Guardian Cryptic 28,526 by Vlad

The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/28526.

That was a struggle, but, as a good crossword should, it yielded in the end. For reasons unknown, the grid did not make it to the published blog.

ACROSS
1 DRAUGHT HORSES
They shared troughs, perhaps (7,6)
An anagram (‘perhaps’) of ‘shared troughs’, with an extended definition.
10 ANTEATERS
Army personnel will feed them (9)
Cryptic definition.
11 INANE
Correctly positioned on motor­way when lorry at the front pulled out — ridiculous! (5)
A subtraction: IN [l]ANE (‘correctly positioned on motorway’) minus the L (‘when Lorry at the front pulled out’).
12 FREES
Lets out cry: ‘Don’t move a muscle!’ (5)
Sounds like (‘cry’) FREEZE! (‘don’t move a muscle’).
13 FIELD GOAL
Accepting work, easily filled a basket (5,4)
An envelope (‘accepting’) of GO (‘work’) in FIELDAL, an anagram (‘easily’) of ‘filled a’; the definition refers to basketball.
14 ARRIVAL
A challenge keeping close to Jennifer and Dawn (7)
An envelope (‘keeping’) of R (‘close to JennifeR‘) in ‘a’ plus RIVAL (‘challenge’).
16 SENECIO
Round back of house, see mostly older type of plant (7)
An envelope (’round’) of E (‘back of housE‘) plus C (‘see’) in SENIO[r] (‘older’) minus its last letter (mostly’).
18 THWARTS
Crosses town to get suit, changing direction once (7)
A charade of T (‘town?’) plus H[e]ARTS (‘suit’) with the E changed to W (‘changing direction once’).
20 PREVIEW
Seat about six inside trailer (7)
An envelope (‘inside’) of RE (‘about’) plus VI (Roman numeral, ‘six’) in PEW (‘seat’).
21 IMPLICATE
Naughty boy — story about Tom maybe giving finger (9)
A charade of IMP (‘naughty boy’) plus LICATE, an envelope (‘about’) of CAT (‘Tom maybe’) in LIE (‘story’).
23 LATHE
Lowry’s first painting lacking substance? What about Turner? (5)
A charade of L (‘Lowry’s first’) plus A[r]T (‘painting’) minus its middle letter (‘lacking substance’) plus HE, a reversal (‘about’) of EH? (‘what’?),
24 HAITI
Henry has two islands and part of another (5)
A charade of H (‘Henry’, unit of inductance) plus AIT and I (‘two islands’).
25 RAISE HELL
What will Jack do? That bloke’s going to cause trouble! (5,4)
A charade of RAISE (‘what will jack do?’) plus HE’LL (‘thagt bloke’s going to’).
26 ALFRED DREYFUS
Historical victim of prejudice, right? Lady suffered terribly (6,7)
An anafgram (‘terribly’) of ‘R (‘right’) plus ‘lady syffered’. See Wikipedia .for the definition
DOWN
2 ROTTEN ROW
Shabby Italian rider’s content to go up bridle path (6,3)
A reversal (‘to go up ‘in a down light) of WORN (‘shabby’) plus [d]ETTOR[i] (Frankie, jockey, ‘Italian rider’) minus the outer letters (‘content’). Rotten Row is a bridle path in Hyde Park, London.
3 URALS
Range of paintings defaced (5)
A subtraction: [m]URALS (‘paintings’) minus the first letter (‘defaced’)
4 HEEDFUL
Attentive husband occasionally found out — slippery character to catch! (7)
A charade of H (‘husband’) plus EEDFUL, an envelope (‘to catch’) of DFU, an anagram (‘out’) of FUD (‘occasionally FoUnD’) in EEL (‘slippery character’).
5 HOSTESS
Entertaining woman in stock­ings — time to get extremely suspicious (7)
A charade of HOSTE, an envelope (‘in’) of T (‘time’) in HOSE (‘stockings’); plus SS (‘extremely SuspiciouS‘).
6 RAINDANCE
Sun’s nice and relaxing — but could this presage a change? (4,5)
A charade of RA (‘sun’, Egyptian god) plus INDANCE, an anagram (‘relaxing’) of ‘nice and’, with an extended definition..
7 ERATO
Not a reason to give up — an inspiration (5)
A hidden (‘to give’) reversed (‘up’ in a down light) answer in ‘nOT A REason’, for the muse of lyric poetry.
8 HALF PAST EIGHT
When running helps at a fight (4,4,5)
An anagram (‘running’) of ‘helps at a fight’. There does not seem to be much of a definition, or am I missing something?
9 MEALS-ON-WHEELS
Train fare? (5-2-6)
Cryptic definition.
15 VERSIFIER
One confirming truth about Scotland’s number one poet (9)
An envelope (‘about’) of S (‘Scotland’s number one’) in VERIFIER (‘one confirming truth’).
17 COINTREAU
Auctioneer carelessly spilling sweetheart’s drink (9)
An anagram (‘carelessly’) of ‘auctione[e]r’ minus an E (‘spilling swEetheart’).
19 SCARRED
Showing signs of damage in chicken run (7)
An envelope (‘in’) of R (‘run’) in SCARED (‘chicken’).
20 PREMIER
Totally clean? Not you, no way, Mr Johnson (7)
A charade of P[u]RE (‘totally clean’) minus the U (‘not you’) plus MI[st]ER (‘Mr.) minus ST (‘no way’).
22 PHIAL
Small bottle, as originally described by Collins? (5)
An envelope (‘described by) of A (‘As originally’) in PHIL (‘Collins’ of Genesis).
23 LEERY
Wind-up? Why to be wary (5)
A charade of LEER, a reversal (-‘up’ in a doiwn light) of REEL (‘wind’) plus Y (‘why’ in text).

71 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 28,526 by Vlad”

  1. Four in a row, all as simple as they ever come (weekly-prize-puzzle, Everyman, cryptic, quiptic-when-it-came). Actually the NW quiptic segment was the toughest part of all four. Had to wonder if it was a new management strategy to make everything quiptic-lite or easier?
    Or perhaps it was just a trap – since today have Vlad to shock us into reality with the genuine article. Either way, I enjoyed every bit of this, tough as it was. Got a quick foothold via the top and bottom-row anagrams, then slowly worked up to the middle (loi – THWARTS), only just failing to break-the-hour. Much to enjoy in between (FIELD GOAL, RAISE HELL, ROTTEN ROW, RAIN DANCE, etc).
    Thanks Vlad for a much-needed real challenge.

  2. Well that was tough. Finished with several yet to parse, but a bit of staring resolved all but two. One of which was 20d, which although I was on the wrong track, made me realize that we have: PRimE MInistER. Seems ripe for cluing, but I’m not sure I’ve ever seen it.

    A couple of iffinesses: “easily” is an anagram (13a)? Also, I’m not sure chicken=SCARED (19d). A brave person can be scared, it’s what you do in that state that determines if you’re cowardly or not.

  3. When I got 1a straightaway I thought it was Vlad-lite but I did not get much more on the first pass. Then things started to slowly seep out, although I had to look up 26a.
    I also wondered about 8d as it didn’t seem to make sense as I am unaware of any significance attached to that time. I thought it might be some arcane British licensing law that stopped serving then, so am none the wiser.
    Anyone else try to make an anagram of ITALIANRR for 2d? That was before I remembered the correct answer.
    No theme I could see but I am dreadful at spotting them.
    Thanks for the challenge Vlad and the explanations PeterO – I needed that for 20d.

  4. In 18a, while I realized that THWARTS must be correct, I couldn’t find a reference to support t=town? which was my loi as well as a result. I too wondered about the significance of 8:30 in in 8d (related to the clue number?)

  5. Quite a difficult challenge. Completed the lower half first.

    Favourites: IMPLICATE, RAISE HELL, MEALS ON WHEELS, PREMIER (haha), HALF PAST EIGHT, HOSTESS.

    New: FIELD GOAL (basketball); SENECIO (plant); ROTTEN ROW (found via google).

    Did not parse: PHIAL, SENECIO, ROTTEN ROW (rev of WORN + ETTOR?) – never heard of the jockey mentioned in blog.

    Thanks, both.

  6. As expected, difficult but not unreasonably so and very satisfying to fill the grid at the end. Plenty which were hard to parse eg ROTTEN ROW and PREMIER and some interesting words such as SENECIO and VERSIFIER, which almost sounds as if it was invented for crosswords, though is in at least one of the usual references.

    Favourites were ANTEATERS and my last in THWARTS.

    Thanks to Vlad and PeterO

  7. That was tough. FIELD GOAL and SENECIO were the last in: two DNKs. And like Mystogore@3 I needed Peter O’s help to parse PREMIER. And why does ‘What does Jack do? = RAISE. Is it a flag thing? Or cards? Oh! I get it. The thing you get with the car for the AA man to use! Of course. Silly me.

    But there were some wonderful anagrams (DRAUGHT HORSES, HALF PAST EIGHT and ALFRED DREYFUS) and other great clues: THWARTS, PREVIEW, IMPLICATE, LATHE & HAITI being five in a row. Thanks Vlad and PeterO.

  8. Gosh Vlad: realise ‘Italian rider’ refers to Frankie Dettori, remove the outer letters of his surname and reverse it. To get half of ROTTEN ROW. I got nowhere near parsing that one. Or defining HALF PAST EIGHT, for that matter. An excellent anagram but I do think Vlad could have done better with the definition element. I was defeated by SENECIO – had no idea what I was trying to work towards other than ‘type of plant’ and I’ve never heard of a FIELD GOAL in a basketball context. Not my game – and I actually thought they were a feature of American football so I was flummoxed.

    That said, LATHE was superb, PREMIER cleverly constructed and I liked the Collins misdirect in PHIAL. HOSTESS, the neat anagram/subtraction/surface in COINTREAU appealed and I share the admiration above for RAISE HELL. Finally, DRAUGHT HORSES is pretty close to an &lit isn’t it.

    WordPlodder@6: VERSIFIER has been part of my lexicon for ages and is a lovely alternative to poet. I quite like rhymester but it has a touch of the lighthearted about it.

    Thanks Vlad and PeterO

  9. Didn’t know FIELD GOAL. Failed to get that one or ROTTEN ROW or THWARTS (which I thought might be TOWARDS, until it wasn’t), knew SENECIO but couldn’t parse it. Plenty of hard but interesting work to do, and I liked most of the ones I got. Can’t see any significance to HALF PAST EIGHT except that it fits the anagram!

  10. Is a basketball 3-pointer called a field goal? Thought they were just in rugby, so as for michelle@5 this was new. The plant-type too was a dnk, and I’d forgotten the Italian rider so Rotten Row was a shrug. Some typically gnarly Vlad here, like ‘army personnel’, ‘What about Turner’, and ‘train fare’. So, needed a bit of try-and-check. Also wondered about 8d, I guess ‘when’ is just ‘a time’. Hey ho, thanks P and V.

  11. That was tough but ultimately very satisfying, couldn’t parse 2D so thanks PeterO.

    Thank goodness for the anagrams to get some crossers or I’d still be staring at a blank grid.

    Thanks Vlad and PeterO

  12. Thanks PeterO – “That was a struggle, but, as a good crossword should, it yielded in the end.” That was exactly my experience too. The long clues round the edge helped as a way in, despite the tricksy definition for 8d. Struggled to parse a couple – didn’t spot Frankie Dettori in 1d. That’s infuriatingly clever.

    SENECIO was new for me, but gettable.

    Some great clues here – enjoyed INANE, LATHE, FIELD GOAL, IMPLICATE, ERATO, MEALS ON WHEELS among others, but I especially loved PHIAL and PREMIER. Thanks Vlad.

    gif @10 – I’m not a basketball expert but I think a field goal is just a basket scored from open play, so two or three points.

  13. Wow – really tough. Couldn’t parse a couple (THWARTS and SENECIO). As PeterO says, the clue for HALF PAST EIGHT seemed a bit thin to say the least. Great anagrams apart from this one! Many thanks to V & P.

  14. Vlad on top form – challenging and so satisfying to finish.

    I had the same ‘didn’t knows’ (SENECIO and FIELD GOAL) as others and can’t see any significance in HALF PAST EIGHT.

    I’ve too many ticks to list but they’ve all been mentioned above by someone or other.

    Huge thanks to Vlad for a great start to the day and thanks PeterO for a sterling blog.

  15. All I could think of for HALF PAST EIGHT is that’s the rush hour in the morning (for some).

  16. I assumed that When simply meant “a time “. Some brilliant clueing here, my favourites being PREVIEW, RAISE HELL (a neat piece of misdirection, being nothing to do with sailors), and, of course, PREMIER.
    (I am all in favour of crosswords taking the mickey out of Bunter. For those of a like mind, I suggest puzzles 128 and 154 on MyCrossword).
    I found HEEDFUL and SENECIO difficult but gettable; couldn’t parse ROTTEN ROW, and was defeated by THWARTS and FIELD GOAL, though as PeterO explains they are perfectly fair clues.
    Thanks Vlad for the challenge and PeterO for the explanations

  17. Thanks to PeterO for parsing PHIAL (and I’m a fan of Genesis !), ROTTEN ROW (likewise, horse racing !), and PREMIER (but not him !)

    I really enjoyed this one, especially HALF PAST EIGHT, and SCARRED.

  18. Greatly aided and abetted by the long anagrams this morning, especially the excellent introductory DRAUGHT HORSES. Tough but enjoyable as ever with Vlad. Toyed with Revival (“dawn”) for 14ac for a while. Needed PeterO’s reassuring as ever blog to parse PREMIER. Last two in the interlocking LATHE and LEERY, sounding a bit like an old musical hall duo…

  19. ILAN CARON @4 – just to pick up your query regarding T=town, there may be other contexts where this occurs, but one is in the abbreviations of the names of local football clubs in, for example, Yeovil (YTFC), Ipswich (ITFC) and, while the club was still in existence, Halifax (HTFC).

  20. Thanks for the blog, some good clues here but also very weak definitions for some and poor anagram indicators. t = town ? let us just use a letter because it looks nice in the clue.
    Su’ns ??? just a misprint I hope.
    If Phil Collins must be used please can we have a warning that the crossword contains something to strike fear into the hearts of anyone with taste.

  21. Difficult to get started but ultimately satisfying.

    I liked DRAUGHT HORSES, INANE and RAISE HELL. I didn’t like the use of text speak: Y when written is wye and you does not normally mean U. T is only used in combination in football teams etc. I also disliked the definition of HALF-PAST EIGHT as ‘when’, unless there is some other significance.

    Thanks Vlad and PeterO.

  22. ( Oh Roz@20, he was a brilliant lead singer for Genesis and the first couple of solo albums were largely excellent.)
    You know 2 things with Vlad, there will be something currently political and it will be a tough puzzle. This ticked both boxes. Got there in the end and thank you Vlad for some excellent clueing. Needed PeterO to explain a few, so thanks to him too. I would agree that some of the def’s were a bit thin. I could cope with 8.30 being ‘when’ but Rotten Row surely needed a bit more differentiation from bridle paths generally.

  23. Good point NeilH@21 – both Tory tax-dodgers, at least our Liar in Chief does not try and sing Sussudio.

  24. Boris could sing PC’s ‘I don’t care anymore’ as a summary of his COVID policy. (Or his Afghanistan policy.)

  25. I’ve never understood about “trailer.” A trailer follows something, while the whole point of a movie trailer is that it precedes it. PREVIEW, meanwhile, which nobody seems to say any more, is much more logical.

    I’ve heard of ROTTEN ROW, but Frankie Dettori was new, as was Phil Collins. And I’ve never heard of SENECIO, which was a jorum for me — put together from the wordplay with no help from the definition.

    The only ones I put right in were LATHE and COINTREAU, and later HOSTESS. But slowly the clues filled in, first across the bottom and then creeping upwards, helped by 8d and 9d. LOI was SENECIO.\\

    Thank you, Vlad and PeterO.

  26. Only thought on HALF PAST EIGHT is in the context of a prize fight, but rising from the canvas doesn’t really equate with “running.”

  27. SENECIO is a large and varied group of plants in the daisy family, which includes the weeds groundsel and ragwort, and many well known garden plants. The name derives from Latin “senex” (old man) possibly from the grey or silver leaves of many species, or their white-hair-like fluffy seeds.

  28. [ very good Jerry@25 and Neil@26, I will say one thing for Phil Collins, he could clear a student party in seconds. When you had had enough and wanted everyone to go home , he was foolproof. A copy of No Jacket Required was secretly passed around in a brown paper bag to whoever was hosting next ]

  29. I didn’t get either the cryptic at 10a (though I’d sussed out that it would begin with ANT) or the plant at 16a. Brain too fuddled after staring at an empty grid for 10 minutes before even one penny dropped. I got PHIAL as just a definition (it is in Collins, I suppose, though I use Chambers myself). [I like the idea of telling everyone to go home by putting a Phil Collins record on the turntable, Roz!]

    Very, very tough with lots of lateral thinking to do, and so many non-existent definitions (when, they, them). The misprint in the clue for 6d in the newspaper didn’t help matters, but there were plenty of triumphs along the way to a fairly satisfying DNF.

    Thanks Vlad and PeterO.

  30. At last, a tough and hugely enjoyable challenge! As ever with Vlad , I start far too slowly but then somehow click into gear.

    So many brilliant clues – favourites were 1a, 23a, 26a, 2d, 17d. But for the superb surface the prize goes to LATHE.

    Agree entirely with rodshaw @1 that we needed this after a run of far-too-easy puzzles.

    I still don’t really get how to parse 10a although the answer itself seemed obvious with the crossers

    Thanks to Vlad and to PeterO for parsing SENECIO

  31. Lots of fun, thanks Vlad. I loved the Premier dig!
    I noticed several text-speak-ish letters : see, you, why ; and wondered if there was anything thematic about that but perhaps just coincidence.
    I guess half past eight’s as good a time as any other!
    Thanks again!

  32. Bfb@35, Field Goal is also commonly used in American basketball, confused me when I first heard it many years ago, since I was familiar with it as a football term.

  33. Bfb @35. So, they use baskets in American Football? 🙂

    It’s also the Australian term for a drop goal in rugby, but more relevantly here, it’s a term from basketball – as PeterO pointed out in his blog.

  34. Just thought that HALF PAST EIGHT could have been clued as a Fellini film. Would have made more sense than ‘when’!

  35. I found this quite tough in places, but entertaining with it. Parsing had been a bit of a luxury on my way to completion, but I cleared up most of my queries afterwards. T = ‘town’ in THWARTS seemed doubtful to me, and although the Army has ‘personnel’ an army of ants does not – perhaps this whimsical use of the word could have been indicated.
    I particularly liked FREES, LATHE, PHIAL and VERSIFIER.
    Thanks to Vlad and PeterO.

  36. That was a toughie. NO way for an American like me to get ROTTEN ROW – even with all the crossers. Also, I got HALF but not PAST EIGHT despite having all the crossers there as well – a connection to Wee Willie Winkie, maybe? And I simply could not parse PREMIER or FIELD GOAL even though they fell in place.
    Great puzzle nonetheless – thanks Vlad and PeterO.

  37. A simple tip Jay@44 , very sorry if you know this already. For a long down clue when you have lots of letters, write it out on paper.
    _A_F / _A_T/ _I_H_ our brains are used to reading left to right, it works for me anyway.

  38. I played football with Phil Collins once. Nice bloke.
    Thanks for the parsings, Vlad is very much a step too far for me.

  39. It seems our visits to London are destined to be accompanied by a Vlad – but at least he keeps us going both there and back with a few left over for when I get back and can look at the grid. We found this very tough and are as baffled as everyone else by 8d – our loi. Lots of excellent clues which have been mentioned already – thanks to Vlad and to PeterO for the blog. We’re not going to London for a while now so I hope that doesn’t mean we wait that long for another Vlad workout.

  40. Now that was a proper Vlad. SC @19: your explanation for town is perfectly reasonable so don’t understand the queries post- post. Ta PeterO.

  41. A real mix but tantalisingly unleavable. ROTTEN ROW was wonderful for those who know Hyde Park. I cannot accept “occasionally found out” to define “DFU”- just stretching the elastic rules too far.

  42. Thank you Vlad and PeterO! Fun and clever throughout, despite being a DNF for me. I gave up on several and was glad I did as the answers and some pieces of parsing rung zero bells for this American. (ROTTEN ROW plus ettor and bridle path; SENECIO; I got Haiti but couldn’t parse it due to not knowing “ait”).
    I enjoyed some elegant surfaces—RAISE HELL, PREMIER, PHIAL.

    I scratched my head over FIELD GOAL because I’ve never heard a three pointer referred to that way, but apparently it is used. Like rodshaw @ 1 I looked slightly askance at “easily” as an anagrind, but just picking nits.

  43. Loren Ipsum@52 An ait is a small island, I think in a river. Tuck it behind your ear for future puzzles, it comes in handy. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it elsewhere, and certainly not its alternate spelling “eyot,” which may appear some day.

  44. Loren ipsum@52, Valentine@53. I know eyot from Chiswick Eyot which is on the Boat Race course (in non-covid years). Wikipedia says that it is an “ait” in the Thames.

  45. Pino and Alan B — Having now looked up “ait” in google, I find that “ait” and “eyot” are included in the actual names of certain river islands. But I think that as a generic uncapitalized word, an ait can be any river island, including (for instance) some in the Connecticut River near Hartford, though over here they’re just called islands. Ait’s are often collections of sediment that forms a long stringy island, which may then reode and re-form farther downstream, or acquire stabilizing plants and become a permanent island, which is how the river islands in the Connecticut look from the air.

  46. t=town a-argyle or alexandra c=casuals d=dons e=end f=forest …….. s=stanley …. v=vale .
    Why don’t the setters just use any first letter of any word and totally ignore Chambers ?

  47. Second Fed and as enjoyable as the first. I thought ‘Ant n Dec’ might be doing double duty with a worker ant and the Disasters Emergency Committee which funds aid workers. Just a thought…

    Ta Fed & loonapick

  48. Thanks to PeterO for parsing Rotten Row and senecio, which I couldn’t see despite spending ages looking at the answers. I agree with previous comments about you=u and see=c – I consider them unfair without some reference to homophones. I had no problem with half past eight – it’s a time as good as any other as a definition for “when”. Still, an enjoyable brain work-out, so thanks Vlad.

  49. Hey, a Vlad that I very nearly finished! Woohoo! I enjoyed this.

    Frankie Dettori though — as if I was ever going to get that.

    Thank you Vlad.

  50. Why do some of you have it in for Phill Collins. Jealousy I suppose. I remember him at a Prince’s Trust event teaching kids to play drums, eating with everyone and generally being a decent guy. You may not like his music but why be so insulting ?

  51. I see no one can explain 8D ‘when’ as half past eight. Could it be literally 8 down? As in clock hands position?

  52. My first attempt at 20down was STERILE – the E and I fitted the crossers I already had – and thought that was a pretty good snipe at Boris

  53. Glyn @65, the car engine has been repaired , will it work/go.

    Phil Collins – if he and his Tory chums paid their taxes properly we would not need the Princes Trust.
    Do a bit of charity work to burnish your image and squirrel away millions in Switzerland, crumbs from the rich man’s table.

  54. Vlad @60
    I expressed doubt about T = Town only because I could not find it in my Chambers 13th Edition. Sorry if I’m out of date or failed to see it.

  55. A day behind due to Azed (woof!) amongst other things.
    A toughie this for sure.
    I found T for Town on the online Collins as an American usage.
    Thanks Vlad and PeterO.

  56. Alan B @67 and Gonzo @68:
    it is indeed not in Chambers and Collins but the ODE (Oxford) gives “4. (in names of sports clubs) Town: Mansfield T.”
    [not that they deserve a mention, IMO]

  57. T=town is not in Chambers or Collins print edition so why use it ? This is not Azed and in fact Azed always tells us of any clues using words not in Chambers..
    As for online editions, people will say – my dog spells the word this way – and they will put it in, the point about a dictionary is it should involve judgement and discernment.

  58. I found it hard to get going with this one with a few hard clues eg SENECIO. Liked ANTEATERS
    Thanks both.

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