Guardian Saturday Prize Crossword 29,793 by Vlad (6 September 2025)

56 comments on “Guardian Saturday Prize Crossword 29,793 by Vlad (6 September 2025)”

1. Thanks mc_rapper67. Like you I needed several sessions to get there and good, honest and tough are the right descriptors. It didn’t help when I confidently entered ‘far lying’ for 16d oblivious that a single word was required. I was fixated on you once = thou in 3d and couldn’t make that work. Your explanation of ‘Quite’ in 13d had eluded me and I’m still not ‘completely’ happy with it.

2. A tough puzzle indeed, I did feel that WG was a tad unfair, and could have been W G or W. G. Vlad being Vlad I guess!

3. I read “Full English not” as a cryptic def. and “kids” as the main def. .. and, somewhat whimsically, while a full English may not be suitable for kids, this might be.
   Which I think is the same as the blog.

4. FLEECE was my last entry since I thought the definition was obvious but it took me a while to see that ‘establishment’ could be CE, and before that TUNGSTEN because I had to guess the answer before I could see the one-letter definition.

   For 15a/24d, I had ‘scoundrel’ is CAD and the R comes from ‘redhead’, but I assume you must have solved it correctly and just made a mistake when writing the blog.

   Thanks, Vlad and mc_rapper67.

5. They make a good pair, WG and Vlad — tons of flair with a bit of swash, and cavalier about the rules. He-cat o MB and tea, bonk, row amusing and cheeky, among heaps more cleverness, thanks Vlad and rapper.

6. My faves: YOU DON’T SAY, TUNGSTEN, GO TOO FAR and OUTLYING.

   TROUBLE
   I took ‘here’ as Thailand. It could well be the UK.
   OUTLYING
   Hear me out

   Thanks Vlad and mc_rapper67.

7. Carelessly got fooled by IMPOSTER (not IMPOSTOR), so missed completing this one by one letter — grr. Otherwise all good, and a fun challenge! Favourites 23a SLEEPYHEAD (for M = SPY HEAD) and 18d HECATOMB (for Tom = HE CAT, and getting a Jorum is always a pleasure!)

   Yes, I parsed 1d SMALL FRY as in the blog

   mc_rapper67 Check 15a YELLOW CARD, you’re missing the “redhead kept” part of the clue for CARD (as suggested by Matthew@4), and 25a ASTON the anagrind is “resolved” (not “reported”). Thanks for a great blog, and Vlad for a great puzzle!

8. [Comment written at the time, blog and other comments not yet read.]

   Memories of the Enigmatist debacle are slowly fading. I had this completed and fully parsed in decent time despite having to repair some “absolutely” spectacular initial errors in the SW quadrant.

   I guess it was one of those same wavelength days and it’s always a boost when the first across clue goes straight in. I liked TUNGSTEN, WRAITH and SLEEPYHEAD, which was my last one parsed.

   Enjoyable throughout. Thanks Vlad and thanks to mc_rapper67. I will read your blog.

9. Liked it a lot; this seemed easier that a regular Vlad puzzle (which I usually fail altogether); parsed almost all though needed to look up a few. Liked TUNGSTEN, GO TOO FAR, YOU DON’T SAY, ALLEGRETTO, INVERSE, HECATOMB. For SMALL FRY, I thought the clue said “Full English not suitable” meaning the fry-up is too small… Thanks Vlad and mcrapper!

10. Echoing Martin@8 and Layman@9, this puzzle gave me the thoroughly unusual feeling of being on the same wavelength as Vlad. Right at the end, I took some time getting SLEEPYHEAD and TUNGSTEN; it didn’t help get TUNGSTEN that I had a carelessly-entered ‘reverse’ instead of INVERSE, but when I finally thought it might start with ‘TUN’ it all became clear, and I think the thorough misdirection makes it a great clue. So, thanks to Vlad for being on my wavelength for once, and, of course, thanks to mc_rapper67.

11. I think this is the first time I have managed to complete a Vlad prize.

    I was helped by the anagram IMPOSTER SYNDROME being the first clue and my FOI which gave me a start.

    Favourite was TUNGSTEN

    Also liked: YELLOW CARD, CLEAVE, CHAT-UP LINE, ALLEGRETTO

    Thanks Vlad and mc_rapper67

12. Like Martin @8,I was on the wavelength for Vlad last week. No idea why but everything just fell into place. The linked HECATOMB and COTE were last two in. I have encountered the first but not often enough to recognise it from the def and it took a moment for the penny to drop with the second as I kept thinking hillside. Which of course is French. TUNGSTEN felt naughty but nice.

    Thanks both

13. Thanks Vlad and mc_rapper67
    I enjoyed this. Favourites TUNGSTEN (of course) and YELLOW CARD. I also like “tom” for HECAT.

    [Off topic but probably worth posting. I know the Apuan Alps well. The mountains are mostly made of marble, and have been the source for many famous statues. Carrara is in the range. Great walking – well worth a visit.]

14. A real struggle with the last one in, which I got in the end by just looking at the crossers and thinking, “that looks like TUNGSTEN , but how can it be?”, and then that old penny dropped with a clang on a nearby tea tray. Great clue!

    I had a (non-verbal) titter at CHAT UP LINE, and enjoyed a lot of the off-beat sharpness of the cluing throughout. SMALL FRY was nice, as I remember my grandfather using the expression about me and my brothers a long, long time ago. (He was a great cricket fan too, and I reckon he’d have enjoyed the references to WG and Lord’s.)

    Thanks to Vlad, and thanks to mc for another great blog.

15. Mig @7 the Guardian style guide mandates IMPOSTOR as well! That said, I followed the anagram and didn’t question it.

    STAYER was new to me and only twigged HE-CAT near the end with WRAITH last. Parsed everything as the blog.

16. A nice substantial puzzle which took me a few sessions, finishing on Tuesday.

    The IMPOSTER SYNDROME anagram held me up for a while, but the grid filled up more quickly once I’d seen it.

    I particularly liked YELLOW CARD, TUNGSTEN and ALLEGRETTO.

17. I know of Frederick Ashton but I think that bit of GK would be difficult for many?

    New for me: TUNGSTEN = W and this became a favourite clue as I liked the reference to WG Grace; YELLOW CARD; HECATOMB = slaughter.

    I couldn’t parse 11ac, 22ac apart from fleece = swindle, the G in 22d, and I was unsure how to parse 1d.

    Favourite: WRAITH.

    And finally, I loved the final paragraph of the blog in italics above 😉

18. I rarely remember to come back a week later for the prize blog, but I’ll make an exception for TUNGSTEN. Fabulous clue.

19. Tough indeed, it took me all week to complete barely a third of this one. No amount of juggling letters would get me to IMPOSTOR SYNDROME, something I’m experiencing right now. Thank you Vlad for the challenge and mc_rapper67 for the explanations.

20. I am starting to wonder which is the tougher experience: solving the prize or getting into 225 to read the blog. Many thanks to Ken for trying to fix it but it remains frustrating.

21. Like some others, I didn’t finish this in one go – but that just added to the enjoyment: a very satisfying solve.

    My favourites were 14ac LIFE PEER (I was amused at how the lack of apostrophe actually gave the game away 😉 ), 15/24 YELLOW CARD, 20ac TUNGSTEN (great pdm), 22ac FLEECE, for the succinctness, 13dn ALLEGRETTO (I thought of ‘out-and-out’ for ‘totally’, and HECATOMB.

    [I’m certainly not wanting to put a jinx on anything but I have got straight into the site, several times, today.]

22. Many thanks to Vlad and mc_rapper67!

23. Completed the top half of this puzzle, but there were yawning gaps in the South so I’m claiming a dishonourable draw. I fear that in spite of any amount of staring I would never have tumbled on TUNGSTEN (though nets was my first thought), HECATOMB, WRAITH or ALLEGRETTO. As ever Vlad’s smooth, witty and sometimes subversive surfaces made the whole thing enjoyable in a horrible week for Guardianistas

24. A game of two halves for me. I managed 90% of it in one go last Saturday evening in the aftermath of a rather boozy lunch. But, WRAITH and HECATOMB refused to yield until Tuesday – I’d become fixated on finding a painter with “gin” in the middle of their name. I thought every clue in this fine puzzle was meritorious with my favourites being TUNGSTEN and SLEEPYHEAD.

25. I enjoyed this, my favourite being CHAT-UP LINE for its brilliant and funny surface. SMALL FRY was a rather unorthodox clue but you could see what it meant.

    The one thing I’m afraid I didn’t like was the spelling of IMPOSTER (it hurts me to type it) rather than IMPOSTOR. This is not Vlad’s fault because it’s in (some) dictionaries (not the SOED thankfully). It’s one of those cases where if enough people keep getting it wrong it ends up being “right”. To me it’s as bad as acter or docter.

    But many thanks to Vlad and mc_rapper67.

26. 1d. I too had a problem with parsing this. I had ” Full English not”=SMALL FRY =” kids” which didn’t account for ” suitable”. Jay’s suggestion @ 3 – “Full English not”=SMALL FRY= “breakfast suitable for kids” and “kids” works but involves “kids” doing double duty.
    Thanks to Vlad for a satsfying puzzle and mc_rapper67.
    Eileen @ 21 You had better luck than I did this morning. This was my third attempt.

27. I tried to add another comment earlier commending the blog and hoping mc_rapper67 had a good morning. The site really is quite broken though. Is the archive becoming too large?

    Interesting to see that some had a similar experience to me and some really didn’t.

28. Great puzzle – TUNGSTEN was the standout also for me, but there are many splendid clues here.

    I find it difficult to get too worked up about the spelling of IMPOSTER because the use of -or/-er often appears arbitrary. The general rule seems to be that words from Romance, particularly those with exact correspondences in Latin, have -or: actor, doctor, tutor; Germanic words have -er: singer, swimmer, roofer. But there are strange exceptions: eg sailor, plumber, and ‘save’ gives both saver and saviour.

    Thanks to Vlad and mc_r

29. Like many others I found this more on my wavelength than the usual Vlad–not that it was easy, but often Vlad has a few clues that leave me completely befuddled even after I bung them, and that didn’t happen here. Many brilliant clues as usual though! I especially liked the clever definitions of SPY HEAD and YELL OW and HE-CAT.

    Did wind up not finishing because I had ADVERSE for some reason and couldn’t see how 20A could be BUDGETED (the only option) even though that was clearly the only option. TUN and NETS in the meaning of cricket practice are pretty unfamiliar to me so I would have needed the N to get anywhere. Brilliantly concealed definition though. (I also bet I whiffed on the “E” in IMPOSTER SYNDROME.)

    Thanks Vlad and mc_rapper67!

30. I say 20A is UNFAIR. The most damning judgement towards a setter.

31. Jenna @30
    If you read through the comments, you will see that 20A was the favourite clue for several of us. Yes, it’s tricky, but why “unfair”?

32. Thanks both and as many have said a satisfying entertainment which lasted a while.

    SMALL FRY raised a chuckle – I think clues must occasionally be taken as just a clue and a large fry being unsuitable for children leads to the answer regardless of the Ximinean porousness (to coin a clunky).

    COTE gave me pause. I don’t pronounce it anything like ‘coat’ – does anyone? Nearer to ‘cut’ (or ‘cot’) in my world but I can’t get from there to ‘habit’. Mark you, I only have ‘dovecote’ for reference.

    Have a nice weekend all.

33. Great puzzle, tough but fun. I took several visits to finish it.
    Thanks for the blog and help with some parsings I was unsure of.
    Favourites:
    TUNGSTEN for the cricket misdirection and hidden definition W;
    IMPOSTER SYNDROME for its surface, and how I felt attempting this puzzle;
    CHAT-UP LINE for its humour;
    SLEEPYHEAD for M= SPY HEAD.
    Thanks to Vlad and mc_rapper67

34. Protase@28 – quite agree. I also have terrible trouble with -ant and -ent endings. Doesn’t seem to be any logic.
    Great crossword though. Occupied a long lunch break I seem to remember.

35. Super crossword with most already said by other contributors. We were really slow, in fact stationary, until ‘clunk-click’ : Tea, bonk, row – just up my street, until my wife weighed in with a YELLOW CARD for her LIFE PEER!

    We had spotted the bumper anagram very early but were ‘not up to the task’ until our favourite breakfast, SMALL FRY, gave us the M. There were so many enjoyable clues, often multi-worded, including YOU DONT SAY, GO TOO FAR, TUNGSTEN, SLEEPYHEAD and HECATOMB.

    Like mc_rapper, I felt that there could be a sporting/cricket theme with England opener, IPL, Lords and especially WG in evidence, but ‘ran short’ before it was ‘over’ with COTE.

    Very many thanks to the impaler and the golfer.

36. TripleJumper@34 [ I suspect that the logic with -ent and -ant endings lies in the conjugation of the Latin verb the word derives from. 1st conjugation would give ‘a’, the rest ‘e’, though usage has created exceptions. Doesn’t help if you don’t know Latin though.

37. Parsing for 11a and 5d still has me scratching my head. Perhaps a little too convoluted or contrived?

38. I didn’t get very far into this, so was put out of my misery today by mc rapper and other comments above. It looks doable, hard but fair. Frustrating to see some clever clues which I didn’t get, although I can see why some needed reverse engineering.

39. I wasn’t going to comment on this one as I didn’t finish it, but I have to agree with Alpalpha@32 that COTE as in dovecote doesn’t sound much like coat.

40. I don’t think I’ve ever heard “dovecote” said, but various Google hits think it’s dove coat.

41. It has taken me some time to get past the Database Errors, but, for what it’s worth, I would certainly say the second syllable of ‘dovecote’ and, for that matter, ‘sheepcote’ as ‘coat’. But what the heck? I once ventured that I pronounced ‘lute’ as ‘lyoot’, as in ‘solution’, and got into deep trouble on two separate threads for my pains.

42. Balfour: I remember that discussion. It made me realise that I am possibly a bit more cockney than I thought I was, because I say “loot” for “lute”. (And I say “solootion” not “solyootion”.) Out of interest, do you say “flyoot” for “flute”?

43. Oh please, Lord Jim, let us not go over all this again. No, I pronounce ‘flute’ as ‘floot’, because the presence of the consonant immediately before the ‘l’ , as in ‘glutinous’, erases the potential diphthongisation of the following ‘u’. Thus the Donald Sutherland & Jane Fonda film is Kloot and Popeye’s arch-rival is Blooto. Will that do?

44. Balfour and Lord Jim, I play a piece on the organ called “Tuba Tune” by C.S. Lang, and I never know quite how to pronounce it! 🙂

45. Thanks to mc_ for a great blog (hope the golf was as good) and to everyone else who commented.

46. Thanks for all the comments and feedback so far…much appreciated as usual.

    I’m glad to see I wasn’t the only one to find this quite chewy! Have corrected the parsing of YELLOW CARD, as per a couple of comments.

    Lots of suggestions as to the parsing of SMALL FRY – too many for me to try to summarise into a perfect parsing, so I will leave my ‘asterisked’ attempt as is, and allow people to make up their own minds!

    Chambers gives ‘IMPOSTOR or IMPOSTER’ with equal billing, and interestingly does not have IMPOST(E/O)R SYNDROME. Collins has ‘IMPOSTOR, also IMPOSTER’, and only gives IMPOSTOR SYNDROME as the compound phrase. But it was a lovely anagram (;+>)

    Chambers has COTE as pronounced K-long O-T (coat) or K-short O-T (cot). It also has DOVECOTE and DOVECOT for ‘pigeon house’, so I think Vlad is on solid ground with the COAT homophone, and those quibblers above are merely remembering/more familiar with the other rendition of (DOVE)COTE…

    Anyway, whilst I have been typing, I see Vlad has commented, so that may render some of the above irrelevant!

47. Thanks for popping by, Vlad at #45. Hopefully see you in York next month…

    [The golf was abysmal but enjoyable, if that makes sense? They say the definition of madness is doing the same thing again and again and expecting a different result – in which case I am mad about golf!]

48. Balfour, to be clear I wasn’t criticising your pronunciation, I was just saying that mine is different. No one accent of English as opposed to others is “correct”, and variety is a wonderful thing!

    As to the presence of the consonant erasing the potential diphthongisation, well obviously I knew that 🙂

49. This puzzle was at my limit. I like short clues but the “density” of different tricks here really stretched me. Loved TUNGSTEN once I got it. The only clue I’m unconvinced about is OUTLYING. I can’t really get “That’s totally” to resolve to OUT. But many thanks, Vlad.

50. i thought not wanted here came from the league of gentlemen – we’ll have no troble here.

51. Am I the only one to think SLEEPYHEAD was ingenious but unfair? Once you have guessed the answer, you can see how it works, but I doubt that one in 10 million people would think “M? Wasn’t he a spy head?” Spy chief, certainly. Surely, a clue has to be gettable forwards as well as backwards, if you see what I mean.

52. Jiusito@51. Why?

    I got it from LEE and a couple of crossers. Was quite content with that.

53. Jiusito@51 23a SLEEPYHEAD was one of my favourites. In fact, I solved it using the wordplay, the definition, and some crossers — all three. For me a perfectly balanced clue. The SPYHEAD element was very funny. Sometimes I’ve seen things like that called a “whimsical definition”

54. Jiusito @51, I do tend to agree, the above two still needed crossers, and really I think you should be able to solve it without crossers, which of course you can, but with a maddening amount of lateral thinking!!

55. Antonknee@54. If all the clues could be solved without recourse to the crossing letters it would be a quiz rather than a crossword! 😄

    I like it when I have no idea what is going on with a clue, and then I look again at the “shape” of the word, and think it looks like (whatever) – and suddenly the clue starts to make sense. Don’t you enjoy moments like that?

56. sh@55, I agree completely. (I’d like to say that it makes me cross when people get cross about crossers being an integral part of a crossword, but it doesn’t really.)

    And yes, I do enjoy those special moments you describe in your second paragraph – one of the things that make this hobby so much fun.

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