Guardian Prize 26,513 by Philistine

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A fine puzzle from Philistine.  My summary is: lots of great clues showing plenty of imagination but NOT appearing gimmicky.  Spot on!  Thanks Philistine.

My only (very minor) quibble is that whilst I liked the X over Y idea (CAGE COVERAGE, IMPISH IMPOVERISH) I can’t decide whether having it twice in the same puzzle was an extra treat or too many eggs in the pudding.

 

completed grid
Across
7 DISAGREE
To have a different view is a sin when “the last shall be first” (8)

IS A GREED (sin) with the laster letter moved to the front
9 AERATE
Get a real return pushing the envelope to let in some air (6)

gET A REAl reversed (return) missing the outside letters (pushing the envelope)
10,24 ALOE VERA
A sweetheart embraced by sweetheart, a soother (4,4)

A then swEet (heart, centre of) inside (embraced by) LOVER (sweetheart) then A
11 KAFKAESQUE
Starts to know arse from elbow, gets interrupted by awful squeak, it’s like a nightmare (10)

first letters (starts to) Know Arse From Elbow containing (interrupted by) SQUEAK* anagram=awful
12,6 HIGHLY STRUNG
Tense and hungry? Lights out (6,6)

anagram (out) of HUNGRY and LIGHTS
14 COVERAGE
A hundred too old? That’s news! (8)

C (a hundred) OVER AGE (too old)
15 SPRUCE
Tree can be picturesque (not quite, unfortun­ately) (6)

anagram (unfortunately) of PiCtURESque missing QUITE
17 TSK TSK
Couple of jobs dismissed as I disapprove (3,3)

TaSK TaSK (couple of jobs) missing As (A plural)
20 BLENHEIM
The palace is what’s back in nimble form (8)

EH (what) reversed (back) in NIMBLE* anagram=form
22 MEDUSA
Sea states in which one finds jellyfish (6)

MED (sea) USA (states) – classical jellyfish with an umbrella head and trailing tentacles
23 IMPOVERISH
Make poor kind of stew to begin with mutton, potatoes, onions, vegetables easily thrown in (10)

IRISH (kind of stew) containing (thrown in) the first letters of (to begin with) Mutton Potatoes Onions Vegetables Easily
24  
See 10
25 METRIC
Satisfied with Richard the Fourth onwards being ignored as not imperial (6)

MET (satisfied) with RIChard (fourth letter and onwards being ignored)
26 HAIRBALL
Tom’s problem is essentially the way big girls dance (8)

tHe wAy bIg giRls (essentially, centres of) then BALL (dance) – a tom is a cat
Down
1 VILLAINS
Holiday home in Spain not suffering criminals (8)

VILLA (holiday home) IN SPAIN missing PAIN (suffering)
2 CAGE
Prison 14 (4)

C over AGE (solution to 14)
3 CRIKEY
My call to accommodate ex-president (6)

CRY (call) contains (to accommodate) IKE (knickname of Dwight D Eisenhower, ex-president)
4 RARA AVIS
Skirt as worn by 6 that’s no chicken! (4,4)

RARA (skirt) then VI (6) inside (worn by) AS – an unusual thing, literally “rare bird” so no chicken.   This one defeated me, I resorted to cheating to get the solution.
5 FRUSTRATED
Some blonde tart surfer turns up disappointed (10)

found reversed (turns up) inside (some of) blonDE TART SURFer
6  
See 12
8 EFFACE
Remove all traces of caffeine — not in fashion (6)

CAFFinE* anagram=fashion missing (not) IN
13 HER INDOORS
She governed with iron rod (3,7)

anagram (governed) of SHE with IRON ROD – definition is &lit.  Phrase indicating a domineering (but presently absent) wife, popularised by the character Arthur Daley in the the TV series Minder.  My favourite clue of the puzzle.
16 CLEMENCY
Extremes of cultural elitism: Etonian courtesy and forgiveness (8)

first and last letters (extremes) of CulturaL ElitisM EtoniaN CourtesY
18 KESTRELS
Lesser kite regularly seen flying with other birds of prey (8)

anagram (flying) of LESSER and KiTe (regular selection from)
19 IMPISH
Naughty 23 (6)

IMP over ISH (solution to 23)
21 LIMPET
Muslim petition’s sticker (6)

found inside (‘s, belonging to) musLIM PETition
22 MOHAIR
Material from second and first part of 26 (6)

MO (moment, second) and HAIR (first part of 26)
24 VIBE
Feeling brave, start to compete outside (4)

Brave (start to, first letter of) with VIE (compete) outside
*anagram
definitions are underlined

26 comments on “Guardian Prize 26,513 by Philistine”

  1. Thanks Philistine and PeeDee

    Agree with your summary here. I can recall it happening before where the setter has come up with a really cute idea and overcooked it by using it twice in the same puzzle – it was clever though. A little bit of the same in the sequence of initial letters used in both 11a and 23a.

    That aside, I thought that it was a really enjoyable solve (probably on the easier side for him) but with trademark innovative clueing and neat tricks. Both reverse hidden answers were deftly concealed, especially AERATE which was one of the last ones in. A unique way of getting the S from Spain at 1d.

    Had seen the phrase RARA AVIS before, but did not know the name of the cheerleader’s skirt as a RARA (suppose it comes from rah! rah!)

  3. I enjoyed this very much. So thanks to Philistine. Thanks also to PeeDee for the the blog especially allowing me the Doh moment when seeing the reverse HA in 5 down. Brilliant clue that!!
    I’m not sure I would describe this as gimmicky PeeDee, just a very fine puzzle, but I do agree with you; 13 down was also my favourite!!

  4. Thanks to Philistine and PeeDee.

    Following on from coltranesax @3, PeeDee, did you really mean “but appearing gimmicky”? I definitely agree about 5D – splendid clue, among many others.

  6. Thanks Peedee and Philistine
    A fine puzzle. It took me too long to get tsk tsk. Several ticked clues: 11a,14a, 15a, 5d.

  7. Typo in the preamble – I meant “not appearing too gimmicky”. Apologies everybody.

    I edited the preamble a little before going to bed last night and messed it up. I did a few of the Guardian weekday puzzles in the week following the writing of this post and I was struck by how clever they all were. But also I was left with a feeling that cleverness is not everything and that I was starting to overdose on it. Like a meal composed entirely of desserts, each one delightful in itself but all together a bit too much. I was thinking back that Philistine shows both cleverness and a good sense of how not to overdo it.

  8. Yes this was good, and yes it was rather easier than some of this setter’s puzzles but I haven’t got any criticisms of it. I suspect some others- they know who they are- will though!
    Thanks Philistine.

  9. brucew @1 – I thought that on the repetition of the X overY trick Philistine had probably not overdone it. I say probably because I am really not sure.

    When solving a puzzle for a blog I end up going over every word of every clue with a fine-tooth comb. At the end of it all I’m sure I end up with a skewed impression compared to someone who has just solved it “for fun”. After all, the setters don’t set crosswords to be blogged, they set them for the entertainment of the solvers. Sometimes it is hard to know if I have a point or if I am just over-analysing it all.

  10. I enjoyed this puzzle, although I seem to recall I found it towards the easier end of Philistine’s spectrum. It may be that I’m just getting more used to his style, especially his use of compound anagrams. I liked the clue for KAFKAESQUE.

  11. I found this an absolute delight from start to finish, and more than worthy of its place in this week of top notch crosswords.

    It’s interesting about the repeated device. I think the strange thing may be not that it was repeated, but that it was only used twice – if it had been three times it might have seemed more of a little ‘theme’ maybe. (And if he had wanted to use it several times, he could maybe have used variations like UNDER, AFTER, ON, BY etc to keep it fresh).

    But obviously it is presumptuous to suggest improvements to what was such a clever crossword.

    Many thanks Philistine and PeeDee for the blog.

  13. A fantastic puzzle to end a week of great crosswords, thanks Philistine, and thanks PeeDee for the blog.

    I started to list favourites, but it got too long, DISAGREE, AERATE, KAFKAESQUE… first time I have had this problem, NOT complaining!

    grandpuzzler, Hoggy is on holiday for a week.

  14. Thanks PeeDee,

    Lots to like here and all in all a very entertaining puzzle. I didn’t think that two uses of ‘over’
    was too much and it wouldn’t have even occurred to me.

    Favourites were HIGHLY STRUNG, MEDUSA, METRIC, CRIKEY (last one in), LIMPET and VIBE.

    Thanks Philistine

  16. Thanks PeeDee and Philistine. Another excellent puzzle. We’ve had a lot of these recently. I was quite happy with the two “over” clues, but wondered if there was any link to alOeVERa, or any significance in coVERAge. Or maybe I need a holiday as well.

  17. Only very marginally relevant, but I remember reading a book on the Post Office in Victorian times (my maternal grandfather was a postmaster, and the book was in his collection). At one stage the Post Office maintained a small department to route poorly addressed letters, and some people took advantage of this to test them deliberately. One letter they received was addressed just:

    WOOD
    JOHN
    HANTS

    which was delivered correctly to John Underwood, Andover, Hants.

  18. Count me as another American for whom “her indoors” was unfamiliar, and thus the last in. I did vaguely remember the phrase—from another crossword, naturally!

    I noticed that there were more than the usual number of “subtraction” clues here–you know, where you’re instructed to remove some letters from something before anagramming. I guess I noticed because I don’t like those. (Just my personal preference, based on the fact that I often find them hard to spot. I’m not complaining about the puzzle!)

    I agree exactly with Limeni @11; I was expecting the OVER device to be used three times.

  19. mrpenney@18 – the “subtraction” clues you refer to are those I call compound anagrams. I also used to find it hard to spot them but I’m much improved in that regard, and because I know Philistine likes to use them I was on the alert.

  20. Steve B @15 – I forwarded your very funny link on to my wife who is away from home at the moment, lets see what happens…

  22. Thanks all
    Yes, another good one from Philistine.
    Favourites were 9, 15, 17, 20 across and 3 down.
    I failed to fully understand 26 ac even though I correctly interpreted Tom.

  25. As you say, a fine crossword. Last in was RARA AVIS – not sure I’d ever heard the Latin phrase though it was quite guessable from the wordplay once TSK TSK was in place. All very enjoyable.

    Thanks to Philistine and PeeDee

  26. Peter O @17, I remember seeing that puzzle in a copy of the Boys Own Paper omnibus from the early 1900s which belonged to my great grandfather. It also had this:
    YYUR
    YYUB
    ICUR
    YY4ME

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