Guardian 26,755 / Puck

60 comments on “Guardian 26,755 / Puck”

1. As baerchen pointed out on the Graun site, LA is an essential part of 5d although it is not involved in the parsing-just American spelling.
   I think 10 would have been better if it were more well known (like Venus de Milo or David) but I like the idea(google necessary for that)
   I do remember McGuinness Flint-just trying to think of which banmd(s) they splintered from. Another google.

   Thanks for blog, Gaufrid.

2. Thanks Puck and Gaufrid

   Lots of smiles from me for this one, 18 especially.

   Copmus @ 1, from memory McGuinness Flint splintered from Manfred Mann (we’re they his rhythm section), and a couple of hit singles, recorded a (very good) album of mainly obscure or unreleased Dylan songs. Did they go on to be part of Gallagher & Lyle, or did G&L splinter out of them?

3. were not we’re. Bloody unswitchable-off autocorrect!

4. @Simon- I’ve just been checking out some You Tube-very easy on the ear-Wiki says that Flint was a drummer for John mayall-and mc Gunness played bass (and guitar?) for Personfred person.

   Yes I think Gallagher and Lyle were in the mix-I had an album of their’s “Heart on your sleeve”?)

5. I thought BONER was a sort of double Playtex: over-head (BON) plus a RE turn.

6. Hi Gladys @5
   That’s a better parsing than mine!

7. Thanks, Gaufrid.

   I’m sure there were not many of us who were not, initially at least, floored [sorry] by LA in 5dn – a very clever clue.

   Other favourites: VALPOLICELLA, THEBAN and ASYNCHRONOUS – Puck tells a good story, doesn’t he?

   I was also tickled by the use of an ’embed’ clue for EMBED.

   Many thanks to Puck for another cracker.

8. DNF for me, followed by four trips to Wikipedia: Black Bess, Cloud Gate, Valpolicella and McGuinness Flint. It’s not my day, it seems. Thanks anyway to Puck and Gaufrid.

9. Puck is one of my favourite setters. This one seemed to involve quite a lot of general knowledge – CLOUD GATE was new to me – fortunately I had heard of McGUINNESS FLINT but wouldn’t be able to name any of their songs. Did like VOX POPULI, EMBED, ABBESS, MARBLE ARCH, SCAFFOLD and DYSLEXIA. CACAO was last in – should have seen that much earlier…

   Thanks to Puck and Gaufrid

10. Should have mentioned that I also needed Google to confirm VALPOLICELLA – my knowledge of wine is rather limited – beer and whisky are more my speciality

11. Thanks Puck and Gaufrid.

    Great fun, of course I was fooled to start with by ‘legend’ and LA, and the rock band and the statue were not known by me (mrpenney should like the CLOUD GATE clue).

    I especially liked FOOTSIE, BONER, SMALL HOURS, ABBESS, CACAO and ODDS.

12. A bit too clever for me, as I hadn’t heard of CLOUD GATE or MCGUINNESS FLINT. But otherwise enjoyable. Favourites were HALF-INCHED, SMALL HOURS, GEL and VALPOLICELLA. Many thanks to Puck and Guafrid.

13. Thanks Gaufrid for the best laugh of the morning – Playtex clues. Once read always remembered.

14. Well not TOO bad. Generally, it felt that the words had been smashed to bit to get a surface, but that is sometimes the Guardian style I suppose.

    9a Guardianism and also the grammar (with x return) is faulty; 10a I don’t know how anyone can be expected to get this stand-alone; 11 only in the Guardian but yes okay; 22a ‘stolen’ is better surely, but again a Guardianism; 25a a goos example of the smashed-to-bits stuff, very messy. ‘Texted’ is better I think; 4d word order, as elsewhere a little, stretched; 5d compileritis ++++; 6d either ‘in outsize’ or ‘with outsize clothing’ must be better.

    HH

15. Thanks Guafrid and Puck
    I enjoyed much of this but found some parts hard. I cheated on 10a – the cloud part was ok but missed the gate – and on 13, 23d where Flint seemed clear but the group was unknown to me. I also failed to parse 5d properly despite being fairly used to the trick, and also 22a. All were clearly clued I have to admit.

16. Thanks Puck & Gaufrid.

    I always wonder why setters use something fairly obscure like CLOUD GATE when say ‘cloud base’ would be known by everyone. I suppose he just fancied the clue. I’m surprised anyone can remember the 70s, let alone MCGUINNESS FLINT. Perhaps Puck is just doing the product placement with Guinness and Adidas!

    There were some really nice clues though, such as those for HALF-INCHED and SMALL HOURS.

    I wonder what clue Paul would write for BONER?

17. Quite surprised to find our beloved Cloud Gate in a British puzzle. (Sure, visitors to the city all have the obligatory picture posing by The Bean, as we affectionately call it. But how many visitors do we get, really? And probably even New Yorkers, let alone Londoners, would be hard-pressed to know the actual name of it. So for most of you, an obscure bit of general knowledge indeed.)

    For my part, I cheated on both valpolicella (not a wine I’m familiar with) and McGuinness Flint.(quite a musical obscurity). Cosh, too, was an unfamiliar Britishism, but I put it in, shakily, based on wordplay..

18. re. 14a): I still don’t see how LA fit into this. I got it by using ‘porn of all’ as the anagram, with ‘sorts’ as the indicator.
    The clue could therefore just be: “Visual story of porn, of all sorts.”
    Can anyone explain what LA adds to this?

    also: I guessed half-inched but don’t understand the definition. So “he’d” is at the end of it – but how does this explain “halfinc”?

    overall: only got about a third of the way through, then found some of my guesses were correct without understanding why! 10a) and 14a) were beyond me. Favourites: 5a) and 18a).

19. Chacun a son goût (he says, bravely trying an accented vowel for the first time on this site). I found this a bit of a slog and resorted to guesswork too often for my liking, not always bothering to go back and decipher or justify the clue. I quite understand how this sort of thing appeals to some, but it doesn’t appeal as much to me. I was glad there were enough interesting, clever clues to keep me going, and I managed to finish the puzzle except for two unfamiliar answers, as already noted by others:

    10A CLOUD GATE and 13,23D MCGUINNESS FLINT

20. [mrpenney @17, I think you get more ‘visitors’ than you realise in Chicago, it being a conference centre, my late husband went frequently, my eldest son has already been four times, and so has his wife.]

21. bobloblaw @18

    As I mentioned in my blog, the ‘of LA’ indicates that ‘story’ is the N. American spelling of storey (floor).

    22ac is one of those reverse clues where part or all of the entry provides some of the wordplay. In this case, HALF [of] INCHED gives HED which is indicated by ‘he’d possibly’ in the clue.

22. Gaufrid @21

    Ah I see, the LA reference is quite sneaky …

    I get 22ac now but it still feels clunky to me

23. @Robi 16- maybe Paul would have said
    Eve’s description of Adam’s part after encounter with Eden Hazard(5)

24. copmus @23

    Or: Mistake what Eve might have seen below Adam’s rib (5)

    (You gave me the idea.)

25. I have never ever called Guinness a porter and neither, to the best of my knowledge, have Guinness. It’s a stout. Sloppy clueing, and if HH had picked it up I would have been the first to endorse (though if I’d got it unaided I might not have been moaning).

    Multiple failures on my part anyway. I had HALF-INCHER not -INCHED, expecting a noun, and CLOUD BASE not GATE as I’d heard of the former not the latter (even though I’d toyed with gate earlier). I didn’t know that BONER meant a stupid mistake, and only got it by elimination.

    And with BONER, AN(NU)AL, FOOTSIE, the topless nuns and the large bust, is does seem as though Puck is going for the mantle that Paul seems lately to have shed.

26. @25
    “The best of your knowledge” does not appear to include even the most basic Google search. Perhaps “sloppy” isn’t a judgement you should make so readily of other people.

27. Thanks Herb @26
    Someone ought to change Wikipaedia then. I know, silly me for taking that option. That and the Camra website. Checked the Guinness website too but could see no reference to either style though I didn’t look hard.

28. Thanks to Puck and Gaufrid. I fought my way through this one but needed help with the parsing. I got GEL but, as usual, was late getting the on-leg link from cricket; I got HALF-INCHED from the clues but did not know the slang term; I got FLOOR PLAN from the anagram but missed the “story” part of the clue (and not because of the US-LA spelling); and never heard of MCGUINNESS FLINT though again I got flint first, then the Mc and Guiness followed by a Google check. A challenge but lots of fun.

    [Cookie@20: I too have been to a conference in Chicago and seen the Cloud Gate.]

29. I think stout is a better term for Guinness, as the stronger porters were called extra porter or double porter or…. stout porter. So stout means porter that is stronger, in theory. I wouldn’t call Gunness ‘porter’, so I think Herb is as usual being a bit heavy-handed, and the clue is making life easy for itself really.

30. Trailman & Herb
    Let’s not quibble. I could supply plenty of supporting evidence but a single definition from Collins will suffice:

    stout – strong porter highly flavoured with malt

31. Thanks Gaufrid @31 (though a quibble a day does you good)

32. https://www.inside.com/drink/u44if/guinness-announces-two-new-beers-to-be

33. It’s never a good idea to question Puck on Irish questions!

34. Thanks Puck and Gaufrid
    Mostly (but not entirely) rather easy for a Puck puzzle. I did know McGuinness Flint, but I entered last a very tentative CLOUD GATE, thinking the “gate” bit might be another “Watergate”-derived scandal indicator.

    Loved FOOTSIE.

35. I had mixed feelings about this. I did about half of this without any trouble but then I got stuck essay in the SE corner. I knew MCGUINNES FLINT, and remember them as being rather good, but it took me a long time to get it/them. I wouldn’t have called Guinness a porter but I don’t see anything wrong with doing so.
    I got FLOOR PLAN from the crossers and assumed our esteemed editor had slipped up again!
    Looking at the completed puzzle, I think it’s rather better than I gave it credit for.

    Thanks Puck

36. I don’t have a bottle to hand to check, but I think it does actually say “porter” on a guinness bottle. Hang on while I go and buy one………………………………………………

37. Please don’t muffin! Any reputation I might have will be shredded …

38. Guinness (the Brewer) do make two porters: West Indian & Dublin. Not bad but no match for Sam smiths

39. Boner?? I think not!! Ask any schoolboy…..

40. The porter/stout thing is interesting because (I suspect) porter in particular can mean different things to different people. To me, porter and stout define the difference between each other and I am not convinced a dictionary definition is more accurate than mine. Stout is black and bitter whereas porter is dark ruby and sweeter.

    To me.

    Of course it’s contrived to use the ambiguity of the word porter and that’s what it’s all about so unlike Humourless Hedgehoggy (that’s what HH stands for, doesn’t it?) it doesn’t detract from my fun.

    1 x ? = 1 for the Captcha? Blimey…

41. I think 24d is a triple definition:
    Cosh = a function, a snug bar (so hotel isn’t totally redundant) and a bludgeon.
    The snug bar definition is Scottish but it’s new to me.

42. I found this challenging and rather too reliant on not-so-general knowledge, but I enjoyed it nevertheless. My favourite clue was for ASYNCHRONOUS. Parsing HALF-INCHED was beyond me. Although I guessed FLINT for 23d, I still had to search online for the rest of the group name. I had to confirm VALPOLICELLA online, and also CLOUD GATE. If I’d ever heard the official name of that sculpture I’d forgotten it, thinking of it just as “the Bean”.

    I don’t think that “hotel” was necessary for the surface reading of 24d, as “Function at bar or club?” would have worked just as well. Until I read Jellyroll @42, I thought that perhaps Puck was just being kind to solvers who might have struggled with the less familiar function, but it seems it was a cleverer clue than I had realised.

    Thanks to Puck and Gaufrid.

43. Oops – that should have been Jellyroll @41.

44. Gaufrid@21 Some of bobloblaw’s confusion over 5 down probably arises from the fact that “of LA” isn’t highlighted as part of the definition, which I think it should be. That would make the explanation clearer.

45. Lots of nice clues as usual from Puck. Unfortunately I must be getting used to him since it was a quick solve for me. Perhaps I was just on Puck’s wavelength as I saw all the “clever” clues almost instantly.

    The only brief hold up was Cloud Gate but “cloud” was “nailed on” from the clue and crossers and “gate” eventually came from scandal.

    I also enjoyed stoutportergate. Just to completely finish off Trailmain “Guinness Extra Stout” was in fact called “Guinness Extra Superior Porter” until 1840. So in fact Guinness have called “Guinness” porter. Perhaps it wasn’t wise to challenge a Yorkshireman who lives in Cork about his knowledge of Guinness? 😉

    Thanks to gaurid and Puck

46. What has happened to muffin? Perhaps he has tried the new West Indies Porter, it has a 6% alcohol content compared to the usual 4.2% content for Guinness stout…

47. Present and correct @36, Cookie!

48. Thanks to Gaufrid for the blog, and to others for your comments.

    Seasonal greetings to all.

    Brendan (not that one) @45: A Cork taxi driver once stopped the car on my way to the airport and (jokingly, as it turned out) told me to get out of the car – because I said I had been drinking Guinness. There’s a huge rivalry between Dublin and Cork (“the real capital”), and Murphy’s and Beamish are the Cork alternatives to Guinness. That of course doesn’t stop a lot of Guinness being drunk in Cork.

49. I live in Los Angeles and was completely thrown by the 5dn LA, but I was unaware of the storey spelling. Noah Webster contributes to the difficulty of these puzzles almost as much as the setters do.

    I think I’ll go have a Guinness to celebrate having the intuition to cheat rather than wasting all afternoon looking up obscure rock groups.

50. What is a playtex clue?

51. Cloud Gate features in the movie “Source Code”.

52. phyll @50
    Gaufrid defines Playtex clue in 5 across – “Playtex (lift and separate) clue”. The example there is legend becoming leg end (=foot).

53. phyll @50
    Playtex is a make of bra which used to advertise its products with the promise that they would “lift and separate”, hence Gaufrid’s use of the phrase to describe a clue in which you have to divide a word and use the parts separately.

54. Thanks for dropping in Puck.

    I wasn’t aware of the North/South porter divide though perhaps I should have been? My maternal grandma was from Cork and my wife and I went to Cork in the mid 1980s to start a cycling tour of the south coast. Spookily I seemed to have a rudimentary knowledge of the layout of the city although I’d never been there!!!

55. Thanks Bagel and Jennyk. A bit dim of me

56. Why is AD bill in 20 dn?

57. Hi Elizabeth
    A bill is an advert often posted on a hoarding. I used to feel sorry for him when I kept seeing ‘Bill Posters Will Be Prosecuted’.

58. Thanks Gaufrid and Puck.

    It’s a long time since I failed to finish a puzzle but was floored in spades this time missing out on BONER, ANNUAL, HALF INCHED, TISANES, McGUINNESS FLINT and ADIDAS I’m ashamed to say.

    I was pleased to get CLOUD GATE and spotted the reason for LA in 5 dn.

    Which reminds me, I currently work on the 10th floor of an office block. There used to be an 11th floor – but that’s another stor(e)y!

59. Late to comment but surprised how many here didn’t know of the great blues band McGuinness Flint. Tom McGuinness nowadays is part of Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings.

60. Thanks Puck and Gaufrid

    Strange – a Puck puzzle without a clue – can’t remember seeing that before.

    Needed to use a lot of electronic help to get to the end (mostly checking where the word play had led me) with clues like CLOUD GATE, MCGUINNESS FLINT (although found that I knew both of their hit songs “When I’m Dead and Gone” and “Malt and Barley Blues” when I listened to them), the VALPOLICELLA wine, to check the meaning of VOX POPULI and Dick Turpin’s horse’s name.

    A lot of fun an a sense of achievement when finished as is normal … but no theme … 😮

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