Thanks to Paul for the puzzle, with several that took a little while to work out – my favourites were 19ac, 24ac, and 5dn.
| ACROSS | ||
| 9 | CONSTRAIN |
Study air pressure (9)
|
| definition: CONSTRAIN=to compel, to force=to “pressure”
CON=archaic word meaning to learn, to “study” + STRAIN=a melody, a piece of music=”air” |
||
| 10 | RAITA |
Educated character fed a refreshing side dish (5)
|
| definition: a side dish of yoghurt, often served alongside spicier dishes to refresh the palate
RITA=”Educated character” – reference to the play and film Educating Rita [wiki]; around A (from surface) |
||
| 11 | TIE-IN |
Link that is apparently like spam? (3-2)
|
| I.E. (id est, “that is”), put inside TIN “like spam”, as spam meat [wiki] can be found in tin cans | ||
| 12 | LILY-WHITE |
Pure flower with foul fragrance, ultimately (4-5)
|
| LILY=”flower” + W (with) + HIT=to make contact with, to collide with=”foul” + last/ultimate letter of [fragranc]-E
edit thanks to Sagittarius and Andy in Durham in the comments: anagram/”foul” of (with)* is a much neater parsing of the -WHIT- part of the clue |
||
| 13 | PISSOIR |
Capital in Paris is at the end of the day in France – go there? (7)
|
| definition: ‘to go’=to urinate, so “go there?” indicates a place to do this
P (Capital letter of Paris) + IS (from surface) + SOIR=French word for ‘evening’=”end of the day in France” |
||
| 14 | GNASHER |
Tooth that’s new in cutter? (7)
|
| N (new) in GASHER=something that makes a gash, something that cuts=a “cutter?” | ||
| 17 | MANGO LASSI |
See 28
|
| 19 | JAY |
Bird with 14 mentioning celebrated baker? (3)
|
| JAY + GNASHER (from 14ac) sounds like ‘Jane Asher’
Jane Asher is known for her cake-making books and business, alongside her acting career [wiki] |
||
| 20 | LORRY |
Author Lee articulated – something like that? (5)
|
| definition refers back to the word “articulated”, as in an articulated lorry [wiki]
sounds like (articulated) ‘Laurie’, as in Laurie Lee the author [wiki] |
||
| 21 | ROMANOV |
House where fellow in groovy clothing undressed (7)
|
| definition: a former Imperial house in Russia
MAN=”fellow” inside [g]-ROOV-[y] with its outer letters (clothing) removed/undressed |
||
| 22 | DEHISCE |
Pop is attending church: he had relapsed earlier (7)
|
| definition: to rupture, to break open
IS (from surface) + CE (Church of England); with HE’D (he had) reversed/”relapsed” placed in front (“earlier”) |
||
| 24 | FRANGLAIS |
Amusing language in which the following might sound like laughter? (9)
|
| definition: a mixture of French and English, often used for comic effect
L’AFTER could be a Franglais mix of ‘le’ (‘the’ in French) + ‘after’ in English, as a way to say ‘the after’ or “the following”, and this might be pronounced like “laughter” |
||
| 26, 4 | BINGO CALLER |
House visitor for whom knock at the door comes after 4? (5,6)
|
| a bingo caller might call out ‘knock at the door’ following the number 4
“House” is slang for BINGO; plus CALLER=”visitor” |
||
| 28, 17 | MANGO LASSI |
Imported into Vietnam, Angola’s simple fruit drink (5,5)
|
| hidden in [Vietna]-M ANGOLA’S SI-[mple] | ||
| 29 | LOWESTOFT |
Central European fliers circling on the occidental side of English port (9)
|
| LOT Polish Airlines=”Central European fliers”; around/circling WEST OF=”on the occidental side of” | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | SCOT |
Old payment of course skimmed off? (4)
|
| definition: an old word for a payment e.g. a tax
[A]-SCOT=horse racing “course”, with the top letter “skimmed off” |
||
| 2 | ANGERS |
Gauls reportedly in French city? (6)
|
| “Gauls” sounds like ‘galls’=irritates=ANGERS | ||
| 3 | STENTORIAN |
Booming ace in tennis, or tennis’s first shot (10)
|
| A (for “ace” in playing cards), in: anagram/”shot” of (tennis or t)*, with one t being t-[ennis’s] first letter | ||
| 4 | BINGO CALLER |
See 26 Across
|
| 5 | ENOLA GAY |
Bomber, a girl I sent up ending in atrocity (5,3)
|
| definition: name of the first bomber aircraft to drop an atomic bomb
A (from surface) + GAL=”girl” + ONE=”I”, all reversed (“sent up”); plus end of [atrocit]-Y |
||
| 6 | DRAW |
No-win situation The Guardian’s responsibility to turn around? (4)
|
| WARD (a guardian takes responsibility for their ward), reversed (to turn around) | ||
| 7 | FINISHER |
One crossing the line in entering shipping forecast area (8)
|
| definition refers to e.g. crossing the line to finish a race
IN (from surface) entering into FISHER=”shipping forecast area” [wiki] |
||
| 8, 25 | MAKE GOOD |
Rectify state of mind guzzling a barrel of beer (4,4)
|
| MOOD=”state of mind” around A KEG=”a barrel of beer” | ||
| 13 | POLAR |
Average outside cold, with coat off – freezing! (5)
|
| PAR=”Average” around [c]-OL-[d] with its outer letters (coat) taken off | ||
| 15 | ALL THE BEST |
Lethal whipped cream – take care! (3,3,4)
|
| anagram/”whipped” of (Lethal)*; plus BEST=”cream” (e.g. the cream of the crop) | ||
| 16 | RHYME |
Mode of ode, say? (5)
|
| “Mode” is a rhyme of “ode”, and a reference to rhymes used in poetry | ||
| 18 | SAMBAING |
Big man, as dancing, doing just that? (8)
|
| definition refers back to “dancing” e.g. samba-ing
anagram/”dancing” of (Big man as)* |
||
| 19 | JOVIALLY |
Marine’s carried through in cheerful manner (8)
|
| JOLLY=slang for a royal marine, around/carrying VIA=”through” | ||
| 22 | DISOWN |
Reject is blocking sink (6)
|
| IS (from surface) inside DOWN=”sink” | ||
| 23 | SENIOR |
One is doddery, right? (6)
|
| anagram/”doddery” of (One is)*, plus R (right) | ||
| 24 | FAME |
Musical combination of two notes (4)
|
| definition: Fame is the name of a musical [wiki]
FA and ME are two musical “notes” (do re ME FA…) |
||
| 25 | MAKE GOOD |
See 8
|
| 27 | OATH |
Curse of Portillo, a Thatcherite (4)
|
| hidden in [Portill]-O A TH-[atcherite] |
Thanks Paul and manehi
Excellent clue for ENOLA GAY. Clever hidden for MANGO LASSI. I didn’t spot Jane Asher!
Excellent puzzle. Super blog.
Thanks Paul and manehi.
My faves: TIE-IN, GNASHER, JAY, LORRY, FRANGLAIS, ANGERS,
BINGO CALLER, JOVIALLY and SENIOR.
Brilliant puzzle, ENOLA GAY, JAY GNASHER, FRANGLAIS and PISSOIR, just some of my favourites. DEHISCE was a nho, as I suspect it will be for others.
Ta Paul & manehi.
I think 12A is an anagram (foul) of With, plus the E from Fragrance.
I interpreted the middle of LILY-WHITE as an anagram (foul) of WITH.
(sorry to repeat Sagittarius, you beat me to it at typing!)
The usual Paulian playbook: a slow start, accelerating through the main body and a couple of tricky ones at the end. On a day when Guardian wasn’t “us” and flower wasn’t a river.
I hadn’t heard of DEHISCE or STENTORIAN, but got them via fair means. I realise I hadn’t fully parsed FRANGLAIS once I knew the answer, good work manehi.
I liked MAKE GOOD, RAITA, TIE IN and ENOLA GAY amongst others.
Andy @5 I had it like manehi, but that’s neater for LILY WHITE.
Excellent stuff. Thanks Paul and manehi.
That was an excellent puzzle (though I had no idea Jane Asher was a baker… I had a vague idea of her as an actress and sometime squeeze of another Paul)
[A lot of posters on the Guardian site hadn’t heard of DEHISCE either. I’m surprised, as it would be covered in Biology. If you want to see it happening very rapidly, touch a ripe seed pod of Himalayan Balsam, though this has the unfortunate side effect of dispersing this thug.]
DEHISCE was new but I was pleased to piece it together. I didn’t know Jane Asher was a baker so couldn’t parse that one or FRANGLAIS. Thanks to setter and blogger.
I’ll cop to a few bung-it-in-and-hopes today. Got there in the end but couldn’t parse Franglais and didn’t know DEHISCE, though the wordplay and crossers got me there. A very pleasant groan at JAY GNASHER once the penny dropped.
Found this at the tough end of Paul’s range but quite a bit I didn’t know. The airline LOT, Jane Asher (as a baker), DEHISCE and a few other bits.
Enjoyed FRANGLAIS after the penny dropped.
Thanks Paul and Manehi
This was one of those occasional puzzles that remind me of when / why Paul used to be one of my favourite setters.
Some really super clues, ENOLA GAY being the pick of the bunch. Many other smiles: JAY took ages – I was fixated with Dennis the Menace! – and the clever PISSOIR raised a laugh, along with the wonderful FRANGLAIS. I was a huge fan of Miles Kington and still miss his wit. If you’re not familiar with his oeuvre, have a read of ‘How to speak Franglais’, here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-22655534 which I was chuffed to find just now – it delayed my arriving here for quite a while.
Other ticks were for RAITA, LORRY, ROMANOV, DEHISCE, DRAW, LOWESTOFT – and ANGERS, which I finally convinced myself does work.
Many thanks to Paul for a lot of fun and to manehi for an excellent blog.
Paul being very tricksy indeed. Failed to parse TIE-IN and I also missed the “with foul” in LILY WHITE. Wasted a lot of time trying to make GNASHER be INCISOR (and then once I’d got the answer, I didn’t know about Jane Asher’s baking career, though JAY couldn’t be anything else). Wasted a lot more time trying to fit the “one-two, buckle my shoe” nursery rhyme into the BINGO CALLER’s repertoire, and then kicked myself for not seeing how RHYME works. In other words, a lot of fun. Favourites FRANGLAIS, PISSOIR, the “educated character” in RAITA. Thanks Paul and manehi.
[muffin@8: if you don’t want to spread Himalayan Balsam, the trick also works with Busy Lizzies – their Latin name of Impatiens refers to their eagerness to pop/DEHISCE their seed pods.]
Looks like Paul’s been for a curry.
Yes Eileen: Paul is a bunch of different setters, and this is the one I enjoy.
I knew dehisce from a Guardian crossword in the seventies. I wonder if anyone else remembers it.
Fun puzzle. I also parsed LILY WHITE like Sagittarius. I particularly liked TIE IN, PISSOIR, STENTORIAN and the grimly &littish ENOLA GAY. I don’t always find that Paul’s soundalikes raise a smile rather than eyebrows, but JAY GNASHER did. Interesting that ANGERS relies on homophony for the wordplay rather than the definition, as is more usual.
As muffin says, DEHISCE should be familiar to anyone with an interest in botany (sorry Jacob), though usually encountered as an adjective rather than a verb: fruits are described as dehiscent (breaking open when ripe to release the seeds) or indehiscent.
A pat on the back to Paul for describing LOT as Central European. The ex Warsaw Pact countries are often labelled as Eastern Europe, but past Poland there’s a hell of a lot of Russia before you get to the Urals.
Thanks to Paul and manehi
[muffin and gladys: Himalayan balsam isn’t just dehiscent, it’s described as ‘explosively dehiscent’]
PS I agree completely with Eileen’s first paragraph @12
Really great puzzle with all Paul’s trademarks.
As a Biology graduate (about a 100 years ago), I knew DEHISCE. The Jane Asher connection took ages to drop!
Faves were PISSOIR and SENIOR
Thanks Paul and manehi
I had vaguely heard of DEHISCE, but didn’t know Jane Asher as a baker. LORRY is good, though I missed it as I could only think of Harper Lee and Lee Child. The rest was fairly gentle by Paul’s standards.
Bunged FRANGLAIS without parsing it. Chacun à son goût.
poc @20 – sorry to hear about your gout. 🙁
Very enjoyable. It probably shows my age that Archie was the first educated character that came to mind, though Rita wasn’t far behind.
I took missed Lorry/Laurie and was down the Harper and Child rabbit hole.
Bunged them all in except LORRY (NHO the author or an articulated lorry on my side of the pond), and definitely needed parsing help for some. It isn’t clear to me how the clue for TIE-IN indicates that the i.e. goes inside the TIN — what am I missing? FRANGLAIS reminds me of the book “Fractured French” by F.S. Pearson, a vintage (1950s) book with witty illustrated “translations”. Some examples: “carte blanche” = “Blanche has had too much to drink” and “Mise en scene” = “There are mice in the river”.
I needed quite a bit of assistance with all the GK so this puzzle was a lot like playing Trivial Pursuit 😉 New for me: FAME the musical (but I knew of the film); SCOT = a payment corresponding to a modern tax, FISHER sea area = shipping forecast area (for 7d); DEHISCE; LOWESTOFT fishing port; knock at the door bingo call (for 26/4).
I could not parse 24ac and 16d.
Had absolutely no idea how 19 tied in with 14 ac. Only knew Jane Asher from her association with a member of The Beatles, or was it The Rolling Stones back in The Sixties. But no other bird could possibly fit with a J in place. (Jay, not Ms Asher, I hasten to add). I also remember a comic strip from my childhood that involved Dennis The Menace and a studded collared brute of a dog called GNASHER.
But I am finding Paul much more straightforward to unravel recently. Maybe I/ we are getting more used to his quirky, always entertaining ways…
…and I was lucky enough to meet Laurie Lee, who was one of the judges at a presentation award for young short story writers in 1970, where he even came over and had a word with me. Apologies for the name dropping…
Should have enjoyed this but found it frustrating with much checking of wordplay needed. DEHISCE is a new one on me, as is CON for study.
Bah.
Nakamova@24
Spam (spiced ham) is, or perhaps was, invariably in a tin (can, to you?), so that “ie” is in tin.
michelle @25: SCOT might be familiar from the expression ‘scot free’, which literally means ‘without charges’
Jane Asher and Laurie Lee were both new to me, so I missed both puns. (I entered JAY without parsing, and cheated on LORRY right at the end.) This says more about me than about the puzzle.
Not long ago we had two different regular commenters named Jay. I haven’t seen either of them in recent months, but I wonder if either will drop by to acknowledge the name drop.
wrows @28 CON = study came up only last Friday at 5d in Pangakupu’s puzzle. It is pretty much a crossword staple. Some time back, on an occasion when it was questioned here, I recall another contributor quoting from chapter 2 of Ulysses, where Stephen Dedalus remembers his time spent in Paris and in “the studious silence of the library of Saint Genevieve where he had read, sheltered from the sin of Paris, night by night. By his elbow a delicate Siamese conned a handbook of strategy.”
Protase @17: Indeed, the botany link unsurprisingly escaped me, although I was able to construct DEHISCE from the wordplay – something that I think makes an obscure word acceptable. On the plus side, I had heard of a LILY!
Otherwise this was a typical Paul for me: a few Aha! moments, many more decoded after the fact, and a couple not parsed at all (thank you manehi).
Like a few others, I only knew of Jane Asher as Paul McCartney’s long time girlfriend and eventual fiancée before she broke it off on live TV. As well as the baking, I learn she also has a distinguished acting career. Anyway, the pun is very clever in hindsight.
Like some others I hadn’t heard of DEHISCE. And I didn’t twig the WHIT in LILY-WHITE, so thanks for the explanations.
It was nice to see that “educated character” RITA, an old favourite. But the standouts for me were JAY GNASHER (very amusing), and ENOLA GAY with its rather chilling suggestion of a clue-as-definition.
Many thanks Paul and manehi.