Guardian Prize 27,615 by Paul

by

I found this pretty tricky.  Usually with Paul once I get into his mindset the answers fly in, but not this time!  Thank you Paul.

completed grid
Across
1 SUCCUBI Demons in head of crying baby breaking most of hearts, say? (7)
Crying (first letter, head of) CUB (baby) in SUIt (hearts perhaps, most of)
5 TIME’S UP Impetus lost, now stop (5,2)
anagram (lost) of IMPETUS
9 ALOOF Somewhat distant, a gull returning (5)
A then FOOL (gull) reversed (returning)
10 CHAMELEON Lizard finding pleasure ultimately in fruit, after drink (9)
pleasurE (ultimately, last letter of) in MELON (fruit) following CHA (tea, a drink)
11 PAGE TURNER Mature, go in for work that’s engaging (4-6)
AGE (mature) TURN (go) inside PER (for)
12 ILIA One has trouble turning over bones (4)
I (one) with AIL (trouble) reversed (turning over)
14 CERTAINLY NOT No centrality and no eccentricity? (9,3)
anagram (eccentricity) of CENTRALITY and NO
18 MOTHERLINESS Dialogue as yet unmentioned in paper, nurturing quality (12)
OTHER LINES (dialogue as yet unmentioned) in MS (manuscript, paper)
21 RARE Odd choice (4)
double definition
22 TUSCALOOSA Ladies and gentlemen in Florence possibly missing New York, a US city (10)
LOOS (toilets, ladies and gentlemen) in TUSCAny (Florence perhaps) missing NY (New York) then A
25 PROUSTIAN Hack put on airs as lover of French writing (9)
anagram (hack) of PUT ON AIRS – definition by example
26 GENRE Kind politician, on having shifted to the far right (5)
GREEN (politician, a member of the Green Party) with RE (on) having moved to the far right-hand end of the word
27 REFLECT Quietly consider when judge allowed to detain criminal, originally (7)
REF (judge) LET (allowed) contains (to detain) Criminal (first letter, originally)
28 DATA SET Stated floppy storing a digital file (4,3)
anagram (floppy) of STATED containing (storing) A.

A beginner might reasonably ask how “floppy” can indicate a rearrangement: if something is floppy its body parts are not in a different order.  The answer is that there are only so many direct anagram indicators and they were all used up a long time ago.  To keep things fresh anagrams and inclusion indicators get a special leniency not granted to other definitions.
Down
1   See 20
2 CHOUGH Hawk gripping tail of mynah bird (6)
COUGH (hawk) contains (gripping) mynaH (tail of, last letter)
3 UNFETTERED Free, served without cheese, might you say? (10)
sounds like (might you say) un-feta’d (served without feta cheese)
4 INCUR Acquire lead-free metal, sure for shelling (5)
zINC (metal, free of its leading letter) then sURe (shelled, no outer letters)
5 TRAGEDIAN Player was furious, I having taken bronze on the outside (9)
RAGED (was furious) I inside (having taken…on the outside) TAN (bronze)
6 MEET Happen upon rabbit and duck etc in conversation? (4)
sounds like (in conversation) “meat” (rabbit and duck etc)
7   See 19
8 PENDANTS Items hanging down, butt appropriately covered? (8)
END (butt) in PANTS (wearing trousers, appropriately covered)
13 FLASHLIGHT Keeping strike, escape beamer (10)
FLIGHT (escape) contains (keeping…) LASH (strike) – something that gives a beam
15 TALMUDIST I appreciate that defamatory accusations put in register for student of religious law (9)
TA (thanks, I appreciate that) then MUD (defamatory accusations) inside (put in) LIST (register)
16 IMPROPER Unsuitable one tying up the little devil? (8)
an IMP ROPER is one who ties up an imp (little devil)
17 START OFF Polaris, say, swell for launch (5,3)
STAR (Polaris say) and TOFF (swell)
19, 7 POUNDS STERLING  Tender thumps magnificent (6,8)
POUNDS (thumps) STERLING (splendid)
20, 1 MAKE IT SNAPPY  Encourage crocodile, please — and quickly! (4,2,6)
definition and cryptic definition
23 CANID Setter possibly making appearance in public, an idiot (5)
found inside (making an appearance in) publiC AN IDiot – a setter is a breed of dog
24 ISLE Dogs, say, insulted every so often (4)
InSuLtEd (every other letter, every so often) – the Isle of Dogs in London for example (say)

definitions are underlined

I write these posts to help people get started with cryptic crosswords.  If there is something here you do not understand ask a question; there are probably others wondering the same thing.

31 comments on “Guardian Prize 27,615 by Paul”

  1. Thanks PeeDee. I found this hard at the time but looking back on it now I shouldn’t have. At the first pass I could only place 27 and 28a and 8d so it was all uphill from there. My LOI was 12a, I couldn’t dismiss ALEA as in Alea iacta est from my mind thinking dice = bones. I know one is singular and the other plural but couldn’t let a little matter like that interfere with my preconception.

  2. Liked this. Not that easy but not the hardest of the week.Took me a while to get SUCCUBI although I’m not sure why looking back. I did like START OFF.
    Thanks Paul

  3. Started Saturday and only got a couple: basically got nowhere slowly. Then I came back Sunday and managed to crack the NW, after which the rest started to fall into place.
    I liked 5a TIME’S UP, but can’t believe it took me so long to solve, as I didn’t spot the anagram for ages. I can’t see the word CHAMELEON (10a) without a wry smile, thinking about the French song my son learned when he was twelve, “Leon Le Chameleon” (would supply video link but I am on a mobile device and can’t work out how to do that). 22a was very hard to get but “in Florence possibly missing NY” provided a wonderful PDM, when I saw TUSCA and then got the “Ladies and gentlemen” LOOS, leading to TUSCALOOSA.
    More fun in the Down clues with 3D, UNFETTERED, 6d MEET, 13d FLASHLIGHT (though we would call it a torch here), 17d START OFF, 19/7d POUNDS STERLING (which sounded just a little familiar from previous puzzles?) and 24d ISLE. Lots to like indeed!
    Glad that the fathers I know also display “nurturing qualities” (18a MOTHERLINESS). Was anyone else caught up trying to fit THIRD (“bronze”) in 5d TRAGEDIAN?
    Many thanks to Paul and PeeDee.

  4. [Crossed with you both Biggles and Peter A…]
    PS I quite liked “floppy” as the anagrind for 28a DATA SET, PeeDee, and had no problem with it as an indication for flexibility with the letter order. Seems an age now since we used floppy disks in computers…

  6. Thanks to Paul and PeeDee. For me a very slow start followed by a quick finish two days later in which answers jumped out at me. I had trouble getting ILIA and MOTHERLINESS, did not parse GENRE, and enjoyed TALMUDIST and TUSCALOOSA (I was there once).

  7. Thanks to PeeDee and Paul. I am often but not always on Paul’s wavelength and thus it was here. After only filling in a few solutions during Saturday daytime, I sat and looked again at bedtime and suddenly everything flew in. I think TUSCALOOSA has to be my favourite. I spent agrees trying to parse MOTHERLINESS but couldn’t, although it was obviously the correct answer, so a special thanks to PeeDee for the explanation !

  9. As so often with Paul I find some clues elegant and concise and others contrived and convoluted. Elegant ones for me here were INCUR PENDANTS (also witty) ISLE and POUNDS STERLING whilst I saw TUSCALOOSA as convoluted (it’s not often I find myself out of step with JinA) and I didn’t parse MOTHERLINESS. I had the same experience with this week’s Paul. That said I always have more ticks than crosses and other solvers often pick out the ones I don’t enjoy as their highlights so it’s very much down to personal taste – which I guess is what keeps so many of us engaged. Thanks to Paul and PeeDee – and I had a smile of anticipation when I saw today’s prize is by Picaroon.

  12. 22A and 19,7D were a little loose I thought.

    “Florence possibly” for Tuscany!

    “Sterling” for magnificent and I’m not sure about “tender” = “pounds sterling”. Surely we need a “legal” to qualify this “tender”?

    How many people have heard of Tuscaloosa? (combined with the dodgy “Florence possibly” this is surely unfair!)

    Of course the Ed thinks not. 😉

    The rest of the puzzle was fine for me. The usual Paul cluing.

  14. I’m with Biggles on this – I got going really well and then foundered and took ages to finish. LOI was 12 – I too had a fixation on Ulna. And I too had a fixation on bronze=third. But I loved 8, 14 & 17 once I’d cracked them. Thanks again Paul and all who contibute. Incidentally, WK, a quick check on any map will confirm Tuscaloosa

  15. We had OSSA for bones for a long time -SOS for the one in trouble? Maybe not!
    I am afraid, WhiteKing, that we too enjoyed TUSCALOOSA as well as UNFETTERED and MAKE IT SNAPPY.
    JInA we also tried THIRD for ages for the TRAGEDIAN.
    I always feel better when others also find some clues a tussle. We found Thursday’s Paul tricky too – so much so that we were still doing it on Friday – though all made sense once solved. TA came in both so thanks, Paul, for two challenges this week, and PeeDee for the blog.

  17. Thanks to Paul and PeeDee. Enjoyed this a lot. I found it steady in the main, but it was also quite tricky in places. There was also a bit of solve and parse after. Last ones were ilia (another who spent ages fixated on ulna, which just did not make sense) and succubi, both new words to me. I also liked pounds sterling along with motherliness and make it snappy. Thanks again to Paul and PeeDee.

  18. I didn’t find this too hard in the end, although a few, like POUNDS STERLING, took a while to click. I enjoyed PENDANTS; I needed all the crossers to get it, but there was a very appreciative moan when I saw how the parsing worked. I was chuffed to get CHOUGH, my LOI, because although I’d heard of the bird, I’d somehow never realised it was spelled that way. Thanks, Paul and PeeDee.

  19. I enjoyed this puzzle though, like many others, I found it very slow to get started.  I think that REFLECT was the FOI.

    Didn’t know TALMUDIST, though guessed it from TALMUD.

    LOI was TUSCALOOSA – tricky to get, but not unfair.  To be honest, I gave up on trying and resorted to looking at lists of American cities.  There are so many, so I started state by state in alphabetical order.  Was I pleased that the Tuscaloosa is in Alabama … !

    Thanks to Paul and PeeDee and also to Alan B and grantinfreo for your comments on my comment on VIS yesterday.

     

  21. Forgot about coming here earlier (footy final, etc), hence late to the fray. Can’t remember much about the solve except that it was a one-session effort, easier than Paul’s recent daily. Have a d’oh next to 22a, which I think was about being slow to remember ‘loos’, an old trick, and ticks for 11a, 13d and a tick/groan for pounds sterling.

    Thanks Paul and Peedee.

  23. TUSCALOOSA. Really? What next – some small village in Chhattisgarh, India just because it’s letters fit the grid?

  24. Oh, and thanks Paul and Peedee, almost forgot my manners. (And needless to say I was defeated by 22a :))

  25. That instantly-springs-to-mind American city TUSCALOOSA, home of the legendary Crimson Tide, so if I’d been an American football fan it would have been a write-in. I’m not and it certainly wasn’t! Still, I’m with JohnB @7 and along with POUNDS STERLING it was my favourite too.

    A few other tricky ones such as TALMUDIST, SUCCUBI and the unparsed MOTHERLINESS.

    Definitely at the harder end of the Paul (et al) spectrum, but very enjoyable.

    Thanks to Paul and PeeDee

  26. I didn’t find this easy. Parsed ILIA straight off but then looked up ‘ileum’ to confirm, so LOI after a final desperate Google.

    Loved the playfulness of UNFETTERED, PENDANTS, MAKE IT SNAPPY. (Pants are the appropriate underwear, Peedee, not trousers!).

    Didn’t know TUSCALOOSA and spent a long time trying to make LA the “US city”, before the penny dropped.

    Is a data set necessarily a digital file? Could have done with a QM, imo.

    Failed to parse GENRE, even though it occured to me early from def.

    “Tender thumps” took me an age to get, but was magnificent. (@Alex, “legal tender” is tender which is legal, unlike, say, a tender of French francs).

    @Julie, to get the url for a YouTube video, click the whooshy right-arrow.

  29. We thought, 14ac (CERTAINLY NOT) was an exceptional(ly good) clue.

    No support for it today, it seems.

    But as I always tend to say: we’re all different, aren’t we?

    Thanks PeeDee and Paul.

  31. I think it’s time this setter was rested. Ridiculous convoluted clues that fail to conform to accepted conventions (in other papers at least). Yes, some are clever, some witty, but overall too self indulgent.

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