Guardian Prize 27,513 / Philistine

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Having [unusually] had two consecutive Saturdays without a Paul puzzle has caused a blip in the synchronicity with my monthly blogs that I’ve mentioned several times lately. I think it was Arachne’s request for the Karl Marx anniversary slot three weeks ago that did it and I’m certainly not complaining: it’s nice to have a change, especially when it means that I get to blog a Prize puzzle from one of my top favourite setters.

Philistine’s name on a puzzle doesn’t immediately signal the possibility of a theme but he does throw them in from time to time. Here we have a fairly gentle [but very enjoyable] one, introduced by 13,22 – the amazingly long-running [it celebrated its 50th anniversary last year] Radio 4 panel game, in which a quartet of RACONTEURs are challenged to SPEAK for JUST A MINUTE on a given topic, without REPETITION, HESITATION or DEVIATION. The theme tune of the programme is Chopin’s MINUTE WALTZ. [I know it may sound a bit silly but it’s worth googling some of the classic extracts to appreciate, perhaps, its long-standing appeal.]

Lots of wit and ingenuity, as always, in the clues.

Many thanks to Philistine for a most enjoyable puzzle,

Definitions are underlined in the clues.

Across

9 Opening in Wales for distribution in bulk (9)
WHOLESALE
HOLE [opening] in an anagram [for distribution] of WALES

10 Steps by Chopin after 22 down (5)
WALTZ
Reference to this work

11 I object to this agreement by Italian and African (5)
TUTSI
TUT [I object to this] + SI [Italian ‘Yes’]

12 One tells a story of Parisian backstreet junction without vehicle (9)
RACONTEUR
A reversal [back] of RUE [Parisian street] + T [junction] + NO CAR [without vehicle]

13 Lucky man preserves retirement outfit (3-4)
JIM-JAMS
JIM [‘Lucky Jim’ – Kingsley Amis novel] + JAMS [preserves] – neither Collins nor Chambers has a hyphen in this but I don’t think it should have been too off-putting

14 Suitable partner‘s rather depleted in power (2,5)
MR RIGHT
R[athe]R – depleted [emptied] in MIGHT [power]

17 No covers needed, use just this dish (5)
SUSHI
Inside letters [no covers] of uSe jUSt tHIs

19, 27  Staff go out with permission (7)
MANDATE
MAN [staff] + DATE [go out with] –  I thought ‘permission’ was a rather mild term for what I think of as a command or instruction but I see that Chambers has it as ‘permission to govern according to declared policies, regarded as officially granted by an electorate to a particular party or leader upon the decisive outcome of an election’ – but, of course, they then interpret it as licence to cover any detail of their manifesto

20 Perhaps enter this to get pernickety (5)
PICKY
If we add the letters of ‘enter’, to PICKY, we get an anagram [perhaps] of ‘pernickety’

21 Leading criminal arrayed (7)
ALIGNED
Anagram [criminal] of LEADING

22 O’Neal returned, superficially evolved and changed (7)
MUTATED
A reversal [returned] of TATUM [O’Neal] + E[volve]D

24 Devilish to divine? A change of course (9)
DEVIATION
Anagram [devilish] of TO DIVINE A – what a surface!

26 Delicate desktop material (5)
TWEED
TWEE [delicate] + D[esktop]

28 Stop and chat (5)
SPEAK
This has now become a trademark Philistine device, which I first met it in a puzzle I was blogging and had to ask for help: I’ve looked it up [Games of shaven swine? (5)] and am quite horrified to find that it was four and a half years ago!
We need to separate S and TOP  [peak] – rather easier than the clue quoted above

29 Ready and willing for run with broken tooth (3,2,4)
HOT TO TROT
Anagram broken] of TOOTH with TROT [run]  – I don’t think I knew this expression but it was easy to work out

Down

1 Heartless two-bit moron (4)
TWIT
TW[ob]IT

2 Finally, club with slogan brought up the rear (6)
BOTTOM
[clu]B + a reversal [brought up] of MOTTO [slogan]

3 Dithering ambassador, one in post (10)
HESITATION
HE [Her/His Excellency – Ambassador] + I [one] in STATION [post]

4 Most of the school is in old Chennai (6)
MADRAS
MADRAS[a] – Chambers: ‘a Muslim college; a mosque school’

5 Accessories for church people keeping pecker up (8)
HENCHMEN
CH MEN [church people] after HEN [pecker]

6 Last with songbird (4)
SWAN
If we add song, we get SWANSONG [last {performance}] – I’m quite happy to take this as an adjective, cf ‘debut performance’

7 Sensitive to the French crushed garlic sandwiches (8)
ALLERGIC
Anagram [crushed] of GARLIC round LE [the French]

8 Ruler turned crazy, but not quite (4)
CZAR
Anagram of CRAZ[y] – one of several [handy for setters] of spellings

13, 22  Wait for game (4,1,6)
JUST A MINUTE
Double definition

15 Reprise d’enfant mangé par bête noire (10)
RÉPÉTITION
PETIT [enfant] in [mangé par] an anagram [ bête – stupid] of NOIRE – I do hope there won’t be too many objections to this: I thought it was brilliant

16 Played truant to enjoy free childhood ultimately (5)
TOYED
Last letters [ultimately] of truanT tO enjoY freE chidhooD

18 Five compete in winter sports gear for workers (8)
SKIVVIES
V [five] VIE [compete] in SKIS [winter sorts gear]

19 Timing hand slipped losing an hour of darkness (8)
MIDNIGHT
Anagram [slipped] of TIMING H[an]D [losing an]

23 On the other hand, those people come round to the idea (6)
THEORY
THEY [those people] round OR [on the other hand]

24 After 13 down, a little  flair (4)
DASH
Double definition: after ‘just a’ = a little – and flair: for as long [decades] as I’ve been doing crosswords, DASH has always been ‘élan’ – which I’ve never seen anywhere else!

25 Cross during bank holiday (4)
ANKH
Contained in bANK Holiday – this rang distant bells – see here

25 comments on “Guardian Prize 27,513 / Philistine”

  1. Thanks Eileen. I didn’t find this too difficult but did completely miss the Radio 4 panel game theme. I wondered if 20a might have been an &lit; PICKY and PERNICKETY can mean much the same thing. Not being familiar with Philistine’s trademark devices I never did explain SPEAK satisfactorily so thank you for adding to my education.

  2. Thanks to Philistine and Eileen. After spotting the theme yesterday (a rare occasion) I’m back to normal today with no knowledge of the Radio 4 quiz. On the other hand, HOT TO TROT is familiar in the US. I did manage to parse SPEAK and PICKY.  Enjoyable.

  3. Thanks Eileen.  Same as Biggles.  Don’t feel I missed anything, out of the Radio 4 loop totally.  Some satisfying clues like the REPETITION you also praise.  I felt 24D would work better reversed: A little flair after 13 down.

  4. I saw the ‘just a minute’ repetition and deviation connection on completing the puzzle. Aha! But I didn’t get the Minute Waltz link, so thanks for filling that in.

  5. Thanks Eileen. I was out of sorts when I did this and didn’t enjoy it much at the time. Much better when re-experienced via the blog which also provided a good laugh. Of course I hadn’t noticed a theme so when you wrote that it was introduced by 13, 22 I wondered for a moment what sort of theme was related to “jim-jams mutated”?

  6. Not being familiar with Philistine’s puzzles 28ac was my LOI, but once the penny dropped I loved it. And I also thought 15dn was brilliant – made me laugh out loud.

  7. My favourites were 14a, 15d, 5d (loi)

    I could not parse 28a – SPEAK

    Thank you Philistine and Eileen

    Totally missed the theme – never heard of that radio programme.

  8. My favourite setter and I just finished after dipping in and out all week. I got the just a minute theme which helped with several clues but thanks for explaining why Mr Right was right,

  9. Thanks Eileen and Philistine. Somewhat to my surprise I uncovered the theme in Time to help with the er HESITATION and the DEVIATION.

    I have an ambiguous relationship with JAM, mostly enjoy listening and the ambiance, but it does seem one of those things that is an institution rather than a real entertainment, if it didn’t have 50 years of history would it be commissioned now ? Would anyone listen ?

    But great use of theme – all gettable even if one knew nothing of JAM, but a delightful layer of extra ness if one did.

  10. I did spot the theme, which like Epeesharkey above, did help me complete.

    Well, sort of.  When I picked up last week’s paper before coming here to check, I noticed I’d failed to fill in 26ac.  I can’t remember if I just didn’t spot I’d not entered it or I actually couldn’t get the answer, but looking at it now the answer was obvious.  I’d also noted I couldn’t parse 17ac, but again looking at it now, it was obvious.  It’s amazing how something you can’t do one day turns out to be easy at a later date.

  11. Given my handle I should be a fan of Just A Minute, but I’m not.

    Skivvy is a great word.  There aren’t too many words containing vv.  I can only think of bevvy, divvy, luvvie, savvy, revving (and derivatives of all of those).

    I know I should get a life.

    Anyhow, good puzzle and great blog.

    Thanks P & E

  12. Thanks to Philistine and Eileen. I found this a gentle enough solve despite having no knowledge of the theme. That said I spent longer working out why the answers were right than I did on the puzzle per se (e.g 4d). I did like jim-jams and Mr right (sure I have seen this quite recently in another puzzle) and thanks again to Philistine and Eileen.

  13. Thanks Philistine and Eileen.  This was enjoyable but also a bit frustrating, because although I finished there were several I couldn’t parse.

    Now that I’ve seen the explanation for RACONTEUR it seems to me that it almost works, but not quite.  Isn’t “back” in the wrong place to indicate a reversal of the whole thing?  (As indeed is suggested by your parsing Eileen.)

  15. Thank you Philistine for an enjoyable puzzle and Eileen for a super blog.

    Filling the grid in was relatively easy, even though I did not know the radio panel game JUST A MINUTE, but the parsing was challenging – I failed to parse PICKY and  SPEAK.

    The COED has a hyphen in JIM-JAMS.

  16. I found this pretty easy. I got the theme quite early on so this helped but I found the non theme clues straightforward. Just had forgotten Tatum O’Neill so MUTATED went in from the crossers.
    Nice puzzle.
    Thanks Philistine.

  17. Thanks, Eileen, esp. for the parsing of 12A 28A 4D and 6D. Failed on 13A, otherwise relatively straightforward and fun.

  18. I’ve been out of the UK too long to remember the show, so have been wondering all week what the theme mentioned on the Graun site was. Thanks for highlighting, Eileen.
    I agree with Lord Jim @13 about RACONTEUR. Leaving out “back” and having “reversing” at the end might be better perhaps. I didn’t understand why “depleted” meant “evacuated” in MR RIGHT.
    However, it wasn’t difficult to complete the grid. I liked ALLERGIC and REPETITION, even though I only knew bête as beast, so not quite parsing the latter.
    Thanks, Phil and Eileen

  19. Hi Lord Jim @13, Martin @14 and phitonelly @18 – I haven’t been ignoring you: I’ve been out for most of the day.

    You’re quite right, Lord Jim: the clue for RACONTEUR doesn’t quite work. It slipped my notice, because I was wondering how the  ‘lift and separate’ element would go down. As it happens, no one has commented on that so far – but, of course, it’s the cause of the problem. A real shame: I would just love it to work.

  20. The ‘lift & separate’ device [back/street] isn’t the problem nor is the use of ‘back’ as a reversal indicator an obstacle.

    It is the position of ‘Parisian’ that spoils the party – to make it work ‘Parisian’ should come after ‘back/’.  For example, by saying ‘backstreet in Paris’ but then there will be a clash with the rest of the surface.

    By the way, this clue reminded me of one of my own for the York meeting in 2016: Backstreet in Paris leading to Belgium when one has bad intentions (8) [SABOTEUR]

    Nice crossword from a setter whos is one the best (if he behaves himself – that’s what I said in a recent Goliath blog)

    Did he in 28ac?  🙂

    Thanks Eileen.

  21. I thought this was great, although the theme wasn’t spelled out in large enough letters for me, as is almost always the case! Even though I’m very familiar with Just a Minute. Like Eileen I loved REPETITION; also JIM-JAMS and DEVIATION. Many thanks to P & E.

  22. When I saw Philistine’s name on this I thought perhaps we might be in for a proper Prize challenge, as it was back in the day.  In fact it was relatively easy, even though I did not spot the theme.  JIM JAMS, MR RIGHT, REPETITION and HOT-TO-TROT were favourites and raised a smile.  Many thanks to Philistine and Eileen

  23. Thanks, Eileen, for pointing out the theme elements, which I completely missed despite being a great fan of the programme and of course using “game” to solve 13, 22.

    As I recall, the S/PEAK device was also used in the last Philistine Prize, so was easier to ‘span (4)’ this time.

    15d was extremely clever. It seems a bit unfair if you don’t know French, but I got it ok, taking bête as ‘beastly’, which may or may not be right. Was it Philistine who, a while back, gave us “Divorce de monsieur et madame (8)”?

    Favourites were 13a, JIM-JAMS; 17a, SUSHI and 24d, DASH.

  25. No one seems to have questioned the use of French in 15d. I solved it but was looking for a reason for the surface being in another language.
    While others may be familiar with the setter’s foible, I think S/peak is just unacceptable.

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