A tricky puzzle, with quite a few parsed slowly after solving. My favourites were 17ac, 24ac, and 18dn. Thanks to Paul for the challenge.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | DOWNPIPE |
Tube carrying rainwater – shut up if inverted? (8)
|
| PIPE DOWN=a way to tell someone to “shut up”, with the order “inverted” | ||
| 5 | GANDHI |
Leader from Gujarat with an appropriate garment, testament demanding freedom? (6)
|
| “Leader” or first letter from G-[ujarat]; with AN (from surface); plus DH-[ot]-I=traditional Indian garment, with OT (Old Testament) leaving i.e. “demanding freedom”
for the surface: Gandhi was from Gujarat, and was known for choosing to wear a dhoti |
||
| 9 | ADELPHI |
Theatre production’s opening in a new capital (7)
|
| definition: a theatre in the West End of London
opening/first letter of P-[roduction]; in A (from surface) + DELHI=”new capital”, referring to New Delhi as the capital of India |
||
| 10 | RELEARN |
Again pick up on miscalculation in the end by Shakespearean character (7)
|
| for definition, to “pick up” as in to learn
RE=about, concerning=”on”; plus “end” letter of [miscalculatio]-N after LEAR=”Shakespearean character” |
||
| 11 | LOTUS |
Blooming fast car? (5)
|
| double definition: a lotus as a blooming flower; or Lotus as a manufacturer of sports cars | ||
| 12 | TOMBSTONE |
Sound of a cat fed pinch of big, big tablet (9)
|
| TOM’S TONE=”Sound of a cat”; around a small part/”pinch” of B-[ig] | ||
| 13 | MUTTON-HEADED |
Gormless fashion leader, subtle clothes (6-6)
|
| TON=”fashion” (from French usage as in e.g. ‘bon ton’) plus HEAD=”leader”; with MUTED=”subtle” going around (“clothes”) | ||
| 17 | SKIN FRICTION |
Resistance between fluid and solid, fluid in rock fits in (4,8)
|
| definition: SKIN FRICTION describes the resistance faced by an object moving through a fluid
anagram/”fluid” of (in rock fits in)* |
||
| 20 | APOCRYPHA |
Dubious approach with unknown inscription – questionable text? (9)
|
| anagram/”Dubious” of (approach)*, with Y (symbol for an “unknown” value in maths) inscribed within | ||
| 22 | LUGER |
Supine competitor’s arm (5)
|
| double definition: a luger as someone competing while supine (lying down) in a luge toboggan; or Luger as a type of pistol or firearm | ||
| 23 | SWAGGER |
Tail behind first of spectators in grandstand (7)
|
| for definition, “grandstand” as a verb
a “Tail” wags, so it is a WAGGER; going behind first letter of S-[pectators] |
||
| 24 | INNINGS |
Time in profit after speculation, capital spent (7)
|
| definition: in cricket, a batter’s innings is the time they spend ‘in’ at the crease
[W]-INNINGS after making a bet=”profit after speculation”, losing its first/”capital” letter |
||
| 25 | NEEDLE |
Indicator of provocation? (6)
|
| double definition: a needle in a dial used as an indicator; or to needle someone means to provoke them | ||
| 26 | UNSTEADY |
Tuesday nights originally created for rocking (8)
|
| anagram/”created” of (Tuesday n)*, with n as the first/original letter from n-[ights] | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | DEARLY |
Very much sooner than expected, daughter comes first (6)
|
| for definition, DEARLY can be used to mean ‘deeply’ e.g. ‘I would dearly like to visit’ / ‘I would very much…’
EARLY=”sooner than expected”, with D (daughter) coming first |
||
| 2 | WREATH |
One of those placed in recollection of the war? (6)
|
| anagram (“recollection” or re-collection) of (the war)* | ||
| 3 | PAPA SMURF |
Dowdy type bedding fool, a reflective character appearing blue (4,5)
|
| for the definition, Papa Smurf is one of the Smurfs, comic book characters with blue skin
reversal/”reflective” of: FRUMP=”Dowdy type” around/”bedding” both of SAP=”fool” plus A (from surface) |
||
| 4 | PAINT STRIPPER |
What Toulouse-Lautrec would do to get thinner, say? (5,8)
|
| definition: ‘thinner’ as in a solvent that can be used to dilute or remove paint
Toulouse-Lautrec was an artist known for portraits of prostitutes i.e. ‘PAINT [a] STRIPPER’ might be something he would do |
||
| 6 | ATLAS |
Upper vertebra eventually cut (5)
|
| definition: the ATLAS vertebra is located at the top of the neck
AT LAS-[T]=”eventually”, “cut” short |
||
| 7 | DIAMONDS |
Quarter of the pack ice (8)
|
| double definition: Diamonds are one of the four suits in a “pack” of cards; plus “ice” as slang for diamonds or other precious stones | ||
| 8 | INNUENDO |
Allusion contained by cryptic undone (8)
|
| IN=”contained”, with (“by”) an anagram/”cryptic” of (undone)* | ||
| 10 | REMONSTRATION |
Protest upsetting the Two Ronnies at times? (13)
|
| anagram/”upsetting” of (Ron Ron at times)*, with Ron and Ron for “the Two Ronnies” | ||
| 14 | EXOPLANET |
Spot marker in wild antelope, body far away (9)
|
| X=”Spot marker” as in ‘X marks the spot’; inside anagram/”wild” of (antelope)* | ||
| 15 | ASSASSIN |
Two dummies in, one taking another out? (8)
|
| for definition, ‘taking out’ as in ‘killing’
ASS ASS (“Two dummies”, with ‘ass’=’dummy’) plus IN (from surface) |
||
| 16 | PINOTAGE |
Wine without label in dish (8)
|
| definition: a type of red wine
NO TAG=”without label”; in PIE=”dish” |
||
| 18 | UGANDA |
Country where female and male animals reported? (6)
|
| sounds like (“reported”): ‘ewe gander’ = a female animal and a male animal | ||
| 19 | FROSTY |
Cold back home at the farm (6)
|
| FRO=”back” (as in ‘to-and-fro’) plus STY=”home [of some animals] at the farm” | ||
| 21 | RIGEL |
Star on Irish wheels (5)
|
| reversal (“wheels”, turns around) of: LEG=”on” side in cricket, plus IR (Irish) |
Tough with some iffy clues. Needed the blog to parse but still not convinced. Enjoyed PAPA SMURF! Brought back some memories.
DNF. No complaints, just too dim to parse LUGER though I suspected the answer, and missed ewegander entirely. Good crossword. Thanks both.
Thought we might be in for an Armistice Day theme after WREATH, but don’t see any others, though could easily have missed some.
Thanks to S&B
Papa Smurf! Last one in and took forever
Loved it. Took as long as Monday and Tuesday together.
Thanks Paul and Manehi
Really tough, but got there in the end. Wow. Had to work out PAPA SMURF; loved GANDHI and INNINGS; PAINT STRIPPER and WREATH were very clever. Many thanks to Paul as ever, and to manehi.
I made heavy going of this, but most of the solutions that held me up felt, with hindsight, like they’d been staring me in the face. Perhaps ‘tom’s tone’ was a bit slippery, but everything else seemed to be hiding in plain sight. Very enjoyable challenge.
A challenging but fun crossword – thanks Paul. I managed to complete it but some, where the answer was obvious e.g. 5a GANDHI, but I couldn’t parse, not having heard of a dhoti. I also needed help parsing 12a (Tom’s tone!!), 10d (Ron Ron – groan!) and 21d. Well done and thanks manehi for the clarifications.
Another who made heavy weather of this, starting off in the SW. Like others with hindsight, not as difficult as it first looked and the unknowns, like SKIN FRICTION, RIGEL and EXOPLANET were gettable from the wordplay. Many ticks, but I thought WREATH was brilliant as well as topical and also enjoyed DOWNPIPE, MUTTON-HEADED, PAPA SMURF, PAINT STRIPPER, REMONSTRATION and ASSASSIN. I’m not having TOMBSTONE as a homophone in any accent, but it wouldn’t be a Paul, without at least one dodgy clue. Quite brilliant overall though.
Ta Paul & manehi.
Also a dnf: failed to parse GANDHI and just gave up on RELEARN, INNINGS and the unfamilar ATLAS vertebrae. SKIN FRICTION was new to me though I solved it.
But no complaints and I liked a lot of the rest: WREATH, the spot marker and the quarter of the pack, ADELPHI and the Two Rons and the ewe gander (Ouch!).
I don’t think TOMBSTONE is supposed to be a homophone: the meaning of the sound of a cat is ‘Tom’s tone’ and doesn’t mean it has to have the same O sound as the one in ‘tomb’.
I found this tough but hugely enjoyable. Favourites were TOMBSTONE, MUTTON-HEADED, SKIN FRICTION, LUGER, SWAGGER, PAINT-STRIPPER and UGANDA. Technically a failure as I needed the blog to parse PAPA SMURF, having failed to spot the frump.
Wonderful stuff nonetheless – thanks to Paul and Manehi!
I take back my comment on TOMBSTONE, I now see how it works and it’s very good. A flawless puzzle indeed from the master.
Very much a game of four quarters. NW, SW, NE, SE in that order. Very slow start and completed only after a struggle and some guesses. Needed help with parsing a few. Nho the star. Tombstone …not impressed but Uganda is brilliant. Overall not that enjoyable for me but thanks anyway Paul, still one of my favourite setters cos I know there will always be a challenge.
A slow but steady workout, with some absolute gems – PAINT STRIPPER and PAPA SMURF provoked smiles. Paul never fails to entertain.
There does appears to be a nascent theme of Remembrance for Armistice Day (as DadsLad@3 noticed) with WREATH, TOMBSTONE, PIPEs DOWN, DEARLY (departed) and maybe more.
Elsewhere, I liked the ‘two dummies’ and the ‘wine without label’.
Thanks to Paul and manehi.
For me this was the ideal mix of head scratching and amusing.
One of those where I got the answers, although I didn’t always quite know why. And a couple of new words for the hoard.
This was a highly challenging midweek puzzle, that got the better of us. Oh well – we endure.
Paint stripper = paint thinner? Hmmm…
Slow start, as is often the case with Paul, but things got easier when I figured out PAINT STRIPPER. I think I’m happier when Paul doesn’t set answers that cover multiple slots in the puzzle. NHO of the ADELPHI theatre, and needed parsing help with RIGEL and INNINGS. Thanks Paul and manehi.
Gave up after a while, though I did get some of it. Disliked 4d (though I did get it) as I don’t think there were strippers in TL’s period.
Some would call 4d an indirect anagram.
I need hardly say (but I will anyway) that 18d only works for some solvers.
Thought 2d WREATH particularly apt and brilliant on today of all days. Either Paul is getting gentler or I’m getting more attuned to his ways and devices, but I didn’t get too stuck with any of this. Though mystified by the parsing of last two in, LUGER and FROSTY, so many thanks for the heads up on those, Manehi…
Difficult but worth every bead of solving sweat. I’m guessing the alignment of the bright blue PAPA SMURF to the bright blue RIGEL is coincidental but it’s lovely. Thank you P and m.
A tricky puzzle indeed, and I couldn’t parse them all. WREATH was very good and appropriate for today. But my favourite was PAINT STRIPPER which brought a grin. (poc @21, presumably it’s the exotic dancers of the Moulin Rouge that are being referred to.)
Many thanks Paul and manehi.
[Off topic, but is the Quick Crossword getting more cryptic? Yesterday we had “Jersey for a child? (3-3)” which is hardly a straight definition.]
12a. Tom’s Tone does not sound anything like Tombstone. It’s pronounced toom stone
[Lord Jim @24 – The quick’s been going that way for a while now]
Very tricky with lots of help required to solve this one. I failed again to spot fro’ as back. I liked the MUTTON-HEADED fashion leader, the dubious approach to the APOCRYPHA, the UNSTEADY Tuesday nights for rocking, and the dowdy type PAPA SMURF. The PAINT STRIPPER was a nice idea, although as pointed out above it is not the same as a paint thinner.
Thanks Paul and manehi.
Ed@25 see manehi and Gladys@10. TOM’S TONE is the sound of a cat, which goes round B. No claim to any homophone.
Thanks for the blog , two in a row from this setter with quality clues and it almost lasted my journey home .
WREATH is very neat , LUGER is deceptive with the two G sounds .
SKIN FRICTION important in swimming , special suits were all the rage but then got banned .
RIGEL one of the few stars that appear blue to the naked eye , blue supergiants do not last long , it is a good candidate for the next nearby supernova .
Voyager 1 reaches 1 light-day away from Earth today , it seems a long way but also not really far at all . The nearest star over 1500 light-days away .
Tough even for a Paul.
Couldn’t work out how the two Ronnies clue worked which left me unsure if I needed R- or D- at the start of EMONSTRATION.
GHANDI was also my instant thought but could not parse it so waited for all the checking letters. SINK rather than SKIN FRICTION sounded more plausible to me and was not corrected until I got PINOTAGE (thankfully one of my favourites).
Liked ADELPHI and INNINGS
Thanks Paul and manehi
After succeeding with the previous Paul, this was a return to form for me. Lots of struggles, too many unparsed to list, and quibbles about a couple including the indirect-ish anagram in 10D. 22A is very clever.
However, I can only blame myself for forgetting that Leg = On yet again. Cricket was never my game.
Brilliant puzzle with so many multi-layered clues.
I agree with Roz @29 that this was another example of Paul at his best – just imaginative standalone clues. Perhaps the lack of split entries and cross-references was why, unlike many of you, I found this quite straightforward. (Of course it does have a soundalike clue which doesn’t work with a rhotic accent. Why does Paul do this in almost every puzzle? I’m not rhotic myself, but I understand the irritation of those that are. He only does it to annoy because he knows it teases?)
PAINT STRIPPER raised a laugh, though the clue doesn’t really work on several levels, as has been pointed out.
I particularly liked WREATH, PINOTAGE, and the unexpected PAPA SMURF.
Thanks to Paul and manehi
Jacob@31 if it’s any consolation, cricket is very much my game and I still miss the Leg trick on a regular basis
Paul on top form and, as is often the case, the last few in were favourites; FROSTY, SWAGGER and PAPA SMURF which I really should have got earlier as my kids used to call me that – no idea why
Cheers M&P
Needed 2 sessions to solve this as I failed to do the NE corner first time around. Some great clues and thanks to manehi for the parsing of GANDHI and ATLAS.
Excellent parsing, manehi – don’t think I could have got there so quickly!
A tough but completely fair challenge from Paul. Lots of tricky parsing to unravel, but with several groan out-loud moments.
SKIN FRICTION, TOMBSTONE and PAINT STRIPPER all superb.
Failed to parse the Two Ronnies clue so many thanks for untangling that.
Thanks Paul and manehi
poc @21, 18d makes no sense whatsoever to me, other than it’s country that fits the crossers.
An enjoyable challenge which Paul deservedly won. Thanks manehi for some explanations, as I had to reveal a few that I still couldn’t parse. Laughed out loud at PAPA SMURF.
I always marvel at Paul’s fluid clueing. Many lovely ones but top spot goes to GANDHI who in addition to being tightly clued, was also from Gujarat wore a dhoti and his life could have been fairly called a testament to freedom! That was a ricochetting clue!
Thanks both
Too hard to be enjoyable for me which is usually the case with me. Only one i got unaided was paint stripper and I was surprised I was right.
[Since I know everything I confidently predict that the Leonids will spark into life tonight . Clear skies and no moon so perfect conditions and also a chance to see Uranus and the Andromeda Galaxy , the furthest naked eye object . ]
Good Paul crossword. Couldn’t quite parse GANDHI or REMONSTRATION (knew it was an anagram somehow). My favourite clues were 22a and 18d which were the very last 2 answers I put in!
A LUGER lies on his/her back hence “supine”.
Isn’t the two Ronnies clue an indirect anagram?
I don’t see a definition in 5ac, unless “leader” is doing double time. Or is it &lit?
Way beyond me, with several I was nowhere near parsing even after revealing the answers. Not much fun.
Ron Ron as an ‘anagram’ of The Two Ronnies feels a stretch to me. What’s the ‘The’ doing?
I had to reveal the last 3 or 4, but enjoyed the rest – especially EXOPLANET for “spot marker”.
Can someone explain the source of IR for “Irish” in RIGEL? The only abbreviations for Ireland I can find online are IE and IRL.
Many thanks to Paul and manehi.
Quite hard, especially as I didn’t have time to concentrate. I didn’t parse REMONSTRATE or PAPA SMURF (although that one was easy enough). A good battle though. I never give up on a Paul.
I liked EXOPLANET. I think we saw a similar ASSASSIN recently in the FT.
Thanks Paul and Manehi (including for agreeing it was tricky).
Another great puzzle from Paul, completed over a few sessions. Some very good misdirections held me up for a while, with some satisfying pdm’s. LOI 19d FROSTY took a while to parse. Couldn’t parse 5a GANDHI
26a UNSTEADY had a great surface, and 2d WREATH was a clever construction, appropriate for the day, and 3d PAPA SMURF a delightfully unexpected solution. Many other favourites
Thanks both
Cryptics at their best !
I knew it was a Paulista when after a longish struggle with 18d the crosser gave me the G, which led to the only country I could think of with a G in the second position, and thus the penny dropped, G for Groan, then Giggle as the homophonic animals revealed themselves. That and the S-WAGGER faves, along with GANDHI, APOCRYPHA and PINOTAGE. Thanks P & M.
TanTrumPet@46: Ir. as an abbreviation for Ireland and Irish is in Chambers, and probably other dictionaries. I suspect dictionaries such as Chambers and Collins are used more by setters than by online solvers.
Cricket clues again!
Just had to say I loved this puzzle. I feel that Paul is able to be more daring and whimsical when setting for the Guardian. Sometimes we suffer from the laxness of the editorial oversight (mistakes in the clues are just the most obvious instance) but sometimes we benefit and I think the freedom Paul enjoys to be his amazing self is probably for me the biggest upside.
There were several very clever parsings here. LUGER took me longest and I failed on GANDHI.
Roz on interstellar distances, in an idle moment I worked out how many terawatts a radio transmitter ten light years away would need to give a nanovolt per metre field strength here. Are there really people who take up radio telescope time looking for signals from intelligent life?
Finished, with only the parsing of “TON” in 13ac and “GEL” in 21d unclear. The latter was important, since “REGOL” is also a star, but I guessed too obscure to be the answer. 24ac was a case of what can fit then spend 15 mins figuring out why…
ETU@54 Signals can be beamed of course. Signals we have sent out could be detected (by us) from >1000 light years
Glad I’m not the only one to have found this a challenge. Got there in the end, but had to come here to parse several clues.
Gandhi, Mutton-Headed, Papa Smurf, Pinotage, Rigel, Innings and Uganda all held me up because I either lacked some knowledge (esp. cricket-related) or the formula to piece together the answer from the worldplay was simply too opaque. As a rhotic speaker I have the usual grumble about Uganda(!)
Enjoyed Paint-Stripper for the pun, even if I’m not sure I agree that paint stripper and paint thinner are synonymous.
Too hard for me I’m afraid. Wish I’d got UGANDA, very good.
Well, I suppose that if you strip off a layer of paint then that remaining is thinner…
I enjoyed this one – nicely challenging and typically amusing Paul fare, but sadly a DNF. I failed on PAPA SMURF and on FROSTY: so it goes. I went all round the alphabet several times on P-P-/S-U-F: Pope? Papa? Pepe? Stuff? Scuff ? Scurf? Snuff?, and still the penny did not drop. Such is life.
I was pleased to get GANDHI – very clever.
Thanks to Paul, and to manehi, not least for clarifying LUGER and RIGEL, which I failed to parse.
Thanks maheni. I’m never sure if I enjoy Paul or not. I keep trying on the basis I might get better at his crosswords albeit I usually don’t and get somewhere between 60 and 80% before I give up. And even then I do feel that the ones I get are often “find the definition, guess an answer, see if I can back-parse it” rather than build it up from the cryptic element and that feels less satisfying to me.
Some of these feel very difficult without most if not all the crossers. For example, I’m interested in understanding how 16 down is gettable on its own. I look at that and see wine or dish could be the definition, and wine (loads of synonyms/examples) dish (loads of synonyms/examples) without (could be removal, could be insertion) and label (loads of synonyms). But dish as the definition seems most likely? My first thought was wine (red/rose/white/a specific type of wine etc) outside label (tab? Something else?) = dish but it was miles away from that…
Phew! Finally finished it 24hrs & 4 visits after starting.
Fabulous fun. Thanks for the parsing Manehi.
I couldn’t see the dhoti in GANDHI or the double RON required for REMONSTRATION & RIGEL was just a star I’d heard of which fit.
Thanks for the (inter)stellar & celestial info @Roz.
I’ve never understood the objection to all indirect anagrams. If a clue gives you a fair chance to see the fodder for the anagram, why should it be considered improper just because all the letters are not spelled out?
In the case of 10d, RON is only spelled out once, but you need two RONs to make up the anagram. “The Two Ronnies” gives you that clearly and amusingly. That it is an anagram is also clearly set out (upsetting). So what’s the problem with the clue?
This is two Pauls in a row that meet the “this reminds me of why Paul used to be one of my favourite setters” standard. Are we seeing a trend? If so, hurrah.
CM 62,
This clue was OK as you point out, and not really an example of what most people mean by “indirect anagram”, I’d say, although I did stare for a moment at Ronnie = RON to make up the fodder.
However, they can easily be grossly wayward, as a moment’s thought would make clear.