Guardian Cryptic 29,411 by Vulcan

by

Vulcan's the Monday setter.

A typical Monday Vulcan today with some clever clues, but also a couple of not very cryptic definitions. I wasn't keen on the clue fro STRANGE TO SAY, because of the "are", which was necessary for the surface, but got in the way of the cryptic wordplay, but that may be me being picky as I'm always grumpy on a Monday morning.

Thanks Vulcan.

ACROSS
1 CHAIN
Range of tea now stocked (5)

CHA ("tea") + IN ("now stocked")
4 BASTILLE
Ballet is out of place in old prison (8)

*(ballet is) [anag:out of place]
8 ALL HANDS ON DECK
Everyone help empty the cabins (3,5,2,4)

If everyone's on the deck of a ship, the cabins will be empty.
10 SLIGHTED
Insulted slim newspaper person (8)

SLIGHT ("slim") + Ed. (editor, so "newspaper person")
11 INTACT
Complete discretion after heart of business exposed (6)

TACT ("discretion") after [heart of] (bus)IN(ess)
12 FOUNDLING
Say you must interrupt caressing abandoned child (9)

U (homophone [say] of "you") must interrupt FONDLING ("caressing")
15 ULTRA
Invisible, such violet light (5)

Probably intended to be a cryptic definition, but it's barely cryptic.
17 EVENT
Yet time for something to happen (5)

EVEN ("yet") + T (time)
18 GATHERING
Crowd finally attending a music drama (9)

[finally] (attendin)G + A + THE RING (Cycle) (opera, so "music drama")
19 AT WORK
Busy couple in lifeboat (2,4)

TWO ('couple") in ARK ("lifeboat")
21 PREGNANT
Expecting such a significant pause? (8)

Double definition
24 FAMILY BUSINESS
Relatively profitable organisation? (6,8)

Mildly cryptic definition
25 REVEREND
As rector, always aim to be called this (8)

R (rector) + EVER ("always") + END ("aim") and semi &lit.
26 DOTTY
Scatterbrained, as Dorothy may be called (5)

DOTTY is a name, short for "Dorothy"
DOWN
1 CLASSIFIED AD
Ordered notice to be marked secret at the present time (10,2)

CLASSIFIED ("marked secret") + AD (anno domini, so "at the present time")
2 AT LEISURE
See ritual reproduced on holiday (2,7)

*(see ritual) [anag:reproduced]
3 NIAMH
Irish girl picking up most important husband (5)

[picking up] <=MAIN ("most important") + H (husband)
4 BUDGETING
American friend becoming heartless, organising finances (9)

BUD ("american friend") + GET(t)ING ("becoming", heartless)
5 SNOW
Hazardous weather in south today (4)

S (south) + NOW ("today")
6 INDENTURE
Contract for one new set of teeth (9)

I (one) + N (new) + DENTURE ("set of teeth")
7 LYCRA
In which cyclist may be a little painfully crashing (5)

Hidden in [a little] "painfulLY CRAshing"
9 STRANGE TO SAY
Tasty oranges are rotten, believe it or not (7,2,3)

*(tasty oranges) [anag:rotten]
13 DETER MINE
Resolve, may we infer, to encourage yours? (9)

If you DETER MINE, does that mean you "encourage yours"?
14 GET AROUND
Go visiting and buy some drinks (3,6)

GET A ROUND ("buy some drinks")
16 TRIVALENT
Competitor in camp combining with three (9)

RIVAL ("competitor") in TENT ("camp")
20 WEAVE
Leaving hospital, we have to follow winding route (5)

H (hospital) leaving WE (h)AVE
22 GRIND
Getting name into network is drudgery (5)

N (name) in GRID ("network")
23 LYRE
Rely on changing instrument (4)

*(rely) [anag:on changing]

66 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 29,411 by Vulcan”

  1. I couldn’t parse ULTRA, but now I see there really was nothing to parse.

    The Irish girl was my only head scratcher — I’m not great with Irish names. But the wordplay was straightforward.

    All else fell into place and was good fun. Thanks, Vulcan & Loonapick.

  2. Liked ALL HANDS ON DECK, DETERMINE and REVEREND.
    I share the views expressed in the blog on ULTRA and FAMILY BUSINESS.
    Thanks Vulcan and loonapick.

    STRANGE TO SAY
    Many purists won’t agree with me. Can we read it as ‘TASTY (&) ORANGES are rotten’
    to make the cryptic grammar work?

  3. Thought there would be more to ALL HANDS ON DECK than that – as loonapick says, there were some not very cryptic definitions today, and I think DETER MINE needs some kind of “opposite” indicator. TRIVALENT was neatly clued – it needed to be because it’s a word I didn’t know.

  5. Very much in the Monday tradition; I envisage very few complaints today. Only 1d held out: I had almost forgotten about classified ads. Do they still appear in the internet age? BASTILLE and AT WORK both made me smile. Personally, I’m less of a fan of the ‘definition for wordplay’ in INDENTURE.

    Thanks Vulcan and loonapick

  6. If I were to be picky, ”all hands on deck” means all of the crew to go to the deck. Usually the crew live in quarters.

  7. This felt like a typical Vulcan puzzle, mostly tightly clued with the dodgy cryptic clues, which I often find unsatisfying and wonder if I’ve got them, although I did write in ALL HANDS ON DECK.

    INDENTURE documents are amazing, I’ve seen/handled some linked to a house we were researching from the 1600s, all seals and serious language.

    Thank you to loonapick and Vulcan.

  8. 24 was forgiven for being not very cryptic, because it’s witty. But 15 really could have been better. “Top secret violet” for example.

  11. Paddymelon@9 – I doubted the singular denture, but it does exist as an alternative and we use it in the phrase “a partial denture”.
    Thanks to Vulcan and loonapick

  13. INDENTURE
    PostMark@5
    I’m less of a fan of the ‘definition for wordplay’
    This trend is here to stay, I guess. We should get used to it!

  14. Thanks Vulcan and loonapick
    Mostly very good, but I’m not accepting ULTRA – the reason that UV is invisible is that it isn’t violet.

  16. I think that witty cryptic definitions have become something of an expected feature in Vulcan’s puzzles, but it’s one of the hardest clues to pitch at the right level. Here I think two many felt as challenging as a single-piece jigsaw (“Dotty”, “Family Business”, “Ultra”, “Pregnant”) but that should not colour our opinion of the rest of the puzzle, which contained lots to like. “At Work” was a lovely spot, and I liked the Wagnerian reference and the lycra reference (let’s hope Gordon Ramsey isn’t solving this one…)

    I would say of “ultra” however that it is a very odd clue in that there is no definition. The clue defines what it gives when combined with “violet” but I don’t see anything which defines “ultra” by itself. I’m not sure I’ve seen a clue totally lacking a definition before.

  17. When the plodding ginf brain completes in under the half-hour, it will be a write-in of mere minutes for the whizzes. E.g., the famous prison should promptly rebuild itself from “ballet is”, but no, it took a round or two and some crossers. Can’t grumble, pleasant puzzle and life’s good. Thanks to Vulcan, loonapick and all Guardianistas (pinched from Puck 26420, I’m working backwards through them).

  18. Agree with the quibbles regarding Ultra and the not very cryptic clues. But an enjoyable Monday morning solve.

    Thanks Vulcan and loonapick

  19. There was a girl in my class called NIAMH, and us naughty boys thought it would be hilarious to pronounce it as Nymph. I liked PREGNANT and FAMILY BUSINESS even if they were mildly cryptic. DETERMINE needs stuck together. Typical, enjoyable fare.

    Ta Vulcan & grumpy loonapick 😉

  20. paddymelon @6, Is your objection to ALL HANDS ON DECK that the clue should read “Everyone help empty the quarters”?

    Favourite for me was REVEREND which was so close to an &lit (only “as” missing from the wordplay).

  21. My favourites were TRIVALENT, AT WORK, GATHERING and CLASSIFIED AD, but I liked most of them with a few quibblets which other people have mentioned. Many thanks to Vulcan for a gentle start to the week and to loonapick for the very clear blog. I hope you feel less grumpy as the day progresses 😎.

  22. It has to be a pretty straightforward puzzle for me to finish in time that there is still activity on the blog… But as a result nothing very remarkable clue wise! I enjoyed “At Leisure” perhaps mainly at the relief at realising the clue wasn’t a bishopric reference. I also liked determine and think ‘infer’ does enough to indicate some twist without specifying an ‘opposite’. Thanks Vulcan, loonapick et al

  23. Please don’t be grumpy, loonapick, your blogs are always excellent… even on Mondays.

    Many thanks.

  25. Liked hearing about the correct or otherwise ways that NIAMH is pronounced, Hovis@15, AlanC@19. That’s the great thing about this Guardian Fifteen Squared. Nearly always an entertaining story or anecdote, or something new learned. Last one in TRIVALENT, a new one for me today…

  26. All done and dusted. Perhaps Hovis@15 could help us with the pronunciation of some other Irish (or Scottish) names that also flummox me.

  28. Quite tough, solved only two across clues on my first pass and was hoping that the down clues might be easier 😉

    I could not parse 15ac ULTRA = invisible, with def being ‘such violet light’. Oh, I see now…

    Favourites: DETERMINE, AT WORK, TRIVALENT.

    Thanks, both.

    Hovis@15 – thanks for the info on how to pronounce Niamh. AlanC@19 – haha re Niamh pronounced as Nymph!

  31. Enjoyable Monday fare. Biggest smile for the lifeboat.

    [ JOFT@16: Having graduated from being a MAMIL to an EMIL, I am now a cycling FOSSIL (Fellow Over Sixty Still In Lycra) so I was very keen not to see the media images of the injured Mr Ramsey. ]

  33. Vulcan’s puzzles always make me smile. I’m sorry this had the opposite effect on you loonapick but thanks for the blog. Favourites were DETERMINE and AT WORK.

  35. Good Monday Vulcan. I liked TRIVALENT, AT WORK and DETER MINE. I was also interested to find out why NIAMH (where I thought ‘picked up’ was a homophone indicator) is pronounced neev.

    Thanks Vulcan and the not-so-grumpy-now loonapick.

  38. …NIAMH Cusack comes from the !rish acting dynasty, and has sisters Sinéad and Sorcha, brothers Pádraig and Paul (spot the odd man out).
    Jeremy Irons is a brother-in-law. Would you Adam ‘n’ NIAMH it? — [I’m a bot, of course, KVa@36 – 😉 ]

  40. and Sue @30 that sounds more feasible than it just being a cryptic definition. I thought there must have been something like that going on, but didn’t want to google as I’m at work!

  41. George Clements@26 – go ahead and post them. It’s always interesting to see how people think Irish names should be pronounced (Siobhán, Oisín and the like).

    I enjoyed today’s puzzle with the same minor quibbles about ULTRA. The lifeboat was probably my favourite clue, but INTACT was also excellent.

    I hope your day is improving, loonapick. Thanks for the blog, and Vulcan for the Monday fun.

  42. [FrankieG @38: I was walking along Putney Embankment a couple of years ago and two ladies in front were blocking my path. I politely requested that they let me past and was delighted when they turned around, to receive a smiling apology from Niamh and Sinead. The latter was once found holed up with George Best in a Chelsea flat, after he went awol yet again, from ManU duties].

  43. Whenever I watch the racing on TV and I see Irish bred or named horses listed on a racecard – more often in the National Hunt field – I struggle to guess at the correct pronunciation for their Irish or Gaelic? names. Until an Irish speaking commentator comes along and it slips off their tongue as easy as you please, often not at all as it might seem to be…

  44. Apparently I’m more annoyed than most about NIAMH. Is it a well-known name outside of Ireland itself, and I’m the only one to find it extremely obscure?

    Otherwise, a routinely enjoyable Monday morning puzzle.

  45. Irish names aren’t that common outside Ireland, but in the UK we’ve needed to learn how to pronounce actresses Niamh (Cusack), Siobhan (Redmond) and Saoirse (Ronan), and you do meet other traditionally spelt people from time to time – they must get so tired of either spelling their names or telling people how to say them.

  46. George @26. Can’t be a lot of help there. I do remember a character in the DC comic, ‘Legion of Super-Heroes’, called Shvaughn Erin, where her first name is based on the pronunciation of Siobahn. I don’t know if such an anglicised version exists outside the comic though.

  47. Jacobz@44: I only knew Niamh because a friend of mine married a lady of that name, with the wedding being a very good excuse to visit Galway. Otherwise I suspect I’d have been struggling. Having said that, I think most people in the UK have probably come across one or two people with Irish spellings. I was at school with a Siobhan, met a Shelagh at university and met a Seamus O’Scailaidhe (pronounced “Shay-mus O Sculley”) through work. Between that and the fabulous Gaelic names on many of the nicer Scottish whiskies I think most of us are alert to the fact that there’s often something very tricksy going on with the pronunciation.

    Outside the UK I suspect that encounters are rarer, though Seamus was in the US.

  49. A security incident at the office resulted in an evacuation to the car park for an hour but I had grabbed my copy of the crossword so got on with that meaning an earlier finish than usual. A good Monday puzzle methinks. The parsing for a couple came after the answer (at work, reverend) and I agree with ultra being somewhat weak. Trivalent new to me. Niamh I had heard of but I read ‘picked up’ as meaning oral not reversed so hesitated until I had the crossing letters. Thank you loonpick and Vulcan and I suppose the idiot who caused the incident meaning I had more time than usual…

  52. Never having met anyone with the name, I have to congratulate myself on knowing the correct pronunciation of NIAMH without looking it up! (I think it was explained in a Grauniad article a while back).

    I agree that in STRANGE TO SAY the cryptic grammar isn’t quite right, pedantically – but I let that pass.

    All went in smoothly apart from that. Liked CLASSIFIED AD – although to be pedantic (again), in the UK the term ‘classified’ covers a range of options: ‘Restricted’, ‘Confidential’, ‘Secret’, and ‘Top Secret’. The last of those is what spy-thriller writers like John le Carré latch on to, of course… 🙂 TRIVALENT was very neat – perhaps “Competitor camping…” would have served equally as well as “Competitor in camp…”

    Thanks to Vulcan and Loonapick

  53. Just the job for me – nice and quick so l can get on with setting up my new laptop. Such joy (really!) – a fab gift for Fathers Day. Very happy. Favourites were determine and at work – thanks Vulcan and loonapick

  54. I thought ‘family business’ made 24 ac a great clue, monkeys being our relatives. Still, now I know how to spell the name of my granddaughter’s best friend, Niamh.

  57. Thanks for the blog, a good puzzle for the Monday tradition. BUDGETING is very neat .
    ULTRA far too anthropocentric, many animals, especially birds ,can see in UV .

  59. Dot@58 it is a special type of clue.
    The WHOLE clue gives the definition , the WHOLE clue gives the wordplay .
    Quite rare.

  60. Dot @58 you may also see them referred to as a ‘cad’ – clue as definition – a term that some people prefer.

  61. Thanks Vulcan and Grumpy for the Monday morning merriment.

    I two liked the lifeboat at 19a AT WORK. I suspect that there might have been more than one busy couple on that particular ark.

    Wagner is not a favourite, but the clue at 18a GATHERING was. There is a ring cycle on my washing machine but I don’t use it as it takes 16 hours to complete. I’ll don my (life)jacket.

  64. AlanC@42 – Yes, I remembered the Sinéad Cusack – George Best connection. The Belfast Telegraph says that happened in 1971, and the flat was in Islington.
    (So Arsenal, rather than Chelsea – my sentiments exactly).
    Thanks V&L

  66. With respect to ultra the clue may refer to the light spectrum. ROY G BIV is called the visible spectrum (Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Indigo and Violet), Ultra Violet and Infra Red are part of the light spectrum and are therefore invisible. I hope this may help. Thanks to Vulcan and Loonapick.

Comments are closed.