Guardian 27,398 – Vlad

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As seems to happen regularly, Vlad softened me up with a few easy clues, but left me struggling afterwards. Still, I got there in the end, and it all looks perfectly reasonable in retrospect. Thanks to Vlad.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Across
1. PATIENT Job description (7)
Cryptic defintion, Job (Old Testament character) being proverbially patient
5. TIDE RIP Fish’s journey across rough water (4,3)
IDE (fish) in TRIP
9. GUMDROP Sweet face about to fall (7)
Reverse of MUG (face) + DROP
10. IMITATE Do like it when current partner’s around (7)
IT in I (symbol for electric current) MATE
11. IN THE DARK Where old conservationist was keeping department ignorant (2,3,4)
D[epartment] in IN THE ARK (where Noah, an “old conservationist”, was)
12. YIELD Why I ’ad to return (5)
Y (why) + I + [h]ELD
13. GUYED Chap my boss made fun of (5)
GUY + ED (Vlad’s boss)
15. CANVASSED Surveyed scans A&E produced over 5d (9)
Anagram of SCANS + A&E + V (Roman 5) + D
17. JACK STRAW Raises environment finally with Green politician (4,5)
JACKS (raises) + [environmen]T + RAW (green)
19. LAP UP Readily accept return of an immature creature (3,2)
Reverse of PUPAL (relating to a pupa – nothing to do with pups!)
22. MALMO Doctor’s onto sickness in French port (5)
MAL (sickness, in French) + MO (doctor), to give the Swedish port
23. CHAPERONE Minder — Terry initially absent from start of story (9)
CHAPTER ONE (start of story) less T[erry]
25. IFFIEST Provided car with wing missing — dodgy in the extreme (7)
IF (provided) + FIEST[A] (Ford car)
26. TOMBOLA Game Boy’s a throwback (7)
TOM (boy) + reverse of A LOB
27. AERATED A scolded bishop ignored bubbly (7)
A + [B]ERATED
28. ENTROPY Opening with work in disorder (7)
OP (work) in ENTRY
Down
1. POGOING Springer regularly does it in a sticky situation (7)
I think this is an extended definition, referring to someone “springing” on a Pogo Stick
2. TIMOTHY In college upset your old man (7)
O in reverse of MIT (college) + THY
3. EERIE Scary country, Spain after revolution (5)
Reverse of EIRE + E
4. TAP DANCER Entertainer? Time stripper got topless! (3,6)
T + [L]AP DANCER
5. THICK Well in credit, Henry invested (5)
H in TICK (credit) – thick as in “having a very close, friendly relationship”, or “thick as thieves”
6,7. DAILY MAIL READERS Alarmed half of Tory ladies, I fancy, including these? (5,4,7)
Anagram of ALARMED [to]RY LADIES I
8. PLEADED Argued case for penny on petrol, sort of (7)
P + LEADED
14. DISHONEST His doesn’t work — it’s bent (9)
(HIS DOESN’T)*
16. NEWCASTLE Can one settle comfortably outside city? (9)
WC (toilet, can) in NESTLE
17. JAMAICA Island‘s very good on the surface — stick around! (7)
A1 with JAM (stick) + CA (around) “on the surface”
18. CALL FOR Conservative strongly backing demand (4,3)
C + ALL FOR (strongly backing)
20. PRO BONO Not requiring payment for singer (3,4)
PRO (for) BONO (singer)
21. PRELACY Priest and sweetheart like sexy underwear in church office (7)
PRE + E (middle letter of swEet) + LACY
23. CITED Speaking with sense is commended (5)
Homophone (“speaking”) of “sighted” (with the sense of sight)
24. EMMET System meant to hold up West Country tourist (5)
Hidden in reverse of sysTEM MEant – Emmet is a Cornish nickname for a tourist

51 comments on “Guardian 27,398 – Vlad”

  1. I think that I’m beginning to warm to Vlad’s style, and there are some excellent clues here, though I am not comfortable with ‘Timothy’ being clued as ‘man’ at 2d, and I presume that, at 12a, the ‘y’ represents the texting convention, meaning that a homophone indicator isn’t deemed necessary. I’m not really up to speed on texting but it appears that solvers will have to get used to it.

  2. Very tricky, and I failed to get POGOING, though the clue was fair and clever.

    16 down: should be WC + A in NESTLE [can ONE].

    23 down: perhaps the most common meaning of CITED these days, at least for one who reads the sports pages, is the reverse of commended: Rugby players formally ‘cited ‘ for fouL play which the referee may have missed.

    Thanks to Andrew and to Vlad the Impaler

  3. Thanks Vlad and Andrew

    A protracted but ultimately satisfying solve. I particularly liked CHAPERONE (Dennis Waterman’s character Terry was the “Minder” in the TV series), AERATED, ENTROPY and NEWCASTLE.

    Is “old” doing double duty in 2d – for O and for “your old” to give THY? I agree with George Clements @1 about the looseness of the definition, but we’ve had this discussion before.

    I didn’t like 12a (I always think that it’s clumsy clueing to have constructions like ‘ad). TAP DANCER is a bit weak too, as it’s only one letter different from lap dancer.

    Not a criticism, but “grockles” is a more general west country term for the Cornish “emmets” (which is actually a local word for ants).

  5. Thanks, Andrew.

    Super puzzle!! Misdirection in practically every clue, leading to many a chortle as the pennies dropped. I did start awarding ticks but it soon became clear that there would be more clues with than without. But I must make mention of DAILY MAIL READERS, which will go into my little book of classics.

    Many thanks, Vlad, for putting sparkle into another dull morning.

  6. Thankyou Andrew for the 6/7. I failed  on that looking for charades and containers. Funny now after the event.

    There’s a missing letter in NEWCASTLE.  A for ‘one’.

  7. A beauty and as Andrew says, a few “gettable” clues to soften up the solver.I loved the DAILY MAIL READERS and many others but i was struggling on POGOING even with the crossers-a couple pf check buttons and DOH. Both 1’s were Rufus type clues but in the midst of all the others it was like Nathan Lyon delivering a ball with no spin.

    Thanks to Vlad and Andrew.

  8. Thanks muffin for the West County tourists. I got EMMET from wordplay. Found the ant on google, Had no idea about the tourists. It’s not an uncommon surname. There must have been a whole colony of them. 🙂

  9. Well that was fun.  Everything Eileen said and then some!

    I always feel better after a good Vladding.  Last time it was before a medical procedure, today much more congenial: taking my wife out for a birthday lunch.

    We will raise a glass of champagne to you Jim.  Cheers.

  10. I wasn’t on Vlad’s wavelength today and found this an uphill slog, of the completed but not much enjoyed variety.
    tombola was good though.

  12. I wish I could share Eileen’s exuberance. I am with Rewolf and Martin on this; solving a Vlad  is like listening to an out of tune radio program with the occasional jarrings. Re-reading the clues, I see they are precise. For example, when solving, I thought PUPAL was a bit iffy for “an immature creature”, but then it does actually say “of an immature creature”. I had read it as “return of”.

     

    Thanks Vlad and Andrew

  13. Dave Ellison @12 – “… solving a Vlad  is like listening to an out of tune radio program with the occasional jarrings.” So who exactly is making you do it? [And I don’t think that’s what Martin said or suggested.]

  14. I thought this was a wonderful puzzle. If I had to pick a favourite, it would be NEWCASTLE but only just. Dave Ellison’s comment make me realise how varied the solving community is and I’m just glad that Hugh’s bag of tricks keeps us all happy in the main.

    many thanks to Andrew and Vlad and a nice weekend to all

  15. I’d agree with Eileen @5 and Baerchen @ 14

    You expect a battle with Vlad but as always it is well worth persevering to the end

     

    Thanks to Vlad and Andrew

  16. Phew! But got there in the end, impaled upon more than one or two of these clues before I completed the puzzle…

  18. Shirl@17 because you need a pogo ‘stick’ to do your pogoing.   Something I always wanted when they were all the rage back in the (no I’m not going to say) but sadly never got one

  19. Ashamed to say I gave up today having only solved half of this (I usually complete if it takes all day!). Now I see it was all gettable. I thought of NEWCASTLE and CHAPERONE but couldn’t parse them (so obvious now). Wonder if Paul is jealous of 21d?
    Thanks to Vlad and Andrew.

  20. One of my top crosswords over the last few years was a Vlad, but I was disappointed with the clues and answers that I started with in this one (mostly in the top left), and I decided (without having to read Eileen’s sound principle @13) that it wasn’t worth persevering with – after all, no-one was making me do it.

    I’m glad some of you enjoyed it – I’ve no complaints.  I’ve had my fill of three good days of crosswords before this one.

  21. Thanks to Vlad and Andrew. In the end well impaled missing about six clues including 1d. That said enjoyed the puzzle and was pleased with what I got. Still to finish a Vlad but hopefully one day soon I will get on the same wavelength.

  23. Thanks to Vlad and Andrew. I always have trouble with this setter but did manage to fight my way through. I got POGOING but MALMO and TOMBOLA (my LOI) were new to me. I knew EMMET as an ant from previous US crosswords but not as a tourist. Tough going but a good workout.

  24. No lightbulb moment for me with 1 or 2 D when I saw the answers. I think Timothy parses poorly even if you allow old to do double duty and the other is just a weak attempt at a humorous definition. But hey ho each to his own. Agree with Muffin re emmets; they’re definitely grockles here in Devon.

  26. No surprise that 1a / 1d were last in, by a long time – did Rufus have a job lot of cds going cheap when he retired? They’ve always been a clue type with which I have struggled.

    A word on CANVASSED. To me, ‘scans A&E produced over 5d’ reads as (SCANSAE)* to appear on top of (over) VD. Because it’s Vlad, I just assumed the V had to be inserted somewhere else. I suppose the point is that ‘over’ implies that the V is inserted in the anagram …?

    Absolutely loved CHAPERONE.

  27. Trailman @26

    I agree about CHAPERONE – that was a good clue, and I wish I had ‘cited’ it earlier (so to speak).

  28. Thanks Vlad and Andrew

    Trailman @ 26: I think it’s (yet another) misdirection. It’s what SCANSAE produces, with V & D separated, so covering (over) V and ahead of (over) D. I’d like toknow where Vlad buys his curly skewers.

  29. Despite getting a personal mention in 1 across (thanks Vlad), I still failed to solve it as I couldn’t get either POGOING or TIMOTHY.  Now I’ve looked up Andrew’s blog (thanks Andrew) I still don’t think they are very gettable.  Got stuck in the bottom left too, until Mrs Job (known here as PVB) helped me out with JACK STRAW after which that corner went in fairly easily.  Such a promising start too – I had GUMDROP and IN THE DARK (with a tick of special approval)  written in almost as soon as I began, then the floundering began.  I managed to raise a smile for DISHONEST, CHAPERONE, and DAILY MAIL READER, but overall, it was too hard for me and took more time than I really had!

  31. What a toughie. Wedid finish, with a few only partly parsed, and we put in “pigging” for 1d, and almost parsed it. Daily Mail readers was our final breakthrough, enabling the rest to fall in. (Lovely clue). It,s taken all day, off and on. Tried hard to find a fish for 5a

  32. Glad to see that others found this tricky too. Liked chaperone best and enjoyed the challenge. Thanks for explaining Noah.

  33. I thought this was tough and brilliant l, and like Eileen ran out of ticks. I love two word clues when they’re as clever as 1a. Whilst there might be a couple of clues to quibble over I think the conciseness, misdirection and sheer elegance throughout made this a puzzle to savour for me, and more than made up for my struggles yesterday.
    Thanks to Vlad and Andrew, and all who commented whether in agreement or offering an alternative take on it.

  34. Liked quite a lot of these though some took a while to untangle, and didn’t get Pogoing, which I thought had to start with sPrInGeR – I think Bouncer would have been a much better Intro than Springer in a pretty obscure DD and would arguably have been a better surface. My only complaint is that intricate parsing needs to be accurate and I don’t think 2 dn makes it – ‘In’ is superflous an there is no mechanic for the old (if indeed doing double duty) to come before the ‘thy’. Old College upset your old man would have made more sense. Not so keen on a random ‘a’ for ‘one’ in 16dn either. But otherwise some great stuff to enjoy.

  35. I lived in Cornwall for over twenty years so EMMET was FOI. I didn’t get the rest so readily though! I did think this rather a good puzzle despite the slowness of my progress with it. I really loved POGOING but,unfortunately, I thought it was POGOIST which delayed me no end in the NW,and I couldn’t parse TIMOTHY but I couldn’t think what else it could be.
    Muffin@25. I live just outside Barnstaple and I’ve never heard tourists described as grockles or emmets since I’ve been here. I’ve heard them called other things which I’d better not repeat here!
    Thanks Vlad.

  37. Cosmo: I’m following your progress with interest. You’ve done better than me today as I don’t even try Vlad.

    Maybe I’ll have a look at the answers later.

     

  38. Gandolf @ 34: I think that the key is that a pogo stick has a spring in it, and also that ‘springer’ misdirects you towards dogs.

  40. I was down the dog route thinking it was a springer setter that led me into thinking it was something to do with Vlad and ended up putting parsing into 1d, not long after that I started looking at answers.

  43. Thanks for the blog and comments. Surprised by the difficulty in parsing TIMOTHY – it’s just as Andrew described it.

    I was thinking of Jerry Springer in 1dn but it could equally be a dog.

     

  44. Blimey Vlad, how many pints of my blood do you want?  Wrestling with this one for hours, was quite sure it wouldn’t be out by midnight, i.e. a DNF.

    But not so – I have just finished!  Now I could do with a stiff drink (not blood, preferably!)

    Chuckled at IN THE DARK.  Reminds me of the old joke “Where was Moses when the light went out?”  And the other one in a similar vein, CHAPERONE, was also very ingenious.

    Some words I had to guess at, like POGOING (really?  Doesn’t need a hyphen?) and PRELACY (heard of PRELATE, I suppose that’s his job).  And for PATIENT, I guessed early on that JOB wasn’t all it seemed to be – but the correct proverb “Patient as Job” eluded me for a while.

    All excellent clueing, only one non-parser for me, that was TIDE RIP.  I took it to be just some sort of double def.

    Thanks again, Vlad (only joking!) and Andrew.

  45. P.S.  No probs for me with parsing TIMOTHY (once I’d got it, that is!).  I’m not all that keen on first-letter abbreviations without indicators (O in this case) but I accept that they are pretty common these days.  TIMOTHY is also the name of a type of grass.  What Vlad might have made of that is anyone’s guess.  Next time, maybe?

  46. Laccaria @44

    I’m surprised that you haven’t come across the IDE before – a fish that only exists in crosswords! (Rather like the GNU – I remember a cartoon in which a zookeeper says “We like to keep the animals in their natural environments”, standing outside an enclosure with a gnu in  a cage papered with crossword puzzles).

  48. “Tha”, “thee” and “thy” are still vernacular in parts of the country – Yorkshire especially, though rarely spoken these days.  I don’t think “Old” is required to do double duty.  But that’s my view.

    As for IDE, yes I’m familiar with it in crosswords – just failed to spot it this time!  Like (rivers) DEE and PO, invaluable for providing that missing syllable!

     

  49. This was a bit like pulling teeth for me – thus the late post. All over google like a rash checking things eg IDE, GUYED, JACK STRAW, EMMET, PRELACY, and searching synonyms, etc. So it was a big brain stretch for me and I only got there this morning (Oz time) by sleeping on it. So I ultimately felt dissatisfied that I had needed so much help to solve, and that it had taken so long even by my standards (“It’s not a contest of speed, Julie!”).

    However I was uplifted by an interesting forum of comments ranging across the spectrum in terms of “likes”, “dislikes” and “somewhere in betweens”. Thanks to Vlad, Andrew, and all contributors.

  50. Sheer joy! Had I attempted this forty or more years ago (when the Telegraph and Everyman defined my “comfort” zone) I wouldn’t have been surprised if I’d drawn a blank! This is precisely why it is worth persevering with this addiction – in my opinion.
    Half an hour of undiluted pleasure with my Sunday morning’s coffee. And now the sun’s shining! It’s good to be alive. Thank you Vlad.
    Perfectly constructed, I thought.
    Andrew – great blog. (I might have described POGOING as a cd – and you neglected to explain the A in NEWCASTLE). I have to confess that I wrongly questioned the O in TIMOTHY being a southerner who’d forgotten that “thy” is current up north. My bad.
    Nice to be reminded why I reach for the Guardian to get my fix.
    My favourite? PATIENT.
    Thanks again.

  51. Thought we’d go for the late post – despite Eileen’s advice, we can’t stop until we finish! So it’s taken 5 days, on and off……This one needed us to cheat – we’re with Laccaria @ 44 on Vlad’s puzzles. Unfortunately we doubt we’ve got 40 years left to improve so we can do these in 30 mins like William F P. Liked CHAPERONE & Daily Mail readers though that took us ages to crack.

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