The original puzzle may be found here.
Paul is playing games with us this morning… card games that is. Most of the clues have some reference to card games, either in the clue or in the solution. I was unable to parse FAR OFF to my satisfaction as it appears to me that the O is part of FARO and OFF without that being indicated in the clue (of course I may be wrong). The key to the puzzle is definitely solving 8 across. Once I worked that one out, many of the other clues fell into place in a way that doesn’t often happen to me when I’m solving a Paul.
Thanks, Paul.
| ACROSS | ||
| 8 | CARD GAME |
Clown prepared for war, perhaps (4,4)
|
| CARD (“clown”) + GAME (“prepared”) | ||
| 9 | PLAICE |
Spot in which I will go fish? (6)
|
| PLACE (“spot”) in which I will go | ||
| 10 | SORE |
Red four from sevens or eights (4)
|
| hidden in [four (letters) from] “sevenS OR Eights” | ||
| 11 | FALSE TEETH |
London school probing death on the wobbly bridge (5,5)
|
| LSE (“London School” of Economics) probing FATE (“death”) on *(the) [anag:wobbly] | ||
| 12 | SEE RED |
Pick up only hearts and diamonds then in snap? (3,3)
|
| SEE (“pick up”) + RED (‘hearts and diamonds” in cards) | ||
| 14 | PASSOVER |
Bridge holiday (8)
|
| PASS OVER (“bridge”) | ||
| 15 | ANAGRAM |
Hopeless at whist, I could get what it is! (7)
|
| *(at whist i) is an ANAGRAM (indicated by “hopeless”) of “what it is” | ||
| 17 | TICKERS |
Hearts, the first discarded by those not twisting? (7)
|
| [the first discarded by] (s)TICKERS (“those not twisting” in e.g. blackjack) | ||
| 20 | SPINSTER |
Old maid and spider? (8)
|
| Double definition, the second being an old word for a spinner | ||
| 22 | FAR OFF |
8 Across blasted, inaccessible? (3-3)
|
| FARO (card game, so “8 across”) + FF | ||
| 23 | BEER GARDEN |
Brag about drinking always, with office in location adjoining pub (4,6)
|
| *(brag) [anag:about] drinking E’ER (“always”) with DEN (“office”) | ||
| 24 | EELS |
A little patience, else fish (4)
|
| Hidden in [a little] “patiencE ELSe” | ||
| 25 | HUSTLE |
Cheat thus toyed with love, heart surrendered (6)
|
| *(thus) [anag:toyed] with L(ov)E with its heart surrendered | ||
| 26 | ELEPHANT |
Solo effort’s last seen by retiring footballer, giant (8)
|
| HAN (Solo) (character in Star Wars) + (effor)T [‘s last] seen by [retiring] <=PELE (“footballer”) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | NAPOLEON |
8 Across I’m excited to take on in general (8)
|
| NAP (“card game, so “8 across”) + OLE (“I’m excited”) to take ON | ||
| 2 | IDLE |
Reportedly, celebrity out of work (4)
|
| Homophone/pun/aural wordplay [reportedly] of IDOL (“celebrity”) | ||
| 3 | FAFFED |
Female agent in support of players’ association was dithering (6)
|
| F (female) + FED (FBI “agent”) in support of FA (Football Association, so “player’s association”) | ||
| 4 | DEWLAPS |
Commentator’s anticipated error – those hanging on by a neck? (7)
|
| Homophone/pun/aural wordplay [commentator’s] DUE (“anticipated”) + LAPSE (“error”) | ||
| 5 | APRES-SKI |
Partying, where piano found in skip? (5-3)
|
| P (piano, in music notation) is found APRES (“after”) SKI in SKI-P | ||
| 6 | CASEWORKER |
A stitch bandaged by beauty, community professional (10)
|
| A + SEW (“stitch”) bandaged by CORKER (“beauty”) | ||
| 7 | SCYTHE |
Tool with key finally locked in dilapidated chest (6)
|
| (ke)Y [finally] locked in *(chest) [anag:dilapidated] | ||
| 13 | REGENERATE |
Eat greener bananas – and heal (10)
|
| *(eat greener) [anag:bananas] | ||
| 16 | ANTEATER |
Budget ultimately invested in a better groomed animal (8)
|
| (budge)T [ultimately] invested in A.NEATER (“better groomed”) | ||
| 18 | RIFFLING |
Preparation for 8 Acrosses, solo and fish (8)
|
| RIFF (“solo”) and LING (“fish”) | ||
| 19 | BRIDLED |
Drained cups free to be checked (7)
|
| BLED (“drained”) cups RID (“free”) | ||
| 21 | PLEXUS |
Benefit introducing former network (6)
|
| PLUS (“benefit”) introducing EX (“former”) | ||
| 22 | FINGER |
Poker face in game, better concealing that (6)
|
| [face in] G(ame) concealed by FINER (“better”) | ||
| 24 | ECHO |
Bounce back in elimination contest, hammering opponent firstly (4)
|
| E(limitation) C(ontest) H(ammering) O(pponent) [firstly] |
Hesitate to suggest, but 22a FF could be ” for f***’s ” as in FFS?
FF is fortissimo = blasted, extremely loud, as in ghetto blaster.
I originally parsed 22a as IanSW did, but agree that Balfour’s parsing is better.
Don’t know why I attempted this — I usually steer clear of Paul’s. Less than half solved. That I’m not into card games didn’t help.
In 22a I blithely accepted that far was a(nother) card game I didn’t know without bothering to check it, but I do like Balfour’s explanation
Far too long to get CARD GAME which slowed the solve down considerably. It was mostly seeing the theme in non-linked clues which led to me twigging it.
Didn’t quite get APRES-SKI or FAR OFF but there wasn’t much else they could be with the checking letters.
Enjoyed FINGER and CASEWORKER.
Thanks Paul and Loonapick
Thanks both. Lots of unknowns for me, although plenty of easier clues to get a toe in. I am sure it exists in a dictionary but I am not convinced re pass over meaning bridge. Overpass (and underpass) would seem more common, pass over meaning to skip or omit. Also re 8a, given the theme, was surprised to see clown not joker. Unusually there seemed a distinct lack of toilet humour.
I enjoyed that. Thank you Paul.
And thanks to loonapick for parsing a few that I couldn’t.
Thought that this was very straightforward for Paul, and had it done and dusted last night. I agree with Balfour @2 on FAR OFF and thought that APRÈS SKI was the standout clue closely followed by ANAGRAM.
Ta Paul & loonapick.
Toughie if you don’t know much about card games like me. DNK NAP, FARO or DEWLAPS.
FALSE TEETH is a fantastic clue. I was very easily distracted by trying to make something of L (London) ETON (school)….
HAN for Solo is genius, loved it.
Missed 1D, not being familiar with the game. But I gather that ‘Nap’ in this context is simply a contraction of ‘Napoleon’, which was the solution (defined here by ‘general’, but capable of being defined by ‘8-across’). If that’s correct, can’t help but feel it detracts from the clue a little? Enjoyed the rest, esp. TICKERS, ELEPHANT and FINGER.
As well as the obvious games there is also “go fish” in the clue to 9a.
Thanks to S&B
Similar to Staticman1 @6 I’d never heard of the card game war. (I looked it up – not the most cerebral) so 8A took a while and came about from the general theme. Maybe I’m distracted or it was my lack of card game knowledge but this wasn’t as fun for me as some. I didn’t parse APRÈS SKI or FAR OFF properly.
All good though. Thanks Paul and loonapick.
Not as tough as Paul can be – with a few gimmes that got me started. Not sure that the FA is still a players’ association these days ??
Thanks to L&P
I have mixed fortunes with Paul’s cryptics but I managed most of this. Some of the parsing eluded me: ELEPHANT, NAPOLEON – never did see Star Wars and I don’t know many card games. I thought it good fun, favourites ANAGRAM, FAFFED and RIFFLING.
SEE RED. Rather than a charade, I took this to be a double definition: “Pick up only hearts and diamonds” and “snap”, but with either parsing I couldn’t see what role “then” plays in the clue.
Not my greatest attempt at solving and had to crib a bit to finish. I wondered if a riff was a solo, but I suppose it could be in the sense of an improvisation.
Able was I ere I saw 1d. Had to Google card games, the list of which includes NAPOLEON. Now I see that I was on the wrong track anyway. Out-Pauled again. Thanks both.
I was distracted by the repeated use of ‘8 Across’ (with capital A). Why not just ‘8’? There’s no 8 Down to be confused with.
This meant that they key to the whole thing was my LOI!
Failed to parse FAR-OFF and APRES-SKI.
2 hours of my life I’ll never get back.
Petert @17, for this amateur guitarist, a riff is very definitely not a solo, not even close. A poor bit of clueing in my view.
An enjoyable dnf today: holdouts were DEWLAPS (ouch), BRIDLED, NAPOLEON and ANAGRAM (oh dear, I should have
seen that). Didn’t know the CARD GAME War, so 8a took a while to appear, and entering PATIENCE for the spider clue didn’t help.
I enjoyed APRES SKI, ELEPHANT, FALSE TEETH and TICKERS. Thanks for the help with parsing the FF of FAR OFF.
Ps: is a riff always a solo? (I see others have the same doubt).
Lead down the garden path for a while by 15a, where I had WHATSIT (a valid answer for a Paul puzzle) until I checked it.
This rather felt, as I solved my way steadily through the clues, as though Paul had planned things just for me today. In that the very last one in was ANAGRAM, and with the three crossers in place it could not be anything but. Had no idea until that moment that that was what was required. (Apologies for all the That’s). A lightbulb moment at the very last, in fact.
Needed Loonapick only for the parsing of NAPOLEON, so felt this was far removed from some of Paul’s previous tortuous fun and games. Though the fun bit shone through for me this morning…
Enjoyed lots about this. APRES SKI, TICKERS and NAPOLEON for not being a card game. Tx for the parsing of FAR OFF. A dnf for me because I had ‘careworker’ initially.
A riff is a repeated motif, sometimes from more than one instrument. Lately, people say “riffing on ….”, meaning “improvising on ….”, but again not necessarily solo.
Blowing my own trumpet here, but my very first “Paul” completed and parsed. Not sure if this means that the setter was being kind or that I’m getting better (I suspect the former) but I’ll take it anyway.
For what it’s worth I’m with Balfour@2 re 22ac.
Thanks to Paul and of course to loonapick for the blog.
The parsing for 5d doesn’t make any sense
JNM @25. I am certain that the extremely knowledgeable Zoot will be along presently with other examples of notable jazz RIFFs, but one of my favourites, pending that, is ‘Fall’ from the ‘Nefertiti’ album by Miles Davis’s ‘second great quintet’, where the soloists improvise around the repeated horn riff.
Thanks for the blog , I am an avid card player and knew all the games but still found this very tough , although I am tired from staying up late for the Perseids , usually asleep at 9 .
I have taken advice on this and agree with Simon@14 , the PFA is the union (players) and FA the bosses .
I’m on quite a long streak of completing the Grauniad puzzle but I nearly abandoned it today. Struggled through very reluctantly. I really should just treat some setters as rest days and not bother.
As usual with Paul, a lot of wordsearches required. I’m not sure that the key phrase at 8 was supposed to be the penultimate answer. I appreciated FALSE TEETH, ANAGRAM, HUSTLE, APRES-SKI, REGENERATE, and FINGER. However, I wasn’t very keen on blasted for FF, I’m excited for OLE, solo for RIFF and I didn’t know RIFFLING meant shuffling.
Thanks Paul and loonapick.
NHO faro, napoleon, or war as card games, and riffling for shuffling also new to me. I dragged up DEWLAPS from somewhere quite recent, not quite sure where.
I was pleased with myself for getting ANAGRAM. Favorites included BEER GARDEN (just me on that one apparently — at least, so far) and now that loonapick has parsed it for me, APRES-SKI.
Thank you to loonapick and to Balfour@2 for parsings that defeated me.
Robi @31 – RIFFLING isn’t any kind of shuffling; it is that method whereby you split the deck in two and, using your thumbs, release the two halves so that the cards interleave. I used to be adept at this when I was a bridge player, but now I am stuck here in the E with no N, W, or S to play with and I probably no longer even own a deck of cards …
I don’t think RIFFLING means shuffling exactly, more flicking the edges of the cards with your fingers (for want of a better description) as card players might do before dealing/shuffling. But I really think ‘I’m excited’ for OLE is a stretch. The Spanish use ‘olé’ as a word of appreciation (for skill shown by, say, a footballer or a bullfighter), rather than to indicate excitement. Otherwise enjoyable, even if the card games were obscure.
poc@22 I had whatsit too.
Thanks, Paul and loonapick.
Balfour@33 is correct for RIFFLING , in my misspelt yuoth I could do the perfect shuffle involving 8 perfect riffles in a row .
Balfour I am sure you will have a Bridge Club nearby with players of all standards .
As with a lot of Paul’s puzzles the wordplay only becomes clear after the solution. (Corker for beauty, ole for I’m excited, riff for solo, apres for after etc.) For me that spoils the fun somewhat; most of the ‘solving’ is determining what the definition is and thinking of a synonym that fits the crossers.
But obviously a lot of folk enjoy that.
Paul is the single best setter out there. I love his sense of fun, wilfully sailing close the wind on rules and definitions, the fact that there’s almost always a penny-drop moment that affects the entire crossword. With other setters I get bored if the solve is taking longer than 20 mins; with his puzzles, I actively want them to take hours. Chapeau, Maestro!
Finished with a lot of guesswork. Thanks for the parsing.
Absolutely, Jack #38! As usual solved about half by guessing and post-parsing. But either Paul is getting easier or I’m getting (a) better (sense of Paul)?
Thanks both.
BTW; all the main dictionaries say that riffle is to shuffle, maybe it depends on what you imagine shuffle means.
Utterly baffled by much of that, having to reveal around half even once all the crossers were in. Not much of a surprise given I’ve never yet been close to Paul’s wavelength – and didn’t help not having heard of a lot of the card games. A lot of quibbles too:
11a – isn’t ‘bridge’ singular vs ‘teeth’ plural? more than one replacement tooth being ‘bridges’?
12a – if the definition is snap, what is ‘when in’ doing?
1d – ‘olé’ means I’m excited? I only know as ‘bravo’
2d – are ‘idol’ and ‘celebrity’ even close to synonymous?
3d – the FA isn’t a players’ association
The usual struggle to get going, then increasing smiles as I got to grips with this Paul. Too long to solve 8ac. Thanks to the parsers of FF as fortissimo – had me stumped. Favourite FALSE TEETH!
My bugbear: A cross reference (1dn) to its referring clue (8ac). A couple of lax clues, for which I always have to forgive Paul. RIFF, already mentioned, and the FA is definitely not a “players’ association” – it is a governing body, or at best an association of its members – not players.
Usual struggle with Paul.
Could not solve 8a, and find Paul’s clues very difficult to fathom…
Looking forward to some explanations..
This seems appropriate…
“…and everything under the sun is in tune
but the sun is eclipsed by the moon”
Thanks both…
Is Paul now a weekly fixture, like Rufus but not on the same day? He’s an odd choice if so as he’s very much a marmite setter. I thought this was ok but not so good I want one every week.
I liked FALSE TEETH. There’s many a true word spoken through false teeth!!
[Great choice of lyrics HYD@44 , everyone be careful with the eclipse if you have not got proper crossed polaroids .
The Perseids peak tonight , no moon so lovely dark sky and no clouds in the UK , very rare combination , enjoy the show . ]
JNM@25 & Balfour@28, in Zoot’s absence I’ll step in. You are correct that a riff is not a solo. It is usually a repeated short motif that is used to accompany a solo. Think for example of the repeated 5/4 piano riff that underscores the saxophone and drum solos in Brubeck’s classic Take Five.
A solo can sometimes be an improvisation based on a riff, but it isn’t the riff. Just as the development in sonata form flows from a theme but it is not the theme.
I wouldn’t exactly label Paul as a marmite setter. Many of his puzzles appeal to a wide audience. But he does sometimes set marmite puzzles such as this one. Either you get 1a, in which case you enjoy the puzzle, or you don’t (especially if you don’t know that war is a card game),in which case the puzzle is unsolvable. Today I was in the latter group, although I did like 11a FALSE TEETH, a great clue with an excellent surface.
Thanks Paul and Loonapick.
Balfour @28. Thanks for the compliment which could equally apply to you. As you say, in jazz, where the word originated before the war, a riff is a repeated rhythmic phrase used either as backing for a solo or as a melodic device, often made up on the spot. There are thousands of the latter on record. Basie’s One O’clock Jump, Bird’s Cool Blues etc. I don’t know when the guitarists adopted the word.
Cellomaniac@48 You beat me to it.
I had never heard of ‘war’ as a card game so was completely flummoxed for a good while. How did I miss that during my childhood and on to adulthood? Was that anyone else’s experience?
Tam Lin@51 – no, I consider myself a bit of a card game maven but have never heard of it.
I was thoroughly confused by Napoleon – for me, that’s the name of the game, not ‘nap’, so I bunged it in unparsed.
Tam@51 it is just a child’s game really , no skill at all unless you want to cheat children by card-counting , when I was young most people called it Battle .
Polyphone @52 both names are used but Nap more familiar to me and Napoleon the second highest bid .
[Zoot @49 That is very generous of you, but my jazz knowledge starts around 1955, whereas you are steeped also in the preceding decades. For some years, I was member of a jazz discussion group in Scotland, all the other members of which were senior to me by at least 20 years and knew what they liked. I once played ‘Orbits’ from Miles Smiles, and one commented, ‘Well, I’m glad someone is happy’. I never tried them with Archie Shepp and John Tchicai playing ‘Rufus’. I probably should have learned more from them about Mainstream and Swing, Ellington and Basie, but I was 18 and had still the arrogance of youth.]
Balfour #54 You know, or at least listen to, more of the more recent forms of jazz. As the father of a son who is proper jazz musician l try to keep up.
I suspect that between us you and I would make a great quiz team. If you really don’t know Duke or Lester with Basie it’s never too late.
nolu 37: As with a lot of Paul’s puzzles the wordplay only becomes clear after the solution
i found this near impossible but then when i cheated my way
home basically every clue seemed fair. we proceed.
My card game gk is non-existent so struggled to get through this. No real standout clues and I felt apres ski was way too obscure.
Oh come on, après ski was laugh out loud brilliant.
Please of card games in the clues. I spotted Bridge, Hearts, Old Maid, Brag, Patience and Poker. There may be more
Sorry plenty, not please.
Oh.. and Cheat. My children’s favourite game.
David Gilmore plays a (great) SOLO (or two on Comfortably Numb”
Ritchie Blackmore introduces “Smoke on the Water” witty (great) riff
I rest my case.
Got the theme fairly soon, but didn’t find it much help beyond the “8 across” clues. The SW was the first quarter I completed; finishing the others took me an inordinately long time, with quite a few guesses and some remaining unparsed. I didn’t know the game Nap, but my grandfather used to play a solitaire game called NAPOLEON. I got 26a based solely on ELEP and the definition—now kicking myself for having missed the allusion to HAN. Thanks, loonapick!
Peter@59 can add Sevens , Eights , Whist , Solo , Skip , Stitch , ( Tool cards ) , Cups , Elimination .
It is a bit like fonts or Indie bands .
Only just checking the answers today after finally giving up. I usually avoid Paul but thought I should give this a try and persist but I now realise that I just do not have the right knowledge. However, I did think that apres- ski was brilliant.
Sorry Paul but a riff and a solo are entirely different things.
I have to let this one go, with a little over half solved (sorry Roz!), mostly the bottom half. There was a bit of movement over a couple of days, but no momentum. Many of the ones I missed are impressive!
Of the ones I solved, favourites were the keynote clue 8a CARD GAME (misdirection in wordplay and definition), 22a FAR OFF (nice pdm), 26a ELEPHANT (“Solo” = HAN)
Has the Guardian difficulty level gone up a notch lately?
Now to try and catch up!
Mig@67 , I think the range has been more variable lately after a very long middling spell . I found this very tough even though I know everything about card games . I thought it was tiredness due to the Perseids but maybe a bit of both .
I didn’t start this on Wednesday but have been looking at it ever since. Got totally stuck with ‘beauty’=LOOKER, but obviously didn’t work. CORKER never occurred to me. ‘Hopeless’ as an anagrind never came to me either, and seeing ‘general’ didn’t make me think of NAPOLEON, possibly because he wasn’t known as that until he became emperor.
When stuck, I amused myself by spotting card games in the clues, and I never look for themes. I’m full of admiration for AlanC@9: “very straightforward” were also the words on the tip of my tongue, with “(not!)” following close behind! I thought I did well to be only three solutions short of a completion.
Thanks to Paul and Loonapick.