Guardian Prize 27,058 / Paul

18 comments on “Guardian Prize 27,058 / Paul”

1. Thanks Eileen and Paul.
   I groaned seeing the theme, as you say, it turned out ok.
   Didn’t know gannet = glutton, though the wordplay was clear enough to enter.

2. Thanks Eileen. My experience of this was similar to your own; a number of write-ins which led me to think the rest would be easy but then found some careful consideration and some more time were necessary before completion. I shared your doubt over LARGE in 20a thinking something abnormal was just not normal but found in most references that it does usually apply to something larger than standard.

3. Thanks Eileen. Done enjoyably in half the lunch hour. The neat 5 down clue would have been a challenge if all the crossers hadn’t gone in first. Last in was the last clue, with ‘fool’ suggesting itself for rather too long.

4. Thanks to Paul and Eileen. “Shaggers” in a DD for BONKERS was new to me, but everything else gradually fell into place, especially when compared to Friday’s Nutmeg puzzle. Lots of fun, even for someone ornithologically challenged.

5. I hadn’t done a Guardian puzzle in ages, but I was short a puzzle one evening and printed this off. Same old Guardian, same old Paul, but not as difficult as I remember. I nearly messed up on ‘flop’, my LOI, but saw it in time. Nothing really hard here.

6. 13 down had me completely flummoxed. I got the anagram, I got the definition, I knew that the fourth letter of the second word was ‘R’ – so I put in ‘SONIC OPERA’ – it worked on all levels. Only later when I realised it didn’t fit did I go back and look at it again, and put the final answer in. Surely it’s once in a blue moon that two completely different, apposite, seemingly correct anagram answers fit for a given clue.

7. I’d never heard of EL CHEAPO so didn’t write it in, though the word play was clear enough. I’ve just googled it, and still can’t believe that people really use the expression.

8. Nice one.

   As you say, like the clues the whole puzzle gradually emerged from its disguise.

   Re 20a, surely you have to be excessively “something” to be abnormal… so I had no issue with large there.

9. Most enjoyable. My favorite setter on top form with only PETREL causing my any difficulty. BONKERS was typical Paul and made me smile, I imagine EL CHEAPO caused some consternation for some but reminded me of the Lone Groover strip in the NME and the Cheapo Cheapo record stall in Soho where I spent many hours- and a great deal of money!
   Great stuff!
   Thanks Paul.

10. Thank you Paul and Eileen.

    This was fun, but I failed to fully parse CONSUME and EL CHEAPO was new to me. As Biggles @2 says, ABNORMAL often applies to something unusually large, the COED gives it as being partly from the Latin abnormis meaning abnormality, monstrosity.

    We had friends called PECKER who wanted to emigrate to Canada, but finally felt unable to do so because of their name.

11. Thanks E & P.

    These prize puzzles are definitely getting easier, presumably at the behest of Mr Stephenson. If this encourages more people to attempt them, it is no bad thing. If anyone new is reading this – give today’s offering a go!

12. I usually like to read all the clues through to savour the surface meanings before starting to solve (even if that is likely to embed misdirections somewhat). Usually one or two write-ins crop up during this exercise, but this time about five did, so very easy to get into this one and I finished abnormally quickly.

    I, too, was unsure about “large” in 20a (ABNORMAL). I wonder what references Biggles A is … er … referencing?

    Bonkers definitely raised a smile and 5 down (COMMANDO) was clever, but I was very alive to the device, having recently read about use of punctuation in Crossword Unclued.

13. Quite an entertaining one. EL CHEAPO was new to me and last in.

    Thanks to Paul and Eileen

14. I’ve got 25 birds, nine in the grid and sixteen in the clues. But — I’m feeling dumb — what is the other, non-bird theme?

15. Thanks Eileen and Paul.

    There’s a question mark at the end of 20ac, so “excessively large” could be looked at as a definition by example.

16. When I went to the puzzle’s page prior to coming here, I realised that I hadn’t actually done it yet. Fortunately, it turned out to be much quicker to solve than I expect from a Paul Prize.

    Like Eileen, I didn’t understand the “large” in the clue for ABNORMAL, but I also don’t much like “in decline” as the reversal indicator. There are lots of very enjoyable clues, though. My favourites included BONKERS and CORGI. For the latter, having got the OR, I originally thought of “horse” as core members of the royal family are or have been involved with them.

    Thanks, Paul and Eileen.

17. Valentine @14, last Saturday r_c_a_d noted that we had had two bum puzzles in a row, and that he was dreading what might come next – this is what he dreaded…

18. There’s another bird – HEN – as a nina in the SW corner!

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