Guardian Cryptic 28,220 by Vulcan

by

The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/28220.

Well, it’s Monday, and Vulcan fills that spot frequently and reasonably well. Much of one’s response to the puzzle depends on one’s opinion about cryptic definitions; for me, 12A SPOONFED in particular left a sour taste in my mouth.

ACROSS
1 ENDURE Bear under repaired end of bridge (6)
A charade of ENDUR, an anagram (‘repaired’) of ‘under’; plus E (‘end of bridgE‘).
4 LOG JAM Record spread of congestion (3,3)
A charade of LOG (‘record’) plus JAM (‘spread’ – strawberry or whatever).
9 COMMONPLACE BOOK Hackneyed collection of jottings? (11,4)
Slightly cryptic definition.
10 GRINGO Smile and leave American to Mexican (6)
A charade of GRIN (‘smile’) plus GO (‘leave’).
11 CRABWISE Sensible to follow sourpuss, but not straightforwardly (8)
A charade of CRAB (‘sourpuss’) plus WISE (‘sensible’).
12 SPOONFED Unable to cope with a fork supper? (8)
That can only be intended as a cryptic definition.
14 DIREST It’s Red Revolution, the worst (6)
An anagram (‘revolution’) of ‘it’s red’.
15 BANTAM This boxer is chicken (6)
Double definition, the first being bantamweight in full.
18 TOMAHAWK Weapon made by boy, no dove (8)
A charade of TOM (‘boy’) plus A HAWK (‘no dove’ in foreign policy).
21 FIVE-STAR Starve, if thrown out of such a hotel (4-4)
An anagram (‘thrown out’) of ‘starve if’.
22 RESIDE Stay on the wing (6)
A charade of RE (‘on’) plus SIDE (‘wing’).
24 KEEP ONE’S SHIRT ON Stay calm to avoid sunburn (4,4,5,2)
Definition and literal interpretation. When I came to this clue I already had 18D to resolve the usual ONE’S/YOUR ambiguity.
25 TOTTER Stagger time with swimmer (6)
A charade of T (‘time’) plus OTTER (‘swimmer’).
26 DAMASK Keen about demand for patterned material (6)
A charade of DAM, a reversal (‘about’) of MAD (‘keen’) plus ASK (‘demand’).
DOWN
1 EGO TRIP Selfish behaviour to gripe about (3,4)
An anagram (‘about’) of ‘to gripe’.
2 DEMON Evil spirit making November follow March (5)
A charade of DEMO (‘march’; not quite synonymous, but perhaps close enough) plus N (‘November’, as far as I can see an arbitrary abbreviation).
3 RING OFF End call, engagement being cancelled? (4,3)
Definition and literal interpretation.
5 ORCHARD One’s work here should bear fruit (7)
Cryptic definition.
6 JOBSWORTH Value of sacred book for fussy functionary (9)
JOB’S WORTH (‘value of sacred book’ of the Bible)
7 MAOISTS Chairman’s supporters? (7)
A play on the designation Chairman Mao.
8 PLACED Put third at worst (6)
Double definition, the second being a reference to eg horse racing, where a place is first, second or third.
13 ON-THE-SPOT In awkward position, sort of fine (2-3-4)
Double definition.
16 ALIMENT Insect eating citrus for food (7)
An envelope (‘eating’) of LIME (‘citrus’) in ANT (‘insect’).
17 MATINEE Show inmate reforming, getting parole at last (7)
A charade of MATINE, an anagram (‘reforming’) of ‘inmate’; plus E (‘parolE at last’).
18 THRUST Force one’s way through American street (6)
A charade of THRU (‘through American’) plus ST (‘street’).
19 MORPHIA Transform one with a pain reliever (7)
A charade of MORPH (‘transform’) plus I (‘one’) plus ‘a’.
20 WEDLOCK Member of scrum supports midweek match (7)
A charade of WED (Wednesday, ‘midweek’) plus LOCK (‘member of scrum’ in rugger).
23 SYRIA From south, excellent railway going to the North Country (5)
A reversal (in a down light ‘going to the north’ ) of AI (ie A-one, ‘excellent’) plus RY (‘railway’) plus S (‘south’).

 

image of grid

68 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 28,220 by Vulcan”

  1. Usual Monday fare, and as usual  …  no little gray brain cells were injured during the solving of this puzzle …  as they might say in the movies. Actually got a chuckle out of TOMAHAWK.   I suspect the parsing-police will be out in force over one or two clues, but nothing jarred too much with me.

  2. Not a great fan of CDs myself, but I thought it a quite reasonable puzzle overall.

    P.S. to PeterO, N is November in the NATO phonetic alphabet (2d)

  3. Too many CDs for me, especialky in the top half. I had the bottom complete and the top still blank. Not a helpful grid in terms of connectors. I also know stay calm as keep your hair on; keep your shirt on for me would be about not gambling your money away. Agreed about November (my postcode ends NW: November Whisky). Thank you to Vulcan for giving me something to do in a wakeful night and to PèterO for the super early blog.

  4. The w of wedlock had somehow changed to e, fat stumbly fingers, which slowed the finish until I woke up. Jobsworth, once I’d got it, was familiar, though from many decades ago, and I have no idea of a source.. odd sort of expression. Otherwise, yes Mondayish fare, nothing to raise the blood pressure. Is commonplace book a thing? Will look it up in a minute. Thanks to Vulcan and PeterO.

  5. …me @4, yes I see they are indeed a thing, and were quite important repositories. Hmmm, a surprising tilt, ringing no bell at all…

  6. @GinF I believe the term jobsworth derives from the phrase “it’s more than my job’s worth” commonly used as an excuse (implying they might be sacked) when refusing to do something slightly outside the rules.

  7. Almost a write in today. Held up slightly by being unfamiliar with morphia as an archaic name for morphine and failing to see maoists for a minute or two.

    Agree some of the cds were a bit dodgy (spoonfed particularly).

  9. Grantinfreo; you will have seen this when you looked then up no doubt, but commonplace books were an early modern precursor to the encyclopedia and an important way of organising kniwledge. Philip Melanchthon’s Loci Communes (=Common Places) was the first Lutheran sýstematic theology. My sympathy on zhe slipping finger syndrome; I have a new phone and my fingers are also too large for zhe letrer ‘keys’, which produces all kinds of rubbish when I type, My proofreading has improved though… (I hope).

  10. A gentle stroll in crosswordland, except for MORPHIA and COMMONPLACE BOOK, the A and BOOK only arriving later as already noted. I believe the term JOBSWORTH was invented by the British jazz singer George Melly.

    Thanks Vulcan and PeterO.

  13. I  started with the across clues and got only a couple on first pass, then my brain woke up and the down clues mostly went in fairly easily, giving crossers to help with the across ones and make for a pretty quick completion.

    Regarding PLACED, with my very limited experience of horse racing,  I think that if you bet on a horse to be placed, the criteria for paying out depend on the number of runners. Usually it is indeed the first three, but in a very small field, say 5 horses, it may be the first two, and in a large field, the first four. I’m no expert and stand to be corrected.

    Thanks PeterO and Vulcan.

  14. Thanks Vulcan and PeterO

    OK, but the Quiptic is more fun.

    Peter has commented on the ones/your ambiguity. It would be good if setters could find a way round this.

  15. I agree with grantinfreo@4 and 5 about 9a COMMONPLACE BOOK – also totally unfamiliar to me – and I thought I knew a bit about the world of books. Always good to learn new things of course. Thanks for the backstory, Beobacterin@9. I think we have had JOBSWORTH (6d) before – when it came up in a previous crossword, I know it was a new word for me on that occasion. I quite liked the marriage related clues: 3d RING OFF and 20d WEDLOCK. Thanks to Vulcan and PeterO.

  17. grantinfreo @4 and desmodeus @6 – As I recall, “Jobsworths” featured regularly in “That’s Life”, a hybrid comedy/consumer affairs TV program in the 70s and 80s fronted by Esther Rantzen. It used to feature several whimsical items such as comically shaped fruit and veg sent in by readers with a consumer affairs investigation in the middle. It’s fans would often send in stories of obstructive public officials, who were then usually described as Jobsworths.

  19. A very quick solve. Didn’t know 9a but it was guessable from the crossers. Similarly, didn’t know ALIMENT but quickly bashed that in, even without crossers (insects are always ants, bees or bugs aren’t they?). And lime is the most clue-friendly citrus fruit. I found a couple of the CDs unsatisfying (MAOISTS & ORCHARD esp.). But overall, a simple but fun diversion.

  20. Thanks both. Re the ONES/YOUR question, it seems to me that normal people say YOUR and setters and monarchs say ONES

  21. Reasonably quick work, but I don’t have any complaints. I particularly liked GRINGO, MAOISTS and SYRIA. Thanks, Vulcan and PeterO.

  22. If she did, muffin @16, it didn’t stick for me, and indeed my first post-solve thought was ‘Just the sort of thing to turn up in, eg, Austen’; hence my surprise that no bell rang.

  23. I keep trying to convince myself that Vulcan is getting better.  Some clues definitely earned a tick but, as has been observed before, the quality of the puzzle seems to bear relation to the proportion of cd’s and dd’s which crept up again today.  PeterO in his preamble and keyzer soze @19 identify the three I found least satisfying – though solvable: SPOONFED, MAOISTS and ORCHARD.  And I agree with beobachterin @3 that keeping one’s/your hair on is the phrase I’d associate with keeping calm – though I find the phrase is there online when I check so that’s a personal dislike rather than an unfair clue.

    Many of the surfaces came together well and the best of those clues feature in my favourites.  WEDLOCK is nicely misdirectional and I also enjoyed GRINGO, RESIDE, TOTTER and MATINEE.  MORPHIA is an archaic term but elegantly clued and COTD is FIVE STAR which is both a neat anagram and a smooth surface.

    Thanks Vulcan, PeterO and other posters for the insights into JOBSWORTH and COMMONPLACE BOOK

  24. Grantinfreo et al:  An unhelpful storeman or other minor official with trivial but at-the-time frustrating power, might reply to one’s pleadings, “Sorry mate, it’s more than my job’s worth”.

  25. ravenrider@17 In addition to the JOBSWORTH Award, unusually shaped vegetables and dogs that could say ‘sausages’, That’s Life also featured songs by the late Jake Thackray. His BANTAM Cock was covered by folk singer Fred WEDLOCK of ‘Oldest Swinger in Town’ fame.

  26. Going for the across clues first meant a fairly slow start, but the down clues gave me plenty to work with. I hadn’t heard of COMMONPLACE BOOK, but it was guessable from the crossers. Favourite clue: FIVE-STAR.

    Thanks, Vulcan and PeterO.

  27. I agree with keyser @19 about ORCHARD and MAOISTS, barely cryptic at all, therefore not very satisfying to solve.

    Other than that, it was reasonably enjoyable and took us less time than the quiptic.

    Favourites were GRINGO and THRUST.

    Thanks Vulcan and PeterO

  28. The oldest swinger in town – James Anderson? 600 here we come – weather permitting

    Ironically, clues like ORCHARD take me the longest as I have to go through a “it can’t be that obvious can it? surely not …”. Then I remember it’s Monday & Vulcan

    Musical delights from FIVE STAR or Franz Ferdinand (the band not the archduke) Dark of the MATINEE

    Cheers all

     

  29. Thanks, PeterO.

    24a: I put in ONE’S without hesitation. It’s always ONE’S, isn’t it? Not Vulcan’s fault, of course, but this convention irritates me. It adds a starchy formality to an idiomatic expression: has anyone ever said “Put one’s foot down” or “Get one’s knickers in a twist?” Maybe Prince Charles, fifty years ago.

    9a: If commonplace books are a thing of the past, the extinction is fairly recent. In the preface to The Frank Muir Book: an Irreverent Companion to Social History (1976), Muir thanks Denis Norden, “… who gutted his commonplace book to get me going.” (I don’t have a superhuman memory for books I read decades ago – I just happen to be rereading it at the moment.)

  30. Quick anti clockwise solve from NW to NE today. More like a quick crossword than a cryptic really. And the Quiptic was far harder, too.
    Only chuckle I got was from SPOONFED, which reminded me of Oasis’s Noel Gallagher’s comment about his brother Liam, “ he’s as mad as a man with a fork in a world of soup”.

  31. [Dryll @30: thanks for that; lovely quote and conjures up a brilliant image.  It rather reminded me of a quote that instantly struck when reading the very first Terry Pratchett novel, The Colour of Magic: “If complete and utter chaos was lightning, then he’d be the sort to stand on a hilltop in a thunderstorm wearing wet copper armour and shouting ‘All gods are bastards!'”]

  32. Quick solve for me today – FOI was  2d DEMON with LOI 26a DAMASK but just because I was a bit slow on the uptake…  Thanks Vulcan for the Monday fare and PeterO for the blog.

  33. This, being gentle and entertaining, was the perfect start to a slightly-hungover Monday. Sorry, PeterO, but I rather liked SPOONFED: it had a cheeky, in-your-face (or maybe that should be in-one’s-face, since we’re in crosswordland) quality that made me grin. Ditto TOTTER, DAMASK and GRINGO. WEDLOCK was neat, too. With DEMON I, too, had never come across N to mean November, but I’ve long since accepted that any letter can be cited as a signifier for any word, since undoubtedly some profession or other uses it, or some dictionary mentions it – so I wasn’t bothered by DEMON.
    I like rodshaw’s idea of the Parsing Police, though (I often find myself thinking “ooh, some of the FSers won’t like this…”).
    Have to confess, I still use jobsworth quite a lot, finding it a neat way to describe that irritatingly pompous, but invariably small-scale bureaucratic figure, “dressed in a little brief authority”. (France is, of course, the land that invented bureaucracy, so encountering jobsworths is an occupational hazard round here, but alas I haven’t as yet found an equally satisfying french translation….)
    Thanks to PeterO for the comprehensive blog, and Vulcan for the Monday fun.

  34. Wellbeck, indeed. The French default answer to any request is “no”, although this can sometimes be bent round to “well, I suppose I could”. I read recently that it comes from an education system which encourages challenge (and possibly opposition) to all premisses. We don’t really do philosophy in the UK!

  35. [KeithM @34 – interestingly, as a Grammar School boy in the early ’80s I rememeber vividly our masters telling us that what “set us apart from the Comp” was that Grammar School students should challenge everything…  Now, I’ve since discussed this with other Grammar School output of about the same (perfect) vintage and their experience was somewhat different – more establishment-orientated – which makes me think that it was THAT school in THAT location; there-again, Southend always was a bit weird.  Encouraging challenging and questioning would seem to be exactly what we need at the moment though.]

  37. Two Vulcans in a row that have given me no undue difficulties. I wonder if the comments have prompted him to be on his best behaviour? Indeed, I took one glance at 5d and immediately thought ORCHARD.

    Regarding PLACED, beaulieu @13 has it right. Indeed some bookmakers might offer a place bet down to fifth in a very large field such as the Grand National. I know this not as an inveterate gambler but as a bookie’s son.

  38. In defence of the jobsworth: there are those of us who do have jobs from which we could be fired for things that people ask us to do in contravention of the rules. I have, not infrequently, found myself saying, ‘I don’t wish to come across as a jobsworth – but this is literally more than my job’s worth’. Half the time, I would like to help the person, but I cannot afford to lose my job; half the time, what they are asking for is unreasonable or illegal.

  39. Thank you Miche for reminding me of Frank Muir’s book. It’s a delight and I, too, will be rereading it now. Perhaps it’s time to resurrect the keeping of a commonplace book, such a good idea as it was. Thanks to setter and blogger, of course.

  41. [Norfolkdumpling @40: like this!  With or without colon or full stop.  If there’s a bit of a thread developing, then many folk stop referencing post number and just use the other’s pseudonym.  And generally encased in square brackets if the post is off topic, though inspired by the blog. Though there is no absolutely hard and fast convention so not everybody does it all of the time.  Hope that’s helpful.]

  42. [Norfolkdumpling @40 – of course, to reference the comment number, you have to be able to see it. When I first came to this site, via my phone, I was always puzzled where the numbers came from. Then I learned that you only see them if you are using a computer rather than a phone. There are workarounds that have been discussed in recent threads, but I can’t remember the details.]

  43. Thanks Vulcan and well done PeterO for keeping your shirt on during what appears to have been a slightly irritating experience for you. Speaking of which, although I always look for crossers to confirm, isn’t it the convention in crosswords that it’s always ONE’S never YOUR? In cases like this, though, it seems to me that “one’s” is wrong. It’s a colloquial and informal expression of the sort that is only ever used in addressing another person: “Keep yer shirt on, mate”, “Now then, son, don’t get your knickers in a twist”. It’s hard to imagine substituting “one’s” in the sort of situations where this type of phrase is used. (I look forward to some witty counter-examples.)

  45. I’ve always used KEEP YOUR SHIRT ON rather than KEEP YOUR HAIR ON, but I am bald.

    I believe people remove their shirts when they are about to fight, so that’s where it comes from.

    Or they take it off when they have to give it to a bookie when their horse isn’t PLACED.

  46. Very straightforward but I made it last much longer by thoughtlessly entering SPOONFUL rather than SPOONFED which meant PLACED and CRABWISE took longer than the rest of the puzzle put together. I didn’t know COMMONPLACE BOOK but MrsW did (she’s a Jane Austen fan muffin). My favourite was FIVE STAR. Thanks to Vulcan and PeterO.

  47. SPOONFED looks like an acceptable DD to me (at least, given the questionmark):  1. “unable to cope with a fork”; 2. “supper” – one who sups

    ORCHARD, on the other hand…  “should bear fruit” would suffice, so I’ve spent a long time looking at the first half for anything more.

  49. And whether you’re placed or not in a horse race depends on the size of the field, so 3rd is not always a “place”.

     

  50. WhiteKing @46: – oh yes, FIVE STAR was rather nice, wasn’t it?  I’ve been thrown out of a good few FIVE STAR establishments but then-again, I am from Essex…

  51. Let me try to put my finger on the general unease, for want of a better word, with CDs.  My first knowing introduction with them was the classic “Die of cold (3, 4)”.  Answer in a bit.  What makes this so good imo is that it doesn’t look at all like a CD when you see it, in fact it is very difficult to see anything other than the immediate surface meaning.  It is an expression that you actually hear, from time to time.  If more of the CDs had that attribute, I think there would be less groaning and more celebrating, as with a good &lit.  Oh yes, ICE CUBE.

  52. beaulieu@13: At racetracks in the USA, the PLACE horse is the SECOND to finish. The THIRD is the SHOW horse.

  53. Thanks Vulcan. GRINGO and CRABWISE were favourites. ORCHARD and MAOISTS seem more like American-type crossword clues but I appreciate these “comfort items” that supply valuable crossing letters. DEMON held me up a bit — “N” for November I saw but DEMO (demonstration?) for March seemed to be a stretch. Thanks PeterO for the blog.

  54. Burden works just as well as ENDURE and sent me astray for a period. A nice gentle solve, I welcome the slightly questionable cryptic definitions on Mondays to present some kind of a mental workout.

  56. Heracles @54

    I see your point, but I don’t think BURDEN works as well; the definition is a bit off, both as a verb and a noun, and the clue implies (though doesn’t explicitly state) that the anagram of “under” comes first, followed by the end of “bridge”.

  57. Tony Santucci@53: I thought this was a very straightforward clue, but N=November has been queried, and now March=DEMO. I’m sure I’ve seen it, or demo=MARCH, recently. It doesn’t seem like a stretch to me. I was on the demo against the invasion of Irag in 2003; we marched down Gower Street to Trafalgar Square.

  59. sh @57 I though demo/march seemed familiar too but could only find these old Paul clues

    “March, some springtide month (4)”
    “March bringing a little pandemonium (4)”

  61. SH @57 Thanks for the info. I’m familiar with DEMO as a car one test drives or as an instructive lesson e.g. let me show you a DEMO of how that works. Living in Washington, DC I’ve seen my share of protests, marches, and rallies but I’ve never heard anyone call these a DEMO. I’ll deposit this in my memory bank.

  64. Tony @61 – Here in Oz, we only ever used ‘demo’, all through the Vietnam Moratorium days (in which I was heavily involved) – but then, Aussies are famous for shortening words.

  67. Sil@66:
    TonyS @61 has explained why it didn’t seem right to him, so that’s why so much discussion. Tbh, it’s more explanation from
    SH@57, TassieTim@64, Beobachterin @65 & bodycheetah @59.
    As yesterday’s blog noted, people shouldn’t be intimidated into not asking.

  68. Monday Vulcan, gentle enough for my limited crossword wits

    My gloss of COMMONPLACE BOOK would be : COMMONPLACE=hackneyed + BOOK=collection / jottings is the definition.

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