Guardian 28,838 / Vlad

61 comments on “Guardian 28,838 / Vlad”

1. I thought this might be a slightly easier Vlad as most of the LHS went in fairly easily but then it got tougher. Loved 9ac and 26 ac. Thanks Vlad and Eileen for the excellent blog.

2. 9ac brilliant, no doubt over time this will become an over-used euphemism! IMARET new to me, good puzzle for a Wednesday.

3. I found that tough. Favourite was VERMOUTH for the return of that old favourite ‘it’

4. Respect to all of you who completed this. I’ve quickly learnt that Vlad is a few levels above my ability, but this time I spent a very educational hour mostly hitting the reveal button and then trying to parse. Some excellent clues and certainly something for me to aspire to.
   Thanks Eileen and Vlad.

5. I generally find Vlad tough but satisfyingly educational and today was no exception. I got quite a few solutions through crossers and enumeration without understanding the parsing til I got here. I learnt several new words and phrases (IMARET, POSTERNS, STRAFE, EPARCHY, MAILED FIST, DAM meaning mother, Peter meaning safe). But everything was ultimately gettable with a thesaurus and some persistent bunging-and-checking.

   Thank you Vlad and Eileen.

6. Above my pay grade. Vlad remains on my “Don’t attempt” list.

7. No “fairly tough” for me. I found this tough, full stop. Plenty of hard ones, even for words which were familiar such as TIGER MOTH and IRISHMAN, and a couple of new words in EPARCHY and IMARET. For the latter, I hadn’t yet solved the crossing MAILED FIST to give me the first letter, and I eventually opted for the correct answer, deciding this sounded a bit more likely than “snagex”, which also fitted the wordplay.

   After such a slog, I decided to reward myself by relaxing with a friendly Aardvark in the FT. Er…

   Thanks to Vlad and Eileen

8. I echo the comments above, as 1ac could have been anything, based on a whim and Vlad’s sense of humour. However, a fortuitous stroke of fate, as I’m up in York for the Ebor Racing Festival, and on my way to buy a Racing Post (and of course The Guardian) I walked past the POSTERN Gate bar/cafe next to the Travelodge in Piccadilly. That certainly helped with 17d. But struggled with many more, only 4 clues inserted on my first pass. Liked both the long down clues SWORD OF DAMOCLES and NEW SCOTLAND YARD…

9. That was a toughie! But very satisfying to complete as Eileen says.

   The long down clues were both excellent and of course helped immensely.

   Apart from them SUPERCARGO was my fave.

   Thanks Vlad and Eileen

10. Hardest puzzle in a year for me. EPARCHY and IMARET new words and I can’t recall hearing MAILED rather than “iron” FIST. Last in were 7 and 10, which don’t exactly have helpful crossers. Thanks to Eileen, once again, for elucidating the convoluted parsing and thanks to Vlad for the pain.

11. …I’m also surprised that Vlad, having used (Steve) Cram at 24ac made no connection with (Roger) BANNISTER at 27ac. But in the context of 27ac, a BANNISTER is certainly not a runner here…

12. Well done Eileen! Thank you for the clear blog. I also noticed the two runners, CRAM and BANNISTER.
    Learned something about the orthodox EPARCHY.

    Thought I had a couple of gender issues:
    IRISHMAN, but Vlad had ‘say’. Has there been a female Taoiseach?
    And SUPERCARGO. Firstly I thought it was a ship, which would have needed a ‘she’. Then when I saw it was the position, maybe these days ‘he’ could be a ‘she’?

    Did anyone else try HUBRIS and KUBRIK for AUTEUR?
    Favourite EXUDE and the long’uns.

13. Yes, paddymelon@12, I tried to fit HUBRIS in for 7d, but couldn’t get it to work, unsurprisingly. I agree with those who found this tough. Only a couple of across clues in the first pass and the down clues didn’t immediately provide an easier way in. Getting 1d was the real breakthrough and 9a raised a laugh when I finally saw it. After Eileen’s elucidation, I feel a bit slow at not seeing the parsing of 13 OHMS, though with the crossers the answer was obvious. I got diverted by thinking of HMSO. As for others, IMARET was new to me and EPARCHY only rang a distant bell. Thanks to Eileen and Vlad.

14. paddymelon @12 – no female Taoiseach (yet) – see here:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taoiseach
    There have been two female presidents of Ireland: Mary Robinson (1990 -97) and Mary McAleese (1997-2011).
    I don’t know about SUPERCARGOS. 😉

    Tomsdad @13 – I had 6dn with OHMS, too!

15. Thanks Eileen for the VOCative case, I found this hard – too hard in fact as I had a tentative MERRY for 3d (ME = author and then no idea – it did occur to me briefly that Bottle as a characteristic might be the definition but i somehow failed to connect this with HEART despite the first Richard and Elizabeth – never mind). I didn’t like the ‘definition’ of 13a much but can’t think of anything better (except maybe just “resistance”) and there were so many other great and misleading clues that it is insignificant – thanks Vlad, it is rare for failure to be so satisfying!

16. Thanks Eileen @14 for the Wiki link. I’m happy with “Although the Irish form An Taoiseach is sometimes used in English instead of ‘the Taoiseach’, the English version of the Constitution states that he or she “shall be called … the Taoiseach”.

    Re OHMS. The parsing and the ‘law’ came very late. Working in a government role I could only see O.H.M.S

17. I very much enjoyed that – good meaty puzzle.
    I’d no idea that SUPERCARGO was a person. I rather thought it might be a cargo on a supertanker, but then the clue made no sense.
    I thought BANNISTER with 2 Ns was just the surname, but seems it can be the rail too.
    Small plea to all setters. I wouldn’t mind if there were no more references to Trump, Partygate, Duke of York etc. I come to the crossword to get away from all that.

    Thanks Vlad, and Eileen for the explanations.

18. Too tough today but liked IRISHMAN and NSY (the factory as it was affectionately known).

    Ta Vlad and Eileen for untangling

19. Very tough, with some outstanding clues (especially POSTERN), but there were several that I couldn’t parse, so thanks to Eileen. And also to Vlad for a strenuous workout!

20. Tough puzzle. I could not parse 5d, 24ac, 17ac.

    Liked WORK EVENT (haha); SWORD OF DAMOCLES, HEADACHES, NEW SCOTLAND YARD.

    New for me: OHM’S law, IMARET, FORMBY.

    Thanks, both.

21. Thank to Vlad for a proper work requiring lots of perseverance. Thanks to Eileen for parsing the ones I couldn’t.
    Loved the long ones and 9ac is a classic

22. Excellent stuff from Vlad. Tough, with a couple of new words for me, but thoroughly enjoyed the challenge. Thanks to Eileen for the blog; and completely agree with ShropshireLass@21 – 9ac is a classic; and I look forward to it being used repeatedly!

23. I wondered if BANNISTER was a sneaky challenge to Roz’s description of easy puzzles??? This was more of a Gebrselassie than a Roger for me.

24. Thank you Geoff Down Under @6. What a relief to read your comment today.

25. After a recent completed grid, this was much too tough for me

26. Quite a struggle, and needed 225 to complete the parsing – HEART, “Peter” = “safe”, and I hadn’t realised how easy DAVID should have been! The new words IMARET and EPARCHY were very gettable from the clues and crossers.

27. I still don’t understand the “ on his mind “ part of “ supercargo”, despite parsing it. Help anyone?

28. Ignore above….found it. Very weird!

29. Hi Martyn @27 – it’s a play on ‘loads’: to have loads on your mind means to have many cares / concerns / responsibilities. A supercargo is ‘an officer on a cargo ship who supervises commercial matters and is in charge of the cargo’ (ship’s load).

30. Sorry, Martyn – I was too slow: I was looking up the Collins definition.

31. I think this was my toughest ever. Last night I got EXUDE and AUTEUR, and this morning I added ROSTRUM and ADDRESS, and after that it was check button letter by letter.

    Now that I see all the parsings, it was a fine puzzle. Thanks for it, and Eileen for the solace.

32. Agree with Auriga @10 that this was the hardest puzzle this year. For me too much of a slog to be really enjoyable and only pride kept me going when I felt like giving up half way through. I do recognise that it’s good to have puzzles of varying degrees of difficulty, but not too many like this one please! Having said that I did admire all the ingenuity on display and Vlad still one of my favourite setters. Thanks to Eileen for an excellent blog and (grudgingly) to Vlad.

33. This felt like a Friday puzzle. I don’t see Formby as Merseyside except in the very general sense of Liverpool area, so that was the only unfair one.

34. Thanks Vlad and Eileen
    Yes, very difficult. Reading the clues in order, FOI was DAVID! It remained the only entry until I came back in from golf and watering.
    I too was surprised that SUPERCARGO was a person – I always assumed it was cargo carried on deck rather than in holds.
    Wouldn’t 16, in true Uxbridge English Dictionary fashion, have been better as “(a bit like Trump)”?
    Favourite VERMOUTH.

35. Tony @33 – I didn’t look this up before: I trusted Vlad, as ever, because it’s his neck of the woods! (And it seems I was right to do so.)

36. [I’ve never been to Formby, so I followed Eileen@35’s link to read a little about it. It seems to be a very pleasant, small coastal town, with a list of present/former notable residents that constitutes a veritable who’s who of Liverpool FC. Who knew?]

37. Where in the clue for CRAMMER does it indicate that ‘about’ has to go about ‘money’?

38. CW @ 37

    ‘about money’ = ‘RE M’. ‘backward about money’ = ‘M ER’.

    Thanks Vlad for a super puzzle and Eileen for the blog.

39. Thanks Vlad and Eileen. I agree with others: very tough and enjoyable. Sorry to disagree, Crossbar@17, I really enjoy Vlad’s topical digs. I think it’s entirely appropriate in a Guardian crossword to make fun of unworthy politicians and the like.

40. CW @37 – re CRAMMER:
    ‘Old runner backward about money but a quick learner?’
    The old runner is CRAM, then the instructions on the tin indicate a reversal (backward) of RE (about) M (money), as I think I indicated in the blog. There is no inclusion involved – my apologies if that wasn’t clear.

41. Sorry, Simon S @38 – too slow again!

42. MikeC @39 I don’t think it’s inappropriate, just depressing to be reminded of them all the time. Sadly they are completely impervious to any ridicule that may be heaped on them.

43. Crossbar@42. Maybe we don’t disagree after all!

44. Well I got there in the end! As you say Eileen, very satisfying to finish.

    I expect there are situations where HEART is the same as ‘bottle’? I tend to think of them as different things – perhaps unduly influenced by the Tin Man who needed a heart, while the cowardly lion needed the noyve. 🙂 HEART in the ‘courage’ sense is ‘emotional strength that allows one to continue in difficult situations’, while ‘bottle’-type courage is more what you need for skydiving and bungee-jumping. And if you say “I didn’t have the heart” to do something, that might reflect well on your compassionate character, but if someone says “He/she didn’t have the bottle”, it doesn’t.

    Perhaps there’s a verb ‘to back out of doing something’, which may be conjugated:
    I didn’t have the heart
    You didn’t have the bottle
    He/she was a cheese-eating surrender monkey

    Also – thanks Eileen for the FORMBY link. I always wondered if George Formby came from Formby; I now know that he didn’t. However I did learn that George Formby’s father also had the stage name George Formby, and that, according to his biographer, “was possessed of staggering consumptive virility”. Now there’s another verb that needs conjugating.

    Many thanks Vlad & Eileen.

45. This was too tough for me, and I was happy to stop, even though I had completely filled the left-hand side. I wanted to get SUPERCARGO in order to get a toehold in the right-hand side, but I couldn’t think of it – for the simple reason that I had absolutely no idea a supercargo could be a person! (I see I wasn’t the only one.)

    I got my money’s worth, though. There were some super clues on the left of the grid. I really enjoyed WORK EVENT. It is one of my least favourite types of clue (a ‘cryptic definition’ with no wordplay and no other definition), but I just knew it was going to be something that was originally not humorous at all but was exposed as being so ridiculous as to be laughable. It wasn’t hard to get.

    There were of course other great clues, but I have nothing to add to what others have said.

    Thanks Eileen and Vlad.

46. What Geoff Down Under @6 said! Too hard to be fun!

47. Thanks to Eileen for a very nice blog and to all others who commented.

48. Tough indeed, with several new words for me in the bottom half, which made for a very slow finish (POSTERNS, EPARCHY, IMARET, MAILED FIST, and I didn’t know DAVID). But I was pleasantly surprised to discover my first complete entry was in fact correct, which must say something about the solvability of the clues.

    Vlad is comfortably the toughest of the Guardian’s midweek roster for me, but that makes it all the more satisfying on the occasions his puzzles do eventually yield.

    Thanks Vlad and Eileen.

49. 13 across clue, solution and parsing are totally beyond me. Can anyone offer an explanation?

50. Sarjoy@49: let me try:
    Some hope at first for English breaking such a law

    Start with SOME
    Then H(hope at first) replacing E(English) for SOMH
    Then anagram *SOMH = OHMS

51. A total DNF for me. After getting none on the first past (except a few wrong guesses that CHECK ALL erased), I eventually had a few scattered clues.
    Tried revealing 1 D, which only helped for a couple more and finally in desperation did a REVEAL ALL and (like Paul,T @4) did a quick pass of trying to parse the answers.

    Congratulations to those who were able to do this (and knew about the Prince of York and Cram and bottle/heart etc.). And to Eileen for not only solving the puzzle, but also for doing so in time to post the blog!

52. Those who think this was the hardest of the year may have forgotten or missed
    Guardian Cryptic 28,816 by Enigmatist a few weeks ago blogged by PeterO

53. Add me to the “too hard” list. I was going to carry on with my half completed puzzle today, but when I saw there’s a Paul on offer I decided I’d rather just look at what I missed and move on!

54. Thanks Calgal for OHMS law explanation.
    Last night I lay in bed and finally I understood how the clue worked.
    What still bothers me – a tiny niggle but Vlad is incredibly concise – is the ‘such’. The clue reads well without it. It seems redundant and meaningless so is it just to distract and torment us further?

55. I tried my best over two days but still couldn’t get to the end. I have read Eileen’s excellent blog and through the comments but still don’t understand why ‘this’ is a definition for TIGER MOTH. Help please!

    I think that WORK EVENT for Conservative Party is off the mark and needs some political bias to get there. As we all know well, there were a lot of parties in No. 10, and ultimately the PM Boris Johnson has to take responsibility for that, but they were mostly held and attended by non-elected politically neutral officials, so it is a stretch and a bit to call them ‘conservative’ parties. Thanks Vlad and especially Eileen for the clear explanations.

56. Paul @55 – I’m sorry, I’ve been out since early this morning, so didn’t realise that the correspondence had continued overnight and into today!

    Re 15dn: forgive me if you’re already aware that the TIGER MOTH was an early aircraft – see here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Tiger_Moth, so a cat/queen might have been taken up in it. Does that help?

57. I believe Boris Johnson didn’t even realise they were parties.

58. Vlad @57 🙂

59. Sarjoy @54 – sorry, I missed your query. I think ‘such a’ is necessary to indicate that Ohm’s is a definition by example.

60. Kudos to those who can parse these – I had to Google a few even after seeing the explanations. This is how we learn I guess!

    Dam (mother) and Peter (safe), new to me in these contexts.

    Thought Supercargo was a type of ship so the clue didn’t make sense until I googled it.

    Thanks Vlad admins Eileen

61. *Vlad and Eileen

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