The original puzzle may be found here.
This is Paul being Paul – clues with a sense of humour. I stared at a blank grid for a few minutes before I saw SHORT AND CURLIES and that was enough to get me started. I was held up for a while with he parsing of LOWLIFE and I had never heard of FLY AGARIC before, but every day’s a schooldays, even at my age.
Thanks, Paul.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | TETRAGRAM |
‘Fish’, ‘good’, ‘bash’ – one of those four-letter words (9)
|
| TETRA (“fish” often seen in aquaria) + G (good) + RAM (“bash”) | ||
| 6 | BIPED |
Man, say, placing one page between the sheets? (5)
|
| I (one) P (page) in BED (so “between the sheets?”) | ||
| 9 | BLITHERINGIDIOT |
Muppet Amin confined to more cheerful block? (10,5)
|
| IDI (Amin) confined to BLITHER (“more cheerful”) + INGOT (“block”) | ||
| 10 | ROCK |
Brilliant music? (4)
|
| If something ROCKs, it could be described as “brilliant” | ||
| 11 | KRAKATOA |
Old banger taking the biscuit with breakdown truck, would you say? (8)
|
| Homophone/pun/aural wordplay [would you say] of CRACKER (“the biscuit”) + TOWER (“breakdown truck”) | ||
| 14 | FLYAGARIC |
Dash a cigar off that’s poisonous (3,6)
|
| FLY (“dash”) + *(a cigar) [anag:off]
A fly agaric is a poisonous toadstool, used in the manufacture of flypaper. |
||
| 15 | NADIR |
Some villain, a director, the lowest of the low (5)
|
| Hidden in [some] “villaiN A DIRector” | ||
| 16 | ITCHY |
Irritable and hot in Windy City (5)
|
| H (hot) in *(city) [anag:windy] | ||
| 18 | MULTIPLEX |
Consider framing suggestion with old pictures (9)
|
| MULL (“consider”) framing TIP (“suggestion”) with EX (“old”)
Going to the “pictures” is an old-fashioned way of saying going to the cinema, which these days would probably be a multiplex cinema. |
||
| 20 | THE BIRDS |
Intervals including notes a perfect fifth apart horrifying singers? (3,5)
|
| THIRDS (“intervals” in music) including E and B (“notes a perfect fifth apart”)
As well as being singers (in some cases), birds are also the source of horror in Hitchcock’s The Birds, based on a Daphne Du Maurier short story. |
||
| 21 | MWAH |
Kiss and Wham on tour? (4)
|
| *(wham) [anag:on tour] | ||
| 25 | SHORTANDCURLIES |
One’s disempowered when had by those, Spooner’s Margaret, Temple and MacLaine? (5,3,7)
|
| If Spooner had tired to saY (Margaret) COURT AND SHIRLEYS (Temple and MacLaine), it may have come out as SHORT AND CURLIES | ||
| 26 | EATER |
Hog radiator, say, when first cut off (5)
|
| (h)EATER (“radiator”, with its first (letter) cut off) | ||
| 27 | ARTILLERY |
Arsenal’s feeble passing through channel (9)
|
| ILL (“feeble”) passing through ARTERY (“channel”) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | TIBER |
Runner in European capital concerned with section going uphill (5)
|
| <=(RE (“concerned with” + BIT (“section”), going uphill) | ||
| 2 | TWITCHY |
Bad speller in theory, extremely anxious (7)
|
| WITCH (“bad speller”) in T(heor)Y [extremely]
I think white witches may disagree with the “bad” description. |
||
| 3 | ACHE |
Long speech finally wrapped up by wizard (4)
|
| (speec)H [finally] wrapped up by ACE (“wizard”) | ||
| 4 | RARE |
Red colour a revolutionary adopts (4)
|
| Hidden in [adopts] “colouR A REvolutionary”
Think of a rare steak as being red, although a rare steak is actually called “blue”. |
||
| 5 | MINOR SCALE |
Noted progression without cabbage being mentioned? (5,5)
|
| Homophone/pun/aural wordplay [being mentioned] of MINUS KALE (“without cabbage”) | ||
| 6 | BRICKING IT |
Very anxious when building house? (8,2)
|
| If you are building a house using bricks, it could be described as BRICKING IT. | ||
| 7 | POINTED |
Keen I observe, nothing to lose in school (7)
|
| I + N(o)TE (“observe”, with O (nothing) to lose) in POD (“school”) | ||
| 8 | DOT MATRIX |
Pattern has Dorothy frolicking in spring, did you say? (3,6)
|
| DOT (Dorothy) + homophone/pun/aural wordplay [did you say] of MAY TRICKS (“frolicking in spring”) | ||
| 12 | UGLY SISTER |
Plain character gets surly, I gathered (4,6)
|
| *(gets surly i) [anag:gather] | ||
| 13 | PRIMA DONNA |
Photo briefly capturing mother, teacher and a princess (5,5)
|
| PRIN(t) (“photo”, briefly) capturing MA (“mother”) + DON (“teacher”) + A, so PRI(MA DON)N-A
Princess and prima donna are both terms used for a spoiled female. |
||
| 14 | FAIL TO SEE |
Miss payment claiming one pocketed by singers (4,2,3)
|
| FEE (“payment”) claiming I (one) pocketed by ALTOS (“singers”) | ||
| 17 | CHEROOT |
Actress and singer also going up in smoke (7)
|
| CHER (“actress and singer”) + <=TOO (“also”, going up) | ||
| 19 | LOWLIFE |
One defined by ‘scummy fellow’? (7)
|
| I (one) defined by *(fellow) [anag:scummy] and &lit. | ||
| 22 | HUSKY |
Growly dog (5)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 23 | SCUT |
Stumpy tail – ‘s pruned (4)
|
| S + CUT (“pruned”) | ||
| 24 | ORAL |
Test of popular opinion to the north (4)
|
| Hidden backwards in [of…to the north] “popuLAR Opinion” |
FLY AGARIC is also the toadstool usually pictured in fairy stories, the red cap with white spots, and those white spots are what cause delirium and toxicity. I knew it and it was my first one in.
Thank you to loonapick and Paul.
I took 10D to refer to a cut of diamond (or other gemstone) called a brilliant
Otherwise, for me this was a return to Paul at his most baffling, just when I thought I was getting the hang of things.
My faves: BLITHERING IDIOT, SHORT AND CURLIES, TWITCHY, MINOR SCALE
and LOWLIFE.
Thanks loonapick and Paul.
Lovely puzzle from Paul today.
Particularly liked KRAKATOA.
Pity about the ‘bad’ witches, though, as loonapick says.
Interesting solving experience today with every clue bar three solving in numerical order as I went through. The tricky ones being ITCHY (took a while to get Windy City), FAIL TO SEE (had the parse but needed crossers to think of ALTOS) and LOI, THE BIRDS (don’t have the musical knowledge to get either part of the parse so a bung and shrug). LOWLIFE my fave.
Thanks both
Yep lots of groanish fun from the Paulster, with ingots being blithe, crackers being towed, kale being subtracted, and so on. Enjoyed, ta to him and loona.
Nice puzzle! Thanks Paul and loonapick
I could not parse 19d.
I agree with the disappointment about witches being “bad spellers”.
I too thought ROCK referred to the diamond.
I spent so long trying to figure the homophone in DOT MATRIX I now can’t remember how I ever used to pronounce ‘matrix’. I suspect with a short a which would account for the time taken.
Really enjoyed this, favourite LOWLIFE once I’d twigged it.
Thanks Paul and Loonapick
Brilliant crossword. I parsed everything except being a bit hazy on THE BIRDS. I kept notes of favourite clues, but there were too many so I’ll offer MINOR SCALE, SHORT AND CURLIES, BLITHERING IDIOT, FAIL TO SEE, DOT MATRIX and KRAKATOA.
Cheers Paul and loonapick.