Guardian Cryptic 28,872 by Vulcan

42 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 28,872 by Vulcan”

1. Delayed by putting in TOUCH for 22. Thanks loonapick and Vulcan.

2. Thanks VnL, double quiptic Monday again. Inspector Rex was for a while a bit of a fun lightweight fave chez ginf and missus [more fun than hives … my distaff side a bit prone to skin things, eczema etc]. Hey ho, all good.

3. A reasonably accessible start to the week, I thought. Well, I finished it on brainpower alone, and I can’t say that every day of the week. A surprising number of first-pass write-ins, although a handful of clues held me up towards the end (ASH WEDNESDAY, CHANDLER, BEMUSED), although once the pennies dropped I couldn’t understand why I hadn’t got them straight away.

   And the quiptic was surprisingly straightforward too today. I’ll need to find another puzzle to get my fix!

   Thanks both.

4. Nothing to difficult today but fine with me. Liked 10ac and 17ac. Finally cottoned on that a billionaire will be Gates or Elon! Thanks Vlad and loonapick.

5. Fairly straightforward and enjoyable. The only one I didn’t parse was TRANSLATE, and I chuckled when I saw it here. I assumed the E in EFL was English, but I certainly hadn’t heard of DAY-LEWIS (which, in all the references I consulted, is hyphenated).

6. JerryG@4: I fear if it had been Vlad it may not have been as easy. Straightforward and enjoyable. Liked REFLEX and TRANSLATE. Bit of a poetry thing going on but not enough for a theme really.

   Ta Vulcan & loonapick.

7. Yes, straightforward but no write-in.

   Bifd REFLEX due to footie ignorance, and Rash places to find honey is a bit too easy even for a Monday.

   Pleasant start to the week, though, many thanks, both.

8. I’d agree with William @7 with straightforward but no write in. I always get held up by the not so cryptic definitions in both Imogen and Vulcan puzzles, looking for something I find more conclusive, so those clues end up waiting for enough crossers until I’m convinced by those answers.

   Thank you to loonapick and Vulcan.

9. TRANSLATE was my favourite. I wonder if the reference to the Quiptic setter is deliberate?

10. Day-Lewis (sic) was Poet Laureate, but his son the actor Daniel is probably better know now.

11. Fun puzzle. I agree with William@7 – straightforward but no write-in.

    Liked BEMUSED, TRANSLATE, APPENDIX, REFLEX (loi).

    Thanks, both.

12. A very brief diversion. At the extreme end of Mondayism.

    Thanks Vulcan and loonapick

13. Rather liked “first suggestion of downfall” as a description of RAINDROP, and once that had plopped in the rest did readily too. I’m another who thought TRANSLATE was particularly good, and LINGERING. Last one in CHANDLER. Thanks Vulcan and Loonapick for a nice steady start to the week…

14. Nice Monday, nothing too tricky and I usually struggle with Vulcan.
    TRANSLATE was very good, as was DAY LEWIS…thanks Poc @10, I not aware that Daniel was the Poet Laureate’s son…
    Thanks both.

15. I would have thought EPL rather than EFL. REPLEX?

    Otherwise Riufus-like fun

    And was it accidental that one of the clues supplied the author of the quiptic?

16. Thanks Vulcan and loonapick
    Lots of enjoyable clues, such as RAINDROP and TRANSLATE, but top favourite was BEMUSED for the misdirection of “retired”.

17. Sorry to display my ignorance, but which clue gives the name of today’s Quiptic setter?

18. Ronald @17: 16D, CHANDLER

19. Conrad@18, many thanks for that…

20. @15 Not all English football is Premiership. English Football League (EFL) Championship is the “old” second division. Unless I have missed yet another name change, of course.

21. Thanks Vulcan. I also liked several that have been mentioned previously by others: 1a RAINDROP, 17a ASH WEDNESDAY, 20a LINGERING, 26a APPENDIX and 14d TRANSLATE. As for the much-discussed REFLEX at 19d, I only solved it from the definition. All good. Thanks to loonapick as well.

22. “Straightforward, but enjoyable nonetheless” is how I’d put it too.

    The notion that the APPENDIX serves no purpose is a bit out of date: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appendix_(anatomy)#Functions

23. Enjoyable puzzle.
    Wiki entry for C. Day-Lewis includes his autobiography’s mentioning that, as a writer, he dropped the hyphen in his surname “as a piece of inverted snobbery which has produced rather mixed results.”
    Including, confusing us.
    (The relative speed of completing the puzzle provided time to explore CDL and some of his poetry.)

24. Thanks Vulcan and Loonapick. Am I missing something with 9 across – what is the insertion indicator to say that ‘ponder’ should go inside ‘when retired’?

25. Tom’s hunt @24
    MUSE is retired”, or “in bed”.

26. Aha, clever! Thanks Muffin.

27. Oops, my mistake. Thanks Vulcan. AlanC@6 thank you for the correction and you are so right about the complexity.

28. Having placed the A and S from the crossers, I had a momentary hope that the poet might be Pam Ayres – but the remembered that this is The Guardian.

29. Thanks for the blog, I very much agree with Ronald@ 13 except my last one in was ERODE.
    AlanC@6 we have ASH WEDNESDAY for your poetry theme, I am sure you have a lot more.

30. [ RobT @3 the FT often has a good puzzle and no ownership issues ]

31. Smudgekent@20.
    If I’m not mistaken, the top flight of English football is the Premier League. The Premiership is Rugby Union.
    And the EFL is not just the old second division, it’s all other clubs apart from the 22 PL teams, i.e. old 2nd 3rd and 4th divisions.

32. Roz @29: goodness me, just out of curiosity after your comment, I found RAINDROP, BEMUSED and PREPARATION(s) just for starters. Rather than get ON A ROLL, I’ll leave it there. :-;

33. I wonder if a poem title is like bands or films or albums. PREPARATIONS is in my yearly anthology but anonymous. We also have DAY LEWIS , PARADISE lost , IAMBIC and MUSE.

34. I suspect so, Roz. There is also REFLEX and ROBUST poetry. Who’d have thunk.

35. I’ve always wanted to say this: easier than the Quiptic (or at least, the Quiptic took me almost exactly 50% longer). Thanks Vulcan, loonapick, and Chandler.

36. Smudgekent @20 – I wish someone would tell the BBC that football exists outside the Premier League.
    Up the Lions!

37. Yes, an easy puzzle, but nicely done. There was a touch of latitude with ‘when retired’ having to indicate something contained within BED, but as Guardian puzzles go, a mild interlude there.

    As to the ‘not very cryptic’ cds, I’d agree, except to say that ‘March’ as deployed at 17 is a nice play on the word’s various meanings. TRANSLATE a particular favourite today.

38. For fans of Arachne, there was a Rosa Klebb puzzle in the FT on Saturday. The blog will not appear for a while so no comments on the puzzle.

39. I also thought the use of March was good, hinting at a demonstration. The capital M was well hidden at the front of the clue.

40. HYD@36 wouldn’t the Gannets or the Penguins be a better name for a football team ?

41. [ Just to be contrary, Roz, I’m going to comment on Rosa Klebb’s puzzle, and my comment is “Yay!!”. I join you I’m sure in hoping that Arachne will now appear in the Guardian. ]

42. Now that would be nice.

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