The puzzle may b found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/30029.
Maybe it’s allergy season, or maybe this was particularly tough for a Paul – anyway, I struggled, but finally was left with just 26A RHONE unparsed. I’m sure that the wordplay will be supplied as soon as I post. Apart from that, the puzzle is stuffed full of excellent clues.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | WHAT FOR |
Why it’s hard to open where a gap is unclosed (4,3)
|
| An envelope (‘to open’) of H (‘hard’) in WATFOR[d] (‘where a gap is’; Watrord Gap is a low-lying area which has provided a convenient link from the south-east of England to the Midlands, from the Roman Watling Street to the M1 The Gap is named for a nearby village) minus its last letter (‘unclose’). | ||
| 5 | GARAGED |
Kid pushed over, veteran shut up (7)
|
| A charade of GAR, a reversal (‘pushed over’) of RAG (‘kid’, verb, make fun of) plus AGED (‘veteran’, adjective). | ||
| 9 | ORGAN |
For example, brain that’s stopped (5)
|
| Double definition, the second being an oblique reference to the musical instrument with organ stops. | ||
| 10 | BREAK EVEN |
Neither profit nor gain from holiday flat (5,4)
|
| A charade of BREAK (‘holiday’) plus |
||
| 11 | PRESENT DAY |
18 needs to be anything but neanderthal (7-3)
|
| An anagram (REFORM, from ’18’) of PARTY (‘the rest of ’18’) plus ‘needs’. | ||
| 12 | BAKU |
Defended by Cuba, Kuwaiti capital (4)
|
| A hidden answer (‘efended by’) in ‘CuBA KUwaiti’, for the capital city of the Republic of Azerbaijan. | ||
| 14 | MADEIRA CAKE |
Sponge back in shower with a bar of soap, having created one earlier (7,4)
|
| A charade of MADE (‘created’) plus I (‘one’) plus R (‘back in showeR‘) plus ‘a’ plus CAKE (‘bar of soap’). | ||
| 18 | REFORM PARTY |
Concerned with supporting Leave (my, that’s extreme) – and now this! (6,5)
|
| A charade of RE (‘concerned with’) plus FOR (‘supporting’) plus MPARTY, an envelope (‘that’s extreme’) of PART (‘leave’) in ‘my’. The Reform Party – Reform UK, that is – was founded as the Brexit Party; hence the capital L ‘Leave’. | ||
| 21 | SOUP |
Ergo ready for liquid lunch? (4)
|
| A charade of SO (‘ergo’) plus UP (‘ready’). | ||
| 22 | WATER NYMPH |
Flier with orbital course, a measure of speed and spirit (5,5)
|
| An envelope (‘orbital’) of TERN (‘flier’) in WAY (‘course’) plus MPH (‘a measure of speed’). | ||
| 25 | ON THE WING |
Flying weight non-negotiable? (2,3,4)
|
| An anagram (-‘negotiable’) of ‘weight’ plus ‘non’-. | ||
| 26 | RHONE |
European river runs where white castle initially located? (5)
|
| A charade of R (‘runs’) plus HONE (H1 – ‘where white castle initially located?). At the start of a game of chess, one of the white rooks (aka castles) resides in the square designated H1; the other is at A1.
I woke up in the wee hours, and the answer came to me out of nowhere (as has happened to me before), but thanks to David @1 who got there first. |
||
| 27 | FARADAY |
Scientist’s spirit broken by school of players (7)
|
| An envelope (‘broken by’) of RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, ‘school of players’) in FAY (‘spirit’, fairy). | ||
| 28 | THERAPY |
18 and he gets counselling (7)
|
| An anagram (REFORM from ’18’) of PARTY (the rest of ’18’) plus ‘he’. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | WHOOPS |
Doctor oversees surgical procedures that went a bit wrong (6)
|
| A charade of WHO (‘Doctor’, long-runnung television programme) plus OPS (‘surgical procedures’). | ||
| 2 | ANGLER |
Riverside waiter, earring perhaps, with shaved head? (6)
|
| A subtraction: [d]ANGLER (‘earring perhaps’) minus its first letter (‘with shaved head’). | ||
| 3 | FINGERMARK |
Smear bit of fish with virus onto vessel (10)
|
| A charade of FIN (‘bit of fish’) plus GERM (‘virus’) plus |
||
| 4 |
See 19
|
|
| 5 | GRENADIER |
Guard on visits reading novel (9)
|
| An envelope (‘visits’) of RE (‘on’) in GNADIER, an anagram (‘novel’) of ‘reading’. | ||
| 6 | RAKE |
Romeo in drag? (4)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 7 |
See 24
|
|
| 8 | DENTURES |
A victory proving elusive in daring feats – trap set? (8)
|
| A subtraction: [a]D[v]ENTURES (‘ |
||
| 13 | BANYAN TREE |
Nearby supply cut by carpenter, say, European and Asian wood (6,4)
|
| A charade of BANYANTRE, an envelope (‘cut by’) of ANT (‘carpenter, say’) in BANYRE, an anagram (‘supply’ as in supple) of ‘nearby’; plus E (‘European’).. | ||
| 15 | DEPRAVITY |
Absence of moral rectitude with which 18 vied (9)
|
| An anagram (REFORM, from ’18’) of PARTY (‘the rest of ’18’) plus ‘vied’. | ||
| 16 | BRUSH-OFF |
Slight boo-boo at first, skedaddle (5-3)
|
| A charade of B (‘Boo-boo at first’) plus RUSH OFF (‘skedaddle’). | ||
| 17 | AFLUTTER |
Nervous say after a fall, stuffing knocked out (8)
|
| A charade of ‘a’ plus FL (‘FalL, stuffing knocked out’) plus UTTER (‘say’). | ||
| 19, 4 | I’M NOT A ROBOT |
It really is me in motorboat at sea! (2,3,1,5)
|
| An anagram (‘at sea’) of ‘in motorboat’. | ||
| 20 | CHEEKY |
Forward – as one’s behind? (6)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 23 | EIGHT |
Cube, elevation skimmed (5)
|
| A subtraction: [h]EIGHT (‘elevation’) minus its first letter (‘skimmed’). | ||
| 24, 7 | DEAD GIVEAWAY |
Easy clue: ‘Funeral director’s special offer?’ (4,8)
|
| Definition and literal interpretation |
H ONE is h1 on a chessboard
My faves: WHAT FOR, ORGAN, REFORM PARTY, WATER NYMPH,
RHONE, I’M NOT A ROBOT and DEAD GIVEAWAY.
Thanks Paul and PeterO.
Not too bad. 24, 7 was funny
Tough but fun. One of the few times I have enjoyed seeing REFORM PARTY and glad it was used to clue DEPRAVITY.
WATER NYMPH, MADEIRA CAKE and GARAGED took some thinking.
Also enjoyed WHAT FOR, RHONE (chess is one of my other hobbies) and the two split clues.
Thanks Paul and PeterO
David @1
You beat me to it, so thanks. I have added the wordplay to the blog.
I started this last night to try and break its back but just kept going because it was so good. I thought the linked clues from REFORM PARTY were just sublime but my favourites were MADEIRA CAKE, ANGLER, DENTURES, BRUSH OFF and the superb I’M NOT A ROBOT. I also took ages to parse RHONE.
A couple of typos in your Watford Gap and BREAK EVEN.
Ta Paul & PeterO.
I think the vessel in 3d is ARK.
Thanks Peter and Paul.
I agree with PeterO, not at all easy. But, on the other hand, did not take very long. I often find this with Paul puzzles. The answers come along regularly, especially once a few crossers are in place, and the parsing comes much later, if at all. Favourites were DENTURES and DEAD GIVEAWAY, both of which raised a smile. Thanks PeterO and Paul
I found this an easier – as distinct from ‘easy’ – Paul, at least in the sense that I completed it. But that completion has its caveats: I needed help with a good few, and came here for much of the parsing. A look at the blog above reminds me just how much I’m not on this setter’s wavelength in many respects, but this was one of his that was enjoyable and worth tackling.
Tough but fair, and very enjoyable; like Staticman @4 I liked seeing REFORM PARTY linked to DEPRAVITY.
You wait ages for one chess related clue… on the repeat of Victoria Coren’s Only Connect the other evening, a team of chessplayers failed to spot the sequence QR QN QB and Q.
Thanks to Paul and PeterO.
Fabulous fun. As is often the case, the last two in were my favourites; DENTURES and WATER NYMPH
Cheers P&P
Tough puzzle. As usual I was not on this setter’s wavelength and I usually avoid doing his puzzles as the enjoyment factor for me is always very low. I know he has many fans though. Chacun à son goût.
I could not parse 1ac, 9ac, 8d, and 3d apart from ARK=vessel / typo in blog where the last bit should read ‘plus ARK (vessel).’
Surely 10a should be “neither profit not loss“, rather than gain?
Thanks PeterO and Paul
I’ve enjoyed reading the blogs and comments here for several years and thought it about time I showed some appreciation. So I add my thanks to Paul and PeterO for today (and my general thanks to all setters and bloggers). I’m a big fan of Paul and found this one particularly entertaining and satisfying (even though not fully parsed). Blog was helpful as ever. I had completely missed Watford for the parsing of 1ac. I fixated on “mind the gap” on the tube and was trying somehow to get the ATFOR bit from the middle of “platforms”.
Paul in top form again and a brilliant puzzle. Like Staticman@4, I usually don’t want to see mentions of the Reform Party in clues, but this time, linking it to ‘depravity’, ‘Neanderthals’ and ‘in need of therapy’ was an exception.
Did anyone else guess THERAPY first (from a couple of crossers) and then deduce the depraved right-wingers? I did…
Finished faster than usual with Paul. Thanks for the parsing of water nymph.
Having decided recently not to bother with any more of Paul’s puzzles, I managed to complete this one (with much mumbling and grumbling) and now have to admit to rather enjoying it. Like all the best crosswords it seemed impenetrable at first and then the answers began to trickle in until, with enough crossers to help, all was revealed. Thanks to Peter and Paul.
Great puzzle as always from Paul. Like MikeStockport@13 I noticed the error in the clue for BREAK EVEN. Hard work from beginning to end but loadsa fun.
Blaise @16 Me too, by virtue of having opened my account with I’M NOT A ROBOT and developing the SE corner from there rather than the NW. I didn’t get to 18 and the other related clues until a bit later.
Blaise @16 – yes, I did! Though I didn’t have many crossers at that point, I bunged in THERAPY rather hopefully, and then solved 18a from there. Loved the linked clues – this was all round an excellent crossword. My last ones in were the crossing ANGLER and ORGAN, though once solved I couldn’t really see why they’d taken me so long. I was very proud of parsing Rhone seeing that I’m not a chess player and know nothing of its notations, but guessed that’s what it must refer to.
Thanks to Paul and PeterO.
I found this to be much more tractable than most of Paul’s offerings, perhaps because I biffed REFORM PARTY early and recognised the “anagrind and anagrist in a solution” trick which Paul likes to use — and so THERAPY, DEPRAVITY and PRESENT DAY fell in soon after.
And I really don’t think a “Romeo” is a RAKE.
Lots of fun this morning.
Pserve_p2 at 22, we don’t think it’s Shakespeare’s Romeo in person. We read it in the context of: ‘He’s a bit of a Romeo / Casanova etc,’ for a man of questionable integrity: a rake.
A tricky Wednesday, but we made sense of it in the end.
Thanks to Paul and PeterO.
I almost got there, but not quite – needed help with the parsing of WATFORD GAP, WATER NYMPH and RHONE.
The clue for I’M NOT A ROBOT is great – very clever.
But I agree with pserve_p2@22 – a Romeo is not a RAKE. The same coin, maybe, but opposite sides.
I hadn’t realised before that there were two Watfords – one with a Gap and one with a Junction.
But then, in my defence, I am from north of the north.
Like several others above, I fought my way through this with much sighing. I almost gave up, as I usually do with Paul, but persevered because I had some time. I enjoyed WHOOPS, I AM NOT A ROBOT and CHEEKY but was irritated by WHAT FOR. Does Watford Gap regularly feature in crosswords? I can see that the clues relating to 18 were ingenious – couldn’t work them out though.
Thank you for the parsing. I liked a lot of this crossword, but TERN within 22a seems like a word that you could only parse from the completed clue rather than it actually leading you to the answer. (Flier being such a broad category.)
As a relative newcomer to the cryptic puzzle world, is there a term for this sort of thing? Is it a generally acceptable approach or a reason to grumble?
Clyde@25 Both Watfords are on Watling Street, the Roman road from London to Northwest England (now the A5). It is not really surprising that two fords over that road should have both been named after it.
Thanks for the blog , pretty good overall and not too much jumping around . I enjoyed working out WATER NYMPH , DENTURES and BANYAN TREE .
Agree with MikeS@13 .
North of Watford Gap is a common phrase meaning civilization .
Not one for a beginner!! I solved a few, guessed a couple, came here for the rest! Thank you PeterO and Paul.
Very clever, using REFORM PARTY to often reform ‘party’ in other clues.
I agree that to call Romeo a rake is rather harsh. I don’t think a rake would have topped themselves, but moved on quickly instead.
And yes, DifferentAlanC, I agree that TERN = flier is wildly ambiguous.
Is it what you call the ‘surfaces’ that made this so difficult? When clues are explained, they make sense, but I just can’t break into the underlying components, instead always distracted by the wordplay… alas!
REFORM PARTY really a private company funded by very dodgy people to promote the interests of Trump , Putin and their cronies .
I do have sympathy for their views on migration – those Beaker People should sod off back to where they came from .
Nic@30 , do not “read” the clue , just read each word with suspicion , pause after the first word and before the last . TERN is always the second bird I try in wordplay .
Well, I found this a lot less taxing than the experience a good friend of mine has had supporting Watford F.C. recently. Otherwise known as The Hornets or The Horns. Really enjoyed the puzzle and the clues that required 18ac as a linking hint. Lots of healthy humour involved today, too. A steady solve for me, which is often not the case with Paul the setter…
This was a great challenge that has really affected my work today as I was determined to finish. I was pleased to do so with small parsing gaps at WHAT FOR and RHONE. I also wondered about whether neither profit nor gain was an error, not that it affected the solve. I was unsure about RAKE and considered toke as a drag that fit for a while, but it was otherwise unparsable.
I really liked the linked clues. I also liked I’M NOT A ROBOT, FARADAY (FOI), WATER NYMPH and FINGERMARK but I could list a lot of them.
Thanks PeterO and Paul.
DifferentAlanC@27: “TERN within 22a seems like a word that you could only parse from the completed clue rather than it actually leading you to the answer. (Flier being such a broad category.)” — Yes, indeed! This setter, Paul, is known to be “difficult” and often because he constructs many clues which operate in that reverse way: the solution has to be biffed (= BIFD = ‘bunged in from the definition’) or from the definition + enumeration + crossers, leaving you to post-parse the clue to work out how the wordplay works. The clue hardly leads you to the solution. Many people find that approach entertaining and satisfying to solve. Some don’t.
Thanks both but not for this bear.
‘Flyer’ as ‘tern and ‘carpenter’ as ‘ant’ requires a level of clairvoyance that I cannot achieve. Combined with watery definitions (‘shut up’, ‘that’s stopped’ (I could go on (‘now this’))) I was never at the races. My bad I suppose but I’m frustrated by a Paul that I could never have completed. A pastime becomes a wast(e)ime on days like these.
Roz@31: Ever the entertaining educator. TILT: ‘Beaker People’
I can sometimes struggle with Paul, but found this one comparatively user-friendly (apart of course for the ‘flier’ in 22a). Thanks to him and PeterO.
Struggled for ages until a guess at FARADAY got me a toe hold to work back to 18a. At which point I gave up. Don’t really care what the clues linked to it have to say. I can do without reminders of those (fill in your own swearing) ruining my free time.
Is it Backwards Day?
Normally I find Paul difficult to impenetrable, and not much fun, and I often skip his puzzles. Today was quite the opposite. Encouraged by some success early on, including the keystone REFORM PARTY (and twigging to the device in the linked clues, I kept at it and steadily solved it.
Apart from a couple unparsed (notably RHONE) I completed it in good time and also had a good time.
My way into the linked clues was to guess PRESENT DAY and work backwards from that to REFORM PARTY. A clever device.
I like the way that Paul can look at a word like FINGERMARK and see it as fin, germ and ark. My other favourite was SOUP which was very neat (and a nod to a fellow setter?).
Many thanks Paul and PeterO.
This is why l do crosswords; exercising the brain whilst having a laugh. Many thanks Paul and PeterO.
Paul should be a Friday or prize compiler, not a midweek compiler. He can’t write midweek puzzles.
I don’t think he wants to, and that’s ok.
I’m sorry, but someone has to say it.
Why did I find this Saturday’s prize a 15 minute job, but Wednesday was just unsolvable?
To be fair, it’s not Paul’s fault. They’re just supplying a puzzle, for which I’m grateful.
I hated Paul for ages, before I realised he was just put in the wrong place.
Paul, I’m sorry for being angry at you.
You’re almost at the level of Crosaire – which if you know your crosswords, is a very high accolade.
But I’m not here to do the Irish times.
If I want the Irish times, I’ll do the Irish times.
None of this is Paul’s fault.
It’s the editor’s fault.
Sort your 4 letters smash hits out.
Eekimus @42
Sort your four letters smash hits out 😂
15 minutes was a bit handy for Saturday! That took me over an hour.
A bit of a struggle but I got there in the end. A few BIFD and I failed to parse WHAT FOR and DENTURES. I liked the MADEIRA CAKE after a shower, the Leave REFORM PARTY (my, that’s extreme!), the WATER NYMPH orbiter, the RHONE with its white castle, and the ANGLER waiter.
Thanks Paul (is it Friday already?) and PeterO.
MikeStockport @13 and Drofle 19
If you google “neither profit nor gain” and make it past all the references to 10A BREAK EVEN, you may see that there are many examples of the use of the phrase as it stands (including one from Hansard).
Enjoyed the puzzle.
PeterO you have “adventures” as “dating feats.” I think they’re more adventurous than that.
Took me ages to substitute RE for ON to create GRENADIER, which had to be the answer, but it didn’t contain “ON”!
Thanks Paul and PeterO.
Superb fun as usual from Paul.
Thanks Paul and PeterO
Humbling. Enjoyable – thank you Paul and PeterO – but humbling.
As usual, not much of a clue.
Filled about half in very quickly, then could have stared at it for 20 years not got another answer.
Thanks both
I saw that it was a Paul puzzle and knew it would be tough. I had a 2 hour flight to work through this so eventually struggled to the end, having to reveal WHOOPS and CHEEKY but not sure why as they aren’t difficult. I enjoyed it very much.
I failed to parse MADEIRA CAKE (after spotting Mira in it and assuming that was the shower) and WATER NYMPH. I didn’t like the DEAD GIVEAWAY clue but bunged it in anyway with a sigh. I did like the Reform Party clues and luckily got 18a early on. Also liked BANYAN TREE and IM NOT A ROBOT.
That was hard work, but what an excellent puzzle. Thanks to Paul and to our blogger (and first commenter) for parsing RHONE, which I couldn’t but now give it my Clue Of The Day Award.
That was good fun, I stared at Rhone for a while , tried the chess logic but decided it would be Ra1h1 and took quite a lot longer before h1 sprang to mind.
I think different people’s minds click with some setters more than others, so some people can call a crossword a near write in while others say it’s impenetrable. With Paul I typically start with no success, maybe one clue in the first 5-10 minutes, then my brain somehow clicks into Paul mode and it seems to suddenly start to be accessible.
Eekimus @42 if you finished Vlad’s prize in 15 minutes I take my hat off to you. I found this much easier. Which just goes to show something or other 🙂
Thanks Paul, A really enjoyable midweek puzzle – solvable with some great clues and the usual selection of smile-generating parses and as usual a couple of parses that just passed my by, for which thanks to Peter O. Missed parses WATER NYMPH and PRESENT DAY. Favourite clues DENTURES, RHONE and DEAD GIVEAWAY.
PS To all those struggling and/or frustrated solvers – For many years, I dreaded seeing a Paul – now I can routinely solve them and miss only the odd parse and he’s my favourite setter – tough, but a lot more smiles than the occasional groan he still elicits. Struggle on and use this site for help, and you will soon come to appreciate his sometimes agonising wit.
Neanderthals indeed. Great fun as usual. Thanks Paul and PeterO.
I keep thinking that one day I’ll get one of Paul’s puzzles, but seems my brain just doesn’t work the same way.
6d – Neither of the definitions of rake have any familiarity to me.
Roz@32, thank you, as ever. My resilience is strengthened. Or somesuch! The Beakers were terrific neighbours.
I couldn’t parse 26a. I put Rhone in, but didn’t see the H ONE thing at all.
A typical Paul for me – only 4 solved on the first go through, and then with the aid of crossers everything gradually (very gradually) came together. And there were so many witty clues that I stopped ticking them at 11. Thanks Paul for the challenging fun.
There were a couple that I couldn’t parse – the chess clue at 26a RHONE, and the boozy sponge cake at 14a (a nice reminder of Flanders and Swann) – so thanks PeterO for the excellent blog.
Peter @54, we should dread a Paul puzzle. It’s what he does best – make me feel completely dumb.
I enjoy feeling dumb.
It’s why Fridays and Saturdays and the Irish Times exist.
My problem is that it’s Wednesday and the guardian crossword editor clearly has no idea what they’re doing.
The prize should – and regularly does at its best – take me a week to solve. Because I’m dumb.
But when I can do the prize in minutes, but a midweek puzzle takes days out of my life (which both happen too much with the guardian), it’s an editor problem.
It’s not a setter problem.
All the setters are doing is submitting a puzzle, in the honest hope to entertain us – which they always do.
It’s the editor who’s shafting it.
I know I’m not the only one who feels this way. This has been a problem going way back.
At least they realised Vulcan and Pan are good Monday setters now – which, say what you want, but they are. Monday should be just above Quiptic and not take hours to solve.
Nobody gets up on a Monday and wants a crossword that’s the equivalent of “where’s wally” full of everyone wearing red and white.
Know your setters and when to put them up.
Everyman needs to stop sniffing their own 5 letters talents after force, and set the crossword properly.
Pserve_p2@35: Thank you. The phrase BIFD (biffed) is perfect and will help ease the frustration when I need to deploy it!
I’ve obviously been out of the UK for too long (50+ years). I was looking at DROOPS as a solution for 1D quite a long time: DR + OPS but couldn’t see where the O came from. Then it suddenly struck me that the World Health Organisation had a handy acronym that sort-of fitted “doctor”. Whoopsy-daisy…
(But I did remember Watford Gap.)
I ran out of flexibility in my neurons with 3d and 14a still unsolved, so went away for a couple of hours. When I returned they dropped like flies – the clues, not the neurons. Couldn’t see how RHONE worked, so well done to those who got it.
Eekimus@60. You make some valid points but it would be good if you could do it while observing site policy with regard to a) not being rude and b) not talking about a prize crossword that has not reached its closing date. Thanks.
And thanks to Paul for the fun, and to PeterO for what must have been quite a tricky blog to write.
Enjoyed this very much and laughed out loud a few times, always – for me – a reason to praise the setter.
PeterO@45: I don’t wholly buy your argument about “neither profit nor gain”. It’s true that if you break even you have made neither profit nor gain, but you must also have avoided making a loss.
I always thought “North of Watford” referred to Watford, Herts, not Watford Gap, but I will of course defer to Roz@29 on that. I do remember coach services from Lancashire to London using Watford Gap Services as a refreshment/toilet stop when the M1 opened.
probably a decade since I was in here frequently (referring to the site as ‘225’..), but back in the grid game I am, & nice to discover that the old muscle memory is still there.
today, though… I know paul’s work, of course, but today’s was the first I’ve attempted in some time, & I’m afraid I was a bit “paul…. mate….” about a couple of them.
clearly I need to wire-brush off some more of the rust!
@blaise (#62) it irritates me greatly for some unreasonable reason when a popular-culture reference finds its way into a clue/solution so unashamedly.
we had all this spice girl nonsense the other day, & now here’s doctor who on the day the bbc announce that they’re not making any episodes this year & “would somebody like to buy it please?”
so I’m not keen on ‘who’ as a stand-in for doctor; for my money paul could better have played the ‘W.H.O’ card instead, & altered the clue to pluralise it as “doctors” (to throw us off the scent by suggesting an anagram), which will stand in for “W.H.O.” while avoiding the “dr who” reference which may not be as easily seen by folks that don’t know the show.
I always associate Watford Gap with the service station on the M1, which was very helpful here
.Loved Dead Giveaway, and got Dentures from the definition but no idea of parsing, so very many thanks PeterO for that especially
And thanks of course to Paul for the (all day, in my case) fun
I started this at bedtime last night but ended up finishing it this morning.
Well, I thought that it was brilliant, just brilliant. I found it a bit harder than Vlad’s Prize, but I don’t think that there’s any rule that most solvers must find the Prize harder than a midweek at all.
Having driven the M1 far too many times, Watford sprang quickly to mind as an example of a gap, which was one of many smiles.
Have a great day all.
As a longtime Quiptic devotee I thought I’d have a go at the actual Cryptic today… and immediately felt completely out of my depth.
I managed with a great deal of “this word feels right, and it fits, but I don’t know why” and I had to crossreference much of the wordplay with this (superb) blog.
Reading others’ comments I’m somewhat heartened that this was tough even by Cryptic standards!
Thanks PeterO
My experience was similar to HI at #49, managed about a half (a band at the top and band at the bottom) and stared blankly at the rest. I don’t know if Paul has dialled up the difficulty/whimsy or I’m
Getting worse but I used to do better in him than I have in recent outings. Not helped by not getting the link clue at 18 or indeed many crossers for it to allow a guess.
To Eek at #60 point, I believe the job of a setter (or indeed a setting editor at one stage removed) is to lose, but after a struggle. Whilst I agree with this in principle, I’ve always wondered if it is particularly helpful as it presupposes a “crossword solver on the Clapham omnibus” whose skills, vocab and general knowledge is well understood. Maybe as you say it’s a different man as the week goes on.
Ho hum. Anyway, I used to be happy when I saw Paul’s name, but not anymore.
As a specific point, I guess it’s not worth my time to point out (26A) that in chess world a Rook is not a castle. I have to live with the fact that my brain never makes that connection, with that word having been drummed out as a chess playing kid. But that battle is lost in crossword land.
I always struggle with Paul, and first pass I had a majestic two answers. Then I chiselled away a bit, got REFORM PARTY from the surface, and bullied my way to the end. A lot of very clever clueing (DEAD GIVEAWAY was probably my favourite), but a real battle.
Over two days clawed my way to within two, with 18a REFORM PARTY my loi ironically. I’d had enough by then, so I bunged in 21a THUS (“ergo”) and 16d WRITE-OFF (“Slight boo-boo”) just to get it over with, both of which were wrong (SOUP, BRUSH-OFF), as I anticipated, so dnf
I liked 9a ORGAN (“stopped” reference), 1d WHO OPS (an enjoyable pdm from wordplay that sounds very different), 2d ANGLER (“Riverside waiter”), 19/4 INAR (“in motorboat” anagram), as well as the clever use of the keynote clue
6d Couldn’t see why Romeo is a RAKE, but I think I’ve got it now — used ironically for a lecher
Roz@31 Well said! I had to look up “Beaker People” to get the joke
Loved it. Just sayin’…
We finished this this afternoon after a fairly useless attempt at the NW yesterday. Amazed that we got it all, even WHAT FOR, which as Australians ignorant of Watford Gap we couldn’t parse. Like others we found this tough but mostly satisfying: several responses were intuitive leaps that we then had to justify by parsing. Baz thought it must be RHÔNE but the best I could do there was suggest that the white rook might be the Right Hand ONE! Thanks very much to Paul for the challenge and PeterO (and others) for the clarifications.