Paul sets the midweek challenge, with a reasonably accessible puzzle, which I found quite amusing to solve, with a good variety of clue types, including two pairs of wittily ingenious constructions at 11/12 and 26/27 across. I also smiled at 17ac.
Other ticks were for 9ac NANNY GOAT, 14ac DUSSELDORF, 1dn ON SPEAKING TERMS and 18dn LOLLIPOP.
Thanks to Paul for the puzzle.
Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
9 Big Apple’s best ever on bread – and butter (5,4)
NANNY GOAT
NAN (bread) + NY (New York – Big Apple) + Greatest Of All TIme (best ever)
10 Possible sickener, incomplete story of environmentalism? (1,4)
E COLI
ECO LI[e] (incomplete story of environmentalism)
11 Father, forward in motion … (4,3)
POPE LEO
PELE (forward) in POO (motion)
12 … priest entering job (7)
PREVOST
REV (priest) in POST (job) – Pope Leo was born Robert Francis PREVOST
13 Deputy Viking perhaps flayed (4)
AIDE
[rAIDE[r] (Viking perhaps), ‘flayed’, i.e. with its ‘skin’ stripped
14 European city recovering from disappointment, investing not as much (10)
DUSSELDORF
A reversal (recovering) of FRO (from) + LESS (not as much) in DUD (disappointment)
16 A burden for a Titan in debt – Lord have mercy! (1,3,3)
I ASK YOU!
A SKY (a burden for a Titan) in IOU (debt) – thanks to Loiner @3
17 Describing a vessel – whimsically or not? (7)
JUGULAR
Whimsically, describing a jug, a vessel for carrying water, etc; not whimsically, describing one of the blood vessels in the neck
19 Kid’s knocked over shed one rebuilt – a wind-up for the horticulturalist? (6,4)
GARDEN HOSE
A reversal (knocked over) of RAG (kid) + an anagram (rebuilt) of SHED ONE
22 Building unit razed to the ground? (4)
FLAT
Double definition
24 After embroidering, sender wraps uniform for purchaser (3,4)
END USER
An anagram (after embroidering) of SENDER round U (uniform)
25 Pink paper is tucked inside permit, red (7)
LEFTIST
FT (Financial Times – pink paper) + IS in LET (permit)
26 I don’t want you, old bean, in fruit … (5)
MANGO
MAN, GO! (I don’t want you, old bean) …
27 … and similarly in veg? (9)
MANGETOUT
… and similarly MAN, GET OUT!
‘Old bean’ is an (old-fashioned) playful or affectionate form of address, as MAN can be
Down
1 Quite friendly person playing with mates, man paying a visit (2,8,5)
ON SPEAKING TERMS
An anagram (playing) of PERSON + MATES round (paying a visit) KING (chess man)
2 How one might make bid, terribly (2,6)
IN SPADES
Double definition
3 Revolution trammelled by democracy, clearly (5)
CYCLE
Hidden in democraCY CLEarly
4 Old drama served up with opera in state capital (8)
HONOLULU
A reversal (served up, in a down clue) of O (old) NOH (Japanese drama) + LULU (opera)
5 Small strips in small bone (6)
STAPES
S (small) + TAPES (strips)
6 Descent as intolerance of spirit reported? (9)
GENEALOGY
Sounds something like (reported) ‘genie allergy’ (intolerance of spirit) – no further comment, after yesterday’s in-depth discussion
7 Country in defeat like that, 5-0 (6)
KOSOVO
KO (knockout – defeat) + SO (like that) + V (five) O
8 LIST, say, how Trump sees Canada? (5-5,5)
FIFTY-FIRST STATE
L (fifty) + IST (first) (+ STATE (say) – thanks, Matthew Newell @6 for pointing out my omission)
15 Book in cypher so encrypted for etailer (9)
CYBERSHOP
B (book) in an anagram (encrypted) of CYPHER SO
17 Fraction outside of second, swimmer pushing hard? (8)
JOSTLING
JOT (fraction) round S (second) + LING (swimmer)
18 Something possibly sugared in water turned up, sweet (8)
LOLLIPOP
A reversal (turned up) of PILL (something possibly sugared) in POOL (water)
20 Sound clothes I had on (6)
RIDING
RING (sound) round (clothes) I’D (I had)
21 Run over manuscript for secluded groups (6)
HAREMS
HARE (run) + MS (manuscript)
23 Routinely concerned with all one’s toes? (5)
OFTEN
OF TEN (concerned with all one’s toes?) – my least favourite clue to end with: perhaps I’m missing something
Another brilliant offering from Paul with his usual mix of witty clues. Favourites were E COLI, POPE LEO, I ASK YOU, GARDEN HOSE, END USER, LEFTIST, LOLLIPOP, the two long down clues, but a special shout out for the superb duo, MANGO and MANGETOUT. I couldn’t parse DUSSELDORF, thinking it was something to do with dust off, as in recover, so thanks for that. I agree that OFTEN was a bit meh.
Ta Paul & Eileen.
Very enjoyable. MANGO and MANGETOUT made me want my breakfast. 8ac was a favourite – echoes of Qaos there. Thanks Paul and Eileen.
I think the allusion in 16a is to Atlas, the Titan holding up the sky.
Thanks Paul and Eileen
Loiner @3 – of course it is! Whatever was I thinking of? Will amend now, thanks.
I think SKY is the burden for the Titan who holds it up.
8a. Say -> State
Great crossword
Thanks Paul and Eileen
Much to enjoy here – POPE LEO being one of my highlights (despite failing to pick up that 12A was a follow-on clue). Also enjoyed LOLLIPOP (last one in for me), ON SPEAKING TERMS, HONOLULU, I ASK YOU. Took far too long to get GENEALOGY. MANGETOUT isn’t a term used in the antipodes – only knew it from crosswording.
Not sure that ‘terribly’ would’ve been my choice as a definition for IN SPADES but otherwise this was good clean fun.
Didn’t know that about Pope Leo: I was muttering about being expected to remember the French author Abbe Prevost, who I wouldn’t have known if we hadn’t studied Manon Lescaut at uni.
A loud OUCH for the ginny allergy..
The first time ever for me getting through a Paul in under 30 minutes. And loads of fun.
Learnt about Atlas holding up the sky as a kid; the olds were into Schubert who adapted a Heine poem about it. Yes the allergy to genies was a proper groaner. Fun. Ta PnE.
Not too hard to play “guess the setter” today. In addition to the highlights others have mentioned, I thought RIDING was very neat.
I saw JUGULAR as another Paul soundalike for jocular [Mad magazine used to describe itself as humour in a jugular vein] but Eileen’s version is better.
That was a challenge. Like others wasn’t convinced by 23D OFTEN, and took a long time to spot 3D CYCLE as the clue was split, at the comma, over 2 lines in the App.
[iPhone App has been updated so that you can now navigate correctly between the clues].
I know more about opera than popes, so came to the same conclusion as Gladys@8.
Paul on top form. I thought we were going to miss out on an outrageous soundalike but GENEALOGY snuck in at the end to save the day 🙂
And ellipses that actually meant something – twice! My cup runneth over
Cheers E&P
Paul on top form again and sheer pleasure from start to finish. Didn’t know PREVOST, but it had to be an ‘e’ in there from the crossers, so I assumed it was an unheard of alternate spelling of ‘provost’. Thanks Eileen on putting me straight on that one. Far to many excellent clues to name them all, but a special mention for ’51st State’. I guessed it had to be that (from the word lengths) on a first reading of the clue, but it took me ages to parse it.
Comment #17
9ac. We spell it NAAN here in NZ so that threw me off for a bit. I knew it was some type of goat for butter so managed to guess the answer. It can’t be a Paul without a dodgy homophone and GENEALOGY did not disappoint.
MANGO and MANGETOUT were amusing.
As regards GENEALOGY, ungettable for me for reasons explained in my late post yesterday. No further comment.
Great stuff by Paul.
Liked what the blogger mentioned as well as the POPE LEO-PROVEST MANGO-MANGETOUT pairings.
I had the same thinking for JUGULAR as the blogger for the not whimsical part but wasn’t entirely comfortable that clue. That was my last one in.
Thanks Eileen and Paul
GENIE ALLERGY is quite right, but almost everyone pronounces it GENIE-OLOGY now. Also, I’ve never heard CYBERSHOP but the answer was obvious.
My heart sinks when I see a Paul crossword as I never seem to have a clue how any of the wordplay works.
Oh well, another one tomorrow.
Thanks both.
Very much fun indeed, thanks Paul and Eileen.
[Regarding “Spot the Setter”, I wonder how a Prize Paul is different from a weekday Paul? The style and devices all seem similar…. Just harder].
I became inexplicably stuck on AIDA and IN SPADES, which took about as long as the rest of the puzzle.
I loved GENEALOGY and POPE LEO. Lots of clever and amusing stuff elsewhere.
Thanks Paul and Eileen.
This must have been a gentler Paul, since I finished it in one sitting. Parsing for DUSSELDORF eluded me, but the rest seemed relatively straightforward. POPE LEO was a favorite, and I imagine him dining with a LEFTIST, a HAREM, a NANNY GOAT and some fruit. Hopefully E COLI doesn’t make it to the party… Thanks Paul and Eileen.
What is the issue with the Genealogy homophone? Is it a dialect issue or is it that most people incorrectly say ‘Geneology’? Seems a perfect homophone to me.
We thought fifty-first state was a gorgeous clue!
An excellent puzzle. The MANGO and MANGETOUT pairing was brilliant.
I was initially a bit unsure of “terribly” for IN SPADES, until the penny dropped that here it doesn’t mean “badly” but “very much”, as in “The children were terribly excited”.
Many thanks Paul and Eileen.
We thought fifty/first state was a gorgeous clue!
Another gem from Paul, I especially loved the clever pair of ellipses (maybe 26/27ac is an appeal to DJT?).
And with the 51st State, we have the capital of the 50th State at 4d.
Thanks to Paul & Eileen
As you can see from my earlier comment, I missed the genie completely and thought it was something to do with Gin! When Paul gets started on the very stretchy puns, there is absolutely no point in being fussy. Just say OUCH when you get it (if you do).
Difficult for me, especially the SE corner. I liked the Viking AIDE, the wind up GARDEN HOSE, the pair of unwanted men in MANGO and MANGETOUT, the person with mates ON SPEAKING TERMS, and, of course, the 51st STATE. I failed to parse DUSSELDORF (although I saw the DUD and LESS, but I don’t think ‘recovering’ is a kosher reversal indicator) and I ASK YOU. Yes, a lot of people say geneology but it is just a mistake.
Thanks Paul and Eileen.
I’d an AIDE (13ac) really a deputy. In my mind an aide is an assistant but would not necessarily deputise for their boss.
Comment #34
I meant is an aide of course.
Mark Gillespie@26
Unlike …alogy, allergy has an r in it, which people in parts of the UK pronounce. This issue comes up all the time here and in the Guardian comments – to the point where one might suspect the setters do it deliberately to wind people up!
Thanks Paul & Eilleen
Mark Gillespie @26 and Aye-Aye @36 – this issue was discussed (again), at length, here yesterday, re ‘caught / court’ in Turnstone’s puzzle, hence my remark in the blog, which I hoped might discourage a revival today. 😉
Bayleaf @33 – I had the same thought: neither Collins nor Chambers has aide = deputy.
The usual Paul (or ‘on top form’ / ‘brilliant’ as described above). Answers go in quickly and then the parsing of some rough clueing follows (or not). Thanks Eileen for explaining a few (e.g. Pope Leo, which seems from the blog not to have a definition).
Eileen (and anybody else who knew this), I congratulate you on knowing that Pope Leo’s given name is PREVOST. Like Andy@16 I thought of the french word for provost as a possible alternative spelling.
GENEALOGY seems to me more like a dad joke than a genuine attempt at a homophone, if that helps soothe anybody’s concerns.
I admired 8D, and the pair at 26A and 27A.
Thanks for the blog , no jumping around for once and some pretty good clues . JOSTLING was a neat construction . For once the … were used properly . I am surprised that E.COLI did not use a soundalike , it should be a . but is a comma in the paper .
I agree with Aye-Aye @36 , attention-seeking is best ignored .
Eight in a row , AlanC@1 coming first is so out of fashion .
Fun all around. Got the top half last night, had to mess around this morning for the bottom.
Thanks to Paul and Eileen.
Sorry for the delay: I had a phone call just as I started typing.
paul @38 – I underlined (Holy) Father in the blog, as the definition for POPE LEO.
Jacob@39 – I didn’t know: I arrived there by the same route as you did!
Valentine @43 – I hope you caught my reply @90 to your late query last night: I saw it as I was finishing the first draft of this blog in the early hours!
[Roz@42: Do your daily #42 messages have anything to do with the crossword under discussion? Just curious.]
I wonder whether an interloper might one day sneak into position 42, and therefore never be ON SPEAKING TERMS with Roz ever again…
I’m afraid I’ve missed the significance of this, my only personal reference to this number might be the coming of age 1971 film, “The Summer of 42”…
…loved today’s puzzle, btw…
Paul at his whimsical best! I wish we could be as playfully irreverent as he is with culture!
Thanks both
Thanks Paul, another great puzzle and a proper time-consuming challenge after two straightforward days. Thanks Eileen for a couple of parses, As usual obvious when explained. My learning today: Never seen “trammelled” as a clue for a run-through – prompted me to look up the definition/origin of trammel, which I’d assumed meant just hampered or confused by. Turns out it’s a net.
It wouldn’t be Paul without the groan from GENEALOGY!
Beaten at last gasp again. Paul does love to push that soundalike envelope! Great fun though. Thanks Eileen and Paul.
Peter B @50
The only place I can remember meeting it is (O Level English) Macbeth’s ‘If it were done when ’tis done’ soliloquy:
“If the assassination
Could trammel up the consequence, and catch,
With his surcease, success …”
I remember the last line as a bit of a tongue-twister – a challenge for Violet Elizabeth!
Ronald @47 – In “The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy”, 42 is the answer to life, the universe and everything. You just have to figure out what the question is.
Ah, many thanks, Crispy@53…THGTTG was something that I never ever got into at all…
Strange mix of some that were write-ins (END USER, FLAT, FIFTY FIRST STATE), a couple that were write in with no idea of why (HONOLULU – never heard of either the opera or the Japanese drama; DUSSELDORF – didn’t see DUD, and what happened to the M in FRO[M]?). Then as ever with Paul and a few that left me completely lost (POPELEO; GENEALOGY – after revealing I thought the spirit was meant to be gin, and was missing a syllable)
And NAAN definitely has a double A..
Thanks Eileen. Embarrassingly, I also studied Macbeth for O level English Literature, but am not familiar with the piece. Frankly apart from “when shall we three meet again” and “out damned spot”, I don’t have much recollection of it other than as a really good yarn! Perhaps that explains my Grade 5. Fortunately, in those days, as teenagers, we were allowed to do other things than worry about marks!
Thanks Eileen. Interesting for me that 25 could also work in a shorter form: Pink paper is tucked inside permit (7). Riding anticommunist hysteria, Nixon famously dubbed his Democratic female opponent in the 1950 California senate race “The Pink Lady”. He won. Thanks Paul (though I winced at my compatriot’s treatment in 11).
A great workout for me. Perfectly pitched level of difficulty, and several smiles.
Coloradan @57
Re 25ac: – with ‘pink’ as the definition? – that hadn’t occurred to me. I’ve now looked it up and found:
Chambers: pink – ‘a person who is socialist but hardly a red’
Collins: British Informal, left wing; US derogatory a. sympathetic to or influenced by Communism; b. leftish or radical, esp half-heartedly
Feeling grumpy, so giving up with two to go. I like to have the occasional Canadian reference, but I didn’t need to be reminded of 8d FFS — ugh! As I started the puzzle it caught my eye, and I solved it instantly, for my foi. Then held up by ABN-R soundalike at 6d GENEALOGY — grrr! 12a couldn’t be anything but PREVOST, but I couldn’t find any reference, and of course not in Chambers, so it remained empty, as well as 5d STAPES, nho
Anyway, lots to enjoy nonetheless. 9a NANNY GOAT (Greatest Of All Time), the 26/27 pair MANGO and MANGETOUT (very clever!), 2d IN SPADES (“terribly”), 20d RIDING (“on”)
[Roz@42 on an epic roll. Will she be able to keep it up in term time?]
Thanks Eileen and Paul
poc @19: I’ve just seen your late comment @98 on yesterday’s Turnstone, in which you say “My specific issue with rhotic/non-rhotic clues is that the bias is always in favour of the non-rhotic. I can’t think of a single example in which it has ever worked the other way.” An interesting point. Thinking about it, I’m not sure if it is actually possible to have a soundalike that works in a rhotic accent but doesn’t work in a non-rhotic one. I would be interested if anyone can come up with one.
But on a slightly wider point, most soundalikes in the Guardian crossword work in Received Pronunciation (which happens to be my accent), but occasionally there are some that don’t. A couple of examples:
“Not liking broadcaster’s pronouncement (4)” for ANTI (Brendan)
“Select Ms Crosbie and Ms Bening for show, reportedly as music producers (9)” for CASTANETS (Budmo)
In both cases these are not homophones in RP because of the conflict between the short “a” and the longer “a” (pronounced “ah”). But when I saw those clues I didn’t complain — I recognised that they worked in at least one well-known accent of English, and I thought they were both good clues!
Mig@60 , always trust the wordplay , had to be PREVOST . Small bone nearly always the ear , three of these but six names , it is what makes us mammals .
My run will end tomorrow , busy day , radioactive sources audit , someone else with a bright yellow square needs to step in .
Ronald@54 , the question is – What is 9 x 6 in base 13 ?
Loved it. So clever. Busy all day so late finishing.
Thanks P and E
Thanks Roz@62, I’ve often benefitted by entering guesses, so should have entered it. It just didn’t seem to be a word, though. Ah, well. And I’ll check the ear bones in future…
[I’ll see what I can do about tomorrow — we may have to settle for a warm yellow square…] 🙂
Of course, the entire fandom of the Chicago White Sox knows of Fr. Bob PREVOST, the most famous Sox fan on the planet. So I guess I get to be the only one for whom that one was a write in. (Last year, the Sox were dreadful; this year, they’re on pace (fingers crossed) to win their division. Many fans believe papal intercession may have played a role in the turnaround.)
[Pope Leo is also the first pope who was a math major in college; a tidbit for the left-brained set here.]
On the other hand, I was held up for too long on the other pair, since MANGETOUT is on the weirdly long list of vegetables with different names this side of the Atlantic. (Snow peas.) I knew this fact, but it took too long a time to call it to mind. But it was hilarious once I finally got there.
Fun and difficult.
Thanks to Eileen for explanations.
We loved MANGO and MANGETOUT
Learned about Pope Leo.
Mango and Mangetout – absolute genius…
It’s another wavelength thing with me and Paul (I.e. not on the same), and I often skip his puzzles. Decided to dip in today though, and found it hard and it took all day chipping away bit by bit. But got there. For every clue that I worked out from wordplay, there were two I was doing guess and check based on some crossers or based on an idea of the definition. Thanks Eileen for your blog, and Paul for the brain twister (at least for me).
Very clever as always. I confess to needing help here and there, and certainly had to come here for the parsing of several clues. Like others, I particularly enjoyed the pairing of mango and mengetout. Brilliant.
Eileen@45 Ive just come back now to the puzzle. Yes, with your help I untangled the tenor and the choir. Thanks for persevering on my behalf.
mrpenney@65 I was concerned at first at His Holiness’s baseball affiliation, thinking I’d like the Pope to have some acquaintance with the real world, but then I decided it was a good idea to have a Pope with an unwavering faith in miracles.
I too remembered PREVOST only as the Abbé (and just the name—never read him) but per Roz @62 the wordplay was pretty compelling once reinforced by a couple of crossers, so it was a shrug-&-check.
Coincidentally with 21d, today’s 13×13 puzzle on the _Globe & Mail_ site (syndicated, signed Wurm) has HAREM singular answering a clue beginning with “Run”.
My progress today was rather slow but reasonably steady, a few clues only partly parsed, and with the NW last to give way.
Brilliant as ever from Paul, I agree with all the likes. (Probably dry-roasted nuts on the PSRHS.)
Thanks to Roz for reminding us of the hammer, anvil, and stirrup.
Many thanks all.
11A easy enough to guess from the crossers, especially after getting 12A.
But the parsing? You can see it once it’s stated, but absurdly tenuous.
Great! Was just about to ask the commenters to explain ECO LIE but the penny just dropped at the last second