Guardian Prize

[Cryptomaniac]

Puzzle complete, but 1ac Charlie's ban on banter, perhaps ...(7) must surely be with the letters I've got HALFWIT. Can see definition, and wit = banter, but how can half = ban? Thanks, in advance, to those expert parsers.

[dannyk13]

banter = wit then take away ban= halfwit

[clueless44]

Interesting parsing dannyk13. Never saw that one. I had it as ban = HALT around FWI which = Facebook While Intoxicated (had to look that one up!) = banter. Probably a bit convoluted, even for Paul. No wonder I feel dizzy after a session on his puzzles.

[Cryptomaniac]

Thanks both. Guess that Danny must have cracked it, because, yes, Clueless - your amazing parsing is probably too convoluted by half! Actually, I usually find a Paul to be one of the more straightforward of Grauniad setters.