Guardian Prize 28,063 / Puck

59 comments on “Guardian Prize 28,063 / Puck”

1. I wonder if there any instances of a solver getting sufficiently annoyed at missing out on hints like “crucial” that they go and take a Latin course.

   Last week I had mentioned that while I really like these themes or schemes that involve some kind of trickery, in the Picaroon prize last week it made it too easy once the penny has dropped – you basically got up to 7 answers for free. This puzzle was susceptible to a similar fate, but in the end I thought it had just the right difficulty. The BA – FLIERS – MOA thread was nicely obscured, and only resolved for me right at the end, during Chelsea-Spurs, where the crossbar/woodwork played an important role.

2. Thanks to Puck and Eileen. I got several of the X-words without making the connection to “crucial” but LACROSSE got me started and others answers followed with CROSSBAR my LOI.  I got MOXA with the help of Google after I gave up on rhea.  I knew hobnob = biscuit but BICKIE was new to me. All in all, after a slow start I much enjoyed this puzzle.

3. My margin note says Not hard, SW last. Yes, decrease for iron, an old wrinkle, was an easy start. Steps the group was a nho, and ice axe was was a ?, because I’d forgotten the cee for c trick, and yes I thought it was &Lit, but I’m not strong on the technical criteria. Otherwise pretty smooth and the crucial hint was fun. Thanks to Puck and Eileen.

4. An excellent puzzle. I got the “cross” idea after saying to MrsW “it can’t be CROSS REFERENCES and CROSS-PLY”. It still took MrsW to get the “X” connection to the 7 other clues. Loi was MOXA – eliminating XO_a by a dictionary check led to more creative thinking about the clue led to _OXA and then to MOXA which I’d never heard of. I didn’t parse DESEX or SILICON and unlike Eileen am not entirely convinced by it. It’s one of the rare occasions where I enjoyed the post-parsing as much as the solving so many thanks to Puck for crafting such an entertaining puzzle and to Eileen for the blog to match it.

5. Thanks Eileen. As one of your overseas solvers I never did see the relevance of ‘parrot’ but did have the advantage of the flightless bird. It took me too long to recognise the special instruction but of course the task was simplified after that. I’m familiar with the running shoe but had to confirm the antelope. Still not convinced about ‘essential’ in 4d or the need for ‘condemned’ in 20a..

6. Thank you Puck, that was fun. Like Eileen and Dr W., the penny dropped fairly quickly (for me it was 13 and 23a) after which it all fell into place fairly easily. After all, how many words including ‘cross’ would fit? But I would not have parsed 4 without your help Eileen. Dumb, perhaps, but, while I did do Latin, I was denied any science in my education once I had opted for History as an ‘O’ level subject. I didn’t pass but that’s another story 🙂

7. Like Eileen, I cottoned on to the special instructions quickly – before I had even seen them, in fact. As usual, I use PeeDee’s utility to solve puzzles even when I am not blogging,and the latest version does not give the Special Instructions (hint, hint. I know, it is easier said than done, and the utility as it stands is invaluable to me). One of the first clues – maybe the first – that I tackled was 23A, with an answer that looked very much like EXPEL, but I could not explain the X. Shortly following, I tripped on the missing X in the wordplay for 20D HANDAXE (enumerated (7), which seems to be an acceptable alternative), and it dawned on me that I should visit the Guardian website. Things became much clearer after that. Thanks Puck and Eileen.

8. On reflection my lack of conviction about SILICON is probably more down to sour grapes than any deficiency in the clue!

9. Eileen, I don’t get your objection to 23ac.

10. ..oops, I mean 23d.

11. I’m not familiar with the utility PeterO referred to, but the mention reminded me of a thought I had during the solving process, regarding the Guardian web site team. I fully understand that they have a working design and hence no real inclination to mess with it, but since the special instructions mentioned a count of affected clues, it would have been nice to have a user-operated check box next to each clue plus a counter. Towards the end it was a bit of a pain seeing if I’d got all the special answers yet. Not a problem if you print it out, of course, but I don’t.

12. ..oh of course, enrolled nurse for en..ignore above 🙂

13. One of this esteemed setter’s lesser offerings, for me. Some nice clues, but the theme felt a bit 1 dimensional, with several of the answers running out of space to do much fun with the wordplay once the cross/x had been removed. Were there maybe other ways to deploy the theme too? Liked the fact that the grid gave us three big crosses through the centre.

14. Lots of fun, first figuring out the special instructions and then searching for the special clues. Thanks to Puck for the entertainment and to Eileen for her usual thorough blog.

    I’m sure I’m just being thick, but I don’t understand the significance of the dash after the B in 15d. Would someone please enlighten me?

15. I loved it all. Very Puckish!
    Like Eileen and acd, I needed google to confirm MOXA, my LOI.
    Pity the X device was spoiled a little for me by a spoiler on one of the weekday blogs, although there was an apology when I expressed my disappointment.
    Other than the theme clues, 26a RUSTLE really appealed to me.
    Matthew@13, thanks for highlighting the crosses in the grid pattern, which I had failed to spot!
    Many thanks to both Puck and Eileen.

16. As befits an (ex?)slang term, the official spelling of 24a has yet to settle down – I’ve seen bicky, biccie and biccy in various places as well as BICKIE – and hobnob gave it away immediately, as did “crucial” before I’d even attempted my first clue. ICE AXE was first in, though I never did fully parse it, and the unknown MOXA last.

17. At first glance this looked quite demanding but it soon turned out to be anything but.

    Like Eileen, I first suspected that perhaps the Xs were missing when I did 12ac and then 20dn seemed to confirm it.  9ac then clearly showed that the missing bit could be CROSS.  And of course the rest was quite easy, as almost any crossing letter C or O or S was going to be indicative of the segment -CROSS-.

    My LOI was MOXA and this would have caused problems without the knowledge that it had to have an X in it.

    I particularly liked RUSTLE, an excellent clue, succinct and with a clever surface.

    A nice puzzle, but over all too quickly.

    Thanks to Puck and to Eileen.

    PS.  Haha, yes ‘special instructions’ make me wince too!

18. Not sure I understand Eileen’s comment to 23 dn, though.  I’m probably just being thick.

19. Fun once I saw what was going on, although a couple of clues made me cast my mind back a bit. My first “cross” clue was CROSS-PLY and I remembered swopping the old tyres on my Mini for radials and trying to persuade myself it cornered better. And for BEACON I thought BEA was the flier, because British European Airways was the first airline I ever remember flying on; but then I thought that seemed too obscure and saw how it really worked. That aside I liked the cross-references, but failed to parse ICE AXE and SILICON, so thatks for the explanations, Eileen, and nice work, Puck.

20. I don’t have a problem with special instructions, and it would have been unreasonable not to have them here, when so many clues would have been insoluble without being told we must look for a theme.

    I liked 23d, as I take the definition to be ‘Register as nurse’, and since the E means ENROL, it is a type of &lit.

    But I am not convinced that CEE represents the primary letter of ‘climbers’ in 5. The answer was fairly obvious, but only now have I parsed it. Does anyone else agree?

    Interesting that REEBOK, which is the spelling familiar to those of you more athletic than me, is the one given in Chambers, but Wikipedia only gives it as ‘rhebok’.

    Thanks, Eileen. I did reread Middlemarch last year (it took almost that long), but it did not help with ‘moa’, of course.

21. Doh, I totally missed the significance of crucial. Fortunately I didn’t need it. Thanks Eileen and Puck.
    Beacon was my loi, another doh moment.

22. Anna@18, ENROL is the solution for 23d but also appears in the wordplay in ENROLled nurse. I guess Eileen is just pointing it that it detracts slightly from the clue.  Thanks Eileen for blog and another admission – this time of help from the internet.

23. To Wiggers @22

    When you say ‘wordplay’ what exactly do you mean?

    No mention of ENROLLED is in the clue itself, it just says ‘nurse’. I can’t see a problem.

    Nurse is EN, reduced capacity is ROL

    IMHO the fact that the E of EN stand for Enrolled does absolutely nothing to detract.

24. I have same query as Anna and I can’t see what you’re saying Wiggers.

25. Great fun for me and Mrs Smoz. Got the teaser from crossbill, a finch and ploughed on from there. Never very happy with ‘cee’ and somehow didn’t see the ‘essential’ Si in Silicon, but got it finished up ok. Mrs Smoz hates special instructions, but I like them. Roll on the bank holiday Masquerades.

26. Thanks Puck for such a fun puzzle, and Eileen for the blog. Now I know how ENROL works.

    sjshart @20. I parsed ICEAXE as I = one, C = climbers primarily, A = article with EXE, the river, around it.

27. Thanks to Puck and Eileen

    CEE for C has dictionary support, so whether one likes it or not it’s fair game.

28. In 5a, is the thematic element not the river EXE – as a homophone?

    For 24a I had BICCIE – with ‘big man on board’ being C for captain, and making slightly more sense, since ‘keeping’ already suggests it is between BIC and IE.

29. I think PVB @26 is right – EXE as the “crucial” element is far more satisfying than CEE as the first letter of climbers.

30. I got CROSS-PLY and ESSEX early on, to this proved to be quite straightforward.

    Traditionally, ‘essential’ means the central letter(s), so I wasn’t very happy with muSIcal, especially when there were plenty of alternatives eg ‘design.’

    A fun solve; thanks Puck and Eileen.

31. Thank you Puck for a fun puzzle and Eileen for a very helpful blog.

    I did not like the clue for SILICON (the central element of Musical is I for iodine), but it did not spoil my enjoyment .

32. Crossed with David @28 (slow typing on phone). Also like him I had BICCIE for 24a, but wasn’t convinced by C for captain. I think BICKIE is better, but would never have spelt it that way.

33. pvb @26, kamintone @29; I don’t see how that works. ‘Article’ is not being carried by ‘C,’ surely? Eileen’s parsing works for me.

34. I agree with Robi @33, the X is not meant to be in the wordplay for ICE AXE.

35. The wording of the special instructions seemed very specific to me, and I was onto the theme very early (which is unusual for me!). I went hunting for confirmation and quickly knocked off around 10 of the themed clues, with AT CROSS PURPOSES giving me the “one way or another” part of the theme. LOI was MOXA. That was a googlle confirmation. Second last was RUSTLE, which made me laugh out loud. Clue of the day.

    I’d also parsed ICE AXE, unconvincingly, using EXE, but I prefer Eileen’s parsing, for the reason given by Robi @33. I really don’t like CEE, but it’s fair.

    Thanks all, a cracking read as ever and a lovely puzzle.

36. Thanks, Eileen. I have decided that I too should read Middlemarch. PeterO@7- What is PeeDee’s utility, please?

37. Plus one for Rustle/Result (could also add Ulster into the mix ) — I though was a simple but superb clue.

    Really enjoyed this crucial theme for us cruciverbalists.

    Like many others the counterirritant was the LOI, and without the (14/15 specials) deduction of the OXA I would still be looking at it!.. So the ‘X’ became a kind of free crosser if your will — another crucial reference.

    Surprised there is only one mention (@Matthew earlier) of the grid itself with its neat little crosses/Xs

    Thanks Puck, for most puckish fun and to Eileen for explaining it all, and to all learned commentators on this most crucial blog site.

    E

38. I loved this. The only- marginal- difficulty I had was MOXA which I had to look up. Particularly liked RUSTLE and CROSS PLY with the latter being FOI.
    Thanks Puck.

39. Interesting that so many of us had issues with the same two, ICEAXE and SILICON, which Yorkshire Lass and I failed to parse. On the former, rather sadly, we are with those who think that the imaginative EXE parsing is not a FLIER. Otherwise a treat: RUSTLE, as Eileen remarks, very neat, and also liked ESSEX which we got early and so twigged what the special instruction was about. Many thanks to Puck and Eileen.

40. I guessed exactly what the theme was almost immediately upon reading the special instructions, as the word crucial stuck out like a sore thumb to me. Not complaining, just bragging.

    Dr Whatson @ 11 I agree about the inconvenience of being unable to mark off special clues solved when solving online. Otoh, I really like the fact that the Guardian puts in a bar for multi-word answers, just as I do when solving on paper.

    Well spotted, Matthew @13!

    DaveinCarolina@14, the dash after the B stands for ‘the rest of a word beginning with B’ and is a format often used to bowdlerise a swearword. So “B–” here (in 15d) stands for ‘bloody’ in the surface but, ignoring punctuation, just ‘B’ cryptically. ‘Bloody sick as a parrot’ would be a way someone in England might intensify their feeling about a bad result from their team (although ‘Sick as a bloody parrot’ is more likely, in fact).

    Btw, there seem to be many theories on the internet about the origin of “sick as a parrot”, including several shots in the Guardian’s Notes and Queries, but I find that at word histories the most convincing.

    Did have to luse wordsearch to get  MOXA, whereupon I recognised the flightless moa.

     

41. Quite easy once the theme had emerged.  Thankfully, I missed the crucial meaning of “crucial”, as the puzzle would have collapsed even faster if I hadn’t.  I toyed with the EXE parsing of ICE AXE, but the “carried” in the clue makes no sense in that case.  Another problem with the SILICON clue is the ambiguity, in that CALCIUM is equally essential and fits the light too.  I like Robi’s DESIGNed alternative.

    DaveinNCarolina@14, I believe the dash in 15 is there for the surface reading, suggesting an polite edit to the (mild) swearword “Bloody” which is used very commonly in colloquial English.

    Thanks, Puck and Eileen.  Loved the “neat definition”, which I would almost certainly have missed if you hadn’t highlighted the pun!

     

42. phitonelly @41, we crossed with our explanations of B–. I had comletely failed to see the pun in “neat” until you made me look at it again, so thanks.

43. Re ICE AXE and BICKIE – for once, I’ve remembered about the annotated solution: see here

44. [Tony, sorry, we crossed wrt Bloody explanation.  Amazing how often this happens – 2 posts answering a comment over 12 h ago appear minutes apart]

45. [and again!]

46. The theme was easy to get into, with CROSS-PLY and ESSEX, but harder to finish. As Anna @17 indicated, knowing MOXA had to have an X in it transformed the clue from being a very tricky one into one with very few possibilities. I knew MOA, so it was straightforward in the end.
    A very well-constructed themed puzzle.
    Thanks to both Puck and Eileen.

47. Help please! Having completed the Guardian prize puzzle online, how do I print it out with all the anwers intact? Annoyingly, the “Print” option clears the grid and the PDF version is locked.

48. “CEE the third letter of the modern English alphabet” (Chambers 11th Edition) so it’s fair enough, although I didn’t spot that when solving. LOI was MOXA, only solved after counting the “crucial” clues and finding there was one more to go.Thanks to Puck and Eileen.

49. RJS @ 48

    Depending on what device you’re solving on, can you take a screenshot and print that?

50. RJS@47

    I use the Snipping Tool to capture the on-screen image, then print it from the snipping tool directly.  Or save it as a GIF file.  You can then edit it as needed by opening the file using e.g. Paint (which I like to do to add notes using the text feature in Paint), then save it or print it.

51. Thank you for your suggestions. I forgot to mention that I’m using a laptop running Windows 8.1 It works, sort of, if  I choose print from the mouse right-click menu, but I thought there might be a purpose-built method built into the website. It seems not.

52. DaveinNCarolina@14 The clue is B—, and the dashes represent “ill”, or sick as a parrot.  (Does “sick as a parrot” mean “pining for the fjords”?)

    I think “counterirritant” for MOXA is stretching it.  All I found on googling this peculiar-looking word was that it’s the stuff you burn on acupuncture needles, with no irritants in sight to counter.

    We had a different set of letters yesterday for a different (I suppose) level of nurse.  I join mrpenney in not knowing the British abbreviations for nurse — to me, they’re an RN.

    Didn’t know HOBNOB biscuits, but google gave a lot of interesting recipes for them, some of which I might try.  Eileen’s link goes to what I think I would call oatmeal cookies, a respectable but dull snack.  Biscuits in the UK seem to be a great many things, but in the US they’re only one, a light scone-sized baked product, especially revered in the South, where I’m told cooks vie for who can make the lightest.  Otherwise, your biscuits are our crackers or cookies.  Crackers are crisp, not sweet, and often eaten with heese.  Cookies are sweet and hugely varied in texture, size and method of production — drop, rolled, bar, and many more.  The name comes from the Dutch “koekje”, or “little cake.”  Like many other words of Dutch origin in American English, it comes from the time when New York State, or at least the Hudson Valley, was a Dutch settlement, and the future New York City was Nieuw Amsterdam under Governor Pieter Stuyvesant.  Also coming from that time were the many high-society New York families with Dutch names, so many that high-falutin’ people in comic books and films often had names starting with “van.”

53. And I don’t think I’ll reread Middlemarch.  The idea of devoting your life to being a Handmaiden to Genius makes me tired, even if Dorothea does get over it.

54. RJS @ 51

    I’d also suggest upgrading from Windows 8.1 to 10, if you still can. It’s a far better beast.

55. Valentine @52

    That’s not what the dash after B stands for. Both I@40 phitonelly@41 have explained it properly already. He’s probably writing to tell you the same thing right now.

    Collins‘ first definition for MOXA states that it’s used as a counterirritant.

    I think our crackers are the same as your crackers. Your cookies are our biscuits.

56. “Capsicum’s essential element” would literally work for 4d

57. Cookie,

    [Talk of the Devil …. (or are you Cookie?)]

    That’s much better! Puck will kick himself if/when he sees it, I’m sure!

58. I thoroughly enjoyed this. Despite never having learned Latin I picked up on “crucial” very early – I was thinking it could have the same root as “cruciform” and I was glad to be correct. Thanks to Puck and to Eileen.

    I agree also with Tony Collman, Windows10 all the way. Not that there was anything wrong with 8.1, but its ideas never caught on – and why would you turn down free feature updates.

59. JohnB, I think it’s Simon S you agree with about Windows. I’ve never even heard of 8.1

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