The original puzzle may be found here.
This is Paul being Paul – clues with a sense of humour. I stared at a blank grid for a few minutes before I saw SHORT AND CURLIES and that was enough to get me started. I was held up for a while with he parsing of LOWLIFE and I had never heard of FLY AGARIC before, but every day’s a schooldays, even at my age.
Thanks, Paul.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | TETRAGRAM |
‘Fish’, ‘good’, ‘bash’ – one of those four-letter words (9)
|
| TETRA (“fish” often seen in aquaria) + G (good) + RAM (“bash”) | ||
| 6 | BIPED |
Man, say, placing one page between the sheets? (5)
|
| I (one) P (page) in BED (so “between the sheets?”) | ||
| 9 | BLITHERINGIDIOT |
Muppet Amin confined to more cheerful block? (10,5)
|
| IDI (Amin) confined to BLITHER (“more cheerful”) + INGOT (“block”) | ||
| 10 | ROCK |
Brilliant music? (4)
|
| If something ROCKs, it could be described as “brilliant” | ||
| 11 | KRAKATOA |
Old banger taking the biscuit with breakdown truck, would you say? (8)
|
| Homophone/pun/aural wordplay [would you say] of CRACKER (“the biscuit”) + TOWER (“breakdown truck”) | ||
| 14 | FLYAGARIC |
Dash a cigar off that’s poisonous (3,6)
|
| FLY (“dash”) + *(a cigar) [anag:off]
A fly agaric is a poisonous toadstool, used in the manufacture of flypaper. |
||
| 15 | NADIR |
Some villain, a director, the lowest of the low (5)
|
| Hidden in [some] “villaiN A DIRector” | ||
| 16 | ITCHY |
Irritable and hot in Windy City (5)
|
| H (hot) in *(city) [anag:windy] | ||
| 18 | MULTIPLEX |
Consider framing suggestion with old pictures (9)
|
| MULL (“consider”) framing TIP (“suggestion”) with EX (“old”)
Going to the “pictures” is an old-fashioned way of saying going to the cinema, which these days would probably be a multiplex cinema. |
||
| 20 | THE BIRDS |
Intervals including notes a perfect fifth apart horrifying singers? (3,5)
|
| THIRDS (“intervals” in music) including E and B (“notes a perfect fifth apart”)
As well as being singers (in some cases), birds are also the source of horror in Hitchcock’s The Birds, based on a Daphne Du Maurier short story. |
||
| 21 | MWAH |
Kiss and Wham on tour? (4)
|
| *(wham) [anag:on tour] | ||
| 25 | SHORTANDCURLIES |
One’s disempowered when had by those, Spooner’s Margaret, Temple and MacLaine? (5,3,7)
|
| If Spooner had tired to saY (Margaret) COURT AND SHIRLEYS (Temple and MacLaine), it may have come out as SHORT AND CURLIES | ||
| 26 | EATER |
Hog radiator, say, when first cut off (5)
|
| (h)EATER (“radiator”, with its first (letter) cut off) | ||
| 27 | ARTILLERY |
Arsenal’s feeble passing through channel (9)
|
| ILL (“feeble”) passing through ARTERY (“channel”) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | TIBER |
Runner in European capital concerned with section going uphill (5)
|
| <=(RE (“concerned with” + BIT (“section”), going uphill) | ||
| 2 | TWITCHY |
Bad speller in theory, extremely anxious (7)
|
| WITCH (“bad speller”) in T(heor)Y [extremely]
I think white witches may disagree with the “bad” description. |
||
| 3 | ACHE |
Long speech finally wrapped up by wizard (4)
|
| (speec)H [finally] wrapped up by ACE (“wizard”) | ||
| 4 | RARE |
Red colour a revolutionary adopts (4)
|
| Hidden in [adopts] “colouR A REvolutionary”
Think of a rare steak as being red, although a rare steak is actually called “blue”. |
||
| 5 | MINOR SCALE |
Noted progression without cabbage being mentioned? (5,5)
|
| Homophone/pun/aural wordplay [being mentioned] of MINUS KALE (“without cabbage”) | ||
| 6 | BRICKING IT |
Very anxious when building house? (8,2)
|
| If you are building a house using bricks, it could be described as BRICKING IT. | ||
| 7 | POINTED |
Keen I observe, nothing to lose in school (7)
|
| I + N(o)TE (“observe”, with O (nothing) to lose) in POD (“school”) | ||
| 8 | DOT MATRIX |
Pattern has Dorothy frolicking in spring, did you say? (3,6)
|
| DOT (Dorothy) + homophone/pun/aural wordplay [did you say] of MAY TRICKS (“frolicking in spring”) | ||
| 12 | UGLY SISTER |
Plain character gets surly, I gathered (4,6)
|
| *(gets surly i) [anag:gather] | ||
| 13 | PRIMA DONNA |
Photo briefly capturing mother, teacher and a princess (5,5)
|
| PRIN(t) (“photo”, briefly) capturing MA (“mother”) + DON (“teacher”) + A, so PRI(MA DON)N-A
Princess and prima donna are both terms used for a spoiled female. |
||
| 14 | FAIL TO SEE |
Miss payment claiming one pocketed by singers (4,2,3)
|
| FEE (“payment”) claiming I (one) pocketed by ALTOS (“singers”) | ||
| 17 | CHEROOT |
Actress and singer also going up in smoke (7)
|
| CHER (“actress and singer”) + <=TOO (“also”, going up) | ||
| 19 | LOWLIFE |
One defined by ‘scummy fellow’? (7)
|
| I (one) defined by *(fellow) [anag:scummy] and &lit. | ||
| 22 | HUSKY |
Growly dog (5)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 23 | SCUT |
Stumpy tail – ‘s pruned (4)
|
| S + CUT (“pruned”) | ||
| 24 | ORAL |
Test of popular opinion to the north (4)
|
| Hidden backwards in [of…to the north] “popuLAR Opinion” |
FLY AGARIC is also the toadstool usually pictured in fairy stories, the red cap with white spots, and those white spots are what cause delirium and toxicity. I knew it and it was my first one in.
Thank you to loonapick and Paul.
I took 10D to refer to a cut of diamond (or other gemstone) called a brilliant
Otherwise, for me this was a return to Paul at his most baffling, just when I thought I was getting the hang of things.
My faves: BLITHERING IDIOT, SHORT AND CURLIES, TWITCHY, MINOR SCALE
and LOWLIFE.
Thanks loonapick and Paul.
Lovely puzzle from Paul today.
Particularly liked KRAKATOA.
Pity about the ‘bad’ witches, though, as loonapick says.
Interesting solving experience today with every clue bar three solving in numerical order as I went through. The tricky ones being ITCHY (took a while to get Windy City), FAIL TO SEE (had the parse but needed crossers to think of ALTOS) and LOI, THE BIRDS (don’t have the musical knowledge to get either part of the parse so a bung and shrug). LOWLIFE my fave.
Thanks both
Yep lots of groanish fun from the Paulster, with ingots being blithe, crackers being towed, kale being subtracted, and so on. Enjoyed, ta to him and loona.
Nice puzzle! Thanks Paul and loonapick
I could not parse 19d.
I agree with the disappointment about witches being “bad spellers”.
I too thought ROCK referred to the diamond.
I spent so long trying to figure the homophone in DOT MATRIX I now can’t remember how I ever used to pronounce ‘matrix’. I suspect with a short a which would account for the time taken.
Really enjoyed this, favourite LOWLIFE once I’d twigged it.
Thanks Paul and Loonapick
Brilliant crossword. I parsed everything except being a bit hazy on THE BIRDS. I kept notes of favourite clues, but there were too many so I’ll offer MINOR SCALE, SHORT AND CURLIES, BLITHERING IDIOT, FAIL TO SEE, DOT MATRIX and KRAKATOA.
Cheers Paul and loonapick.
THE BIRDS were/are a band which would make them singers. I just remember the name.
Huge fun, I particularly liked the ‘four letter words’ misdirection and the misplaced cabbage! Solving (or attempting to solve) a Paul puzzle is always done with a smile on my face.
Thanks Paul and loonapick
They were The Byrds with a Y, Crossbar @11
Good stuff, thanks Paul & loonapick. Agree with others that the “brilliant” refers to a diamond, but I had a different difficulty sith this one: I was fairly confident with RAVE (“a rave/brilliant review” / the music genre) which held things up for quite a while … TWITCHY *eventually* revealing the ‘error’ (I still think RAVE works!)
Not on Paul’s pun wavelength today: I got MINOR SCALE but not the significance of the cabbage (a word made up – irrelevantly – of musical notes) and kicked myself when I finally gave up and revealed the Old Banger: great clues, both of them. Also missed the parsing of LOWLIFE. I enjoyed the four-letter words and the Court-and-Shirlies, and was happy to know FLY AGARIC. I also thought the brilliant ROCK was a diamond.
[THE BIRDS (with an I) were Ronnie Wood’s first band, before joining several much more famous ones.]
A quintessential Paul puzzle with a lot of head scratching, a groan at a homophone but plenty of humour.
Only THE BIRDS I couldn’t parse but got it from my general knowledge. Not overly convinced by ROCK.
Liked TETRAGRAM and the beautiful of simple WHAM.
Thanks Paul and loonapick
Enjoyable puzzle, mercifully without all those randomly scattered split entries, but otherwise full of Pauline trademarks: imaginative constructions, defiantly non-rhotic ‘soundalikes’, and surfaces that veer between the tight and shiny (TIBER, ITCHY, MULTIPLEX, THE BIRDS) and the word salad (KRAKATOA, MINOR SCALE) – fortunately there are more of the former here.
I particularly liked the two long entries, but for me the prize goes to the &lit LOWLIFE.
Thanks to Paul and loonapick
Sorry, I should have said MWAH in my previous post not WHAM. I blame the heat and a fried brain from this puzzle.
Good fun. Was there a mini theme with the princess (in PRIMA DONNA), the wizard (in ACHE), the UGLY SISTER, and the WITCH in TWITCHY? (I think there are enough wicked witches in fairy tales for the “bad speller” to be justified.)
BLITHERING IDIOT is a nice term — where else does one come across the verb to blither?
SHORT AND CURLIES is a song by the Rolling Stones (before Ronnie Wood, mentioned by gladys, joined them). (Ronnie is of course the new boy in the band, having been a member for only half a century.)
Many thanks Paul and loonapick.
Curious as to whether people actually get these answers via Paul’s thought processes. For example not in a million years would I have got ingot from block.
Outstanding, SHORT AND CURLIES and LOWLIEST are standouts.
Lord Jim @19, I liked your comment about the young Ronnie Wood.
Ta Paul & loonapick.
I wonder whether when Paul was filling up his empty grid he first went with BLITHERING IDIOT and then SHORT AND CURLIES. Just to inject a bit of irreverent fun into the solve today. Fun it certainly turned out to be, and with the usual one or two quibbles about Paulitic licence. Not at all sure about ROCK equating to Brilliant, and the MINOR SCALE took a lot of testing out on the tongue before it went in…
Too many homophones (if that’s what they’re called) that were non-rhotic. Okay to have one but more than that isn’t fair. At least, I don’t think so. Even “matrix” didn’t work for me.
My understanding of 10A is that brilliants and rocks are diamonds.
How does red equate to rare? Do people ask for red steaks?
I really enjoyed the last Paul and was hoping to feel the same today ;(
That was relatively gentle for a Paul despite the rather dubious homophones (Minor Scale and Krakatoa amongst others). Loved Short and Curlies. Thanks to Paul and Loonapick.
Me @21: LOWLIFE of course, thanks spellcheck.
Got nearly all of it, but couldn’t see why 5d is MINOR SCALE rather than MAJOR SCALE before coming here, as neither seemed particularly obvious. In a similar vein, to answer the question in 11a: no, I wouldn’t say.
Those aside, this was pretty good.
Lord Jim #19 and AlanC #21: Ronnie Wood also used to be in a band called the Birds, contemporaries of the Stones in West London in the early ‘60’s. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Birds_(band)
Thanks for the blog , at least the clues were in order . BLITHERING IDIOT was a neat construction .
FLY AGARIC is a magic mushroom but very dangerous .
The setter firmly following the current Guardian Mission Statement .
Anyone seeking a challenge could try the IO in the FT today , it is not too scary .
Thanks, Paul and loonapick. I didn’t parse TETRAGRAM, forgetting (or maybe not having heard of) the fish.
LordJim@19 – Chambers says blither (vb) means blether. That form of the word is common enough here in NI, and I think in Scotland too.
Thanks, Paul and loonapick. That was fun.
poc@26: I wouldn’t say ‘cracker-tower’ either, but that is because I know the correct name (as used in Indonesia) is Krakatau. The common English spelling is thought to derive from a mistranslated Portuguese report on the 1883 eruption.
Balfour@13 You’re right of course. I remembered when it was too late to delete. It is a homophone though 😉
I knew I shouldn’t have started this one as “just a quick look before going to bed”. It’s like cracking open a bottle of malt whisky – oh go on then, just another little one won’t hurt…
I do like Paul’s awful puns and sound-alikes.
Enough short and relatively straightforward clues to get to-holds when needed.
SHORT AND CURLIES, KRAKATOA and DOT MATRIX all made me laugh, and BLITHERING IDIOT was a neat bit of construction.
Thanks, Paul and loonapick.
More tractable than some of Paul’s offerings with the usual smattering of outrageous puns. I liked the disempowerment when had/grabbed by the SHORT AND CURLIES, the good surface for ARTILLERY, and DOT(s) MAY TRICKS in Spring.
Thanks Paul and loonapick.
Balfour@13 and me@32
But, but, but – I see in Wiki that there is also an R&B band called The Birds, with an I, which Wiki helpfully tells me should not be confused with the band with a Y.
My major complaint about Paul is the sense of bereavement when you finish and the fun is over, like coming to the end of an engrossing book. Brilliant work, as ever from the master. Thanks loonapick too.
Interesting that being called ‘wizard’ at something is complimentary but calling someone a witch is generally a derogatory term. Voldemort was a wizard and Hermione was a witch.
A real tussle but ultimately more fun for me than the last few Pauls have been, compounded by some shots in the dark that seemed highly unlikely but then proved parseable. MULTIPLEX, KRAKATOA and the audacious MINOR SCALE were my favourites. Thanks Paul and loonapick.
A great puzzle, with some real groaners. MINUS KALE, I’m looking at you.
10ac a rock, as in a precious stone like a diamond, may be brilliant cut to make it sparkle. That’s how I read it anyway.
Another great puzzle. Loved the long acrosses especially
Thanks Paul and loonapick
Re 19d…interesting too that today we are hearing a certain world leader referring to his adversaries as “scum”.
But SCUT is on the other hand a delightful little word to describe something totally other…
RabTheCat@20. I would never have cold solved block->ingot. But I felt AMIN had to be IDI and assuming the definition was ‘muppet’ led me to the 2nd word being IDIOT, which likely meant block->xxxOT. So a kind of back and forth approach if that makes sense!
Fun and games from Paul, needing a lot of thought. Finally completed apart from KRAKATOA which needed a reveal, and heralded a groan. Faves were BLITHERING IDIOT, BRICKING IT and SHORT AND CURLIES, if only because they’re three daft idioms.
I’m sure TETRA as a fish came up fairly recently.
Thanks Paul & loonapick
Thanks Miche @29. Yes I see that, as you say, Chambers defines “blither” as “to blether”. And if you look up “blether”, it’s listed as “blether, or blather”. Wiktionary includes “blother” as “an obsolete form of blather”. And to complete the set, the online Dictionaries of the Scots Language site has “bluther” as (among other things) “to make an inarticulate sound”.
NHO of CHELOOT.
I wasn’t sure of 10D as a DD. Parts of speech seemed wrong – yes, ROCK is a type of music (noun), but I’m not sure ROCK can mean brilliant in and of itself. However having read “a brilliant” for a brilliant-cut diamond I suppose it does.
Found this tough, but I’ve come to expect that when I see Paul in the setter’s chair.
If a wizard’s good and a witch’s bad, what’s a warlock? The sorcerous equivalent of a Liberal? Don’t mind me, I’m just blithering.
Lots of fun, particularly Spooner’s Court, Temple and MacLaine – sounds like a law firm – and the old banger. I finally looked up where the island actually is and was surprised to see how close it is to both Java and Sumatra. A little surprised Paul didn’t make use of an allegedly homophonic Romanian gymnast for 15a. Maybe that was a contortion too far. I also missed the parsing of LOWLIFE, like some others I see. I wonder why that anagram was especially opaque.
A nice start to the day. Thanks, Paul and loona.
Did all but the SE corner which represents an achievement for me.
When I gave up, I revealed the answers and glad I did…no chance of solving them.
Not sure if it’s been mentioned, but RAM = BASH does not work for me.
Margaret COURT was pretty obscure, though I did actually solve the clue.
Thanks both.
Fun puzzle.
ROCK has to refer to diamond, otherwise there is a part-of-speech problem with brilliant as an adjective, right?
Agree with others that LOWLIFE is great, but isn’t there an additional connection to the clue: Pond algae can be called scum, certainly a kind of life, and you would look down to see it, hence low.
Also liked ACHE.
Neither SHORT AND CURLIES nor BRICKING IT are in my idiolect, so those took longer than they should have.
Margaret Court (nee Smith) was well known – about 60 years ago!
Just great. How satisfying to finish. Congrats Paul, and thanks loonapick.
Muffin @51: Margaret Court is still well-known, if you follow tennis at all. They named one of the arenas in Melbourne after her; she also still holds the record for most Grand Slam women’s singles titles (though several of those were before the Open (i.e. professional) Era, back when the draw at the Australian Open in particular was a little soft (a lot of the top players didn’t bother making the trip to Melbourne back then). So kind of a soft record.
muffin @51 She remains very much in the public eye for her outspoken and extreme views on such matters as homosexuality and gay marriage, views which have led to calls from equal rights groups for the renaming of the Margaret Court Arena in Melbourne.
This one took some time and much lateral thinking. Apart from the annoying multiple non-rhotic soundalikes, this was a treat. I especially liked 21a MWAH — funny and unexpected, with a great surface. Also 20a THE BIRDS (I enjoyed the musical surface, but don’t care for the movie), 25a SAC (a fine Spoonerism), 1d TIBER (surface), 17d CHEROOT (“going up in smoke”), and several others
Many thanks to Paul and loonapick!
Dave#37 More sexist than interesting but it is Hogwart’s school of wizardy and witchcraft FWIW. There are bad wizards (Saruman, for example)
Comment #57
RogerPat @57
You have to take a lot of Roz’s comments with a large pinch of salt.
Great fun. Lots of laughs. Good to see a clue for TETRAGRAM that doesn’t involve MARGARET T.
Fair point RogerPat@57
muffin @58
Should everyone be expected to take Roz’s comments with a pinch of salt, or is there half a point that perhaps Roz shouldn’t sent out to be quite so inflammatory?
RogerPat @ 57 – I am rubbish at cryptic crosswords, yet Roz has frequently given me sound advice that I have found a great help.
Frankly, I have little interest in other solvers opinions in how easy or difficult a puzzle is.
This site would be poorer without her comments.
Admin and loonapick, I suggest that the comment @57 is in violation of site policy 1, is not in keeping with the tone of this blog, and should be removed
Although she’s well able to fend for herself, I’ll nonetheless leap to Roz’s defence, one of my favourite commenters on this site. Even though she’s an expert solver, she routinely advocates for both harder and easier puzzles, and, as mentioned by HYD@62, is often offering advise and encouragement to newer solvers. And what a great sense of humour! Rock on, Roz!
I found this quite tough, going to bed with the SE corner almost entirely blank. Even after having slept on it I resorted to some guess-&-checking in the end, with some clues still unparsed (or only partly) until I came here.
FWIW I too understood the first part of 10a as brilliant = diamond = ROCK.
BRICKING IT as such was new to me, but I have heard “sweating bricks” (and a coarser alternative) used with the same meaning.
Roz is brilliant/rock/diamond whatever. Without her fabulous sense of humour, I would have left this site a long long time ago.
Now for one of my favourites, Brendan.
This is a bit like one of those very early in the morning GMT World Cup kickoffs. I’ve actually managed to complete Cryptic 30054 already, but shan’t comment till a more decent time later this morning. Shan’t join the Roz debate either, definitely time for bed now…
Nice to have company ronald, without the sorely missed football yesterday, 30054 was super. Sleep well.
Well, I found this rather easier than many Paul puzzles, but with cryptic crosswords it’s very difficult to say whether that’s because, in objective terms – and what would they be? – they’re less difficult, or because one is getting used to the setter’s devices, and has an ever-growing list of them mentally to hand.
Very proud to finish a Paul, even a day late, as it doesn’t happen very often.
Some very nice ones: especially four letter words and low life!
Thanks both!
WD 69, I’m always very pleased to finish any cryptic crossword, so well done.
Well done WhiteDevil @ 49: no mean feat
Tough one from Paul. Thanks loonapick for the much-needed help. “Square-cut or pear-shaped, these ROCKs don’t lose their shape”: Lorelei Lee points the way on 10A.
Comment #74
As AlanC@65 says, Roz is a cut above as a contributor to this site. Dare I say she’s the Arsenal to the rest of us’s KPR?
I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle with its outrageous wit. Cracker tower indeed. Besides that one and the brilliant (it rocks) &lit at 19d LOWLIFE, my favourites were the clever musical clues at 20a THE BIRDS and 5d MINOR SCALE.
Thanks Paul and Loonapick for the peerless and lighthearted fun.