Guardian 27,881 / Vlad

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Vlad makes a welcome appearance in the mid-week slot – and he’s living up to his name.

I found this quite a challenge in places – there were some helpful anagrams to give a way in – but so satisfying, with a number of wickedly witty clues, producing rueful grins and groans. I can’t bear to highlight the elements of a theme – I’m sure you can do that for yourselves.

Many thanks to Vlad for an excellent puzzle. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Definitions are underlined in the clues.

 

Across

1, 29 Bravo! Old dope with ego to accommodate states he’s … (6,6)
STABLE GENIUS
This was almost my last in, despite the hint in 15ac, which I’d entered early on, without understanding the definition – and then there was the parsing, which took a while: B [Bravo – NATO alphabet] in STALE [old] + GEN [dope] + I [ego] + US [states] – a reference to DT’s several tweets – I can’t quite call this &lit but I wasn’t sure what to underline as the definition: it’s brilliant, anyway

4 … something extraordinary — er, claim is open to interpretation! (7)
MIRACLE
An anagram [open to interpretation] of CLAIM ER

9 Pretend one woman’s astride another (9)
IMAGINARY
I [one] + MARY [one woman] round GINA [another]

10 Lout runs through bar on ecstasy (5)
BRUTE
R [runs] in BUT [bar] + E [ecstasy]

11 Row over quitting house abroad (5)
RANGE
[o]RANGE [royal house of the Netherlands] minus O [over]

12 Foxy Liberal secured for Strictly (9)
SLAVISHLY
LAVISH [liberal] in SLY [foxy]

13 Deer‘s foot twisted? Yes (7)
WAPITIS
A reversal [twisted] of PAW [foot] + IT IS [yes]

15 Retiring head of state gets tattoo showing a real 1 29 (3,3)
RED RUM
A reversal [retiring] of ER [head of state] + DRUM [tattoo] – for the legendary three-times winner of the Grand National

17 Nomadic people from Niger automatically returned (6)
TUAREG
A hidden reversal [returned] in niGER AUTomatically – a nomadic tribe from Niger

19 Improperly uses lap dance (3,4)
PAS SEUL
An anagram [improperly] of USES LAP

22 Boasts about backing 15 (5,4)
CROWS OVER
This took a minute or two: if we reverse [backing] RED RUM [15] we get MURDER, which is the collective noun for crows

24 A time to go west, where the action is? (5)
ARENA
A reversal [to go west] of AN ERA [a time]

26 Mounts picture finally in bar (5)
MARES
[pictur]E in MARS [bar]

27 As layers are initially peeled off, various characters transform (9)
OVIPAROUS
An anagram [transform] of P[eeled] O[ff] + VARIOUS, the layers being hens

28 Accommodation outside hotel about to be reviewed? Certainly (3,4)
NOT HALF
A reversal [to be reviewed] of FLAT [accommodation] round H [hotel] + ON [about]

 

Down

1 Head of state (joke!) has altercation on the way down here (4,3)
SKID ROW
S[tate] + KID [joke] + ROW [altercation]

2 Leader abroad popular for the first time? No (5)
AGAIN
AGA [leader abroad] + IN [popular]

3 City keeping cool in case ref shortly gets upset (9)
LEICESTER
IN CASE [lest] round ICE [cool, as a verb] + a reversal [upset] of RE[f]

4 Can just afford most expensive property for boarders? (7)
MAYFAIR
MAY [can] FAIR [just], the ‘boarders’ being players of Monopoly – a reminder of Mrs May’s promise to working families, ‘just about managing’

5 Teacher mounting trapeze, swinging both ways (5)
RABBI
A reversal [mounting] of BAR [trapeze] + BI [swinging both ways]

6 Ouch! Blue’s hit follower of 18? (9)
CLUBHOUSE
An anagram [hit] of OUCH BLUES – the clubhouse is referred to as The Nineteenth Hole

7 Man or woman going up many levels but not all (6)
EVELYN
A hidden reversal [going up] in maNY LEVEls

8 Piles of money (estimate for tax ultimately concealed) (6)
MASSES
M [money] + ASSES[s] [estimate for tax]

14 Idiot with clout surprisingly accepted — he has the means to govern (9)
PLUTOCRAT
PRAT [idiot] round an anagram [surprisingly] of CLOUT

16 Belittle and insult right-wing politician (but turning the volume down) (9)
DISPARAGE
DIS [insult] [Nigel] [f]ARAGE with the f changed to P [turning the volume down]

18 Produce an abridged version of Chaucer — current volume retained (4,3)
GIVE OFF
GEOFF[rey] [Chaucer] round I [current] V [volume] – a neat link to the previous brilliant clue

19 OK, you might do this to shock (6)
PERMIT
PERM IT, shock meaning hair

20 Gets together a variety of ladies — is Duke not there? (7)
LIAISES
An anagram [a variety] of LA[d]IES IS minus d [duke]

21 American largely ignored by people showing judgement (6)
ACUMEN
A [American] + CU[t] ignored] + MEN [people]

23 One has put up with interference from special Russian (5)
SASHA
A [one] + a reversal [put up] of HAS round S [special]

25 Green, Philip’s heart uplifted — that might make you sick (1,4)
E COLI
ECO [green] + a reversal [uplifted] of [ph]IL[ip]

49 comments on “Guardian 27,881 / Vlad”

  1. Thanks Vlad and Eileen

    Difficult but fun. I had several unparsed, including STABLE GENIUS, which I guessed from RED RUM.

    Favourites were PLUTOCRAT and DISPARAGE.

  3. Definitely on the impaling side of crossword setting/solving.  Thanks to Vlad for the satisfying brain-stretching

    Thanks also to Eileen, particularly for parsing 1/29 which had been the subject of email correspondence with a fellow solver and still left us wondering how we got the STABLE bit

     

  4. Jason@2  – if you investigoogle you’ll find it is the way the POTUS once described himself – he actually said he was an extremely stable genius

  5. A bad week in Freo, dnf yesterday and impaled in the NW today. Couldn’t even remember B for bravo, a standard…. thick! [beloved sister in Crouch End is about to Whatsapp; might come back to confess more betises, with circumflex, in a couple of hours]

  6. The complexity of the 1/29 clue worked well in not giving the game away (unless you are super-solver) and the LHS was blank for more than one coffee but I gradually chipped away as JT’s puzzles are always worth the effort and hate missing out on a giggle.A rather early glass of IPA seemed to help unlock the last bit.

    Super puzzle. thanks Vlad and Eileen.

  7. What a production!  I’m guessing that most of my compatriots on this blog will applaud.  Thank you, Vlad, for a rousing morning and Eileen as ever for a witty and helpful blog.

    11a I never thought of the House of Orange.  I tried taking “on” (over) away from “maison” and got nowhere.  Finally gave up on the parsing and bunged in RANGE, but thank you Eileen for telling me why.

    Apparently MAYFAIR is on the British Monopoly board, which isn’t set in Atlantic City, who’d a thunk it?  The most expensive property on the US board is Boardwalk — I just looked it up, knowing almost nothing about the game.  I played half a game with some friends who insisted and gave up when I thought we’d finished and they said we were just beginning, now was the wheeling and dealing part — oy!

    How is GIVE OFF a neat link to DISPARAGE?

    I’ve never been so early in the comments, but I guess being up at 5:15 will do it.

  10. Stiff test today, but satisfying to get there. Not sure about ‘but’ for bar, but brute sat with crossers.

    Extra depth of 15a and 22a good, as was wapitis. But 16d stretching it – right-wing politicians, there are just so many of them these days, who’s going to think of that particular one before adjusting the volume on them. Very much a post-getting see how it works.

    Thanks Vlad, and Eileen for explaining the last couple of unparsed’s

  12. That was tough! Thankfully I got 15a which then gave me 1/29a as I would never have been able to parse it in a month of Sundays.
    Thank you Eileen for explaining it!

  14. Not overly impressed by stable genius, have heard trainers such as Vincent and Aidan O’Brien described thus, but never a horse. Too much devilish trickery for me today, gave up in the heat, a DNF therefore…

  15. Thanks Eileen and Vlad, excellent stuff.

    Eileen, I don’t think 22a works properly. ‘Boasts about’ = ‘Crows over’ = ‘murder’ reversed = Red Rum, = 15, not ‘backing 15’. there’s one too many reversal indicators.

  17. Just too tough to be enjoyable for me today. Wrote in answer to 22 across with no idea how it parsed. Only got about 7 on first pass and a slog, heavily using crossword dictionary, from there on.

    Thanks very much, Eileen, for your parsing.

  18. This would have been an excellent Prize puzzle.

    It was very well-timed considering the political mess on both sides of the pond at the moment.

    I failed to solve STABLE GENIUS even though I had guessed GENIUS was the second word.

    I could not parse 21d.

    My favourites were DISPARAGE, PERMIT, CLUBHOUSE, IMGAINARY, OVIPAROUS.

    My new word today: WAPITIS.

    Thanks B+S

  19. I don’t know how Vlad does it, but this happened several times last night: guess the definition, realize the wordplay doesn’t give the same answer, move on, return when there are enough crossers to imply the original guess, finally figure out the wordplay (except for a couple). With other setters it just doesn’t seem to be so difficult.

    I was amused by all the interjections: Yes, No, Ok, Certainly, Bravo, Ouch and Joke!

    Thanks both.

  20. I thought it was very poor – where was the indication that Bravo ( B ) should be inserted in STALE to make STABLE – it reads as though the first word should start with ” B ” – far to convoluted all round in my view.

  21. Thanks to Vlad and Eileen. When I saw the setter I thought I would be in for a tough time and I was right. Struggled with it and nearly got there, but a DNF for me. Failed on stable genius (even though I had the stable bit), slavishly and oviparous (even though I know the word). However still an enjoyable challenge and I actually got further than I thought I would at one point. Thanks again to Vlad and Eileen.

  22. I confess I found that a number of clues in this Vlad puzzle bordered on the very wonky and I still have no idea what a STABLE GENIUS might be.

  23. Yes, a slippery customer our Vlad, as greensward and Eileen attest. Boasts about = crows over, but where is the murder? Over = about behind [backing] crows [murder], with the def = boasts (verb) is devious and clever.

  24. … as is boarders for players of Monopoly, although ‘afford’ is a bit redundant/convenient.

  25. I have to admit to liberal use of the check button and failing to parse a few. I blame last night’s thunderstorms, as only WAPITIS was unknown to me. A very enjoyable challenge…

    Thanks to Vlad and Eileen

  26. This was an effort but finally finished. Was looking for a phrase like budding genius till figured out red rum which led me to stable. LOI however was slavishly.
    I did enjoy the wit and the elegant surfaces liking esp disparage and 1a,29.
    Thanks to Vlad and to Eileen for the ever helpful and delightful blog.

  27. PS I would like to suggest that rather than stable, he’s not even half (literal meaning) a genius ie 28,29

  28. While appreciating the wit, I agree with those who say that 1,29 is a stretch and also doesn’t parse. Also too many double reverses for my liking particularly CROWS OVER as noted by others.

  30. This confirmed I am far from a GENIUS, and none too STABLE either. Vlad at his toughest in my view.
    WAPITIS, PAS SEUL and OVIPAROUS were all new to me, and I didn’t parse STABLE either. Was there an equine theme, with RED RUM, MARES, RANGE and STABLE?
    MAYFAIR very neat, and PERMIT shows Vlad is not above a Rufus style clue!
    Ah well, some blood extracted: now I’m Paler, but I live to fight another day. Thanks as usual.

  31. I think STABLE GENIUS is staring us in the face viz. “old dope with ego to accommodate states he’s” ….DT did state that’s what he thinks he is….when we link it to 15a with “retiring head of state” it may be wishful thinking that we’ll soon be rid of him?

    I’d class this one as fiendish, like picking hen’s teeth, took for ever to finish it, with a lot of help from my electronic assistant, which got impaled on WAPITIS. Murder of crows nearly got me as well.

    Thanks Vlad and Eileen.

  32. In case anyone’s wondering how to pronounce WAPITIS, I offer the following lyric by Ogden Nash:

    Hippity, hoppity,
    Here come the wapiti.

     

  34. Thanks to Vlad and Eileen.

    Beaten all ends up by this. Would never have got STABLE GENIUS even though I got RED RUM; WAPITIS is news to me (gnus? dear me); MASSES, DISPARAGE, LEICESTER and NOT HALF were beyond my small brain. And so forth.

    I did enjoy, well, pretty well all the NE. Thanks again for the distraction and Vlad back to full skewer power, just when I was beginning to think that I could take him on. Back under the bedclothes for me.

  35. Thanks both,

    This was a struggle on a hot day, but worth the effort. I needed a word search for 12a and could not parse 1,29 but otherwise got there under my own steam. I agree with the quibbles about the parsing of 22. I suppose crows over might be too many crows – which a murder of them might be.

     

  37. Thanks to Eileen and Vlad

    Very good, very inventive, very witty.

    As some have pointed out, the surface reading of some clues read A in B, but the cryptic reading is B in A. This can be annoying if you’re not used to that sort of thing, but there aren’t clues here that can’t give B in A if the solver inserts the necessary punctuation.

    One or two other things stood out for me as queries:

    1,29 Is it valid to clue US by “states” without a capital S? ( btw I think the def is in 4a)

    22 As others have pointed out I think “Boasts about 15?” would have worked

    1d I think those on skid row would be considered “down” already, rather than on their way there.

    4d When I were a lad, anyone asking a teacher if they can go to the toilet, would be told “You can, but you may not”. Perhaps the word has moved on.

    Grammatically, should AFFORD be AFFORDS?

    5d A bit of a liberty with BAR = TRAPEZE

    I have no problem with STABLE GENIUS (or any of the above really) – after all he did say it, and it’s a perfectly good antonym for the fairly common ERRATIC GENIUS.

  38. As noted by others here, Vlad’s cluing is often convoluted (though mostly scrupulously fair) and often causes me to surrender early, in consequence of which I don’t appreciate the quality of his offerings as fully as I might. I’m happy to have finished today and to have enjoyed the wittiness of several excellent clues, but I still failed to parse several, including RANGE. I was thinking of the American “home on the range” for “house abroad” and couldn’t see how the rest of it worked.

    Thanks to Vlad for a lengthy workout and to Eileen for her most helpful explanations.

  39. I join those whose ability was not up to this puzzle’s level of difficulty.  I managed 6 or 7 answers before giving up completely and still could not parse several of the answers after they were revealed. That always detracts from the fun. I also have to do my usual railing against the use of random proper nouns of which there were three today.

    As for the theme, I promise not to be insulted by anyone who wants to spell it out for me. I see several digs at deserving individuals but I don’t see any overarching linkages.

  40. BlueDot @39

    A couple of unconvincing possibilities, but no clear theme for me either (unsurpirisingly).

  42. Many thanks to Eileen for the blog and to others who commented. The ‘stable genius’ is the gift that keeps on giving.

    Apologies re 22.

  48. Got Red Rum and Pas Seul early and was looking for a horseracing theme that never emerged (Pas Seul won the Cheltenham Gold Cup in the early 60s).

  49. Yes, I’d seen Don’s link some months ago (assuming it’s the one rhyming ‘penius’ and ‘genius’ – can’t link to You Tube from this phone – it’s something I had to share with everyone when I discovered it)
    I particularly loved STABLE GENIUS as I read the definition as the whole of 1,29 and 4 and assumed that was why Vlad employed the ellipses.
    I had no quibbles nor did I find the clueing “convoluted” – indeed I found this at Vlad’s most gentle and a swift solve.
    Nevertheless, this was still a superb crossword. Touches like the extended definition (across three clues as mentioned), use of “boarders” in clue for MAYFAIR, “…trapeze, swinging both ways…”, Geoff for Chaucer…
    And I ticked OVIPAROUS and DISPARAGE – so delightfully constructed.
    Many thanks, both and all.

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