It’s a Prize Puzzle, and it’s a Paul – so there’ll probably be some linked/multi-light entries, some punning double-definitions, and maybe an outrageous homophone or two…let’s see…
…well, as the late, great Meatloaf once sang: ‘Two out of three ain’t bad…‘. We have 8A/24A and 21A/7D as linked entries and a pun-tastic double defn. at 19A INGRID, but no homophones – just a Scootish theme-ette, which had me wondering whether the editor has mis-scheduled this?
RABBI(E) BURNS, the HIGHLAND FLING, the Isles of MUCK and UNST(uffy) and the festival of UP-HELLY-AA all point north of the border (from where I’m sat, as least), and with UP-HELLY-AA occurring on 28 January 2025, along with incantations of Burns’ homage to the Haggis – GREAT CHIEFTAIN O’THE PUDDIN-RACE! – on his name night, on 25th January, maybe this one could have been held back for 8 weeks or so?
Anyway, enough complaining about things I can’t change – there is a job in hand, to solve and blog it.
It was a bit of a slow burner, especially as I didn’t get either of the linked clues early on, and I didn’t help myself by lazily putting in EARTH GODDESS at 9D as soon as I saw Gaia, which necessitated some e-erasing with the i-pencil once I spotted the clashing crossers with 13A and 15A.
But I got there gradually, with a smile at 19A INGRID in the grid; 18A ARM STRONG packing a punch, and the ‘rump’ being chewed by a Cockney at 3D NATES!
And 8A/24A finally clicked, although I did put in PUDDEN-RACE at first, without checking the anagram fodder, and had to do a quick Wiki-oogle check (sorry, but quicker and easier than checking off the letters of the fodder!)
Whilst the anagram at 8A/24A is pretty impressive (and exactly what you’d expect from Paul), I did feel that the last clue, 23D, was a bit weak. The succinct 22D ‘Feeling bump‘ has a surface read of someone feeling a pregnant belly, but ‘Isle manure‘ doesn’t evoke anything for me. ‘Island of manure‘ might work, but some setters/editors frown on link words. Maybe the ‘outrageous homophone’ clue – ‘Isle of Man, you’re hearing?’ or ‘Did you hear, I Luv Manure…?’ was deemed too outrageous and neutered by the Editor?… Anyway, at this point I’ll stop digging myself a hole and trying to teach my Grandmothers how to suck eggs, set clues and edit crosswords!
And, unless I have missed anything else obvious, I think that is that. My thanks to Paul for the entertainment – I’m off for a Highland Fling and an offal sausage, before I burn a couple of Viking longboats – just need to dig out ma kilt, the noo…(;+>)
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution / Entry | Clue (definition underlined)
Logic/parsing |
| 1A | ASPEN | Wood in the role of fence (5)
AS (in the role of) + PEN (fence, enclosure) |
| 4A | UNSTUFFY | Breezy isle, ‘aughty (8)
UNST (Shetland island) + ( |
| 8A | GREAT CHIEFTAIN (O’ THE PUDDIN’-RACE) | & 24 17s’ titan, other than that pure grace, deified icon (5,9,1,3,6-4)
anag, i.e. other, of THAN THAT PURE GRACE DEIFIED ICON [the mighty HAGGIS! – according to 17A – (Rabbie) BURNS] |
| 10A | ROBUSTLY | In solid style, work of art in fat, not half! (8)
RO_LY (roly-poly, or fat, not half) around BUST (work of art) |
| 11A | DOGGER | Regular on shipping forecast – might one follow? (6)
double defn. DOGGER is an area of the UK Shipping Forecast; and a DOGGER might follow you around, like a dog [carefully avoiding any other dogger-related activities!] |
| 12A | RATEPAYER | One charged for utilities per year, with tax cut for building (9)
anag, i.e. for building, of PER YEAR + TA( |
| 15A | GABLE | Wind into which leading character in blockbuster has gone – him? (5)
GA_LE (wind) around B (leading character in Blockbuster) [‘him’ being Clark GABLE – a leading character in several blockbusters, including ‘Gone with the Wind’!] |
| 17A | BURNS | Flower of Scotland’s poet (5)
BURN (stream, or flow-er, Scottish) + S (contracted ‘s) [poet – Rabbie BURNS] |
| 18A | ARMSTRONG | Moonwalker able to pack a punch? (9)
if your ARM is STRONG then you might pack a punch [moonwalker Neil ARMSTRONG] |
| 19A | INGRID | Nordic girl appearing as an answer? (6)
punning double defn.? – INGRID is an example of a Nordic female name; and something appearing as an answer here would be IN (the) GRID! |
| 21A | HIGHLAND (FLING) | & 7 Some tripping up, settle affair (8,5)
HIGH (up) + LAND (settle) + FLING (affair) [tripping as in dancing] |
| 24A | O’ THE PUDDIN’-RACE | See 8 (1,3,6-4)
see 8A |
| 25A | PARTAKER | Leave debauched rake, drinker say? (8)
PART (leave) + AKER (anag, i.e. debauched, of RAKE) |
| 26A | HADES | God in beachwear, but no cap (5)
( |
| Down | ||
| Clue No | Solution / Entry | Clue (definition underlined)
Logic/parsing |
| 1D | ANGORA RABBIT | Topless dance with vermin stopped by teacher, hairy thing (6,6)
( |
| 2D | PRESBYTER | Priest legendary Christian John has held close (9)
PRES_TER (Prester John, legendary Christian) around (holding) BY (close) |
| 3D | NATES | Rump chewed in Cockney mouth? (5)
N_S (North & South, Cockney rhyming slang for ‘mouth’) around ATE (chewed) |
| 4D | UP-HELLY-AA | Looking north, infernal (?) gala regularly seen, fire festival (2-5-2)
UP (looking north) + HELLY (infernal, hellish, or hell-y) + AA (regular letters from ‘gAlA’) |
| 5D | SUET | Something of a 8 24, tissue that’s bagged (4)
hidden word in, i.e. bagged by, ’tisSUE That’ [a haggis is really just a glorified suet pudding?…] |
| 6D | UNTHOUGHT | Yet to be entertained by working of nut? (9)
&lit – UN_T (anag, i.e. working of NUT) around (entertaining) THOUGH (yet) [a pure &lit(?) – as the whole clue is definition and the clue consists of only wordplay?] |
| 7D | FLING | See 21 (5)
see 21 |
| 9D | GREEK GODDESS | One’s in Gaia, then another – and in another also! (5,7)
examples of GREEK GODDESSes – Athena (hidden in ‘gaiA THEN Another) and Hera in ‘anotHER Also’! [there is also a Hera in ‘anotHER And’, but that may be serendipitous? ] |
| 13D | PESTILENT | Deadly when confined, steps taken to break in (9)
PE_NT (confined) around (broken into by) STILE (steps) |
| 14D | REMAINDER | In plaster, yours truly is up for rest (9)
RE_NDER (plaster) around MAI (I am, your’s truly is, up) |
| 16D | BIOHAZARD | Poisonous agent in business maintaining a house standing on a road (9)
BI_Z (business) around (maintaining) OHA (A + HO, house, standing up) + A + RD (road) |
| 20D | GOTTA | Try time and time again, a must (5)
GO (try) + T (time) + T (time, again) + A |
| 22D | HUNCH | Feeling bump (5)
double defn. – a HUNCH can be a feeling; and a HUNCH can be a bump in the spine |
| 23D | MUCK | Isle manure (4)
double defn. – MUCK is a Hebridean island; and MUCK can refer to manure, in a muck heap |
“… just a Scootish [sic] theme-ette, which had me wondering whether the editor has mis-scheduled this?” It was St Andrew’s Day! And the Church of Scotland is PRESBYTERian …
Thanks mc_rapper67. Another enjoyable experience that allowed me to work fairly steadily toward LOI 6d. My entry was BURNS which seemed a bit too obvious and which quickly yielded 8,24. I did have to notice the Scottish theme but can’t say it helped me much.
Never really did come to terms with 9d so thanks for that.
Got the key answer BURNS quickly enough, but it would have helped more if I was familiar with the long quote. I was looking for a timorous beastie, but unfortunately none was to be found. Frankly, I’m amazed I finished – it took a few sessions, which I think is ideal for a Prize puzzle. Thanks.
BURNS and the quote went straight in, which helped, followed by ARMSTRONG which brought to mind the other one who packed a musical punch that would astound those who only know What a Wonderful World.
Liked INGRID, UNTHOUGHT and GREEK GODDESS.
Thanks Paula and mc.
Far too obscure to crack in full for someone not from the UK perhaps, but the third or so I did get I enjoyed and this blog helped greatly with the rest. Thanks, Paul and mc_rapper67!
Don’t know much Burns apart from Red Red Rose, and I would that God the gift hae gie us … so the haggis and the festival needed help. The rest unpicked slowly, thanks Paul and rapper.
Thanks for the blog Rapper. I found this too tough and just got a smattering of clues
I had touch instead of HUNCH at first which I think is an equally valid answer. I always find it a bit dissatisfying when that happens. I didn’t parse NATES as I didn’t know N&S=mouth. UP HELLY AA I knew from the Shetland books and TV series.
Thanks, mc_rapper for the usual entertaining blog. I was happy to see Paul’s name on this, having enormously enjoyed his previous Tuesday’s 29,550 puzzle (I sometimes tackle the odd weekday puzzle as well as the weekend Prize). But I found this more of a struggle. I got BURNS and ARMSTRONG straight off, and did like the ‘Flower of Scotland’ part. The problem with a 28-character anagram like this is that unless you actually know it, it’s hard going getting it from the crossers (which come slowly with two 14-long answers blank), and it becomes hard to resist just looking up some of the more obvious poems. Having eventually succumbed, I also looked up fire festivals, and I’m glad I did, because I’d never have known UP-HELLY-AA in a month of Saturdays. In the end, there were many clues I liked, including INGRID of course, GABLE, GOTTA, as well as BURNS, but there were also a few that just seemed oddly defined like GREEK GODDESS (Gaia, Athena and two Heras?) and UNTHOUGHT. So thanks, Paul, it kept me challenged and entertained for quite a while, but somehow finishing it the way I did wasn’t quite as satisfying as it usually is.
Didn’t read the clue for 9d carefully enough and finished up with GREEN GODDESS for Gaia, a mistake undetectable by crossers.
Snap, gladys @11, that was also my mistake along with “touch”.
I enjoyed most of this, which is unusual for me with Paul. The only reason I missed a couple was me not being up to the job. Heck of a blog, too.
I loved this, spotted it was St Andrew’s Day and that the Scottish theme was deliberate – when the Scotsman had their Hunt the Haggis feature it used to run from St Andrew’s Day to Burns Night, both traditional dates for eating Haggis. Not that I actually like haggis to eat (I don’t like meat, full stop) but I have been to various Burns Night events.
Thank you to Paul for the fun and mc_rapper for the blog.
I liked HADES, PARTAKER, INGRID
I finished but half these clues are next-to impossible for a non-UK resident. A puzzle with little satisfaction for me
I wrote in UP-HELLY-AA immediately because I lived in Shetland for five years (in the island next to Unst) and saw the festival in Lerwick every year. There are also smaller, local Up-Hellys.
Apart from that, it was a slow start on this puzzle.
I assume that MUCK is cognate with Welsh mochyn/moch – pig. The Isle of Pigs. I do vaguely remember from my Irish (now more-or-less completely forgotten) that it’s muc (should that have a fodhar?)
Martyn @15, this “non-UK resident” managed OK ta. We do have television, books and t’internet in the colonies!
Found this tricky thanks to lack of GK and some devices beyond my level but enjoyed the challenge even if I did have to rely on Google for some definitions!
Thanks Paul and mc_rapper for the breakdown
I thought this was clever, witty and joyful and a lovely way to honour St Andrew’s Day. As an Aussie I managed it just fine, having Scottish family background and always an interest. But as TimC@17 says, we do have books, tv and internet here.
NATES was a new word for me.
I thought GREAT CHIEFTAIN O’ THE PUDDIN’-RACE was delightful (when it eventually rose to the surface). UNTHOUGHT was clever and ticks also to INGRID, GREEK GODDESS and GABLE.
It was also clever to work the lovely anthem Flower of Scotland into the BURNS clue.
Thank you to Paul for the delightful puzzle and to mc_rapper67 for the great blog.
Quite a challenge. I had to Google the haggis poem, couldn’t parse UNSTUFFY or NATES, and like TimC also had EARTH… initially for the female pantheon clue.
My favourites were GREEK GODDESS (very clever clue), UP HELLY AA, UNTHOUGHT (which is a lovely &Lit) and INGRID (which made me smile.
Many years ago we bought a boardgame called the UP HELLY AA game which took ages to play and had rules which were confusing to say the least. I wonder if anyone else has it?
Thanks to mc_rapper67 for the entertaining blog and to the inimitable Paul.
Well, my Blue Peter annual in the 70s finally turns out to have taught me something useful. I don’t think I’ve come across Up Helly Aa anywhere else since.
You mean this board game Pauline @20?
I found this very satisfying and learned more about Burns’s poetry than I’ve ever learned before. It took me various goes over the weekend but it was worth it, the LOI being “nates” which I would never have been able to parse had it not been for this superb blog. Thanks both.
I thought I was in for a very tough time as I got nothing on a first pass – I thought BURNS might be too obvious so didn’t put it in! But it gradually came together. Had to get nearly all the crossers for the Burns quote.
And I did EARTH GODDESS first, then GREEN GODDESS before the penny dropped.
Thank you to mc and Paul for a real (but not impossible) challenge.
Pauline @20 and TimC @22: it can’t be a very convincing game if it’s still around to be used again. Surely the defining characteristic of such a game should be that it ends in immolation?
I was aware it was St Andrew’s Day although it’s the one of the four home country saints days that I feel is the lowest key. It being a Paul, I broke with my usual approach of solving in numerical order when it became clear 17a was intrinsic to solving the long ‘un. Once I had BURNS, the quote fell into place (does anyone actually try to unpick the long long Paul anagrams? For me, they fall into the life’s too short category.) Other themers like UP HELLY AA came easily enough – HIGHLAND FLING was possibly the trickiest – ‘Some tripping’ is a pretty thin definition of that, though not by Paul’s standards.
Thanks Paul and MC for an entertaining blog.
muffin: Have you seen my late post to you yesterday?
Unlike some posters above, I did in fact identify the fodder in 8/24 and refused resolutely to look up the quote. (Which was familiar to me from Len Deighton’s Funeral in Berlin.) I almost wrote in TOUCH at 22d, and did write in GREEN at 9d, but it’s good to know I wasn’t the only one.
Tough but enjoyable, though NATES, GABLE and MUCK were uncharacteristically simple. Favourite was UNTHOUGHT, especially as I usually don’t spot &lits.
Thanks to Paul and mc_ (no golf today?).
PostMark@25 Some people might say the definition of “tripping” was light: others might think it fantastic.
[TimC@20, yes that’s the one. We still have it somewhere and no, PM@ 25, we didn’t burn it… ]
Having solved ASPEN and NATES, I shifted my attention to the clue to BURNS in order to help crack the long anagram at 8/24. The B of BURNS helped me to get ANGORA RABBIT, and, with two letters of 8a now in place, I decided to read everything under (Robert) Burns in my Oxford Dictionary of Quotations in the hope of finding the required English or Scottish phrase. Luckily, it was there.
Without that early start I would have struggled with the whole puzzle. I have come across UP-HELLY-AA before (probably in a crossword, possibly on St Andrew’s Day), and that also helped a lot.
There was much to enjoy in this puzzle, but I found Paul’s otherwise praiseworthy economy with words seemed to lead him to what PostMark (@25) aptly called ‘thin’ definitions (and other indications).
Many thanks to Paul and mc_rapper.
PostMark @25. Lower-key perhaps, although Google customised its logo for the occasion, but we were very aware of it here at Balfour Towers several hundred miles south of the frontier. While I had not ordered a Great Chieftain from the famous firm in Edinburgh, I had laid in some proper Scotch pies and dusted off my Jimmy Shand records (well, maybe not the latter …). The Scottish theme was therefore spotted very early on, probably after PRESBYTER and UP HELLY AA and helped with a number of the other solutions, including the long one and HIGHLAND FLING.
I was another with GREEN GODDESS. The definition works (earth mother=green goddess) and a subscriber to the Gaia hypothesis or theory could possibly be described as a “Green” but the rest doen’t work. Couldn’t work in a reference to the army lorries that were used to collect rubbish years ago when the binmen were on strike.They were known as “green goddesses”
3d has given me a week’s earworm https://youtu.be/IHKdZnt1tCY?feature=shared
Thanks to Paul and mc_rapper67
Thanks for all the comments and feedback so far – much appreciated as usual…keep ’em coming!
I abase myself before Balfour at #1 (and all those of a Scottish persuasion) for not knowing your Saint’s day…as per PostMark at 25, this one flies below my radar. The Welsh and Irish ones come around Six Nations time, so you can’t help but see all those leeks & daffodils/leprechaun hats & four-leaf clovers in the crowds. And St George’s Day is awash with patriotic red & white flags (mostly Chinese-made?) being flown from foreign-made cars celebrating a Mediterranean immigrant who came over here and stole a job from one of our noble English knights. (;+>)
Sounds like this was quite a toughie for many, with its UK-centric GK, plus the ‘tripping’ over EARTH/GREEN/GREEK GODDESSes and the TOUCH/HUNCH conundrum.
sheffield hatter at #27 – you are correct, storm Darragh put paid to golfing activities today (;+<)
Another snap with gladys@11 and Tim C@12. GREEN GODDESS was my LOI and sole mistake. I was uneasy because it didn’t make sense. Quite a clever clue, I think, now that mc rapper has explained the correct answer. I made steady progress during the week, getting BURNS quite early. The big phrase for 8,24 came to mind when the T from GOTTA pointed me to O’ THE. I did work diligently through all the letters for the anagram. I used a word finder to find the missing two letters for NATES, an unfamiliar word for me. It took me a little while longer to figure out the clever rhyming slang. An enjoyable puzzle from Paul. I liked HIGHLAND FLING for its economy with words.
Took me all week but I enjoyed it! Last in was presbyter- but I didn’t know John Prester so didn’t get the parsing.
MC @33: you have hit the nail on the head. It’s no disrespect to the Scottish patron saint (indeed, I am very proud of the 25% of PostMark that is of Scottish origin). But, as you say, we are made very aware of daffodils and leeks when the Welsh are playing rugby in the spring. Likewise the Irish shamrock plus, living not far from Cheltenham, Paddy’s Day is always a very evident occasion hereabouts. As for St George’s Day, I am also in the Vale of Evesham where the country’s best asparagus is grown (apologies to Kent!) and the saint’s day is the beginning of the season for that most sublime of vegetables so there is no way I am going to miss that!
Sharing my earworm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPzqFgFGhcA&list=PLCxXCax-b1ZQqtYzHgEdqX-rRrIxgLybE&index=16
I hope this works. I can’t do those clever links.
Ouch… DNF because I kept insisting 11a had to be FISHER, after all, one would be following the Shipping Forecast.
Mc_rapper67@33
And of course St Andrew’s Day isn’t awash with patriotic blue & white flags (mostly Chinese-made?) being flown from foreign-made cars celebrating a Mediterranean immigrant! 😊
A fine St Andrew’s Day entertainment!
My partner & I don’t have much Scottish blood in us – but we do love haggis – so we call our annual feasts Second Degree Burns Nights, and some years back I memorised “Fair fa’ your honest sonsie face” – which helped enormously with 8/24. (I only subject our guests to the first and last stanzas: the meal would go cold if the poor souls had to listen to it all.)
And after that, I was on a roll…
UP HELLY AA went in from the numeration, BURNS and ARMSTRONG were write-ins, HIGHLAND FLING was sweet.
NATES was a new word for me – but it had to be that, and my only niggle is GOTTA: is it really a word?
Anyway, twas good fun. Thank Paul and mc_r.
muffin – me@32
Thanks for showing me how to post a link. You may have cause to regret it – though I suppose that you don’t have to open them!
I really enjoyed solving this puzzle so thanks to Paul and mc_rapper.
A quick etymological point on “presbytery” and presbyterian and how they relate to the eye condition many of us probably suffer to some extent – presbyopia. They all come from the Greek root ‘presbyteros’ which indicates an elder. Presbyopia generally afflicts people as they age and the presbyterian church has elders rather than bishops.
Thought this was braw. Worth it for ‘Great Chieftain o the Puddin Race’ alone. I thought the Gable clue was brilliant too.
Can’t fault this, though I too fell into the Green Goddess trap.
Up Helly Aa? Isn’t that all that the Spice Girls ever really wanted to do?
Cheers everyone.
Sadly, it turns out I failed. I did switch from GREEN to GREEK GODDESS in time, but for the long one I included PUDDEN, which I put down to staring too long at a word for which all the crossers only seemed to allow SUDDEN or BURDEN, until the tea tray dropped.
Oh, and I got to GABLE by a less satisfactory route – GABBLE for wind[bagging] and then some clumsy fumbling with the ‘B’ (where ‘from’ would obviously have been better than ‘into’)
I had GREEN GODDESS as well, figuring it was some UK reference I don’t get… ah well. Those reverse-hidden ones are always tricky for me. Got BURNS pretty quick and slogged around till I got enough crossers to figure that 8A must be “Great chieftain o the,” then couldn’t construct any words from the remaining letters and duckduckwent it. I also immediately twigged “4D is that 2-5-2 festival that has unusual combinations of letters” and figured that was enough to justify a search.
Thanks also for the parsing of NATES which seems a bit too indirect for me–I don’t think “Jakes novel” would pass as a clue for the letters NS. Bungable from the crossers though.
Great fun with the puzzle in any case, particularly liked GOTTA, PRESBYTER (spent ages figuring out what PRESTER could be going around), ASPEN, ROBUSTLY, and ANGORA RABBIT. Thanks Paul and mc_rapper67!
Oh, and I did get to GABLE by another route, albeit one that left the niggling feeling it’s not quite right – GABBLE for wind[bagging], then some clumsy fumbling with the ‘B’ (where obviously ‘from’ would have been better than the ‘into’ of the clue)
matt w @46: “duckduckwent it”! I love it! I use DuckDuckGo too, and always try to avoid saying “I g**gled it”, but without a clear alternative. Now I have one! Thanks.
Thanks to Paul for the puzzle that I found enjoyable if tough in places due to my lack of familiarity with Rabbie Burns. I did know Up Helly AA though and have watched a few of them live on the Shetland webcams.
Thanks mc_rapper67 for the delightful blog as always. I love a good read in the morning and you never disappoint!
I knew N&S = Mouth from this (I’ve never made a link here before so I hope it works.)
I just couldn’t help but post it and apologise if it gives you an earworm you’d rather not have.
Interestingly, Wikipedia has Prester John as deriving from the Latin Presbyter Ioannes so maybe recursive. I think I only recognised Prester John from an Ian Rankin story.
Enjoyed the crossword totally oblivious to why there were so many Scottish references.
I initially thought earth goddess until I got Gable, then toyed with green but thought it unsatisfactory until I spotted Athena and then Hera and realised it was Greek.
Thanks Paul and mc_rapper67
I really enjoyed this. Got there with a few aids. Once I realised it might be GREEK GODDESS, the clue seemed perfect: with ATHENA, HERA and another HERA.
I particularly like short clues that take a bit of getting. So MUCK, HUNCH and UNSTUFFY were especially enjoyed.
Many thanks Paul and mc_rapper67.
In the clue for 8, 24 the definition is 17s’ titan. Since 17 = BURNS, 17s’ = BURNSS’. I don’t think that’s right.
Wouldn’t 17’s = BURNS’S be better?