Guardian Prize 28,165 by Picaroon

48 comments on “Guardian Prize 28,165 by Picaroon”

1. It was only lying in bed this morning, an hour before the blog becomes available here, that the solution to the PERTURB/BY THE BYE crossed answers occurred to me. I had been fixated on PORTUNE for 5d – ‘port’ being the wine, but ‘enu’ for seller still a worry. And I thought the first word of 14a must start with O or I. FOI: BRAE, the two long ones came early to help me out, and I saw SALMAN RUSHDIE early too (good clue). Thank goodness I remembered ESTAMINET from a previous puzzle, or I would have struggled there. Never heard of DIES IRAE, but a search confirmed that it existed. Thanks to Picaroon for a week of befuddlement on 5d/14a, and to PeeDee for the blog.

    

2. Actually, I look closer and see I was wrong on 13a. I had LISTEN (line is in Paris+en – jus tthe T unaccounted for, I realise now). And I was so proud of myself when I woke up!

3. Thanks PeeDee. A good workout with some notably clever surfaces which needed two or three sessions and some confirmations from Google to complete. The NE corner held me up but my LOI was 9a; there could be no other answer but the definition as a mathematical symbol was completely new to me, and I have spent some time on the subject in the past. I liked 25a and needed all the crossing letters to remember it. 13a was clever too, the crossing letters weren’t much help here and for me it was a process of trial and error. Your comment on 27a may need some editing.

4. Thanks PeeDee – HOSEA is ‘oh!’ reversed + SEA.
   Class puzzle, thanks Picaroon.

5. Thanks to Picaroon and PeeDee. I’m another who needed a series of sessions to finish. ESTAMINET keeps turning up (though only in crosswords) but not TUSK SHELL. I took a while parsing T/OR/T and my LOI was Paris HILTON.

6. Yep, could have been a contender for the Prize this week, even parsed ’em all.

   That said, my wife contributed HILTON which needed a bit of lateral thinking which was otherwise beyond me.

   HIT ON isn’t a very pleasant synonym for CHAT UP, but I guess it’ll do. Good misdirection to have Paris mean a person after several other ‘French themed’ clues (ESTAMINET, PASTICHE, LUNACY all directly or indirectlu Fr origin).

   Once the penny dropped I liked OPERATOR probably the best of the some really excellent clues.

    

   Thanks Picaroon for a great challenge, peedee for explaining it all and all learned contributors to this lovely blog.

7. Very enjoyable, thanks P and P.

   I’m with Gonzo re HOSEA.

   PeeDee:  the anagram fodder for UNPARLIAMENTARY is suffering from an inexactitude 😉

   Not for the first time here, I have to make an embarrassing admission:  I really loved Paris HILTON!

8. I found this just the right level of difficulty for a weekend (although in truth, all days seem pretty much the same nowadays). A little more French/foreign-language oriented than normal, which might upset some folks, but those clues all seemed gettable “the other way”. Which brings me to the “in” in 13a HILTON. It’s done a lot, I know, but I really wonder about words like this used as link words – I can’t help thinking they should mean “is” or “gives” or some similar sensible connection between wordplay and definition. [If, btw, here the word refers to “1 Night in Paris”, well we’d better not go there.]

9. “Consisting of” is one of the meanings of “in”, which works for me. Or you could take ‘is cutting in’ as the inclusion indicator…

10. 2d anagram “a party men urinal”

11. A very likeable Prize puzzle indeed. I got the SE corner fairly early in the piece: as for TassieTim@1, SALMAN RUSHDIE at 19a18d stood out. His name was helpful as it provided the crossers for several other clues.) Looked for an author/book theme as a result but couldn’t spot one, although there were some musical references that seemed to form a little bit of a thread. I seemed to coincide again with TassieTim and acd@5 by recalling ESTAMINET at 4d from previous crosswords. My favourites were 1a LUSTRE (which I found difficult but well worth persevering to solve), 13a HILTON (as aforementioned), 26a TYPEFACE, 20d LATRINE and 22d HOSEA. I couldn’t parse 9a OPERATOR (I didn’t understand the wordplay for the “U” abbreviation, the letter which had to be removed) or 23a TORT (once I read the blog, I thought that one a very clever clue!), so I appreciated the explanations for those.  Thanks very much to Picaroon and PeeDee.

12. Dr. WhatsOn @6

    In this particular case, there is the alternative parsing for 13A HILTON, with ‘is cutting in’ as the envelope indicator.

    Indeed an enjoyable puzzle, with thanks to Picaroon and PeeDee (I note that the special instructions appear in this week’s prize. Thanks for that also).

13. Gonzo @9

    In 40 minutes, I might have done a refresh.

14. Gonzo@9 and PeterO @12 – thanks for the explanations.  I think I can buy the “cutting in” more, but I do concede you see “in” used a lot as a link, so I will be happy to bow to the majority who seem to find it fair.

15. I should remember to take notes as I solve the weekend puzzles, my memory being only a shadow of its former self. I do recall that I loved TORT, TYPEFACE and OPERATOR and could probably include several others. I also recall that I was able to parse everything, a rarity for me. Thanks to Picaroon and PeeDee.

16. Ditto DaveinNC re memory and note-taking, it’s been a bit of a week and recall is dim but no obvious quibbles on re-scanning. Like JinA, Salman Rushdie was helpful, but I did remember U, ‘for general viewing’, as it’s something of a standard.

    I tend to read clues like 13a as “Line is cutting ‘chat up’ in, [for examlple], Paris; but yes, ‘is cutting in’ as includer works too.

    Nice puzzle, thanks both.

17. Loved TORT (and surprised myself by having the solution and parsing simultaneously leap out at me once I’d got one crosser in place). A really elegant and economical clue.

    Otherwise several others I liked, a few i couldn’t parse, one or two I needed help with – but as others have mentioned, it’s a struggle to remember much of the detail after a week.

    Thank you Picaroon and PeeDee.

18. These all came fairly slowly but surely, helped by getting the long UNPARLIAMENTARY anagram early on. I only worked out the parsing for OPERATOR some time after getting it, thought TORT was clever and TUSK SHELL and ESTAMINET were new to me. (I thought for a while that 4d might begin with EST, but took far too long to make the leap that maybe the buddy was French as well.) All very nicely clued, Picaroon; thanks too to PeeDee.

19. Forgot to say, dnk dies irae and couldn’t twig old man/sire, doh, so a dnf.

20. 25a not sure Dies Iraq is a song of worship? It refers to the day of judgement when you die and you will be sent to heaven or hell according to the Requiem Mass. I don’t think you would have much time for any worshipping while you’re dying!

21. Sorry typo there Dies Irae – and I meant to say I enjoyed the puzzle – thanks Picaroon.

22. Had to wait for today to see what 13a (HILTON) was about (Like @TassieTim I thought maybe LISTEN but couldn’t see how TEN worked). Ultimately a good and fair clue as were all the rest. A very good level for a prize with one or two words (Mountebank, Estaminet) which I’ve come across more in Crossword land than in real life. Like @Julie In Australia my favourite was LUSTRE which set the tone.

    Thanks Picaroon for the workout and PeeDee for unpicking it all so nicely.

    Happy Weekend all

23. I seem to have recycled my paper, so can’t remember what ticks I had but I know I liked all the ones that others have highlighted and that I enjoyed the puzzle a lot.

    Nothing to add, except that in 25ac DIES IRAE I had SIRE as old man = father – and I had the same thoughts as Shirley @20 re ‘song of praise’.

    Many thanks to Picaroon and PeeDee.

24. My favourite was 25a DIES IRAE for the amusing surface (and I agree, Eileen, about “old man” meaning father/SIRE).  My least favourite was 16a IMPOSTER, as that spelling (rather than impostor) really annoys me.  That’s not Picaroon’s fault, as modern dictionaries give it as an alternative (though the SOED doesn’t).

    22d HOSEA made me think of holidays on the Norfolk Broads booked through Hoseasons.  As I child I thought that was an invented name, short for “Holiday Seasons”.  It was years later that I found out that it is a real surname, originating as “Hosea’s son”.

    Many thanks Picaroon and PeeDee.

25. I continue to take great pleasure from really well constructed clues for the shortest solutions and both TORT and BRAE were superb.  Some lovely surfaces created by Picaroon: PASTICHE, LUNACY, HOSEA, LUSTRE, MOUNTEBANK…

    However, sadly a dnf as, like Ed The Ball @22, I’ve been waiting all week for a solution to HILTON having come up with the same alternative as others here.  If there is one thing that completely and utterly disinterests me it is the celebrity who is famous for being a celebrity and pretty much nothing else.  I probably have my timing wrong but I’m sure Paris Hilton hogged the limelight for a while ahead of the Kardashians etc – and I guess I made a conscious effort to expunge from my mind all reference to her and her ilk.  Never knowing that decision would result in failure with a Prize crossword two decades later.  Ah, the benefits of hindsight…

    Thanks P&P

26. Thanks for pointing out the corrections needed.  My mind must have drifted off somewhere else completely whilst typing up the entry for PARLIAMENTARY!

    Chamber gives for DIES IRAE

    1. The day of wrath

    2. The day of judgement (from a Latin hymn)

    3. The hymn itself, used in the mass for the dead

    Interestingly, the musical connection was the only one I was familiar with so I’m glad that Picaroon chose that one!

27. A great puzzle, but it all seems a long time ago! Lots of fine clues as always with Picaroon. Thanks to him and to PeeDee.

28. Are you sure about 16a IMPOSTER?
    I parsed it as IMPOSTOR:
    I’M (the writer is) POST (online chatter, i.e. the message posted – not the person doing it) OR (maybe)

29. Lyssian@28: An interesting comment. Apparently IMPOSTOR is also the preferred spelling. But is OR equivalent to ‘maybe’?

30. An excellent crossword.  After a busy week I’ve forgotten much of the experience, although I remember my first and last in (PASTICHE and LUSTRE respectively) and some of the gems that others also have picked out.  To my horror, though, seeing HILTON made me realise that I completely forgot to go back to it. It was a hard one, but I think I would have got there eventually by trying the L inside.  I rarely see Paris Hilton’s name.

    Thanks to Picaroon for a super puzzle and to PeeDee for the blog and further explanations.

31. Lyssian @28: as I said @24, I much prefer the spelling “impostor”.  “Imposter” seems to me almost as bad as “visiter” or “docter”.  But IMPOSTER is the answer given on the Guardian site, and I think the wordplay leads to that, as PeeDee says.

32. I usually keep the Saturday puzzle so I can refer back to it. but,for some reason,it his time I didn’t. The main thing I remember was the trouble I had with HILTON..I mean it works perfectly once I knew but I needed help to get there!
    Thanks Picaroon.

33. I am glad to see that many others had trouble with 13ac. I too had LISTEN and was hoping for enlightenment today as to why. Silly me! Tough but fair for the puzzle as it took a couple of attempts before things started to fall. Thanks to P and P.

34. Had to come here for 13a and 23a – doh! I remember before pontificating here about 4d as a crossword word only, only to look it up and see that in France there are beaucoup. Thanks to setter and blogger …

35. I had a different take on 5 across, I thought P (Plane) then sparkling was ASTI and white and red referred to the Swiss flag, giving CHE, Switzerland?

36. Like a few others, I recycled the paper accidentally (or more likely Mrs Dryll deliberately), but had LISTEN too. Couldn’t quite parse 14ac and 23ac and have never heard of 15d. IMPOSTER is fine as parsed by PeeDee for me, as that’s how it is clued.
    Quite pleased that it was just the single clue that I failed on, as Picaroon usually stumps me on considerably more than that!
    Thanks both for puzzle and blog.

37. Great puzzle.

    I thought there was something odd about the word IMPOSTER but it was only coming here that I realized I’m more used to the -or spelling. Looking it up out of curiosity in my old Chambers (1988, 7th ed.) I notice there are two entries which appear to be in error, reading:

    imposter. See imposter.
    imposthume. See impostume.

    I wonder about the full stops and of course the second instance of ‘imposter’ should, presumably, be ‘impostor’.

38. Failed like many others on 13a, having convinced myself that “in Paris” meant the word must end in EN; though I did consider HIT ON for “chat up”, I rejected it straight away for that reason.

    I enjoyed 2d with its hint of a Bullingdon Club reunion in the House of Commons toilets. 23a T OR T was, as Mark said @25, superb. Brilliantly succinct or succinctly brilliant: you choose.

    [Tony Collman @37. That error in Chamber had been corrected by the time of my 1998 edition. (Full stops appear in this situation throughout.)]

39. For 22d, I had JESUS. It’s certainly what I say when I’m surprised about something and you can’t get much more central a biblical figure. However, it did mean that for a long time I was trying to think of a word that ended in JOKER for 21a.

40. By the way, I’m so pleased to be able to add a post on the day of the blog. If you ever go back you’ll see that I inanely add posts over a week after the blog is over knowing they will never be seen. What a joker !

41. Sugarbutties – I still see the comments however late you post.  So please do continue.

42. Sugarbutties – me too. I’ve noticed your occasional postscripts.

43. Hi Sugarbutties @39

    As PeeDee says, it’s never too late, as we bloggers get emails of all comments on our blogs.

    I’ve answered comments / queries years later but yours today re last Friday’s Pasquale puzzle  was quite beyond the range of my GK.

    Anyone?

44. Eileen @43, mine too, but I seem to recall bodycheetah is 15²’s Half Man Half Biscuit correspondent (?)

45. [sheffield hatter@38, good to hear that. I should have checked about the full stops. I see you’re right now I have. Thanks.]

46. After finishing last week’s and feeling more confident approaching this, I was met with cold reality. The long downs went in quickly enough, and I eventually completed the SW, but only a few stragglers elsewhere – though I was pleased to get and parse Estaminet. An education, as always – thanks Picaroon and Eileen.

47. PS Eileen @43, possibly a reference to the classic HMHB song Arthur’s Farm? “And shouts were heard from the East to the West/Four legs good, but no legs best!”

48. Dougie Bader actually gets name checked in that song as well as Arthur Askey

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