Guardian Prize 28,853 / Paul

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A reasonably stiff challenge from Paul, which I found very satisfying to unravel – a worthy Prize puzzle, more like the old days.

I really can’t remember when I last enjoyed a Paul puzzle so much – and against all the odds, to be honest. On a first read through, apart from some gifts like 10ac, 24ac/dn and 21 down, many of the clues looked fairly impenetrable and, if anyone had told me the theme before I started, I would never have dreamed that I could find it interesting.

My way in was 26ac: the definition and enumeration immediately suggested the correct answer but that looked like a pretty unpromising set of letters for any wordplay. However, I wrote down the letters, spotted the amount of money and the rest fell into place. It took a bit of googling but I really enjoyed teasing out the threads of the theme (all explained here) – not to mention working out some knotty bits of parsing and some splendid anagrams.

My favourites were 9ac SPACE TOURISM, 11ac GARGANTUAN, 14ac SPION KOP, 17,19ac WILLIAM SHATNER, 2,3dn BLUE ORIGIN and 18dn ALEHOUSES.

Many thanks, Paul for an absorbing and enjoyable puzzle.

Definitions are underlined in the clues.

 

Across

8 Big jumper everyone in conflict loves (8)
WALLAROO
ALL (everyone) in WAR (conflict) + O O (loves – tennis scores)

9,4 Flights of fancy supremacist leader in organisation conjured up (5,7)
SPACE TOURISM
An anagram (conjured up) of SUPREMACIST + O[rganisation] – I liked the definition

10 Python having a snooze? (4)
IDLE
Double /cryptic definition, the first referring to Eric Idle

11 Harry: kid returning with barrel, having trapped a monster (10)
GARGANTUAN
A reversal (returning) of NAG (harry) + RAG (kid) then TUN (barrel) round (having trapped) A

12 Powerful woman, concern of 26’s rival in 9? (6)
AMAZON
Double definition, the second being this man, of course

14 Battle site a shade outside capital in Oman, inducement required to defend it (5,3)
SPION KOP
SOP (inducement) round (to defend) PINK (a shade) round O[man] – see here for the battle

15 Language student again taken in by a rogue (7)
ARABIST
BIS (again – Latin ‘twice’: in music scores, an indication to repeat a section) in A RAT (a rogue)

17,19 Wrinkly earthman is going after final wishes — did he boldly go? (7,7)
WILLIAM SHATNER
WILL (final wishes) + an anagram (wrinkly) of EARTHMAN IS – another clever anagram and a brilliant surface: I first thought &lit but that seemed rather rude – I then googled and checked that he’s even more wrinkly than I am, so I will stick my neck out for &lit:  here’s his connection to the theme

20 A criminal back into drugs, tried (3,1,4)
HAD A BASH
A reversal (back) of A BAD (criminal) in HASH (drugs)

22 26’s business, better returns in it (6)
SPACEX
A reversal (returns) of CAP (better) in SEX (it – here ‘it’ is again, after several comments during the last couple of weeks)

23 Company considered stocking hairpiece marked with parallel folds (10)
CORRUGATED
CO (company) + RATED (considered) round (stocking) RUG (slang for hairpiece)

24 Ring children’s character back (4)
HOOP
A reversal (back) of  (Winnie the) POOH (children’s character)

25 Moisten first of tissues that’s poked into bottom (5)
BASTE
T[issues] in BASE (bottom)

26 Rich man investing amount of money in country house after retirement (4,4)
ELON MUSK
A reversal (after retirement) of SUM (amount of money) in KNOLE (this eminent country house) – and here’s the rich man

 

Down

1 Upset on sea, wretched mostly — so it is! (3,2,3)
MAL DE MER
A reversal (upset) of RE (on) + MED[iterranean] (sea) + LAM[e] (wretched) – &lit: inexplicably, one of my last entries  –  so simple really, if you followed the instructions in the first three crossword staple words; I spent a few minutes toying with [w]retched!

2,3,,Down payment raised in company owned by 26’s rival in 9 (4,6)
BLUE ORIGIN
BLUE (down) + a reversal (raised) of GIRO (payment) + IN –  see 12ac

5 Country Spain hit in India (8)
ESWATINI
E (Spain) + SWAT (hit) + IN + I (India)
Once again, watching ‘Pointless’ has proved a help: ESWATINI is the former Swaziland, renamed in 2018

6 Constable country, with criminal stealing two articles? (4,6)
EAST ANGLIA
An anagram (criminal) of STEALING A A (two articles)

7 Flipping old story ending in wedding — that’s sweet (6)
GELATO
A reversal (flipping) of O (old) TALE (story) + [weddin]G

13 Lazy as grazers munching top of bush, variegated plant (5,5)
ZEBRA GRASS
An anagram (lazy? – I queried this but found ‘lazily’ in Chambers’ list of indicators, so I’m happy with it, for the great anagram of AS GRAZERS round B[ush] – well named: this is what it looks like

16 Shimmering bridge shown after opening of gate
SPANGLED
SPAN (bridge) + LED (shown – as in to one’s seat, for example) after G[ate]

18 Local river south of a lake, did you say, for example (8)
ALEHOUSE
OUSE (river) after (south of, in a down clue) A L (lake) + EH (did you say?)

21 A second US president arising, primitive life form (6)
AMOEBA
A MO (second) + a reversal (arising) of ABE (US president)

22 I had put in crooked nose, laterally (4-2)
SIDE-ON
I’D (I had) in an anagram (crooked) of NOSE

24 It’s a song, that man said (4)
HYMN
Sounds like (said) ‘him’ (that man)

33 comments on “Guardian Prize 28,853 / Paul”

  1. Saw IDLE straight away and that helped me get MAL DE MER (though couldn’t parse it). Then since in the paper version 26ac was just beside that and it was rich man 4,4 – had to be ELON MUSK (again couldn’t parse it) but after that getting related clues was not so hard. Not sure WILLIAM SHATNER would like his description.

    But I think my favourite was AMOEBA and I liked SPION KOP which I had never heard of.

    Thanks Paul and Eileen

  2. I honestly thought this was a bit dull, and was surprised to see SPACE in two of the answers, which put me off getting the NE corner as I was convinced SPACE wouldn’t appear twice!

  3. Don’t really follow Musk and Bezos shenanigans but easy to confirm my guesswork. No controversies in this one.

    Thanks Paul and Eileen.

  4. As with Ant @2 the duplication of SPACE threw me off, but then figured Paul likes to cross us up. Can imagine him smiling. I did enjoy it and got the theme for a change.
    Frustration was waiting in vain for it to appear on line, but, thanks to a link included by a solver, was able to print it off a couple of days late.

  5. I thought this was a lot of fun – a little difficult getting going, but then it opened up. Like Mark@4, initially hesitant to put in the second SPACE, but I reconciled it as a kind of double bluff.

    I’m a bit loath to take issue with Eileen regarding the &littishness of WILLIAM SHATNER, but as the wordplay stops at the dash I don’t think it can be. Some call this style an extended definition. A very good clue, regardless of what you call it.

  6. I eventually got ELON MUSK but failed to parse it (never heard of Knole) and also had a question mark against “lazy” as an anagrind. When yo say Chambers Eileen, is that the on-line version? It wasn’t in the list I use at times.
    Favourite was SPION KOP only because it was familiar to me from football

  7. Late start for me due to the delayed online release. Only finished this morning after much googling. Didn’t help that I threw VIRGIN into 12! All good fun though, especially the wrinkly earthman space tourist.
    Thanks Eileen and Paul.

  8. Ditto re the ‘shenanigans’, ttt @3. [I hope they’re not supremacists, and I do wish these boy wonder tycoons would help save the planet rather than blasting rich bleeps into space just for fun. Sigh]

    Anyhoo, lots of stretch for the old brain last Saturday (well mid-week when it turned up). Needed help for Spion Kop, only vaguely remembered that Shatner was Kirk and had recently rocketed (grr), looked up Knole (looks fab), didn’t parse mal de mer, and got Eswatini wrong and put Dragon instead of Origin. Pretty scrappy effort. [Hope the Freo Dockers do better tonight]. Ah well, thanks PnE [or Peony, as eb quipped].

  11. Many thanks Eileen for explaining MAL DE MER. My thanks too to the online advisor as to where the puzzle could be found. [Needed a good wrestle this week with a planning appeal to fret about in the CHOL of Choldunk. So this puzzle was almost perfect.] I’ll remember BASTE. Had about eight clues holding out. Light switched off thinking about an alternative 4-letter synonym for bottom, hoping NOT to get the answer before sleep arrived. Sadly, I failed again!

    SPANGLED a favourite. Resorted to a cheat for ESWATINI to end searching for a generic word for an Islamic country to fit SLAM rather than SWAT. Great thanks, Paul.

  12. The late appearance (it turned up on the app on Monday) meant I didn’t really get started on this until yesterday, when I had some time on a tube. I spotted the theme early on with ELON MUSK and SPACEX. A DNF for me in the north east corner, and very irritating as I’d recognised the anagram fodder in 9/4D, just not found pen and paper to unscramble it (again I wasn’t sure I’d have entered SPACE twice). Even more kicking myself for ESWATINI, which I just couldn’t call to mind, even after teaching myself the countries of the world on Sporcle, and GELATO – I’d even thought TALE up when staring at it in frustration. Not sure I’d have solved SPION KOP without research as have never heard of it, to my shame, as two of my great-uncles died in the Boer War. (I’m still trying to research family myth from reality for my grandfather’s World War 1 and 2 service in Mesopotamia and Africa, myth had it he served in the Somme.)

    Thank you Eileen and Paul.

  13. It’s always nice to have a Paul prize isn’t it? It was as enjoyable as it could be even if it resisted towards the end; I didn’t quite finish it. It was the possible confusion with Virgin and Branson that did it for me. Not sure what else to say about it so will leave it there.

    Thanks Paul and Eileen

  14. I’ve been following SPACEX and BLUE ORIGIN (although mostly through an interest in what NASA is doing) so I saw what the very neat WILLIAM SHATNER clue was about, and once I got ELON MUSK all the other themed clues dropped out quickly. “Flights of fancy” was a fine description of SPACE TOURISM. I’m another who couldn’t parse MAL DE MER, so thanks for the explanation, Eileen. I vaguely remembered ESWATINI, although at first I mis-entered it as ‘Es-bat-in-i’, which did fit the wordplay, and only caught the error when I tried to check up on this non-existent country. So I found that easier than most of Paul’s, but only because the theme was familiar. Thanks, Paul.

  15. Agree, Eileen, a bit of a toughie. I managed about three- quarters of this, without being able to parse many of those. GARGANTUAN, CORRUGATED, MAL DE MER, SPANGLED, and ALEHOUSE (a good clue for an excellent word) did not drop. Thanks to Paul, as ever, for the challenge and enjoyment, and to Eileen for the many elucidations.

  16. Tim C @6
    It was the Chambers Crossword Dictionary – the first time I’ve used it. It’s not long since I bought it and I keep forgetting I’ve got it!

  17. I agree this wa an absorbing and enjoyable puzzle. WILLIAM SHATNER was my favourite of several good clues. ELON MUSK was quite easy for me: Knole is just ‘down the road’ from where I live and is a lovely place to visit – it is one of a relatively small number of National Trust properties in Kent (for its size).

    ESWATINI was tough because I have never seen that name before – I was surprised to find that the name (Swaziland) was changed more than four years ago.

    The ‘flights of fancy’ (SPACE TOURISM) was a neat clue. Interesting that COME UPSTAIRS is an alternative anagram for it.

    Thanks to Paul and Eileen.

  19. I was clean-bowled by the SPION KOP googly but always happy to extend my GK

    This definitely felt like a proper prize to me. Not 100% convinced by MAL-DE-MER but hey ho

    Cheers all

  20. My FOI was ELON MUSK, so I got the theme straight away, without knowing much about the ‘’shenanigans’. WILLIAM SHATNER was my stand out clue and I concur with Eileen’s &lit. Like Tim C @6, I was shamefully only aware of Anfield’s SPION KOP. (Loved the article Eileen). Fab puzzle apart from having to reveal ESWATINI.

    Ta Paul & Eileen for the super blog.

  21. Thanks Paul and Eileen. This all filled in relatively quite swiftly, for me, except ESWATINI, SPION KOP and ARABIST, which remained unsolved to the end. I hadn’t heard of any of them and didn’t know BIS.

  22. I only tackled this today, having missed it due to its late appearance, and have now decided that I might stick with being a week out as it means I can join the discussion straight away rather than waiting a week 🙂

    I found this surprisingly straightforward for a Paul, so maybe I know too much about mad billionaires. The doubling up of SPACE was a bit odd but both were clearly correct so I went with it. I admit that ESWATINI and SPION KOP needed a little googular help to confirm. A few parsings eluded me until I got here, but that’s normal for me.

    Excellent work both, thank you.

  23. For MAL DE MER, I saw MER for sea, then [b]EDLAM upset on that (bedlam being ‘the wretched’?, -ish) I liked the construction so much I didn’t worry about the obvious difficulties.

  24. Mostly enjoyable but needed Google for 22a, which I had forgotten, and 6d, which I never knew. I remembered that one of the southern African countries had changed its name and it began with E ( which I had got from Spain) then stumbled on the answer while looking for ESLAMINI.
    Thanks to Paul and Eileen

  25. Thanks Paul and Eileen.

    I enjoyed this in spite of a dnf due to ESWATINI which was news to me so a very interesting TILT. But I had a big (rare for Paul) X against Spacex which for me stretches the definition of general knowledge – so another TILT but not even vaguely interesting.

    That you could parse MAL DE MER re-confirms for me, Eileen, why you are there and I am here.

  26. Eileen and Fiona Anne@1, WILLIAM SHATNER has a wonderfully self-deprecating sense of humour, so I think he would guffaw at the “wrinkly earthman” definition in 17,19. That was my favourite clue.

    My deficient GK defeated me with the crossing African place names at 14a (SPION KOP) and 5d (ESPANINI), and I needed Eileen’s always spot-on help with the parsing of several other clues. So, a learning experience DNF for me this week. Thanks Paul for the lesson, and Eileen for the excellent elucidations.

  27. I got stuck for a while after the first few easy clues, like Eileen and some others. Paul’s puzzles are usually logical, so I stuck with it. Got there in the end except for ESWATINI. The letters had to be correct. The word finder didn’t help, and I didn’t want to spend time searching for the country. I didn’t use word finders for anything else. Just a few answers that I did not fully understand. A good puzzle.

  28. Thank you to Paul for a superb themed puzzle, and Eileen for an excellent blog post.

    40 years ago, I had a classmate who was from Swaziland. I regret to say that I never took the time to learn anything about his country. This week, after spending a few moments learning nothing about Eslamini, I was surprised to learn that my former classmate’s homeland is now called Eswatini.

    Regarding the duplication of “SPACE”. Ordinarily it would be bad form, but it is a consequence of the theme. SPACE TOURISM is the right name for what they are doing (and carries a hint of raised eyebrow, as does the whole puzzle with its talk of rich man rivalry), and the company names are what they are. I do appreciate that it can throw off a careful solver who has come to expect that good crosswords should not contain duplications. I am rarely at risk of this, because I forget the answers to clues almost as soon as I have solved them.

    The question of what constitutes “general knowledge” will surely never be answered to everyone’s satisfaction. In California, one can watch SpaceX launches and randomly meet people who turn out to work there. Meanwhile, the Artemis program is increasingly in the public eye.

    I wasn’t sure about “big jumper” for WALLAROO, since my understanding is that wallaroos are the intermediate-sized macropods. Still, if one of them jumped out at me on a dark road, it would probably seem big enough to be big.

  29. Girabra @28: wrt to the big jumper, I think Paul’s defence is clearly in Chambers:

    wallaroo /wol-?-roo?/
    noun
    A large kangaroo, Macropus robustus

  30. Excellent puzzle. Thanks to Anna on General Discussion for the link to the pdf version, which, despite lack of printer, I was able to use for the clues and for a template to reconstruct the grid in Crossword Compiler, allowing me to get a reasonably early start on the puzzle.

    Surely 9ac, 4 is & lit, too? (If arranging joyrides in space for millionaires isn’t supremacism, I don’t know what is!).

    5ac I wouldn’t have known ESWATINI if it hadn’t been the subject of one of the Guardian’s cluing competitions. (Winning clue from Lizard — aka Don Manley: “Disgusting waistline! – must lose pounds! – state for a few years now!”. Anyone who’s met him knows this is also &lit 🙂 )

    Loved 15ac, ARABIST, being one!

    Dr Whatson@5: aka ‘semi &lit’

    Alan@17: COME UPSTAIRS was a brilliant find! So appropriate, too.

    Great joke from peculiar punster Milton Jones:

    If Elon Musk is ever involved in a scandal, will it be called ‘Elongate’?

  31. Thinking about it, “&lit” is not the right way to describe the connection between ‘the Don’ and his clue, but you know what I mean!

  32. ESWATINI appeared in another Paul crossword a couple of years ago, as well as the competition mentioned by Tony @30, and I’ve made an effort to remember it, helped by the fact that one of the Leeds Rhinos players is a native of that country, though he’s got a pretty strong Yorkshire accent, having been raised in Halifax.

    I had no memory of BLUE ORIGIN, and the wordplay wasn’t very helpful, in my opinion. (I followed the Gemini and Apollo missions avidly as a child, but I’m afraid that obscenely rich men playing at spacemen leaves me cold.) I bunged in BLUE DRAGON, which I think is a brand of soy sauce, so I had to Google it in the end, which I count as a dnf, and then reverse parse it (not impressed with ‘in’ in the clue=IN in the grid)

    Thanks to Paul and Eileen.

  33. SH@32, that puzzle had AMAZON, too!

    I thought the “in” in the clue for BLUE ORIGIN was cunningly deceptive as it has the right position to be the linkword it often plays the part of.

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