Toughie No 1443 by Petitjean
Hints and tips by Bufo
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty ** – Enjoyment ***
I never quite know what to expect with a Petitjean puzzle. Over the years I must have awarded them everything from one star to five stars for both difficulty and enjoyment. This was one of the more straightforward ones with only the wordplay for 5 down causing any head scratching. It must have been a quick solve. I did it in less time than it took the Australians to be bowled out
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
Across
1a Holy Grail-style surreal phoney quest (11)
PYTHONESQUE: An anagram (surreal) of PHONEY QUEST gives an adjective describing the humour of a group of people who did a film about the Holy Grail
9a Italian hero Lineker and Shearer named? (9)
GARIBALDI: A homophone of the first name of Mr Lineker and a word for someone who has had their head shaved (sheared)
10a Polished and seductive but wanting approval mostly (5)
HONED: Remove YE (YES with the last letter removed) from a word meaning ‘seductive’
11a Second of fake yellow rings ‘English antique‘ (3-3)
AGE-OLD: A (the second letter of fAke) + ‘yellow’ round E (English)
12a Formal do without being restricted by limitations of buffet, that is (5-3)
BLACK-TIE: ‘To do without’ inside the first and last letters of BuffeT + ‘that is’
13a Sesame paste and Hawaiian tuna in special tin (6)
TAHINI: A Hawaiian name for the yellowfin tuna inside an anagram (special) of TIN. I didn’t know the Hawaiian tuna
15a Bake tarte without topping for a change to give you a brief rest (3,5)
TEA BREAK: An anagram (for a change) of BAKE ARTE (TARTE with the first letter removed)
18a Transport to Spooner’s distant part of 28? (3,5)
CAR FERRY: A Spoonerism of ‘distant’ and a county in the south-west of the 28 across
19a Somewhat austere outlook for conventional sound reproduction (6)
STEREO: Hidden in auSTERE Outlook
21a Porridge then light meal -– no starter or trifle (4-4)
NICK-NACK: Porridge (jail) + a light meal with the first letter removed
23a Volatile peace around South is issue (6)
ESCAPE: An anagram (volatile) of PEACE round S (South)
26a East-End trendy stops for each bird (5)
PIPER: ‘Trendy’ as an East-Ender would say it with the initial H removed goes inside ‘for each’ to give a young pigeon or other bird
27a Top group in top school is overwhelming (9)
BEDAZZLES: Two letters that precede ‘Top’ in the name of a US rock band go inside the name of an independent school in Steep in Hampshire
28a Haggard country singer touring supermarkets after Europe and Ireland (7,4)
EMERALD ISLE: E (Europe) + the first name of the country singer Ms Haggard round supermarkets belonging to a particular discount chain
Down
1d Anthem is about good intro to tune for moving spectacle (7)
PAGEANT: An anthem round G (good) + T (first letter of Tune)
2d Essentially time for parking is short (5)
TERSE: Take a Latin phrase meaning ‘essentially’ (3,2) and replace P (parking) by T (time)
3d All in all working graduate’s new to be wearing tie (2,7)
ON BALANCE: ‘Working’ + an arts graduate + N (new) inside ‘to tie (or fasten your shoes)’
4d Getting a lift, kipper salesman going for more fish (4)
EELS: Reverse a kipper (someone who kips) and then remove a salesman
5d Old writer who in France confronts Left and Right-winger ignoring one inevitable conclusion (5-3)
QUILL-PEN: The French word for ‘who’ + L (left) + the surname of a French right-wing politician (Jean-Marie or his daughter Marine) with one instance of the letter E (last letter of inevitablE) removed
6d Way of doing things and what have you with essentially thin content (5)
ETHIC: An abbreviation that can denote ‘and what have you’ goes round the middle two letters of tHIn
7d Southerner is goal up in playground before end of break (7)
REDNECK: A derogatory term for a poor white farm labourer in SW USA = a reversal of ‘goal’ inside an open area for games + K (last letter of breaK)
8d A winter look finally that’s fashionable? (8)
KNITWEAR: An anagram (fashionable) of A WINTER K (last letter of looK).The whole clue provides the definition
14d Not easy being on PC with variable printout (4,4)
HARD COPY: ‘Not easy’ + a PC (police constable) + a letter denoting a variable
16d Easy to take in one beset by bad debt having imbibed stiffener (4-5)
BITE-SIZED: East to take in (or eat) = I (one) inside an anagram (bad) of DEBT round a gluey material used for stiffening paper or fabrics
17d Severe test with the Spanish writer turning up after news of team (8)
CRUCIBLE: A figurative term for a severe test or trial = a homophone (news of) of ‘team’ + a reversal of the Spanish for ‘the’ and a make of ballpoint pen
18d Is it possible for primates to produce food? (7)
CANAPES: When split (3,4) it means ‘is it possible for primates’
20d Left court, in control (7)
OVERSEE: ‘Left (remaining)’ + ‘to court romantically’ = ‘to control’
22d In races, running up, one should get help (5)
NURSE: Hidden in reverse in racES RUNning
24d Maps, finally timeless in the end (5)
ATLAS: Remove T (time) from the end of ‘in the end’ (2,4)
25d Mild decaf now and then what one fancies (4)
IDEA: Alternate letters of mIlD dEcAf
I enjoyed it
I enjoyed it too even though it wasn’t that tough
Thanks to Bufo and PJ too
I thoroughly enjoyed it , and solved in double quick time , for me, except for 11a which I completely misread.I thought it was some old fashioned phrase meaning “Hear hear”.
I am going to pick 18d as my favourite .
Thanks Petitjean and Buffo.
Much easier than yesterday’s puzzle, thank heavens. Even though easier, it was thoroughly enjoyable with the exception of (yes you’re correct) 18a. The top half went in fairly quickly and the bottom half eventually gave up the goods. Some really funny clues, but 9a has to be my favourite of the day. I expect a certain Mr A Shearer from the North East will be seeking legal advice.
Thanks to Petitjean for the puzzle and entertainment and to Bufo for his review.
What is wrong with 18a ? Apart from the fact that that county is spelt Kerry.
Hi Una, I’m afraid I just don’t like Spoonerism’s. Never have and never will but the rest of the clues were lovely
I usually loathe them to, but this one was quite fair , I thought.
I loved it, and thought 1A and 9A were wonderful. Bufo, I think that you’d be walkin’ on his fightin’ side by referring to the country singer in 28A as Ms!
Many thanks to PJ for a fun crossword and to Bufo for the review.
This was fun and enjoyable which is more than can be said for the backpage where I could guess the answer but had no idea of the wordplay. I hated it.
Only one small dislike here – I join in the chorus of disapproval for 18a. Oh for someone brave enough to ban Spoonerisms from crosswords. They are rarely any good though this one was, I suppose, marginally better than most.
Although I got the answer, the wordplay for 28a defeated me. Being “old school”, I was lookinging for H. Rider Haggard. If I’d got as far as the name, I would have expected a Miss Oberon. There, you see, hopelessly out of date!
So, thank you Petitjean and Bufo.
An enjoyable time was spent on this puzzle with some of the clues having good wordplay, I especially liked 5d, 17d and Janet, as always, went straight for the spooner. The last to go in was 27a due to the fact it is an establishment we had never heard of, but fair play, I doubt the setter will have heard of the institutions we attended. Thanks Petitjean and Bufo.
I think we deserve a drink… the Jolly Crispin opens at four o’clock today.
I loved it, including the Spoonerism – I didn’t think it was as tricky as today’s Ray T.
I needed explanations for a few, especially 27 and 28a – I’ve never heard of the country singer and kept trying to make it something to do with Caro Emerald – dim!
I liked 1 and 21a and 4 and 18d – oh, and !8a – up the Spoonerisms, I say!
With thanks to Petitjean for such a good fun crossword and to Bufo for sorting out the problems.
I liked the reference to Mr Shearer in 9a – possibly the most boring football pundit on this planet.
Good player, though! Why-Aye man!
Same grid as RayT, same difficulty and same enjoyment.
Quite surprised to find the Le Pen family there but pleased to see ZZ Top.
Learned a new synonym for severe test.
Thanks to Petitjean and to Bufo for the parsing of 10a which eluded me.
A few bits that had us searching for people we were not familiar with, as in 9a, but nothing to hold us up for long. Plenty to chuckle about and we really enjoyed it.
Thanks Petitjean and Bufo.
Great return to top form by PJ. Witty and contemporary [well, relatively] with all the rest of his trademarks [think pop music, football, Cockney] .
Particular favourites were 26a, 4d, 8d and 18d.
Many thanks to PJ and to Bufo.
For once I am indebted to Mr. Spooner! With a couple of checkers in, 18a was obvious and the link to 28a made it easy enough to guess that answer. Just as well – I didn’t know the singer! Neither did I know the American group – thank goodness for the checking ‘Z’.
Are you certain about the ‘shearer’ Bufo – or just being polite? I asked Mr. Google about Alan Shearer and he came up with an article and pics. re: his baldness.
Didn’t figure out the parsing for 26a – is ‘hip’ particularly an East End expression? I also thought ‘stops’ would mean to take something off the end rather than the beginning. Just as well I knew the bird!
Other unknowns were the Hawaiian tuna (fortunately didn’t need to know) and the definition at 17d. I remember the place as being where severe tests of snooker skills took place – good enough for me!
Actually, it’s rather amazing that I finished up with a full grid – but I did and much enjoyed getting there.!
Thanks to PJ and gratitude to Bufo for explaining the thoughts that SHOULD have been in my head.
Just a thought – if 26a had referred to West End it would have been more understandable – that way I’d have been putting the ‘stop’ on the west end of hip, hence -ip.
Well, it makes more sense to me…….
In 26a stops means goes inside (as in to stop or close up a hole) so the East End (Cockney) version of hip (i.e. ‘IP) goes inside PER (for each).
Oh dear – knight in shining armour has to come to the rescue again!
There must be times when you doubt my sanity, Gazza. Some days I’m not so sure about it either.
I think you might be in a minority of 1 there.
Very probably, Chris, but at least I’m still trying! In fact Gazza would probably say that I’m very, very trying at times.
I was initially surprised that some folks had never heard of the marvelous Merle Haggard, a country music legend with a worldwide following, but then I know little about the British Music scene after the 70s, so I suppose that evens things out.
Oh Petitjean I like you. 9a is a work of genius.
Other highlights…1a, 7d and 8d.
Just marvellous on every level.
Many thanks to Petitjean and to Bufo for blogging.
9a will last long in the memory from which I have erased yesterday’s “struggle” which made this even more fun .Thanks Petitjean very enjoyable ,more of the same please and thanks Bufo for explaining 13a etc.
I loved this. Managed to do most of it quite readily, only having to check the tuna. Then my mad hat fell off with a handful to go, all in the SW, which took me about the same time again and put me firmly back in my place. Lots of fun.
Thanks to Petitjean and Bufo.
imho i think it’s time that setters moved away from anachronisms such as HIP – it was last in circulation when Simon Dee was on the telly – apart from that quibble i thought this was a good toughie without being overly clever for its own good…no names, no pack drill.
Spindrift:
I ran this past my old pal and BlueMoment blogger Richard Williams, whose response was, ‘Well, I use it myself from time to time, as I might use “groovy”. It’s one of those archaisms that never really goes away and might come back in full force at any moment, like “cool” and “hipster”.
Also, am I in a minority in thinking the solver’s groan is an integral element in the Spoonerism?
John P
Thanks to Petitjean and to Bufo for the review and hints. I enjoyed it very much, and a Toughie completion to boot! Just needed the hints to parse 23,26,27,28a&4,14,20d. Favourite was 1a. Was 3*/4* for me.