Another outing for Brockwell in the prize slot this week.
Like Picaroon’s puzzle the previous week, this puzzle had a theme which involved all the across answers, in that all of them (except the eponymous 24 across) could be preceded by “SUPER”. We entirely failed to spot this while solving and indeed hadn’t solved 24 until I came to write the blog and noticed the connection. If I’ve seen this particular device before, I can’t remember where or when. There were lots of different clue types and a few tricky cross references, which meant that it took Timon and I perhaps a little longer than usual to complete the solve (except of course for 24).
It proved impossible to explain 4 down and 12 across without using a rude word, so apologies to anyone who is offended.
Many thanks to Brockwell for an entertaining and ingenious puzzle.
| ACROSS | ||
| 7 | CONTINENT |
Able to control movement in Europe? (9)
|
| Double definition; the second, being a definition by example, gets a question mark. | ||
| 8 | MODEL |
Type of poem in small volume (5)
|
| ODE (poem) in ML (millilitre – small volume). We got stuck for a while on CODEX (a book or volume)/CODEC (ODE in CC) but could not justify either, | ||
| 9 | INTENDING |
Meaning of clue missing start and finish (9)
|
| (h)INT (clue) ENDING (finish). | ||
| 10 | TRAMP |
Vehicle opening for Paul Walker? (5)
|
| TRAM (vehicle) P(aul). In a very nice way, this is a reference to the Guardian setter Tramp, aka Neil Walker, not to the setter Paul as might at first appear. The clue works perfectly well for solvers unfamiliar with the real names of Guardian crossword setters, so is no way unfair. | ||
| 12 | TANKER |
4 has time for whiskey in The Ship (6)
|
| (w)ANKER, with T for W. | ||
| 13 | SATURATE |
World almost consumed in flood (8)
|
| SATUR(n) (world) ATE (consumed). | ||
| 14 | STARDOM |
Celebrity dropping E in planetarium? (7)
|
| STARDOM(e) (planetarium). | ||
| 17 | SENSORY |
Senior royal essentially admitting one’s out of touch, perhaps (7)
|
| *ONES inside SR (senior) (ro)Y(al). The anagram indicator for “ONE’S” is “out”. Note that the definition includes “of”. | ||
| 20 | CRIMINAL |
State accepting unfinished Italian resort is deplorable (8)
|
| RIMIN(i) (Italian resort) inside CAL(ifornia) (state). | ||
| 22 | CHARGE |
Price of golf covered by Daily Express leader (6)
|
| CHAR (daily) G(olf) E(xpress). | ||
| 24 | SUPER |
Great thing that could come before those going my way (5)
|
| This prefix can be put in front of all the other across clues. | ||
| 25 | ABSORBENT |
Wild boars with tendency to get thirsty? (9)
|
| *BOARS, BENT (tendency). | ||
| 26 | DUPER |
Person who fools party queen recently (5)
|
| DUP (Democratic Unionist Party – political party in Northern Ireland), ER (the late Queen Elizabeth II). | ||
| 27 | NATURALLY |
Sick aunt to recover of course (9)
|
| *AUNT, RALLY (recover). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | CORNEA |
Briefly awkward situation with a bit of a looker (6)
|
| CORNE(r) (embarrassing situation) A. | ||
| 2 | STREAKER |
Person who exposes Kate’s error oddly upset (8)
|
| *(KATES E(r)R(o)R). | ||
| 3 | SNIDER |
Angry diners getting more sarcastic (6)
|
| *DINERS. | ||
| 4 | ONANIST |
Granny is taken in by old-time Cockney merchant? (7)
|
| NAN IS inside OT (old-time). To understand this clue you have to know (or deduce) that “merchant banker” is Cockney rhyming slang for “wanker”. | ||
| 5 | POURER |
Jug possibly holding 3 flowers? (6)
|
| PO, URE (both rivers) R(iver). | ||
| 6 | SEAMSTER |
Tailor comes across as outspoken on terrace (8)
|
| Homophone of “seems” (comes across); TER(race). | ||
| 11 | STYE |
Viewer’s complaint ends in references about Mary Whitehouse (4)
|
| Last letters (“ends”) of “references about Mary Whitehouse”. | ||
| 15 | TORTUOUS |
Tutors prepared to admit Oxford University is far from straightforward (8)
|
| *TUTORS outside OU (Oxford University). | ||
| 16 | OINK |
Sound from 11 piece contributing to calypso in Kingston (4)
|
| Hidden in “calypso in Kingston”. The reference is to “stye” which of course sounds like “sty” (although the place where pigs are kept can also – if rarely – be spelt “stye”. | ||
| 18 | SEAN BEAN |
Actor delivered gloss for Spooner (4,4)
|
| A Spoonerism of the actor’s name could be “born sheen” (delivered gloss). | ||
| 19 | CLUBMAN |
Socialite family entertaining posh doctor (7)
|
| U (posh) BM (Bachelor of Medicine, or doctor) inside CLAN (family). | ||
| 21 | MEEKEN |
Soldiers without indication of fear become submissive (6)
|
| EEK (indication of fear) inside MEN (soldiers). | ||
| 22 | CHORUS |
Half Man Half Biscuit leading us in refrain (6)
|
| CH(ap) (man) OR(eo) (biscuit) US. | ||
| 23 | GONG LI |
8 ogling actress (4,2)
|
| “Model” (see answer to 8 across), i.e. rearrange OGLING. We had to look this answer up online, not being familiar with her. |
Thanks bridgesong. My experience was much like yours, LOI was SUPER, I knew that’s what it had to be but just couldn’t see why until the belated pdm and appreciation of the device. Also like you I had to explore Ging Lo and Gong Li before finding the right one. The crossers for 4d gave me the answer and that for 12a quite early on but I was reluctant to enter them. A bridge too far?
I did notice the SUPER theme about halfway through, plus the nicely placed CRIMINAL CHARGE. Had to laugh at the ONANIST/TANKER link as well. I didn’t get the significance of TRAMP, so what a great clue. Brilliant prize puzzle.
Ta Brockwell & bridgesong.
There’s also a SUPER STREAKER fake FIFA game and a SUPER CLUBMAN motorcycle out of interest.
Thank you bridgesong. No need to apologise for the ”rude” word. Brockwell set it. I was able to parse both 4 and 12. Fortunately I did know ONANIST from a previous cryptic and then saw T/WANKER and googled for confirmation of the Cockney. Then there was STREAKER and I thought that might be the beginning of a theme.
SUPER and DUPER were my last two in, only after being struck by the identical crossers in the two together.
I can’t remember another themed cryptic where the key clue came so late, as others on the G thread last week also found (but not Alan C@2). What held me up from entering SUPER was that the second part of the double definition was unparseable without cottoning on to the theme. Even then I wondered what going my way meant. Clever trick. At first I wondered if that was self-referential of Brockwell, but finally landed on the across clues going the way of the SUPER clue.
Didn’t know the archaic spelling stye for sty and was puzzled by the sound at the beginning of the clue for OINK, looking for a homophone indicator. Should have looked it up.
Liked POURER for the word picture of the jug with 3 flowers, CORNEA for the humour and misdirection, MEEKEN for the story of the soldiers, and SENSORY for the topicality of the surface and the definition.
I have to say I really enjoyed this and the “SUPER” endgame, which, as reported above, I also failed to see until I had done everything else (well done to AlanC@2 for spotting it sooner). My LOI was, in fact, 24a SUPER, and because if was located just above 26a DUPER (actually my first one in, such is my improved knowledge of UK political parties from solving the Guardians) I spotted what was going on with the seemingly obscurely-worded focus clue 24a. After smiling at SUPER DUPER, I had fun reading all the other “Super” clues out loud …
Lots of ticks and I did have to laugh at the biblical reference and its companion clue in 4d ONANIST and 12a TANKER. Others I appreciated were 7a CONTINENT, 22a CHARGE, 1d CORNEA and 2d STREAKER. I had a bit of trouble with “Socialite” in 19d being CLUBMAN as I always think of socialites as being of the female persuasion due to a lifetime of conditioning. MEEKEN at 21d was a new word for me but perfectly gettable from the word play. I was with others in having to look up 23d to confirm the actress was GONG LI (I am most unfamiliar with Asian films).
Not an easy puzzle by any means (I got the left hand side done well before the right hand side very gradually unfolded), but it was well worth persevering right through to the fun at the end. With many thanks to Brockwell, bridgesong and Timon.
[Thanks AlanC@3 for further “icing on the (super) cake”, and I liked some of the similarities (and differences) in our response, paddymelon@4, which I would have acknowledged if I hadn’t taken so long to finish typing my post.]
I remembered reading somewhere that the setter TRAMP based his pseudonym on SUPERTRAMP.
from the Guardian crossword blog: Nov 21.
My brother and I used to save up our school dinner money and sneak into Wigan to buy Supertramp cassettes after art classes. Through crosswords I’ve become friends with Supertramp legend John Helliwell.
Last year, my family and I visited John at home and he kindly gave me a copy if his new album, Ever Open Door, which was released during lockdown. Please could you play The Ballad of the Sad Young Men?
Being a non-brit, rhyming slang is beyond me. 4d was the only unsolved bit in a most enjoyable puzzle. Did not spot the theme. Thanks for such a patient, detailed blog that cleared all the cobwebs.
[Nice to know I’m in good company JiA, both in terms of our experience of the crossword, and our slow typing. 🙂 ]
I thought a plausible solution for 24A was QUEEN (= great thing) that could come before [in the dictionary] QUEUE (those going my way). My first guess was actually SUPER, but I did not see the theme at all, so the clue was unintelligible for that solution.
I’m another who solved SUPER last of all and then spotted the SUPER DUPER and other themed clues.
I was lucky enough to see SUPERTRAMP at Earls Court on their final tour – always loved them really delighted to see them.
The merchant banker thing is such a common one in London chat, that other than a wry grin, that one went in early.
Thank you to Brockwell and bridgesong.
Very nicely crafted. Clever theme that I didn’t spot until right at the end, when I finally twigged 24. Some great surfaces – those for ONANIST, SATURATE, SENSORY, TORTUOUS and POURER being my stand-outs.
I took the definition in 16 to include “piece” to indicate just the first 3 letters and avoid the spelling problem, with “contibuting to” being the inclusion indicator.
Fine puzzle.
Thanks, Brockers and bridgesong.
What paddymelon@4 wrote. Schoolboy humour seemed odd (not offensive).
I only know Rimini from Francesca – no idea it was a resort
Thanks Brockwell and birdsong
Excellent puzzle though I found it quite a challenge. I couldn’t sort out the SW corner for a couple of days. SUPER was my last in. I had thought of it earlier but couldn’t see what ‘going my way’ was about – and still didn’t, until now. After completion, I did see the SUPER link to many clues, but didn’t relate that to the word play.
It also took me a while to get SENSORY even with crossers. I didn’t know the Cockney rhyming slang for 4d, though the answer was obvious. CLUBMAN was not a term I’d heard before, but got from the wordplay.
I really liked CORNEA, POURER and the tricky for me SENSORY and CRIMINAL.
Thanks for the clear explanations, bridgesong and for the challenge Brockwell.
[Earworm: 24a 26a SUPER DUPER by ABBA (Not…
…The Nine O’Clock News (1979-1982))].
So that’s why the answer was SUPER! So obvious when you spot it, or (like me) find out by reading the blog (thanks, bridgesong!), and yet so not-at-all obvious until you do. I did finally pencil it in as my LOI, but with a nagging feeling I was going to come here and find that the great things going my way were ‘buses’ (I almost put that in, but then it would have been ‘things’ not ‘thing’ – I’d really have kicked myself if I did that and then found the real answer). Other than that, a fine challenge. I carelessly put TRAMP in the grid at 8ac instead of 10ac, and then solved GONG LI by assuming ‘tramp’ was the anagram indicator. Which works. (OK, I too had to check it wasn’t Ging Lo). I got TANKER from the crossers and finally deduced ONANIST because, of course, the less formal merchant didn’t fit. Very impressive, Brockwell. Thanks.
10a TRAMP – Paul Walker could also be the actor, who drove lots of Vehicles in all those Fast and/or Furious movies.
Found this tough and DNF the last few though I can’t see why now.
Favourites: CLUBMAN, ABSORBENT, CLUBMAN, MODEL
Thanks Brockwell and bridgesong
Parsed 16d OINK as phitonelly@12, without the need for an obscure spelling of STY.
I can claim to have seen the SUPER theme, having solved the clue after DUPER, though I’m more used to the expression being spelt ‘super dooper’, as I’d pronounce DUPER as ‘dyouper’ like the verb. But after seeing how the SUPER prefix worked with the other answers, and helping me with my LOI MODEL, I’m not complaining. Didn’t know the name of the biscuits, so CHORUS was a ‘must be that’ answer with the CH and the US and I forgot to check back later, so thanks for the explanation. Was a bit surprised at the ONANIST/TANKER pair but good to see that no commentor’s sensibilities have been upset. Thanks to Brockwell and bridgesong.
Thanks for the blog, SUPER DUPER indeed , many fine clues already mentioned , I will add CHORUS , very neat and a dream clue for Bodycheetah.
I am glad there was no supersymmetry after the disaster of the LHC .
How many of us seem to have got SUPER right at the end, partly through its connection with the clue above. I am ashamed/delighted that I got TANKER before ONANIST so effectively back solved the latter, thinking ‘it can’t be … can it?’ Another lovely themed puzzle by Brockwell; in quite a short time he has become setter whose name on a crossword immediately raises both my spirits and my levels of expectation. Thanks Brockwell and Bridgesong (which is surely the name of a pair of TV detectives somewhere?)
Too difficult for me – gave up after solving 8 clues, two of which I could not even parse (and now I see I got one guess wrong anyway):
14ac STARLET? this was a guess, I guessed it wrong
22d CHORUS.
[Anyone know what’s happened to this week’s prize puzzle? It doesn’t appear to be on the Guardian website.]
Great crossword with proper puerile sniggers . Most enjoyable.
Saw SuperDuper then absorbent etc. Only after completion
Thanks Brockwell and bridgesong
@crispy №25
https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/article/2024/aug/24/prize-crossword-no-29470
It’s a Biggie so only available on website proper (not via app) Or in dead tree version
[Thanks Matthew. It doesn’t appear on the website on my smartphone, so I’ll look on my desktop later. I thought it would be a print job being a bank holiday]
[ Crispy @28 it is in the paper but in the main section , it is usually at the back of the Journal. I suspect things are different online but probably means it is in a different place . ]
Thanks for the blog bridgesong and to Brockwell for the SUPER puzzle which was clever and mischievous in equal measure as well as being a perfectly weighted (IMHO)challenge for the prize slot. I loved realising the connection when I got to solve the eponymous (great use of the word, bridgesong 😉 ) 24a and went through the clues I had already solved including the Tramp/Neil Walker reference.
I had not previously heard of ONANIST which was also an education when I solved the wordplay and the intricacy of that pair of clues really tickled me [more cockney rhyming slang for Sheffield Hatter et al after the last Paul Prize discussion]
I had so many ticks apart from the pair above: INTENDING, POURER and CHORUS stand out for me too.
[an in-joke for Roz@22? symmetry, LHC?]
@Crispy
For me I have to ensure I have desktop view set on the mobile browser otherwise it flips to a format like the app and the crossword will not display. If you force a phone to open the main website (not the mobile specific site) on desktop view you can then access the pdf which will open. Good luck solving on a small screen with zero interactivity though 🙂
[ @Crispy and others. If you prefer to enter your solutions on an interactive grid you are welcome to use this one .
You will still need to view the pdf of course. ]
[Thanks all for your help. It turns out I was temporarily blind – it was there all the time I was just confused by a lack of grid on the Prize home page.]
Super indeed. I was worried the TANKER / ONANIST combo might rub some people the wrong way but Brockwell seems to have pulled it off
Obviously delighted to see HMHB making an appearance. For anyone who finds Maskarade’s shtick a tad irksome there’s some light relief in the FT
Cheers B&B
Splendid stuff from Brockwell: clever theme and a bit cheeky in parts.
Favourites were probably POURER, for combining the three “flowers” (which are of course always rivers in crosswordworld, and not anywhere else), STARDOM(e) and somehow getting CHOR to explain what the brilliant Half Man Half Biscuit meant all along.
Thanks to Bnb.
Edtheball@30. LHC = Large Hadron Collider, the giant particle accelerator at CERN (organisation , not site). Not sure what the disaster referred to is/was.
Wonderful puzzle from Brockwell, made even better by the comments and insights from the above. Slightly annoyed that again we didnt spot the theme at first, having vowed to look harder after previous oversights but grateful to Bridgesong for spotting it after just a short break.
Big thanks and admiration to Brockwell for ingenuity and fairness, to B’song for blog (and pastries when I forgot it was my turn to host the solving session).
Bodycheetah @34: are you Paul in disguise? 😊
Good setting to avoid obscurities mostly, given the theme.
I liked the misleading ‘start and finish’ in INTENDING, the surface for CORNEA, the Cockney merchant for ONANIST, the hidden OINK, and the Half Man Half Biscuit.
Thanks Brockwell and bridgesong.
Ed and Timon , the LHC has spent 12 years looking for the supposed particles of supersymmetry which do not exist . They were told this many times before construction but went ahead anyway. A complete waste of money and resources looking in an energy band that is completely barren . Not a single person on the organising committee has resigned.
The first delight for me was the surface to 10A, for (as FrankieG has already commented) Paul Walker was an actor in the Fast & Furious film-franchise.
I actually gawped in amazement when the penny dropped for 4D: being a genuine Cockney (born within the sahnd of Bow Bells, me ol’ china) the rhyming slang was the first thing I thought of – but it took a moment to realise I wasn’t mistaken. After which, TANKER was a write-in.
(Dorothy Parker reputedly named her parrot Onan, because he kept spilling his seed…)
POURER, CONTINENT and STYE were also pleasing.
As with many others, SUPER was one of my last, so the theme wasn’t any use. Not that I minded.
Thanks to bridgesong for the blog, and Brockers – nice one, bruv! Mind ‘ow yer go
A lot of us seem to have had the same experience of getting the theme with the final answer! I said to my better half, “I think this last one is SUPER, meaning great, but I don’t understand why”. She said “Well it ought to be SUPER as it comes above DUPER”, which I hadn’t noticed. So I reread the clue, glanced at the other across answers, the clouds parted and light dawned.
Brilliant. Many thanks Brockwell and bridgesong.
Wellbeck @40… The Dorothy Parker quote is hilarious.
I had no problem with the Cockney rhyming slang (Ed@30), as this one is a term that is much used, whereas syrup of figs is not. But I ran out of patience and time, so never did get SUPER. I hardly ever stand back from a nearly completed grid to see if anything strikes me; is it too late to learn?
Anagrams for never heard of solutions such as GONG LI are my bete noire, and in fact I never wrote that in either, though if forced to choose between that and Ging Lo it would have been my choice.
Thanks to Brockwell and Bridgesong.
Like Lady Jim @41, I got SUPER from DUPER, having twigged the drift of ‘going my way’ in the clue for 24ac and enjoyed going back over the previous across clues that I had at that stage, to see how they all fitted. NATURALLY (of course) rounded them off beautifully – what a lovely surface!
I was also really chuffed to see the full significance of 10ac TRAMP. I well remember Neil’s SUPERTRAMP puzzle – I actually blogged it – from 2011. Later in the day, John Helliwell dropped in, saying that he was a fan of Tramp’s, to thank him for the puzzle and invite him to his forthcoming gig. (Neil had actually just agreed to come to our second Derby S and B, which coincided with the gig – and he did – but that was the start of the friendship recalled by paddymelon @7.)
Other favourites were 17ac SENSORY, 22ac CHARGE (neat lift and separate’), 25ac ABSORBENT, 5dn POURER, and 15dn TORTUOUS.
Many thanks to Brockwell, bridgesong and Timon.
[Roz @39: I will put my head above the parapet and venture a remark in favour of the LHC. Was it not the LHC that finally verified the existence of the Higgs boson? (Retreats below parapet again)]
Solving 24a (I’m in what seems to be the majority for whom it was the LOI) wasn’t helped by my not being sure that MEEKEN was a word and being too idle to go and get Chambers. I thought that EEK was an indication of mild, possibly pleasant, apprehension rather than fear but accepted that it was close enough for crosswords. I’m not surprised we struggled with 24a – “thing”=”word” and “those going my way”=”across clues” are pretty 15d.
22d. I’m not familiar with the works of fifteensquared’s favourite band and had forgotten about Oreo, the biscuit.
26a One day I’ll see “party” and think DUP but it hasn’t happened yet.
All in all well worth the struggle. Thanks to Brockwell and bridgesong
[Thanks Timon and Roz for the enlightenment on LHC. Super symmetry would obviously have fitted the theme but not as mainstream as all the Supers that Brockwell did select. You’re brave bridgesong @45]
Jay@32, that’s really helpful, thank you. I might actually enjoy doing the bumper crossword this time, can you please be around every bank holiday to do the same again!!
sh@43, personally I often do stand back – for far too long on occasion – waiting for inspiration to strike so I complete crosswords, especially prize ones because I hate to be defeated. Bit sad I suppose but we’re all different thank goodness.
[ Bridgesong@45 you are totally right but in the next 12 years a big, fat nothing. The previous accelerator called LEP in the same tunnel could have found the Higgs with a small and cheap upgrade . The LHC has taken virtually all the European budget for particle physics for so many years and still 16 years to go . Total disaster. Supersymmetry has a lot to answer for. ]
I had no idea how to parse 4d. Are we really expected to know this extremely obscure piece of Cockney slang? Quite frankly not something I wish to read over breakfast and I eventually left the puzzle unfinished despite solving most of it.
The clue for 10ac surely refers to the late American actor Paul Walker, most famous for his role in the Fast and Furious film franchise.
Eileen @44: is there something you know about Lord Jim that we don’t?😉
AlanC @53
Well, I have met him – and his wife: read his comment. 😉
Haha – nice one.
Many thanks to bridgesong (& Timon, of course) for the typically excellent blog and to everyone else for solving and commenting on the puzzle. I’m so glad that most of you enjoyed it. I was bracing myself for a bit more criticism over the ONANIST/TANKER pair, so I’m feeling grateful and relieved this morning. On that subject, thanks to Bodycheetah @34, for making me LOL this morning. Re. TRAMP, I was playing around with referring to Neil, but ended up going for a “fast and furious” reference, because of the vehicle. Hope to be back here soon. B
Didn’t spot the ‘super’ theme but had a giggle at some of the clues. I think you can guess which.
[ Antoknee@48, glad you found it useful. I’ve been creating interactive grids for Genius and Maskarade puzzles for some time, mainly for my own purposes but others have said they find them useful. Maybe one day the Guardian will make these puzzles interactive.
Until then you will find links on the day of publication over at crosswordsolver dot org.
I don’t generally post links here for the simple reason that we don’t have threads for “live” puzzles. Today was an exception as the conversation had already developed. ]
Thanks Grecian (aka Brockwell) @56 for dropping by; I look forward to blogging your next puzzle!
As with Grecian/Brockwell@56, Bodycheetah’s comment@34 was a highlight for me of this puzzle/blog combination. Thanks to the 3 Bs for the fun.
Thanks Brockwell for a super-enjoyable solve. The connection spotted at the end, partly because as with others super was LOI and partly because there had to be a reason that a grid made to be a NINA was not used as such…
Much enjoyed. Some fine and funny clues. I wanted STARSKY for quite a while but couldn’t fault STARDOM(E) when the penny dropped. Many thanks Brockwell and Bridgesong.
The drivers in the transport section of our London branch – when I worked – generally referred to anyone foolhardy enough to wear a hairpiece as “‘im wiv da syrup”.
It’s over twenty years since I left, mind.
I eventually worked out the theme, but was misdirected into thinking it was to do with linked words, in proximity, across the grid: Model T, InContinent, Criminal Charge, and Super Duper, of course, before the penny dropped. Another fantastic crossword from Brockwell. Thanks!
Bodycheetah@34 😀 & Wellbeck@40 😀
And belated thanks B&b
I parsed 12dn in the same way as phitonelly@12: take “piece” as part of the definition, whose purpose is to turn “stye” into “sty”. I thought that was quite an unusual extra bit of misdirection. But if “stye” is a legitimate spelling of the place where pigs live (which I didn’t know), then bridgesong’s parsing works and is more straightforward.