Guardian Prize Puzzle 26,059 by Paul

by

A themed puzzle from Paul, and one that I suspect is on a subject very close to his heart.  Thank you Paul.

I have included some pictures at the end scchua style to make you all hungry.   Can you identify the dishes and which one should not be there?

Across
1 SLOPPY Cut through mole, being careless (6)
LOP (cut) in SPY (mole)
4,19 BUTTER CHICKEN Goat and mouse 23 (6,7)
BUTTER (goat, something that butts) and MOUSE (chicken, timid person) – a curry
9 OGLE Swallowed by frog, left eye (4)
found in frOG LEft – definition is ‘eye’
10 SHAMI KEBAB Meat in Indian less hot, dish recalled as 23 starter (5,5)
HAM (meat) in SIKh (Indian) missing H=hot BABE (dish) reversed (recalled) – a starter for a curry meal
11 GLUTEN Instrument cutting grain husks, finding substance in wheat (6)
LUTE (instrument) inside (cutting) GraiN (husks=outer parts)
12 HANDSOME Give a little, as winning (8)
HAND (give) SOME (a little)
13 TOP DRAWER Excellent tie stolen by drunk (3,6)
DRAW (tie) in (stolen by) TOPER (a drunk)
15 GRIT Resolution, coarse stuff (4)
double definition
16,3 LAMB PASANDA 23, as in pot scoffed by Greek character (4,7)
AS in PAN (pot) in (scoffed by) LAMBDA (Greek character) – another curry
17 PILAU RICE This served with 23 that’s yellow in heap (5,4)
AURIC (yellow) in PILE (heap) – accompaniment to curry
21 COHERENT Orderly present, man finally tucked into bed (8)
HERE (present) maN (final letter) tucked into COT (bed)
22 TACTIC Ultimately, project cold, not the right plan (6)
projecT and ArCTIC (cold) missing R=right
24 BEEF MADRAS Evidence of BSE with half of bacon 23 (4,6)
BEEF MAD (evidence of BSE, mad cow disease) with RASher (half of bacon) – a curry
25 RAKE Scoundrel leaves, one gathers (4)
double definition, roue and tool for gathering leaves
26 SAYING Saw always dividing pipe (6)
AY (always) in (dividing) SING (pipe) – definition is ‘saw’
27 KENYAN Understanding shown by any sort of African (6)
KEN (understanding) and (shown by) ANY* anagram=sort of
Down
1 SAG ALOO Epic place to go for a 23 (3,4)
SAGA (epic) LOO (place to go) – a curry
2 OVERT Patent done before end of contract (5)
OVER (done) before contracT (end of)
3 See 16 across
5 UNIONS Lacking leadership, trouble afoot for traditional Labour allies (6)
bUNIONS (foot problem) missing leading letter
6 TREASURER Fixed rate more reliable for the one with the money (9)
RATE* fixed=anagram SURER (more reliable)
7 READMIT Once more welcome to postpone commercial breaks (7)
REMIT (postpone) containing (broken by) AD (commercial).  I am not convinced ‘remit’ means ‘postpone’, Chambers does not list this as a meaning.
8 CASH REGISTERS Shop assistants resist charges for renovation (4,9)
(RESIST CHANGES) anagram=for renovation – things that are useful (assit the staff) in shops
14 DAMSELFLY Male ego in Lady Gaga, one’s flighty but delicate (9)
M (male) SELF (ego) in LADY* anagram=gaga – a dragonfly.  Good to see Lady G back again, not long ago she was appearing in one or other of the cryptics every week.
16 LIONESS One in ecstasy after heading off prowler (7)
ONE in bLISS (ecstacy, headless) – definition is ‘prowler’
18 ARTISTE Entertainer performing satire about the end of Marat (7)
SATIRE* anagram=performing about maraT (end of)
19 See 4
20 RETAIN Keep film in water (6)
ET (film) in RAIN (water)
23 CURRY Treat skin that’s hot (5)
double definition – ‘to tan leather’ and ‘spicy’

*anagram

13 comments on “Guardian Prize Puzzle 26,059 by Paul”

  1. Thanks PeeDee – and thanks to Paul for a very entertaining and mouth-watering puzzle, complete with his trademark humour.

    [I think the misplaced dish is second from the top]

  2. Thanks PeeDee. Not trademark enough for me: I found this far duller than eg Paul’s 27 September puzzle. Not being a curry fan I laboured through this, despite getting the theme quickly,failing on 10a. Re Remit (7d), it’s the umpteenth+ definition in my Shorter.

  3. Thanks Paul and PeeDee
    I got SAG ALOO quickly; thereafter it was all a bit easy for a Prize, I thought. Enjoyable, though.

    [I think the misplaced dish is the one that looks like a dal, second down on the left, as it doesn’t appear in the crossword. The others might be: beef Madras, sag aloo, pilau rice, shami kebab (though they look a bit fried), butter chicken and lamb pasanda.]

  4. I suspected at the time that Paul built this puzzle around the gag contained in 1d. I have a dim recollection of singing a re-worked version of Abba’s “Chiquitita” in which the lyrics had been amended along a curry theme.
    Surely the second picture from the bottom is a Thai green curry chicken?

  6. Not the most difficult of Paul puzzles, but definitely one of my favourites because of the subject matter. There aren’t many puzzles that I have almost been able to taste while I’ve been solving them.

    I can only assume that some of you are seeing the pictures in a different order to me. I think they are, from top to bottom, Butter Chicken, Sag Aloo, Lamb Pasanda, Pilau Rice, Shami Kebab, Thai Green Curry (the odd one out) and Beef Madras. Yum.

  7. I’ve changed my mind: butter chicken, sag aloo, lamb pasanda, pilau rice, shami kebab, a S.E. Asian dish and then beef madras

  10. baerchen@4 – I like your theory about 1dn being the catalyst, I can just imagine that happening. The rest of the curries are not the most obvious choices, which made me wonder if Paul had made a crossword out of his favourites. I can imagine the whole thing taking shape in his mind while sat in an Indian restaurant (or was it a take-away?).

  13. Having never had or wanted a curry, the only dish I had heard of was pilau rice, so failed miserably with this one. And 16a seemed to only fit in Rolf Harris! Oh dear.

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