Guardian Prize 26,394 by Paul

by

More of the good stuff from Paul, inventive and irreverant as usual.

completed grid
Thanks Paul
Across
8,10,7 NOW IS THE WINTER OF OUR DISCONTENT
Around the third of January, today it’s cold for our dance marquee — so play begins (3,2,3,6,2,3,10)
jaNuary (third of) inside NOW (today) IS THE WINTER (it’s cold) OF (for) OUR DISCO (dance) TENT (marquee) – the opening lines of Shakespeare’s Richard III.  A nice clue but easily guessable from the letter counts.
9 STUFFY
Ram and monkey finally getting close (6)
STUFF (ram) and monkeY (final letter of)
10  
See 8
11 DYING OUT
Beginning to disprove negative principle, disease on the decline (5,3)
D (begging of disprove) YIN (negative principle) GOUT (disease)
12 LEAP
Bound to find drink laced with drug (4)
LAP (drink) containing (laced with) E (drug)
13 PENFRIENDS
Informal correspondents retain a day to send letters (10)
PEN (retain) FRI (a day) with (to) SEND* anagram=the letters of
15 DOWN BOW
Unhappy to concede a stroke as a player (4-3)
DOWN (unhappy) BOW (to concede, bow out) – this one defeated me, I had to use ‘electronic aids’ to get this
16 TOPMAST
Spar with Cameron amid cheers, perhaps (7)
PM (David Cameron) in TOAST (cheers perhaps)
18 ISLE OF DOGS
Entering Fido’s ground, sign has got significance primarily in this part of London? (4,2,4)
LEO (sign, of zodiac) in FIDO’S* anagram=ground has Got Significance (primarily, first letters of)
19 GO ON
Please continue to be a thug (2,2)
GOON (a thug)
20 BACILLUS
Transport around a cold, getting sick — that’s a bug (8)
BUS (transport) around A C (cold) ILL (sick)
22 RELATE
Tell supporter at the back to cheer (6)
supporteR (back letter of) to ELATE (cheer)
23 CLOCHE
See short man in woman’s hat (6)
CLOCk (see, shortened) HE (man)
24 ABERRANT
Jack, queen, king and ace not extremely unusual (8)
AB (sailor, jack) ER (The Queen) R (rex, king) and A (ace) with NoT (extremes of).  Great clue, very intriguing.  I wonder why Paul did not go for NT=no trumps in this card-themed clue?
Down
1 POLICE CONSTABLE
Force man to study in the law firm (6,9)
 CON (to study) in POLICE (the law, slang) STABLE (firm) – nicely disguised definition
2 FIFTY PENCE PIECE
Some silver providing class in epic fence off (5,5,5)
IF (providing) TYPE (class) in (EPIC FENCE)* anagram=off
3 STORMPROOF
Rioting from troops resistant to the force of powerful elements (10)
(FROM TROOPS)* anagram=rioting
4 READING
Gauge measurement for English city (7)
double definition
5 ASTI
Wine tipped up into fruit salad (4)
found reversed (up) inside fruIT SAlad
6 BUDGIE SMUGGLERS
Musicians welcoming five hundred dancing emus gatecrashing concert, as not much on when swimming in Australia? (6,9)
BUGLERS (musicians) contains (welcoming) D (five hundred) EMUS* anagram=dancing inside (gatecrashing) GIG (concert) – Australian slang for a revealing swimming costume for men
7  
See 8
14 ROOD SCREEN
Partition in church, where orders once carried out (4,6)
(ORDERS ONCE)* anagram=carried out
17 LOO SEAT
Hole in small chamber where bread absorbs much water (3,4)
LOOT (bread, money) contains (absorbs) SEA (much water) – the loo is “the smallest room in the house”
21 LEEK
Say something to spring vegetable (4)
sounds like “leak”, something that can spring (to spring a leak)
*anagram
definitions are underlined

20 comments on “Guardian Prize 26,394 by Paul”

  1. Thanks to PeeDee for the blog. You explained several where I had the answer but not the parsing.

    I have to confess that I totally failed on 4d. At the end of the word I had EN as a measurement followed by E for English. I then tried to find a gauge fitting into -E-D but found nothing that satisfied me. Where do I live? In READING! 🙁

  2. Thanks PeeDee. Tame for Paul: I’m still getting over his Richard Gere clue from yesterday. No trouble here, except I guessed down-low badly for 15A.

  3. Thanks, PeeDee. Glad to see I wasn’t alone in being bamboozled by DOWN-BOW. After I’d stared at it for as long as the rest had taken, I’m sorry to say I bowed out!

    Otherwise, a Paul-lite, which is the way his prizers often seem to be, but still good fun. The current series of QI reminds of Paul’s puzzles – with an obligatory lavatorial reference. Perhaps the producer is a fan!

  4. Another one here defeated by DOWN BOW. Thanks for several parsings I didn’t see – notably ISLE OF DOGS, POLICE CONSTABLE AND FIFTY PENCE PIECE.

  5. Good fun. Thanks PeeDee.

    BUDGIE SMUGGLERS held me up for a while. From the crossings I was looking something to do with Bungee or Jungle. Then could it be Budgie? The mental clockwork started grinding and an article I had read many years came to the surface. It was about how English writing was losing its vitality and the Americans were leading the way. The two phrases I remembered were “Grape snugglers” and “Muff diving”.

    Nuff said.

  6. Thanks PeeDee and Paul
    I felt short changed by this one – so few down clues, and a long one solvable without much reference to the clue. Let’s hope that today’s is a more satisfying challenge.

  7. Only Paul would mix Shakespeare quotations with budgie smugglers (I had no problem with the latter as I think Paul has used it before and it’s the name of one of our regular rival teams our the pub quiz). Did all of this on the train apart from the last in DOWN BOW which I needed to look up.

    Thanks to PeeDee and Paul

  8. We got Reading as a possible answer to 4 down,but had our doubts since Reading is not a city, but a mere town.

  9. I had started to think Paul was going soft but this was his hardest puzzle for ages.

    I had the NOW IS THE WINTER …. quote entered within 20 seconds of starting and thought we had another easy Paul prize. How wrong I was.

    Getting the answers was like drawing teeth for the most part though they were all fairly clued. No silly words except that I’d never heard of Budgie Smugglers. (The wordplay got me there ………………eventually!)

    Only finished Monday evening after an unusually challenging Rufus.

    Bravo Paul and thanks to PeeDee

  11. Great fun and not that difficult. I am grateful to young Donk for letting me in on the secret of the second word in 15a while we compared notes at the Tower of Ramsgate last Saturday afternoon.

    Thanks to Paul and PeeDee

  12. Snap for DOWN BOW. I also got stuck on LOO SEAT,if you see what I mean,and I was slow on READING which is where I went to university. As with yesterdays Paul, I got a goodly number of these before I parsed them especially the quotation and BUDGIE SMUGGLERS.
    Still,an enjoyable workout.

  13. Thanks Paul and PeeDee

    I found this hard and needed PeeDee’s help in parsing. DOWN BOW stumped me too. Liked ABERRANT.
    12a tried ALE with P (amphetamine)

  14. @13. Don’t know much about drugs, that should have been methamphetamine. Appears to be a bad problem in NZ where I come from. I take it E is ecstasy.

  17. I stumbled initially over Richard III because I had AND (third of JaNuary in AD = now) for the first word – is there an extra N or am I missing something?

  20. Thanks Paul and PeeDee

    Here’s one that was in the pile with only one to get … LOO SEAT as it turns out! It jumped out at me nearly straight away when I picked it up tonight.

    Some hard clues in amongst this. BUDGIE SMUGGLERS was not one of them though. Our illustrious PM was once photographed in a pair before he was elected. That in itself should have been enough reason for people to have not voted for him !!!!

    Fun as always from Paul.

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