The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/30119.
Paul gives us a delightful crossword with a theme of childish practical jokes. I almost completed the bottom half before making any headway in the top. It is remrkable that 2D HENDRIX should have appeared so recently in an Everyman, with a clue using almost identical parsing. The resemblance is so close that there must be a story behind it.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1, 5 | WHOOPEE CUSHION |
Terrific temper in children’s ‘entertainer’? (7,7)
|
| A charadec of WHOOPEE (‘terrific’ as an exclamation) plus CUSHION (‘temper’ in the sense of ameliorate). | ||
| 5 |
See 1
|
|
| 10 | SNOG |
Somewhat passionless, no great show of affection (4)
|
| A hidden answer (‘somewhat’) in ‘passionlesS NO Great’. | ||
| 11 | PATRIARCHY |
Right manner the wrong way in incoherent arrangement favouring men (10)
|
| An envelope (‘in’) of RIAR, a reversal (‘the wrong way’) of R (‘right’) plus AIR (‘manner’) in PATCHY (‘incoherent’). | ||
| 12 | URANUS |
God you are, but according to rumour? (6)
|
| A charade of UR (‘you are’, textspeak) plus ANUS (butt, ‘but according to rumour’). | ||
| 13 | HOOLIGAN |
Tough with bug, I can hope initially to recover (8)
|
| A reversal (‘to recover’) of NAG (‘bug’, verb) plus ‘I’ plus LOO (WC, ‘can’) plus H (‘Hope initially’). | ||
| 14, 16 | EXPLODING CIGAR |
Smoke bomb has old, old pig racing around (9,5)
|
| A charade of EX (‘old’, the first one) plus PLODINGCIGAR, an anagram (‘around’) of ‘old pig racing’. | ||
| 16 |
See 14
|
|
| 17 |
See 25 Down
|
|
| 19 | APPENDAGE |
Program termination, time for add-on (9)
|
| A charade of APP (‘program’) plus END (‘termination’) plus AGE (‘time’). | ||
| 23 | FEVERFEW |
Temperature only two or three in herb (8)
|
| A charade of FEVER (‘temperature’) plus FEW (‘only two or three’). | ||
| 24 | TEFLON |
Film panned by liberal left, now showing (6)
|
| A charade of TEFL, an anagram (‘liberal’) of ‘left’; plus ON (‘now showing’). ‘Panned’ from the use of TEFLON in non-stick pans. | ||
| 26 | UNFORESEEN |
Fun breaking rocks, even surprising (10)
|
| A charade of UNF, an anagram (‘breaking’) of ‘fun’; plus ORES (‘rocks’) plus EEN (poetic or dialect, ‘even’). | ||
| 27 | LICK |
Wet bit (4)
|
| Double definition – both of which took me a lick to get. | ||
| 28 |
See 21 Down
|
|
| 29 | FAKE POO |
Children’s ‘entertainer’ given a poke, for not entirely crappy? (4,3)
|
| An anagram (‘crappy’) of ‘a poke fo[r]’ minus the last letter (‘not entirely’). Like some other clues here, there is a suggestion of an extended definition (but it would probably not be wise to act on the suggestion). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | HENDRIX |
Musician, ‘experienced’ performer ultimately, one inspired by voodoo? (7)
|
| An envelope (‘inspired by’) of NDR (‘musiciaN experienceD performeR ultimately’) plus I (‘one’) in HEX (‘voodoo’), with an &lit definition. The same answer, with a clue using nearly identical devices, appeared in the Everyman 4169 of September 13. However, Everyman did manage to make more direct reference to the song Voodoo Child (or Chile) written by Jimi Hendrix. | ||
| 3 | ORGAN |
One’s stopped primate achieving good promotion (5)
|
| ORANG (‘primate’) with the G moved up (‘achieving good promotion’). | ||
| 4 | EXPOSED |
Open wound so deep, ten cuts (7)
|
| An envelope (‘cuts’) of X (Roman numeral, ‘ten’) in EPOSED, an anagram (‘wound’) of ‘so deep’. | ||
| 6 | UNISON |
Only good uniform required to turn up for concert (6)
|
| A reversal (‘to turn up’ in a down light) of NO SIN (‘only good’) plus U (‘uniform’). | ||
| 7 | HORRIFIED |
In shock, if I’d run off with hero (9)
|
| An anagram (‘off’) of ‘if I’d’ plus R (‘run’) plus ‘hero’. | ||
| 8 | OOH LA LA |
Short catchy phrase arising, singing well! (3,2,2)
|
| A charade of OOH, a reversal (‘arising’ in a down light) of HOO[k] (‘catchy phrase’) minus its last letter (‘short’); plus LA-LA (‘singing’), with perhaps a hint of an extended definition. | ||
| 9 | ITCHING POWDER |
Keen, with crush on children’s ‘entertainer’? (7,6)
|
| A charade of ITCHING (‘keen’) plus POWDER (‘crush’, verb). | ||
| 15 | LARCENOUS |
Crooked, skewed clear sense (9)
|
| A charade of LARCE, an anagram (‘skewed’) of ‘clear’; plus NOUS (common ‘sense’). | ||
| 18 | ETERNAL |
Constant protection of one aquatic bird by another, the first flying away (7)
|
| An envelope (‘protection … by’) of TERN (‘one aquatic bird’) in [t]EAL (‘another’ – i.e. another aquatic bird, one of various kinds of duck) minus its fist letter (‘the first flying away’). | ||
| 20 | ESTONIA |
Sea, in waves, within which to land (7)
|
| An envelope (‘within which’) of ‘to’ in ESNIA, an anagram (‘waves’) of ‘sea in’. | ||
| 21, 28 | GROUCHO GLASSES |
Children’s entertainer faced misery, advance rebuffed by young ladies (7,7)
|
| A charade of GROUCH (‘misery’) plus OG, a reversal (‘rebuffed’) of GO (‘advance’) plus LASSES (‘young girls’). ‘Faced’ might be regarded as a link word, or as part of the definition. | ||
| 22 | EFFETE |
Feeble grade in the end, fail with honour (6)
|
| A charade of E (‘gradE in the end’) plus F (‘fail’) plus FETE (‘honour’, verb). | ||
| 25, 17 | FALSE BEARD |
Dubious hair faced, safe balder anyhow (5,5)
|
| An anagram (‘anyhow’) of ‘safe balder’. |
I keep telling myself not to take Paul on at 3 in the morning and I keep on doing it anyway. I clawed my way through this, helped a bit by getting the first themed answer early with EXPLODING CIGAR. This irresistibly brought to mind the old song, ‘Mention My Name in Sheboygan’, which I first heard one Sunday morning many years ago while driving up Highway 11 in Virginia with ‘The Prairie Home Companion’ on the radio. Now my earworm of the day.
Mention my name in Elmira.
It’s the greatest little town in the world.
I told the mayor there that he would go far,
I even gave the sheriff an exploding cigar.
Thanks, PeterO, for a few parsings that I just could not be bothered to work out.
Whereas, I saw it was Paul at 2am and decided to leave it until I’d had more sleep. I’m glad I did, as not the easiest Paul.
I wonder if Paul’s remembering one of those old joke sets, boxed sets for Christmas, or cracker prizes?
Thank you to PeterO and Paul
I found this slightly gentler from Paul but then when I spotted the theme I expected both WHOOPEE CUSHION and ITCHING POWDER to make an appearance which gave a lot of useful letters.
A struggle over the line with FEVERFEW and EFETTE but an enjoyable Paul puzzle.
Liked HENDRIX and FALSE BEARD
Thanks Paul and PeterO
Great fun! Thanks Paul and PeterO
A lot easier once the meaning of ‘entertainer’ became clear, but that was after a long slog. The usual tough but fair from Paul. Not entirely crappy!!! Thanks both.
I thought this fitted Paul’s often childish humour perfectly and luckily I got WHOOPEE CUSHION reasonably early, so I stopped looking for entertainers like Rod Hull, Magpie or Crackerjack. I presumed that Crappy was implying that it was similar to real poo, a typical Paul device of adding a ‘y’ to describe something seeming dissociated.
I thought HENDRIX was a great clue (I don’t solve Everyman) and OOH LA LA reminded me of the contemporary Faces https://youtu.be/1_xwnb3cymc?si=T7gj5vCBpBng0JM5.
Great entertainment all round.
Ta Paul & PeterO.
Probably worth mentioning that ‘experienced’ is referring to his band The Jimi HENDRIX Experience.
Did anyone else have SNOG as FOI?
AlanC @7 – Yep!
Fiendishly clever crossword but zero fun factor for me I‘m sorry to say.
AlanC @7 – yes, me
Thoroughly entertaining – just the right balance of humour and difficulty. Yet another high quality crossword from Paul.
Having had a pretty rotten night I was in the mood to be amused by Pauline smut, and he didn’t disappoint. FOI was “your anus”, and so on in similar vein.
A couple I couldn’t parse, so thank you PeterO as well
September 18th was the anniversary of Jimi Hendrix’s death (d. 18/9/1970).
Which country is an anagram of the 7 most used letters in the English language? It seems hard at first, but then most people work it out. I wouldn’t suggest Paul’s crosswords are that easy, but even the most daunting starts can be overcome.
My first in was APPENDAGE, which reflects my sometimes peripatetic approach. The theme helped a lot here; my first themed answer was GROUCHO GLASSES. Once EXPLODING CIGAR went in, I was actively seeking WHOOPPEE CUSHION and ITCHING POWDER. We were only missing pepper sweets and stink bombs. I’m pretty sure Worthing had a joke shop. I bought all that nonsense from somewhere anyway. My dad is not a dog fan, so an April Fool phoney poo on the patio was a real showstopper.
I jumped straight from the song title to Hendrix but parsed it fully, along with the rest, before coming here.
Thanks Peter and Paul.
Re Me@8. I think the main reason that SNOG was first in was because I work down from the beginning, and I couldn’t get WHOOPEE CUSHION.
I was another for whom SNOG was the first step to further enjoyment. For me it was one of those puzzles you look back on and wonder why you made such heavy weather of.
AlanC @7 Also, ‘Are You Experienced?’ was the title track of his first album.
Comment #18
I also started with SNOG (mostly due to a habit of starting with shortish entries in the NW).
Noticed that one of the ‘entertainers’ (21d) was not clued in quotation marks, but nothing seems to have turned on this – unless, perhaps, P feels that GROUCHO GLASSES do not merit the same disapprobation as the other gags.
Didn’t like the pattern ‘film panned’ / ‘hair faced’ used in several definitions; for mine, these phrases certainly do not mean ‘applied to a pan’ or ‘applied to the face’. But otherwise, this was very satisfying.
Came here to learn how TEF = liberal in 24ac, learned a new anagrind instead.
Nevertheless, a puzzle like a stray cat, full of ticks. One of the rare instances I spotted the theme early on thanks to a quickly parsed EXPLODING CIGAR and WHOOPEE CUSHION. Thanks to Paul for a challenging but very rewarding puzzle and to Peter for the excellent blog!
Fought.my way enjoyabley enough through this (with a few “helps”) but never in a month of proverbial Sundays would I have parsed hooligan, so many many thanks for the devious unravelling PeterO
And with you and others AlanC@7 in starting with snog
Thanks also to Paul, of course, as the instigator
Lots of word searches for me to ‘solve’ this, which is par for the course for Paul, I find. And, I revealed FAKE POO, which of course is not in the usual dictionaries. I couldn’t parse HOOLIGAN, probably because I found it difficult to see how ‘recover’ was a reversal indicator (maybe get over?). I did like the URANUS butt, the TEFLON panned film, the &lit HENDRIX, and the UNISON concert.
Thanks Paul and PeterO.
Really enjoyed today and for some reason found it relatively easy for a Paul. Maybe helped getting the theme quite early.
A good and challenging puzzle for a cold Wednesday night (Australia), and sunny morning (England).
Thanks Paul, you’ve done it again.
I first put in PANG for 10A (Somewhat PAssionless, No Good). Discovered my error at the end when I figured out HENDRIX. I was worried that the children’s entertainers would be obscure performers; was relieved of that notion by the EXPLODING CIGAR and the WHOOPIE CUSHION. The theme reminded me of the tiny black and white ads that used to appear on the back pages of comic books. I really craved the X-Ray specs sold there…
As a schoolgirl in the 60s, I was another one with SNOG as my first in – but I didn’t do very well after that and took a long time to get ITCHING POWDER as the first of the ‘entertainers’ (how are they different from the plain entertainers, and why isn’t FALSE BEARD either kind?). Not a theme that came quickly to mind.
Anyway, this was a DNF, though I liked TEFLON and ESTONIA and ORGAN – perhaps because they were among the few I could parse!
Enjoyed this but googlied by UNISON so a DNF.
Very funny puzzle – solved pretty much top to bottom.
I must say the DD for LICK took me the longest, and I had never heard of FEVERFEW, but the crossers and wordplay were enough for a confident guess.
I also learned that ORANG is apparently an acceptable term for an ape – I always though it was the full ORANGUTAN.
I’ve recently got back into crosswords, after a 15 year break – good to know that my crossword brain still works after all this time, and that some of my old nemeses are still around.
Wondering if 3D is a Pratchett reference – given the Librarian’s organ playing skills?
Was in a bit of a panic mode when after my first pass I only had SNOG in the grid. But then I got APPENDAGE and things accelerated from there, particularly after getting the first of those “children’s entertainments” in WHOOPEE CUSHION. Was looking for further variations on that theme thereafter. Which became good grid fillers.
A memory of primary school days yet again, when the class naughty boy decided to put a Fart/Whoopee Cushion on the chair of our amiable young teacher before she arrived in the classroom. However, at the very last moment she must have been replaced by our much fiercer head master. As he burst in through the door our collective faces froze in horror, especially when his bottom sank onto that chair…
Witty and thoroughly enjoyable, as ever with Paul. Thanks.
AlanC@7: FOI, and for a long while OOI (Only One In)!
Jacob @32: lol
@28 Imaginary, I’d also never heard ORANG used for an orang utan. I’m aware it’s the standard word for ‘man’ or ‘person’ in Malay / Indonesian, so (at least to my ears) using it to refer to a particular ape species seems a little off.
Today’s puzzle reminded me of this scene with Omar Sharif from Top Secret (1984); specifically, the joke at the end.
I think ORANG would indeed be wrong to describe an ape in Malay, but it seems to be acceptable in English, where orang=man is not part of our everyday vocabulary.
Yes another snog foi. Fake poo loi.
Very hard puzzle. All I got last night was FALSE BEARD, ETERNAL and GLASSES without GROUCHO. Assiduous use of the check button this morning finally got me through.
Paul at his most Paulish. Thanks, Paul and PeterO.
I don’t see why “children’s entertainer” in the clue for 23 is not in inverted commas, unlike all the other instances of the phrase. I expected 23, 28 to be a human being.
Very difficult puzzle. All I got last night was FALSE BEARD, ETERNAL and GLASSES without GROUCHO. Assiduous use of the check button this morning finally got me through.
Paul at his most Paulish. Thanks, Paul and PeterO.
Even if ORANG means man and not ape, orang = primate would be OK.
I hadn’t heard of FEVERFEW, I don’t think, but the answer came to me like a thunderclap, I looked it up and lo and behold. Then EFFETE was the last in.
Tough one and like VinnyD@39, I was baffled by entertainer being in “” in some of the clues and not others ??
Having looked at the answers, I was quite glad that I discarded this after entering 2 or 3 (yes, snog was my first too).
Solved, parsed and enjoyed. I understood the reference, having watched most of the Marx Brothers films many times, but didn’t know that GROUCHO GLASSES are of a kind with WHOOPEE CUSHIONS etc.
VinnyD @39 & SimoninBxl @42
I did wonder about adding a note about the lack of quotes in the clue for 21D, 28A GROUCHO GLASSES: if ‘faced’ is taken (rather awkwardly) as part of the definition, the ‘entertainer’ (in quotes here only because I am quoting the clue) would be a real human being, unlike the others.
I thought this rather tricky. Just SNOG, ESTONIA (it’s always Estonia) and APPENDAGE on first pass, but then I saw PATRIARCHY from just the definition and that opened things up. A bit too much “bung then parse” for my liking overall, but a good workout. Favourite TEFLON.
On the lack of quotation marks for the clue to GROUCHO GLASSES, I wondered if this was Paul telling us he considers that particular prop genuinely and unequivocally entertaining, unlike the more dubious FAKE POO et al.
I didn’t get to this until the evening and failed to complete then, it required a revisit with a fresh brain this morning, and a deal of guess and check, shrug and leave unparsed. I thought I had been beginning to get the hang of Paul’s compositions recently but this one just didn’t gel despite seeing the theme early. +1 for SNOG as FOI.
Thanks PeterO, for unravelling those answers I had failed to parse, and Paul.
Lots of tougher puzzles lately. Got just over halfway with this one
24a TEFLON was fun (“Film panned”)
All these “children’s entertainers” brought to mind the late great Mr Dressup
Martin@35 Great clip!
I usually find myself on Paul’s wavelength pretty easily, but yesterday after work – not at all. Gave up.
I didn’t start this until about 4pm yesterday and finished around 11 this morning, but I wasn’t working at it for 19 hours. That would be crazy. Probably about four sessions of 30 minutes each.
My main problem, in addition to the usual ones that Paul causes, was a disconnect from my inner child. So even after I got ITCHING and POWDER from the definitions, I didn’t immediately remember the other items and look for where they would fit. I had to work hard for each one, parsing them before any pennies would drop.
Thanks to Paul, and to PeterO.
Ron 30,
Thanks for the anecdote. The practical joke which boomerangs is the funniest.
SH 51. Look, we’re in our seventies. What’s this “inner” about the child you mention?
Thanks all, especially Paul.
A day late for me due to appointments yesterday. I managed to get FALSE BEARD from the cluing, though as noted this was not expressly an “entertainer,” so no immediate hint as to what was to come. But then HENDRIX fell, followed by EXPOSED, UNISON and OOH LA LA, and the penny dropped on how we were to interpret the theme. Great fun, challenging I thought, but not in the brutal all-or-nothing manner that some of the densely interwoven, cross-answered Paul grids can be for me. Liked FEVERFEW, LARCENOUS and UNISON, and only got scratchy on the ITCHING half of POWDER. Thanks much to Paul and PeterO for their efforts.
Curiously, I seem to be the only one who got to the theme via the FAKE POO, with the others coming later.
Etu@52, good point about the seven ages of man.
Thanks Paul for the second age fun, and PeterO for the excellent blog.
Very rare I get anywhere with a Paul, but maybe he’s found my level with kids’ prank sets?