Vlad in the Prize slot – Hurrah!
Opening my paper last Saturday morning and seeing Vlad’s name on the puzzle that I was down to blog went a considerable way to compensating for my not being able to go to York this year. I knew I was in for a treat and I wasn’t disappointed.
We got off to a great start with 1,13 – a brilliant double definition, which had me guessing for a few minutes and this was matched by another clever and witty cryptic definition at 22/27. Lots of fun in between – including the customary digs at Nigel, Trump and the one formerly known as ‘Prince’, which I know some won’t like but I enjoyed them – with some ingenious constructions and smooth surfaces throughout, which made this, for me, a Prize puzzle worthy of the name.
Huge thanks to Vlad – sorry to have missed you in York!
Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1, 13 Making half-hearted effort like ‘Doctor’ McKeith (5,7,3,7)
GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS
I always google proper names in clues, since the better setters don’t use them randomly; this one rang a very distant bell but I immediately discovered ‘Dr McKeith’ in Wikipedia and the second paragraph of the entry (do read it!) very clearly explained the second definition and the significance of the inverted commas – a brilliant clue!
9 My relative put money across counter? On the contrary (5)
CHIMP
M (money) in CHIP (counter) – the opposite of CHIP in M
This is nonsense – the wrong way round! – my apologies for the confusion caused. Please see Judge @33 for the correct parsing
10 Terriers at peak fitness on manoeuvres – leader succeeded (9)
AIREDALES
AI (at peak fitness) + an anagram (on manoeuvres) of LEADER + S (succeeded)
11 Wind up here? No, grounds extensive but there’s no women (3,4)
LEE SIDE
LEES (the sediment left in wine-making, so not literally the same as coffee ‘grounds’ but near enough for me) + [w]ide (extensive) minus w (women): the lee side is sheltered from the wind
12 At last! Nigel got found out (7)
LEARNED
[nige]L + EARNED (got)
15 Shut up shop (4)
COOP
Another clever double definition, the second usually capitalised and hyphenated
(Some regular contributors here might be surprised (disappointed?) if I didn’t, for the umpteenth time, give a link to this classic Two Ronnies sketch ) – there may be some who haven’t seen it
18 Crown Prince following American has-been (4)
APEX
A (American) + P (Prince) + EX (has-been)
19 Was sacked after fake election? Flipping rubbish! (10)
CODSWALLOP
COD (fake) + an anagram (sacked) of WAS + a reversal (flipping) of POLL (election)
22, 27 Accommodating mates on the dole? (7,4,8)
FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS
A hilarious cryptic definition
24 7 possibly green? It’s unlikely (7)
INTEGER
Deft misdirection: nothing to do with the ocelot at 7dn – an anagram (unlikely) of GREEN IT
25 Glider op deployed energy beam (9)
RIDGEPOLE
An anagram (deployed) of GLIDER OP + E (energy)
26 Passed with top marks Trump originally claimed … or pretended (5)
ACTED
ACED (passed with top marks – both Collins and Chambers give this as North American) round T[rump]
Down
1 Imagined Queen always protected by a lot of money (9)
GUINEVERE
EVER (always) in GUINE[a] (a lot of money)
2 Can current politician overturn polite refusal (8)
IMPRISON
I (current) + MP (politician) + a reversal (overturn) of NO SIR (polite refusal)
3 Clearing youngster in case of genocide (5)
GLADE
LAD (youngster) in G[enocid]E
4 Unlucky Romeo’s conned over minor punishment (4,5)
HARD LINES
HAD (conned) round R (Romeo – NATO phonetic alphabet) + LINES (minor punishment, at school)
5 Study endlessly to get through exam – not a nice experience (6)
ORDEAL
DE[n] (study) in ORAL (exam)
6 ‘Wind essentially’ – diagnosis from old doctor (5)
GALEN
GALE (wind) + [diag]N[osis]
7 One spotted by chance turning green (6)
OCELOT
A reversal (turning) of ECO (green) + LOT (chance)
8 Exhausted duke finally in American party (4,2)
USED UP
[duk]E in US (American) DUP (Democratic Unionist Party)
14 Trouble in store broadcasting inside China (9)
IRONSTONE
An anagram (trouble) of IN STORE round ON (broadcasting)
16 One able to run with leaders of government and security forces (9)
OBLIGATES
An anagram (run) of I (one) + ABLE TO + G[overnment] and S[ecurity]
17 Meat! Gone to stuff myself (8)
PASTRAMI
PAST (gone) + RAM (stuff) + I (myself)
18 Offer not a sausage over, getting cross (6)
AFFORD
A reversal (over) of FA (Fanny Adams – ‘not a sausage’) + FORD (cross)
20 Take off perch breaking foot (6)
PARODY
ROD (perch) in PAY (foot – the bill) – a reminder of the school exercise books that had tables (eg rod, pole or perch) on the back cover
21 Catch fellows and female cycling separately (6)
ENMESH
MEN (fellows) and SHE female, ‘cycling’ separately
23 Threatened beastly islander during third night back (5)
INDRI
Reverse (back) hidden in thIRD NIght for this threatened islander
24 French river understood to have drowned Resistance (5)
ISÈRE
I SEE (‘understood’) round R (resistance)
Good blog. Fun puzzle. Once I got the long solutions, the rest pretty much fell into place.
I parsed 1, 13 somewhat differently. I believe “the fake doctor” McKeith encouraged her followers to examine their stools carefully – ergo, GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS”, which I think is hilarious!
😀
Also 11, if you are a stickler for grammar, should have been ” … there’s no woman”. The clue as written isn’t grammatically correct. Might have been an editorial error IMO.
Took 3 sessions, but avoided being impaled.
INDRI brought a smile because it is the name of what was the preferred search engine in the CS/IR community for a number of years.
Also liked CODSWALLOP (great word!) and AFFORD.
Tx V&E
1D, what’s the end deletion indicator to remove A from GUINEA – I suspect I am missing something obvious entirely!
Thanks Eileen. Hard to get started and rather a struggle but satisfying to get there in the end. The SE corner held out the longest. Didn’t help myself by entering ‘bump’ for 18a.
Not being a Brit, I learnt something here:
NOT A SAUSAGE = Sweet FANNY ADAMS = Nothing at all. Something I need to remember for future reference!
Shafar #5 the deletion from guinea is indicated by phrase ‘a lot of’ ie not all of the word.
Lovely meaty puzzle and great distraction in difficult week preparing for and undergoing hospital scans. Particularly liked CODSWALLOP, INTEGER and AFFORD (although I’d forgotten the more polite phrase Fanny Adams and went straight for the Anglo Saxon version!). The reference to ‘Doctor’ McKeith at 1/13ac diverted me for a while trying to fit in references to celebrity jungles and fainting 😉. Also 9ac got me involved in researching Vlad the Impaler’s family tree – not much use here as it turns out but no learning is truly wasted.
Thanks Vlad and Eileen for setting and blogging.
Tough, fair, clever, fun. Couldn’t crack the last eight all week, so dnf. Nothing I shouldn’t have been able to get, though. Thanks Vlad for the suspension, and Eileen for the resolution
Shafar @5 Re. 1 down, the deletion indicator is ‘a lot of’. It is not that a GUINEA is a lot of money – it isn’t – but that GUINE is a lot of the word for it.
Well, reading the blog was worth it just to be reminded of the two Ronnies sketch. 🙂
Thanks Eileen and Vlad
Apologies to Hastings Honey @8 – I had not read your comment properly before writing mine. Such things can happen to my brain at 5 a.m.
Shafar @2 – re the parsing of 1,13:
In the blog, I gave the link to Gillian McKeith’s Wikipedia entry, citing the second paragraph:
Numerous practices supported by McKeith are pseudoscience not supported by scientific research, such as the detox diet, colonic irrigation, and her claims that examining the tongue and stool samples can be used to identify ailments and dietary needs. McKeith has no qualifications in nutrition or medicine from accredited institutions, and in 2007 agreed with the Advertising Standards Authority to stop using the title “Doctor”.
A tough one for me, defeated by quite a few clues. Nver heard of Lees in 11 acr. Enjoyed the challenge though.
Very tough as always with Vlad and DNF not getting 18 across and 18 down and there were a few unparsed (and don’t really see why AFFORD = offer)
Liked: CODSWALLOP, GUINEVERE, IRONSTONE, PARODY
Thanks Vlad and Eileen
Thank you, Eileen. I DNF, as I failed to get APEX, which is really one of the easier ones; I eventually threw in ‘aged’.
FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS was a phrase unknown to me (my only defence is old age), but when I looked it up I realised what a clever piece of clueing it is, using two meanings of ‘mates’. Is the definition ‘accommodating mates’ or ‘mates on the dole’? Perhaps both.
McKeith was also new, but I too had an interesting time studying Wikipedia.
Thanks, Vlad.
Balfour #12 thanks for the nod!
Greyhound #15 AFFORD can mean offer in some settings although I agree the examples I thought of tended towards afforded/offered such as ‘afforded/offered this opportunity’. Perhaps someone else has a better example 😏
I found this fun and not as difficult as most of Vlad’s offerings. Regarding LEE SIDE, while one wouldn’t talk about wine sediment as ‘grounds’, I think ‘lees’ for the coffee equivalent is OK. Favourites same as Eileen’s.
Greyhound@15 – a visit from my sister will afford/offer a chance to reminisce about our childhood.
Shafar@7 – as hinted at by HH@8, ‘sweet Fanny Adams’ is a polite version of ‘sweet f… all’ as explained in Wikipedia.
Thanks Eileen and Vlad.
I really enjoyed this and felt I had to up my game a bit to compete with Vlad.
LEARNED, AFFORD and CHIMP get my votes for inventiveness and amusement.
I was flummoxed by APEX.
I had US-ED which didn’t work with AFFORD.
When AFFORD went in, I spent the whole week going through the alphabetical motions and probably settled on APED.
I’m just glad it’s all over.
Thanks both for the helpful blog and super puzzle.
I could just about remember Gillian McKeith, which helped. In retrospect, this seemed gentle for Vlad, but it wasn’t at the time.
Shafar @3: as an ex EFL teacher I can confirm spoken English makes little distinction between « there’s » and « there are » or « there’re ».
One example is when followed by « a lot of ». English grammar sometimes gives way to ease of expression !
I thought it was a good challenge with misdirection and humour aplenty. The top left corner was stubborn, until IMPRISON and CHIMP fell into place on Tuesday lunchtime. It really does work to go away and come back again !
I liked CODSWALLOP the best.
Hopefully that was better for those who complained that Maskerade was too easy last week. On that point, I wonder what we’ll be faced with when that setter next does a Prize crossword ? Will it be the equivalent of going back to a curry house after complaining it was too mild last time ?
Thanks Vlad and Eileen.
I found this tough. After failing to answer a single clue on a first pass, I gradually got into it.
The two multi-part clues were gettable and gave me a chuckle. They gave me a way in and I started to enjoy it.
All eventually solved and parsed apart from 9a where I bunged in CHIMP without any idea of the parsing.
The clue for OCELOT seemed in the wrong order giving lotoce rather than ocelot. Not a problem really.
Apart from the two long clues, I liked IMPRISON, PARODY, PASTRAMI, ENMESH, AIREDALES and CODSWALLOP.
Thanks to Vlad for a tough but fair and brilliant puzzle and to Eileen for the excellent blog.
Thanks to Vlad and Eileen.
Yes PhilB@24, I thought the same One spotted turning green, by chance (6) would have worked better, surely? Maybe a slightly clunkier surface.
Chipped away at this all week & was pleased to finally get 18A/D this morning before looking here. Couldn’t see the synonym offer/afford – so thanks beaulieu@18 for the perfect example.
I was four off finishing but enjoyed the challenge nonetheless. I don’t understand the “the opposite of CHIP in M” part of the explanation for 9ac. Any offers? Thank you for the blog and puzzle.
There is a public park (grounds) in Witney called ‘The Lees’, so I had not needed to know the wine connection. Great crossie, and finally completed on Friday. Perfect.
Guardian readers might remember Ben Goldacre’s Bad Science column which was quite influential in bringing McKeith down.
There was so much to admire in this as others have said, with LEE SIDE typifying the setter’s ingenuity.
Mrs. E, as ever, spotted the harder ones.
Many thanks to Eileen and Vlad.
Pabloc @28 – I came back to say something similar about “Lees”. It pops up in a few West Yorkshire place names, derived from the Old English for pasture or meadow. So I happily parsed LEE SIDE on that basis; although on checking, the fields / grounds meaning isn’t in Chambers.
Like Mills@27 I still don’t understand why 9A is CHIMP. “the opposite of CHIP in M”?? Can anyone help, please?
Re 9a: the clue asks “put money across counter?” and answers “on the contrary”. This implies the correct instruction is to “put counter across money”. Counter=CHIP and money=M, so put CHIP across M for CHIMP.
Re 9ac
Oh dear – I’m mortified! I had it the wrong way round, didn’t I? Humblest apologies – I’ll amend the blog now.
OK, thanks Judge@33, I get it now.
Very very tough, and just a bit too UK for me unfortunately. One of those that you enjoy and learn from as much later on the blog as during the solve. Thanks, therefore, to both Eileen and Vlad!
A question – what in the OCELOT clue indicates the changed position of the two components? I was able to parse the clue during the solve, but felt then – as now – that it clues for LOTOCE/TOLECO rather than OCELOT.
Zyzzyva @36; see @24/25. By just means ‘next to’ so it can operate either way around, although I agree that @25’s version would have been better. I LEARNED that Nigel got found out, nice one! I also liked the current politician being IMPRISONed, the IRONSTONE China, and the PARODY of breaking foot.
Thanks Vlad and Eileen.
Thanks for the blog , many fine clues and just a severe Paddington stare for OBLIGATES .
Yes Zoot@29 , he enrolled his cat at the same institute as “Dr” McKeith and his cat got the same qualifications .
The West Indies have the Windward Islands and LEEward Islands .
Robi@37 – thank you! The perils of being overeager and underpatient, my apologies.
Perhaps the ‘by’ can function as a bidirectional connector, but I still think in the interest of fairness it should be made explicit.
I agree with you and @25.
Never heard of the fake “doctor”, but got the answer from crossers and the definition. Enjoyed the puzzle all the same.
Roz 38,
Some people just like to reconfiguratify things.
I can’t remember how I found it. I generally solve promptly or not at all. I do remember my delight at the McKeith related clue. What a tedious charlatan she was; something of a pioneer looking at today’s influencer landscape.
Thanks Vlad and Eileen.
I liked 7 Down, once I’d got it. I think the use of “by” is OK to indicate that the parsed halves are next to each other rather than in sequence. I wouldn’t want to change the neatness of One spotted by chance…
But, a different day might have seen me in a different mood – I can see the other point of view too.
A did not finish for me, in unusual circumstances. I was doing the puzzle in the pub, and when I was slightly stuck one of my companions had a look and then handed it to another. After humming and hawing, he made some suggestions about 18a, which we discussed, and then (without my knowledge) googled the clue at 12a and turned the screen to show me the answer, LEARNED 🙄 Well, I won’t be doing the crossword anywhere near him in future.
It took me until this morning to solve APEX, which was purely a matter of un-misleading myself. Sigh!
Thanks to Vlad and Eileen.
Have struggled with Vlad several times now and keep telling myself to avoid. But I get lured in! Some very interesting, clever and fun clues. CODSWALLOP was a favourite.
The general knowledge required (McKeith, Galen and Isere) … if one is trying to avoid online aids … was too much for me.
I had AFFIRM rather than AFFORD. I suppose that being firm with someone is not the same as being cross with them.
Was happy with LEES for (e.g. coffee) grounds. [I always think of floodplains when lea, lee, ley or meadow crops up: where the river eases itself in times of excess.]
Many thanks Vlad for the challenge and Eileen for clarifying my wobbly parsing.
Thanks Vlad and Eileen. Yes, Tim@23, I had to go away and come back many times this week to eventually finish this one! LOI and NHO 6d GALEN.
[ Just seen this in the Guardian at the bottom of John Crace’s Digested Read of the Reformer.
CRYPTIC CROSSWORD CLUE
1A Robert Jenrick confused Newark MP.(6) ]
The clue would work neatly either without the name, or without “MP”; but it’s an anagram I shall now remember every time I’m on the LNER train !
The comedian Dara Ó Briain used to have a routine about Gillian O’Keefe. She called herself a “nutritionist”, which he said was like someone saying they can look after your teeth because they are a toothiologist. (“Dietician” is the regulated term.)
This was a perfect puzzle for me. Vlad really is very good. Thanks to him and to Eileen for the blog.
Zoot @47
Many thanks for that! – I hadn’t had time to read the paper today. More here:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/oct/31/nigel-farage-news-the-reformer-digested-by-john-crace
Tim @48 🙂
Hastings Honey @ 8 and others, I was inspired by the Two Ronnies sketch linked by Eileen (again, but welcome every time), and so I too parsed the AF in AFFORD (18d) as the nun would have.
Much of the GK was beyond me, but the wit kept me going, and I got several clues without parsing them. That made Eileen’s blog and subsequent comments even more interesting and valuable. The best example was the long one at the top (1,13) about Gillian McKeith, which became my favourite clue after reading the blog and Wikipedia – hilarious and brilliant.
Thanks V&E for the very elegant puzzle and blog.
Cellomaniac @ 51 – thanks for that: it’s always good to know that the links are, occasionally, helpful / amusing. 🙂
Glad that most of you seem to have enjoyed this as much as I did.
Many thanks to Eileen for an excellent blog and to others for their comments.
Cellomaniac@51 I hadn’t heard of McKeith either, but correctly guessed what she was about, and was amused by the clue
Eileen@52, Yes, that classic is always good to see!