’s called &lit), but was this one?
Thanks to Paul and scchua
Miles beyond my level.
Thanks both.
[Billy Mills@26 and 1961Blanchflower@43: Don’t knock things until you’ve tried them! On a recent trip to The Mumbles I tried laverbread on a couple of occasions and found it very tasty and something I would readily eat again. I am always game to try local and new foods and equally happy to swear off them if they are revolting but this was definitely not the case. The fried cockles were excellent too.
Top marks in The Mumbles for me went to “Cwtchina Italiana” which a Welshman would pronounce more-or-less as “Cucina Italiana” i.e. “Italian Kitchen” but incorporates the wonderful Welsh word “cwtch” meaning “warm embrace, welcome” much like the Danish “hygge”. A cruciverbalist’s restaurant name if ever I saw one.]
I was given laverbread (pronounced LAHVER BREAD) by my Welsh grandmother, but my Devon grandmother gave me laver (LAYVER)!. Not as bad as it sounds. Not convinced by “table”, though.
Oof, I can usually get on Paul’s wavelength, but today I had to fight for almost every answer, and I had to come here for several parsings. Once I got them, I enjoyed TIDIED UP and THETA a lot.
Thanks Paul and scchua!
Only knew laverbread from a long-ago production of “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” by Dylan Thomas. (I believe the line was “We always have laverbread and cockles on Christmas morning.”) A slow solve for me as well, though I didn’t find anything unfair. Thanks to Paul and scchua.
I got very confused by 18 as chain is a synonym for sequence leaving me wondering whether Paul might stretch toilet chain to be preparing to use the toilet, then wondering if a Poker flush could be considered a sequence in crossword land. Train took me a long time to get because of those.
1A was my LOI because I got totally hung up on the state pf Virginia and was desperately trying to shoe-horn Va in (not helped by 1D being my second last jn).
DNF but was still fun. 7d should surely be “confident cruciverbalist” – us mortals use a pencil.
Not on Paul’s wavelength with this one. Only solved 7.5 (including 1a _ FAT). Hey ho, on to the next…
thanks! Did anyone else notice that 3d crossed 14a and 10a referenced PI=more than 3 (and also 3.14). OK… I too can hallucinate.
Ilan 53,
Good spot. Mrs. E got PI = more than 3, but we didn’t see the other.
I was left to get ASTROTURF from crossers, which is odd, since I have to deal with the damned stuff often. Often enough to know that it doesn’t resemble grass very much at all to me, which perhaps explains it.
Cheers all.
Just solved this morning (started last night – needed a bit of sleep to finish NW corner)! My first Paul, for some reason (have only been solving for about a few months, and hitherto avoided him based on grumbly comments on previous puzzles!). Mostly fun and clever, and I liked 18a.
I find 2d a bit perplexing. “Short act over in play” to me suggests an anagram of AC+OVER (or possibly ACOVE), but not ACTOVE. Why should “short” apply only to the second word in a string?
@55, 44
I hope this sort of objection (to 2d) doesn’t gain currency. The only question should be whether the cryptic reading makes sense. “Short act over” is clearly synonymous with “a shortened version of ‘act over'”, ie “act over” without the last letter. There is no rule in the English language that the word “short”, unlike every other adjective, can only apply to individual words, not phrases.
Have just finished this (yay) after three sittings! I’m usually pretty laissez-faire about controversial clueing but I certainly sympathise with objections to “Welsh table”, “topper / bowler” and “short act over”. Happily, I have eaten laverbread….
DodgyProf 57,
Unhappily, so have I.
@44, 55, 56, I think KarolS@55 sort of answered the question by writing ACTOVE. If we think of “act over” not at two words but a collection of letters, we get ACTOVER (i.e. ignore the space). Shorten that to get ACTOVE. On another day, it might well mean to shorten the first word, to get ACOVE, but not this time. On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays it’s the former. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays it’s the latter 🙂
Basically there are no rules. The setter tries to trick us in unexpected ways, and we try to figure out what they’re up to!
Should not “has” be included in the definition of LAVERBREAD? But a great blog; scchua must have worked hard on this – another exemplar of his accuracy, elegance and generosity. Thank you, Scchua
I can’t see how TIDIED UP cannot be a super &lit!
Usually, a huge Paul fan yet I made heavy weather of this one. I’m nursing a very painful foot injury which is all-distracting; that could be the reason?
Many thanks
Always love a Paul crossword though it takes us an age to finish, but we did. For those complaining about a topper not being a bowler they are of course correct, but the clue is ‘bowler, say’ so a bowler is a hat.
Wasn’t keen on ‘superb’ for ‘palatial’
Really struggled with this one. Had to use ‘reveal’ on a couple of them. In my experience Paul’s are the toughest.
When you get clues like 17d for TIDIED UP and part of the word play indication is in the answer itself (UP for reversal) then it goes over my head.
Thanks anyway scchua for the explanations, and Paul for the challenge.