Guardian prize 26,244 / Paul

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In view of the comments that have been made for quite a while now, I’m not going to say that this was quite straightforward ‘for a Prize puzzle’, because it seems to be agreed that Prize puzzles these days are no more or less likely to be tricky than weekday ones. I’ll just say that it turned out to be be more straightforward than it initially looked, but no less enjoyable for that. I particularly liked the 11ac / 3,15 combination.

Many thanks to Paul.

Across

8 China in Korea, say — one’s ideal partner? (4,4)
SOUL MATE
Sounds like [say] ‘Seoul mate’ [China [plate] – Cockney rhyming slang for mate – in Korea]: it’s a pity that ‘mate’ appears in both clue [indirectly] and solution

9 A lot came to be evacuated immediately (2,4)
AT ONCE
A TON [a lot] + C[am]E

11 Too bad, if starters in restaurant burnt beyond recognition — there’s salad! (6,4)
RABBIT FOOD
Anagram [beyond recognition] of TOO BAD IF R[estaurant B[urned] – what a lovely surface!

12 Sound of bagpipes that’s hard to bear! (6)
BURDEN
Double definition
Wikipedia: “In music, the burden is an archaic term for the drone or bass in some musical instruments, and the pipe or part that plays it, such as a bagpipe drone or pedal point in an organ … The term comes from the French bourdon, a staff; or a pipe made in the form of a staff, imitating the gross murmurs of bees or drones.”

14 Policeman not able to claim that Spanish victory (8)
CONQUEST
CONST[able] [policeman] round [to claim] QUE [Spanish ‘that’]

17 Hot spring turned on for every one, possibly (7)
PERHAPS
H [hot] + reversal [turned] of SPA [spring] following [on] PER [for every one]

20 Queen inside volcano should be brought back, they feel (8)
ANTENNAE
Reversal [brought back] of ANNE [queen] in ETNA [volcano]

22,10 Molière requires three seconds to contrive a comparatively oxymoronic theatrical cliché? (4,2,4)
LESS IS MORE
Anagram [to contrive] of MOLIERE + SSS: less and more are both comparative adjectives and the phrase is an oxymoron but I’m not sure why ‘theatrical’, except that Browning’s poem, ‘Andrea del Sarto, from which it is taken, is a dramatic monologue.

23 Spooner’s locks implanted, nothing on top (4-6)
BARE-HEADED
Spooner might say, ‘Hair bedded’ [locks implanted] – not my favourite kind of clue

25 Intoxicating drink making camels woozy (6)
MESCAL
Anagram [woozy] of CAMELS

26 Consider putting cut inside lid (4,4)
CHEW OVER
HEW [cut] in COVER [lid]

Down

1 State capital no great thing, house overlooking it (8)
HONOLULU
HO [house] ‘overlooking’ NO LULU [great thing]

2,24across Rare phenomenon, very rare to idle about (4,4)
BLUE MOON
BLUE [very rare, as in a barely cooked steak] + MOON [idle about]

3,15 Successful investor in 11? Then capital in tomatoes! (6,7)
WARREN BUFFETT
A WARREN BUFFET would  be rabbit food, to which we have to add T[omatoes] – a lovely combination with 11ac. Wikipedia says that Warren Buffett is widely considered the most successful investor of the 20th century.

4 Recovery when hit by the Beatles (3,4)
GET BACK
I think there must be a misprint here, for ‘Recover when hit by the Beatles’, which makes much more sense of both the grammar and the surface reading – double definition

5 One plays this G & S character (8)
PATIENCE
Double definition: Patience is a game played by one person and Patience is the eponymous heroine of the G and S operetta also known as ‘Bunthorne’s Bride’, giving a nice crossword connection

6 Sweaty hands, signs of discomfort in woman (3,7)
HOT FLUSHES
HOT [sweaty] + FLUSHES [possible hands in poker]

7 A short type of clue (6)
ACROSS
A CROSS [short]

13 Redraft in decree outlining very strong argument (10)
DIFFERENCE
Anagram [redraft] of IN DECREE [round [outlining] FF [very strong]

16 Flashy and cheap little houses to auction off (8)
TINSELLY
TINY [little] round [houses] SELL [auction off]

18 Criminal person, one inside, ending in slammer (8)
PRISONER
I [one] inside an anagram [criminal] of PERSON + slammeR – not quite &lit but the whole clue is the definition

19 Finding scorer, cup ties both kicking off (7)
VERDICT
VERDI [‘scorer’] + C[up] T[ies] – a nice misleading surface

21 Apple inferior to an unspecified number — more in apple-pie order? (6)
NEATER
EATER [apple] after [inferior in a down clue] N [an unspecified number]

22 Half a century, one counting as a run (6)
LADDER
L [50 – half a century] + ADDER [one counting]

24 Low tide initially doubtful (4)
MOOT
MOO [low] + T[ime]

20 comments on “Guardian prize 26,244 / Paul”

  1. Thanks Eileen, it didn’t take too long but I did enjoy it. I found the same reference for BURDEN in Wikipedia but there is no mention of it in Chambers, Collins or the OED.

  4. One of my first in was 13d: redraft ‘in decree’ + outlining Very stronG = (indecreeVG)* = DIVERGENCE (argument). Obvious, no?

    It wasn’t until much later, when it became obvious that 20a must be ANTENNAE and there was no possible word for 15, that I saw the other solution…

  5. Many thanks Paul, this was very enjoyable – while it lasted.

    Also many thanks, Eileen, but as you have nobly refused to declare this the easiest Prize Puzzle ever then please allow me.

    Rufus would have been proud!

  6. Fairly easy solve until the NW corner.

    HONOLULU, SOUL MATE, MORE and GET BACK went in but then I came to a halt.

    It had to be BURDEN but I hadn’t heard of the drone definition. After ages trying to think of vegetables I came up with WARREN and realised it might be a name. Although I had OUTFITS as a strong contender the possibility of MUFFETS or BUFFETS occurred to me. Looking up Mr Buffets showed me I was very close but I’d never heard of Mr Buffett. Is he generally known outside investor circles?

    On the whole a bit easy for a Prize with an unfair/unknown sting in the tail. (Cue the “A Prize should be for everybody brigade” 😉 )

    Thanks to Eileen and Paul

  7. I agree that this wasn’t the hardest of Paul’s puzzles but was very enjoyable nonetheless. Count me as another who didn’t know the more obscure of the definitions for BURDEN, but the answer was obvious enough and a post-solve search confirmed it.

    B(nto)@6 – I’m not in investor circles but I’d heard of WARREN BUFFETT. Maybe that’s because I’m interested in what goes on over the pond.

  8. Thanks Eileen.

    Warren Buffett is very well known Brendan. Certainly more so in many circles than Under Milk Wood characters.

    I thought this was quite tricky in places, with a few taking a while to click. Haven’t we seen ANTENNAE a few times recently? Or am I imagining things again.

    Also had a question mark against apple pie order and bagpipes which were unfamiliar.

  9. Failed on a few in NW corner. Thought 3d might be carrot but could not fit it in. Also had tinselly but did not put it in as I missed the construction. Enjoyed many of the clues. I do not think “capital in tomatoes” is fair for “t”. Does anyone else think the same?

  10. Thanks Eileen and Paul

    An enjoyable outing. I particularly liked 8a, 11a etc, 14a and 19d.

    According to the OED a confused link of ‘burden’ with ‘bourdon’ goes back several centuries. I knew the word in the context of a repeated refrain in a song e.g. ‘the burden of his song’ in the Merry Miller, but I did not know it for a pipe accompaniment. It isnot surprisingly unclear to me how these two senses are linked.

  11. Thanks Paul for an interesting crossword.

    Thanks to Eileen for a good blog. I would second the view that WARREN BUFFETT is generally more well-known than Under Milk Wood characters – he’s often in the news(papers.)

    The clue for RABBIT FOOD was great and I also particularly enjoyed CONQUEST.

  12. I didn’t mind its straightforwardness as a Paul puzzle is always such great entretainment. Rabbit food is my top favourite.

    Thanks to Paul and Eileen.

  13. Re: tomatoes, I thought it was WARREN BUFFET + T[hen] … leaving tomatoes somewhat redundant. Just done some research and it seems that Warren Buffett owns Heinz. So I now think that “in tomatoes!” is the definition.

    That Paul is a clever one, isn’t he!

  14. Thanks Eileen

    Entertaining, if rather too briefly.

    I loved RABBIT FOOD and WARREN BUFFETT.

    Insects don’t generally use their ANTENNAE to feel – they ‘smell’ with them – but they are colloquially known as ‘feelers’.

  15. Well it’s nice to know that some of you have heard of Mr Buffett.

    I haven’t read newspapers for at least 10 years. I would especially avoid anything about Politics or Finance as everything these people say is primarily a lie and secondly will be designed to steal ones money. (IMHO of course 🙂 )

    Perhaps some of you will know a lot more about Dylan Thomas and Under Milk Wood after tomorrow’s Radio 3 Dylan Thomas Day. (I would personally avoid anything featuring Ian McMilan, alleged poet of this parish, as I find him incredibly patronising and a master of the art of buffoonery in his “man from the North” role . As a “northerner” myself I hereby disown him.)

  16. “(I would personally avoid anything featuring Ian McMilan, alleged poet of this parish, as I find him incredibly patronising and a master of the art of buffoonery in his “man from the North” role . As a “northerner” myself I hereby disown him.)”

    Hear, hear ! His ‘arch-pillock’ rating only increased by last week’s Countryfile!

    But to return to the topic, I enjoyed the crossword….

  17. Anyone who hasn’t heard of Warren Buffett, and certainly anyone who hasn’t read a newspaper for 10 years, is likely to struggle with the Guardian’s crossword. They can’t be expected to reduce the required knowledge base to nothing at all.

    I admire Ian Macmillan for his intelligence and contribution to literary culture, though I wouldn’t call myself a diehard fan. I’ve never heard him patronize anyone; perhaps if I did that might alter my opinion. He’s sometimes very funny and used to talk perceptively on a broad range of subjects on Late Review. I also tend to like anyone who’s creative with language and plainly loves it – hence I do crosswords, of course. I see no basis for the bile expressed by Brendan (not that one) and Mr Beaver.

  18. Well said Herb. With reference to Ian McMillan, this has absolutely no relevance to this blog.
    In fact the two gentlemen (?) giving the abuse, cannot even spell his name correctly.
    Over to you Gaufrid.

  19. I’ve only be doing Cryptic crosswords for a few months and am very grateful to this website for parsing many of the answers and improving my solving technique – I couldn’t have got this far without this website.

    As regards BUFFETT in 15a, I wondered whether this was FFE (i.e. a common abbreviation for “furniture, fixtures and equipment”, an accounting term for the capital of a business) within BUTT (all tomatoes have a “butt end”) and that the humorous connotation of BUTT explains the exclamation mark…

    Did anybody else see it like that, or am I barking up the wrong tree?!

    Thanks.

  20. Hi BenP @19

    Welcome to 15². 😉

    That’s an ingenious suggestion of yours – you’re certainly reading more into the clue than I did! I didn’t know the FFE abbreviation and it isn’t in any of my reference books but I did find it in Wikipedia.

    I’ve also never heard reference to the butt end of a tomato – but, as we often say here, it’s good to keep on learning!

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