Guardian Prize 29,129 by Paul

by

A characteristically clever puzzle from Paul for this week’s Prize.

Paul was on excellent form for this puzzle, including some ingenious wordplay, such as the self-referential clue at 6,24 and the delightfully brief clue at 19 down. If it wasn’t for the stumbling block presented by 6,24, we might have solved this at a sitting. It’s tempting to read a political message into the two long words across the middle of the puzzle, and the wordplay of 3 down: perhaps Paul is calling for an 11 across?

I shall be away during the day when this blog appears so will not be able to respond to comments until the evening.

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1 NOSTRIL
One left with our Sicilian wanting a hole in the head (7)
NOSTR(a) (Italian – or Sicilian – for “our”, less the final A), 1 L(eft).
5 PUBLISH
Put out suggestion for boozer’s language? (7)
If pubs had a language, it might be called Publish (on the model of English).
9
See 14
10 MASOCHIST
Pole touring Black Sea city, sucker for punishment (9)
SOCHI (Black Sea city in Russia) inside MAST.
11 REVOLUTION
Rising circle (10)
Double definition.
12 HAL
AI character‘s 3/8, say (3)
HAL was the sentient computer in the Stanley Kubrick film 2001. HAL(f) is 3/4 of HALF, so it’s 3/8 of a whole.
14, 9 CONSERVATIVE PARTY
Boris’s once sober occasion? (12,5)
A simple charade, with an allusive definition.
18 OVERSPENDING
Prodigality proves ridiculous before resolution (12)
*PROVES, ENDING.
21 FIR
Not entirely hard wood (3)
FIR(m). Timon grumbled that fir is a tree, not a wood: you don’t go to a timber merchant and ask for fir, you ask for pine.
22 LATENT HEAT
Leant out, energy in that hidden warmth (6,4)
E(nergy) in *(LEANT THAT).
25 LEYLANDII
Compound ideally in oft disputed sunblock (9)
*(IDEALLY IN). Because they are fast-growing and can grow very tall, these trees have often been the subject of bitter neighbour disputes over loss of light.
26 PROOF
Convincing evidence has ring confiscated by teacher (5)
O (ring) in PROF.
27 BELIEVE
Buy book with two biblical characters (7)
B(ook), ELI EVE (two Biblical characters).
28
See 2
DOWN
1 NAPERY
Items of table linen, no rings for each (6)
NAY (no) outside (rings) PER (for each).
2, 28 SHROVE TUESDAY
He’s starved, you suspect — feast approaching fast (6,7)
*(HES STARVED YOU).
3 ROYAL HOUSE
Family where bumbling yahoos rule (5,5)
*(YAHOOS RULE). Don’t think this arguably semi & lit clue would make it into a Telegraph puzzle!
4 LIMIT
Head on lap, it’s me in cap (5)
L(ap) I’M IT (it’s me).
5 PISTON ROD
Steam engine part is taking load: poke around it (6,3)
IS TON (load) inside PROD (poke).
6, 24 BACK PAGE
Side dedicated to sports: eg a leader in polo? (4,4)
E.G. A P(olo) (rev). The reversal instruction is part of the answer. This clue was, by some distance, our last to solve.
7 IRISH JIG
Girl taking those four characters after foxtrot out for dance (5,3)
IRIS (girl) followed by GHIJ (the letters that follow F in the alphabet). They are not in their right order, as indicated by “out”.
8 HOTELIER
Story in other novel for Conrad Hilton, say (8)
LIE (story) in *OTHER. Conrad Hilton founded the eponymous global hotel chain.
13 BARNSTAPLE
Shed clipper somewhere in North Devon (10)
BARN (shed) STAPLE (clipper – in the sense of something used to clip things together).
15 SKEDADDLE
On horseback, say, king and journalist head for the hills (9)
K(ing) ED(itor) in SADDLE (on horseback).
16 GOLF CLUB
One of thirteen in pack following VW car driver, say (4,4)
GOLF (VW car model) CLUB (thirteen of them in a pack of cards).
17 BETRAYAL
Little girl and two little boys breaking faith (8)
BET(ty) RAY(mond) AL(bert).
19 BEHOLD
See eh? (6)
EH in BOLD (as it was in the clue)! A very clever clue.
20 STUFFY
Things nearby, ultimately close (6)
STUFF (things) (nearb)Y.
23 EVICT
Put out English winner, or not (5)
E(nglish) VICT(or).
24
See 6

74 comments on “Guardian Prize 29,129 by Paul”

  1. I’m with you all the way bridgesong. I too liked 19 and laughed out loud at 5a. Thank you Paul, as entertaining as ever

  2. Another enjoyable and not too taxing prize puzzle. Think I parsed it all. BACK PAGE was a good ‘un. No controversies.
    Thanks Paul and Bridgesong

  3. I hadn’t appreciated the scale of the “oft disputed” reference in 25a, but according to Wikipedia, in 2005 in the UK, an estimated 17,000 people were at loggerheads over high hedges, with some disputes leading to “violence” and in at least one case, “murder”!

    Separately, I note from the stats compiled by the excellent xteddy, that with this puzzle Paul draws ever closer to Araucaria’s record “prize” puzzle tally of 317. Paul is now on 308.

    Thanks to Paul and Bridgesong

  4. Thanks bridgesong. Yes I liked this one too. I smiled at the answer to 1a NOSTRIL, though thought the surface was a bit dodgy. Wasn’t 5a PUBLISH a gem though? [I was with Jaydee@1 (it was very funny).] I sort of got what was happening with 6,24d BACK PAGE but wonder why bridgesong suggests this is a self-referential clue? Like the blogger and Jaydee, I really appreciated the neat trick used to clue 19d BEHELD. 10a MASOCHIST (“sucker for punishment”) was another favourite. This was Paul at his most amusing, and I agree that there were some not-so-subtle digs at the 14,9a CONSERVATIVE PARTY and the 3d ROYAL HOUSE contained within.
    Thanks to Paul for the Prize Puzzle; it gave me lots of pleasure.

  5. [Took too long to type so I crossed with you@3, Jay, but just to say I also learned a lot about hedges and neighbourhood disputes in solving 25a LEYLANDII, which in my case required all the intersecting letters.]

  6. “self-referential” meaning the clue referring to itself, not Paul referring to himself.
    HAL – “What are you doing, Dave?”

  8. Thanks, Paul and Bridgesong!
    Liked PUBLISH (Must be e-sot-eric & local simultaneously), HAL (A1, naturally. Not a fraction less), BELIEVE (I am sold on it. Never mind the lie in it), BACK PAGE (Well played! Net result Wow!), SKEDADDLE (mount a mount to mounts? Paul rocks! Amounting to great fun!) and BEHOLD (Looked at the bold characters. I just cracked).

  15. This was tricky but a lot of fun; a typical Paul regarding the quantity and groanability of puns (or maybe more so than usual), but atypical (and thankfully so) that there wasn’t the usual massive cross-referencing.

    I had not heard of LEYLANDII, but was able to infer it as the only arrangement of the letters that seemed to make sense, and I looked it up to confirm. Didn’t know about any related controversy, but such a thing seemed plausible.

  17. A fun, clever puzzle, as ever, from Paul. A bit of a liberty with 5A as languages have the ending — ish (Finnish, Irish etc.), rather than — lish, which seems only used if there is an l in the original country (Poland – Polish / England – English); however, I did like the clue and laughed / groaned alongside others above. In 12A, I don’t understand the reference in the blog to 3/8 of a whole. I just read it as 3/8 is ‘almost half’ numerically, as indeed is HAL(f) literally. Thanks to both Paul and Bridgesong.

  20. 13D — how is “clipper” = STAPLE? If it were StapleR, then yes. But otherwise I can’t see it.

  21. Not too taxing overall, perhaps, as has been said, but some very clever clues that did need some imaginative thought, particularly BACK PAGE and the splendid BEHOLD. Given H_L and an AI reference, HAL was definitely a write-in, but I failed to make the leap from , “it’s 3/4 of half” to “its 3/8 of twice a half”. Like Dr WhatsOn @15 I’d not heard of LEYLANDII but there’re weren’t many ways of arranging the letters that seemed plausible and I guessed right first time. A very satisfying puzzle from Paul – I liked the Royal Yahoos as well – and thanks too to bridgesong.

  23. Thanks for the blog, very good set of clues and only two out of place so not much jumping around. I only knew NOSTRa from Cosa Nostra. ROYAL HOUSE was brilliant. SKEDADDLE a lovely word, used recently during the great outage. I will forgive the definition for LATENT HEAT just this once.
    TOBY@20 a staple often used to clip pages together so I think it can be thought of as a clipper.
    Who will be first to repeat the IBM myth for HAL ?

  24. Enjoyable Paul as always.
    Toby@20 I guess a staple is a clipper as it clips things together. I failed to parse this one (among others) as I’ve only used clip to mean snip (or clout if round the ear).
    Thanks Paul & Bridgesong.

  25. I do not like PUBLISH. The clue does not work at all. See Larry @ 17, who has beaten me to it, for the reason.
    A pity, as it spoils an otherwise excellent puzzle.

  26. Thanks Paul and bridgesong
    Worth it for BEHOLD!
    I’m those above who didn’t like PUBLISH – by analogy the language should be “pubish/pubbish”, surely (as Larry implies).
    I expect you all know that HAL is one letter back in each case from IBM…

  27. Found this tough. Abandoned it last week and only remembered I hadn’t completed it yesterday and spent a bit of time trying to finish. Did not get BACK PAGE. Did get and am very familiar with LAYLANDII as my neighbour has several of the monsters right against my fence.

    Loved SKEDADDLE

    Thanks Paul and bridgesong

  30. Graham@28. I couldn’t understand why there was a ”say” after “on horseback”. Thanks to you making me look at the clue again I think it reads as On horseback, say = in the saddle, and the implied ”in” gives the insertion indicator.

  32. Failed 6/24 BACK PAGE.

    I got 12ac HAL = AI character but could not work out what is 3/8, say? No, never woud have worked that one out! Thanks for explaining it.

    Favourites: ROYAL HOUSE, NOSTRIL.

    New for me: BARNSTAPLE (did a search on North Devon towns – thanks, google); LEYLANDII.

    Thanks, both.

  34. Bridgesong has asked me to respond to comments on the blog (cf the puzzle) until he gets back. We discuss parsing while solving but the blog is all his own work, so I’ll do my best.
    BACK PAGE (Frankie@6) is self-referential since there is no definiton for “Back” in the clue, rather in the same way as “GGSE”? (9,4)
    LATENT HEAT (Frankie@7, et al) I agree your parsing is more accurate.
    PUBLISH (various) . I didn’t see this first but was easily persuaded by Bridgesong’s explanation. Araucaria considered a clue fair if you solved it regardless of (Ximenean) conventions! You are free to not like it, all the same.
    Sorry if I missed anyone. Big thanks to Paul for a very imaginative and entertaining puzzle and, as ever, to Bridgesong for the blog (and expertise).

  35. Paul up to his usual standard. Liked most clues inc. BACK PAGE, ROYAL HOUSE, HAL (which I hadn’t parsed before comig here), PUBLISH (don’t understand objections – it’s meant to be amusing, not technically correct).
    Roz@23 – “hidden warmth” seems to me an entirely correct layman’s definition of LATENT HEAT.
    Thanks both.

  36. This was fun, I liked the anagram for the ROYAL HOUSE, but had to guess eh was in bold for BEHOLD as it wasn’t on the app, so that went in late.

    I knew LEYLANDII when I saw it. My grandfather planted a double hedge of leylandii and beech when he bought the house my parents took on when my grandparents needed us near to care for them (they built a bungalow next door). One of the jobs I was corralled into helping with as a teenager was felling the now monstrous leylandii as the beech hedge was plenty big enough to stand alone. And there are similar sized monsters out back, mostly kept lopped smaller.

    Thank you to Paul and bridgesong.

  37. Thoroughly enjoyed this witty and clever puzzle from one of my favourite setters. I especially appreciated that the parsing was much more accessible than in some of Paul’s more recent offerings, though I struggled with BACK PAGE. Favourites were HAL, GOLF CLUB, BETRAYAL, and ROYAL HOUSE. My LOI was BEHOLD, since eh was not in bold in the online version. Or am I missing something?

  38. The eh not being in bold would make BEHOLD a bit difficult! Guardian oversight, or does the version you were using not display bold? I printed off the online version, and that had the bold.

  39. Thanks to Roz for the IBM myth reference. It’s always consoling to know that something I had no knowledge of turned out to be untrue anyway. However, it’s now seared in my memory.

  40. muffin@38. It’s probably down to the version I’m using since I’m not up to date with anything.

  41. As always, on a Saturday, by the time I am ready to comment, much has been said. And I have many of the same likes as others – PUBLISH, BEHELD, NOSTRIL, BACK PAGE, ROYAL HOUSE and SKEDADDLE. No-one else has mentioned IRISH JIG: it might not be quite the smoothest surface but I did like the ‘four characters after foxtrot’ device which I have never seen before. Super spot by Paul.

    Thanks Paul and bridgesong (and Timon)

  42. If you feel you really have to justify PUBLISH, you could think of this imaginary language as a version of English, like Spanglish. BEHOLD was my favourite among a number of amusing clues.

  43. Agree Petert. The point of the joke is that Publish is a version of English spoken in pubs. After all the discussion on leylandii I looked up an image and realised its what forms many of the kiwifruit shelterbelts round here.

  44. Thanks Paul for the puzzle and bridgesong (and Timon) for the blog.
    The clue for PUBLISH does include the word ‘suggestion’, and the word ‘pub’ is short for ‘public’ – I do not see what all the fuss is about.

  45. Lots to like, though these days 6,24 could be more accurately clued as “Side dedicated to ads for watches”
    Thanks to Paul and bridgesong.

  46. Thanks Paul and bridgesong. Completely failed to get BACK PAGE. I was nowhere near solving that one! Got stuck on back date. Hello Graham @28, you are not me, are you, or am I?

  47. Enjoyable puzzle, clever, but easier than some of Paul’s offerings. I liked PUBLISH. It was amusing, easily got, and the ? at the end signalled a slightly dodgy explanation. Like some earlier bloggers, I don’t drink in a PUBL either (except possibly after a few too many). I do sometimes complain about perverse (timewaster) clues which drive me away from words that would otherwise fit in, but certainly not this one.
    I also liked LEYLANDII, (from years of hacking back a neighbour’s high trees). Also LATENT HEAT (a familiar quantity to me), SKEDADDLE, and BEHOLD (eh was in bold in my printed paper). I got HAL but regrettably failed to work out 3/8.
    Also enjoyed the blog and

  49. [Nostra in Sicily recalls our stay there in ’90. Bought fruit from a stallholder outside Monreale, and saw on the next day’s news he’d been killed in a drive-by … hadn’t paid his protection money. Scary]

  50. Thanks Timon @34 for explaining self-referential. I thought it meant Paul was referring to the fact that the prize puzzle appeared on the back page of the newspaper – but then it’s years since I bought a paper copy so it’s probably a false memory!

    lenmasterman @40: it’s probably not the fault of the version you use. I too solve online, and I too puzzled over the clue of BEHOLD. I usually highlight each clue as I work on them, which results in ALL the characters appearing in bold, which rather defeated the point of that clue!

  51. The reference to Sicily does bring the Cosa Nostra to mind, but the Italian adjective has two forms, the other being “nostro.”

    nho BARNSTAPLE

    Leylandii is a sterile hybrid accidentally created in Wales from two species of cypress from North America. It’s a cross between two trees native respectively to Alaska and California, so they never would have met in the wild, where Leylandii is not to be found. Fortunately, being a sterile hybrid, like a mule, it can’t become invasive — or has it already?

    I agree with Larry@17. If pubs had a language it would be pubbish.

    Thanks, Paul, bridgesong, Timon and commenters.

  52. Valentine @51
    In Italian the adjective must “agree” with the noun. Cosa Nostra is “our thing”, but “our things” would in fact be Cose Nostre. With “nostri” also, there are 4 possible forms.

    You have never heard of my home town?

  53. What muffin said about nostro/a/i/e.

    Has there ever been a clue before which made use of bold type?
    This has to be one of my favourite clues ever!

  54. Very much enjoyed this puzzle. Some very nice cluing ideas.
    For 12, I parsed it as 3/8 of HALLMARK = character, with character doing double duty as part of the definition.
    BACK PAGE, ROYAL HOUSE and the SHROVE TUESDAY anagram were my favourites.
    Thanks, bridgesong and Paul.

  55. Great entertainment from Paul and a fine blog.

    For anyone not familiar with the liturgical calendar it may be helpful to mention that Shrove Tuesday (commonly ‘Pancake Tuesday’) is the day before Ash Wednesday which marks the beginning of Lent and associated fasting, and is accordingly a ‘feast approaching fast’.

    NAPERY struck me as being more than slightly obscure (in my life at any rate) – I’d be interested to hear otherwise.

  56. Alphalpha@55. NAPERY appeared in a Nutmeg puzzle in September 2020, and you were among the commenters below the blog (28,233). Unusual perhaps, but hardly obscure.

    AllyGally@50. I very seldom solve the crossword online, but as far as I recall the font becomes lighter in clues that you have solved, so no need to highlight them. But perhaps this varies with which browser you are using. The paper version, of course, remains exactly how the setter intended! 🙂

    I totally agree with Cookie@44. A ‘pub’ is a public house, and I will continue to speak PUBLISH whenever I go there. Excellent clue.

    Thanks to Paul and bridgesong.

  57. I enjoyed this very much. Only one clue (PUBLISH) stood out as being rather weak. I loved the tricksiness of BEHOLD. Naturally, BACK PAGE was my LOI, and I really had to think about it, but I enjoyed that one as much as any other.

    Thanks Paul and bridgesong.

  58. sheffield hatter @56: you are quite right in your thinking that the font becomes light again once you have moved on from working on a clue – you don’t actually need to have solved it. At some point I did look back and noticed that eh? was in bold, and that’s was when the penny dropped! (pdm I think people call it here!)

  59. sh@56: In her blog for 28,233 Eileen doth quote: ‘both Chambers and Collins give NAPERY (household / table linen) as Scottish / archaic: cf ‘napkin’’. ‘Archaic’ is pretty obscure in my internal dictionary (some of our Scots contributors may be able to address my unease@55 – perhaps it’s an everyday word in the environs of Rest and be Thankful).

  60. Alphalpha @59
    I was familiar with NAPERY, but I doubt that the refreshment van at Rest and be Thankful would be. We had a better chance in the cafe at Arrochar on the way up, last month.

  61. On my return from a day in a house with no internet connection I can see that there is nothing more that needs saying, except to thank Timon for covering in my absence.

  62. KVa@13 – So many diminutives for the late EIIR
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilibet
    Liz Taylor, Liza Minnelli, Eliza Doolittle, Bet Lynch, Good Queen Bess (EIR), Beth (paddymelon@14) Tweddle, Bette Davis/Midler, Betty Rubble…
    BET or BET(ty) depends on how little you want your girl to be – that sounds pervy doesn’t it?
    But then the “two little boys” in the clue leads us to something worse – a crap song – and someone much worse – the singer.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Little_Boys
    ‘in 1979, Margaret Thatcher picked it as a favourite song’
    Thanks P&b

  65. [Graham @64 We are the only ones who know if this is a wind up or not. Mildly entertaining for us. Boring for everyone else.]

  66. Grahams both: actually I can see that you are posting from different email addresses, although it does appear that you also share the same initial letter on your surname, so adopting that isn’t going to help!

  67. Didn’t manage to parse BACK PAGE, so dnf. The clue is entirely satisfactory, though.

    I also liked the “four characters following foxtrot” and eh in bold.

    beaulieu@35, ‘hidden warmth’ might be exactly what a layman might take LATENT HEAT to mean, taking the words one at a time, and would serve very well as wordplay for the term but in fact, it has a very specific scientific meaning (see the dictionary) and there is no context, afaics, where it would be used to refer to ‘hidden warmth’.

  68. me @54
    Further to 12, I actually think AI alone is the definition as it’s now being used as a noun in Sci-Fi contexts, leaving 3/8 of HALLMARK as the wordplay. Maybe I’m alone in this view.

  69. Tony@67 it is difficult to define LATENT HEAT concisely – Energy transfer for an isothermal phase change – is as short as I can make . It is not a term in normal , everyday use so there is no laywoman’s definition and I am inclined to be forgiving for a crossword .

    Phitonelly@68 , I am afraid I cannot agree but good imagination . HAL is definitely an AI character and H A L _/ _ _ _ _ as 3/8 is very neat.

  71. Roz@69, best not to include words in the grid if you can’t define them. Unfortunately, LATENT HEAT is the only term I can find that fits the crossers, so the grid would have had to be reworked more extensively. That’s not so unusual, though, when setting.

    Alternatively, you could consider the clue as providing two sets of wordplay leading to the same answer, and that that is satisfactory, especially where nothing else would fit.

  73. [Roz @69
    I was struck by your use of the word ‘laywoman’, which is less familiar than ‘layman’. Two interesting facts:
    (1) Under the headword lay, Chambers (2016) has definitions for ‘layman’ (in which, of course, the words ‘person’ and ‘someone’ are used), whereas ‘laywoman’ is shown only as a noun derived from ‘lay’; (2) the syllable ‘man’ in ‘layman’ is heard in the word ‘woman’ but not in ‘man’! (Personally, when I hear a phrase like ‘for a layman’ I think of more than half the population of lay people, just as I would when ‘the laity’ are referred to.)]

  74. Alan@73,

    … and ‘a good lay’ could refer to either sex (or am I supposed to say ‘gender’?)

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