Guardian Prize 26,639 by Paul

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A characteristically witty puzzle from Paul, including some of his trademark toilet humour.

I solved this with help from my occasional solving partner Timon and we both enjoyed it very much.  There were several clever charades, of which 23 down was perhaps our favourite.  The definition at 22 across made us smile.  I have noted a couple of words which Paul has clued already this year, but the clues this time are new.  Our eyebrows were raised by 5 across, but it’s in the dictionary.

completed grid
Across
1 PARAGON
Standard pain not entirely ideal (7)

PAR AGON(y).
5 SNOT RAG
Hugging skill backfiring, kiss — this kept up one’s sleeve? (4,3)

ART(rev) in SNOG (kiss – hugging TRA).  Chambers has this as one word rather than two.
9 PECAN
What is able to keep children fit? A nut! (5)

A charade of PE CAN.
10 CARBUNCLE
Painful thing seeing a couple almost knocked over by relative (9)

BRAC(e)(rev) UNCLE.
11 EMPOWERING
Permit banning it, we go in clumsily — that’s providing authorisation (10)

*(PERM(it) WE GO IN).
12 NEON
In chlorine, one finds a gas (4)

Hidden in “chlorine one”.
14 LIE DETECTOR
Might one recognise a story that is by man who talks backwards embraced by reader? (3,8)

IE TED(rev) in LECTOR.  I think that TED for “man who talks” is a reference to this series of talks.
18 ENUMERATION
Mountaineer out for the count (11)

* MOUNTAINEER.  I don’t remember seeing this one word 11 letter anagram before.
21 TART
Sweet — or not? (4)

Double definition.
22 POTTY-TRAIN
Two locos — make sure the little one’s going in the right place (5-5)

A delightful charade, exploiting two senses of “loco”.  Both Timon and I thought that we had seen something like this before, but I can’t find it in the archive.
25 BRIEFCASE
Short suit in the bag (9)

Another clever charade.
26 TUTTI
Little time in the King and I for musical instruction (5)

T in TUT I.  It’s Italian for “all” and indicates a passage to be performed by the whole choir or orchestra.
27 AINTREE
Course ahead initially among the branches? (7)

A IN TREE.  This was our LOI, and the question mark perhaps reflects its difficulty, with the clue being an exploitation of the fact that the word clued contains the word “in”.  Paul last clued this word (defining it then as “racecourse”) in puzzle 26,465 in January this year.
28 TADPOLE
Little support for pond life (7)

A charade of TAD POLE.  Although TAD is a noun, “little” can also be a noun, so the clue is fair.
Down
1 PEPPER
Riddle, corny stuff? (6)

The reference in the wordplay is to a peppercorn.  The definition is perhaps a little imprecise.  To riddle is to “make full of holes like a riddle, as with shot”; to pepper is to “pelt with shot”; almost the same, but not quite.
2 RECIPE
Method majestic sovereign set up (6)

EPIC ER (all rev).
3 GENE WILDER
Actor, part of one’s make-up less restrained (4,6)

A charade of the actor‘s name.
4 NICER
King released from pound, more agreeable (5)

NIC(k)ER.
5 SERENGETI
Plain figure in the end dividing complex integers (9)

(figur)E in *INTEGERS.  Another word to feature in a Paul crossword earlier this year: no 26,528 in March.
6 ONUS
Load of extra money skimmed (4)

(b)ONUS.
7 RACLETTE
People eating European cheese dish (8)

LETT in RACE.  The Letts are native to Latvia.
8 GREENERY
Author Ray after centre parting, leaves (8)

(Graham) GREENE, R(a)Y.  A clever surface leading both Timon and I to think it referred to the author Ray Bradbury.
13 REINSTATED
Control said to be brought back (10)

REIN STATED.
15 ELABORATE
Fancy getting flesh out (9)

Double definition.
16 VERTEBRA
Green initiative’s ultimate supporter getting item in a column (8)

VERT (initiativ)E BRA.  It’s a while since I remember seeing supporter= bra.
17 GUARDIAN
1 Aug and solver finally cracking this puzzle here (8)

*(I AUG AND (solve)R).  The puzzle was of course published on 1 August.
19 TATTOO
Shabby stuff besides, beating performance? (6)

TAT TOO.  This sense of the word, relating to drumming, is entirely separate etymologically from the sense relating to skin decoration.
20 ONSIDE
Half the field in one sport, legal in another? (6)

Another double definition, exploiting the different uses of the term in cricket and (association and rugby) football.
23 THEFT
Illegal practice that’s much studied in the City (5)

Brilliant charade of THE FT (Financial Times).
24 AFAR
A force flying up in the distance (4)

A RAF(rev).
*anagram

26 comments on “Guardian Prize 26,639 by Paul”

  1. Thanks bridgesong. I don’t think I’m a prude but I thought 5a was a bit beyond the pale, even for Paul. I did like 22 though. I could only find the same reference for TED as a man who talks as you did but it is rather obscure.

  2. Thanks to Paul and bridgesong. I finished most of this puzzle on my first go but was stumped for several days before finally getting THEFT and POTTY-TRAIN. RACLETTE was new to me, and I had trouble parsing LIE DETECTOR, but I enjoyed the effort.

  3. Thanks bridgesong and Paul, awareness of whose style made it easier to get 5A and 22A. Wasn’t sure about PEPPER and Nicker in the NW, but both had to be correct. SE was hardest where I did like TUTTI and the pink paper.

  4. On the harder end of the scale for JHa but very good indeed. 12a is a fine hidden, but my favourites are 14a (LIE DETECTOR) and the brilliant 5a (SNOT RAG).

    The puzzle has a late 60s / early 70s ring to it. ‘Nicker’ could be straight out of ‘On The Buses’ (‘I’ll get you Butler!’), while snot rag (the item and the term) was a staple of prep schools the length and breadth of the country.

  5. Thanks Paul and bridgesong

    I failed to solve 16d ( I do know that VERT is green in French but I was not thinking in French obviously!) and 27a (never heard of this racecourse). New word for me was nicker = pound sterling

    I liked CARBUNCLE (FOI), TADPOLE, RACLETTE, GREENERY, PECAN, PARAGON, THEFT and my favourite was TUTTI.

    I also liked the clue for 16d because “author Ray” made me think of Bradbury and even Raymond Chandler before I realised that I simply needed to use the letters RaY.

  6. A reasonable puzzle with a few nicish clues. (5A, 22A, 7D for instance)

    However for some reason it wasn’t very exciting.

    Again easy for a “Prize” (Too many very easy clues!)

    Biggles A @1

    Surely you have misunderstood something? 5A is “SNOT RAG” (2 words in SOED by the way bridgesong). This is a very common expression for a handkerchief. I would reasses your definition of a “prude” if you find this beyond the pail. 🙂

    Thanks to bridgesong and Paul

  7. Well, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I don’t mind if ‘prize’ crosswords are ‘very easy’ (which for me, means being able to finish it the same day!) as the prizes are so small as to make entering pointless.

    Michelle – you’re obviously not of a certain age 🙂 ‘Nicker’ was very common slang for a pound in my youth, but come to think of it, it’s a long time since I’ve heard it used.

  8. Thanks Paul and bridgesong.

    I really enjoyed this puzzle last Saturday, last in were THEFT and POTTY TRAIN, both brilliant and taking me a long time to get.

    Ualca must be younger than I am, SNOT RAG and NICKER were common expressions in the 50s and I guess long before that.

  9. michelle @5

    I take it that you do not reside in the UK else you would have heard of Aintree (Liverpool), the home to
    The Grand National which is the biggest horse-race of the year.

    I didn’t find this easy and it took me ages to get started despite there being “too many very easy clues”.
    I sat there for ages with just NEON which was easy. Nearly gave up but persevered and got there in the end…
    well nearly. I put INSIDE instead of ONSIDE which never even occurred to me.

    My last three answers were SNOT RAG, ONUS and finally GREENERY where I also thought of Bradbury and Chandler.
    Favourites were PECAN, BRIEFCASE, NICER, REINSTATED and THEFT (an absolute gem).

    Very entertaining Paul and thanks to bridgesong (…over troubled water ?)

  10. Being a bit picky, perhaps, I got held up by 15d: “fancy getting flesh out”. It’s a double definition but “getting” is superfluous and since it’s such a big part of the whole a bit confusing. “fancy flesh out” isn’t a bad surface.

  12. hello Mr Beaver @7
    age aside, I think it is because I am from Australia that I do not know the word ‘nicker’

    hello Davy @ 9
    you guessed correctly! I am an antipodean but I am based in Asia – that is why I never heard of Aintree racecourse. But I might do better at naming cricket grounds in the UK 😉 Trent Bridge for example – venue for Australia’s recent humiliation – so embarrassing 🙁

    But to tell the truth, the clue had me stumped anyway – I could not make head or tail of it.

  13. Some of these clues were Paul at his joyful best. I’m so grateful that he doesn’t rest back on his laurels (though standard formulae for Mr H would be a high standard) but seeks to delight afresh with his twinkling creativity; no sausage-machine he! So a huge thank you to The Man (and a warm nod to Bridgesong)

  14. As usual an entertaining solve from Paul. I loved POTTY TRAIN and SNOT RAG and find it difficult to see what there is to be offended about in the latter. No problems with AINTREE but I was born only a few miles from the racecourse. Mind you I’ve never visited it despite remaining in the area for a good number of years.
    Thanks Paul.

  15. Thanks Paul and bridgesong

    A pleasant crossword which I had held over until this morning and finished across a couple of medium length sessions. A return to form (I had recently completed his prize puzzle in the FT which was quite different from his normal style).

    Started off with a couple of straightforward ones in PECAN and NEON. Last one in was the very clever and quite typical POTTY TRAIN that went in just after the brilliantly-surfaced GUARDIAN (and timed down to the minute !)

    Took a while to get SNOT RAG – not offended, but surprised to see the definition of a ladies handkerchief up her sleeve – was commonly used at school, but more for a boy’s one from memory.

    Liked the subtlety of both ELABORATE and ONSIDE.

  16. Thanks all
    I was so offended by ” snotrag” that I immediately blew my nose on the Guardian front page. Ugh!

  17. Cookie @ 8 I was born in ’59 so remember little about that decade.

    Now if I were Chad Varah, the founder of the Samaritans, it might be different. I once heard him give a talk in which he said he believed in reincarnation because his nanny told him that he could read before the age of one. Varah believed he must have received the ability from an adult. Call me an old cynic, but I just thought he was showing off…

  18. But more importantly in terms of this puzzle, John Halpern is similar in age to me, I think, and hence my comment.

  19. I remember from last week this being the sort of puzzle that seemed very hard at first, but then went smoothly after all.

    I’d heard of AINTREE primarily from earlier puzzles. Horseplay (groan) seems to be popular among crossword setters.

    Similarly, NICKER is familiar from other puzzles. How much slang for money do you suppose there is out there? I’d say enough that you could probably write a crossword themed entirely around slang for cash without running out of it (out of slang, not out of cash!)

    Lastly, I should mention that I was not the slightest bit offended by SNOTRAG. I thought it was funny. I think the term has dwindled in use at about the same pace as the item itself has done. These days most people just use tissues…

  20. [Ualca it might be possible that Chad Varah could ‘read’ before the age of one. My fourth child at the age of ten weeks could recognize five different farm animals on a little puzzle he had, my late husband (a paediatrician) would say to him “say hello to rabbit”, and Jordan would lift the correct cover to expose the rabbit and say “hello”, the same with the other four animals. He also started to talk then, saying “hello” to people, which was very embarrassing as they would give us funny looks. The furthest he got was one morning when he sneezed and said “got a sneeze”, that he had started to form a sentence was clear since people say “got a cough” but never “got a sneeze”. It all stopped at 20 weeks, I asssumed another speech centre in the brain had taken over. Chad Varah could perhaps recognize words, or remember those on a page.]

  21. AINTREE was my LOI too. Like Davy @9, I had tentatively put 20d as INSIDE instead of ONSIDE, but now I’ve seen it, ONSIDE makes more sense. I was uncertain about the parsing of 5d too so it was good to get my version confirmed in that case.

    My favourites were PECAN, ENUMERATION, GUARDIAN and THE FT.

    Thanks to Paul and bridgesong.

  22. Another entertaining prize from Paul, but for me not quite as good as yesterday’s. No problems with my doing it on the train test, but I did have to check RACLETTE (which also defeated my 70s Chambers)

  24. Very enjoyable puzzle. Snotrag legit but it just jarred with the rest of the clues. It’s a style that makes Paul’s puzzles so recognisable.
    I’m sure I’ve seen Potty Train before and similarly clued but can’t remember where.
    Thanks to Paul and Bridgesong

  25. I’m sorry to spoil the enjoyment of 22A but a loco is not in any way a train. The loco(motive) is just part of the train that it is hauling.

  26. Thanks bridgesong and Paul.

    Thoroughly enjoyable, clever and witty.

    I think I got a few funny looks this morning as I walked round the Aldwych. The penny finally dropped for 22ac and I laughed out loud.

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