Guardian Prize 29,978 / Kite

A timely themed Prize offering from Kite

I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say here that the timing of 27ac coincided almost exactly with that of the publication of the puzzle. The theme emerged quite early on and was comprehensively exploited – but it was only when I read the full report of the achievement and reached the Closing Summary there that the significance of the entries at 1ac, 21ac, 19dn and 20dn was revealed and all fell into place – quite remarkably.

Good cluing throughout, with generally meaningful surfaces and just a couple of bits of parsing where I’d be glad of comments. I had ticks for 9ac ORION, 12ac ISLE, 18ac AT ALL EVENTS, 2dn SKIERS, 4dn NASAL, 13dn FALSEHOODS and 15dn INVENTORY.

Thanks to Kite for an entertaining and absorbing puzzle.

Definitions are underlined in the clues.

Across

1 Ladies’ organisation names retiring magician (4,3)
WISE MAN
Women’s Institute (ladies’ organisation) + a reversal (retiring) of NAMES
Magus is an ancient word for a magician – the Wise Men from the East in the Bible are known as the Magi

5 Bonaparte mistress’s a goddess (7)
ARTEMIS
Hidden in BonapARTE MIStress – we need to read ‘mistress’s as ‘mistress has’

9 ‘Old flower’, term for bargain hunter (5)
ORION
O (old) + RIO (river, thus ‘flower’) + [bargai]N (last letter – term – of)
[My grandpa always called me, as a child, ‘my old flower’ – I’ve never heard anyone else use this expression but googling suggests it’s a Northern term of endearment]

10 A sun proven briefly to be unstable (9)
SUPERNOVA
An anagram (unstable) of A SUN PROVE[n] – &lit

11 Those last wrestlers maybe united being acknowledged at first (10)
STRAGGLERS
STRUGGLERS (wrestlers maybe) with the u (united) replaced by A[cknowledged] at first

12 We’re told Kite will land in water (4)
ISLE
Sounds like  (we’re told) ‘I’ll’ (Kite will) – the definition is a wry nod to the theme

14 Pa OK, with a pie and gin cocktail or a bacon sandwich? (1,3,2,1,4)
A PIG IN A POKE
An anagram ( cocktail) of PA OK A PIE GIN
An interesting clue: a ‘pig in a poke’ is ‘something that is bought without first being inspected, and thus of unknown authenticity or quality’, see here, from my Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable:
“A blind bargain. The French say Acheter chat en poche. The reference is to a common trick in days gone by of substituting a cat for a sucking-pig, and trying to palm it off on greenhorns. If anyone heedlessly bought the article without examination he bought a “cat” for a “pig;” but if he opened the sack he “let the cat out of the bag,” and the trick was disclosed. The French chat en poche refers to the fact, while our proverb regards the trick. Pocket is diminutive of poke.”
However, this definition does not appear in the clue; I learned, when I lived in Northern Ireland, decades ago, that a poke was an ice cream cone and I believe it can also describe a cone used for other types of food, such as chips, hence a pig in a poke could, cryptically, be a bacon sandwich?
I’d be interested to hear of others’ interpretations

18 Anyway, slave with talent for cooking (2,3,6)
AT ALL EVENTS
An anagram (for cooking) of SLAVE and TALENT

21 German scientist has floor with central heating (4)
KOCH
KO (floor, as a verb) + CH (central heating)

22 Not ideal, he reused tissues (10)
ENDOTHELIA
An anagram (reused) of NOT IDEAL HE – a new word for me but gettable

25 It’s fine, so they say now, very thin, evenly-divided dress (9)
TOOTHCOMB
I’ve spent more time on this than the rest of the puzzle put together.
All I can make of the parsing is TOO (very) + TH[in] (evenly divided?) + COMB (dress), with a surface that I cannot make much sense of.
This word has mystified / exasperated me for as long as I can remember: I first met it in the expression ‘a fine-tooth[ed] comb’ (as Bill Bailey was thrown out with), which made perfect sense to me – but, over the years, according to the dictionaries, it has changed its form to ‘toothcomb’, as in the clue (Chambers’definition: ‘a fine-tooth(ed) comb’; Collins: ‘a comb with fine teeth’) which, for me, doesn’t make any sense at all and irritates me every time I see it; is this what Kite is getting at with ‘so they say now’?
Again, Id be glad to hear others’ ideas

26 Idiots’ heads not used at the beginning (5)
OAVES
[l]OAVES (slang for heads) minus the initial letter – archaic form of oafs (idiots)

27 Note record for return of 8 (2-5)
RE-ENTRY
RE (note) + ENTRY (record)

28 Check score of 1 in game (4,3)
TEST RUN
In a test cricket match a run would be a score of one?

Down

1 High-speed train sound covering mostly quiet first of whistles at the outset (6)
WHOOSH
W[histles] + HOO[d] (covering, mostly) + SH (quiet)
It took a while for me to winkle out the (rather long-sounding) definition – originally, I simply had ‘high-speed’ – but then I found this

2 PM with tummy upset on board getting slippers (6)
SKIERS
KEIR (Starmer – PM) with the middle letters (tummy) ‘upset’ in SS (familiar crosswordese for ‘in a ship’ – on board)

3 Person largely mature and fit is compliant (10)
MANAGEABLE
MAN (person) + AGE[d] (largely mature) + ABLE (fit) – not sure about this: AGE = mature as a verb and so there’s no real need for the [d]

4 Nosy neighbour’s opening a half of salmon (5)
NASAL
N[eighbour] + A SAL[mon]

5 Share program or no one backs saving time (9)
APPORTION
APP (program) + OR + a reversal (backs) of NO I (no one) round T (time)

6 Change act (4)
TURN
Double definition

7 Ambitious project – show behind picture? (8)
MOONSHOT
MOON (show behind) + shot (picture)

8 These fellows wear tight-fitting headgear or small bowlers (8)
SPACEMEN
S (small) + PACEMEN (fast bowlers in cricket)

13 She with loads of bananas and pork pies (10)
FALSEHOODS
An anagram (bananas) of SHE + LOADS OF
‘Pork pies’ – Cockney slang for ‘lies’ = falsehoods

15 Trendy Conservative including detailed sale in register (9)
INVENTORY
IN (trendy) + TORY (Conservative) round VEN[d], which I was surprised to find as a noun (sale) in Chambers

16 Duke’s vessel starting to sink given sailor’s not a light body (4,4)
DARK STAR
D (duke) + ARK (vessel) + S[ink] + TAR (sailor)

17 Standard finish for screen (8)
PARCLOSE
PAR (standard) + CLOSE (finish)  – a new word for me

19 Craftsman makes good partner (6)
GLOVER
G (good) + LOVER (partner)

20 German/English name for leprosy pioneer (6)
HANSEN
HANS (German) + E (English) + N (name)

23 Piece of gold circle (5)
ORBIT
OR (gold) + BIT (piece)

24 Bird or rabbit (4)
CHAT
Double definition