Guardian Prize 28,428 by Tramp

81 comments on “Guardian Prize 28,428 by Tramp”

1. Thank PeeDee. I think you have mixed up ‘inn’ and ‘bar’ in 10a and need to check the spelling in 14a. A good workout with liberal use of &lits but I did think the two long anagrams were a bit laborious and contrived and I make no apology for seeking Google assistance with IDEMPOTENT, the tennis player and the Toy Story characters. LOIs were 3 and 23d, the crossing letters weren’t much help and DETOX in particular strained the imaginative resources. I should know by now not to question synonyms but do have to wonder about urgent = strident.

2. Thanks PeeDee. I think the spelling of the gear is DERAILLEUR, not as you have it in the grid and blog.
   A great ‘prize’ puzzle, knotty but fair, as always with this setter.

3. I think DETOX is almost an &lit. The entire surface is a property of the answer, not quite a definition imo. On the whole, I quite enjoyed it, nice puzzle.

   On the way, I was stuck, staring at the half-filled grid (not the clues), where 1d had most of the crossers – all vowels – and somehow GORAN IVANISEVIC floated into my brain. I’m going to have to find a way to harness that power.

4. Thanks PeeDee. Last in 1D memorably won Wimbledon edging Pat Rafter 9-7 in the fifth set. “Set” bothered me in this clue, when the light dawned on Sunday morning, just after the Anzac Day service.The rest of the puzzle was great, thanks Tramp.

5. I had a couple of attempts at this during the week and came back to it this morning Australian time, but in the end was soundly beaten by Tramp and had to come here for the three answers that I didn’t get – 19a IDEMPOTENT, 1d GORAN IVANISEVIC and 3d DETOX. Thanks PeeDee for the elucidation. [Biggles A@1 I am not sure I would have known where to start to check the first two via Google, as I lacked the first letter for IDEMPOTENT and I was convinced the first word in 1d was LOCAL. I was certainly with you in terms of your frustration with DETOX and the unhelpful crossers].
   PeeDee, I like your idea of using definition only as a way into a difficult solve – I think sometimes I am easily distracted by all the words in some clues and maybe looking to solve by definition first could help with the tricky ones. But in this case that wouldn’t have helped me as I didn’t know the tennis player or the word for “Unchanged”, and DETOX was a very tough (though fair) clue.
   Not complaining and grateful to Tramp for some enjoyment along the way despite it being a DNF for me ultimately: I really liked 17a BOATMAN (for a minute I thought Boatman was the setter when I saw that one), 26a ISSUE (“Problem children” made me smile), 5d GAMBIA (which took me ages to see), 15d CARPENTER (the “plane” part was a lovely misdirection), 17d BANJOIST (won’t tell you how long I tried to fit in a bra for the supporter!!!), 20d EXPOSE, 21d TRENDY and 23d BIGOT.

6. Thanks Tramp for an entertaining crossword and PeeDee for help with some of the parsings, particularly with some of the longer anagrams.

   On his Twitter page, Tramp wrote last Saturday, “I set today’s Prize Crossword in the Guardian. It was written in October 2015. This clue [6 \ 8] was written the day my wife found goo on Aldi bananas.” Interesting how the word ‘bananas’ became an anagram indicator having started out as the actual fruit. Like Biggles A @1, I found the clue contrived, till I learnt of its origin, and then all was forgiven!

   In 9A PeeDee, the ART is a reversal at the end, not a containment for the rest of the word, as indicated in the blog.

7. Like JinA I finished it this morning having forgotten about it during the week. I knew the tennis player which helped, and guessed idempotent from id for papers then nagging the gram. Detox I guessed, forgetting x for wrong, d’oh. As for the spider, another guess once all crossers in, the anag being too much like hard work. Nothing too diabolical in the rest, quite fun, thanks both.

8. .. oh and we’ve had the gear thingy a couple of times before, spelled derailleur as g larsen says @2 …

9. Rather too much like hard work, and few smiles, though I did like the surfaces for BUZZARD and RUMBA.
   It took me until Monday, with the help of a wordwizard, to work out which of the 73 possibilities for _E_O_ was DETOX: for ages I was convinced it ended with the “start of This”.

   I guessed BRAZILIAN something SPIDER from the def and lots of helpful crossers, and used Google to find which kind, also to confirm that IDEMPOTENT was a real word. Never did fully untangle the spider’s web, and looked up GORAN IVANISEVIC as I am no tennis fan. The rest I did work out.

   [If you are familiar with the Cream album Disraeli Gears, you probably know that the title arose from a conversation with one of the band’s roadies, who couldn’t remember the right name for the DERAILLEUR gears on a new racing bike.]

10. Thanks for the blog . Bit of a mixed bag for me. I liked 9ac and 3d and the long anagrams.
    10ac, 22ac,26ac and 7d should not really be in a Saturday Guardian crossword.

11. Roz@10: not enough like hard work?

12. I just think some of them were Monday clues at best.

13. DNF, because DETOX eluded me completely, so thanks PeeDee for clarifying. I was pleased to discover IDEMPOTENT and the SPIDER, both new to me, though I agree the long anagram was highly contrived. And pleased that ORCHESTRA made no reference to a carthorse.

    GORAN IVANISEVIC was a clever &lit – I would say the definition is ‘serving icon’, rather than the entire clue. I wondered if the tennis references would turn out to be a red herring, till I worked it out – but should we expect a player from 20+ years ago to feature in a puzzle, even if it is 6 years old, as Larry@6 points out?

14. Too hard for me. Even after bashing Wikipedia to work out it was the Brazilian Wandering rather than any other kind of spider and using the cover Chambers search function to cheat in IDEMPOTENT I was still left with blanks for TRENDY and DETOX. The former was an easy one I missed (clever misdirection indeed PeeDee), the latter I am not so sure about. Someone remarked earlier‘tough but fair’ — not sure about the second adjective there!

    Anyway, a good diversion Fromm the reality of life, thanks Tramp for the challenge and PeeDee for explaining it all, and to all learned contributors on the 15^2.

15. This was a mixed bag for me too. I had a big tick for TRENDY at 21a and for ABEYANT which was clever misdirection but like Roz@10 thought IMPALE was a bit too much of a write-in for Saturday “prize”]. DETOX was my downfall too: I thought it was a semi-&lit which didn’t quite work when I first realised which of the 73 matches for -E-O- was the answer but in hindsight was quite a neat clue really.

    Thanks go to Tramp for his 2015 work. From his perspective, I imagine that reading any comments here will be like “meh?” as this is the equivalent of me getting my A level mock exams back with teacher’s comments! For what it’s worth, Tramp’s more recent work (assuming that it is more recent but who knows how the Grauniad editor works) are consistently praiseworthy.

    I was one of the fortunate ones who knew GORAN IVANISEVIC. He was not that obscure having been a top player for many years and famous for knocking local favourite Tim Henman out in a 3(?) day rain-interrupted game on his way to winning the title at Wimbledon in the early 2000s.

    [JinA@5 : I thought all Aussies loved tennis as proven by ginf@7!]

    Anyway, that answer confirmed the start of 7 clues so a big step on the way to the solve.

    [BTW my father, in his eighties, had never heard the term “&lit” when I asked him about DETOX. He has been a Times crossword man all his life. I wonder whether that is a term used in Guardian crossword land more than generally?

    Thoughts Welcome]

    Thanks for the blog PeeDee

16. I always enjoy a chuckle at Tramp’s wry wordplay, and I was particularly impressed how he constructed a grid to accommodate people who couldn’t spell DERAILLEUR (sorry PeeDee!). I had to leave EXPOSE blank due to unhelpful crossers but the rest was most enjoyable.

17. Thanks for the blog. I’m still not sure I get why 9a and 3d are &lit.

    Never thought I would see the word IDEMPOTENT outside of work… fun to have a write in with an “obscure” term like that. In software design, idempotency is an important property of some interfaces.

18. Another one defeated by DETOX – I just gave up on possible variations. I had ARIZONIAN instead of BRAZILIAN for most of the week until I finally went wandering southwards after I’d exhausted google search. IDEMPOTENT was new but pretty obvious from the crossers. My favourites were SCORCESE, IMPALE, BANJOIST and GORAN IVANESIVIC. I agree with your interpretation sjshart @13.

    Ta Tramp & PeeDee

19. Ed The Ball @ 17, I think &lit is probably from the Observer almost certainly Ximenes. Azed certainly uses it a lot and he started in 1972 I think.

    [ Beat you in the charts for once AlanC. Please try the crossword today, it is a real treat, I will say no more in case I get scolded. ]

20. Thanks for the corrections, fixed now.

    I had several goes at spelling derailleur but still managed to get it wrong. Like r_c_a_d@17 I was pleased to see IDEMPOTENT get used somewhere outside software development. It’s a lovely word that deserves more attention.

21. A full day on the allotment beckons so I barely have time to pop in and comment just to thank Tramp for a puzzle that defeated me and PeeDee for explaining why. One solving oddity: at one point I had the crossers -O-A- from GORAN and then a 10 letter word beginning with I and probably ending IC. Which could have been KODAK INSTAMATIC! An icon, but no longer serving!

22. Another excellent Saturday offering, which I found quite tough. I started with ORCHESTRA, but that corner was my last to complete (with 1d and 3d). I had forgotten the spelling of the tennis ace’s surname, but the clue did its job and enabled me to fill it in correctly.
    I didn’t know the spider with the long name at 6/8d, but again the clue worked as it should.
    Like Julie @5, on solving BOATMAN I wondered whether any other setter would turn up. Vlad nearly did, but the answer was IMPALE rather then Impaler.
    Thanks to Tramp for an enjoyable meaty puzzle and to PeeDee for the blog.

23. I agree with Roz @10 that there were a few write-in clues that maybe aren’t so appropriate for a Saturday, but I enjoyed this a lot, particularly BRAZILIAN WANDERING SPIDER, GORAN IVANISEVIC, MASSACRE and DETOX. Had to look up IDEMPOTENT. Many thanks to Tramp and PeeDee.

24. [ MrPostMark @21, remember what day it is for your allotment ]

25. Roz @24 – Careful!

26. [ Wise advice drofle @25 – my lips are sealed from now on. ]

27. I took 1d as a “dunk and mush”-type clue (if that’s the opposite of “lift and separate”??). ‘In set’ are two words in the clue (to fit the tennis surface) but for the wordplay to work they need to be mushed together – ‘inset’ then becomes an instruction like ‘inserted’, so you have IV A inserted into an anagram of ASERVINGICON.

    Overall this was challenging stuff for me, thanks Tramp and PeeDee.

28. Mressexboy @ 27 you mean Gossard rather than Playtex.

29. I knew IDEMPOTENT (and nilpotent) long before its computer meaning – it is well known to mathematicians.

30. @essexboy – I wondered what the opposite of a lift-and-separate might be too, but couldn’t come up with anything suitable so I skirted around the issue in the blog. I briefly considered trawling a few women’s underwear sites for some terminology but then thought the better of it. My wife would never believe it was for research purposes only.

31. [Roz @ 19: I see we’re in a puckish mood today! I had a quick look last night and fear the worst. Over and out]

32. Poor on definitions this one: none given for 9 ac or 3 dn and the full OED nowhere suggests that Strident has been used for urgent

33. I enjoyed disentangling this but without a few write-ins I’d have been discouraged quite early on. Had similar experiences to others with the tennis player and the arachnid and failed completely with DETOX; definition by implication and unhelpful crossers defeated me. Nevertheless, a worthy challenge. Thanks to Tramp and especially to PeeDee for much-needed illumination.

34. [Roz @24 It might be a bit parky for The Full Monty Don]

35. [Roz @19, and Ed The Ball @15, the term “&lit” was indeed invented by Ximenes. In the chapter “&lit Clues” in “Ximenes on the Art of the Crossword” (pub 1966), he refers to this “type of clue” and “the name I have given it”. It was possibly given wider currency by the Chambers Crossword Manual (1986) by Don Manley (Pasquale).]

36. Roz @19 – I have had enough of spending my Saturdays attempting to persuade people to follow the site rules. There is a vacancy for this Guardian Prize slot at the moment: you can email Gaufrid at admin@fifteensquared.net and apply for it yourself.

    You clearly find the puzzles easy enough and you can have the pleasure responding to your own comments. Let’s see you do something to support the effort rather than undermining it.

    Come on. Are you going to step up to it?

37. Challenging & could not get detox. RHS went in OK but took ages to get going on the left. For once, my IT background came in useful & was pleased to remember idempotent. My co-solver came up with Goran & 11 – why do I always neglect to think of latin answers?

38. Roz@24 and those who couldn’t resist following her, I really think you should have more consideration for those of us who don’t finish the oh so easy crosswords as quickly as you do, you have given away quite enough. Who moderates these comments? Can’t you stop them? I always look at last week’s comments before starting this Saturday’s puzzle. You just seem a if you want to appear very smart. Please resist this temptation in future.

39. Thanks Tramp and PD.
    Being a software engineer, I should have known IDEMPOTENT, but had to cheat. I was aware of the concept and knew there was a word for it, but not what it was. LOI DETOX.
    Thanks for the image Roz@28.

40. Well said PeeDee @36

41. nascotwoodfrog @38 (and Simon S @40): I agree, and I share Pee.Dee’s exasperation @36. Although Roz and I have had several cordial exchanges in this space over the past several months, her and others’ (yes, I’m looking at you, Penfold @34) ill-considered comments this morning seem to have soured the forum for today, which is perhaps why posting has all but dried up, most unusually for this time on a Saturday.

42. It’s really annoying to have hints dropped about today’s crossword before I’ve even been out to the shop to buy The Guardian. Thanks PeeDee @36 and others for doing the “scolding”.

43. Was it just me who slapped in GROOVE … “tip” indicating an anagram of “go over” … instead of TRENDY? I invented the word PORPENTER … to mean someone who portends. That was definitely only me. Got there in the end, though.

44. Spooner’s catflap @41 You’re right to point the finger at me. In my head we were commenting on last week’s puzzle. Schoolboy error. Sorry everyone.

45. I enjoyed this, so many thanks Tramp and very many thanks PeeDee for the fine blog and the necessary castigation. [As an aside, I lived for several years in the Amazon and in Paraguay where the Brazilian Wandering Spider was particularly feared for being able to kill with its bite. Moreover, the victim if male would experience a painful and powerful erection for several hours until recovery or until death. The relevant chemical is being studied for possible use in overcoming erectile dysfunction.]

46. Thanks Tramp for a nice challenge with some straightforward clues, some that took a bit to get, and some that would not drop. I didn’t know 1d (great surface) and IDEMPOTENT and I just couldn’t figure out DETOX and TRENDY, both very cleverly clued. Favourites included ISIS, ORIGAMI, SCORCESE, and GAMBIA. Thanks PeeDee for the write-up and active participation in the comments.

47. [SPanza @45: Thanks for the tidbit about the Brazilian Wandering Spider. I’m surprised no one has made a B-movie about this side effect.]

48. [Penfold @44 – you’re not alone; there must have been something in the air today.]

    [SPanza @45 – well, that’s certainly taken our minds off spoilergate!]

49. 1d was one of my FOI but I sympathise with anyone trying to get it from the wordplay alone. The anagram possibilities are multiple and “fourth ace” for IVA to be slotted in is pretty obscure.
    Apart from that it was hard and enjoyable.
    Thanks to Tramp and PeeDee.

50. Pino @49. Thanks for the sympathy! (IV is equivalent to ‘the Fourth’, not ‘fourth’, so this wordplay is only good for those who have already solved the clue from having tennis players at their fingertips).

    SPanza @45: If I’d known about the side effect of the bite, I’d probably have suppressed the memory; as it was I had no recollection of any knowledge of most of 6d/8d (though SPIDER was a write in!).

    [This puzzle was the start of my worst week of solving for over a year, with five out of six puzzles incomplete. I blame the World Snooker Championship, which has been a distraction.

    I know some people have enjoyed the puzzles, but for me there has been so much obscurity; yes, I know one’s individual GK influences this, so perhaps I’m the victim of some evening out – and no, I don’t mean a night on the town. But also there was some deliberate inaccuracy in the clues: ‘like Derby’ for ON THE FLAT is just wrong: the horse race is The Derby, and just ‘Derby’ has got to be the town, the football team, a local rivalry or a hat – it is not a horse race.

    I’ve noticed a tendency for commenters here to describe a clue as fair, when what they mean is “I struggled, but managed to parse it after using a search engine to find the word from the crossers”. Perhaps I’m being unfair myself! I know it’s a cryptic crossword, so it’s ok to solve the clue from the definition, the crossers, the wordplay or just being on the setter’s wavelength. But if we feel that something in the clue is unfair, I don’t think it’s rude to say so. And I’m quite happy – in fact, ecstatic – for someone to tell me why I’m wrong to say a particular clue is unfair.]

    [essexboy @48. Thanks for “spoilergate” – it raised a smile. ]

51. Enjoyed this as not too hard. Only one new word…idempotent.
    Thanks both
    Oh and I thought PeeDee’s tip for solving was how everyone did it.

52. [ When Roz (@19) recommends a puzzle, especially a Saturday “prize”, I naturally assume it will be too hard for me and I skip over it. But the spoiler might give me a way in, so I think I’ll try it after all – thanks Roz and Penfold for that. ]

53. Like others DETOX was a fail, I actually had BELOW which fitted, BLOW as in “it was a blow” for wrong with E in, from drug, and the definition, well there wasn’t really a definition for detox really, quite honestly a bit rubbish In my books.

54. [ Thank you Cellomaniac @ 52. On Thursday , I think, the main centre spread photo in the Guardian was an usual cello concert, I do not know if you can find this online. Our paths seldom cross but I have enjoyed talking to you , will be leaving this site permanently after today. ]

55. Roz @54 – Don’t leave! I trust you aren’t being asked to go by the powers that be because of a couple of injudicious hints. I’ve enjoyed our exchanges. I’ve learned that any reference to another puzzle, however seemingly harmless, is severely frowned upon here. We can all turn over new leaves . . .

56. Thank you drofle but it is not just that, I just think I annoy too many people, partly my own fault. A few people on here are just so pompous and I can’t resist baiting them so it is better to stop.]

57. Roz, you don’t have to go on my sake. I really am stopping writing the Guardian blog. I have had enough. You won’t get scolded by me here ever again.

    I am serious about there being a vacancy, and I’m serious about it being a good idea for you to take it on. Who better than you?

    Sniping from the sidelines and baiting people is easy. Anyone can do that. Lets see you do the blog better! Are you up for it?

58. Three reasons why not.
    First I work full time and I like to swim in the sea early morning, I do not even look at the crossword until my journey home.
    Second my IT skills are extremely limited , I can barely type comments and can only get on this site because someone kindly put it as a picture on this Chrome book thing.
    Third I find the crossword ridiculously easy most days which is not what most people want to here.

59. Hi cellomaniac – there is nothing wrong with helping someone getting started on a puzzle. We are all for that. There are several sites that provide a service for giving hints on the Guardian crossword. The Answerbank is a common one. There are plenty of other places to go too.

    We only ask that people don’t put hints on here, or at least not until the solutions are published.

60. Roz, the idea of writing a blog is not for you to tell people how hard or easy you found a puzzle.

    The idea is to give some of your time to help other people improve their solving. Finding the crossword easy is an ideal asset for this. IT skills are not necessary, we have a blogging app that does all the difficult stuff for you. Have a go, it will make you feel better.

61. I do not even know what an app is and have no wish to find out, I do not even have a mobile phone. On Tuesday I will ask someone to adjust this thing so I can just see the Azed blog on a Sunday.

62. [cellomaniac @52. If you want a hint to make a crossword easier, you should ask for one, or go looking. But as PeeDee says, this sort of thing is not allowed on this site. If that makes us seem pompous, Roz, then perhaps this is not the place for you.]

63. Roz @54: please don’t go. I always enjoy seeing your comments. I think some of the “scolding” responses on here were unnecessarily hostile. A gentle reminder to follow site policy is fine, but let’s not get too heavy.

64. Thank you Lord Jim @ 63, very kind. I always enjoy your comments as well, especially the Conrad , and you are very good at finding things in literature. I do think you are in the minority though, some people find me annoying and were waiting for a chance to criticise me, my own fault. They will not get the pleasure again.

65. Roz – I can feel a petition coming on. If you were to cut out the hints about other puzzles and letting on how easy you find them, wouldn’t you still find things to say?!

66. Roz, I am surprized that we still have the rule for a Saturday puzzle. It is no longer a prize and I suspect it won’t be again. There is no reason to prevent discussion for a week under the ‘new normal’ situation. There are now several sites out there which publish each answer by the following morning some with parsing, so as I say I can’t see the Guardian reinstituting a prize. If a solver does not want to risk a spoiler s\he might refrain from 15^ until s/he has either finished or given up. And, lets face it, with everything else that is going on, a hint to a daily crossword is not exactly life shattering. Roz come back I say, and if you honestly find a crossword easy tell us all; it is your right. I for one am impressed by those out there who can do a Times in less than 10 minutes as Morse claimed. And those that lie about these things have their own reasons. Enough said. We have already lost Anne from Finland which was very sad and we have the same few hogging the site with puns and HMHB trivia, so please add your pennyworth it is very valuable!

67. I have posted a reflection on this under ‘General Discussion’, and, as few potentially interested parties will have visited this thread since late afternoon yesterday, I would suggest that other contributors head for there.

68. [Roz, who am I going to faux compete against now?! As Slade would have put it, I don’t want to say Gudbuy T’Roz]

69. [SPanza @66. If a solver does not want to risk a spoiler s\he might refrain from 15^ until s/he has either finished or given up. Sound advice, but surely it is asking too much of site users to refrain from reading the blog for puzzle no.28428 until they have completed puzzle no.28434? This blog is for last Saturday’s crossword by Tramp, but the spoiler is for the new one from Bogus. If you want to suggest to Gaufrid that the Saturday puzzle should be blogged the same day, as happens through the week, that is another matter, but I would guess that is not going to happen until/unless The Guardian confirms that prize puzzles will not be reinstated.]

70. Fair point sheffield hatter @ 69 but as I also said, in the wider context, getting a hint to a crossword clue is not exactly earth shattering. I do really feel that the G and Gaufrid might treat the Saturday puzzle like any other at least until a Prize is reintroduced. But do you ever see that a Prize will be introduced again? The solving sites are now out there, they won’t go away, so any pretence that one is offering a personal test result is pretty much diminished. What we must do, I feel, is make 15^ welcoming and interesting and helpful, which 90% of the time it is but Anna, and now Roz are testimony that we all need to temper our comments to insure that everyone feels included. I also feel we cannot afford to lose PeeDee or any other blogger so we need to work hard to ensure that does not happen!!

71. Spanza @70 does “everyone” include people who enjoy puns and HMHB trivia? I would suggest you get off your high horse but given your user name that’s probably pointless

72. OK Bodycheetah @71 I was out of line and retract my comments about puns and HMHB. I can get down from my high horse and will do so, although I suspect I may need help to get back on. Enough said by me have a good bank holiday all!

73. Please stop now. I said I am leaving, the problem is solved. Thank you AlanC, drofle and SPanza. I will be in the Azed comments on Sundays.

74. Yawn

75. Good God Tramp what have you got to be so condescending about. As far as I remember most of us praised your puzzle and thanked you for it. Well that is a new low!!

76. I wrote this puzzle in October 2015. My wife rang me at work to say she’d unpacked the Aldi shopping and noticed white, sticky stuff all over the bananas. I knew what this meant so went home to investigate. We rang Aldi and they were superb: they told me to look for spiderlings and to put the bananas in the freezer. They said that it was highly unlikely that a spider could survive the conditions in the plane. I decided to write a clue. It’s a bit contrived and I can understand if solvers think it’s self-indulgent. The bananas were actually from Belize.

    The clue for Detox, although I say it myself, is a good one. It’s made harder by the poor choice of grid. I apologise for that. I’d already clued this word before as:

    Half-hearted diet: steer clear of drink (5)

    so, was pleased to get something else which was quite good.

    Neil

77. PeeDee
    As a regular visitor to the Saturday Guardian blog I’d like to thank you for all the contributions you have made to these pages. I wish you well.

78. Tramp @76
    I appreciated your comment, with that interesting background to the creature I had never heard of (!) and your brief history of DETOX as a crossword clue. The only difficulty I had with that clue was having just the vowels to assist me with solving that quite tricky clue.

79. Coming to this @43 was late for me, and I made the blunder of posting before reading the blog to date. Am glad I did, but it was an accidental attempt to “normalise”. As a weekly visitor, I thank the prize compilers, those who concisely explain the clues, and all those who maintain wit and kindness in the blog.

80. Ave atque vale to PeeDee – I’m not sure from this if you’ve just had a last straw experience or whether (which I surmise) you were off anyway. Anyway, thanks for everything.

    And thanks to Tramp. I missed my chance (vaccination you see, combined with a bit of mooching about) to throw in my little joke (groan-worthy at least) about the crossword-solving parents having an argument. “Stop confusing the issue” one says “you’re upsetting the child!”.

    Ah well. It may come around again.

81. Thank you Alphalpha. I’m not quitting blogging entirely, just the Guardian Prize puzzle. I had already decided to stop, mainly because I don’t often solve the Guardian any more, but also in part because after 10 years I have had enough of the hassle. I’m just a bit tired now, time for someone else to take it on.

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