When I saw Enigmatist’s name, I confess to a moment of apprehension, but in the event the puzzle proved to be both accessible and entertaining.
There was a chicken-and-egg theme, exemplified by the long clue and alluded to by the cartoon character to be found at 19,20. Apart from a couple of queries at 1 down and 19 down, the rest of the clues eventually made sense and provided a great deal of entertainment along the way. Every clue offers something different to admire, from the story-telling surfaces to the subtlety of the wordplay. I’d like to see Enigmatist given the prize slot more often.
| Across | ||
| 1, 4 | HUMPTY-DUMPTY | Nuts put my daughter in hospital and put my nuts in boiled ale and brandy (6-6) |
| Two anagrams (“nuts”) of PUT MY, preceded in the first case by H(ospital) and in the other by D(aughter). The definition is the third sense given in Chambers: the first is a nod to the theme. | ||
| 4 | See 1 | |
| 9 | See 13 | |
| 10 | DOOSRA | Entrance initially ajar to receive special delivery (6) |
| S(pecial) in DOOR, A(jar). A cricket reference this: it’s a leg break that looks like it’s an off break. | ||
| 11 | SUNSHADE | To ignore harmful sexual partner, husband’s moved over, cover over head (8) |
| SHUN (with the H moved to the right), SADE. | ||
| 12 | FLAWLESS | Perfect description of anarchy by small force (8) |
| LAWLESS preceded by F(orce). | ||
| 14 | EUROPA | Opening, small and round, in which university’s fitted a satellite (6) |
| U in PORE (rev), A. It’s a moon of Jupiter. | ||
| 15 | OPTICS | Quantifiers of liquid science (6) |
| 18 | ENFEEBLE | Sap‘s complaint about entering annual regatta unprotected (8) |
| BEEF (rev) in (H)ENLE(Y). A well-concealed definition. | ||
| 21 | See 13 | |
| 22 | GRINGO | Band having to pass round unwelcome Tijuana tourist’s address? (6) |
| RING (band) inside GO (pass). | ||
| 24 | SPEAKING TOO SOON | Snipe “ok to go”? No, as it turns out, prematurely opening mouth (8,3,4) |
| *(SNIPE OK TO GO NO AS). | ||
| 25 | EVEN SO | Nevertheless, 25% of service has been withdrawn (4,2) |
| EVENSO(NG). | ||
| 26 | GNOMON | Grand Master caught by 12 pin (it wouldn’t work with 11!) (6) |
| G (rand), M (aster) in NOON. A gnomon is the pin of a sundial, which is why it wouldn’t work with a sunshade. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | HAIR OIL | Address for one Louis XVI in shackles, wanting lubrication for locks? (4,3) |
| I think that this parses as ROI in HAIL (address) but that doesn’t explain “one”, and “shackles” seems in the wrong place if it is intended as the envelope indicator for “address”. And what’s “wanting” doing? | ||
| 2 | MOSES | Case so melodramatic lawman‘s stitched up (5) |
| Hidden and reversed (“up”) in CASE SO MELODRAMATIC. Another clue with the definition in the middle. | ||
| 3 | TITRATE | Measure strength of restraint collaring diminutive Italian diner (7) |
| TRAT (toria) in TIE. | ||
| 5 | UNHINGE | Create imbalance painting house anew — but not, strangely, patios (7) |
| A compound anagram; take the letters of “painting house” and remove the letters of “patios” – rearrange what’s left. | ||
| 6 | PACKHORSE | Hack, supply secured with tight ropes? (9) |
| *(HACK ROPES). I think that this qualifies as & lit, as a packhorse is one whose load may be secured by ropes. “Supply” here is both a noun and an adverb, in which capacity it serves as the anagram indicator. | ||
| 7 | YIELD UP | Relinquish possession of institute, set in rolling, sweet grassland (5,2) |
| PUD (sweet), I in LEY (grassland), both reversed (“rolling”). | ||
| 8 | MESSRS | Mrs English repeatedly ignored by Courier and Herald? (6) |
| MESS(ENG)(E)RS. What a subtle clue! The definition is both wholly misleading and completely fair; it’s as valid an abbreviation of Messieurs as Messrs, but looks like it means something completely different. | ||
| 13, 9, 21 | WHICH CAME FIRST THE CHICKEN OR THE EGG | A question of life priorities (1,4 not 19,20 here) (5,4,5,3,7,2,3,3) |
| Cryptic definition. The significance of the reference to 19 and 20 eluded me completely until Mrs B did some research. | ||
| 16 | PORK PIE | Popeye Doyle feature? One investigating chips in poker game (4,3) |
| PI in *POKER. Popeye Doyle is a character from the film The French Connection, who wore this type of hat. | ||
| 17 | SPECIES | Coins (singular kind) (7) |
| SPECIE S. | ||
| 18 | ENGAGE | Attract plum work lifting and separating (6) |
| (GRE)ENGAGE. Once separated, lifting GRE produces ERG, or work. | ||
| 19 | FOGHORN | Nautical warning for new mists over rising mercury (7) |
| GH (HG, the symbol of mercury, reversed) and O(ver) in FOR, N(ew). I’m not entirely convinced by this: anyone got a better parsing? | ||
| 20 | LEGHORN | Perhaps height’s lost without straw hat (7) |
| E.G. H in LORN. LORN is an archaic word for “lost”. A Leghorn is also a breed of chicken, and Foghorn Leghorn is a cartoon character from Loony Tunes. | ||
| 23 | IN SUM | Whatever the total is, minus rubbish (2,3) |
| *MINUS. | ||
*anagram
Thanks bridgesong. At first cast I could not put in a single entry and thought this one might be beyond me. I got there in the end though but it took me rather longer than usual. My first answer was 1d and I was so relieved I did not question it too closely. I see what you mean now though but am not too unhappy with ONE and SHACKLES and I suppose WANTING is only there for the surface. Similarly for MISTS in 19d which I took to be an anagrind.
Many thanks – I appreciate some of those parsings, as I don’t think I’ve ever resorted to so many guesses. But I agree, it was an entertaining struggle, so credit to Enigmatist for that.
I don’t have any better idea about the construction of 19d but the answer had to be right from all of the other indicators and the key for me in solving the clue was the “rising mercury”. Hence my tentative suggestion, on the other thread, that there was a slight connection with 8d (since Mercury was of course a messenger). I did not include the words in brackets and refrained from saying more so as not to be accused of “spoiling”. But I was told twice, very firmly, that there was no connection. I said that I would include my thoughts here when the opportunity arose, and now I have.
I did think that it was an excellent puzzle.
Thanks bridgesong
15A is a double definition: an optic is the device stuck in the neck of a bottle of liquor that doles out a measure.
Very, very clever.
I’m similarly stumped by the parsing of 1d. For 19d I think we take ‘mists’ as ‘covers up’ rather than anagrind:
(FOR N) around (O + (HG rising))
LOI and favourite for lifting and separating: ENGAGE.
Thanks to Enigmatist and bridgesong. I am usually baffled by this setter, and this puzzle was no exception. Like Biggles A I made no progress in my first two passes, then gradually had success with IN SUM, UNHINGE, ENGAGE, and YIELD UP, and a few days later got the chicken-egg and SPEAKING TOO SOON long solutions. I took a lot of time before getting FOGHORN because I had the GH at the end, not in the middle so that I missed GNOMON until I realized my mistake. I got but could not parse ENFEEBLE (I missed the Henley connection) but did get PORK PIE (I remember the movie). DOORSA defeated me (again cricket terms are my nemesis) as did MESSRS, but for me progressing as far as I did was a triumph.
Thanks Bridgesong – I had 19d as FOR N(ew) envelopes/mists OGH (over rising mercury, but I couldn’t work out 1d.
I think you’re almost there for the parsing of 1d – “address for one” = HAIL, “Louis XVI” = ROI, “in shackles” = contained by, “wanting” = giving the answer – at least, that’s how I read it – although the 1st part strikes me as a bit over-contrived. I parsed 19d as you did.
What a wonderful crossword – not as tricky as I expected – it was a steady solve which allowed me to appreciate how good pretty much each and every clue was.
Many thanks to both setter & blogger.
Thanks bridgesong. Found this maddening. Got 1,4 instantly and the great long one soon after. But for a dozen clues I had ??? because bits in them I could not make out for the life of me – the liquid in 15A, the band in 22A, service in 25A, supply in 6D, and mists in 19D whose LEGHORN twinship needed googling. Failed on 8D: wasted an hour on that, when everything else was in place.
Thank you for MESSRS – took me hours to spot the definition and I never did parse it. DOOSRA was unknown – well, it’s cricket, innit? Fairly easily clued, though. FOGHORN LEGHORN, on the other hand, I know well.
For the last few weeks I’ve bemoaned the fact that the prize puzzles have been easier than some of those in the week. Not so here. I expect this setter to provide a real workout and I wasn’t disappointed. I had to engage the assistance of Mrs PA to crack this one and finally we did but it was a struggle. But a struggle that was worthwhile with some excellent clubbing. My favorite was MESSRS which teased me for a looong time.LOI was GNOMAN which I got by a process of elimination. Loved the EGG theme which gradually emerged.
One of my/our first solves was GRINGO which I seem to remember derives from American soldiers propensity to sing “Green grow the rushes-o” while marching in Mexico – and became an all purpose insult!
Thanks Enigmatist- a more than worthy opponent.
I salute anyone who enjoyed this. Like Molongolo, we were unable to explain a lot of those we did put in, and completely failed on 10a (DOOSRA?? – Really?) and 8d. I also thought Popeye Doyle and Humpty Dumpty (in this sense) were deeply obscure, but I supoose one man’s obscurity is another’s common knowledge…
On the plus side, we enjoyed FOGHORN LEGHORN, always having been fans (“I say..!”) but overall found it hard work and unrewarding
For 1d, I thought “address” meant say it out loud and so “one Louis XVI” was one Royal which sounds like “I roil” but then it all collapsed as I could not fathom the “ha” nor the shackles. Still think the cluing for hail is tenuous though.
Thank you Enigmatist and bridgesong.
Great fun, but hard going for me. I must have seen cartoons with FOGHORN LEGHORN in when young, but did not recognize the character.
I thought 19a was “Heir Royal”…
sorry, that should be 1d, homophone for HAIR OIL.
Another interesting thing about 1d is that Louis XVI’s hobby throughout his life was locksmithing, the clue is a real enigma….
Wow. I was quite pleased with myself when I finished that, although it took a while. It actually sat for a whole day with only 8 down still to go and _E_S_S scribbled on various scrap pieces of paper before I thought of ‘messengers’ and realised how the wordplay worked, although I originally took out ”ENG’ and ‘R’ for ‘Repeatedly’ to get MESSES and was trying to think what in what accent that might sound like ‘missus’, which was the best I could do to understand the definition. And about an hour later the subtle part of the definition dawned! Nice one, Enigmatist..
And I learned some things, which always makes crosswords fun: I now know that you can drink a ‘Humpty Dumpty’, and (possibly after doing so) you can put a Leghorn on your head. And was reminded of some classics of the screen, like the Foghorn Leghorn cartoons and The French Connection. So it was a struggle, but I had a week, on and off, and I really enjoyed it. Thanks (and some admiration) to setter and blogger.
Thanks bridgesong and Enigmatist.
I thought this was a great puzzle – even though I was guessing most of the time but still getting the right answers.
On 1d: Louis xvi was guillotined so wouldn’t have needed any hair oil.
1,4 put me in mind of the following:
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.”
“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”
“The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master—that’s all.”
Wise words to both setters and solvers.
“shackles” can be another term for “swaddling clothes”, so perhaps the clue is referring to Louis XVI when he was a baby…
Thanks, all for your comments. Glad to have started a discussion and to have helped (if I have) some to understand the parsings.
PeterO @4: i agree with you about 15A and have amended the blog.
On the vexed question of 1 down, I can confirm that my parsing accords with the annotated solution, although I was attracted by Cookie’s ingenious suggestion @14. 19D is shown in the annotated solution as Gonzo has it @5.
I also see from the annotated solution that 13d is alluding to the fact that (in this puzzle – and in literature) Humpty Dumpty (the egg) comes before Foghorn Leghorn (the chicken).
bridgesong @20, that being so, then “wanting lubrication for locks” could be referring to Louis XVI’s hobby, a good surface.
Thinking further, “wanting lubrication for locks” is more likely to be referring to the locks on the shackles.
“Address for one” would be “Hail”, or “Hail to thee”, address for several would be “Hail to ye” (I think) – perhaps this accounts for the one ? I know little about &lit clues, but could 1d be one ?
Thanks bridgesong and Enigmatist. I really enjoyed this and managed it in one sitting. A few slightly obscure references and solutions but none that I didn’t know. LOI was MESSRS which was a toughie.
I too found 1d difficult to parse at first but concluded that HAIL = address, ROI = Louis XIV for one (def by example) and in and shackles were redundant containment indicators, a Grauniadism.
HKrunner @24, brilliant, definition by example for ROI! This clue is going to be the death of me…
Mostly very enjoyable, and one of Enigmatist’s more accessible ones, though I failed on MESSRS…
Thanks to Enigmatist and bridgesong
I struggled with this, as usual with Enigmatist. I only had three answers by the time I came back to it today, but some guessing and checking got me a few more. With the extra crossers, I was eventually able to get them all, but I didn’t parse YIELD UP or ENGAGE. DOOSRA was new to me and looked implausible, but the construction was clear.
Thanks, Enigmatist and bridgesong.
À la lanterne…
Thanks Bridgesong and Enigmatist.
What a splendid puzzle. Worthy of the prize slot, this took half a dozen sittings and I still couldn’t parse ENGAGE and, although I was pretty sure that HUMPTY DUMPTY must be a kind of hot toddy, couldn’t find it in any of my reference materials.
I was also held up for a while by the brilliant 8dn being convinced that it must be HERMES for a while until the penny finally dropped.
So with due reference to 13, 9, 21, I very nearly ended up with chicken on my face!
Great puzzle, great blog. Thanks
You folks are far more clever than I. After several passes, I had EVEN SO and FOGHORN but didn’t understand the wordplay for either, so I had to call it a day. Bravo to those who made it through!
I got there in the end, and thoroughly enjoyed myself while so doing, but I think this has to be the most difficult Prize there’s been in quite a while (more difficult, even, than many of the Holiday Prizes).
After I’d finished, while I lay around in a puddle of sweat and mopped myself with ice-cold unguents, I reflected that, in the 1980s or so (insert phthysic cough here), just about all the Grauniad Prizes were this tough: you really knew you were in a fight when you took one on. Nowadays a lot of them don’t seem much harder than yer average weekday Cryptic.
I meant “phthisic”; was typing too late at night.
Thanks Enigmatist and bridgesong
This was seriously tough – started it on a 30 minute train ride into a game of football last Sunday … and back again – for a total of 2 answers (EVEN SO and YIELDS UP). It was about three more sittings before the long answer finally dropped as my 7th entry and it was only then that the puzzle started to open up.
It took until Friday to finally finish filling in the grid that had required lots of reference searching. Even so, there were still numerous answers that were not fully parsed. Was able to work out the parsing of a few more before coming here – ENFEEBLE (after tracking down the Henley Royal Regatta, HAIR OIL (cutting slack for the exactness of the word play), GNOMON (after finally separating Grand and Master) and LEGHORN (after working out the whole lot – it was originally written in simply as a part of FOGHORN LEGHORN).
Couldn’t fully parse TITRATE (well any of it), ENGAGE (had the GAGE bit as a plum – not taking it all the way to its full name of ‘greengage’) and FOGHORN (apart from the HG bit for Mercury).
Finally finished when DOOSRA presented in a word finder look up (I knew the word after I’d seen it, but doubt that I would have ever worked it out without help). It was a puzzle that almost felt 3-dimensional with the layers of thinking required to unravel the clues. Anybody comparing the difficulty factor of this to a Rufus puzzle is definitely taking the p*** !!!
Brilliant stuff !!!
I’m surprised how many say they enjoyed this but admitted to resorting to guessing. It should be possible to arrive at the answers by careful dissection but not with this example. Too obscure with no pleasure gained from second guessing the compiler and finding answers. I suggest passing the next paper with an Enigmatist effort straight to the local chippy.