Guardian 28,537 – Vulcan

66 comments on “Guardian 28,537 – Vulcan”

1. Thanks Vulcan and Andrew
   I didn’t understand SPEED COP either, and would quibble about WHITE being the chess player, rather than the pieces she plays with.
   I liked LIMA BEAN and WREATH.

2. Very enjoyable solve. Wry smile at SHED.

   Ta Vulcan & Andrew

3. I would consider this the easiest puzzle we’ve had for a while. It was enjoyable though and leaves the rest of the bank holiday free to get on with things. Thanks Vulcan and Andrew.

4. No idea about ‘Speed Cop’,

5. Same here with SPEED COP. Can’t make sense of it.

   Loved the humerous SHED

6. Quite a change of pace from the weekend prize! My LOI was SpEED COP and I felt rather cheated when I saw it must be the answer. I’d been expecting something more elaborate. I did not parse the word play for COWARD (my second to LOI) which was a good clue now I see the explanation. Thanks for the parsing Andrew. Thanks Vulcan for providing some Monday entertainment even if without much sparkle.

7. Does obverse differ from opposite…hmm. I guess white can be a metonym for player (white moves p to k4) … but yes, in general nothing much here to spook the horses. Bit of a giggle for the small man’s erection, and groan for cow a rd. Thanks V and A.

8. 13ac might also refer to “speed” as the drug? Otherwise I join the ranks of the baffled brigade over that one. Some goodies today, I thought, inc 25ac which I did not twig immediately. Enjoyed the smut in the shed – who doesn’t? Thanks Andrew and Vulcan.

9. Enjoyable but very brief.

   SPEED COP reminded me of Rufus, with his slightly dodgy/off cryptic defs.

   SHED and COWARD both enjoyably groan worthy.

   Thanks Vulcan and Andrew.

10. A strange mix from very clever – the triple definition for COURT, the devices in COWARD and SHED and the lovely charade in AUBURN – through some far weaker clues like WHITER, MIRROR and SERB to the barely cryptic – OBVERSE. Not a fan of SPEED COP – which, in any case, I had as SPEED GUN for most of the puzzle.

    At least EVERMORE gives me my earworm for the morning – the Battle of Evermore by Led Zeppelin. The only song in their oeuvre featuring a guest artist – the wonderful Sandy Denny.

    Thanks Vulcan and Andrew

11. Different strokes, eh? I thought the clue for SPEED COP was a delightful cryptic definition.

12. Upper half was quite rapidly solved. Lower half was harder for me.

    Favourites: DECODE, SHED, PRISONER, FURNISH.

    New for me: DREDGE = sprinkle with sugar; GAITER = protective covering of cloth or leather for the ankle and lower leg; and COWARD = (of an animal) depicted with the tail between the hind legs for 5d but now I realise I parsed 5d incorrectly although I did think of cow=lower.

    Thanks, both.

13. Thanks for the blog , I know Monday is meant to be easy but this is surely abuse of privilege. Some truly shocking clues as well which I will not dignify by listing.
    Thank you MrPostMark@10 for Sandy Denny, will listen on vinyl later.

14. Not much to say about this really so here’s a triple dose of earworms featuring the GENDARMES a BALLERINA and SNOOKER which reads like the setup for a bad joke 🙂

15. [Roz @13 look on the bright side – if you ever need to demonstrate the difference between simple and simplistic you’ll know where to go – ps – somewhat at your behest I tried my first Azed yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed it]

16. muffin @1: Re WHITE, I queried this too but my chess-playing table tennis partner assures me that it refers also to the player. An example he proffered was in chess puzzles in the paper, “White is to move next, what move can you make to give mate in 5”.

    Don’t know what’s going on with SPEED COP. Doesn’t it also need a US reference?

    Failed to parse COWARD and now think it’s rather neat.

    Many thanks, both.

17. Thanks Vulcan and Andrew

    [PostMark @ 10: The Battle Of Evermore is the only LZ track to feature a guest vocalist. From memory, there’s a tabla player on the first album, and Ian Stewart was on Physical Graffiti.]

18. Typical Vulcan Monday fare.

    The last 3 or 4 took as long as the rest of the puzzle. I suppose a SPEED COP (LOI) could test you for alcohol as well as using a radar gun. I forgot the sugar thing with DREDGE, so I had to dredge it up from my memory.

    I quite liked VOICE MAIL and GAITER. Muffin @1; as others have said WHITE is fine for the player in chess – it’s white to move.

    Thanks Vulcan and Andrew.

19. I spent almost as long on GAITER as the rest of the puzzle, having got stuck thinking there was a piece of armour similar to the greaves (which protect the calves) or the gauntlet (which protects the wrist). My groan on seeing the ‘gator appear was covered up by the sound of a large salver hitting the wall.

    Thanks to Vulcan (still don’t much like the SPEED COP clue, sorry) and Andrew (thanks for the correct parsing of PRISONER – I’d been looking at an anagram of SPIN SENIOR with IS taken out, but of course it didn’t work 🙂 ).

20. Simon S @17: correct, of course. Too imprecise in my earlier post.

21. SHED should have been proffered to Arachne for the Nude Gardening Day puzzle earlier in the year. Would have sat quite nicely alongside PRICK OUT (which is still making me chuckle).

22. [bodycheetah@15 glad you enjoyed it, I would say yesterday was a slightly harder Plain than usual ]

23. Back after a week described by some as ‘holiday’ – I beg to differ…

    Sitting on the train heading for a day of Promming, this was a relaxing and straightforward solve with a couple of snorttles.

    SHED and VOICEMAIL I thought were fab and caused mirth to happen but I am all-at-sea with SPEED COP. Other than maybe in dodgy 1970’s films, I can’t think that I’ve ever heard this expression ‘in the wild’ so rather confused.

    In honour of the day of fabulous music I’m about to embark on, let me give you an ear-worm related to SNOOKER. Yes, it’s that one and it is (and always was) supremely awful. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QI9F55AHXoM

    Thanks Vulcan and Andrew!

24. No problem with the answer SPEED COP for me, though it did take a little while to seep through. PM @10 – thanks for mentioning the magnificent and sorely missed Sandy Denny. Taken from us far too soon.
    Yes, this was pretty quick, but good fun. There is a sort of justice theme too (which did help with the aforementioned COP): COURT, BOBBY, GENDARMES, PRISONER, SHED, PREVIOUS. Thanks, Vulcan and Andrew.

25. Too many raised eyebrows, or “Oh, really’s?” to make this a satisfying solve. SPEED COP, SCULPTOR and BALLERINA a similar trio of examples. Today’s puzzle rather matched the grey weather here too, I thought…

26. Too easy even for a Monday. Wholeheartedly agree with Roz @13.

    At least it gives me time to finish off the final few from Saturday’s themed puzzle (which has been superb so far!)

27. A thought on BALLERINA: we have seen plenty of suggestion that feminine endings of professions or occupations are becoming outdated. Stewardess, actress, usherette – and even ogress! – come to mind. I don’t recall ballerina ever being slated and imagine it would be quite tricky to expunge from the language. And that it would be missed.

28. Interesting point MrPostMark@27 , I would still call myself a ballerina ( I can dream ) . Maybe the issue here is that it is the dominant term for once. Are males ever called ballerino ? I think it is just male ballet dancer.
    Perhaps males should be called ballerina as well to fit in with the dominant term.
    Any offers for other languages anybody ?

29. Speed cop can stop you for speeding either by radar or hand-held device. You would generally be required to provide a breath test and arrested if this reveals you are over the drink-drive “limit”.

    Can’t see the difficulty at all.

30. I’m in the crowd who were trying (unsuccessfully) to find some finer detail to 13ac.
    Re: 22ac, I thought that one dredged something in flour before frying it, not sugar.
    3dn reminded me of a Goon Show gag – “My name is Seagoon, Neddie Seagoon. You may have seen my name in the Mirror. It reads Noogaes, Eidden Noogaes!”

31. I took the speed cop to be an awkwardly worded version of the idea ‘when you’re sober he might still…etc.

32. A cryptic definition for salver I’ve long treasured was “Used to carry trifles to the eminent.”

    I’m with maarvarq @30 on DREDGE. It looked wrong to me, so I googled it, and sure enough it meant “coat in flour, corn meal or breadcrumbs.”

    Robi, I think a male ballet dancer is called a danseur.

    Thanks to Vulcan and Andrew.

33. 2d. Why “her” which would seem to imply sculptress?

34. Alan @33
    Arachne started the idea of referring to non-gender specific people as “she”, and other compilers are now doing this too.

    I suspect that “sculptress” wouldn’t pass the Guardian style-guide!

35. Thanks Andrew and Vulcan.

    My biggest gripe with SPEED COP is that there’s no such thing. (Like PostMark @10, I had pencilled in SPEED GUN, which held me up in that corner for a while.)

    I was half minded to grumble about “try to win” as a definition of COURT as well, until the penny dropped and I realised it meant the verb, as in a synonym for woo, rather than the place where you “try” people. Doh!

    Otherwise, the only thing caused me any difficulty here was not spotting how “away”=ARD. Groan!

    muffin @1 – I don’t know if any papers still carry chess puzzles, but when they did, they would refer to White and Black, as if they were the names of the players (metonymy, as gif @7 says). This seems fine to me.

    maarvarq @30 – you might dredge a doughnut in sugar after frying it.

    Alan @33 – it’s 2021, you know.

36. @15 (delighted you did your first AZED. He really is the tops. Just wondered how many times you popped into Chambers? Personally I found it easier than usual but hey ho you made it!) As for today’s usual Monday fare but like the weather-dull

37. Widdersbel @35; from Chambers: speed cop noun (slang)

    A policeman who watches out for motorists who are exceeding a speed limit.

38. Pleasant enough puzzle, though I expected something chewier for a bank holiday Monday.

    Roz@28, Alan@33: ‘Ballerino’ is the normal term in Italian for a male ballet dancer. The issue of male/female occupation names plays differently in languages with grammatical gender. Italian has feminine forms for many occupations: attore/attrice (actor) causes no issues and even dottore/dottoressa is perfectly standard. The Italian equivalent of the suffix ‘-ist’ is ‘-ista’, which can be masculine or feminine depending on the sex of the person (the plurals are different, however). In French, the controversy is rather reversed; occupational names are grammatically masculine, so ‘Madame LE Président’ is the correct form, which feminists find understandably objectionable.

39. Thanks, Andrew & Vulcan and for all the other comments. But, re 12ac, I was surprised that no one remarked that White normally has the first move in Chess.

40. I think white might be “chess player first”, with r being short for resigned. White always plays first.

41. Robi @37 – UNICORN and FATHER CHRISTMAS are in Chambers too, but that doesn’t make them real.

42. Close, but no cigar, I could not unreval the SW corner.
    Like others, I was baffled by SPEED COP.
    Thanks both.

43. Something that just occurred to me…

    With three types of law enforcement officers, plus COURT and PRISONER… is that enough to constitute a theme?

44. Some extraordinarily patronising comments here. If Monday’s puzzle is too easy for you, have a day off! For some of us it’s just the right kind of demand. Conversely there are complaints that SPEED COP made people think a bit; while for some it was straightforward. (American solvers don’t insist that Anglo-inflected clues should always include a warning!) Crossword setters, individually and working on a weekly rota have (like exam question setters) to acknowledge that there will be various levels of response, each creditable in its own way. Guardian setters are very good at what teachers call ‘differentiation’. Incidentally, I’ve never heard anyone, having taken an exam, complain that it was too easy!

45. Brian @39 and Steve @40
    Wouldn’t that require “first” to be doing double-duty, as it’s needed to get the R from resign?

46. It’s rare that I get through a crossword and don’t tick a single clue as a favourite but that was the case with this one. I did put a question mark next to SPEED COP because I couldn’t see what made it all that cryptic; I also questioned Christmas as being DEC — I thought that was lame. No complaints otherwise. Thanks to both.

47. Dearth of nominations for favourite clue today, so thank you, Muffin@1 for offering the elegant WREATH. Overlooked because it’s easy to solve, maybe?

48. Duff @44 – agreed that SPEED COP doesn’t need flagging as an Americanism – I remember “Cops and Robbers” from the school playground in the 60s.
    It’s just that Are you sober? doesn’t seem to be doing anything – without that it would be a (rather weak) cryptic definition

49. Yet again I missed the lift and separate in “away” and I thought the clue for WREATH was totally uncryptic until I saw Andrew’s explanation that it was an anagram of “the war”. I also reached PRISONER from “spin senior” with “is” removed. So I didn’t make a very good job of this. Thanks Vulcan and Andrew.

50. maarvarq @ 30 and Valentine @ 32: The wide shakers with large perforated lids that are used to sprinkle icing sugar on the top of cakes are called “sugar dredgers”

    I enjoyed the puzzle – easy but fun, and “Shed” allowed me to forgive any quibbles.

51. I got SPEED but not COP despite having _O_. Afraid I never heard of a Speed Cop – and I live in the US!
    I wonder if the “sober” part has anything to do with the drug (speed is a methamphetamine…).

52. Mr Beaver @ 48 – ‘are you sober?’ a distraction: gestures toward one kind of limit (alcohol level) directing away from the one (speed) which is actually in play

53. Duff @44 When you are as bad at cryptic crosswords as I am, you learn to develop very thick skin!

54. 53 – HoofItYouDonkey Touché !!

55. What I learned today was that I’d been following recipe directions wrongly all these years. I thought to dredge an item was to drag it through a shallow bowl of the coating, reminiscent of the dredging operation in rivers and harbours where a scoop is dragged across the bottom. Now I find it means sprinkle (or possibly both). This is not helpful since the two operations can result in different degrees of coverage. Oh well.

56. Dr. WhatsOn @55: If someone asked me what dredging meant in cookery my first thought would also have been dragging it through stuff, but when solving the clue I remembered the sugar dredger. I’ve just looked “dredge” up in my Chambers (from 2011), and it only has the sprinkle definition, which surprised me (apparently it comes from the sugar-coated fruit and nuts called dragies.

57. Dr. WhatsOn @55 thanks that’s given me the giggles… I’ve been having problems dredging cake batter with sugar of late … heavens knows what mess is have got into had I tried to drag the olive oil batter thru’ the sugar …

58. William @16’s question about whether SPEED COP needs an indication that it’s a US expression raised a chuckle for me. As an American, when I finally figured out what was going on with that clue, I thought, “Well, that must be a British expression, because I’ve never heard it.”

    For what it’s worth, I’m yet another who cast about to find wordplay in that clue, only to decide eventually that it’s just a lackluster cryptic definition.

59. Haven’t had time for this as have been engaged with Maskerade’s Saturday beauty. Just a bit of advice to anyone stuck. Start at the right-hand top square not bottom right. Now I may start on Vulcan.

60. Duff @44 – the problem with 13ac for me is not that it’s an Americanism but that there’s no way of knowing from the wordplay alone whether the correct answer is SPEED GUN or SPEED COP – both equally valid solutions – so it fails on the fairness test, much like those ambiguous homophone clues that people like to complain about. Naturally, I opted to put in the phrase that was familiar to me, rather than the one that didn’t occur to me because I’ve never heard it before… until it turned out that didn’t fit with PREVIOUS.

    I thought the “Are you sober?” bit was fine though – the idea behind it is clear enough. There’s actually the kernel of a neat cryptic definition in the clue, it’s just a bit clunkily worded. I applaud Vulcan for the effort though!

61. widdersbel @60 – the fairness has been explained in several preceding comments. As required by the wordpaly, SPEED COP is able to nick drivers who are over the limits for both alcohol in the blood and speeding. A SPEED GUN can only be involved in the latter. You also forget the part crossers play in fairness.

62. Hmmmmm. I’m not persuaded that’s what the clue actually says, but I guess it’s what was intended so I’ll concede the point.

63. widdersbel @various. Maybe SPEED COP is neither Pommy nor Yank, judging by many comments above – but it is certainly current in Oz. It seemed perfectly fair to me (as I said @24). And thank you for seconding (@43) my earlier suggestion @24.

64. My problem with Vulcan (and Rufus before them) is that I overthink the clues and look for a charade that isn’t there. That said, I missed the lift and separate in COWARD. I started with SPEED GUN, which gave me PREVIOUS until trying to enter it – problems with spelling down clues.

65. TassieTim @63 – apologies! I overlooked your note @24 – I did wonder why no one had mentioned the theme… As for 13ac, maybe I should have added a smiley face to my facetious “no such thing” comment, but I’ll let that one lie now.

66. Didn’t understand the speed cop. An urn isn’t always big egthe one containing “the Ashes”

Comments are closed.