Guardian Prize No 25322 by Araucaria
Posted by bridgesong on May 21st, 2011
A delight as ever to tackle another offering from the Master, and this time there is only one clue which, to my mind, offends Ximenean principles (12 across). A couple of other clues have left me puzzled and I await elucidation, particularly to 8 down.
The theme of the puzzle was mythical beasts and their slayers; Grendel was new to me so I am grateful to my solving partner Timon for enlightening me. Together we solved the puzzle in just under an hour, which is about our norm and suggests to me a puzzle of appropriate rigour for a prize competition.
*anagram
Hold mouse over clue number to see clue, click a coloured solution to see its definition or Wikipedia entry.
| Across | ||
| 1 | GEORGE | Ge(chemical symbol) or Ge |
| 4 | BICARB | CAR in BIB |
| 9 | COFFEE-TABLE BOOK | |
| 10 | ASTRID | ASTRID(e) |
| 11 | MINOTAUR | * (AM I TO RUN) |
| 12 | PREMOLAR | RE M in POLAR. I question “world’s end” as defining “polar”; although polar is a noun (in a strictly geometrical usage), it appears that here Araucaria is clearly using it in its adjectival sense, whereas “world’s end” unambiguously suggests a noun. |
| 14 | STAFFS | Double definition |
| 15 | HYSSOP | (trinit)Y in * SHOPS |
| 18 | DOTTEREL | OTTER in LED(reversed). This bird was new to me, so the answer was one of the last to go in. Chambers describes it as a type of plover, “named from its apparent stupidity in allowing itself to be approached and caught” |
| 21 | CRITERIA | CRIT, 1 in ERA |
| 22 | EXPOSE | EX POSE |
| 24 | PARTHENOGENESIS | * (GOAT, SINNER, SHEEP). A lovely surface reading |
| 25 | MEDUSA | * AMUSED |
| 26 | TSETSE | * SET (repeated) |
| Down | ||
| 1 | GROSSER | sounds like “grocer” |
| 2 | OFFER | More off? I think the question mark in the clue is certainly justified |
| 3 | GRENDEL | REND in GEL |
| 5 | ISLANDS | (foo)D in * SNAILS |
| 6 | ARBITRATE | BIT in (n)ARRATE. Here the definition is “judge” (using it as a verb) so the apostrophe that follows it in the clue is definitely misleading; unfair? Possibly |
| 7 | BEOWULF | B, FLU WOE (reversed) |
| 8 | HAMMER | Well, a hammer is certainly a striker, and a yellow-hammer appears to need no explanation; but what is “fustian” doing in the clue? It’s a word with a variety of meanings, the main one being a type of cloth. Is this connected with the fact that a yellow-hammer is a kind of bunting, and bunting can also mean a kind of cloth? Seems rather far-fetched to me, but no doubt someone will be able to explain it |
| 13 | MISSTATED | MISS, TATE, D |
| 16 | YARDARM | MR A DRAY (all reversed). Sailors may well wish to point out that a yardarm is a beam, which is attached to a mast, rather than the mast itself, but of course the definition here is “on the mast” |
| 17 | PERSEUS | PER SE US |
| 18 | DRAGON | DRAG ON |
| 19 | THESEUS | THE (SUE’S) (reversed) |
| 20 | EN SUITE | SUIT in ENE |
| 23 | PLEAT | (shee)P LEA T |
May 21st, 2011 at 12:59 am
9 is Number (C) of (OF) measures (FEET) with capacity (ABLE) to arrest (BOOK)
12 “from world’s end” = polar
May 21st, 2011 at 1:40 am
Thanks Bridgesong. This was enjoyable and not too difficult. Favourite was 1ac.
tor@1 has already explained the two that I could help with, but I would make a minor adjustment in 9 – with capacity to (ABLE)
Sorry, I have no idea how to connect fustian with Yellowhammer.
May 21st, 2011 at 2:09 am
Thanks bridgesong.
Meaning 2 in Chambers of fustian: A pompous and unnatural style of writing or speaking. So HAMMER is our old friend the ham actor.
May 21st, 2011 at 2:14 am
8d I thought maybe (ham) actors wore fustian. There’s a Shakespearian reference in the back of my mind which I cannot quite retrieve.
May 21st, 2011 at 2:38 am
Thanks Bridgesong for a couple of explanations.
I also have that fustian and actors reference somewhere in the back of my mind. But the one that sunk me was 6d. I wound up with ARBITRAGE on the principle that it belonged to the judge, so I also think the apostrophe was misleading.
All in all, a pleasant way to spend the odd hour.
May 21st, 2011 at 6:50 am
I agree with NeilW and can find no Shakespearean reference which provides a direct link between FUSTIAN and acting. This was my last and I am still not too happy about it; is a hammer really a ham actor? OED doesn’t think so.
May 21st, 2011 at 7:53 am
I found this in the OED:
1600 Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 2 ii. iv. 186 Thrust him downe stayres, I cannot indure such a fustian rascall.
Perhaps that explains it. Still depends on hammer meaning a ham actor, which is just about acceptable in the context of the clue.
May 21st, 2011 at 8:01 am
Further research shows that the quote in @7 above is by Doll Tearsheet, speaking to Falstaff, after Pistol has made a rather pretentious speech, so justifying the ham actor connection.
Don’t we learn a lot by doing crosswords!
May 21st, 2011 at 8:18 am
Thanks Bridgesong, I saw that one too but it is in the context of worthless, sorry, pretentious and I still have difficulty in understanding the connection.
May 21st, 2011 at 9:17 am
Thanks to Bridgesong for the blog – it explained a couple of cases where I could not parse the clue.
I found the Greek thematic answers fairly quickly but (I’m sorry to say as an Englishman) George and the Dragon took me much longer.
I had heard of Grendel but I did not remember where it fitted in so Beowulf was my last one.
The anagram for 24a took me an age to work out but when I finally got it I looked back at the clue. I saw that Araucaria had been totally fair – just rather cryptic!
May 21st, 2011 at 9:44 am
Thanks bridgesong,
Another enjoyable puzzle from Arry that suprisingly I didn’t need any aids for. I didn’t know GRENDEL but the clue was plain enough. Similarly I had to check DOTTEREL and the long one but I knew they were right. I thought ‘DIY production’ was excellent in 24a. Even the related anagram soon fell into place once I had spelt THESEUS correctly. Credit to my better half also for coming straight up with HYSSOP which once again I hadn’t heard of. What have I heard of ?. Answer – very little.
So many thanks to Arry for a very entertaining puzzle.
May 21st, 2011 at 11:49 am
Thanks to Araucaria for an enjoyable puzzle that wasn’t too difficult once the special clues were unravelled.
Like TC@2 my COD was GEORGE. Thanks bridgesong; I, too, failed to parse HAMMER correctly. I thought POLAR [region] was OK for world’s end.
May 21st, 2011 at 2:35 pm
Thanks bridgesong.
I had no idea about fustian at all. Still think it is a bit of a stretch having had it explained to me. Otherwise, very enjoyable indeed!
May 21st, 2011 at 4:07 pm
Thanks again, bridgesong. Just came back to this before bedtime. I’m amazed at the length to which everyone is going to find a better explanation of “fustian”, although I commend the effort. Sadly Araucaria never visits. I have finally visited the umpire: the annotated solution gives: “fustian=theatrically bombastic.” Chambers gives the verb “to ham”, from which it would seems reasonable to derive the noun HAMMER.
May 21st, 2011 at 4:09 pm
…Even if it’s only in A’s dictionary!
May 23rd, 2011 at 10:09 pm
I’d like to claim that I was aware of the dotterel because of my years of membership of the RSPB but my knowledge predates that: there is a pub of that name at Reighton, near Filey on the Yorkshire coast. Its sign depicts the bird. My misspent youth at last pays a dividend!
May 25th, 2011 at 6:47 am
The bird Emberiza citrinella has the common name “Yellowhammer”, so a HAMMER is MAYBE YELLOW.