Guardian Prize 28,817 by Picaroon

49 comments on “Guardian Prize 28,817 by Picaroon”

1. I enjoyed this although it took a while. My last few were in the NW.

   Didn’t parse POLARIS.

   Several made me simile including: MIASMA, BROUHAHA (both lovely words), KNEE JERK, PLAYER, GARFUNKEL

   Thanks Picaroon and bridgesong

2. Thank bridgesong. I worked my way steadily through this, until I came to the SE corner and found myself at a grinding halt. As others have experienced, I needed to put it aside for a few hours and then most of the answers quickly revealed themselves. 23d had me in despair, five letters beginning with A and ending in Y probably with an E in there didn’t leave many choices and a Google search for Bob Monkhouse was no help so it was quite a relief when the ingenuity of the clue dawned on me. LOI was 24a, a term I’d never heard of, I guessed the word ended in ‘buster’ but it took much too long for the first and third letters to be placed.

3. Well that was soon done. But who guessed Art Garfunkel was a song-writer? Reminds me of that radio interview of Paul Simon when the DJ was the only person who didn’t know Art didn’t write any of their stuff.
   Thanks both

4. I found this quite challenging, but highly enjoyable and with some very good clues. My last in was BONKBUSTER, a word I haven’t met before but gettable thanks to that imaginative wordplay, with BONKER meaning ‘mostly crazy’.

   GARFUNKEL was another highlight (‘Art of songwriting’), and I also ticked KNEE-JERK, ABBEY, THUS and LONG JOHNS.

   Thanks to Picaroon and bridgesong.

5. Art Garfunkel is a famous singer, but not noted for being a songwriter, so could the definition be “Art of song”? The clue is then a lift-and-separate, with “writing shown by…” etc being the wordplay – ?

   My favourites were all the M-clues – MADONNA, MOTOWN, MIASMA and MANURE!

   Nice to see EILEEN at 26a.

   Many thanks Picaroon and bridgesong.

6. Pickers in witty form, I thought. Liked the born idiot and the distressed pangolins, but Perry Como or Tony Bennet covering Lead Belly would be shocking indeed! Bonkbuster, a fun if rather banal ‘wordplay’, was a nho. And I see your soon-to-be ex-PM is still good for fodder. All good fun, ta PnB.

7. Some came right away, some were blocked for ages, but I loved ’em all. Particularly liked GARFUNKEL, BALI, ORKNEY. Some clever hidden caesuras in BONKBUSTER, MIASMA and IMMORAL. A fine, fine puzzle.

8. BONKBUSTER was a new one for me as well, although we now have a Bonk Ban in the Australian parliament.
   Favourites for me were MOTOWN which brought back pleasant memories of my yoof, MIASMA (for Ma’s Ma), ABBEY (for Monk-house) and especially GARFUNKEL for the deceptive Art.

9. Lovely puzzle. I thought ABBEY was great. Thanks bridgesong and Picaroon.

10. 26a EILEEN is definitely my favourite clue (and of course a firm favourite as a blogger)! Several other good clues that I ticked have already been cited above, to which I would like to add 8d COCKTAIL PARTY and 6d CORRODE. Fine fare from Picaroon! Thanks to him for the challenge (it took me a fair while to figure it all out), and also to bridgesong for a great blog.

11. Was lucky to (almost) do this slickly in a threesome on a perfect summer evening in the Scottish Borders. Great wit from Picaroon: with many neat clues/ideas. No external aids needed for once. But BONKBUSTER didn’t yield until last night when the penny finally dropped that “mostly crazy” might be BONKER. Great thanks, Picaroon. Thanks bridgesong too.

12. Art Garfunkel is credited as a songwriter on a 2003 album.

13. Double tick for ABBEY, and I’ve never heard the word Bonkbuster used in conversation!

14. Lord Jim @5 (and Crispy) is very generous re GARFUNKEL, but I suspect our setter was having a Balti moment – from Birmingham or Baltistan, either way it ain’t India 😉

    While I’m picking nits, what’s “that fellow’s” doing in 1d? (would normally translate to HIS/HIM, not MAN?)

    Bridgesong, I think the MM in IMMORAL is indicated by ‘marks twice’ – I’m assuming M = mark(s) is in some dictionaries as an abbreviation for the currency? – though as far as I’m aware it hasn’t been used since the demise of the East German Mark in 1990.

    TERMAGANT has a strange history. For some reason I always think it’s a bird – maybe a cross between a ptarmigan and a cormorant?

    Nitpicks aside, I agree this was a typically enjoyable offering from Picaroon. Favourites KNEE-JERK and LONG JOHNS – and EILEEN, ça va de soi. Thanks P & B.

15. essexboy @14: yes, Chambers has m = mark or marks. Thanks for the link to the interesting article about TERMAGANT.

    I think you’ve misunderstood the parsing of MADONNA. It’s not “that fellow” where “that” is used as an adjective. Instead, “that” is being used as a pronoun: replace it with “which” and you’ll see what I mean.

16. Thanks bridgesong – sorry about ‘that’ – nitpick withdrawn

17. Enjoyed this as I always enjoy a Picaroon and we have been treated a bit of late. Did not know BONKBUSTER and, now I’ve learned it, can happily forget it again. Thanks for the link, eb: as one who grew up enjoying occasional trips to the Balti Triangle in Birmingham, I would prefer to subscribe to the Midlands origin theory. I rather feel the Baltistan alternative is one of convenience, latching onto the fact there happens to be a Pakistani province of that name and, effectively, backparsing. But I have also learned the need to exhibit extreme caution if querying a Picaroon puzzle; he may know things I don’t. It did not stop me from working out the answer. PLAINSONG my favourite from this.

    Thanks Picaroon and bridgesong

18. Echo the plaudits above and the quibble about GARFUNKEL being a songwriter. I thought ABBEY was brilliant.

    Ta Picaroon & bridgesong

19. Customary excellence from Picaroon, with a few still worthy of a tick for standing above the generally high standard: ABBEY for using both BoB and Monkhouse; GARFUNKEL (no Paul Simon, but he wrote some songs, so the quibble is rejected in my view); CORK because I like the device: and IMMORAL for the misdirection.

    I didn’t spot A DAM, so thought it was the weakest clue (still do actually).

    As with the recent puzzle containing a few Star Trekky solutions – but not enough for a theme, by general consent – I wondered if there were enough music-related answers to constitute a theme this time:
    MOTOWN
    (Rock’n’)ROLL-UP
    ADAM (and the Ants)
    PLAINSONG
    (Come On) EILEEN
    PLAYER
    MADONNA
    TEMPI
    LONG JOHNS (Baldry)
    GARFUNKEL
    ABBEY (Road)

    It isn’t a theory I would push too hard, and some stretching and squinting is required to see it, so I’ll Let It Be.

    Thanks Picaroon, and bridgesong (who better to blog a clue about the singer of Bridge Over Troubled Water, possibly Art’s finest achievement even if he didn’t write it?)

20. My note at the bottom of the puzzle last Saturday was ‘what a boring and disappointing puzzle after yesterday’s delight.’ If I remember correctly, the ‘yesterday’ was Enigmatist’s wonderful puzzle.
    Thanks to bridgesong, though.

21. Very enjoyable. I sort of knew, but failed to get BONKBUSTER – for which the early crossers suggested some far less printable possibilities! I didn’t quite parse COCKTAIL PARTY because had the “end piece” as just TAIL and then couldn’t account for PART.

    Thanks essexboy@14 for the history of the ptermagant!

22. 25a totally defeated me, and 9a/7d not parsed, but my best to date on a Picaroon puzzle.
    🙂

23. Blanchflower — I was going to add WASHOUT as a surfer song, but a web search shows it was Wipeout. Close but no cigar!

24. I’m almost ashamed to say that I had no problem with BONKBUSTER – surprised to find it wasn’t more widely known. It’s perhaps a bit dated but used to refer to books by Jilly Cooper and Jackie Collins et al – I hasten to add I haven’t read any.

    I share my top favourites with Bridgesong and others: MIASMA, GARFUNKEL and ABBEY – but I had a few more ticks as well.

    Many thanks to Picaroon and Bridgesong.

25. Tenuous excuses part 2. Could you argue that the Balti predates partition and was thus from India? I think the etymology has to do with the bucket-like vessel it was cooked in. I enjoyed the puzzle, the blog and the history of the termagant.

26. Thanks Picaroon and bridgesong

    I think the parsing of 16 is even more straightforward: ‘either end of creek’ is C OR K.

27. Lord Jim @5 that would make it one of those awful Guardianistic word-collisions, which I don’t think P would do.

    Good puzzle. NHO BONKBUSTER, which must have been a temptation to clue differently.

28. Another good ‘un from Picaroon.

    I liked MADONNA for the wordplay, and GARFUNKEL and ABBEY for the definitions. Thanks to Simon S @26 for the explanation of CORK, which I failed to parse.

    Thanks Picaroon and bridgesong.

29. Yep ditto re cork, Simon S.

30. Anna @ 20
    I enjoyed this but, as I usually do with Enigmatist, found the previous day’s puzzle more of a chore than a delight even though I felt a sense of achievement on completing it.
    There’s no accounting for tastes.

31. We enjoyed this very much, thanks Picaroon and bridgesong. GARFUNKEL was my favourite despite Mr SR pointing out that Art generally wasn’t a song writer.

    I’ve definitely come across the term BONKBUSTER (also known as “Sex and Shopping” books and a ruder term – that I doubt would find its way into the crossword – made by adding a letter to “literature”).
    I’m quite happy to say I’ve read all of Jilly Cooper’s oeuvre, the odd Judith Krantz and at least one Jackie Collins.
    There’s actually a lot of general knowledge to be gleaned from the Jilly Cooper books, particularly to do with horses and music, and she’s obviously very well read herself as a lot of quotations get dropped in as well. She’s also edited a couple of poetry anthologies.
    I don’t think they’ve corrupted me too much* and haven’t stopped me reading and appreciating more traditionally approved of literature as well.
    Mind you, I’d also heard of the author Adele Parkes who cropped up in a crossword a while back (think it was a Guardian one) and caused a bit of grumbling.

    *Perhaps best I don’t check out Mr SR’s opinion on this…

32. The clue to ABBEY prompts me to mention what I consider to be Bob Monkhouse’s finest joke: “They laughed when I said I wanted to be a comedian – well, they’re not laughing now!”

33. Thank you Picaroon and bridgesong. GARFUNKEL was my favorite, for the cleverly disguised “Art.”

34. Thanks Picaroon for an excellent prize. My top choices were INDIGO, KNEE-JERK, LONG JOHNS, COCKTAIL PARTY, GARFUNKEL, and MANURE. I needed a word finder for BONKBUSTER, a new term for me and for some inexplicable reason I couldn’t parse MADONNA, so obvious now. Thanks Bridgesong for the blog.

35. Well, pace Anna, I mostly enjoyed this. The clue for 22a raised a smile, as the name we used in childhood for our mother’s mother was indeed Mama. Does anyone remember Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In? They had many characters with joke names, like Henry Gibson and the twins, Simon and Gar Farkle. Well, I was young enough to find them funny anyway.

    I failed on 24a, though I was tempted to write in a deliberate wrong answer when the crossers were _O_K_U_ _ _R, which turned out to be not too far from the correct answer. (Apologies to anyone who, on getting what I’m getting at, might find it offensive.) Subsequently solving 8d made this impossible, of course.

    Thanks to Picaroon, and a special mention to bridgesong @32 for the reminder about Bob Monkhouse’s finest joke. 🙂

36. Sheffield Hatter@35, I remember the Laugh In – we used to rerun the lines we found funniest on the train to school on the following Monday. I believe Henry Gibson provided the poems. Goldie Hawn was also a regular (for ‘sock it to me time”?).

    Might be why I preferred this to the Enigmatist – too hard for me but I would be happy to have another go, having had the benefit of the blog.

37. Simon S@26. Yes, that’s how I parsed CORK. I liked it.

38. Just to add a quibble no one has mentioned: can’t a fellow be female?

39. For some reason it took me over a week to solve this, but should not have done. I definitely thought there was a music theme and that helped with some clues, so I agree with 1961Blanchflower @ 19. Favourites were LONG JOHNS for the N G PM and ABBEY, which was a brilliant clue. TimC @8, not heard of the Bonk Ban, but assume it means what it says…. Many thanks to Picaroon for the challenge and to bridgesong for the blog and the joke.

40. Took me a while as well, but finished it today with a bit of help from a word-filler. Didn’t understand all of the answers until I checked the site, but all made sense in the end. Good puzzle. Some well-crafted clues.

41. I still can’t parse 16a. Either is ‘OR’ fine – and either end of creek is ‘CK’ but in either end of creek says to me OCKR not CORK

42. Stefano @41
    Simon S @26 has explained CORK the way I saw it too: ‘either end of creek’ is simply ‘C OR K’, written exactly like that but joined up.

43. Thanks to Bridgesong and Picaroon. I was another who failed to make much headway initially, put it down for the best part of 24 hours and then fairly raced through it on picking it up again. BONKBUSTER was also my LOI after a lot of thought. It should not have been though, because the term used to appear regularly in the Guardian in days gone by when one of the regular humorous columns was the (spoof) diary of a wannabe author struggling to write just such a work. Can any of you actual Guardian readers on here remember this ? It has to have been a good twenty years ago.

44. Alan B @42
    Thanks the penny has now dropped!

45. [sheffield hatter@35 and TimSee@36. Yes, I remember Rowan + Martin. Puns at pace. “It may be a plug to you but it’s a … altogether now … socket to me”. Maybe that’s one we students in Sheffield made up at the time.]

46. Great puzzle. It’s all been said, so I won’t say more.

    [SH@35, I think you must be quite a bit older than me or you were a precocious child. I well remember R &M’s Laugh-in, but it was only very recently that it occurred to me that Henry Gibson is a play on Henrik Ibsen. (Very funny … but shtoopid!). Not sure I’d even heard of Ibsen when I was a Laugh-in fan.]

47. Thanks Picaroon and bridgesong. Great.
    And thanks Tony @46. I was very puzzled as to where the pun is in Henry Gibson, until you spelt it out. I feel much better now!

48. Cheers, Graham.

    Henry Gibson’s Nazi officer jamming on the riff “Very interesting — but schtupid”:

    https://youtu.be/_SVSak1oBCw

49. Oh no! That wasn’t Henry Gibson but Arte Johnson, I realised watching this, the story of how they (nearly?) all died:

    https://youtu.be/UmL_PrfXC_U

Comments are closed.