Guardian Prize 28,578 by Paul

75 comments on “Guardian Prize 28,578 by Paul”

1. Enjoyed this one and finished last Saturday albeit with some help although didn’t manage to parse a couple

   Also thought TARAMASALATA was cleverly hidden. And liked BUMFLUFF, BENEFIT, ANARCHIST

   Thanks Paul and bridge song

2. I thought this was fine, fun and fair. I might not have got BUMFLUFF so readily if it hadn’t appeared in one of Picaroon’s a little while ago.

   I think ADULTERATING is OK. The word itself is pretty much neutral as to what property is changed.

3. Thanks bridgesong. My lack of cinematic knowledge led me to Google Natalie Wood for inspiration and I found it, she was also known as Natasha Gurdin. The surname had the right number of letters, fitted with 9a and satisfied the clue (OK, I ignored the participle) so I entered it triumphantly. When the 11a anagram scuppered that I had to think again so the NW corner took a bit longer and, despite the sidetrack, I think 1d is one of the cleverest clues I can remember. 4d took a long time fiddling with letters and I had to kick myself when realization dawned. The crossing letters for 5d gave me the answer but I didn’t believe it could be right until Google helped me again.

4. Paul on good form and a great blog from bridgesong so many thanks both. I entered an unparsed BRAIN FADE at first; well it just seemed like it had to be, until the crossers failed to back it up. I have never heard of BRAIN FART so a new phrase I can use when I say something unexpected! My favourite the absolutely brilliant reverse hidden TARAMASALATA. How did Paul find that? Wonderful!

5. ACD

   Thanks to Paul and bridgesong. I got the long answers (and especially enjoyed TARAMASALATA) but failed with BUMFLUFF.

6. Thanks bridgesong. While this went in without trouble – Paul’s MO ensuring this for DAFT, BUMFLUFF, BRAIN FART etc – 1 down (for me as you the last in) was a stunning clue, one to be remembered.

7. Biggles – we agree totally on 1d

8. With everyone on this. I really enjoyed it. Thank you Paul. Nice to have a couple of proper Paulian (?) clues in 7 and 17. But my favourite was 10 – I laughed out loud when I got it

9. Yep, amusing from Paul, especially dressed nattily…definitely the GoD clue, ie groan of the day (apols to the faithful). The tapering items, though, ran it a close second. And yes the back-hidden Greek dip was very very tasty. Like SPanza @4, I too first thought brain fade, but I have seen brain fart [funny, I’m an enthusiastic non-prude, but I don’t like it; more in the sort of way that I don’t like ‘chow down’]. All part of the fun though, thanks both.

10. Quite a tough puzzle.

    Favourites: TARAMASALATA, TUTORIAL, FAIRPLAY, ANARCHIST, SATISFY, DAFT.
    *SWEATPANTS was clever.

    New for me: PANDA CAR, BUMFLUFF (loi) – what a horrible word/concept.

    I did not parse: 1d SPRUCE apart from def = wood.

    Thanks, both.

11. Another great Paul puzzle. Loved the cleverness of 14, especially getting marathon in the mix. This is my second favourite version of this dip, just pipped by: “Every second one is a starter”, which must have been by Everyman because until very recently that’s the only crossword I did. I also loved AGTCTAE, not least for filling have the grid.
    Thanks Paul & Bridgesong.

12. Loved SPRUCE. One of the best homophone clues I have come across in recent times!

    ADULTERATING: um…I kinda agree with Dr.WhatsOn @2.

    BRAIN FART: many online dictionaries (lexico.com and macmillandictionary.com among them) have this phrase. Good one-for informal use tho’.

    Thanks, P & B!

13. I enjoyed this puzzle and have some favourites in common with other contributors above. I especially liked the ANARCHIST homophone at 10a. I also considered TARAMASALATA at 14a, ALL GOOD THINGS COME TO AN END at 28,2,19, 26 and BUMFLUFF at 17d fun. Needed the blog to understand the homophone for SPRUCE at 1d – very clever! Thanks to Paul and bridgesong.

14. My LOI was AFRO ASIAN as I wasted lots of time trying to make something of D and D being homophones. Finally it leapt out from the crossers and fitted the anagram and fitted the definition-neat. Agree with others above about SPRUCE which was second to LOI and raised an ‘ahhh’. I had forgotten that miss pavlova was Anna but I could hear the ‘kissed’ so knew I was correct. I should have then deduced the Anna! DORSA was clever for a hidden word clue as the ‘back’ could cause misdirection and the definition is clear but not an every day usage.

    Good level for me if I want to complete on Saturday without it absorbing too much time.

    Thanks Paul and bridgesong

15. Many thanks, Paul and bridgesong. A sheer delight. Great clueing in all departments but most memorably the long words. Yet it’s 1d that is stand-out amazing and puzzling. I missed the “nattily” homophone and am still confused that the clue seems geared more to SPRUCED than SPRUCE. The homophone of Gurdin i.e. girding = dressed adds to the mix. Yes, I too went researching the famous actor. But my own solution is that the definition is “Natalie wood” since SPRUCE is a familiar type of Christmas (=Natalie) tree. Brilliant whatever. Thanks too, bridgesong, for parsing PANDA CAR for me.

16. SPRUCE as an adjective works fine. Dressed without the help of Natalie doesn’t quite click 🙂

17. I may be wrong, but isn’t (wasn’t) Chanel a COUTURIERE with an E at the end?

18. Thanks for the blog, I agree with all the praise for 14Ac and 1D above , really enjoyed this but two very minor quibbles.
    ADULTERATE and distort do not really meet in the Venn diagram of their possible meanings in Chambers.
    28Ac etc is a bit weak , good things are not the best, and most items come to an end , not just tapering ones.

19. Hovis@17
    Coco Chanel was a couturiere
    Chanel, the fashion company, is a couturier.
    Am I right?

20. I was a little bit concerned that Paul was bowing out with ALL GOOD THINGS… and a typical scattering of trademark rudity. Thankfully appears no to be the case.

    But yes, oddly easy compared to the rest of the week, especially I failed to grasp his T Hanks tribute and then got absolutely roasted by Picaroon yesterday.

    TARAMASALATA was heroic.

21. I was a little bit concerned that Paul was bowing out with ALL GOOD THINGS… and a typical scattering of trademark rudity. Thankfully, that appears not to be the case.

    But yes, oddly easy compared to the rest of the week, especially after I failed to grasp his T Hanks tribute and then got absolutely roasted by Picaroon yesterday.

    TARAMASALATA was heroic.

22. Glad I wasn’t the only one to be defeated by the wordplay for SPRUCE; great clue now that it’s been explained. Highlight though was definitely TARAMASALATA – I can’t remember ever having seen a better reverse hidden.

    Thanks to Paul and bridgesong

23. Taramasalata was great. Also 12 letters is Brendan’s (not sure in what guise) old classic ‘Some job at hand? We’ll soon see (4,3,5)’

24. Thanks Paul and bridgesong
    Loved TARAMASALATA.
    Surely even non-rhotic speakers must pronounce the R in ANARCHIST?

25. James @ 23: the unusual feature of ADULTERATING is that it is a single-word anagram with 12 letters. I should have made that clear in the blog.

26. muffin @24, down here we might do a tiny bit of r in anarchic, but the noun is pretty much Anna kissed.

27. GiF@26 I’ve heard some of you in the West Island find a tiny bit or r at the end of Anna.

28. Muffin @24 not sure about ANARCHIST – many of us just throw the R away

    Really enjoyed this one but not sure I’d confer greatness on a clue that relies on such a dodgy homophone. Unless it was the dodgy homophone of the year competition 🙂

29. Bridgesong @25, you were clear enough. It’s not an anagram, though your point applies equally to hidden words.

30. It seems that SPUR(S) is the go to team in G cryptics at the mo, with various mentions in the last month, esp the over-used Harry Kane. TARAMASALATA, ADULTERATING, BRAIN FART and BUM FLUFF all ticked along with the brilliant SPRUCE which I failed to parse. PANDA CARS were driven by standard drivers whilst the area cars (Rovers etc) were driven by advanced drivers, so this definition was particularly good.

    Ta Paul and bridgesong

31. James @29: yes, I see what you mean. For some reason I thought you were referring to ADULTERATING, which I had failed to specify as a single-word anagram. The Brendan clue is splendid.

32. Thanks Paul, fair play. And thanks Bridgesong for blog and help with 5d.
    I thought of distortion as misrepresentation of the truth (or more literally something which has been twisted apart).

33. Thanks, Paul, for a morning of pure enjoyment, which brought back memories of Araucaria. The NW corner largely defeated me, but I greatly enjoyed the solutions. And alongside the praise for some outstanding clues may I also add my appreciation for the surface of CANNONBALL. As an appreciator of Paul’s bawdy, I was able to put in BRAIN FART and BUM FLUFF without much hesitation.

34. Yes, Paul up to his more usual high standard.

    I agree with most that TARAMASALATA was very well hidden, and SPRUCE was another great use of a famous name. I also ticked BENEFIT and SATISFY. I’m not a great fan of such long cds, which you either get early on or need a lot of crossers to fathom out (as in my case).

    Thanks Paul for the fun and bridgesong for a good blog.

35. Thanks Paul and Bridgesong.
    Very satisfying solve. SPRUCE was last one in for me too.

36. Thanks Paul and bridgesong
    Not sure if anyone mentioned it but the long Greek comestible has crossers
    -A-A-A-A-A-A which must be some kind of record?

    (and it took having most of those filled in for me to spot this ingeniously hidden word.) I <3 hidden word clues, so I think this is a minor masterpiece in itself. And I also liked DORSA a lot,

    Not so sure about homophones, which to my Irish ear often don't click. I can see (or rather hear) dressed nattily now, but SPRUCE was a biff in for me, thanks for the explication.

37. Well worth the struggle, especially 14a. I shared Muffin’s doubts @24 about the homophone at 10a but to me 1d was a worse one, though the clue was very clever. Does anyone pronounce the second “a” in Natalie as “i”?
    Thanks to Paul and bridgesong

38. It was a bit easy, but Paul does put on a good spread, the challenge has been set to provide a longer hidden clue!!

39. Pino @37 , I have been saying Natalie and nattily in sentences and I really cannot tell the difference in sound, although it does not look right written down. Maybe our linguists can enlighten us more on this ?

40. Quite straightforward for Paul and also for a Saturday but enjoyable nonetheless.

    I was reviewing this last night while my wife was watching Gardeners World,on which there was a chap who rolled his ‘R’s most emphatically.

    Anna kissed would certainly not have been a homophone for him! Maybe if Anna was spelled anarrrr.

    Re taramasalata, it’s not longer at only 10 letters but recently either Tees or Eccles reverse hid dickcissel in the Indy which I thought very impressive.

    Thanks Paul and Bridgesong

41. Great stuff as usual from Paul. I don’t like taramasalata, but what a brilliant clue!
    My other favourites were SPUR (as a Spurs supporter I can confirm they often fail to finish) and BRAIN FART (Paul wouldn’t be Paul without a bit of mild vulgarity, and it’s a phrase I have often come across on Spurs discussion sites, used in reference to various defenders and their shortcomings).

    Thanks to both.

42. P, T @27, yeah perhaps a faint hint thereof … [ha, I like the West Isle … bit like the average intelligence joke…]

43. muffin/ginf/Pino/Roz/Blah (and possibly others, apologies!)

    Re the homophones:

    As an RP speaker, I pronounce both Anna kissed and anarchist /’æn.ə.kɪst/. I do realise not everyone speaks RP! But I think the two would be identical for most non-rhotic speakers – which includes speakers in Wales, East Anglia, the Midlands, large parts of Northern England, Australia, New Zealand, and most English speakers across the whole continent of Africa.

    For me there isn’t even a hint of an ‘r’ sound in ‘anarchic’ either. It’s just that the middle vowel sound is a ‘longer a’: /ə’nɑ:.kɪk/ (like the ah in Blah!).

    Natalie/nattily is slightly more tricky. Like Roz I would say the two the same, with the vowel in the middle syllable being a /ə/ (schwa). Strictly speaking, for RP the i in nattily should be /ɪ/, but in practice it’s said so quickly that it’s difficult to distinguish from /ə/.

    For most American speakers (I think – grateful for confirmation) the two are identical. Lexico gives the American pronunciation for ‘nattily’ as /’nædəli/, with a schwa in the middle, and my guess is that would be the same for Natalie.

44. By the way, nice puzzle – thanks Paul and bridgesong.

    Lots of people like TARAMASALATA, but I’ll go for the GARDEN HOSE as my favourite. On COUTURIER (Hovis, Kurukveera) Coco Chanel would certainly have been a couturière in French, while the fashion house would be a maison (de haute couture). But I gather from dictionaries that the undifferentiated masculine form is used in English (having been imported, like yesterday’s gendarme) both for the creator and the company.

45. Thank you MrEssexboy @ 43. I would also say anarchist as Anna kissed, and anarchism in a similar way but anarchic is totally different ??
    As discussed before ” some hear ” instead of “we hear ” would avoid any issues for 10Ac .

46. It may have been on the gentler side but any time I complete a Paul puzzle I’m over the moon. The parsing of SPRUCE was last to fall & very clever. TARAMASALATA was brilliant & I loved ANARCHIST & SWEATPANTS. A very enjoyable puzzle.
    Thanks all.

47. Roz @45: yes, ‘some hear’ would get round it, or perhaps for 1dn, “Many an auditor’s dressed Natalie Wood”? 😉

    On anarchic/anarchical/anarchically, where the stress falls on the second syllable (unlike anarchy, anarchism, anarchist), I wonder if some of us non-rhoticists may be misled into thinking we pronounce an ‘r’, because a common way of writing down the long /ɑ:/ sound is AR? (and of course the letter R itself is pronounced /ɑ:/ in RP!) If we want to make it clear we’re talking like Long John Silver we tend to write ARRRR!

48. I’m sorry, are you having a laff? I can’t believe that anyone pronounces ANARCHIST as “anna kissed”! I’ve certainly never heard it.

49. ..it would be like pronouncing “arch” as “ach”!

50. Hi muffin @48/49 – probably best not to go down the Johnny Rotten route, so I’ll give you this instead.

51. Muffin@48 for those of us who sang along to The Sex Pistols ‘it’s the only way to be’.

52. When it comes to homophones, I think that the way I pronounce the pair carefully in my head when either solving the clue or following other posters’ comments is probably quite different from the way I actually pronounce the words in discussion. For that and other reasons, I tend to give the setters quite some latitude.

53. …or if you prefer dictionary sources, here’s Lexico (note, no ‘r’ in the (RP) pronunciation).

54. and ach, them?

55. ..then!

56. There’s definitely an R in your link, essexboy.

57. Yep, I’d also pronounce ‘arch’ without the ‘r’ sound. For me it (almost) rhymes with ‘Raj’.

58. muffin @56: that’s fascinating – can you really here an ‘R’ sound at 0:16, when he says: “Broadly speaking, an anarchist society…”? I can’t!

    And there’s definitely no ‘r’ in the phonetic transcription in my dictionary link @53.

59. essexboy
    You could have a 25 letter alphabet, perhaps?
    I don’t understand the point of including an R in the spelling if you are going to ignore it when saying the word.
    I don’t entirely believe yours @57!

60. Hmm… interested to know if you pronounce the L in ‘could’? 😉

61. No, it’s “cudd”. Interesting point!

62. Good God enough already it is getting really boring now!!

63. Is that goooood God or gud God stanza?

64. [Apologies to SPanza, and everyone else!]

65. Enjoyable puzzle, THanks to Paul and bridgesong for the blog. Failed since PANDA CAR was unknown to me, but for 1d I knew what to look for, credit to Benny Hill: “. . . she always dressed nattily, which was fortunate since Natalie could never dress herself.” (but I still needed a couple crossers)

66. What a lot of fuss about a couple of perfectly good puns / homeophones.
    Where is the hard and fast rule that indicators such as ‘auditor’s’ and ‘we hear’ have to mean “sounds exactly the same with absolutely no variation to every English-speaking person on the face of the earth”?
    I thought cryptic crosswords were about wordplay (and the more whimsical the better).

    For what it’s worth, I thought 1d SPRUCE and 10a ANARCHIST were really fun, so thanks, Paul for those, and for the rest of the puzzle. And thanks Bridgestone for help with the few that eluded me.

67. Hadn’t heard of BRAINFART or SWEATPANTS and I wonder why sweatshirt so called?
    TARAMASALATA! Brilliant.
    Curious to know if PANDA CAR is still a thing. Came after ZVictor1 to DC though.
    Thanks both.

68. Oops, bridgesong of course. I must be tired (or tyred in the UK).

69. At the risk of repetition, TARAMASALATA was brilliant and SPRUCE was my LOI, with a deliciously resounding pdm.

    Although I have vaguely heard of them, I didn’t know what SWEATPANTS were till I looked them up and found that it’s what they call trackie bottoms in America. Ironic, really, because I was wearing a pair at the time,

    I was going to mention the 12-letter (forwards) hidden clue by Brendan but could only remember the answer, so thanks very much to James@23.

    Muffin et al@24 etc. You’re on a hiding to nothing. Essex Boy is correct in every detail. Although we don’t pronounce R the way you do (and there are various ways of pronouncing the R in accents where it is pronounced), it does affect the pronunciation. For example, ‘fat’ is pronounced quite differently from ‘fart’, even though the difference is only in the vowel sound used. (British) English dictionaries usually have phonetics showing how the word is pronounced in RP, so if your accent is different and you suspect a homophone is being indicated, you can use that to compare how things are said by ‘us’.

70. Oh, yeah, hadn’t heard of BRAIN FART either, but if it’s in lexico.com, (which it is), then it must be in the ODE — of which it is the online version. Maybe your (paper?) copy needs updating, Bridgesong?

71. Tony @70: my paper copy of the ODE is the third edition, 2010 – I got it after appearing on Countdown in 2017. I’m not totally convinced that lexico.com is in fact the same as the ODE – certainly it doesn’t explicitly say so on the “about” page on the lexico website. But BRAIN FART does appear on the online version (2015) – here’s a link

72. Bridgesong@71, yes, I think I was mistaken. I’m pretty sure lexico.com replaced the online ODE as an online dictionary from OUP which is free and open to all. The link you give is via the Oxford Reference site, which, by contrast, needs a subscription to get all the information available from the particular source.

    Do you mean you won the ODE on Countdown or you bought it to to try and learn more words after not doing so well?

73. [Tony @72: all contestants who appear on Countdown get a “goody bag” containing a copy of the ODE, a couple of books by Susie Dent, a small digital clock, a pen and pencil set and a mug. Even contestants like me who got knocked out at the first time of asking.

    I haven’t calculated the exact figure, but Countdown runs five days a week (with very occasional absences, e.g. for horse racing) so the programme must be buying around 200 copies of the ODE annually, making it one of Oxford Reference’s most important customers!]

74. Epee @36: BANANARAMA featured in one of Cyclops’ crosswords in Private Eye a few years back. My colleagues had to help me. Whatever on earth would fit -A-A-A-A-A?
    Thank you bridgesong for guidance with SPRUCE. And thanks Paul for a fine puzzle.

75. [Bridgesong@73, in 2017, two years after the latest version came out, they probably got a heavy discount on 2010 returns :-)]

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