Guardian Prize 29,631 by Matilda

53 comments on “Guardian Prize 29,631 by Matilda”

1. In the nursery rhyme, baa baa black sheep has three bags full. Not quite a hoard, perhaps, but probably more than a sheep’s worth. Just a thought – might be wrong. But nice puzzle. Matilda, thank you. And thank you bridgesong for the solve and giving me a few parsings I hadn’t got

2. BOGUS I thought might possibly be GO up (rise) in BUS. STRIDOR is just a hidden reversal? But was beaten by ACTUAL!

3. STRIDOR is just hidden (to suppress) [ZE]RO DIRT S[HOULD] reversed (come back).

   BOGUS should be read as “GO up (rise) in BUS (public transport).”
   I had quite a few delighted laughs working on this puzzle.

4. Agree with Jaydee@1 regarding baa baa BLACK SHEEP being the “hoarder” of 3 bags of wool.
   I did wonder if the BREAKING UP… theme might be a commentary on the Guardian/Observer split.
   Very enjoyable puzzle, thanks to Matilda and Bridgesong.

5. Solid, consistent puzzle! No particular favourites since I enjoyed it all.

   The three clues queried in the blog post were also the ones that had me scratching my head at first, but I came to the same interpretations reached by previous commenters. Like our bloggers, I spent really too long thinking “zero” was just O, and it was only my total failure to come up with a cryptic interpretation for the word “should” which led me to remember the sage advice given by another contributor recently: when you really can’t make sense of it, look for a hidden!

   Loved the wool hoarder.

   Thanks both

6. Thanks bridgesong – and Cineraria. I couldn’t reconcile the R and the S either. This was welcome after last week’s experience and I enjoyed it. Just about the right order of difficulty for me with enough twists and turns to be admired without having to cudgel the thinking apparatus and follow up obscure references. Still not sure about ‘suppress’ in 28a though. 2d was LOI, I was fixated on current=AC and couldn’t see past that.

7. Enjoyed the puzzle. I thought it was quite gentle although the parsing for DISGRACE was beyond me (apart from the definition). I think I did Everyman, the Quiptic, and the Prize last Sunday afternoon and felt the Everyman was the most difficult of the three. Which seems ironic after the blogger for the previous week’s Everyman suggested the setter ‘had listened to us’ and was becoming ‘more straightforward’. Not a complaint, more of an observation. Thanks bridgesong and Matilda.

8. That was fun and for me held enough challenge to be entertaining. I couldn’t fully parse 18a, LABOUR PARTY (couldn’t see where the PAR came from), 2d ACTUAL, 3,9,14d BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO, or 23d BOGUS, so thanks to bridgesong, Timon, jkb_ing@2 and cineraria@3. All of them now seem so obvious, although I still don’t really understand “way of getting” for BREAKING . Many thanks to Matilda for a very enjoyable Prize puzzle.

9. A thoroughly enjoyable experience, as always, from Matilda. Smooth surfaces and plenty of smiles. Matilda has set many quiptics and these are worth trying for anyone who has not encountered her before.

   Julie in Australia@8 – in 3D etc. there is a reverse clue: the answer to how do you get ‘a Druid’s photo’? is by an anagram of (i.e. breaking) ……..

10. Thanks Larry@9; I see. I got confused as BREAKING is part of the solution as well as being the anagram indicator. I was going somewhere silly with the idea of “breaking and entering” as a way of getting something.

11. Very enjoyable puzzle. Nice blog.
    My faves were LABOUR PARTY, the &lit PAVE, ACTUAL, WE ARE OVER and BOGUS.

    STRIDOR
    Biggles A@6
    Cineraria@3 has explained it. zeRODIRTShould come(s?) back to suppress (to hide) STRIDOR.
    One can argue if ‘come back’ works all right in the cryptic reading.

    BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO
    Read it as Larry@9
    BREAKING up is hard to do (is a) way of getting ‘a druid’s photo’.

12. The nursery rhyme was still current in the 50s – “Baa, baa black sheep, have you any wool? Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full, one for the master, one for the dame, and one for the little boy who lives down the lane….” So the clue was a write-in for those who were 3 in 1956.
    I trotted through this one quite easily. I nearly got stuck on the unknown breathing problem….until I saw the backwards hidden.

13. Vinyl1@12 well I was 3 in 1956, amazingly, but it was not a write-in for me. Just sayin’!

14. I also enjoyed this very much. Needed help parsing a couple.

    Favourites were: UNTIE, BLACK SHEEP, GREY MATTER, CLAPTRAP

    Thanks Matilda and bridgesong

15. Same as AP@5

16. Thanks for the blog, really lovely set of neat and clever clues , I really like replacement clues such as WORSHIP and ACTUAL but I have a list of many more. By coincidence Azed had the warship idea the day after .
    I agree with Jaydee@1 for the BLACK SHEEP and Vinyl1@12 , it is still current.
    I did not know Copy and Paste , I still cut and paste with scissors and glue-stick .

17. Thoroughly enjoyable solve, although I did feel a bit for the misunderstood BLACK SHEEP. Sure, it had three bags of wool in it’s possession, but it seems clear that it intended to pass them on. Hardly hoarding…

18. WildRover @17 that’s my view as well.

19. Thanks, all, for clarifying the three answers which I had been unable to explain fully. I am certainly old enough to remember Baa, baa, Black Sheep so should have recognised that reference.

    STRIDOR was very clever. Having persuaded myself that “zero” indicated O (as it often does) I then closed my mind to any other role that word might in fact play in the clue. I have never seen “suppress” used as a hidden word indicator (although it’s perfectly fair) so wasn’t looking for a hidden word.

    And BOGUS is completely straightforward (GO upwards in a down clue is a way of saying “rise”) so I don’t understand why it defeated me. Perhaps the cold that has afflicted me this week has addled my brain!

20. There was a small error in my parsing of BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO (I had omitted UP) which I have now corrected. But Larry @9 and Kva @11 have explained it better than I did.

21. A lovely fresh feel to this puzzle. Many thanks, Matilda. Thanks also to bridgesong and others for parsing the ones I was shaky on. The nursery rhyme clueing of BLACK SHEEP was superb.

    After Roz @16, I’m now left with the image of an expertly constructed blackmail letter.

22. [15d IMPARTIAL: 1 MP (one politician) + A (On a) + (TRIAL)* (criminal).]
    TiLT: Neil Sedaka had a US No.1 with a slow version of 3d, 19d, 24d in 1975 – a golden anniversary, unheard of in the UK.
    Alexander McQueen [1969–2010] ‘…had a rough childhood: he was bullied for being “the pink sheep of the family”, as he described it’

23. An enjoyable stroll with some clever and amusing features.

    Of these I thought MATTER was excellent and really made me smile.

24. Talking of MATTER (Woody@23), I meant to mention: did anyone else think it odd that GREY could have been spelt gray? The fact that the vowel isn’t a checker is neat for its orthographic inclusivity, but multiple right answers seemed strange for a prize puzzle. Personally, I never remember which variant of this particular word is the American one. In fact I suspect I use the variants interchangeably!

25. That was delightful. Matilda in Berlin was a clever change to the more frequently used common foreign words. Baa-baa black sheep was an early lament for the squeezed middle as all the wool was reserved for the master, the dame and the little boy who cries down the lane.

26. AP @24 – I thought GREY was the ‘correct’ British spelling, whereas GRAY is in the US. But I’m sure all reputable dictionaries would have both if I could be bothered to look.

27. AP @24: yes, the same thought occurred to me. Chambers characterises the GRAY alternative spelling as “esp N American”, but I don’t see how it could be marked as wrong.

28. Thanks B. Im still vaguely uncomfortable with the parsing of 23D. Of course I get rise as a reversal indicator in a down clue but what is the fodder for GO? Is “rise” doing some double duty? Never mind, it was a pleasure solving the whole puzzle. Thanks Matilda and hope you do some more Saturdays soon.

29. Nobody has yet queried 6d. We got it OK as LEER upside down, but surely a spindle is the rod or axle round which something rotates, whereas a reel is the thing that rotates?

    But a lovely puzzle, with several clues involving changes to the inside of a non-solution word.

30. Timon@28
    BOGUS
    Rise=GO up (see Cineraria@3). Not ‘rise’, but ‘up’ is the reversal indicator.
    I liked the device. Some may think it’s somewhat indirect.

31. Happy to see Matilda in the prize spot. I enjoyed it so am not going to repeat earlier quibbles.
    Roz@16. LOL. I still have scissors and glue sticks.
    Petert@25 .I have never before seen the setter’s translation into a different language. Fortunately I do have some German. I thought that a pretty clever innovation.

32. Tricky but enjoyable.

    Favourites: WE ARE OVER; PASTICHE (loi).

    I could not parse the LABOUR bit of 18ac; 2d.

    New for me: STRIDOR.

33. A delightful puzzle and good to have it in the Prize slot.

    Lots of smiles, especially at CHUBBY and the wool hoarder’s disgrace and lots of ticks. Top favourite was PASTICHE, for both Matilda in Berlin and copy partner – a double ‘aha’.

    Many thanks to Matilda and Bridgesong.

34. A very enjoyable solve, with enough clever devices to have us still exercising the 13d a week later. BOGUS is particularly tricky, with ‘rise’=GO up hard enough to see, but then the reversed OG is travelling ‘by’ BUS, so we have to imagine those letters taking a seat on or in the bus. That question mark at the end of the clue really does a lot of heavy lifting!

    Thanks to Matilda and Bridgesong.

35. Lovely solve and great blog. I particularly liked your OVA story, Timon 😎. Many thanks to you, Matilda and to the contributors above who added clarifications. My favourites were the deceptive ACTUAL (I was stuck on AC for ages too) and STRIDOR. Ron@29, I didn’t question it at the time, but I do see the point you make.

36. Enjoyed this (after last week’s…) . Lots of ticks for clues. Just on black sheep, true black wool doesn’t take dyes, so was less valued than lighter fleeces that do dye nicely. I don’t know if that explains why “baa baa black sheep” has a lot of wool, but maybe. Thanks to Matilda, blogger and contributors here as always.

37. D’oh! Tks KVa @30. I get it now. In fact I think I parsed it so when we solved it. A very neat device.
    ” I must not post comments before I have fully woken (up)” ×50.

38. Pleasant Prize performance. I liked the nitrogen vials cleared in NAIL VARNISH, the druid’s photo in BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO, the nicely-hidden HISTORIC, Matilda in Berlin in PASTICHE, the intelligence in GREY MATTER, and the ‘hands in hat’ of CLAPTRAP. A small point, but I think IMPARTIAL is parsed as IMP/A/*trial.

    Thanks Matilda and bridgesong.

39. I couldn’t parse WE ARE OVER. This kind of non-rhotic ‘homophone’ is not obvious to some of us. The remainder of the puzzle was good, though I also had trouble with BOGUS.

40. Lovely crossword. Favourites were the brilliant PASTICHE and BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO.

    Re BLACK SHEEP, “Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full”, muttered under the breath, used to be an insolent way of replying to an officer in the forces (according to my father).

    Many thanks Matilda and bridgesong.

41. I thoroughly enjoyed this, so much that I have sought out Matilda’s other crosswords during the week since. It’s the first time I have started and finished a Prize on the same day.

    I parsed BREAKING UP … as per Larry @11 – that the way to get “a druid’s photo” is by BREAKING UP … I was thoroughly confused by the grid for a while though, as the TO DO part is immediately below BREAKING UP, so I spent an age trying to figure out why it was being Yoda-fied into BREAKING UP TO DO IS HARD.

    Many thanks to Matilda and bridgesong.

42. I thought that Baa Baa Black Sheep was a complaint about taxation: every third bag of wool went to the little boy down the lane: the taxman (or maybe the King in those days).

    Matilda has a nice fresh style of cluing: I liked WARSHIP and CHAMBER and the druid’s photo and the neatly concealed hiddens. Not convinced that tarring a road is the same as paving it, though I expect some dictionary, short or otherwise, can be found to say so.

43. Lord Jim @40 I know it as – Yes Miss , No Miss , three bags full Miss ( or Sir ) .

    [ PDM@31 I cut up past exam papers to make booklets of questions for my students on each topic . Choldunk@21 , it is usually ransom demands . ]

44. Lord Jim @40. [ Another response was ‘Wipe your arse sir’, for ‘Right you are sir.’]

45. Very nice puzzle! I don’t remember seeing Matilda in any slot for a little while (since September if my search here is working) and it’s good to have her back. Got a big smile from BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO when I saw the parsing. I only hope that that and WE ARE OVER don’t indicate anything unfortunate in our setter’s personal life! Thanks Matilda and bridgesong.

46. Like no. 36, I took the hoarding of wool to be because nobody wants black fleeces. Enjoyable puzzle.

47. Enjoyable puzzle. Glad that most/ everyone else found likewise. I made one silly mistake. I identified LOCI as the solution to 12ac, but only pencilled it in lightly as I couldn’t justify the letters LI. I should have checked with a word finder. Favourite clues? I liked 18ac, 3d, 13d among others.

48. Never heard of Stridor and couldn’t parse it, but otherwise a very enjoyable and witty puzzle. Thank you both.

49. Matilda’s crosswords are always beautifully crafted, whether in the quiptic, regular cryptic, or prize slots. They provide smiles and often laughs in abundance. I loved bridgesong’s and Timon’s reactions to the eggs in 5d WE ARE OVER.

    Re that 5d, I originally had entered WE ARE DONE, which I thought worked reasonably well, until the varnished crosser led me to the wittier correct solution. As a rhotic speaker I had no difficulty with the non-rhotic aural wordplay for OVER – any rhoticians who have watched British films or television should be familiar with non-rhotic speech.

    Re GREY or GRAY at 13d, being Canadian we use both, although these days we will be boycotting the latter. I chose GREY because the clue made me think of Hercule Poirot’s little grey cells, and that is how Agatha Christie spelled it.

    Thank you, Matilda, bridgesong and Timon for the excellent puzzle and guffaws.

50. Probably too late to observe that the clue for STRIDOR at 28A doesn’t really work. As KVa @11 has said, the structure of the wordplay requires the containing unit “Zero dirt should” to be reversed, and “come back” cannot, grammatically, provide for that to be done. Something such as “coming back” would be grammatically correct for the wordplay, but would make nonsense of the surface. Matilda has made life hard for herself here by using “should” as part of the concealing text.

51. Rudolf@50: not too late, and thank you for making me feel better about my failure to parse the clue!

52. Rudolf and bridgesong, I read “come back” as an exhortation to return, and it seems to be grammatically correct for the wordplay, unless I am missing something.

53. I think that is fanciful, and it would make for a very odd poetical sort of construction. It is far more likely, in my view, that the setter intended the reversal indication to be “should come back”, but failed to spot that this would require “should” to do double duty. It is, however, for Matilda to say what she meant if she wishes to respond to this exchange.

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