Guardian ‘Prize’ Crossword 28,476 / Brendan (19 June 2021)

76 comments on “Guardian ‘Prize’ Crossword 28,476 / Brendan (19 June 2021)”

1. Thank you Brendan for a challenging puzzle and thank you Gaufrid for the solutions. I left 19Ac because I simply didn’t get it – I know absolutely nothing about golf so, though PAR was an obvious answer, it meant nothing to me. I too couldn’t parse 20 and I got kind instead of king though heaven knows why! All in all a lot of fun and head scratching.

2. It was also Paul McCartney’s birthday last Friday, and he famously appeared in the Simpsons (21 across), which helped me get my LOI, Beatle (23 Down).

3. Thanks Gaufrid. Despite 11a and 13d my initial assumption was that this was going to have a Biblical theme and it took me some time to realise there were other allusions. I had to confirm KLEE and pronunciation of the name and I was so slow to associate the Beatles that 23d was my LOI. Perhaps I misunderstand but I thought in 13a that ST was short for Saint (Paul).

4. According to my source, 19th June was Paul of the Guardian’s birthday, as well as Paul of the Beatles (Ant@2)

5. This was very clever and a lot of fun.

   What I especially appreciated (when I saw what was going on) was that the thematic Paul, while quite explicit in many places, also had a ghostly narrowing role in seemingly underspecified clues such as 21a.

   The Beatles just added icing to the cake.

6. I thought Paul’s was in April, and Paul McCartney’s is on the 18th June, as is mine!

7. “The Letters of St Paul” was a delightful mix of references to different Pauls – the saint, the setter, the Beatle, the Popes, a scientist, a king, writers and artists. Then to find the puzzle was full of SAINTS (including Brendan’s Irish namesake St Brendan), STs and words containing the letters of PAUL made it a truimph! Even St Francis and Clare’s ASSISI got a look in and brought back vivid memories of a visit there almost twenty years ago. Huge congratulations and deep gratitude to Brendan for such an intricate and clever puzzle – one I will remember always as top class. And thanks to Gaufrid for the terrific blog in which you shared my enjoyment along with a deep and detailed nalysis.

8. ANALYSIS

9. Sorry, Ant, you did say Friday for Paul M … as for the other Paul, I may have been misinformed, unfortunately

10. P.S. I loved spotting the PAUL in words like 12a EPAULETTE, 24a POSTULATE, 29a TARPAULIN, 3d PLATITUDES … I guess I can’t overstate how much I relished each component part of this puzzle.

11. [Oh and I omitted in my list the American revolutionary Paul who also lent his name to the pop-rock band Paul Revere and the Raiders (I have had their famous, fabulous cover of “Indian Reservation” as a earworm all week!)]

12. [TRIUMPH – the typos indicate how excitedly I typed my post]

13. To me this was almost the exact opposite to last week’s prize puzzle – namely a rapid solve, but great clues and fun all the way – which I find much preferable to slow and gruesome grinds. From FOI (ASSISI) to LOI (KLEE), and in between with clues to such as SIMPSON and POSTULATE – there was much to like (and of course as a matter of Principle, there can never be Exclusion of PAULI).
    Thanks Brendan for an entertaining puzzle.

14. Excellent, as all Brendan crosswords seem to be. Julie in Australia described this prize perfectly — “intricate and clever.” The thematic layers of all things Paul were woven together in a most entertaining fashion. I loved clues like COSTLIEST, SAINT, PLATITUDES, and REVERE but there wasn’t a bad one in the bunch. One of the best so far this year. Thanks to Brendan and to Gaufrid for the blog.

15. Thanks Gaufrid. The King of Greece eluded me too till very late: full marks to Brendan for the 27D red herring of Corinthians dragged across the path, and all the other adroitness creating a splendid puzzle.

16. In the ltf (last-to-fall) SE corner, I was ignorant of Paul the Greek royal, tenable took me far too long, and only then came Beatle, nwst all their mentions throughout… dim! There were other themic ignorances, like the number of popes Paul, and that Paul wrote Romans which comes before Acts. Not to mention the birthdays … no idea there. But yes, ntl, much to enjoy in this nicely woven multi-layered puzzle, thanks once again Brendan and thanks Gaufrid.

17. Very enjoyable, an excellent puzzle. I was helped by the Paul, popes and Beatles themes.
    Favourites: PAR, PENDANTS, POSTULATE, SIMPSON, UNPUNCTUAL, POPE, BEATLE.

    New PAULI (physicist), KING Paul of Greece, and TARPAULIN = sailor’s hat.

    I did not parse EPISTLE.

    Thanks, Brendan and Gaufrid.

18. Splendid! As others have pointed out, a very wide-ranging sweep through so many different Pauls, and needing quite a bit of general knowledge (but neatly not including having to know that a Paul sets Guardian crosswords). Very clever, and you can sense the fun blogger and solvers have had with this.

    Thanks Brendan, and thanks Gaufrid.

19. When I saw that the Saturday puzzle was by Brendan I joyfully printed it and set it aside for my birthday treat yesterday. I wasn’t disappointed. It was another gem from his pen, and the McCartney / Halpern birthday connection made it even more special. Thanks Brendan, and Gaufrid for finding even more layers to his clues, making the blog almost as much fun as the crossword itself.

    I wonder if Paul might consider returning the compliment, and “wildly bring rare energy to a setter’s ID”.

20. Thanks for the blog. Is 4D a tribute to Paul the setter.? In many ways Brendan is very similar to a younger Paul.

21. Happy Birthday Cellomaniac ( and imagine one of those yellow face things )

22. Like Jaydee @ 1 I had kind instead of KING and couldn’t parse PETER. Also couldn’t parse EPISTLE and STRANGER.

    Got the rest with a lot of help from aids and really enjoyed it.

    Favourites were SAINT, GAUGUIN, BEATLE (made me laugh when I finally got it – one of my last ones in) NERVE

    Thanks Brendan and Gaufrid

23. Thank you Brendan. This was great fun on so many levels. I echo JinAus who summed it up so well.
    Thanks too to Gaufrid for some of the parsing.

24. Thanks Gaufrid for the blog, and thanks Brendan for this absolute gem. I can only echo what others have said about how enjoyable this was to solve. “Clever and intricate” and “a lot of fun” sums it up nicely.

    I initially feared I would be in for a hard time, with all the cross-references, but 14ac and 4dn came fairly quickly and everything else fell into place after that. Not the most difficult prize puzzle ever but so very well constructed. Like Gaufrid, I had a few queries at the end, but just about managed to work everything out eventually.

    My favourite was PAR – it must be especially hard as a setter to come up with original, witty clues for these little filler words, but this is brilliant. Bravo, Brendan.

25. grantinfreo @16 – it would probably help to know that the full title of the book is “Paul’s Letter to the ROMANS”. He also wrote several letters to the Corinthians (misleadingly alluded to in 27dn), as well as various Ephesians, Hebrews and others. Collectively, the 14 letters are known as the EPISTLES (hence “its writer shortened” = ST), and they come in the NT after the ACTS of the Apostles. For once, my Catholic upbringing came in useful!

26. Brendan runs amok! Thanks all. The kind of multi-layering that reminds why Guardian cryptics can delight so much. Good point Roz @20. All in reverence to Paul. How do Paul and Brendan do it?

    I couldn’t parse STRANGER. I guess “runs” rather than “run” misled. My only disappointment was that Ireland’s St Kevin didn’t appear.

27. 21 across is a reference to former Rochdale manager Paul SIMPSON whose one season in charge was very much below/above PAR (whichever the bad one is). He later had the NERVE to criticise the fans for their inability to REVERE him after the board decided to ANNUL his contract.

28. Many, many thanks and much admiration for Brendan and this Paul singing, Paul dancing creation. Absolutely splendid. And I didn’t need Help!

    Thanks Gaufrid for the blog.

29. A triumph and nicely summed up by JinA. Who thought KLEE was pronounced that way. I was sorry when it was over

    Ta Brendan & Gaufrid

30. What JinA@7 said!

    Just to add my praise for a super puzzle: a top example of a theme widely accessible to all.

    Thanks to Brendan and indeed as others have said it was a worthy partial tribute to our Paul.

    Thanks too to Gaufrid for all the parsing and the excellent blog. I wish I’d pushed for the penny drop moment in relation to PETER where I had settled for it being something to do with peter as a term for a safe which, if robbed, would benefit another! d’oh.

31. I had King but did not relise that there was a king Paul.
    I got 11d wrong. Thought it was EARNS but could not parse it obviously!
    Very enjoyable puzzle and amazingly creative.

32. realise

33. This year particularly I have expressed my great appreciation of so many quality puzzles in the Saturday Guardian, but this one tops them all. Like others, I happily join in Julie’s paean of praise (@7). After solving the puzzle, I got to realise, from reading the blog and comments up to here, that I had missed a few subtle points, and I am in awe of the sheer variety and inventiveness on display in the clues.
    Many thanks to Brendan, and to Gaufrid and other contributors.

34. Great puzzle. Thanks Brendan and Gaufrid. We have one lose end (after being enlightened by blog on 13a, 29a and 7d)……what function is ‘little’ doing in 2d?

35. So many times I have stood back in awe and amazement at Brendan’s feats of grid-filling and here he was in absolutely top form, with a real Saturday treat of a puzzle.

    It has all been said, notably by Julie in Australia, so I’ll just heartily endorse all the praise.

    Huge thanks to Brendan, as always for a superb puzzle (and for dropping in @4 to reveal yet another layer) and to Gaufrid for an excellent blog.

36. A wonderful puzzle with the Brendan trademark overlapping themes. The icing on the cake was the brilliant misdirection of the Paul and Corinthians references in 27d.

    (The Beatles calendar on our kitchen wall says it was Paul M’s birthday on the 18th. The large picture of Paul for June might have helped me a bit.)

    Brilliant. Many thanks Brendan and Gaufrid. (Brendan @4 and 9, I’m not sure everyone on here realises it’s you when you use your real name.)

37. Having guessed the theme from my FOI ACTS this turned into an enjoyable romp proving that dancing can be just as much fun as wrestling

38. Bravo and a great big Bualadh Bos* Brendan,

    I should like to be associated with the remarks of Julie in Australia @7 (and some later additions) – she summed up my reaction to the puzzle eerily well.
    (Though, shamefully I must admit to not having seen the ‘hidden’ Pauls).

    The POE-POPE-PAULI potpourri was brilliant and I thought KING (LOI for me) was a superb clue – great misdirection to have ‘CORINTHIANS and others’ = Greek people.

    [I have a feeling (could be wrong ) that when the EURO was introduced as a ‘single currency’ that the correct plural was ‘EURO’ (I think to make it more universal, respecting that some languages don’t have a trailing ‘S’ for plural. Prepared to be proven wrong about this, certainly it widely became common practice (at least in Ireland) ‘That be 11 Euros please’. Assuming Brendan would be a stickler for correct grammar etc, I wonder if this clue is really a reference to a contemporary football tournament rather than currency?]

    *Bualadh bos (phon: boo-lah bus) is an Irish term of approbation at a gathering.

    Thanks again Brendan, Gaufrid for brilliant exposition and all learned contributors on the blog for amplifying the fun.

39. A good puzzle agreed apart from 27dn,
    Corinth is not even capital of Greece
    could one fairly describe EII as Queen of Bristolians and others?

40. Wow. What a pleasure this was!
    How playful, populated as it was (in spadefuls) with so many hidden Pauls.
    Plaudits to Brendan and much applause!

41. Little to add but to join in the applause. A lovely puzzle, ringing the changes with great skill.

    EpeeSharkey @38 – yes, the official plural of euro is euro (it saves printing a dozen different plural forms on the notes and coins), but colloquially people tend to say “euros” and the dictionaries reflect this, giving both plural forms.

42. +1 to all the plaudits above.
    JA@34 – “little” is simply indicating the abbreviation of “time” -> “t”.
    Thanks Brendan and Gaufrid.

43. Croc@39 – It seems fair to me to indicate a country by any well-known city located there. It’s analagous to cluing (for example) TEMPS as “time in Amiens”, as Amiens is a French city; clues of this type are pretty common..

44. Choldunk @26: I guess “runs” rather than “run” misled. In a cricket score book there are headings for overs (O), maiden overs (M), runs (R) and wickets (W) – this is called the bowler’s analysis. R only stands for ‘run’ if the bowler has conceded just the one! Chambers has “run(s)”.

    UP THE DALE @27. I feel your pain!

    Ed The Ball @30. I parsed PETER just as you did, and gave myself a mild kicking when I read the blog. This is what comes from solving too quickly (not normally a problem for me).

45. I was vaguely aware there was an artist called Klee, but I have probably only seen it written down so didn’t know the pronunciation. I eventually got the reference to clay and knew I needed an artist called Paul, and finally the penny dropped.

46. beaulieu @43: agreed. But additionally, Brendan didn’t just say “for Corinthians”, he said “for Corinthians and others”. Elizabeth II is indeed Queen for Bristolians and others. The fact that she isn’t normally referred to as such is a bit beside the point in the context of a cryptic crossword. In the non-crossword world a river isn’t normally referred to as a flower, or a composer as a barman.

47. As many others have said, this was a most enjoyable solve, with just the right amount of cross-referencing of the themed clues. Like one or two others (including Gaufrid – to whom many thanks for a superb blog) I was held up in the SE. Partly this was me not being satisfied that ‘opening part of travel’ in 22a really meant just T until I could solve 22d, but mostly because I didn’t get the double definition in 26a.

    To me, ‘record’ and ‘number’ are so close in meaning, and both are so close to TRACK, that it was too simple for a cryptic clue. I can hear in my head John or Paul introducing the next item in their concerts (many of which can be seen on YouTube), and using “song”, “track”, “record” or “number” completely interchangeably. In a double definition I expect the two defs to indicate different meanings of the homonym, for example ‘follow number’ or ‘record dog’, so I would no more have expected ‘follow dog’ than the clue that we actually had.

    I finally returned to the unfinished grid and polished off these and the retrospectively obvious BEATLE in about five minutes last night, though I needed the blog to fully understand the parsing of KING.

    Many thanks to Brendan. Can you do one for George next please?

48. KLEE was in a crossword fairly recently and I commented that the setter had missed a good chance for a homophone, I must have been using Drofle’s crystal ball.

49. Forgot to say that THEORY was also late to drop for me, and I wrote it in anticipating the howls of protest from the scientists here. ‘Speculation’=THEORY? I thought it was the hypothesis that is speculative, and then once evidence and experimentation fails to rule it out, it becomes refined into a theory.

    Of course, dictionaries have theory as a synonym for hypothesis, so I’m not saying the clue is wrong, just that I expected complaints from the scientists!

50. The scientists are still outraged at “viewed in the mirror” yesterday. At least we got Pauli today.

51. I just want to echo the praise for this puzzle. It’s so good when a theme adds to the enjoyment of solving as well as inspiring admiration for the gridfill.

52. Lovely crossword this, as per usual with Brendan. Interestingly, Bert Danher who set crosswords for the Guardian for many years as Hendra was a cousin of Paul McCartney’s.

53. Regarding the pronunciation of Klee: maybe Beethoven would help.

54. Regarding the pronunciation of Klee: it’s pretty standard German. I’m a bit surprised that it presented difficulties here, this being an educated bunch.

    [On a similar note I once wrote the clue (which requires some North American general knowledge) “Mathematician Wayne Gretzky notably discussed (5)” for EULER. (Gretzky is by acclamation the greatest ice hockey player of all time, and he spent his best years as an Edmonton Oiler). But the clue only works if you know how to say Euler.]

55. It is best remembered from Euler’s spoilers.

56. Charlie @52

    Thanks for the reminder of Hendra, whose puzzles i remember enjoying, especially as we had a lovely camping holiday in Cornwall, in the 70s, at a site called Hendra. I’ve just googled it – and it’s still going!

57. PS: More interesting detail about the multi-talented Hendra here
    Endearingly, like the beloved Rev, he used scrabble tiles for anagrams.

58. Eileen
    I have corrected the link in your comment #57 and deleted the subsequent ones.

59. A wonderfully fun puzzle. My only quibble is “undergarment” for pants. I don’t usually wear pants underneath other clothes but maybe you Brits do it differently lol.

    Many thanks to Brendan and Guafrid.

60. Bless you, Gaufrid @58. 😉

61. Dewey @59 – another example of ‘two nations divided by a common language’ (variously attributed) 😉

62. What a nice surprise to see Brendan’s name and what a beaut of a puzzle. I loved the way all the strands were woven together and got a great pdm when I got BEATLE and realised that the clues which mentioned them had helped get me to the answer. Lots of other lovely clues as well, especially 19ac, PAR. (Even more impressed having read Brendan’s info about birthdays @4 — even if it turns out he might have been wrong!).

    In 13ac, EPISTLE, I wasn’t sure about post = pile but I think I found enough to justify it (although what that was I can’t remember)

    26ac, RECORD NUMBER, puzzled me at first but I decided (unlike Gaufrid) that it was a cryptic def: a track is a song (number) on a record.

    29ac I didn’t know a TARPAULIN was an old sailor’s hat as well as as a large waterproof sheet and it took me a while to twig wearing = IN, but very satisfying once I’d worked it all out and googled up pictures of the hat

    18dn, DAMASCUS, just sounded like a straight definition clue to me, but perhaps if I knew more about high finance I would have been misled by some other meaning of this (possibly) cryptic definition?

    27dn, KING: I didn’t know of King Paul of Greece and spent some time trying to find something in Corinthians where (St) Paul was given that title. I wrote in KING even though I couldn’t find anything in the Bible to justify it and also worried about KIN = people (though I suppose “They are my people/kin” holds up?). Thanks, Gaufrid (and your telephonic friend) for enlightenment.

63. I just had to add my belated congratulations and thanks to Brendan for such a fun and multilayered puzzle. Reflection gave greater depth to the original answers: Revere for the surface, then for the American Patriot, then possible admiration for the other Pauls, Halpin and/or McCartney. Brilliant. For me, as for so many others, it was a delight from beginning to end. Thanks also to Gaufrid for the blog and further enlightenment. King Paul of Greece had me totally flummoxed! Great stuff.

64. myself@19, I just realized that I omitted the enumeration for my admittedly feeble attempt at a clue. “Wildly bring rare energy to a setter’s ID (5, 5)”

    Roz@21, thanks for the kind thought and the yellow face thingy, duly imagined. (I don’t do them either.)

65. Brian Greer of course, I only learnt that he is Brendan from Lord Jim on this blog. Good effort cellomaniac, I am hopeless at thinking up clues, no imagination, I cannot even think of a clue for the Azed prize which is only once a month.

66. Just wanted to add my voice to the chorus of those who found this puzzle to be an utter delight. When the penny dropped re: PAR, I laughed out loud for sheer joy. Thank you Brendan!

67. mrpenney@54 Your clue only works if you know who Gretzky played for. American though I am, my knowledge of German pronunciation is way ahead of my hockey info.

    Gaufrid@58 has used # to mean “number”, so it must ve a usage in the UK, to refer to a recent discussion about the symbol.

    Tony Collman@62 Damascus is the capital of Syria, and T Paul’s conversion happened on the road to Damascus. No knowledge of finance needed.

68. Valentine, yes, I suppose that’s right. There could, I imagine, be a Quick Crossword clue something like: “Capital Paul was heading for when converted”, but that’s not quite the same thing anyway. The surface is intended to be a statement about finance, though, isn’t it? I suppose it only seemed so straightforward because I already knew there was a ‘Paul’ theme, so the cryptic intention of “conversion” was immediately apparent. If it had been the first clue I looked it I probably would have been struck by what seemed to be a (not fully comprehended) statement from the financial world.

69. Roz @55
    “Euler’s spoilers”: nice one! Also interested to learn about mutually orthogonal Latin squares, which said spoilers relate to. Thanks.

    Btw, if you really wanted to make one of those little yellow faces (emoticons), you can do it with just a few punctuation marks, like : followed by – followed by ), which is automatically converted to 🙂 when you post. Gaufrid has posted a table of all the different faces you can make somewhere, although I don’t know now how to find it.

70. What a eonderful puzzle! Adding my thanks to Brendan for thus gem, and to Gaufrid for the blog.

71. Belated thanks Gaufrid, like Ed the Ball and sheffield hatter I failed to understand PETER which has gone up in my estimation (although I suppose most crimes benefit someone other than the victim even if it’s only the perp). Nor could I see what those apparent chess pieces were doing at the end of NERVE as I just had it as a simple anagram (NEVER moving). I didn’t like TRACK much and of course King Paul was unknown but the wordplay clear in the end. Tony Collman@62: I got to PILE vie PILEDRIVER which while possibly US was enough for me. Anyway I echo all the general praise and most of all widdersbel@24, PAR was anything but, thanks Brendan.

72. Gazzh, thanks. Looking into it, I remember now that I found the second entry for pile in Chambers (distinct from the ‘heap’ meaning) is “a large stake or cylinder driven into the earth to support foundations”, which I was satisfied is a type of post. This is clearly the sort of pile referred to in ‘pile-driver’, so not just American.

73. Hugely enjoyable puzzle, thank you Brendan! Either I am improving or the theme helps me to keep going as again I managed to finish (with a few doubts on parsing so thanks for the blog).

    TonyCollman@62, to record someone’s progress would be to TRACK their progress… I enjoy those noun/verb mix-ups.

74. suyanayuraq@73

    Ah, thank you. Yes, that is another way to interpret the clue and quite possibly what Gaufrid was thinking (he didn’t elaborate). I think my reading as a cd is equally valid, though. Only Brendan knows what he himself was thinking …

75. Ok, this is what Brendan was thinking. A track is a number on a record. So, a cryptic definition. Not one of his strongest.

76. Brian @75, hooray! I was right! Great puzzle. Thanks.

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