Guardian Prize 27,992 / Picaroon

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Our crossword Editor continues to surprise us: after a week without a Paul puzzle, it seemed that he must be going to slip into the Prize slot for the second week running [which has been known before] – but no, it’s Picaroon. Hurrah!

This was not Picaroon at his hardest. There has been quite a lot of discussion lately about how difficult Prize puzzles should be. As evident from the blogs, there are solvers from all over who only do the Saturday puzzle and I know folk from here who buy the paper specifically for the Saturday puzzle, so I don’t really know what the answer is.

I thoroughly enjoyed solving it, as always with Picaroon’s puzzles and was a bit disappointed when it was over relatively quickly but, again, as always regarding my favourite setters, it really does pay to go back, after solving, to appreciate the construction and /or surfaces of many of the clues and it proves, once again, that a puzzle doesn’t need to be particularly difficult to be enjoyable.

Many thanks, as ever, to Picaroon.

Definitions are underlined in the clues.

Across

1 Sign wild pig’s been shot, daughter notices here (8,5)
BULLETIN BOARD
a BULLET IN [a] BOAR would be a sign that a wild pig had been shot + D [daughter]

10 Essentially solid competitor’s award (7)
OLIVIER
OL [essential letters of sOLId] + VIER [competitor] – see here for the award

11 I’m not sure about diners possibly changing (7)
MUTABLE
A reversal [about] of UM [I’m not sure] + TABLE [diners] – decades ago, as a student, I had a holiday job as a waitress and have no difficulty in equating diners with TABLE

12 Grassy area outside of fairway and green (5)
LEAFY
LEA [grassy area – crossword staple for ‘meadow’] + F[airwa]Y – I know it’s necessary for the wordplay but I still winced at ‘outside of’!

13 One rejected appeal in parliament, an advocate of regime change? (9)
DIETITIAN
I [one] + a reversal [rejected] of IT [sex appeal] in DIET [parliament] + AN

[A digression, emphatically an observation, not an objection: the answer [for me, ‘dietician’] was obvious from the definition – but I just couldn’t make it parse, so had to spend a while on it: this spelling looks totally wrong to me, although, not surprisingly, I found it in Chambers as an alternative, so I can have no quibble with it – but the more I looked at it, the more wrong it looked: -TIAN seemed an odd ending and, after a quick word search, I found it almost exclusively only in proper nouns, with a T already in the root, e.g. Dalmatian, Croatian, Alsatian – and Domitian; there was lacertian [‘like a lizard’ but lacertus is Latin for lizard, so the T is there in the root].
Intrigued, I used the 15² archive to see how this had been spelled in [several] past puzzles and found a majority for DIETITIAN – mainly, it seems, because it’s a handy anagram of INITIATED or a charade of DIE TITIAN. [Crucible, bless him – for ‘dietician’ – gave us ‘Stop working with artist said to be regime changer’.]
All of the above can be ignored as a bit of self-indulgence, which time wouldn’t allow in a weekday blog but I enjoyed the research and I know there are others here who are interested in such things who, I hope, will forgive me 😉 ]

14 Experience one drug, another is junk (5)
TRIPE
TRIP [appreciate one drug] + E [another drug]

16 Flower flatter round front of calyx (9)
BUTTERCUP
BUTTER UP [flatter] round C[alyx]

18 Film star right with popular comic character (3,3,3)
RIN TIN TIN
R [right] + IN [popular] + TIN TIN [comic character]
I didn’t expect ever to say this but I really think I’m not old enough to remember this film star, except vaguely by name – I didn’t know what kind of animal he was: I think I’ve always confused him with this one

19 Small man defending king for sire (5)
SPAWN
S [small] + PAWN [man defending king, in chess]

20 Reason to be in bed with nun, if zeal lapses (9)
INFLUENZA
An anagram [lapses] of NUN IF ZEAL- this has to be my second favourite clue

23 Release of gas bomb El Chapo carries (5)
BELCH
Contained in [carries] bomB EL CHapo

24 Not even Cartier is at sea (7)
ERRATIC
An anagram [at sea] of CARTIER

25 Trouble rook, one flying round? It’s on the wing (7)
AILERON
AIL [trouble – ‘O what can ail thee, knight at arms …?’] + an anagram [flying] of ONE round R [rook – chess notation]

26 Hit moves keeping dance modern and trendy, a must for parties (5-4,4)
THREE – LINE WHIP
An anagram [moves] of HIT round [keeping] REEL [dance] + NEW [modern] + HIP [trendy] – overseas solvers see here

 

Down

 

2 Making water sport up, then one on land (9)
URINATION
A reversal [up] of RU [Rugby Union – sport] + I [one] + NATION [land]

3 Vote to Leave behaving carelessly? They’re no experts (5)
LAITY
LA[x]ITY [behaving carelessly] minus x [vote] – a sublime surface and one of my clues of the year

4 Fed up with banks, head of Exchequer quits (5)
TIRED
TI[e]RED [with banks, minus first letter [head] of exchequer]

5 Where top Tory is less sensitive after tax rises (6,3)
NUMBER TEN
NUMBER [less sensitive] + a reversal [rises] of NET [after tax] – clever

6 Likely losers having borderline personalities? (9)
OUTSIDERS
The definition seemed clear but I looked for a long time at the odd-sounding second part of the clue before deciding to look it up, where I was rather mortified to discover that I didn’t know of this disorder – so it’s a double definition

7 Teacher‘s pet not bottom (5)
RABBI
RABBI[t] – pet without its final letter [bottom] – a bit of a chestnut but worth another outing for newer solvers

8 In Paris, you and Latvian showered, able to use bathroom (6-7)
TOILET-TRAINED
TOI [in Paris ‘you’] + LETT [Latvian] + RAINED [showered]

9 Girl moving cautiously after parking’s tight (5-8)
PENNY-PINCHING
PENNY [girl] + INCHING [moving cautiously ]after P [parking] – I liked the surface and definition; there’s been a bit of discussion lately about vague cluing of personal names but I think the second part of the clue makes it perfectly clear where we’re going here

15 Stripped-off character admits quite bad manners (9)
ETIQUETTE
[l]ETTE[r] [‘stripped off’ character] round an anagram [bad] of QUITE

16 Concerned with bloomers, say, ban coital frolics (9)
BOTANICAL
An anagram [frolics] of BAN COITAL – I loved it

17 Cleaner French ruler somewhere in Belgium (9)
CHARLEROI
CHAR [cleaner] + LE ROI [ French ruler]

21 Scottish runner said to be just out of the medals (5)
FORTH
Scottish river, sounds like [said to be] ‘fourth’ – just out of the medals

22 Something acquired a second time (5)
AGAIN
A GAIN – something acquired

23 Where Long Beach is? West, as a rule (5)
BYLAW
Long Beach is BY LA [Los Angeles] + W [west]

31 comments on “Guardian Prize 27,992 / Picaroon”

  1. Thanks Picaroon and Eileen – I agree, not the hardest, but some very clever clues.  I also got held up by the unusual spelling at 13a.

    Your second link in 18a is faulty; perhaps you meant this one?

  2. This was very enjoyable – just over a bit too soon for me whether it was a prize or weekday puzzle. Picaroon usually holds out for longer than this. 13a does look odd when seen written down like this. It did seem as if Picaroon was channeling his inner Paul with URINATION and TOILET TRAINED. I also had INFLUENZA and BOTANICAL ticked along with BUTTER UP and NUMBER TEN. No Paul this week either! Thanks to Picaroon and Eileen.

  3. Thanks Eileen

    With 1A clearly some sort of BOARD, the right half went straight in.  Top left posed a couple of problems, and your favourite LAITY went in unparsed.  Some nice surfaces.

     

  4. Eileen, Wiktionary says under etymology that DIETITIAN is an irregular spelling of dietician, probably influenced by dietetic. Under Usage notes, “Professionals in the field prefer dietitian to dietician and most corpora show the preferred spelling to be significantly more common, but BNC shows them about equally common in the UK. The Corpus of Global Web-based English (GloWbE) shows the preferred spelling about 40% more common.” (BNC=British National Corpus)
    So now we know!

  5. Thanks to Picaroon and Eileen. Very enjoyable. I remember some later TV versions of RIN TIN TIN, even in the US had come across THREE-LINE WHIP, and managed to figure out LAITY, but did not know CHARLEROI (though I did eventually parse it).

  6. Thanks Eileen. Like you and others I found this was over rather too quickly but endorse your comment that that a puzzle doesn’t need to be particularly difficult to be enjoyable. The NW corner held me up at the last, I had to seek Google confirmation of the Olivier awards and spend some more time wondering about LAITY AND DIETITIAN.

  7. Loved 16d too, Eileen; it took me back to childhood overhearing an adult joke whose setup I forget but with the punchline “Coitus–don’t interruptus!”. Couldn’t think of the x for laity, and needed a bit of help to nut out 26ac, a dnk, even though we have a Westminster system, equipped with whips. Took a minute or two to give up trying an R or a K in 19ac, neat clue. Nice puzzle Picaroon, thanks both.

  8. I liked this puzzle especially the long solutions around the edges, even though I had not heard of the parliamentary term THREE-LINE WHIP at 26a. (We do have the position of the Whip in parliaments here but I am not sure if we have that practice. So I really appreciated the embedded explanatory link, Eileen.) DIETITIAN (13a) and dietician seem to be used a bit interchangeably in our neck of the woods, but I must admit to checking the spelling sometimes when I have used it before as I am not sure which is more “correct” – and it seems neither is, as per Dr. WO@4! (The Macquarie entry has it as “dietitian=dietician” in that order.) I couldn’t fully parse 3d LA(x)ITY but now I see it, I agree that it’s a super clue with a very topical and amusing surface. I had also not heard of the OLIVIER (10a) awards, Biggles A@6 but because I was familiar with Sir Laurence, I could guess that one. Ticks for 11a MUTABLE, 19a SPAWN and 8d POTTY-TRAINED. I quite liked the toilet-humour as already mentioned by WK@2. I also laughed out loud at the clue for BOTANICAL at 16d.
    Many thanks to Picaroon, Eileen and fellow puzzlers.

  9. [Can you tell we crossed, gif@7??? Typing in synch and pretty much on the same wavelength. Interrupted by hanging out washing or I might have pipped you at the post!]

  11. As already said, this went in fairly smoothly. I agree with the discussion on 13a, I went for the C version, then couldn’t parse it. Many thanks to Eileen and Picaroon.

  12. Another nice, if not as tricky as many, Picaroon crossword.   I can’t find my piece of paper from last Saturday but I do remember the is it a C or a T argument with myself for  DIETITIAN (thank you Eileen, I do like a bit of digression when blogging)

    Thanks to Eileen and Picaroon

  13. Thank you, Quirister @1 – I’m not sure how that happened but I’ve given the correct link now.

    I’ll be out for the day today and tomorrow at our Christmas Tree Festival so any more amendments [and Qaos!] will have to wait. 😉

    [Thanks, all, for your indulgence of my digression – I wonder if anyone bunged in DIETICIAN unparsed and sent it off anyway.]

  14. I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle.  Lots of good clues, far too many to mention them all, but I particularly liked LEAFY, DIETITIAN, URINATION, BYLAW.

    No quibbles about any of the clues.  All fair and solvable, and no wondering about how the parsing works.  A joy to get my teeth into.

    Excellent puzzle.  As Eileen says, it was over too soon.

    Very many thanks to Picaroon and, of course, to Eileen.

  15. I found the puzzle relatively easy for a prize, but enjoyed it nevertheless, as I do reading this blog.

    However in 13A, I cannot fully understand the parsing of DIETITIAN. I have no quibble with the AN, but how does ‘I + a reversal of IT in DIET’ = DIETITI. DIET does contain a reversal of IT, but there doesn’t seem anything to indicate that the I should be at the end.

  16. A bizarre contrast of clueing difficulty, I found. It’s not a complaint – merely a comment – but there you have (for example) 16d, which was delightful and made me smile, but was nonetheless a write-in and, then you have 3d which had me fooled completely. Mind you I kicked myself severely when I read the blog. For which thank you Eileen, as ever. Like so many I had trouble with 13a, but since I couldn’t parse it anyway (having solved it from the definition and the crossers) it didn’t trouble me. Strange, despite being hundreds of years old, I still never read “it” as meaning “appeal” – of any sort. But despite all that – thank you Picaroon for a very good puzzle, even if it was all over a bit too quickly (apart from 3D, of course 🙂

  17. Tigger, it’s not ‘in DIET’, but ‘in DIET AN’ (“parliament an”). THE ITI is squeezed in between those two words.

  18. *The ‘ITI’*

    Does anyone happen to to know the name of [some-one-or-other]’s Law that you will always introduce an error of your own in correcting someone else’s mistake?

  20. I couldn’t parse LAITY, so thanks for explaining that, Eileen – I wish I’d appreciated how clever it was at the time. I did manage to parse DIETITIAN (my final entry) but only after the event and with a bit of head scratching. I had the same thought as Julie in Oz @8 – I particularly liked the ones around the edges.
    Thanks for the puzzle, Picaroon, and thanks Eileen for the blog.

  21. Quite a gentle solve and an enjoyable one. I liked NUMBER TEN and THREE LINE WHIP. I remember RIN TIN TIN as an American comic and I think there was a T V series. There must have been films but I don’t remember seeing any of them..
    Thanks Picaroon.

  22. I found a lot of depth to this puzzle, even though it was a (relatively) quick solve for a Prize.

    How did 18 ac get his (feminine) name? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rin_Tin_Tin

    Perhaps it should be pronounced “Ran-tan-tan”, and he should have been called Nanette…

    Oh, and when i hear Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, I think instead of Sredni Vashtar (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sredni_Vashtar) so I must be borderline personality disorder 🙂 – though with a degree in psychology, I still don’t see that BPD is the same as “outsider” (or any more than any other personality disorder….)

    Thanks, Pickers and Eileen! 🙂

     

  24. Great to see Picaroon on Prize day and I enjoyed this one.  However a DNF for me, as I simply didn’t know the alternative to DIETICIAN, so I left it as is, unparsed.  Always a bad thing to do!  This one, and the crosser, OUTSIDERS, held me up a long time at the end.  I think I see the latter now.  1st definition is fine and I think the second is alluding to the fact that “outside” implies a border of some sort (with the inside), and hence outsiders might have borderline personalities.  Anyway, I feel the question mark at the end is fully justified!

    Loved INFLUENZA, THREE-LINE WHIP and LAITY.

    Lots of fun.  Thanks, Picaroon and Eileen

  26. Thanks very much for Muphry’s Law, @Andrew. Been trying to remember that for a while. So memorable, too! Don’t know how I forgot it.

    I did watch
    The Adventures of Rin-Tin-Tin     on telly in the 50’s, although the dog that starred apparently wasn’t the original filmstar or any of the offspring with the same name.

    I happened to have come across ‘dietitian’ a few months ago, so wasn’t at all put out about it.

    Very enjoyable all round. Loved NUMBER TEN.

  28. I’ve been lurking on this list for a couple of years while I learn the mysteries of the art. I finished this one (rare event) but my real reason for writing is to thank Julie in Australia for her mention of the washing. It alerted me to the fact that here in London it was just starting to rain, allowed me to gather in mine just in time! So thanks to you and Eileen and I hope you’re still following this thread.

  29. Laura @28 – good to hear from you: we’re always pleased to hear from lurkers!

    I’ll alert Julie to your comment. 😉

  30. Late to this but I _might_ be responsible for the T in DIETITIAN. I’m a dietitian, and have always spelled it that way. Some years ago the Grauniad had a headline about Gillian McKeith, calling her a dietitian. Ironically, it was about how she wasn’t allowed to use the title Dr anymore. I was incensed – dietitian is as much a protected profession as doctor is – and wrote in. They’d spelled it with a C, I couldn’t as it isn’t how I spell it, so used “dietitian” with the explanation “my preferred spelling”. To my embarrassment they published my complaint in their Corrections column, using my spelling and explaining that is “the profession’s preferred spelling”. I had only ever intended to speak for myself. I hope they haven’t updated their style guide to suit me, I’m fully aware of the alternative spelling. I wonder how many furious dieticians wrote in to say I didn’t speak for them.

    Thanks for the blog, Eileen. I always enjoy your blogs – the perfect balance between explanation and not.

    Thanks too to Picaroon. It’s not often I’m in a crossword.

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