Guardian Prize 26,633 by Picaroon

by

I enjoyed this one, thanks Picaroon.

I will be on holiday cycling up the Western Isles by the time this post is published. I will probably be able to read the comments and maybe even reply, but corrections to the blog will have to wait until I get home.

M stands for month.  Twelve across clues for twelve months, very neatly done!

completed grid
Across
4 DISMAY
M pursuing police officers in upset state (6)

MAY (month) following DIS (Detective Inspector, pluralised)
6 JULIENNE
M that is with new (nearly new) cooking style (8)

JUL (month) IE (that is) with N (new) NEw (nearly)
9 CANOVA
Sculptor‘s M to wear cravat, oddly (6)

NOV (month) inside (to wear) CrAvAt (odd letters) – Antonio Canova
10 LIFEBOAT
M round America aboard illuminated vessel (8)

FEB (month) O (round) A (America) inside (aboard) LIT (illuminated)
11 TROJAN HORSE
Marshal or others checking M for stratagem (6,5)

(OR OTHERS)* anagram=marshal containing (checking) JAN (month)
15 IMARETS
M in site renovated for Turkish hostels (7)

MAR (month) in SITE* anagram=renovated
17 OCTETTE
Group with M to take clothing from punter (7)

OCT (month) with bETTEr (punter) with clothing (outside letters) removed
18 GREASEPAINT
M in tailored gear isn’t something performers put on (11)

SEP (month) in (GEAR ISN’T)* anagram=tailored
22 CAPRICES
Fancies M tucking into cold desserts (8)

APR (month) inside C (cold) ICES (deserts)
23 JUNIOR
Lad has M with couturier losing face (6)

JUN (month) with dIOR (couturier) missing first letter (losing face)
24 DECREPIT
Ruined theatre with appeal after M (8)

REP (theatre) with IT (appeal) following DEC (month)
25 GAUGES
Measures M in borders of Greece and Sweden (6)

AUG (month) in GreecE (outside letters, borders of) and S (Sweden)
Down
1 LATVIA
Country where a cross-dresser’s in trouble, turning back (6)

A TV (transvestite, cross-dresser) in AIL (trouble) reversed (turning back)
2 MUSIC ROOMS
Thus little marsupial’s protected by parents in places to play (5,5)

SIC (thus) with ROO (little marsupial) inside (protected by) MUMS (parents)
3 LIFEBELT
It might save you from prison sentence when on smack (8)

LIFE (prison sentence) on BELT (smack)
4 DUCKTAIL
1950s’ hairstyle is nothing to follow (8)

DUCK (nothing, no score) and TAIL (to follow)
5 SENHORAS
Reasons to get excited, embracing hot ladies abroad (8)

REASONS* anagram=excited containing (embracing) H (hot)
7 NOOK
Congress cut corner (4)

NOOKy (congress, cut short)
8 EATS
Cooks throwing away hot food (4)

hEATS (cooks) missing H (hot)
12 HYSTERESIS
Lag gets stir? Yes, he’s in need of reform (10)

anagram (in need of reform) of STIR YES HE’S
13 STRIKING
Impressive yarn about Eisenhower liberating Spain (8)

STRING (yarn) containing (about) IKe (Eisenhower) missing (liberating) E (Espana, Spain)
14 WESTERNS
Crossworders getting back parts in movies (8)

WE (crossworders) getting STERNS (back parts)
16 EGG TIMER
It helps one who’s boiling mad, initially, interrupting to incite row (3,5)

Mad (initial letter of) inside (interrupting) EGG (to incite) and TIER (row)
19 PLURAL
Many extremely powerful Russian banks hold it (6)

PowerfuL (outside letters of, extremely) then URAL (Russian river, runs between two banks)
20 ACED
Suffered discomfort leaving hotel that’s provided a good service? (4)

AChED (suffered discomfort) missing H (hotel) – service in tennis
21 EPIC OPEC
Perhaps its work leads to energy consumption (4)

I’m not sure about this one.  Perhaps an e-pic is an energy picture, so it consumes energy?  Compared to the other clues in this puzzle this explanation seems a bit vague and out of character.  Can someone provide a better explanation?  OP (work) and Energy Consumption (leading letters of) – definition is &lit.  Thanks to all who suggested this.
*anagram
definitions are underlined

31 comments on “Guardian Prize 26,633 by Picaroon”

  1. 21d is OPEC (OP + E[nergy] C[onsumption]).
    But I am not really happy with the double duty of ‘work’, needed for definition and wordplay.
    Bit of a messy clue.

    Also surprised by the double use of ‘life’ in 3d and 10ac – very un-Picaroon.
    And by the naughtiness (usually absent in Picaroon’s puzzles) of 7d’s NOOK.
    Its surface doesn’t make sense to me anyway.

    That said, all in all a very enjoyable solve but one becoming rather easy after cracking the theme (in my case, 6ac (JULIENNE).

  2. Thanks PeeDee. I envy you your cycling trip,
    For 21D I had OPEC – OP (‘worlk’) plud EC (‘leads to Energy Consumption, with an extended definition.

  3. Thanks PeeDee. It took a while for the M penny to drop but after quite a few of the down clues revealed themselves enlightenment dawned. IMARETS was new to me but clear enough from the word play. I couldn’t think of any other explanation for 21 but agree it leaves something to be desired.

  4. Thanks Picaroon and PeeDee

    I agree with PeterO@2 on both the cycling and OPEC.

    Fo 18 I think it is GREA (anag of GEAR) + SEP + AINT (= isn’t)

  5. I. Like the puzzle, but I thought it was a bit on the easy side once you say what M stands for. Often, when setters do something like this, M means something different in each clue, including, sometimes, just M.

    I did have to think a title about lifebelt at the end, that was a fine clue.

  6. Thanks Peedee and Picaroon. I had OPEC too.

    .pdf version had Without piano band leader is impressive for 13d. (strip – p + king).

    Loved all across clues having spotted the theme early on.

  7. Thanks Picaroon and PeeDee

    My hat’s off to the setters who come up with the ideas for these themes. Here there was exactly the twelve across clues to capture each month just the once.

    Took this one up to a coffee shop for some breakfast this morning and finished it comfortably well within the hour. It took about four down clues until the M= abbreviated MONTH theme revealed itself, with JULIENNE. Like Sil, I too was surprised at the two LIFE- clues – and in fact, had written in an unparsed FIREBOAT originally into 10a (because it had the FEB involved and illuminated vaguely related). The rest of the right hand side fell out quite quickly.

    Then found that had to start all over again to make a start on the left hand side.

    Thought that OPEC was all OK as an &lit clue. IMARETS was a new word, as was HYSTERESIS which was the last one in.

  8. I really enjoyed this puzzle. Although it seemed a bit daunting at first to work out what M stood for, the NW corner was my way in and after I solved DISMAY and TROJAN HORSE it became clear what to do with the M clues.

    I enjoyed all of the M clues (especially GREASEPAINT) and my favourites were STRIKING, MUSIC ROOMS, NOOK & EGG TIMER.

    New words for me were HYSTERESIS & IMARETS, and I incorrectly entered FEATURES @ 14d even though I could not parse it.

    * I agree about the 2 solutions using LIFE being a disappointment. I too had OPEC for 21d. And I parsed 18a in the same way as Kevin @ 4 – with SEP in (GEAR ISN’T)* you have extra letters IS and lack AI.

    Thank you Picaroon and PeeDee

  9. Another nice G prizer – very enjoyable. Certainly once you twig what M is it becomes a bit easy – especially when you only have a few different M’s left to go – but it seems to be the intention (I promise not to say this ever again) that the prizer is not intended to be the toughest puzzle of the week; special but accessible maybe.

    On that basis I think this one fitted the bill perfectly.

    I agree with B #7 – 21d is OPEC and either an &lit or a very close substitute (sorry not interested in these silly &lit wars).

    I once won a cluing comp in which the winner has to set the next word to be clued – and then judge the entries. I put HYSTERESIS and got bombarded with groans even before any attempts were made to clue it. It was not long after the GFC and the financial pages used the term frequently (well AEP on the Torygraph did) as a metaphor for the lag in economic recovery after a downturn – so I was pleased to see it here.

    Many thanks to S&B.

    NB: The greengrocers (or greengrocer’s or greengrocers’) apostrophe in para #1 is intentional.

  10. This was at a nice level of difficulty – initially challenging but quite crackable. It did take a while to get started – my entry was DECREPIT, and fortunately that immediately suggested what was going on and counting the across clues confirmed it. Last in and least familiar was IMARETS – the wordplay for that was quite clear but I couldn’t check it on the train so I wanted all the crossers. All very enjoyable, as always from Picaroon.

    Thanks to PeeDee and Picaroon

  11. A decent enough workout from Picaroon.

    The across clues were fairly easy once one spotted the conceit and noticed that there were actually only 12 across clues. I guessed correctly that this meant that each 3 letter month would be use once and only once.

    I was only familiar with DUCKS ARSE or more usually a DA. But DUCKTAIL was easily gettable from the wordplay.

    I did feel that this was rather less ingenious that the usual Picaroon. (Perhaps this is due to the alleged “Some Prize Puzzles Must be Easy so Less Able Solvers Can Win” disease.) It’s ironic that the majority of experienced solvers probably don’t want to win the prize anyway. Who’d really be interested in these remaindered books? Even a measly twenty quid prize would be more welcome! Come on Guardian, stop being such a cheapskate.

    Thanks to PeeDee and Picaroon

  13. Ilippu @ 6, it wasn’t just 13d that was different in the version that appeared in the paper; 19 down was different as well. The clue that I solved was: Many left old city in China (L UR in PAL). I wonder which version was intended to be the final one?

  15. Those across clues were daunting at first sight, but I got the theme with my first across clue solved (and my third answer overall), LIFEBOAT. After that, the rest of them added an interesting side challenge to a generally good cryptic.

    I made the same mistake as PeeDee with 18a, missing the need to convert “isn’t” into AIN’T. I had the correct explanations for NOOK and OPEC, but was uncertain of both of them, so it is good to have them confirmed here.

    My favourite was EGG TIMER.

  16. Thanks Picaroon and PeeDee. Once the M penny had dropped it was relatively straightforward. Like others I was mystified at the different cluing for 13dn and 19dn in the paper version.

    PeeDee – enjoy your holiday in the short 14dn Isles. Inner or Outer Hebrides?

  17. Picaroon has become one of my favourite setters and this was very enjoyable. I wasn’t happy with GREASEPAINT until today when I discovered the ISNT/AINT substsitution. The only answer I didn’t like was ACED which I’ve never heard anyone say ever. It just doesn’t sound right. I knew that people would not be happy with the double LIFE but maybe I need one.

    Last one in was DECREPIT preceded by WESTERNS which fooled me for quite a while. Favourites were CAPRICES, NOOK, STRIKING AND PLURAL. The clueing was clear throughout this puzzle which I like.

    Many thanks to P&P.

  18. Lovely puzzle. Perhaps it’s just me but I thought this was much easier than most of last weeks non-prize puzzles. Most enjoyable once the M was established. IMARETS was my FOI but it was only after getting CAPRICES that the penny dropped. I was slowed down by DUCKTAILS which I’d got as PONYTAILS which was odd as I’d just listened to an album by a group called Ducktails.
    I don’t see the problem with OPEC which I thought was a perfectly straightforward clue.
    Anyway, thanks Picaroon.

  19. Thanks Picaroon and PeeDee

    Davy @ 17: ACED is a regular tennis term, where the server’s delivery is unreturnable.

  20. In the US, “aced” is used very commonly to mean “did very well,” especially for exams, as in “I aced my physics exam,” but also in other contexts in which judgment is involved, as in “he really aced that presentation to the VPs” (though in those other judgment situations we often prefer baseball metaphors, as in, “she knocked that presentation out of the park!”).

  21. I am a bit confused about 13 down. The clue that I have is “Without piano, band leader is impressive”. Checked this in particular as it was the only one that I did not solve. Surprised to find: ” Impressive yarn about Eisenhower liberating Spain (8)” and no mention of the clue I have in the comments. Does anyone have any idea about what happened?

  22. Thanks Picaroon and PeeDee (do hope you are having good weather for your cycling holiday).

    The month theme was fun. I also had EPIC at 21d, but could not parse it of course, and IMARETS was a new word.

    All the across clues were good, and I particularly liked LIFEBELT and EGG TIMER.

  23. Simon @19

    I do follow tennis but have never noticed ACED being used. Maybe I nodded off but terms such “another ace” or “the first three points were all aces in this service game” are more common. Does the commentator actually say “He/She has aced again ?.

  24. Hi Davy @ 23

    I don’t particularly follow tennis, but have heard the phrase “(S)he aced her/him” often enough for it to stick.

  25. Michael K @21

    Ilippu @6 mentioned that the PDF has the clue you saw, unlike the online version. bridgesong @13 also mentioned that 19d was different in the paper. Sometimes puzzles are edited too late to make the printed version, and perhaps also too late for the PDF too.

  26. I have nothing to add to the comments above – i.e., I too got OPEC, was surprised by the 2 uses of LIFE (to the extent that I was searching for an alternative to LIFEBELT), etc. Overall, very enjoyable. Thanks to Picaroon and PeeDee.

  28. jennyk@25..on a separate note, of late, I see that .pdf does not get loaded at midnight but up to an hour later.

  30. Jenny, thanks for the explanation. Did not really like either clue. There has been some careless editing recently

  31. I agree with vinyl1 ealier. It was very clever, but once the connection M = Month was made (C APR ICE was my way in), it was much too easy for a Prize crossword – though still very entertaining.

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