Guardian 27,927/Vulcan

by

Bonjour. Eileen is the person responsible for encouraging me back into cryptic crosswords more than a decade ago (through Fifteensquared, natch) so I am pleased and humbled to stand in for her as a blogger this morning while she is away enjoying herself in foreign parts.

 

 

 

Vulcan has become quite the regular Monday contributor to the Guardian stable, and I enjoyed solving and blogging this one. There were a large number of cds/cds cum dds/whimsical dds, which are not everyone’s tasse de thé. I  like teasing them out, but maybe not quite as many as appeared today. He (I presume it is ‘he’) writes good surfaces, though.

Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed

definitions are underlined

Across

1 Mixed drink was the end of Cleopatra
SNAKEBITE
A dd with an element of whimsy. Cleopatra’s end was said to be at the hands (well, tongue in fact) of an asp, and SNAKEBITE is traditionally a mixed drink of half a pint of lager and half a pint of cider. Blackcurrant cordial is an optional extra to make it even more disgusting. Regional varieties and names abound, which you can discuss if you become bored with the blog.

6 Dislodges extra lines added to bottom
BUMPS
A charade of BUM and PS for post scriptum.

9 Alternative to contract to make another crossing?
DUPLICATE BRIDGE
A cd. Duplicate bridge and contract bridge are versions of the card game.

10 Twelve going both ways
NOON
‘Going both ways’ is the indication that the solution is a palindrome.

11 Turned round and put back into poetry
REVERSED
A dd, with more whimsy in the second definition.

14 Train seen moving purposefully
IN EARNEST
(TRAIN SEEN)*

15 Pensioner loses one Spanish title
SEÑOR
SEN[I]OR

16 Fowl with head covered?
CAPON
Well, if thy ‘ead wor covered, tha’d ‘ave thy CAP ON, wouldn’t tha?

18 Entertainer who does what’s required
PERFORMER
A dd.

20 Exchanging words, hope to achieve immortality?
BANDYING
I liked this one especially. If you wanted to ‘achieve immortality’, then you’d BAN DYING.

21 Raise good argument
GROW
A charade of G and ROW.

25 Visitor to market so small and greedy?
THIS LITTLE PIGGY
Another cd, referencing the children’s rhyme and the fact that pigs have a reputation for being greedy.

26 I fret about provision of new equipment
REFIT
(I FRET)*

27 A hang-up about Christmas: some let it fester
MISTLETOE
(SOME LET IT)* with ‘fester’ as the anagrind.  What is Vulcan thinking about, mentioning the c-word? It’s September 16th – mince pies on sale and Frosty the Snowman on a continuous loop don’t happen until September 30th.

Down

1 Irishman grabbing daughter’s car
SEDAN
An insertion of D in SEAN, the archetypal ‘Irishman’.

2 Agree to a very quiet changeover
APPROVE
A charade of A, PP for the musically ‘very quiet’ and (OVER)* This is what some folk refer to as a ‘lift and separate’ clue: you have to do that to ‘changeover’ to give you ‘change’ for the anagrind and ‘over’ for the fodder.

3 Muslim ruler looking in the mirror
EMIR
Hidden in thE MIRror.

4 One commercial vehicle is Russian
IVAN
A charade of I and VAN. Lots of stereotypical names this morning.

5 This old school was basic
ELEMENTARY
A dd. Vulcan is using ‘old’ because in the English system, Elementary Schools as a category disappeared a long time ago. The term is still current in the US schooling system.

6 Sort of salon music?
BARBER SHOP
A cd cum dd.

7 I must stop crazy boy becoming president
MADISON
An insertion of I in MAD SON gives you President number four.

8 Series about banker, not so fat
SLENDERER
An insertion of LENDER in SER.

12 Relatively level part of the house
GRANNY FLAT
Another cd.

13 Cat taking a furtive look?
PEEPING TOM
And another.

14 Device to keep the clutch from failing
INCUBATOR
This was another one I particularly liked, for its clever misdirection about ‘clutch’.

17 High priest‘s power over quarrel
PONTIFF
A charade of P, ON and TIFF. If you’re left-footed, you can’t get much higher than the PONTIFF.

19 Ideal man using strength to secure luxury car
MR RIGHT
An insertion of RR for Rolls Royce in MIGHT.

22 Decline to accept unknown boy’s name
WAYNE
An insertion of Y for the mathematical ‘unknown’ in WANE.

23 Like to traverse record range
ALPS
An insertion of LP in AS.

24 Old friend is a gem
OPAL
A charade of O and PAL. Might have seen this one before.

Many thanks to Vulcan for the start to the Guardian week. It’s goodbye from me, and it’s rebonjour from Eileen next week.

45 comments on “Guardian 27,927/Vulcan”

  1. Thanks for blogging this Pierre. Some surprisingly good wordplay here – I really liked “bandying”, “reversed” and “incubator”. I wasn’t sold on the little piggy – not really enough there for it to be a cryptic clue, ditto “duplicate bridge” where “duplicate” might be an alternative for “contract” but surely “duplicate bridge” is an alternative for “contract bridge”? “granny flat” was a nice attempt, with “granny” = “relative” and “flat” = level, but unfortunately the clue had “relatively” and that doesn’t work.

    I’d say this setter is a work in progress for the Monday slot – some misses are to be expected but the hits are getting more palpable so many thanks for this one Vulcan.

  2. A perfect Monday crossword if we are to believe the theory that Monday should be a gentle introduction to the week of crosswords.  I enjoyed solving this in, for me, record time.  Favourites were PEEPING TOM and SNAKEBITE both fairly obvious but fun.  Thanks Vulcan and Pierre!

  3. Well I enjoyed solving it too – my particular favourite was 25a.

    TheZed@1  – surely the point of a 12d is that it is relatively level as the person in question would move there when they couldn’t cope with stairs etc in their previous abode?

    Thanks to Vulcan and Pierre

  4. Great to have you with us, Pierre. Thanks Eileen for inviting our blogger into the circle ten years ago. I agree with your comment regarding Vulcan’s surfaces, Pierre.

    Lots to like here. including the ones mentioned in your second sentence, TheZed@1. I also liked the two cited by SPanza@2. (Sorry to be such a copycat!). I also smiled when I got BUMPS at 6a, PONTIFF at 17d and MR RIGHT at 19d. I thought 25a THIS LITTLE PIGGY was okay – but I do mellow out when I solve on (most) Mondays. CAPON at 16a was an unfamiliar fowl which I solved from the wordplay, and I was quite put off at the explanation when I googled it. Almost as gross as the recipe for 1a SNAKEBITE as mentioned in the blog.

    Thanks to Vulcan, and I enjoyed the droll remarks throughout your thorough blog, Pierre. [Liked the Christmas comment particularly, though I didn’t understand the “left-footed” reference in your parse of PONTIFF.]

  5. TheZed @ 1 “the hits are getting more palpable “,  with all due respect that is rather damning with faint praise!!

  7. I enjoyed solving this, lots of smiles, especially for THIS LITTLE PIGGY, GRANNY FLAT, PEEPING TOM and INCUBATOR!

    Thank you Vulcan and Pierre – I would not be so sure as to the sex of the setter, the only WAYNE I have known was a girl in my class at school…

  8. Spanza @5 not what I intended, sorry – surely it is better to show the creativity and wit to produce a number of really excellent clues, while a few are a bit weak, than to churn out a puzzle which is “a bit meh” as the younger (than me) generation might say? Anyway, it was intended as praise and I did enjoy this. “bumps” was also very good – thanks Julie @4 for pointing it out.

  9. Julie@4

    In the 18th & 19th centuries poor Irish peasants (usually Roman Catholics) used to cut peat from the bogs for fuel. The spades used typically had only one shoulder, on the left, requiring it to be stepped on with the left foot, hence the expression in Ireland ‘s/he’s a left footer’

  10. Thanks Pierre – I enjoyed your style of blog. This was a dnf as neither MrsW nor I could get BARBERSHOP! I particularly liked BANDYING – it took me ages to see BAN DYING. Lots of other nice clues as mentioned already. Thank you Vulcan.

  11. I never understand why people think that crosswords with a lot of cds are easy. There’s no wordplay to help you out!

    I did enjoy BANDYING and INCUBATOR.

    Thanks Vulcan, Pierre and steveb @9 for the derivation of ‘left-footer’ if that’s really correct.

  12. Thanks Vulcan and Pierre.  A pleasant Monday puzzle.

    I didn’t quite see 25a as a cd, but as “so small” = THIS LITTLE (suggesting someone indicating with their hands or fingers) and “greedy” = PIGGY.

  13. Lots of Proddies v Micks doggerel in early post-war Oz playgrounds (ring the bell, go to hell, etc) but I’ve never heard the ‘left foot turf shovel’ story before; wonderful source of knowledge, crosswordland! Fun puzzle, not a write-in, thanks both.

  14. For me, this was a bit of a snooze, as they say here. Nothing remarkable either way. But also literally so, as I had a nice nap in the middle of doing it (Sunday evening, US).

  17. Well there you go – I have an Irish Catholic background yet had never heard Catholics described as “left-footed”! As gif@13 says – this hobby is such a great source of lifelong learning – I did love the turf/shovel story, steveb@9. Further appreciation to Pierre for that funny aside you included in the parse for PONTIFF which sparked this tangent.

  18. Happy to be back on 15^2 after several weeks of travel to various corners of North America. I don’t always get along well with cryptic definitions and their lack of wordplay, but I rather liked this batch, and I parsed both 9a and 25a as dds, as did Lord Jim @12 and Cookie @15. A dnf, as I couldn’t see BARBERSHOP. I’ll blame it on being rusty from lack of recent practice.

    Thanks to Vulcan and Pierre.

  20. Richard @19 Which bit of “granny” = “relative” did I miss in my comment? My point was my granny was my relative, not my relatively. It’s a bit like cluing a singular with a plural for me and just doesn’t quite work. “reversed” does work because “verse” can (slightly obscurely) be a verb as well as a noun, so that is a very neat clue.

  21. TheZed @ 8, thanks for coming back.  I think I agree with you that this was an enjoyable crossword, with some fine clues.  I had forgotten BUMPS and concur that this was also very good, although it was a while before I convinced myself that BUMPS did indeed = dislodges!!

  22. Hello peeps! And thanks Pierre – we also loved your blogging style too. Fave was 20a. Also, thought there was enough in 25a to qualify: so/this; small/little: greedy/piggy… agree that so/this is pushing it a bit, but I can live with it. Also: 22d – the only ‘Wayne’s I’ve ever known have been boys…Wayne Rooney, Wayne Sleep, Wayne Bridge, Wayne Brady, Wayne Knight?!?

  23. Thanks Vulcan and Pierre

    Re the ‘Granny’ ‘Relatively’ discussion, I saw it as a technique that Paul uses fairly often (and others do occasionally), where the given word is split and the suffix means ‘like’. Hence gran-ny = like a gran and relative-ly = like a relative.

  24. Never heard of DUPLICATE BRIDGE so I had to look that one up and I couldn’t see BANDYING for ages- my LOI needless to say. I suppose this was ok but I always feel a bit shortchanged by this setter- too many vague cds perhaps.
    Can I say how much I enjoyed Paul’s Friday puzzle which I didn’t get to until yesterday? Well,I will then.
    Thanks Vulcan.

  25. A good Monday crossword and an enjoyable blog. I’d like to add a bit to your knowledge of reptile anatomy, Pierre; the tongue is for smelling and is harmless, it’s the fangs that do the injecting.

     

  27. Thanks both,

    Re ‘Granny’ and ‘relatively’. I think Granny just about works as an adverb. Eg ‘That will come untied – you’ve granny knotted it’. Or perhaps, ‘Her hair is granny grey’ (cf ‘Her hair is relatively grey’).

    Rather than being an alternative to contract bridge duplicate is a kind of contract bridge in which the same hands are played by several different tables. An alternative to contract bridge might be  auction bridge, which is rarely played these days. Rubber bridge is an alternative to duplicate bridge as a form of contract bridge.

  28. LilSho @22 and bodycheetah @26, I was not making an issue@7 of the gender of those called WAYNE, just warning Pierre not to be too sure of that of Vulcan (thanks for the examples LilSho, but they don’t mean anything to me, I have not lived in an English speaking country for well over 40 years).

  29. Thanks to both.

    As a relative newbie, I always enjoy the Monday cryptic crossword because it’s the only one that I can consistently solve.

    I’m now happily skipping off to Manchester Bridge Club to play a few duplicate boards ?

  30. Tyngewick @27. Exactly! As an avid duplicate bridge player this came easily to me, but the option to contract bridge is indeed auction bridge (which is, for all intents and purposes, extinct today…).  All bridge today including duplicate bridge IS contract bridge.

  31. Thank you to Vulcan and Pierre for a relatively – dictionary definition – gentle Monday solve.

    Re 27ac – the only thing to be said for the ghastly Halloween (even more ghastly this year for other reasons) is that it holds off some of the Christmas decorations until November.

  32. Thank to Vulcan and Pierre. A quick and pleasant enough solve.
    One minor quibble with the blog: for 10ac I had ‘going’ = ON, so ‘both ways’ implied NO+ON.

  34. My favourite combination: Vulcan as setter and Pierre as blogger! The former generally has me grinning at his/her clues – today’s being CAPON, SENOR, INCUBATOR, BUMPS and the classy BANDYING. The latter’s comments are always a delight. Heartfelt thanks to both for a pleasant interlude that distracted me from grim current affairs…

  35. steveb @ 9 I’m dubious of the simple turf spade explanation, the phrase familiar to most people in Northern Ireland is ‘kick with the wrong foot’ and it’s also used in the Republic as a term for Protestants. I’ve seen plenty of right footed turf spades (although left footed ones are easier for right handed users) and the insult seems to appear centuries after the mass movement of Scottish protestants into the 6 counties. I’d say the whole left = not right = sinister…… thing is more plausible.

  36. Very nice Monday taper in which we solved quickly. SNAKEBITE in immediately with memories of the awful hangovers they entailed. Today’s youth much more sensible apparently!

  37. Can I propose Wayne Fontana (of WF and the Mindbenders) as a more famous example? Also, our local so-called Garden Centre is already turning itself into a Christmas Shop.

  38. JinA @4, Pierre @6, steveb @9  and numerous others: I have never come across the “spade” explanation before. For me, “left footed” was rather akin to “AC/DC”. You go one way, or you go the other 🙂

    Enjoyable puzzle , interesting blog and comments. Thanks all!

  39. We too would have failed on barbershop had I not miserably cheated and stuck it in crossword solver, whereupon spouse promptly got the answer from my groan. I’m sure we WOULD have got it in time (and almost certainly have had a lot more fun doing so) but wanted to come here and say that we really liked this crossword (I loved little piggy and duplicate bridge for just two) particularly as have been quite rude about Vulcan in the past! Pierre sounds great, lovely blog!

  42. Duplicate bridge is not the opposite of contract bridge; it is a kind of contract bridge.  The opposite of contract bridge is auction bridge.

  43. Thanks to Pierre and Vulcan

    Try as I might, ( and believe me I have tried, I even considered the possibility of it being a clever triple def ), I cannot make 20a work.

    Def = Exchanging

    Cryptic indicator = to achieve immortality

    What is “words hope ” doing?

  44. Dansar, the definition is ‘exchanging words’, as underlined in the blog; ‘hope to achieve mortality’ is a cryptic definition of BAN DYING.

  45. Thank you Pierre,

    If you can point me to any any reference which has BANDYING = EXCHANGING WORDS, then I will respectfully withdraw my query.

    BTW I do read the blog assiduously before commenting

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