Guardian Saturday Prize Crossword 28,763 by Picaroon (21 May 2022)

67 comments on “Guardian Saturday Prize Crossword 28,763 by Picaroon (21 May 2022)”

1. I solved hydra and wyvern right at the start, along with Loch Ness, which gave me the theme even if I didn’t know what 9,3 was yet. I biffed unicorn before asking myself if this meaning was in the dictionary yet, but the cryptic seemed to support it. I finally rolled around to fantastic beasts, which was nearly my LOI. A fun puzzle, not too challenging for a prize.

2. Thanks mc, great blog as ever. And thanks Picaroon for an absolute treat of a puzzle (although the theme is of no interest to me) – mostly quite straightforward but with some fairly tricky bits. 12a BASTES had me scratching my head for ages… absolute clunking PDM when it came. SPHINX was one of my last in, and one of my top favourites.

   I wasn’t previously aware of the definition of UNICORN as a “highly valued company” but apparently it’s “a term used in the venture capital industry to describe a startup company with a value of over $1 billion” – an example being SpaceX.

3. HYDRA and HARPY were my way into the FANTASTIC BEASTS, after which I had fun looking for more. I was left with just one answer that I couldn’t fathom all week, until I did a full alphabet trawl this morning – RISIBLE, really. Enjoyable solve – thanks, Picaroon and mc_rapper67.

4. Great puzzle, a lot of fun. And so was the blog – if you click on the grid above you’ll see a very nice animated gif of the theme words; part of the name of the gif was of course Grauniad. Well done, mc_r!

5. Slight correction: you can see the animation also directly above (I had zoomed past it without pausing).

6. Another superb puzzle by James

7. Thanks mc etc. Qualms at the outset over all the 9,3s, but googling “Potter follow-up” at once opened the door – to more qualms, a massive list of never-heard of creatures. Then growing admiration for the setter, including for the insertion of heard-of exemplars like UNICORN and PHOENIX. Good on you Picaroon.

8. Lots of memories with this one. Mrs ginf started reading the HP books, late ’90s–early noughties, to keep company with our nieces who were then full-on into them and all the hoo-ha (queueing up outside Borders etc to get the latest release). Later, a mate used to pass on the DVDs. So, yes, no escape! And, back further, a mate used to drive a Vauxhall Wyvern (lovely old car!). So no prob here with the fantastic beasties. Lots of fun, ta Pickers and rapper.

9. ps … but that company-speak sense of unicorn was a tilt …

10. When I saw that the central clue 9,3 was most likely related to Harry Potter I nearly put this crossword in my rubbish bin; because it was Picaroon I decided to give it a shot. I’m glad I stuck with it because there were many fine clues like DANISH, DIVORCING, FACTOTUM, and the superb SPHINX in addition to the themed entries. Thanks to Picaroon and to mc_rapper for an extraordinary blog.

11. An entertaining puzzle. I particularly liked BASTES for its ability to turn the 9,3 theme title into a cryptic wordplay. Also enjoyable ere HARPY and SPINX (great surfaces both).

12. Thanks for a great blog and I love the grid. I got FANTASTIC BEASTS straight away, I have suffered very badly at the hands of Harry Potter , Sprog3 in particular being very keen. The sort of films where you don’t take your Swiss Army knife. I was so glad the rest of the puzzle was not on the actual Potter theme.
    Brilliance throughout , just a mention for LOCH NESS and SPHINX.
    Very minor quibble for PIX in 19D, awful word but the clue does work well.
    HYDRA a very large and very dull constellation, I can’t think of any interesting features , also hard to view at UK latitudes as always near the horizon.

13. [… pps, and further to my memoriam, our beloved puss was called Miss Sphinx, Sphinxie to her friends…]

14. BASTES was a very clever clue; too clever for me, leaving me with an irritating DNF. But that aside, I thoroughly enjoyed this. It helped to get FANTASTIC BEASTS immediately from the ‘follow-up’ reference. (Thoroughly enjoyed the first film, really hated the second, haven’t been tempted yet by the third.) I particularly liked WYVERN – partly for the eventual realisation that the wordy French author’ wasn’t Proust. Thanks Picaroon, thanks mc_rapper67.

15. Thanks mc_rapper67, great write up and use of colour. RISIBLE also my last, not only did I always think it meant ‘contemprible’ but I decided Paris Match was trickery and as it clearly ended in Le or La the Def must be “match”. But eventually it emerged. So many highlights, not least that specific knowledge of the Rowling ouevre was not required despite the “key” theme clue so thanks Picaroon

16. If I have done a better puzzle than this, I can’t remember it.
    Superb in every way.
    Knowing nothing about Harry Potter, the theme was new to me, but once nailed, great fun finding all the beasts.
    LOI was 12a.
    Thanks both.

17. HYD@16 you get a special mention at 15D, a key word that allowed four beasts to go in the grid.

18. Could not work out 9,3 at all at first. Got HYDRA (FOI) and then WYVERN which I didn’t know so looked it up on google and thought I must be looking for mythical creatures – which still didn’t get me 9,3.

    Worked slowly through the puzzle getting more of the mythical creatures and went back to 9,3. Remembered that JK Rowling had written more books after the Potter series – and finally got it.

    didn’t get BASTES

    Favourites included: FACTOTUM, LOCH NESS, HEEHAWED, BEHEMOTH ( a lovely word).

    Thanks Picaroon and mc_rapper67

19. Roz @17 Yes, I sound like an ass most of the time.

20. It is a donkey that heehaws , that is what I meant as I suspect you know.

21. I loved this, finding my way in via WYVERN and HYDRA, then solving FANTASTIC BEASTS.

    I didn’t have a problem with BASTES, the definition suggested that on first read through, just needed the solution to 9,3 to confirm it. My last one in was ESPRIT, which I couldn’t parse until a grinding PDM. Favourites include LOCH NESS.

22. Failed on BASTES (doh) and PHOENIX. Just could not get past PICS to PIX. But even so thoroughly enjoyed myself. Thanks Picaroon for this puzzle and also mc_rapper for an entertaining blog.

23. Roz @20 – I haven’t been called a donkey since I last played football!

24. Waited a week to say that I absolutely loved this. One to remember. FANTASTIC BEASTS was FOI as I spotted it from the first three words of the clue and banged it in, then the crossers fell into place. My LOI was the very clever BASTES.

    Loved: MENAGERIE, LOCH NESS and HEEHAWED.

    Super puzzle, more like this please!

25. I loved this last Saturday and, whilst FANTASTIC BEASTS, itself, is clued with relation to JK Rowling, I didn’t feel it was necessary to know the author and her work to solve the rest of the puzzle. None of the creatures were invented by the author and I am pretty sure the phrase pre-dates her too – though that’s nigh impossible to verify on the internet given how the franchise dominates. BASTES, SPHINX, BEHEMOTH, UNICORN and CHIMERA get my ticks but it was all thoroughly enjoyable.

    Thanks Picaroon and mc

26. Never heard of guy being used to mean josh or rib. Is this a private school/home counties thing? Favourite clue: yetis!

27. HYD (once elected to the RoyalAcademy) also features in 8 ac. A truly fantastic puzzle.

28. One of those solves you just don’t want to end – hugely enjoyable from start to finish.

    Many thanks, as ever, to Picaroon and to mc_rapper67, for, between you, two highly entertaining Saturday mornings.

29. Superb. Partner started me off with DANISH and then I got SPHINX. Just a great puzzle in every respect. Many thanks mc_rapper67 for the brilliant blog. Hope the hangover goes well. Wasn’t quite sure what “Match” was doing in 4D. Just misdirecting?

30. Enjoyable puzzle. I solved 5d and then I solved 9/3 which made the rest of the puzzle theme easier to fathom.

    Liked MENAGERIE, PROMISER, LOCH NESS, RISIBLE, SPHINX, HARPY (loi).

    Thanks, both.

31. Eileen @28. My solving of this crossword *didn’t* end! Like Choldunk @29 I was thinking that ‘Match’ was the definition and couldn’t rid myself of the thought, and ‘ludicrous guy’ seemed to point to SILLY, so I was well and truly misdirected! As for the rest, I haven’t read more than a paragraph of JK Rowling (luckily my daughters were old enough to read for themselves), but knowledge of her works was not necessary for the puzzle to be (mostly) enjoyable.

    Thanks to Pickers and mc.

32. Another super puzzle from Picaroon.

    I solved a few of the beasts before getting the gateway clue. I put in BASTES before the PDM, as others. I liked the ludicrous guy in RISIBLE, and the photos capturing house in PHOENIX.

    Thanks Picaroon and mc_rapper67 for the entertaining blog.

33. Pretty good as Guardian themed puzzles go for me, as sometimes they can be rather superfluous.

    One of the very few things I didn’t like was the LOCH NESS clue, which suffers through having to support such an unwieldy definition (which is avoided elsewhere, I note, where it might have been deployed). And, whilst MCR seems to be enthusing about something ‘under the surface’ of it, I’m not sure I quite get that from the puzzle, or clue, per se. Nevertheless the clues are well-made, and, of course, the compiler does well to get myriad references in.

    SPHINX for me possibly the best of the bunch.

34. Marvellous, and I don’t mean just the clue to BASTES – I mean the whole puzzle. I know next to nothing of JKR’s works and inventions, but, as everyone seems to agree, that did not matter.

    Thanks to Picaroon and mc_rapper67.

35. I thoroughly enjoyed this one, even though it was a DNF due to a few in the NE corner. I particularly liked discovering the various beasts appearing in the clues that didn’t reference 9 3. Thanks to picaroon.

    And thanks mc rapper for the blog – this cleared up a few I was less sure of. Guy=rib still eludes me even with the explanation though!

36. I just want to join in the general praise for this lovely crossword. The key clue had a good snooker-related surface, but luckily I immediately spotted the answer from “Potter’s follow-up”, having seen the trailers for the films in the cinema. I then hoped that the theme wasn’t to do with the Rowling works, which of course it wasn’t. The rest was simply a joy to solve with all the beasts in question, ending with my favourite, SPHINX – Hard to crack misleading words by Times puzzle setter – brilliant.

    Many thanks Picaroon and mc_rapper67.

37. @29, @31 – my take on ‘Match’ was just to interpret the end of the clue as “… article in obviously French publication”. Maybe there were other options for the setter so its possible that there was an element of deliberate misdirection…

38. Saaam @35: Chambers has for “guy”: “(sl) to turn to ridicule, make fun of”, and for “rib”: “(sl) to tease, ridicule, make fun of”. The SOED dates the former from 1872 and suggests that it originated in theatrical slang.

39. Got GIGANTIC (ant+tic +GG (horse) and so wrecked whole southwest corner). Most annoying as all else fell into place after HYRDA, WYVERN and UNICORN led to the right Potter after considering Stephen and Denis: thus showing my age!

    Despite failure, found this thoroughly enjoyable. Tahank you Picaroon and Fifteeen squared!

40. Agree with Rob@37 regarding Match.
    I think GUY turns up quite a lot, maybe it is in Azed, can mean a person but the misleading ones are rope or as here – to make fun of, ridicule. RIB has almost identical definitions in Chambers in this sense. A very good clue.

41. ( Sorry Lord Jim, you type faster than me. )

42. Saaam @35, Guy=rib in the sense of to make fun of didn’t register with me and I just thought it might be guy=rib in the sense of a man related to Adam’s rib.
    The second definition of guy in Chambers has it as a verb “to turn to ridicule, make fun of” under the noun of “an effigy of Guy Fawkes” which suggests why it means to ridicule.

43. ( Sorry Lord Jim and Roz, you both type faster than me. )

44. Something that has belatedly occurred to me – I don’t know if this was deliberate by Picaroon, but I suspect it was: Eddie Redmayne, who stars in the FANTASTIC BEASTS films also starred in The DANISH Girl.

    PM @25 – if you use Google Ngram viewer, you can see that the phrase is recorded as being in common use since the 1920s. Just as well all the beasts predate Rowling too – I’d have got nowhere if the puzzle had relied on knowledge of her books.

45. It’s worth noting that only the title FANTASTIC BEASTS is particularly associated with JK Rowling: she didn’t invent any of them, though some do appear in her books, so no other Potter specific knowledge is needed.

    Lovely crossword – it took me forever to spot YETIS but it was worth waiting for, as was the trick in BASTES. I invented a new French term “nagerie” for swimming for MENAGERIE. Liked the BEHEMOTH (does it have behecaterpillars?)

46. Unlike many, BASTES was one of my early entries, which quickly BEASTS, which meant that 9A would be an anagram indicator, but it came much later.

    The surface of 26A grates me for the noun/verb mis-match: “Fantastic beastS still existS”. (Although cryptic part is delightful!)

    gladys @45 — what a delightful thought (behecaterpillars)!

47. Thank you for the fabulous blog mc_rapper67, in all its many colours. Needed your help in the NW.

    MENAGERIE: group of 3, thought it was something to do with ménage à trois, and couldn’t parse it.
    Don’t think it’s fair, even if it’s fairly clued, to use a non English word (‘nager’) that hasn’t been borrowed in some way in English.

    BASTES : I had ‘sautés’, and googled in vain for fantastic beasts called sautes.
    RISIBLE : my attempt at that was, well, risible.

    Enjoyed the crossword, though, and happy to get all bar those 3 without knowing anything about JKR.

48. Great fun. Never heard of the Rowling work and finally worked out FANTASTIC BEASTS after I’d already entered quite a lot of them. Hadn’t heard of a WYVERN before, but hit on Verne straight away, so it was a jorum (got it from wordplay and verified it).

    Roz@12, ‘pix’ is in Collins as “informal” for photographs or prints. It’s used quite a lot on the internet and in text-messaging (which will be why it’s not familiar to you).

    Calgal@46, you mustn’t ‘translate’ “9, 3” when you read the clue. Just read it as it is written and take it as meaning ‘the clue for the lights at 9 and 3’. I thought it was clever misdirection the way you get a plural answer from singular wordplay.

49. Many thanks to mc_rapper67 and to Picaroon. A thoroughly enjoyable puzzle, particularly once FANTASTIC BEASTS feel into place As others have pointed out, this was the only Rowling reference in the puzzle ! Rather disappointed by the barrage of mean-spirited comments about the HP oeuvre, I’d honestly expect better here.

50. JohnB @49: My comment @10 may sound mean-spirited but that was not my intent. I have never read any HP books nor have I seen any of the films so I can’t criticise them one way or another but if a crossword has a theme that’s unknown to me I usually don’t bother with it, hence my “rubbish bin” reference. I gave this a chance because I really like Picaroon and it turned that HP was only peripheral to the puzzle.

51. Tony@48 thanks for this , I am aware that people use it but it is still an awful word.

    John @49 some of us have had to suffer the HP world because of sprogs and we will never forgive.

    Calgal@46 just think of 26Ac as two distinct parts. 9, 3 = fantastic beasts = YETIS still exists = YET IS . The clue does not need to be read as a whole.

52. After entering words containing V, W, X, Y etc. I was on the look out for Z and tried to parse ‘amazon’ for 22d. Some tenuous timewasting revealed that there were at least 2 of every letter but no Q, Z….or JK. All very enjoyable, thank you.

53. Roz@51, I couldn’t disagree with you more over your advice to Calgal about 26ac. I know (from what you have written elsewhere) that you care very little about the content of clue surfaces as long as the wordplay is precise and the definition accurate, but for me, along with many other solvers, an elegant surface to a clue is an extremely important factor in rating it. Indeed, it’s Picaroon’s excellent surfaces, together with his precise wordplay, which makes his puzzles so outstandingly good.

    I would, in hindsight, correct what I said about reading the clue, though, to say ‘the entry for the lights at 9 and 3’ (not the clue, as I said earlier, and not the subject-matter of the entry as Calgal took it).

54. Tony@53 as you probably know I find elegant/smooth surfaces almost an insult. It is like someone going up to collect the Nobel prize in physics and someone remarks – Doesn’t her hair look nice ?

55. Also I did like this puzzle and some others from Picaroon but I would prefer the clues a little less “smooth” and a little more challenging.

56. As far as I know the only bit associated with HP is the key…FANTASTIC BEASTS. The beasts are all well known and predate JKR.
    Great puzzle and impressive blog.
    Thanks both.

57. I didn’t know JKR had written FANTASTIC BEASTS and care even less. Although I got the BEASTS from the crossers and several examples already written in, FANTASTIC was my LOI. Thanks, P & M.

58. [Roz, it’s absurd to put a crossword puzzle on a par with Nobel prize-winning research, so I won’t attempt an extension of the ‘analogy’ by way of retort. I would point out that I don’t believe there is a direct correlation between smoothness of surface and difficulty of wordplay, although, if anything, a hermetic surface makes it harder to see how to begin analysis of a clue.

    You would probably prefer the barred puzzles James Brydon (Picaroon) sets as Lavatch for the Listener and the Spectator. However, I know you won’t ‘soil your fingers’ with the Times and not sure of your attitude to the Spectator. The Picaroon puzzles in the Guardian are pitched just right for my liking (and others’, of course).]

59. [ Tont @58, The Spectator is owned by Frederick Barclay, just your typical right-wing , billionaire tax dodger. The analogy I made is sound, praising something that does not really matter in that context. I do not even “read” clues , just look at each word with suspicion and pull them apart. Only cryptic definitions need to be read and they are always the worst type of clue. ]

60. Roz @59; IMHO, the art of a good setter is to make a clue smooth and readable, while at the same time incorporating the necessary wordplay. I think you are missing a lot of the enjoyment if you do not ‘read’ and appreciate the smooth surfaces of a setter like Picaroon. Perhaps, on finishing, you might wish to look at the clues afresh. 🙂

61. Thanks for the thoughts Robi , I have just read them and really wish I hadn’t . Think I will just stick to solving.

    mc I have noticed one minor typo , Othello has refused to turn round for 16D

62. [Roz, sure, and (digging deep into the basket of outrageous analogies) the only aspect of sex that matters is ensuring an ovum gets fertilised. The enjoyment comes solely from knowing that new life has been created. Am I missing anything?]

63. [ 😉 ]

64. [ Tony I did not know you were a Catholic ? I thought the point was to avoid being fertilised. To continue with your analogy, the equivalent of your “smooth surfaces” would be someone worrying about the colour of the sheets. ]

65. Thanks for all the comments and feedback, and to anyone who fielded queries and quibbles for me above, re. GUY, PIX and RISIBLE, etc., and thanks to Roz at #61 for the typo – duly corrected.

    Looks like most enjoyed the puzzle – Potter and Rowling were largely tangential, apart from providing the FANTASTIC BEASTS clue and entries – and they seems to be a bit of a marmitey subject.

    Tony Collman and Roz – I think I’ve said this before elsewhere, but ‘get a room, you two’! (Or at least work this out between yourselves in ‘General Discussion’ ( ; + > )

66. I have a bugbear (a beasty but not fantastic!) – abbreviations i have never come across. Like H for horse in 20. And i have been horseracing countless times. Anyone share my frustration?

67. Jezbob, H and horse are both slang words for heroin, something MC should probably have made plain. They’re both in the dictionary (I checked Collins online) and both horse and heroin are popular cryptic indicators for the letter H, something worth remembering.

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