Guardian Prize 29,207 / Maskarade

54 comments on “Guardian Prize 29,207 / Maskarade”

1. Loved the puzzle. Love cricket. Missed the theme.

   Thanks Setter and Blogger

2. Took a while to get into but really enjoyed this. Not often see puzzles by this setter.

   Favourites included: DESPAIRING, FLETCHER (made me laugh – as did the programme), OLD NICK, BOYCOTT, ROOT, KENNINGTON (took me ages to get)

   Realised there was a cricket theme but it didn’t help me

   Thanks Maskarade and mhl

3. It could be Wilfred (or perhaps Harold?) RHODES, and Keith FLETCHER all England Test players, and don’t forget (OLD) NICK COOK as well as Sir Alastair of that ilk.

4. Completely missed the theme and had Kensington instead of Kennington so no wonder I couldn’t parse it.

   Morganatic is a nice word, new to me

   (By the way mhl you have a typo in the answer to 13a)

5. Yes Keith Fletcher, Sir Alistair Cook and Wilfred Rhodes fit the mostly English theme. I’d forgotten Brian Rose.
   Thanks both

6. Thanks mhl
   17D CUT You said that you did not know much about cricket …

7. … and while on the subject of cricket, there are Kensington Ovals in Barbados, Adelaide, and Dunedin (the last multi-purpose).

8. Since when was parasite a definition of amoeba?

9. This was my fastest solve last week, and I did spot cricket, but not half the cricketers.

   Thank you to Maskerade and mhl.

10. This was clearly not my cup of tea. I know nothing about cricket let alone famous cricketeers. It’s no wonder I had six clues unsolved and even more unparsed. When I see how far I got in this niche puzzle I’m quite astounded. Thanks to both.

11. I’m kicking myself on this one. This was easily my fastest solve for a prize puzzle, but .. it wasn’t actually a solve, as I ended up not with THE TOWER but ‘the joker’ which was almost a combination of LOCK (2) and ‘three’ but I couldn’t really make it work (unsurprisingly!). I wondered if 2d might possibly be ‘jock’ (rugby player??) but couldn’t make that work either. So I came here and found it wasn’t my sketchy knowledge of cricket that let me down, but my total ignorance of tarot cards. Still, I’d enjoyed a lot of this, FLETCHER and ANDREW and MORGANATIC amongst many. Thanks Maskarade, thanks mhl.

12. Well I saw it was Maskarade, thought there’s probably a theme, looked for it periodically during the solve, never saw it until reading the blog here. I don’t follow cricket and only knew Boycott from the one time I was at Lord’s as a boy (Eng v. Aus, the Queen was there too). Oh and Root from puzzles here. Good thing the puzzle was solvable anyway – growing up in London was enough to get all the other Britishisms. Had to verify THE TOWER was a Tarot card – thought it might be but wasn’t sure.

    Thanks.

13. I did twig that this puzzle was based on cricket due to 28a THE ASHES, even though it’s not a subject I know much about (like mhl and some other contributors above). So I only got about half a dozen of the famous names and then googled a few others to confirm they were indeed Test cricketers. Now I can see from mhl’s list just how brilliant Maskarade was to include all those names. I thought “maiden” in the clue 9a and “cut” in 12a (cf PeterO@6) as well as NICK in 16a were clever touches – and of course the Oval/Kensington/KENNINGTON references for13d were also on point(!). I gave three enthusiastic ticks for the very neat triple definition for 2d LOCK.
    Thanks to Maskarade and mhl. Great stuff.

14. As a US solver, I’m highly unlikely to notice the theme. Of course, The Ashes was in there, at least I know what that is.
    The puzzle itself was fairly easy for a prize, and I got through it quickly while waiting to be called for a medical appointment. Kennington was a bit of a guess, but the cryptic clearly points that way – everything else was pretty standard.

15. Not my finest hour. Can’t believe I missed HAMILTON and IMMORTAL, though missing BOYCOTT was more understandable. (Nho “yob” or “ott”.) KENNINGTON utterly obscure, and of course the theme might as well have been “Estonian politicians” to this Yank. (Did get THE ASHES though — thanks to Douglas Adams…)

16. I can remember doing this but the theme escaped me. I’m saying that having just got back from watching my grandson playing cricket in Sydney wearing my F@BCC cricket shirt from the UK and as an expat being familiar with most of the names mentioned above. C’est la vie.

17. Thanks for the blog, I liked STOKES for the fire bit, not an SI unit but still used in the cgs system. Always good to be reminded of Norman Stanley FLETCHER.

18. I too did not know most of the cricketers’ names, but thankfully none of the clues required any of that knowledge. I don’t mind a theme that is beyond my ken, unless I need to know it in order to solve the puzzle.

    I normally don’t even try Maskarade’s puzzles, but with some spare time last Saturday I gave it a whirl and to my surprise finished it. A completed Maskarade and a Monk (in the FT) a few days later – is there such a thing as a red-letter week? I hurt my shoulder patting myself on the back.

    Thanks, Maskarade for stooping to my level, and mhl for the excellent blog.

19. Rose and Hamilton the two I didn’t remember, the others very familiar [our opening batters are rampant as we speak, one six, in the words of a commentator, going “halfway up the Himalayas”]

20. But yes, gentlish from the Maska, thanks to him and mhl.

21. I am a cricket follower, so this was one where I could score quite well. Thanks, Masquerade, I enjoyed it (more than England’s performance in the current World Cup).
    As PeterO@6/7 says, CUT is a cricket stroke – with a cross bat, away from the batter, towards the off side. As for the Oval grounds PeterO lists, the KENNINGTON Oval is in London (Surrey’s ground, where LOCK was a star when I was a kid), and the KENSINGTON Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados. I don’t think from the clue it was possible to identify which answer was correct. Can anyone help?
    Further to PeterO, Adelaide and Dunedin do indeed have Ovals (though not Ken(n/s)ington ones) – there is also the Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain, Trinidad (LARA’s ground).
    BROAD could cover Stuart, or his father Chris, once an England opener, now a match official.
    Thanks for the blog, mhl.

22. Thanks mhl. Missed the theme completely, my ignorance of the English cricket scene is matched only by my ignorance of Tarot cards so put me down as another who settled for ‘the joker’ without any confidence. Otherwise most of the answers went in readily enough.

23. Even as a cricket fan, I didn’t notice the theme until I’d finished – it wasn’t required to do the puzzle. I assumed Wilfred Rhodes, rather than Jonty (or Stephen). Definitely an easier Maskarade. Thanks to him and mhl

24. I couldn’t get all clues failed on immortal and hamiltion. A tongue in cheek complaint is that there were 12 English, 1 West Indian (Brian Lara) and 1 South African (Jonti Rhodes) cricketers and no Australians!! Not what you would call fair and balanced cluing!! I really enjoyed the puzzle anyway. BTW who currently holds the ashes?

25. I used to follow cricket more avidly than I do now, but still know most of the cricket names. I am not very good at spotting themes, but should have got this one. It was one of my quicker solves despite that. sjshart@21, I did not know about the Kensington Oval, Barbados, so when solving the clue there was no ambiguity. There does not seem to be a Kennington district in Barbados. Any Google for “Kennington Barbados”, seems to return Kensington, so London seems to be the only place where there are both districts, one being an Oval. Thanks to setter and blogger.

26. I had a definite advantage with this one as I reckon I’ve seen every cricketer on the list in action – taking FLETCHER as being the distinguished Essex and England captain, and with the possible exception of Keith ANDREW. I was also present at the last appearance of another great Essex and England captain, Alastair COOK, a month ago. (A low-key departure, as this notably modest and self-deprecating chap obviously wanted – though I’m sure he would have preferred Essex not to have lost by an innings).

    Not surprisingly, I found this the easiest Saturday puzzle for ages!

27. I did not spot the theme although 18ac BOYCOTT made me think of the cricketer.

    I failed to solve 19d and I did not parse the ‘Old railway freight left off’ in 27ac but I have heard of the Norfolk Broads.

    New for me: Ambridge (The Archers), a fictional place in the UK radio programme (for 23d); Norman Stanley Fletcher in the BBC sitcom Porridge (for 14ac); STOKES = unit. Thanks, google, for help on these!

    Favourites: COOK, BOYCOTT.

    Thanks, both.

28. Pleasant enough and very straightforward for a Prize puzzle, although I failed to see the theme.

    I liked the anagrams for MORGANATIC and THE TOWER, and the wordplay for BROAD.

    Thanks Maskarade and mhl.

29. An unusual full solve from me – so possibly an easier-than-usual prize. Though admittedly I had some assistance from my Mil for MORGANATIC, a word I’d never heard of. She also pointed out I had the wrong answer at 25d where I had crossing point = “for d’- ” which would have been a valid alternate if not fit dropping “number” from the clue.

    Jaydee @8, three scientists in our house were also unconvinced at parasite=amoeba, but the “?” almost gets away with it.

    I felt 13d could have been either of “one district” or “this one [has] Oval” – was there anything to suggest which should go in the grid? Lovely clue though.

    Favourites were THE TOWER and FLETCHER, the latter being a word I’ve liked ever since playing Fletcher’s Castle on the BBC micro in primary school back in the eighties.

    Of course I totally missed the theme despite having heard of most of the players and the numerous other cricket references throughout the puzzle! An enjoyable solve nonetheless so thanks as ever to maskerade and mhl for the blog.

30. An interesting puzzle. I was amazed at how many thematic names were incorporated in the grid. It helped that I knew all these names except Rhodes. I guessed THE TOWER, not knowing the names of any Tarot cards, but like others above I assumed it was that.

    Thanks to Maskarade and mhl.

31. Like Tigger@25 I solved sjshart’s query by deciding that KENNINGTON was uniquely a district in London. I wonder if Makarade was aware of the Kensington Oval in Barbados?

    As I recall, Keith ANDREW was one of the best wicketkeepers of his era, but played very few test matches (two, in fact, and eight years apart) because he couldn’t bat to save his life. And the fact that Godfrey Evans was a near contemporary. It probably didn’t help that he was a Lancashireman who played for unfashionable Northamptonshire, whereas Evans played for Kent.

    Thanks to setter and blogger as always.

32. I was feeling decidedly pleased with myself for having completed this (normally I steer clear of Prize creations, knowing they’re way out of my league) but somebody recommended this to Steffen last week, so I thought I’d also give it a go. I know little of cricket, but had at least heard of most of the players and so spotted the theme.
    Alas, I know next to nothing about Tarot – and bunged in an unparsed THE JOKER. So a dnf for me.
    Still, the sense of achievement was really lovely, while it lasted….
    Thanks to mhl for the explanations and to Maskarade for the fun.

33. I have played, followed and loved cricket my whole life, but did not look for or twig the theme, though I admired Maskarade’s ingenuity in retrospect. By contrast I’m rather proud of the fact that I know nothing of Tarot cards.
    So I managed to complete apart from THE TOWER. It’s always tricky when you have to choose between a definition which parses perfectly but appears to make no sense, and a perfect definition that does not parse. I opted for THE JOKER since it neatly fitted two two distinct meanings of ‘card’. So a failure from which I will pathetically cling to a modicum of self-respect
    Thanks to Maskarade and mhl for an enjoyable ride.

34. Len@33 always go with the wordplay , usually far more reliable than the definition. Tarot cards originally used in card games , my French students have taught me a game called Tarot, very complicated and a 78 card deck. Does not include The Tower, I think there is an extra set of special cards for Tarot readings, the only one I know is The Hangman.

35. Although cricket bores me rigid I did recognise the theme and many of the names were familiar, but not necessary to solve the puzzle, which I didn’t find particularly knotty.

    No words or expressions unfamiliar to me, fortunately. There was a suggestion at one time that the marriage of Charles and Camilla might be MORGANATIC, but it was not so.

    [Roz @34: The tarot card you mention is the Hanged Man, rather than the Hangman. He is represented hanging upside down by one leg with the other crossed – and apparently it isn’t such a bad omen as one might have thought]

    Thanks to S&B

36. I enjoyed this enormously. I wouldn’t class myself a particular fan of cricket, but started looking for famous names after AMISS, which helped with STOKES, COOK and BOYCOTT. Failed miserably by entering CITRIC ACID (no excuse, just didn’t check the anagram) and a completely unparsed JOKER, which was all I could think of that fitted the crossers. Heigh ho – at least I didn’t have to waste a stamp. Thanks to Maskarade and mhl.

37. I did finish it, despite not realising there was a theme (not that it would have helped as I know virtually nothing about cricket apart from some arcana picked up in cryptics). However I failed on KENNINGTON (had Kensington and couldn’t parse it) as I haven’t heard of it. This is probably the only specialised knowledge required.

38. sjshart @21
    Wikipedia seems to disagree with you about the Ovals in Adelaide and Dunedin.

39. sheffield hatter@31
    At least Godfrey Evans was a great wicketkeeper. Jim Parks, who kept Keith Andrew out of the Test side for the latter half of his career wasn’t.
    STOKES (the unit) and THE TOWER (the tarot card) were outside my GK but gettable from the wordplay and crossers.
    Thanks to Maskarade and mhl.

40. Ditto Jaydee@8 re amoeba/parasite. Thought IN STATE was rather vague. Only got COOK and ROOT when I came back to it this Saturday and still didn’t spot a theme, not that I ever do.
    Thanks both.

41. JD @8 & Pete HA3 @40: ex Wiki –

    Entamoeba histolytica is an anaerobic parasitic amoebozoan, part of the genus Entamoeba. Predominantly infecting humans and other primates causing amoebiasis, E. histolytica is estimated to infect about 35-50 million people worldwide. E. histolytica infection is estimated to kill more than 55,000 people each year

42. PeterO@38, thanks for the correction.

43. I didn’t really think of it as a theme. I just supposed Maskerade was taking the p*** out of all those people who moan about cricket-related parsing.

44. I was going to ask if 1d IMMORTAL had a connection with the theme but a discussion on who would qualify as an Immortal of the Game(Wilfred Rhodes and who else?) would hit the site rules for at least a four if not a six ( to if not beyond the boundary).

45. Thanks Gervase. Looking at the clue again with your info makes sense of the ?.

46. I thought the theme was cricket rather than players, so the following are included: The Ashes, Pair (in 11ac), Off (=side) in 4d, Kennington (for the Oval in South London and possibly the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Jamaica, Cut in 17d and Ego in 15d (=Kevin Pietersen, see, eg. https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/cricket/kevin-pietersen-here-s-how-to-keep-up-with-kp-the-walking-ego-a6739911.html).

47. I totally missed the theme,of course. Back when I was actively trying to take an interest in cricket (a decade or so ago), Cook and Broad were both current players, and Root came along a little later, but I haven’t heard of the rest. [I stopped trying at some point. Getting live cricket here is too hard, and–well, I agree with George Bernard Shaw that baseball has the advantage over cricket that it is sooner ended, even though that remark was not intended as a compliment to either sport. A classic World Series game last night, by the way, ending on a walkoff HR in the eleventh.]

    There was lots of UK-specific general knowledge needed here: Kennington as a London district, the Norfolk Broads, a TV character called Fletcher, a radio show called The Archers set in a fictional place called Ambridge, etc. But it was nothing Google couldn’t assist with, and I did manage to finish.

48. We were taken to cricket matches as children, so I actually spotted the theme pretty early for a change. As an ex-medic I was fairly happy with AMOEBA, but failed with THE TOWER as the clue foxed me completely. But it’s good to have a challenge.

49. [I was led to muse that this puzzle would be harder to make out of baseball players, since too many of them have names like Pujols or Yastrzemski or Gehrig that don’t mean anything else. But I think you could do it. Babe RUTH, Hank AARON, and Frank THOMAS all defined as biblical characters; Honus WAGNER as the composer; and then Barry BONDS, Pete ROSE, Mike TROUT, Chris SALE, Rollie FINGERS, and Enos SLAUGHTER providing a nice mix of hall-of-famers with odd names, current players almost certain to make the Hall of Fame, and the two most notorious people not in the Hall of Fame, all with real words as last names. Ruth, Aaron, and Bonds should be enough of a tipoff as to what’s going on, to anyone even casually conversant with baseball.]

50. Gervase – I’d just add that all ponies are horses, but not all horses are ponies

51. When I saw it was a Maskarade, I assumed a) it must be a Bank Holiday weekend and b) the puzzle couldn’t be done online.

    Having forgotten that, and noticing last night that I hadn’t solved a Prize this week, I checked back and found I was wrong on both counts. I managed to do most of it last night and polished it off this morning.

    Didn’t notice the theme and nho half those cricketers, but it didn’t matter.

    16ac, OLD NICK: HMP Newgate closed in 1902, so technically, “historically” is redundant, but still helpful, I’d say.
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newgate_Prison

    19dn, THE TOWER: “on” seems like a very poor link word. “To create” or similar might have been better, surely? Technically, it’s an indirect anagram but perfectly fair, I think, as there’s a a one-to-one correspondence between the digits and the names of the numbers they represent.

52. Well ! Despite being a cricket nut I totally missed it, possibly due to being distracted by having FLETCHER and ARCHER as my FOIs and looking for something entirely different. Bah and thrice bah. That apart, fairly straightforward (as Maskarade’s occasional 225 offerings tend to be, unlike his Bank Holiday puzzles) and thus a quick solve. Did correctly resolve THE TOWER though, having noticed the possible anagram and checked the result with Google. Thanks to mhl and to Maskarade.

53. I don’t think anyone’s mentioned (Chris) Old (Yorkshire and England, aka ‘Chilly’) at 16a. That makes a grand total of 19 references to the great game, which is quite an achievement. Thanks Maskarade – great fun!

54. A super puzzle. Took me ages to get IMMORTAL. Was hung up on the bad being EVIL. Like many, I didn’t understand why THE TOWER was correct.

    My favourites were BROAD and FLETCHER. I did wonder if all but LARA were cricketers who had played tests for ENGLAND: thinking of the great Wilfred Rhodes rather than Jonty.

    MORGANITIC and USANCE were new to me. Thanks, Maskarade!

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