Guardian Cryptic 28,736 by Vlad

71 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 28,736 by Vlad”

1. Took a while to get into this one, but it was worth the trouble. 12a was new to me, but could be readily constructed from the wordplay.

2. Yes, very chewy. Didn’t know duke = fist; couldn’t parse TIFF; enjoyed the unlikely ERGOMANIAC, and EUNUCH. Many thanks to Vlad and loonapick.

3. Yes, a struggle here but got there in the end. I had no problem with ALLEGED as I’d heard of Aled despite my location.
   Favourites were BIRD FLU and PO FACED which I must make more use of.

4. Lots to enjoy as always with Vlad but some quibbles as already noted. I would add the use of Off in clue and solution at 25ac. Also, is there a typo in 27ac, should it be ‘splash out’? Thanks to Vlad and loonapick.

5. Thought I was never going to get started, though UNDER THE COUNTER was a very early find. Favourite was DRAW A BLANK. Had lots of trouble parsing but it all makes sense now so thanks loonapick.

   Thanks for the challenge Vlad

6. Not a lot on first pass, but pottered along and it did unfold; took an hour and a half. Thought 12a might be something to do with sex, but no; I guess it was job as in erg, unit of work (oldies’ high school physics, pre-metric). The stig bit in 13d was a wtf, not being a brrm brrm fan (nor of J Clarkson et al, tho I do know people who like its non-pcness). Enjoyed it overall, ta both.

7. Hard work. I got all the answers in the end, but the queue of those still waiting to be parsed stretches down the road and round the corner: TABLEAU, FISTICUFFS, ACCRA, PRUSSIC ACID … and that’s just the acrosses, so thank you loonapick for untangling the bramble thicket.

   I didn’t know ERGOMANIAC but eventually worked it out from crossers. Had LACKING for 7d for a while, and I thought there wasn’t much of a definition for TIBET.

8. Yes tough as all have said. I liked FISTICUFFS, PRUSSIC ACID and EUNUCH best amongst others. We have John BIRD as obscure football manager today. DOWAGER needed an explanation.

   Ta Vlad & loonapick

9. Slight quibble with the extra GK explanation of ALED in 15A. Aled Jones did indeed make the charts with Walking in the Air, the theme from Raymond Briggs’ animated film The Snowman, but as a cover – the young singer you hear in the film itself is Peter Auty.

   BTW Auty was uncredited in the original version (apparently due to rushed production) but has since been added.

10. Steady solve here, although I got down to CUCKOLD (the horns of which I know from somewhere, along with that gesture) reading through the clues before I got an answer, and then DOWAGER although I couldn’t parse it. Rather more on the down clues. A couple not parsed. All done and dusted under the hour.

    @4 JerryG – in British English we lash out when we go on a spending spree, a proper lash out can be splasing the cash.

11. JG @4 I think ‘lash out’ is fine as in ‘lashings of’ and adds ambiguity but I can’t see what purpose the ‘s serves in 5d. Threw me into looking for obscure words beginning ps for a bit.

12. Too many raised eyebrows in the solving of this to truly enjoy the experience this morning. Didn’t like the fact that OFF appears both in the clue and the solution for 25ac. Deterred me from inserting the answer for a while. Then suddenly I had biffed in the interconnecting PLASTIC BAG, PRUSSIC ACID, and PO-FACED without giving the parsing much thought, and the puzzle was pretty much completed. At first pass only CEDE had yielded itself, so was quite surprised with my later success…

13. Beat me to it, Saddler@9.

14. Good for me to finish a Vlad for a change…
    I could not parse 11a, 20a, 26a, 3d, so thanks Loonapick for bringing light to where all was dark. Actually an impressively small number of unparsed Vlad clues, for me!
    I googled CUCKOLD, as I had heard of it and bunged it in, turned up a few websites best not scrutinised too closely.
    Thanks both.

15. Thanks loonapick. I had a similar solving experience – thought I was going to struggle but then it all came together surprisingly quickly, despite some fairly convoluted wordplay – and a couple I struggled to parse satisfactorily (eg why “get the hump” for dowager, and “horny” for cuckold), so explanations for those much appreciated.

    Thanks for the challenge, Vlad!

    PostMark – 20a made me think of you (you’ll know why!)

16. Loonapick – I’m afraid I don’t understand your objection to Under the counter.
    If it’s under the counter it’s not in the open but hidden away.
    I think it’s a wartime expression where rationed goods were not on general sale but could be obtained from the retailer if you knew him. Therefore he kept them Under the Counter.
    I agree about the use of off twice too in 25a.
    Otherwise an enjoyable start to the day.
    Thanks to blogger and compiler

17. Nicely chewy puzzle from Vlad with lots of clever constructions. The only weak(ish) clues IMHO are for UNDER THE COUNTER and CUCKOLD.

    ERGOMANIAC was a new word for me, but the construction was clear and the etymology obvious.

    Favourites were TABLEAU, BIRD FLU, EUNUCH, FISTICUFFS (because it’s a lovely word) and of course hydrogen cyanide 🙂 [PRUSSIC ACID takes its name from Prussian Blue – a pigment which is a complex iron cyanide, discovered by accident in Germany, and hence the word ‘cyanide’ itself was coined from a Greek word for ‘blue’].

    Many thanks to Jim and loonapick

18. As usual found this tough – got there in the end but like Gladys @ 7 needed help parsing a fair few. Got the first half of ALLEGED ok but as usual missed the cricket reference. Would never have got UNDER THE COUNTER without all the crossers.

    Liked DRAW A BLANK, CEDE, ACCRA

    For BARTENDER I had bart then ender with the bender losing its head – but I think yours is the correct explanation.

    Thanks Vlad and loonapick

19. I was helped by the long solutions at 5d and then 4d.

    Liked ITCHING, PO-FACED, EVEN, TABLEAU, FISTICUFFS (loi).

    Thanks, both.

20. I really enjoyed teasing out this puzzle, which had some excellent clues, several of which raised a smile.

    I find I have eleven ticks, so I won’t list them all – but I don’t think anyone has mentioned the splendid anagram in 5dn, so I’ll just highlight that.

    [Saddler @9 – I wonder if you know this version ‘of ‘Walking in the air’, with adult Aled Jones singing with his younger self?

    Many thanks to Vlad for a great start to the day and loonapick for a great blog.

21. Shirley @16 – I can’t speak for loonapick but I assume the objection is simply that it’s a weak (barely) cryptic definition. Still took me several crossing letters before I could spot it thought! I don’t mind it – it’s always good to have one it two easier clues to help solvers get a foothold in the grid, especially when the rest of it is so chewy.

22. DUKES = FISTS was a new one for me. I just hope my goldfish-like memory can retain it.

23. A tough start but got there in the end, with one reveal – I had no idea there was such a thing as an ergo maniac – what, wedded to the ergo rowing machine?
    I agree with all the quibbles already mentioned.
    Nice to be doing a cryptic after 2 weeks without newspapers or internet!
    Thanks loonapick for the parsing.

24. [Shirley@16: during the Covid lockdown and the resulting panic-buying of essentials, my local Sainsbury’s took to keeping eggs UNDER THE COUNTER (quite literally) for a while: one box per customer, on request.]

25. I always thoroughly enjoy my morning crossword and rarely have quibbles – or if I occasionally do I prefer to keep them to myself. This morning’s splendid contribution from Vlad was a welcome challenge after yesterday’s clever but fairly straightforward gentle breeze. I admit to persuading myself that Shelley (ie: someone likely to shell out) was the answer to 27ac (using Paul’s comic device of creating an adjective by putting a y on the end of a noun). My stubborn and stupid conviction led me into all sorts of difficulties in the south-east corner. Emerged smiling in the end. Thanks all round.

26. An excellent piece of cruciverbal impalement. As usual, my thoughts agree with those of Eileen

    Thanks to Vlad and loonapick

27. Cryptic definitions seem to be a bit of a lose/lose for setters. If you get it immediately it’s weak and if you don’t it’s also weak. There’s rarely a middle ground. Who’d be a setter eh? Personally I loved this and Vlad remains firmly at the top of my setters league table

28. I always groan when I see Vlad, but for once managed to parse everything!
    Further to @9 Saddler:
    Aled Jones recorded the single release of Walking in the Air because Peter Auty’s voice had broken. I always thought it a little unfair that he is largely forgotten as the original singer.

29. HoofitYD @22 “goldfish-like memory” deserves to be the basis of a crossword in its own right. 🙂
    gladys @24 UNDER THE COUNTER is alive and well here Down Under as well. ?? is available from the local Chinese grocer (with no licence) under the counter, but you have to have the correct look, so I have to get a friend to buy it for me.

30. I liked UNDER THE COUNTER! As for others, I thought this would be very difficult, but it did fall out reasonably uickly in the end – bottom first, then top. I was trying Tom for the 15a singer and nearly convinced myself the answer was THEOREM – but I couldn’t account for HE (‘on’ = RE). I agree on the ‘off’ problem, though. TIBET was the weakest clue for me – apart from that, I parsed everything. Thanks, Vlad and loonapick.

31. *quickly

32. Like Gladys @7 I had (B)LACKING at 7d which fits the wordplay pretty well in fairness.

    Ticks everywhere but particularly liked PRUSSIC ACID with (perhaps) a sly glance towards The Kremlin.

    Many thanks both.

33. Thanks Vlad for the lancing & loonapick for the parsing.
    Liked BIRD FLU, CEDE and the anagram at 5d amongst others.

34. I had fun taking off the E from event for 3 down and fantasising about a VENT in Trafalgar Square. Was Nelson secretly a ventriloquist? Are the fountains a little-known way of airing the Underground? An enjoyable, slightly more accessible than usual Vlad, I thought.

35. Emilia Jones was not nominated for an Oscar. She was nominated for and won the Bafta award.

36. As some others, slow to start but enjoyable solve with the NW corner holding out last.

    Singer Jones would be Tom then; apparently not! I liked TIFF for the surface, PERSONAL EFFECTS as a neat anagram, UNSCREW for the surface, and DO FOR for the nice use of ‘closer’. I hesitated to insert TICKED OFF because of the clue’s ‘off’; I guess the setter didn’t notice after using DOFF in the wordplay.

    Thanks Vlad and loonapick.

37. Good work loonapick!
    I needed your solutions today on quite a few , and your explanations look superb.

    I hoped VLAD had set decent clues and it was my inexperience to blame, and that has proved to be the case.

    ‘ homophone [in conversation] of LOW (“deep”) ‘ , style clues fool me too often , I don’t look for them!
    That is going to have to change, they are used by several setters if not all.

    Respect to VLAD and your goodself loonapick.

38. PS, according to Wiki, Emilia Jones was only nominated for a BAFTA, but won the Screen Actors Guild Awards for ‘Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture’.

39. Looked tough to start with but RHS solved steadily. LHS more of a struggle.

    FISTICUFFS was my favourite (what a great word!).

    Needed help with the parsing of CUCKOLD and DOWAGER, though it was clear they were both right.

    Thanks Vlad and loonapick

40. Thx to Vlad for some clever wordplay. Good start then we got bogged down in north-west quadrant.
    Lots of ticks especially FISTICUFFS, as this lovely word reminds of one of my favourite paintings by L.S. Lowry – ‘The Fight’.
    Thanks to loonapic for blog.

41. Thought there was a lot of very weak cluing – UNDER THE COUNTER and CUCKOLD perhaps the worst.

42. I was thinking of the wrong people: my Jones singers were Tom or Nora; and the only Stig I remember was Stig of the Dump. Thanks Vlad and loonapick

43. Just great. All one would want – a slow start followed by a gently acceleration to conclusion. Very satisfying. Thanks Vlad and loonapic (DOWAGER – doh!)

44. Same here Haggis@42: Tom or Nora.

    Vlad, as usual, tough but fair although I’m rarely on his wavelength even when I finish.

    FISTICUFFS is a lovely way of describing an unpleasant business.

    Smiled at the proximity of the humourless female, unfaithful missus and the horny husband.

    Which made me wonder: we see themes for answers but has a setter ever tried to tell a story (their own or a well known novel, fairy tale, etc) via the clues?

    Thanks Vlad and loonapick

45. Thanks for the blog, hard to get a foothold and then certain answers would give lots away. For example UNDER THE COUNTER gave TABLEAU and then the whole top left corner. The grid itself very friendly, many answers more than half checked and numerous first letters.
    Numerous good clues mentioned , a few minor quibbles for double off in 25AC and the BART in 9AC is in the answer and almost in the word play. The clues work fine but not very elegant.

    Grant@6 the ERG was from the cgs system not the modern SI system, both are in some sense “metric” .

46. I used to like cricket before Kerry Packer, but didn’t spot the on/leg connection. Nothing very cryptic in the CUCKOLD clue, is there? I found this baffling a lot of the time, but got there in the end.

47. Needed a few(!) checks, and a few went in without parsing. Thanks Vlad and loonapick!

48. 27a Surely a “spender” would splash out, not lash out?

49. Thanks Vlad and loonapick
    I thought three clues were a bit careless. BARTENDER starting with BART could surely have been improved; “a bit of sausage” for S in TIFF is a stretch, and anyway hard and stiff aren’t the same property; “off” in clue and solution in TICKED OFF (as someone mentioned earlier) is clumsy. Apart from that, quite an easy Vlad that I enjoyed.
    I would have been tempted with something like “weightless bear gives protection” for PADDING!

50. Thanks Vlad and loonapick. A mixed bag for me. Really enjoyed Bird Flu, Do For and Draw a Blank. Not a fan of using the first letter of a word to indicate that letter e.g. s from sausage, p from Portugal, t from Trafalgar. Always seems to me that the setter has run out of ideas at that point. Didn’t know the connection between cuckold and horn; good to learn.

51. pdp11 @ 44: Tramp used regularly to set crosswords that had themes running through the clues: one that springs to mind cntained all the track titles from The Dark Side Of The Moon (and I think one used those from a Supertramp album).

    Paul @ 50: while your objection to ‘bit of sausage’ = S may be sustainable, I think your other two are less so. ‘Beginning in Trafalgar’ is unequivocal, while P is the IVR for Portugal, so a valid abreviation in its own right.

    Thanks to Vald for a very enjoyable puzzle, and to loonapick for the blog.

52. Paul @50 P is the IVR code for Portugal so I think that’s ok. Tend to agree about the others, just something to be aware of.

53. For BARTENDER, Vlad could have used someone called Art – Garfunkel, Tatum, or Blakey perhaps? How about “Garfunkel in drinking spree…..” I suppose “Simpson” causes one to wonder whether it would be (B)ART or (H)OMER, or indeed (L)ISA.

54. (…or ARGE, OHN, ALLIS, or J ?)

55. [eb @54
    I like J!]

56. Brilliant puzzle; even though I got all the answers I could not for the life of me parse UNSCREW or EVEN until I came here!
    Also, I thought when someone is “Carpeted” it refers to the person someone being scolded or reprimanded?
    Thanks loonapick and Vlad.

57. Jay @56, yes indeed, but on this side of the pond TICKED OFF means reprimanded rather than annoyed, as in ‘he got a ticking off from the archbishop’.

58. When I looked up CUCKOLD, I discovered the surface is also now a literal definition. (for some reason, I thought there was an “h”)

    I believe MULLAH is a religious scholar rather than a leader.

    Lots of DNKs in this one — had never heard lash out = spending lavishly for instance.

59. Simon S@51 – thanks for examples.

60. I can remember coming on here some time ago, not long after finding the site (having been tackling crosswords since the 1970s). I had completed but one clue of that day’s Vlad, and that was an unparsed guess. Various contributors were posting how much they had thoroughly enjoyed the puzzle, having solved it at a steady pace. My depression was naturally replaced by envy and rage at both setter and all these successful solvers.

    Time passes.

    I thoroughly enjoyed today’s puzzle, having solved it at a steady pace. In fact it was all done in about 25 minutes. I don’t know if Vlad has got easier since then, but I do know I have improved massively thanks to lessons learned on this very site.

    Lots of pleasing clues today, and one handy new word (ERGOMANIAC) which was so clearly clued both in parsing and definition that it couldn’t be anything else. Nice callback regarding Aled Jones and the Snowman song; I had no idea his daughter was recently Oscar-nominated. Also thanks to Saddler @9 for the clarification regarding who actually sang the once-ubiquitous song.

    Thanks to Vlad and loonapick for their respective services to the community.

61. All I could get on my first run through the clues were CEDE and TICKED OFF. Fortunately, though, the puzzle developed from there very nicely, and certainly not too quickly, going leftwards and upwards from that first corner.
    I did notice the same slight weaknesses that others also picked up, but there was a lot of quality here, and I’m glad the splendid anagram at 5d has been mentioned already. ERGOMANIAC was new to me.
    Thanks to Vlad, loonapick and other commenters.

62. Thanks to loonapick for the excellent blog and to others who commented.

63. Oh yes of course, Roz @45, it’s the work done moving 1 gram through 1cm, so metric indeed. I was vaguely thinking avoirdupois, which it’s not.

64. I see that our blogger was worried about being able to finish this puzzle – my problem was getting started! First one in was 3d, but not because I started with the down clues. And that was my only entry in the grid on my first pass through. And still on its own after the second, too! I then put my Guardian away for a couple of hours, and started again with a beer down the pub. An improvement – six or seven more answers. A few more fell into place at the dinner table, leaving just over half still blank. Then I picked it up again half an hour ago and it was like a new crossword – it all fell into place comparatively quickly.

    I’ve not read any other comments – maybe I’ll come back to them in the morning. I just wanted to record my success before calling it a day. And to say that it was hard work.

    Thanks to Vlad and loonapick.

65. Fell over in the NE, which was a shame, as I really enjoyed a lot of the clues. BARTENDER, ALLEGED and EUNUCH were particular favourites.

    DOWAGER was a write-in with a couple of crossers, but I didn’t know about the hump.
    New: ERGOMANIAC. I was trying to parse ergonomics/ergonomist for ages …

    Aled Jones now hosts a show on Classic FM.

66. Solving it was hard enough. Properly parsing a good few ‘em well beyond me.
    Thanks for explaining them.

67. What Eileen said

68. 1961B@ 60 no doubt you have improved and I am glad this site has helped you. It must be said though that Vlad , and quite a few other setters , are considerably easier , than they used to be. I know from my Azed times that my solving skills reached a plateau some years ago, I do the Guardian on my journey home every day and I do not time myself but it is extremely rare now that I do not finish the puzzle before I get home . It used be once or twice a week that I would return to the puzzle in the evening, last year it was three times in total, This year , none so far.

    Grant@63 the unit of work used to be the FOOT-POUNDEL , be grateful you never used that system. I still see them because I like to read original papers.

69. Sometimes I look at a clue for the first time and know it’s going to be the last one in. CUCKOLD was the one.

    Thank you to Vlad for the tough challenge.

70. Peter Auty already mentioned singing in The Snowman.
    Thought there was a typo in SPENDER clue as “splash out” is spending. “Lash out” is hitting or speaking aggressively isn’t it. (As per JerryG @4
    Thanks both

71. Thus spake Chambers.

    lash out 1 a to hit out violently; b to speak in a very hostile or aggressive manner. 2 colloq to spend money extravagantly.

    ‘Splash out’ would have made the clue far too straightforward IM (and presumably Vlad’s) O.

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