Guardian Prize 28,530 by Picaroon

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Some subtle definitions and self-referential clues in this week’s “Prize” puzzle.

There was no theme that we could detect, just (mostly) very good clues providing a satisfying challenge. Many thanks to Picaroon.

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1 BODICE
Gems on person’s garment ripped in rumpy pumpy? (6)
BOD (person), ICE (diamonds, or gems). The definition refers to the literary genre known as “bodice-rippers”.
4 PROFIT
We’re told one like Daniel returns (6)
Sounds like “prophet” (one like Daniel). A clever definition, suggesting a plural word or a verb in the third person singular.
9, 25 BUZZWORD
Ring with news in current term (8)
A simple charade of BUZZ and WORD.
10 REPROVABLE
It’s again demonstrable to be worthy of censure (10)
According to Chambers, this term only applies to the definition I have underlined, since “reprove” doesn’t in fact mean to prove a second time, as you might suppose.
11 TURN-ON
How to generate no reason to get excited (4-2)
The first of the self-referential clues: how do you generate “NO”? By turning ON.
12 EPIPHANY
What detains Dickens hero before every realisation (8)
PIP (Dickens hero, from Great Expectations) inside EH (what?), ANY.
13 AT THE TIME
Where some journalists work briefly, then (2,3,4)
Some journalists work AT THE TIMEs.
15
See 16
 
16, 15 COPY CATS
Police seizing unknown pet apes (8)
Y (unknown) PET inside COPS. “Apes” used to mean imitators (such as a copycat) seems to be mainly an American usage.
17 CRACKDOWN
Serious measure of drink after fun in Ireland (9)
CRACK (fun in Ireland), DOWN (drink).
21 FEVERISH
School clothing always very hot (8)
EVER (always) in FISH (a school).
22 DATIVE
Fruit boxes drip in this case (6)
IV (intravenous drip) inside DATE.
24 BREAK-DANCE
Way to get caned in funky performance (5-5)
The second self-referential clue in the puzzle: you get CANED if you “break” DANCE.
25
See 9
 
26 OPENER
Boycott, say, Frenchman rejected after work (6)
RENÉ (Frenchman, rev.) after OP. This is a cricket reference: Geoffrey Boycott is a famous batsman who opened the batting for England (and Yorkshire) on many occasions.
27 ASHLAR
Stone remains, article clutched in both hands (6)
ASH (remains), A (article) inside L and R. It means dressed stone.
DOWN
1 BOUQUET
Nose in fight broken by that Parisian (7)
QUE (that in French) inside BOUT.
2 DOZEN
Number gathering on the way to enlightenment? (5)
DO (a party or gathering) on ZEN (the way to enlightenment).
3 CORONET
Regal item soldiers put on individual in court (7)
OR (other ranks – soldiers) on ONE inside CT.
5 ROOKIE
Fine: yours truly cuts eggs for a starter (6)
OK (fine) I (yours truly) inside ROE (eggs).
6 FLASH CARD
Learner’s aid in Ferrari, say, beginning to drive (5,4)
FLASH CAR (e.g. a Ferrari) D(rive).
7 TALENTS
Storybooks and special gifts (7)
TALE (story) NTS (books: NT signifies the New Testament, so would not normally be pluralised).
8 SPEED MERCHANT
Driver inclined to career as drug trafficker (5,8)
Cryptic definition, reminiscent of Paul’s clue in a previous Prize puzzle a few years ago.
14 HYPHENATE
Put in dash of neat rum husband found in promotion at first (9)
H(usband) *NEAT inside HYPE (promotion). I’m not sure what “at first” is doing here.
16 CHEERIO
Toast, one round with topping of egg on (7)
CHEER (egg on) on top of IO (one round).
18 CADGERS
Scroungers and rotters holding what’s on plate up (7)
REG (what’s on plate – i.e. registration plate of a vehicle, rev.) inside CADS.
19 WAVERER
Western state ruler, one like Hamlet? (7)
W(estern) AVER (state) ER (ruler).
20 BIRDIE
Porridge that is part of course done well (6)
BIRD (porridge: both slang terms for a spell in prison) IE (that is). Nicely disguised definition, referring to golf.
23 TOWEL
Pull on earl’s coat, which is drier (5)
TOW (pull) E(ar)L.

57 comments on “Guardian Prize 28,530 by Picaroon”

  1. An enjoyable solve, though entering a partially parsed REPLICABLE for 10a held me up (it’s a much more pleasant word than the ugly REPROVABLE). I liked many, including BODICE (great PDM there), TURN-ON and its partner BREAK-DANCE, DOZEN and HYPHENATE (lovely misdirection). I have always taken Irish fun to be the CRAIC, though it didn’t hold me up much. Thanks for a good time, Picaroon, and bridgesong.

  2. I was tempted to give up after 45mins with only 11 clues solved but then I sped up and finished it 20 minutes later.

    Liked: OPENER (I saw him bat in Test matches in Melbourne in the early 1980s), FEVERISH, DATIVE, EPIPHANY, COPY CATS, BREAK DANCE, CHEERIO, HYPHENATE (loi).

    New: 27ac ASHLAR + Craic/crack for 17ac.

    Thanks, both.

  3. For once found the difficulty level appropriate for a prize puzzle.
    Just knew PIP had to be somewhere in 12A, scratched my head for a while until the EPIPHANY – but otherwise only a few memorable clues.
    PS: I’ll bet we’ll have the DATIVE debate, yet again (nice clue this time, though).

  4. Thanks bridgesong. I thought the ‘special’ in 7d gave the S.
    I think ‘copycat’ can be a verb. In 14 the ‘at first’ is just indicating the order of parts I believe.
    Thanks Picaroon.

  5. This was mostly fun and enjoyable, and just the right level of difficulty, with some clever references, except for one clue. In EPIPHANY we are to suppose that any and every are the same. Clearly, in “please take any apple” and “please take every apple” they are different. Well you might be able to construct a context where the two are interchangeable, but that doesn’t mean they mean the same thing. If you have a small green ball and a large red one, saying “give me the small one” and “give me the green one” will have the same result, but small does not mean green. There must be a multisyllabic Greek word to describe this phenomenon more succinctly.

  6. ACD

    Thanks to Picaroon and bridgesong. I did not know crack-craic in CRACKDOWN or ASHLAR, struggled with the REG reversed in CADGERS, was familiar with COPY CATS, and started mistakenly with AT ONE TIME which did not parse, but I did make it through.

  7. I found this more challenging than most Saturday puzzles recently, and it was rewarding in the end to complete it. The NE and SW quadrants took the longest.

    The clues were excellent, and over the whole puzzle there were many examples of neat definitions and cleverly disguised wordplay. I liked WAVERER best, followed by BUZZWORD, DOZEN, HYPHENATE, CADGERS and TALENTS.

    Like Gonzo, I too thought the S in TALENTS came from ‘special’.

    Thanks to Picaroon and bridgesong.

  8. Gonzo@4 and bridgesong
    Indeed, the clue to 14D reads as a charade of HYPHE, an envelope (‘found in’) of H (‘husband’) in HYPE (‘promotion’) placed before (‘at first’) NATE, an anagram (‘rum’) of ‘neat’. It is just the choice of which E belongs to ‘neat’ which justifies the ‘at first’.
    Pedants’ corner: I think that 3D CORONET is more noble than ‘regal’.
    My first shot at 1D was AT ONE TIME; One Times Square was the home of the New York Times – at one time.
    Thanks Picaroon and bridgesong.

  9. A toughie for me, with some very unfamiliar answers ,(never heard ASHLAR and could only infer the existence of a Mr BOYCOTT) , which I did finish but did not fully parse.

    I share TassieTim’s @1 distaste for REPROVABLE.

    I enjoyed BODICE, BOUQUET, and TOWEL quite a bit.

    Thanks Picaroon and bridgesong!

  10. Clues like TURN-ON and BREAK-DANCE made this a superior prize for me — when the solution explains the wordplay I always get satisfaction that’s above my ordinary “penny drop” moment. I also ticked PROFIT, COPY CATS, FEVERISH, and DATIVE as favourites. I felt the level of difficulty was just right — that sweet spot between write-in and impenetrable. Thanks Picaroon for the fun and bridgesong for the blog.

  11. I’m with others re the’s’ in TALENTS coming from special. And also with PeterO@8 re the parsing of HYPHENATE. An enjoyable solve. Thanks tp Picaroon and bridgesong

  12. This one was too hard for me to crack, but I’ve enjoyed reading the explainations and picked up a few new tricks for next time. Thought I’d spotted a pangram at first, but no X. Thanks Birdsong & Picaroon.

  13. Thanks bridgesong. This fell into place for me a little more readily than usual but I still enjoyed it thoroughly. I’m with Dr WhatsOn on the difference between ‘every’ and ‘any’ and with Gonzo in seeing ‘apes’ as a verb. I think you mean CAT inside COPS by the way. 27 recalled to mind Kipling’s ‘My New-cut Ashlar’.

  14. I liked it too for the challenge and the satisfaction. I took ages to solve 2d DOZEN which was my last one in (and without being properly parsed), though I really can’t see why I was so thick now. (I had to sleep on it overnight to become enlightened! It then became my favourite clue.) I did also enjoy the Hamlet clue (WAVERER at 19d), which made me recall learning the word lovely word “vacillating” for the first time from my high school English teacher. I needed help to see “HYPE” in 14d HYPHENATE and “REG” in 18d CADGERS, so many thanks to bridgesong. Also gratitude to Picaroon for a very positive puzzling experience.

  15. I’ve remembered the example that was on the tip of my tongue when I was arguing@5 that “any” not= “every”: the example is “any one will do” vs. “every one will do”. They seem at first glance to be saying the same thing, but the latter allows for accepting multiples, whereas the former is only making an assertion about singletons. I’m sure the dead horse has been beaten enough now – sorry!

  16. I downloaded the most recent Prize puzzle on the Guardian website today, Sat 28/07/2021 and set off on the expected Saturday challenge. After about three or four answers were in I thought “Hang on, this looks familiar” and indeed it was as I’d done it last week! The puzzle for today is one of those “jumbo” grid ones or whatever from Maskarade and is on the page with the usual cryptic puzzles, not the Prize puzzles page.

    Anyway, an interesting test of medium-term memory which I failed dismally (it’s a worry!) as I had few write-ins. Some consolation though in being able to get BREAK-DANCE which was my one error last week.

    Even the second time round, a very enjoyable puzzle. I particularly liked seeing the words ‘Boycott’ and SPEED MERCHANT in close proximity for the first time in recorded history.

    Thanks (again) to Picaroon and to bridgesong

  19. [Well spotted WP@16. That man could certainly occupy the crease. Just imagine what he’d have made of Twenty20.]

  21. I found that quite tricky, although looking back at the clues they all seem pretty obvious now, which I think is an indication of a good puzzle. I took a number of wrong turnings – I was sure ‘current term’ was something followed by ‘wire’ for quite a while, for example.. The almost complete absence of anagrams didn’t help either (‘Nate’/‘neat’ notwithstanding). Nice work, Picaroon, and thanks, bridgesong..

  23. Thanks Picaroon and bridgesong
    I read an article in yesterday’s Guardian about CRACK. It argued that it was originally a north-eastern English term that the Irish liked and borrowed, changing the spelling to the more Gaelic-looking CRAIC.

  26. I found this unusually hard for a Saturday puzzle, and eventually DNF, with three in the NW corner empty – so thanks, bridgesong, for clarifying these for me. Thanks, Picaroon, for the challenge.

    At 15/16d, is ‘apes’ mainly American? Oxford Learners Dictionary distinguishes a British usage (do something in the same way as somebody else, especially if not done well) from American (copy the way somebody talks or behaves, to make fun of them).

    rodshaw@3, what is the issue with DATIVE? I liked the clue (as you did), though I had to investigate how IV=’drip’, which was new to me.

    As a cricket follower, I had little trouble with Boycott=OPENER, though a current England one is named Burns, which I think gives even more scope for a misleading clue.

  27. Siputih @24. Your version requires ‘book’ to clue NT, but the New Testament is normally seen as a collection of books, rather than just a book.

  29. Dr WhatsOn’s comment @5 on the meaning of ‘any’ reminded me of Bertrand Russell‘s encounter with G. E. Moore as recounted by Jonathan Miller in Beyond the Fringe. (“Do you have any apples in that basket?”)

    Thanks Picaroon for the fun, and bridgesong for clearing up a few tricky parsings.

  30. Enjoyed this thoroughly, especially CRACKDOWN, as a friend vehemently insisted it should be spelled craic. Having previously looked up the word when I moved here, I had the pleasure of informing him that it wasn’t actually Irish at all. See link below.
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craic

    He responded by darkly muttering “Tiocfaidh ár lá”

  32. I think Tony Santucci @10 summed this up well. Thought there mIght be a druggy thing going on with CRACK, SPEED and CAT giving you a BUZZ, TURN ON and possibly a FLASH of an EPIPHANY, AT THE TIME but then eventually getting you DOWN and FEVERISH.

    Ta Picaroon & bridgesong for the excellent blog.

  33. My one quibble is that to me “rumpy-pumpy” denotes fun consensual sex, whereas BODICE-ripping doesn’t sound consensual.

  34. AlanC @32 , the theme master once again.
    PhillnLivi @33 I take your point but i do not personally associate “bodice ripper” with any coercion, mainly costume dramas when we may have worn more layers and been in a hurry for “rumpy-pumpy” .

  35. Are reverse anagrams getting more frequent? Or is it just that I am managing to solve some at last. Another Goldilocks zone puzzle for me. PhilnLivi I can’t remember reading a bodice-ripper, but, given the target audience, I am fairly sure they involve urgent but consensual sex.

  37. Quite a trippy prize and a cracking solve, thanks Picaroon & bridgesong.
    Just seen the rubric for the BH cryptic … I probably need to solve the clues for enlightenment!

  39. Thanks Picaroon and bridgesong. This was a good weekend puzzle for someone of my level of ability – difficult enough to keep me occupied for a good while, but all solvable eventually.

    1ac made me smile – mainly for the use of “rumpy pumpy”, a rather quaint term but perfectly appropriate in the context.

    ASHLAR was a jorum for me – although I have an inkling the word was hiding in the recesses of my memory.

    I also read “apes” as a verb, but that implies “copycats” is also a verb, which grates ever so slightly.

  40. DrWhatson@15
    I don’t know a Greek word but the old logicians referred to it as ” non distributio medii”, translated as ” undistributed middle”. It’s a fallacy too often found in crosswords.

  41. Thanks Picaroon.
    re 4a: Once I had spotted that the “PR of it” is what we are told, I was unable to understand what Daniel had to do with it. Something to do with being in the lying den, perhaps? Now I know better, thanks to Bridgesong.

  42. Dr. WhatsOn @5 and 15: “any” and “every” don’t always mean the same, but they can, as in “Any person who is X is entitled to Y” / “Every person who is X is entitled to Y”.

  43. Dr. Whatson @ 5 and Lord Jim at 42.
    Another example where they are equivalent is “Any bus will take you there” and “Every bus will take you there”.

  44. 19dn Is W an abbreviation for Western? Chambers (1986) only has West. Collins online has an American English entry from Webster’s New World College Dictionary.

    Dr. WhatsOn @5 There’s no reason why what is a synonym in certain contexts has to be a synonym in every context. If you used ‘bear’ in a clue to stand for carry, it would be no objection to say it sometimes means a furry animal. Does this observation apply to every/any pair of synonyms? I don’t know and don’t care; it clearly applies to this one.

    In 16,15, I didn’t read apes as a word for ‘those who imitate’ but just as a word for a certain type of animal, known in part for its tendency to imitate. Admittedly, this would make it an unindicated dbe.

    The sketch referred to by Cellomaniac@29 is discussed here. Unfortunately, the video of the sketch, linked there, needs permission to watch it. Speaking of Jonathan Miller, the was a fantastic tribute programme by his son on R4 recently: Jonathan Miller: Lost Memories.

    I also thought CRACK was only a homophone of the Irish word for fun. Now I know the prospective minimalist clue à la Brendan can be reduced from “Drug sounds fun” to “Drug’s fun”.

  47. Simon, FRCS stands for Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, but that doesn’t mean you can use ‘surgeons’ for S. If it was common practice to write Western Australia as W. Australia, that would be a better argument for its inclusion in the dictionaries as an abbreviation per se. Otoh, maybe it’s already in an up-to-date Chambers? Checking now, I find Oxford have it, in fact.

  48. I’m impressed by all those people who can remember which clues they liked in last week’s prize crossword. I’ve done 6 since then (1 quiptic, 5 cryptic) and cannot recall any of my impressions from last Saturday. I suppose that happens with advancing years!

    Thanks Picaroon and bridgesong.

  50. erike44 I cut the crossword out of the paper and save it. I tick clues I like and circle clues that are dodgy, this week I had nothing which is quite rare.

  51. I enjoyed this crossword and my favourite (yes erike44, I did keep the piece of paper!) was 1a

    Thanks to Picaroon and bridgesong

  52. sjshart @26 (& muffin @28): Don’t be giving them licence for even more obscurely clued synonyms than we get already! The thing about boycott is that a) the word in its modern meaning of refusing to take part in something comes from a person of that name, and b) the OPENER who was a cricketer is also well known for his comments on the game (and dare I say, for a French court case regarding an assault on his partner).

    So there’s a specificity about the surname that you just don’t get with common words like burns or cook. And there can be no complaints about either obscurity (as might be the case with a cricketer like Rory Burns, who is hardly a household name but shares it with a famous poet) or ubiquity (as in the case of Alistair Cook, whose surname belongs also to explorers and politicians besides being a word for an everyday activity).

    I can remember a cricketer from the 1960s called Bob Barber, a brilliant batsman who partnered Boycott on a number of occasions, but using his surname to clue OPENER would be unfair, in my opinion, whereas Boycott is justifiable.

  53. SH @52
    Sorry, I don’t understand your objection to Cook. Yes, Boycott was a person who gave his name to a stance (against him), but the cricketer last played as an opener 35 years ago; Cook is much more recent. I agree that Burns hasn’t established himself enough to be a valid alternative, though.

  54. muffin – sorry if I wasn’t clear. It’s not that Alistair Cook is or is not a household name. It’s that there are too many Cooks, in many different walks of life; not to mention that everyone cooks. Writing a clue that will lead the solver, despite any initial doubts, to the certainty of OPENER as the only possible answer, would be quite a challenge. Whereas there have only ever been two well-known Boycotts: the one that led to the meaning of the term “to boycott”, and the one who was an OPENER.

  57. Thanks bridgesong and everyone for sorting out TALENTS and various discussions above, especially muffin@23 and Blah@30 as I had struggled a good while to see how/why “craic” should be shortened to fit with existing crossers, and got all indignant upon realising that CRACK was needed instead. I enjoyed the tussle, thanks Picaroon.

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