Crossword Help Forum
Forum Rules

An enjoyable offering from Imogen, pretty straightforward with more straight anagrams than usual, but some nice surfaces along the way. FOI 9, LOI 26, though it should have come to me sooner.
COD? I’ll plump for 13.

Imogen?

Thanks for starting the thread. I was about to post, but prefer not to lead off. Pre-composed text:

Thanks to Arachne, a relatively infrequent guest, for this week's Prize. After seeing Buccaneer post in the FT an hour ago, I knew it wouldn't be Picaroon. Half expected Paul, but the editor has been mixing up Prize setters of late.

Felt that I struggled with this, but on finishing the watch read almost exactly my median Prize solving time. Still consider it a bit tough.
FOI 4, LOI 16d. Don't see a theme or Nina, but then I totally struck out on a massive theme last week...

Having seen Pulp Fiction a couple of times, COD was certain (though perhaps in poor taste 😬), but I'll withhold the clue number (and any seamy video links 🤣) to avoid spoilers. Also enjoyed 20, 13, 27 and 18.

Sorry, Arachne! Must be more tired than I thought.

I’ve worked out what your COD is, geeker. Embarrassed to say that I’ve never seen Pulp Fiction. About time I did.

When making notes as I went along (really Bren, that must be why it's usually so error free! 😒), I wrote "for those of you that enjoy the Everyman but struggle with the Prize, this is the perfect puzzle for you". Then I read Geeker's comment saying he found it "a bit tough", while Rog found it "straightforward". This just goes to show what an individual experience cryptic crossword solving is - horses for courses, as it were.

If you do get stuck, there are numerous anagrams and the occasional hidden.

I still haven't been able tp parse 13a, but there's only one word that fits the letter pattern and it exactly matches the definition so I'm certain it's correct - I can see a possible parse but it doesn't tally with "checks" plural, so I don't think it's right.

COD - I've also seen Pulp Fiction numerous times but won't pick that clue as it's not my favourite scene... for obvious reasons! Instead I'll go for 20d - it has such a smooth surface and invokes a much funnier image:-)

Thanks to Arachne for an enjoyable Prize crossword.

What was you solving experience, and was I right in thinking it was the ideal Prize for first timers? If it is your first Prize, why not take the opportunity to join in the weekly discussions - we'd love to hear from new members.

Stay safe:-)

13a - I think I see it now, but "background" is doing a lot of work and is super vague - if I'm correct!

Brendan, here's a weird anecdote about my COD / Pulp Fiction:

I don't play sports any more, but practice yoga to stay in shape. At the studio I usually visit, there's a trap door in the wooden floor in the back corner I prefer, which causes the floor to be uneven and a bit noisy. One time I mentioned that to a fellow student, and she said "Yeah, I always expect '*** ****' to climb up out of that trap door." It was so funny and unexpected [Pulp Fiction is very much a "guy movie"] that I literally rolled on the floor laughing!

😂 I like it.

The only female I've heard use the term was the late Jessica Walter in an episode of Archer.

Straightforward in my case. Couldn't see any theme, though 9a had me wondering about if the US election was to be a subject-matter. Some neat clueing throughout.