Guardian Prize 26,400 by Picaroon

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A themed puzzle with some very nice surfaces this week.

It paid to start with the down clues, as 1 and 8 down were referred to in several of the across clues, as well as in some of the down ones.  1 down yielded very easily, and from there it was also easy to guess 8 down.  Timon and I enjoyed the puzzle, which filled an hour or so on Sunday morning, so thanks Picaroon.  We particularly enjoyed 27 down, once the penny dropped.  I do however have a problem with the wordplay and definition at 22 down.

Across
9 ORCHESTRA
Bust into alternative artist’s group that’ll 8 1s (9)
CHEST in OR RA.
10 PEARL
Toll to import rare gem (5)
R(are) in PEAL.  I can’t find R=Rare in Chambers, but perhaps it’s in Collins.
11 KNOLL
A little molehill on knobbly round mound (5)
Hidden (cleverly) and reversed (round) in “molehill on knobbly”.  Round is doing double duty here as the definition of a knoll in Chambers is a “round hillock”.
12 CONINGSBY
Heartlessly tricking society through PM’s novel … (9)
CON(n)ING S BY.  A novel by Benjamin Disraeli.
13 HISTORY
… the fellow’s party chronicles (7)
HIS TORY.
14 CAST-OFF
Abandoned 8ers not at 1 (4-3)
CAST (i.e. actors or players) not at work.
17 PEEVE
Joe Biden, say, turned on English in vexation (5)
VEEP(rev) E.  Americans refer to their Vice-President as the Veep.
19,28 GET A LIFE
Extremely gruesome story keeps providing solution to all 1 and no 8 (3,1,4)
G(ruesome)E, IF in TALE.  Providing = IF helps the smooth surface of this clue.
20 AROMA
A woman, undressed after symbolic resistance, gets bouquet (5)
A R(esistance) (w)OMA(n).
21 OTHELLO
Back to location of damned old 8 (that’s a 1) (7)
TO(rev) HELL O(ld).  I’m not sure that the words in brackets are strictly necessary.
22 PRELUDE
Spin and dodge 1 you can 8 (7)
PR ELUDE.  Thanks to Timon for spotting this one.
24 SPORTSMAN
Vagrant tramp’s son, his 1 is to 8 (9)
*(TRAMPS SON).
26 ROWER
Bank, with hesitation, produces one of eight? (5)
ROW ER.
28  
See 19
29 NAIL FILES
Digital tools capture data (4,5)
A simple charade.
Down
1 WORK
Labour‘s dispute about tip from Kinnock (4)
ROW(rev) K(innock).  I had the privilege earlier this month of hearing Neil Kinnock speak, very eloquently, at the memorial assembly for the late Geoffrey Goodman.
2 ACTORS
Head off agents whose 1 is to 8 (6)
(f)ACTORS.
3 REEL-TO-REEL
Way to record music, two dances including cover of tango (4-2-4)
T(ang)O in REEL REEL.  Easy to get from the enumeration.
4 STICKY
Awkward moment? Extremely sorry about it (6)
TICK in S(orr)Y.
5 WAINSCOT
Wide cravat conceals trendy lining (8)
W, IN in ASCOT (a cravat).
6 OPEN
Begin the games, running round (4)
PE in ON.
7 MAESTOSO
Old lady is French, large and round, showing way to 8 a 1 (8)
MA EST OS O.  It’s Italian, meaning (as a way of playing a piece of music) with dignity or majesty.
8 PLAY
1 that’s not 1? (4)
Cryptic definition, exploiting the double meaning of the word.
13 HIPPO
River dweller in river (5)
HIP PO.
15 STAGECRAFT
Step on ship — it’ll make 8 1 (10)
Another simple charade, which Timon saw immediately.
16 FLAME
Fellow inadequate as a lover (5)
F LAME.  The last one in for us.
18 ETHIOPIA
Land with patio, ie ground around front of house (8)
H(ouse) in *(PATIO IE).  The anagram indicator “ground” is used cleverly here to produce a very smooth surface.
19 GROOMING
21 turning up in spirit, with good hygienic habits (8)
MOOR (rev) (i.e. Othello) in GIN, G(ood).
22 PUNDIT
Princess interrupts high kick in the buff (6)
DI in PUNT.  I’m not happy with “princess” = DI in a prize crossword, and I don’t see why a pundit, although originally a Hindu scholar, should necessarily be naked.  The definition is simply “the buff”.
23 UNWELL
Where Ban Ki-moon gets water needing treatment? (6)
UN WELL.
24 SPAR
Small, standard box (4)
S PAR.
25 THEM
Not US close to Soviet border (4)
(Sovie)T HEM.  The capitalisation is wholly misleading, but I don’t object to that.
27 REST
Touching way you could thus link 1 and 8 (4)
RE ST(reet).  Think about the old Mars bar ad…
*anagram

23 comments on “Guardian Prize 26,400 by Picaroon”

  2. Thanks bridgesong. I moved happily through this until the brick wall of 12A, and opted not to trawl the internet for PMs’ novels. I thought of OPEN for 6D but couldn’t parse it, so thanks for that as well.

  4. Anyone else start out with OTTER for 13d? And as a former bellringer, I deny that TOLL=PEAL although I got the clue all right.

  5. Biggles A @1: thanks for that correction, although “the” is arguably there only because of the misleading surface reading which it enables. I’ve updated the blog.

    And Gladys@4, thanks for raising the non-equivalence of TOLL and PEAL: I did wonder about that.

  6. Once you had WORK and PLAY this was a fairly straightforward puzzle.

    I would have expected something more interesting for a Picaroon “Prize Puzzle”. His weekday offerings are generally much more challenging.

    A strange editing decision to choose the blandest of offerings from a sometimes fiendish setter as a “prize”?

    Thanks to Bridgesong and Picaroon.

  7. I remember finding this one enjoyable but pretty straightforward once I had 1dn and 8dn. At 22dn I have no problem at all with Di=princess, and I can’t think of a reason why the fact that it is a prize puzzle should make any difference.

  8. Thanks for the blog. I got WORK and PLAY very quickly and breezed through the left-hand side of the puzzle. But I struggled with the rest for quite some time.

    REST was my last in and I couldn’t parse it beyond work, rest and play.

    For a long time I thought there was going to be a Nina with the top row starting WARS…

  9. I suppose I assume that the prize puzzles will be harder given the amount of time available before answers are available but there is no reason why they should be more difficult. I rather enjoyed this. I particularly liked REST and I have a degree in politics so the works of Disraeli presented no problems for me but I doubt many people would pick up CONINGSBY now.
    Can’t see the problem with PUNDIT which was fairly clued as as everything else.
    Thanks Picaroon.

  10. Thanks Picaroon and Bridgsong.

    Couldn’t parse PEEVE. NAIL FILES was a laugh.

    R_c_a_d @8, there is FOE starting at 16, and HELM starting at 13, just coincidental I guess.

  11. R_c_a_d @8, there is also GAD starting at bottom of 19, STAR starting in coningSby, down 2, 1 to the left… All just chance, even though it sounds like some STAR WARS spinoff

  12. R_c_a_d @8 there is also WOMP RAT, but the RAT reads backwards through the A at 20. At the bottom left there is RAM, I wonder if Picaroon started to put a Nina in, then gave up?

  13. AndyB @ 7: I objected to PRINCESS for DI because I regard it as hackneyed and unimaginative. And I belong to the group who would prefer the prize puzzle to be more challenging than the daily offerings, although I recognise that there may be good reasons for having an easier prize puzzle from time to time.

  15. Thanks again Picaroon and Bridgesong.

    “They” have tried to keep it quiet about Star Wars VII, due out in December 2015, but both Josh GAD and SETH Rogen have “auditioned” with hilarious results on the internet for parts in the new trilogy.

    All this is probably just an illusion.

  16. All very pleasant as we expect from Picaroon, but over too quickly, occupying less than a quarter of the train journey to York (having got WORK very easily then PLAY the theme didn’t delay anything). Fortunately the S&B puzzles more than made up for that. Fortunately I’d heard of CONINGSBY and Disraeli was the obvious choice for a PM novelist…

    Thanks to mhl and Picaroon

  17. Thanks Picaroon and bridgesong

    Interesting puzzle that I only looked at yesterday.

    Finished off with OPEN – didn’t parse it as above – although that looks best now. Ended up having it as a double definition – ‘begin the games’ (as in cards) and ‘running round’ (as in livestock in the open rather than locked away).

    Didn’t parse PEEVE right either … had it as VE PEE flipped around. Didn’t know about the VEEP terminology … and that makes much more sense!

    Thought that the misdirection in both short clues at 25d and 27d was excellent.

    Maybe not high on the difficulty scale, but still an entertaining puzzle worthy of a Saturday spot.

  18. BH @16

    OK, I give up. I’ve heard of “S&M” but never “S&B”!

    What are these mysterious puzzles?

  19. Brendan @18 – apologies – no unnecessary mystification intended – S&B is just an abbreviation for Sloggers & Betters, so the S&B puzzles were the ones handed out at the event in York last weekend – see Sil van den Hoek’s recent posts on the Announcements page for more details of those.

  20. Thanks BH. I knew it would be something obvious. (I must be losing it.)

    I am familiar with the S&B but I am sure I will never attend. ( Groucho Marx summed up my opinion of “clubs” perfectly 😉 As with Groucho the problem is with me and not the “club” so no disrespect intended. )

  21. Dear Brendan, to each his own but when you say “I am familiar with the S&B but I am sure I will never attend”, I would strongly advise you to consider changing your mind.

    It’s not a “club” but just a gathering of crossword lovers with completely different backgrounds etc. Even the ones who do not likes parties, Wein Weib und Gesang, will find something to enjoy themselves. Wish I could make that clear to my PinC …..

  22. Thnaks for the blog, bridgesong, and apologies for the late post. Could you explain the definition of 27d in more detail? I don’t know the ad you refer to and can’t think of any specific connection between WORK, REST and PLAY.

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