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geeker

27th July 2024, 00:33
Thanks to Soup for an entertaining Prize challenge this week.
Solving time shorter than usual, but many witty and "outside the box" clues, not to mention a bonus feature, required heavy concentration.

Despite being intimidated by relatively unfamiliar setters, I was able to get on a reasonable wavelength. However, three solutions, obtained via parsing or crossers, needed Google confirmation.

COD 20, edging out 2, 15 and 17. Also liked 7, 3, 5 and 12. Others could be praised.

FOI 1d, LOI 16.

Curious about how others rate this puzzle. I enjoyed the inventive cluing.
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rogissimo

27th July 2024, 00:43
Similar experience to yours, geeker. A number of straightforward clues helped the trickier ones fall into place.
FOI 3, LOI 25 (I had the wrong word in mind for the second word until its first crosser fell into place. Then 25 became my COD, by a whisker).
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brendan

27th July 2024, 03:52
Thanks to Soup for a most enjoyable puzzle.

Very tricky in places but there's enough low hanging fruit... anagrams, hiddens etc., to stop one getting stuck.

Bit of a weird coincidence - I was listening to a YouTube selected 'mix', which started off with Neil Finn (Crowded House), then Roddy Frame (Aztec Camera) and then, just as I started 13a, who should come on but Mr Goodbye my Lover himself - (yes, I know, the clue says 'to' not 'my', but still)

Wait, there's more.... a couple of weeks ago YouTube suggested I check out a US comedian called Dane Cook. I hadn't heard of him and, to be honest, his story is more interesting than his routine is funny but, by all accounts, he was the person who started the whole 'Karen' thing, coining the phrase in one of his bits.

It's a US term so maybe Geeker can add something.
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geeker

27th July 2024, 04:16
Brendan, I had never heard the "Karen" thing until a 2020 video of a "threatened" woman in Central Park, NYC went viral.

Until researching your post, I had no idea it went back further, or of the Dane Cook connection (or even of Dane Cook 😁 - I'm notoriously out of touch with popular culture).

But Google revealed this history: https://www.businessinsider.com/karen-compilation-timeline-white-women-racism-2020-6

Scrolling down: ...The use of the name "Karen" in particular, appears to have arisen out of a variety of media, including a 2005 Dane Cook comedy special that featured a joke about a "Karen" character as well as the iconic "Mean Girls" line: "Oh my God, Karen, you can't just ask people why they're white."...
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geeker

27th July 2024, 04:20

brendan

27th July 2024, 04:23
Hi Geeker,

I remember that video of the woman in Central Park, I think she called to report someone for the offence of 'birdwatching while black' - apparently she's still in hiding, forever the victim!
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brendan

27th July 2024, 04:28
@5 Thanks Geeker, they were terrific - I had no idea S....y D... covered it!
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geeker

27th July 2024, 04:30
I'm one of the ignorami who was introduced to the tune by the S..... D.. version! 🤣
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jono

27th July 2024, 07:25
Good fun I thought. Can quite tell if the earlier commenters noted the gimmick or not. It’s a neat trick.
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darla

27th July 2024, 07:38
Jono, just spotted it. Well played, Soup.
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