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A first outing in the Prize slot for Carpathian, I think (but I was wrong!)
I don’t think that I have ever blogged a Carpathian puzzle before and indeed this may be the first of her puzzles that I have solved (generally speaking I don’t tackle The Guardian puzzles on a weekday, and I never do the Quick Cryptic or Quiptic puzzles). I don’t think that anyone can dispute that this puzzle is much easier than the norm for a Prize puzzle; whether the editor has deliberately chosen to put an easier puzzle in the Prize slot or whether this is an accident is not a matter on which I can speculate. I can say that it was easier than normal because of the higher than usual number of anagrams or part-anagrams, along with some fairly straightforward definitions. If there was a theme, it eluded Timon and me. Anyway, thanks to Carpathian.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | ACCOMPLISHMENT |
Caliph’s comment about acquired skill (14)
|
| *(CALIPHS COMMENT). | ||
| 8 | ELVES |
Supernatural beings left during day before something’s beginning (5)
|
| L(eft) inside EVE (day before), S(omething). | ||
| 9 | SPORTIVE |
Playful and caring but not happy (8)
|
| S(up)PORTIVE (caring without UP – happy). We originally bunged in SPORTING which works nearly as well. | ||
| 11 | NETTING |
Bringing in mesh (7)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 12 | OVERRUN |
Invade enclosure after some cricket (7)
|
| OVER (some cricket) RUN (an enclosure). | ||
| 13 | PAUSE |
Serves tea loudly in break (5)
|
| Sounds like (if you don’t sound the R) POURS. | ||
| 15 | EFFECTIVE |
Moving five feet around circle at the start is productive (9)
|
| C(ircle) inside *(FIVE FEET). | ||
| 17 | REPUTABLE |
Dependable agent united board (9)
|
| REP (agent) U(nited) TABLE (board). | ||
| 20 | SODOM |
Bad place, bad moods (5)
|
| *MOODS. | ||
| 21 | NIPPERS |
Children replacing head of smoked fish with head of narwhal (7)
|
| (k)IPPERS (smoked fish). | ||
| 23 | RIPENED |
Epitaph and finale containing note came to fruition (7)
|
| RIP (Rest in Peace – epitaph), E (note) inside END (finale). | ||
| 25 | FLATTERY |
Smoother youngster initially providing cajolement (8)
|
| FLATTER (smoother) Y(oungster). | ||
| 26 | OSAKA |
Koalas strangely left out somewhere in Japan (5)
|
| *KOA(l)AS. | ||
| 27 | BREATHING SPACE |
Respite from rabidly preaching beast (9,5)
|
| *(PREACHING BEAST). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | AWE-INSPIRING |
Warning – pie is strangely sublime (3-9)
|
| *(WARNING PIE IS). | ||
| 2 | COVET |
Desire secret right away (5)
|
| COVE(r)T (secret). | ||
| 3 | MISDIRECT |
Throw off scent of cider dispersed in vapour (9)
|
| *CIDER inside MIST (vapour). | ||
| 4 | LASAGNE |
Talk about going into passage for dish (7)
|
| GAS (gossip, or talk, rev) inside LANE (passage). | ||
| 5 | SHOW-OFF |
Second method of fellow becoming braggart (4-3)
|
| S(econd) HOW (method) OF F(ellow). | ||
| 6 | METRE |
Measure of time in lake (5)
|
| T(ime) in MERE (lake). | ||
| 7 | NEVER MIND |
Mice, say, in revolting study? It doesn’t matter (5,4)
|
| VERMIN (e.g. mice) inside *DEN (study). | ||
| 10 | INTERMEDIATE |
Bury referee is at half way point (12)
|
| INTER (bury) MEDIATE (referee, as a verb). It occurs to me that the surface of the clue could be improved by omitting “is”; having said that, it’s not a very accurate definition, as something that is in an intermediate position can be almost anywhere between the two extremes. | ||
| 14 | UNPOPULAR |
Hated posh polar pun getting revised (9)
|
| U (posh) *(POLAR PUN). | ||
| 16 | CESSPOOLS |
Returning second bobbins, sewers might replace these (9)
|
| SEC(ond) (rev) SPOOLS (bobbins). | ||
| 18 | BESEECH |
Implore leaders of scouting expedition to enter wood (7)
|
| S(couting) E(xpedition) inside BEECH (wood). | ||
| 19 | EARLY ON |
Organ left by rear of vestry working before much time passes (5,2)
|
| EAR (organ) L(eft) (vestr)Y ON (working). | ||
| 22 | EXTRA |
Former lover with skill upset auxiliary (5)
|
| EX (former lover) ART (skill, rev). | ||
| 24 | NYALA |
Antelope found in colony alarmingly (5)
|
| Hidden in “colony alarmingly”. |
I would love to know whether the crossword editor has time to tackle each crossword afresh without solutions, like us punters? This must be the best way to assess difficulty (and spot errors/unfairnesses). I agree this wasn’t Prize material as we have come to expect it but that is nothing against the crossword per se, enjoyed especially its lovely surfaces, thank you Carpathian and bridgesong.
Agree completely with bridgesong, except – should 7d not be DEN rev not *?
It was still an enjoyable solve though, so thanks to C and b.
Thanks bridgesong. Yes, a walk in the park but walks in the park are usually enjoyable and I enjoyed this one. All over rather too quickly though, LOI was SPORTIVE, the crossers determined that but I spent about as long figuring it out as I did on the rest of the puzzle.
This is the first time I’ve attempted a Prize Crossword as I expected it to be way out of my league at this stage. I was thus extremely pleased to finish it including parsing all the answers, however the blog has punctured my balloon of self-congratulation as it appears I picked the easiest one ever. Oh well.
Marser @2, I think ‘revolting’ indicates anagram, maybe you read it as ‘revolving’? Either way you get the same result.
Thanks to Carpathian & bridgesong.
This was at a similar level to the Wairarapa Times Age crossword, which I don’t bother to do
Every so often we get a Prize that is “easier”, by consensus, than the typical one (which in turn is typically “harder” than the average daily Cryptic). My thinking now is that it is not a mistake, not a case of running out of alternatives, but a deliberate attempt to periodically make the prize (such that it is) accessible to all comers. Graham@4 seems to be a case in point.
Just when I start to think I am getting good at this, someone lets the air out of my balloon by writing what an easy puzzle it was.
I confess I did make very quick work of this, but similar others I liked it a lot – further demonstrating that an enjoyable puzzle does not have to be difficult.
I liked a lot of the clues, and my favourites were ACCOMPLISHMENT (which I loved), AWE INSPIRING, SODOM, and REPUTABLE. All really nice surfaces
Thanks Carpathian and bridgesong
Thanks Carpathian. Yes, it was ‘easy’ but it was still very good. Carpathian writes such readable clues so I would never complain regardless of the day of the week her crosswords appear. Favourites included SPORTIVE, AWE-INSPIRING, NEVER MIND, and EXTRA. Thanks bridgesong for the blog.
I have been thinking on the same lines as Dr WhatsOn@6 and I think it a good idea.
I enjoyed it and Roz won’t be on the train on a Saturday, so what is their to complain about?
As others have commented, this was much more gettable than the usual prize puzzles, and there’s nothing wrong with that. It gives a chance for us mere mortals to complete a Saturday puzzle in a single sitting once in a blue moon. This had such wonderful surfaces that it was a real pleasure even if it was over too soon.
Dr. WhO @6 Possibly so, but how are relative novices – and let’s be honest, this was a novice-level puzzle – supposed to know that any particular Saturday’s Prize is accessible when they probably never bother even looking at it? Graham@4 may be a case in point, but as such he is an exception, I imagine.
Carpathian set the Prize in April this year, a week after she set the first Quick Cryptic, and has set a few weekly Cryptics this year. She’s set around a third of the Quick Cryptics and regularly sets in the Quiptic slot, more regularly than she is now she’s taken on the Quick Cryptic. She’s a reliable setter for the Quick Cryptic.
This was a gentle Prize and I saw a number of people suggest that the Quick Cryptic regulars attempt it, so there may be some new names on the blog this week.
An enjoyable Prize, thank you to Carpathian and bridgesong.
I thought this was a lovely puzzle with good surfaces although 13ac does not work for me
Favourites included: NIPPERS, COVET, RIPENED, CESSPOOLS, BESEECH
Thanks Carpathian and bridgesong
Very enjoyable puzzle. Carpathian writes clues that are a pleasure to read.
Thanks, both.
Many thanks, Carpathian. I enjoyed this. My two puzzles a week are the Prize Crossword and the Killer Sudoku. Although I didn’t go wrong with either, I found the KS a really tough one. Swings and roundabouts.
Presumably there’ll be a reliable algorithm somewhere for evaluating KS toughness. I very much hope that there never will be one for the Guardian PC.
CESSPOOLS and COVET were my favourites.
It’s an interesting contrast to regular Quiptic setter Mathilda who produced an absolute cracker when given the Prize slot. I couldn’t see anything here to differentiate this from a Quiptic. Maybe it’s part of a bid to encourage experienced solvers to try AZED?
Cheers B&C
Thanks to my fellow-blogger Shanne for pointing out that Carpathian had featured in the Prize slot in April this year. I had forgotten that, although I expect that I must have solved that puzzle at the time. Looking back at my comments, I was so fixated on the difficulty level that I failed to mention the surfaces. As others have mentioned, they are indeed smooth and a pleasure to read.
Nice easy solve this week, having been put through the wringer by Arachne last week.
Enjoyed it, thank you both,
I’d been in the mood for something slightly less taxing, so this was a pleasant surprise. A set of neat and enjoyable clues. Thanks both.
I agree with Marser@2 that 7d requires a reversal of DEN. Yes, the indication is ‘revolting’ (Graham@4) but I think this just means that the word should be written in the “up” direction, rather than in the sense of “disorderly”. It doesn’t seem likely that this setter would have intended an anagram of letters that do not appear in the clue, so it must be a reversal.
Easy but enjoyable, thank you Carpathian, and bridgesong too. One of my sons has recently become a third-generation Guardian crossword doer, and only has time to try the Prize. This was a first for him, he completed it with no help from his ma. He guessed it was on the easy side since there were no obscure words or general knowledge required ( he is a biologist but had to verify nyala). “Smooth and a pleasure to read” indeed.
Pleasant solve with Carpathian’s trademark smooth cluing, apart from the clue for BREATHING SPACE, which didn’t seem to make sense to me.
I enjoyed the S(up)PORTIVE, the mice in a revolting study, where as SH@20 points out it wouldn’t be an anagram of DEN, and the CESSPOOLS sewers.
Thanks Carpathian and bridgesong.
Graham@4, don’t let your bubble be burst by others’ experience. It’s always nice to finish a
prize m, especially when you’ve parsed it all, so keep it up – it won’t be the last time you do complete a crossword.
Thanks to Carpathian and bridgesong for crossword and blog respectively. As others have mentioned, some lovely surfaces even if if made for a less than fiendish experience. Will never know if Dr WhatOn@6 was right about whether or not it was deliberate by the (very busy!?!) crossword editor at the Grauniad.
Perhaps there will be more entries for the Prize this week. It won’t affect me as I’ve only ever entered once. We were spending Christmas with the in- laws and I needed help with the theme from a book of theirs. It was an Araucaria Double Christmas Special many years ago. The theme was wild flowers, not my specialist subject. It was so hard that I thought I would stand a good chance of the Prize. The following week there was a note with the list of winners saying that the number of entries wasn’t normally published but it might be of interest on this occasion as it was 723! I haven’t bothered entering since.
Thanks to Carpathian for an enjoyable solve and to bridgesong.
I did find it easy, but disliked 13a not merely because of the missing R but because the vowel sounds in ‘pours’ and PAUSE are not the same. I probably wouldn’t mind if it was just that, but the additional non-rhoticism tipped it over the edge.
Not sure what poc@25 is on about. Pause and pours CAN be pronounced the same way. My Chambers seems to confirm this.
Non-rhoticism seems to have more than one meaning. Hopefully I’ll remember at least one of them for use in future puzzles.
I had expected any criticism of 13a to be restricted to the use of “loudly” to indicate the homonym. But I wasn’t fussed myself.
My first thought for 20ac was that SODOM might be a near homophone for something someone in a bad mood might say, before seeing the anagram.
Coldchunk @ 26
poc @ 25 I agree
no way can pause and pours be pronounced the same way. It’s not just the r – the vowel sounds are completely different.
I’m with Coldchunk – to me pause and pours sound the same. One of the most tediously repetitive topics on here is homophones. I wish people would live with the fact some things sound the same to me, but not you, and vixe versa.
Late to the party, but I thought pause and pours was a homophone in my muted English Midlands accent. However, having concentrated very carefully on the shape of mouth when I repeatedly say one then the other I can see my lips are slightly different. I don’t think that matters a jot as far as the validity of the crossword clue goes, but I find it interesting. But then I would.
Fiona@28. Paws, pause, pours. All sound the same to me. But then again, my O Level German teacher told us all that we’d never speak a foreign language because NW Londoners don’t open our mouths and pronounce vowel sounds. And he was right.
What the complaints about homophones don’t take into account is that if all the differences caused by regional speech variations are disallowed, very few possible homophones are left. (Boatman’s splendid THROUGHOUT yesterday is one of the few that has raised no objections … yet). You need a bit of carelessness and lazy pronunciation to allow the pun to happen.
Pete HA3@31: I’m an Aussie and they all sound the same to me too. I doubt a Kiwi would hear a difference either (seeing they seem to dispense with vowels altogether 😉 ). I agree with gladys@32, and ask those who might say that every letter in a word should be pronounced, exactly how they pronounce the Boatman example.
I agree that this was a pretty easy puzzle for a prize, but it gave this new-ish solver from NZ a bit of a boost.
Although I pronounce paws, pause, pores and pours the same, I do wince when I see putative ‘homophone’ clues like these because I know they will give rise to complaints from those who pronounce them differently, and then patronising scoffing from others in whose dialects (and RP is just another dialect) they are pronounced the same way.
Why do setters persist in this? Perhaps they only do it to annoy because they know it teases. I wish they would stick to incontrovertible homophones like THROUGHOUT.
Sorry to have aggravated a raw nerve. Clues relying on homophones are fine with me: though dodgy ones are even better.
I can live with Coldchunk. Almost an anagram of Choldunk.
Gervase@35. I also wince at some of these clues, as I do when seeing dog bowls labelled “paws for a drink”, but not so much for the reason you give, as that they’re puns and are meant to induce that reaction.
You’re not making it any better by referring to the clue type as a homophone. I thought we had (mostly) settled on calling them puns? Nothing in these clues says that the answer sounds exactly the same as the word given by the wordplay.
Why do setters persist in this? For the same reason that they continue to annoy people who dislike single letter abbreviations. Not so that they can annoy us, but because it makes for a bit of variety in the clues and can make for a smooth surface.
OK, also perhaps because they like to annoy us.
Yes, they all sound the same in West Yorkshire too: pa’s, pa’s, and pa’s.
Easier than usual, but enjoyable nonetheless. I used the time gained to return to an earlier prize puzzle which I have found very hard. I still haven’t finished.
Thank you, sheffield hatter @ 20, for supporting my contention @2. I was thinking of ‘revolting’ meaning ‘opposing’, but that is equivalent to ‘up’, but I am in agreement with the further part of the explanation.
Re 13a PAUSE/pours, sheffield hatter says it all at 37. If bloggers and commenters would desist from using the “h”-word, there would be no excuse for complaining about the aural wordplay, unless you have a passionate dislike of puns.
For what it’s worth, I am a rhotic speaker and I thoroughly enjoy puns that rely on non-rhotic pronunciation. As for puns in general, the more outrageous the better.