I’m a great fan of Philistine’s puzzles, so was delighted to see his name on this one and really enjoyed the solve.
The key ‘before 9’ was intriguing while working my way through the across clues but by the time I got to 9dn I had enough crossers to see that the answer was CHANGING SIDES, which is what we had to do in eight clues – change R to L in every case, which I found very entertaining. What I thought was particularly impressive was that the clues were so precisely written that there was none of the irritating ambiguity that we so often find in homophone or reversal clues and there were, as ever with Philistine, lovely surfaces [almost*] throughout.
There seemed to be rather a lot of anagrams – but they were clever ones – and hidden answers but I’m not complaining about that. Many thanks, Philistine, for a really fun puzzle.
Across
1 Supplements for the dead and injured (7)
ADDENDA
Anagram [injured] of DEAD AND – after all the talk about gerundives a couple of weeks ago, I had ADDENDUM to blog last week and now here’s its plural – things [requiring] to be added
5 Not being there and not drinking out of can (7)
ABSENCE
ABS[tin]ENCE [not drinking] minus [out of] tin [can] – great surface!
10 Strasbourg out of order? On the contrary! (4)
ASBO
Hidden in strASBOurg – so ‘order out of Strasbourg’
The ASBO itself may be unfamiliar to non-UK solvers but it must, by now, have found a place among those crossword words, like etui, elan et al. I know I have blogged it several times myself and I think that each time I have said that I make no apology for quoting again the late and much-missed Linda Smith’s remark on The News Quiz: “People knock Asbos but you have to bear in mind, they are the only qualifications some of these kids are going to get”
– and I’m still not apologising.
11 Possible damage to vehicle (Saab, with front missing) (10)
ACHIEVABLE
Anagram [damage] of VEHICLE [s]AAB [with first letter missing]
12 Before 9, delight in being generous (6)
LAVISH
LAVISH = generous, from ravish = delight
13 Brazil may be nothing to France, having the ultimate in restaurant food (8)
NUTRIENT
NUT [Brazil may be or, rather, maybe – clever!] + RIEN [French for nothing] + restauranT
14 Tiny vase differed, as halved and returned in statement (9)
AFFIDAVIT
Reversal of first halves of TIny VAse DIFFered As
* [see above] I may be missing something I know not of but, for me, this surface is quite uncharacteristically incomprehensible!
16 Tucker’s partner joins the French in a book (5)
BIBLE
BIB [Tucker’s partner, as in ‘best bib and tucker’] + LE [the French]
17 Before 9, get to ooze (5)
LEACH
LEACH = ooze, from reach = get to
19 It’s a total wreck: get garage (9)
AGGREGATE
Anagram [wreck] of GET GARAGE
23 “Really ravenous readers?” — that’s some alliteration! (8)
LITERATI
Hidden in alLITERATIon – I really liked this one
24 Epidemic in the city before 9 (6)
PLAGUE
PLAGUE = epidemic, from Prague = city
26 Leaves shocking war secrets (10)
WATERCRESS
Anagram [shocking] of WAR SECRETS
27 Vitality prevalent before 9 (4)
LIFE
LIFE = vitality, from rife = prevalent
28 Send a message to Maurice, perhaps, for material (7)
TEXTILE
TEXT [send a message] + ILE [Maurice, perhaps – Ile Maurice is French for Mauritius]
29 City accommodation in some anonymity (3,4)
NEW YORK
NY is hidden in anoNYmity
Down
2 Pertaining to females — awfully staid females (7)
DISTAFF
Anagram [awfully] of STAID + FF [females] – in heraldry, the female side of the family, spinning, of course, being ‘women’s work’ – as opposed to the ‘sword’ {male} side – cf ‘spinster’, which my SOED tells me can be ‘a spider or other insect that spins’, which immediately calls to mind our local hero[ine] Arachne, by no means an awfully staid female!
3 What contributes to both ulcerative colitis and gastroenteritis? (1,4)
E COLI
Hidden in ulcerativE COLItis and a cause of gastroenteritis [and, for all I know, of ulcerative colitis, too – a clever clue, anyway]
4 Money for church in play (7)
DRACHMA
CH [church] in DRAMA [play]
6 Inspiration note filed where Archimedes found his (6)
BREATH
RE [note] in BATH, where Archimedes found his metaphorical inspiration
7 Considering cutback on excavation (9)
EXAMINING
Reversal [back] of AXE [cut] + MINING [excavation]
8 Officer who called an inquest before 9 (7)
COLONEL
COLONEL = officer from coroner, who called an inquest – a clever double substitution
9 Defection is suspended in gas on the 15th? (8,5)
CHANGING SIDES
HANGING [suspended] in CS [gas] + IDES [the 15th]: the question mark is to acknowledge that it was only in March [famously], May, July and October that the Ides fell on the 15th – in all other months it was the 13th.
15 Rise before 9 — that’s harsh (9)
INCLEMENT
INCLEMENT = harsh, from increment = rise
18 Pluck and energy needed by someone washing hands (7)
EPILATE
E [energy] + PILATE [someone washing hands]
20 Rather intriguing puzzle — online solvers’ thoughtful effort leads to the answer (7)
RIPOSTE
First letters [leads] of Rather Intriguing Puzzle Online Solvers’ Thoughtful Effort – I loved this surface
21 To date, one needs a variety of fur hats (4,3)
THUS FAR
Anagram [variety] of FUR HATS
22 Wipe out “tropical” disease before 9 (6)
CANCEL
CANCEL = wipe out, from cancer, disease, with a neat reference to the Tropic of Cancer
25 Calm arrangement before 9 (5)
ALLAY
ALLAY = calm, from array = arrangement, another double substitution
Thanks all
I really cannot decide here: very enjoyable as usual with Philistine.
I don’t know whether to compliment him on a clever theme or to wonder as I always do whether themes add anything to a puzzle. If it’s a set of good clues which are satisfying enough to solve then do we need the artificiality of some ‘champagne’ fizz on top ?
Thanks to Eileen for the blog. Once again there were several cases where I had the answer without seeing the parsing.
On 14a I had DIFF as half of ‘differed’ but failed to see the other halves. 🙁
19a had (9-letter fodder) wreck (9-letter fodder). I started by trying to make an anagram from the first 9-letter bit and got nowhere useful so I tried the other 9-letter bit and got a result!
On 28 I did not know Maurice so again I was left thinking TEXTILE is clearly what’s wanted but whence come the ‘ile’?
20d had me fooled completely. I normally spot clue words like ‘leads’ and apply them but missed out this time.
As a sideline: Riposte is the name of the software that ran on Post Office counters until 3 years ago. I know this because, before my retirement, I was in the Fujitsu team that supported the PO.
Sorry, I had forgotten that this was Philistine’s first ‘prize’ and what better excuse than a prize for a sample of the bubbly.
Thanks for the blog Eileen. Nice theme. Further to discussion yesterday, word order is relevant here as well. In crosswordese “before” can also mean “after” depending on position, to suit the surface. English likes Subject Verb Object while Latin can validly have SOV, OVS, OSV, VSO and VOS: okay for poets and setters, too, to jump about sometimes. While here the “before” can be anywhere, Philistine consistently has the thing-to-be-changed adjacent to it.
Isn’t the French for Mauritius L’Île Maurice? That mucks up TEXTILE, it’s a spectacularly obscure reference as well, hardly a difficult fill but it seems to be a “smooth surface” (whatever that actually means) too far.
That said, AFFIDAVIT was very nice despite the apparent incomprehensibility.
Many thanks Eileen & Philistine.
This was very enjoyable but I failed to get 18d EPILATE – a word that I’d never heard of.
But no complaints from me. It’s entirely possible that there is another word somewhere that I’ve never heard of.
Indeed, I had always thought that PILATES was a form of exercise. How we live and learn.
Thanks, Eileen (and Philistine). I particularly liked 10, 6, and 18 but came a cropper on 7, where I don’t like the reversal indicator “back” in a down clue. I wasn’t that enthusiastic about 29, where the answer was obvious from the definition and crossing letters, but where only two letters of the answer were indicated by the wordplay.
Thanks, Eileen. I really enjoyed this.
I thought the clunky surface of the clue for AFFIDAVIT was quite kind, since it signposted the construction of the clue which might, otherwise, have been hard to spot.
sidey @5, since Mauritius is normally referred to simply as Maurice in French, it seems quite OK for “Maurice, say” to mean the French word for “island” on its own without any accompanying article.
bridgesong @7, I read the NEW YORK clue as saying that an “accommodation” i.e. abbreviation of the name was to be found in anonymity.
Just a tad more taxing than last week but still far too easy for a Prize in my opinion.
Is someone making a point or just not doing their job?
Again some ludicrously easily clues and the much referenced 9D was almost a write in making the clues which referenced it very easy! Not much of a challenge to be faced here!
Although this was enjoyable, while it lasted, it was all done and dusted in 45 mins!!!!
What do I do now? Genius is done (which shares a not so common solution with this (EPILATE)) (Written last Saturday!)
Thanks to Eileen and Philistine
Thanks for the blog.
I often have mixed feelings about themed crosswords but I particularly liked this one. “before 9” added a little extra complexity to the solve and more interest to the surfaces without requiring any ‘obscure’ domain knowledge.
Well done Philistine.
I enjoyed this one and thought it was a decent Prize puzzle.
I agree with NeilW@8 about the use of “Ile”, although I did have to check “Maurice” post solve to see exactly where it referred to.
@Brendan NTO; “What do I do now?” … Get a life, if easy prize crosswords bother you SOOOO much!
Cruel, but fair.
Tim Phillips @12
This is a message board about crosswords. It’s not life. This is the arena in which one moans about, praises or just muses about crosswords. That’s it’s purpose.
If you want to criticise people for using this arena for its intended purpose I think you’re in the wrong place 😉
Thanks Philistine for a pleasant solve.
Thanks Eileen; I echo your preamble comments. I got started with the PLAGUE/Prague answer before I got 9 and just lazily assumed it was CHANGING hands, although of course it didn’t parse properly. I particularly liked ABSENCE (‘not drinking out of can.’)
Anyone know who IMOGEN is in today’s Prize? Could it be related to Sandy Balfour’s ‘I Say Nothing’?
Thanks Eileen,
I really enjoyed this puzzle which I didn’t find ‘too easy’ although I’m not an expert solver.
I also have a poor memory which means that I struggle to come up with simple words and so I was
pleased to finish it. It took me off and on till Monday though. I also prefer a theme rather than
26+ unrelated clues, as I find it more interesting. I particularly liked BIBLE, LITERATI, EXAMINING
AND RIPOSTE. Thanks a lot Philistine.
PS In response to 9’s (how apposite) question “What do I do now?”, the answer is obvious is it not !.
Bathe in your own glory.
Thanks Eileen and Philistine
I enjoyed this.
These arguments about the level of difficulty of prize puzzles are getting tiresomely repetitive. The prize is a temptation to participate in a lottery as much as as anything else. In any case, this puzzle was at a sufficent level of difficulty for most purposes and was also cleverly constructed and amusing.
I ticked 14a, 8d and 9d as I went along.
Ooh, Brendan NTO – a mis-placed apostrophe? Tut tut. Dilutes your point a bit, dear chap.
Indeed, it is all about crosswords. My view on crosswords is similar to that of tupu; I am not aware of any ‘rules’ that dictate the difficulty of a prize crossword. Do it, have fun and if you can complete it and feel so inclined, send it in.
I think an inherent characteristic of something like FifteenSquared is that a relatively small number of regular contributors might think they represent all the people who have a go at crosswords (or at least, those of a standard to which this site refers). By definition (sic) the opposite is almost certainly true; but unless this site is to be confined only to those who want to debate such niceties, part-timers like me have every right to chip in and rail at comments such as BNTO’s.
Moving on, I have to say that recently I have really been getting my teeth into the Guardian’s crosswords and may have to stop claiming to be a part-timer; and the main thing that has enabled me to do that is…FifteenSquared! So, respect to all setters, bloggers and solvers, including my mate Brendan (cryptically doesn’t append identifying initials…)
Oh no! BNTO’s or BNTOs?????
I thought it was a nice puzzle and a fun solve but being a dumb American, asbo went right over my head. I put in esco as the closest thing to an “order” coming out of Strasbourg.
I enjoyed this, and don’t remember finding it particularly easy or difficult, so won’t comment on that, though I do remember WATERCRESS taking longer than it shoyld. Must admit that I’m getting bored with comments about prize puzzles being too easy – mind you I’ve never entered. And I for one don’t claim to represent anybody.
Robi @14 – I’m not sure we should be discussing it yet but there is an Imogen crossword in the Guardian archive from back in 2003!
Thanks, tupu@16 and beery hiker@20. I remember how delighted my husband and I were, decades ago, as beginners, when we completed our first Prize crossword and naively thought that all we had to do was to send it in, in order to win! [I did eventually win my now out-of-date and rather battered Collins by myself. That may be one reason why I prefer it to Chambers.]
Otterden’s comment on last week’s Prize puzzle finally made it plain that puzzles are not apparently [always] designated as Prize ones, so there’s no reason why they should be more difficult. I know several people who, for various reasons, only do the Saturday puzzle and they’re basically looking for entertainment – and a bit of *fun*, which I think this puzzle certainly was.
Unfortunately, the ‘tiresomely repetitive’ ‘too easy’ comments are not confined to the Saturday puzzle!
Hi Dewey @19 – file it away! As I said, it does come up quite often in different guises.
Tim Phillips @17 – Well said.
What struck me about B(nto)’s comment was not so much his assertion that the Prize should not be “easy” but his measure of easiness.
45 mins to solve = “far too easy”
Were you at some point in the past a journalist? Your selective quoting seems to suggest you were.
That would explain a lot 😉
This week’s is by Imogen – according to the list of setters s/he made a debut in 2014, but I can’t find a trace. Is this week’s the first by this setter?
Dave Ellison,
I too couldn’t find her (I do believe she’s a she) although I only had a brief search. Damn fine puzzle though!
I’m planning to compile a list of all Guardian Cryptics (inc Prize) with date, compiler, puzzle number. The archive goes back to No 21,620 on 24th June 1999. (I think)
It’s not straightforward as the numbering seems to go awry occasionally and some puzzles are missing or incorrectly url’ed! If I ever get there I’ll make it freely available. (Probably as a spreadsheet!)
Unless of course somebody has already done this?
Brendan @25 – I have a spreadsheet that does exactly that, with a count and percentage for each setter in each year, but I don’t have it with me in the office. Imogen only appears in the prize crosswords list but there has been at least one previous one, in 2003, which was before 15^2 started. Unsurprisingly the top 3 setters in that period are Araucaria, Rufus and Paul, with Gordius a fairly distant fourth.
I have posted a summary of my list on the General Discussion page, since if we are to continue the discussion, that seems a more appropriate place.