Picaroon provides the Guardian Prize challenge this week.
There was a good mix of general knowledge built into the clues which dipped into literature, film, opera, philosophy, geography and cookery among other topics.
The letters TED are fairly regularly clued by the word ‘talks’ fairly frequently at the moment (see 11 across in this puzzle) LAICISE (21 across) is not a word I expect to use very much and I’m not convinced that it actually means ‘remove religious character from’ as a lay preacher, for example, will still talk about religious things.
There was a good bit of misdirection throughout the clues with special mention to the legitimate drug dealer (CHEMIST) at 1 down and the clue for DAS RHEINGOLD with its talk of ring and soldering..
Picaroon did well to get the KING POWER stadium into the wordplay for an entry (BAKING POWDER at 10 down). I suspect overseas solvers may have been a bit perplexed by the reference, but I must admit I was surprised to find that the stadium has been in use for over 20 years, having been first used in 2002
I liked the reference to Victoria in the clue for SPINOZA. My first thoughts for the location of Victoria were London [railwaty station] and Vancouver Island before I hit on the philosopher and realised what was going on.
I wondered whether the grid was a pangram but we seem to be a J and an X short.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | Clownish crack, then some dialogue with question from Manuel (12)
CHAPLINESQUE (in the style of Charlie CHAPLIN [1889 – 1977], English actor who acted in a clownish style and was inducted into the International Clown Hall of Fame in 2001) CHAP (crack) + LINES (some dialogue) + QUÉ (Spanish word for the question what?, a word frequently used by the character Manuel in the situation comedy Fawlty Towers) CHAP LINES QUE |
| 8 | In report, I dismiss solution for viewer’s complaint (3-4)
EYE-DROP (a liquid [solution] used in treating problems with the eyes [viewers]) EYE (sounds like [in report] I) + DROP (dismiss) EYE DROP |
| 9 | In bar, oddly tall American’s way to get into beer? (4-3)
PULL-TAB (American term for a ring-pull used to open a can of fizzy drink) Anagram of (oddly) TALL contained in (in) PUB (bar) PU (LL TA*) B |
| 11 | Skipped university’s boring old kind of talk (7)
OMITTED (left out; skipped) MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology; university) contained in (boring) (O [old] + TED [videos from expert speakers on education, business, science, tech and creativity; talks]) O (MIT) TED |
| 12 | Soldiers defending base that’s horrid poorly (7)
SEASICK (poorly, as a result of the rolling movement of a vessel at sea) (SAS [Special Air Service; elite unit of UK soldiers] containing [defending] E [base of natural logarithms]) + ICK (expression of disgust such as “that’s horrid”) S (E) AS ICK |
| 13 | Was a diner in Scotland empty or full? (5)
SATED (in terms of eating food, satisfied fully; full) ATE (was a diner) contained in (in) SD (letters remaining in ScotlanD when the central letters COTLAN are removed [empty]) S (ATE) D |
| 14 | Monet works inspiring Catherine, not end of Harry Potter antihero (3,6)
TOM KITTEN (title character in a book by Beatrix Potter [1866 – 1943]. TOM and his siblings behaved in a very naughty manner [in the style of an antihero]) Anagram of (works) MONET containing (inspiring) KITTY (diminutive of Catherine) excluding (not) the last letter (end of) Y TOM (KITT) EN* |
| 16 | Runner beans prepared with cod, right? (9)
ABSCONDER (one who runs away; runner) (Anagram of [prepared] BEANS and [with] COD) + R (right) ABSCONDE* R |
| 19 | Absorbed by concert, hum Pulp hit (5)
THUMP (hit) THUMP (hidden word in [absorbed by] CONCERT HUM PULP) THUMP |
| 21 | Remove religious character from Alice’s parties gatecrashed by Picaroon (7)
LAICISE (exclude the involvement of professionals; remove religious character from, as in the case of a lay preacher replacing a vicar) I (Picaroon, the puzzle setter) contained in (gatecrashed) an anagram of (parties [?]) ALICE‘S) – perhap’s I’m missing something hear, but I reckon the lay person’s preaching would still have a religious character to it. LA (I) CISE* – either I could be the one contained |
| 23 | Fun for someone watching Sky? Doctor Who’s broadcast first (7)
AIRSHOW (an exhibition that includes a flying display. An event that is fun for someone watching the sky) AIR (broadcast) + an anagram of (doctor) WHO’S AIR SHOW* |
| 24 | Sign one’s dropped off really entertaining new phone (7)
SNORING (noise indicating that someone is asleep [dropped off]) (SO [indeed; really] containing [entertaining] N [new]) + RING (phone somebody) S (N) O RING |
| 25 | Worker invested in secure capital (5,2)
SANTE FE (capital city of the US State of New Mexico) ANT (reference a worker ANT) contained in (invested in) SAFE (secure) S (ANT) A FE |
| 26 | Ring component had soldering messed up (3,9)
DAS RHEINGOLD (the first of the four epic music dramas that constitute Der Ring des Nibelungen composed by Richard Wagner [1813 – 1883]; ring component) Anagram of (messed up) HAD SOLDERING DAS RHEINGOLD* |
| Down | |
| 1 | Drug dealer caught with two different drugs on film (7)
CHEMIST (pharmacist; supplier of drugs; drug dealer) C (caught) + (H [heroin; drug] + E [ecstasy; drug] giving two different drugs) + MIST (film) C H E MIST |
| 2 | Blew up article judged to have low energy efficiency? (7)
AERATED (put air into; blew up) A (indefinite article) + E-RATED (designation of low energy efficiency) A E RATED |
| 3 | Chum from down under I saw getting stoned (9)
LAPIDATED (pelted with stones; getting stoned) PAL (friend; chum) reversed (from down under; down entry) + I + DATED (went out with; saw) LAP< I DATED |
| 4 | Gently prodding Mr Bean’s back or other body parts (5)
NAPES (backs of the neck; body parts) P (piano; softly; gently) contained in (prodding) SEAN (reference Mr SEAN Bean [born 1959], English actor) reversed (back) NA (P) ES< |
| 5 | Courses one’s consuming blinking upset (7)
SYLLABI (courses [of study]) (I’S [one’s] containing [consuming] BALLY [blinking]) all reversed (upset) (S (YLLAB) I)< |
| 6 | Straighten out case of urchin, a workhouse orphan (7)
UNTWIST (straighten out) UN (outer letters of [case of] URCHIN) + TWIST (reference Oliver TWIST, workhouse orphan and central character in the novel of the same name by Charles Dickens) UN TWIST |
| 7 | Works with a moral American promoted in e-sales, admitting work’s great (6,6)
AESOPS FABLES (stories [works] with a moral) E-SALES with the A [American[moved up in this down entry [promoted] to form AESLES containing (admitting) (OPS [opuses; works] + FAB [FABulous; great]) AES (OPS FAB) LES |
| 10 | Pocketing half a grand, group flying over ground in Leicester means to make better dough (6,6)
BAKING POWDER (an additive that acts as a raising agent to make better dough for bread etc) BA (British Airways; a business group that flies aeroplanes; group flying) + KING POWER [name of the ground where Leicester City play football] containing (pocketing) D (Roman numeral for 500 or half a grand [1000]) BA KING POW (D) ER |
| 15 | It leaves you damned little time to grab salt or nuts (6,3)
MORTAL SIN (A MORTAL SIN in Christian theology, is a gravely sinful act which can lead to damnation; it leaves you damned) MIN (minute; little time) containing (to grab) an anagram of (nuts) SALT OR M (ORTAL S*) IN |
| 17 | Where Victoria’s found filling bath for philosopher (7)
SPINOZA (reference Baruch SPINOZA [1632 -1677], a philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin) IN OZ (in Australia, where the State of Victoria is located [found]) contained in (filling) SPA (heated bath or pool) SP (IN OZ) A |
| 18 | Actor may win this Oscar, one carried by large German figure (7)
OLIVIER (reference the English actor Laurence OLIVIER [1907 – 1989]) O (Oscar is the international radio communication code for the letter O) + (I [Roman numeral for one] contained in [carried by] [L {large} + VIER {German for the figure 4}]) O L (I) VIER |
| 19 | Cheers rave round European city (7)
TARANTO (city in Italy) TA (thankyou; cheers) + RANT (rave) + O (a round-shaped character) TA RANT O |
| 20 | Wanting auditors, run into António Guterres? (7)
UNHEARD (not listened to; lacking [wanting] auditors) R (run) contained in (into) UN HEAD (António Guterres [born 1949], currently Secretary-General [HEAD] of the United Nations [UN]) UN HEA (R) D |
| 22 | Sub-par performance from Crystal Palace player (5)
EAGLE (Crystal Palace Football Club is known as The EAGLES, so an individual player could be referred to as an EAGLE) EAGLE (a 2-under [sub] par score at a golf hole) double definition EAGLE |
I found nearly all of this pretty straightforward, but I never did parse SEASICK, having never spoken, heard or seen ICK used to mean ‘that’s horrid’. In my experience it’s always been YUK! (No doubt Chambers will be used to prove me wrong. 🙄)
I liked the misleading Harry Potter in 14a, though at first I misdirected myself instead towards the works of Dennis rather than Beatrix.
Thanks to Picaroon, and to Duncan for the blog.
Given Eileen’s comments yesterday about Picaroon, not many people may agree with my next statement. I find Picaroon’s quiptics and quick cryptics full of nice surfaces and humour, but I have found little evidence of either in his ordinary cryptics. This was a slog for me, and I felt little in return for my effort
I had a tick against LAPIDATED.
The NE corner took me for ages over several visits. Partly my own incompetence I am sure, but never having heard of TOM KITTEN, King Power Stadium, or PULL TAB and being unable to parse NAPES certainly did not help. I also wonder how many times NAPES (the plural) has actually been used in English.
And one question: in AERATED why is low energy efficiency “e rated”? All I see on google is references to tyres. Is e-rate the worst rating for something like a washer in UK?
Thanks Picaroon and duncanshiel
Thanks duncanshiell for a comprehensive and clear blog. I got there in the end but needed to research some of the answers for confirmation. I know not everyone would approve but one of the things I enjoy here is finding out about stuff I didn’t know before. LOI was 11a, ‘ted’ was one of the new terms I learned and I took much too long to account for ‘promoted’ in 7d. LAICISE was another lesson for me and I suppose parties is an anagrind but it seems rather a stretch to me.
I really enjoyed this, especially my eventual realisation of which Ring was being referred to, and spotting much more quickly which Potter.
Martyn @2, E is not the lowest rating for electrical goods, but it’s not very impressive.
LAICISE as duncanshiell says suggests the replacement of a religious character such as a vicar, and I think that’s all there is to it. It doesn’t mean removing the religious nature.
I needed to phone a friend to finish this, three short. Liked the urchin and the orphan in UNTWIST.
SPINOZA tickled me, because I got it, and because I’m living in the land of Oz.
Came here and, seeing Tom Kitten, thought Don’t remember that. Went back to the cw itself and found I’d left that and several more unsolved: laicise, eagle and syllabi. And had forgotten all about it. A major dnf. Oh well, try again today. Thanks Pickers and Duncan.
Always good to have a Picaroon in the prize spot. I found SEASICK a bit clunky though. Never heard of ICK to mean horrid.
I found this tricky and misdirecting but very enjoyable and rewarding to solve. A bit of looking up was needed eg the Leicester ground and it took a while to work out what an American ring-pull could be called. Last in was SNORING (a tea-tray). I didn’t parse SEASICK or NAPES.
In LAICISE, I thought the religious ‘character’ referred to the ordained person, the priest or vicar, rather than to the sermon. One meaning of laicise in my online Chambers is ‘to open to the laity’. I think it would make sense that way.
I loved so many of these including AESOPS FABLES (favourite), CHAPLINESQUE, TOM KITTEN, DAS RHEINGOLD and SPINOZA – great to see an Aus reference.
Thanks to Picaroon for a fine puzzle and duncanshiell for the explanations and discussion.
Liked PULL-TAB, TOM KITTEN, CHEMIST, SPINOZA and UNHEARD.
Good puzzle and excellent blog. Thanks Picaroon and duncanshiell.
Monkey@4 has made the same comment about LAICISE. I’m just a slow typist.
I enjoyed this, learning about King Power stadium, but not much else.
When a minister is defrocked or chooses to resign (as George Carey has just done), they are laicised – so they are removed from ministry and returned to the lay ranks.
Thank you to duncanshiell and Picaroon.
So what does it say of this overseas solver that I knew KING POWER but had to verify TOM KITTEN? And that my first entry was QUE in 1a? Probably nothing too complimentary.
All in all, a fun puzzle, doable in one sitting, not always the case with Prizes. Thanks both.
Thanks duncanshiell. As you – and others – say, lots of misdirection, and I think I followed each one (except for the ‘Ring component’, where my first thought was ‘in English or German’?). Lots to enjoy here, particularly those misdirections like ‘in Oz’ and the Potter antihero, and some things to learn.
Things I didn’t know:
o Crystal Palace are the Eagles.
o King Power is a stadium.
o LAICISE is a word – which may or may not mean what the clue said.
o ‘Parties’ can be an anagrind.
Things I did know but managed to forget until parsing after the event:
o ‘e’ is a base.
o Not all Mr Beans are Rowan Atkinson.
Thanks also, of course, to Picaroon.
This took me several goes and like Martyn @2 the NE held me up for ages and never did parse NAPES.
Favourites included: AESOPS FABLES, SEASICK, CHAPLINESQUE (my FOI), CHEMIST, SPINOZA
Thanks Picaroon and duncanshiell
Defeated by the NE corner, and seeing the solution would never have got there in a month of Saturdays. But thank you both as always and Merry Christmas to all.
Thanks Picaroon and duncanshiell
Lots of fun. I loved the misdirection in TOM KITTEN (which I had read to my daughter when she was little),
I’ve heard the expression “gives me the ick”, but not ICK by itself.
Born and bred in Croydon (Saaf London) and supported Crystal Palace. But never heard them called the Eagles. Is this a new thing?
Excellent blog BTW.
As ever, a most detailed analysis by duncanshiell, many thanks.
OLIVIER is less a reference to Sir Larry himself, but to the Olivier Awards named after him – so an actor may win one of these.
Collins Online defines LAICISE as ‘withdraw ecclesiastical or clerical character … from (an institution, building, etc)’, so I am happy with the definition in 21a.
A very clever puzzle, and thanks to Picaroon for that.
I first heard “ick” in the 1960s from a teenage girl I knew. I think that it was just a cute infantilism. “Eggs make me ick”, she said. Such usage seems more popular of late, especially among people who also use “holibobs” etc.
Anna@17, the eagle is Palace’s badge, as you probably know. According to Wiki, Palace changed their name from Glaziers (crystal, geddit?) to Eagles around 1973, when the badge was adopted and Malcolm Allison became manager. I am also from the Surrey suburbs, but this passed me by as well; I had moved from Saaf London by then.
sjshart@20
Thanks for that. I moved off to university in 1972, and haven’t been back much since.
I saw Das Rheingold straight away but laboured with possible Dennis Potter characters for ages. I thought Tom Kitten hilarious when the penny finally dropped.
Very satisfying overall.
P (piano) as a musical term means soft, quiet, as opposed to loud. Nothing else
It does not mean gently. That would be a word like soave or dolce. It is a dynamic direction, not an expressive one. This might be why so many people failed to parse NAPES.
Tough.
I could not parse 10d BAKING POWDER. As I don’t follow football, I don’t know the names of any of the grounds except Wembley as it is a place for rock/music concerts. I do know some UK cricket grounds though 🙂 I didn’t realise that baking powder is used for bread dough. I have made bread with yeast in the past and sourdough starter lately.
Favourites: 17d SPINOZA (especially as I am from Melbourne, Victoria IN OZ); EYE-DROP.
New for me: Antonio Guterres = UN head; EAGLE = Crystal Palace player; TOM KITTEN; E = base (for 12ac).
Thanks, both.
For 14A I got TOM straight away, then looked up TOM and HARRY POTTER online and came up with TOM FELTON, who is the actor who played Draco Malfoy. Seemed like a good fit, which it was for 6D and 10D, but stopped me getting 5D. Quite a coincidence there!
Anna @17 and sjhart@20
Palace’s Eagles nickname is believed to be the reason Brighton changed theirs from Dolphins to Seagulls in the seventies (so they could rhyme-chant at each other).
I declined to complete 10 down due to footballing sensitivities. That aside, it should be noted that a lot of people (e.g. East Midlands Ambulance Service) were allegedly owed a lot of money after the completion of the King Power Stadium in 2002, with LCFC going into administration soon after its completion.
Great puzzle and blog. Thank you.
I had to come here to contribute today in praise of the crossword as a whole and a couple of clues in particular. Familiarity with terms obviously helps to
solve them and for me, the use of “King Power” as a constituent of BAKING POWDER was in my own General Knowledge sphere but took me ages for the penny to drop, I guess when looking for components to a clue we tend to be expecting small parts, not two words and nine letters. The other clue for which I had at least two ticks was for TOM KITTEN which was so full of Harry Potter misdirection (for those not in the know on the extra element, Tom Riddle is an antihero in the HP books and films so if you had T-M you were doubting the other crossing letters). I also thought that SPINOZA was impeccably and amusingly clued. loved DILAPIDATED too…
This was definitely tough but enjoyable, big thanks to duncanshiel for the blog and to Picaroon for a superb prize puzzle.
Having only looked at the blog for yesterday late last night, I’ll need to make a mental note to congratulate Eileen on her imminent 1001st blog.
I found it enjoyable but dnf. A slow start and little more than half way through at the end. Entering EYE WASH (with wash in the sense of ‘wash my hands of it’) didn’t help my cause. Time to cycle to the shop for a go at the next one. Thanks to all for the setting and education.
Michelle@24: Soda bread is made using baking powder, also doughs for things not called bread, eg scones. I guessed it was a Beatrix Potter character but I didn’t know the TOM KITTEN book, but I looked up Leicester City and the Tigers’ grounds, which didn’t seem to help at first, so I played with the anagram AND BAKING POWDER jumped out, at which point I realised that I had been looking at the middle of the answer a few minutes earlier.
I didn’t get AERATED. I don’t know why, I had A?RATED, then forgot about article, so confused, I decided to return later and forgot all about it. I even realised it was THAT rating system.
Thanks both for an enjoyable puzzle and blog
Michelle@24
@10d I had to rule out Grace Road (cricket) on my first run through and wait for the crossers to be reminded of the football ground. For knowing E=base I am indebted to 15sq.
Thanks to Picaroon and duncanshiell
A steady solve for me, but I failed to parse the football references and didn’t know TED = talk. Enjoyed the Potter and Ring msdirections. Thanks to Picaroon and duncanshiell.
Well, BAKING POWDER really made my day last Saturday – I laughed out loud when I cracked it and I’ve had fun all week sharing it with cruciverbal friends and die-hard Foxes fans, hoping to convince the latter of the magic of cryptic crosswords – with no success so far and I’m not optimistic.
My other favourites were SATED, TOM KITTEN, SNORING, LAPIDATED, SPINOZA and UNHEARD.
Many thanks to Picaroon and Duncan.
michelle @24 – soda bread uses a BAKING POWDER, not yeast or sour dough starter – I tend to make it more than yeasted bread as it works better with gluten free flours.
Another impressive outing for the pirate.
According to the ODE, ICK is N. American usage, although Collins does not say that. I liked the solution for viewer’s complaint, the nice use of HARRY POTTER for TOM KITTEN, the Doctor Who in AIRSHOW, the fab AESOP’S FABLES, the Victorian SPINOZA, and Guterres wanting auditors in UNHEARD.
Thanks Picaroon and duncanshiell.
Robi@34. Thanks for the dictionary work. It reminded me to check Chambers, which has “icky: repulsive, distasteful, unpleasant” but is keeping its powder dry with regard to ICK.
Being too tired to blog last night and too busy this morning, I am a little late to the party! However, I feel honour-bound to join the congratulations to P and d for the excellent prize crossword and its blog respectively. Such a clever and amusing puzzle with many features already commented upon by others.
We had a slow start, reaching 16 and 15, respectively, before entering an answer. However we did manage to finish in one sitting but with six incomplete parsings. Pennies did start to drop with p in 4 and d in 10, finishing appropriately sated with 13. Unfortunately, we have to to register a marginal dnf after overlooking the German for 4 in 18!
I found this an enjoyable tussle, so thank you Picaroon, and duncanshiell for the clear blog.
“ick” may not be in Chambers yet but it is certainly in common usage among the younger generation who talk of the “ick factor” or “giving me the ick” – for example, when a person they are otherwise attracted to does something they find repulsive, be it picking their nose or wearing a cordrouy jacket.
“laicise” I took to refer to “secularise” (which Collins has as a definition) e.g. if one were to laicise the law of this country we would remove religious influence, rights and privileges.
Finally a comment on “syllabi” – a fake plural I absolutely detest. Syllabus is not and never was a second declension Latin noun. I know it is in the dictionary (because people use it) but it is an etymological crime. “Syllabuses” is just fine. I am sure the reason our schools moved from syllabuses to specifications is because no-one could agree on the correct plural…
A real box of delights. The definition for TOM KITTEN is worth the entry fee alone. But as a Palace fan, witness to many a sub-par performance in the literal sense over the last 35 years, EAGLE was my favourite clue of the week if not the year.
Personally, I use bicarb of soda to make soda bread.