Guardian Prize 29,859 / Paul

A Prize puzzle from Paul, with a theme which could divide opinion

The theme was pretty clearly signposted, with a straightforward charade as a clue at 24,9,18, as (winners of) the EUROVISION SONG CONTEST, which may have been greeted with delight by some solvers, as total anathema to others or with total mystification by many overseas solvers, despite the fairly recent inclusion of Australia and other countries outside Europe – see here for the history, adding to the ludicrousness of the title. I think Paul’s witty definition for the clue makes clear which side of the fence he is on.

It’s a cleverly composed puzzle, incorporating references to EUROVISION SONGs and winners of the Contest in both clues and answers, which I’ve highlighted in the blog.

Apart from the key entry, my favourite clues were 1ac ABBACY, 11ac FOREGO, 12ac CHOOSING, 13ac WORDSMITH, 25 NEEP, 3dn CONFORM, 8dn LIECHTENSTEIN and 16dn LETTUCE.

Thank you to Paul for an interesting puzzle.

Definitions are underlined in the clues.

Across

1 Brotherhood of Man’s authority voided country’s backing group (6)
ABBACY
C[ountr]Y following (backing) ABBA (group, who won the contest in 1974 with Waterloo – see 27ac) – a clever definition
Brotherhood of Man were the winners for the UK in 1976

4 Error, I hate that being repeated (3-3)
BOO-BOO
BOO (I hate that) repeated

10 Blurry mark I see on siren or horn, say (10)
NOISEMAKER
An anagram (blurry) of MARK I SEE ON

11 In favour of self-sacrifice? (6)
FOREGO
A ‘lift and separate’ (always popular with me) of ‘self-sacrifice’: FOR (in favour of) + EGO (self))
The pedant in me protests that ‘forego’ means ‘to go before’ (and ‘forgo’ ‘to sacrifice’) but both Collins and Chambers give either spelling for each word – and, for the sake of the construction and surface, I do want this clue to work!

12 Half-cut, train and perform Making Your Mind Up (8)
CHOOSING
CHOO [choo] (child’s train, half-cut) + SING (perform)
Bucks Fizz won for the UK – those were the days! – in 1981, with Making Your Mind Up)

13 One who’s articulate and bags gold medal (9)
WORDSMITH
WITH (and) round (bags) OR (gold) + DSM (Distinguished Service Medal)

15, 16 Film 24 9, end, not beginning (2,2,4)
LA-LA LAND
LA LA LA (24,9, Eurovision song, winner for Spain in 1968) + [e]ND, not beginning – italics

17 Present popular ceasefire broken by party from the right (9)
INTRODUCE
IN (popular) + a reversal (from the right) of DO (party) in TRUCE (ceasefire)

21 Holy person just holding a hand (8)
STRAIGHT
ST (saint, holy person) + RIGHT (just) round A – a straight is a hand in poker

22 Raider, leader after Roman figure in muscly pack? (6)
VIKING
KING (leader) after VI (Roman figure – six) : six-pack is the nickname of the rectus abdominis pair of muscles

24, 9, 19 Money, seeing number dodge tax, annual headache for the auditor? (10,4,7)
EUROVISION SONG CONTEST
A perfectly formed charade: EURO (money) VISION (seeing) SONG (number) CON (dodge) TEST (tax) – with a witty definition

25 Resident in Irvine, eponymous Swede in Scotland (4)
NEEP
Hidden in irviNE EPonymous – neeps (mashed swedes) and tatties (potatoes) are the traditional accompaniment to haggis, particularly on Burns Night; Irvine is a town in Scotland, hence ‘eponymous’

26 Small raptor, each animal finally within grasp (6)
EAGLET
EA (each) + [anima]L in GET (grasp)

27 A leader in general defined by Waterloo, various things going to pot? (6)
RAGOUT
A from the clue + G[eneral] in ROUT (Waterloo)

Down

1 Loving sherry! (7)
AMOROSO
Double definition

2 Instrument with fluff, unspecified quantity pulled out (5)
BUGLE
BU[n]GLE (fluff) minus n, an indefinite or unspecified number in Maths

3 Charlie doing well, follow (7)
CONFORM
C (Charlie – NATO phonetic alphabet) + ON FORM (doing well)

5 State of repair originally gone awry (6)
OREGON
O[f] R[epair] initially + an anagram (awry) of GONE

6 Northern English outfit in black, underwear’s smooth girdles (5,4)
BRASS BAND
BRAS (underwear) + SAND (smooth) round B (black)
Brass bands are perhaps particularly associated with the North of England, based on collieries and factories: among the best known are the Black Dyke Mills and the Grimethorpe Colliery Bands, the latter featuring in the BAFTA-nominated film ‘Brassed Off’
(Optional link: sheer self-indulgence on my part: one of my favourite clips)

7 Circle a nice round area in watery region (7)
OCEANIA
O (circle) + an anagram (round) of A NICE + A (area)

8 Artist impressed by European country (13)
LIECHTENSTEIN
E (European) in (Roy LICHTENSTEIN (artist)#

14 Battle inspires a 24 9 (4-1-4)
DING-A-DONG
DING-DONG (battle) round A – the Eurovision song (24 9) Ding-a Dong was the winner for the Netherlands in 1975

16 Conservative in day after period of occupancy leaves (7)
LETTUCE
LET (period of occupancy) + C (Conservative) in TUE(sday) – a witty reference to this story

18 Bird irrelevant in Italian city (7)
RAVENNA
RAVEN (bird) + NA (not applicable – irrelevant)

20 Good egg breaks that is light (6)
IGNITE
G (good) NIT (egg) in I E (id est, that is)

23 Martial art, culmination in killer blow (5)
KENDO
END (culmination) in KO (killer blow)

Thanks to Paul for an interesting puzzle.

Definitions are underlined in the clues.

(I’m not a golfer like  mc_rapper67 my colleague Prize blogger but like him, often, I shan’t be able to comment after around 9.00am GMT until early evening. I shall be out all day at at our annual Christmas Tree Festival, which always coincides with my monthly Prize blog. There may well be typos, etc in this blog, for which I apologise and plead fatigue from day-long sessions for the last few days, setting up said event. All huge fun and we’re ready for a great weekend!