Comments on: Guardian 24333/Paul

By: Will

Will — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 22:02:05 +0000

But wait a minute. I don’t really like this. Granted, I didn’t think of ‘damn’ specifically. But I did think of ‘darn’, which has the same uses but is even milder!

Surely a bit weak.

By: Stuart

Stuart — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 19:08:34 +0000

14d: Lighterage - LIGHTERAGE lie is the interrupted rest, gareth is the boy and g is the beginning of get, these last are reversed (up)

By: Colin Blackburn

Colin Blackburn — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 15:14:31 +0000

In Paul’s defence, DAMN is defined in both Chambers and Collins as an intensifier under a separate sub-heading to the main entry as an oath. Though clearly its use as an intensifier is derived from its use as an oath.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 14:33:04 +0000

Yes indeed. I still think 4D is a very weak clue, as the two defs are virtually the same. The answer could just as well be DARN, which is perhaps more clearly a “mild oath”.

By: Colin Blackburn

Colin Blackburn — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 13:57:01 +0000

Andrew, I guess we were both editing at the same time. I also see you answered Dave’s query.

By: Colin Blackburn

Colin Blackburn — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 13:54:53 +0000

Dave, DAMN = very. As in, “That was damn close”. It is also a mild oath on its own, “Damn! That was close.”

By: Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 12:39:34 +0000

To explain my long posting to late arrivals: originally there was just an apology from Colin for late posting, plus an invitation for others to comment or blog in full.

Re STAUNCH - I can now see it as a dd - “check amount lost” being one def. STANCH is apparently just an alternative spelling.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 12:28:03 +0000

Inspired by Colin’s invitation, and having a day off work, I managed to finish this one in about 20 minutes - quite quick for a Paul for me, but with a few niggles. So here’s my stab at a full blog.

Across
9,8,6,22D: IF YOU CAN’T BEAT THEM, JOIN THEM - reference to panel-beating, but not much of a clue, unless I’m missing something.
10 HEAVE(n)
11 DUD-G-EON
12 LAMBENT - N in LAMBET(H). Nice misleading use of “Queen’s back” to mean N rather than RE (ER reversed)
13 BROW-N. Can’t quite convince myself this is sound, but it is Paul after all…
14 LAMPOONER - (PLAN MORE O)*
16 EVENING STANDARD - EVEN IN + STAND in DRAG rev.
19,2 TOURETTE’S SYNDROME - SETTER rev in (STUDY ON)* + ROME. Tourette’s sufferers supposedly have uncontrolled outbursts of swearing.
21,22 - deliberately omitted (but easy)
23 STAUNCH - can’t understand the wordplay here: I think STANCH = ‘check’, but why ‘amount lost’?
24 E-VANS
25,18 GRUMBLING APPENDIX - is this just a cryptic def?

Down
1 WILDE-BEE(S)T
4 DAMN - confirmed by the online “check” facility, but I don’t like this: I think it’s 2 meanings : “very” - as in “very good” = “damn good”, and “mild oath”, but the “very” meaning is really a direct consequence of the oathiness.
5 (Omitted)
7 TAVERN - REV (reversed) in TAN. Ref to the character “Reverend Green” in Cluedo. I got this before 13, helping me to get BROWN there.
14 LIGHTERAGE - refers to loading (etc) by lighters, a lighter being “a large open boat used in unloading and loading ships”. Can’t work out the wordplay here.
15 RIDING HIGH - cf HIDING RYE.
17 IDEA-LIST - nice “aha!” moment when I got this
20 UNCLAD - presumably from UNCL(e)+(d)AD
21 C(R)ABBY
23,3 SOUP TUREEN - (UP NOSE TRUE)*

By: dave brown

dave brown — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 12:23:25 +0000

Dont understand Very mild oath = damn. Can see oath = damn but where does very mild come in?