Guardian Prize 28,901 / Picaroon

55 comments on “Guardian Prize 28,901 / Picaroon”

1. Took a while but got there in the end. HARDLY was my LOI – only got it yesterday

   Liked: SCARECROW, EMIGRE, WINDSWEPT, UNRELATED

   Thanks Picaroon and Eileen

2. The two quadrant-crossing long answers helped mitigate against the unfriendly grid, but it was still a story of 4 mini-puzzles.

   In addition, it may be just me, but I tend to find short and very long answers (if I can grok the definition quickly) the easiest to get, so I was a bit dismayed to see a dozen of length 9 here. However, none was particularly obscure, so the unravelling was able to proceed.

   Eileen, I think you’re right re: INCOME, but it seems close enough to work.

   Before I got PAWPAW, I had papaya, which was so close, since it covered the “twice yearly” nicely, that it was difficult to give up on.

   That said, a fine puzzle and an enjoyable solve. Tx P&E

3. Missed HARDLY (there are so many novelists!) – I put HAROLD in desperation, a few minutes ago. The NW waited until then, even though I did the rest last weekend and came back to at times during the week. So, tough, I thought. A few bung & shrugs (LEA, ACE). PAWPAW, SHUTTLE SERVICE and MEOWED were neat. Thanks, Picaroon and Eileen.

4. Should explain HAROLD – name of a novelist (Harold Robbins), HARD (with real effort) around OL (Latin only, but why backwards?).

5. It is strange. I fair flew through this puzzle but struggled with the latest picaroon. You win some you lose some I guess.

6. Enjoyed this, a pleasant cruise I found [cf today’s Vlad, in which a quick scrute just now of the acrosses yielded precisely two!] The Leu, a nho, was ntl obvs. And GR1 + Eve was cute, as were the farty cushion and the Girl Guide with wobbly teeth. And bardic is a nice word. All good fun, ta PnE.

   Nice that all the S&Bs enjoyed the York symposium. Might get there one year.

7. I think there’s a mistake in 1ac, Eileen. You’ve underlined ‘retiring’ as the definition but in the explanation you’ve accounted for it as a reversal indicator.

   (Understandable if you endured that 4 carriage train. I’m pretty sure I was on the same sardine can from Birmingham to Leeds although I was heading to Halifax not York.)

8. Thanks Picaroon for the unfailing entertainment. This crossword is a good example of why I love British cryptics. As usual I ticked many clues including AXEMAN, ACE (great surface), EMBARK, INCOME, ROCOCO, IMBELCILIC, and STIR-FRIED. I did use a word finder for KNOCK-DOWN because I never thought to consider “floor” a verb — I do have my dull moments. Thanks Eileen for the blog.

9. Thank you Eileen for your excellent blog in a busy week.
   [Your story of the newspaper on the train reminds me of a (silently) hilarious Marcel Marceau, attempting to eat a chocolate in a lurching carriage, and finally figuring out how to put it in his own mouth instead of that of a fellow passenger. I used to catch a steam train to school in those days and was lucky to see Marcel Marceau when he visited Oz in the 60s.

   And there’s also the (I think) Laugh-In episode, trying unsuccessfully to fold up a map, then consulting written instructions how to do so, and being unable to fold up the instructions. Story of my life. It was a great relief when the broadsheet Sydney Morning Herald went “compact” a few years ago for my train journeys to work.]

   I parsed LEA as you did. I’ve seen A for Australian in crosswords before, not necessarily to do with a sport.

   Favourite was ÉMIGRÉ for the surface and wordplay. Similarly SCARECROW, and SMALL CAPS.

10. I originally had Small Case instead of SMALL CAPS, rationalising it as skull=case, but the the fact that it’s ‘lower case’ and the crossers ended up correcting me. I also had to ponder “only with real effort” for HARDLY.
    No problems with INCOME for me. Yes, there are incomes derived from not working but that doesn’t exclude income that is from working.
    A for Australian is commonly seen in finance with A$ as opposed to US$.
    Favourites for me were ACE and PAWPAW (although I’m not a fan of either it or Papaya)

11. A lovely puzzle albeit on an un-favourite grid. For once, just about everything got parsed here although clueing the withdrawn M in 18d by millions rather than million (fairly) foxed me.

    The 3-letter words were really neatly clued, with LEU my favourite. The strict and full definition of.WHOOPIE CUSHION was to die for … well, a lot more likeable than some of the concoctions like NUCLEAR FISSION I’d tried. KNOCK-DOWN another favourite. Many thanks, Picaroon and Eileen.

12. Criminal lawyers (I used to be one) will raise an eyebrow at the supposed equivalence of “book” and “caution” in AUDIOBOOK. The caution is the form of words used following an arrest; to book a suspect is to record his name in the notebook, hence (as Chambers says) to arrest. One comes before the other.

    And I had a question mark against the clue for LEA as well, although it seems clear enough now.

13. Subject to the better knowledge of our friends there, surely the ABC is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (cf BBC in Britain), so I have no issue with 17d.

    Thanks Eileen for the blog, not least for parsing STIR-FRIED, which baffled me. Good news the train strikes in the UK are now cancelled, so hope your next journeys are more comfortable.

    The reference to Homer had me going down blind alleys about pigeons and the Simpsons, till I realised it was the real, Greek one.

    Thanks, Picaroon – a difficult grid, as others say, but I got there in the end.

14. Thank you, Bluth @7 – worse than that: I inexplicably said that it was a reversal of WIT! – I’ll fix it now.
    [I wish you had been going to York, rather than Halifax. 😉 ]

    sjshart @13 – I, of course, always think of the bard first and am usually disappointed!

15. I’m with Rats @5: this was a satisfying solve where I parsed everything, with some delightful clues, whereas I found yesterday’s Picaroon a slog, and had to come here to parse several answers.

    Thank you to Eileen and Picaroon.

16. A similar experience to Dr WhatsOn @2 for me, like four separate puzzles, each of which I solved in turn. I got my foothold with the four 3-letter clues and worked from there, corner by corner. And yet overall I found that on the more accessible end of the Prize continuum. I completed it in one sitting, albeit a leisurely one.

    Liked SHUTTLE SERVICE, EMBARK, USHERETTE and UNRELATED.

    Thanks both!

17. paddymelon @ 9

    [I remember seeing Marcel Marceau here in London. The bit I remember most was him putting on a happy “mask” and then being unable to take it off. The contrast between the happy face and the increasingly despairing body trying to get it off was amazing.]

18. Same as Rats and Shanne. NW and SE corners were immediate write- ins with the rest following reasonably quickly in a thoroughly enjoyable puzzle. Failed to parse STIR FRIED and AUDIOBOOK, which was my LOI.

    This was a complete reversal of my usual experience with Picaroon. I normally manage two or three the first time through with an enjoyable and leisurely meander through the rest. I’ve scarcely got a foothold on yesterday’s puzzle for example.

    Thanks as ever to both Eileen and Picaroon. Delightful, both.

19. Fiona Anne@17.
    [ Was this it? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLpWaicALjg I found another one even earlier from 1959. ]

20. An unfriendly grid indeed, but an excellent puzzle. I started with the four short words and SHUTTLE SERVICE, which got me going in two opposite corners. The word CUSHION then practically formed itself at 22d, with EE left over from the anagram fodder. WHOOPEE CUSHION then became a favourite, to which list, at the end, I added AXEMAN, SCARECROW and STIR-FRIED.

    ‘Reward for work’ is really a definition-by-example of INCOME, as Eileen has (in effect) pointed out, so perhaps it should have been indicated as such.

    Thanks to Picaroon for a super puzzle and to Eileen for a super blog.

21. Thanks Picaroon and Eileen

    A = Australian is also a military abbreviation, RAAF = Royal Australian Air Force.

22. paddymelon @ 19

    [Yes – I didn’t remember that there were other masks but I remember the rest. I would have seen him in the early 1980s I think. I was so impressed I started going to mime classes at the City Literary Institute here in London.]

23. GRIEVE was one of many excellent clues. I guess Marx would say that all income is derived from work, just not necessarily your own.

24. I well remember the armadillo and I spent ages trying to make something out of the three-letter words and the environs, to no result.

    An enjoyable solve; I particularly liked the SMALL CAPS for bigheads and WINDSWEPT for ‘what you get from buffets’.

    Thanks Picaroon and Eileen.

25. … unless it’s handed on from mater and pater, Petert; tho I guess, originally … hmm, hard to say ….

26. bridgesong@12. Criminal lawyers might raise an eyebrow at ‘caution’=BOOK, but football enthusiasts will be thoroughly familiar with their equivalence.

    I agree that ‘reward for work’ could be seen as needing a definition-by-example indicator, but for those of us without an “unearned income” or a pension, what you get from working does actually constitute your income!

    Some amusing surfaces, I thought. The (unlikely) idea of ATTILA being embarrassed by a ‘bit of scandal’ had me thinking of one of our recent prime ministers; and when I finally twigged the ‘synthetic gas explosion’ I couldn’t help thinking of Leonard Rossiter in the Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, every time he sat on a chair in CJ’s office.

    Thanks to Picaroon & Eileen.

27. … yes, not necessarily your own, as you said … [sheepish smiley] ..

28. paddymelon@19 Thanks for your post. A stunning performance and a tape that has kept me enthralled for most of the morning. Just one more bonus from this excellent blog.

29. I’m one who’s old enough to remember the episode of “The Likely Lads” you mention in your blog, Eileen 🙂

30. Fun puzzle despite the fragmentary grid (worse for me are the ones where all the peripheral letters are unchecked). At least the central square of three-letter words was relatively accessible.

    I particularly enjoyed the clues for STIR-FRIED, EMBARK, WHOOPIE CUSHION and WINDSWEPT (though the last is rather prolix).

    [I was able to do the puzzle on the train from Manchester to York as I had (mirabile dictu) a quiet seat on my own – but being thus distracted I didn’t realise I was sitting right behind Tramp until we disEMBARKed]

    Thanks to the Pirate and Eileen

31. GrannyJ@29 Me too. The strange thing is that it was funny even though you knew how it was going to end.

32. I’ve been moved to watch it again! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEumvfKaL_w

33. A=Australian. The Australian navy is the RAN and its ships are HMAS whatever (though what happens if Australia ditches the monarchy?)

34. More fun with newspaper – don’t try this in a railway carriage!

    An unhelpful grid but fun anyway: favourites SCARECROW, GRIEVE, WHOOPEE CUSHION, TROWEL (I’ve just come in from the garden and I needed a towel).

35. Tough puzzle. I found the SE corner very difficult.

    Liked SMALL CAPS, MOWED, BARDIC (loi).

    I did not parse 27ac apart from STATE = say.

    Thanks, both.

    * I thought that I have never seen A=Australian, and I am Australian! I am reminded by sjshart@13 that the ABC is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Tim C @10 who notes A$ as opposed to US$ as well as others who noted the RAAF and HMAS. Also, the ALP = Australian Labor Party and AFL=Australian Football League. That said, abbreviations like this are sort of difficult/problematic. Should I assume that C=Canadian? Can C=Chinese? Does F=French? Does H=Hungarian? And does Z=Zimbabwean?

36. Eileen @ 32
    thanks for the link to the Likely Lads – it is very amusing

37. michelle @35; we have discussed something similar before. If ABC stands for Australian Broadcasting Corporation, why not use B = Broadcasting? It’s only Chambers that gives A = Australia or Australian. A is the IVS code for Austria. However, one can’t really fault setters who use this if it appears in Chambers (with, of course, no examples).

38. Robi @37. I thought the example given @10 above of A$ to distinguish from US$ was good enough. Just because it’s in Chambers doesn’t mean it’s wrong. 🙂

39. sh @38: The Chambers justification is always a get-out, but this doesn’t make it entirely fair or elegant. I’m with Robi @37 – it’s better to use abbreviations only when they are used standing alone.

40. michelle @ 35

    Similar to the RAAF, the Canadian air force is RCAF

    And recent reports on the political hijinks in China have referred to the Chinese Communist Party as CCP

    It’s never-ending!

41. When I saw the puzzle, I thought, “Yikes, what a horrible grid!” Can’t say I’ve changed my opinion or imagine why any setter chooses it, except when it’s for a brilliant turn like the one Eileen reminds us of.

    Eileen, I think the rocks in 7d refer to ice in “drinks on the rocks,” no diamonds need appear.

    31a KNOCK-DOWN makes me think of Humpty Dumpty — “there’s a nice knock-down argument for you.” It’s his definition for “glory.”

    Now to follow up on those links!

    Thanks Picaroon and as ever Eileen. One of these years I’ll make it to S&B!

42. Thanks, Valentine – I’ve deleted the diamonds.

43. Agreeing with Sheffield Hatter @26, I think “caution = book” works better in the context of soccer offenses than criminal ones. (Both are common ways of referring to getting a yellow card–common enough that this American non-fan has seen them both!)

    The puzzle was super-straightforward for me, so much so that I wondered why it was run on a Saturday. The highlight had to be the “artificial gas explosion.”

44. I wondered about 24d. Chambers’s first and fourth definitions of “bard” are “a Celtic poet and singer” and “winner of a prize at an Eisteddfod”, which is how I think of it, but the second and third are “poet” and “strolling minstrel” so I suppose Homer fits.
    23a I didn’t think that emigrés were necessarily political but Chambers says “especially political”
    14d I very rarely go to the pictures but in my experience usherettes are often of more mature years than girls but it was a nice clue.
    As were many of the others.
    Thanks to Picaroon and Eileen

45. Thanks paddymelon@19 and Eileen@32 for the links. They made my day, especially the Marcel Marceau one – what a supreme artist he was.

    I’m with Gervase@30 – this is my second least-liked grid, after the no-first-letters one. I often get three of the four quarter-puzzles, and am frustrated by the fourth. Not this time, though, so thanks Picaroon for the fun and Eileen for the extremely informative blog. Favourite clue, for both construction and surface/definition was 29a WINDSWEPT.

46. My apologetic belated thanks to paddymelon @19 for the brilliant link.

47. With being busy last week I forgot to do this one. But saw the armadillo reference in blog and went back….and then didn’t see the armadillo until the blog! Actually I forgot “armadillo” but I was concentrating on the centre.
    Oh well…I can do this one now. Thanks Eileen… so far

48. ….and thanks also to Picaroon
    Enjoyed this one too. Goldilocks.
    Noticed a lot of changes from the 2012 style.
    Particularly liked USHERETTE

49. Tim the Toffee @48. What’s with the Goldilocks?

50. Choldunk @49 – Goldilocks – from the fairy tale, Goldilocks likes things that are just right for her (usually Baby Bear’s) and led to the Goldilocks zones of liveable planets which are neither too hot or too cold, with neither too much or too little light, etc

51. Ah. Goldilocks being used figuratively to suggest the crossword was just right. Ah. I guess the 2012 style was referring back to the armadillo discussion. Thanks, Shanne

52. Great puzzle, blog and discussion. Thanks to Picaroon, Eileen and all contributors.

53. Choldunk you are right on both counts.

54. Julie @52 you are welcome and ditto.

    Thanks for link Eileen some great jokes in there. England f…

55. I thought I had a good measure of Picaroon from some earlier success at weekday crosswords but this one defeated me utterly; I barely got through half of it before giving up. I will read the explanations carefully as I’m quite surprised that this appears to be a minority view. Or perhaps my brain was just tired of crosswords and wanted to do something else instead!

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