Guardian 28,435 / Vulcan

50 comments on “Guardian 28,435 / Vulcan”

1. Straightforward but enjoyable, especially ROUND ROBIN, OBSOLETE, HEARING AID and RAZOR-SHARP. Thanks to Vulcan and Eileen.

2. This was just the right level for Monday with the NE corner holding me up along with DECAYS. I liked CARELESS, SOURCE, ROUND ROBIN and the juxtaposition of HEARING AID ECHO and RAZOR SHARP EPEE, (although I presume the latter is not). Little typo in OBSOLETE Eileen.

   My earworm for today will mostly be LedZep’s Stairway to Heaven, ‘And the forests will ECHO with LAUGHTER’ (of the Merry men maybe).

   Ta Vulcan & Eileen

3. Well, that was quick and straightforward, only VENIAL giving me a moment of head-scratching.

   [2d reminds me of the almost certainly apocryphal story that when Germans see a TV weather map of the UK with ‘Mist’ they laugh as ‘Mist’ means ‘dung’ or ‘rubbish.’]

   Thanks to Vulcan and Eileen!

4. Thanks, AlanC – fixed now.

5. Thanks Vulcan and Eileen
   Straightfoward. Only quibble is that TERROR is straight GK – if you don’t know it, these’a no wordplay to help.

6. Enjoyed this very much. ROUND ROBIN and RAZOR SHARP were great clues.

   Thanks Eileen, and Vulcan.

7. Not taxing, but well constructed. I liked ‘a sound investment’ as a definition. It seems a long time since I saw ‘city’ = EC, which used to appear very regularly.

   Defining SERBO-CROAT as a language is politically contentious these days. Although these two variants of South Slavic are completely mutually intelligible, since the break up of Yugoslavia, nationalists claim that Serbian and Croatian are separate languages. As Weinreich said, “a language is a dialect with an army and a navy” (is there a Serbian navy?)

   Thanks Vulcan and Eileen

8. Thought I was RAZOR SHARP this morning, fairly flying along … until I got to the last few, which held me up for a while – SOURCE, DECAYS and VENIAL.
   Still, I enjoyed it. Thanks to Vulcan. And to Eileen for parsing DECAYS. I had the E left over. I’m still not too keen on days meaning a week or so though.

9. MB @3
   [“Mist’ means ‘dung’ or ‘rubbish.’”
   Or worse!!]

10. I found this harder than the usual Monday puzzle. I was held up at the end by not seeing ‘Disastrous direction to go’ as a cryptic def, with SOURCE also taking a while to solve.

    Favourite was 25a. It helped to educate me yet again on the difference between VENIAL and VENAL, something which I’ll undoubtedly forget within a few days.

    Thanks to Vulcan and Eileen

11. As a newbie, this was delightful and I only needed a couple of reveals at the end. I am heartened that the same two held up some of you profs. I took far too long to get round robin!

12. Someone on the G said that they (ie transponders) use a different compass point, not west; I’m guessing he means south… totally different.. going north or south is for scores or profits, going west is for life.

13. I was a little doubtful about TERROR too, but The Reign of Terror is familiar as a phrase even if your history is a bit rusty. ROUND ROBIN was my favourite.

14. Monday fun day puzzle.

    I had to look up the reign, although I am familiar with the phrase. I spent ages trying to find the reversal in 24D, doh! I liked SOURCE and HEARING AID – good anagram.

    Thanks Vulcan and Eileen (useful link for ‘go west’; of course, ‘go west young man’ has a quite different meaning).

15. Did anyone else wonder if a SPUNCE or a SPUNCH was some obscure kind of authoritative body?

    I had a similar experience to t in c @8 – they were all going in rat-a-tat-tat, then SOURCE and DECAYS almost derailed me.

    [MB @3 / t in c @9 – it’s not just apocryphal – I’ve known a few Germans who were quite tickled to see the entire British Isles covered in dung! A bit like when the French see signs in our shops proclaiming ‘Dirty! Dirty! Dirty!’]

    Thanks Vulcan and Eileen.

16. Good fun today. Thanks Vulcan and Eileen.

17. Yes EB! I also went down the SPUNCE and SPUNCH route.

18. [MB @3 et al: the name Rolls Royce originally chose for the model that became Silver Shadow was Silver Mist, until they realised the unfortunate connotation in their export market. There are plenty of other examples apart from Sale! One of the main Italian telecom companies is I Wind – posters encouraging customers to switch to them proudly suggest: PASSA A WIND]

19. [Gervase et al
    I used to drive a Toyota MR2. In France the model was just called MR!]

20. [One of my favourites is the Greek restaurateur who decided to give his establishment the French name ‘Rendez-vous’. Transliterated into (modern) Greek capital letters, the sign read PANTIBOY.]

21. Didn’t find this a gimme this morning. More double definitions than normal, I thought. Held up at the last by the intersecting DECAYS and SKEWERED. A good work out, though…

22. No Leica

23. [muffin @19, problemes merdeuse, solutions merdiques]

24. Very enjoyable. I am new to cryptic crosswords and managed this without too much trouble. Liked the Fat Monarch best, followed by Serbo-croat and Bremen.

25. Good start to the week. Some lovely surfaces.

    Favourites: ROUND ROBIN, EPEE, LARDER, RAZOR SHARP, TERROR

    Thanks Vulcan and Eileen

26. Fairly smooth sailing today, with just enough difficulty to provide a few penny drop moments – best of which was ‘gales’ of LAUGHTER, which led to a smile. The ‘reign’ of TERROR was clever, and my last one in; Louis XV, of course, was followed by rain, rather than reign.

    Thanks Vulcan and Eileen.

27. [sh @26: after Louis, the Plouis 😉 ]

28. Welcome to AnnieClem @11 and MargEll @24, if this is your first time to comment – and my apologies if it isn’t. 😉

29. [trishincharente @9, gervase @18 and muffin @19; The Commodore PET computer was renamed in France as no-one wanted to program a fart…]

30. In France the actor Fess Parker was renamed Fier Parker rather than having him known as Buttock Parker.

    5 dn reminds me that the episode of Fawlty Towers featuring the formidable Mrs Richards is being re-shown this evening on BBC 1.

31. Perfect for Monday! Many thanks Vulcan and of course Eileen. Just a quick addition to the product language problems. The Mitsubishi Pajero had to be renamed Montero in Spanish speaking countries, as ‘un pajero’ is someone who plays with himself!

32. And then there was the Chevrolet Nova, unfortunately named for Spanish-speaking customers (no va = doesn’t go).

    I thought 3d CURSOR was ambiguous, since the answer could equally be curser.

    I wasn’t terribly impressed with DECAYS, since “days” could be less than a week or so, equal to it or very much more.

    Finally, 3/4 of the clue for WEST (direction to go) could be a complete clue for EPEE!

33. [Vauxhall Nova didn’t sell well in Spanish speaking countries}

34. Roman @30 Your Monty Python reference reminds me of the sketch with the inaccurately translated English phrasebook, in which a visiting Hungarian is told to say “Please fondle my buttocks” as a way of asking directions to the train station.

    Pleasant puzzle, thanks Pan and thanks for the company, Eileen.

35. Perfect for my level! ROUND ROBIN made me smile 🙂

36. Good, sound puzzle with the exception of TERROR. Can’t see any justification for this straightforward bit of GK.

    Enjoyed the fat monarch and the merry men.

    Thanks both.

37. In my part of the world, when things take a turn for the worse (as per 10a), they “go south”. Of course, my part of the world is considerably west of the UK.

38. Great fun but in 15a … turned, rather than turned to, means sour. The to is needed for the clue to read sensibly but did not contribute to the parsing. Or have I missed something?

39. Gary Baum @38
    I tried OFFICE first, then realised I couldn’t account for the I.

40. Doug431@ 37: Aren’t all parts of the world considerably west of the UK including the UK iteself if you just keep going…?

    The expression ‘Going South’ for things going ti*zup is generally well known here as well.

    But let me provide today’s earworm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNBjMRvOB5M

41. Not very keen on “a week or so” yielding days in 17A – lacks precision at least. And Serbo-Croat? Maybe still allowable as a language in the 1990s, but not recognised in Serbia or Croatia as one nowadays. Otherwise an OK Mondayish puzzle. Thanks to our blogger.

42. I’ve never seen dirty SALEs in the duty-free shop in the Eurostar terminal near Calais, but I was once amused to see a very nice-looking young lady employee, obviously just learning the job, wearing a lapel badge proclaiming her to be a TRAINEE… slut or whore in French!

43. That clip is some creation, MB @40, but why do I know the tune so well? I thought, gotta be a British Airways ad, but searches there go back to their Delibes ad. Help!

44. Grantinfreo@43. The tune was used by Sharwoods for their Go East advertising campaign some years ago. Or you might know it as a football chant -one nil to the Arsenal, and other variations for other clubs. Or it might be the echoes of the Pachelbel Canon in D that you are recognising.

45. Re 3d, why isn’t CURSER a valid answer? In this interpretation, the “I hear” attaches itself to the front part of the clue.

46. I spent a little time puzzling over the ewer within the (desk)* in SKEWERED …

47. Charlie @45
    On reflection, I think you are correct – curser is equally valid as a solution.

48. Dr. WhatsOn @32, Charlie @45 & muffin @47. You have quite a good case. But the setter has put a comma between ‘What’s this on my screen’ and ‘I hear one swearing’. I know that punctuation can be misleading, but it would be really unfair to *require* the solver to ignore the punctuation.

    Of course, a totally unambiguous clue would have been preferable.

49. I had planned to do the Quiptic first but when I saw that Pan was the setter, I came here first instead. This was a fun, Quiptic-like puzzle.

    Favourite: ROUND ROBIN.

    Did not parse LAUGHTER, WEST (should have thought of this meaning).

    Failed to solve DECAYS.

50. Enjoyed the crossword yesterday and the blog today. On language confusion, there used to be an industrial size loo opaper dispenser in many German motorway service stations called “Big Willy Super-Spender.” Made me laugh every time. Thanks to Vulcan and Eileen.

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