A relatively rare, but welcome, appearance by Pasquale in the prize slot this week.
Timon and I did not find this too challenging, although the American political leader and the Gambian currency were both fairly obscure, but completely gettable from the wordplay in both cases. We couldn’t detect a theme or see a Nina, but Pasquale is not a setter who normally includes such devices. But perhaps GOAT appearing in a puzzle published on the weekend of the World Cup Final, along with MESS I in the clue to 6 down is a subtle footballing reference?
Thanks to Pasquale.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | GALANTINE |
Old-fashioned lass, social worker at home beginning to eat cold dish (9)
|
| A straightforward charade of GAL (old-fashioned lass) ANT (social worker) IN (at home) E(at). | ||
| 6 | GOAT |
Attack nanny? (4)
|
| GO AT (attack). | ||
| 8 | FOLDABLE |
Story about ancient newspaper should be this (8)
|
| OLD (ancient) in FABLE (story). | ||
| 9 | PUNKAH |
A husband trailing after sort of rock fan (6)
|
| PUNK (sort of rock) A H(usband). It’s an Anglo-Indian term. | ||
| 10 | MENIAL |
Maiden friendly, no good as servant? (6)
|
| M(aiden) (from cricket) (g)ENIAL (friendly). | ||
| 11 | TADPOLES |
Little creatures told apes to scatter (8)
|
| *(TOLD APES). | ||
| 12 | SACHEM |
Account penned by survivor of flood, political leader (6)
|
| AC (account) inside SHEM (Noah’s son, survivor of the Flood in the Bible). We were a little surprised not to see an indication that this is an American term for a political leader. | ||
| 15 | AVERMENT |
Chaps entering prevent allegation (8)
|
| MEN (chaps) in AVERT (prevent). This meaning is confined to legal pleadings, which as a former lawyer I should have known, but had forgotten. | ||
| 16 | PROPOSED |
Intended to give reminder about model (8)
|
| POSE (model) inside PROD (give a reminder). | ||
| 19 | TURING |
Mathematician on a round trip with nothing to lose (6)
|
| T(o)URING (on a round trip). | ||
| 21 | SPILLAGE |
Wise person swallowing tablet, water going all over the place? (8)
|
| PILL (tablet ) inside SAGE (wise person). | ||
| 22 | DALASI |
One green dish about to be served with bit of bread in Africa (6)
|
| 1 SALAD (rev) (one green dish). It’s the unit of currency in The Gambia, which again I should have known as I was there in 2018, but had also forgotten. | ||
| 24 | ZINNIA |
Plant I found at back of small hotel in South Africa (6)
|
| INN (small hotel) I, all inside ZA (International Vehicle Registration code for South Africa). | ||
| 25 | SEAMOUNT |
One must get excited about a large underwater feature (8)
|
| *(ONE MUST A). It’s defined as an underwater mountain of at least 3000ft. | ||
| 26 | TSAR |
Ruler using skills, cycling round (4)
|
| ARTS (skills) with the first two letters cycled to the rear. | ||
| 27 | EXPLOITER |
Old lover quietly to hang around for abusive boss? (9)
|
| EX (former lover) P (quietly) LOITER (hang around). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | GROVE |
Good dog taken short in wood? (5)
|
| G(ood) ROVE(r) (dog). | ||
| 2 | LADDISH |
The French g-girl deemed attractive – rude boy may be this (7)
|
| LA (French for “the”) D DISH (g-girl deemed attractive). This device to indicate a duplicated letter is not now seen very often, but occasionally crops up in barred cryptics. | ||
| 3 | NOBEL |
European inventor not in the same league as American one, reportedly (5)
|
| (Alfred) NOBEL Presumably this is a reference to Alexander Graham Bell: “he’s no Bell”. Having said that, Bell was at least as much Scottish (he was born and educated in Scotland) as American. | ||
| 4 | INERTIA |
Trendy, endlessly tired, somehow having a disinclination to move (7)
|
| IN (trendy) *(TIRE) (endlessly tired) A. | ||
| 5 | EXPEDIENT |
No longer wanting inept cluing, engaging editor – that’s advantageous (9)
|
| EX (no longer), ED(itor) inside *INEPT. | ||
| 6 | GUNROOM |
Mess in which a Parisian male tucks into curry (7)
|
| UN (Parisian male) inside GROOM (to curry a horse is to groom it). On a Royal Navy ship, the gunroom is or was the dining-room or mess for the junior officers. | ||
| 7 | AGAMEMNON |
Greek king, one man troubled about leg (9)
|
| GAM (old term meaning a leg) inside *(ONE MAN). | ||
| 13 | ATROPHIES |
This opera, sadly, goes downhill (9)
|
| *(THIS OPERA). | ||
| 14 | MOSS AGATE |
Second entrance blocked by donkey flipping over stone (4,5)
|
| MO (second) ASS (donkey, rev) GATE (entrance). | ||
| 17 | PILSNER |
Drink passing through children’s lips the wrong way (7)
|
| Hidden and reversed (“the wrong way”) inside “childrens lips”. | ||
| 18 | DRESS UP |
Prepare to look smart in something with hem raised (5,2)
|
| Cryptic definition. | ||
| 20 | RULE OUT |
Reject what could be seen as lure (4,3)
|
| An anagram of “LURE” could be expressed as RULE OUT. | ||
| 22 | DRACO |
Stars in old club perhaps being upset (5)
|
| O(ld) |
||
| 23 | SONAR |
What enables one to hear what comes from some scratches on a record (5)
|
| Hidden in “scratches on a record”. |
Pleased to say I completed this in one sitting after being mauled in last week’s prize. Funnily enough, one of three I did solve, was the daughter of AGAMEMNON, so that prompted a rueful smile. I liked PUNKAH, FOLDABLE, ZINNIA, ATROPHIES and DRACO.
There is a NAVEL almost down the middle if you’re looking for a Nina.
Ta Brummie & bridgesong.
If there was a football theme, it was a game of two halves, the top half went in much easier than the bottom half.
DRACO and DALASI my LOI. PILSNER was beautifully hidden, which held me up also.
Enjoyable solve all round… Thanks Pasquale & Bridgesong
Oops, ta Pasquale.
Thanks bridgesong. More gentle than recent harrowing examples and welcome for that reason. I needed Google assistance to explain SACHEM and DALASI and never did completely come to terms with NOBEL, searching in vain for an American inventor named Noble. Not too sure that sonar enables one to hear, even if it does produce an echo.
Thought dalasi must be some sort of dip served with bread, d’oh! Other nhos were the tribal leader cum union boss, the underwater feature, and that particular type of agate. All gettable though. Enjoyed, thx to the Don and B&T.
Another who is relieved to have completed a Prize after the last few, albeit needing more than one session. [AlanC@1 you managed three last week? Well done; the only one I got was Agamemnon’s daughter!].
I had the same reaction to “American” in 6d as bridgesong; I assumed it was a reference to AGB, said ‘He’s Scottish, not American”, shrugged and passed on.
Thanks to Pasquale and bridgesong.
My picks: FOLDABLE, PUNKAH (pankha in Hindi means fan. Pankh (from which pankha is derived) means wing),
PROPOSED, LADDISH, RULE OUT and DRACO.
RULE OUT
What (RULE OUT) could be seen as ‘lure’. The same as what the blogger said, but
in different words.
Thanks Pasquale and bridgesong.
Thanks for the blog , good set of neat and precise clues , PUNKAH and GUNROOM very tidy . Perhaps SACHEM and DALISI just tricky places to fill in the grid and the wordplay was very fair .
DRACO one of the original constellations , more like a large snake . It did have the Pole Star for a while and will again in the future .
Good to see AlanC@1 back in the Prize and claiming Number 1 , I suppose that KPR are joint top of their table at the moment but also joint bottom .
Biggles@4 perhaps SONAR – What enables one to hear what comes …
A very satisfying challenge that took several sessions to complete. NW last to fall, with 8a FOLDABLE loi (odd definition). Didn’t get 24a ZINNIA. The only thing I could think to fit was SIENNA
Favourites 6a GOAT (surprising), 11a TADPOLE (amusing surface), 19a TURING (surface), 3d NOBEL (You, sir, are NO BELL!), 17d PILSNER (well hidden), 23d SONAR (ditto)
I also enjoyed several gettable nho’s, 9a PUNKAH, 12a SACHOM, 15a AVERMENT, 22a DALASI, 25 SEAMOUNT, 14d MOSS GATE, 22d DRACO
Further to 3d, although Scottish born, Alexander Graham Bell worked as an inventor in NA. He would be better described as a “North American inventor”, since he crossed the border so much, and did much of his work in Canada. Wikipedia describes him as a “Canadian-American inventor”. It seems that everyone wants to claim him! 🙂
Thank you all!
Enjoyed this with the top half going in more quickly than the bottom half. Didn’t get DRACO. (but much better than last week when I only got two)
Favourites were: GALANTINE, GOAT, PROPOSED, SPILLAGE, AGAMEMNON, MOSS AGATE
Thanks Pasquale and bridge song
Mig@10 FOLDABLE very important for newspaper crosswords , I fold it so I can write in Across answers as I solve them , refold so I cannot see the grid when I look through the Downs . Some weeks I play guess the setter so fold carefully to hide the name at the top .
A dnf as I couldn’t get GOAT. I put in gran thinking of gangsta granny.
Nho SACHEM, AVERMENT or DALASI but managed to work them out.
Otherwise not too hard and finished during the weekend.
Lots of favourite clues, all of which have been previously mentioned.
Thanks Pasquale and bridgesong.
Also a game of two halves for me, albeit more RHS-then-LHS, and needing several sittings. I was pleased to tease out several nhos, though failed on PUNKAH (I assumed we were being misled into looking for a mineral rock) and SACHEM (nho its constituent part either). Overall I’ll take that, though.
Faves were FOLDABLE for the unexpected definition, NOBEL for the fun device, and PILSNER for the clever hidden. ATROPHIES was good as a hard anagram to untangle.
INERTIA is of course a tendency to not alter motion, rather than a tendancy to not move at all; the latter is merely an edge case, albeit the usage which seems to dominate in everyday speech.
I haven’t had time for the last few Prizes. They sound daunting! I might dare to take a retrospective peek…
Thanks both
It’s always encouraging to get 1A from the clue, especially a charade. So GALANTINE set me off on a pretty smooth journey. I liked SACHEM, SPILLAGE and PILSNER.
[The Guardian app told me I’d successfully completed the Prize! They are aware of the issue.]
Thanks Pasquale and Bridgesong.
Others have, as usual, said pretty well all of what I’d have done, but I’d second the pleasure at seeing Pasquale’s name on the Prize.
I also found a few never-heard-ofs, and was able to deduce them from the wordplay.
[I preferred the auto-generated abstract avatar substitutes myself. If you don’t like the colour of the present ones, then changing your email address might alter that. Try a cod one if you like?]
I like my colours the most out of them all , but Coloradan noted – Roz endlessly seen with yellow card – so perhaps a hidden warning .
ZA also the top level domain for the country. Apparently from the Dutch spelling.
SACHEM took a couple of guesses before I remembered SHEM as a name (though from Finnegans Wake).
Three other new words to me (PUNKAH, DALASI, ZINNIA) but clued clearly enough to go straight in.
I agree with Roz@8 that “what comes” is part of the definition for SONAR.
Roz @8. Thank you, of course!
Unusually for me tackling a Pasquale, I got all the words unknown to me (sachem, dalasi and gunroom) from the wordplay. Very satisfying.
Held up in the SE corner by confidently putting ‘orion’ in as the stars – O(ld) + anagram (upset) of iron (golf club). Eventually SEAMOUNT put me right on that one. (Rather surprised that so many people had nho that, I thought it was fairly well known, but then I did do a geology/geography degree!)
Yes, ZA is for Zuid-Afrika (as I remember from my stamp-collecting childhood, both English and Afrikaans names appeared on stamps, though it was sometimes SUID and sometimes ZUID).
I needed Google to find DALASI and confirm SACHEM, but this is a fairly modest collection of rare words by Pasquale’s standards, and as always they are fairly clued.
bridgesong, you have CLUB reversed instead of CARD in the blog for DRACO. Thanks to you and to Pasquale.
gladys @22: thanks, I’ve corrected the blog.
It is a shame the US navy aren’t a bit more aware of SEAMOUNTS. In 2001 the US nuclear powered submarine USS San Francisco crashed into a seamount at full speed, causing major damage and killing one of the crew. Then in 2021 another nuclear submarine USS Connecticut crashed into another one. Both captains claimed they had been unaware of the seamount’s presence.
Heavy use of Google for this one. I had SINNIA for ZINNIA as the plant was listed under that search. What I missed was the introductory phrase ‘ It looks like you might have misspelled “Zinnia,” ‘. Ah well, lesson learned.
I got there in the end but I found it pretty hard, especially the SE corner. I’m still a bit mystified by ‘to be served’ in 22A and also ‘wanting’ in 5D. Are they just there so that the clue reads as a sentence?
Straightforward for a Prize, but very enjoyable , nevertheless. Missed out on GUNROOM, GOAT and DRACO, and stupidly left in the non-existent SINNIA. Thanks to bridgesong and Pasquale
That old “bread” for “money” diversion. Gets me every time!
gladys#22
My solving experience is normally similar to yours but on this occasion 6 NHOs, including MOSS AGATE and GUNROOM in that sense, is more than usual for me with Pasquale. All clearly clued.
Thanks Pasquale and bridgesong.
Just want to see my avatar colour, but thanks to Pasquale and bridgesong
Comment #31
…aah ‘not applicable’ it seems, but sea-green with a hint of turquoise is ok (must consult Farrow & Ball for accuracy). Roz: please advise.
Thanks Pasquale and bridgesong. Failed to get 22a and 22d and another SINNIA instead of ZINNIA so DNF for me. A bit of googling for some others also. There is John Bell of inequality fame, of course. but he wasn’t contemporary with Nobel.
Andy 21,
Yes, I toyed with ORION too, but it would have involved an indirect anagram, and Pasquale wouldn’t do that, I don’t think.
[I think that Mig has the best colours]
Graham@33 John Bell from Belfast and worked in the UK plus Cern ,
Nametab@32 I suspect it is just random , I am just lucky to get the best combination .
A greater than average number of NHOs; all fairly clued and gettable, although checks needed for SACHEM and DALASI. I thought RULE OUT and EXPEDIENT were very neat, TURING was a tea-tray moment and TADPOLES took way longer than it should have. A worthy Prize puzzle from a favourite setter. Thanks to Pasquale and bridgesong.
Roz@11 re me@9, Of course, I know your newspaper-folding habits, and should have remembered them when solving the clue!
Thanks Etu@34 — nice to be complimented on something I have no control over! 🙂
Thanks Pasquale for a generally approachable, always enjoyable prize complete with a few ‘oddities’ to keep things interesting. Favourites included PUNKAH, MENIAL, TURING, ATROPHIES, and RULE OUT. Thanks bridgesong for the blog.
No worries Mig, but isn’t that the basis of most compliments that one hears? 🙂
[I associate “No Bell” with the omission of Dame Jocelyn Bell from the 1974 Nobel Prize in Physics. She helped to build the array that she then used to discover pulsars and her supervisor, who had argued against her observations, scooped the Prize.” She is extremely recognised now.]