Guardian Cryptic 28,411 by Vulcan

by

A quick and mostly straightforward solve – my favourites were 4ac, 22ac, 1dn, 5dn, and 19dn. Thanks to Vulcan

 

ACROSS
1 TUSCAN
Husband of Florence? (6)
cryptic definition: referring to Florence the city in Tuscany

“Husband” is in the surface to suggest a personal relationship with someone named Florence – I don’t think it adds anything else to the wordplay
4 SOUPCON
Tiny amount of French potage given to prisoner (7)
definition: a word from French meaning “Tiny amount”

SOUP=”potage” + CON (convict, prisoner)
9 RED-LETTER
While speaking glanced through mail, very important (3-6)
definition: a ‘red-letter day’ is one with special significance

homophone/”While speaking” of ‘read’=”glanced through”; plus LETTER=”mail”
10 HONED
Initially heavy duty keeps one sharp (5)
initials of H-eavy + D-uty; around ONE
11 SHEAF
Woman has a fine bundle of papers (5)
SHE=”Woman” + A + F (fine)
12 MINOR SUIT
Diamonds, for example, young girl put on smart dress (5,4)
definition: in card games such as bridge, Diamonds are a MINOR SUIT [as are Clubs, with Spades and Hearts as major suits]

MINOR=”young girl” + SUIT=”smart dress”
13 NERVOUS
Fearful of such a breakdown (7)
a second indication/definition referring the idea of a NERVOUS “breakdown”
15 APPEAR
Give the impression of a very quiet listener (6)
A=”a” + PP (pianissimo, music instruction to play very softly=”very quiet”) + EAR=”listener”
17 TARDIS
Detectives chase sailor to a police box (6)
definition: a time machine in the form of a police box in the Doctor Who series [wiki]

DI-S (Detective Inspector-S); after TAR=”sailor”
19 BANNERS
Censors prominent headlines (7)
double definition: people who ban thing i.e. “Censors”; and headings e.g. on a website i.e. “[prominent] headlines”

close to a triple def: BANNER without the S is an adjective meaning ‘outstanding’ i.e. “prominent”
22 LOWER CASE
Minuscule coals were blown about (5,4)
definition: “Miniscule” is term in printing referring to lower case letters

anagram/”blown about” of (coals were)*
24 TIARA
A despicable man about to pocket one bit of bling? (5)
A RAT=”A despicable man”, reversed/”about”; around/”to pocket” I=”one”
26 VEGAN
Star name, one adopting fashionable diet (5)
“fashionable” is slightly odd to me as part of the definition

VEGA=”Star” in the constellation of Lyra; plus N (name)
27 VENTILATE
Publicly expose talent I’ve wasted (9)
anagram/”wasted” of (talent I’ve)*
28 DISTEND
Daughter is to take care of balloon (7)
D (Daughter) + IS + TEND=”take care of”
29 SENTRY
Gateman finally grants admission (6)
final letter to grant-S + ENTRY=”admission”
DOWN
1 TURNS IN
Changes at home and goes to bed (5,2)
TURNS=”Changes” + IN=”at home”
2 SEDGE
Bog plant in small border (5)
S (small) + EDGE=”border”
3 AGE OF GOLD
Fabulous time when we were so successful at the Olympics? (3,2,4)
second part of the clue referring to gold medals at the Olympics
4 SYRINGA
Is angry, having to move shrub (7)
anagram/”to move” of (Is angry)*
5 USHER
At wedding, one who assists our side and the bride? (5)
US=”our side” + HER=”the bride?”
6 CONSULATE
Cleans out revolting government office (9)
anagram/”revolting” of (Cleans out)*
7 NUDITY
Condition that is barely noticeable (6)
cryptic definition playing on the meaning of “bare” i.e. nude
8 STUMPS
End of play is baffling (6)
double definition: the first referring to the end of a day of cricket
14 REAL WAGES
Agrees law needs modifying to show true value of packet (4,5)
definition: the value of wages adjusted for price inflation

anagram/”needs modifying” of (Agrees law)*
16 PINSTRIPE
One may be suited by this second short journey through wood (9)
definition: a pattern used to make suits

S (“second”) + TRIP=”short journey”; all inside PINE=”wood”

“short” could instead be indicating a shortening of “second”
18 STARVED
Deprived of exciting adverts (7)
anagram/”exciting” of (adverts)*
19 BOEING
Aeroplane makes bouncy noise, full of echo (6)
BOING=”bouncy noise”; around E (Echo in the phonetic alphabet)
20 STATELY
Figure cathedral is majestic (7)
STAT=statistical “Figure” + ELY=”cathedral” in the city of Ely
21 SLAVED
Perhaps Russian editor worked hard (6)
SLAV=”Perhaps Russian” + ED (editor)
23 RENEE
Woman is a bit more needy … (5)
hidden in/”a bit” of: mo-RE NEE-dy
25 APART
… and a bit distant (5)
A=”a” + PART=”bit”

81 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 28,411 by Vulcan”

  1. I was going to go out on an early run, but snow and hail competing with this gentle and enjoyable crossword won out. Thanks to Vulcan and Manehi

  4. I agree it was quick… until I hit the STUMPS/MINOR SUIT cross. NHO diamonds as a minor suit, and I am baffled by the equation of ‘is baffling’ = STUMPS – surely the parts of speech are wrong. The ‘husband’ part of 1a was equally baffling, but at least I figured out the answer without too much fuss. And is ‘age of gold’ (rather than ‘golden age’) really a phrase? So I am afraid I didn’t find it much fun. Sorry, Vulcan; thanks, manehi.

  5. Enjoyed today’s. Didn’t get sentry, which is annoying, or stately, thanks for explanations. And only got Tuscan because there was a bit of a spoiler in the chat on guardian. As a relative newcomer I still don’t really understand why some clues have … joining them? I don’t see the link. Thanks Vulcan

  6. I was bemused by husband in 1 ac. I wondered about being frugal and the Tuscan order of architecture, without ornamentation???? I have only ever said golden age rather than AGE OF GOLD. Some nice anagrams, though. STARVED and REAL WAGES especially.

  7. Thanks Vulcan and manehi
    I confidently wrote MARITO in at 1a (Italian for “husband”), and I still think it’s a better answer than the actual solution, which is feeble. Apart from that, a decent puzzle, though MINOR SUIT might be a bit obscure to non-bridge players.

  8. Gentle Monday fare, rather anagram heavy.

    I agree with muffin @7 that MARITO was the obvious solution to 1ac. There’s no reason why the husband of a Florentine should himself be Tuscan.

  9. Petert @ 6:

    For lo!, the days are hastening on,
    By prophet bards foretold,
    When with the ever-circling years
    Comes round the age of gold

    (last verse of “It came upon the midnight clear”)

  10. Like Muffin, I put MARITO in 1a.
    @TassieTim and Petert: “It came upon the midnight clear”?
    V.4: “For lo! the days are hastening on,
    By prophet-bards foretold,
    When, with the ever-circling years,
    Comes round the age of gold…”

  11. Quick in all but SE this morning – plenty of anagrams to munge and a couple of sniggers.

    1a is really baffling. There must be more of a Florence connection than just being in Tuscany but I’ve been through every Florence I can think of from “and the Machine” to Dougal’s bit-on-the-side and drawn a complete blank.

    I’m sure someone will surface in their lake of molten chocolate later and pop the answer in here…

    Thanks Vulcan and manehi!

  14. I’m with TassieTim and Petert re AGE OF GOLD. Although Edmund Sears used this formula to fit the metre of his doggerel, it is practically a hapax legomenon and the normal expression is GOLDEN AGE!

  15. My first bash at 1a was ‘signor’ and that’s not impossible either. Following that, a brief trawl through the cast of Magic Roundabout.

  16. Great! Managed to complete it all. Rare for me! I always hope it will be Vulcan on a Monday. It gives me a good start to the week. Thank you.

  17. Quickest solve by a long shot but some nice clues. I also remain baffled by TUSCAN.

    Ta Vulcan & manehi

  18. A toss up today over whether the Quiptic or the Cryptic was the easiest.

    Like most posters, I was baffled by the husband in 1A; I assumed it was some Classics reference (Eileen to the rescue?). Otherwise, it seems to be a weak clue – could have been ‘Wife of Florence’ or ‘Bull of Florence’ to give the same result.

    AGE OF GOLD is in Merriam-Webster. Surely, BANNER headlines are usually found in newspapers? Although I suppose most papers are digital as well these days.

    I liked VENTILATE and PINSTRIPE.

    Thanks Vulcan and manehi.

  19. Gervase @8: the clue doesn’t say “Husband of Florentine?”, it says “Husband of Florence?”. If the husband is “of Florence”, he is TUSCAN. The question mark indicates that this is a definition by example, as obviously not all Tuscans are husbands. I was a bit puzzled by it at first, but actually I think it works fine.

    Thanks Vulcan and manehi.

  20. Minestrone @5, I have been doing cryptic crosswords for years but I too am always baffled by clues linked by …. I have never found one where the link was clear, and they always seem possible to solve without knowing. Can anyone else help here?

  21. Miinestrone@5 – most of the time ellipses are just used for the surface – because the clue wouldn’t be grammatical or have a meaningful surface interpretation. Occasionally there is some logical connection between the clues/answers, usually a neat pair of clues in that instance.

    Ta for the blog. I was another wondering about the magic roundabout/pop group etc. Thought 1a was just a weak clue eventually.

  22. I think that Vulcan is just playing about with gender terms to make us think a bit more. “Wife of Florence” would work just as well for 1 across, just as “young boy” would work just as well as “young girl” for “minor” in 12 ac, (The “for example” in that clue must refer to the definition.)

  23. I’m with SinCam. I’ve never understood the clues linked with dots. Does it signify anything?

  24. Very occasionally the ellipsis does indicate a link between the clues – the solution of one forms the definition for the other, for instance. Much more frequently they are just for grammar or surface.

  25. Still scratching my head about TUSCAN, though it had to be that from the crossers. Not much impressed by some of the rest of the puzzle, either…

  26. Gervase @14:

    There is a ballet by Shostakovich which is usually called in English “The Age of Gold”, and a quick Google search reveals that there are several books with that title, and that it appears in works by Emerson among others. So not really hapax! [And actually, I don’t think that particular carol, unlike some, is doggerel.]

  27. I think the ellipses are there just to add a level of crypsis – without them APART would be clued “A bit distant (5)” which would be too easy. But see Andy+Smith@21 for the full treatment.

    I must admit (in a spirit of full disclosure (stopping short of NUDITY)) to biffing “valentine” for VENTILATE and thinking it was another name-check (even though it made no sense).

    TassieTim@4: Your problem is baffling/STUMPS me – not near enough?

    Thanks to manehi and to Vulcan for churning the cerebellum gently.

  28. Roman @22: I think the problem with 1a is it is inexact. ‘Wife of Florence’ would certainly work but then again so would ‘Dog/Cat/Parrot/Elk/Teapot’ which would all be Tuscan if they came from Florence…

    I can’t help but think there is another link here but currently the sugar-rush from yesterday’s eggs (yep, ALL gone; BAD BARTOK) is clouding my mind…

  29. Lord Jim @19: I take your point, but ‘husband’ is a most peculiar and arbitrary way to define TUSCAN – definitions by example are typically specific members of the wider set. Thus Pisan, Florentine or Sienese could be used to represent Tuscan. ‘Husband’ is scarcely more appropriate than ‘dog’ or’lamppost’.

  30. [On a seasonal note – it is one of my duties in life to act as “Easter Bunny” which involves composing clues as to the location of eggs. My admiration for the tribe of setters is always amplified on these occasions – it is just not easy. I grasp at the straw that my audience don’t dabble in crosswords so penetrability is a prime requirement – I hazard that it’s more difficult to set an “easy” crossword. Hence, perhaps, “husband”]

  31. MaidenBartok @28 and Gervase @29: yes, but “Elk of Florence” or “Lamppost of Florence” wouldn’t really work for the surface, which is supposed to make us think of the husband of a woman called Florence.

  33. Disappointing. On a bank holiday I was hoping for something to occupy more than eight minutes. Agree with all the comments about TUSCAN. Vulcan definitely not up to usual standard today.

  34. Gervase @14 “hapax legomenon” – wow. That’s the sort of thing I’d only expect to find in an Azed puzzle!

    This was all fine and dandy except (although I was a publisher before I retired) I never knew that minuscule was a printing term for lower case. Like others, I found TUSCAN strange.

  35. It would be interesting to know if anyone put in TUSCAN before getting all the crossers. I didn’t know the LOWER CASE meaning of minuscule. Most of the rest went straight in. Loved BOING. Thanks to Vulcan and manehi

  38. I knew that a tardis was something from Doctor Who, but had no idea that there were (even in the real world) such things as police boxes. We don’t have them in the US, I’m not sure what beat officers use (or used?) instead.

    I think the wordplay for AGE OF GOLD doesn’t do much of its job.

    Didn’t know this meaning of stumps — cricket defeats me again.

    Nice easy puzzle for what is for us just another Monday. Thanks Vulcan and manehi.

  39. For 1ac how about ‘Florence’s fella?’

    Dougal’s petite amie did actually perform a helpful function – she put me in a Zebedee frame of mind, which led me to bouncy noise = BOING (time for bed!)

    Thanks Vulcan and manehi

  40. Valentine@38 , I think there may have been a police box in Top Cat ? Or was it just a telephone on the wall. They were basically just a telephone here and may have died out completely now. Someone must know more please ?

  41. essexboy @39: Bravo – I was thinking along the same lines myself. ‘Florence’s man?’ would have worked much better.

  42. Echo drofle @34’s “wow” at Gervase @14’s “hapax legomenon”… what a great phrase (and not too hard to work into dinner party convo, if ur into that sort thing…qui moi?).

  43. Poor Vulcan! He does come in for some criticism here. “Rather anagram heavy” – I make it the same as Brendan last week, and around half as many as Qaos on Friday, and I don’t remember those being complained of. “Weak clue” at 1a – well, if it caused some to write in MARITO and some SIGNOR then surely it’s a very good clue!

    I don’t think “fashionable” is inappropriate in the clue for VEGAN because a) it is being promoted in lots of media and in shops and takeaways these days and b) it is potentially misleading as there are any number of faddy “diets” out there. I too hesitated over AGE OF GOLD, but it’s hardly a “hapax legomenon” – though it’s good to have the chance to acquire some Greek on a Monday.

    I was held up in the SE for a while, with ‘figure’=STAT a stumbling block until I got APART. I thought the use of ellipses made half-decent clues out of what could have been feeble ones at 23d and 25d, and the discovery of the ‘adverts’=STARVED anagram was a new one for me after many years of crossword solving.

    Thanks Vulcan and manehi.

  45. Most interesting (there wasn’t much competition) for me was trying to decide whether the “for example” in MINOR SUIT applied to diamonds or young girl or both?
    I avoided entering NUDITY for as long as possible in the vain hope there would be more to it but alas not

  47. Roz @40. Yes, it was just a phone mounted on a lamp post in Top Cat (rather fuzzy image here). I know almost nothing about police phone boxes, but there is one preserved for historical interest adjacent to the town hall in Sheffield. (See this for details and information about police boxes generally.)

  48. Valentine @ 38

    The first series of Dr Who aired in the sixties when there were plenty of police boxes around in the UK. None now. Don’t know if there was an equivalent in America.

  49. Valentine @ 38

    Oooops – just checked – according to one google-link there are still eight police boxes in the UK – if true can’t think why – maybe for historical or sentimental reasons.

    They were for use by police officers or for members of the public to contact the police (no mobiles then).

  50. 1a I answered as TASMAN just guessing that MAN would relate somehow to a husband of TA??

    Here in America a policeman used to have a call box on his city beat for calling the precinct station. See 40’s and 50’s crime noir movies.

  51. drofle @46… Del Boy, “an iconic character in British comedy” (wiki), must surely have made it to the antipodes, but I have to admit he passed me by.

  52. Fiona Anne – as I recall, the Tardis first materialised in a junk yard, because that was where most police boxes were found in the 1960s, as increased use of police cars made them obsolete.

  55. Count me as another baffled by 1ac and “girl” in 12ac… though I do understand why some might see veganism as fashionable. I liked the number of anagrams, especially on a Monday puzzle, and 16d and 19d (LOI) seemed like particularly nice wordplay.

    Agree with Robi@18 about BANNERS–in a print newspaper they are headlines running across the entire paper, so “prominent” is part of the definition there. The New York Times discusses them a bit here.

    Thanks to Vulcan and manehi!

  56. Surely some of you must remember Tuscan Nightingale, husband of Florence, invented for an alternative timeline episode of Doctor Who. It’s the one where the TARDIS boings off Ely Cathedral and lands in the syringa.

  57. Andy+Smith@21 thanks for the explanation. I won’t strain my brain too much with them in future then! Enough to deal with learning the ropes.

  58. I was another MARITO at 1ac until it came to the down clues. I still think it’s a weak clue.

    Japan still has a network of 6,500+ ‘kobans’ or police boxes across the country, 800 in Tokyo alone. Reflects a predominantly urban society based around a network of railway stations, most of which have an adjacent koban.

  59. Quite a few Tuscan maritos brought back Mrs ginf’s carers asking me what Reeto meant “She keeeps saying it” they said. “It’s one of her names for me”, I said, as in ” ‘Rito”.

  60. sheffield hatter @43: I have obviously come over more curmudgeonly than I intended! (And I am rarely sesquipedalian without a tongue wedged firmly in my cheek). I don’t have a problem with the clue for AGE OF GOLD – I just concur with those that point out that ‘golden age’ is the more usual expression, except in titles of works.

    Apologies to Vulcan for damning him with faint praise. In fact I enjoyed this puzzle a lot, even though it was all over rather quickly (but that’s as it should be for a Monday). There are some wonderful clues: I particularly liked SOUPÇON, MINOR SUIT and CONSULATE.

    However, setting a contentious clue for 1 across is rather a hostage to fortune!

  62. Gervase @60. Apologies for appearing to pick on you in mine @43; certainly didn’t mean to be having a go at you in particular. “Contentious” is an appropriate description of the clue for 1a, though I do appreciate what Vulcan was aiming for. It has at least produced some interesting discussion, with “Dougal’s bit-on-the-side”, “Dog/Cat/Parrot/Elk/Teapot”, “pet Italian buffalo” and your own “dog or lamppost” all providing some amusement, though Grantinfreo’s recollection of his late wife’s “Rito” was poignant.

  64. Most of this went in quickly but I was stumped by TUSCAN and BOEING. Overall I found it clearly clued with BANNERS, VEGAN, and USHER being favourites. Thanks to both.

  66. Very enjoyable. 1 ac just the kind of clue Araucaria would have thrown at us. I wonder if sites like this have made setters more/too precise. I hope not. Love this site by the way.

  67. @56 Doug431 Good point. I also watched that timeline. And who can forget that soupcan of nudity when the stately sentry turned in the starved vegan? These casuals wouldn’t know an Iraxxa from a Skovox Blitzer.

  69. Very happy to meet Irraxa and Skovox, Doug and Joe. Very much a casual for decades, since the boys started flatting etc, and always happy to be re-inducted.

  70. … and quite partial to the odd soupcan of nudity; of a stately sentry yes please, but of a starved vegan no thanks ..

  72. LJ@71 Or maybe Hancock? It feels like a companion piece to “Aphrodite at the waterhole”

  73. 20a. I was musing here the other day about some day finding a clue in which ” cathedral” or “see” didn’t lead to ELY. For example
    Crazy about crew member? We’ll see. (4,3,5)

  75. I forgive 1A solely because the clue amused me into wanting to put down “Machine”. Aside from that, I’ll just add that this grid snuck a few anagrams past me: “coals were”, “adverts”, etc. (…why is this site redlining ‘snuck’?)

    19D made me laugh

    Gervase@14 Ooh. Hapax legomenon, that’s a lovely word. I’ll have to remember it.

  77. I’m another who was disappointed with TUSCAN. Started off thinking SIGNOR. Don’t know enough Italian to have thought MARITO. With two crossers T***A* wondered if any of the famous THOMASs had a connection with a FLORENCE.

  78. Favourites: STARVED, SLAVED, PINSTRIPE, BANNERS, STUMPS.

    Did not parse TUSCAN = husband but I understand the ‘of Florence’ bit.

    Failed BOEING (very amusing).

    Thanks, V+m.

  79. essexboy @ 74, 76.
    Thanks for those. Must admit I had to look at a list to get the second.
    See without whiff of American night time visitor (7) where the see is part of the wordplay not the definition should be more testing.

  80. I’m a day late again but may I suggest for next time “Rhino from Florence?” or “Walrus from Florence?” ?

  81. I am late also but enjoyed it and the comments here many of which made me laugh so thanks to Vulcan and all of you.

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