Guardian 27,550 – Vulcan

July 2, 2018 at 8:16 am by Andrew

I found this a bit harder than Vulcan’s previous puzzles, but still very suitable for the Monday slot, though I thought the cryptic definitions were a bit weak, and sometimes inaccurate. Thanks to Vulcan.

Across
1.	CHARCOAL	Cleaner fuel? Yes and no (8) CHAR (cleaner) + COAL, with a sort of &littishness, though I think charcoal is if anything a bit “cleaner” than coal
5.	KITSCH	Uniform at school is vulgar stuff (6) KIT + SCH
9.	EXPLOIT	Take advantage of old bed one enters (7) I in EX-PLOT
10.	SIDEARM	Having pistol, loved to drill through card (7) DEAR (loved) in SIM (card in a mobile phone)
11.	VENUS	Sex goddess very exciting at first to students (5) V[ery] E[xciting] + NUS (student union)
12.	RANSACKED	Thoroughly searched, managed to get fired (9) RAN (managed) + SACKED (fired)
13.	SELF-PORTRAIT	Artist can’t get anyone to pose for this (4-8) Cryptic defintion, though it would perhaps be more accurate to say “.. needn’t get anyone”
17.	CHASTISEMENT	Beating faulty machine tests (12) (MACHINE TESTS)*
20.	MASOCHISM	Taking pains to enjoy oneself (9) Cryptic defintion
22.	EQUAL	Having much of the same quality? (5) Hidden in samE QUALity, &lit
23.	TRY IT ON	Hear a heavyweight attempt to deceive (3,2,2) TRY (to hear) + 1 TON
24.	NEAREST	Moving north in earnest to be as close as possible (7) Anagram of N in EARNEST
25.	ROSARY	Sorry, failing to keep a Catholic devotion (6) A in SORRY*
26.	ASSEMBLY	Online factory work? (8) Cryptic definition, referring to assembly lines
Down
1.	CLEAVE	Chop stick? (6) Double definition, using the two contradictory meanings of “cleave”
2.	ALPINE	A large tree, or a small plant (6) A L PINE
3.	CROW’S NEST	The high point of a sea voyage? (5,4) Cryptic definition
4.	AFTER A FASHION	Sort of seeking stylish clothes (5,1,7) AFTER (seeking) + A FASHION (stylish clothes). Or possibly AFTER A for “seeking” – the A doesn’t fit comfortably either way
6.	INDIA	Cricket team Juliet follows on radio (5) Double definition – Juliet follows India in the NATO phonetic alphabet
7.	SNACK BAR	It may offer a sandwich course (5,3) Cryptic definition
8.	HUMIDITY	Quietly sing one tune, losing heart in clammy conditions (8) HUM 1 DI[T]TY
10.	SENIOR MOMENTS	In men’s room, set out failings of the elderly (6,7) (IN MENS ROOM SET)*
14.	TENDER AGE	Youth‘s great need for excitement (6,3) (GREAT NEED)*
15.	SCIMITAR	Cutter from the east (8) Cryptic definition
16.	CATS’ EYES	In trembling ecstasy, finally receive gems (4,4) [reciev]E in ECSTASY*
18.	SUPERB	Wonderful game Americans would play with owl (6) Americans might play in the SUPERB[OWL]
19.	FLATLY	Absolutely evenly (6) Double definition
21.	CATER	Provide unusual trace (5) TRACE*

41 comments on “Guardian 27,550 – Vulcan”

Dave Ellison

#1 - Mon 2nd Jul 18, 07:25

A tale of two CDs: the best of them 13a, the worst of them 15d.

Thanks Vulcan and Andrew
andysmith

#2 - Mon 2nd Jul 18, 07:34

Thanks for the blog. I saw 26 as, if you put assembly on “line”, you get assembly line = factory work. Nice clues and surfaces generally I thought.
baerchen

#3 - Mon 2nd Jul 18, 07:36

@Dave Ellison

chortle
Julie in Australia

#4 - Mon 2nd Jul 18, 07:38

Thanks Vulcan and Andrew. I had some “Oh really?” question marks against some of the cryptic/double definitions so I concur with what you and Dave E@1 said. I would have liked more of a challenge today but perhaps I am something of a 20a MASOCHIST when it comes to cryptics.
Hovis

#5 - Mon 2nd Jul 18, 07:41

There’s a mistake in the parsing for 24a. It is simply ‘earnest’ with the N moving to the front.
muffin

#6 - Mon 2nd Jul 18, 07:44

Thanks Vulcan and Andrew

Another Rufusian effort from Vulcan. Mostly fun, though some of the CDs (SCIMITAR in particular) were a bit weak. CLEAVE was my favourite.

I questioned the “and no” in 1a, and I don’t see how the “Having” fits in 10a.
muffin

#7 - Mon 2nd Jul 18, 07:46

[20a reminded me of the line I first heard said by David Frost: “I know a masochist who likes a cold bath every morning…so he takes a hot one”]
pex

#8 - Mon 2nd Jul 18, 07:51

Andrew: 18a: I think only the wonderful should be underlined
pex

#9 - Mon 2nd Jul 18, 08:10

Oops! 18d I meant of course
andysmith

#10 - Mon 2nd Jul 18, 08:37

Muffin@10 – charcoal is a cleaner fuel than coal, emitting co2 and water vapour only – but not much cleaner to handle …
William

#11 - Mon 2nd Jul 18, 08:40

Thank you, Andrew, enjoyable start to the week.

Slight niggle on NEAREST which does not mean as near as possible. Mercury is the nearest of our planets to the sun but it’s still 30-odd million miles from it. Hardly ‘near as possible’.

Loved CLEAVE. Often conjured over this contradictory word. Is there a word to describe for words with opposite meanings? Are there other examples? Must be.

Thank you, Vulcan, nice week, all.
William

#12 - Mon 2nd Jul 18, 08:42

Muffin @7: There’s also…

Masochist: Beat me.

Sadist: No.
William

#13 - Mon 2nd Jul 18, 08:45

andysmith @2: Well spotted. Makes it a nice clue. I had it down as a bit weak before.
Simon S

#14 - Mon 2nd Jul 18, 08:55

Thanks Vulcan and Andrew

muffin @ 6: I think the “and no” in 1A works if you think of charcoal as something for drawing with, as well as a fuel.
Jam

#15 - Mon 2nd Jul 18, 09:20

William @11

Cleave is an auto antonym.
S Panza

#16 - Mon 2nd Jul 18, 09:45

Thanks Vulcan and Andrew I enjoyed this mostly. But as Yogi Berra once said “it is deja vu all over again” just felt like Rufus was back spinning his usual Monday web. My favourites were SELF-PORTRAIT, CROWS NEST and AFTER A FASHION. Oh and CLEAVE was very clever as Jam points out!
PetHay

#17 - Mon 2nd Jul 18, 10:43

Thanks to Vulcan and Andrew. As others have said relatively straightforward with a few eyebrow lifting moments. That said nonetheless enjoyable and I liked after a fashion and assembly. I am also sure we have seen senior moments in another puzzle quite recently. Thanks again to Vulcan and Andrew.
PeterS

#18 - Mon 2nd Jul 18, 10:49

Andrew

Like several others I really liked SELF PORTRAIT. I don’t understand your reservations about the clue. The artist can’t get anyone to pose for this. He needs one particular person – himself.

Thanks for the blog and thanks to Vulcan for a nice start to the week.
WhiteKing

#19 - Mon 2nd Jul 18, 11:13

Lots to like and one or two to grimace at. CLEAVE is worthy of any setter on any day – and comes with the bonus of a DaveMc TILT thanks to Jam – auto antonym. The closest we got was oxymoron but we knew that wasn’t it. I also ticked KITSCH MASOCHISM and HUMIDITY (my loi) – hum ditty brought a smile.
Thanks Vulcan, Andrew and others.
William

#20 - Mon 2nd Jul 18, 11:23

Jam @15: Bravo, many thanks. (Brava if you’re female plus apologies). The list of examples in your link is staggering.
Cookie

#21 - Mon 2nd Jul 18, 11:31

Thank you Vulcan and Andrew.

I found this fun – I wonder who Vulcan is? Favourite clues were the Rufusian ones for SELF-PORTRAIT, MASOCHISM and ASSEMBLY
Keyser

#22 - Mon 2nd Jul 18, 11:53

Took a few minutes to get on Vulcan’s wavelength but then it all went fairly smoothly. Agree with much of what’s written above (good and bad). I liked SUPERB but agree with Pex @ 8 that it’s wonderful, not wonderful game.

Thanks to Vulcan, Andrew and all the posters.
Alphalpha

#23 - Mon 2nd Jul 18, 12:08

Thanks to Vulcan and Andrew.

Thumbs up here and I needed Andrew’s help with SIDEARM and SUPERB which may just go to show that the Monday synapses aren’t firing well – in other words “Doh!”. Also thanks to Jam@15 for the TILT.
Alan B

#24 - Mon 2nd Jul 18, 12:18

I found this pretty smooth and straightforward.

Rufus has been mentioned here a few times, and no wonder. I counted 8 CD or DD clues that could have been written by the great man.

Picking up muffin’s point (@6 ) about the word ‘Having’ in 10a SIDEARM. It is a bit strong for a ‘filler’ word (put there mainly for the surface), and it could in fact be removed, so that the clue would read “Pistol loved to drill through card”, the capital P indicating (in the surface reading) a well-known character in a play.

I agree with muffin also that ‘Yes and no’ in 1a CHARCOAL is questionable. It could have read ‘Yes and yes’, because charcoal is cleaner than coal and other dirty fuels. Simon S, though (@14), also has a valid point in favour of the clue as written: considering charcoal as something to draw with, ‘Yes and no’ is appropriate.

I thought at first that TRY IT ON was a homophone for ‘try a tonne’, which would have made this a feeble clue because you have ‘try’ with exactly the same sound and meaning in both phrases, not to mention the fact that the answer is clued better as ‘attempt to deceive’ than simply ‘to deceive’. Andrew had it right with ‘try’ = ‘hear’.

Thanks to Vulcan and Andrew.
Mrs Paddington Bear

#25 - Mon 2nd Jul 18, 12:59

I solved this one quite well, but needed some help with some of the parsing. Thanks Andrew and Vulcan.
copland smith

#26 - Mon 2nd Jul 18, 13:28

As usual I agree with Julie from Australia – I don’t think the Cryptic should be easier than the Quiptic.
Gerardus

#27 - Mon 2nd Jul 18, 14:07

I wondered if 23a TRY IT ON could be a homophone (almost) of Triton. Being a god he could be regarded as a heavyweight. Perhaps a bit far fetched.
MarkN

#28 - Mon 2nd Jul 18, 14:32

William @ 11:

I’ve always called words like “cleave” contranyms. One other obvious contender is “splice” which like cleave can be used to mean both “separate” and “join”.
ACD

#29 - Mon 2nd Jul 18, 14:40

Thanks to Vulcan and Andrew. Nothing much to add. I didn’t know ALPINE as a plant and paused over SCIMITAR.
JamesG

#30 - Mon 2nd Jul 18, 15:23

Could the yes and no for charcoal be less about how clean it is as a fuel so much as that it has other uses – drawing and writing?
JamesG

#31 - Mon 2nd Jul 18, 15:24

Sorry. I now see lots of others have suggested this! Takes me too long to type!
Keyser

#32 - Mon 2nd Jul 18, 15:57

ACD @29. Alpines describes a group of plants that all grow in Alpine conditions. So it’s many different species that happen to thrive in the same sites. They tend to be grown in gardens in special Alpine beds, that are a bit like rock gardens. Or in troughs and suchlike.
Trailman

#33 - Mon 2nd Jul 18, 16:00

Had to look quite hard at the SUPERB clue to find out how to fit in the owl.
Peter Aspinwall

#34 - Mon 2nd Jul 18, 16:03

Some of you have mentioned Rufus in relation to this puzzle but I think his puzzles were rather better than this.I certainly found it difficult to get on Vulcan’s wavelength. I rather agree with JIA and Andrew. Perhaps it’s too hot!
Thanks Vulcan.
Dutch

#35 - Mon 2nd Jul 18, 16:35

I was impressed with 6 cd’s. Favourite clue is TENDER AGE, and I also thought ALPINE had a simple elegancy.

I’m surprised at humidity= clammy conditions. Humidity can be high or low, high humidity would be clammy conditions. The same clue has hum=sing quietly, which I also wondered about, but chambers says to ‘sing’ with closed lips.

MarkN@28, when does splice mean separate? I only know the join meaning, and chambers isn’t helping me.

Many thanks Vulcan, and thanks Andrew
MarkN

#36 - Mon 2nd Jul 18, 18:42

Dutch @ 35 – wow – seems really hard to find examples. I was sure it was commoner. Googling for “spliced in two” I found this, as an example: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1049698.stm which describes pavements potentially being spliced in two to accommodate different speeds of walker. I’m sure I’ve read it in fantasy books – with foes being spliced in two by a hero with a big sword. Maybe it’s become rarer these days…

Regardless, a few online dictionaries list this as its origin: “C16: probably from Middle Dutch splissen; related to German spleissen, Swedish splitsa; see split”.
Rompiballe

#37 - Mon 2nd Jul 18, 21:09

muffin@6: I agree. Meaninglessness of “having” illustrates why the definition is always at the beginning or the end of a clue.
featherstonehaugh

#38 - Mon 2nd Jul 18, 21:39

I thought the CDs were Rufusian to the max!

I think AFTER A FASHION is intended as a double def.
DaveMc

#39 - Mon 2nd Jul 18, 23:13

Arriving here very late – a busy day here at work (even at this hour, but I’m taking a quick break). I enjoyed this puzzle, especially 18d, which I thought was SUPERB. I also liked SELF-PORTRAIT, HUMIDITY and ASSEMBLY.

I agree with the commenters above who found the word “Having” leading off 10ac to be off-putting for purposes of the wordplay, and to serve no apparent good purpose. I think that odd word detracted a bit from what was otherwise a clever clue, especially with its use of “card” to indicate SIM.

The blog and commentary above are, as always, filled with interesting and amusing remarks. I agree with WhiteKing @19 that the term “auto antonym”, introduced to the discussion by Jam @15, was a great TILT**. There is bonus fun to be had in following the Wikipedia link that Jam provided and seeing the other terminology that has been proposed for an auto antonym, including “Janus word”, which is also pretty great, and “antagonym”, which is, I think, my favorite among all the possible terms. One antagonym that I did not see on the list, that popped to mind, was “shelled”: Sometimes that word means having an outer protective hard covering, and sometimes it means having had such a hard covering removed.

[**One other great TILT in that Wikipedia article concerns the Italian “ciao”, which may be used, like “aloha” (as mentioned in the article) and “shalom” (which is not mentioned), to say either hello or goodbye. According to the article, the literal meaning of ciao is “(I’m your ) slave”. Wow!]

Many thanks to Vulcan and Andrew and the other commenters.
Cookie

#40 - Tue 3rd Jul 18, 08:50

[DaveMc, that last paragraph is interesting, it reminded me that in Austria “Servus” is used as a greeting, so I check on Wiki and found it is the same as “Ciao” and used all over Central and Eastern Europe.]
Meg

#41 - Tue 3rd Jul 18, 13:49

MarkN. Sliced in two by a big sword perhaps?

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