Guardian Prize 27,812 by Brendan

by

A themed puzzle with a twist from Brendan this week.

I think that this is the second appearance by Brendan in the prize slot this year, his previous appearance being the lipogram in puzzle No 27,734: this puzzle has the letter e in every clue, underlining, if it needed doing, the magnitude of his achievement in omitting it entirely in that puzzle.

Being a puzzle by Brendan, there had to be a theme, but Timon and I had completed the puzzle without discovering it.  There did seem to be a fair number of Biblical references, Adam, Hosannah, swords into ploughshares, but nothing specific enough to amount to a theme.  Then I noticed that there were a lot of instances of the letter m; that led to the reaiization that the word “theme” was itself hidden in various places in the grid (see the diagram).  Very clever.  Interestingly, the annotated solution does not mention the hidden THEME at 15/29 down.

The clues were mostly straightforward; my personal favourite was for “ANAGRAMS”.

Many thanks, Brendan for the puzzle and the PDM.

 

 

Across
9  SWORD Potential share for peacemaker — that’s how this ends (5)
I think the wordplay is (cros)SWORD.  A share can be a ploughshare: Isaiah 2: 3-4
10  ON THE MEND Getting better, those people conclude, after operating (2,3,4)
ON (operating) THEM END.
11  STEAM BATH Play cricket on second XI, followed by hot relaxing treatment (5,4)
S TEAM BAT H.
12  EMERY Abrasive European happy taking one right away (5)
E ME(r)RY.
13  VATICAN From vessel I’m able to see inside Rome (7)
 VAT I CAN.  The Holy See.
15  RAIMENT Object when put in torn garments (7)
AIM in RENT.
17  TRYST Stormy, is it? After regular cancellations, agree to meet (5)
Alternate letters of sToRmY iS iT.
18  HEM Feature of dress that may attract attention (3)
Double definition.
20  EXALT Promote officer after fire returned (5)
AXE (rev), LT.
22, 25  LET THEM EAT CAKE Crass advice about people’s survival ‘sans pain’? (3,4,3,4)
A cryptic definition, really, only you have to read “pain” in the French sense (bread).
25   See 22
26  CREDO Cardinal, say, disrupting firm belief (5)
RED in CO (firm).
27  MAELSTROM He reported storm at sea, danger to shipping (9)
Sounds like “male”, *STORM.
30  OVERDRAFT Make too many plans? Not a good balance (9)
A simple charade of a non-existent word (non-existent in that the cryptic sense of doing too much drafting does not exist, obviously the banking sense is valid).
31  HE-MEN Chaps who work out rapprochement, in part (2-3)
Hidden.
Down
1  ISIS Deity leads a double life (4)
IS IS.  The reference of course is to the ancient Egyptian god, not to anything more recent.
2  COVERTLY Time inside too cold at first — being kept under wraps (8)
C(old), T in OVERLY(too).
3  ADAM Male attached to one palindromic female … (4)
ADA M; but of course Adam was attached to Eve, so it’s an & lit clue.
4  HOSANNAH … and another holding ring, small expression of adoration (8)
O (ring) S(mall) in HANNAH.
5  ETCHER Creator of printed works, 100 in number (6)
C in ETHER (an anaesthetic gas numbs, so a “number”).
6  BENEFICENT One foreign coin produced after complaint about new kind (10)
N(ew) in BEEF (complaint) 1 CENT.
7  SEVERE Demanding part, central character in Othello (6)
SEVER (oth)E(llo).
8  EDGY Finishes off prize crossword, being very nervous (4)
Final letters.
13  VITAL Temperature in medicine bottle’s key (5)
T in VIAL.
14  CATCHWORDS Eye trousers initially exchanged — they’re said to be trendy (10)
WATCH CORDS with initial letters exchanged; the definition suggests that those who utter catchwords intend them to become popular.
16  TITHE It’s in the tax once faithfully paid (5)
IT in THE.
19  MAE WESTS Wartime emergency gear for pilots in a mess, wet after coming to grief (3,5)
*(A MESS WET).
21  ANAGRAMS For instance, they include ant since also an insect (8)
INSTANCE, ANT SINCE and AN INSECT are all anagrams of one another.
23  THEMED Nice view? Some parts are like that (6)
The view from Nice might be of the Med.
24  MUMBAI One sailor, saying nothing, turned up in Asian port (6)
1 AB MUM (all rev).
26 CROW Make sound of one bird or another (4)
A cock crows.  I think that this is perhaps best classified as a double definition.  The other option that occurred to us was COOT (COO T), but it doesn’t parse satisfactorily.
28  SOHO Part of West End not quite as fashionable (4)
SO HO(t).
29  MENU Before university, people posted list of courses (4)
MEN U.

*anagram

50 comments on “Guardian Prize 27,812 by Brendan”

  2. Thanks to Brendan and bridgesong. I missed the theme-THEME and puzzled over CROW, my LOI, for a long time.

  3. Well gosh! I certainly didn’t spot the theme, obvious though it is now you point it out Bridgesong. Thanks also for clearing up the parsing for 21. I found this strangely mixed – I got 17 on the first pass (rare for me) and then got stuck. To the point where I didn’t complete the NW corner. I still don’t get 1ac and I was stuck on Imam for 3. Sigh. But thanks all round for this – some very nice clueing.

  4. Many thanks.  I also agonised over 26d for ages.  Tried to make COO T work.  Then almost decided it was COOK (“Make” as the definition, followed by COO and K – sounds like kae, a Scottish jackdaw).  But in the end settled on CROW.

  5. Thanks bridgesong.  I noticed the abundance of Es, including a lot of E-Es and I did think that the nice view in 23D was thematic: just didn’t join up the dots perfectly as you have done.  Excellent work, Brendan.

  6. A lovely puzzle with Brendan channelling possibly Fry and Laurie? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztCFmH4vnJI). Loved ADAM and the Holy See, as well as ANAGRAMS.

    After the lipogrammatic one and now this, here’s hoping Brendan will be providing the Prize puzzle on a semi-regular basis.

     

    Many thanks to Brendan and bridgesong

  7. Thanks bridgesong. Put me down as another who completely missed the THEME. I found most of the answers wrote themselves in but like Jaydee had to spend some time on the NW corner. I missed the (cro)SWORD wordplay and contenting myself with ADA as the palindromic female hadn’t thought of Eve. I liked 14d and 27a.

  8. The problem I find with lexical themes like this one is that it takes having found all of the instances for the penny to drop, so there is no way to use it to help with other clues. Yes a great job by the setter, but it seems kind of wasted.

    The theme aside, I found it fun and not hard at all. Thanks.

  9. Thanks Bridgesong. I couldn;t complete this and there was also some that needed explaining for me; I completely missed the “theme” of course.

    Regarding 3d, I arrived at the correct answer by thinking of the “palindromic female” in “Madam, I’m Adam”.

  10. I failed to solve 26d CROW (I entered COO T), 3d ADAM ( entered I MAM), 9a SWORD – which I still only barely understand.
    I could not parse 21d ANAGRAMS, and I did not see the theme!
    Thanks Brendan and bridgesong

  12. I’ve now checked the annotated solution on the Guardian website, and discovered that I should also have highlighted 2d and the final d in 23d, giving COVERTLY THEMED. I may upload an amended grid later.

    Chris @1, yes, “see” should be part of the definition. I’ll amend the text later.

    Crosser@11: the whole clue is also the definition (Adam was attached to Eve, a palindromic female). That’s why I describe it as an &lit clue.

  14. A similar experience to Jaydee@3. A very productive first pass – this really didn’t feel like a ‘prize’ level of difficulty – but then I put it aside for a while and struggled to complete it when I resumed, mostly stuck in the north west, although I got there in the end. I did, of course, not see the THEMEs! I thought both ADAM and SWORD were unusual clues.  I thought ADAM was clever when I finally remembered the palindromic Eve, but while I saw the ploughshare part, I never thought of (CROS)SWORD (I’d actually wondered about rearrangements of this, and S-WORD, and had this been another setter I might have pursued that – instead I decided I couldn’t parse it and would come here for enlightenment. For which, many thanks bridgesong.) Embarrassingly, my LOI was ANAGRAMS; I can’t believe I took so long to see that. Thanks, Brendan, for what ended up as something of a challenge, and I’m sorry the covert theme went right over my head.

  16. I still don’t see how 9A is SWORD. Extremely clunky clue which doesn’t really work in my opinion. What is “peacemaker” doing. Surely not referring to Isaiah!

    For 3D I had MAAM (M(ale) attached to one (A) = MA made palindromic = MAAM (female)

    Don’t know how these two got past our ever vigilant editor. 🙂 🙂 🙂

    Otherwise a decent puzzle.

  17. To Alex @16

    It’s the ‘swords into ploughshares’ thing in the bible.  I agree that the clue is not good.

  18. I too struggled with the NW corner and had MAAM for a while and discovered the origins of the “plough into ploughshare” phrase. So SWORD as a potential for a peacemaker who turns a weapon into
    a useful, non-military, object.

    Super puzzle Brendan and bridgesong for the excellently succinct blog.

    Good weekend all

  19. Thanks Bridgesong – I missed the “e in every clue”, forgetting to look out for something more than just clever with this setter! A little easy for a prize but neatly done and the biblical bits were a nice blind to the real, covert theme. Beneficent, raiment, tithe and credo also fit the (somewhat RC version) of the theme too I feel.

    As one who rarely spots themes until the puzzle is finished, or until the theme jumps off the page, grabs me by the throat and bangs my head against the paper, I don’t mind if it doesn’t help me solve but is there to be appreciated as a thing of beauty. I do object when a theme means levering unlikely words and poor clues into an other bald and unconvincing narrative (apologies to Messrs G&S).

  21. Anna @15: that’s an interesting suggestion, which hadn’t occurred to me, but isn’t mentioned as such in the annotated solution.

    Alex @16 and Hovis @20: I don’t understand your objection to 9A.  For the record, this is the King James verse in question:

    And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

    So a sword is, potentially, a (plough)share; the verse as a whole is about making peace, so “peacemaker” acts as a sort of prompt, referring to God.

    MAAM at 3d is a possibility, but is excluded by the D of SWORD.

  22. I always forget that setters are fond of number as one who numbs, or in this case something that bring numbness (although I am not sure that is how ether works as an anaesthetic). I thought it was C in an anagram of three! We used to amuse ourselves at school by sticking our finger in a bottle of ether and waving it in a Bunsen flame. A very satisfying whoosh of flame at a low temp. Don’t try that at home. Thanks Brendan and Bridgesong. Liked this week very much and to learn of the theme an extra delight.

  23. I totally agree with others that SWORD 9a wordplay is absurd, and those that suggest this was an easy prize should be finding entertainment elsewhere!!!

    Some beautifully misleading wordplay throughout though.

    Thanks to Bridgesong for the resolve.

  24. Thanks to Brendan and bridgesong. My experience with this sounds very similar to many others. Largely it mostly went in quite readily, but then got held up in the NW. I was toying with stock for 9a but then that would not fit with 3d. I eventually decided 3d had to be Adam or ma’am (plumped for Adam) and that with the biblical nature of some of the clues 9a must be sword, though I could not fully explain why. Of course I missed the theme but still an enjoyable solve. Particularly liked let them eat cake and thanks again to Brendan and bridgesong

  25. Bridgesong @20

    MAAM at 3d is a possibility, but is excluded by the D of SWORD

    That’s exactly my point. The clue at 9A is so dodgy that one needs help from the crossers. However since 3D has at least 2 feasible solutions and one also needs help from the crossers this is hardly fair.

    Something the Ed should perhaps have noticed when he did the puzzle. 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

  26. Well, like Alex @16, I put MAAM for 3D so was never going to get SWORD, but doubt that I would even with crossers –  trying for too much cleverness.

    I saw ANAGRAMS for 21D but just couldn’t figure it out, but that is entirely fair, so hat-tip to Brendan there.

    Also entered COOT instead of CROW (fair clue but a bit ambiguous), and the failure of the ADAM/MAAM SWORD thing lead to not getting a crosser and therefore missing the obvious COVERTLY. So no prize for me this week!

    I was on the verge of spotting the splendidly hidden “theme”  a few times but never quite got there. As with the e-less lipogram of recent months, this is a splendid effort, really to be applauded. I second thezed @19 – this is a “thing of beauty”.

    Thanks Brendan and Bridgesong for all the explanations, you earned your blogger’s stipend this week.

     

  27. Well I thought this was an excellent prize puzzle and didn’t find it easy at all – it kept me busy for ages with the wide variety of devices, inventiveness and misdirection.

    Failed in the NW too, another with MAAM pencilled in but wasn’t convinced. Having seen the answers I think the &lit at 3d is good but the definition for 9a was beyond me – no idea about the biblical reference.

    All in all though this gave a lot of enjoyment and I’m with those who would like to see more of Brendan in the prize slot

  28. That was challenging, I completely missed the theme(s).  I agree with Anna @15 re parts/parks.

    Perhaps of interest as regards “Let them eat cake” (“Qu’ils mangent de la brioche”), there is a law in France that states if a baker runs out of bread he/she has to sell “cake” (brioche) at the same price as bread.

    Thanks to Brendan for the intriguing puzzle and to bridgesong for a super blog.

  29. Surprised there is not more support for anna@15’s suggestion of parks instead of parts. Looked like an obvious typo to me and was checking the site for a correction all week.
    A DNF for me and I missed the theme. Thanks to Brendan for the challenge and Bridgesong.

  30. I liked this, and unlike some, thought SWORD was cleverly clued. In fact I didn’t dislike any of the clues.

    Of course I missed the THEMEs and the ‘e’ in every clue (though the latter is surely not so very unusual, and may not even have been intentional).

    I was another who saw quite a few religious references; in addition to those already mentioned, one could perhaps add  HEM (of garment – mentioned more than once in the Bible) and EXALT.

    Thanks Brendan and bridgssong.

  31. Thanks B & B

    Can I stick up for 9a? I thought it was an excellent clue! Even though I couldn’t parse the second half.

  32. thezed@19 – I love your comment:

    “As one who rarely spots themes until the puzzle is finished, or until the theme jumps off the page, grabs me by the throat and bangs my head against the paper,”

    and also this witty comment by joleroi@22

    “We used to amuse ourselves at school by sticking our finger in a bottle of ether and waving it in a Bunsen flame. A very satisfying whoosh of flame at a low temp. Don’t try that at home.”

  33. Thank you to Brendan and bridgesong.

    Despite missing the (now so obvious) repetition of the THEME, I found this very enjoyable. 12a EMERY, 30a OVERDRAFT and 16d TITHE were my favourites. At least on this occasion, I saw “number” as an anaesthetic when it was used as the fodder for Ether/ETCHER in 5d. Only learned the hard way, through not seeing that sense of it on a “number” of previous occasions.

    This was not an easy solve for me, but in the progress of my solve, I really appreciated the intricacies of clues like 9a regarding SWORD(s) and ploughshares. (I thought it was a subtle clue that I really liked a lot, despite others’ objections to it.)

    Thanks to other contributor to the forum for an interesting blog, and well done to Brendan on producing such a brilliantly THEMEd puzzle.

  34. Thanks Brendan and bridgesong

    I’m another who thought this was an excellent, not too difficult puzzle.

    No problem at all with 9, which I pencilled in as my FOI, nor with ‘parts’ in 23. *Theme* parks yes, but I’ve never heard anything like “this park is themed”, far more likely to be “this is a theme park”, either singular or plural versions.

  35. Brendan’s last prize on 9 February was a lipogram with no ‘e’s. Not that I had noticed that this one was the opposite until I came here.My son and I were commenting during the week that it was unusual to have a Brendan without a theme. He was the one who spotted that Adam’s female was the palindromic EVE. The clue works without this, but not as well.
    Anna @15. I too thought it must be “themed parks” @ 23d until I saw bridgesong’s highlighting and realised that the wordplay was that some parts of this crossword have THEME in them. I still prefer parks, though some might have thought it too obvious.

  36. Me @35
    Not quite the opposite of the e-less lipogram perhaps but there are “e’s in this,lots of them.

  37. Me again. I crossed with SimonS @ 34. I think that, if one wanted to say in a crossword that some parks have themes, it would be acceptable to say that some parks are themed.
    Belated thanks to Brendan and bridgesong.

  39. Kept seeing HEM and a couple of MAEs so knew there was something afoot. After about 15 visits I finally saw THEME in its various guises. Missed the Es. Brendan is a genius.

  40. I absolutely loved the puzzle but have to agree with some of the above comments.

    I opted for MAAM (quite confidently) and failed to see the brilliant ADAM (Ada/ Eve..Superb!).

    However, even with S_O_D at 9a I would never have got the answer from the word play.

    Thanks all.

  41. It took me an age to finally see the theme, but was well worth the effort for the PDM.

    I got SWORD from the 2nd half wordplay, not being familiar with the biblical reference.  This led me to the quite brilliant &lit, ADAM.  That style of of clue for ANAGRAMS has been tried before, but this is the best example I think I’ve seen.  I wasn’t sure if the “also” in the clue helped or not.  I’m another who couldn’t decide between COOT and CROW, thinking that some people might describe the pigeon’s sound with the extra T.  This seemed the weakest clue in the end, because it really only says that “CROW” is either a noun or a verb.

    A terrific puzzle.  It seems to me it’s OVERTLY THEMED, rather than COVERTLY, since the THEMES are hidden in plain sight.  Many thanks, Brendan and bridgesong.

  42. Sorry if this said already but can’t see it. The excellent and appreciated blog has potential share as the definition at 9ac. Isn’t the definition really “potential share for peacemaker”. You then have in the word play an unusual reference for “this” but hardly an unfair one. Tricky clue to be sure, but in my view really creative.

  43. I was another one who pencilled in MA’AM without really being convinced, so SWORD was a problem. I think the definitiion for the latter was brilliant; it’s a very very known quotation which is often alluded to in public discourse. I got a bit stuck thinking “that’s how this ends” must code for S (last letter of “this”).

    I’m embarrassed to say I only got ANAGRAMS after doing a wordsearch on the crossers, which returned only the word in question. Even then, I didn’t notice that “instance” was also an anagram as well as “ant since” and “an insect”!

    Couldn’t spot the theme, even though I was sure THEMED was suggesting there was one.

    THE MED brought back a pleasant memory of waking up on the beach at Nice with a ground level view of the Med c. 1977.

  44. Andrew B @42: I think you’re right, but it’s a bit late now to amend the blog.

    Tony @ 43: I also used an electronic aid! I had guessed ANAGRAMS, but wanted to check nothing else would fit. As often happens, it was only when I came to write the blog that I realised just how clever the clue was, and that it contained three different ways of arranging the eight letters in question.

    I slept on the beach at Marseille in about 1977, prior to catching a ferry to Corsica, and got woken in the early morning by police coming round to clear us off the beach. So not quite such a pleasant memory!

  45. My apologies for the error in 23d. As many surmised, it should have been “parks”. Typos, once in, are hard to spot.

  46. Another MAAM here for some time.

    I thought the same as Andrew B @42 re definition.

    Re Anna’s good suggestion, I thought (and still do), that Brendan was telling us that parts of the crossword were THEMED

     

     

  47. Brian, thanks for that clarification. It’s always an honour (if occasionally a bit scary for the blogger) when the setter visits the site and makes a contribution.

  48. I spotted the theme, but wondered why there were only two examples of it: THEMED CATCHWORDS, with 10 and 22ac as the examples. Failed to spot the correct theme, sadly.

    I was a MAAMer for a while.

    Thanks Brendan and bridgesong.

  49. [@Bridgesong, my travelling companion and I were away early (before the police arrived?), jumping a train into Monaco then walking all the way to the Italian border, swinging thumbs as we went. Rich people don’t give lifts, it seems.]

    @Pex, an unfortunate crossing! I thought the same but couldn’t find the relevant parts.

Comments are closed.