The Guardian Prize crossword this week is set by Fed, who is a fairly regular Guardian setter these days. He has also set for the Independent as Bluth, but I haven’t seen his name there so far this year.
I enjoyed this, doing battle with Fed’s carefully clued entries. Fed has some quirky definiitons, that require a bit of lateral thinking to understand. The stand-out definition for me in this crossword was ‘Huge egg supplier’ for OSTRICH at 31 down.
There were a few intricately clued entries with many component parts. The best ones, for me, were the clues for OUT OF THE QUESTION and UNICORN.
I am not sure of the correct parsing of NIAGARA where I am struggling to isolate the containment and the reversal indicators and have concluded that ‘climbing’ is doing double duty. I look forward to seeing a much better parsing in the comments.
The use of Eric Morecambe in the cue for IDLENESS was excellent misdirection as Eric referred to Eric IDLE and ‘Morecambe’ had to be read with ‘is finally’ simply clued an E.
The clue for NO CAN DO has a good factual surface.
Thanks to Fed for a good Prize challenge.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | Who will volunteer in a big city matter? (7)
ANYBODY (if expressed as a question, ANYBODY? can be interpreted as ‘will any person volunteer to respond or volunteer?’) A + NY (New York ; big city) + BODY (matter, as opposed to spirit) A NY BODY |
| 5 | In retrospect working both sides of casino is impossible (2,3,2)
NO CAN DO (cannot be done; impossible) ON (working) reversed (in retrospect) + (C AND O [the outer letters of {both sides of} CasinO]) NO< C AN D O |
| 10 | This might help vehicle that’s regularly going the wrong way (3-3)
SAT-NAV (a device that might prevent a vehicle being driven in the wrong direction) (VAN [vehicle] + TAS [letters 1, 3 and 5 {regularly} of ThAtS]) all reversed (going the wrong way) (SAT NAV)< |
| 11 | Rather get away without minor inconvenience (4-4)
FLEA-BITE (minor inconvenience) FLEE (get away) containing (without [outside]) A BIT (somewhat; rather) FLE (A BIT) E |
| 12,9 | Abroad with old newspaper – ambassador has issue 5 (3,2,3,8)
OUT OF THE QUESTION (impossible; NO CAN DO [entry at 5 across]) OUT (abroad) + O (old) + FT (Financial Times; newspaper) + HE (His / Her Excellency; form of address for an Ambassador) + QUESTION (an issue) OUT [O F T HE QUESTION] |
| 13 | Bob maybe in N. London borough (6)
BARNET (a hairstyle, as is BOB [a short straight haircut for women and girls]) BARNET (a North London Borough) double definition BARNET |
| 14 | Attendant doctor possessing perfect penmanship at the outset (8)
HANDMAID (female attendant) HAND (HANDwrting; penmanship) + (MD [Doctor of Medicine] containing [possessing] AI [A one; excellent]) HAND M (AI) D |
| 15 | Unknown joining Disney to make music (5)
WALTZ (music for a dance of the same name) WALT (reference WALT Disney [1901 – 1966], American animator and entrepreneur) + Z (letter frequently used to represent an unknown value in mathematics) WALT Z |
| 16 | Crush West when revolutionary invades – being easily shocked (9)
SQUEAMISH (easily shocked) MAE (reference MAE West [1893 – 1980], American actress) reversed (when revolutionary) contained in (invades) SQUISH (crush) SQU (EAM<) ISH |
| 19 | Financial assistance from founders securing a little investment (9)
SUBSIDIES (a form of financial assistance) SUBSIDES (founders) containing (securing) I (first letter only of [a little] Investment) SUBSID (I) ES |
| 21 | Small PC close to price range (5)
SCOPE (range) S (small) + COP (Police Constable [PC]) + E (last letter of [close to] pricE) S COP E |
| 24 | Particularly noxious six books on order (8)
VIRULENT (extremely poisonous; extremely noxious) VI (Roman numeral for six) + RULE (direct; order) + NT (New Testament; books) VI RULE NT |
| 26 | Uhura discovered characters bringing up the rear in red will die in difficulty (6)
HURDLE (difficulty to be overcome) HUR (letters remaining when the outer letters [cover] of uHURa are removed [dis-covered]) + DLE (final letters [the rear in] of each of reD, wilL and diE) HUR DLE |
| 27, | 23 They’re melting variety of cheeses with it (3,6)
ICE [SHEETS] (thick SHEETS of ICE covering a large area of land. With global warming, they are now melting faster than in previous years) Anagram of (variety of) CHEESES and (with) IT ICE SHEETS* |
| 28 | Also manage to hold sign saying farewell (6-2)
TOODLE-OO (goodbye; farewell) TOO (also) + (DO [manage] containing [to hold] LEO [one of the signs of the Zodiac]) TOO D (LE-O) O |
| 29 | Originally, everyone sees knitting is my love language (6)
ESKIMO (the language of the Eskimo people) ESKIM (initial letters of [originally] each of Everyone, Sees, Knitting, Is and My) + O (character representing zero [love score in tennis]) E S K I M O |
| 30 | Occasionally teenagers obsess and completely engage (7)
ENGROSS (completely absorb the attention of; completely engage) ENGROSS (letters 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 and 14 [occasionally] of tEeNaGeRs ObSeSs) E N G R O S S |
| 31 |
Huge egg supplier in Germany – east of Berlin – I must get right involved (7) OSTRICH (bird that lays very large eggs; huge egg supplier) (OST [German {Germany} word for east] + ICH [German {Berlin} word for I]) containing (must get … involved) R (right) OST (R) ICH |
| Down | |
| 2 | Falls over climbing crag out of bounds (7)
NIAGARA (reference the NIAGARA Falls, a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of New York) (AGAIN [repeat; over] containing cRAg excluding [out of] the outer letters [bounds]) all reversed (climbing) – I’m not clear how both the containment and the reversal are indicated, but I think ‘climbing’ may be doing the duty for both. (NIAG (AR) A)< |
| 3 | Cash that folds inside turban knot essentially (9)
BANKNOTES (folding money; cash that folds) BANKNOTES (hidden word [inside] turBAN KNOT ESsentially) BANKNOTES |
| 4 | Commit seconds to advising Gen X? (6)
DEVOTE (apply or dedicate oneself to; commit) DE (second letters [seconds to] of each of aDvising and gEn) + VOTE (at elections, voters make their choice with an X) D E VOTE |
| 6 | Refined lead ore contains note – it’s poisonous if ingested (8)
OLEANDER (a poisonous evergreen Mediterranean shrub) Anagram of (refined) LEAD ORE containing (contains) N (note) OLEA (N) DER* |
| 7 | Record American left behind (5)
ALBUM (record) A (American) + L (left) + BUM (bottom; behind) A L BUM |
| 8 | Stays in ground instead (7)
DETAINS (delays; stops; stays) Anagram of (ground) INSTEAD DETAINS* |
| 9 |
See 12 Across [OUT] OF THE QUESTION |
| 17 | Scandalmonger’s best mate covers chest up (4-5)
MUCK RAKER (scandalmonger) MUCKER (best mate) containing (covers) ARK (box or chest) reversed (up; down entry) MUC (K RA<) KER |
| 18 | Vegetating, comic Eric Morecambe is finally visiting Naxos on vacation (8)
IDLENESS (inactive; vegetating) IDLE (reference Eric IDLE [born 1943], English actor and comedian) + (ES [last letters of [finally] each of morecambE and iS) contained in [visiting] NS [letters remaining in NaxoS when the central letters axo are removed [on vacation]) IDLE N (ES) S |
| 20 | Everyone can see this news about independent business run as symbol of Scotland (7)
UNICORN (a symbol of Scotland, particularly noticeable in heraldry, after the mythical animal was introduced to the Scottish coat of arms in the mid 1500s) U (a designation indicating that a film is suitable for viewing by all ages) + ([N {new} + N {new}] giving news) containing (about) (I [independednt] + CO [company; business] + R [run]) U N (I CO R) N |
| 22 | Compile 12 to make argument (7)
POLEMIC (controversy; argument) Anagram of (OUT [entry at 12 across]) COMPILE POLEMIC* |
| 23 |
See 27 Across [ICE] SHEETS |
| 25 | Two European articles below (5)
UNDER (below) UN (one of the French forms of the indefinite article) + DER (one of the German forms of the definite article ) giving European articles UN DER |
28 Across I had TOODLE-DO, TOO (also) with DO (manage) holding LED (sign), but maybe I’m wrong!!
I agree with your parsing of Niagara, and as you say OSTRICH was very pleasing.
IDLENESS, LOI, but very good also.
I found this an enjoyable but doable challenge. I seem to get along quite well with Fed’s puzzles.
I eventually parsed NIAGARA as just NIAGA (again i.e. over, climbing) + [c]RA[g], though I agree it was quite tricky to unpick.
Also took 10a SAT NAV as CAD otherwise ‘vehicle’ is doing double duty.
Thanks duncanshiell & Fed.
I think 2d is AGAIN reversed followed by [c]RA[g]. No double duty.
UN/DER is an old faithful.
Good fun, with some clever wordplay, but some answers were fairly obvious from the definition (e.g. ICE SHEETS, UNICORN).
Oh, and I agree that “Comic Eric Morecambe…” is a superb piece of misdirection.
Eskimo (29a) is pejorative and completely unacceptable. It’s akin to calling an indigenous North American a Red Indian. The correct term, for both the people and their language is Inuit. The Guardian editors should surely be aware of thus.
Thanks duncanshiell. I enjoyed this, quite a mixture of write ins and brain teasers. Maybe the trick of separating out letters was a bit excessive but it made for some good surfaces. I’m sure somebody is going to say there is no such single language as Eskimo but I can forgive that. I agree with you and preceding comments about NIAGARA, can’t see that there will be any better parsing.
Agree with simonbyc@2 on NIAGARA and SAT-NAV.
Very enjoyable puzzle, Lovely blog.
Thanks duncanshiell & Fed.
Challenging puzzle that took a couple of days. The long down in the middle was a bit of a road block for a while as it touches all four quadrants, but when it gave way, the rest of the puzzle started moving nicely. Usually easier, the two three-letter entries were made tougher by making them part of longer phrases. Last two 4d DEVOTE (tricky wordplay and misdirecting surface), 13 BARNET (nho the suburb)
Favourite of all was 26a HURDLE, with a most outstanding surface, referencing the expendable “Red Shirts” in Star Trek
Other favourites 5a NO CAN DO (great surface, and clever wordplay that took a while to parse), 10a SAT-NAV (ditto), 31a OSTRICH (another slow parse), 7d ALBUM (surface)
Couldn’t fully parse 16a SQUEAMISH, 2d NIAGARA (simonbyc@2 and Miche@3 have it)
29a The term ESKIMO is a problematic exonym, best avoided
Thanks Fed, and duncanshiell for the clear and colourful blog
The comments on NIAGARA highlight an issue I had elsewhere this week in the confusion that can be caused if you breakdown a solution at a different point to the setter. I did the same with 17D MUCK-RAKER when I divided this as first 4 letters plus last 2 for MUCKER and was flummoxed trying to make a chest out of reversing RAK. Couldn’t see my error until reading this blog. Thanks for again saving my sanity!
Thanks for the blog , very good set of clues with so many nice touches . OSTRICH really clever , even the misleading huge making us think OS at the start for the wrong reason . SUBSIDIES has a very deceptive founders , the vote bit is very neat in DEVOTE .
VIRULENT could have had “sex books” , sex=VI six=6 .
I presume for HURDLE , the link for Mig@7 refers to the unknown security guards who always cop it when they beam down with Kirk , Spock etc .
I have a theory , probably nonsense , but here goes – the Saturday crossword has a smaller space for the clues to fit into because it is a prize . Maybe setters have to edit their clues to be briefer and I think this makes Fed a better setter , his last Saturday puzzle was equally good .
Roz@9 Re HURDLE, yes, in the original Star Trek series, you knew the nameless character(s) in red shirts would die early in the show to demonstrate the peril faced by the main characters, who wore other colours. Hence the term “expendable crew member”. The clue surface at 26a expresses this concept perfectly
From the linked Wikipedia article:
“redshirt” is an informal term for a stock character who is killed off shortly after being introduced. The term often implies that said character was introduced for the sole purpose of being killed off while adding little else to the story
My first thought for 28ac was Duke Ellington’s early signature tune East St Louis TOODLE-OO, pronounced Toadle-o and meaning something completely different.
A puzzle I really enjoyed despite foundering on the financial assistance in 19A. I had forgotten to parse my BURSARIES and needed to invent CRIENESS (for vegetating) to complete the grid, having taken “comic” as an anagram indicator in 18D. Some smart and concise clueing, with MUCK-RAKER my favourite. Many thanks Fed … and duncanshiell.
I got stuck on the same two as Choldunk@13, but enjoyed the tussle for the most part. A slight raise of the eyebrow at ESKIMO, but a tick for the huge egg supplier.
Thanks to Fed and Duncan.
Thanks to all who pointed out the correct parsing for NIAGARA. I was fixated on the reversed RA contained within a reversed version of AGAIN without noticing the simple RA after a different, and probably more obvious, AGAIN.
Some clever wordplay there. I was kicking myself when I finally decoded “on vacation”.
I’m warming to Fed, and very much enjoyed this puzzle. I can even forgive him the overwrought cluing for HURDLE as the surface was worth it. Having spotted the “finally” trick in 18, and feeling pretty pleased with myself, I spent far too long trying to rearrange the letters of ERIC to fit the top half of the answer. RICENESS, anyone? BARNET and OSTRICH both made me chuckle when the penny dropped, and BANKNOTES was artfully concealed. Thanks Fed and duncanshiell.
Very entertaining with lots of cleverly misleading clues, as usual for Fed. One particular favourite was OUT OF THE QUESTION for the fact that the “5” (reference to NO CAN DO) actually makes sense in the surface — the ambassador has issue number 5. Quite unusual for this sort of cross-reference.
For SAT-NAV I think either just “This might help” should be underlined as the definition, or the whole clue should be underlined as others have suggested. Either way, it was brilliant.
Many thanks Fed and duncanshiell.
Entertaining Prize Puzzle with some good misdirections. I parsed NIAGARA as @2, @3 and @15, which I liked. I also liked the casino in NO CAN DO, the melting cheeses of ICE SHEETS, and Eric Morecambe showing IDLENESS in visiting Naxos. I didn’t really understand the definition of ANYBODY and failed to see the seconds in advising Gen X, super misleading!
Thanks Fed and duncanshiell.
I thoroughly enjoyed this, as I usually do with Fed. I’m another who had an unparsed BURSARIES crossing with an invented CRIENESS for a couple of days until the Eric Idle penny dropped – bravo to Fed for the clever misdirection.
Many great clues, but I’m with Mig @7 in singling out HURDLE for the great surface including Uhura and the expendable red shirts.
Thanks to Fed and duncanshiell
Enjoyable puzzle. I like Fed’s determination to make his surfaces read plausibly, even at the risk of prolixity (HURDLE, UNICORN). Much to like – particular mention for the use of ‘comic Eric Morecambe’, the &lit for SATNAV, FLEA BITE is cleverly succinct, and here is a good alternative to Taupi’s classic clue for NO CAN DO.
I didn’t find ‘huge egg supplier’ at all misleading – OSTRICH came to mind immediately – as can happen sometimes with cryptic defs.
Not only is the word ESKIMO considered pejorative, but it isn’t ‘a language’ but a group of related languages including several varieties of Inuit and Yupik.
Thanks to Fed and duncanshiell
Thanks Fed an Duncan. Great crossword. I am beginning to think I don’t even read the surfaces any more. I am clearly missing out! Especially 26a.
Quite enjoyable, I thought, especially the two ‘impossibles’. I’m another who took a while to erase BURSARIES. Liked NIAGARA, TOODLE-OO, OSTRICH and IDLENESS. I couldn’t fully parse a few others, so grateful for duncanshiell’s help. I thought that HANDMAID and DEVOTE were somewhat awkward constructions.
Re 29a, the Guardian style guide says:
Eskimo
is a language spoken in Greenland, Canada, Alaska and Siberia. Note that it has no more words for snow than English does for rain. The people are Inuit (singular Inuk), not “Eskimos”
The clue is about the language, not the people.
Thanks to Fed for providing all of the constituents of a perfect Prize puzzle for me. A handful of write ins to get started (WALTZ, ESKIMO, ICE SHEETS, UNDER, DETAINS, ENGROSS, and even NIAGARA, though the parsing was beyond me). The major clues eventually falling (NO CAN DO and OUT OF THE QUESTION) and the days long wrestling with a few that completely eluded me (SUBSIDIES, IDLENESS, and HURDLE). Loved TOODLE-OO and the Eric misdirection. Thanks to duncanshiell for the help on some tortuous parsing
16a had to be SQUEAMISH, but I couldn’t work out what was being added to SQU_A___SH, until I read the blog and realised it wasn’t SQUASH, but SQUISH. I noticed my grandchildren using the latter word several years ago, but never knew why it seemed to have taken over. I’ve tried searching for an explanation, but no luck so far – can anyone enlighten me, please?
Miche @24: The Guardian style guide is correct about the label being somewhat more appropriate for languages rather than people, but wrong in suggesting there is just one. From Wiki (correct this time!):
Eskimo (/ˈɛskɪmoʊ/) is a controversial umbrella term that refers to two closely related Indigenous peoples, namely the Inuit (including the Alaska Native Iñupiat, the Canadian Inuit, and the Greenlandic Inuit) and the Yupik (or Yuit) of eastern Siberia and Alaska. A related third group, Aleuts, who inhabit the Aleutian Islands, are generally excluded from the definition of Eskimo. The three groups share a relatively recent common ancestor, and speak related languages belonging to the family of Eskaleut languages.
GrannyJP @26: I had assumed that SQUISH was a relatively recent, childish or playful, version of “squash”. But the SOED gives it as going back to at least 1647, meaning “to squeeze, to squash”, though it does add “now dial.”.
I enjoyed this Fed puzzle as usual. The constructions can be fiddly but I generally decode the definitions quickly. I did, like Scribbler, spend quite a while messing about with Eric.
Liked NO CAN DO, and OUT OF THE QUESTION.
Thanks Fed for a crossword that I found most apt for the prize slot. It was the type of puzzle I like — something to savour over an extended period of time with some intricate but ultimately penetrable clues. My top picks included SAT-NAV, HANDMAID, HURDLE, NIAGARA, BANKNOTES, ALBUM, and IDLENESS. Thanks duncanshiell for the blog.