flying kite’s 1st june prize puzzle

Today’s headscratcher is this: https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/prize/29398

1 across One providing protection asked flighty daughter to house piano (4,3)

DESK PAD ‘deska’ is an anagram of ‘asked’ (asked flighty, as in, the letters flying around) ; it is followed by ‘d’ (for ‘daughter’ – a common crossword thing)- and it houses (contains) ‘p’ for piano || commendable-ish

5 across Exhausting – used to be time to grow old (7)

WASTAGE ‘was’ (used to be) ‘t’ (time) ‘age’ (to grow old) || simples

9 across Generally decimal? (5)

OFTEN ‘of ten’ as in ‘regarding the number 10 || ‘question-mark’ clues are often like this, sneakily treating the answer itself as a definition

10 across Mate with unit showing cups, saucers, etc (9)

CHINAWARE ‘china’ (mate, as in cockney slang, me ‘ol china plate), ‘w’, with ‘are’ (unit – an are is a genuine unit of area, 100 square metres!) || evil

11 across Arranging one short city parade of children (10)

PAEDIATRIC arranging ‘a’ (one) ‘cit’ (short city) and ‘parade’ — i.e. make an anagram of those 10 letters — and you get the answer

12 across Possibly clubs frantically use it to get rid of drug (4)

SUIT frantically ‘use it’ — so, it’s an anagram of ‘use it’ — to get rid of drug — so, without the ‘e’ (standing for the drug ecstasy); the definition part is ‘possibly clubs’ – i.e. clubs is an example of this (as also are spades, hearts and diamonds)

14 across Unqualified Gaelic actor sacked (11)

CATEGORICAL ‘sacked’ — as in smashed all over the place — is signalling the anagram, of ‘gaelic actor’.

18 across Musical without a pronounced award, it’s a tragedy (11)

CATATSTROPHE ‘catas’ (musical (Cats) containing ‘a’ (‘without’ meaning outside, as in: opposite of within)) ‘trophe’ (pronounced — i.e. sounds like – award – i.e. trophy) 10 across Mate with unit showing cups, saucers, etc (9) || yep, sometimes up is down, and down is feathers

21 across State program briefly produces panic (4)

FLAP ‘fl’ (state – Florida) ‘ap’ (program, i.e. ‘app’/’application’ briefly)

22 across A cargo ship transported coffins (10)

SARCOPHAGI transport the letters of — i.e. make an anagram of — ‘a cargo ship’

25 across American sportsman is extravagant gambler with record for trip (9)

LOGROLLER A ‘high roller’ is an extravagant gambler – if you swap ‘record’ for ‘trip’ — meaning swap ‘log’ for ‘high’ , you get the answer || log rolling is that crazy sport where two people stand on a floating log trying to run each other off it

26 across Somewhere to go before international show (5)

PRINT p.r. (powder room – a place to ‘go’) before ‘int’ (international), the definition part being ‘show’ || I don’t love this one, and there may well be a better parse that I’m missing

27 across Padres denouncing constituents in European city (7)

DRESDEN hidden word, as in ‘constituents’ of this bit: Padres denouncing

28 across He left citizen, protecting city thief (7)

BURGLAR ‘burgr’ is ‘citizen’ (burgher) with ‘he’ removed; protecting (i.e. wrapped around) city (LA), it becomes ‘burglar’ || yep, technically all crossword compilers are silly burghers

1 down Dwarf lacking energy caught backsliding or limp? (6)

DROOPY ‘dopy’ (dwarf – dopey – lacking ‘e’ for energy) catching (grasping within it) ‘ro’ (backsliding ‘or’)

2 down 20 topless after introduction to supermodel (6)

SITTER the answer to 20(down) is ‘litter’, which is ‘itter’ when topless; put this after ‘s’ (the introduction to ‘super’), and you get sitter; the definition part is ‘model’ || another thing to watch out for – sometimes you need to ignore punctation and be suspicious of joined up words

3 down Chest of drawers (6,4)

PENCIL CASE As the question mark warns, this one turns out to be a plain definition, albeit a misleading and comedic one

4 down Old bread of French catholic lies on rug, unopened (5)

DUCAT ‘du’ (French for ‘of’) ‘c’ (catholic) ‘at’ (rug – i.e. mat — unopened — i.e. without its first letter); the definition part is ‘old bread’ as in a historical coin (bread = money)

5 down Finishing PhD producing DNA-H? (7-2)

WRITING UP ‘dnah’ is ‘writing up’, in the sense of ‘hand’ (meaning handwriting) upside down || finishing your PhD is commonly known as writing up – i.e. you’ve done the research, now write about it; another of those evil question mark clues; this took me the longest. Basically, ‘hand’ and ‘writing’ are both used in the sense of referring to ‘handwriting’. It’s just plan sadism. Also, always remember, cryptic setters are allowed to do whatever they want with punctuation, including hyphens, and you should be prepared to ignore it.

7 down Occupational employment after dropping into resort (8)

ACAPULCO employment of the letters of (i.e. make an anagram of) ‘occupaal’ (that’s ‘occupational’ after dropping the letters of ‘into’) ; what you end up with is a resort, as in a place to go on holiday

8 down Able to get firm to return pick broken by ground (8)

ERECTILE ‘etile’ ( ‘elite’ (pick) returned, i.e. backwards) broken by, as in containing within it, ‘rec’ (ground, as in recreation ground) || so, erectile means ‘able to get firm’

13 down Fruit technically accepted for record in preliminary report (5,5)

GREEN PAPER ‘greengage’ is a fruit – take out the record (a gage is, in a slightly tortured way, a type of record) and replace it with technically accepted (i.e. put the remaining ‘green’ on paper) and you have the answer || OMG maybe there is a better way – anyway a meaning of ‘gage’ is “something deposited or pledged to ensure that an obligation will be fulfilled“

15 down Boatman, compiler at home making cover (9)

TARPAULIN ‘tar’ (a commonly used word for ‘sailor’) ‘paul’ (a very well known compiler of Guardian and other crosswords) ‘in’ (at home) || part of the misdirection of this clue is the use of ‘Boatman’, because that is another name of a compiler of Guardian crosswords

16 down Fought Bob, collecting belt (8)

SCUFFLED ‘sled’ (as in bobsled) collecting ‘cuff’ inside it (‘cuff’ as in hit or slap)

17 down Way to not start argument, hold back! (8)

STRANGLE ‘st’ (way, as in street) ‘rangle’ (argument, i.e. wrangle, not starting — i.e. without its first letter)

19 down Sort of recognition that spies are hidden by British river (6)

FACIAL ‘CIA’ (spies) hidden inside ‘Fal’ (a river in Cornwall)

20 down Refuse less significant liberal, once dismissed (6)

LITTER litter is ‘littler’ (less signifcant) when you have dismissed ‘l’ (liberal) || tortured syntax this clue deploys

23 down Top of observatory blocking energy source for tree (5)

CAROB ‘carb’ (energy source — i.e. pasta, rice) with ‘o’ (top letter of observatory) blocking it — i.e. stuffed within it

24 down Clipped dog of revolutionary gets something to eat (4)

FOOD ‘do’ (clipped ‘dog’) and ‘of’ gives us ‘doof’ — revolutionary, i.e. turned upside down

What have we learned?

Kite is a git; clearly someone who thinks a prize crossword should give you a false sense of satisfaction and hope with lots of easy clues, and then nail you to the wall with a few stinkers.