Guardian Cryptic 28,160 by Vulcan

94 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 28,160 by Vulcan”

1. OK, I got through it with no outside assistance, but without much joy along the way. I counted 11 clues with no wordplay to help (down from 14 in his last offering), and while I agree that the long ones were good, I didn’t think several of the others measured up, e.g., FAUCET and EXPORT. I also thought miss = teacher was loose and perhaps offensive as well. I can only hope others had more fun with it than I did. Anyway, thanks to Vulcan for keeping me occupied for a while, and thanks to PeterO for the blog.

2. 13 across would be \”start of play\” = ACT I, \”about\” = ON, surely?

3. This was fine, but I could not get ACTION mainly because there were three lights in a row without crossers.  Should this be allowed?  I would support an appeal to get this grid and others like it banned from the G crossword.  Otherwise this was quite easy, as per usual on a Monday.  Favourites were LOCH NESS MONSTER, LABOUR CANDIDATE and TURNSTILE.  Never heard of ENDPAPER but it was clear from the crossers.  Many thanks to Vulcan and PeterO for the helpful early blog!

4. Thanks, npetrikov @2. Now that you point it out, I’m sure that was Vulcan’s intent, and it significantly raises my opinion of that clue.

5. I didn’t think much of this, by which I mean it was over without too much thinking involved.  Big contrast to Saturday’s, some of which I’m still trying to explain to myself.

   I wondered at first if 23a might be a triple definition, since fine means conclusion in Italian, but alas it was not to be.

6. Alas, almost over before it started, what else is there to be said … no challenge, no reward ..

7. Thanks both. Yes quite a few “barely”s…faucet, resume, export, turnstile, etc…but ditto thanks to npetrikov@2 for Act 1 about on, and well done Vulcan for sliding one past the bat. Cable after ami was an antipodean shrug, as in ‘that’ll be some bloke’ (like the one who said quack instead of crack the other day). “Anyway, quite fun”, said Gladly the cross-eyed bear.

8. ..Gladly meant to say “Anyway, no pain”..

9. I agree with SPanza@3 about the grid; it could easily be remedied by removing a block so that 3d were 7 letters instead of 5.

   For me, the crossword would be improved by not having extraneous words in many clues, such as “in” in 1ac, “to” in 19a and “from the” in 18d

   Thanks to PeterO and Vulcan (BY the way, I think you have dropped an I in 24ac: shouldn’t it be  I QUIT?)

10. Like others, not so wild about EXPORT. Everything else just about OK. It is Monday, after all. Thanks to Vulcan and PeterO.

11. Well the satisfaction of finishing without ‘aids’ was marred by having insinuate for 24a. I was so sure the evil act was a sin! Liked labour candidate and adolescent. Thanks Vulcan for a less challenging puzzle for less experienced solvers. But even I am not very keen on EXPORT or FAUCET in a cryptic. And thanks to PeterO for the blog. And to npetrikov for explaining Action. 13a.

12. I spent longer on 16a than the whole of the rest of the puzzle put together.  In the end I guessed INKPAPER, thinking of the page of blotting paper you used to find at the start of a pad of Basildon Bond.  ENDPAPER did come into my mind at one point during the alphabet trawl, but at the time it seemed no more likely than ANTPAPER (a variant on flypaper, perhaps?), INNPIPER (purveyor of live music in a pub at the gates of dawn) or KNAPSPAR (a particularly adhesive kind of rock that I would have heard of if my geological knowledge were more extensive).

    So thank you PeterO for the explanation, and Vulcan for adding to my vocabulary.

13. Dave Ellison @ 9 I’m not sure what you mean by extraneous words.  Are you suggesting simply dropping them?  “Vicar wrong circle” or “Wrong circle vicar” wouldn’t make sense so surely a word of some kind is required.  Same goes for the other example.  I’m intrigued as to what would have made the clue, for you, better?

    Fairly standard for a Monday with the two nice aforementioned long solutions.  SATANISM is both good and bad for me.  (The solution rather than the belief!)  On the one hand, it seems to be an &lit but, on the other, I query the definition element.  I’d see a rite as a ceremony carried out by satanic believers rather than the description of the whole philosophy.

    I’m another who parsed ACTION as npetrikov @2.

    Thanks Vulcan for the puzzle and PeterO for the blog.

14. Some neat clues, such as 9ac, 14ac, 1dn and 4dn.

    And an awful lot of lazy rubbish, I’m afraid. 23ac doesn’t even qualify as cryptic. 17dn is the sort of general “knowledge” which it is quite unreasonable to expect solvers to have.

15. essexboy @12 You posted while I was writing.  Splendid set of alternatives to endpaper. I love the idea of an innpiper and the Pink Floyd allusion.  Not sure how busy one would be in these socially distanced times though.

16. I find these CD and DD clues frustrating as you either see them or you don’t. However I did see many of these. PeterO in 24a it is I QUIT in I + NY, not just QUIT. Thanks both and now to start the week…

17. DaveInNCarolina @1 It may be different in the US, but in the UK schoolchildren always address male teachers as “Sir” and female teachers as “Miss”, a throwback to times when female teachers were expected to resign when they married. Teacher=”Sir” is well established in crosswords.

18. Annoying when outside help is needed (16a) for a write-in. Adolescent was nice though. Thanks s&b.

19. DaveInNCarolina @1 pretty much sums it up. FAUCET is barely cryptic. I’d also argue that it doesn’t supply water – it provides access to the water that is supplied (in my case) by Anglian water. Other water supply companies are available.

20. At  my UK school masters were “Sir” and mistresses were “Ma’am”. I think it was old-fashioned even then.

21. SPanza @3 and Dave Ellison @9 re. grid: Amen!

22. I thought the Rudolph could have been Nureyev – prance as in dance.

    My LOI was ARDUOUS; nicely hidden I thought. For once, I saw the long cds straight away, which helped the solve. I suppose one has to read DOLES as benefit-s, otherwise I don’t think there is a plural to be had (?)

    Thanks Vulcan and PeterO – I was another ACT 1.

     

23. Hmm…all a bit bland for my taste.  Not too happy about RAILING = complaint or bar for that matter.  I suppose the first is OK in the gerund form but not sure about the second.

    [Doc What @5:  Thought Saturday’s was a beast and still can’t explain one to myself.]

    Many thanks, both, nice week, all.

     

24. Auriga @20:  We had only masters and they were all Sir, except one stunning teacher exchange lady from Nice whom we referred to as M’dame, and was the sole reason for my speaking French to this day.

25. I enjoyed 9a ABHORRED and 16a ENDPAPER [the latter as mentioned by SPanza@3. Like Mark@15, I must say I smiled broadly at the Pink Floyd reference in the post by essexboy@12 regarding “innpiper”- brought to mind a wonderful Van Morrison song as well. And funnily enough, I just tried to type “mist’ in that sentence instead of “must”]. My thinking about CABLE in 5a AMICABLE was identical with gif@7. [I always think “You pays your money and you takes your chances” when you live elsewhere and choose to do a UK puzzle.] I really don’t think in that same context though that knowing the names of Santa’s reindeer (fodder for PRANCED at 17d) is too much of a stretch, NeilH@14.

    Like a couple of other contributors, I liked not having to look anything up.

    [Yes, I agree with you, howard@17: my students always called me “Miss” even when my full name was preceded by Ms or a Mr, from my early 20s as a young teacher until I was approaching sixty, so that inclusion at 20a HIT-AND-MISS made sense to me. Certainly it wouldn’t be seen as offensive here in Australia, DaveinNCarolina@1.]

    Thanks to Vulcan for the puzzle and to our US correspondent PeterO for the blog.

26. [Robi@22 – I do like your left-field suggestion re Nureyev for the Rudolph/Prancer reference at 17d! Probably not Vulcan’s intention – but an interesting visual came to mind!]

27. The Final act for me today was realising that Following and Fine could both be represented by the letter F. 22 down and across last pair in, therefore. Liked HIT AND MISS, INIQUITY and ADOLESCENT.

28. [Mark and JinA: Pink Floyd, Van the Man, or The Wind in the Willows… take your pick 😉 ]

29. Just what I needed after the prize, where i’m still struggling in the northeast.Some lovely clues here and some I reaaly needed PeterO’s help with. Vulcan is my heroine.

30. Here in the Colonies it was Sir and Miss with, yes, the obligatory resignation when Miss became Mrs (with occasional rumours of finessing via Registry Office wedding and rings unworn!).

31. Nice start to the week.

    Thanks to Peter and Vulcan

32. essexboy @28 Thanks for reminding me of the chapter in Wind of the Willows.  I recall re-reading the story as an adult and coming across that most lyrical of chapters and being astounded that I didn’t remember it from childhood.  It struck me as being somewhat apart from the rest of the book.  Quite beautiful.

    james @29 Reassuring to hear there’s another still marooned in the NE of the prize.  Two to go and suspect I may still need rescuing come Friday night!

33. Three ticks for me – INIQUITY, HEADLONG and LABOUR CANDIDATE. I’m not convinced by RAILING and loi was ACTION – which I also liked. Thanks to Vulcan, PeterO and commenters for the music thread.

34. Finished in very quick time. Found the whole thing dreary and unchallenging apart from a few clues. At least Rufus was always fun!

35. Business as usual, I found, with a Quiptic-ish gentle Monday puzzle. Normal service resumed? Time to have a look at the Everyman, and try and parse quite a few solutions in Saturday’s prize. Normally straight into the recycling, but I’m hanging on to it until Friday. (Unless Mrs dryll gets her hands on it, as is her wont!)

36. james @29 and self @32 Just had another look and may have cracked the last two but haven’t heard of one and not sure of t’other!  So I think I’m no longer marooned – though the island may yet turn out to be a whale!

37. How is 26a supposed to work? I could understand if one element was E(I)RE but I seems to serve no purpose.

38. This was rather heavy on the cryptic definitions, but that seems to be the Monday brief.  I thought the “I” in 26a EXPORT was fine – as in “My first is in… but not in…, what am I?” riddles.  I liked 11a FURY.

    (Julie @25: is there an intriguing story behind your name being preceded by “Mr” or is that a typo?  Nice to see you back by the way.)

    Thanks to Vulcan and PeterO.

39. Fortunately, there was a crosser at the beginning of 18d (which had  total of 3 out of 7 crossers), to let me know that WHINING was not the answer.  I had taken the liberty of assuming that Complaint was doing double duty as a homophone indicator and definition (in the sense “what’s the reason for your complaint / whining?”) 🙂

40. [Me@25: Re HIT-AND-MISS at 20a: I meant “…when my full name was preceded by Ms or Mrs…“. I was one of the new generation of women teachers who didn’t have to resign on marriage, and then I worked hard with other women to include provisions in our award to provide for unpaid maternity leave. When I started teaching, women had had to resign when they fell pregnant. In the end the changes made a difference for women in the profession. It enabled my own family to make choices for me to return to work so my partner could be an at-home Dad. Yet despite the fact that I was married and a Mum, my students still called me “Miss”.]

41. [Thanks Lord Jim@38 for alerting me to the typo. Some experience with role reversal but not with transgender roles]

42. Back to not liking Mondays. Misspelled ‘faucet’ having conflated the U.S. tap with the British social reformer. Current puzzles appear to be including an increased number of Americanisms as well as other foreign words. Humbug.

43. Rohanm @39 I toyed with WHINING too until lighting upon the right answer

    And essexboy @12 I also tried INKPAPER and ANTPAPER and only knew it was ENDPAPER when the congratualtory box appeared on the app. For me that’s a real problem with cryptic definition clues for anything but the most common phrases – if you don’t know what an endpaper is, there’s no way you can work it out without guessing and looking lots of possibilities up in a dictionary, rendering an “easy” puzzle a real boring slog to complete.

    To be honest Vulcan’s puzzles are generally not my thing and this was no exception. The loose definitions/cryptic definitions mean you’re too often left with a little nagging doubt that it could be something else. While the puzzles overall definitely require fewer leaps of lateral thinking than some of the other “more difficult” setters, the general looseness of the whole thing makes it much less enjoyable and I think ultimately less suitable as an easy starter puzzle than some might think.

44. Well, that was quickly over. I was a bit held up by a Tennysonian MOANING of the bar for 18D. Not very keen on Export, FEND or FRUMP, but there you go. Enjoyed the two long down clues. All in all, some relief after my struggles (still ongoing) with most of last week’s.
    Thanks to Vulcan and PeterO.

45. This was exactly at my (current) level of difficulty. Ths only clue I couldn’t get without help from here was 26a, where I was trying to find the name of a country which, when the letter “I” was removed, would mean “to earn money”. Export came nowhere near!

    And for 12a, I came to the answer as the instruction from a director to an actor in a play…. I think the parsing offered as “Act I” is probably the more likely answer though.

     

46. I’m unsure about what DOLES means in 12a. The clue says benefits, but if this is a noun, does dole take a plural? (Chambers: a dealing out, something given in charity, state pay to unemployed, a share, a small portion. Can anyone think of a situation when any of these would take a plural?) If it’s a verb, as the surface reading of clue has it, benefit has a different meaning to dole (Chambers: to do good to, to be to the advantage of); even if it didn’t, the verb “to dole” requires out. (Chambers says usually with out – can someone give me a sentence with “someone doles” and no out?)

    [Thanks to JinA @40 for the interesting background information about overcoming sexism in the teaching profession. Well done, you!]

    [And thanks also to essexboy @12. INNPIPER and KNAPSPAR provided more amusement than the crossword. Can you come back next Monday too?]

47. @James, 29.

    You mean either hero or heroin

48. Half day at work so grateful for a stroll rather than a slog – thanks Vulcan and PeterO

49. Thanks to Vulcan and PeterO.
    Underslept this morning so this was a bit of an enjoyable slog for me, but the acceleration was enjoyable until i ran aground on ENDPAPER, which was a dink but fair enough I thought. Not so convinced by STRUCK which I can’t seem to equate with “walked out”. Strike out and strike camp come to mind but neither quite fits.

50. I can see why you experienced solvers find this puzzle annoying, but for an amateur like me it’s fun to have one that I can finish in one sitting. I did the whole thing in an hour and, a rarity for me, understood all the parsing without help (except for assuming “There must be someone named Vince Cable”). So I’m grateful to Vulcan!

51. Liked LABOUR CANDIDATE, agree FAUCET amongst others was weak. Parsed ACTION as npetrikov@2 and others did.
    Thanks to Vulcan and to PeterO

52. AFRICAN & FAUCET sort of summed up this dreary effort for me. After last week I had hoped we might be entering a brave new world but alas, my hopes and dreams have been crushed on this altar of mediocrity. Cheers all

53. I don’t know why some people still do Mondays and then complain that its too easy.

    i suppose someone solved it all before it came out of the printer.

54. Alphalpha @ 49

    It’s “walked out” in the sense of “go on strike”. Don’t think I’ve ever heard the phrase “the workforce struck”, mind.

55. In this ex-colony we didn’t have Sir or Miss, but rather Miss, Mrs or Mr with the surname.  (Actually I never saw a Mr in elementary school.)

    i’m still stuck in the prize too, but in the NW and SW.  NE is taken care of.

    I don’t know from Pink Floyd beyond its name, but have loved the Wind in the Willows chapter since a child.  (A friend who was named Floyd and who ran twice for mayor of Bridgeport CT was quite progressive and was called Pink Floyd by some, he told me.)

    smot @45 — I looked for that country too!

56. Alphalpha: try “went on strike”.

57. Alphalpha @49 (and Simon S & Bear of little brain) Chambers has strike=go on strike, so although “went on strike” is the normal usage, it is just about ok to have struck instead.

58. @ Alphalpha
    Could it be STRUCK as in “went on strike”, staged a walk-out, walked out?

59. With regard to strike/STRUCK, there seems little problem with both future and current tense: we will strike for better terms, we are striking for better terms and yet we introduce the ‘going on’ in the past tense.  We went on strike etc.  There’s no issue with struck as the past tense for other meanings of strike – to hit, to make an impression, to light a match.  Strange that it looks, feels and sounds odd to say we struck for better terms..  As sheffield hatter @57, “just about” ok in my book.

60. I could tell we were in for a ‘normal’ Monday as soon as I saw the ‘wrong circle’ in 1a. Not a problem after what happened last Monday. I was a bit worried to see a long CD at 2d, my Achilles heel of a clue type, but LABOUR from early crossers soon sorted it out.

    I concur with the identified weaknesses of the likes of FAUCET and indeed had to get Mrs T to check that EXPORT really was, well, just EXPORT and not something with EIRE encompassing some currency letters. Another setter, another day.

61. David @58 Good to have you with us.  If there’s someone who will tease out the nuances of strike/struck, I can’t think of anyone better!

    (Off topic insofar as referring to a previous debate, I think your sister had sent you to bed by the time I made a suggestion that might have helped with your query around ‘up’ as an anagram indicator.  The simple question “what’s up?” in the sense of “what’s up with him/her?” (or, in similar vein, “something’s up with the broadband”) suggests that something is wrong or awry.  And it’s the ‘up’ that’s doing it.  Which might make it a decent anagrind?)

62. Simon, bear, hatter and mark.
    Thanks all. That makes sense. My lack of sleep I think.

63. As a retired bearded (head)teacher I can say I have been addressed as Mr [Surname], Sir, Miss, and even Mummy on occasion. No problem with any of them although the parent who called me Mate was pushing it a bit! After all that I had no trouble with 20a.

64. Thanks Vulcan and PeterO

    Nothing to add on this puzzle – just posting to say that “Corrections and clarifications” today admitted the GREAT AUK error from a few days ago.

65. 64 comments to read, so someone may have said it already, but for 26 across couldn’t the ‘I’ be Vulcan (bomber), which is something we export, sadly

66. Please please please how does export (26a) parse?

67. See my suggestion at comment 65.  I (Vulcan) leave the country to earn money.  Vulcan bombers are sold to various dubious countries.

68. @ 65/67 Hasn’t been operated since 11984…

69. 1984

70. Slight problem, Woody – they haven’t been made since 1958, and the last was delivered to the RAF in 1965 (according to Wiki).

71. Not much to say about this: it was alright. However,I think 2dn should read- One, not so left as all that,standing!
    Thanks Vulcan.

72. That will teach me to let someone else check the facts for me.  But any better suggestion?  Sorry to pinch someone else’s name inadvertently.  However, I don’t intend to post here again…………..but while I’m here, can I say that I am not good at crosswords and wouldn’t miss the thrill of finishing Monday’s most weeks.  All you experts can find something else to do, I’m sure.

73. Hi Woody

    Don’t let that put you off!

    Do you do the online Quiptic? They are supposed to be easier, and are often more entertaining than the Cryptic – today’s is a particulalrly good one.

74. Woody: I think your suggestion is quite ingenious, and it would be nice to see Vulcan cluing himself as the bomber (or the god of fire).  But in this case I think it’s just that sometimes the answer can address us in the first person, as in the sort of riddle I mentioned @38.  An example is “I’m one involved with cost (9)”, answer ECONOMIST (taken from the Chambers Crossword Manual by Don Manley).

75. FAUCET came to mind immediately for 23ac but I postponed entering it because I saw nothing cryptic about that answer. Yes, it would be OK for an American puzzle but I thought it was weak for a British crossword. Still I found much to like — INIQUITY, HEADLONG, and SATANISM for its surface. Thanks PeterO for parsing — ABHORRED left me scratching my head then later smacking it for being so dull. Thanks Vulcan for the fun.

76. Mark @ 61

    Ha! I think I’ll be chased out of here if I dare to pollute this thread by continuing the infamous “up” debate here. Nice of you (I think!) to remember it. If you dare to go back and subject yourself to the original thread, in all its somnifacient glory, you’ll see I did end up getting into a discussion there with Boatman about the very point you raise… 🙂

77. Irritatingly I put in LOSING CANDIDATE for 3d as in ‘left standing’ not having a seat. I prefer my answer!

78. PDAM @77

    Good answer!

79. Mark@61. I am not my brother’s keeper but since matron increased the dose of his anti-pedantology medicine after the last ahem incident you will have seen him post in moderation.

    We blog ladies (as I now consider myself) do so appreciate learning from you men on these pages – the offside rule, Belgian progressive rock groups, 0-60 times for British Leyland cars of the 1970s. The list is endless…

    I’ll let you into a little secret. In between our professional lives, housework, shopping, cooking and home schooling the children we do find time to do the occasional (gender appropriate) crossword.

    Anyway must dash – got to do the ironing, make fish stock for dinner and teach the twins the rudiments of quantum theory.

    TTFN

80. When I submitted a crossword with triple-unchecked-letters for public view, I was taken to task, so I’d have hoped the professionals wouldn’t get it past an editor.
    Thanks for the steer on STRUCK – OED has a quote from 1892 “The London omnibus men struck in a body.”
    The definition of FEND is not quite right – in ‘fend for oneself’ it means ‘provide’.
    I don’t think ‘dole’ can be pluralised except in the old sense of ‘a gift of food or money made in charity’.
    Thanks Vulcan and PeterO

81. Is the post @79 intended to be read as an attempt to humiliate a particular poster to this site, or is this accidental? If so, what was the intended purpose as it doesn’t seem to relate in any way to Vulcan’s work?

82. @ whoever is claiming to be my (non-existent) sister

    Sorry to get all serious, I let it go without comment before, but for some reason you’ve brought it up again, weeks later. The thing is, I don’t really find it that funny being the butt of jokes alleging that I’m suffering from a mental illness. Im a real person, you know nothing about me or my background or that of my family or loved ones. I just thought I should let you know, it’s not a great topic to keep making light of. We’re here to discuss crosswords, there’s no need to get personal.

    As for your comment about “you men” and your accusation of systemic mansplaining on these pages, I haven’t been using this site long enough to know whether there is such a systemic problem. I’m not sure whether you are directing that at me as well, or just at “Mark”. But if it is meant for me, then if there’s anything I’ve said on this or any other thread which you think is indicative of me lecturing or patronising someone because of their gender, I’d appreciate if you draw it to my attention.

    Because it’s certainly not my intention. On the contrary, I have no idea what the gender is of the peopöe commenting on this site (except on the rare occasions where someone posting reveals their gender). And either way, I’d be horrified if I’ve been guilty of gender bias, as gender equality is an issue I take seriously.

    Thanks.

83. Gonzo @80

    If I had commented on the crossword, FEND is the one that I would have queried.

84. Well said David. Personally I consider myself an equal-opportunity condescender.

85. Just popped in before bed time – to see self referred to in a couple of posts.  The intro to my post to David referencing a previous discussion was meant entirely lightheartedly and I’ve re-read it and it still seems that way to me.  VW @ 81 and David @ 82 I didn’t read David’s sister’s post as aimed at me; I didn’t think my reference to her was in any way either critical or sexist.  So I read the comments at face value as humour.  If I have upset anyone it certainly wasn’t intentional and I thought I’d kept to the tone originally used by said poster when first she – rather wittily – appeared.  I had assumed she really was David’s sister – but the post @82 muddies the waters a little.  So I shall quietly withdraw for the day.  I was only trying to, belatedly, help with the ‘up’ problem.

86. @ Mark (85)
    No offence taken, I read your comment in the spirit you intended, and I hope I replied in kind.

    As it happens, I don’t have a sister and “David’s sister” is not (as far as I know) anyone known to me. Like I said, I didn’t want to kick up a fuss the first time (several weeks ago) that poster “joked” about me being on meds etc. I could understand that objectively it might have have seemed witty at the time to some, so I didn’t want to make a big deal back then. But now that they seem to have singled me out personally, for a second time, several weeks later, not just in the content of the post but also the choice of user name, I felt I had to draw a line. I hope that we can all just stick to crosswords, and try not to stigmatise individuals commenting here or divide everyone up into “the men” vs. “the ladies” from now on. That’s not a welcoming environment.

    @ Van Winkle (81)
    Thank you for your comment and your concern. No, it’s not an accident, it harks back to a thread about a Boatman crossword a few weeks ago.

    Thanks all.

87. I learnt something today with ENDPAPER, which I cheated, along with RAILING, so thanks for that.  I thought LABOUR CANDIDATE was pretty good but LOCH NESS MONSTER was just a bit too obvious.  I did like TURNSTILE though, with its suggestion of a serious security problem being just strong enough to deflect from the real answer for a short while.  I agree it’s hard to think of the dole as having a plural.  I tried to think of a sentence pair that might work, e.g. His dole was paid on the same day every week vs Their doles were paid at different times. But the latter would probably better be written as Their dole was paid at different times.  Maybe it’s just possible.

    Thanks, Vulcan and Peter, for today’s entertainment.

88. David’s Sister @79

    Please desist from posting under multiple usernames and pretending to be someone you are not. I can appreciate that this may be an attempt at ‘humour’ but it is not acceptable on this site.

89. “David’s sister” – what an ungracious reply. The people running this site can see that I’m not using multiple user names. Whoever you are, I don’t know what I’ve done for you to want to single me out. But you’re just being unpleasant now, and enough is enough. Please stop.

90. So sorry everyone! Still a little blurry having just woken up. I misread Gaufrid’s post as one directed at me (rather than one directed at “David’s sister”), and I therefore mistakenly directed my last message at David’s sister. What a stupid error on my part. As if the situation weren’t bizarre enough already.

    @ Gaufrid, thank you for your support.

    Does anyone know if this site has moderators?

    Perhaps a mechanism could be introduced to ensure people can’t post under multiple user names using the same epost addrress (assuming there isn’t already one)?

91. David @90

    There is a moderator – me. The only way to ensure that two people don’t use the same username, or that one person doesn’t have multiple identities, is to require registration on the site and a login before posting a comment. As I have explained before, I am loath to introduce this because I feel that it will tend to reduce participation.

92. On the use of “struck” as past tense for industrial action:

    “Now the workers have struck for fame

    cause Lennon’s on sale again “

    life on Mars. I’ve never been sure if it’s Lennon or Lenin, and I like the ambiguity

     

93. Thanks Gaufrid, for the explanation and for moderating.

    I’m sure you’ll be able to keep the site open and without logins as you say. The openness is part of what makes it so welcoming. I think people realize that and won’t abuse it when they realise they’ve gone a little too far.

    The

    One risk I can see is that someone might accidentally choose a user name that is already in use, eg when choosing a very indistinguished user name like mine. I hope I haven’t taken someone else’s name, and apologise if ive done so. I had assumed the site wouldn’t let me do so, hence why I went with such a bland choice when it seemed to be allowed.

    That said, I assume that you as moderator can track the email addresses behind each post, and can therefore step in and alert the person posting in that eventuality.

94. My first Vulcan cryptic, which I found rather humourless.  Some of the parsing escaped me, but I still managed to complete it. NW corner was the hardest. I agree with the comments on EXPORT (I looked for a country) and FAUCET (I looked for a cryptic element and the solution only dawned on me when I realised there wasn’t one). I did not know ENDPAPER, but I guessed it from crossers. But it could just as easily have been INKPAPER, as already noted. 8d was too obvious and there were too many clues consisting only of definitions.

    I also think American English is out of place when the majority of solvers have a UK orientation.

    As for addressing teachers, students call lecturers by their first name in classes of Australian Universities!

    My favourites were LABOURCANDIDATE and ARDUOUS. Thanks to Vulcan and PeterO.

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