The usual eclectic mix from Paul.
I had some help from my wife in solving this puzzle, which helped to allay the 26 across into which we had been plunged at the result of the General Election a couple of days earlier. Perhaps we need to go and see 23 across to cheer us up! There’s a wide range of references from French literature to Elvis as well as some witty and subtle clues; thanks, Paul for the entertainment.
| Across | ||
| 1 | MARIMBA |
Rossini extremely captivated by serpent as an instrument (7)
R(ossin)I in MAMBA. |
| 5 | WEST HAM |
Team set off during strike (4,3)
*SET in WHAM. The team that David Cameron famously confused with the one he claims to support, Aston Villa (well, they both play in claret and blue). |
| 10 | ZOLA |
French author a stinker, but no monster (4)
(gorgon)ZOLA. |
| 11 | PYROMANIAC |
Setter causing offence? (10)
Cryptic definition. One who sets fires commits the offence of arson. |
| 12 | THREAD |
Put one’s foot down about hospital in online discussion (6)
H in TREAD. |
| 13 | CANOEIST |
Someone on the water at once is at sea (8)
*(AT ONCE IS). |
| 14 | GRACELAND |
King’s castle, body of cells confining people (9)
RACE in GLAND. The King of course is Elvis. This song tells the story of a visit to Graceland. |
| 16 | ASSAM |
A lump brought back for tea (5)
A MASS (rev). |
| 17 | SHEEP |
One following hydrogen in leak (5)
H in SEEP. |
| 19 | N’EST CE PAS |
Space requiring development behind home, don’t you agree? (4-2,3)
NEST *SPACE. Nothing to indicate that we’re talking French here, which may have caused some problems. |
| 23 | SPAMALOT |
Musical priest put back in place (8)
LAMA (rev) in SPOT. If you want to see it, there’s a tour on right now. |
| 24 | NICETY |
Exact quality of number, the third to be changed (6)
NINETY, with the third letter (N) replaced by a C. |
| 26 | MELANCHOLY |
Fruit and veg picked up, as down (10)
Sounds like melon and cauli. Thanks to my wife for getting this one – I was on the wrong track altogether. |
| 27 | PAGE |
Contact sheet (4)
Double definition. |
| 28 | USHERED |
Crossword setters in the Guardian, deviants primarily offered guidance (7)
A charade of US (crossword setters) HERE (in the Guardian) D(eviants). |
| 29 | MEDIANT |
Third degree murder originally — then detain suspect (7)
M(urder) *DETAIN. According to Chambers this means the third tone of a scale. |
| Down | ||
| 2 | ANOTHER |
Different person, a him then? (7)
A NOT HER. |
| 3 | INANE |
Ridiculous pain, a nettle’s grasped (5)
Hidden in “pain a nettle” |
| 4 | BIPEDAL |
Upright proposal to maintain exercise supported by almost everyone (7)
PE in (maintain) BID, AL(l). I suppose that if you have two feet, you are going to be upright. |
| 6 | ERMINE |
Fur I’ve evidently acquired after some consideration? (6)
A simple charade: ER MINE. Not a homophone, because the second syllable of ERMINE is pronounced with a short i. |
| 7 | TENNESSEE |
Two notes heard in the location of 14 (9)
This is a homophone; it sounds like “tenner C”. |
| 8 | ARAL SEA |
Body of water, region covering a large space, primarily (4,3)
A L(arge) S(pace) in AREA. |
| 9 | PRECONCEPTION |
Bias as sperm approaches ovum? (13)
Cryptic definition. |
| 15 | CREAM CAKE |
An indulgence came disguised as bird food? (5,4)
*CAME in CRAKE (a bird). I think that “food” is the envelope indicator, and “disguised” the anagram indicator. |
| 18 | HAPLESS |
Unlucky chap like this is a hundred? (7)
CHAP without (less) HAP is C. Rather subtle, and it took me some time to parse it. |
| 20 | TINTYPE |
Positive image in petty criminal (7)
*(IN PETTY). Criminal here is the anagram indicator: we had suspect doing the same job at 29 across. |
| 21 | ANTIGEN |
Harmful thing eating rotten chicken, ultimately (7)
*EATING (chicke)N. |
| 22 | CLICHE |
Company’s opening, plant not closing — that’s been said before (6)
C(ompany) LICHE(n). |
| 25 | CAPRI |
Island in better state (5)
CAP (to cap a remark could be to better it) RI (Rhode Island, US state). |
Thanks to bridgesong for the blog. I had the answer to 15d but not the parsing. You explained that.
I find Paul rather infuriating! Sometimes I can go through one of his puzzles at a reasonable speed – not quickly but not slowly. Other occasions, like this one, I go slowly. On Saturday I solved just five of them. I came back on Sunday afternoon and spotted 14a: the King had to be Elvis. I plodded on and eventually had all filled in – with a fair bit of head-scratching on the way.
For 13a I put in “oceanist”. It was all downhill from there.
One of the anagram pairs I always remember is canoe/ocean. In the case of 13a it seemed to me obvious which one fitted better – but I might have been wrong.
Thank you Paul and bridgesong
I enoyed this puzzle even though I failed to solve 19a – I had all the crossers, and I had thought of NEST for home, but my brain just did not make the leap to a French word that I actually do know!
My favourites were 2d, 9d, 23a, 26a and 28a (LOI).
I needed help to parse 10a, 15d, 18d.
New words for me were TINTYPE, and after reading this blog “crake”
Thanks Paul and bridgesong
As I said on the Quiptic blog, I thought that this was easier than this week’s Quiptic. The only stumbling block was the unindicated foreign phrase in 19a – I don’t think that this is fair. I got it well after the rest was complete after finally seeing “home” = “nest”.
I suppose that I should make it clear that my comment @5 was more on the inappropriateness of the Quiptic than the easiness of this Prize!
Another great prize puzzle from Paul. He’s back to showing that he can also do tough puzzles.
Flawlessly clued and lots of ah-ha moments. Too many great clues to single one out though I did like GRACELAND and SPAMALOT.
I suppose 19A will bring the usual complaints about language indication and apostrophes but I loved it. However the lack of innuendo will please others.
A real tour de force. (There’s a contender for a future Paul clue)
Thanks to bridgesong and Paul.
Thanks Paul and bridgesong.
I managed to do most of this last Saturday, unusual for me, but failed on TINTYPE, surely a word I should have known?
CREAM CAKE fooled me, at first I put in chick peas (those ones eaten as nibbles), as did N’EST-CE PAS, thought the clue was something to do with a lean-to.
ARAL SEA was sad, now a small body of water in a large space, but PYROMANIAC, SPAMALOT and MELANCHOLY made me smile.
Lots to like here, apart from 19a which I failed to get as I am currently not French.
Failed this week on 11 and 19. I also didn’t parse 25 correctly as I found a gambling website ‘betcapri’! 2 was my favourite.
Count me as another who found this at the harder end of Paul’s spectrum. It took me an age to see N’EST CE PAS, and the SW in general held me up for a long time. However, I have no quibbles and I enjoyed it even though an element of Paul’s trademark cluing was notable by its absence.
I didn’t like N’EST CE PAS and this remained blank apart from the crossers long after I’d completed the rest. I think I saw the phrase somewhere else some time later which enabled me to finish the puzzle. The rest of it was fine. Liked SPAMALOT and MELANCHOLY.
Thanks Paul
I found this quite straightforward for a Prize, but none the worse for that. 5a was my LOI. I should have got that much sooner as it was the team my father supported, to the extent that he supported any football team. My favourites were PYROMANIAC, MEDIANT, ERMINE and HAPLESS.
Thank you, Paul and bridgesong.
Thanks for that bridgesong, especially for clearing up the foreign language content for me. Normally I’d defend Paul to the hilt against his detractors, but I thought ‘n’est ce pas’ was totally out of order without some indication that the answer was French, not English. Otherwise, an enjoyable if tough puzzle.
Thanks to Paul and bridgesong, especially for the parsing of HAPLESS. I got MELANCHOLY quickly but hesitated because I did not catch the choly-cauli link and was fixated on the “melon” spelling.
I don’t remember much about this one, but as always with Paul there was plenty to enjoy.
Thanks to Paul and bridgesong
Despite the astonishing fact that 19A doesn’t seem to be in any major English dictionary it is in the Chambers section of Foreign quotations.
It is also in Wiktionary in the categories:
English terms derived from French
English borrowed terms
So stop moaning. I’m sure you all know it but just can’t spell it. 😉
Come on Brendan, I live in France and speak French, I thought the clue might have something to do with lean-to’s; I could not believe the answer.
Thanks all
I enjoyed this more than usual for a Paul.
Favourites were 9&10 down.
Excuse complete nonsense in previous, should read 15&18 down!!
Re Brendan arguing with himself until now, there’s no doubt that the phrase under scrutiny is in use in English, er, wouldn’t you agree? However, if it hasn’t yet made the dictionaries, in theory it should be ruled out, or at the very least require further indication.
The convention regarding apostrophes, as I understand it, is that (in blocked puzzles at any rate) they are ignored in enumeration. So that bit was fair enough.
The only problem I’ve encountered with such things is where I needed to have pâté appear in a clue: it was part of an anagram, but as pate is a different word that buggered up the sense entirely, I had to write another one, coz the typeface used in the publication concerned couldn’t handle the foreign stuff.
Oui oui.
Nothing wrong with N’EST-CE PAS (great clue) just because it’s not dictionaried, innit. I’ve heard it used by many who don’t speak French.
My comment on this fine, enjoyable puzzle (written atop it when solved) was simply “SPOT ON!!”
Can you explain to me why for 7d TENNESSEE – This is a homophone; it sounds like “tenner C”.
Where did the “r” at the end of “tenner” go?
“tennis C” is a homophone, n’est ce pas?
AngryDad@23, I wondered if someone would open this particular can of worms. Scots no doubt do pronounce that terminal r, but in the dissolute southern part of this island many do not, so I think that it passes muster. Funnily enough, I don’t agree about “tennis C” because there is a difference in the vowel sound. This is a debate which has often been opened on this site, but never resolved to everyone’s satisfaction.
Thanks Paul and bridgesong.
Catching up – only 7 weeks behind now.
I had no problem with any if this. All fairly clued and my only unparsed answer was Zola – a ‘Doh’ moment when I read the blog.
Working in cosmopolitan London, I often use borrowed phrases such as n’est ce pas and did not feel the need for a French indicator like the ‘nice’ old chestnut.
As for the debate on homophones, I’m of the opinion that there don’t need to be any hard and fast rules. If it works, then it works. One merely has to be thinking in a crooked way.
Which of course is what makes puzzles fun – and Paul’s always are (smut or no smut).
Keep up the good work – d’accord?
Thanks Paul and bridgesong
Even later than Hamish!! This was the second of old backlog ones for me on a dreary weekend.
Found this pretty tough going … particularly the bottom half and it did require a couple of sittings to get it out. Was able to get N’EST CE PAS with all crossers except the T – actually saw the phrase first and then had to work out the why. Think that there are enough French phrases used in everyday conversation and certainly in crossword-land for this one to get by.
Finished in the SE corner with TINTYPE and MEDIANT, both of which were new words to me. Lots to like in many of the clues but unususal for Paul to use the same component twice in the one puzzle – 1a and 25d