Guardian Prize 29,183 / Picaroon

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A delightful, satisfying puzzle – thank you, Picaroon!

The theme was FLOWER BORDER across the middle, and there were flowers spelt out around the edges of the puzzle: IBERI, PINK, SEDUM, ROSE, PEONY. The clues referencing FLOWER BORDER also were very neat – sometimes splitting FLOWER and BORDER, and FLOWER sometimes taking it’s traditional crossword meaning of a river (one that flows…)

Across

7. After autumn month, leave Pole in Russian city (8)
NOVGOROD
NOV = “autumn month” + GO = “leave” + ROD = “Pole”
Definition: “Russian city”

9. Pork pie’s keeping cool for rest periods (3-3)
LIE-INS
LIES = “Pork pie’s” around IN = “cool”
Definition: “rest periods”

10. Trunks stripped off roughly (2,2)
OR SO
[t]ORSO[s] = “Trunks” “stripped off” (removing the outside letters)
Definition: “roughly”

11. One shows relief, like a travelling performer with high camp clothing (7,3)
CONTOUR MAP
ON TOUR = “like a travelling performer” in (CAMP)* (“high” is the anagram indicator)
Definition: “One shows relief”

12. English monarchs drinking one more rum (6)
EERIER
E = “English” + ER ER = “monarchs” around I = “one”
Definition:

14. Sculptor smuggled cocaine in vehicle heading for Ibiza (8)
BRANCUSI
RAN = “smuggled” + C = “cocacine in BUS = “vehicle” + I[biza] = “heading for Ibiza”
Definition: “Sculptor”

15. Jersey, say, on female could be violet (6)
FLOWER
LOWER = “Jersey, say” (cows make lowing noises) on F = “female”
Definition: “violet”

17. Picked up pupil at Eton, perhaps one on edge (6)
BORDER
BORDER sounds like “boarder” = “pupil at Eton perhaps”
Definition: “perhaps one on edge” (Thanks to everyone who pointed out that I’d misassigned “perhaps” to the definition. I was struggling to stay awake while writing this last night, so I’m surprised there aren’t more mistakes!)

20. 15 17 captured in kind of writing (8)
PRIMROSE
RIM = “[BORDER]” in PROSE = “kind of writing”
Definition: “[FLOWER]”

22. Playing in the street, almost getting the boot (6)
BUSKIN
BUSKIN[g] = “Playing in the steet, almost”
Definition: “boot”

23. Ethics done badly leads to atrocities (10)
ETHNOCIDES
(ETHICS DONE)*
Definition: “atrocities”

24. Collar turned over by king in 15 17 (4)
BANK
NAB = “Collar” reversed (“turned over”) + K = “king”
Definition: “[FLOWER BORDER]”

25. Heartless shirkers who are going downhill (6)
SKIERS
SKI[v]ERS = “Heartless shirkers”
Definition: “who are going downhill” (or the whole clue if you want to look at it as a semi-&lit)

26. Rings about shocking treatment for Geordie and Scouse? (8)
DIALECTS
DIALS = “Rings” around ECT (ElectroConvulsive Therapy)
Definition: “Geordie and Scouse?”

Down

1. Solver changing euros during travel northwards (8)
YOURSELF
(EUROS)* in FLY = “travel” northwards
Definition: “Solver”

2. African 10 touring European country (4)
IGBO
IO = “10” around GB = “European country” (strictly speaking the country is the UK)
Definition: “African” referring to one of the Igbo people

3. Couple right to get a stiff drink (6)
BRACER
BRACE = “Couple” + R = “right”
Definition: “a stiff drink”

4. Where treasure is beheld or adornment’s seized (8)
ELDORADO
Hidden in [beh]ELD OR ADO[rnment]
Definition: “Where treasure is”

5. Hands back either Ronnie or Reggie’s jacket, escorted off (10)
RETROCEDES
RE = “Ronnie or Reggie’s jacket” (i.e. taking the outide letters off) + (ESCORTED)* – I spent a long time trying to get KRAY into this answer, so nice misdirection!
Definition: “Hands back”

6. Superficial motifs featured by ballads (6)
INLAYS
IN = “featured by” + LAYS = “ballads”
Definition: “Superficial motifs”

8. Called an Uber going across 15 17 in Europe (6)
DANUBE
Hidden in “[calle]D AN UBE[r]
Definition: “[FLOWER BORDER] in Europe”

13. Retailer, one pressing to grab £1,000 after start of week (10)
IRONMONGER
IRONER = “one pressing” around MON = “start of week” + G = “£1,000”
Definition: “Retailer”

16. Throwing out spirits, so mixer’s drunk without drop of cognac (8)
EXORCISM
(SO MIXER)* around C[ognac] = “drop of cognac”
Definition: “Throwing out spirits”

18. Touching coal, sending off large spark again (8)
REIGNITE
RE = “Touching” + LIGNITE = “coal” without L = “large”
Definition: “spark again”

19. Socialite turns up late, leaving area put in 15 17 (6)
BEDDED
DEB = “Socialite” reversed + DEAD = “late” without A = “area”
Definition: “put in [FLOWER BORDER]”

21. Rubbish hotel agreed to put up artist (6)
ROTHKO
ROT = “Rubbish” + H = “hotel” + OK = “agreed” reversed
Definition: “artist”

22. Capital city with new basis for all the family (6)
BISSAU
(BASIS)* + U = “for all the family”
Definition: “Capital city” (the capital of Guinea-Bissau)

24. Extorted money from plot to pocket pounds (4)
BLED
BED = “plot” around L = “pounds”
Definition: “Extorted money from”

70 comments on “Guardian Prize 29,183 / Picaroon”

  1. Thank you mhl for your blog. I read the definition of BORDER as one on edge and Eton perhaps as an example of a school which has student boarders.

  2. Really enjoyed the surfaces in CONTOUR MAP, DIALECTS, BUSKIN, and EXORCISM.
    Took me while to get the intersecting BISSAU and BUSKIN. Nicely misdirected by playing in the street and didn’t know the boot.

  4. Thanks mhl. Another good workout that took a bit longer than it should have done, at least partly because it had me overthinking quite a few clues. A clever manipulation of the theme. The SE corner held out the longest, don’t know why now but I spent some time trying to justify Boston as the capital city. I also grappled with SKIERS which was the obvious answer but couldn’t reconcile it with the letters in ‘shirkers’. New words for me were RETROCEDES ans ETHNOCIDES and I had to check up on BRANCUSI and ROTHKO.
    Is there any significance in SPINKS down the right hand ‘border’?

  5. Sorry, I should have read your introduction more carefully. That’s quite an achievement, I did try to make sense of the other letters but failed dismally.

  7. Thanks Picaroon and mhl. One correction: for 5d you need to add the anagram of “escorted” after RE to complete the solution.

  8. Badgerman@6. I read the apostrophe s as the verb is (keeping). Needed for the surface, and following the convention of ignoring punctuation.

  9. Very entertaining as always from Picaroon, with the clever theme including different uses of FLOWER BORDER. Some well-disguised definitions such as “more rum” = EERIER and “spark again” = REIGNITE.

    mhl, you must have a poor view of SKIERS if you think it’s a clue-as-definition!

    Many thanks both.

  10. Paddymellon@8 – that was my problem – if “pork pie is keeping cool…” then “lie” is keeping “in” and the s is not clued. Shouldn’t it be “pork pies keeping cool…” (an equaly acceptable surface)?

  11. paddymelon@1
    BORDER
    Agree with you.
    Lord Jim@9
    SKIERS
    Agree. No CAD for me too.

    RETROCEDES
    A minor omission in the blog:
    Ronnie or Reggie’s jacket=RE, (escorted)* *off= TROCEDES

    Thanks, Picaroon and mhl.

  12. Thanks to Picaroon for an enjoyable, challenging puzzle containing quite a few tough solutions and a couple of “never heard ofs” that I had to cross-check via google. Thanks also to mhl for an informative explanatory blog. I saw the interlinking with 15 17 FLOWER BORDER within the clues but didn’t think to look around the edges to see the clever ninas formed like PEONY, ROSE etc., which would have given this puzzle that extra bit of enjoyment to those who spotted them. Clever setting!

  13. Thanks Picaroon. I had forgotten that I enjoyed this so much after my disaster with Rodriguez and Picaroon this past week. In any event I had many favourites including CONTOUR MAP, FLOWER, YOURSELF, EXORCISE, REIGNITE, ROTHKO, and BLED. I noticed the theme and saw PRIMROSE as well as DANUBE flowing down to FLOWER BORDER but I totally missed the peripheral nina. Thanks mhl for filling in the details.

  14. I thought the puzzle itself was fine but the theme was ho-hum. Then I came here and read about the other FLOWER BORDER. Wow!

  15. This was great – almost made it in two hours flat without any slip-ups at all, but stupidly put “nassau” for 22d because I didn’t read the clue fully and sat staring at 22a for literally days: the one remaining clue. Finally the penny dropped on Friday night.

  16. Got FLOWER early which helped get PRIMROSE which helped get BORDER.

    Loved DIALECT, EERIER, BUSKIN, REIGNITE

    Thanks Picaroon and mhl

  17. Thanks, mhl. Slightly galling, but a DNF on this one. I went through it steadily and quite quickly by my standards, spotting the theme, even getting things like BUSKIN and RETROCEDES, and then for some reason simply could not think of the quite straightforward, and obvious in hindsight, INLAYS. I guess we all have our blind spots, although why mine should be superficial motifs isn’t obvious. That lament aside, thanks to Picaroon for an entertaining and clever puzzle. I did briefly wonder about GB as ‘European country’ (still annoyed about losing my European citizenship), and I needed to check on the meaning of IGBO. Oh, and I missed the Nina, but then, I always do.

  18. Thanks for the blog, I thought that PRIMROSE was very neat and deceptive with the use of 15 17 . Did not know BRANCUSI but the wordplay was very clear and fair.
    I suppose Pork pie is = Lie is = Lie’s so technically correct , but I agree with Badgerman @ 10 , just lose the apostrophe.
    Somewhat eerily , your definition for 12 Ac has disappeared.

  19. Paddymelon @1. Don’t quite follow you. Surely it’s the pupil who’s the boarder, so the bit that’s picked up, i.e. heard, is that, not the school?
    Thanks to Picaroon and mhl

  20. Yes, Crispy@19. My comment was about where the perhaps needed to go, ie with the def as per mhl, or with the wordplay. So BORDER is a homophone of boarder, a pupil at Eton (,) perhaps, or a pupil at Eton, for example, ie a school which has boarders. Doesn’t matter. Either reading works for me.

  21. Great puzzle, totally missed the flower border round the edge of the crossword! Can anyone explain in what sense re=touching in 18D. Should it be ‘touching on’?

  22. [ Are there Special Instructions missing today ? I can solve all the clues but some are just wordplay only with a link. No spoilers but if someone has seen Special Instructions online could they just repeat them here ? ]

  23. [Crispy@19 cont. I relate to the BORDER/boarder clue. As an Aussie of working class parents I went (on a scholarship) to a boarding school, the generic term down here. Many of us came from far flung country areas, and that’s the way the parents of post depression and post war generations tried to give their kids a better start in life than they had. We don’t have many boarding schools, and there is no one school which would have the immediate recognition that Eton may have for Brits.]

  24. Re homophone of border for boarder , with our Glaswegian accents we find we have to put on a ‘posh’ southern accent to catch the homophones quite often but this is never indicated as it is for eg northern or cockney?

  25. [No Roz@22. I believe that’s part of the trick and the humour. It may have been done before. Someone with the stats will tell us next week. ]

  28. [PM@20 etc. Thanks for that. I suspect it’s another UK-based clue, hence mhl’s, and my, reading. Glad you survived boarding school. ]

  30. A great crossword with its very well incorporated theme and excellent clues (as usual). I missed the ‘flower borders’, but I see I was not the only one – it’s something I that I can appreciate now, a whole week later.

    Thanks Picaroon and mhl.

  31. [ Crispy @29 I can’t say anything until next week, keep persevering, I strongly suspect that instructions have gone astray. ]

  32. Enjoyed the puzzle. Clever and amusing. Thanks to Pic and M. Didn’t we have ‘ethnocides’ recently and in a Picaroon puzzle recently? Or are my eyes deceiving me?

  34. Thanks Picaroon and mhl
    Great fun. Some unfamiliar words, but fairly clues. Great Nina too.
    mhl – typo in your introduction; it’s iberiS.

  35. Crispy@28, but does Eton also have what I would call ”day” students, ie non boarders? How do you account for the perhaps?

  36. Enjoyable puzzle. I liked the device of 15/17 but did not notice the flower names around the edges.

    Favourites: FLOWER, PRIMROSE, BISSAU (loi).

    New for me: BUSKIN boot.

    Thanks, both.

  38. Paddymelon @35. As far as I can tell, it only has boarders. I took the perhaps to mean that other schools (Harrow, Radley) also have boarders.

  39. Failed to finish, with BRANCUSI never heard of, and having read ‘smuggled cocaine in vehicle’ as an extended containment indicator. Didn’t have the flexibility to go back and read ‘smuggled’ separately from the rest!

    I agree with paddymelon@1 (and subsequently) that ‘pupil at Eton, perhaps’ should be seen as the wordplay, the “perhaps” being an indicator that Eton is an example of a place where pupils can be boarders.

    Chargehand@32 A quick search of the site seems to suggest that this is the first appearance of ETHNOCIDES, so yes, it looks like your eyes must be deceiving you! (Though Boatman used the singular in January 2019.)

    Thanks to Picaroon (nice flowery border, btw) and mhl.

  41. Fiona has picked out my favourites, [Roz@31 et al I can see the connection between the undefined words, but no reason why they should be undefined]

  42. I thought this was excellent, as usual from Picaroon. INLAYS defeated me completely, just couldn’t see it and has been driving me crackers all week!

  43. A cracking puzzle, a slow burner for me, but clever, fair and hugely enjoyable.
    Only three clues solved on a first read through, and two more on the second.
    But storm Agnes, a wet Wednesday afternoon and simply the passage of time enabled me to complete quite quickly via a mental process which I have never fully understood.
    I always appreciate the care and craft of Picaroon’s surfaces, and this was no exception.
    Favourites were EERIER, BRACER ,ELDORADO and IRONMONGER.
    BUSKIN and BISSAU were last in, since I did not understand why U= all the family. I still don’t.
    Thanks to Picaroon, mhl and all contributors to this excellent blog.

  45. I found this very hard but got there in the end; not helped by me/my missing the NINA, and I DNK BRANCUSI, BUSKIN and ROTHKO.

    I liked the well-hidden ELDORADO and ‘throwing out spirits’ as the definition for EXORCISM. I don’t really understand why DANUBE is FLOWER BORDER rather than just FLOWER. Am I missing something? (Probably a few screws, methinks).

    Thanks Picaroon and mhl.

  48. Very enjoyable puzzle. Completed yesterday. Lots of clever clues with deceptive variations. I quickly got FLOWER, but, like others above, took longer to justify MEADOW. I was pleased to work out some new words for me (LAY, BUSKIN, RETROCEDE, ETHNOCIDE) and then find them in my SOED. Last ones in were BLED (thematic + L) and BANK. I ringed the apostrophe in ‘PIE’S as a mistake as per Badgerman@10. Finally, just now when I was just about to check my answers, I remembered to look around the ‘BORDER’. First time I’ve ever spotted a NINA.

  49. PDM@46
    I’ve been on the bank of the Danube in south GERMANY. It’s a decent sized river that only has about 2000 more miles to flow to reach its mouth!

    I’m mainly posting to point out the “link” facility. Copy the URL you want (higlight, then Ctrl+C). Highlight a word or bit of text in your proto-post. Click on “link” on the bar above, then paste your link in the box that appears (Ctrl+V). OK it. Much neater!

  53. Thank you mhl. We did not finish this week, much missing from the southeast. And while we had SKIERS for 25a neither of us could parse it – looking for the anagram of shirkers without hr. All is clear now.
    Thanks, too, to Picaroon for an enjoyable challenge.

  54. I loved this Picaroon crossword and enjoyed the FLOWER and BORDER references.

    Thank you mhl and Picaroon.

    [but I also came here to see if anyone had seen any special instructions for this week’s, as there are definitely a few undefined clues. I found it soluble when I realised. ]

  56. Another satisfied solver even without the bonus actual flower border. Bravo Picaroon.

    Jess Anderson @24 , Ellie @40. fellow Celt here, agree that homophones in “RP” accent are a real challenge — though presumably even tougher for further flung parts of the anglosphere.

    Thanks Picaroon, mhl and all other learned contributors on 15^2

  57. Shanne at 54 – me too, and I can’t see any connection between the undefined answers I have worked out so far

  58. Epee Sharkey@56 and others, I am a rhotic speaker from a far-flung angloland, but I am surprised that RP is a problem for my fellow Neo-Celts. If you have watched a few British movies or television programs you will be familiar with non-rhotic pronunciation, so that just adds another step in figuring out the aural wordplay. (Monty Python’s classic upper class twits sketch does it for me.)

    Thanks Picaroon for the Prize-worthy challenge, and mhl for the very helpful blog.

  60. I totally missed the FLOWER BORDER device, and now that I see it, it’s masterful. Wow!

    2dn Strictly speaking, Great Britain is an island.

    RETROCEDE was new to me.

    I liked the Danube as both flower and border. (We have one of those here in New England; the Connecticut river is the border between Vermont and New Hampshire. The Mississippi is a state border along its whole length. So is the Ohio.)

    muffin@49 I’ve tried that, but I can’t find the link button. Where is it?

    Thanks to Picaroon and mhl.

  61. [Valentine @60
    I don’t know what browser you are using, but in mine (Chrome), above the box where you type
    your text, there are little boxes labelled “b” (bold), “i” (italic), and “link” (underlined).]

  63. Apologies for glitch at 58. I took a while to choose between BORDER and MEADOW, but eventually justified the former.

  65. Thanks mhl, as I hadn’t parsed SKIERS, failing as per VicTim@53 – and had a slight niggle that some of my more competent and energetic friends manage to ski uphill or on the flat – they certainly aren’t shirkers! I somehow spotted the border Nina before the end and with some google assistance to ID Iberis it helped in the NE. I was going to complain that the anagram in 23A was too simple because of the ETH root but looking at Wiktionary it seems that Ethics and ethno… have different sources in Greek so am happy to have learned something. I know RETROCEDES from work but it is used differently to the dictionary def and that caused me a delay too. Found this quite challenging but very worthwhile, thanks Picaroon.

  66. Thanks both. No worries except for that GB hasn’t been a ‘country’ since 1800. ‘Island’ would perhaps have made for a better clue.

  67. No time to read the comments today, I’m afraid.

    Completely missed the Nina (as usual) and found this quite tricky compared with Picaroon’s usual offerings.

    Spent a long time trying to get KY (Ronnie or Reggie’s jacket) into 5ac, not helped by the fact I didn’t know the word RETROCEDES.

    @mhl:

    12ac: def missing (more rum)
    14ac: typo, “cocacine’
    15ac: I think “could be” is an important part of the def, since not all flowers are violets
    25ac: “(or the whole clue if you want to look at it as a semi-&lit)”. Why should SKIERS be regarded as “heartless shirkers”? Isn’t this just a normal wordplay + def clue?

  69. Realised yesterday I hadn’t looked at this one. I didn’t know IGBO and BRANCUSI and also that BANK was a flower border.
    Thanks both

  70. tim the toffee @ 69:

    There is a delightful scene in Michael Palin’s 1987 semi-autobiographical television drama, “East of Ipswich” where the father cheats at Scrabble by claiming the existence of the word IG, a large Eskimo hall of which the word IGLOO is a diminutive form. He grabs the dictionary to confirm his confident claim, and lights instead upon the word IGBO, which he claims is what he was thinking of all along.

    For this reason, I know that I have known the word IGBO for 36 years, 8 months and 3 days.

Comments are closed.