Guardian Cryptic 29,279 by Vulcan

87 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 29,279 by Vulcan”

1. Normal Monday service has resumed. Lovely straight forward puzzle with some good clues. I would still prefer a mad Paul challenge but an easier puzzle for beginners is more traditional

   Thanks Setter and Blogger

2. Thanks to Vulcan and manehi. Lots of enjoyable clues here. I ticked 10a MARTINI, 12a TENDERISING (great anagram!), 13a GREAT SCOTT (!), 6d DARWIN (parochialism), 8d SWING, 14d CONNEMARA and 16d HEDGE FUND. Thanks to manehi for explaining 21d MISDEAL, as I didn’t get the Kentish bit.

3. Straightforward Monday fare, but some nice surfaces. Took me a while to remember Sir Walter Scott rather than Raleigh. Liked CHIMERA and CONNEMARA. Thanks to Vulcan and manehi

4. You can feel the skill in these clues, smooth while not too difficult. Thanks V and m.

5. Very enjoyable, plenty of smiles. Only one Britishism to trip up us Antipodeans … Deal in Kent.

   I did know Connemara … I was privileged to have (accidently) visited their Bog Week in 2016.

6. Nice to have a gentle start after last weeks (often failed) challenges. Thanks Vulcan and manehi.

7. Thought this was fairly smooth and unremarkable – until I was left staring at 12ac with all the crossers in place. For quite a while. But once I realised that it was in fact a remarkable clue with that anagram of ingredients, my blase opinion of Vulcan’s Monday puzzle completely changed…

8. Matthew @1, you don’t have to be a beginner to enjoy an easy puzzle! Especially such a good one, like this.

9. Butttt…. I don’t pronounce MYTH like Miss….. 😉
   Favourites TENDERISING for a great spot with the anagram, ABILITY (lovely) and DARWIN (just because I used the fact that it’s a port in my last puzzle). The port of Darwin is a matter of some controversy in Australia, given it was sold to a Chinese company, Landbridge, on a 99 year lease in 2015. Only 90 years to go.

10. Hopefully, this nice puzzle will restore Michelle’s faith in her solving abilities. It would be a shame to lose such a regular and valued contributor. All it takes to fail in a crossword is to meet a number of intersecting clues with well hidden defs of words or phrases one’s unfamiliar with.

    Persevere, Michelle!

11. @5 gdu

    By the old adage those South of the River Medway are Of Kent and those North are merely Kentish. So Miss Deal should be Beauty Queen of Kent – but that just serves to complicate matters further 🙂

    Frankly I am astonished how Solvers outwith the UK news/general knowledge sphere are able to solve any of these puzzles. Kudos to all of you

12. I agree with those who enjoy a puzzle that’s not too difficult but has pleasing surfaces, anagrams and definitions. Slightly held up at the end by forgetting the golfing reference but twigged it in the end. Thanks V and m.

13. [Indeed, Tim C @19, do we wanna be belted and rode ..]

14. Enjoyable puzzle.

    I was unsure how to parse 5d as I was thinking that NUMBER TEN / 10 Downing St is more like a ‘powerful politician’s address’.

    Thanks, both – and thank you to William @10 for the words of encouragement, it is much appreciated. I enjoyed and completed both the Quiptic and the Cryptic today 🙂

15. I know lots of solvers prefer the charades, piecing together the elements bit by bit, but I have a real soft spot for clues like HEDGE FUND, GREAT SCOTT, UNINFORMED and LONG WAVE – where the answer suddenly arrives, precise and witty. Vulcan’s very good at them!
    All four also reminded me of dear Rufus, whose skill first attracted me to crosswords.
    Thank you Vulcan and Manehi.
    (The clue for 27A calls to mind the comment – & frustratingly I can’t recall who made it – that the motto of the French Navy is: “To the water, it is the hour!”)

16. What Matthew Newell @1 said.

    Thanks Vulcan and manehi

17. Very enjoyable. I smiled at SURFEIT and LONG WAVE, and was impressed with the anagrams, especially for IN DRIPS AND DRABS and TENDERISING. Many thanks Vulcan and Manehi.

18. Enjoyable, with a few tricksy bits – HOLE UP took me about as long as the rest of the puzzle as I danced around various golfing terms without twigging. I don’t think I’ve ever seen CONNEMARA written down, and now can’t think of where I’d heard it. I thought it might have been the shipping forecast, but seemingly not…

    Thanks Vulcan and manehi.

19. Wellbeck@15 – are you thinking of the motto ‘ à l’eau, c’est l’heure’ [translated as ‘To the water, it’s the hour’] but which actually sounds like ‘Hello Sailor!’?

20. Wellbeck @15 and Larry @19 – it was me who mentioned that phrase a few weeks ago, but I’m afraid it’s simply a silly Franglais joke (the real motto of the French Navy is the more serious ‘Honneur, patrie, valeur, discipline‘)

21. That was by far the quickest I’ve finished a Guardian cryptic, with almost everything in the first pass, and the few I needed to revisit having enough crossers for pennies to drop in record time.

    When I finish a puzzle so smoothly I usually say it must be a lucky ‘wavelength’ match, but today I think the puzzle was noticeably more gentle than usual (even for a Monday). Haven’t done the Quiptic yet so don’t know yet if they got mixed up on the way to the photocopier, as often happens 🙂

    Loved TENDERISING.

    Thanks both.

22. RobT@20:Well bollocks to that, I think they need to change it.

23. [nicbach @22 – I’ll see what I can do!]

24. [Larry @19 & Rob T @ 20: yes of course it isn’t the real motto!
    We live in France and, years back, probably inspired by that non-motto and others, we started occasionally peppering our private remarks to eachother with literal translations of colloquialisms. “Eh bien, je jamais”, and “he gave me a rabbit” being two that come to mind. Franglais, yes. Childish, definitely. But we can’t help it…]

25. Thanks Vulcan and manehi
    I’ll add to the praise for the anagram-spot of TENDERISING.
    I’m not seeing how “powerful” fits in 5d.

26. [Wellbeck @24 – I also live in France but it seems that every time I’ve ever told English people that particular joke, they have believed me! And we privately use a lot of Franglais wordplay too, but never in front of real French folk as they take too long to explain :)]

27. [Rob T @26: I know what you mean!!!
    One New Year’s Eve in a restaurant, we had far too many crackers so I handed some out to neighbouring tables. Then, of course, got called across to translate the “jokes”. Eventually I just gave up and confessed that most aren’t funny in English, either…]

28. All the top half went in quickly but then I got snagged for a bit on the rest.

    I did like the good anagram spot for TENDERISING, and the definitions for INSWINGER and LONG WAVE.

    Thanks Vulcan and manehi.

29. A nice gentle start to the week. Thank you Vulcan and manehi.

30. Matthew Newell @11 East and West not N and S, surely?

31. Very smooth and good to see you back michelle. Liked DRIBS AND DRABS, TENDERISING, CHIMERA, HEDGE FUND and MY LIPS ARE SEALED.

    Ta Vulcan & manehi

32. [Wellbeck@27 Is your name inspired by the controversial writer?]

33. [PeterT@32: no it isn’t.
    Have to confess, don’t know of any writer with that name. But then, as this site has shown me, my GK is often lacking…]

34. Perfect level of difficulty for a Monday, with the enjoyment enhanced by the smooth surfaces and a couple of very fine anagrams. TENDERISING, SURFEIT and RECCE were my favourites.

35. [Wellbeck@33. It always amused me that Houellebecq author of Atomised and Danny Wellbeck the footballer are homophones]

36. Thanks Vulcan and manehi

    It’s known that in his Vulcan guise Richard Browne is trying to emulate Rufus.

    TENDERISING is a definite, though possibly unconscious, nod to Rufus, who in 27101 on 23/1/17 had the reverse “Tenderising chopped-up cooking components”.

    That in turn was preceded by Arachne in 25854 on 25/1/13, where the clue was simply “Pounding ingredients”.

37. [Petert@35: ha ha!]

38. I loved this offering from Vulcan. Clever, concise and entertaining, as is the repartee above.
    Thank you Vulcan, and manehi and everyone here.

39. Well, that was fun. Except for HOLE UP which left me staring at too many possibilities for _O_E without the required golfing experience. I liked the famous Sir Walter, the powerful address, the Kentish beauty queen and the speculative investment.

    [Wellbeck@24: for some splendid examples of the English-to-literal-French translation joke, try reading Asterix Chez Les Bretons. I recall the Bretons exclaiming Je Dis! or Bonté Gracieuse! at moments of stress or surprise.]

40. V pleasant entertainment so thanks both.

    I got as far as LOI (with all the crossers) HOLE UP only to reveal it accidentally. Thought it was a nice clue (which I wasn’t solving) so a pleasure frustrated.

    muffin@25: I’d propose that ‘powerful’ is necessary to introduce any level of crypsis into the clue which would otherwise be non-cryptic and rather watery – the concept (and distraction) of a rousing oration is conjured, if only momentarily. [Again thanks for the Bunthorne help.]

    Wellbeck@24: “he gave me a rabbit”…?? Do explain pl.

41. [Incroyable! When I read this, the comments ended at @38. I was just about to make a certain book recommendation when gladys@39 popped in and took the mots out of my bouche. Ca, c’est un morceau de chance.]

42. How much French does anyone need to solve this crossword and understand the blog? My limits were CHAT and EAU.

43. Dr WhatsOn@41. You did it for me. Another genre. Worth the intro and the wait for 1 min in.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wO8toxinoc

44. [Gladys@39 & Dr WhatsOn@41: I’m madly in love with Asterix!! Some years back I made a radio programme about the importance of Asterix to the French psyche, which included an interview with Anthea Bell, one of the British translators. She told me the original writers insisted there was no need to translate too directly, and said she had the freedom to find something that was as funny in English as it had been in the original French. Somewhere in an English Asterix, there are two centurions called Sendervictorius, and Appianglorius…

    Alphalpha@40: “il m’a posé un lapin” means “he stood me up”. ]

45. Greetings from deeply frigid Chicago; it is prsently -7F/-22C. Fortunately, since it is a holiday here, I get to spend the day with a cat on my lap as I do crosswords. Unfortunately, this one only ate up 15 minutes of that, and the cat was still settling in when I was already halfway done. Still enjoyable, though!

    Last one in was LOCUM, an unfamiliar word to me. The rest of the Britishisms were either known or easily sussed out. Re INSWINGER: most cricket terms have analogous concepts in baseball–which is how I became conversant in cricket!–but I don’t think that one does. A curveball isn’t really the same thing.

46. Wellbeck@: Ah non – chouette.

47. How does NUMBER TEN mean a political speech?

    Is UPSKILL a word? It doesn’t deserve to be.

    This Franglais chat reminds me of a small book I once knew called “Mots d’heure gousse rames,” with lots of nursery rhymes in Franglais. All I remember now is that one began “Ecuries des curies d’Oc,”

    Matthew Newell @11 In some cases, we outlanders learn UK GK from crosswords. That’s where I learned OR = “men,” for instance.

    Thanks and Happy New Year to Vulcan and manehi.

48. Valentine, it doesn’t: NUMBER TEN Downing St. is the prime minister’s residence, his physical address, so the clue is a play on the two definitions of “address.”

49. Upskill is indeed – and unfortunately – a word. It’s as bad as “gift” used as a verb or “pre-loved”‘for secondhand tat.

50. I should have added that No. 10 (with no Downing St. needed) is metonymous for the Prime Ministership, in the same way that the White House is a metonym for the presidency. Though of course the exact analog would be 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

51. mrpenny@50 thanks for the word metonym which is new to me. Perhaps it will turn up in a puzzle one day. This was a perfect puzzle for me and I also completed the Quiptic. Thanks Vulcan and menahi

52. I put angered in 2d. It threw me for a bit.

53. Those wonderful PG Wodehouse golf stories helped us get 22D pronto.
    (It was a smidge colder than mrpenney’s -7F/-22C when we went for our customary morning walk here in Minneapolis. And no cat to warm us; just the crossword instead.)

54. Valentine @47, “Mots d’heure — Gousse, Rames” is indeed a treasure.
    Raseuse arrete, valet de Tsar bat loups…
    Un petit d’un petit…

    French does seem to be rather privileged in these puzzles. I keep waiting in vain for a clue requiring Esperanto…

    Only one NHO this time: LOST ONE’S RAG

55. For 16D: I understand how the wordplay produces “HEDGE” but how does it produce FUND? Making “investment” do double work as both wordplay and definition is a little clumsy, isn’t it? I also thought the repetition of SWING was clumsy too…until Manehi explained that the “W” in the cricket delivery is supplied by “with” and not by the big-band vocalist’s musical stylings.

    [Mr Penney @45: a curveball pitcher can only make a baseball swing vertically, not laterally, because of the seam. In baseball, as you know, the ball is stitched as in tennis with two figure-of-eight cups. In cricket, it is two domes with a raised seam around a circumference: when one of the domes is polished and the other is rough, air will pass over the two sides at different speeds if the seam is bowled vertically, thus producing a lateral swing]

56. Nice Monday after last week’s shock of Paul.
    Just revealed CONNEMARA, my geography of Ireland is non-existent.
    Thanks both.

57. AndrewTyndall @55, I’m afraid you are badly mistaken. Baseball pitchers can achieve significant side-to-side swing on their pitches. Modern analytics keep track of both vertical and horizontal displacement from true on each pitch, and the horizontal component can sometimes be more than 20″. A “twelve to six” curveball that drops straight down is sufficiently rare than announcers feel obliged to comment on it when it happens. I encourage you to google the term “frisbee slider”.

58. Went through this at pace this morning, only to get held up by HOLE UP. Had to reveal it in the end because I was going out …

    … to play golf.

    Buffoon!

    Thanks Vulcan and manehi.

59. Valentine @47 – I *love* Mot d’heures gousse rames! My fave is “Un petit d’un petit s’étonne aux Halles…”

    Also very much enjoyed this splendid puzzle. Thanks, Vulcan and manehi.

60. Anyone else put “enraged” for 2D, assume a typo in the clue (made mad), then solve 1, 9, etc. across later?

61. First go at the Guardian crossword for me, and I found it most enjoyable. Many nice clues and some that made me smile, with NUMBER TEN, and TENDERISING my top choices

    The top half went in quickly, although I had the wrong anagram for grenade in 2d – inserting angered instead. Thanks to Paul @60: enraged would fit just as nicely. Like a few others, the bottom half took a bit more time. It took too long to realize “radio” in 17d is not pointing to a homophone, and I am still not sold on UPSKILL.

    One last comment: I am not sure many HEDGE FUNDs would agree they are a speculative investment. But, this is crossword land after all.

    Thanks Vulcan for an enticing introduction to the Guardian and thanks to manehi for the blog

62. [Them Tates @57: thanks. I stand corrected]

63. Thanks for the blog, good puzzle in the Monday tradition. ABILITY was a nice spot and LONG WAVE is my only radio band .
    Muffin@25 , NUMBER TEN is the address of the allegedly powerful.
    Well done Michelle and good luck all week .

64. mrpenney@48 I’m well aware where the Prime Minister lives. My question was with the other half of the clue
    The blog says of this clue “cryptic definition – “address” could be read as in a political speech, rather than a location.” Well, it can, but then what is “number ten” doing in the phrase?

65. mrpenny@50 thanks for the word metonym which is new to me. Perhaps it will turn up in a puzzle one day. This one was perfect for me and I also completed the Quiptic. Thanks Vulcan and menahii

66. stevethepirate@58: thigh-slappingly good.

    AndrewTyndall@55: I think HEDGE FUND includes a cryptic definition of the money that might be put by by (by by?) a ‘home-owner seeking privacy’ to purchase the requisite hedge.

    Valentine@64: Does my comment@40 help at all?

67. Valentine @64 – “number ten” isn’t in any phrase, it’s the solution. The whole clue is simply a cryptic clue playing on 10 Downing Street being referred to as “number ten”. There are no ‘halves” to the clue 🙂

68. Alphalpa @66: so does that make it an &lit?
    Valentine @64: I agree with your confusion concerning NUMBER TEN. To my mind, Rob T @67 seems to be repeating the problem rather than clarifying it

69. Andrew @68 – ha! Sorry. I’ll try again 🙂

    The clue has no wordplay, only a definition; it is just a cryptic phrase that arrives at the solution.

    The clue cryptically alludes to NUMBER TEN (the physical address that is ‘full of power’) by playing on “powerful address” sounding like a politician’s speech.

    Helping, or hindering? 🙂

70. Rob T @69: Helping…but disappointing at the same time, because it makes the clue quite straightforward.

    If you remember Spinal Tap, in which the band cranks up the amplifier volume to eleven, I was trying to make “Number Ten” also mean “at maximum volume” so offering the double definition of a stemwinder of a speech — which, if plausible, would have made it a better clue.

71. Maybe I’m being grumpy, but I’d prefer “start of spring for some” at 10ac. I still cling to the idea that seasons change at an equinox or a solstice as I’m not a meteorologist or a climatologist.
    Thanks both.

72. Thoroughly enjoyable puzzle – thanks Vulcan and manehi. Also enjoyed the Asterix and franglais comments above. Bell’s translations were superb, with Dogmatix and Crismus Bonus et al. I particularly enjoyed Great Scott … recollections of going into the lobby of a hotel in Vienna in the 1980s and one of the staff saying, crisply, ‘Great Scott!’ I was dumbfounded till I realised that he’d said Grüß Gott.

73. Pete HA3 @71: and we should not forget that for some others of us, the season that starts in March is autumn…

74. Petert@35 it’s no coincidence: “Houellebecq” is a French rendering of “Wellbeck”.

75. AndrewTyndall@68: I’m gonna say HEDGE FUND isn’t an &lit. because the literal fund described (that set aside towards hedge purchase) could hardly be speculative?

76. TassieTim @73. I wonder if any of us crossword solvers live in Nairobi or Quito? ?

77. Pete @ 76 A former regular poster here was (I may spell this wrong) On’gara In Kenya, so at least one is possible.

78. Simon S, I hope On’gara is still with us. I enjoyed his posts.

    I share Valentine@47’s dislike of 19d UPSKILL – not the clue, which is fine, but the word. I can hear Churchill saying that it is an abomination with which he will not upput.

    Thanks Vucan and manehi for the excellent Monday fun.

79. I have completed two crosswords in one day and am thrilled. I needed help with ability and identity but could work all the rest out. It took a bit of thinking at the start but once I had enough crossers it all opened up. *gives self pat on back*
    Thanks Vulcan and Manehi

80. Congrats, QuietEars!

81. Thanks @80 Valentine!

82. Thanks, AlanC@31 and Roz@63 for your warm comments above!

83. Popping by to note that this dunce completed the Vulcan’s puzzle on the day it dropped, which is a rarity for me. As a Radio 4 listener of many years, LONG WAVE was probably my favourite, but CONNEMARA comes a close second.

    Thanks to Vulcan for a fun outing, and to manehi for explanations on the wordplay where required.

84. Very enjoyable. NE corner gave me some bother, but came back to it today and had no problems.

85. I managed about 2/3 of this before becoming completely stuck.

    A major improvement on last week which was a waste of time for me.

    MARTINI is a clue I will never get my head around.

    DARWIN eluded me.

    I had ‘CH’ as church in RECCE which mucked up a few other ones.

86. Steffen @85. We’ll done! Keep plugging away. Tin and can are virtually interchangeable, as are CH & CE. If you have a few alternatives, just think about how either of them might fit in, and what help their crossing letters might give you.

87. I never got around to golf which would explain why 22d was last in.

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