Guardian Prize 27,836 by Philistine

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A characteristically witty and eclectic puzzle from Philistine for the prize slot this week.  If there was a theme, I missed it.

It’s always a pleasure to see Philistine’s name on a puzzle and this one helped Timon and I fill in the time over lunch on a sunny Saturday.  We were away from home but the lack of reference material did not cause us any problems.

completed grid
Across
1, 4  POLICE RECORD Previous message in a bottle? (6,6)
A clever double definition, referring to this hit from 40 years ago.
4   See 1
9  SNOB Representative of pretentious nobility (4)
Hidden in pretentious nobility and an & lit clue as well.
10  APPRENTICE First part of appeal by Romeo to seduce novice (10)
APP(eal) R(omeo) ENTICE.  I’m not entirely happy about using “first part” to indicate the first three letters of “appeal” but there wasn’t any doubt about the answer.
11  CORYZA Cold and shivering, crazy about love (6)
O (love) in *CRAZY.
12  INNUENDO Suggestion made by boozer on due process (8)
INN (boozer) *(ON DUE).
13  CAMBRIDGE City came first before village in fiction (9)
C(ame) AMBRIDGE (fictional village in The Archers, long-running BBC radio drama series).
15  ZEUS He or she with the Guardian who tormented 24 (4)
ZE (pronoun for those of indeterminate gender) US.  A reference to classical mythology.
16  HOPE Bob kept locked up by 1 down (4)
Bob Hope (1903 – 2003); another classical reference that helped resolve our doubts about 1 down.  Hope is said to be the only thing left after Pandora opened the box.
17  THESAURUS Self-styled reference, lexicon, dictionary and so forth (9)
No wordplay, just a cryptic definition.
21  EGOISTIC Selfish attempt to disrupt regenerated cities (8)
GO in *CITIES.
22  UNESCO In June, Scotland is a cultural hub (6)
Hidden in “June Scotland”.
24  PROMETHEUS One bound for America with Philistine on board (10)
ME (Philistine) inside PRO THE US.
25   See 14
26  HALTER Key in her top type (6)
ALT (computer key) in HER.
27  SYDNEY City couples, happily married, on the telly at last (6)
Last letters.
Down
1  PANDORA She opened a box of letters from Dad? (7)
P AND/OR A: are both letters from PA, or Dad.
2  LOBBY Look, baby, that’s not a pressure group! (5)
LO (look) B(a)BY.
3  CHAPATI Man essentially fat — it’s his bread (7)
CHAP (f)A(t)(i)T(s)(h)I(s)(essential or central letters).
5  EXEUNT They leave old tune out (6)
EX (old) *TUNE.
6  ON THE MENU Not going out with macho types, you finally become available (2,3,4)
*NOT, HE-MEN U.
7  DECADES Degenerates rejecting holy books for many years (7)
DECADE(nt)S.
8  SPRING CHICKEN Jump scared, being a youngster (6,7)
A simple charade of SPRING and CHICKEN.
14, 25  BAPTISMAL FONT Batman’s plot, if convoluted, is the first in which to get immersed (9,4)
*(BATMANS PLOT IF).
16  HOGARTH Primarily hooked on gin, his work included (7)
ART inside initial letters of Hooked On Gin His.  A reference to Gin Lane by William Hogarth.
18  SQUISHY Soft sea creature, tailless and timid (7)
SQUI(d) SHY.
19  UNCANNY Strange uniform governess put conservative leader in (7)
U(niform), C(onservative) in NANNY (governess).
20  STATUE Figure is poorly situated after I’d gone (6)
*(SITUATED) with ID removed.
23  ELFIN Delicate female drowned in rising river (5)
F in NILE (rev).

*anagram

31 comments on “Guardian Prize 27,836 by Philistine”

  1. Thanks bridgesong. I found that most of it was straightforward enough but didn’t know about the 40 year old hit so wasn’t really persuaded about 1a. I knew 1d had to be PANDORA of course but didn’t understand why except that I found that according to myth she was the first woman on earth and Zeus was one of her ‘fathers’ who gave her the box. I looked in vain for wordplay in 17a and can’t see what is cryptic about it; why ‘self-styled I wonder?.

  2. This puzzle was fun but challenging. I found it to be more of a head-scratcher than normal, in that there were several clues gettable from the definition and/or crossers but whose complete parsing required a lot of staring. The scratchiest of all was POLICE RECORD, not just because of the inordinate time it took for the penny to drop, but because in the US, where I’ve lived for many years, an item in one’s police record is known as a prior, not a previous.

    Thanks to Philistine and bridgesong

  3. Thanks to Philistine and bridgesong. I did not parse the Ze in Zeus, kept looking for more in THESAURUS, and struggled with but finally got CORYZA. Like Biggles A @! I chose POLICE RECORD as the best option from the crossers but needed to come here to find out why.

  4. Thanks bridgesong.  Quick solve with the Greek bits beginning 1D falling readily – though I couldn’t parse the ‘he or she’ in 15A.  Lost for a while too in SYDNEY, missing the terminal letters aspect.  Superb message in a bottle along the top, from that pop group.

  5. Echoing Molonglo@4, 1a POLICE RECORD was my favourite clue, as I love that Police song. I also liked SYDNEY getting a mention in 27a (parochial, I know!). I still don’t fully get the clue for 17a THESAURUS. 11a CORYZA was a TILTW (Thing I Learned This Week) and I did have to look it up to check that my anagram was correct.

    Thanks for the parse of 1d PANDORA and 15a ZEUS, bridgesong. (BTW, it was interesting to revisit the story of Pandora as a result of solving these clues and to reflect on the parallels with the story of Eve in Genesis – I pondered yet again the negative historical consequences of these archetypal tales which blamed women for human suffering.)

    Thanks for a most enjoyable solve, Philistine (rapidly becoming a favourite setter), and an excellent blog, bridgesong.

  6. Agree with your sentiments JinA; think I’ve said it before, but I suspect it was really him who bit the apple first, re-edited by bloke scribes. Pretty cruisy Saturday this week, a few quibbles as above, eg thesaurus, but plenty of wit. Dnk coryza, a do what it says and look up, and knew Hogarth’s subject matter generally (lots in the John Soane) but didn’t remember Gin Lane. Thanks Philistine for the fun and Bridgesong for the blog.

  7. Like JinA, I am of the age where the phrase “message in a bottle” immediately evoked Sting’s voice so I was merely looking for how to get Police into the answer. I would probably say “prior” but am also aware of “previous” so didn’t take long.

    I think 17A is just trying to be a clever CD – a thesaurus provides a list of synonyms for a word, so one looking up “thesaurus” (self-styled) might find “reference, lexicon…”.

    Thanks to Philistine for a quick but fun solve and to Bridgesong

  8. Thanks Philistine and bridgesong

    Easy enough to complete the grid, but I was puzzled by the parsing of several, and still am, to be honest. The OR in PANDORA still soesn’t seem right. I wondered if THESAURUS was a (very poor) attempt at a homophone. I didn’t know ZE as a pronoun, and I questioned HALTER as a “top-type” (halter-neck, perhaps?)

    I loved POLICE RECORD.

  10. I’m also of the age where Police immediately sprang to mind for message in a bottle being quite a fan of Sting’s voice if not always of sting himself. Also, for my generation in the UK “previous” is just what it is. Great clue. Many other enjoyable clues.

    I must brush up on the details of a Pandora’s box after reading @Jukie in Oz and grantinfreo’s comments. Of course the ingrained misogyny in our past doesn’t surprise me for one moment but hey ho…baby steps of improvements happening around us I hope.

    Thanks Philistine for the excellent puzzle and Bridgesong for a good blog.

    Happy weekend all

  11. Don’t understand the questioning of words such as “ZE” and “HALTER”? They are both in reputable dictionaries with the meanings used in the puzzle. So where is the problem?

    This is almost as bad as the “new words for me were…… ” posts which we are now plagued with. Why is this of any interest to anyone but the person involved?

    Thought this was a pleasant but not too difficult prize puzzle.

  12. Hey Alex, I for one like people reporting their tilts and tiltws, and interest is precisely the reason: interest in the diversity of background, education, likes and dislikes of all of us. Keep ’em coming folks!

  13. I was a bit slow to get started but one or two easier clues got me on my way and the rest fell into place fairly quickly.

    The ‘he/she’ business.  I know that linguistic comments are not always appreciated here, but here we go anyway.  I always smile when I see this mentioned.  ZE is hardly neutral as it is actually the Dutch word for ‘she’.  Together with the stressed ZIJ, of course.  Now, here in Finland the language makes absolutely no distinction for gender at all – the word for both ‘he’ and ‘she’ is ‘hän.’  In Chinese too, the word is pronounced the same (ta1) but written differently nowadays.

    Nice to see the classical references, I was looking for Hesiod in the grid but don’t think he’s there.

    ALT for ‘key’ seems to be well established by now.

    No real moans, and some nice clues – my favourites were POLICE RECORD, INNUENDO, SPRING CHICKEN.  I think 17 ac is a sort of parody of how the thesaurus reads.

    I enjoyed the puzzle.

    Thanks to Philistine and bridgesong.

  14. Thanks for comments and compiler – solve over all too quickly.

    A vague memory that thesaurus was, when it came out, regarded as a monster of a book, hence that x-saurus was apt. Maybe an urban x-word legend?

    Fond memories also of ‘msg in a bottle’.

     

  15. To: chinoz @14

    Sounds like an urban legend to me.  I think it’s an ancient Greek word – thesaurios meaning store of treasure.

  16. After a week in which I struggled this came as a relief. Enjoyable too. 1a is a great clue if you knew that Police made a record called ” Message in a bottle”. As I didn’t it wasn’t, though solved as a non-cryptic definition of “previous”.
    Anna@15. For the benefit of those who come here to add to their GK, there’s no “i” in ” thesauros”.
    Thanks to Philistine and bridgesong.

  17. To Pino @16

    No, there isn’t.  Fat fingers, small keys, old brain.

    And I don’t think anybody on here comes to add to their Greek, modern or ancient.  Most people couldn’t care less about languages.  Which is why I get annoyed sometimes.

     

  18. Thanks Philistine and Bridgesong

    If you are taking a poll, I have no problem with first part equals APP in 10a.

    @Alex read no further, @grantinfreo I had never heard of ZE but I have now.

  19. Thanks, Bridgesong [and Timon].

    All I have to add to the discussion is my surprise that there has been no praise for the wonderful PROMETHEUS, which went straight into my little book of classic / Classical clues.

    I also liked, along with POLICE RECORD [thanks to my son for that – we heard it endlessly while touring the Loire valley when he was a teenager], CAMBRIDGE and HOGARTH.

    Many thanks to Philistine for a very enjoyable puzzle.

  20. Nice puzzle. I didn’t know ZE until I looked it up but ZEUS was obviously right. I suppose there was GK involved in this but I didn’t find any of it difficult. POLICE RECORD was FOI and provided an unwanted earworm. I thought Police records Ok at the time but they haven’t lasted well.
    Good fun.
    Thanks Philistine.

  21. The problem with “cryptic definition” for THESAURUS is that it isn’t at all cryptic. I’m starting to think that “these are us” was in fact the intended wordplay, as it fits “self-styled reference”, if “reference” can be taken as the homophone indicator.

  22. Very enjoyable. I wonder if the QM in 1,4 was to excuse the fact that a record title was written in lower case? I didn’t understand the wordplay for PANDORA (very clever), so thanks, bridgesong for explaining it. Didn’t know CORYZA (11a) and was surprised and happy to see that C + CRAZY* led to a dictionary word

    Dr Whatson@2, ‘Previous’ in this sense is an uncountable noun, so it’s not ‘a previous’ but simply ‘previous’ (e.g.”He’s got previous for this” = “He’s got priors/a prior for this”).

    I think KLColin@7 has explained how 17a, THESAURUS works. In other words, if you looked up ‘thesaurus’ in a thesaurus, you might see that list.

    @bridgesong, slight typo in 6dn: “on the menu” = ‘available’, not ‘become available’

  23. Tony/KLColin

    I can see the logic of that. Interestingly the annotated solution just says “cryptic definition”. Is the annotated solution written by the compiler? As I said earlier, it isn’t cryptic – most of the clue would be how THESAURUS would be clued in the Quick.

  24. I was truly amazed to discover that The Archers is still going strong, haven’t lived in UK since 1973. Clues like some of those in this puzzle are what makes me come back for more. Congratulations on a beautiful puzzle, Philistine, and thanks to bloggers for some interesting points. Loved 8d.

  25. Thanks for clarifying the “Message in a bottle” ref at 1 across. Unfortunately I clicked and now have a horrible piece of “music” playing continuously.

    YouTube has this problem which I’ve encountered before. As far as I am concerned even Frank Sinatra is one of those young chaps though I did reawaken for a short while when the Beatles arrived. How do I get rid of this earworm with turning off and rebooting?

  26. Thanks to bridgesong and Philistine

    On Wednesday we had R clued as FIRST ROUND. Here we have C from CAME FIRST. How long before FIRST relates to itself and gives us F?Is the editor in a coma?

  28. Gonzo @ 27

    I think I see what you are trying to say but I don’t think it applies here.

    According to Qaos The first of June gives O, and June the first gives nothing

    For Philistine it would be T and T

    The device simply doesn’t work. First does not mean THE FIRST LETTER OF, whether referring backwards, or forwards.

  29. Muffin@23,

    I think the published annotations are almost certainly those supplied with the puzzle by the setter.

  30. Thanks Tony, though I think there surely must be more to THESAURUS than “cryptic definition”.

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