Guardian Prize 29,494 by Qaos

68 comments on “Guardian Prize 29,494 by Qaos”

1. Thanks Cineraria. As usual, missed the theme but I enjoyed it; relatively straightforward, yes, but after recent more abstruse Prizes I found it something of a relief to find a fair number of answers in the first pass. I must have been conditioned to overthinking because DANDELION was LOI, try as I might I couldn’t make sense of ANDELI inside DON.

2. Agreed, this was all fairly straightforward, but was enjoyable to finish quickly this time. Totally missed the theme. With HOLLY, I simply took it to be a “religious” symbol. My wife has a ballet school, so I actually worked out the anagram ENTRECHAT pretty quickly, for a specialist subject for once!

3. I found this easy going until I hit the NE corner, which required UK knowledge I did not have (Noddy Holder, success in Yorkshire). Nor did I know VID in 12 ac. It was only after staring at the corner for too long that I noticed the second L in “relligious”, and solving HOLLY was the key to completing the corner and the puzzle.

   I enjoyed this with its mix of approachable and innovative clues, as noted by our blogger. (I must say I thought IM for 11,000 was a bit too innovative). My favourites were DANDELION (sorry, Biggles A) and ZIGZAG.

   I have never read nor seen Watership Downs. As I am pretty bad at spotting themes, I doubt that made any difference.

   Thanks Qaos and Cineraria

4. I thought this was a delight, and spotted the theme reasonably quickly (Qaos always has a theme).
   [Long digression: the theme Watership Down reminds me of my favourite literary anecdote. Years ago, we were living for a while near Oxford. Come the summer holidays, I planned to take our boys to Winchester, so I borrowed the OS maps from the school I was teaching at to plan the route. I was at that time reading Watership Down to them, and noticed a town in the book was on our route. A bit more research revealed where the Watership Down warren should be, so we stopped and walked the public footpath in that direction, WD in hand. Blow me down, at the NE corner of a beech hanger, just where the book described it, was a large tree with the rabbits’ names carved on it. Later, we also found where Efrafa was, and even the hole in the hedge through which the rabbits escaped. Richard Adams had set the book precisely in the landscape. The boys and I have never forgotten that thrill.]
   Thanks, Qaos and Cineraria.

5. Believe 14 parses as T’ (TO in Yorkshire lingo) WIN i.e. T’WIN for success.

6. 26 is missing an insertion indicator, since welcome=HI penny=P and on board=SS

7. Shaji @6, I think the insertion indicator for SHIPS is implicit in “on board” as if you are on board you are inside the SS. That’s a popular device I’ve come across a fair bit (along with similar devices like “asleep” for B(…..)ED (in bed)).
   Thanks cineraria . I had a question mark about the “sounds like” in BLACK TIE and thought it was that but it’s only when I read your link that I remembered hearing the “kipper tie” joke told by Jasper Carrott (another Brummie) many years ago.

8. SF@5: For 14A, I would be curious to hear from a native (unless you are speaking as one yourself), or from Qaos, if he is checking in, since I had to guess based upon online articles about dialect. “To win” looks like a verb, and “success” looks like a noun, so that seems incongruent, for parsing purposes, but as a distant non-native myself, I cannot account for how they might express themselves in The Dales. But I am happy to learn, whatever the solution.

9. Yes, pretty easy. You didn’t need to see the theme, and you didn’t need any UK knowledge, since black tie is eminently biffable. It was twin tub that held me up – I believe that is also a UK thing, but I eventually called it to mind.

10. What a lovely story, TassieTim@4. With such a memory, this puzzle was made for you.

11. HOLLY
    2 l’s followed by 1 i in ‘relligious’ fooled my eyes in the first pass (or fail!). Parsed it eventually!
    Liked BLACK TIE & EYES.

    For TWIN-TUB I had the same parse as the blogger (remembered vaguely about t’ standing for the in Yorkshire dialect and Googled to cross-check)

    Thanks Qaos and Cineraria.

12. I enjoyed this and spotted the theme, having read the book and seen the film as they came out. I even owned The Plague Dogs, but couldn’t get into it, so never read it.

    We have a Yorkshire dialect mug on the bathroom windowsill because my daughter lived there for a while. T’win I’d read as the win.

    Thank you to Cineraria and Qaos

13. When I saw WATER and DOWN crossing each other, I started looking for a SHIP. But I haven’t read the book, and not seen the ANIMATed movie since I was a child, so appreciation of all the rabbit names Qaos has woven in had to wait for a Wikipedia search after I was done. Still, nice to have a Prize puzzle that was actually accessible for once.

14. Thanks Cineraria. Missed the theme, haven’t read Watership Down. Thanks too for the link, but not going there. Art Garfunkel’s Bright Eyes always brings me undone, as it is so moving, but also remembering when my son was in primary school and they sang that to parents on a special day, with signing for the deaf.

    I got the dialect stuff when solving this by doing some research, but will leave it t’others more well-placed than me to comment.

    vinyl1@9. Don’t know that TWIN-TUB is necessarily a UK thing. Possibly more a generational thing. My first washing machine in Oz was a twin-tub, after mangels and then a wringer machine which could catch your arm or long hair in the roller if you weren’t careful. Always had to make sure the power point was in reach in case of emergency. Those twin-tubs used to rock and roll and make a racket, if you didn’t have it balanced well. They did a good job though.

15. Didn’t spot the theme. But enjoyed the puzzle.

    Liked: DANDELION, FIVERS, THEE, RABBITED

    Thanks Qaos and Cineraria

16. Cineraria @8, I parsed TWIN as t(he) win as you did. I’m originally from Lancashire but we also shorten “the” to t’. Chambers has:
    t- or t’ an obsolete shortened form of to before a vowel, as in tadvance (Spenser); N Eng dialect form of the
    so if the parsing was “to win” it would need an archaic indicator.

17. I had a few gripes about this puzzle: I delayed putting in ANIMATION as it seemed 10,000 short. Surely 1,000 in numerals is M not 1M; Is EVIDENCES really a word?; NAIL BITERS was not even cryptic and INTERESTED is not a definition of ‘deeply concerned’. On the positive side I liked the surfaces for DANDELION and BANKNOTE and the deliberate misspelling in 10 A. was a device I had not seen before

18. Agree Brown@17. NAIL-BITERS wasn’t particularly cryptic, once you looked up onychophagists. But it was a double def so that’ll do me. Made me laugh though at the tease to look up such an unusual word.

19. NIL-BITERS
    Agree with Brown & pdm.
    A bit weak in the sense that both defs are related to each other. Learnt a new word. Good to that extent.

    EVIDENCES
    She was not calculating and evidenced no specific interest in money. Collins
    Shows=EVIDENCES (verb) seems to work fine.

    INTERESTED
    An INTERESTED part is a concerned party? There may be better examples to indicate the degree of concern (deeply).

20. So that’s where Noddy Holder fits in! I had a very big question mark next to that clue. Thanks, Cineraria. And thanks, Qaos; I enjoyed this. Although it was a relatively easy puzzle (and, naturally, despite enjoying both book and film, I missed the theme – must remember Qaos does themes), I had a number of smaller questions pencilled in, all now answered. Of course RED is ‘re’ + d(diamonds)! – I just thought diamonds were a red suit, scribbled a ‘?’ and moved on. My family background is Yorkshire and Northumberland, and though my accent has been messed with over the years, enough remains that I had no issues with T’WIN, but I’m pretty sure I don’t say ‘berry’ and ‘bury’ the same way. I particularly liked ZIGZAG.

21. Me@19
    NAIL-BITERS *

22. Of course I missed the theme, but never having read the book or seen the film I do have an excuse this time. Agree with most of the previous comments and didn’t have any issue with the clues, though BLACK TIE and TWIN-TUB raised groans. A shout-out for the rest of Johann Sebastian Bach’s large family in 1D, several of whom could be the composer or barman in question.. Thanks to setter and blogger.

23. Thanks for the blog, HOLLY was neat and I liked the Noddy Holder reference for BLACK TIE . Topless was clever for ZIGZAG . I found INTERESTED a bit of a dud but the only one.
    The Spanish students have taught me to play OMBRE , unusual having 3 players and a deck of 40 .
    Keith@20 I think most places I have lived say bury/berry unless it is Bury .

24. Qaos is a setter I like, even though I’m uninterested in themes, so neither looked for nor spotted this one.
    Favourites include the first two ANIMATION (hard unless you know that Qaos’s numerical clues need tricky decoding), HOLLY, and TWIN-TUB (which brought back memories of my mother’s delight at getting such a labour-saver, but I thought it might be too obscure for younger solvers). Hadn’t parsed BLACK TIE, which I also like.
    [Regarding the theme, after the success of the book, Richard Adams moved to the Isle of Man for some years as a tax exile. One of his daughters was a work and occasional social colleague of mine – she was a very pleasant person, which I’m afraid could not be said of her father.]
    Thanks Qaos and Cineraria.

25. I enjoyed the theme and the execution (sorry what a poor word choice – I certainly didn’t enjoy the sad deaths of the rabbits in “Watership Down” – although at least Hazel did get to die of old age). I actually laughed out loud at BLACK TIE at 7d, unlike Tomsdad@22 and a couple of other folk, though I am easily amused, but I have to say HOLLY at 10a was my top favourite. I must admit I had to look up t’win for 14a TWIN-TUB and thereby found out a lot about Yorkshire accents.
    Thanks to Qaos and Cineraria – and to TassieTim@4 for the delightful story (agreeing with you, SueM48@10). [Also agreeing with you, paddymelon@ re the song “Bright Eyes” – mine always end up shining with tears when I hear it. Also liked your washing machine back-story. Mum had a wood-burning copper, then a wringer machine – scary stuff as her sister, my aunt, got her arm caught in one – then Mum was so proud of her twin-tub, which she bought on hire purchase, and so paid more than twice what it was worth with interest because she couldn’t afford the purchase up front!]

26. [We crossed beaulieu@24; I liked the cross-over stories about our mother’s washing machines.]

27. [Julie in Australia@25. . I also go back to the wood-fire copper days. Another day. Another story.

28. [Sorry beaulieu – I meant our mothers’ washing machines (misplaced apostrophe)! Strong memories of the copper and the clothes tongs, paddymelon@27!
    Brownphel@17, just re ANIMATION at 9a: I parsed it as 1 beside 1000 giving 1M (IM), as the blog suggests, which I thought was fair enough.]

29. I too missed the theme, as per usual. EVIDENCES made me growl with displeasure as the turning of nouns into verbs when a perfectly appropriate verb already exists is one of my bete noires. I must be becoming a curmudgeon because I was tempted to harrumph at ‘vid’ for video – surely an abbreviation unless you’re too young for cryptic crosswords?

    26 seemed to me to be missing a definition, or at least to have ‘vessels’ doing double duty, but as no one else has commented I suppose that’s legit.

    DANDELION was my fave by a mile, just tickled me.

30. NAIL-BITERS was FOI thanks to classical education. I would only think of a DANDELION as a weed if it were on a lawn. Otherwise I’d call it a wild flower. Particularly en masse they can be quite striking.

31. I love a cup of BLACK TIE. Gentle stroll and nice theme. Heartwarming story TassieTim @4.

    Ta Qaos & Cineraria.

32. [JiA – I was wondering if I had a long-lost half-sister – which knowing my mother would have been extremely unlikely!]

33. Sorbus@29 vessels is just the definition. On board means that HI P is being carried by SS ( steamship) .

34. A very good puzzle. Of course, I didn’t spot the theme, despite having enjoyed the book and radio adaptation and walked over Watership Down (it’s on the Wayfarers’ Walk long-distance path). I’ve even had lunch in the pub named after the Down, which is a little way away outside Whitchurch.

    To pick up on Beaulieu @24’s comment, I once worked with someone who had been one of Richard Adams’ staff in the ministry (either Transport or Housing and Local Government) and she didn’t have a good word for him – the sort of boss who would find an excuse not to turn up if there was a tricky meeting coming up. When Watership Down appeared, it became obvious where his interests (and undoubted talents) had lain.

35. AlanC@31 my BLACK TIE drinking is legendary , I am the easiest person to make a cup of tea for. Earl Grey of course ( from Aldi ) .

36. Sorbus@29. Vessels is the definition. See TimC’s comment at 7 in response to Shaji@6 if that helps clear up the clue for SHIPS.

37. Paddymelon@36. I agree more with Shaji@6, ‘on board’ seems to be both providing the steamship and indicating how to arrange all the bits. But as SS would seem to indicate just the one ship that makes ‘vessels’ slightly off as a definition. The clue doesn’t quite work for me, but I’m willing to accept that the fault lies with me.

    Zoot@30 I’ve always liked the definition of a weed as ‘a plant in the wrong place”. Context is everything – the worst weed in my garden is the Aquilegia that seeds everywhere and is difficult to eliminate from crevices.

38. [Sorry. Missed Roz’s reply@33 to Sorbus@29 re SHIPS]

39. Tough and enjoyable challenge. I saw the Watership Down theme after I completed the puzzle. I must re-read that book sometime soon – I enjoyed it as a child/teen.

    New for me: ONYCHOPHAGISTS (for 3d).

    Favourites: ZIGZAG, ANIMATION, HOLLY, THEIR.

    I did not understand the Noddy Holder bit in 7d but I was indeed thinking of black tea = dairy-free cuppa.

    Thanks, both.

40. Cineraria@8:
    Not an Yorkshire native 🙂
    I was looking up various explanations for T’ and came across this one which says T’ is TO

    https://www.jonashotel.co.uk/blog/a-guide-to-yorkshire-slang/#:~:text=%27Ey%20Up%20%E2%80%93%20Hello,T%27%20%E2%80%93%20To

    There were others that said ‘T was TO THE as well. So will defer to real Yorkshire natives on this one!

41. I thought that was a very enjoyable crossword. I shrugged a bit at Holly, because I hadn’t spotted the double l, which is a shame as it’s that kind of humour that makes Qaos one of my favourite setters. Sorbus@29 , I share your dislike of ugly new word usage. However, as an ex detective, evidence as a verb was used in quite a specific way during major enquiries. A standard instruction to a member of an enquiry team would be to attempt to ‘evidence’ a suspected fact. This was distinct from proving a fact, as there may well be evidence both for and against. Just to make you growl a little more… the instruction was known on the computerised system as an action, so officers were asked to ‘action’ a line of enquiry.

42. As a long-time Yorkshire resident I’d say t” is an abbreviation of ‘the’, whilst ‘to the’ becomes t’ t’ as in ‘t t’pub’, although ‘down t’pub’ is probably more idiomatic.

43. [Various re Yorkshire. As a born and bred Yorkshireman, who did 27 years missionary work on the dark side, i.e. Lancashire, t’ is DEFINITELY short for the. When pronouncing “to the”, it becomes to t’, but the t’ isn’t really pronounced as t – a sort of sound is made, but it’s not a pronunciation of t. I wish I knew what the word was!]

44. Much enjoyed. Even though I knew the book well, I still missed the theme.

    Decades ago a colleague brought a quiz based on his wife’s teaching days in South Yorkshire. Ts featured a lot. Even to someone coming from not much further north, the translations proved tricky. The one I still recall is TINTINTIN = “It isn’t in the tin”.

    Many thanks, Qaos. What a fine mix of clues.

45. Well, it’s Qaos so there must be a theme, and it seems to be shrubs or plants, oops!

    I liked the brown Hades inhabitants, DANDELION, the ZIGZAG guitarist, INSISTED, and RABBITED.

    Thanks Qaos and Cineraria.

46. Crispy @43, as someone from the darkside 🙂 I would pronounce “to” as ‘t’ followed by a schwa. I think that’s the word you mean. So “I’m going to (the) shops” would be “I’m going t(ə) (the or t’) shops”.
    Choldunk2 @44, tintintin is lovely and I also like “tintontinternet” (it isn’t on the internet)

47. Overall, an enjoyable puzzle, much of it quite easy. Pleasantly concise clues this week after some recent convoluted essay clues. No theme was indicated, so, as usual, I didn’t look for one. Either homophone in 8d could fit, and I had AYES. I also had HALEY for 10ac, a reasonable answer, I suggest.. I took a while to finish the NW corner. As commented earlier, IM is not 11,000. My ancient copy of Kennedy’s ‘The Revised Latin Primer’ didn’t help. I suppose that leaving out the space between 1 and 1,000 was a deliberate misdirection. I quite liked my last few in, namely BACH, HAZEL, ZIGZAG, and FIVERS.

48. I had no idea of the theme, nor that TEA could be pronounced TIE. The singular they/THEIR is much older than modern non-gendered sensitivities and I think occurs in Shakespeare simply as a neuter.

49. 11,000 = IM is a new kind of lift and separate, and one that confused me for a long time. Oh well, Qaos has form for clues of this kind. On the other hand, NAIL-BITERS was hardly cryptic at all: just look it up!

    I enjoyed the Yorkshire and Black Country accents and found the theme soon enough for it to be helpful. But t’ doesn’t stand for “to” in Yorkshire accents (though it can in other contexts), it’s “the”.

50. gladys @49. Many years ago, when I came across a grouse shoot on the North York moors, I asked one of the helpers why the shooters all had to be driven up there. Why don’t they walk? His broad Yorkshire reply was “Some of them wouldn’t even walk t’ toilet”.

51. Crispy@43 I think the word(s) you’re seeking is “glottal stop”. A sort of pause but definitely not a T sound – despite what regular “I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue” contributors might have us believe 😉

52. gladys@49

    Including a word like ‘onychopagists’ in the clue for ‘nail-biters’ was a bit of an own-goal by the setter. I’m sure most people would never have heard of the word and their first reaction would be to google it to find out its meaning, and this would have given them the answer on a plate. A far more challenging clue could be written by using ‘onychologists’ as the answer and ‘nail-biters’ as the definition part of the clue.

53. me@52
    ops! Looks like I can’t spell onychophagists.

54. Tough but enjoyable. TWINTUB and HOLLY were my faves.
    Completely missed the theme, but then I only read that book once, when I were nobbut a bairn.
    I recall the walk to school from the railway station took me past a butchers. One time there was a line of rabbits hanging heads-down in the window, and underneath them was written:
    “Watership Down. You’ve read the book, you’ve seen the film, you’ve heard the song – now eat the stars!”
    Many thanks Qaos and Cineraria

55. I have neither read Watership Down nor seen the ANIMATION, although I do remember BRIGHT EYES and knew that it was linked to the film. How, therefore, did I quickly twig the theme and know so many of the rabbits’ names? I seem to possess knowledge of things the origin of which I can’t recall. Then just this morning I remembered the novel being a part-theme of a puzzle that Paul set back on 22nd January 2021 (the part being The Hitchhiker’s Guide by Douglas Adams.

56. For once I twigged the theme early (from Bigwig and Fiver) and got a lot of help out of it, having read Watership Down as a child and remembering the characters these decades later. I wonder if MINI-SUB is also a cheeky reference to the theme as it is what a lot of people might think Watership Down is about if they don’t see the cover with the rabbits? Thanks Qaos and Cineraria! I would like to add an appropriate encomium in Lapin but the only Lapin I can remember is “silflay hraka, oo embleer rah” so, uh, may El-ahrarah bless you and may the Black Rabbit stay far away.

    [Did anyone else have the role-playing game Bunnies & Burrows where the character classes were very closely modeled after the main rabbits in Watership Down? Seer like Fiver, Herbalist like Blackberry, Scout like Dandelion I think or was he the storyteller?, Fighter like Bigwig of course, etc.]

57. Tim@46, Lin @51. ‘Appen tha could both be reyt.

58. I enjoyed this despite not noticing the theme (which I knew enough about to notice if only I had remembered to look for connections). I liked the sheer variety of clues, including tricks with the sounds of words (or syllables), which I have come to expect from Qaos.

    Thanks to Qaos and Cineraria.

59. Sorbus#37 [ If a strange plant appears in my wife’s garden or allotment she often lets it develop and if she likes it and it isn’t making a nuisance of itself, lets it stay. She’s gained some lovely additions, including Deptford pinks.]

60. We completed, and Yorkshire Lass annotated our copy ‘Theme ? ?’ Spotted straight away when we picked it up to check the comments here. Qaos is a favourite with us – love the clever numericals – and this was well up to his excellent standard.

    Our house is full of Yorkshire supremacist items, so tintintin is an old friend. OW MUCH? is in frequent use in God’s own country I can confirm, but my personal pick is ‘Shy bairns get nowt’.

    Astonished that so many posters had not read Watership Down – how could they not?

    Many thanks to setter and blogger. 😊

61. Wellbeck@54: on a visit to the Cotswolds a few years ago we passed a butchers’ shop advertising Fwesh Wocal Wabbit, together with a cartoon of Bugs himself. So Elmer Fudd got him at last!

62. Andy@52. I had a slightly different thought about the straight definition for NAIL BITERS. I could see, like everyone else, that looking up ‘onychophagists’ would lead me straight to the answer, but I took the view that I am here to solve a cryptic crossword. If the setter chooses to include a straight definition, I will make a point of solving it from the wordplay and crossers. So this clue was one of my last in!

    I normally only reach for my Chambers if there’s a dispute in the discussion here. I never look things up in order to get the answer. Am I the only one?

    Thanks to Qaos (sorry, missed the theme!) and Cineraria.

63. SH@62 Since “-phage” means “eater”, I figured the other half of the word had to mean “nail.”

64. Sheffield Hatter@62 , I never look things up when solving normal puzzles , in the week I am on the train so not possible and I never use the internet . I will check things of interest in Chambers later and , like you , to answer queries in the blog.
    For Azed I try to solve without Chambers and manage it about half the time. A lot of checking after I have finished.

65. As Shanne said at 12, t’ is Yorkshire for the. To be correct the clue should have read “The success” but that would have spoiled the surface.
    Prepared, mess, and unruly are acceptable anagrinds but in what context does smoking involve rearranging things?
    I’m not surprised to find Noddy Holder in a clue (It won’t be long now before he’s inescapable in supermarkets) but expecting me to know that he has a Black Country accent is going a bit far. On the other hand, given the definition and enumeration, I doubt if anyone failed to get this, even without crossers.
    Thanks to Qaos and Cineraria.

66. First time I’ve been able to complete and pretty much fully parse a Prize without cheating (apart from the previously discussed nail-biting Google search) so I feel this warrants a first post in the comments here after a long time silently lurking! A very enjoyable puzzle, thanks Qaos and Cineraria. And I can highly recommend the recent audio book of Watership Down, narrated superbly by Peter Capaldi.

67. Welcome, Tread Softly!

68. Got the theme early–and would say it is not necessarily a children’s book. (Just as Orwell’s ANIMAL FARM isn’t.)

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