Guardian Prize No 29,685 by Paul

62 comments on “Guardian Prize No 29,685 by Paul”

1. I took it that the musical activist at 2d was BONO without his first letter (needing no introduction).

2. Fairly straightforward to get the theme, from the hidden answer in 21a (hinted at by the reference to Battle, another Sussex town). Then I found it flowed with few difficulties, except parsing AEROBE and GOOIER, so thanks, Cineraria, for help with that.
   I did not know BANOFFEE PIE originated in Sussex (do others?), so had to look it up, as with the current name of the Falmer stadium sponsors at 27/6.
   A pleasant puzzle, at the right level. Thanks, Paul, also.

3. What amazed me in doing this was how much I knew of, or could suppose was true of, Sussex. LEWES was my way in and I thoroughly enjoyed the ride. THE AMEX followed from watching (probably too much) Premier League football.

   I think of Bono as more of an activist than Brian Eno, but it’s interesting that both can be made to fit.

   Thanks P&C

4. I enjoyed this quite gentle offering from Paul. The theme was clear but not laboured, which is as it should be. I agree with Balfour’s parsing of 2d
   The unseasonable reference in 22a makes me think that GUY FAWKES might be another theme clue.
   Thanks to Paul and Cineraria.

5. Judge@4: I had the same notion, but I could not find any indication that Guy/Guido Fawkes himself had any connection with Sussex, despite his having had a rather adventurous (if abbreviated) life. The article also mentions Lewes, in particular, where this is evidently a major event.

6. I came here to find the answer and explanation for 27/6, THE AMEX, which I have never heard of. However I admire the device used in this complicated clue.
   Thanks also for (B)ONO.
   As an Australian who has never been to Sussex, I enjoyed researching and untangling this very clever puzzle. LEWES was my path to SUSSEX, then the internet to locate people and places.
   I thought the SUSSEX clue was neat, MARKLE amusing and the DAVID FROST anagram a good spot and surface. I didn’t know BANOFFEE PIE was from that county, but that clue was another like.
   Thanks to Paul and Cineraria

7. Judge@4 Thanks for the link about bonfire night in Sussex and the (secondary) link to Guy Fawkes. Another tidk (thing I didn’t know).

8. ONO. Now I think about it, I did see the Bono connection at the time. So it’s good to have it confirmed. Just difficult to remember the reasoning process after a week. 😉

9. 5d, surprisingly, resolved in a relatively short time; thereafter, a large part of the puzzle fell in to place on Saturday (extended session, of course). The remaining bits came in on Sunday (thanks to the late publication of Everyman). 6a and 9a took the longest time- I am not entirely convinced by the cluing for 9a. The net was a wonderful help for gathering the GK on the theme- though The AMEX was somewhat elusive.

   As always, the blog throws more light on the parsing. Thanks Paul and Cineraria

10. Liked GOOIER, STERLING, JIFFY and HAVE ON. Many of the Sussex clues were mysteries and required furious googling.

    A great blog, even more admirable given Cineraria is not a Brit

    Thanks for some nice clues Paul and for the blog Cineraria

11. This is Paul, relations= sex, but is it Ess or Sus? I spel Sus as suss, is that wrong? Anyway, I was keeping an eye out for Harry, but I needed all the crossers to see Meghan’s backside.
    I think I parsed them all, I looked up the name of Sussex’s ground to check that one and it said Brighton and Hove cricket ground, so I was a bit stumped there, until I thought of asking if it had a nickname.
    Anyway, I enjoyed it. Thanks both.

12. Ta both. Pretty much in the dark re the theme, needed the check button, bunged in tackle at 17. Not a lot of fun, let’s have another caf and a gink at today’s.

13. GOOIER defeated me. I got MATIER. By the time I finally remembered MARKLE was a Sussex I just assumed the ‘beastly couple’ was referring to her and Harry. Nice clue!
    Thanks to setter and blogger.

14. I have been to LEWES, which was my entry here, as it seems to have been for others, but that was a long time ago and I knew nothing of anything recent involving Sussex. That made this an interesting exercise in on-line Sussex-searching, followed by back-solving the wordplay. I parsed almost everything, but not the ‘right-on’ part of BRIGHTON PRIDE which I really still don’t see. Never having heard of the ground in question I was searching for an arguably plausible one called ‘THE APEX’ (‘The’ [article], ‘Ape’ [Piltdown Man, buried in Sussex], ‘X’ [treasure]) when Google helpfully suggested I might mean ‘THE AMEX’. I liked the clue once I saw how it really worked. Other favourites were MARKLE for the ‘beastly couple’ and the DAVID FROST anagram – I never saw the interview, but have seen the “FROST/NIXON” movie. Thanks, Paul and Cineraria.

15. Loved this puzzle and appreciate the blog. Got the theme early despite being antipodean and thought it was a lot of fun. LOI was the ground which required a google. Likes for MARKLE, and CREEPY among others. I found the puzzle quite accessible with esp the Bush war, David Frost and RATIFIED coming quickly. Thanks.

16. Cineraria@5, I think you’re right about Lewes and Guy Fawkes. Paul has them on the same line and Lewes is famous for its celebration of Guy Fawkes night. (There was also a battle of Lewes, 1264 – you learn a lot Googling for crossword solutions.)

17. Thanks for the blog , the second Paul in three days is not good planning but this one much better . A traditional keystone theme , well used with a lot of variety . DAVID FROST a very clever clue . I agree with Balfour @1 for our most tax-efficient musical activist . Judge@4 makes a good point , LEWES has the biggest UK Bonfire Night celebration .

    I do not equate TWEENAGER with youth , but there is no hard definition for youth so probably okay .

18. I enjoyed this and learned a few things.

    27D – I dismissed “ground” as a definition for a football ground as I was convinced Brighton play at the Withdean (they haven’t for about 15 years). Thought it might have been Crawley’s.
    22A – I don’t know any other way of pronouncing “Fawkes” other than “forks”.

    Thanks to both.

19. Thanks Paul and Cineraria
    Another for whom LEWES was the way in.
    Is there anything to indicate that CREEPY has to be combined with Crawley to get the minibeast?
    btw most things we call creepy-crawlies aren’t insects, as most insects can fly.

20. muffin@19: My parsing for CREEPY was one of my “best guesses” alluded to in the introduction. It has to be something along those lines, but I am interpreting the clue liberally. Perhaps it is simply: “creepy” is a synonym for “crawly,” which sounds like “Crawley.” Wikipedia gives as examples of minibeasts: “spiders, insects, woodlice, centipedes, slugs, snails, worms and many other [tiny] animals,” of the sort that young children find fascinating to investigate.

21. Defeated by 6 across, and 8 down. Was trying to think a of a pie named after a place in Sussex for ages. Thanks both.

22. KeithS@14: My parsing of BRIGHTON PRIDE was another of my “best guess” attempts. Chambers defines “right-on” (hyphenated) in part as: “trendy, belonging to or in keeping with the latest social, moral, political, etc ideas or fashions.” A “freethinker” is, broadly, a nonconformist, so the concepts at least overlap.

23. Paul always makes me laugh and this was a good one with an engaging theme.

    I really liked WEE NAG in 11A and thought THE AMEX was a great clue when I eventually figured it out.

    I couldn’t work out 9A and went for ROSIER.

24. Cineraria @20
    So, as I said, mostly not insects, then!

25. I intended to write a post in advance, as I loved this puzzle and found it quite straightforward. I saw that 5 down was probably SUSSEX, but I live here, not far from a house Virginia Woolf stayed at, and, not having seen that clue yet, I couldn’t believe I’d been offered up a home fixture. I actually had an idea that Paul may live elsewhere in the county and it seemed that he at least has at some point. Any remaining doubts were eventually dispelled by 21a, LEWES.

    I once ate BANNOFFEE PIE at the Hungry Monk in Jevington, where it was invented. It’s not so much a local or regional dessert, but we hold the provenance. Most Sussex dwellers couldn’t tell you that whereas CREEPY Crawley is in regular parlance. I actually laughed out loud at the NORMAN COOK clue. I was surprised Paul resisted the scatalogical potential of Pooh Sticks but we can’t have everything. Thanks Paul for this treat and Cineraria for the blog. Kudos to everyone who solved it quickly without the local knowledge, I did empathise when I saw how local a couple of the clues were.

26. Too difficult for me, unfortunately… Had to reveal a number this morning, lacking some local knowledge. Virginia Woolf was not on any of the lists of Sussex writers I looked up!

    One question: how were we to know the answer was CREEPY rather than CRAWLY? I entered the latter very confidently and was therefore unable to get PRO LEAGUE, absolutely convinced CRAWLY could not be wrong. I still don’t see where in the clue we are told to take the partner of the homophone rather than the homophone itself!

27. Beaten by the nho THE AMEX. I’m afraid I show off my grumpy old age by rather bemoaning the replacement of the names of grounds that have existed for decades, if not centuries, by the rather uninspiring names of their new sponsors. As a rugby man, Twickenham, Murrayfield, Lansdowne Road etc had such a rich history which the Allianz, BT Murrayfield – now Scottish Gas Murrayfield and the Aviva struggle to match. Cardiff Arms Park is now the Millennium which, I guess, at least avoids a corporate tag. Clearly the same applies to football and, I guess, cricket grounds. Anyway, that was my excuse for failing to finish!

28. @27 PostMark at least in this case the stadium never had another name and Amex is a big local employer. Brighton and Hove Albion lost their Goldstone Ground to developers many years ago and were surviving at the quite unsuitable Withdean Stadium for many years before The Amex was finally approved and built.

29. [Martin @28: as I said, it was nho so I didn’t know the history. I fully get that the corporations’ sponsorship, investment and provision of employment justify the practice and that external funding is generally needed these days. Doesn’t stop me from regretting the development!]

30. [PostMark @27
    Strictly, the Millennium Stadium is actually adjacent to Cardiff Arms Park. As far as I know, Cardiff Rugby still play at the Arms Park.
    (My uncle arranged for a commemorative brick at the Millennium Stadium for my father – one of thousands!)]

31. Another who failed to solve THE AMEX having never heard of it. I’d even guessed there was an X in it but still failed. I had pencilled in AEROBE but could not parse it so decided it was wrong. Thanks to Cineraria for clarifying. Mr. FAWKES was my other dnf ( I convinced myself there had to be a Fowler connected to Sussex somehow). Lots of googling and new learnings from this fun puzzle. Having recently listened to a podcast series on 1066 William the Conquerer was fresh in my mind so his chef was nearly the first one in and made me laugh. One of my more successful Paul attempts but a workout! Thanks setter and blogger.

32. [me @30
    The Millennium Stadium is now called the Principality Stadium!]

33. I too had (B)ONO. And I agree with Adriaan @ 26, nowhere in the clue is it clear that it should be CREEPY not CRAWLY, but once you get 16 down the penny has to drop. My first one in was SUSSEX, but still had a small fight with GOOIER and AEROBE and LOI was AMEX, which even though I lived in Sussex for 12 years and am into football eluded me, and the cluing for it didn’t help much either!

34. I agree with Roz about DAVID FROST as the standout clue. BANOFFEE PIE defeated me. When I searched my memory for Sussex desserts, I could only come up with pond pudding and stargazy pie is Cornish.

35. Interesting. I found out a number of things I didn’t know about SUSSEX – if anybody managed this without any external research, I’m impressed. Like others, I can’t see how the clue tells you that the answer is CREEPY rather than CRAWLY (which I had at first). I liked (B)ONO (never thought of Brian Eno), the WEE NAG and the NORMAN COOK.

    As a Twickenham resident, the “Allianz” just down the road still grates on the ears, but I expect they’ll find a new sponsor and rename it again before long. It took a while to find THE AMEX (I could be heard muttering ” but the Oval is Surrey…” for some time.)

    Thanks Paul and cineraria.

36. Well I failed on 17a. With the crossers, the beastly couple clearly had to be ELK and CAT, so I entered TACKLE, though how that fitted with the definition I had no idea. Googling “Sussex tackle” just gave me lots of hits for fishing shops in Sussex. Ho hum.

    Apart from that this was a very enjoyable witty puzzle. The DAVID FROST clue was brilliant. Many thanks Paul and Cineraria.

37. A difficult solve for me but got there in the end. I liked the fork going either way in GUY FAWKES, the money during the plague for BANOFFEE PIE (I DNK the connection with SUSSEX), and, of course, the ford said tv anagram and surface for DAVID FROST.

    Thanks Paul and Cineraria.

38. I struggled with 17a. I always think that brackets as used here are a sign of desperation on the part of the setter. I tried to find an anagram of “beastly couple” with “no table” but couldn’t and stopped trying when I came to the down clues and solved 8d and 14d.
    I had my doubts about the “curse” in 14d and my son confirmed that the interview was well after Nixon’s fall and he made a lot of money out of it.
    I enjoyed this (East) Sussex themed puzzle. Thanks to Paul and Cineraria.

39. The first Prize in a very long time I have failed to complete, not counting some Maskerades. The parochiality of some answer (THE AMEX?, NORMAN COOK?, BRIGHTON PRIDE?) defeated me, even after I guessed the theme. I also don’t think that SUS (i.e. ‘suspect’)=identify though others may differ. I did know LEWES because I have friends there, and even filled in GUY FAWKES after gritting my teeth, but I have to say this was a generally dispiriting experience for me.

40. I was born in Brighton and my grandmother met Virginia WOOLF, so I got the GK without resort to Google, but I had to look up BANOFFEE PIE to confirm that it originated in Sussex, as I couldn’t see how the wordplay worked (apart from PI). Most of the answers relate to East Sussex (though not Crawley!), but 21a actually has ‘East’ in the clue, which struck me as odd and unnecessary.

    Failed on ONO, GOOIER and AEROBE for reasons that now escape me.

    Thanks to setter and blogger as ever.

41. GOOIER is a word with four consecutive vowels. There can’t be many of those!

42. Well, ‘queue’, obviously, muffin, but I can’t think of any others off the top of my head.

43. I did give Google a workout to solve this, but solve it I did. There is a Wikipedia article on the culture of Sussex that was quite helpful. Re Sheffield Hatter’s comment @40, the use of the word East in the clue for LEWES was what it took to get me started: it narrowed down what the keystone answer could be quite a bit!

    I wondered idly, after solving MARKLE, whether the Duchess of Sussex has ever actually been to Sussex.

    [On the discussion re corporate names for sports venues: my beloved (and currently terrible) White Sox play in a ballpark that is currently named after a loan shark. By common agreement, the fans just don’t use that name. To us, it’s Comiskey Park (its original name) or Sox Park (which will always be accurate).]

    [Not four vowels in a row, but Iowa consists of three vowels and a semivowel, and I dare you to find a shorter three-syllable word.]

44. @41 Muffin sequoia is a pleasing word.

45. [MrP @43
    I can match it with IOTA.]

46. @42 Balfour queueing ups the ante.

47. [Balfour and Martin
    Good offers, but not quite as impressive, as in English “qu” is essentially one letter. However there are clearly 4 vowels in a row in your examples.

    Martin
    QUEUEING – very good!]

48. Aaaaaargh has six vowels in a row .

49. Brian Eno is a vocal advocate for environmentalism and has been actively involved in campaigns like Music Declares Emergency and their “No Music on a Dead Planet” initiative. Bono’s main activity these days seems to be tax avoidance

    I got SUSSEX almost immediately so the theme all fell into place very smoothly. Loved the surface for MARKLE 🙂

    Cheers C&P

50. Roz@48. Good call, and very appropriate for the way the conversation has left the subject of the actual crossword. But is it in Chambers?

51. The much missed National Treasure Vivian Stanshall avoided an awkwardness with “to stop those creepy crafties from crawling up your trousers” in “Terry Keeps His Clips On”

    I’ve sent Mrs E a link to Roz’s comment 48, but I enjoyed the digression.

    How about “crackthroated” for consecutive consonants? (As in Scrotum’s rendition of “The Fool And Bladder”?

    Thanks one and all.

52. I thought there would be more Scrabble players on here , euouae is the only allowed word with six consecutive vowels and most players know it and have probably used it .

53. Pino@38 It is not just EAST Sussex themed. Crawley is in West Sussex. The Turner connection is Petworth House, which is even further west in West Sussex. It was the home of Turner’s patron (George Wyndham), Turner painted extensively around the estate and today it holds the largest collection of his works anywhere outside of Tate London. Finally Meghan Elkram (as I will refer to her from now on) is Duchess of the whole of Sussex, not just the eastern part.

54. Roz 52,

    Does someone who politely accepts an invitation to play Scrabble, but who has never made such an invitation themselves count as a “player”?

    I’ve played it many times on that basis, but have never heard of that word.

55. Roz @52: I’m a Scrabble player, though less frequently in recent years. But that’s a new one for me. Obviously more valuable as an end-of-game tile dump than an actual point-scorer.

    And @48: I have a friend who loves International Talk Like a Pirate Day and found via statistical analysis of Web hits that that the number of R’s people append to the classic pirate interjection “arrrr!” obeys a power law (excuse me, pow-arrrrrrrr law).

56. Etu@54 anyone who plays the game is a player , if you play often enough you will see this word and perhaps copy it yourself one day .
    MrPenney@55 it is more for when you have a rack of vowels which does happen annoyingly often . You can change 5 or even 6 and at least score some points , I have played over 7000 games against my lesser half plus many more against others . In fact , screen off time now .

57. [mrpenney @55 The reason that Talk Like a Pirate Day (which I thoroughly approve of without participating) exists can be traced back to Robert Newton’s signature performance as Long John Silver in the 1950 Disney adaptation of Treasure Island. Generations of fictional pirates followed, including, for instance, Patchy the Pirate, who sometimes introduces episodes of the brilliant Spongebob Squarepants., for my knowledge of which I am forever indebted to my younger children]

58. Andy in Durham @53
    Of course you’re right. I’d not included TURNER though I know of the collection at Petworth House and had forgotten about Crawley. If you had wanted to be picky you could have added that Brighton & Hove is now a separate authority so NORMAN COOK, BRIGHTON PRIDE, and THE AMEX shouildn’t count as East Sussex.

59. ……and the prize for funniest comment goes to ROZ @48, proper made me laugh out loud!

60. [Coincidentally, for anyone interested in the Frost/Nixon story, Sky Documentaries will be showing “David Frost vs…Richard Nixon” on Wednesday at 9:00pm BST. ]

61. DNF for me. Finally gave up last night, and sought relief from cineraria’s helpful blog. Didn’t get MARKLE. I have only a vague awareness of the former lady in particular and antiquated titles in general, but I should have figured out the KLE component, at least. I would have got THE AMEX if I had only thought to look up Brighton’s ground. I remember football grounds by their traditional names or club names, not the tedious commercial sponsorship names. I entered LOVIER very faintly, as it was just too weak. I got the SUSSEX theme quite early from 5d. I cannot remember ever visiting Sussex, and I relied on Google to confirm thematic solutions. Overall, not one of my favourite Paul puzzles.

62. We are in close agreement with poc@39, qualifying as DNF since we lacked confidence in the answer to the pivotal 5 down, thinking that suss has three s’s and, for us, relations do not equate with sex!

    The esoterica of Norman Cook, Brian Eno, the Amex and banoffee pie proved too much, although the super construction of the latter, paradoxically, puts it in the tick list with David Frost, Marple and hot pants. Thanks be to P and C.

Comments are closed.