Guardian 28,895 / Vlad

46 comments on “Guardian 28,895 / Vlad”

1. Thanks mhl, a good challenge.
   TROPHY WIFE is just a cryptic definition – ‘pot’ being a trophy, and a trophy wife being young and attractive.

   Thanks Vlad.

2. I think ENURE works as “get (someone) accustomed to”.

3. I don’t associate Vlad with Mondays – is our blogger thinking of Vulcan? I typically find Vlad quite tough, and was quite dreading a “prize Vlad”, but it wasn’t that bad, in the end.

4. I meant to add praise for the misdirection (well I was misdirected) in ENCROACHED, where I took “hurt” to be the anagrind and spent far too long trying to make an anagram of “coren badly”.

5. Agreed with Dr. WhatsOn @3: I don’t recall seeing Vlad on Mondays, and consider him a very tough setter. This was a nice puzzle, but gentle by Vlad’s standard.

6. Thanks mhl. I enjoyed this and it didn’t take too long this time. I was relieved to find I hadn’t missed something with KARLOFF, it was one of the very first to emerge and I thought it was just too obvious. Can’t help with TROPHY WIFE, the crossers gave it away and I didn’t think too carefully about it, maybe it’s just that a trophy wife is glamorous and someone whose looks have gone to pot is not. LOI was HOLE, it had to be that of course (!) but even as a regular but poor golfer it took me a while to realise why.

7. I struggled with 9a, not because it’s any harder than other clues but because I had a complete blank for both ‘book’ (which had to be a book of the bible ending in S) and ‘hampers. With the latter I was distracted by the presence of ENCROACHED further down the grid, as I had a similar word on the tip of my tongue but each time I got close to spitting it out, all I got was ENCROACHED! I put the crossword away eventually and when I woke up the next morning the two words NUMBERS and ENCUMBERS were the first things that came into my head – and so close to simultaneously that I couldn’t be sure which came first.

   I didn’t parse ETON, though the answer could have been nothing else. Like our blogger I also struggled to parse TROPHY WIFE, and although I made the connection between ‘pot’ and TROPHY, I don’t get what ‘Hardly’ is doing. Is the use of ‘gone to pot’, which means failed, meant to be a reference to the supposed earlier marriage? Is there a suggestion that the first wife had a pot belly? Or that the middle aged husband has? And KARLOFF seems like a rather undercooked clue, too. But I enjoyed the two 15-letter anagrams down the sides, and many others.

   Thanks to Vlad and mhl.

8. To sh@7 I think the idea is that the trophy wife, being young and beautiful, is HARDLY gone to pot.

9. A few beyond ken here, e.g. mirador, ambos and ostinato, and sealyham which I found in a list of terriers. I shrugged at trophy wife, vaguely thinking something like Dr Wh @8. So, see if today’s goes better. Thanks Vlad n mhl.

10. Agree Dr. Whatson@8. That’s how I parsed TROPHY WIFE, great clue I thought. Loved the trophy/pot riff.

11. Completed this with a few shrugs, mostly mentioned above. HOLE was my last one in too, with a groan as I saw why. Although KARLOFF came to mind as I read through the clues, I wasn’t convinced until I had all the crossers as the clue didn’t feel that cryptic. And I parsed TROPHY WIFE about the same as everyone else did.

    Thank you to Vlad and mhl.

12. Thanks mil, including for parsing ETON (setters’ favourite, had to be). Last in AMBOS, though Stallone occurred to me early seeing ‘Sly’. Steal equally good I reckon for taking in/taking away.

13. I was initially quite annoyed by 17ac, as it didn’t really feel like a cryptic clue at all. I felt I had to be missing something, and even when I had all the crossers I still hesitated to fill this one in. But then it hit me (very belatedly) how the clue relates to theme, and I had to smile. Thanks to Vlad and mhl.

14. Like others I usually find Vlad puzzles tough but this one wasn’t too difficult and I enjoyed it though didn’t get AMBOS or MARRY

    Favourites included ENCUMBERS, MIRADOR, RESCIND, AD HOMINEM, QUARTER-FINALIST

    Didn’t parse ETON or TROPHY WIFE

    Thanks Vlad and mhl

15. As noted by others above, HOLE, KARLOFF and TROPHY WIFE were hard, because they were non-cryptic clues in a cryptic crossword! Which to me feels like a bit of a sucker punch. Ah well, I learnt some new words. AMBOS and OSTINATO.

16. I thought this went okay for a Vlad (a setter who often gives me grief) though it certainly wasn’t one I found easy. I had all of the LHS before most of the RHS. It was interestingly topical given we had all the the news of the resignation of one PM just as I tackled the puzzle, and then some very interesting speculation on her replacement as the week unfolded. I really liked the droll clue for TAXPAYERS at 6d. OSTINATO at 18d was unfamiliar for me too, but gettable. Thanks to mhl for helping with some of the parsings I found tricky like 23a ETON. I was with others who thought 17a KARLOFF was barely cryptic but at least it was amusing in light of the theme, as Chris Baum @13 points out. Thanks to Vlad for the coincidental theme and the interesting way it was executed within the grid.
    I hope all crosswording colleagues at the York S&B are having an enjoyable meet-up. Wish I could be there. Sigh – one day!

17. TROPHY WIFE
    With Dr. WhatsOn@8.

    A Trophy wife (of course young and attractive) is a status symbol. Would she have been allowed to go to pot (ruined/lost value through neglect)? Hardly!

    The connection between ‘pot’ and ‘trophy’ is a nice deception, I feel.

18. *get ruined/lose value

19. I had to look up the TERRIER and the port in the Adriatic, apart from that for a Vlad puzzle it was relatively benign.
    Wasn’t too keen on TROPHY WIFE, though I did get the connection between trophy and pot.
    ETON won the start prize, a clever and original way of cluing a common crossword 4 letter filler.
    Thanks both.

20. I also had the different clue for ENURE which was one of my question marks as I couldn’t work out what ‘of’ was doing in there. “Accustom duke to leave last” would have been fine so some last minute changes seems to have caused problems here.
    I’m another who thought KARLOFF was barely cryptic. I didn’t parse RIMINI properly as I got fixated on Mini for the skirt.

    The pdf I worked from had “Spooner amd Bones” for KNEECAPS which I just took to be the usual Grauniad.

    The clue for QUARTER FINALIST was also different to the blog. It read “[One of eight most likely…or 51]” which I parsed as LI(51) being a quarter of the word finalist. That clue has a tick for me as a favourite. I think it’s better than the alternative anagram. Not sure what the square brackets are for, although Andrew in this blog (also for a Vlad crossword says “We’ve seen mysterious brackets like these around the clue before: I think the theory is that they’re an indication that the clue needs to be edited or reconsidered, though this one seems fine to me”

21. I wondered if KARLOFF was a joke on the PM theme, as JOHNSON would have also fitted the clue.

22. Thanks for the blog, mixed up your Vs with Vulcan I think. Perhaps this was Vlad’s attempt at a Monday puzzle , his recent efforts have been rather tricky . I liked EMPTIER , perhaps the only clue we will see with Truss as PM and already out of date but not the setter’s fault.

23. HOLE was my last in too – I’m glad I wasn’t the only one. (It’s a simple type of clue that I often have difficulty with, and this was a very good one, I thought.)
    I liked the mentions of Boris and Truss, as well as Peel and Home. My first in was SEALYHAM TERRIER, and that meant (like JinA) that this puzzle progressed strictly from LHS to RHS, the other long one down the right taking a surprisingly long time. The puzzle as a whole was excellent, with plenty of misdirection – to be expected from Vlad.
    Thanks to Vlad and mhl.

24. KVa@17. While TROPHY WIFE is a horrible expression, in some ways it’s a tribute to the wife, a putdown of the spouse, rather than the ‘wife”. I don’t think Vlad said anything about ”allowing” her to go to pot. That’s far worse. At this time in my life I wouldn’t mind being a ”kept” woman/person”, not that I can contribute to anyone else’s real or perceived value, I’ve already gone to pot. 🙂

25. I thought 13a couldn’t possibly be HULK. I read too many comics.

26. TimC@20, ‘amd’ was also how 17d read in the paper itself, and I looked at the Guardian website and found it there also. I wasted time looking for such a word or abbreviation, then accepted it was just a misprint.

    No problem for me about HOLE, which I consider cryptic, but I share doubts about KARLOFF, even though it was a way of bringing Boris into the picture. (Happily, we may see less of him now.)

    Those of us old enough to have watched cricket at The Oval fifty years ago may recall seeing Boris Karloff in his last years watching from his favourite seat, along with his friend, the great Andrew Sandham.

    Thanks, mhl.

27. Flagged with this one but holed out in the end. Thanks mhl for explaining ETON and the sly character. Good on Vlad for the weirdly topical theme.

28. 13a was obviously HULK to me, because of the rather testy green coloured man in the comics, and because of the Navy’s habit of using hulks as target practice. [My father was in the RN during the war. He told me that, on one occasion, the shooting was so inaccurate that the captain of the ship pulling the hulk signalled “I am pulling the b****y target, not pushing it!”]

29. Hovis/Shirl – another Incredible HULK here. I thought it formed a pair with KARLOFF/Frankenstein, who was at least partly the inspiration for the Hulk, and might even have been another dig at the other Boris, especially given the position in the grid next to Carrie. 😉 And he was/is a ‘target’ for some, notably the Hulkbusters. Didn’t know Shirl’s RN connection though.

    Interesting about the (original?) clue for QUARTER-FINALIST, Tim C @20. I think I prefer that too, but I did have a tick for the (no doubt intentionally) acerbic reference to ‘failures in Qatar’! Thanks Vlad and mhl.

30. I tackled this after its errors had been updated so that particular element of confusion passed me by, thankfully. I found it about the right level for a Prize puzzle, with lots of clues that had me scratching my head until sufficient crossers came to my assistance. A few unknown words reminded me of the gaps in my general knowledge: I had to google to check that a SEALYHAM TERRIER was a thing; AMBOS was new to me, and I didn’t spot the Sly Stallone connection; OSTINATO is also new to me, but it was obviously a hidden so in it went.

    On the other hand, I thought KARLOFF was barely cryptic and wrote that straight in.

    A nice workout overall – thanks both.

31. I hadn’t thought about the possible Boris connections essexboy@29 but then there’s ETON as well ( which I failed to parse ). Needed internet help for AMBOS as it’s a new word for me & the Rambo reference was just too sly for me.

32. As always, I’m struggling a bit to recall my solving experience of a week ago. I vaguely recall finding it a bit more approachable than a typical Vlad, particularly given that it’s a Saturday. I was beaten by one but cannot for the life of me remember which one it was!

    I loved the anagram for SEALYHAM and must have been in an anagrammatical mood as my other favourites were EUPHRATES, TAX PAYERS and QUARTER FINALIST. I was surprised by the KARLOFF clue and wasted some time trying to find something deeper, probably linked to politics. That and TROPHY WIFE both went in with a shrug.

    Thanks Vlad and mhl

33. First a fiasco of Prime Ministers, then looking forward to the fiasco at Qatar, hopefully we will be quarter finalists, or time to say adieu!

34. Failed to solve 23d (R = rule?) and 3d – never heard of AMBOS – (in an early Christian church) an oblong pulpit with steps at each end = reading desk.

    New: Sealyham Terrier (thanks, google – guessing it was an anagram, I found it when I did a search on Aylesham Terrrier!); ad hominem.

    Liked: EUPHRATES.

    Thanks, both.

35. I seem to remember that this wasn’t as difficult as some of Vlad’s crosswords, but maybe that’s because I know what the answers are now.

    I liked the swipe at Truss, someone else (like Nigel Lawson) who thinks they know better than most experts in the field. I also liked the neat anagram to produce SEALYHAM TERRIER. I dislike the unindicated use of text-speak, but I see that the ODE gives U as an informal use of you, so I won’t complain. Like others, I was somewhat mystified by the seemingly non-cryptic KARLOFF, although I appreciate the Boris dig. My RIMINI skirt was a mini, so I failed to parse that one correctly.

    Thanks Vlad for the PM bashing and to mhl for the explanations.

36. Too hard for me this week – only managed a couple. I assumed 17 was KARLOFF but couldn’t justify entering it as it seemed like the obvious surface reading rather than a cryptic clue. Ah well.
    Thanks for the very clear explanations in the blog!

37. I parsed 14a as Pot that’s gone to partner with “hardly” indicating the need to change the order. It works but hardly.
    There is village called Huttons Ambo in Yorkshire. I used to imagine my hero (Sir Leonard, cricketer) preaching there.
    Thanks to Vlad and mhl.

38. Thanks mhl, I never managed to parse 22a, also wondered if there was more to 17a and spent a while trying anagrams of various parts of 14a thanks to “gone to pot”. Pino@37, there is also a Wendens Ambo near Saffron Walden, etymology interesting, not sure if in any way related to the Ambo here but with the Sly connection gave me enough confidence to bung it in. 9a fantastic and plenty of misdirection elswhere to keep me entertained, thanks Vlad.

39. 22a Didn’t think of “board” as a verb, so biffed in ETON unparsed.

    Thanks for the puzzle, Vlad, and the blog, mhl.

40. I’m not sure why “stealing” a rector is any different from a duke “leaving” – am I missing something subtle?

    I think the risk with attempted misdirection in a CD like KARLOFF is if it doesn’t work the clue falls a bit flat. If you were misdirected by BORIS you’d probably have enjoyed it more

    Cheers V&M

41. Thanks to mhl for the blog and to others for their comments.

    Surprised to see HOLE, TROPHY WIFE and KARLOFF described as not cryptic:

    Green target would normally have an alternative meaning – controlling emissions;

    TROPHY WIFE is a kind of extended definition. ‘Hardly’, as Dr WhatsOn, paddymelon and KVa have clearly explained, suggests she’d no longer be one if she went to pot and would probably be traded in!

    KARLOFF is the least cryptic, I agree, but surely justified in the context of the puzzle.

    And I’m certain the original clue for QUARTER-FINALIST isn’t at all dodgy.

42. With you Vlad on Green target. 🙂

43. I agree that HOLE was cryptic as it was misdirecting until I had everything in and saw the double meaning. And that a TROPHY WIFE is usually expected to be attractive arm candy, discarded if not.

44. @Vlad: thanks for commenting. I take it back about the original clue being dodgy, I just hadn’t thought it through properly. Apologies – I’ve changed my preamble. Out of interest, why was it replaced?

45. Thanks, mhl.

    No mystery – just that Hugh preferred the other one. I was happy with either.

46. Did about two thirds. All bar two of the remaining answers seem reasonable now. I thought that 3d was poorly clued. 15d had no indication of latin and the cross letters lured me into thinking ‘My Moniker’ for the definition, although the clue didn’t correspond.

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