Guardian Cryptic 27,610 by Vulcan

by

The puzzle can be solved online here.

I’m going to have to be honest here and say that this did not satisfy me at all.  There were a few decent clues, none of which were quite excellent enough to get a tick marked against it, but unfortunately some of the “cryptic defintions” were very poor (particularly 11a, 12a, 17a, 6d and 14d).  And there was an obvious error/misprint in 18d, where one of the letters of the answer does not appear in the wordplay.

There appears to be some acceptance among Guardian solvers that a Monday puzzle does not have to be difficult, or full of complicated wordplay.  I get that, as a gentle introduction to the week may be seen as helping people back into the swing after a weekend, but that doesn’t mean that quality needs to slip, and, in my opinion, this was not a very good puzzle.

Sorry if my opinion differs from others, but there’s no point in a blog if it is sycophantic.  I doubt that it is the setter’s fault, as he/she is clearly under instruction to recreate the kind of puzzle that Rufus used to deliver on a Monday, but I personally would prefer more wordplay and less cryptic definitions in my puzzles.

Thanks, Vulcan.

Across
1 PANAMA Both parents collect a new hat (6)
PA + MA (“both parents”) collect A N(ew)
4 ASHPLANT Tackling Alp, hasn’t a walking stick (8)
*(alp hasnt)
9 BOWER Violinist‘s private room (5)
Double definition, with the first being slightly cryptic.
10 HEADRESTS Chief relaxes car safety features (9)
HEAD (“chief”) + RESTS (“relaxes”)
11 RIOT SQUAD Police team having wildly exciting time? (4,5)
Cryptic definition
12 MINCE A fine cut of meat (5)
Cryptic definition
13 WALK THE PLANK On board ship, head for the drink (4,3,5)
Cryptic definition
17 ALCOHOL ABUSE The opposite of what AA stands for? (7,5)
AA would normally stand for Alcoholics Anonymous, but I don’t think the opposite of this is Alcohol Abuse.  I can see hwat the setter is doing, though, so as it’s a Monday, I’d let it slide.
20 ROOTS Firmly establishes ancestry (5)
Double definition
21 DIGESTIVE Biscuit gives diet variety (9)
*(gives diet)
23 WALK ON AIR Be elated to have one’s stroll broadcast? (4,2,3)
WALK (“to stroll”) + ON AIR (“broadcast”)
24 DRONE Perhaps bee managed to cross river (5)
DONE (“managed”) to cross R(iver)
25 ENTRY FEE Charge through the gate (5,3)
Cryptic definition
26 BEAT IT Go away and get busy (4,2)
BE AT IT (“get busy”)
Down
1 PUB CRAWL Local tour that goes swimmingly? (3,5)
Cryptic definition.  For pub, think “local”, and for swimmingly, think “crawl”.
2 NEW WORLD Americans are from a different planet (3,5)
NEW (“different”) + WORLD (“planet”)
3 MARKS Hearing revolutionary, takes notice (5)
Homophone of MARX (“revolutionary”)
5 SCANDALMONGER Random glances around from muck spreader (13)
*(random glances)
6 PYROMANIA Burning desire (9)
Barely cryptic definition
7 ABSENT Sailor given errand is away (6)
AB (“sailor”) + SENT (“given errand”)
8 TESTER Examiner is in wrong street (6)
*(street)
10 HOUSEHOLD NAME Famous person‘s family title (9,4)
HOUSEHOLD (“family”) + NAME (“title”)
14 TALL STORY Incredible account of the giraffe? (4,5)
A giraffe is tall…
15 CUT IT OUT Start making dress from pattern and stop (3,2,3)
Using a template, a dressmaker may cut out fabric to make a dress.
16 VEHEMENT Strong, virile types submitted to surgeon (8)
HE-MEN (“virile types”) submitted to VET (“surgeon”)
18 BROWSE Read casually, gets worse in translation (6)
*(worse) but don’t know where the B of BROWSE comes from

Clue could have read “read book, getting worse in translation”
19 GOBLET Drinking vessel allowed to touch mouth (6)
LET (“allowed”) to touch GOB (“mouth”)
22 SIDLE Walk furtively in square with nothing to do (5)
S(quare) + IDLE (“with nothing to do”)

*anagram

46 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,610 by Vulcan”

  1. Totally agree with you loonapick.

    Ridiculously easy and unsatisfying puzzle for all the reasons you say.

    Nonetheless thanks to Vulcan and to yourself.

  3. I also found this mostly very easy but got a bit stuck at the end. Liked VEHEMENT and WALK THE PLANK. Thanks to Vulcan and loonapick.

  5. I was on hold to Telstra for one hour 15 minutes this morning and so did this at the same time, and was finished quite a while before my call was answered, which left me at a bit of a loose end! I thought I had made a mistake in parsing 18d BROWSE but that’s reassuring if you think it was a misprint or omission, loonapick. 4a ASHPLANT was an unfamiliar word for me, but quite gettable. I didn’t like the use of “WALK” in both the CDs 13a and 23a. And now I have “Believe it or not I’m walking on air” as an annoying earworm.

    I did tick 1d PUB CRAWL (though it felt familiar), 3d MARKS and 15d CUT IT OUT as the most likeable. Thank you to Vulcan and loonapick.

  6. Thanks Vulcan and loonapick

    I have generally enjoyed Vulcan’s puzzles, but I found that this was loose in lots of places. I particularly didn’t like RIOT SQUAD – the “wildly exciting time” doesn’t make sense to me; DIGESTIVE – a “digestive” isn’t a biscuit, a “digestive biscuit” is a biscuit; “digestive” suggests a brandy to me!; TESTER – the “in” doesn’t make sense; TALL STORY, in which “account” is doing double duty; and BROWSE, of course. There were others that irritated me only a bit less!

  8. So glad I wasn’t the only one to be dissatisfied with 11a, 12a and especially 18d.

    Though I don’t have a problem with DIGESTIVE or with TESTER – the answer is in wrong (i.e. anagram of) street.

  10. The on-line version of 18dn is shown as ……..Casually read book, gets worse in translation (6)…… which makes a bit more sense I guess

  11. Yes pretty much a write-in and fhe giraffe had going ‘OMG really?’. With drofle in liking ‘vehement’. Thks Loonapick and Vulcan.

  15. FWIW, 11a is not a CD.  Squad is team, riot is wildly exciting time, def is police.

    Maybe a little under par, but surely the occasional off week is just complying with the Rufus brief?

    @muffin  What do you call a chocolate digestive?  (sorry, no punchline, though I will laugh if you pretend you call it a chocolate digestive biscuit)

    Thanks Vulcan, Loonapick

  19. Tyro@10: the online and app versions both have the corrected clue for 18d, however if you print the online version (as I usually do) you get the wrong one. Also, there is a bug in the app (Android version at least) in that whenever Special Instructions appear the app doesn’t show them and the link between the grid and the clues is off by one. I’ve reported this several times over the past year or two via the Google Play Store to no effect.

  20. Thank you Vulcan and loonapick.

    I did not find this puzzle ‘ridiculously easy’ and I am not a beginner, although I admit I am half-baked.

    Incidentally, talking of biscuits, ‘digestives’ often appear in books on their own – from ‘Love in a Cold Climate’, by Nancy Mitford, “She cast a meaning look at the plateless digestives, and went away without saying good-bye”.

    The COED gives “digestive … (in full digestive biscuit) Brit. a usu. round semi-sweet wholemeal biscuit” and does not specify muffin’s type of digestive directly ….

    Like Michelle @14, I liked the clues for WALK THE PLANK and WALK ON AIR and also those for VEHEMENT, PUB CRAWL and HOUSEHOLD NAME.

  21. I agree it’s not a great puzzle – but it’s only a puzzle and there was one excellent clue – VEHEMENT – so I’ll take that and move on and have a look at the Quiptic as muffin recommends.
    Thanks to Vulcan and loonapick.

  22. Done by lunchtime … rarely happens on a work day with the online grid open alongside a bunch of other browser tabs.  This was ridiculously easy, with the only real tricky one for me 16d.

     

    Thanks Vulcan – hoping for a little bit more fire tomorrow.

  23. Another that agrees with your preamble, loonapick. One of the worst cryptics I have ever encountered. Hope Vulcan reads these posts and addresses such shortcomings in the future.

  24. Thanks Vulcan and loonapick.

    Yes, a bit iffy in places, but I did like 1d (always have.) Spent a while looking for an anagram in 23a, ’til I realised the letter count was wrong (doh!)

    In 17a, you need to interpret ‘stands for’ in two ways, the acronym of the answer, and the ‘stance’ taken by AA against alcohol abuse, ie alcohol abuse is the opposite of what they stand for.

  25. Thanks to Vulcan and loonapick. I agree this was a relatively straightforward puzzle. However in fairness to Vulcan I have come across easier ones from time to time, and he/she was probably just following the Monday brief. I still enjoyed it even though it was all over a bit quickly, and like others I particularly liked vehement. JinA @5 we have seen something similar in the relatively recent past which led to a discussion about “bar crawl or pub crawl” (cannot remember which was correct). Thanks again to Vulcan and loonapick.

  26. Muffin@7, took your advice and have just done the Quiptic (in between bins out, caring for mrs ginf, etc). Much more fun; couldn’t parse the ‘new’ in 3d but was helped in 25a by Saturday’s Philistine.

  28. @muffin
    If I were offered a digestif and got a digestive I’d be disappointed – and vice versa, there being a time and a place for everything!

  29. I totally agree – too easy despite the imprecision in cluing. I entered CASTLE and BROWSE without knowing why. “Casually read book, gets worse in translation (6)” is the replacement clue that makes 18d acceptable.

     

  31. By no means a great puzzle but I don’t think it’s as bad as all that. Quite easy but I got a bit bogged down in the SE and VEHEMENT was LOI.I quite liked ALCOHOL ABUSE. Please don’t read anything in to the previous sentence!
    Thanks Vulcan.

  32. Thanks for the quiptic tip muffin. It is an excellent puzzle and I had lots of ticks (11) for the neatness of the clues. Like grantinfreo@26 I can’t parse the new in 3d. What about giving Matilda a Monday cryptic slot?

  33. I agree with Cookie @20.  Yes this was fairly easy, but that’s what Mondays are supposed to be like.  I certainly didn’t think it was “ridiculously easy” as some have said.

    There were a few clues I wasn’t keen on, including 11a RIOT SQUAD and 2d NEW WORLD.  The latter simply seemed to have rather an odd definition – “Americans are from”(?).  But I liked for example 17a ALCOHOL ABUSE and 19d GOBLET.  And 6d PYROMANIA (despite loonapick thinking it was “barely cryptic”) I thought was rather a good cryptic definition.

    copland smith @29, you say you entered CASTLE without knowing why – are you thinking of a different crossword?

  34. They are only easy if you get them all. I would agree there have been harder crosswords – but it still had to be solved. Sometimes its nice to get it all right in one go.

    Thanks Vulcan and Loonapick

  35. I agree with Lord Jim’s first point. My faves were VEHEMENT and GOBLET and I have no problems with NEW WORLD or PYROMANIA. I, too, have always called them Digestives and Chocolate Digestives – and I’ve always spelled the drink Digestif, though I concur with Muffin that the latter is preferable.
    Thanks to Vulcan and to Loonapick.

  36. I was disappointed by this for most of the reasons raised by others. I’m surprised the Guardian’s crossword editor let this through the quality control process! But thanks to Vulcan, and all. Feedback sis good!

  37. Thankyou Greensward @24 for clarifying the  opposite of what AA stands for.  That’s not a bad clue  after all.

  38. Ambivalent! Very easy solve (even here in the US) almost feels like cheating. BUT>>> leaves more time for other things! 🙂

  39. Enjoyable gentle start to the week. I smiled at PUB CRAWL, though in general i’m not keen on definition + qualification clues. I thought GOBLET (19d) was an excellent clue. Thanks muffin@6 for suggesting account (in the giraffe clue) was doing double duty, my thoughts exactly.

    BROWSE presumably is no fault of the setter. cd’s are hard to write, and I would suggest Rufus himself might have come up with MINCE & PYROMANIA, so i shall defend those. I was happy with digestive being a type of biscuit, though I would admit a preference for the other kind.

    many thanks Vulcan, and thank you as always loonapick, your honesty is appreciated

  40. Well, the puzzle seemed fine to me, though admittedly 18d has now been corrected. All over very quickly, but that’s what Mondays are about, aren’t they?

  41. I generally like CDs and DDs. They are often witty which is more than can be said for the execute this and empty that type of word play of which I think we have too much these days.
    I thought 17a and 14d were a bit forced but I liked the definition of PYROMANIA and the anagrams at 21a and 5d.
    Thanks to Vulcan and loonapick.

  42. It’s too late to try the Quiptic tonight, Muffin but thanks for the tip. I may try tomorrow. It depends a bit on how long the Indians last out. If anyone else is thinking of commenting on it, please no spoilers.

  43. As it happened I took a quick look at the Quiptic, solved the first couple and couldn’t stop myself. There was more to smile at there than here but I suspect that is usually the case because clues have to be less complicated. This one also took quite a bit longer – not as easy for me as for some.

  45. Thanks loonapick. This was my least favourite crossword in a long time.  Glad to read about the error in 18d, couldn’t find that b at all! Never managed to get 26ac.

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