Guardian Prize 26,800 by Paul

by

There are a couple of clues here where I can’t decide if they are clever and witty or just plain daft. Whichever, enjoyable as always.  Thanks Paul.

completed grid
Across
9 ASPARTAME A corresponding housing area that’s sweet (9)
A then SAME (corresponding) containing (housing) PART (area) – an artificial sweetener, something that’s sweet
10 OMEGA Jumbo’s end jumbo’s end! (5)
jumbO (end of) and MEGA (jumbo) – last letter of the Greek alphabet
11 SPINACH Reel composer, heading off, leaves (7)
SPIN (reel) and bACH (composer, missing head)
12   See 18
13 GIGI Musical soldiers (4)
GI (soldier) twice
14 NETTLE RASH Wood with incense right for skin condition (6,4)
ASH (wood) following (with) NETTLE (incense) and R (right)
16 AIRPORT Song left for John Lennon, perhaps (7)
AIR (song) and PORT (left) – John Lennon Airport at Liverpool
17 ESSAYER Easy in gold and bronze positions, one speaking as a trier (7)
EaSy (1st and 3rd letter, gold and bronze) with SAYER (one speaking)
19 DICKCISSEL Clever man, butcher slices bird (10)
DICK (clever man) and SLICES* anagram=butcher – a small migratory bird from North America
22 AUDI Car check unfinished (4)
AUDIt (check) unfinished
24 HECTARE Measure of land close to allotment in concern for men? (7)
allotmenT (closing letter of) in HE CARE (concern for men)
25 MID-WEEK Wed, married, I had wife — yikes! (3-4)
M (married) I’D (I had) W (wife) EEK (yikes)
26 PHONE Source of communication that’s acidic? (5)
PH ONE (pH 1 – strongly acidic on the pH scale)
27 MARCO POLO Besmirch business, VW, in The Merchant of Venice (5,4)
MAR (besmirch) CO (company, business) with POLO (a VW car) – a travelling salesman from Venice
Down
1 SAUSAGE AND CHIPS Practice of biltong eaters died in invention of 11 dish (7,3,5)
SA USAGE is the practice (usage) of South Africans (eaters of biltong) then D (died) inside SPINACH* anagram=invention of
2 SPRINGER Spot not half, double the dog! (8)
SPot (not half) and RINGER (double)
3 TRIAD One enthralled by conventional chord (5)
I (one) inside (enthralled by) TRAD (conventional)
4 TASHKENT Capital city in county right under one’s nose? (8)
I suppose a TASH KENT could be a county used as a moustache?  Seems improbable!
5 FERMAT Number theorem ends in stunt, as mathematician (6)
numbeR theoreM (end letter of) in FEAT (stunt)
6 NORTH-EAST Point made another way (5-4)
ANOTHER* and ST (street, way) – made is anagram indicator, or maybe just an instruction to the solver
7 SENECA Nero’s tutor offering brief kiss in the main (6)
NECk (kiss,briefly) in SEA (the main)
8 MAKE A HORLICKS OF Jerk from Ikea has lock to screw up (4,1,8,2)
anagram (jerk) of FROM IKEA HAS LOCK
15 CONCEALED Not seen in public once ale downed (9)
found inside publiC ONCE ALE Downed
17 EVERMORE Minister in eastern capital travelling north, always (8)
REV (minister) in E (eastern) ROME (capital) reversed (travelling north, up the grid)
18, 12 YOU’VE GOT ME THERE  I don’t know the answer that’s in vogue, yet theorem fashionable (5,3,2,5)
anagram (fashionable) of VOGUE YET THEOREM
20 CUCKOO Out of one’s tree one flies (6)
double definition – to be mad
21 STEAMY Second drink well hot (6)
S (second) TEA (drink) MY (well, exclamation)
23 ADIOS Thus I depart after initially turning up — toodle-oo! (5)
SO (thus) I with D (depart) and After (initial letter of) reversed (turning up)

*anagram
definitions are underlined

32 comments on “Guardian Prize 26,800 by Paul”

  1. Thanks Paul and PeeDee

    This was a really good Prize puzzle I thought. Took me most of yesterday, on and off, to complete with a good mix of new words (DICKCESSIL and ASPARTAME), tricky cryptic elements (TASHKENT and PHONE) and good misdirection (AIRPORT, TRIAD and MARCO POLO).

    Did take issue with ‘biltong’ being SAUSAGE – I understood it as being more dried strips of beef – very tasty, but not SAUSAGE.

    Finished up in the NE corner with the dubious SAUSAGE AND CHIPS, ASPARTAME and the tricky TRIAD last in.

  2. I wondered, in idle moments over the weekend, how many others globally were mulling over options for 19A, the frustrating hold-out to finishing an otherwise delightful puzzle. Monday morning I googled ‘bird dickc’ and voilà. Ticks for the merchant, the mathematician and the biltong eaters.

  3. Thank PeeDee. I’ve remarked before that Paul’s puzzles are becoming more difficult and this took me a long time. I’m still not really persuaded that PART=AREA in 9a and the surface in 4d seems to me to call for KENTTASH. There’s a typo in 7d – NECk. I stared at 25a for a while before realising Wednesday is mid-week. I enjoyed it.

  4. Thanks PeeDee and Paul.

    I found this to be very hard and gave up with several holes in left half – 9a, 11a, 26a, 1d, 2d, 3d and 4d…..quite frustrating 🙁

  5. A puzzle of genius from Paul, worthy indeed to be a “prize”.

    This took some sorting out but the cluing was impeccable. There was endless misdirection (I particularly liked 19A for this as it was obviously an anagram of “slices bird” 😉

    Lots of brilliant clues, far too many to single out.

    Paul yet again showing us that he is capable of producing a hard one. (Ooooh errr!). I can’t believe he managed to clue DICKCISSEL smutlessly!

    Entertainment for the whole weekend and something to do after the Monday Rufus as well..

    He really was a CLEVER DICK with this. Puzzle of the year so far for me.

    PeeDee, where does Paul suggest that one could use a “TASH KENT” as a moustache? Surely “right under one’s nose” is a well known idiom so the surface is fine.

    Thanks to PeeDee and Paul.

    P.S. bruce@aus @1

    1D doesn’t suggest that biltong is a sausage. Biltong eaters in the word play just suggests South Africans. The definition for sausage and chips is dish

  6. Great fun!

    I did wonder how many solvers without a long-term English vernacular upbringing would query how Horlicks, that most innocent and homely of drinks, earned its place in that phrase.

    Paul’s are perhaps not the hardest these days, but they give, at least to me, the greatest pleasure and satisfaction on completion.

  7. Thanks for explaining SA-USAGE and PH ONE which had me mystified. Definitely one of Paul’s tougher ones, and lots of googling and wordfinding required – but not for the priceless MIDWEEK where the definition dropped with an almighty clang.

  8. Brendan @5 – I think PeeDee was querying the parsing of the wordplay in 4d: “I suppose a TASH KENT could be a county used as a moustache? “ – but I read it that the county is to the right of TASH which is “under one’s nose”.

    Anyway, agreed, this was fun and a nice level of difficulty. Peedee also says “I can’t decide if they [Paul’s clues]are clever and witty or just plain daft.” – well, that’s exactly what I like about him.
    Some other compilers are perfectly fair and/or challenging but don’t provide nearly as many smiles!

  9. @Caesario – as a native English speaker I have no more idea about “making a Horlicks of” than you do. Never heard of the phrase!

    @Brendan re: TASHKENT – yes, the surface reading is certainly fine. My question to you is is how do you parse this clue? Can you provide a lucid explanation yourself?

  10. He goes from strength to strength. This was an excellent puzzle and a highly satisfying solve. Great cluing as Brendan says- even DICKCISSEL of which I’ve never heard- admirable restraint on Paul’s part with this one.
    Too many favourites to list.
    Thanks Paul.

  11. PeeDee @ 9

    You are probably not alone. ‘Horlicks’ is a (near) phonetic euphemism for the vernacular testes. That word is what ones hears in the barrack room and the industrial workplace, with ‘Horlicks’ reserved for more sensitive company. After all, it is a Paul puzzle! It certainly made me chuckle, and I even foresaw an exchange here, such as this.

  13. Further to Caesario’s comment @11 – I wonder if Paul is playing a double-bluff here. On reading the clue for 8dn I immediately tried to fit BOLLOCKS into the solution, failed and then gave up and moved on. I wonder if this was deliberate misdirection on Paul’s part, knowing that his reputation would steer people away from the euphemism. A sort of irony in there too?

  14. Thanks Paul & PeeDee.

    I felt a bit low when I only put one solution in after the first pass. It did, however, steadily yield. I thought the clue for TASHKENT was mainly fine, except for the misleading ‘right’ that wasn’t really needed anyway, I thought. I didn’t realise VW was in The Merchant of Venice 😉 The surface of that one was weird.

    I liked the jerk from Ikea. I can’t believe that Paul clued ‘dick’ as ‘clever man.’ He must be feeling more mature from fatherhood.

  15. Thanks Paul and PeeDee.

    On first looking at this puzzle I thought it was too hard for me. After two hours staring at it, and coming to the conclusion that I had better wait for the help of the check button next Saturday, ASPARTAME went in. From then on it slowly unfolded, but I had to search around for DICKCISSEL and MAKE A HORLICKS OF. I finished by evening with everything parsed except for SAUSAGE AND CHIPS – for TASHKENT I put KENT to the right of TASH under one’s nose, as did Mr Beaver @8.

    Favourite was PHONE, then close behind came WED, ESSAYER and the well hidden CONCEALED!

  17. Re TASHKENT – it seemed unlikely to me that Paul would use “to the right of” in a down clue. It is mixing ones metaphors, not wrong necessarily but just not something I thought of as Paul’s usual style. I may be wrong here of course.

    Also “…under ones nose” is not a direct indication for TASH, one has to mentally add the word “something…” to make it work. And further one has to add “of” to make right into “…right of…” Altogether I thought this just too woolly to be a charade, hence my assumption it was some sort of cryptic definition.

    Paul – if you happen to drop by would you let us know what you intended?

  18. Thanks Paul and PeeDee. Great prize crossword. I parsed 4d the samw way as PeeDee – why else would there be a question mark at the end?

  20. This was tricky and took me quite a while, but it was certainly entertaining. I’d never heard of the DICKCISSEL, but the first part seemed likely as soon as I got the first C and there weren’t many options for the anagram once all the crossers were in place. LOI was TASHKENT. I too don’t like the apparent order of the elements suggested by the clue, though in an across clue I might have taken “right” as indicating that the county would be on the right of whatever was “under one’s nose”. Perhaps Paul created that clue earlier intending it to be used as an across one and forgot about that issue when he used it here, or perhaps Cookie has the explanation @19.

    Favourites are OMEGA, MID-WEEK, MAKE A HORLICKS OF and CUCKOO.

    Thanks to Paul and PeeDee.

  21. I too had never heard of a dickcissel, but then again I’m used to not having heard of birds in these things. So I looked it up, and…lo, I live within the (margins of) the bird’s normal range! Well, shoot.

    “Make a Horlicks of” was also new to me, as for that matter was Horlicks.

    The only thing that eluded me here was the parsing of PHONE. Thanks for that. pH One is pretty darned acidic.

  22. Thanks to Paul and PeeDee. I’ve had good fortune with most of the recent prize puzzles but not this one where the NW corner and several other clues were too much for me. I did get DICKCISSEL but was stymied by the sausage in SAUSAGE AND CHIPS, TASHKENT, HORLICKS, and SPINACH. In this case perseverance throughout the week did not help.

  23. PeeDee @9

    My parsing of 4D was very simple. (That’s all my ageing brain can manage 😉 )

    I read it as a whimsical CD. Obviously a TASH is right under one’s nose so a TASH KENT is a county right under one’s nose. (Oh and TASHKENT is a capital city as well!) I think the “?” alludes to the whimsy.

  24. Another tricky Prize as the last few have been – for me the one that held out longest (mostly due to lack of knowledge) was ASPARTAME. All quite entertaining as ever.

    Thanks to Paul and PeeDee

  26. Jovis @25

    “Not half” = “half of it isn’t there”, so remove the last half and you are left with just “sp”. This was indicated in the blog by having those letters as upper case because they appear in the solution and “on” as lower case because they don’t.

  27. Thanks Jennyk

    As is the way of these things I twigged it about 2 mins after posting but appreciate your taking the trouble to reply!

  28. Thanks all
    Enjoyable, particularly I liked 25,26 across and 6 down.
    I did not know dickcissel, but when I finally got it it enabled me to solve cuckoo , my last in.

  29. Lovely crossword that I’ve been picking at for the entire week and having pleasing revelations at every attempt with fresh eyes. Failed on DICKCISSEL (new word for me) and, embarrassingly, CONCEALED (but how delightfully hidden was that? Plus bonus points for the fact that it was, for me at least, “not seen”)

    Thanks Paul and PeeDee

  30. Thanks Paul and PeeDee.

    Really enjoyed this. Creative and witty clueing as ever from Paul – it took me an age to work out TASHKENT and SAUSAGE AND CHIPS and still stupidly needed your help for ESSAYER.

    DICKCISSEL was a new bird for me but elegantly clued.

    I recall that the last Labour Home Secretary – Jack Straw – used the expression [we] MADE A COMPLETE HORLICKS OF when admitting to some cock-up or other in the House of Commons.

    JOHN LENNON Airport (formerly Speke) also made an appearance in the FT recently – Wanderer 15156 – so spotted that all too quickly.

  31. Apologies if someone has already asked this question or if I am being stupid and have missed an earlier announcement.

    But I’d like to ask what has happened to the check (and cheat – but I never use it) button that used to be available one week later when the solution was released.

    Further apologies if using a different computer causes problems.

  32. I needed help verifying DICKCISSEL and HORLICKS, but otherwise it was a slow but steady solve. Seemed just about right for a Prize. Thanks to Paul and PeeDee for a fine puzzle and blog.

    Kevin@31, yes, I noticed the missing check buttons on the last few Prize puzzles. The same is true of the Everyman, which also used to provide check and cheat buttons after one week. I’m not sure if this is an intentional change or merely an oversight, but either way it’s annoying to not be able to do a final “check all” when the puzzle’s done.

    brucew@aus@1, the wordplay for 1D doesn’t depend on biltong and sausage being equivalent. “Biltong eaters” is just there to provide the ‘SA’ (for South African) in the answer.

Comments are closed.