Guardian Prize 27,603 by Paul

by

Thoroughly enjoyable puzzle from Paul.

For us, this was one of those where we started off very slowly, even asking if we’d bitten off more than we could chew in agreeing to blog a prize puzzle. But as we worked through it, we appreciated more and more the sheer wit and precision with which Paul constructs his clues, and each time we made a new connection was a eureka moment. A fantastically satisying solve.

We could not spot a theme or nina, besides the three clues related to China. Many thanks to Paul!

completed grid

Across

9 Possible words on meeting Scottish banker and a retired clerical leader (9)
AYATOLLAH
(HALLO (possible words on meeting) + TAY (Scottish banker) + A)< (<retired)

10 One’s time is in the past (2-3)
EX-CON
Cryptic definition

11 Source of milk in powder going to China from Japan, say? (3,4)
DUE WEST
EWE (source of milk) in DUST (powder)

12 See 26

13 Announcement of fitting ceremony (4)
RITE
Announcement of fitting, i.e. sounds like “right”

14 Violation among dissenting group — that’s about right (10)
INFRACTION
IN (among) + FACTION (dissenting group) that’s about R (right)

16 Panacea for a silent guitarist? (7)
NOSTRUM
Cryptic definition

17 Crush hand in trapping ring (7)
PASSION
PASS IN (hand in) trapping O (ring)

19 Container secured by rushes, these causing extensive damage? (10)
HURRICANES
CAN (container) secured by HURRIES (rushes)

22, 3 One bound to impress seller, if all goes well (2,2,5)
IT IS HOPED
I (one) + TIED (bound) to impress SHOP (seller)

24 Recorded, month one, century back (7)
NOTICED
(DEC (month) + I (one) + TON (century))< (<back)

25 China from Japan, an inevitability while going 11 (7)
SATSUMA
( A + MUST (an inevitability) + AS (while))< (<going 11, due west)

26, 12  Say it all — as might an audiobook reader? (5,7)
SPEAK VOLUMES
Double definition

27 Understanding a language for the most part, staff ending in conflict (9)
AGREEMENT
A + GREE[k] (language for the most part) + MEN (staff) + [conflic]T (ending in)

Down

1 He has the audacity to keep movin’ slowly over English language (8,7)
MANDARIN CHINESE
MAN (he) + DARES (has the audacity) to keep INCHIN’ (movin’slowly) over E (English)

2 See 23

3 See 22

4 A metal in purplish element (8)
PLATINUM
A TIN (a metal) in PLUM (purplish)

5 Second winter abroad, feel the cold? (6)
SHIVER
S (second) + HIVER (winter abroad (French))

6 Aggressive incursion’s beginning, island inspired by vision (9)
BELLICOSE
I (incursion’s beginning) + COS (island) inspired by (taken into) BELLE (vision)

7 Fiddle with just over three prawns (6)
SCAMPI
SCAM (fiddle) + PI (just over three, 3.1415…)

8 Anxious to have those soldiers close to privates? (4,2,4,5)
ANTS IN ONES PANTS
Cryptic definition

15 Sweet as a nut? (9)
FRUITCAKE
Double definition

17 See 23

18 Unwelcome guest I book, more offensive (8)
INTRUDER
I + NT (book, New Testament) + RUDER (more offensive)

20 Half of roof gone, lift clear off (6)
ROTTEN
RO (half of roof gone) + (NETT)< (clear, < lifted)

21 An educational officer in condor territory? (6)
ANDEAN
AN + DEAN (educational officer)

23, 2, 17 A heating unit a joke, apes surely miserable while inside (2,3,8,8)
AT HER MAJESTYS PLEASURE
A THERM (a heating unit) + A JEST (a joke) + (APES SURELY)* (*miserable)

26 comments on “Guardian Prize 27,603 by Paul”

  1. Thanks Teacow and Paul. Re 18dn: the New Testament, methinks, is part of a book (the Bible) or is a collection of books (gospels, Acts, epistles etc) but it is not a book!

  2. I agree with Teacow that it was slow to get started but then all fell into place quite quickly.

    I particularly like 5d.  It does however raise my previous question as to when is it reasonable to expect solvers to know a foreign word and when is it not?  I note that Teacow felt the need to put French in brackets.

    Are we all owed to call it MANDARIN CHINESE again?  It was always Modern Standard Chinese when I was studying.

    LOI was ROTTEN, though it’s fairly obvious when you know the answer!

    Thanks to Paul and to Teacow.

  3. A dnf as had braincake for 15d, can’t quite remember why. As for the rest, quite fun. Satsuma is a plum here (lovely stewed on cereal). Wondered about belle as ‘vision’, and was inordinately slow to get plum as purplish. And came here to get Teacow’s parse of 23 etc. Ticks and smiles for nostrum, rotten and Andean.

    Thanks Paul and Teacow.

  4. Stumped by 22,3 as I did not think of shop for seller.

    Another dumb hour when all I could think of for the 3rd letter of 8d was a U. Being a Paul I thought it credible.

  5. Thank you Teacow and Paul. As novices some of this was very satisfying for Mr K and I e.g. 27 and 11 and some impossible for us. So 22,3 was left blank. agree wirh previous poster about use of Hiver but did luke the clue. There is always at least one we can complete but with completely the wrong working out (parsing?) So this blog always awaited late on a a Friday. This week it was 9 across in which we thought it was Scottish greeting Ay with a teller in a Glaswegian accent! Also we have the nerve to dispute scamp is made with prawns because in our day it was always white fish scraps fried in batter and seeved in a basket but Google put us right on the modern version. And it was another lovely clue.

  7. Thanks to Paul and Teacow. Much fun. For a change I got off to a good start but then took a while getting two of the long answers. This use of AT HER MAJESTY’S PLEASURE was new to me and even with all the crossers I had trouble getting the first word in ANTS IN ONES PANTS. On the other hand, I’ve finally mastered “nett” as clear, as opposed to “net,” and especially enjoyed SPEAK VOLUMES.

  8. I have been thinking for some time that the Prize has been getting steadily easier.  Well these things are quite subjective, but for me this was worthy of a Prize puzzle for both the difficulty factor and just sheer class.

    I’m sure there is no real theme, indeed when Paul does themes they are usually supremely obvious – such as Yesterday’s Jazz offering.

    My favourites among very many great clues were NOSTRUM, EX-CON and ANDEAN.  The latter for purely personal reason, because the name brought back memories of many years living in South America and watching the magnificent Condors gliding and banking in the sky.

    Many thanks to Teacow for an illuminating blog and Paul for a belter of a puzzle.

  9. Thank you Paul and Teacow.

    This was a challenge, but enjoyable. I would only have got the PI in 7d after solving if pi had not come up recently in a puzzle. Loved the clues for EX-CON, SPEAK VOLUMES, SHIVER and NOSTRUM!

  10. Likewise thought this a superb puzzle which took a while to get going but hugely satisfying in the end.Thought AYATOLLAH was genius! I missed SCAMPI and ROTTEN. Had not come across nett for clear before. Thanks for the blog!

  11. Many thanks Paul and Teacow.  I really liked the “no strum” silent guitarist (though the pedant in me thought that the player could produce a sound by plucking rather than strumming).  Also the clue for SCAMPI was very nice.

    I just couldn’t parse AYATOLLAH, getting stuck on the idea that the Scottish greeting was “ay” (like Joleroi @5) and somehow missing the reverse indicator.

    On the subject of 9a, this has been discussed before, but I don’t like “banker” for river.  I know it’s an old crossword chestnut, but it doesn’t seem to me to make sense.  “Flower” for river is OK because a river flows – but a river doesn’t bank, it has banks.  You might as well call a house a roofer because it has a roof.

  12. Thanks to Paul and Teacow. My experience sounds like a lot of others. Slow to get going but after that quite a steady solve. The key for me were the three long ones. Once they went in the rest fell quite readily. Last one in was “it is hoped” (it just did not sound right). I particularly liked at her majesty’s pleasure and another fan of ayatollah. Thanks again to Paul and Teacow.

  13. Further to my comment @11, I’ve now checked Chambers (perhaps I should have done this before posting!) and it does have, for “banker”: “a river full to the top of its banks (Aust and NZ)”.  Hmm.  I don’t think this changes my opinion – I don’t see how the fact that “banker” can be a term for a river in a particular condition justifies its use to indicate river generally.  Others may differ!

  14. In response to Anna@2, my reaction to “hiver” was that I at last encountered a companion to “ete” that is so prevalent in crosswordland.

  16. Well,I have to agree that this was a slow start but very enjoyable once I did. The one I had most trouble with was IT IS HOPED and I’m not sure why because it looks obvious now. I liked SHIVER because it was gettable even for someone with French as rudimentary as mine. SATSUMA was sneaky but I learnt something about Japanese pottery- bound to come in handy!
    Thanks Paul.

  18. I remember this as quite challenging last Saturday but it seems quite straightforward in its parsing now.  I enjoyed AYATOLLAH, SATSUMA, MANDARIN CHINESE and AT HER MAJESTY’S PLEASURE the most.  SATSUMA as a type of porcelain was new to me and I enjoyed looking it up on Wiki.

    There seems to be a mini-theme, at least, of fruits – MANDARIN, SATSUMA, PASSION FRUIT(cake), PL(atin)UM.  I don’t see any others though.

    Good fun as always with Paul.  Thanks to him and to Teacow.

  19. I had a similar experience to Teacow and certainly would have been sweating if I’d thought I had to blog it. Great puzzle, though. I particularly enjoyed 10a, EX-CON; 16a, NOSTRUM; 26,12, SPEAK VOLUMES and 8d ANTS IN ONE’S PANTS (I also had PARTS pencilled in for “privates”), as well as the use of “China from Japan” in different senses. 27a AGREEMENT and 1d MANDARIN CHINESE I also noted for the complexity of their wordplay.

    @Teacow, in 17a, I think its PASS=hand + IN from the clue rather than PASS IN = hand in, as you seem to suggest.

  22. I always enjoy a Paul. And thanks to a recent crossword I now know who he is 🙂 Apropos “banker”, it’s been a crossword standard for so long it’s scarcely worth commenting on now. Surely?

  23. My experience is similar to others’, in that it took me a while to solve, perhaps as it should be for a Prize puzzle. I really liked 8d ANTS IN ONE’S PANTS (and Pex’s alternative suggestions @4and 6; funny that you would think of PARTS instead of PANTS too, Tony@19). My other big tick was for 23, 2, 17d AT HER MAJESTY’S PLEASURE (agreeing with PetHay@12 and phitonelly@18 on that one).

    I take your point, Jaydee@, about the “chestnuts” that form a kind of code for regular solvers. However I also think that Lord Jim@13 has a fair point. My thinking re “banker” is that in Australia we say “it was running a banker” for a river in flood, but as you say, Lord Jim@13, this is a description of a river in flood, and not synonymous with “river”.

    I saw the China/Japan references and the fruits more as connecting links woven through the puzzle, rather than mini-themes, but then maybe that is splitting hairs?

    [And yes, grantinfreo@3, Satsuma plums are truly delicious!]

    Thanks a million to Paul and Teacow.

  25. Julie in Aus: thanks for the illustration of how the Aussie term “banker” is used in practice.

    I’m a big fan of crossword traditions, but only where they work and make sense.  I always like to see such oldies as “see” for ELY, “priest” for ELI, “flower” for river, “model” for T and so on.  But “banker” for river is one tradition that I would like to see retired.

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