Guardian 27,092 – Vlad

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It’s only just over two weeks since I last blogged a Vlad puzzle, and as usual I approached it with some trepidation. However, it turned out to be rather a gentle one by his standards, helped by quite a few anagrams and other very straightforward clues, though as always there were some meatier ones in there too. Thanks to Vlad

 
 
 
 
 
 
Across
1. DAMAGE Cost of keeping a good woman (6)
A G in DAME – cost as in “what’s the damage?”
4. SPELL OUT Make clear term’s known (5,3)
SPELL (term,period of time) + OUT (known)
9. OWNING Having no drive, going under (6)
DROWNING less DR
10. DRAGSTER Look back across road — that’s a fast car (8)
ST (road) in reverse of REGARD
11. PRESIDENT TRUMP Prospect of this isn’t half depressing — could be better! (9,5)
(ISNT + DEPRE[SSING])* + TRUMP (to better), and definitely &lit – just over a week to go till his finger is on the button..
13. MY PLEASURE Appeal I made certainly gets polite response (2,8)
MY PLEA (appeal I made) + SURE
14. PEER Look round three particular shows (4)
Hidden in reverse of thREE Particular
16. SOWN Planted, proved hard to avoid (4)
SHOWN (proved) less H
18. AT THE READY Prepared in a little yard not at this location (2,3,5)
THERE (not here) in A TAD Y
21. UNLEADED PETROL Ended with a polluter changing fuel (8, 6)
(ENDED A POLLUTER)*
23. TRANQUIL Still time? Rushed old writer’s one line short (8)
T + RAN + QUIL[L]
24. POSTER Bill‘s after that woman from EastEnders (6)
POST (after) + ‘ER
25. SLYBOOTS Lost boys set free fox? (8)
(LOST BOYS)*
26. OFFSET Make up for going on TV (6)
OFF (going) + SET (TV)
Down
1. DHOW A number of Romans on the way to boat (4)
D (Roman 500) + HOW (“the way”)
2. MANTRAP Worker raised weapon outside — positive danger to trespassers (7)
ANT in reverse of ARM + P
3. GANGSTER Criminal hiding note in comic (8)
N in GAGSTER
5. PARTNERSHIP Sharing stripper? Nah, that’s gross (11)
(STRIPPER NAH)*
6. LEGATE Scandal concerning the French envoy? (6)
LE-GATE, as in various -GATE scandals, originating from Watergate
7. OBTRUDE Push out foolish doubter (7)
DOUBTER*
8. TORY PARTY Do nothing in endeavour to start with the right people (4,5)
O in TRY + PARTY (a do)
12. DISH THE DIRT Gossip did this — her tongue’s beginning to flow freely (4,3,4)
(DID THIS HER T[ongue])* thanks to Muffyword for correcting my original wrong parsing
13. MOSQUITOS Capital invested in model planes (9)
QUITO (capital of Ecuador) in [Kate] MOSS
15. WRITE-OFF Crooked gent reported a total loss (5-3)
Homophone of “wry toff”
17. WALLABY Idiot’s stolen a black jumper (7)
A B in WALLY
19. AGOUTIS A disease one has contracted from rodents (7)
A + GOUT + 1’S
20. BANQUO Spectre at the feast mentioned trouble at Lloyds (6)
Homophone of “bank woe”. Banquo’s ghost appears to Macbeth at the feast in Act 3 Scene 4 of the Scottish Play.
22. DRAT Almost late after hold-up — I’m annoyed (4)
Reverse of TARD[Y]

54 comments on “Guardian 27,092 – Vlad”

  2. Thanks to Andrew and Vlad.

    After yesterday’s struggle this felt easier and hopefully the homophone won’t cause trouble today. Anyone else getting tired of the “gate” suffix?

    Din’t know what an agouti was (although fairly clued) but I do now. Every day’s a school day!

  3. Lovely puzzle – thanks all. I also took gossip as a verb.

    However could you explain a bit more how I get party in 8d? I’m probably being thick, but I can’t see ‘ a do’ in the word play.
    Thanks!

  4. Muffyword: thanks, you’re right about gossip – I didn’t notice I was trying to account for “did this” twice (probably because I originally tried to make an anagram of HER TONGUE + F).

    MrsH: a party is a “do” – it’s a very common crossword trick

  5. Thanks Vlad and Andrew

    Some I liked; more I didn’t. WRITE-OFF was my favourite.

    Surely “term’s known” in 4a clues “spells out” – i.e. “makes clear” (I know it doesn’t fit the grid!)?

    A bit naughty to clue “st” as “road” in 10a – why not use “street”? It’s one of the easier clues anyway.

    13d is a good example of my least favourite type of clue. I would be really surprised if anyone solved it by saying “Capital? That must be Quito, and the “model” must be Moss.”

    [btw for anyone who didn’t see it, I posted a pronunciation link on the “coffee” homophone in yesterday’s Imogen. Apparently the coffee is pronounced differently on opposite sides of the Atlantic.]

  6. Great puzzle, great blog – many thanks to both.

    So many very clever TRUMP clues keep coming – such a pity I can’t bring myself to smile. [But I did manage to at the crooked gent and trouble at Lloyds.]

  7. I am fed up with Trump clues.

    For a change, it would be nice to have a few thematic crosswords based on scientists/mathematicians/engineers – preferably not the obvious ones such as Einstein, Turing, Brunel…

  9. I failed to solve 22d and 24a – having never watched EastEnders I was put off by that clue but I should have realised it had something to do with Cockney!

    My favourites were DHOW, TRANQUIL, BANQUO.

    New words for me were MOSQUITO plane and AGOUTIS

    Thanks Vlad and Andrew.

  10. muffin @4, the first question I ever asked on this site was about an apostrophe similar to the one in 4a. I now know that you have to read “term’s known” as “term has known”, with “has” indicating a charade.

  11. Cyborg @10
    “term has known” doesn’t make sense in this one – it must be “term is known”, which would give “spell is out” or “spell’s out”.

  13. Thanks Vlad and Andrew.

    A bit of a struggle but I got there in the end after remembering AGOUTIS from a previous puzzle.

    I can’t agree with muffin @11; the wordplay doesn’t have to make sense as a phrase, thus term’s known is surely term has (or takes) known.

    I liked the TRUMP clue, especially as the Guardian and others are able to DISH THE DIRT on him. I didn’t realise he was a DRAGSTER as well!

  14. Robi @13
    I can’t believe that you said “the wordplay doesn’t have to make sense as a phrase”. It’s a very poor clue if it doesn’t!

  15. Enjoyable puzzle but yet again completed bar 1 . This time agoutis.
    It’s like playing an even game of tennis but repeatedly losing on match point

  16. Thank you Vlad and Andrew.

    Let off lightly today, but, like Michelle @9, I was “put off” at first by the EastEnder reference in 24a. The clues for WRITE-OFF and BANQUO were great, as was that for PRESIDENT TRUMP, but it sent a chill down my spine.

  17. muffin @14; obviously, the surface has to make sense, which it does in the clue. To my mind the wordplay is a mechanical way to arrive at the answer. As long as it does that, I don’t mind if it’s not too pretty, but it is of course a personal opinion and others may differ.

  18. Cookie@16

    re the EastEnders clue, I probably should have said “thrown off course” rather than “put off” – but I think you know what I meant 🙂

  19. Imogen and Vlad: two setters with whom I struggle perhaps more than any others, and yesterday indeed gave me all sorts of trouble. But today was far more gentle, helped as noted by the good sprinkling of anagrams. Some very clever clues here, and I for one don’t mind more GATE clues if they’re as witty as 6d.

  23. As always with Vlad there were a few here that required some thought, but overall I’d agree that it wasn’t too tough. Some lovely clues – liked WRITE-OFF and BANQUO. SLYBOOTS was last in.

    Thanks to Vlad and Andrew

  24. Very enjoyable. Slow going for me but I got there in the end.

    I have said on here before that just because a clue has a pop at Trump doesn’t necessarily make it a brilliant clue. But 11a worked really well – an excellent &lit.

    My favourites were UNLEADED PETROL (very clever) and LEGATE. I loved the idea of “Le-gate” ie a scandal about the French definite article.

  25. Thanks to Vlad and Andrew. I too moan a bit when seeing this setter’s name, but this puzzle was accessible to me and enjoyable. A few items did take me a while – e.g., OWNING, MY PLEASURE, and DISH THE DIRT, and DHOW was last in.

  26. Thanks for the blog Andrew.

    This must have been slightly easier than usual for Vlad as I managed to finish it before the coming of the next ice age. Initial thoughts of Yikes! subsided as the crossing of BANQUO & TRANQUIL gave me the SW fairly easily. The rest was a tussle and I was pleased to finish it, DRAT being last in. The TRUMP clue is depressingly accurate and SLYBOOTS is a lovely word. Thanks Vlad.

    muffin @8 – forgive me as I don’t often comment on here (though do read the comments most days). On reading 13d QUITO was the capital I thought of immediately (I had the crossing T) as it came up only recently. OK, I didn’t see MOSS as the model but QUITO was enough for the answer to jump out.

  27. We thought that this was a bit of a stinker but we got there in the end. Really liked 24a. Thanks to everyone

  28. muffin@8 “13d is a good example of my least favourite type of clue. I would be really surprised if anyone solved it by saying “Capital? That must be Quito, and the “model” must be Moss.”””

    Similar to ClairS @ 26, I thought of Quito immediately I had the U; however it didn’t pop out until I remembered model is often MOSS.

    Thanks Andrew and Vlad. Certainly easier and more entertaining than yesterday’s (the Xword, not the blog)

  29. I had to cheat on the AGOUTIS, but otherwise all fine.

    No complaints today about bank woes ans wry toffs–both are said the same over here (though of course we generally don’t say “toff” at all!)

    Muffin @5: thanks for the mocha enlightenment.

    My favorite clue of the day was DRAGSTER–I find long reversals pretty clever.

    When I was doing this, I got the PRESIDENT TRUMP one fairly early on. The next clue I attempted was “Sharing stripper? Nah, that’s gross”–which, in light of recent events, made me wince a bit. Incidentally, I too am getting tired of Trump clues, although–the one positive thing I can say about the man–he is an endless source of humor. Still all too depressing.

  30. I enjoyed this very much. I agree with some others that this was a gentler puzzle than usual for Vlad, but it certainly wasn’t a quick solve. I liked the Trump clues but I doubt I’ll like his time in office much! My favorite clue was DHOW.
    Thanks Vlad.
    Ps The decorators have gone; my heart has wings!

  32. Great puzzle as always from Vlad, although it took me some time. I remembered AGOUTI from previous puzzles. Favourites were DHOW, WALLABY, BANQUO and DRAGSTER. Many thanks to Vlad and Andrew.

  33. I’m a little surprised that AGOUTI was unfamiliar to so many. Most zoos have lots of them, probably because they are fairly small (roughly piglet-sized), breed well, and are easy to keep. More obscurely, “agouti” is the name for a gene governing coat-pattern in mice (and other mammals, apparently), used as a marker in genetic experiments.

  34. Muffin@11, not sure I follow, the answer is not spells out. I thought the apostrophe ‘s had to translate to has as a concatenator – no?

    Brilliant puzzle, loved 1a DAMAGE, 21a UNLEADED PETROL, 5d PARTNERSHIP, 19d AGOUTIS

    and there can never be enough TRUMP clues – if only he’d look at the Xwords…

    Many thanks Vlad and Andrew

  35. It seems I’m in the minority who found this very difficult and a significant step up from yesterday’s Imogen.

    Looking back, it’s hard to pinpoint why I struggled so much. Something to do, perhaps, with the constructions Vlad uses. For example “cost of keeping a good woman” had me spend a long time trying to insert AG into a four letter synonym for cost. It was only much later that it dawned on me that cost was the definition and I needed to find a synonym for woman. What I’m trying to say is that the clue was perfectly fair but I just wasn’t on Vlad’s wavelength today. And it was the same story with many other clues, too.

    Despite the struggle I only failed on two clues (though needed the check button frequently) and I did enjoy LEGATE.

    Thanks to Vlad and Andrew.

  36. Dutch @34
    My point is that “Make clear term has known” makes no sense, whereas “Make clear term is known” does, hence the ‘s can only stand for “is”, hence (as I said before) the clue gives “spells out” (or “spell’s out”). Yes, I know that it’s not the answer that fits the grid.

  37. muffin @36: surely a word or part word does not have to mean the same in the surface and in the cryptic reading of a clue. In the surface reading of 4a the ‘s stands for “is”, and in the cryptic reading it stands for “has”.

  38. At the easier end of the Vlad spectrum, I found.
    Concerning 4a: it would parse and read as a surface if the [apostrophe s] were dropped.
    Thanks to Vlad & Andrew.

  41. I did Vlad’s previous puzzle not even a week ago (due to prolongued seasonal celebrations).
    That was a good one and this one was too!
    Unlike some others I liked the cleverness of yesterday’s Imogen as well but Vlad’s crossword had a certain lightness today that was most appealing.

    Beeryhiker’s last one in was SLYBOOTS (25ac).
    It was one my firsts and perhaps Vlad remembers why (I had a deja vu).
    Anyway, I think, Andrew, that the anagram indicator should be ‘set free’ leaving just ‘fox’ as the definition.

    Lovely puzzle.

  42. Thanks to Andrew for the blog and to others for their comments.

    Re the contraction at 4a, think JimS @37 has explained it perfectly.

  43. I solved this while stuck in a service area off a gridlocked motorway this evening. It was a joy from beginning to end (to echo copmus @12). I had to leave just four answers until I got home and could look up a couple of things.

    I was interested to read the comparisons in these comments between Vlad’s crossword today and Imogen’s yesterday. I certainly had contrasting experiences with the two puzzles, much preferring today’s. Both tested me, but I thought Vlad came up with fairer, neater clues. I accept it is mostly a matter of taste, though, and what I find contrived, for example, another might find ingenious.

    I take muffin’s point @5 about 13d MOSQUITOS. I note that one solver at least got it from QUITO first, but I’m sure that most of us got it from ‘planes’ first before the wordplay. Provided this type of clue is not used too much I count it as fair game – like today. There are so many capitals in the world, just as there are so many boys’ names and girls’ names, that it would be the mark of a lazy and inconsiderate setter to incorporate too many instances of elements clued in this way.

    I loved the way 11a PRESIDENT TRUMP came out of the clue – another ingenious variation on a theme that is good for four years at least.

    It was good to see Lloyds, the bank, spelled correctly in the clue for 20d BANQUO. (Lloyd’s the insurance market, my former employer, is spelled with an apostrophe.)

    Many thanks to Vlad and Andrew.

  44. [cookie @ 20 – thanks – I hope to continue doing a crossword every day – I have been doing some of the ones that I missed over the past months – it is great to do them again! ]

  45. At 4ac what the clue says is ‘spell has out’ which is okay. What the surface means is irrelevant, except that it should make sense in some way.

  46. Muffin @36 and Jims @37 and NHS@45

    4a: Yes, thanks very much all, that’s what I was trying to say – IS in surface but HAS in cryptic reading – we see the apostrophe S thus exploited from time to time.

  49. Neil: [term has known] is a crosswordy way of saying that a word for[term] has a word for [known] with it. Like an elision, perhaps

  50. I get that but the phrase itself makes no sense. I thought the clue part at least needed to make some sense otherwise compilers could put any old combination of words as long as they assisted us in getting the definition.

  51. If the clue part does not need to make sense then could a clue for “rational” be :

    Logical rodent partical man

  53. Neil@51 and 52. Not one I like but have seen worse.
    Not happy with “that’s gross” as an anagrind at 5d and I didn’t get DRAT at 22d though I should have. It doesn’t mean “I’m annoyed” to me. If I said “DRAT” it would mean that “I’m annoyed” but that isn’t the same. I put in FRET for the want of anything better.

  54. 15D
    I pronounce “toff” to rhyme with “boff”, not “morph” so 15D doesn’t work for me. I have to enlist my posh (they say ‘porche’) friends to get the homonyms right %/

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