Guardian Cryptic 28,172 by Vulcan

by

A nice start to the week with a lot of neat cluing – my favourites were 14ac, 25ac, 27ac, 8dn, and 20dn. Thanks to Vulcan.

 

ACROSS
9 ONE-LEGGED Needing support, being half unpinned (3-6)
‘pin’=’leg’, so “half unpinned”=’missing one of two legs’
10 ACT UP Behave badly, as a court’s risen (3,2)
A + CT (court) + UP=”risen”
11 GANGSTA Aggressive music links criminal groups and army (7)
=a style of rap music
GANGS=”criminal groups” + TA (Territorial Army)
12 UPGRADE Argued shiftily about pressure to improve (7)
(Argued)* around P (pressure)
13 OUSE Valueless river? (4)
=river in Yorkshire
O=’zero’ USE i.e. ‘valueless’
14 HINTERLAND One suggesting to settle area away from the coast (10)
HINTER=”One suggesting” + LAND=”settle”
16 NONPLUS Puzzle no more? (7)
‘non-plus’ could mean “no more”
17 BOURBON Whiskey for French royalty (7)
double definition
19 SOUR GRAPES Unedifying attitude that may set teeth on edge (4,6)
with a reference to the unpleasant sensation from literal sour grapes
22 IBIS Bird tucked into garibaldi biscuit (4)
hidden inside garibald-I BIS-cuits
24 SHEARER One barely attends to the flock (7)
I think this is a cryptic def with ‘barely’ referring to the sheep being left bare/uncovered after shearing
25 SWAHILI His law I translated into a foreign language (7)
(His law I)*
26 KETCH Vessel from which a thousand eat (5)
=a type of sailing vessel
K (kilo, thousand) + ETCH=corrode=”eat” away
27 SINGALONG Popular girl breaking into number in which all join (9)
IN=”Popular” + GAL=”girl” inside SONG=”number”
DOWN
1 FOR GOODNESS SAKE In the interests of virtue, I’m getting impatient (3,8,4)
“In the interests of virtue” would be a more literal reading of the phrase
2 TENNYSON Poet‘s game said to be taking place (8)
homophone/’said’ of ‘tennis’=”game”; plus ON=”taking place”
3 LEASH Unthinkable, a short part for the lead (5)
hidden in Unthinkab-LE A SH-ort
4 IGNATIUS Virginian regularly picking up formal clothes for a saint (8)
regular letters from [V]I[r]G[i]N[i]A[n] + SUIT=”formal clothes” reversed/”up”
5 ADJUST Commercial deserved tweak (6)
AD=”Commercial” + JUST=”deserved”
6 DANGEROUS Such a dog may be put down as hairy (9)
double definition
7 OTTAWA From nothing, a power unit raised capital (6)
=capital city of Canada
O=”nothing”; plus A + WATT=”power unit” reversed/”raised”
8 SPREAD ONES WINGS To try new activities somehow was depressing? No (6,4,5)
(was depressing no)*
15 OLIGARCHY System of rule in chaos — go charily (9)
(go charily)*
17 BLESSING Unfinished game receives not so much approval (8)
BING[o]=”Unfinished game”, around LESS=”not so much”
18 BOB MINOR One’s rung Robert, not yet eighteen (3,5)
=a type of sequence in bell-ringing
“Robert” + MINOR=”not yet eighteen”
20 USED TO Familiar with being roughly ousted (4,2)
(ousted)*
21 AT RISK Not safe in a tight skirt (2,4)
A + (skirt)*, where “tight” meaning ‘drunk’ is the anagram indicator
23 FATAL Obese Bert bringing about demise (5)
FAT=”Obese” + AL=short for Albert=”Bert”

 

75 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 28,172 by Vulcan”

  1. I have a couple of quibbles, but on the whole I liked the puzzle and thought it more balanced than we’ve seen recently from Vulcan.  The DDs for ONE-LEGGED and DANGEROUS seemed barely more that a single definition repeated, and talking of barely, SHEARER barely worked for me.

    A note on SWAHILI – you readily see that the clue is looking for a language, and “his” is part of the fodder, so it has to end in “ish”, right?  Wrong!

  2. I liked this a lot more than the most recent few from Vulcan, largely because as Dr. W observes, there was a better balance of clue types. Among the dd/cd clues, only SHEARER stood out to me as especially weak.

    I didn’t go down the ‘ish’ rabbit hole with SWAHILI, although I considered it briefly before the answer jumped out at me. With OLIGARCHY, however, I spent far too long trying to make an anagram of ‘in chaos go’ with ‘charily’ as the anagrind. If that was intentional misdirection, it was well placed.

    Thanks to Vulcan for the fun, hoping to see more like this from him, and thanks also to manehi for the early blog.

  3. Another very easy puzzle in a recent string of unchallenging puzzles.  Having worked through every cryptic this century, I’m now doing the same for the quiptics and Everyman. Currently I’m up to year 2013, attacking one or two of each per day  ….  and have noticed that both series were more challenging and amusingly clued when compared to typical contemporary crytpics. I’m wondering if anybody else made a similar observation?

  4. Enjoyable crossword with varied clue types,  although I agree with Dr. W @1 on ONE-LEGGED, DANGEROUS and SHEARER. SWAHILI was my first one in and OTTAWA my last. I liked the clues for OUSE, TENNYSON and OLIGARCHY. Some good misdirection too.

    Thanks to Vulcan and manehi for the blog.

     

  5. Didn’t mind the quasi-quirkiness of hairy for dangerous and half unpinned for one-legged, but yes the def for shearer is of the ‘nudge’ type. Nice stroll, quite fun, thanks Vulcan and manehi. PS the Don’s quiptic took about the same time.

  6. rodshaw@3, I occasionally dip into the archives, but nowhere near often enough to notice trends.

  7. This was more challenging than I expected for Monday but overall I found this crossword reasonable. I winced at TENNYSON as a homophone for “tennis on” and I thought DANGEROUS was just weak but I liked SINGALONG, especially with “number” doing double duty, as well as BLESSING and OTTAWA. BOB MINOR was new to me but easily deduced from the clue. Thanks Vulcan and Manehi.

  8. Vaguely knew Bob Minor from somewhere…Sayers’ Nine Tailors..an old Midsomer..an old xword..??

  9. Mondays tend to be too easy to be satisfying and this was par for the course. Hadn’t heard of bob minor.

  10. A nice, easy start to the week, but still enjoyable. Some unknowns (BOB MINOR, IGNATIUS), but got them through parsing.

    Favourites were SINGALONG and SOUR GRAPES.

    Thanks Vulcan and manehi!

  11. I also enjoyed this, particularly NONPLUS, AT RISK and SINGALONG. Good Monday fare. Many thanks to V & m.

  13. SINGALONG, OTTAWA, SPREAD ONES WINGS were my favourites. Got sidetracked like Dr. WhatsOn@1 by his/ish. Agree with others on DANGEROUS being poor. With SHEARER, I was wondering about “hearer”=”one [who] attends”, but where would the S come from? – so I guess the unsatisfactory parsing as given by manehi is correct.

    Thanks both.

  14. A steady solve with plenty of accessible clues to get going. SHEARER was ‘hmmmish’, but nothing else stood out for me as especially poor or outstandingly good. Dr WhatsOn @1: I saw SWAHILI so quickly that xxxxish never got a look in.

  15. Ah, the good old IBIS pops its head up again!  And in the vicinity of an OUSE to boot.  Thanks Vulcan and Manehi for a Monday morning stroll.  I liked OUSE – though it comes up a lot, LEASH, KETCH and TENNYSON made me wince.  SPREAD ONE’S WINGS was a nice anagram.

    Some weak clueing also, though.  I don’t think SHEARER works – even though many of them appear to work stripped to the waist in hot weather.  ‘Barely’ is surely referencing shearer rather than sheep.  Like DinNC @2 SWAHILI leapt out so never got near Dr WhatsOn’s ISH – though I agree with his assessment of the double definitions.  BOURBON is as old as the hills.

    Out of curiosity (and not bashing Vulcan), does anyone here use the apostrophe when writing FOR GOODNESS’ SAKE?

  16. Quite a fun crossword so thanks to Vulcan. I enjoyed 1d FOR GOODNESS SAKE. Good work on the blog, manehi, and thanks to you also.

  17. [We crosses, Mark, but that thought re FOR GOODNESS’ SAKE at 1d went through my head as I typed it, but I didn’t bother as there seems to be no facility for apostrophes in cryptics. But I think I do tend to use it in written contexts. Even though I sometimes think it looks a bit precious.]

  18. TassieTim @14: ditto! – I wrote “hmm” next to 24a.  But apart from that I thought this was a really pleasant Monday puzzle.  22a reminded me of the line from Round the Horne: “Ah, the garibaldi biscuit, named after that great Italian patriot, Giuseppe Biscuit.”

    With 21d I must admit to wondering whether there was a sort of tight skirt called A TRISK before I noticed the anagram.

    Many thanks Vulcan and manehi.

  20. 9a reminded me of Mr Spigott.

    “You seem to have a deficiency in the leg department to the tune of one.”

  21. Vulcan continues to please and this was a fine puzzle to get the week started.  BOB MINOR did not immediately come to mind but the clueing was fair.  I am more used to the local spelling of Kiswahili, so as there was no K in the fodder I was somewhat slowed down, but of course it had to be SWAHILI!!   Favourites were OLIGARCHY, SINGALONG and OUSE.

    Many thanks to Vulcan and manehi!

  22. JinA @19: But surely not…  And @17: I agree it does look a tad precious – but it’s nice to keep it going!

  23. Thanks Vulcan and manehi

    Id was a write-in, which gave a lot of first letters and thus made it straightforward, though enjoyable.

    GinF – the changes rung in The nine tailors was Kent Treble Bob.

  24. Oh yes copmus, “Spigott by name Spigott by nature”,  I gentle knock at WOKE all those years ago!!

  28. Tony Santucci @7 & Eileen @27: I don’t think the setter intends the whole name to be a homophone. It’s TENNYS (sounds like tennis) plus ON. Seems OK to me.

  29. Miche @28 – it wasn’t the ‘homophone’ that made me wince: I had a ticket for Wimbledon next Monday!

  30. Made a bit of a tentative start, with first two in the unconvincing SHEARER and KETCH, but slowly warmed to what turned out in the end to be quite a pleasing puzzle. Liked the clue for our local river The OUSE, as it may be for many, being such a commonly named one in the U.K.

  31. Good start to the week. If it’s too easy, there are plenty of other crosswords around, including Pasquale in the Quiptic.

    I liked TENNYSON, despite Eileen’s wince, and the tight skirt.

    Thanks Vulcan and manehi.

  32. Thanks to copmus @20 for the reminder – if anyone hasn’t seen the Pete and Dud classic, it’s here.

    Mark @15: I read your comment on 24a too quickly, interpreted ‘many of them’ as referring to clues rather than shearers, and ‘stripped to the waist in hot weather’ as your preferred method for solving crosswords  😉

    And thanks to PeeDiddy @12 and the hOUSE without a roof, I now can’t get Pharrell Williams out of my head…

    Ta V & m

  33. enjoyed this Monday puzzle. Thanks Vulcan and manehi. I’ve been crosswordless for days, except on my phone, as a wombat bit through our satellite cable under the house. Today I treated myself to a hotspot so I could print this out. Very happy it was easy enough to complete in the relatively short time I had available.

  35. I was beginning to wonder whether Vulcan was losing his way, but I found this thoroughly enjoyable. NONPLUS and IGNATIUS my favourites. My wife is a bellringer so BOB MINOR came easily (by the way, manehi, it’s a ‘method’ not a ‘sequence’).

    Didn’t think much of FOR GOODNESS SAKE, but otherwise no complaints.

  36. Ta for that re the Sayers classic muffin and Miche, some other bell ringing in the neural depths…

  38. Most of these were write ins for me and the rest went in after only a little thought. Like others I found the cryptic definition for SHEARER rather weak. Was Vulcan trying to invoke an image such as Holman Hunt’s Hireling Shepherd? [I’m familiar with this painting from reading Brian Aldiss’s Report on Probability A, where it is described numerous times.]

    The other clue which gave me pause for thought (although the solution was obvious) was 23d FATAL. Isn’t AL=short for Albert=”Bert” a bit of a stretch? Or am I being too picky?

    Like Robi @31, “tight skirt” at 21d raised a corner of my mouth for a nanosecond. As did 13a – it had to be OUSE, of course, one of crossword land’s most forded streams, but finding out why provided some amusement.

    Thanks to Vulcan for the entertainment and manehi for the blog.

  40. [Mention by Miche et al of Dorothy Sayers’ The Nine Tailors reminded me of how annoying I found the Wimsey character when I finally picked up the book in a youth hostel a couple of years ago. The assumption of superiority and the way he is able to effortlessly match the ability of the rustic bell-ringers, although they have been doing it all their lives and he just dabbled in it as an undergraduate, reminded me so strongly of the public school amateurs that have been running this country for the last few years (actually, make that the last few centuries, for the most part) that I was barely able to finish it.

    But don’t let me put anyone off reading it for themselves!]

  41. Enjoyed this. Never heard of GANGSTA but I wrote it in from the clue. Spent some time trying to anagram the wrong bits of 15d. Learnt all I know about campanology from The Nine Tailors when I was a Sayers fan in my teens. Thanks Vulcan and manehi.

  42. I thought it was ok, certainly one of the better Vulcan puzzles of recent weeks but nothing like as enjoyable as Pasquale’s Quiptic which was similarly easy but with much more wit and clearer cluing.

    Like others I think 24ac is pretty rubbish. I actually wrote SHEARER in then deleted it until I had all the crossers because I thought it was too loose and might send me down the wrong path with the crossing words if it was wrong. To me if the clue suggests anything it’s that we’re looking for someone who is bare while they tend a flock – I don’t see how it suggests they make a flock bare. The great satisfaction of a good cryptic clue over a standard one comes in knowing that the answer must be right, and a loose cryptic definition on its own really doesn’t give that.

  43. [And not only in the roof, TassieTim; inner Sydney, late ’60s, had enough remnant bush so that, if you forgot to close windows, you’d come down to breakfast to find one eating your cereal.. Mind you, more power to ’em I say..]

  44. [Eileen @27, thanks for reminding me about Tom Swifties. Composing them was a pleasant pastime for my circle of college friends, but I can’t recall a single one of our efforts now!]

  45. [Hmmm, mentioning Sayers seems to have hit a nerve…interested to see what you think, muffin, if you do reread it. And yes, sheffield hatter, oceans of ‘oblige’ in lit, all the way from the Greats down to nursery rhymes via, especially, the Boys’ and Girls’ Owns]

  47. Eileen @27 and DaveinNC @ 44: I hadn’t realised there was a name for those so thanks for drawing it to our attention.  I’ve encountered them – my own contribution was “I’ve trimmed the paraffin lamp,” Tom said wickedly.  Having read the examples on the page Eileen highlighted, it strikes me one could be brought right up to date with “My father’s had a sex change,” Tom said transparently.

    GiF and muffin: I seem to recall a Wimsey story where the murder weapon was in full view throughout the story – indeed, it was forever getting in the way.  An ornate and heavy hanging lamp.  But I can’t find any reference to it.  sheffieldhatter @40: I completely agree with your observations about the amateur sleuthing toff.  The only way to avoid the insufferableness is to firmly take it in the context of the times in which it was written – and, even then, Wimsey can be a bit of a pain.  Interesting how they all had their half-competent, “nice but dim” sidekicks: Holmes, his Watson; Wimsey, his Bunter; raffles, his Bunney and Poirot, his Hastings.

    essexboy @32: It strikes me the state of undress for crossword solving probably depends on the standard of the setter: Vulcan might be a loosened tie, Brummie or Pasquale would justify being stripped to the waist, Vlad or Nutmeg requiring the full monty!

  48. Mark @47

    A cactus in a hanging brass container in Busman’s Honeymoon.

    Bunter was anything but dim – he probably could have swapped jobs with Jeeves!

  49. Eileen @29: sorry for mistaking your meaning. I’m afraid it was a classic case of seeing the point a few milliseconds after hitting the Post Comment button.

  50. muffin @48: as so often, your GK astonishes me!  But now I understand why Google searches for Wimsey + murder + lamp didn’t get me very far!  A cactus.  TBF, I can’t recall Bunter that well and am probably guilty of making the assumption he was there as counterpoint to his master.  And John Watson was no idiot so I’m probably rapidly disproving my own observation…  But they do all play a comparable role.

  51. I’m still learning my trade, treading the very foothills of the learning curve with cryptics and even I finished this in 30 minutes while sitting quietly on a conference call. Safe to say, not that hard then, or maybe I’m improving. At the risk lighting the blue touchpaper, Monk@15 isn’t the use of the possessive apostrophe after s traditionally reserved for biblical characters, e.g. “in Jesus’ name”?

  52. [Mark, your “dim but nice” brought to mind an old (US) series in which loyal Chinese butler/valet/assistant sleuth says to boss “Oh yes, rovery rady cored today”. “What did she look like?” “Rike Venus de Myro, with arms!” I laughed, but I was about 12 at the time]

  53. Mark @41 – yes, I chortled when I saw that one, too!

    …and Miche @49 – no problem: I know that feeling. 😉

  54. [Mark @47 That’s an image I will have trouble dispelling the next time Vlad or Butmeg, oops Nutmeg, appear.]

  55. A pleasant enough Monday crossword, thanks Vulcan.

    What interesting commentary. Thanks Eileen for the Tom Swifties link, new to me but great fun. Mark, I like your updated version.

    I was a Sayers fan in my younger days but have not been tempted to re-read them. I much prefer Margery Allingham.

    Thanks to Manehi and all the contributors

  56. [ngaiolaurenson @55

    I would have expected you to prefer Ngaio Marsh!

    Too often I felt that Allingham thought she was writing better than she was doing – literary pretensions!]

  57. I liked OUSE and the Virginian was a welcome reminder of the TV series that I was allowed to stay up late to watch as a child.

    And I’m sure we all love a good SINGALONG to OTTAWA(N)’s D.I.S.C.O

    All together now …

  58. As a former bell-ringer, I’d like to add that I’ve never heard a bell-ringer use the term “campanologist” other than in sentences like “I wish they’d stop calling us b****y campanologists”.
    I enjoyed the crossword though, especially as my late brother and my son are both Roberts.  Bob Major and Bob Minor.

  59. Well, that was alright, just what I expect of the Monday slot, and – heavens be praised – no surfeit of cryptic definitions from Vulcan this time!

  60. That was fun.  As a newbie to cryptics I have just completed my first-ever Guardian cryptic.   DANGEROUS took a bit of thinking about, but the rest gave the old grey matter a bit of a work-out and the mouth a rarely-to-be-found-giggle.   Looks like I have a new lockdown hobby!   Now, where can I go out to celebrate?  Oh… I can’t…?

  63. Not a great Wimsey fan but I did hear a BBC dramatization of” The Nine Tailors” when I was a child and thought it horrifying!
    This was Okay but I’m always disappointed by this setter- some really easy clues leavened with some goodies. I liked TENNYSON though!
    Thanks Vulcan.

  64. Some very nice clues indeed (IGNATIUS, SINGALONG). Despite having all the crossing letters I did not get OUSE (never heard of it…) and SHEARER (I was debating between that and STEERER). Still not sure I buy the parsing.

  65. Me @27 and 29

    Spent the afternoon wallowing emotionally in ‘Rewind’ of Wimbledon Final 2008  Bravo, BBC! [That’s what I shall be doing for the next two weeks.]

  66. sheffield hatter @40 —

    I love the Sayers novels, but I completely understand your quite different reaction to them. I will say that I think that Sayers is aware of Lord Peter’s arrogance, and I think she intends the reader to find him annoying from time to time. The clearest example is in Strong Poison, in which he begins with an excruciatingly superior and entitled attitude toward Harriet Vane but gradually comes to realize that he’s behaving like an ass. The whole series of books involving the two of them are excellent, not least because Sayers doesn’t mind showing the flaws of both characters.

  67. [“Oops!” said Captain Hook offhandedly.

    “My son goes to a special school” he said approvingly.]

  68. Fave has to be SWAHILI, our national language here in Kenya and my FOI. An easy crossword.

  69. Thanks, jeceris @67 😉  – can’t think of a witty reply: t’s just time for Wimbledon again!

  70. [Mark @15, Julie @17, Ed @51: Apostrophe husband and lady here. We fill in the apostrophes in the paper such that they don’t affect the crossers, so GOODNESS’ had it on the second ‘S’. And in possessives like Jesus’, ladies’ etc. it goes in because there’s no final ‘s’ – no-one says ‘Jesus’s sermons’.]

  71. I enjoyed doing this despite a few little quibbles, the least small of which was 24A.

    As to that, could the parsing be S (abbreviation for small) + HEARER? A small hearer being one that barely (i.e. hardly) attends? Even that is really stretching it, I know…

  73. muffin and Ralph

    ‘Jesu’ comes from the vocative and genitive forms of ‘Jesus’ – originally in Greek (not sure about Hebrew/Aramaic case endings!) – then Latin, then into English, which itself preserved some case endings of names well into Shakespeare’s time.  Hence ‘Jesu, joy of man’s desiring’ (vocative).

    Which of course means that the apostrophe ‘s was originally unnecessary – Jesu (genitive) by itself meant ‘of Jesus’.

    The Germans still use it that way (at least they did when I attended Lutheran services) but then they’ve kept up their cases and we haven’t.

  74. Dave @2: 25 across. Professional mourners insist that they use Wailish, a sort of language (7).

    Ong’ara @68. Djambo!

     

  75. Ralph @70I was taught that you added an apostrophe and an s to any singular noun, whether or not it ended in S.  “Is this Charles’s hat?”

    Eileen and others passim: My favorite Swifty, fom my college days, “We’re adrift,” said Tom cantankerously.  Probably no one will read this, but I had to put it in.

    And thank you Vulcan and manehi.

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