Guardian 28,597 – Vulcan

60 comments on “Guardian 28,597 – Vulcan”

1. LOURING was new to me with that spelling and our old friend/adversary, slaver, reappears in the sense of DROOL or dribble but with a surface referring to enslavement. I’m not sure why NOR’EAST is clued as poetic. SEA VIEW stood out.

   Thanks Vulcan and Andrew

2. Did SEA VIEW bring a particular episode of FAWLTY TOWERS to mind?

3. Thanks Vulcan and Andrew. Spot on for a Monday puzzle, I reckon. BAR-B is a brilliant/terrible pun.

   Moth @2 – yes, couldn’t help thinking of ‘over there, between the land and the sky’

4. Did strewth turn up just recently? I have an old-fashioned affection for it. [There was an Oz cartoon strip called Bluey and Curly (enlisted and always in trouble) which had stuff like “Arrh strewth Sarge, no but we wuz under the truck. No yers weren’t yers are both under arrest”]. Anyway, quick bit of fun on a Monday, ta both.

5. Progressed through this steadily before being held up by PUPIL (yes, embarrassing), then POSTBAG and SPEAKER at the end. I was going to say “pleasant”, though 15a (? post Nov 5th), didn’t really fit the bill!

   I couldn’t see SWEEPS for ‘Domestic cleaner’s’; is a chimney-SWEEP being referred to? I agree with PM@1 that the use of NOR-EAST usually isn’t poetic. I liked the “new moanier” homophone – better than the usual but less accurate “ammonia” – and BAR B.

   Thanks to Vulcan and Andrew

6. Could anybody explain why poetry comes into 16? I thought it a nautical abbreviation.

7. Enjoyed this and made good progress tho didn’t parse a couple.

   Liked the clues and the words LOURING, STREWTH also liked DROOL, SPEAKER and SWEEPSTAKE

   Thanks Vulcan and Andrew

8. The enumeration was enough to give me GONE WITH THE WIND. But it’s stuck in my mind ever since student days in Putney. We used to give quite a lot of fancy dress parties (always with a theme: it makes it easier, in fact) and for one of them people were asked to come as film titles. My future brother-in-law and his wife drove down from Liverpool, and arrived just an hour or so before kick-off time. They were quite surprised about the fancy dress requirement, as we’d forgotten to warn them. He thought for a moment, then went upstairs and ripped the arse out of his trousers…
   Great crossword, by the way. Loved 21.

9. Chambers lists NOR-EAST as ‘archaic or poetic’ – I think the qualifier is justified on the grounds that it’s not everyday use.

10. ravenrider @6. I think poets use it too, although almost certainly in a nautical context. I’m sure some of our erudite co-solvers can come up with examples.

11. Yes, WP @5, Mr Fawkes did get the full treatment. Well, I suppose it was a serious explosion [so much so that it was an annual thing, here at least, until not all that long ago… family get-togethers, fireworks and all].

12. I always thought STREWTH was an Aussie expression (like gif @4?) – seems I am wrong. A couple here I suspect non Poms might have trouble with. BAME is the first, which I only know from reading the Guardian. BTW, it has always puzzled me why the E = ethnic gets used in this way. Surely Pommy, Welsh, Scot etc are also ethnicities? REDCOAT (in the Butlins sense) is the other. Not complaining, mind you, merely commenting, as I enjoyed this – well pitched for a Monday. Thanks, Vulcan and Andrew.
    PS I find from a little searching that BAME has gone out of fashion, with even The Sun thinking it offensive!!

13. Quick solve at midnight but very slick. I thought DROOL and BARB were super and I had the same likes as Fiona Anne @7. Yes, Moth @2. [Blaise @ 8, I’ve lived in Putney for 35 years].

    Ta Vulcan & Andrew

14. Enjoyable, quick solve.
    Favourites: OSCAR WILDE, ISOLATION, LOADED QUESTIONS, PNEUMONIA, BARB (loi).

    Thanks, both.

15. Classic Monday stuff. Mainly straightforward and fair. Never heard of Prosit but it was fairly clear from the clue. Thanks to Vulcan and Andrew.

16. [blaise @8. We, too, held a film title themed fancy dress party quite some years ago, though we called it Gone with the Wine. We had tremendous fun downloading a GWTW poster of Rhett and Scarlet, then doctoring it into the invitation we sent out. Some great costumes – we even had five friends turn up as Four Weddings and a Funeral. Happy memories.]

17. I’ve thrown my share of brickbats in Vulcan’s direction so it seems only fair to lob some bouquets in the direction of DROOL, BARB and, LOURING (which I spent way too long trying to parse before the penny dropped)

    Nice work Vulcan – keep it up 🙂

18. BAR B put me in mind of this, but don’t click if you’re still having breakfast. [Which reminds me of a fancy dress do on the theme of London Underground stations. A chap called Ken came dressed entirely in green.]

    Thanks both – nice to see the museum combo again.

19. Pleasant solve this Monday morning.

    Moth @2: It certainly did, and for those who may wonder what we’re on about, here it is.

    Speed of solve is far my objective when tackling a puzzle, although I have noticed that I seem to get bogged down less with the “all across clues first” technique.

    Many thanks both and nice week, all.

20. A bit chewier for me than I expected for a Monday and a better variety of parsing techniques required.

    Thanks Vulcan

21. Vulcan is not among my top favourite setters but I did enjoy this one, particularly SEA VIEW. William, you posted your comment while I was still looking for the link! It’s one of my son’s party pieces and always has me in fits.

    Thanks to Vulcan and Andrew.

22. Held up towards the end by the NW QUARTER, the penny taking a while to drop with PNEUMONIA, and that the QUESTIONS were LOADED ones for the rich. I thought DROOL was a wonderful piece of direction for 24ac, made me smile…

23. Good start to the week with some nice clues.

    I liked SWEEPSTAKE and NOR-EAST.

    Thanks Vulcan and Andrew.

24. Eileen @21: Me too.

25. …misdirection…@22

26. Tiny niggle, Andrew – surely in 15ac the two definitions are “Dismember” and “Mercy!”?

27. BAME was new to me–I had to Google it, and it looks like the equivalent of what we’d term POC (person(s) of color).

    I see NOR-EAST most often in the form of “nor’easter,” the New England weather phenomenon, which to my ears has a salty nautical air to it. I agree with those for whom poetry doesn’t spring to mind.

    The BAR B pun was fun.

28. I forgot to mention that the DROOL clue, while almost brilliant, is marred a bit by its starting with the superfluous “As,” which is obviously there for the surface reading but might be gotten rid of with a bit of massaging. Was anyone else bothered by that?

29. Good start to the week with accessible but quality clues. Helpful parsing on 25a and one new word for me ‘PROSIT’.
    Thanks to Vulcan and Andrew.

30. A very rapid solve, with only PROSIT to delay me. Other people seem to like this level on a Monday… (an allusion to Saturday’s brilliant puzzle).

    Thanks Vulcan and Andrew

31. Thanks Vulcan and Andrew. BAME has bypassed me in life – is it an acronym of some sort?
    ginf@11: Fawkes apparently spared himself the worst horrors by jumping from the scaffold and thereby hanging himself – other unfortunates were (it’s hard to credit) dealt with piecemeal while still alive (to whatever extent).

32. [ShropshireLass @29, seeing your moniker again has triggered a wave of nostalgia about all the setters, bloggers and posters here, past and present. (Mind you, I myself have at times been offline, with health issues, so I might just have missed seeing you). Regardless, the 225 meeting place is a gift, a gathering of thousands of word nerds … such fun!].

33. Thanks Vulcan and Andrew
    mrpenney @28
    Yes, I was intending to comment on the “As” in 24a.

34. A@31 BAME is an initialism for Black And Minority Ethnic

35. Very sheltered lives lived by those who have never heard of BAME. Does anyone actually ever read the paper occasionally?

36. bodycheetah @34: I think it’s Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic.

37. Like mrpenney, I’ve never heard of BAME either. Our equivalents are POC, as he says, or BIPOC — Black, Indigenous and People of Color, which seems odd, since Black and Indigenous people are people of color.

    widdersbel@9 Also as he says, “nor-easter” is a familiar term over here, especially in New England.

    An enjoyable puzzle — thanks Vulcan and Andrew.

38. I had ‘taxing questions’ as a nice sarcastic line before the crossers for loaded appeared … .

39. Bar B reminded me of the old homophonic joke about the Spanish Fireman who’s wife had twins, and he names them Jose and Hose B … I’ll get me coat ….

40. mrpenney @27 / Valentine @37 – Chambers lists NOR’EASTER (neither archaic or poetic) separately to NOR’EAST (archaic and poetic). Justifiably so, since one is a noun, the other an adjective. Chambers doesn’t do citations, but fwiw all the citations given for NOR’EAST in the OED are either archaic or poetic.

    Setters can’t win – they get complaints if they don’t include these qualifiers, and still get complaints when they do…

41. Strewth is derived from God’s Truth I think.

42. mrpenney @28 & muffin @33; if the clue were to be reversed: master holding nothing back as slaver , would you still object to the ‘as’?

43. Robi @42
    The main problem with the clue as written is that the definition isn’t at the start or the end. I realise that this is a convention rather than a rule, but I still raise an eyebrow when it is broken. Your version avoids this problem.

44. Thanks for the blog, pretty good clues and variety today.
    I did try “herds of wildebeest ” for 19D but it would not fit.
    BENCH was the pick of the clues for me.

45. Yes, @Moth, my wife and Iooked at each other and said “Wildebeests!”. Amazing how such things lodge themselves in the national psyche. Same with “what adjective preceded ‘parrot’?”

46. I was pleased to see that it was Vulcan again today – one of the few setters that gives a crossword which I can have at solving in its entirety. Today didn’t disappoint. Best answer for me was Prosit.

47. Thanks Vulcan & Andrew – the perfect way to start the week.
    And thanks William@19 for the VIEW of Torquay! Just brilliant.
    Not sure of the significance of CHUB in the central lights but hopefully it’s related to the BARB?

48. I fine puzzle Vulcan: thanks. Although, I did not find it as easy as others here have commented; which IMHO is a plus! I took far too long to get LOADED QUESTIONS which is often the case, for me, with Cryptic definitions – memories of dear old and at the time much maligned Rufus. Other favourites were SEA VIEW and STREWTH, my late Father’s ejaculation of choice. I was scratching my head over a few parsings until I came here, so many thanks Andrew! And, TonyG is quite correct about BAME which is now losing favour for the way it groups peoples together stripping them of their individual identities. .

49. Mufffin @43 / Robi @42, your version also works because it puts the “as” in between the definition and the word play, which is where linking words belong.

50. Tim @35: I’m not sheltered, just American.

51. Tim @35: Nor can I be accused of leading a sheltered life. And I read many newspapers but perhaps not those for whom this offensive term provides a useful functionality (I mean, how else to describe these people?). Nonetheless words can slip by – I’m still not sure what a “meme” is and the term “woke” is one which I have only encountered in this forum. I have always been astonished by the fact that a new word will pop up in life very soon after first encounter – I will report if BAME follows the trend.

52. [Alphalpha @51 “these people”?!!!! I am a little worried by your contribution. Being outdated is one thing, being offensive is another.]

53. Ark Lark @52
    I suppose that it’s a convenient term for those that don’t identify themselves as “white British”. It’s all nonsense, of course – genetic variation within “racial groups” is far greater than between racial groups.

54. Agree. Are people with say. West Indies heritage happy to be lumped in with Pakistanis and vice versa?

55. The ideal Everyman crossword that actually (or, unfortunately) isn’t one.

56. “as opposed the first pun” in solution should surely be “as opposed the first pub”. Can’t see any pun.
    Thanks both

57. Tim@35, I’d hazard a guess the majority of 225 contributors don’t buy the paper never mind read it. But notwithstanding , another solid puzzle from Vulcan who has achieved the not inconsiderable feat of improving markedly while remaining accessible to less experienced solvers, as Monday puzzles traditionally should be. I especially liked BARB and NOR’EAST. Thanks to Vulcan and to Andrew !

58. I had the same difficulties with Britishisms as Tassie Tim, otherwise quite enjoyable. Next time I’m over there I must remember to check out Butlin’s holiday camps …

59. Ark Lark@: The portion of my contribution in brackets was intended to imply a quotation – my bad for missing out the inverted commas.

60. Bit of a write-in today, but I did enjoy PNEUMONIA.

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