Guardian Prize 26,890 / Puck

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Tons of fun from Puck this week!

‘Special instructions’ can be a little unnerving, especially if you’re down to blog the puzzle, and at first sight these  – ‘Thirteen of the solutions contain the same word, not further indicated in their clues’ – were a bit perplexing. Fortunately, I soon got the easy 16ac, which, with the definition, made 16dn fairly obvious, as the wordplay was helpfully straightforward. The theme was confirmed by 17ac and then the hunt was on: not exactly a doddle from then on, with one or two devilish devices, involving tricky bits of parsing, but the rest unravelled at a satisfying rate, with some typically witty surfaces to help things along, leading to a very satisfying solve.

I deliberately didn’t look at this, apart from finding out [with delight] who the setter was, before setting off for the Sloggers and Betters event at Derby last Saturday, or take it to do on the train, because I like to write the blog as soon after solving as possible, memory being what it is these days [particularly with a day of revelry in prospect 😉 ].

Several people at the event, without giving anything away, said how much they’d enjoyed it – and, as expected, so did I. Many thanks to Puck, who I think probably had a lot of fun in compiling it.

Across

7 Trendy outfit? Hot! (5-2)
RIGHT ON
RIG [outfit] + H [hot] + TON

9 Getting heavier on a regular basis? That’s a bit of a shock (4)
HAIR
H[e]A[v]I[e]R – on a regular basis

10 Eating heartily after cutback, family then drink (7,2)
TUCKING IN
Reversal [back] of CUT + KIN [family] + GIN [drink]

12 Suppressed sex appeal (3,2)
SAT ON
SA [sex appeal] + TON

13 6 21 down followed by rice pudding? That’s modern (8)
NEOTERIC
Anagram [MESS] of ETON [see 6,21dn] + an anagram [pudding] of RICE

15 Cross, if oversleeps? (4)
SPAN
Reversal [over] of NAPS [sleeps]

16 Complaint concerning English bit of steak (1-4)
T-BONE
TB [tuberculosis – complaint] + ON [concerning] + E [English]

17 Small heaps (4)
TONS
TONS [small]

18 Seat about 500 in this cinema? (3,5)
ART HOUSE
ARSE [seat] round THOU [half of THOUsand  = 500]  – surely I can’t be the only one who spent time trying to put D inside something?

21 Rule badly as male sovereign, stupidly banning One Direction (9)
MISGOVERN
M [male] + an anagram [stupidly] of SOVER[e]IGN minus [banning] E [one direction]

22 Two females after answer, following start of fling? It’s awkward and time-consuming (4)
FAFF
FF [two females] after A [answer] following F[ling]

24 Country in East Asia lacking capital (7)
ESTONIA
E [East] + [a]STONIA

25 Haircut in order? Undoubtedly (7)
TONSURE
TONSURE [undoubtedly] – I liked the play on ‘in order’ for the monk’s haircut

Down

 

1 Capital of Qatar, I gather (4)
RIGA
Hidden in qataR I GAther

2,19 One representing Ben-Hur as prince astride horse (8,6)
CHARLTON HESTON
Two tons for the price of one: CHARLTONES [prince] round [astride] H [horse] +  another TON

3 Off to get rhubarb before tucking in! (6)
ROTTEN
I solved 10ac before getting to this clue and couldn’t believe that Puck had actually given the  answer to one clue in another – especially since they were so close together. I then spent a while staring at this answer trying to parse it until the penny finally dropped – sorry, Puck 😉
ROT [rhubarb] + TEN [the clue number for TUCKING IN]

4 Island toured by bald singer (8)
BARITONE
I [island] in [toured by] BARTONE [bald]

5 Stone lost by one visiting speaker (6)
TONGUE
TONGUE[st] [one visiting, minus st – stone]

6 Pudding from M&S (4,4)
ETON MESS
Anagram of EM [M] and ESS [S] round TON Edit: I have just [5.30pm Saturday] realised that this is not an anagram – simply EM and ESS round TON – and no one else has noticed!

11 A scene surprisingly typical of a Chinese city (9)
CANTONESE
Anagram [surprisingly] of A SCENE round TON

12,20across Ray has drink with Eric (10)
SUPERTONIC
SUP [drink] + ERTONIC

14 Ancient Greek impresario (nickname thereof) (5)
Hidden in impresarIO NICkname
IONIC

16 The pupil regularly top of class in German (8)
TEUTONIC
T[h]E [p]U[p]I[l] round TON + C[lass]

17 I shun fat when cooking for swimmer (4,4)
TUNA FISH
Anagram [when cooking] of  I SHUN FAT

20,8 Nutmeg provides hiding-place for blooming militiaman in Haiti (6,7)
TONTON MACOUTE
Another BOGOF offer: TON TON + MACE [nutmeg] round [provides hiding-place for] OUT [blooming] see here for the militiaman

23 Card game for a drunk (4)
FARO
Anagram [drunk] of FOR A – simply a gem to finish with

21 comments on “Guardian Prize 26,890 / Puck”

  1. Thanks Eileen – the puzzle was fun, but over much too soon, like other things that rhyme with Puck.

  2. Thanks Eileen. I enjoyed it too and you are not the only one to try to fit D somewhere in 18 or to take some time in realising the significance of TEN in 3d. NEOTERIC and SUPERTONIC were new to me but the crossing letters helped. I find RAY (RE) is the second note of the diatonic scale, one step above the tonic. I might take mild issue with 20,8; I think TONTON MACOUTE is the gang, not the individual.

  3. Thanks to Puck and Eileen. The notorious TONTON-MACOUTE was familiar to me, so that led me to the “ton” motif. I did not know NEOTERIC or ETON MESS but got them from the clues and needed help parsing ART HOUSE. I did spot the “ten” for ROTTEN but had trouble convincing myself that “rot” = “rhubarb.” Lots of fun.

  4. At the risk of being cliched, tons of fun (even though we use tonnes here).

    Once I got the TON theme it helped with many answers.

    Embarrassed though to admit I put SUPERSONIC for 12,20a without understanding the drink reference at all, and getting my 13 TONs by counting 20,8a TONTON MACOUTE as two TONs. I had to use an online encyclopaedia for the latter as it was unfamiliar.

    I liked 4d BARITONE.

    And there was the old SA for sex appeal again in 12a, although this time without “it” as its clue as in yesterday’s Picaroon.

    Thank you to Puck and Eileen.

  5. I was surprised how straightforward this turned out to be – TONTON MACOUTE and at least one of the other TONs occurred to me very early, and the rest soon followed. No criticism – this was fun and a good morale booster before Derby – certainly much easier than the Imogen “I’m sorry…” puzzle we had two years ago. NEOTERIC was unfamiliar but clearly signposted.

    Thanks to Puck and Eileen

  6. Thanks Puck and Eileen

    Did this one this morning with RIGA first in and CHARLTON HESTON second – and the theme exposed early on – one which I thought was an excellent idea extremely well executed! After that mainly plain sailing but still lots of fun along the way as usual from this setter.

    Was another who was looking to place a D in at 18a and was looking for anagrams of ‘haircut’ for longer than I should have at 25a.

    Had to look up the TOUTON MACOUTE as the only new term. Didn’t get the clever play with ‘ten’ in ROTTEN until coming here – thinking that it was very loosely referring to ‘tucking into’ bed just after 10:00pm – a very cheeky device once explained. That was my second to last in with BARITONE, the 13th themed clue, as my last.

  7. Thanks Puck and Eileen
    I too was surprised that the TUCKING IN answer was given in another clue, but I expect that nearly everyone would have solved TUCKING IN before getting to ROTTEN. (In fact ROTTEN was my LOI, and when I had two left I was still short of a TON, so wasted some time trying to fit it into this one – it went into RIGHT ON instead.)

  8. **sigh** one of my most successful attempts at solving a Prize in recent times until my Waterloo at 3Dn.

    Got the theme quickly, then completed the rest of the grid on the train journey from Reading – Birmingham (<80 minutes). Then….3Dn.

    I saw 'off' = ;rotten' of course but I don't understand 'rhubarb' = 'rot' (still don't !) and the clever reverse reference for 'tucking in' — 'ten' also eluded me.

    Oh well, thanks to Puck for setting and Eileen for blogging it !

  9. We enjoyed it, though like others, had no idea why 3d was ROTTEN.
    (Eoin @8 – I think ‘rhubarb’ is out-dated slang for inconsequential rubbish spoken. In a crowded scene in plays, don’t actors mutter ‘rhubarb, rhubarb’ at each other to give an impression of background noise?)

    CharlTON HesTON was also our way in – overall, very nice – not too hard, but by no means straightforward either.

  12. Thank you Puck and Eileen.

    I really enjoyed this puzzle last Saturday. Of course I spent an age trying to fit D into the answer for 10d, and had never heard the term ART HOUSE before, I suppose the original Everyman Cinema in Hampstead, London, could qualify, I knew it in the early 1960s when it would show films like “The Seventh Seal” and “Bicycle Thieves” (incidentally the Wiki article on the cinema is not complete).

  13. I expected this to be more difficult than it proved to be. TONTON MACOUTE was my FOI as I was familiar with Papa Doc’s paramilitaries- it is also,trivia fans, a rather good album by RnB singer Johnny Jenkins. TONTON was such a giveaway that the rest fell easily. Not that I didn’t enjoy the puzzle but perhaps a little straightforward for a prize?
    Thanks Puck.

  14. Like Peter @13 I found this easier than the instructions led me to expect. Indeed, it was a bit of a disappointment as it only kept me occupied for a short part of my train journey from Leeds to Derby last week! That said, I enjoyed it – favourite clue was 6d.

    Thank you Puck & Eileen.

  15. Eileen: have just read your edited blog & I certainly didn’t notice. My initial response to 6d was the same as yours!

  16. Thus was more fun than many themed puzzles. The instructions looked intimidating, but in practice it was relatively easy to spot the word required. That made the rest of the puzzle a little easier but didn’t spoil it.

    Thanks, Puck and Eileen.

  17. Rhubarb to me is just verbiage with no judgment about its quality, therefore not necessarily “rot”. Having 3d as last in told me that it didn’t contain a TON and also showed TUCKING IN at 10 – but it still took several hours for all the pennies to drop. CHARLTON HESTON was an easy way in, the special instructions weren’t as fearsome as they looked, and I thoroughly enjoyed solving this. Puck manages to be both clever and witty – not a trick everyone can pull off. Thanks Puck and Eileen (yes, I took ages trying to put a D in ARTHOUSE too).

  18. Hi Gladys @17

    I would agree with you about rhubarb = rot but, for what it’s worth, Chambers gives that meaning – Collins doesn’t.

  19. Thank you Eileen and Puck.

    Enjoyable romp which Jenny and I found fairly easy on Sunday morning after the fun in Derby on Saturday. We also tried to fit D in 18a and it was Jenny who noticed the arse=seat.

  21. Thanks Eileen and Puck.

    Excellently executed puzzle and great fun from start to finish. 13 solutions with 15 instances of TON.

    I too put a big cross against 3dn for the repeat of “tucking in” until I got it, and then made it a big tick. Very clever.

    I dragged up TONTON MACOUTE from the dark recesses of my mind for my penultimate solve before finally twigging TOUNGE – my last in.

    Thanks again.

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