Guardian Prize 26,483 / Philistine

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The first Philistine puzzle this year and it’s many months since I got to blog one, so this was a real treat for me.

I don’t think it’s Philistine at his toughest but I found it hugely enjoyable, as always. I got several of the 8s before 8 itself because, as I’ve said before, I [boringly] go through the clues in order – I was racking my brains for a long word meaning ‘like a simile’].

One of the things that I really love about Philistine is his so obvious delight in language and his use of idiomatic English – which is all the more remarkable because I believe that it is not his first language. This is evident in his choice of theme – and I remember a puzzle of his a few months ago that had a mini-theme of malapropisms. And he does French, too [v 24ac].

Some of these similes give pause for thought: what is peculiarly dead about a doornail and why should Larry be happy? When blogging a Prize puzzle, there’s more time for research, so I had a pleasant diversion following some of them up in Brewer. Others speak for themselves.

As so often, it’s invidious to highlight clues, so I’ll leave it to you to name your favourites.

Huge thanks, as always, to Philistine – I loved it.

Across

1 A penny to see doctor — that’s cool (6)
APLOMB
A P [penny] + LO [see] + MB [doctor]

4 8 sick repeat (6)
PARROT
Double definition
Brewer: “… the expression came to prominence in the 1970s and came to be regarded as the stock response of a footballer or team manager after losing a match. However, its origins may be much more ancient:
“Jacinta: Lord, Madam, you are melancholy as a sick Parrot… Aphra Benn:’The False Count’ [1682]”

9,25 8 dead on radio broadcast before 50 (8)
DOORNAIL
This shrieked ‘homophone’ but it’s an anagram [broadcast] of ON RADIO before L [fifty]
Brewer: ” A  doornail is either one of the heavy-headed nails with which  large, outer doors used to be studded, or the knob on which the knocker strikes As this is frequently knocked on the head, it cannot be supposed to have much life left in it.”

I thought this was rather boring and was amused by the juxtaposition of this with the previous clue, because I’m sure I’m not the only one to have been reminded / instantly thought of this:
– OK, hands up, any excuse ๐Ÿ˜‰

10 Avoid this by not staying up too long, or else dad’s furious (6-4)
SADDLE-SORE
Anagram [furious] of OR ELSE DADS – a little quibble here: the hyphen makes it an adjective, so ‘avoid this’ doesn’t make sense; without the hyphen, it’s a noun, which does.

11 Crazy rockstar retires to nurse a cold (6)
CORYZA
Hidden [to nurse] in a reversal [retires] of crAZY ROCk – brilliant surface!  I was doing just that [like many others, I guess] while solving this puzzle

12 Spin-off comes along, making monsters (8)
OGRESSES
[pr]OGRESSES [comes along] minus PR [spin]

13 Red Indian, half American (9)
FLORIDIAN
FLORID [red] + [ind]IAN

15 Bill’s partner by the end of August is 8 bald (4)
COOT
COO [Bill’s partner, as in ‘to bill and coo’] + [augus]T – this one is self-evident

17 Is minister’s back covered by trip to the bank? (9)
RIVERSIDE
Reversal [back] of  IS REV [is minister] in [covered by] RIDE [trip]

21 State queen falls in station (8)
VICTORIA
Quadruple definition – and they don’t come two a penny, especially with a viable surface: bravo, Philistine!

22 Asian, drunk, reported by office worker (6)
TYPIST
Sounds like [no problem here, I think] Thai [Asian]  pissed [drunk] – I liked the surface!

24 South of France about to welcome learners and immerse them in French life — how tedious! (10)
DULLSVILLE
Reversal [about] of SUD [French south] round [to welcome] LL [learners] + LL [the same learners] in [immersed] in VIE[French life]

26 Heartless, extravagant and still living (6)
EXTANT
EXT[ravag]ANT

27 Essentially dizzy and hyperactive with wind (6)
ZEPHYR
[di]Z[zy] [essentially] + an anagram [active] of HYPER – I do love this kind of clue but I know not all of you do

Down

1 Mexican inhabitant orders unopened ballot box (7)
AXOLOTL
Anagram[orders of [b]ALLOT [b]OX minus initial letters [unopened]
I don’t think I’d heard of it, even in crosswords, but I had all the crossers and it was clearly an anagram so I’ve no complaints at all

2  8 happy to get secular rights included (5)
LARRY
LAY [secular] round RR [rights]
I wasn’t, initially, as happy as Larry re LAY = secular but, such are the vagaries of English language – I’ll leave it to you to do the dictionary research – where, as oft quoted here, words can appear to mean the opposite of themseves, so bravo Philistine!
Brewer: “It is an Australian expression. It is suggested that the original Larry may have been Larry Poley [1847-1917], the noted boxer, but the word may actually refer to larrikin”  – another Australian word, which I’ll leave you to look up.
I thought this explanation [no aspersion, of course on Philistine] was a bit disappointing but was cheered by remembering a beautifully allusive clue in a Redshank [our Crucible] puzzle in the FT a couple of weeks ago: “Like Olivier in role of a prince in various “Harry” plays? (2,5,2,5)”]

3 8 keen celebrity mired? (7)
MUSTARD
STAR [celebrity] in MUD [mired]

5 Appeal from you or me, at last, after everybody (6)
ALLURE
Last letters of yoU oR mE after ALL [everybody]

6 Parts in current set-up or in ugly sisters (9)
RESISTORS
OR in an anagram [ugly] of SISTERS
With SISTERS in the clue, and a surface that didn’t make much sense to me, this seemed a rather weak clue in such a fine puzzle

7 Pain of love with jollies camping? (7)
TORMENT
O [love] + RM [Royal Marines – jollies] in TENT [camping]

8 How we can speak in a stupid way when mother’s out (13)
IDIOMATICALLY
Take ma [mother] out and you get IDIOTICALLY [stupidly]

14 Lodger wanted to get radical round sleazy motel (4,2,3)
ROOM TO LET
ROOT [radical] round an anagram [sleazy] of MOTEL

6 Attack and capture (7)
SEIZURE
Double definition

18 In context, remedy is harsh (7)
EXTREME
Hidden in contEXT REMEdy

19 Tramp welcomes compiler portfolio (7)
DOSSIER
DOSSER [tramp] round [welcomes] I [compiler] – with a neat reference to another favourite setter

20,16across 8 pure ambition by Poles at the moment (6,4)
DRIVEN SNOW
DRIVE [ambition] + NS [Poles] + NOW [at the moment]

23 8 pleased with drink (5)
PUNCH
Double definition
Brewer: “Mr Punch is always gloating with self-satisfaction at the success of his evil actions – yes, I suppose so, but why him? Again, of course, it’s no reflection on Philistine, who was simply exploiting our sometimes somewhat doubtful idioms! ๐Ÿ˜‰

29 comments on “Guardian Prize 26,483 / Philistine”

  1. Thanks Eileen. Over in no time because 10A (easy anagram, but obscure meaning) gave –D for 8D and the rest followed. Last in CORYZA, all new. Thanks Philistine: my hat off to you, if you’re operating in not your mother tongue.

  2. I liked the puzzle well enough, a lot of clever stuff without being too difficult. I never heard of these usages of ‘larry’, and ‘parrot’, and had never heard of ‘coryza’ at all – but the cryptics hand them to you.

    The ‘Red Indian’ and ‘South of France’ clues were true classics, really excellent.

    They used to have ‘axolotl’ once a month in the Times. Then they forgot about them completely, along with Tiepolo and etagere.

  3. Thanks Eileen. ‘Coryza’ was new to me but axolotls were quit fashionable pets some years ago. I wrote most of the 8s straight in but 8d was my LOI, it just eluded me.

  4. Thank you, Eileen. I needed your explanations for the parsing of one or two of these.
    I, too, was a bit put out by the use of the adjectival form of saddle sore in 10a but, yes, that’s just a quibble.

  5. Last week’s prize was quite easy whereas this was child’s play. Once one had 8D, which wasn’t a challenge, so many clues were simple write ins!

    If it wasn’t for 1D and 11A the whole thing would have been complete in 20 minutes. As it was these stretched it to just over the half hour.

    Really not good enough for the weekend’s “entertainment”.

    A very disappointing editorial “decision” to publish this on a Saturday.

    Thanks to Eileen and Philistine

  6. Thanks Philistine and Eileen.

    The first time I managed to complete a Prize Puzzle the day it was published, last in was SEIZURE, stupidly could not see it until later in the day. (Brendan @5 points out the reason for my success).

    VICTORIA was terrific, I really enjoyed this puzzle.

    23d I think is from ‘As pleased as Punch’ referring to Polichinello of the Punch and Judy shows.

  7. Thanks, Cookie – yes, I realised who was meant by ‘Mr Punch’ but I still wouldn’t single him out as being the epitome of pleasedness.

  8. Sorry Eileen, I thought you were referring to another Mr Punch! Gaufrid has simplified the maths for me @6 it was 7 x seven = ? , now it is one + ? = 2.

  9. Charles Dickens, Letter to Mary Tyler, 6 November 1849…

    “In my opinion the street Punch is one of those extravagant reliefs from the realities of life which would lose its hold upon the people if it were made moral and instructive. I regard it as quite harmless in its influence, and as an outrageous joke which no one in existence would think of regarding as an incentive to any kind of action or as a model for any kind of conduct…”

    but one wonders how many children in the past returned home to hit the baby.

  10. An extremely erudite blog, Eileen. I didn’t think this was as easy as all that although I was somewhat delayed by the fact that two clues were omitted from the Kindle version and I decided to embark on the puzzle before getting them from the website. Anyway, despite that, I rather enjoyed this. I got IDIOMATICALLY fairly quickly and enjoyed the examples. I also learned that JOLLIES= Royal Marines and I loved TYPIST- a tad Pauline I thought.
    Thanks Philistine.

  11. Thanks Eileen,

    I found this very entertaining and not that easy either. Brendan@5 blowing his own trumpet as usual. Yes you are wonderful Brendan if that’s what you want to hear but what you fail to realise is that the Prize Crossword is not aimed at expert solvers like yourself, it is aimed at Guardian readers who like to have a go and sometimes succeed or come close. The aim should be to stretch solvers without putting them off.

    Favourites were TYPIST and OGRESSES. Thanks Philistine for providing excellent entertainment.

  12. Although I agree that this wasn’t the hardest puzzle Philistine has ever given us I really enjoyed it. Count me as another who got CORYZA from the wordplay.

  14. Thanks all
    Another linguistic (not GK) theme from Philistine, excellent. Like Eileen I got 8 only after completing most of the puzzle. I knew what it was supposed to mean but expected something more specific and simile related!

  16. Thanks Philistone for a really entertaining puzzle, and Eileen for the impressive blog.

    Punch always has a huge grin on his face which may have helped single him out, along with the alliteration of course.

  19. On the one hand it would be nice for regular solvers who work Monday to Friday to have a tougher challenge on a Saturday when they have more time. On the other hand, for those who don’t have enough time to do the cryptics at all during the week (shock/ horror) it’s good to have a puzzle on a Saturday which is both do-able and fun. This was both. There’s always Azed on a Sunday, after all.

  20. Enjoyed this, and as many here have noted, coryza was new to me. Liked Victoria, zephyr. I also enjoyed Floridian, because I used to be one!

    A pleasure to have Eileen’s blog two days in a row so thank you to her and Philistine.

  21. Thanks E & P. I thought 24 ac DULLSVILLE was brilliant and the whole thing very enjoyable. Why do people who lurk here complain about puzzles being too easy one day and on another day containing unfamiliar words?

  22. Tim Phillips @18

    Of course I’m not missing the point, I was just ignoring it as the post was insulting.

    I am by no means an expert solver but I have been attempting the Guardian Cryptic for 45 years now so I have some experience.

    My post was an honest reaction to a puzzle which I found disappointing. If saying a puzzle was too easy is “blowing my own trumpet” then I’m guilty as charged. But of course I was doing no such thing.

    This site is open to all levels of solvers to express their opinions. Many of the contributors are obviously quite skilled at cryptics so their take on a particular puzzle will obviously be different than a beginner. Are they then to excise anything from their comments which might upset someone of lesser experience? Of course not.

    We are all free to give our honest opinion of each puzzle, the resulting mixture is what makes this site so interesting.

    Back to the puzzle in question. The fact it soon became obvious that several of the clues referred to idiomatic expressions was a big hint. To make those clues so easy with words such as “8 mustard”, “8 dead” etc made them ludicrously easy and would in my opinion have spoiled the puzzle for hundreds of solvers. If it didn’t spoil it for you then I’m very happy for you.

    Finally all my posts begin

    “Brendan (not that one) says:”

    I certainly won’t be offended if some people choose not to read them ๐Ÿ˜‰

  23. Thanks Philistine and Eileen

    A comprehensive blog for what I thought was a very good puzzle. I had to get a fair way through before the ‘8’ theme kicked in, so may have derived more satisfaction for that.

    Thought that there were some really interesting clues here – the clever fodder for AXOLOTL, the ‘Pauline’ TYPIST, the quad defined VICTORIA and the French-based DULLSVILLE.

    Last in was RIVERSIDE.

  24. I was in the Lakes last Saturday and failed to get a paper, so I chose the PDF option and did this on Monday evening. I always enjoy Philistine, and there was plenty I liked here, including the themed clues. Liked ZEPHYR and MUSTARD.

    Thanks to Eileen and Philistine.

  25. Philistine could have thrown in a few more definitions at 21A (Victoria).
    How about: State LILY queen falls over PLUM at CARRIAGE station.

    Thanks to Eileen for a very impressive blog.

  26. Ha! Nice one ernie. And B(nto) that was a spirited defence… Now I come to think of it , there were about 5 or 6 of the similes which were just write-ins, and so they did leave me feeling a bit deflated for that second quarter of the solving process. Perhaps Philistine should have just left the digit 8 off those clues and left us to make the links ourselves?

  27. I too found this unchallenging once 8dn was solved. However I don’t mind that, my gripe is different.
    I think the connected clues are not so much idioms as similes, although expressed in what you might call an idiosyncratic way.

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