Not the Saturday Prize Puzzle – 005
A Puzzle by Prolixic
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Welcome to the fifth in our series of weekly puzzles.
This is the second by Prolixic – one of our rising stars.
The puzzle by Prolixic is available here
Prolixic has been a regular on the site for some time now, but if you would like to know a little more about him just select “The Bloggers” from the “Pages” widget in the sidebar.
Feel free to leave comments about this puzzle. I have set Prolixic up as the “owner” of this post so that he gets all the emails! (An email is sent by WordPress to the owner of a post each time a comment is left.)
Good one…loved 19 a and 11a…….That really took me a long time to get.
But hated19d. This is obscure as.
Hi whaleomelette – welcome to the blog.
Cheers Gazza. An explanation of 19d would be appreciated!
whaleomelette – see my response to comment #6 below.
Ah – many thanks gazza. Knowing the 5 letter word helps then.
Well – I’ve made a start. 8d easy for me being a Baptist but fear the rest will be much more challenging! Thanks Prolixic
I’ve certainly found it challenging Claire! Trying really hard not to go straight to interactive – have managed 1 & 4 d and 19 & 13a but progress over last hour has been zilch – anyone got a couple of teeeeeeny hints going spare? Once I start looking at the interactive I find it too easy to slide into a revealathon. I’m guessing 17a is an anagram but havnt cracked it …. oh well …I’ll keep at it. Not very many post as yet .. was it too easy for everyone … or … is it perhaps a tricky one so no wonder I’m struggling :sad:
Now feeling daft for being pathetic ‘cos just got half a dozen!! yay! ……oops! :oops: famous last words?
Sarah think of what type of boat a u boat is…then use the shortened version and add on message sent by a mobile phone…hope that helps!
Sarah
17a Ben argues excitedly, “It’s between a genus and a species” (9)
It’s an anagram (excitedly) of BEN ARGUES.
Whoops having a blonde moment…gave clue for 17d not 17a……As for 17a I had to use andys anagram solver.
Ah Gazza, now I can see that i didnt include the U in my anagram “patch”. Just out of interest do most people “draw” an anagram “circle” of the selected letters as I have read elsewhere – for some reason I just plonk my letters down in a sort of patch and find that works fairly well – if necessary I start a new patch from scratch (!) if I get stuck.
Sarah
I favour the circle. I think it helps not to have any obvious starting letter. But I’d stick with whatever works for you.
moonstruckminx’s hint is for 17d, but the u-boat might also apply to the start of 17a.
Got 2d as only word that will fit but cannot understand it from the clue. Anyone?
Think of stock-taker as someone who steals cattle.
Ah so the st stands for stone…gotcha…thanks!
Thanks moonstruckminx and gazza – that should get me over the next hill .. much obliged.
Has 2d got st in it? – if so I’m terribly wrong somewhere!! Just been struggling over dinner but much of lower half is still beyond me! :-(
Claire
The answer doesn’t have st in it, but you have to remove st (throws a stone) from a word meaning stock-taker to get the means of measuring.
Oops – silly me! Get it now…. of course it’s the st that’s missing. Can anyone help out with the bottom half? Maybe 14d or 16d?
14d. Chamber Pearl kept old preserve in (5,4)
It’s hidden (kept) in the clue
16d. Film society gets roles allocated around a couple of cuties (9)
The answer is the name of a film. Start with S(ociety) and add another word for roles around A and a couple of the letters of CU(ties)
Thanks Gazza – just got 14d – never heard of it though!! 16d clever – wouldn’t have got it without your help. Just left with 4 to do now….. no doubt I’ll be back! How are you doing Sarah?
Guys, is there significance to the use of … ie. the dots – at end of 2d and beginning of 3d?
Sarah
They only serve to make the surface reading of the two clues better and to show that the answer to 3d is something that can be measured.
Thanks Gazza, by surface reading do you mean whether the sentence could almost make sense as a stand alone phrase outside of a crossword puzzle? Sorry to be so dense but this learning curve goes round a long bend!
You can read the two clues together and they fit together well (i.e. the surface reading of the two together is very smooth). But, each can be solved individually (the first is a measuring tool and the second something that can be measured).
Enjoyed this puzzle. Been to a reunion and maybe the wine slowed me down a bit … ! Liked 3d and 16d. Well done, again, Prolixic.
OK – just down to 18d and 19d – don’t think I’ve a hope of getting them! Have a possible answer for 19d but no idea what it’s got to do with Brazilian aardvark – are you still there Gazza??
We’re getting there tho Claire – I have 18 & 19d – let me think how I can help – think of another word for sort – that forms last 4 letters but its not sort as in “sort out” more like the kind of something and the first three letters are to do with being green but not envy more like save the whale…… 19d defeats me too as do 5 and 27a and 8d these are the last ones for me – really trying not to look at interactive tho have consulted thesaurus etc! Hope my mangled explanations might help a bit – i’m not as succint as Gazza bless him.
19d Brazilian aardvark’s no good for fur, for example (7)
The first 5-letters are a South American racoon-like animal – follow this with N(o) G(ood). The whole is a thin covering – fur perhaps, or possibly paint.
Aha – thanks you two. Had got 28a wrong which didn’t help! All done now :-) 8d is the name of an old Baptist preacher with ‘p’ missing to get someone who might specialise (in operations) – hope I haven’t now made it too obvious!
thanks Claire – I did have the right word in the end just couldnt see the see connection! but can now – hopefully that connection will stay with me for another time.
goodness me – now I get 8d and should have got it sooner as I am sure there is a blue plaque to this guy in my village!
one teeeeny hint for 5a please then i can lay my weary head down!!
well now i think i have the word for 5a but cant 100% see how it’s arrived at. – hopefully its the right word cos thats me done …… several hours later ….. but no interactive …. and many thanks for all the help from you guys.
I don’t really see how 5a comes about either – guess we’ll have to wait for the review next week! Have a good week – hope the children behave themselves. :-)
Didn’t know he came from Kelvedon – I lived in Chelmsford for many years.
5a. Such trouble arises from boisterous rule breaking (7)
You need to remove the letters of TROUBLE from BOISTEROUS RULE and make an anagram (breaking) of what remains. The resulting word often appears before trouble (hence “such trouble” in the clue).
Ah -I get it by looking at it from the answer but don’t think I’d have worked out the working out… if you see what I mean! Thanks
I’m guessing (obviously!) that in 8d “quietly” is indicating use of letter “p” for piano? Should i also be thinking along biblical lines – so fustrating now – only three to go ….so near………………………
Perhaps with 27a – an anagram of rest jumbled amongst most of a word for to see? and would “perhaps” in some obscure way indicate “l” for learner?
You’ve got the first bit right but it’s not that sort of see. I think perhaps is the indicator for the anagram of rest.
See (so I learnt quite recently) is, in crossword speak, often to do with Bishops and their diocese. The whole is another word for briefly.
Thanks Prolixic for a good challenge. At first glance I thought I’d have no hope but have enjoyed the solve – with a little help!
Well there’s a thing – have googled for more info – and he was born in my village on June 19th, 1834!
Thanks for all your help tonight – here’s to the next one! The Everyman in the Observor for me tomorrow. Then odds and ends during the week tho usually too tired. Roll on the Easter hols (I work in a school) think how much head scratching I will do then :smile:
Me too – tricky to fit much crosswording in to weekday evenings; as you say – roll on Easter hols! – gardening and crosswords
The same from me Prolixic – i was stumped for quite some while – had a lot of help – but was also able to get some by myself. Really enjoyed it anyway – here’s to your next challenge.
I put it in front of my brother yesterday and re-solved it myself – amazing how much you forget from one month to the next. It was just as much fun this time!.
Nice one Prolixic!
What a lovely puzzle – some excellent clues. Still working my way through it – about half way there but have to go out so will come back to it. Thanks Prolixic for a lovely challenge. So far I really like 5d and 2d.
Finished – nice puzzle – still my favourites as above but didn’t like 8d and really had to research that one s know nothing about Baptists – only got it fdrom trhe cross letters and then looked it up.
Well done Prolixic
Solved in the same time as an easyish Times, with 5 and 8 entered last – just about recalled the preacher. A few quibbles:
13: “out of this world” is a description rather than a definition – maybe “is somewhere out of this world” might have been better
17: The answer is a plural, so the clue should really say “they are between genera and species”
14: I’ve never heard of the answer and (more important) can’t find it in a dictionary. I know the clue was easy, but I think a reworking of the grid content to get real words would have been better.
20: not sure that budget is really “spend”
17 & 4: style/difficulty issue: arbitrary names like Ann and Ben are rather obvious as anagram fodder.
Favourite clues: 12A for the antiseptic soap, 5A for a bit of fiendishness.
Fair comments though for 14d, the solution was suggested by the software. I did some research on the web and found sufficient references to old recipies to convince me that it was a valid, if outdated, phrase. Given that it was an old term, I ensured it was clued simply and well signposted as an old form of preserve. It certainly wasn’t two words stringed together to fit the grid!
Weekend away and then busy with work so only got round to Saturday’s NTSPP today.
I would say “budget” and “spend” are frequently used interchangeably in business-speak but otherwise I tend to agree with PB’s other comments. It’s sometimes necessary to include the occasional obscure word in themed puzzles, but better to avoid them where practical.
However, any criticism from me would be rather like the pot calling the kettle black and I did enjoy the puzzle, so well done again Prolixic.