Kite is the setter for this week’s Guardian Prize challenge
There is a very clear theme here with many across entries relating to UKRAINE.
I wondered about a pangram given that the President’s name alone uses many of the less common letters of the alphabet, but we seem to be short of a J, a Q and a W.
This puzzle may have been a bit more difficult a few years ago when the Ukrtnian locations were less well known.. Unfortunately nowadays, many of the cities and regions are mentioned in the media daily.
Kite did well to make an anagram out VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY. I liked the clue for DIAL as well as the Spoonerism for SATISFY. It took me longer to work out ENGLISH at 20 down than it should have done.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | Finished non-acting job in 5’s city (7)
DONETSK (city in UKRAINE [entry at 5 across]) DONE (finished) + TaSK (job) excluding (not) A (acting) DONE TSK |
| 5 | Country drops language finally – it uses Russian in places (7)
UKRAINE (country acting as the theme for this crossword. Russian is a language used fairly widely in Ukraine, but research indicates that its use has declined [dropped] since the invasion in 2022) UK (United Kingdom; country) + RAIN (drops of water) + E (last letter of [finally] languagE) UK RAIN E |
| 10 | Face becoming possibly relaxed (4)
DIAL (face, of a clock for instance) DIAL could be clued (possibly) as LAID BACK (relaxed) DIAL< |
| 11 | Artist in on designs for move (10)
TRANSITION (a passage from one place to another; a move) Anagram of (designs) ARTIST IN ON TRANSITION* |
| 12 | Graduate puts on masks in European industrial region (6)
DONBAS (an industrial region of Ukraine, most of which is currently occupied by Russian forces; European industrial region) DONS (wears; puts on) containing (masks) BA (Bachelor of Arts; graduate) DON (BA) S |
| 13 | Best, retired clergyman half cut inside but capable of standing up (8)
ERECTILE (capable of standing up) RECtor (clergyman) excluding half of the 6 letters (half-cut) TOR, contained in (inside) ELITE (best) reversed (retired) E (REC) TILE< |
| 14/19 | Every dozy monk slyly working for iconic leader (9,9)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY (iconic leader of Ukraine, born 1978) Anagram of (working) EVERY DOZY MONK SLYLY VOLODYMYR [ZELENSKYY]* |
| 16 | European has too much, drinking first of Andalusian port (5)
ODESA (port region of Ukraine) – possibly better known in English as ODESSA (ODS [overdoses; has too much] containing [drinks] E [European]) + A (initial letter of [first of [Andalusian]) OD (E) S A |
| 17 | Son went to race (5)
SPEED (race) S (son) + PEED (urinated; went) S PEED |
| 19 |
See 14 [VOLODYMYR] ZELENSKYY |
| 23 | Philanthropic doctor coming from pub close to drug-free party (8)
BARNARDO (reference Dr Thomas John BARNARDO [1845 – 1905], an Irish, Christian philanthropist and founder and director of homes for poor and deprived children. His name lives on today in the childrens’ charity Barnardo’s) BAR (pub) + NeAR (close to) excluding (free) E (ecstasy; drug) + DO (party) BAR NAR DO |
| 24 | Try to write letters, almost providing the truth (6)
GOSPEL (informal term for absolute truth) GO (try) + SPELl (write letters) excluding the final letter L (almost) GO SPEL |
| 26 | End of union residence I abandoned (6,4)
DECREE NISI (a provisional decree which will be made absolute in due time unless cause is shown to the contrary, granted especially in divorce cases; end of marriage [union]) Anagram of (abandoned) RESIDENCE I. DECREE NISI* |
| 27 | Natural defender not against organisation (4)
BODY (an organisation) antiBODY (a substance which inactivates a foreign body such as a protein, bacterium, virus or toxin by combining with it; a natural defence acting to prevent disease) excluding (not) ANTI (against) BODY |
| 28 | One in the 12 getting rare metal German kitchen top (7)
LUHANSK (a city in the DONBAS [entry at 12 across] region of Ukraine) LU (chemical symbol for lutetium [a metallic element that is a member of the rare-earth group]) + HANS (a German male name) + K (first letter of [top] Kitchen) LU HANS K |
| 29 | King (and Queen’s descendant?) in 5’s place (7)
KHERSON (a city in UKRAINE [entry at 5 across]) K (King) + HER SON (descendant of a female, possibly the descendant of a Queen) K HER SON |
| Down | |
| 2 | Neocon I routinely hosted upriver (7)
ORINOCO (one of the longest rivers in South America) ORINOCO (reversed [up] hidden word in [hosted] neOCON I ROutinely) ORINOCO< |
| 3 | Small book label provided by former politician (2-3)
EX-LIB (abbreviation for [small] EX-LIBris [a name-label pasted into the front of a book]; book label) EX (former) + LIB (member of the Liberal party of old; politician) EX-LIB |
| 4 | Make content but Spooner’s plump men moan (7)
SATISFY (make content) Reverend Spooner would pronounce SATISFY as FATTIES [plump men] + SIGH [make a sound of dejection; moan] SATISFY |
| 6 | Briefly smack Kite – ultimately tempt fate (6)
KISMET (fate) KISs(smack is a term for a hearty kiss) excluding the final letter S (briefly) + ME (Kite, the setter) + T (last letter of [ultimately] tempT) KIS ME T |
| 7 | You, having sex noisily at first, regularly dress for poses (9)
ATTITUDES (postures; poses) ATTIT (sounds like [noisily] AT IT [having sex]) + U (textspeak for ‘you’) + DES (letters 1, 3 and 5 [regularly] of DrEsS) ATTIT U DES |
| 8 | Silly people make pasta (7)
NOODLES (silly people) NOODLES (a form of pasta) double definition NOODLES |
| 9 | Box type of seats I’d made (6,7)
SAFETY DEPOSIT (type of box) Anagram of (made) TYPE OF SEATS I’D SAFETY DEPOSIT* |
| 15 | Song of the Deep depicting dolphins’ home? (9)
OCEANARIA (a location where dolphins may be found) OCEAN (the deep) + ARIA (song) OCEAN ARIA |
| 18 | Table water follows dish in Paris (7)
PLATEAU (a tableland) PLAT (French [Paris] for dish as in ‘plat de jour’ [dish of the day]) + EAU (French [Paris] for water) PLAT EAU |
| 20 | Cook single hard tongue (7)
ENGLISH (language; tongue) Anagram of (cook) SINGLE + H (hard when referring to pencil lead) ENGLIS H* |
| 21 | Comply with oily diet, not one processed (5,2)
YIELD TO (comply to) Anagram of (processed) OiLY DIET excluding (not) I (Roman numeral for one) – either I could be the one excluded YIELD TO* |
| 22 | Medic that is beginning to suture receives right desiccants (6)
DRIERS (drying agents; desiccants) (DR [doctor; medic] + I.E. [id est; that is] + S [first letter of {beginning to} Suture]) containing (receives) R (right) DR IE (R) S |
| 25 | Serious, thus drink half- heartedly (5)
SOBER (serious) SO (thus) + BEeR (drink) excluding one of the two central Es (half-heartedly) – either E could be the one excluded. SO BER |
Enjoyed this though took me a while.
Favourites included: KISMET, BARNARDO, PLATEAU, SOBER
and loved the long anagram.
Thanks Kite and duncanshiell
10 across, I took to be a play on DALI being an anagram of DIAL if relaxed, and a nod to Dali’s painting of melting/relaxed clock faces, “The Persistence of Memory”.
But agree “Laid back” makes sense too.
Thanks duncanshiell. A welcome change from the uphill battle last week I thought. The theme emerged early on and a lot of answers wrote themselves in but there was still enough left for a workout and some gentle satisfaction. I did like ‘laid back’ though it took me a while to see how it worked. I made BARNARDO more difficult for myself by thinking the first letter was the last letter of ‘pub’. LOI was 29a, the crossing letters had me fixated on ‘Kharkov’ and I spent far too long trying to make sense of it.
Another vote for the anagram fodder for VZ.
The reverse reversal clue DIAL seems to be one of those things that setters like to have a go at. There have been many versions, but I do like Kite’s surface.
KHERSON clever. OCEANARIA a very sad home for dolphins. Good clue though.
I made steady progress over a couple of days, finding the bottom half much easier than top
A tick went to UKRAINE for its clever diversion. Liked DONETSK for its surface and share your like of DIAL. Being a great fan of anagrams I echo the applause for VZ.
OSESA seems backward – it should be drinking too much has European. ORINOCO needs a separation indicator to separate up and river. I wasted so much time on that clue. EX LIB is not a small book label to me – it’s a book label of any size but abbreviated.
Thanks Kite and duncanshiel