Guardian Prize 27,860 by Shed

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I can’t remember when I last tackled a puzzle by Shed, as he doesn’t feature in the Prize slot very often so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but there were no nasty surprises and it was all over pretty quickly (too quickly for some, no doubt).

I don’t object to Prize puzzles varying in difficulty: it’s important to have some easier puzzles so as to encourage newer solvers to have a go (I know this from my own efforts to solve Inquisitor puzzles, which I’ve only been doing for a couple of years).  This puzzle had a few cultural references but nothing that amounted to a theme.  There were rather a lot of double definitions but Timon and I enjoyed it.   Many thanks, Shed.

 

Across
1 PLAUSIBLE  Convincing bonus involving a collection of 7 with no beginning (9)
A in PLUS, (b)IBLE.
6  CABER Something tossed to erstwhile president interrupting erstwhile monarch (5)
ABE (Lincoln) in CR (Charles I or II).
9 TIGER Row about origin of ginger cat (5)
G(inger) in TIER.
10  RAINSTORM Mental aberration — losing head — in spell of bad weather (9)
(b)RAINSTORM.
11  LAST ORDERS Time’s coming up for instructions to cobbler (4,6)
Cryptic definition.  The best clue in the puzzle, I thought.
12  USER Addict — one accessing website? (4)
A double definition, although the second one was pretty weak, we thought.
14  CAUTION Warning to amusing person (7)
Another double definition; the second one made me think of the late Dick Emery (“Ooh, you are a caution!” – but I may be thinking of his catchprase “you are awful”!).
15  SHORTEN Cut the middle out, having had haircut outside (7)
T(h)E in SHORN.  A clever clue, which took more time than most to parse.
17  TRAPEZE Time to level about gym featuring acrobat’s apparatus (7)
T(ime), PE (gym) in RAZE (level).
19  PROJECT Undertaking to stick out (7)
Another double definition.
20  CUFF Strike copper with substantial volume (4)
CU (copper) FF (musical notation for very loud: substantial volume).
22  ADULTERATE Corrupt love securing endless period (10)
ADULATE (love – although that’s a bit of a stretch, as Chambers defines it as “to fawn upon or flatter”) with TER(m) (endless period) inside it.
25  MIDSUMMER Dreamtime in which folk actor hugs former Tory leader (9)
IDS (Ian Duncan Smith) in MUMMER.
26  UNITE Get together, backing train losing both ends (5)
(r)ETINU(e) (rev).
27  SWEDE Root 26 across in the Home Counties (5)
WED (unite – wed can be a verb) in SE (Home Counties).
28  COMPLETED Took part, bearing left, and finished (9)
L(eft) in COMPETED.  “Bearing” in the clue is just an inclusion indicator.
Down
1  PETAL Telephonist’s beginning to ring round for part of flower (5)
T(elephonist) in PEAL.
2  ANGOSTURA Bark in distress about love offered to Universal Artists (9)
0 (love) in ANGST, U(niversal) RA (Royal Academy, or artists).
3  SERMONISER Preachy type with two little homes round about Day One (10)
RES(rev) MON 1 (Day One) RES (rev).
4  BORODIN Composer‘s waste disposal unit containing old fishing equipment (7)
O(ld) ROD in BIN.
5  EMIGRES Those who have left after fourth part of Peter Grimes, upset (7)
E (fourth letter in PetEr), *GRIMES.
6  CASE Shell is something for detective to crack (4)
Another double definition.
7  BOOKS Weep about securing adequate reserves (5)
OK (adequate) in SOB (rev).
8  REMBRANDT Involuntary behaviour leading sometime chancellor to painter (9)
REM (Rapid Eye Movement) BRANDT (Willi Brandt, former Chancellor of West Germany).
13  HOMOSEXUAL Gay 10 mouse with halo slipping (10)
*(X MOUSE HALO).
14  CATACOMBS Musical involving a search for burial places (9)
A COMB (a search) in CATS.
16  THERAPIST Believer receiving punishment from practitioner (9)
RAP (punishment) in THEIST (believer).
18  ENDEMIC Prevalent 23 improbably in charge (7)
*(EMEND IC).
19  PILGRIM Turned cheek to dour traveller (7)
LIP (cheek, reversed), GRIM.
21  FUDGE Sweet but unsatisfactory compromise (5)
Another double definition.
23  EMEND Correct journalist in pieces? On the contrary (5)
MEN (pieces) in ED (journalist).
24  JUTE Fibre supplying 19 across with energy (4)
JUT (project) E(nergy).

*anagram

39 comments on “Guardian Prize 27,860 by Shed”

  1. Thanks bridgesong. It was over quite quickly but still enjoyable. There is a difference between ‘plausible’ and ‘convincing’ but no doubt about the answer. I did add to my education by finding out that angostura bark is not an ingredient in the eponymous bitters.

  2. I enjoyed this and it was, for me, at about the right level. I was pleased to see IDS make an appearance – surely a candidate for the most inept…… but no this is not the place or the time for political comments. I have no problem with DDs if they are good ones and these were I think. Otherwise HOMOSEXUAL and REMBRANDT were my favourites. Thanks to Shed and Bridgesong and Timon!

  3. Thanks to Shed and bridgesong. Enjoyable. I wasn’t sure about CAUTION as amusing person and did not parse MIDSUMMER though I assumed that the solution was linked to A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

  4. The solving for me benefitted from two coincidences, one unforeseeable and one self-inflicted. The word TRAPEZE also featured in the previous prize puzzle, which while that was a week earlier its blog opened the same time as this puzzle, so reading that just a few minutes earlier had a definite priming effect. Within this puzzle the clue word Dreamtime (loved it) first suggested REM, which was an integral part of REMBRANDT. Not saying these occurrences were necessary for getting the answers, but they certainly speeded things up. Altogether quite enjoyable.

    Thanks.

  5. Thanks bridgesong.  Good mix of tough and soft. For no good reason I struggled first with the 1A book collection and then the musical.  LOI was CAUTION – the colloquialism has not reached these shores, though research suggests it may have a US history. Liked 15A (‘cut the middle out’) and the two little homes in 3D.  Picaroon had the b/rainstorm idea back in March.

  6. My printout has pretty easy written in the margin, and no question marks. Vaguely remembered who IDS was, though not anything about him. Quite fun, thanks Shed and Bridgesong.

  7. Oh and yes it’s aeons since I heard anyone say “He’s such a caution”, but it wasn’t uncommon here, although probably among older speakers even then.

  8. Thanks to setter and blogger; I wasn’t aware of the second meaning of ‘caution’ so it was educational for me.

    There is a problem with today’s puzzle (Stop! please don’t delete my message like last time I pointed out an error in an alphabetical jigsaw). Everyone can work out that ‘s’ and ‘t’ are 6 letter clues but crucially ‘j’, which must also be 6 letters, is missing completely. Can the editor be contacted?

  9. I still can’t see LAST ORDERS. Got the pub reference, but cobblers …? Someone please put me out of my misery. If its the best clue in the puzzle, I feel i need to appreciate it.

  10. Bodge@9: a last is the model of the foot used by a shoemaker….

    Brownphel@8: it looks as though you are right. I suspect that we shall have to wait a few days for a corrected version to be published.

  11. Thanks Bridgesong. Hadn’t heard of that. Evidently …
    There is some discussion about today’s puzzle in Friday’s Cryptic comments. People seem to agree that S, T and J are all 6 letter clues, and that perhaps its just Paul being ‘clever’. I’m about half way in.

  12. @9. A cobbler’s last is a mechanical device in the shape of a foot on which shoe repairs are done.

  13. Done and dusted in 20 minutes. Not what I expect for a Prize puzzle. Pretty pathetic really. Far too easy.

    A quick glance appears to suggest that people are discussing today’s prize puzzle on here. So of course I can’t read any more of today’s comments. Hope I have made a mistake and people aren’t being such arses.

  14. Thanks to bridgesong, Timon and Shed. Not a pushover for me but not as devious as some of the Prize puzzles are either. I liked 10a RAINSTORM, 25a MIDSUMMER, 8d REMBRANDT, 14d CATACOMBS and 19d PILGRIM.

  15. A rather solid and stolid puzzle.  No ticks.  No complaints.  Nothing learned.  Completed fairly rapidly.  Perhaps not the best puzzle for a Saturday?

    (I’m relieved to find that it wasn’t just me!)

    Thanks to Shed and bridgesong.

  16. I know it is an offence to comment on the current prize crossword, but I think saying I have successfully completed it without looking at any comments is allowed?

    If there were any problem in a prize, then presumably, in fairness to anyone who doesn’t see an electronic version, any correction should be first issued in the paper version and then on-line.

     

    Thanks Eileen and Shed.

  18. Why do posters break the cardinal spoiler rule and comment on the current Prize. If there is an error most solvers will realise and not require your heads up. And if there is not, you have ruined the puzzle for the rest of us. Are you showing off? Pathetic lack of discipline; rant over!!

  19. Well, I came here to see if anyone could shed- sorry- any light on what seem to be errors in today’s puzzle. I can assure S Panza@ 18 that I’m not showing off. Nor do I see how this spoils it for others. I might be being thick but that’s my problem!
    I enjoyed Shed’s puzzle despite it being a touch on the easy side!
    Thanks Shed.

  20. I must have been on Shed’s wavelength, because unusually for me, it all went in quickly without any need to look anything up. My COD was 25a, and I liked 11a and 10a, although I see from molonglo@5 that the idea for the latter has been used recently (my memory must be going). Clues that refer to other clues seem to draw mixed reactions, but I enjoy the extra challenge they provide. These in particular were not especially remarkable, but they did set the stage for the lovely misdirection of 13d. Thanks to Shed and Bridgesong.

  21. Help. My hard copy of today’s prize does not include the letter count for S and T. Can someone let me know what they are, please? Also confirm they is no J clue.

  22. Help me please. My hard copy of today’s prize does not include the letter count for S and T. Can someone let me know what they are, please? Also confirm they is no J clue.

  24. Just in case others have not noticed there is now an ‘additional notes’ section under today’s prize crossword on the Guardian site which rectifies the omissions.

  26. Some nice clues here (favourite was 9a, TIGER), but also a lot of little surplus words doing nothing but holding the surface sense together (6a, “to”; 14a, “to”; 8d, “to”; 21d, “but”) and “from” in 16d not ideal (better to get definition ‘from’ wordplay?).

    Thanks, Biggles A for passing on your learning about Angostura, as I just took it the bitters must be named after a bitter bark and had it noted (wrongly) as ‘an interesting fact’.

    Couldn’t understand ‘dreamtime’ until I saw mention of MSND in the comments and didn’t understand ‘res’ for home until I was disappointed not to see it fully explained in the blog but then thought of the estate agent’s ‘des. res.’, which I assume is what’s meant.

    Wasn’t really very familiar with ‘caution’ as an amusing person, and had to check the dictionary. It does seem to ring a distant bell, however. I think Dick Emery’s catchphrase was “Oh, you are awful”, but it seems to be the right sort of era when the word ‘caution’ might have been used like that.

  27. S. Panza @ 18. I don’t think anyone commenting on today’s Prize has broken rules about spoilers, but when you spend a very long time on a crossword (as I have) and get to the end with a clue actually missing (both from the paper and the online versions), it seems quite reasonable to try and discover why! I am very grateful to have been shown the missing clue via Tony @ 25. Thank you!

  28. @Christa, I’m also grateful to those who pointed out the problem, both here and on the General Discussion page. I think it would only be a spoiler if someone who had done the puzzle asserted it was intentional (in a different case, where it was, obviously).

  30. Not too hard and some nice clues: HOMOSEXUAL and MIDSUMMER – also CAUTION, for which being a certain age helps. Will keep utterly schtum about today’s lovely Paul, given some of the comments above, save to say well done Grauniad for the quick fix to which MikeG@24 and Tony@25 helpfully make reference. Many thanks Shed and bridgesong.

  31. I could not parse parse 26a, or 25a the IDS in MUMMER although I should have known this from all the BREXIT stuff I have been reading and watching.

    My favourites were angostura, adulterate (loi).

    Thank you B+S.

  33. 10 in on the 1st pass and all done in a single sitting bar 3dn. It took me another look before the penny dropped about the RESes going in backwards. This would have been welcome on a Monday but it was a bit too easy for a Saturday when I like my puzzles a bit more challenging.

  34. Thanks to Bridgesong and to Shed – a nice, resonalbly straightforward Prize puzzle for a change !

    S. Panza @ 18 – never let the truth stand in the way of a good rant, lol !  There were no spoilers, and given the sheer number of balls-ups inserted into yesterday’s Prize by poor proof-reading it would be quite remarkable if it were NOT mentioned here !

  35. Alex@13: OK, you didn’t like it, and fair enough. But did you have to be so offensive?

    Thanks to all who commented civilly (approvingly or otherwise) about the puzzle in question.

  36. Nice to see the setter dropping in. I enjoyed this as I always do with Shed. The Saturday puzzles here and th FT are by and large the only ones we do and a ramge of difficulty is welcomr

  37. Shed @ 35

    I have a suspicion that “Alex” @ 13 is someone who used to post as “BNTO” and before that as “Brendan (Not That One)”, who has on a previous occasion stated that he’d told his wife not to organise a surprise birthday party for him as he wouldn’t turn up to it.. Each time he has said he’s given up posting and then reappeared under different guise. The comment styles are incredibly similar, including rants against the
    ‘non-existent’ editor. Perhaps Gaufrid could check his IP address.

  38. I recall donkeys years ago I would struggle all week with a SHED. This time I was just pleased to be able to complete one over the weekend.

    As Bridgesong says, it good to have variety.

  39. @Simon S: Funny you should say that. I thought it was just me who had noticed a similarity of style between this “new” poster and BNTO – not least the scurrilous attacks on Don Manley!

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