Guardian 28,790 – Puck

by

A welcome return by Puck after a gap of just over a year…

… and a celebration of PRUNELLA SCALES, who is NINETY today. She is of course famous as SYBIL Fawlty, and also as DOTTY Dunmore (the character will be familiar, at least to UK solvers, if not the name). She also appeared with her husband TIMOTHY WEST in the TV series GREAT CANAL JOURNEYS. There are a couple of other references that I’ve noted below. I remember that she also once appeared as a keen solver in a TV programme about crosswords hosted by Don Manley. Thanks and welcome back to Puck, and Happy Birthday to Ms Scales.

 
Across
7 CAPRICCIO Composition of the month? I see that’s also going around in Colombia (9)
APR + I C (I see) + I C (the same, reversed) in CO
8 DOTTY Busybody shopper, as originally depicted on TV? Triumphantly, yes (5)
First letters of Depicted On Tv Triumphantly Yes. Prunella Scales played a character called Dotty Dunmore in a long-running series of TV adverts for Tesco supermarkets
9 SIGNAL BOX Remarkable fight that’s seen from passing train? (6,3)
SIGNAL (remarkable) + BOX (fight)
10 SYBIL Somewhat brassy, bilious hotelier’s wife (5)
Hidden in brasSY BILious – Basil’s wife in Fawlty Towers, played by PS
12 CALLUS Bit of a thick skin that’s required to contact the Guardian? (6)
CALL (contact) US (The Guardian)
13 HEE-HAWED Reportedly, the male host behaved like an ass (3-5)
Homophone of “he” + “horde” (crowd, host)
14 TITANIC Flyer heralding a lovely short film (7)
TIT (bird, flyer) + A NIC[e]
17 UTILITY State in which there’s no point heading off for public service (7)
FUTILITY (State in which there’s no point) less its “head”
20 JOURNEYS Nice days, clinching return of desire for outings (8)
Reverse of YEN in JOURS (“days” in French, e.g. in Nice)
22 QUAINT Charmingly old-fashioned designer carries one (6)
I in [Mary] QUANT
24 CANAL Writer leaves maneater in locked passage (5)
CANNIBAL less NIB. A canal may have locks, so is a “locked passage”
25 HOLE IN ONE The rarest eagle? Of course it is! (4,2,3)
Just an extended cryptic definition, I think, with the “course” being a golf course and the “eagle” a hole-in-one on a par 3 hole
26 GREAT Big jar, say (5)
Homophone of “grate”
27 ASININITY What Salem’s Lot horrifically has — the ultimate in scary foolishness (9)
Salem’s Lot (in the horror novel by Stephen King) has A SIN IN IT, plus [scar]Y. Thanks to Castiron for a much better explanation: salem’S LOT Horrifically has A SIN IN IT, namely Sloth, one of the Seven Deadly Sins
Down
1 PATINA A pint drunk before a film (6)
(A PINT)* + A
2 PRUNELLA Cut back all around plant (8)
PRUNE (cut back) + reverse of ALL
3 SCALES It’s essential to calibrate this device (6)
The Scales (constellation and astrological sign) is hidden (in translation) in caLIBRAte
4 TIMOTHY The first sort of test in old solver’s book (7)
I (the first) + MOT (test) in THY
5 CORYZA Crazy cooking keeps duck cold (6)
O (zero, duck) in CRAZY*
6 STRIDENT Thrilled about muck-up? That’s harsh! (8)
Reverse of DIRT In teverse of SENT (thrilled)
11 WEST Point of view established (4)
Hidden in vieW ESTablished
15 IDOLATRY Hero worship? Puck does have a go, after taking note (8)
LA (note) in I DO TRY
16 ITEM Article describing 2 3 and 4 11 (4)
Prunella Scales and Timothy West are a couple or ITEM
18 LEARNING Discovering inclination is about right (8)
R in LEANING
19 ESPOUSE Support husband or wife online? (7)
E-SPOUSE
21 REAGAN Sounds like fantastic gun for acting president (6)
Homophone of “ray gun” – the use of “gun” seems a bit odd – “fantastic weapon” might have been better. Ronald Reagan was an actor as well as US president
22 QUEENS Residents in very louvred part of New York (6)
Another “indirect hidden” – there are hidden queens (both of whom have been portrayed by Prunella Scales) in vERy and louVRed
23 NINETY Number that’s in excess (6)
…and another – ninety is hidden (in Roman numeral form) in eXCess

86 comments on “Guardian 28,790 – Puck”

  1. I remember reading that both Prunella and Timothy West are avid solvers of the Guardian Crossword, in which case they’ll be delighted today

    Nice from Puck, and ta to Andrew

  3. Indeed, Prunella said, in a foreword to a compilation of Araucaria puzzles, that she loved going to bed with Araucaria.

    An utterly delightful crossword – and so good to see Puck back!

    Many thanks to Puck and Andrew. (Tiny point: you’ve omitted I (the first) in 4dn.)

  4. Thank you for clearing up the odd niggle as to those hidden answers (QUEENS and NINETY). I think 4D needs I MOT in THY (you’ve missed the I).

    I got SYBIL early and started looking for birthdays linked to Fawlty Towers, which helped solve PRUNELLA SCALES and TIMOTHY WEST, but irritatingly not GREAT CANAL JOURNEYS, which I solved individually with CANAL as my LOI, with a groan because that should have been easier with the theme.

  5. “Hole in one” could also mean “Your right, of course it is!”
    Thsnks to Puck for a great crossword that seemed impossivay first but gradually revealed itself. And thanks to Andrew for explaining those “indirect hiddens”, another new device learned and to remember!

  6. Crispy @ 2
    I think the I in 4d is I = the first + MOT in THY.

    New for me: CORYZA; Dotty Turnbull = busybody shopper / Prunella Scales (thanks, google, and that is when I latched onto what might the theme as I had solved 10ac SYBIL also. Wikipedia then showed me that it is Prunella Scales’ birthday 90th birthday on 22 June 2022. After that I could use her wikipedia entry to help solve this puzzle.

    I could not parse 7a, 22d, 23d apart from the def; HAWED in 13a.

    Liked JOURNEYS; ESPOUSE.

    New: CALLUS.

    Thanks, both.

  8. A lovely puzzle but relatively straightforward once the birthday girl had been identified. (Happy Birthday Prunella!) lots to love but my favourite was the misleading Nice in 20ac. Many thanks to Puck and Andrew.

  9. Thank you Andrew, and nice tribute Puck. As you say Andrew, Dotty wasn’t familiar to this Antipodean but googled and confirmed. Needed your help with Q
    For the parse of TIMOTHY I think it’s Roman numeral I (the) first + MOT in THY. I had a long look at that because I was familiar with MOT from British crosswords but the rest took a while. I struggled with T (first letter of THE, and then the rest.)

  11. Nice to see Puck back. Good theme subject, even if I couldn’t identify all of the thematic references (eg DOTTY (Dunmore)) and the parsing of a few, especially those “indirect hiddens”, defeated me. I liked the ‘locked passage’ def for CANAL and the HOLE IN ONE cryptic def, even if a two on a par 4 hole is an even rarer eagle.

    Thanks to Puck and Andrew

  12. Thought that ASININITY was a bit unfortunate given Prunella Scales’ dementia, which is sad, but not really the same thing.

    In my googling today I found another Guardian cryptic tribute from Biggles to another milestone for Prunella Scales and Timothy West. They’re coming up for another one soon.

    https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/prize/26089

  13. I may have seen the ads but didn’t know the name DOTTY so had to google that. I also didn’t know CORYZA although I guessed it was ‘o’ + crazy.
    It’s not often you see VR for queen which was a nice change.
    Favourites were CANAL for “locked passage” and SCALES for the hidden Libra.

  18. A lovely tribute to one of our own – an (erstwhile) lover of cryptic who has graced Guardian puzzles more than once before (thanks for reminder Paddymelon@12) And great to have a Puckish solve to entertain….always more than meets the eye at first glance.
    Happy Birthday to Prunella; welcome back to Puck….and many thanks to Andrew

  19. Good puzzle – liked HEE-HAWED and CAPRICCIO in particular. I was stumped by the parsing of NINETY and QUEENS (didn’t see the VR in louvred). Lots to enjoy – thanks to Puck and Andrew.

  20. Nice to see Puck back and really enjoyed the theme although I did not know all the references. Needed to come here for a few parsings and well done Castiron for your spot. Maybe ‘acting’ should be underlined as part of the definition for REAGAN.

    Ta Puck & Andrew

  21. I really didn’t get this. This English solver had never heard of the name Dotty Dunmore, though I do remember the adverts.

    I’d never heard of Coryza, but on googling it appears to be a cold like disease in poultry. Perhaps duck is reused, giving the definition coryza=duck cold?

  22. Was thinking the same, paddymelon @12, i.e. that she might by now be beyond understanding this tribute; still, Timothy will feel the love if he’s still a solver. Never saw their Canal series, so didn’t know those clues as themers [but I did know they liked rail: our eldest once had a nice chat with them on the Blue Train from Pretoria to Cape Town]. Didn’t know Dotty either, or the spooky movie, so asininity was a bung. Nice one Puck, and welcome back, and ta Andrew.

  24. My take on QUEENS was that the LOUVRE palace once served as a royal residence, so maybe triple wordplay…

  27. Excellent crossword and many thanks for the helpful blog. I missed the ingenious hidden queens 22d. Maybe “support husband or wife” in 19d is also relevant to the theme.

  30. Completed but failed to parse several of the very clever clues. I hope that the subject of the puzzle and her family have a good day.

  31. I remember another puzzle which I think celebrated the couple’s wedding anniversary
    Lovely tribute from Puck and blog from Andrew
    (I must see if I still have a copy of her playing the Queen in Alan Bennett’s play about Anthony Blunt)

  32. Great puzzle and a very welcome return for Robin Goodfellow.

    I always find grids with unchecked peripheral letters rather trickier and this was no exception. As nothing much leapt out immediately at the top, I worked up from the bottom – so I missed most of the theme until the end.

    Favourites were JOURNEY, ESPOUSE and ASININITY. Curiously, I spotted ER, VR, XC and SLOTH but missed LIBRA, so SCALES was unparsed, though the ITEM was clear.

    Felicitations to PRUNELLA S, who was also a memorably camp Miss Mapp.

    ravenrider @21: CORYZA is an old term for viral rhinitis, so not just colds in poultry.

    Thanks to S&B

  33. Cor, but I found this hard. Failed to see theme, even after getting Scales and Sybil!!! Failed to get a number of clues at all and had to use “show”. First reading only gave the odd result so was rather pleased to solve anything at all! Really not on this setter’s wavelength at all. But that’s where this site comes in for helping a beginner like me to work things out in reverse. Plus I enjoy the comments too. Thanks to all.

  35. This was a most peculiar experience this morning, had no idea who or what the theme referred to, until my last two in connected PRUNELLA SCALES and TIMOTHY WEST. In fact, a puzzle of two halves, with the bottom completed but with nothing to show in the top. Hadn’t a clue (well, they were staring me mockingly in the face, of course) about the parsing of several of these – REAGAN, QUEENS, UITILITY and ASININITY to name but a few. So perhaps a different journey past the SIGNAL BOX today for me compared to other solvers on here…

  36. Great puzzle, lovely theme and lots of tricky parsing. Perfect.

    I remember the Tesco ads but would never have remembered the character name without googling. There seems to be a bit of doubt over whether she was DOTTY Turnbull or DOTTY Dunmore. Not of huge import but anyone know which it is, and why the confusion?

  38. When essexboy was talking last week about Brucie and Kenneth Williams and the phrase “I know” I presciently thought of Sybil then. Whenever I hear the phrase I always think of Prunella Scales

  39. Good tribute crossword to Prunella, who kept Basil in check in Fawlty Towers.

    Once I solved SYBIL fairly early on, the theme helped with some of the answers. I didn’t parse the last two, QUEENS and NINETY, and also failed to spot the libra in calibrate, a good clue for SCALES. I also particularly enjoyed CAPRICCIO for the ‘ic’ also going round, and CANAL for the super ‘locked passage.’

    Thanks Puck for the fun and Andrew for explaining it all.

  40. I missed quite a few of the explanations: SLOTH (I was looking for vampire reference) and the hidden QUEENS and libra. I remember (now) the adverts but the name DOTTY wasn’t part of it so where does that come from?
    Thanks Puck and Andrew

  42. Even when the Scales had fallen from my eyes with the them, I found I had to use a little help to finish this. I was another thinking of Queen bees.

  43. It’s great to have Puck back and I hope he continues to set in the G and elsewhere. This crossword, however, was a bit of a slog for me because I’m totally unfamiliar with either Prunella Scales or Timothy West. I ended up revealing a few but because it’s Puck I found much to enjoy including JOURNEYS, NINETY, CANAL, and UTILITY. Thanks to both.

  44. A lovely tribute, Happy Birthday Prunella! Thanks to Puck & Andrew
    Liked PATINA and CANAL amongst many others.

    The oblique references to AMSND in TITANIa (the Fairy QUEEN), HEE-HAWED and ASININITY made me delighted to encounter the capricious Puck again.

  45. I’d come to this from today’s birthdays, so I was looking for a Prunella-related theme, which was a great help. Annoyingly, LOI was CANAL, despite being sandwiched between GREAT and JOURNEYS.

  46. Delightful puzzle. I’d heard of PRUNELLA SCALES but not of TIMOTHY WEST, though eventually I thought of googling PRUNELLA SCALES and TIMOTHY to see what came up. (I don’t think a couple who’ve been married for fifty years can be described as an item — doesn’t that mean a new couple whose pairing is newsworthy?)

    Totally missed Dotty and the trains, of course.

    Thanks, Puck and Andrew.

  48. Puck’s a new setter for me (I think) but based on this I hope we see more. Like yesterday, this was a steady solve with lots to enjoy. Not the friendliest grid: it was a tale of four quarters (starting with NE, SW, SE and finally NW). I initially thought we were going to get a message around the outside then, with Z appearing early, a pangram loomed but alas the F, K and V didn’t follow. But the theme was nicely done.

    Thanks Castiron@14 for explaining 27a – I did think it was challenging to be familiar with the book (although why not given other GK that appears?!).

    Thanks Puck and Andrew.

  49. Resolution from today: remember to look out for “indirect hiddens”, several of which I failed to see.

    I spotted SYBIL straight away so the theme was clear. I vaguely remembered Prunella Scales being in a supermarket ad years ago but had no idea that her character had a name. Still the clue was clear enough.

    A nice tribute to PS and Timothy West. (I’ve just finished watching their son Sam in the TV adaptation of The Midwich Cuckoos – very good.)

    Many thanks Puck and Andrew.

  50. For a while I thought I was never going to finish that, but everything clicked satisfyingly into place in the end. Realising the theme led lots of pennies to drop. Some I completed correctly without really understanding the parsing until coming here, so the theme was useful in that regard.

    I had thought that ASININITY was a very tenuous clue until seeing the ‘s-lot-h’ explanation here, and now I think it’s my favourite one in the grid.

    Re 20ac, that’s now the second time I’ve taken an absolute age to spot ‘Nice’ as a signifier for ‘French’, which is crazy as I actually live in Nice! I must just have a blind spot for the two different pronunciations in a cryptic clue context…

  51. Thanks Puck and Andrew
    Naturally I consulted a list of people with birthdays today, and found Al Hirshfield, so was expecting lots of NINAs!
    Then I got SYBIL and PRUNELLA SCALES, so looked for places to enter BASIL< MANUEL< FAWLTY etc. – fruitlessly!
    I did eventually complete the grid, but didn't parse several, mostly the cryptic hiddens.

  52. In 22d, which clearly confused quite a few solvers, I had the resident queens as ER, VR and also possibly AR, which of course would have made “part” do double duty, but nevertheless quite helpful. Great crossword which needed all the skills of a solver, so a welcome back to Puck. And thanks, Andrew, for all the confirmations.

  53. What a delight! Tricky parsing of those indirect hiddens – failed on Queens although the answer was obvious.

    Nice tribute to avid Guardian crossword solvers, and sad today to think PS will not be able to enjoy it as much as the rest of us.

    Thanks Puck and Andrew

  54. Thanks for the blog, I do not even make the top 40 today, just a one-hit wonder.
    Very neat puzzle especially all the bits hidden away, did not know DOTTY so glad it was an initially clue, CANAL was my favourite plus my favourite designer for QUAINT .
    I too thought that GUN in the clue for REAGAN could have been replaced, I think on my Woodstock album that Country Joe refers to the then Governor of California as Ronald RAYGUN … Zap.

  55. Nice puzzle and welcome back Puck. As an ex-pat who tries to keep in touch through news, TV etc., there was still no way to know the Dotty character, but the wordplay was fine.

    Was at first not quite so sure about the REAGAN homophone: to me it doesn’t pass the substitution test – “The alien shot at us with a reagan” causes a bit of a “huh?”. However, because of his old nickname “Ray-gun Ronnie” the usage becomes perfect.

  56. Really enjoyed this – think practically all the indirect hiddens flummoxed us. I’d even said to Mr SR (as we’d spotted the theme from TIMOTHY, WEST and SYBIL) “Wonder if he’ll use ‘Libra’ to clue ‘SCALES’ “. D’oh and double d’oh!
    I hope Ms Scales has a wonderful 90th celebration and that she and Mr West are delighted with this crossword.
    I would say that I feel the speculations on health were inappropriate and uncalled for. I shouldn’t imagine that Puck would think of 27a as relating to the theme in a million years; he seems far too nice.

  57. Fun to do but I’m afraid the references were lost on this Australian.
    Still solvable and it was clever of Puck to get them all in though

  58. I think HEE-HAWED is another reference, i.e. to Sybil’s laugh in Fawlty Towers. Fond memories!

  59. Seemed impossible at first. Then got SYBIL, checked birthdays and it gradually fell into place. I think if 2 people are an item they stay an item for as long as they’re together. For those who don’t know TIMOTHY WEST, watch Gentleman Jack. All good wishes to Ms Scales. I used to love After Henry.

  61. And, a propos naa, happy recent solstice to all, summer or winter, depending which way up you are.

  62. Delighted to see Puck back – I hope it’s a sign of more to come.
    The Stanchion@41 – glad it wasn’t just me.
    Thanks again to Puck and Andrew

  63. I got TIMOTHY via T (‘the’ first) + IMO (sort of test – the international maths olympiad) + THY (old solver). But I was unhappy about the ‘in’ not being used.

    That’s what I get for spending the last 20 years teaching maths but not driving!

  64. Lots of difficult-to-parse clues for us guys on the other side of the pond who are only vaguely familiar with Fawlty Towers! Enjoyable, nonetheless…

  65. Also, “horde” doesn’t sound anything like “hawed” around here I’m afraid 🙂

  66. I very much enjoyed this one. The theme was a big help! And I thought I had solved it completely. However, my 14A was MIRAMAR (which is a film), with MIR (space station) being the flyer, A, and MAR(vellous) fitting the rest of the wordplay. It gave me AWED for 16D A (article) and WED (describing 2 3 and 4 11). Disappointing to find on one of the rare occasions I complete the puzzle I had two mistakes!

  67. I felt I had to take part in this, if only to speak up for P.S. as E.R. in Alan Bennett’ “A Question of Attribution”, so much more humorous than he many other Queens. I must admit to have failed on that clue’s subtly inserted VR/ER. Sybil was, sadly, my dear wife’s name and so one of the Tower’s jokes was a bit wasted in our household. Thanks for a splendid crossword and blog. Azed once used Prunella in a missing letter puzzle- sorry I can’t work out a link.

  69. Thanks to Puck for kindly providing more than one way to solve some of the obscurities – I watch very little TV and particularly avoid adverts – and thanks also to Andrew for unlocking the parsings, many of which I came nowhere near. ER/VR, SLOTH & LIBRA were a stretch too far for me, though the solutions were clear enough.

  70. Thanks Andrew. It’s certainly a coincidence that you blogged that one. I had spotted 2160 which has Prunella in a clue but the one I am referring to was a special , some variant of Letters Latent, with the letters of the name scattered across the diagram. As a non-competition it is probably lost in the Observer archives and missing from “andlit”.

  71. Alistair @60 it was horde not hoard. Is that different?
    Just popped back to see if anyone knew where name DOTTY came from…advertiser PR I suppose… and to point out the irony of Prunella Scales advertising Tesco (after) Sainsbury had hit rock bottom with J Cleese shouting at viewers to buy their stuff.

  72. Thanks Andrew, I missed nearly all of those indirect hiddens (also thanks and well spotted Castiron) and only got CANAL because of its positioning in the grid, now explained I agree that it is a belter. This took all day and into the evening, on and off, but very satisfying despite a number of question marks now explained, thanks Puck and great to see him back.

  74. Had no idea we had not enjoyed Puck for over a year! Re WordPlodder @11 – is an eagle at a par 4 really less common than at a par 3? I would have thought the shot to the green was generally shorter on a par 4 than a par 3 and therefore more likely to drop in the hole – maybe a hole-in-one is just more acknowledged because you have to get the beer in 🙂

  75. [Giles @74
    All (three) of my eagles have been at par 4s. I’ve only seen 3 holes-in-one, and each time I was giving my opponent a shot, so even following him in, I would have lost the hole!]

  76. I’m American, got the theme but didn’t know of the reference in 8. Happy to learn it, as the solution itself seemed a bit indelicate (a la paddymelon@12). Surely not intended by Puck.

  77. Not my type of crossword, I’m afraid, but it appears I’m in the minority. Too many contrived clues, and no feeling of satisfaction in reading how to parse the solutions.

  78. muffin @75 – you sort of confirm my gut feeling – and well done with three eagles. I wonder if there is any satistics on this?

  79. wynsum@44. Thank you for highlighting the references to AMSND. I now see this puzzle in two parts, as a celebration of Prunella Scales’ birthday and possibly Puck’s ‘rebirth’ as a setter? Wonderful. Best wishes to them both.

  81. Fun puzzle for me. Just delighted to see Puck’s name on the top of this crossword. Thanks to him and Andrew.

  82. Thanks for the blog, Andrew, certainly needed help with the parsing on a few here. Found this seriously tough and only finished it this morning.

    And thanks and welcome back to Puck. Lots to enjoy here, as already mentioned by others in depth.

  83. Prunella is mentioned in John Halpern’s book as a cruciverbalist. Lovely tribute to a great actor.

  84. Tough one for me. The hidden inserts like libra were new devices to me.
    I’d welcome an explanation of “thy” for “old solver”

  85. truenorthbit@84. In cryptic crossword land, solver is you, setter is me or I, from the perspective of the setter, which you may have known. The way I read it, ‘thy’ is clued by old solver’s , the possessive form of the old word for you.

  86. Lovely to have a tribute to the delightful Prunella Scales, and a first rate puzzle with it.
    Favourite was probably JOURNEYS – the book of the series, BTW, is lovely, even though at some points the person who selected and captioned some of the photographs appears to have been half asleep.
    I had been puzzled by 22d and had thought 3d was a bit weak – thanks to Andrew for explaining why both of them are very clever and sound clues. And thanks to Puck for a most enjoyable crossword.

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