Guardian Prize 29,135 / Tramp

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I found this a tough solve – Tramp is great at finding synonyms that I wouldn’t think of! – but a satisfying puzzle to work at. Thanks, Tramp! (There are a couple of clues (20, 25) I can’t parse, I’m afraid, but I’m some of you can help with those.)

Across

1, 21. Thong? Ace bum’s out with it? (7,7)
BATHING COSTUME
(THONG ACE BUM’S IT)*
Definition: The whole clue (an &lit)

5. Designer pen at front of table (7)
STYLIST
STY = “pen” + LIST = “table”
Definition: “Designer”

10. Marry and look after prince (4)
PAIR
AIR = “look” (as in to have a certain air/look) after P = “prince”
Definition: “Marry”

11. Growing space in new fancy shoe you picked up (10)
GREENHOUSE
GREEN = “new” + (SHOE)* around U = “you picked up” (“picked up” as in “heard”, indicating a homophone)
Definition: “Growing space”

12. Plain top on secretary (6)
PATENT
TENT = “top” (as in the big top at a circus) on PA = “secretary”
Definition:

13. Leaks and passes water over a long time (8)
SEEPAGES
PEES = “passes water” reversed (“over”) + AGES = “a long time”
Definition: “Leaks”

14. John Stones tackling back for Everton: they’re unsettled (5,4)
LOOSE ENDS
LOO = “John” followed by SEEDS = “Stones” around [everto]N = “back for Everton”
Definition:

16. They might tweet sentence then add a second (5)
BIRDS
BIRD = “sentence” (as in jail time) + S = “second”
Definition: “They might tweet”

17. Turned? Last bit in milk bottle (5)
SPUNK
SPUN = “Turned” + [mil]K = “Last bit in milk”
Definition: “bottle” (as in courage / confidence)

19. Short crisis meeting with European coming (9)
EMERGENCE
EMERGENC[y] = E = “European”
Definition: “coming”

23. Playing Rita Ora number one in club (8)
ROTARIAN
(RITA ORA N)* (the N is from number)
Definition: “one in club”

24. Somewhat like a vehicle to go up in smoke? (6)
VANISH
Somewhat like a van might be VAN-ISH
Definition: “to go up in smoke?”

26. Clear company’s short of securing old web address (10)
COLOURLESS
CO = “company” + LESS = “short of” around O = “old” + URL “web address”
Definition: “Clear”

27. Puma ultimately protecting paw (4)
MAUL
Hidden in [pu]MA UL[timately]
Definition: “paw”

28. Hacked off with demanding daughter (7)
SEVERED
SEVERE = “demanding” + D = “daughter”
Definition: “Hacked off”

29. Barred one parking next to front of entrance in road behind street (7)
STRIPED
I = “one” + P = “parking” + E[ntrance] = “front of entrance” in RD = “road”, all after ST = “street”
Definition: “Barred”

Down

2. Without starter for korma, a pakora is served when eating hot Indian (7)
ARAPAHO
(A PAORA)* around H = “hot” – the anagram fodder is A PAKORA without K = “starter for korma”
Definition: “Indian”

3. Water collecting in river bay? (5)
HORSE
HOSE = “Water” (as a verb) around R = “river”
Definition: “bay?”

4. Drink up? Husband to restrict habit for bedroom? (7)
NIGHTIE
GIN = “Drink” reversed (“up”) + H = “Husband” + TIE = “restrict’
Definition:

6. Sore foot of goat, one at the back (6)
TENDER
[goa]T = “foot of goat” + ENDER = “one at the back”
Definition: “Sore”

7. See one enjoy a double (4-5)
LOOK-A-LIKE
LOOK = “See” + A = “one” + LIKE = “enjoy”
Definition: “a double”

8. Fork out to cover American ground (7)
SUSPEND
SPEND = “Fork out” around US
Definition: “ground” – I guess as in to ground/suspend flights?

9. Way of treating bride, man needs to get excited (7,6)
BEDSIDE MANNER
(BRIDE MAN NEEDS)*
Definition: “Way of treating”

15. Grass and a flower on land (9)
SINGAPORE
SING = “Grass” + A + PORE = “flower” – I guess be sweat flows out of a pore? + PO = “flower” (the river Po, which flows…) + RE = “on” – Thanks to jkb_ing for that better parsing
Definition: “land”

18. Expert to position table (7)
PROPOSE
PRO = “Expert” + POSE = “position”
Definition: “table” (as in to table/propose a motion)

20. The King without large appeal after Queen? Come again? (7)
REVISIT
Sorry, I can’t parse this one Thanks to stuartr for being the first to explain: E[l]VIS = “The King without large” + IT = “appeal” all after R = “Queen”
Definition: “Come again?”

22. Gore and Republican getting into scrap (6)
PIERCE
R = “Republican” in PIECE = “scrap”
Definition: “Gore”

25. They hold water in bath, primarily: smallest amount comes over (5)
NIMBI
Sorry, I can’t parse this one – I guess it would be IMIN being “smallest amount”, somehow, reversed over B[ath] Thanks to tim the toffee for being the first to explain: I[n] B[ath] = “in bath, primarily” in MIN = “smallest amount” reversed
Definition: “They hold water”

72 comments on “Guardian Prize 29,135 / Tramp”

  1. 25 is IB from In Bath (primarily) plus MIN back
    I enjoyed this but can’t remember parsing of revisit
    Thanks both

  2. 20 – The King without large = E(l)vis + appeal = it after Queen = R

    25 I(n) B(ath) , primarily + smallest amount = min reversed

  5. “Tramp is great at finding synonyms that I wouldn’t think of!” Nor me. Got most of them eventually, including the brilliant “the King”

    Came back to this ten mins ago with 22dn and 28ac to go. Got PIERCE after a word search then just gave up on 28 and came here. Should have done word search on that one too; I would have got it.

    Tough puzzle.

  7. Yes to Tim the toffee and stuartr’s parsings. I enjoyed this one. Oddly, PAIR was my loi because although it could hardly be anything else I took a while to light upon the appropriate sense of “air”.

  8. Jkb@6, yes, that’s how I parsed it.

    I’m reminded that years ago, before blogs like this, I learnt, by studying published answers, that ‘grass’ could be ‘sing’ and vice versa. I assumed there was a type of “monocotyledonous plant of the family Poaceae” (to quote Collins) called ‘sing’. Solving this puzzle, I suddenly realized why they are synonyms. (They both mean ‘inform to the authorities’.)

  9. Jkb_ing @6 and TC @8 yes to SINGAPORE. I was so excited to get in first I didn’t look at anything except NIMBI and REVISIT. Haha

  10. ….and also forgot to celebrate another Everton reference with John Stones cleverly connected … though sadly no longer in a playing capacity.
    No wonder these posts go on forever!

  11. This was a real challenge for me and I enjoy it very much. It was satisfying going from total confusion to seeing the light and the clever wordplay. Thanks, Tramp.
    Favourites were the REVISIT from the appealing Elvis, HORSE and PAIR. The last two because they held out the longest but were elegant in their simplicity once the penny dropped. But the whole puzzle was like that really.

    Thank you mhl for your early blog. I agree with you about Tramp finding unusual synonyms. His mastery of misdirection is also awesome. All that talk of water in 3d and the answer is HORSE. Who’d a thunk it!! 🙂

  12. I took a while with this one but found it very rewarding. I really liked the “cheeky” BATHING COSTUME at 1a21d, as well as 17a SPUNK, 4d NIGHTIE and 9d BEDSIDE MANNER – all lots of fun. Thanks to Tramp for the tough work-out, to mhl for the blog, and to fellow solvers for your interesting remarks.

  13. I took awhile also, esp my loi PATENT as the answer was obvious but could not work out why tent = top; didn’t think of the circus. I was pleased to work out the parsing of REVISIT, which I hesitated to put in at first as could not see how it worked until I twigged to Elvis. Favs were BATHING COSTUME and BEDSIDE MANNER. Thanks to Tramp and mhm.

  14. Thanks Tramp for a proper prize. I needed a word finder for PATENT and HORSE but all else fell into place in a most satisfying manner. My top picks included SPUNK, REVISIT, and PIERCE. Thanks mhl for the blog.

  15. Thanks for the blog , a really good puzzle with many misleading clues. I suppose a thong could be a BATHING COSTUME if you insist on being over-dressed. PATENT was very concise and sneaky, also SUSPEND in the same style. Many others have been mentioned.
    Very minor quibble , I do not like “in” for the clue for HORSE.

  16. It seems obvious now, but I could not wrap my head around the parsing of STYLIST, so thanks for clarifying. I got stuck on wanting it to be STYLUS + T[ABLE], but, of course, that is wrong. Very solid puzzle, as always from Tramp.

  18. Many thanks Tramp and mhl. A real hard workout but great clues and I got there by Thursday. [A relief after two prize DNFs.] Yes, Tramp is the king of misdirection.

    Thought of Tim the Toffee on seeing the John Stones clue. What wide knowledge [Tramp has] as well as cryptic wit and word power? SPUNK and SEEPAGES were Dunk’s favourites but a close-run contest.

  20. I agree with all the parsing above. This took some headscratching, so perfect for a prize puzzle. Roz@15 I have no problem with ‘collecting in’ meaning ‘taking in’ – the teacher was collecting in the books, for example.
    Thanks to Tramp for the excellent puzzle, and mhl for the ditto blog.

  21. Missing definitions: NIGHTIE bedroom habit (habit as in clothing); LOOSE ENDS they’re unsettled (as in plans). But NIMBI they hold water? Presumably from Cumulonimbus but I need a better dictionary to see if a nimbus is more than just one of those halos in a religious painting.

  22. Enjoyed this but took quite a while to get this and bunged in BIRDS at the end without seeing how to parse it. As others have said some very misleading definition resulting in aha moments.

    Liked: COLOURLESS, STRIPED, SINGAPORE

    Thanks both

  23. I agree with those who have highlighted the many instances of clever definitions in the clues (‘plain’ for PATENT, ‘sentence’ for BIRD, ‘the King’ for ELVIS, etc, etc). I had to leave and come back to this puzzle twice in order to complete it, my last attempt resulting in a flurry of answers at last coming out, proving how simple (!) and clear those clues really were.

    Many thanks to Tramp and mhl.

  24. I’m not usually too keen on Tramp’s puzzles, but this one was very enjoyable. And for once, the Saturday puzzle really was worthy of being a prize.
    Thanks Tramp. (And mhl).

  25. Well Charles from yesterday; I had to return to this on Sunday. I frequently manage The Prize in a sitting.
    Elvis as king, Ti’ve never agreed with that, took a while as did NiIMBI as waterholders. Overall a fine puzzle.
    Thanks both

  26. Thanks mhl. I saw ‘pore’ in 15d the same way as you but acknowledge jkb_ing @ 6 has a more elegant explanation. I also fell into the same trap as Cineraria @ 16 with 15a and this was LOI. A very good workout.

  29. Clouds of smoke don’t hold any water. NIMBI feels like a like someone’s suddenly using Latin. “You wait hours for a bus, then three bi come at once.”

  31. Nicbach @25.
    As one of those contributing to yesterday’s General Discussion about the difficulty (or lack of in recent prize puzzles), I’d agree that this was probably one of the more taxing ones. I say probably because I can never remember a week later how hard I found the previous one!

  34. This took me all week to complete! I kept grinding to a halt, putting it aside in frustration, then coming back later and suddenly twigging another answer or two.
    I like the blog’s diplomatic description of Tramp’s ability to find synonyms that others “wouldn’t think of!” I, for one, would be thinking for a very, very long time before coming up with SUSPEND as a synonym for ‘ground’.
    But then I suppose a Prize crossword has got to be fiendishly difficult, hasn’t it?
    I enjoyed COLOURLESS, HORSE and REVISIT (having started out thinking the king was R – then spotting old Elvis), whilst VANISH and NIMBI made me grin.
    Thanks to mhl for the blog and to Tramp for the challenge.

  35. A most enjoyable Prize puzzle.

    My favourites were 10ac PAIR, 26ac COLOURLESS, 9dn BEDSIDE MANNER, 20dn REVISIT and 22dn PIERCE.

    Many thanks to Tramp for a worthy challenge and to mhl for the blog.

  36. 5a: I can accept table = list in crossword land but as a recovering IT person I’m definitely against it.

    Thanks to mhl and Tramp.

  37. As others have said, tough but fair. That said, having guessed that the Indians were American but not knowing many tribes I had to check which of the six possible alternatives was correct for 2d. There was no clue in the wordplay. My son knows ARAPAHO from Ian Dury and the Blockheads’ 1978 hit “Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick” whatever that may be. I suspect that many fellow contributors will have that in their GK. My son can’t have been more than three when it came out and won’t have heard it at home out so it must have a lasting popularity.
    Thanks to Tramp and mhl

  38. I agree with Rosella2@11. Elegance with simplicity is Tramp’s trademark. A most enjoyable and satisfying solve.

    Lippi@36: I thought of a timetable, which is a list of times at which a bus is expected to arrive. One of Tramp’s least obscure synonyms, I thought.

    Badgerman@21. I simply accepted NIMBI as the plural for nimbus, but if you need to check in a dictionary just google the word. (Chambers has nimbi see nimbus.)

    I saw the same as norbrewer@20 to justify ‘in’ in HORSE: a teacher ‘collecting in’ the books works for me too.

    And thanks to ngaiolaurenson@13 for putting a smile on my face with “PATENT – the answer was obvious”! 🙂

    Favourite penny drop moments were realising which word contained URL after spotting that 26a could end in LESS, and which King formed the basis of REVISIT.

    Thanks to Tramp and mhl.

  39. Lippi @ 36 & sh @ 38 ‘Table of contents’?

    Pino @ 37 Why do you say there is no clue in the wordplay? The anagrist is clearly signalled and there is no other word that either uses that grist or fits the crossers.

  40. As always on a Saturday, early commenters have said much of what needs to be said. A good, solid, testing Saturday puzzle but certainly doable. King was, indeed, a super trick. Pino@37: I am so glad another had that same Ian Dury moment. (I was once fortunate enough to watch him twice in two nights in different venues when he was in his pomp. So many great songs, one wondered whether there would be any notable ones left for the encore … and then they just kept coming.)

    PATENT, ROTARIAN, VANISH, NIGHTIE, REVISIT and NIMBI were favourites.

    Thanks Tramp and mhl

  41. Simon S@39
    I can’t see any indication in the wordplay as to which order H P R should be put. AHAPARO,
    AHARAPO, APAHARO, APARAHO, ARAHAPO and ARAPAHO all fit. I didn’t have the GK to know which was a real word and which was right. I thought it was pretty obscure until my son told me it occurred in a 1978 hit for a rock band and I realised that, judging from comments here over the years, that for many it won’t be obscure at all.

  42. Thanks Tramp and mhl
    I enjoyed this much more than usual with Tramp, but I can’t accept him defining COLOURLESS as “clear”. I spent a career as a chemistry teacher explaining to pupils that clear is the opposite of cloudy; colourless the opposite of coloured. It is perfectly possible to have something that is clear and coloured – diluted Ribena, for instance.

  43. Eskimo , Arapaho,
    Move their bodies ,
    To and fro ….

    I am not sure about “Indian” but Native American does not fit with clue.

  44. I was pleased to find this puzzle in the Saturday slot. It really should be a bit tougher, and Araucaria’s always were. Enjoyable.

  45. Thanks mhl for the kind words and thanks for the comments. I wrote this a long time ago.

    I know I’ve said this before, but, we don’t, in general, set puzzles to be Prize puzzles. Had this appeared midweek, I suspect it would have got a hammering for being difficult. I say that having just written a puzzle that I think is quite tricky, but fair, in places.

    I nearly changed the John Stones clue so that it said “tackling back from Everton” as opposed to “for Everton” , as he didn’t play for Everton when this was published. I suppose I could be describing action when he did, though.

    “elegance with simplicity” : that’s made my day.

    muffin: I should have paid more attention in chemistry. I thought colourless glass, say, in a stained-glass window, could be clear. I never thought of chemical solutions. I suppose it’s quite hard to be an expert in every subject; I have to accept that sometimes, an expert will tell me my effort isn’t technically correct.

    Thanks all. I’m having a few weeks off, now.

    Neil

  46. I wrote: ‘difficult but rewarding’, which seems to be the experience of many people above.

    I liked the bum out of the BATHING COSTUME, the growing space in the fancy shoe of GREENHOUSE, the unusual ground in SUSPEND, and the good anagram to make BEDSIDE MANNER. I’m not sure that top = TENT, apart from in the phrase ‘big top’.

    Thanks Tramp and mhl.

  47. Thanks Tramp and mhl. The SW corner was virtually empty until 5 minutes before opening this blog. I thought I would give it one last go, and everything except SEVERED fell into place. Sort of satisfied even though dnf!

  48. [Roz @43: According to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, both Native American and Indian are equally acceptable when descibing the indigenous people of America.]

  49. Tramp @45
    Thanks for responding. I’ve heard that some dictionaries incorrectly equate colourless with clear too!
    Stained glass is actually a good example of clear coloured as well.

  50. Thanks Tramp for dropping in.

    Despite muffin’s assertion that he “spent a career as a chemistry teacher explaining to pupils that clear is the opposite of cloudy”, Chambers has COLOURLESS: transparent; and under transparent: clear. Not acceptable in a chemistry lesson perhaps, but last time I checked the Guardian prize crossword is not actually a chemistry lesson. 🙂

  51. muffin@50. I agree totally that stained glass is “a good example of clear coloured”. But clear COLOURLESS is also a thing. I think I have seen recycling bins for glass, labelled green, brown and clear. The dictionaries are not wrong.

  53. Thanks Tony, I wonder what the Arapaho think ?
    Personally I think COLOURLESS should only refer to hadrons containing an allowed quark combination.

  54. I seem to have wandered into the science lab…

    I thought the ‘ground/suspend’ equivalence derived from eg ‘You’re grounded’ (which to me is a US expression – no doubt transpontines will confirm or deny).

    I also thought this was the chewiest prize in a while (LOI PIERCE took forever). Thanks to Tramp (and for dropping by) and to mhl (without whom etc.)

  56. [Roz @53: The founding director, the current director, and the chairman of the Board of Trustees of the NMAI are all Native Americans. While none are Arapahoes the founding director was Cheyenne, a tribe closely allied with the Arapaho. I doubt the term “Indian” bothers any of them. By the way, if you ever come to Washington DC the museum is definitely worth a visit.]

  57. I got only three last week. Got most of the rest this morning, looking at a nearly empty grid.

    I couldn’t get past T as “front of table” in 5a STYLIST. Didn’t think of “green” as “new.” in 11a GREENHOUSE.

    Badgerman@29 Your response prompts me to post once again the poem “Motor Bus,” which declines those two words as third and second declension nouns respectively.

    Thanks, Tramp and mhl.

    What is this that roareth thus?
    can it be a Motor Bus?
    Yes, the swell and hideous hum
    Indicat Motorem Bum!
    Implet in the Corn and High
    Terror me Motoris Bi:
    Bo Motori clamitabo
    Ne Motore caeder a Bo –
    Dative be or Ablative
    So thou only let us live:
    Whither shall thy victims flee?
    Spare us, spare us, Motor Be!
    Thus I sang; and still anigh
    came in hordes Motores Bi,
    Et complebat omne forum
    Copia Motorum Borum.
    How shall wretches live like us
    Cincti Bis Motoribus?
    Domine, defende nos
    Contra nos Motores Bos!

    I’ve never heard of Ian Dury, but like many Americans I know the names of many of our tribes, so ARAPAHO 2dn was pretty obvious with a crosser or two.

  58. Badgerman@29, nimbus is a second declension Latin noun, whose (nominative) plural is nimbi, which can also serve as the plural of the English adoption (although nimbuses is also used and probably preferred now that so few learn Latin). Bus, otoh, (or ‘bus, as it was first written) is an abbreviation of omnibus, meaning ‘for everyone’, the dative plural of the Latin for ‘all, every’, omnis.

    Pino@37, Hit me with your Rhythm Stick was Ian Dury and the Blockheads’ “most successful single, reaching number one on the UK Singles Chart in January 1979 as well as reaching the top three in Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, and it was also a top 20 hit in several European countries” (Wikipedia) and, as such, is still often played on music stations such as BBC Radio2. Certainly DJ Ken Bruce, an amateur drummer, now sadly departed (from R2, not this mortal coil), often used to play it on his show. However, I’m sure I’d heard of the Arapaho long before that song came out.

  59. Valentine@57, hadn’t seen your comment when I wrote my last. Thanks for the rhyme (again), although it might not mean much to @Badgerman or anyone else who didn’t study Latin. It amused me, even though a couple of vocabulary items had entered oblivion.

  60. I enjoyed this one. Some very nice surfaces and trademark Tramp raunchiness (BEDSIDE MANNER).
    I’m sure it’s just coincidence, but there’s almost a Boston Celtics theme, with former players – Larry BIRD, Paul PIERCE, Jeff GREEN and Eddie HOUSE – not to mention the team colour GREEN. Can’t see anything more though.
    As a chemist, I had the same misgivings about the Clear/COLOURLESS distinction, but I agree there’s a wider usage than the merely scientific meaning.
    Thanks, Tramp and mhl.

  61. [ Thanks Tony@56 , is it separate to the other Smithsonian with all the dinosaurs ? I do not think I will ever fly again, I got out of the habit with all the lockdowns and not sure I want to anymore . ]

  62. [Roz @61: The Smithsonian is a collection of individual museums which includes Air & Space, American History, American Art, Asian Art, African Art, Natural History, and a number of others. There is no admission charge for any of them.]

  64. Great crossword as mentioned. I parsed 15 SINGAPORE the same as mhl. (Apparently that doesn’t work for Prince Andrew either.) Thanks mhl & Tramp.

  65. [ Thanks Tony@62 very interesting, I only knew the dinosaur one fron Sprog3 having his dinosaur craze. The Smithsonian is mentioned a lot in all the books we used to read. ]

  66. [nicbach@63 – “might of mentioned”? Seriously? And this is a site visited by lovers of the English language, I thought, and one sacrosanct place where such things, like the grocer’s apostrophes, can be avoided. Is it me, or has something changed radically at 15²?]

  71. Muffin, good question. I think it’s generally “greengrocer’s” (as at the link), because it refers to ‘the greengrocer’, as a type, although that does seem a tad unfair on fully literate greengrocers, doesn’t it? “Greengrocers'” can be interpreted as some, but not necessarily all, greengrocers.

  72. Thanks all. Good hard puzzle which I didn’t finish last week. REVISITed today to finish off with help of wordfiller. All the solutions were logical in the end, except COLOURLESS, as explained by Muffin and conceded by Tramp. I knew ARAPAHO as a native American tribe, but used to play ‘cowboys and indians’ long ago. Liked the devious Elvis reference in REVISIT. I wasn’t keen on John for LOO or SEEDS for Stones, but it was a good clue.

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