The puzzle amy be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26738.
There are several names with first indicating surname or vice versa, a little loosely. There were some amusing cryptic definitions to complicate matters, but on the whole I found it a not too difficult solve.
| Across | ||
| 1 | DOWN BOW |
As a player, stroke something soft, then accept the applause (4-3)
A charade of DOWN (‘something soft’) plus BOW (‘accept the applause’). |
| 5 | BEARDED |
Hairy, hairy thing stopped to pluck third of hairs (7)
A charade of BEAR (‘hairy thing’) plus D[i]ED (‘stopped’) minus I (‘to pluck third of haIrs’) |
| 9 | SIGMA |
Greek character writing name (Martin?) backwards, minimum of Greek in it (5)
An envelope (‘in it’) of G (‘minimum of Greek’) in SIMA, a reversal (‘backwards’) of AMIS (‘Martin?’, son of KIngsley). |
| 10 | OESTROGEN |
Hormone required, or one gets high (9)
An anagram (‘high’) of ‘or one gets’. |
| 11 |
See 24
|
|
| 12 |
See 2
|
|
| 14 | DISBURSEMENT |
Partner having left, really in debt, sums wasted, money spent! (12)
An anagram (‘wasted’) of ‘re[ally] in debt sums’ minus ALLY (‘partner having left’). |
| 18 | PRAWN CRACKER |
One so puffed up right to punch man with beauty (5,7)
An envelope (‘to punch’) of R (‘right’) in PAWN (‘man’ in chess) plus CRACKER (‘beauty’). |
| 21 | ROTA |
Blight a schedule (4)
A charade of ROT (‘blight’) plus ‘a’. |
| 22 | LEAP SECOND |
Spring back for a little extra time (4,6)
Cryptic definition. |
| 25 | TEA LEAVES |
Duck on edge of roof remains for the pot? (3,6)
A charade of TEAL (‘duck’) plus EAVES (‘edge of roof’). |
| 26 | AMBER |
Though not dawning, shepherd’s warning? (5)
[l]AMBER (‘shepherd’) minus its first letter (‘not dawning’). |
| 27 | STIFFEN |
Set well back, marsh east of Senegalese capital (7)
A charade of S (‘Senegalese capital’) plus TIF, a reversal (‘back’) of FIT (‘well’) plus FEN (‘marsh’). |
| 28 | OVERFED |
Retired female minister into dictionary is stuffed! (7)
An envelope (‘into’) of VERF, a reversal (‘retired’) of F (‘female’) plus REV (‘minister’) in OED (‘dictionary’). |
| Down | ||
| 1 | DISOWN |
Ignore broadcast amid racket (6)
An envelope (‘amid’) of SOW (‘broadcast’) in DIN (‘racket’). |
| 2, 12 | WIGGLE ROOM |
False hair and artificial leg, Othello turns up for play! (6,4)
A charade of WIG (‘false hair’) plus GLE, an anagram (‘artificial’) of ‘leg’ plus ROOM, a reversal (‘turns up’) of MOOR (‘Othello’). To be pedantic, Othello is not the only Moor – but perhaps the most famous – and the light in which that part of the answer resides is across, which makes the ‘up’ questionable. However, the surface and cryptic definition are too good to make me very picky. |
| 3 | BRAZILIANS |
Nationals Blessed and May catching Minnelli up (10)
An envelope (‘catching’) of AZIL, a reversal (‘up’) of LIZA (‘Minelli’) in BRIANS (Brian ‘Blessed’ and Brian ‘May’). |
| 4 | WRONG |
Country not always upset over leadership in government? No! (5)
A charade of WRON, a reversal (‘over’) of NORW[ay] (‘country’) minus AY (‘not always’) plus G (‘leadership in Government’). |
| 5 | BISHOPRIC |
See company of writers cornering market in Irish (9)
A double envelope (‘cornering’ and ‘in’) of SHOP (‘market’) in IR (‘Irish’) in BIC (‘company of writers’). |
| 6 | AFRO |
A short jumper in style going over head? (4)
A charade of ‘a’ plus FRO[g] (‘jumper’) minus its last letter (‘short’). |
| 7 | DO-GOODER |
Despised philanthropist has to improve, when grammatically failing? (2-6)
‘Improve’ would be DO BETTER, of which the answer is an ungrammatical variant. |
| 8 | DYNAMITE |
Brilliant in sticks? (8)
Definition and cryptic allusion. |
| 13 | DECELERATE |
Slow eel reacted when tickled (10)
An anagram (‘when tickled’) of ‘eel reacted’. |
| 15 | BURGER VAN |
Meals on wheels serving maggot up with raven porridge (6,3)
A charade of BURG, a reversal (‘up’) of GRUB (‘maggot’) plus ERVAN, an anagram (‘porridge’) of ‘raven’. A splendidly ludicrous surface. |
| 16 | OPERATES |
Essential to Knesset, a report that’s written up works (8)
A hidden (‘essential to’) reversed (‘written up’) answer in ‘KnesSET A REPOrt’. |
| 17 | CASTRATI |
Old singers assigned parts, then deserter given one (8)
A charade of CAST (‘assigned parts’) plus RAT (‘deserter’) plus I (‘one’). |
| 19 | ROSBIF |
Englishman in Normandy, say, can’t be trusted with gold after uprising (6)
A reversal (‘after uprising’) of FIBS (‘can’t be trusted’) plus OR (‘gold’). |
| 20 | ADORED |
Trouble over cardinal being worshipped (6)
A charade of ADO (‘trouble’) plus RED (‘cardinal’). |
| 23 | PESTO |
Slug, say, with duck sauce (5)
A charade of PEST (‘slug, say’) plus O (‘duck’). |
| 24, 11 | BEEF WELLINGTON |
One required to trudge through honey, perhaps, eating starter in fragrant dish? (4,10)
An envelope (‘eating’) of F (‘starter in Fragrant’) in BEE WELLINGTON (whimsically, ‘one required to trudge through honey, perhaps’). |
So witty – how Paul can be so prolific and yet always keep the entertainment value up never ceases to amaze me. Not even any “Paulisms” in this one – unless they went over my innocent head.
If “up” in 2d 12a is giving anyone a headache they could consider “up for” (Collins: “as a candidate [or applicant] for” as the link leaving “turns” alone as the reversal indicator.
Many thanks to S&B.
Thanks Peter. Paul abstained from being Paul in 3D. Otherwise, as noted, he was witty and not too difficult, although I laboured towards the end on excellent clues like DO-GOODER. Didn’t know the hyphenated 1A or the meals on wheels van but it didn’t matter.
Thanks PeterO and Paul.
I needed explanations for 5ac (for which I had BRAIDED) and 5d.
9ac on first reading looked impossible.
An interesting 50′.
Isn’t 22a also LEAP (=’spring’) and SECOND (=’back’).
As I there were quite a few clues I couldn’t parse I simply had to mention this one!
Yes, I saw it the way MarionH does
Thanks Paul and PeterO.
I found this very hard and needed help with some of the parsing.
I tried to get rid of an E in the clue for WRONG, ‘aye’ stands for ‘always’, e.g. ‘for aye’, AY is a variant of ‘aye’ for ‘yes’, but I guess Chambers gives it.
I parsed LEAP SECOND as MarionH @4.
PRAWN CRACKER, WIGGLE ROOM, DO-GOODER, BURGER VAN and BEEF WELLINGTON were fun.
saw Paul’s name this morming and was looking forward to some slightly smutty wit. Is he losing his touch? a couple of missed opportunities there, methinks, but a tremendous submission nonetheless.
thanks, to both Ps
Thanks to Paul and to PeterO.
As most have said, a less taxing Paul than we are used to, although not without some tricky ones.
I failed to parse the DED in 5A, and got 26A purely from the definition and the crossers.
Not entirely absent of Paulisms – 10A vital to the reproductive process in females and 17D males lacking the vital part of their reproductive process!
Thanks Paul & PeterO.
I found this quite tricky. BEE WELLINGTON – whimsical or just weird? AdamH @7, what about the retired female minister getting stuffed. I parsed LEAP SECOND as most above, but failed to parse AMBER. I thought with the shepherd’s warning there was going to be a ‘red’ in there.
I liked PRAWN CRACKER and WIGGLE ROOM, although that might have been better with ‘turns back.’
A fairly straightforward solve, and an enjoyable one. The NE held me up for a while but that was not the fault of the clueing. The idea of the bees in boots made me smile, as did Paul’s adaptation of the “red sky” rhyme. Other favourites include WIGGLE ROOM and BURGER VAN (with that menu, the latter must be Heston’s latest business venture).
Although the second light in 2d 12a is across, the clue is still listed as “down”, so I’ll happily go along with that. I’m another who parsed LEAP SECOND in the same way as MarionH @4.
Thanks to Paul and PeterO.
Lots of fun, as others have noted. My favourites were PRAWN CRACKER, WIGGLE ROOM and DYNAMITE (which took a bit of thought). Like JollySwagman @ 1, I also wonder how Paul never fails to entertain. Many thanks to him and to PeterO.
To Cookie @6 — “ay” can mean always. I don’t think it can mean yes.
Valentine @12, AY is a variant of ‘aye’ for ‘yes’ in the OCED, but it does not give AY as a variant of ‘aye’ for ‘always’, nor do the online sites as far as I have seen.
Mostly pretty straightforward except that parsing BEARDED held me up, and I needed that to rule out BRAIDED… Liked ROTA and WIGGLE ROOM
Thanks to Paul and PeterO
yes many thanks to Paul – good fun as ever. as others have said, maybe a missed opportunity or two – particularly 5D, 3D and 27A?!
So is it wit or compileritis? The latter I say, and a lot of very unsatisfactory stuff in here.
1a ‘something soft’ (vague); 5a ‘hairy thing’ (vague as is the def); 9a ‘Martin?’ is vague and dbe; 10a ‘required’ is clue-stuffing to get surface; 18a compileritis def and not really accurate; 25a ‘on’ really is wrong for across clue in that order, and the def again has the -itis; 26s the LAMBER thing is very difficult/ obscure; 27a the S is got from Guardianism; 2 12d ‘artificial’ is not sufficient, MOOR is dbe, and we get ‘up’ for first time; 5d all dbe; 6d jumper=frog is vague, I would accept ROO because it is properly known; 7d a cheap way to do the cryptic; 8d 2nd def iffy; 15d should really have ‘meals on wheels HERE’ or similar, ‘porridge’ ind = Guardianism; 16d ‘up’ again; 17d how are ‘assigned parts’ cast?; 19d ‘up’ again; 24d so compileritic it is almost funny.
Not a good one from the sometimes good Paul.
Thanks Paul and PeterO
Another excellent puzzle from the remarkably consistent and productive Mr Halpern.
Cookie @ 13: the Scots have a phrase, generally used to round off an informal letter, “Yours ay”, an equivalent to the English “Yours ever.
hth
Those ‘assigned parts’ in a play are the ‘cast’. Elementary and fairly common cryptic usage.
17d how are ‘assigned parts’ cast?
One of the meanings of ‘cast’ is to assign parts in a play/film, etc.
Perhaps you’re not a native English speaker?
For those missing the smut, there is a teat hidden in the penultimate row for you to chortle over.
Cookie – as you guessed, Chambers gives AY as a variant of AYE = ever, always.
MarionH @4
Thanks for the addition. I had a passing thought that there might be some wordplay, but did not stop to work it out.
Cookie @6 et al
Chambers and the OED both give AYE and AY as variants in either sense.
Quite a quick one today – not much longer than Rufus on Monday – but like jennyk @10 the NE held me up a bit, until I stabbed at BEARDED for 5a. I’d worked out that an i was important but expected to add it not take away, hence my diffidence. However all went swimmingly from then.
Happy to join in the general approbation for Paul’s ability to keep the standard so high, especially the witty definitions for such as BURGER VAN and PRAWN CRACKER.
PeterO @22, my Oxford Dictionaries do not, nor does the version on line. I take it the OED you consult is the 20 volume edition? Oh dear, I wonder how much it costs?
Thanks to Paul and PeterO. I had trouble getting started but then proceeded fairly quickly. I needed help parsing [L]AMBER and WRONG – amd ROSBIF (new to me) was last in, but lots of fun here, especially BEEF WELLINGTON.
[Berry Hiker @14. Am I correct that the archives go back to 2007? I ask because I’ve been printing out previous Guardian puzzles in reverse order (I’m currently at August, 2011). One of the joys is meeting a lot of Araucaria items for the first time.]
[ACD @25 – the archives go all the way back to 24 June 1999! and only a very small number have gone missing]
Cookie @ 24
My OED is the 20 volume affair photoreduced into two hefty volumes (and a third for the supplement). I got it many years ago as a special offer from some book club. With glasses, the magnifying glass tat came with it, and a bright light, I can still just about read it.
Great puzzle. I struggled to think of a bear as a “thing” (5a) – I suppose if it is a cuddly toy, but then it may not be as hairy.
enjoyed 18a PRAWN CRACKER
Thanks Paul and PeterO
Cookie, Chambers does, as cholecyst @21 says, give aye as a variant of ay = always but both Collins and my SOED give ay as the first spelling of the word with that meaning.
Peter0 @27, thank you for the OED information! Thank you again for the very helpful blog.
Thanks, Peter O.
I found this a little tricky this morning, but pleasing all the same. And from time to time today I’ve been tickled by the mental image of a bee trudging through honey in six tiny wellingtons. Cheers, Paul, for that lovely little absurdity.
Eileen @29, thank you, my COEDs (1964 and 1995) do not mention AY as a variant of ‘aye’ = ‘always’.
The SOED, being two volumes, sounds a good idea.
Thanks Paul and PeterO
I enjoyed this. Favourites were LEAP SECOND and TEA LEAVES. I didn’t parse AMBER.
I wonder if Paul tried a different definition for BRAZILIANS (my FOI), but didn’t get it past the editor?
For some time I had HIRSUTE for 5a. Not only does it fit the definition, it (almost) parses. Take the third of haIr and put it in SUT to give SUIT inside HIRE – and HIRE SUITS are notoriously hairy too!
Cookie @32
We bought it in the ’70s at a very low price* as an introductory offer to a book club. [*We eventually discovered that, of its 2672 pages, pp 1241-1256 were missing!]
I see that molonglo commented earlier at the lack of a “Paulism” in the definition for BRAZILIANS.
(Eileen @34, do hope you managed to photocopy the missing pages. I read that the OED will probably not be printed again, apparently it has never made a profit. However, the online version seems to be popular, but costs one £240 a year!]
[Beery Hiker @26. Thanks for the good news. Getting to mid 2011 took a while and you’ve added more than 10 years to the supply. I can’t be certain I will stay compos mentis that long (I turned 80 this week) but I now have a goalpost to go for. Yes, I’ve found some puzzles MIA and going back means encountering some time-specific clues (e.g., one puzzle was geared to that night’s program at the Proms), but that can be part of the fun.]
How about ‘they were assigned parts/ cast’? That’s a direct association requiring no extra words, like ‘to’ for example.
I too was extremely surprised not to be hearing about certain other parts in the BRAZILIANS clue.
PeterO @27. Me too – though mine is only in 2 vols – and I never look within them. How sad!
Too hazardous Paul B, think of radiation…
Came to this late owing to a combination of George Osborne’s U turns and homesteading.
Anyway I thought this a little harder than usual but none the worse for that. I liked BEEF WELLINGTON, WIGGLE ROOM and ROSBIF.
AMBER was LOI. I parsed LEAP SECOND as @4.
Thanks Paul.
Thanks all
Enjoyable, I liked 25 ac and 14ac., but failed to get rosbif.
Cookie @ 36: The online (continually revised) edition of the (full) Oxford English Dictionary is available via most UK library cards, and is therefore free to those who hold such a card. Go to your county library website and look for online reference works, or go to the OED site (www.oed.com) and enter your library membership number. Pure gold.
As has been said a pleasant puzzle but towards the easier end of Paul’s spectrum.
Lots of good clues as ever.
Just to add to the “ay” discussion. My SOED has “ay” as alternatives to both meanings of “aye”. Neither as the primary spelling! (That’s the 2007 SOED through Wordweb Pro)
Thanks to PeterO and Paul
AuntieLily, how kind of you, and the UK libraries, but I live in France. However, I could find out if such a service is available with my University of Geneva library card. Thank you.
Cookie, a D followed by 8 numbers should do the trick. It’s a wonderful resource!
Thank you Glerb.
OED, ay, aye, adv. … The spelling fluctuates between ay and aye: the former if preferable on grounds of etymology, phonology and analogy. The word rhymes … with the group bay, day, gay, hay, may, way. On the other hand, aye ‘yes’ does not rhyme with these, and should not be written ay.
footnote how the Oxford dictionaries do differ!
The proper dictionary is Collins.
Thanks Paul and PeterO
Took this one to breakfast this morning and could only get about 3/4 done in just under the hour … then had another short stint to get it finished. Still without being able to parse 5a beyond the BEAR bit.
Agree that despite the high volume of puzzles produced by JH, it is very rare to get one that disappoints … and this one certainly didn’t.
Finished up on the right hand side with the clever DYNAMITE, DO-GOODER and the previously unknown ROSBIF as the last one in.
Thanks Peter and Paul.
Another great and entertaining puzzle from Paul. He beat me on ROSBIF – over which I’m kicking myself – but all fair, witty and creative as ever.
I believe a LEAP SECOND is added at midnight New Year’s Eve, so could only be parsed as #4