Comments on: Guardian Prize Puzzle No 25,562 by Puck

By: Dennis Elbow

Dennis Elbow — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 10:19:11 +0000

Is it just me or has the quality of the ‘Saturday Prize Puzzle’ been somewhat erratic recently? Nothing per se against Puck although the inclusion of IMPOSITION and IMPOSING in the same grid seems a tad lazy, no?

By: RCWhiting

RCWhiting — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 23:02:55 +0000

Thanks all
I thought ‘detention centre’ was superb.I cannot see what a ? would add to it. Sometimes I think folk do make a lot from nothing, this was a very straightforward clue.

By: Tardius

Tardius — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 19:10:16 +0000

I rather enjoyed this one. In particular I thought DETENTION CENTRE very elegant but agree it ought really to have had a question mark after ‘observation’.

By: Andy D

Andy D — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 13:39:41 +0000

I too have never heard of macies so had no problems with 3.

However I got caught out by 10 which I had as the (admittedly rather obscure, according to google) girl’s name EDIRA – DI(amonds) in ERA. ERICA is clearly a better answer.

Couldn’t parse 4,13 or 17 (although I didn’t try for very long) so thanks for help with those.

Otherwise I agree it was relatively simple for a Prize. Is it just me or hasn’t it been the case for a while that the Prizes are often easier than many Tue-Fri Cryptics?

By: Robi

Robi — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 11:02:39 +0000

P.S. I had no trouble with RABIES as I had never heard of macies. Here’s a bit more about it, which I’m sure Eileen will know: ‘In Latin poetry various aspects of pestilence and disease were personified, including Morbus (Disease), Pestis and Lues (Pestilence), Macies (Wasting, Emaciation), and Tabes (Corruption). They are presumably equivalent to the Greek Nosoi.’

Hope this is correct!

By: tupu

tupu — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 09:54:19 +0000

Thanks Bridgesong and Puck

I enjoyed this. It was rather nice to get a pleasant, not too devious puzzle, though some clues do seem to have caught some high class solvers out. For once I properly understood all the clues in question with the exception of 4,13 which, like Robi, I did not parse (a shame because it’s pretty straightforward but the answer was obvious and I thought it must be some sort of dd).

I ticked 9,21, 22a, 23a!,6d, 17d, and 23,15.

By: r_c_a_d

r_c_a_d — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 09:41:28 +0000

Thanks bridgesong. I didn’t get the parsing of HARD LINES either. TIRADE was last for me since I pronounce it t’raid and spent a while wondering how CAT or TWIN was connected.

Otherwise, I agree, this was on the easy side for a prize.

By: Robi

Robi — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 09:23:34 +0000

Enjoyable enough.

Thanks bridgesong; I never did parse hard lines. I just thought it must be a reference to the intravenous lines that addicts can use.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 09:12:27 +0000

Hi Bridgesong

I had MACIES, too, to begin with, because I knew the Latin word! Thanks for the blog.

By: crosser

crosser — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 08:53:41 +0000

Thanks (again) Bridgesong for the explanation about 4d 13a. Sorry to have been slow on the uptake!