Guardian Prize 27,621 by Picaroon

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A satisfying and challenging puzzle from Picaroon for this week’s prize puzzle.

If there was a theme, or a nina, Timon and I failed to spot it.  We enjoyed the variety of cluing devices and the clever surfaces.  I couldn’t parse OTHER HALF when we solved it, but I’ve had no difficulty in doing so for the blog.

Not much more to say, except thanks to Timon for his help and to Picaroon for the entertainment.

I should add that I shall be away on the day that this blog appears and may be unable to respond to any comments until the evening.

completed grid
Across
1 GONADS Spurs letting in header from Newcastle? Nuts! (6)
N (ewcastle) in GOADS (spurs).
4 ACETIC Abstainer dropping special sort of acid (6)
A(s)CETIC.
9 ASTROPHYSICISTS Star men assist cast to bag award thus (15)
TROPHY (award) SIC (thus) in *ASSISTS.  I should point out that astrophysicists can of course be women.
10 MASHIE Old Iron Duke leaves one in ground (6)
I (one) in *MASHE(d) (ground).  I am told that a mashie is equivalent to a five iron.
11 BALLETIC One in dance (and the like) may be so (8)
I (one) in BALL (dance) ETC (and the like).
12 POLO NECK Top down on Volkswagen (4,4)
NECK (down) POLO (Volkswagen).  The parts are reversed, which makes it a little more difficult.
14 ROTARY Painter covers books with lines like a Turner? (6)
OT (books) in RA (painter), RY (lines).
15, 18 MOTHER SUPERIOR Our emperor’s vexed with this creature of habit (6,8)
*(OUR EMPEROR THIS).
18   See 15
21 SPORTIVE Caring, but not up for having fun (8)
S(up)PORTIVE.  We originally entered S(up)PORTING, which caused us a problem later.
22 BEMUSE Fox to play an inspirational role? (6)
A clever charade of BE MUSE.
24 SPEAKING TRUMPET Hussy admits climaxing and means to be heard (8,7)
PEAKING (climaxing) in STRUMPET (hussy).
25 REFUGE Asylum‘s official uniform for one that’s flipped (6)
REF (official) U(niform) EG (for one, rev.).
26 AYE AYE Primate will do for sailor (3-3)
Cryptic, or possibly even a double definition (except that the naval term is not hyphenated).
Down
1 GESTAPO Interrogators try to keep tapes running (7)
*TAPES in GO (try).  “Interrogators” seems a bit understated for the Gestapo.
2 NORTH Lisping Scandinavian makes a point (5)
NORSE, as spoken by one with a lisp.
3 DEPLETE Run through key prelude’s opening parts (7)
P (relude) in DELETE (computer key).  “parts” here is a verb.
5 CHILLER German author not beginning scary story (7)
Friedrich S(chiller) is the German author, famous now for being the author of the poem that Beethoven set to music in his Choral Symphony (the Ode to Joy).
6 TRIMESTER A period when expecting to prune trees anew (9)
TRIM *TREES.  Human pregnancy is divided into three trimesters of three months each.
7 CATTIER About time row gets more unpleasant (7)
CA (about) T(ime) TIER (row).
8 DYBBUK Demon‘s dirty bomb disheartened country (6)
D(irt)Y B(om)B UK (country).
13 OTHER HALF Partner of entertaining prince following the king (5,4)
THE R (the king) HAL (prince) in OF.
16 ON PAPER Figure eating puree, with recipe written down (2,5)
PAP (puree) in ONE R(ecipe).
17 RAILING Reading or writing poorly is a barrier (7)
R (reading and writing are two of the three R’s), AILING (poorly).
18 SLEDGE Vehicle in Senegal’s unoccupied border (6)
S(enega)L, EDGE (border).
19 PUBERTY Time of change for local ruler, content to leave timidly (7)
PUB (local) ER (ruler) T(imidl)Y.
20 OBSCENE Awful stink over public disturbance (7)
BO (stink, rev.) SCENE (public disturbance).
23 MAMBA Two postgraduate degrees potentially a killer (5)
MA, MBA.  The black mamba is a venomous snake.

*anagram

20 comments on “Guardian Prize 27,621 by Picaroon”

  1. Thanks bridgesong. I found this a game of two halves; the lower half went in quite readily but the top half required a lot more thought of me. Never heard of 8d though the crossing letters made it realisable. I’m not sure what you mean about the reversal in 12a, it seems to me DOWN is simply on or after VOLKSWAGEN. I did wonder about neck=down though until remembering about yards of ale. A very good test which took rather longer than usual.

  2. I found this over too quickly for Picaroon – there was much too enjoy but I’d have liked to have been made to wait longer before coming to the end. MASHIE, BEMUSE and OBSCENE held out longest. GONADS appealed to my schoolboy humour, especially after Friday’s CROWN JEWELS – Mrs W was less amused. I liked SPEAKING TRUMPET for the surface and CATTIER for the misdirection and thought MASHIE was a great example of how to make concise and still intricate clue. DYBBUK was a TILT and gettable from the clue – and once again the Brooke Bond tea cards came in useful as I’m sure there was an AYE AYE in them back in the 60s. Many thanks to Picaroon for the fun and bridgesong for the illumination.

  3. Thanks to Picaroon and bridgesong. Much fun. I knew DYBBUK, especially enjoyed BEMUSE, and overall proceeded more quickly than I had expected – though a week later I may not be remembering some of my struggles.

  4. Sadly a DNF for me. I didn’t get 10a MASHIE though if it had been in yesterday’s Tramp I might have! I was also unfamiliar with 8d DYBBUK so used the word play and then went to my Chambers online to confirm. There were a couple of others I couldn’t parse, eg 11a BALLETIC and 3d DEPLETE, so thanks to bridgesong and Timon for the solve. I still don’t get the Primate part of AYE-AYE although I get the sailor bit. I thought the anagram for 15/18a MOTHER SUPERIOR was clever, and as Whiteking@2 said, the clue for SPEAKING TRUMPET at 24a was likeable. For a while I was unsure whether my guess at the acid at 4a should be LACTIC or ACETIC, which seemed so silly once I twigged to the “abstainer” bit.

    Thanks to Picaroon and thanks again to bridgesong.

  5. Thanks Picaroon and bridgesong

    I don’t usually comment on the Prize, but I will this week as I would like to say how much I liked SPEAKING TRUMPET, both for its surface and its construction.

  7. For a change, I actually finished this.  Curiously there is a BALLET(ic)by Bernstein called The DYBBUK, but I don’t think that’s enough to be a theme.  (I did consider a MAMBA in West Side Story, but that’s actually Mambo.)

  8. One big tick for me. Excellent cluing throughout, great surfaces. My only quibble is the use of ‘country’ to indicate ‘UK’ in 8d. Comments anyone?

    Also, why is it acceptable to use the grocer’s (grocers’?) apostrophe to pluralise a single letter (the three R’s – see blog) ?

    Very enjoyable workout, Picaroon, and well blogged, bridgesong. Ta muchly both.

  9. Thanks Birdsong. Like Biggles A I found this a game of two halves, but for me the other way round. But once SPEAKING TRUMPET and MOTHER SUPERIOR clicked things got going once again. I too had SPORTING rather than SPORTIVE for a while.

    Some v clever misdirections from Picaroon and a very satisfying puzzle. Thank you.

  11. Thanks picaroon and bridgesong – lots to enjoy here.  DEPLETE was LOI – I can just about see why it could be “run through” but it’s a stretch.

    Greensward @8: yes, the apostrophe in plurals of single letters annoys me too, and I’d prefer to write about the three Rs.  I suspect there isn’t a “why”, it’s just become common usage.  Possibly because As and Is look like real words?

    I think there’s a formatting error in the blog for 20d: the definition is “Awful”, not the rest of the clue.

  12. Thanks Picaroon and bridgesong

    Quirister @ 11: how about “We ran through / depleted the supplies very rapidly”? Wouldn’t have the same meaning if you used ‘uranium’ instead of ‘supplies’, though.

  13. I thought this was pretty straightforward.9ac went in almost at once but the excellent SPEAKING TRUMPET took a bit longer-I fully agree with Muffin on this clue! I knew both AYE AYE and DYBBUCK but I’m sure that was because of crosswords.
    Generally quite agreeable.
    Thanks Picaroon.

  14. Thanks to Picaroon and bridgesong. Enjoyed this a lot. A steady solve for me with last two deplete and Dybbuk (new word but could not be anything else from the cluing. I liked polo neck, mashie and speaking trumpet and thanks again to Picaroon and bridgesong.

  15. Lots of fun from Picaroon, as usual.

    I particularly liked 1a, GONADS; 24a, SPEAKING TRUMPET; 25a, REFUGE and 13d, OTHER HALF.

    I also put SPORTING to start with, but the crossers made nonsense of 18d and when I twigged, I realised SPORTIVE fit the wordplay much better (‘supporting’ would need to be ‘caring for‘, wouldn’t it?).

    I did know DYBBUK from another puzzle. I don’t see what’s wrong with “country” for UK (@Greensward).

    I’m sure 26 is a DD: primate/ “will do” (I accept the instruction/order) for a sailor.

    I don’t think “interrogators” is a literal def for GESTAPO (1d): those (like me, I’m sorry to say) who tend to interrogate by way of conversation are often asked “Are you the Gestapo/Police, or what?”.

  16. I finished this, with some unparsed but I still don’t understand the explanation for 10a MASHIE – is there a duke or a meaning to the word that I have not come across?

  17. @Naomi C

    D is the abbreviation for Duke. You have to remove D (“Duke leaves”) from MASHE(D) (=”ground”) and insert an I (“one in”) to get an old name for a (golf) 5-iron.

  19. Much later (Oz footy grand final, beers, sleep). A dnf for me too; like JinA I couldn’t get mashie, a TILT, and forgot, again!, that meaning of neck, a TIR(elearnt)T, so failed on polo neck as well. Otherwise lots to like as you’ve all said. Hey ho, terrific footy game though.

    Thanks to Bridgesong and Picaroon.

  20. [Congratulations on the West Coast Eagles’ win in the Grand Final, grantinfreo@19! What an exciting finish!]
    [Thanks for the explanation and the link, Whiteking@6. You are very kind. JinA]
    [Your “Birdsong” error made me smile, Burnbake@9.]

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