Guardian Saturday Prize Crossword 29,458 by Picaroon (10 August 2024)

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My fourth Picaroon Prize Puzzle blog of 2024…I took a bit of a wrong turn at the start, but it didn’t make a ‘material’ difference to the end result…

After entering 5A CRAYON and 6A AT WILL on my first scan through, I then read ‘What’s found in all other Across answers…‘ at 10A and thought – I’ve seen this device before, where all the answers have something in common, but forgot to read the rest of 10A or try to solve it! I then found 18A JEAN RACINE, and leapt the conclusion that it was (male) names – cRAYon, at WILL, JEAN racine…OK, that last one is French, but still a male name.

I soon became unstuck, as 21A REPO and 11A NETT didn’t seem to contain names. The penny dropped when I entered 12A FELT-TIP PEN and then saw _L_T_  as crossers for 10A – they all contain types of CLOTH!

So RAY became RAYON, WILL became TWILL, and JEAN stayed as JEAN, but without the French accent…

And most of the rest fell into place fairly quickly, with my LOI as NUMBAT, which took me a while to parse, and I had to look it up to double-check it was a real word.

I liked the central 8D STALACTITES, dropping down from the roof of the puzzle to almost touch the floor. Also the anagram fodder of Anne Rice as a ‘terribly tragic writer’ in JEAN RACINE. My LOP (last one parsed) was 16D LET RIP, which had to be that from crossers and definition, but only really got parsed as I wrote up the blog.

 

And that just about sums up my solving experience – once I’d ironed out that little crease at the start and cottoned on to the theme, the canvas was set fair and it was pretty plain sailing from thereon in.

There was maybe a little serendipitous appositeness, as the fabric of our society has been a little strained in the last few weeks?

My thanks to Picaroon, and I trust all is clear below. (I will be golfing tomorrow morning, so will monitor comments and quibbles, but may not be able to respond until later in the day…)

 

Across
Clue No Solution Clue (definition underlined)

Logic/parsing
5A CRAYON Against holding some light material for art (6)

C_ON (against, not pro) around (holding) RAY (some light)

[RAYON – artificial silk fabric]
6A AT WILL Way to fire women dipping into a cash supply (2,4)

A + T_ILL (cash supply) around (dropped into by) W (women)

[TWILL – woven fabric with diagonal lines]
9A SPLINT Dalmatian maybe here, without new medical support (6)

SPLI_T (where a Dalmatian may live, on the Dalmatian coast) around (without, or out with) N (new)

[LINT – scraped linen]
10A THE CLOTH What’s found in all other across answers for priests (3,5)

self-referential double defn. – what’s found in all other Across answers is a type of CLOTH; and the priesthood in general is referred to as THE CLOTH
11A NETT Bit of flipping Battenburg finally remaining (4)

reversed hidden word, i.e. bit of and flipping, in ‘baTTENburg’

[NET – an open fabric]
12A FELT-TIP PEN Writer considered clue, then shut up (4-3,3)

FELT (considered) + TIP (clue) + PEN (shut up, keep in)

[FELT – soft fabric]
13A PRERECORDED Dealing with entry in sports day, ready to broadcast later (11)

P_E (sports, Physical Exercise, school lesson) around RE (regarding, dealing with) + RECORD (entry), plus D (day)

[CORD – ribbed cloth]
18A JEAN RACINE Judge Anne Rice a terribly tragic writer (4,6)

J (judge) + EAN RACINE (anag, i.e. terribly, of ANNE RICE A)

[JEAN – twilled cotton cloth]
21A REPO Salesman with nothing to reclaim after a default (4)

REP (representative, travelling salesman) + O (zero, nothing)

[REP – corded cloth]
22A GRIMOIRE Magic book forbidding love and anger (8)

GRIM (forbidding) + O (love, zero, in sports scoring) + IRE (anger)

[MOIRE – watered silk]
23A DRABLY Pat lady’s coat, dressing queen in dull fashion (6)

D_AB (pat) around (dressing) R (Regina, queen), plus LY (outer letters, or coat, of LadY)

[DRAB – strong grey cloth]
24A PLACED Put large star in Palladium (6)

P_D (Pd, Palladium, chemical element) around L (large) + ACE (star, expert)

[LACE – delicate ornamental fabric]
25A LAMENT Comment from Jeremiah in weak part of Bible (6)

LAME (weak) + NT (New Testament, part of the Bible)

[LAMÉ – fabric with metallic threads interweaved]
Down
Clue No Solution Clue (definition underlined)

Logic/parsing
1D BANISTER Railing criminal tries to follow cop around (8)

BAN (nab, or arrest/cop, around) before (followed by) ISTER (anag, i.e. criminal, of TRIES)
2D SORT OF Rather small men, not quite noble (4,2)

S (small) + OR (Other Ranks, men) + T_OF(F) (not quite all of toff, or noble, titled person)
3D ATTESTER Witness cheers up cryptic setter (8)

AT (ta, thanks, or cheers, up) + TESTER (anag, i.e. cryptic, of . SETTER)
4D FILLIP Charge very little cash, which is a boost (6)

FILL (charge – one’s glass, or one’s electic car!) + IP (1p, one pence, very little cash)
5D COPIER Person who manages to fix one office machine (6)

COP_ER (person who manages) around (fixing) I (one)
7D LETTER Unpleasant look about abstemious character (6)

LE_ER (leer, unpleasant look) around TT (teetotal, abstemious)
8D STALACTITES A lot of acid in land’s mineral deposits (11)

STA_TES (lands) around LACTI(C) (a lot of lactic acid)
14D REALISED Grasped fighter’s grass skirts (8)

RE_ED (grass) around (skirting) ALIS (Muhammad Ali’s, fighter’s)
15D EBRIATED Tired and emotional bride ate nuts (8)

anag, i.e. nuts, of BRIDE ATE

[‘tired and emotional’ being a euphemism for drunk! (From Private Eye, originally?)]
16D LET RIP Get furious with cryptic clue for ‘rent’ (3,3)

a double definition cryptic clue for ‘rent’ might be LET (rent out) and RIP (tear, opening/fissure, or rent)
17D APPLET Program from tech giant, leader in tech (6)

APPLE (tech giant) + T (leading letter of Tech)
19D NUMBAT Aussie native not feeling alright, not content (6)

NUMB (not feeling) + AT (outer letters, i.e. not the content, of AlrighT)
20D ENDEAR Make popular finale with understanding of music (6)

END (finale) + EAR (understanding of music)

34 comments on “Guardian Saturday Prize Crossword 29,458 by Picaroon (10 August 2024)”

  1. No wonder I couldn’t finish – I had SEE RED for LET RIP, so failed on PLACED, too

    Thanks, mc and Picaroon

  2. Thanks mc_rapper67. After entering two or three at the first pass I took some time to get any further but then the answers came quite regularly. By the time I recognised the theme it was too late to be very helpful and mainly a matter of identifying the fabrics. Had to check on GRIMOIRE, never heard of that before. With crossing letters -e- r– for 16d I happily entered ‘see red’ which wasn’t a lot of help.
    We crossed Dave.

  3. I had a similar experience to you, mc_rapper – with CRAYON and AT WILL my first two in, male names jumped out when I read 10a, but I did notice straight after that the cloths. Not knowing much about fabrics, this was more a help to confirm rather than to solve. I didn’t realise you could shorten ‘inebriated’ and still get the same meaning… Thanks, Picaroon and mc_rapper.

  4. I also bunged in SEE RED for 16D, but eventually ripped it up when I (d’oh!) realised Palladium was an element, not a venue. Prizeworthy, Picaroon, and perfectly parsed, mc rapper67.

  5. I also saw red for 16d, but could not parse it and for once in my life did not doggedly stick with it as the answer.

    I made steady but not fast progress though this and finished in one sitting. I am not a big fan of themed puzzles, given they generally produce obscure answers such as GRIMOIRE. In this case, I did not know half the fabric names, so I missed the theme entirely and the parsing of THE CLOTH remained a mystery until I read the blog.

    Favourites were EBRIATED (a new word to both me and my spelling checker), NUMBAT (nice to have an obscure animal I know for a change) and LAMENT. Great commentary too

    Thanks Picaroon and mc_rapper67

  6. Thanks, mc and Picaroon!

    LET RIP
    Unable to understand why clue for ‘rent’ is used twice (LET & RIP).
    I read it as: rent=tore=allowed (something to) tear=LET (it) RIP.
    Convoluted…eh?
    (The ‘def’ should be ‘get furious’ (no ‘with’)?

  7. I felt 18a was a bit unfair. I’d never heard of Jean Racine, and while the clue I parsed the clue, it is a foreign name so it was a best guess which turned out to be incorrect.

    I think when using foreign/obscure(ish) definitions the world play needs to be more precise so you can form it without having to guess.

  8. I took let as past tense, as in ‘allowed to’, but it’s still awkward; the fabric was let rip, the fabric was rent. Hey ho, just a wrinkle, not a tear in spacetime…
    Now for coffee and today’s…

  9. Unlike mc, I did read 10a in full and somehow the theme came quickly having just entered spLINT. I had never heard of some of the fabrics in the bottom half so REP and DRAB and JEAN (is this synonym of denim?). Like many already posting , I had bunged SEE RED dubiously parsed for 16d but saw the error of my ways when I realised 24 must be placed.

    I agree with rusty@4 for the succinct assessment of the crossword and the blog, thanks both.

  10. I got NETT and FELT TIP PEN and thought maybe they all had double-T, then got AT WILL and thought maybe they just had double letters. Then SPLINT spoiled that and I thought for a while and saw the theme. For once, a theme spotted early enough to actually help with the rest of the solve! All very enjoyable. Thanks both.

  11. I enjoyed this, but I dressmake and have handled most of the fabrics, so don’t find this theme stretching on the general knowledge, but also took a while to get into it, before spotting the link. It was a quicker solve than the previous couple of weeks.

    Anyone who has read Harry Potter and/or the Terry Pratchett Colour of Magic or Witches books knows about GRIMOIREs – the Pratchett’s are definitely worth reading.

    Thank you to mc_rapper and Picaroon.

  12. Thanks mc_rapper67. Enjoyed how you wove your material into the preamble. Even more entertaining than the crossword.

    And Rats@7. 🙂 Your comment: “I think when using foreign/obscure(ish) definitions the world play needs to be more precise ” Love it.

    Got THE CLOTH early on, but it didn’t help much with the rest of the crossword.
    Liked AT WILL, and NUMBAT for the chuckles.

  13. 7d LETTER – We need to parse the TT as (teetotal, abstemious), else the definition “character” is creeping into the wordplay.
    For 16D LET RIP, as mc_rapper67 says, we have to imagine a clue “99a Let rip (4)” to which the solution is RENT, a double definition.
    It’s been done twice here by Puck (2015) and Chifonie (2018).

  14. Saw the theme near the end of solving the puzzle so it did not help me much but at least I saw it 🙂

    I didn’t parse 13ac PRERECORDED.

    New for me: NUMBAT (I’m Australian but I never heard of this animal); GRIMOIRE (and I attended Hogwarts!); the biblical/mythical lamentations of Jeremiah.

    Thanks, both.

  15. A nice puzzle. Many thanks, Picaroon. Had a little help but got there and parsed. Like others I SAW RED until stuck.

    Was hoping that FENT … a random small piece of cloth … might creep in. A word recalled from childhood but very rarely exercised.

  16. Thanks Picaroon for the impressive grid / loom and mc_rapper67 for the entertaining blog material. I too like the central stalactite across which cloths are draped.
    Fun fact – JEAN is from Gênes (or Genoa) whereas denim is de Nîmes.

  17. Thanks, Picaroon and mc_rapper. Knowing that priests are THE CLOTH made 10a fairly easy for me, but the problem was finding types of cloth in each answer. I resorted to Chambers Crossword Dict, where they feature as ‘fabric’.
    Like others, NUMBAT and GRIMOIRE were new to me. I can’t agree that JEAN RACINE is obscure; he is a major figure in European drama, so 18a was fine.
    ‘Tired and emotional’ was popularised by Private Eye, but is usually derived from a description of George Brown, UK politician of the 1960s, with great ability but a drink problem, who gave some embarrassing TV interviews after good dinners. A particularly unfortunate one may have been after Jack Kennedy’s assassination; a press release then explained that he had been feeling tired and emotional, and everyone said ‘we know what that means’.

  18. Thanks Picaroon and mc_rapper67

    10a alerted to a theme – which I remembered to look out for and (for a huge change) spotted; it helped quite a bit.

    Beautifully clued and great fun

  19. I do enjoy Picaroon’s puzzles. This one is no exception and a bit of a learning curve for me regarding cloths. I thought LET RIP was a witty conclusion (my last one in) to a clever set of answers. Thank you Pic and the entertaining blog from mc-rap. Enjoy your weekends everyone.

  20. I solve in clue order so THE CLOTH was only the tenth and drew my attention to the theme nice and early so I could enjoy it as I progressed. I can’t remember whether I got LET RIP first time round or whether I needed to return to it but I certainly didn’t have SEE RED at any point. A nice smooth Picaroon but no particular faves this time: like our blogger, I smiled at the way the STALACTITE grew from the roof.

    Thanks Picaroon and MC

  21. Very pleasant. I did see the theme fairly early though it didn’t really help the solve. While personally I usually find themes tedious, this one didn’t spoil the enjoyment so I’m glad it gave some extra fun to others. Favourites include LET RIP, FELT-TIP PEN, GRIMOIRE and several others.
    According to Wikipedia, ‘tired and emotional‘ was first used about Lt Cdr Thomas Woodrooffe following his radio commentary of a Royal Navy display in 1937. (First link I found was on X, but easily found elsewhere online if you don’t want to use Musk’s platform.)
    Thanks Picaroon and mc_rapper67.

  22. I enjoyed this throughout, solving all clues except THE CLOTH before I realised what the theme was running through all the Across answers. After a distinct pause, I saw MOIRE (from a recent crossword), LACE and FELT, which immediately gave me THE CLOTH, followed by TWILL and all the rest. I appreciated very much the unexpectedness of the theme’s revelation, even though it was an easy task to identify all the items.

    Like some others, I tried SEE RED first before realising what a good clue it was – a neat double def in reverse.

    Thanks Picaroon and mc_rapper.

  24. LET TRIP
    Despite the blogger’s clear explanation, I didn’t get it. Even after reading Frankie’s reinforcement @13, I didn’t get it.
    The only solace: I had some company in parsing this in a convoluted way. 😊

    Remembering the following beautiful Io clue
    IQ=2×8 (2,5,2,1,5)
    😛

  25. I was another who stumbled over SEE RED, but I somehow worked out PLACED while asleep last night. However, I forgot to revisit 16d before coming here, so another miserable dnf for me. 🥺

    Prior to that fumble I’d enjoyed this, with NUMBAT leaping from its memory cell fairly early, RACINE solving himself with barely any effort on my part, and even GRIMOIRE requiring only a curiosity visit to Google, as the clue and the theme had made it very clear already.

    Thanks to Picaroon for the entertainment and mc_ for the blog.

  26. Picaroon has indeed used this device of signalling his theme several times before. At least, this time, he did so fairly early on, rather than waiting until half way through the down clues, which has frustrated me several times, as, like PostMark at 20, I tackle the puzzle in clue order.

    I already had a smile on my face by the time I reached 10ac, having given a big tick to my first one in – SPLINT – at 9 and I liked the rather unusual clue for the theme, which made it clear what I was looking for. Picaroon didn’t choose the most obvious types of cloth but I was, fortunately, familiar with all of them.

    My other ticks were for 18ac JEAN RACINE, for the misleading ‘definition’, 25ac LAMENT, 2dn SORT OF, 8dn STALACTITES, for the neat positioning and 15dn EBRIATED, for another smile, as I remembered the George Brown reference.

    Many thanks to Picaroon and mc_rapper for a most enjoyable puzzle and blog.

    [I had a double treat yesterday evening: I’d saved this puzzle, along with the Julius one from last Saturday, to solve when I returned home from a few days away, which meant that they were both fresher in my mind than they usually are, a week later. I half-resolved to make that a habit, then found that today’s puzzle has been set by another favourite of mine and I’m not at all sure that my will is strong enough.]

  27. Excellent as usual from Picaroon. I particularly liked JEAN RACINE with the clever reference to the author of the vampire books.

    I don’t think I’d come across EBRIATED (rather than inebriated) before, but that was another great clue, and it brought back a memory of a scene in “Yes Minister” which went something like this. Jim Hacker has got drunk in public the night before, and nervously asks Sir Humphrey what the paper says:

    Sir Humphrey: It says you were “tired and emotional”…
    Hacker: Oh well, that’s not too bad.
    Sir Humphrey: … to be exact, it says “tired and emotional as a newt”.

    Many thanks Picaroon and mc_rapper.

  29. I enjoyed Picaroon’s puzzle as usual, and also mc_rapper’s nicely embroidered blog. Good work, both. I got THE CLOTH quite early. It did not help me to solve any other clues, but it helped to confirm my solutions, and provided some extra amusement. I chose LET RIP as a double definition after dithering for a while. I confess to using aids for 3 clues in the bottom left corner – anagram solver to get JEAN RACINE after failing to find a name out of the obvious letters, and a word-fitter for *R**OIRE, and N*M*A*. Favourite clues 10a and 19d.

  30. A clever, ingenious and satisfying puzzle from a setter who maintains an astonishingly high standard. I was tempted to write that this was vintage Picaroon, but most of his puzzles seem to fall into that category. LOI was LAMENT, couldn’t parse PRERECORDED, and ticked the clever surface of AT WILL. Thoroughly enjoyed the ride with such an intelligent guide.

  31. For once I got the theme early eoto help. A lovely puzzle from Picaroon and a great blog from mc_rapper67 which explained a few I couldn’t parse. Too many favourites to choose from but STALACTITES was very nice. Thanks to KVa@ 24 and FrankieG @28 for the additional clues 😎

  32. I’m impressed at the way all the across solutions fit the textiles theme – but that’s Pickers’ skill for you! The only one for which I had to dig deep into the grey matter, was REP, but something rang a bell down there. I can’t say I was too familiar with the word.

    GRIMOIRE was new to me, but I recalled the presumably related word GRAMARYE which features in Susan Cooper’s children’s fantasy books (which my son had when he was a child). I now wonder whether ‘Grammar’ is also etymologically related (not having looked up). Is there a link between accurate writing and ancient magic?

    I also had no idea what RACINE’s first name might be, but JEAN obviously fitted.

    Lots to like here: ticks for AT WILL; FELT TIP PEN; PRERECORDED; DRABLY; PLACED (need to remember my Chemistry); SORT OF; ATTESTER; NUMBAT; and STALACTITE (yes I wrote in STALAGMITE first; who else uses the mnemonic “StalaCtite – C for Ceiling; StalaGmite – G for Ground”?); and others…

    Thanks to Picaroon and mc_r.

  33. Eileen@26, I always save the “blogged-a-week-later” puzzles until the next week so I can better enjoy the blog. If, like you, I am tempted by a favourite setter, I do an archived Brendan or Arachne instead and look forward to the added pleasure later on.

    I’m glad I did that last week, because this time the blog and comments were as much fun as the silky-smooth puzzle. Thanks all for the excellent entertainment.

  34. Thanks for all the comments and feedback so far – much appreciated, as usual, and apologies for my late response – it has been a busy weekend!

    Frankie G at #13 – I have corrected the parsing of 7D LETTER – good spot – maybe I was a little ‘tired and emotional’ when I was typing in my parsings!

    It seems a lot of people were diverted by putting in SEE RED for LET RIP – great minds think alike, you lot!

    Apart from that, GRIMOIRE/MOIRE was probably the most elusive clue/fabric – with a few minor grumbles about the relative obscurity of JEAN RACINE.

    I don’t have the patience or self-restraint of Eileen at #26 or cellomaniac at #33 – if I am awake and on-grid around midnight on a Friday night/Saturday morning, then I am on the Grauniad site on my iPad and working on the prize puzzle at 00.01, with variable results, depending on the setter/difficulty level, and the level of ebriation I have achieved during the evening!…

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