Guardian 26,554 by Paul

36 comments on “Guardian 26,554 by Paul”

1. Agreed, a rather unnerving puzzle – one wonders what Ta-ra-ra Boom-De-Ay is doing in there, as almost all the other answers are rather sombre.

   However, it was not particularly difficult for a Paul puzzle – probably due to the limitations of the theme. I have to admit, I never knew that either Alain Prost or Cher were of Armenian descent, and had to beat my brains to remember Prost at all.

   Thanks to the blogger for unraveling all the wordplay I overlooked, as at least half of this went in from the literals alone.

2. Excellent puzzle. Brave of Paul to take a position. This issue is not entirely uncontroversial as there are those (eg The Guardian and the leaders of both major parties) who are quite happy for an unrepentant Turkey to join the EU.

3. I thought this was impressive–the puzzle managed to cram in quite a lot of references to Armenia and Armenians, with some imaginative wordplay. I liked the clues for ANAGRAM and TA-RA-RA-BOOM-DI-AY quite a bit, in particular. I knew about the Armenian roots of Cher(ilyn Sarkisian), who clearly decided early on that a shorter name would enhance her career. But I know no race car drivers, so PROSIT was my last in.

4. It is clearly a matter close to John Halpern’s heart. Typically there has been a close affinity and a good relationship between Jews and Armenians (not unconnected to their respective mass losses), even if events in the Old City of Jerusalem have been testing that relationship of late.

5. Thanks manehi, especially for explaining MARCHER, which baffled me. Despite the grim (eg three clues had ‘kill’ in them) and timely theme there was a 7,14 sprightliness to this. Near the end I marveled at ANAGRAM and had most difficulty for some reason with ACOUSTICAL. Excellent, Paul.

6. I found this fairly hard but got there, apart from parsing TA RA RA BOOM DE AY. Excellent clueing, but it was a fairly grim theme. Favourites were HIATUS, MARCHER and ANAGRAM. Many thanks to Paul and manehi.

7. Thanks Paul and manehi
   More interesting for what I had to find out about Armenia and Armenians (thanks, Google) than for the crossword itself.

8. Thanks for the blog and to Paul (and you via the links) for informing me about the Armenian Genocide – to my shame, something I knew nothing about previously. I’ve spent a very sobering half hour or so reading about it.

   As mrpenney @3 says, a very impressive puzzle, which I didn’t find easy at all – especially the NE. Whilst I did manage to solve and parse it all (sort of) it was only by googling Khachaturian to get his first name – also the name of Paul’s son (IIRC). ANAGRAM is a particularly fine clue though, somehow, it doesn’t seem appropriate to have favourites today.

   Thanks Paul. Definitely an education.

9. Many thanks, manehi, for a humdinger of a blog, involving a lot of research.

   I can only echo Claire S’s comments @8.

   A most impressive puzzle: thank you, Paul.

10. Thanks Paul and manehi.

    The Armenians are scattered everywhere, so sad. A friend of ours named Petros-B——— had a new secretary assigned to her named Peters from Argentina, they discovered they were first cousins
    (the secretary’s name had been simplified).

    Good luck Paul in the London Marathon on Sunday.

11. Thanks, manehi. An excellent puzzle – I hesitate to say “enjoyable”, of course.

    Paul’s wife’s name is Taline, which I believe is Armenian…

12. Thanks manehi and Paul
    An accessible puzzle with some excellent clues e.g. 15a and 7,14. Rather a lot of ‘numbered letters’ – via initially, premier, second, last etc. which helped.
    Looking forward to seeing some of you tomorrow!

13. Thanks manehi and Paul for a clever, if sombre, theme. Unusually I finished this with a little help from Wikipedia and the check button, until the penny dropped, for my LOI ACOUSTICAL.
    Good luck on Sunday Paul from this Paul also running the marathon.

14. Unlike some of you I was already aware of the tragic history of the Armenian people during the last 100 years. Well done Paul for making more people aware of it. I knew of Cher’s Armenian heritage but not Prost’s. I finished back in the NE with REDOUBT after ACOUSTICAL.

15. Echoing Vinyl1 @1, whatever can Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay be doing in such a puzzle?

    In Candleford Green, Flora Thompson writes of Miss Lotty Collin’s all-conquering dance and song
    ‘Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay’ sweeping the countryside like an epidemic, and continues

    “Were there such things as death and want and grief and misery in the world? If so, youth possessed a charm to banish them from its thoughts in ‘Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay'”.

16. I’d like to second Cookie@15 and Vinyl1@1. While it seems commendable to draw attention to the horrors of Armenian history, I very much doubt that a crossword puzzle is the right place to do so. While I strongly agree that a crossword puzzle is made of words without context, which therefore cannot cause offense in any way, as words without context are essentially meaningless, a theme, unfortunately, provides context. And the combination of Armenian Genocide and Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay struck me as unacceptable. Would, for example, a combination of “Wounded Knee” and “Yippie-yeah” have made it past the editor? That said, for those who want to learn more, can I recommend Franz Werfel’s novel “The Forty Days of Musa Dagh”, which made today’s theme known to a wider world in 1933?
    Thanks to Paul for the crossword, thanks to manehi for the blog.

17. Thanks manehi and Paul. There has been quite a lot of coverage of the centenary of the Armenian Genocide, and as I got 8ac first I assumed there would be theme (or that it was a bizarre coincidence).

    The editorial today: “A century on, the battle over a word shows how much history still matters” (http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/apr/23/guardian-view-turkey-armenians-history-matters)is a reminder to those of us who love playing with words and their different meanings, of how important those meanings can be.

18. A worthy if rather sombre puzzle, which I found pretty difficult in places. I was certainly aware of the genocide, mostly due to reports on the Turkish government and its continuing attempts to censor the likes of Orhan Pamuk. Last in was PROSIT, mostly because I wasn’t aware of Alain Prost’s Armenian family. Failed to parse ACOUSTICAL and PERIODICAL.

    Thanks to Paul and manehi

19. Thanks all
    The Armenians were new to me too,
    I liked 15 ac, last in was 4d and periodical which I had early but no idea how to parse it and so did not enter it.

20. Thanks to Paul and manehi. For some inexplicable reason, I finished this puzzle rapidly. I have at best a general knowledge of the theme and did not know of Alain Prost or Cher’s lineage, but the clues were clear enough. Initially NAG as “mount” eluded me so that ANAGRAM was one of the last in, but, thanks largely to what I’ve learned from this blog, I did subtract GEN from “genocide” to get PERIODICAL. I liked APOLOGIA and DIASPORA and was pleased to see TERRAPIN, the mascot of U. of Maryland at College Park, the school attended by many of my classmates long ago.

21. Andreas61 @16, I think Paul is trying to point out how unpleasant things get put to the back of people’s minds, not a bad thing, but the Armenian genocide has been unrecognised for too long. The author
    Flora Thompson points this phenomenon out, as does Paul indirectly, with Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay.

    Hard to express myself clearly, Captcha four – ? = 0, but Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay probably has a place here.

22. I found this rather difficult and it took me a lot longer than usual with Paul. However a worthy puzzle which despite its sombre content was very well worth doing. I do take issue with those who think that a crossword is not the appropriate place for something like the Armenian tragedy. Surely anything that raises awareness of this event is all to the good.
    I learned something about marCHER and Mr Prost-whose first name I’ve forgotten already-and I was rather amused by TA RA RA BOOM DE AY.
    Thanks Paul, and good luck on Saturday.

23. Thanks Paul & manehi, good crossword.

    For more information, including famous Armenians, see (of course)The Guardian.

24. The Preview doesn’t seem to be working and my link disappeared. I’ll try again……….

    No, still not working, I’ll paste the URL below:

    http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/22/turkish-silence-fans-century-of-armenian-grief-over-genocide

25. P.S. Paul/John is not running on Saturday due to ill health.

26. A tough one, not helped by having SLEEPY at 22a for ages (the potential killer being another SPY – two spies, a bit weak I thought).

    I have no problem with either the theme or the levity. It’s a crossword, not a moral tract.

27. That was a real struggle but, even though the theme is grim, it was still fairly enjoyable. I had to resort to a wordfinder for a couple of the clues, and to do some wiki-research on possible Armenians. I missed “main reason”* = “so ARMENIAN”, but put in ANAGRAM anyway based on the first half of the clue. I got REGULARITY from the definition and crossers, but forgot to try to parse it. LOI was MARCHER, a definite PDM.

    Thanks, manehi, and thanks and “get well soon” to Paul/John!

28. Thanks to Paul and manehi. Did the puzzle yesterday afternoon when it came on-line. I do recall
    my mom talking to me in the 40’s about the starving Armenians. This morning’s Seattle Times has
    a full page story about Armenia and Turkey. Very enlightening.

29. Thanks Paul and manehi – another really good crossword from The Guardian! The quality is really incredible – hate to think how much effort goes into compiling one! I’m even starting to feel guilty about printing then from the web and not buying the paper…

30. Bravo to Paul for timely theme – a topic buried too long.
    (Most Armenian surnames end in …ian).
    Thanks to manehi.
    Looking forward to meeting tomorrow.

31. On the subject of Ta-ra-ra-boom-di-ay: It’s a frivolous song, but really–Mt. Ararat needs to make it into the puzzle somewhere, right? And the fact that ARARAT is a full reversal of TA-RA-RA is exactly the kind of observation that makes cryptic crosswords fun in the first place! Good cluing, and the mood needed lightening anyway.

32. And Ross @29: The Guardian has done their math, clearly, and decided they’re better off if they make the puzzles free. I suppose they figure it means more click-throughs, which means higher ad revenue on the website. If you’re still feeling guilty, stick around and read the news on the site too—it’s what I do. It’s a pretty good newspaper.

33. Sadly, Ararat, though still important to Armenians, is now in modern Turkey (though Armenians can still see it).

34. Thanks Paul and manehi

    Thought that this was another excellent crossword from Paul with a sombre, but timely, theme of what is a generally ‘under-known’ part of relatively recent European history.

    I was first made aware of this many (perhaps 30-ish) years ago when I struck up a conversation with a gentleman, who turned out to be an Armenian, at some gathering. I remember being very moved by the emotion that this man still had for what had occurred to his direct family back in 1915. It still resonates today – whilst browsing a discount book shop, I recently purchased a book “The Heritage of Armenian Literature” more than likely based on that conversation.

    I found the crossword quite tough going, particularly the parsing of several clues. 7d, 14a was my last one in … and although the tune was in my head, it took a while do get away from DA DA DA or LA LA LA to TA RA RA – and then saw the clever reversal of ARARAT !!

    Great work Paul !! Wonder whether the weekend one will have our ANZACs as a theme …

35. Good work Paul. Thank you.

36. I was fortunate enough to visit Armenia a few years ago, which meant I was aware of a lot of the potential answers without having to do research (although Alain Prost was news to me).

    One thing that you very quickly become aware of it that although it is 100 years ago the genocide is very high in the national consciousness. I lost count of the numbers of times a local would ask me why our government doesn’t recognise the massacre as a genocide.

    I can recommend it as a place to visit, the people are very friendly and courteous, the country side is beautiful, the historic sites amazing and the brandy excellent (Churchill was said to prefer it to Cognac).

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