Guardian Prize 29,500 / Paul

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I was not really surprised to see Paul’s name on this puzzle, as he hadn’t appeared during the week and it was two weeks since his last Prize offering.

A quick first glance made my heart sink: three of the first four clues had ‘See ?’, which I always find irritating – but it turned out that there were only two scattered long entries, cross-referenced with each other and one pair even partly ran on in the grid.

By now, I’d spotted the number of the puzzle (29,500) – quite an auspicious occasion and it seemed fitting that it should fall on a Saturday and, perhaps, that it should be set by Paul, as one of the longest-standing Guardian setters. As I proceeded through the solve, I noted that Paul had included most of his other trademarks – so, we had (even) more than the usual schoolboy humour, both sexual and toilet, together with typically whimsical constructions, which I always rather like (11ac & 4dn and 17dn,). On the other hand, we were (entirely!) spared of audacious homophones and, mercifully, meaningless Spoonerisms – and I even had ticks for some of the surfaces. 😉

It took me a while to decide what I thought of this puzzle: it’s always easier if you’re not blogging – and the preamble is often the hardest part to write. I’ve been known to say, from time to time, ‘This puzzle reminded me of why Paul used to be one of my favourite setters’. I think, on balance, this has to be one of those occasions: the combination of 14/9/10 and 25/19/1A is brilliant – thanks, Paul! A worthy centenary tribute.

Definitions are underlined in the clues.

(My apologies to overseas solvers and UK insomniacs for a rather later than expected blog – due to a series of technical hiccups, entirely my fault. It’s way past my bedtime now and so I shall not be replying to queries, complaints, etc until after 8.00ish BST.)

 

Across

5 Movement with paws on ground before pet rolls over (5-2)
PRESS-UP
PRE (before) + a reversal (rolls over) of PUSS (pet)

11 Fine catcall by tabby? (7-3)
TICKETY-BOO
A typical Paul device: ‘tabby’ could whimsically be ‘like a tab’, thus TICKETY ‘like a ticket’ + BOO (catcall)

12 Cruciverbalist, old fellow you would punch? (4)
PAUL
U (you) in (would punch) PAL (‘old fellow’)

14, 9, 10 True word-processing hazard I set? (3,8,5,9)
THE GUARDIAN PRIZE CROSSWORD
I think I have to call this a clever clue as definition
Otherwise, an anagram (set) of TRUE WORD PROCESSING HAZARD I

18 Where business done in secret, a lot to renegotiate when confronted by wife (5,6)
WATER CLOSET
An anagram (to renegotiate) of SECRET A LOT + W (wife) – the definition was the euphemism I grew up with: for a long time, I thought it was exclusive to my family

21 PM long gone, bliss (4)
EDEN
Double definition, the first being ’50s Prime Minister Sir Anthony

22 Free, going spare after evacuation (2,3,5)
ON THE LOOSE
ON THE LOO (‘going’) + S[par]E – my first thought for this was ON THE HOUSE, which fitted the enumeration and definition perfectly – but it didn’t parse and it clashed with 19dn, which was obviously right

25 19, 1A 14,9,10, Johnny? (9,3,3,7)
SOMETHING FOR THE WEEKEND
Double definition: THE GUARDIAN PRIZE CROSSWORD (perfect weekend entertainment) and a euphemistic name for a condom, see here for the possible origin, confirmed by Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
I found various suggestions for the derivation of ‘Johnny’ – I’ll leave you to choose your own

26 Glossy metal with it (5)
SATIN
S A (sex appeal – it) + TIN (metal)

27 Ultimately, snack good to fill hole – meaty one? (4,3)
PORK PIE
[snac]K + PI (good) in PORE (hole)
PI = good could perhaps be on the FAQ list, as it often raises queries: it’s an abbreviation of ‘pious’, now in the dictionaries as a word in its own right, usually derogatory (‘sanctimonious’)

28 Runs – those putting on fifty? (7)
LADDERS
L (fifty) + ADDERS (those putting on)

 

Down

1 North American native, bear with me that’s powerful one (6)
WAPITI 
WAIT (bear with me) round P (power) – thus ‘powerful’ (nifty!) + I (one)

2 Egghead on very nice game show (6)
EVINCE
E[gghead] + V (very) + an anagram (game – lame, often pronounced ‘gammy’) of NICE; (as a child, I often heard that adults couldn’t join in my games because they had a gammy leg)

3 Easy as B and C, but not A? (10)
ELEMENTARY
Referring to the periodic table of elements, in which B is the symbol for Boron and C carbon but none has the symbol A

4 Term of endearment, like nothing? (5)
DUCKY
See 5ac: DUCKY, whimsically = like a duck, which is nothing, in cricket scores

5 Shelves for villains (9)
PROROGUES
PRO (for) + ROGUES (villains)

6 See left, not right then (4)
ELSE
An anagram (not right) of SEE L (left) – I was struggling a bit with the definition but I think that (or) else = if not = then works for me

7 Mountain runner holds a book up on a European country (8)
SLOVAKIA
SKI (mountain runner) round a reversal (up) of A VOL[ume] (a book) + A

8 Going in minute? (8)
PIDDLING
Double definition, the second being pronounced as in the joke I heard at school, ‘Why do you call your pet ‘Tiny?’ (‘Because he’s my newt’.)

13 Beaten up, black and blue, giant cut and bandaged (10)
BRUTALISED
BRUISED (black and blue) round (bandaging) TAL[l] (giant, cut)

15 Over top of tower in square, awful gale rose (9)
EGLANTINE
An anagram (awful) of GALE over T[ower] in NINE (square)

16 Fruit posset we prepared (8)
SWEETSOP
An anagram (prepared) of POSSET WE

17 Paper insert splashed headline (8)
STREAMER
REAM (paper) in an anagram (splashed) of SERT – another typical Paul device

20 Figure requiring recuperation, finally is rallying? (6)
TENNIS
TEN (figure) + [recuperatio]N + IS – in more interesting tennis games, there’s lots of rallying

23  Philosopher writing up body part I don’t understand? (5)
HEGEL
A reversal (writing up) of LEG (body part) + EH (I don’t understand)

24 All but Q to Z is over (4)
ATOP
A TO P is all but Q to Z

58 comments on “Guardian Prize 29,500 / Paul”

  2. I thought this was wonderful. Paul on top form. Just the TICKETy. Eileen, you have said it all beautifully. I hope you sleep well. Many thanks to you.

  3. Think my brain is turning to mush from too much streaming. Started this only this morning local time, and with only a few in the SE solved, had to wait for the buttons to come live to get help via guess-and-check. In retrospect not really so fiendish, but a dnf from downunder. Thanks PnE.

  4. Liked TICKETY-BOO, T G P CROSSWORD, O T LOOSE, PORK PIE (more like an extended def), WAPITI, ELEMENTARY and STREAMER.

    Thanks Paul and Eileen.

  5. [1 down should be WAPITI, not WAIPITI Eileen]
    I slogged through this and ended up admiring the anagram fodder for the (I think &lit) TGPC. Bravo.

  6. For better or for worse, solving Paul grids like this one (reliant upon internal cross-references) got me hooked on cryptic crosswords. If you cannot guess the keyword, they can be a drag, but this one was fun.

  7. Like Eileen, when I got to the end I was not sure whether I had enjoyed the puzzle or not. It was certainly a lot of work and I was a bit unsure of the reward side of the equation. In the end, the magnificent anagram for THE GUARDIAN PRIZE CROSSWORD alone was worth then price of admission. I also liked EVINCE and thought ELEMENTARY & ATOP were clever.

    Thanks to Eileen for explaining the mystery of what Johnny is doing on the weekend, and why tabby is TICKETY. I originally thought 4d was LOVEY and isn’t WAIPITI missing an insertion indicator for P?

    I know this has been discussed before, but I enjoy the humour in most Mudd puzzles in the FT, but not Paul. And I am not entirely sure why. Anyway, it is time to say

    Thanks Paul and Eileen

  8. Thanks Eileen. Like yours my heart sank at first glance and unlike last week’s stroll in the park I only had one or two answers after the first pass. It was certainly clever but I found it hard, even after the theme entries made themselves known. I flirted with ‘on the house’ too.
    I’m still not sure about else= then and don’t really follow your logic there. I was quite happy with ‘game’ as an anagrind and am a bit confused about the relevance of – lame, often pronounced ‘gammy’.

  9. Martyn@7
    WAPITI
    Eileen: WAIT (bear with me) round P (power) – thus ‘powerful’ (nifty!) + I (one)
    power-ful it is!

    T G P CROSSWORD
    TimC@5
    Agree about TGPC being an &lit.

    PIDDLING
    Loved Eileen’s explanation for the second def.

  10. After thinking more carefully I tried to delete ‘ I’m still not sure about else= then and don’t really follow your logic there.’ but must have done something wrong because it still snuck through. Sorry.

  11. Biggles A @8, as well as the usual definition of game, Chambers has a second meaning of lame (origin obscure). People would say that someone has a game leg meaning they would limp or have difficulty walking.

  12. ELSE was my last one in by some distance, for the reasons given by Eileen, but I got SOMETHING FOR THE WEEKEND from the clue and enumeration, which led me to that amazing anagram for THE GUARDIAN PRIZE CROSSWORD.

    Thank you to Eileen and Paul

  14. SOMETHING FOR THE WEEKEND made me laugh and brought back memories of The Divine Comedy’s song of that name.

    Steady progress after getting the two long ones but struggled in the NE

    Liked EDEN, LADDERS, ELEMENTARY, EGLANTINE

    Thanks Paul and Eileen

  19. This was the perfect Saturday Prize, for me at any rate, thanks Paul. Kept me picking at it right through the week. I also twigged “Something for the weekend” before the main brilliant anagram.
    Thanks for the blog Eileen.

  20. In 21, I was in two minds as to whether ‘long gone’ should be taken to define ‘PM’ or ‘bliss’. In the end, I was more inclined to the latter, as in ‘Paradise Lost’ = EDEN.

  22. A very slow start on this, with only three written in after the first pass, and one of these was LOVEY for 4d, like Martyn@7 and FrankieG@13. And LOVEY was so obviously right it got in the way of my solving the two long clues for rather a long time. I remember thinking ‘this is tough; I much preferred Paul when he was easier and full of toilet humour’. Then I worked out the ‘business’ and ‘going’ parts of 18a and 22a, and only had ‘easier’ left to wish for. Eventually, I did realise what that splendid long pair must be, and reluctantly wrote in the now obvious DUCKY. Much easier after that, and it all came together, although, like others, I left ELSE in very faint pencil until the very end, and I still don’t really buy ‘else’ and ‘then’ being at all equivalent. But an excellent 29,500th effort, so thanks to Paul and to Eileen.

  23. EDEN
    I go with the blog (taking EDEN as ‘bliss’ rather than ‘paradise’. The other EDEN is long gone. This one comes and goes!).

    ELSE
    ELSE and then seem somewhat close but I can’t think of a sentence in which they could be interchangeably used (One is ‘if not’ and the other is ‘if so’?).
    Someone may help.

  24. Brilliant puzzle! Thanks Paul.
    Thank you Eileen for your blog and for explaining both the ‘power ful’ device in WAPITI and why tabby=TICKETY. I wasn’t sure about ELSE, but from wordplay, what ‘else’?
    I loved the two long interrelating clues, especially the amazing anagram for THE GUARDIAN PRIZE CROSSWORD. From the clue, I got SFTW before the other.
    ELEMENTARY and ATOP had me puzzled for a while – ticks to both, as well as STREAMERS for ‘in sert’ and EGLANTINE.

  26. Very funny and enjoyable meta-puzzle, though it helped to be on Paul’s wavelength in relation to what the American’s call “English bathroom humor”. So WATER CLOSET, ON THE LOOSE, PIDDLING and even SOMETHING FOR THE WEEK-END went in quickly. The brilliant THE GUARDIAN PRIZE CROSSWORD came to me when lying awake in the early hours of Sunday morning, though the answer is hiding in plain sight. A puzzle that really was something for a very enjoyable week-end.
    Thanks to both Paul and Eileen.

  28. “If it isn’t that, what then/else could it be?”. Not exactly the same meaning, but fairly close.
    Many thanks to Paul and Eileen

  30. SOMETHING FOR THE WEEKEND – When I was a nipper and went to the barber’s back in the day, the barber would always ask his client, “something for the weekend, sir?” As an innocent young boy I always wondered about that. In the 1950’s the barbers were about the only place a man could buy contraceptives. Some super clues, but I do tire of the repetitious schoolboy humour in his crosswords. Anyway, thank you Paul and Eileen for a splendid blog.

  32. I was another with LOVEY at 4d, but the condom put paid to that idea, with the D in WEEKEND crossing, and then the C in DUCKY helped CROSSWORD to stand out from the fodder in the other long one. After staring at a three-quarters empty grid for several days, this then became a steady solve. I did look up SWEETSOP after writing it in, as I had never heard of it or totally forgotten it. (Who can tell, these days?)

    ELEMENTARY took a while to become convincing. The symbol for Argon only changed from A to Ar in 1959, but I wonder how long it took for this change to be reflected in text books and wall charts of the periodic table, because it still seems like it ought to be A from my memories of studying the inert gases at school in the late 60s.

    Why do some people find Paul’s use of ‘going’ to define PIDDLING tiresome? They’re just words, after all. And isn’t it the case that the best way to make sure someone stops doing something that irritates is to ignore him? Every time it is commented upon, it just encourages him to continue!

    Thanks to Paul and Eileen.

  33. I enjoyed this very Pauline puzzle. IRL I’d find the humour puerile, but in a crossword I appreciate the way it showcases the richness of English and find it one of the most recognisable stylistic signatures.
    I had SWEET at 4d for a while (sweet nothings), knowing it was a bit approximate, but hoping it would work; liked DUCKY when I got there. I struggled to parse BRUTALISED, failing on the giant.

  34. Not sure I wanted to be reminded of how my weekend activities have changed over the years. Clever puzzle. Thanks, both.

  35. Here’s where 6d ELSE appears in oed.com’s definition of THEN: ‘… II.4.c. 1489– or then = or, if not, then..; or failing that; or else, or otherwise; or even. Scottish.
    Latest two citations: ‘1636 They are..valuing him at their unworthy halfpenny; or else exchanging and bartering Christ with the miserable old fallen house of this vain world; or then..they lend him out upon interest. S. Rutherford, Letters (1848) lxxi. 128′
    and ‘1825 Come hame sune, or than I’ll be angry. J. Jamieson, Etymological Dictionary of Scottish Language Suppl. (at cited word)’

  37. Sheffield hatter @32 for some people Paul’s toilet humour is there number 1 complaint

    Peak Paul and a delight from start to eventual finish. We seem to have entered a period of proper prize puzzles – long may it continue

    FG @13 that’s two Divine Comedy ear-worms for the week – we just need a frog princess from Everyman 🙂

    Cheers E&P

  38. Among the devices that I expect to find in a Paul puzzle in addition to those noted by Eileen were the lift and separate in 17d and the British usages (which are also obsolete) at 11a and 25etc. There were so many that I wondered if Paul was deliberately setting out to irritate those who find these devices irritatng.
    I enoyed this – worth the struggle. Thanks to Paul and Eileen

  39. Bodycheetah@37 – but that’s PIDDLING in comparison with their number two (1902–) complaint… …the homophones, of course.
    [Sorry to be “tedious”, but that’s a Playtex in 17d, not a ‘lift and separate’.]

  40. [ in case anyone is tackling this week’s (today’s) Boatman Prize puzzle 29506 on the Guardian App, the instructions “Special instructions: A dozen of a kind are missing from their clues’ wordplay.” are missing! ]

  42. Another Paul that I actually quite liked in places. My like/dislike ratio of 20:80 of his clues was about reversed. Ironically, given Eileen’s intro, I like both dodgy homophones and ridiculous Spoonerisms.

  43. Funny, clever and inventive – this was a delight to complete. For once, I found Paul’s multi-word & multi-placed clues falling into place brilliantly, with 25/19/1 suddenly hitting me when I only had a couple of crossers. Maybe “johnny” was the giveaway. (Does anyone still call them that?)
    I actually laughed out loud at DUCKY and TICKETY-BOO.
    Thank you Eileen for the blog – and, rather than a punch, a 21-gun salute to Paul for a classy Prize Crossword

  44. Really enjoyed this – it’s the first prize I’ve given a proper go, and got the whole grid eventually, which felt wonderful. Couple of parsings were missing – PI and Johnny – and I certainly need to improve on my botanical terms if I’m ever going to breeze through a cryptic!

    I also noticed the extra satisfaction I got from solving this without any possibility of using the “check” button; will try to be more disciplined on the dailies!

    Favourites were WATER CLOSET and ON THE LOOSE – not just because they’re juvenile, but they had a nice amount of indirection and a clear “aha” moment for me, which is what I like.

    Enjoying this weekend’s SOMETHING already too – I have the theme but plenty left to fill!

    Thanks Paul for the puzzle and Eileen for the blog.

  46. I did this puzzle twice because I thought it was the current one, not yet having learned that the first puzzle in a month stands alone, like the cheese. And the second time it took me a while to realize that some of the clues seemed awfully familiar. Until this morning I didn’t get either of the long clues or much else in the top half.

    I thought you transatlantic lot called a headline a screamer, not a streamer, but the WATER CLOSET wouldn’t have it.

    I knew TICKETY-BOO from a fifties’ Danny Kaye movie called “Merry Andrew.” “Everything Is Tickety-boo” was one of the songs and I can still remember the first line with the tune.

    I didn’t know that meaning of Johnny.

    I’ll close with the poet I seem to quote most often in this forum. It’s a useful pronunciation guide.

    Hippity hoppity
    Here come the wapiti.
    Ogden Nash

    Thanks to Paul for the puzzle and Eileen for the delightful accompaniment.

  47. Valentine @46 – I remembered TICKETY-BOO from ‘Merry Andrew, too – but I didn’t think anyone else would have heard of it!

  48. Agreed with Martin@7 that the big clue was worth the price of admission. I was pleased to see it was clearly an anagram with generous cross-lighting, then took forever to get anything in the top half where the anagram was. and like Sorbus@33 was thrown had SWEET for DUCKY which threw off the anagram. But eventually got P_I_E, the penny dropped, and I metaphorically stood up and cheered. Thanks Paul and Eileen!

  50. I adored this puzzle. Many thanks, Paul.

    There’s a book called Hegel’s Ladder but I presume their intersection at 23d and 28a was incidental.

  51. 32 SH,

    Yes, I had a variant of lovey – luvvy – too, as a “sounds like”

    As for your last sentence, perhaps I should ramp up my output of dadaist pub reviews?

    Nice puzzle as ever from Paul, thanks to him, blogger, and commenters.

  52. I enjoyed some of it, especially the big clues which made an amusing combination with PAUL. I struggled to finish the bottom RH corner and finally entered LEDGERS instead of LADDERS. Oh, well. Almost got here.

  53. Eileen — Merry Andrew is the only time I’ve ever heard TICKETY-BOO, and the perky tune may be the reason I’ve remembered it all these decades. I bet you remember the flagon with the dragon and the pellet with the poison from Court Jester too.

  55. No, it was in the chalice from the palace – or was it the vessel with the pestle?

    Anyway, I liked this, especially when the penny dropped on the big anagram. This is the Paul I used to enjoy.

    There goes the WAPITI
    Hippety-hoppety!
    (Ogden Nash, of course)

  56. I’m afraid I don’t buy the THEN=else equivalence, despite various attempts to justify it from ancient sources, and I think dictionaries agree.

  58. Tickety-Boo also part of an episode of Dads Army where Mainwaring has to correct Pike’s pronunciation.

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