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.