Guardian Saturday Prize Crossword 29,649 by Enigmatist (22 March 2025)

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I’m sure Lady Bracknell would have something to say about the coincidence of getting two Enigmatist Prize puzzles to blog in a row…maybe in that lesser-known book by Oscar Wilde – ‘The Importance of Blogging Enigmatist‘…

“Wilde? I was absolutely livid!…“, to paraphrase a more recent famous cultural moment…although after my initial trepidation this didn’t seem quite as intractable as the last one, and indeed there was a nod to said previous at 3D/13A…with ‘stock rider’ defining STATION HAND.

Progress was as slow and painful as one can expect with an E*&^%$t, but there were punctuations of smiles (the yodelling GOATHERD on a ‘butter mountain’ at 15D), eyebrow raises (25A READING WING/WEDDING RING!) and even a bit of a belly laugh (O Setter, O Setter’s Setter for LOVE ME LOVE MY DOG!).

I didn’t help myself by putting in IAMBI at 12A, thinking ‘Clouds #3‘ might be a poem containing IAMBI by Joni (Mitchell), which delayed the arrival of my LOI (last one in) 5D ISLANDER.

LOP – last one parsed – remains as 2D NEGUS, where I still can’t quite explain the EG in SUN up (daybreak)? Maybe I am over-thinking it…I am sure someone will explain below.

 

 

(I did wonder whether there might be an underlying theme-ette – WEDDING RING, HAND, MINISTER(ial), LOVE ME LOVE MY DOG…could it be wedding anniversary time in the Enigmatist household?…or maybe I am over-thinking again…)

Once again, ‘thanks’ (through gritted teeth) to Enigmatist – see you next month?!…

 

Across
Clue No Solution Clue (definition underlined)

Logic/parsing
1A MINISTERIAL Central to two-part adaptation is tense executive (11)

MINI_S_ERIAL (two, or more, part adaptation for television) around T (tense), centrally
9A EULOGIA Content of dialogue’s moving tributes (7)

anagram, i.e. moving, of the central part of (D)IALOGUE(S)
10A DELIVER Did abuse in retreat hit home here? (7)

REVILED (did abuse) reversed (in retreat) = DELIVER (hit home)
11A AMIDSHIPS Is mad rolling joints where crewmen are most likely to see you? (9)

AMIDS (anag, i.e. rolling, of IS MAD) + HIPS (joints)

[if you are in the middle area of a ship, you are probably more likely to be seen by crewmen generally?…]
12A NIMBI Clouds #3 for Joni; #1 is AC & DC (5)

N (third letter, or #3, of joNi) + IM (I’M – I, number 1, am…) + BI (bisexual, AC/DC)
13A HAND See 3 Down (4)

see 3D
14A SNORKELLER Barrier Reef explorer who has items at market? Aussie’s dug in (10)

S_ELLER (one who has items at a market) around NORK (Aussie slang for a woman’s breast, or dug)
16A MAISONETTE Flat area is undivided, Times writer claims (10)

M_E (the writer) around (claiming) A (area) + IS + ONE (undivided) + TT (time, plural)
19A OVER See 18 Down ((4)

see 18D
20A EVENT The finale of the opening race (5)

E (finale of thE) + VENT (opening)
21A EXCISEMAN Expert on duty calls reserve back about error (9)

NAMES (calls) + IC_E (reserve, shyness) around X (indication of error) = NAMESICXE, all back to give EXCISEMAN

[duty of the taxation kind]
23A ISRAELI Retired Limerick man’s enthralled by couple from Jerusalem? (7)

I_I (two ones, a couple) around SRAEL (LEAR, Edward, limerick man plus contracted ‘S, all retired, or reversed)
24A INSIDES Shameful act on fateful day: finally Brutus moved to pierce Caesar’s? (7)

(S)IN (shameful act) + IDES (fateful day, in a Roman month) with S (brutuS, finally) moved could give INSIDES, of which Caesar’s were pierced by Brutus, et al!

[a full &lit, with the whole clue being definition and including wordplay?]
25A WEDDING RING Status symbol Spooner’s given speedy player at the Madejski? (7,4)

a WING, or speedy football player, for READING, who play at the Madejski Stadium, might be described as a READING WING, or by the Rev Spooner as a WEDDING RING!

[the Madejski is currently known as the ‘Select Car Leasing Stadium’, for sponsorship reasons]
Down
Clue No Solution Clue (definition underlined)

Logic/parsing
1D MILLIONAIRES ROW Author’s sick, sicker, upset in turn about broadcasting Sunset Boulevard? (12,3)

M_I (I’m, the author, or setter, plus contracted ‘m, upset) + LLI (ill, sick, upset) + ES_ROW (worse, or sicker, upset), i.e. each of those ‘up set’ in turn, around ON AIR (broadcasting)
2D NEGUS Drink – warming, is it, at daybreak? (5)

N_US (sun up, or day break?) around EG (is it?…)?

[parsing?…]
3D STATION (HAND) & 13 Stock-rider, perhaps the first figure available? (7,4)

STAT_I (statistic, or figure, number 1, or first figure) + ON HAND (available)
4D END-USER Suspect under cover of some receiver? (3-4)

anag, i.e. suspect, of UNDER + S(OM)E (the cover, or outer letters, of SomE)
5D ISLANDER Man’s son maybe confirmed to be big hit (8)

if something is confirmed to be a big hit, or lander, then it IS (a) LANDER

[A ‘son’, or denizen, of the Isle of Man would be an islander]
6D LOVE ME LOVE MY DOG O setter, O setter’s setter? I’m part of a package (4,2,4,2,3)

LOVE (O, zero, love in many sports scores) + ME (the setter of this puzzle!) + LOVE (O, again) + MY DOG (the setter, or dog, of this puzzle’s setter)!
7D MENACHEM BEGIN Top 23 people long to start holding mass (8,5)

MEN (people) + ACHE (long) + BEGIN (start), around, or holding, M (mass)
8D ARBITRARINESS Revelling in a barrister’s whimsy (13)

anag, i.e. revelling, of IN A BARRISTERS
15D GOATHERD Lonely chap of note working on the butter mountain? … (8)

CD? a lone chap working with goats (butters) high on a hill (mountain) would be a lonely GOATHERD!

[c.f. song from ‘The Sound of Music’]
17D EMERITI … Honoured retirees not alone in flourishing Maine-et-Loire (7)

subtractive anagram, i.e. flourishing, of M(A)I(N)E-ET-(LO)IR(E), minus the letters of A-L-O-N-E, so ‘not alone’
18D TICKING (OVER) & 19 Idling teacher’s work done? (7,4)

TICKING (part of a teacher’s work!) + OVER (done)
22D SUSHI American guy’s wrapped selection from Japanese takeaway? (5)

US (American) + HIS (guy’s) = USHIS, wrapped, or cycled, around by one letter = SUSHI

60 comments on “Guardian Saturday Prize Crossword 29,649 by Enigmatist (22 March 2025)”

  1. Thanks mc_rapper67. I was daunted when I saw who had set this and thought I wouldn’t have the time or commitment to do it justice. A quick inspection revealed though that there was enough to get me hooked and slowly reeled in. Completion was hard, needing recourse to Google and I was left with three answers, 1, 22 and 24 which I couldn’t fully explain and waited until now to kick myself and expose my lack of lateral thinking.
    Can’t be of any help with NEGUS, had the same elements as you but wasn’t happy with it. Did find though that negus is served warm.

  2. Well I finished on the evening it dropped, but not without quite a struggle. I don’t always finish Enigmatist’s offerings, so I was quite pleased to do it, and in one day.

    I had a different temporary wrong answer to what mc_r had for NIMBI. I had IOMMI, but then realized: wrong heavy metal band. I’m not sure that INSIDES is an &lit. since the end of the clue isn’t part of the wordplay.

    The “O setter” bit was fun.

    I was wondering why the puzzle was so challenging for me, and came up with three things: two quite admirable, one not so much.

    I think Enigmatist is very good at disguised lift-and-separates (well they are that by their very nature, but his maybe more than most). For example, “tense executive”, “moving tributes”, “opening race”, “couple from Jerusalem”, “suspect under cover”, “Man’s son”, “a barrister’s whimsy”, “idling teacher”.

    Definitions that are not obvious, but are clearly correct, although you first think of something else. For example in EXCISEMEN, “Experts on duty”.

    Taking unwarranted liberties. In the same clue as my previous example, we have error=X. An X may be used by a teacher to denote an error, but is not an error itself. “Signifies wrongdoing” or something similar would have worked if it could be engineered into the clue.

    Tx.

  3. I got half of these for the first time ever. Was rather pleased with myself. Thank you Enigmatist – you normally defeat me utterly. And thank you, mc-rapper, for confirming I’d got them, and why 🙂

  4. Unfortunately, when the TICKING’s OVER, the teacher’s work isn’t done. Tomorrow’s lesson preparation looms.🙂

  5. 9a, 11a, 12a, 17d were quick solves soon followed by 8d and 6d. I was therefore hooked and spent a lot of time on the rest. Despite so many crossers available, the going was rough. I was particularly pleased when I got 24a- INSIDES, which took a long, long time. 3d delighted me with the link to the previous Prize of the Setter. Sadly, it was a DNF with 7d (should have got that!), 16a (NHO) and 15d remaining unsolved.

    Thanks Enigmatist and mc_rapper67.

  6. Any other Aussies emember The Naked Vicar Show on ABC radio about 50 years ago? That was the last time I remember nork for breast [one country town beauty pageant judge to another: Well they’re much the same nork-wise, so i vote for the one with the straight legs. (Well it was funny at the time 😉 )].
    So, yes, much less fiendish than The Big Bad E’s previous one, but still plenty chewy. The 4 long downs were helpful. And the eg in sun-up sort of worked I thought. Thanks E and rapper, now for a cuppa and today’s.

  7. Loved the puzzle. My faves were SNORKELLER, INSIDES, STATION HAND, LOVE M L M DOG and TICKING OVER.

    INSIDES
    As DrWhatsOn@2, I too didn’t see it as &lit.

    GOATHERD
    In addition to the Sound of Music ref, I find that there’s a GOATHERD mountain in Canada (not sure the setter intended that as a second def).

    NEGUS
    I have seen EG clued with ‘maybe’ and ‘perhaps’. I think Enigmatist has gone one step further to clue EG with ‘is it’ (which is maybe/perhaps in a way). SUN< seems solid.

    Thanks Enigmatist and mc.

  8. Not quite as hard as the last Enigmatist, but hard enough to keep me occupied for a couple of sessions. MENACHEM BEGIN in particular held out for ages, and I needed Google to confirm the existence of NORK and the name for Sunset Boulevard (though I gather it has now been updated to BILLIONAIRES ROW – that’s inflation for you!) and who plays at the Madejski.

    Can’t help with NEGUS, I’m afraid. Favourites the chap on the butter mountain and the setter’s setter.

    Thanks Enigmatist and mc_rapper67 for sorting out MAISONETTE and STATION HAND.

  9. GOATHERD
    Lonely chap of note working on the butter; mountain.
    Either together with the ‘mountain’ or with the ‘mountain’ separated,
    How does the cryptic grammar work?
    The (musical) ‘note’ fits in fine, but regarding ‘working on the butter(goat)’ or ‘working on the butter mountain’
    some better explanation may be needed.

    Or it must be one of my overthinking ‘episodes’!

  11. Kva@9: I thought it was simply a cryptic clue.
    I had a good start on this and then ran into a brick wall. Subsequent visits on Saturday yielded about a clue a time. I thought I’d just chip away at it during the week, but returning on Sunday after the Quiptic and Everyman, I managed the rest
    Some chuckles along the way.
    Thanks both

  12. All in with the same not sure parsings as mc_rapper for NEGUS and how to explain the parsing of GOATHERD. I added in my own additional random parsing of Paul Monette (author of Borrowed Time: an AIDS memoir) for MAISONETTE.

    Thank you to Enigmatist and mc_rapper.

  13. @6 grantinfreo, I most definitely remember the Naked VIcar Show (Noeline’s send-up of the “rough dry elbows” moisturiser add has lived in my head all these years). Fortunately this was a slightly easier Enigmatist than the last one, because I really would have given up had it been the same exercise in masochism. Thanks Enigmatist and mc_rapper.

  14. Thanks for the blog , not nearly as tough as last time , partly the clues but also the grid . Last time was sticklebrick , this one very helpful with the perimeter plus many first letters within .
    For NEGUS I agree with KVa – at daybreak = during SUN up , the best time to swim in the sea . Still not keen on this clue , or SUSHI but the rest were very good . MILLIONAIRES ROW was very precise .

  15. KVa@9 The butter mountain was a common saying in the EU along with the wine lake when the Common Agricultural Policy produced many surpluses . It was there to mislead us and certainly misled me for a bit , my last answer .
    Here it means the mountain of the goats in a whimsical style . The lonely chap works on the mountain of the goats .

  16. KenMac , for post @14 I have no idea what happened with the name , I was not trying to deceive anyone . I only noticed the name change when the post came up and I added an edit .

  17. Loved LOVE ME LOVE MY DOG

    and got most of the SE quite quickly. Then took me ages to get the rest and resorted to help for 7d to get me going on the left side. Even after I’d “finished” there were several I couldn’t parse and looking at the blog I would never have worked them out.

    So a learning exercise.

    Thanks Enigmatist and mc_rapper67

  18. Well, that was an enjoyable slog. I haven’t taken time out to document all the ways that make tough puzzles so, but I think DrWhatsOn@2 [quite a frequent numerical reference for DrW 😉 ] has summed up
    a few good tools that Enigmatist has used here to make the deciphering both hard and satisfying when cracked. I thought it was a great crossword for the prize slot.

    My favourite clues, for both devilment and surface were those for MAISONETTE, EXCISEMAN and STATION HAND where it’s only here that mc_rapper reminded me where I’d seen STOCK RIDER before: I only remembered that it was solution in an unspecified recent crossword as opposed to Enigmatist’s last Prize specifically.

    My remaining piece of parsing for the week kept coming back to haunt me, I guess that I should not be surprised that it was not such a stretch for our antipodean friends e.g. grantinfreo@6. The ‘dug’ part of the definition for NORK in SNORKELLER was too well disguised for me. It never occurred that it was anything other than part of the insertion indicator (another excellent fission example eh what?) so an “Aussie’s dug” in rather than just an Aussie (that i)s dug in. I will probably forget this definition of dug until I’ve seen it a couple more times.

    Thanks both for crossword and excellent blog. I feel sure that you’re spot on mc with the “is it” combined with the “?” being simply EG for your NEGUS parsing.

  20. Thanks for the comments so far – keep ‘em coming, but I will be on a golf course for the next few hours…

    I like to (mis-)categorise the odd (semi-)&lit just to keep the &lit police on their toes (;+>)

  21. It took me forever but I managed to finish this which is a first for me with this setter. Thanks very much to mc_r for the entertaining blog – I needed your help with parsing MR and I couldn’t quite see how NEGUS worked either. I agree with Roz @15 re parsing of GOATHERD which was a favourite once I remembered butter can = 🐐. Other favourites were LOVE ME etc., INSIDES, MINISTERIAL ARBITRARINESS and DELIVER. I suspect the latter may have been done before but it was new to me.
    I had to look up the stadium, and NORK to understand the parsing of those clues. Thanks to Enigmatist for a real challenge. Finishing this was a prize in itself and well worth the effort 😎.

  22. I was happy to solve an Enigmatist (with two to fully parse). Enjoyed it.

    Loved the reminder of Joni Mitchell’s album Clouds in NIMBI, my favourite singer of all time.
    Earworms abounded. LONELY GOATHERD, LOVE ME LOVE MY DOG.
    All the music references, including AC/DC, were from the mid 60s to mid 70s, “my” era, so that was nice. (The soundtrack from the film Sound of Music, that is, as it was originally a Broadway Musical in the late 50’s)

    Thanks for the memories, E and MC.

  23. I had more fun with that than I expected, as I sighed with resignation when I saw it was another Enigmatist so soon.

    Not that I don’t like his puzzles, they just wear me out, like a turbulent but gripping TV drama.

    I loved O Setter… and many of the other clues.

    In EXCISEMAN, I wondered if ICE would work as a verb meaning “reserve” or “put on ice’ ?

  24. Pleased to complete this over morning tea today – albeit with help with NEGUS which I hadn’t heard of & would never have parsed. Many brilliant clues & quite a few whose tortuous parsing eluded me ( thanks MC for clarifying ).

  25. I was surprised to complete this in two quick sittings with not many unresolved parsings (e.g. NORK, Madjeski reference), especially after a dismal dnf the previous week.
    Couldn’t parse SUSHI until the end but it’s good to see an alternative indicator to ‘cycling’.
    Agree with others about daybreak/SUN up although I thought ‘warming’ indicated an envelope for ‘is it’/EG.

  26. Anyone else get MARKING TIME for 18 d? Misled us until crossers proved otherwise. Enjoyed crossword enormously though.
    Thanks E and McR

  27. I was daunted when I saw the setter’s name, but it turned out not to be as fiendish as he often is. There were some great clues, but I think I must single out NIMBI as my favourite, with the brilliant surface referencing the two 1970s acts. (mc_rapper, for some reason your version of the clue says “AC & DC” — the actual clue said “AC/DC” which makes more sense.)

    Many thanks both.

  28. On AMIDSHIPS, if you are in the middle of a lot of ships, you are presumably likelier to be seen by the crews of those ships.

  29. Thanks both. The inclusion of the ? In 18D led me to marking time rather than ticking over (as someone has already pointed out a teachers work is not over at the end of a school day. While it did not take long for some crossers to point at the alternative, it left me a bit miffed. Not sure why a ? Is needed for a fairly plain cryptic pointer and much prefer my original answer. But the rest of the puzzle made up for it.

  30. A few liberties taken, per the Araucarian tradition, I’d say, but worth the entrance fee for the dog clue (which, curiously, is very easy). I’m pretty sure Enigmatist is appearing more often these days, and long may this continue.

    NEGUS was probably the most contentious here, judging by responses. I didn’t get it without the crossers, and found myself remembering Arthur of that name when I did, and not the King of Ethiopia. Going for a Song wasn’t it? I’m assuming. like MCR et al, that it’s SUNUP or SUNRISE to get NUS, with ‘is it’ = ‘perhaps’ = ‘eg’ with ‘warming’ as the enclosure indicator. Negus is a warming drink, but I don’t think it is necessarily a part of the definition here.

    Thank M & E.

  31. My computer and I pieced this one together. Quite a lot BIFD, but got there in the end.

    I liked the ‘expert on duty’ for EXCISEMAN, the ode to a setter for LOVE ME LOVE MY DOG, and the subtractive anagram for EMERETI.

    Thanks Enigmatist and mcr.

  32. This was my first ever shot at an Enigmatist and it took me several sessions along the week to almost finish it. So I am rather proud of myself and not surprised that I failed to get SNORKELLER. I knew the word NEGUS but was unable to make sense of the wordplay. Thank you Enigmatist and mc_rapper67.

  33. I am in the (small?) Venn diagram intersect of Reading FC “fans” (former ST holder, occasional attendee these days) and Guardian Prize attempters.

    Therefore Reading wing / Wedding ring was a write-in and the enjoyable and easy LOVE ME… had the grid looking less bare quickly.

    From the it was steady progress until the W quadrant. M BEGIN = “top Israeli” is bit obscure surely – like calling John Major as a top Briton ?

    Overall it has many delights like the last one !

  34. Am I alone in despairing at the continued use of unpleasant puerile ‘slang’ to describe women’s bodies in cryptic crosswords? The last time I heard the word ‘NORK’ (14 across) was when I was about 12 in the 70s. Puerile me would have tittered at the time, but now it’s simply degrading and vile. Where in public discourse is the word NORK acceptable? (and I’m not convinced about dug either). Just stop it! If a word isn’t appropriate to be used in everyday conversation in a group of men and women then it’s not acceptable in a crossword.

  35. Epee Sharkey @33 , I think M.Begin and Anwar Sadat pretty famous for the first peace talks between Israel and Egypt . They both got a Nobel Prize , although not a real one .

  36. Stephen mccrory@34: as the word was new to me and I am not an Australian, I wasn’t sure just how slangy or vulgar it was: it certainly sounds like something that belongs behind the bike sheds with 4B rather than in a crossword.

  37. Dug is fine, it’s in Shakespeare, but I’d never heard of nork before and probably would need more context to use/reject it with any confidence. Had to get friends on the train to help me finish, but loved the challenge of this. Fave was LOVE ME LOVE MY DOG. Thanks Enigmatist and mc_rapper67

  38. Thanks Enigmatist, this has stuck with us all week, and not in a good way:

    High on a hill was a lonely goatherd
    Lay ee odl lay ee odl lay hee hoo
    Loud was the voice of the lonely goatherd
    Lay ee odl lay ee odl-oo
    Folks in a town that was quite remote heard
    Lay ee odl lay ee odl lay hee hoo
    Lusty and clear from the goatherd’s throat heard
    Lay ee odl lay ee odl-oo
    O ho lay dee odl lee o, o ho lay dee odl ay    …

    Very enjoyable puzzle thank-you! 🙂

  39. Well said Stephen McCrory@34, it’s an ongoing challenge to get rid of the wolf-whistling in crossword-land. Most people at least have now stopped using ’lift-and -separate‘ (drwhatson@2 👀🤷‍♂️) and instead use ‘fission’, albeit with a residual “I’ll wolf-whistle if I want to!” brigade. But ‘nork’ from Enigmatist – and his editor – is hopeless, they need to reflect on why Grantinfreo@6 hasn’t heard it for 50 years.

  40. I couldn ‘t parse 2d when I completed the grid but
    on looking again this afternoon came to the same conclusion as ccasional @ 30 that “warming” is an inclusion indicator misleadingly disguised as part of the definition. I still struggle with “is it ?” = EG.
    As others above I didn’t see 24a as an &lit. I toyed with “Brutus moved to pierce Caesar’s”” as a defintion but “Brutus moved” would be doing double duty. I solved it so I’m not too bothered about how the clue is described.
    22d ” wrapped” to indicate cyclng was new to me and didn’t seem a very good description of the process but I’ve been told that it is common computer terminology.
    8d It seems that just about anything can be an anagrind these days.
    10a I can see “hit home”= DELIVER at a push but what is “here” doing?
    I may have a lot of quibbles but I enjoyed this. Thanks to Enigmatist and mc_ rapper67

  41. Well said Stephen mccrory@34 and Hadrian@39. Sexist terms wouldn’t be tolerated elsewhere in The Guardian.

  43. Panties @26: I tried MARKING TIME too, despite being unsatisfied with its fit for the wordplay. It doesn’t help that “ticking” for that activity is firmly British (here a tick is either the sound a clock makes or the bug that lands on you to live off of your blood; so “tick boxes” sound pretty unpleasant to an American). That meant that the correct answer was not exactly front of mind. But I did get there eventually when crossing letters set me straight.

    (American teachers grade papers, or very occasionally mark them. Also, American cars turn over rather than tick over when they’re idling. Though we’re approaching the day when idling cars are a thing of the past, presumably on both sides of the Atlantic.)

  44. I couldn’t do this one at all… went back to it today and finally managed most of it with a liberal application of the check button, but still failed to parse several. So many thanks to mc_rapper67! And to Enigmatist of course.

    Happily, today’s offering was a different story entirely – a very enjoyable steady solve.

  45. If we can’t say norks then does that mean we can’t say tits, boobs etc and if we can say them then what is it about norks in particular that is so heinous?

  47. Regarding norks etc, I’m sure there is a move away from this kind of usage, according to bloggers on TfTT, at The Times. I fully agree with this, not that it’s my business to, as women have been under attack since the dawn of time, and the very least crossworders can do is give the whole thing a rest.

    I’m not sure Enigmatist is one who indulges habitually in such sexism, and the clue here, at least in the surface, does not take that meaning. However, a move away from sniggering playground stuff is welcome.

  48. Late in the day, but thanks for the continuing comments…looks like NEGUS was the main bone of contention, parsing-wise…

    Stephen mccrory at #34 makes a fair point – we aren’t in the 1970s now, so maybe setters and editors should update their playbooks. However, in the context of the rest of the clue – alluding to snorkellers on the Barrier Reef in Australia, then a bit of ‘Australian slang’ is maybe not too out of place.

    A quick (and rather late and drunken) search of this site suggests that NORK appears several times within variations of SNORKEL, but thankfully not in its own right. Of these, the only examples I could find of wordplay using NORK in the sense used here are in Cyclops puzzles from 2008-ish times, and as we all know Cyclops has a style all of his own, but maybe even he has moved on.

  49. As said by MC@48 the clue for SNORKELLER works pretty well , I did not know the word nork and still do not know how offensive it is , does not seem to have made its way to the UK . Should it be avoided ? I am not sure , I am more concerned when setters go out of their way to demean women which does happen , the Hugo puzzle in particular and Paul at times .

    Cyclops has its own style and if you are offended then just avoid it . I am a big fan though I prefer the political attacks to the smut . The smut itself is very even-handed , everybody is fair game , so no complaints from me .

  50. Thanks Pino@42. I’ve had that earworm all week, but your link was new to me. Julie Andrews and the Muppets. Made me laugh.

  51. I found this tougher than the previous one and a bit of a return to Enigmatist’s habit of sacrificing clue quality on the altar of difficulty

    Top ticks for GOATHERD, ISRAELI and the READING WINGER

    Roz @49 if you’re in any doubt what to be offended about I’m sure there are men in this forum who’ll be happy to tell you 🙂

    Cheers M&E

  52. Possible alternative spin on NEGUS:
    SUN rising about GE which is listed as a variant spelling/abbreviation of GAIA, i.e. the Earth. Hence daybreak = Sun coming up over (or around?) the Earth? (Doesn’t quite explain the ‘is it’, though.)

  53. Bodycheetah @51 I would prefer to see what the Australian women think of this word , I have never heard it used so no point me having an opinion , I realise that would never stop the mansplainers on here .

  54. Roz@53
    Late to the party I know but as an Australian woman I would say ‘nork’ is derogatory and not a word I would ever use. I had the reverse problem – not getting why ‘dug’ meant breast. I think both are close to needing an ‘archaic’ indicator.

  56. I usually moan about the E man being a bit up hissen, but this was a delight.
    “Goatherd” being a particular favourite.

  57. What bothered me about SNORKELLER is that, as far as I know, while we have the Great Barrier Reef off Australia there is no reef called simply “Barrier Reef”. So “Barrier” is redundant. It could have been omitted or replaced by “Great Barrier”. It’s not like ‘reef’ has many other meanings.

  58. I’m late getting here, but even after reading the comments I’m still puzzled by at least one thing: what’s the connection between “stock rider” and “station hand”? I find the comments here, well, cryptic, and I couldn’t find any other resources that seemed on point.

    I also still don’t see an explanation I find satisfactory for NEGUS, and I’m with Pino @40 in finding the word “here” in 10ac (DELIVER) confusing.

    But I managed to finish the puzzle (even with quite a few unparsed), which is certainly not always the case with me and Enigmatist.

  59. Ted@58 , the Enigmatist puzzle four weeks before this had STOCK RIDER as an answer with a definition of – worker at Victoria station – i.e. a STATION HAND .
    This puzzle had the opposite which helped me to get it very quickly .

  60. Thanks, Roz @59! That’s just the information I was looking for. I actually did that puzzle but had forgotten that clue. And in fact now that I look back at that clue, I realize that I didn’t fully understand it then. I didn’t know that “station” was an Australian term for a cattle ranch. It all makes sense now.

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