Guardian Cryptic 28,678 by Vlad

75 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 28,678 by Vlad”

1. Thanks for the parsing of BETRAYAL – what a clue!

2. Brilliant. What wonderful surfaces for a challenging puzzle. Too many good ones to list. Thanks Vlad and manehi.

3. Hilarious, and a good crossie to boot! Thank you Vlad and manehi.
   Favourite LIPOMA for the wordplay and the def, the whole lot.

4. Didn’t know NILGAIS or DITHYRAMB, but managed to figure them out. Didn’t quite parse REARED. Is R a little bit weak for rule? But otherwise enjoyed this, had no quibbles and completed without too much difficulty. The digital appliance 17d made me smile, and I appreciated the topical references.

   I see COVE features again.

   Thanks Vlad and manehi.

5. Missed a few wordplays but still managed to fill the grid correctly. Missed Sue Gray as “Investigator” despite being aware of it here by watching Sky News UK, but I got the bet and gal and it couldn’t really be anything else. Didn’t parse REARED and wonder about Eared as a synonym for (with) listeners.
   Enjoyed LIPOMAS. I knew it because I have one (great for the Hunchback of Notre Dame impressions),
   Also interested to find Boris’ full name. De Pfeffer indeed.
   What with APOLOGIA, PIRATE, DUPLICITY, I CANNOT TELL A LIE, EXILE, COVER UP, EYEWITNESS, BETRAYAL, CAVEAT and CRED, it was a real politician’s crossword.

6. Pretty much every surface takes a swipe – splendid stuff. And a few extra punches in the solutions including the legendary Washington quote which is just so apposite. A few tricky words – two I’ve encountered rarely and dnk DITHYRAMB; it had to be the obvious anagram but what the end result would be, I had no idea.

   Having recently played withe the clueing of ‘apiarists’, it was fun to encounter BEEKEEPERS. I think the definition in LESTRADE possibly includes ‘overshadowed’? Today’s favourites include REARED, CAVEAT, NAIL FILE, STRAIGHTS and DUPLICITY with the wonderful BETRAYAL as COTD.

   Thanks Vlad and manehi

7. Thanks Vlad and manehi
   The first three clues I read – 1d, 22d, and 9a – were write-ins, but it was a long time before a got a fourth! I finished, but didn’t parse BETRAYAL or REARED (I agree Crossbar and Tim C on the latter).
   Lovely anagram at 16a. Ghost theme was fun.

8. Yep,somewhat Vladishly gnarly but fun riff on Boris. Bit rusty so it took me a while, with a few unparsed. Absy no idea about betrayal other than the bet bit, and apologia was a lazy bung and shrug, but did remember dithyramb from previous. All good, thanks both.

9. ps, thought ‘appliance’ a bit ott for a nail file

10. What a treat!
    Thanks Vlad!
    And manehi

11. 1ac DUPLICITY, my first one in, earned two ticks straightaway and set the scene for the delights to come.

    My other double tick was for the superb DITHYRAMB (I did know the word) and practically every other clue could have had a single one, so obviously too many to mention.

    Huge thanks to Vlad for the fun and to manehi for the blog.

12. I really enjoyed this even though I needed a little assistance. All the references were cleverly brought in, I thought.

13. DNF for me – had to reveal 11, 13 and 14 (all DNKs). Other than that they went in pretty smoothly, although I got several from the definition without being able to parse them.

14. Highly enjoyable outing from Vlad – not his most difficult IMHO, but the theme was skilfully employed to give some great surfaces.

    Favourites were APOLOGIA, LIPOMA, DITHYRAMB (familiar only from crosswords!) and of course the long anagram (I don’t suppose there are any cherry trees left in the garden of Number 10 🙂 ).

    Many thanks to S&B

15. Relentless – and such fun! Especially the George Washington quote, blazoned across the middle.

16. That was a great crossword, lovely surfaces and very clever. But what a sorry state of affairs that the theme could be a scathing commentary on the leadership of this country. I’m feeling a bit depressed now. 🙁

17. A rather strange mixture of write-ins such as WHIG and ALEXANDER, and the fiendishly difficult, like NILGAIS. There were many good clues at a reasonably challenging level too. I liked BEEKEEPERS, STRAIGHTS, and NAIL FILE with its fine misdirection.

    LESTRADE would have been a little easier without “overshadowed” but I suppose it served the purposes of misdirection and surface. I knew I was looking for an Inspector, probably literary.

    I would have preferred it without the obscurities, but overall it was very good with amusing surfaces and mockery of the deserving.

18. A very good take on the current UK political shenanigans. I also learnt that 16a was a George Washington quote, not from Boris as I imagined.

    Apart from the theme, worth it for LESTRADE, who I’ve always thought was unfairly portrayed and unjustly neglected. Maybe time for a TV series?

    Thanks to Vlad and manehi

19. Great fun, especially for those looking over to the post-Brexit dis-United Kingdom from France.

    I suppose the conduct of cluing A for ‘afternoon’ is justified, it seems to be used in legal documents?

20. A classy crossword, with an appropriate ghost theme – thank you Vlad!
    Although, like Crossbar at 16, the grisly reality of things leaves me downhearted. No chance of 16A applying to any of the current crew of charlatans….
    Thanks also to manehi for the blog – and for the help in parsing BETRAYAL; now that I’ve had it gently explained, it’s my fave of the day. (With DUPLICITY and 16A’s splendid anagram as runners-up.)

21. Very enjoyable, including the ghost theme, some of which I saw. Did not parse BETRAYAL but that is not surprising although I have heard of Sue Gray. And I have another antelope to add to the collection. Favs DITHYRAMB and APOLOGIA. Thanks to Vlad and manehi.
    PS re14d manehi you have accidentally included ‘in ‘ in the anagram fodder

22. Excellent puzzle. I appreciated all the Johnsonian stuff, of course, but I laughed out loud at the non-political NAIL FILE – ‘digital appliance’ indeed! 🙂 Thanks, Vlad and manehi.

23. Dithyramb featured as a possible crossword clue in Len Deighton’s brilliantly amusing spy novel “Billion Dollar Brain”. (1966). I’ve been wondering when it would turn up again ever since.

24. Easier than usual for Vlad, I thought. Nho DITHYRAMB (loi) but worked it out from crossers and fodder. Vaguely remember seeing NILGAIS in a zoo somewhere. I think of INGLE as mainly a Scottish word (it’s where Tam o’Shanter is sitting at the start of Burns’s narrative). Favourite has to be BETRAYAL; but almost all clues very good, imo. My only tiny quibbles (mentioned by others) were A for afternoon and R for rule – if they’re in a dictionary, fair enough, but I still prefer abbreviations that are in general use.
    Thanks Vlad and manehi

25. Rootytooty @23, was not DITHYRAMB brilliant, a hymn sung and danced in honour of Dionysus, the god of wine and fertility…

    Thank you Vlad and manehi.

26. Thank you manehi as I was baffled by BETRAYAL (great clue now fully revealed to me) and wasn’t sure about A for Afternoon (I know it is the golden rule, and must be in Chambers, so thanks Cookie@19 for a real world example – my notes for APOLOGIA show a mess of A,I,PM,AGM,OP,LOG etc eventually striking gold.
    DITHYRAMB emerged somehow, maybe from BDB as per Rootytooty@23, is it the source of the more familiar “ditty”?
    I wasn’t quite sure about strictly equating CRED with “being worthy of respect” (she has cred = she is worthy…)but close enough and wordplay clear.
    Always enjoy a Holmes ref so LESTRADE gets my vote, thanks Vlad [- Wordplodder@18 I dimly recall that Holmes was relatively respectful of him in the stories and I think it was the early Rathbone films that did him a great disservice. I think the recent Holmes series also rehabilitated the character to some extent.]

27. Too difficult for me. I solved 9 clues and then gave up.
    I enjoyed reading the blog.
    Thanks, both.

28. DNF because of NILGAIS. I also didn’t like CRED as the definition simply doesn’t work. Otherwise I enjoyed it and actually noticed the theme for once.

29. Gazzh @26 and poc @28 – think of ‘being’ (worthy) as a verbal noun: ‘Cred(ibility)’ means ‘being worthy of respect’.

    Collins has ‘the quality of being believed or trusted’ and Chambers ‘the quality of deserving belief or confidence’.

30. Brilliant. The top line is an anagram of I A MP PLEB which reminded me of Chief Whip, Andrew Mitchell, whether deliberate or not. The strange words were all gettable.

    Ta Vlad & manehi

31. Thanks for the comments about LESTRADE, Gazzh @26. I haven’t seen the most recent Holmes series, so might be worth a look for fresh take on the Holmes ‘legend’ in general.

    Apologies if this point has already been covered in other explanations above, but CRED works for me, as in “street CRED”.

32. Thanks manehi for the blog. I needed help with LESTRADE.

    And thank you Vlad for this excellent DITHYRAMBic crossword, emblazoned with 15a but also succinctly summarised by PIRATE.

    APOLOGIA is genius, if not a little tragic, perhaps comparing Boris to Socrates(?).

33. Vlad having and giving lots of fun with Partygate, but I failed to spot the investigator in BETRAYAL, also failed to parse WHAT FOR and LIPOMA (got the POM but not the AIL, and like TimC I have a little one of my very own).

    I knew DITHYRAMB was a word, but not what it meant: needed all the crossers for that and the jorum NILGAIS (yes, they are big beasts, aren’t they!)

    Favourites the digital appliance, the BEEKEEPERS and poor Inspector LESTRADE, destined always to be “overshadowed in case”.

34. Lovely crossword which I failed because of the antelope. Missed the (now obvious) theme – as always – so although I parsed BETRAYAL correctly I couldn’t think who Gray could be: d’oh.
    Thanks Vlad & Manehi.

35. Like Eileen @11, my FOI was DUPLICITY which I really liked. My other favourites have all been mentioned – NAIL FILE and BEEKEEPERS really stood out.

    When I saw it was Vlad my heart sank and and indeed I didn’t quite finish even with the help of the check button but I really enjoyed what I did get – lots of smiles.

    Thanks Vlad and manehi

36. Funnily enough I did a “Paul” from 2001 yesterday (Cryptic 22377), where one of the clues was “Pinpoint documents with digital processor?” WGACA

37. TimC@5 “Eared” is a common zoological term for animals that either have external ears (“eared seals” are sea lions, while true seals don’t have external ears but can hear quite well anyway) or have something that looks like external ears, maybe tufts of feathers (eared grouse).

    This was plenty of fun. I enjoyed the partygate references, though hadn’t heard of Sue Gray. Thanks to Vlad and to manehi for extracting me from the brambles.

38. Superb!

39. Thanks Vlad and manehi

    Excellent puzzle.

    ‘Cloth-eared’ is also a fairly common expression.

40. More slamming of the Tories, which they thoroughly deserve in my view, and a fine puzzle from Vlad.

    There have been a good few of these up to now, including, rather surprisingly (or should that be tellingly), a couple in The DT, for which I am a subscriber. You do wonder if Sue Gray will get much of a look-in now that there is even more disruption around the Met’s untimely intervention!

    Thanks Vlad and Manehi.

41. This took a while to penetrate, but although NILGAIS, DITHYRAMB, LESTRADE and that meaning of INGLE were not known, they were perfectly fairly clued and therefore eminently gettable. Loved the smooth DUPLICITY. Had Reined for 24d (“brought up”) with the vague idea that it sounded like “reigned” as in “rule”, but obviously it didn’t quite fit the clue and delayed WHAT FOR being the last one in for me today. Lots to like and enjoy, it’s been a good week IMHO…

42. …that should have been 20d…reined wrongly for REARED…

43. Loved this but did not finish. Did not get very far in fact. But I am delighted by crosswords which are so topical. Really appreciated ALEXANDER. Thank you all.

44. Simon S @39: it’s probably politically incorrect but Spock, of course, has often been described as ‘pointy-eared’ and, I guess, Tolkien’s elves similarly.

45. Thx to Vlad for a very enjoyable puzzle. Thx also for introducing NILGAIS’ yet another antelope wondering through crossword land!
    As ever thanks to manehi for his blog.

46. Thanks both and a losing struggle for me (but no complaints).

    LESTRADE doesn’t work for me unless the definition is ‘inspector overshadowed’, but a piffling quibble.

    NAIL FILE made me smile – at the weekend I observed a friend pulling a re-heating lasagne from the oven and checking its readiness by plunging in a finger: “digital thermometer?” I asked. “Wha..?” was all I got. One undoes one’s vest.

47. I haven’t laughed out loud at a puzzle as much as I did this one. Funny and brilliantly constructed, taking aim at the “flipping fatty lump”. So many great surfaces – too many to list them all.

    But special thanks for DUPLICITY, BETRAYAL, LIPOMA and BEEKEEPERS.

    Didn’t Jimmy Carter also say “I cannot tell a lie” when he lost the election to Reagan ( as in ICTAL but this loss hurts, or something like that).

    Thanks Vlad and manehi

48. Really enjoyed this one, thanks to Vlad and manehi
    One of the first Vlad puzzles I ever did, in 2016, had this bit of wizardry in it:
    Detective story – read end! (1,5,2,7)
    That seems like a one-off sort of clue to me, so very surprised to see it in Saturday’s Times. I think some sort of royalty should be due.

49. I haven’t been following Partygate so I missed just about all the extra fun; it also meant I had no hope of parsing BETRAYAL.

    Clue of the day was DITHYRAMB (I knew the word); failed on NILGAIS (which I had never heard of).

50. [PM @44: I believe Vulcans and semi-Vulcans (also Imogens and semi-Imogens?) prefer the term ‘differently eared’. This is fine as long as we remain earthbound, but may lead to communication breakdown in future interplanetary diplomacy, since every planet may refer to the inhabitants of every other planet as ‘differently eared’, thus rendering ear-based differentiation untranslatable.]

    Btw I very much enjoyed Vlad’s tribute to the differently haired.

51. Absolutely brilliant, witty elegant cluing with so many swipes at our current unfit for purpose leaders. Thoroughly enjoyed solving this. Too many favourites to even think of listing them.

    Chapeau Vlad!

52. Thanks for the blog, another fine puzzle, four in a row now, if only we could have a Bunthorne tomorrow. Too tired to read the comments , I will tomorrow, not say anything in case I repeat

53. Terrific stuff! Thanks both – and the editor for the topical placement.

54. eb@50: Ok you got me: ” differently haired”?

55. Is it ABJ?

56. [ABdePJ 😉 ]

57. eb @50: untranslatable ear-based differentiation? Isn’t that precisely the situation for which Douglas Adams created the babel fish?

58. [Thanks for the link PM @57, which reminded me of a favourite quote:
    “Meanwhile, the poor Babel fish, by effectively removing all barriers to communication between different races and cultures, has caused more and bloodier wars than anything else in the history of creation.”
    … a chilling warning to all linguists. 😉 ]

59. Excellent puzzle. I got everything but could not parse BETRAYAL and did not know what an INGLE was. Thanks to manehi and Vlad.

60. [eb @58: that quote reminds me of one from the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations that I encountered as a teenager and which has stayed with me ever since. Bishop Berkeley: war, its thousands kills; peace, its ten thousands. equally chilling.]

61. Like Rootytooty @23 I knew DITHYRAMB from reading Len Deighton, but I had forgotten the lonesome NILGAI since its last appearance in July 2020. Nice to know that there are now more than one of this hitherto rare antelope variety. But however “perfectly fairly clued and therefore eminently gettable” (Ronald @41) it was still beyond my reach in this crossword. Congratulations to anyone who got this from the wordplay without previous knowledge of the beast.

    Sorry for sounding bitter: I actually enjoyed the vast majority of this crossword, and had a wry grin at ‘digital appliance’. 🙂

    Thanks to Vlad and manehi.

62. For 6d, P.D. James’ detective Cordelia Gray would also work.

63. I enjoyed this to the extent that I struggled till I worked out NILGAIS, my LOI, when normally I wouldn’t have bothered. 6d was extremely ingenious, in fact too ingenious by half, but forgiveable in the context. I normally prefer it when politics and crosswords don’t mix but am happy to make an exception where there is so much wit. I seem to remember feeling the same about a Trump puzzle (by Brendan?)

64. [Rootytooty @23: by the way, Len Deighton’s use of DITHYRAMBS as the answer to a crossword clue is in The Ipcress File rather than Billion Dollar Brain. Coincidentally, I made the same mistake but in the opposite direction the other day: I was in the Prospect of Whitby in Wapping and told the barman that I’d always wanted to visit the pub since reading a scene in The Ipcress File in which it appears – that scene is in BDB of course.]

65. Thanks to manehi for an excellent blog and to all others who commented.

66. Utterly brilliant! Many thanks to Vlad and manehi

67. Didn’t know NILGAIS but DITHYRAMB has appeared in last year or two I think. I had a few guesses to get them.
    Very good but had already done most of theme clues before getting BETRAYAL and then penny dropped belatedly.
    Thanks Vlad and manehi

68. I vowed to not post here until I had finally “done” one. Today is the day, with the help of the check button and a thesaurus. It has taken an age. Thanks to the amazing bloggers and contributors from whom I have begun to learn the dark arts of the cryptic. I hope it will not be so long until I post again. Had no idea on the meaning of at least two clues of course!

69. Yeay! Coyl.

70. Not much too add. NILGAI(S) must turn up at least once a year , just one of those words to fit an awkward spot, it has three spellings and six plurals. LORELEI is another.
    Links to BEES seems to have turned up a lot this week and split 8 letter words, MISSPEAK did not seem to cause any complaints.
    LIPOMA my favourite , agree with PDM ( I think ) very early in the blog.

71. Thanks for the correction Sheffield Hatter!
    It was a few decades ago…
    Hats of to Vlad. Brilliant .

72. Nobody has yet mentioned the “Lie” in 4 Down which is surely to mis-speak?

73. Dave@72: “Lie” is underlined in the blog which indicates that it is the definition. That’s as much as needs be done I think.

    I’ll go a “Yeay” for COYL as well.

74. Belated thanks Eileen for the dictionary note on CRED and congratulations to you COYL, what a puzzle with which to get off the mark.

75. A belated addition, as I have only just discovered by complete chance that February 11 is the feast day of St Abigail, the patron saint of BEEKEEPERS.
    Vlad in excelsis.

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