Guardian 26,576 – Paul

by

I usually don’t have too much trouble with Paul’s puzzles these days, but I found this one hard to get started on, and then hard to finish. Looking back, there’s nothing particularly obscure, apart from 11a, which was new to me, and the long answer at 9 etc took a bit of getting, and was a help when it finally yielded. I can’t fully explain 17,14, but no doubt I’m missing something obvious. Thanks to Paul.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Across
1. CRIMSON Colour blue round lips (7)
RIMS (lips) in CON[servative] (blue)
5. DOORMAT A trodden-on jellyfish? (7)
Just a cryptic definition, I think, a jellyfish being “a person who lacks firmness of purpose”. I’d be delighted to learn that there’s more to it..
9,28,22,24. NEVER EAT MORE THAN YOU CAN LIFT Struggling after heavy meal? Nice? No! Turn to dietary wisdom from … (5,3,4,4,3,3,4)
(AFTER HEAVY MEAL NICE NO TURN TO)*. I have my usual reservations about this kind of clue, but for once the long anagram fodder was actually useful to me in solving it: with a few crossing letters I guessed the first six words, then used the anagram to get LIFT (after which I convinced myself that “I knew that”). This wise saying comes from MISS PIGGY, hence the link to the next clue
10. MISS PIGGY … Fleming role: is Bond possibly scoffing one horse, the greedy one? (4,5)
M (Fleming role) + IS + GG in SPY
11. PARIS GREEN Kidnapper, inexperienced poisoner (5,5)
PARIS (who, depending on your point of view, either kidnapped or eloped with Helen of Troy) + GREEN (inexperienced). Paris Green is a poison used as an insecticide, and, despite its name, a “blue colorant for fireworks” – perhaps our local expert can clarify..
12. LEFT Socialist walked out (4)
Double definition
18. ROADRUNNERS Birds, by the sound of it, travelled on skis (11)
“Rode” + RUNNERS (skis)
21. HIDE Papers stuffed inside gas mask (4)
ID in HE (Helium)
25. VIOLINIST Musician I love nothing about coming into view, shortly (9)
I + O + NIL< in VIST[A]
26. CHARD Cold, frozen vegetable (5)
C + HARD
27. SHEATHE Enclose PM in silence, having dropped guts (7)
[Edward] HEATH in S[ilenc]E
Down
1. CANOPY Image over an awning (6)
AN in COPY
2. INVERT Claiming victory, still upset (6)
V in (claimed by) INERT (still)
3. STRESS MARK An aid to pronunciation, that’s the way to comment about ship (6,4)
ST (street, way) + SS in REMARK
4. NAMER One identifying someone on camera from the swagger, by all conclusions (5)
Last letters of oN camerA froM thE swaggeR
5. DISREPUTE Shame to stop drinking purest fluid (9)
PUREST* in DIE
6. OOPS Neither knife nor fork cut up — oh dear! (4)
Reverse of SPOO[n]
7. MAGNETIC Court feature in wonderful drawing? (8)
NET (as seen on a tennis court) in MAGIC (slang for “great!”)
8. TRYSTING Policeman supports judge in meeting (8)
TRY + STING (lead singer of The Police)
13. SCISSOR CUT Barber’s work, Adagio for Strings, by all conclusions suits Christmas concert initially, when jazzed up (7,3)
Anagram of [adagi]O [fo]R [string]S + SUITS + C[hristmas] + C[oncert]
15. LUNCHTIME One perhaps requiring fresh hint with clue about possum’s bottom (9)
[possu]M in (HINT CLUE)*
16. ARCHIVES Crook with rash deeds in store, perhaps? (8)
ARC (crook) + HIVES (rash)
17,14. WARDROBE MALFUNCTION Action blamed for embarrassingly affected manner, as boob revealed on the catwalk? (8,11)
I can’t quite parse this – it’s an anagram of ACTION BLAMED FOR + WRUN, but I cant account for the extra four letters. The expression, for the “accidental” revealing of naughty bits, is said to have originated from this incident.
Thanks to morphiamet – it’s WAR (action) + (BLAMED FOR)* + UNCTION.
19. OCTAVO Engine not starting, tank fills up — might this be the size of the issue? (6)
VAT< in [L]OCO (railway engine)
20. ON EDGE Tense figure, old magistrate with nothing to lose (2,4)
ONE (figure) + DOGE less O
23. NITRE Explosive ingredient added to biriani, treacherous (5)
Hidden on biriaNI TREacherous

31 comments on “Guardian 26,576 – Paul”

  1. I parsed 17,4 as WAR (action)
    Blamed for*
    and “unction” affected manner.

    Thanks PandA 🙂

  2. Thanks Paul and Andrew

    I liked 25a, 5a, 9/28/22/24, 20d and my favourites were 6d, 8d & 7d (LOI).

    New word for me was PARIS GREEN.

    I failed to solve 19d and I needed help to parse 10a, 13d and 17/14 (I tried to parse it the way that Andrew did and could not work it out even though I thought that unction might have something to do with it).

  3. for 2a, I was thinking it was a double definition of DOORMAT = 1/ something that gets trodden on and 2/ a jellyfish = “a person who lacks firmness of purpose”.

    Is that what Andrew was saying?

  4. I also found this very hard work but worth the effort. Favourites were MISS PIGGY (brilliant – a clue that only Paul would come up with), LUNCHTIME, MAGNETIC and TRYSTING.

    I agree with michelle about DOORMAT. Have no idea about WARDROBE MALFUNCTION but it sounds as though morphiamonet@1 has parsed it. Thanks as ever to Paul, and to Andrew.

  5. I struggled with the long anagram. On looking up the answer, of which I had never heard, I discovered it is also an anagram of “MY SUGGESTION” – THE VERY FAT PORCINE ANIMAL.

  6. Thanks Andrew. Googling afterwards to explain things like the 11A poison I came across several references to DOORMAT being, as Michelle note, synonymous with jellyfish for a wimpish pushover. This was all good clean fun, and more than that: excellent moments and clues like the 8D policeman and the 15D definition. MISS PIGGY was good; didn’t know her quote, but got there in the end.

  7. Jason@5

    I couldn’t work out your anagram (“P”, 2 “I”s??) then realised you were including the author…. very good 🙂

  9. Thanks Paul and Andrew.

    This was very hard for me, but I enjoyed it, particularly MISS PIGGY, ARCHIVES, SCISSOR CUT and STRESS MARK.

  10. Thanks morphiamet – I’ve added your explanation of 17,14.

    I meant to mention in the blog that I was surprised by the double use of the rather unusual phrase “by all conclusions” to indicate final letters.

    Also, Barber’s Adagio for strings being jazzed up for a Christmas concert is something I’d like to hear..

  11. Thanks all
    Although I still get a slight ” not again” when I see Paul under a puzzle I am enjoying them more recently.
    Last in was invert.I struggled with Paris green due to my ignorance but eventually googled it!
    I liked 8 down a lot.

  12. Thanks Paul, great fun as ever.

    Thanks Andrew; I had the same experience as you in having ‘LIFT’ left at the end of the long clue and ‘wrun’ in the other one. I didn’t know the MISS PIGGY quotation but it was easy to check.

    LOI was TRYSTING, which I loved for the ‘policeman’ = STING.

  13. At some point in the recent past I said that Paul’s puzzles were getting easier. May I retract that rash remark because I found this very difficult. I also had trouble parsing several. I managed to work out the long anagram but, as I’d never heard of it I ended up guessing MISS PIGGY. PARIS GREEN was new to me too but the OED came to my rescue. I did like WARDROBE MALFUNCTION-FOI-which I got and then parsed.
    Paul remains my favourite but I don’t think this was one of his best.

  16. Thanks for finding the old magistrate in 20d and sorting out WARDROBE MALFUNCTION – two that I had but couldn’t parse. This took me several goes to finish (discounting a cheat on 11a which I didn’t know and 5d which I just lost patience with) but was well worth the trouble. The last one I caught was ROADRUNNERS (beep beep – just call me Wile E Coyote…).

  17. This was the most difficult Paul I have seen for a very long time! The long quote was new to me but eventually dropped out from the fodder and crossers, but I failed to parse a few: WARDROBE MALFUNCTION (which I had pencilled in pretty early from the definition and enumeration), ARCHIVES, SCISSOR CUT and ON EDGE. Last in was CHARD. Putting CANVAS at 1d didn’t help – needed a bit of guess and Check to finish…

    Thanks to Paul and Andrew

  19. I got WARDROBE MALFUNCTION early on (that Super Bowl half-time event was a cause celebre in the US) though I could not fully parse it but had trouble with the Paris in PARIS GREEN (he is not on my mental list of kidnappers and the poison was new to me) and DOORMAT and missed the l/oco part of OCTAVO (for me “loco” denotes “crazy”) and the M in MISS PIGGY (though the solutions were clear enough). Thanks to Paul and Andrew.

  20. Did anyone else notice that another set of final letters in 4d gives MERYL which might at a stretch be “one identifying someone on camera”?

  22. Paul @ 20. Yes I had MERYL to begin with.

    Thanks Andrew and (the) Paul.

    First time through, only NITRE, but this was sufficient to crack the long one (EAT probably, followed by THEN, and, as Andrew, the letters gave LIFT). Hurrah! I thought that’s now a good start for the rest, but, as others have said, it was slow to complete. I got M. Piggy only after googling the quote.

    Enjoyable.

  25. Found this hard – more difficult than the usual Paul – but very entertaining. In fact It took me over an hour to solve, but as I was sitting in a hospital waiting room, time wasn’t a problem!
    Failed to parse 17, 14 (in the same manner as Andrew) and had to guess Paris Green, though it seemed clear enough. I don’t mind making the odd (semi-) informed guess. Too many in yesterday’s Pasquale for my taste….

  27. A very difficult Paul which was worth the effort.

    I got off to a flying start by seeing WARDROBE MALFUNCTION instantly and parsing it 5 minutes later 🙂

    Shortly after this I got the long anagram NEVER EAT etc so things were going well. Then I entered MERYL for 4D (yes, me too!!!)_. Things began to get more difficult after this.

    One hour later I decided MERYL must be wrong and instantly saw NAMER with much gnashing of teeth. Things flew in then and having all the crossers bar the first for 8D confidently entered KEYSTONE as in cops.(I like to make things difficult) Luckily my inability to parse this and the unlikely ending of M?K for 5A dissuaded me from thyis and the puzzle was soon complete.

    I too had never heard of PARIS GREEN though the wordplay was very helpful!

    My favourite was SHEATHE purely because of the surface 😉

    Great fun!

    Thanks to Andrew and Paul

  29. That was quite hard work but a lot of fun. Thanks to Paul and Andrew: I was unable to parse Miss Piggy’s quotation and WARDROBE MALFUNCTION.

    As I recall, PARIS GREEN (aka copper acetoarsenite) played a crucial role in the Doc Martin episode Born with a Shotgun where Mrs Dunwich falls ill due to the green wall paper releasing the gas arsine (containing the arsenic) as her shotgun happy son was peeling it off the wall, she believing that he was deliberately trying to do her in.

  30. Not sure if it was Paul’s misdirection, or my own stupidity, but I misparsed 11a as “Peter Green” (the Pemberton Poisoner) with Peter Pan as the kidnapper. That error bogged me down in NW for quite a while.

  31. Thanks Paul and Andrew

    Late to post here – got caught up in a move of house and only catching up checking some of those puzzles now. Can remember this one being quite challenging – ended up not being able to parse 17d,14a although was able to get the answer easily enough.

    Finished up with MISS PIGGY, SCISSOR CUT and the very clever TRYSTING the last few in.

Comments are closed.