Solving time: 8:28
This was a lot easier than most Guardian prize crosswords, with few difficult words and the ones there were deduceable from the wordplay.
The Guardian Crossword website front page claims that this puzzle was by Brummie but the crossword itself says that it was set by Rufus. I’m pretty sure it was the former, giving the clueing style, but perhaps someone with a paper copy could confirm.
* = anagram, “X” = sounds like ‘X’.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | THRONE; (NORTH)* + [th]E |
| 5 | CARVER; “CALVER” |
| 8 | GUNBOAT; (BUN)* in GOAT – as in gunboat diplomacy. |
| 11 | TOTAL + IT + “ARYANISM” |
| 13 | GOLF (rev. of FLOG) + COURSE – a point-to-point is a cross-country horse race. |
| 18 | S + PAT |
| 20 | KNOW (= ‘ken’) + A THING + OR TWO (= (TO ROW)*) |
| 23 | RAT (rev. of TAR) + PACK (= ‘deck’, as in cards) |
| 24 | IN + CUB (= ‘new reporter’) + US |
| 25 | ROCK + E.R. |
| 26 | L + ADDER + BACK |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 2 | HEART (= ‘bottle’) + ACHE (= (EACH)*) |
| 4 | EIGHTFOLD; (OF DELIGHT)* – nice clue. |
| 5 | CIGAR; rev. of [t]RAGIC |
| 6 | RENT-A-MOB; (TO BARMEN)* |
| 7 | E-COLI – just a cryptic definition? |
| 8 | BET (= flutter) + AB (= ‘a type of blood’) + LOCKER – or it could be ‘A + B’ (‘a’ + ‘type of blood’). |
| 10 | TEMPESTUOUS; (TOUPEE MUST S[lip])* |
| 14 | FIN + A.N.C. + IAL (= (ALI)*) |
| 16 | GREAT AUK (cryptic definition) – I wrote in NOAH’S ARK from A?K, which was hasty, but 20ac rescued me. |
| 21 | OUT + DO |
| 22 | HIKER; IKE (Eisenhower) in H[ou]R |
Definitely Brummie, as in the paper copy. The website page was corrected quite early on saturday – it said Brummie when I looked that afternoon. Certainly easier than most saturdays, and easier than most of Brummie’s for that matter.