Guardian 29,435 – Vulcan

64 comments on “Guardian 29,435 – Vulcan”

1. Such a relief after last week. Thanks Vulcan and Andrew!

2. Hmm. I was a bit underwhelmed by this one. Too many fairly loose clues . I kept looking for theme or extra to justify what I felt was not up to Vulcans usual high standard. Probably just me on a Monday morning already missing the weekend

   Thanks Vulcan and Andrew.

3. I suspect HELICOPTER may have been done in a similar form before but it’s a great anagram.
   Eyebrows raised as usual equating rap with music in THERAPY.
   A pleasant solve despite some weak CDs and a couple of others.

4. Back to normal – a nice easy one for a Monday.
   Thank you Vulcan and Andrew.

5. Liked the cryptic defs. COTD: PLANELOAD. Other faves: LEAST, FIDDLER and HADES.
   FORTIES didn’t appeal to me (due to the second def).

   Thanks Vulcan and Andrew.

6. Hear-hear MAC089 @1. The prize on Saturday nearly drove me bonkers.

   SW corner last to yield today, with RETURNS & LEAST nicely wrapped up.

   Many thanks, both.

7. Almost gave up in SW corner. Glad I managed to complete this puzzle 🙂

   Favourites: RESTART, ARTLESS, PAGEANT.

   New for me: m.y. = motor yacht; GO-FASTER STRIPES; ANGEL = nurse (7d).

   I could not parse the STON bit of 12ac. I thought of stone broke but did not realise that stone and stony on their own can mean broke.

   Thanks, both.

8. Didn’t like this much. I didn’t finish, and there were more groans than smiles. MY for motor yacht? I felt sure that there would be something clever in PLANELOAD, but there wasn’t. SPHERE & LEAST were disappointing. MOSEL is the German spelling — we usually call it MOSELLE, don’t you? And I’ve never heard of 4d — my days as a hoon are long since past.

   PAGEANT was probably my favourite.

9. … dencha just love our language? GDu’s never heard of Go Faster Stripes – and I’ve never heard of ‘hoon’.

   Nor probably, have most of us north if the equator.

   https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoon

   My only visit to Australia found me perplexed when I was asked which Aussie Rules team I barracked for – ’cause ‘to barrack’ means ‘to support’ down under!

   Hey Ho!

10. … doncha just love our language? GDu’s never heard of Go Faster Stripes – and I’ve never heard of ‘hoon’.

    Nor probably, have most of us north if the equator.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoon

    My only visit to Australia found me perplexed when I was asked which Aussie Rules team I barracked for – ’cause ‘to barrack’ means ‘to support’ down under!

    Hey Ho!

11. An enjoyable solve for my part. A couple of my favourites have already been mentioned but I also ticked 20a DISCOURAGE and 16d FIDDLER. With thanks to Vulcan and Andrew.

12. Thanks Vulcan and Andrew
    I didn’t see “stony” either, or “nurse” = ANGEL. The “in” in 21a is unfortunate.
    After a delayed parse of RESTART, it became my favourite.

13. Easy, with some clever insertions and anagrams, but I found some of the double defs and in particular 24 disappointing – LEAST can also mean “minimum” which reduces the clue to a literal one.

14. I always enjoy Vulcan’s puzzles and this was a relief after last week. They do take some brain stretching but the clues are fair and clever. I had to remember listening to the radio weather forecast as a child to come up with FORTIES. Thanks Vulcan and Andrew.

15. Though certainly more straightforward than last week’s triad I didn’t race through this – I was fooled into believing many of the CDs and DDs were charades, which held me up. SE quadrant the last to yield for me.

    DISCOURAGE was my COD – good construction and surface.

    Thanks to Vulcan and Andrew

16. I was thinking of the Roaring Forties for the see srea, but the British one is more obvious.

17. This was reminiscent of Rufus of old, I thought; in particular some whimsical (and possibly slightly loose) cryptic definitions. Tend to agree with muffin @12 that it was a pity not to have “School affected by drugs”, but that’s a minor grouse. While it took me quite a while to get going, it proved to be a steady and not too demanding solve for the most part, certainly by comparison with some of the brain-benders we’ve seen from the Graun recently.
    Thanks to Vulcan and Andrew.

18. [I wondered for a moment if GDU was a former Labour Defence Secretary] Ashamed to say I couldn’t quite see the reasoning for LEAST, but a pleasant crossword for me.

19. Some lovely anagrams in PERSONA NON GRATA and HELICOPTER, plus some amusing charades. I liked the GO-FASTER STRIPES and DISCOURAGE, AMNESTY was neat – yes, I did know MY = Motor Yacht (lots of boats in my past). Plus RESTART when I worked it out amused me. I also saw the stony in ASTON VILLA although I needed all the crossers (I’d been too busy trying to find an anagram using broke as the anagrind)

    There’s always one or two cryptic definitions in Vulcan, which I find a bit meh. I suspect that’s me because I know that the way my brain works means I usually find the jigsaw clues easier than cryptic definitions (not always, some I see immediately and laugh), so it’s usual I don’t always get along well with Vulcan’s cryptic definition clues (I didn’t find Rufus easy either).

    Thank you to Andrew and Vulcan.

20. Still a novice @ 10, I must admit, I didn’t know “hoon” was homegrown! We’ve both learnt something today. 😉

21. 16d FIDDLER “On The Roof” (1964, a 60th (Diamond) anniversary)

22. 7d ANGELUS took me back to the ’60s, too, to summer holidays in Dublin, where all the Catholic churches rang their bells at noon and six.
    It used to be – and still is, I find – on the telly, just before the news:
    ‘The daily “Angelus” broadcast on RTÉ One is by far RTÉ’s longest-running and most watched Religious programme. It’s also, possibly, the most controversial. For some, the reflective slot, which airs for just one minute in every 1440 per day and on only one RTÉ TV channel, is as much part of Ireland’s unique cultural identity as the harp on your passport; for others, it’s an anachronism – a reminder of more homogeneously and observantly Christian times.’

23. Thanks V&A – 1967 – “Alfie Bass – 4th Great Year – Already Seen by 27 Million People!”

24. Thought there were one or two underwhelming clues here this morning – HEAT and HIGH for example. But nice to see GO FASTER STRIPES appear. Trap 6 in greyhound racing often gets dubbed this by commentators because of the stripey jacket the six dog wears. And also maybe because that greyhound has further to travel from its outside draw…

25. I enjoyed this, mostly because I found it largely achievable despite a couple I couldn’t get. Liked the gallery heist and the go faster stripes. Having lived the first 17 years of my life in the UK and then migrated to Australia I know both the stripes and the hooning, and was able to dredge up Aston Villa from the depths on account of my soccer loving brother. Thanks setter and blogger 🙂

26. Well goodness, Greyhound posts straight after ronald’s nice reference to the 6 dog, what are the chances? I really enjoyed the two long’uns and a few others. I thought HEAT was the only dud.

    Ta Vulcan & Andrew.

27. I knew 13a had to be LEAST but had to come here to find out why. And I must now go back to the Guardian site and correct ACED (one + day, but why “thunderstruck?”) to AWED. Great anagrams for PERSONA NON GRATA and HELICOPTER.

    GO-FASTER STRIPES reminded me of this.

28. Those confused by “area of sea” in Forties should acquaint themselves with the UK Shipping areas in the weather forecasts made famous in the film Kes… Fisher, German Bight, Cromarty. FORTIES is to the east of Fisher, north-east of German Bight and west of Cromarty.

29. FORTIES
    Thanks Tim C@28.
    I didn’t see the link in the blog. Apologies.
    I was thinking about the Roaring FORTIES and so thought it wasn’t a great def.
    The shipping area reference makes sense.

30. Apologies Andrew, as you’d already linked to that in your blog. I think the Kes reference was worth it though.

31. Thanks muffin@16, from the northern hemisphere. I also immediately thought of the Roaring Forties, closer to home. I’ve been on a ship in the Roaring Forties, and it certainly was roaring, but I like to rock’n’roll.

    My problem was what was the high temperature, Fahrenheit or Celsius, given it’s a British crossword, but it turns out I’m about 55 years behind the times! I take it that 40 degrees is a high temperature for humans on the thermometer, rather than the weather. Down here, 40 deg C is very warm, ok hottish, in the shade, but there are much higher temperatures. I don’t live in the Outback, but I had 46 deg C in my house, and the (unlit) candles melted, as did I.

32. Good Monday offering with the usual smattering of cds.

    I liked the surface for DISCOURAGE, the anagrams for PERSONA NON GRATA and HELICOPTER, and the wordplay for MUSTANG.

    Thanks Vulcan and Andrew, and Ronald @24 for the interesting greyhound racing information.

33. Hear hear to rock’n’roll in the Roaring 40s, pdm @31. They blew the odd flying Dutchman here too. Nice Mundy puzzle, ta VnA.

34. As for 40°C and getting hotter, scary …

35. Good Monday fare, thank goodness and thanks both.

36. Enjoyable puzzle for a Monday, with excellent surfaces. DISCOURAGE was probably my favourite.

    I was wondering if you could call HELICOPTER a CAD, but perhaps it’s more of an extended definition.

    Absolutely nothing wrong with HIGH in my book – “in” is a normal link word between wordplay and definition, or as here between two definitions. You find one in the other.

    Many thanks Vulcan and Andrew.

37. Lord Jim @36
    Do you agree that NeilH’s suggestion is better?

    School affected by drugs (4)

38. By coincidence I watched Fiddler on the Roof just yesterday, otherwise I might have stared at 16D for a long while, not previously having heard of the crab.

    Enjoyable Monday fare, thank you Andrew and Vulcan.

39. Nice puzzle.

    AGED works for 11a (LATE), with the understanding that someone who is old is “not dead yet!”.

    RAP is music?. According to my younger son, when he was 8: “The C is silent in rap”.

40. NeilH@17
    HIGH
    Your clue is neater.

    Lord Jim@36
    HELICOPTER
    Agree with you it reads like an extended def.

    HADES
    This one is probably a CAD (shade=the spirit or ghost of a dead person, residing in the underworld).

41. I found this harder than the usual Vulcan, but enjoyed many clues.

    Thanks Vulcan and Andrew.

42. For 23D I had TEST (“SET up” = “Elevated” and T for “temperature.” And to TEST someone is to pressure them). Actually liked it better.

43. Gladys@27. Go Faster Stripes made me think of the Perishers too. When our daughter’s dog peers into our garden pond we remember the Eyeballs in the Sky, although in this case it’s frogs, not crabs.

44. followers of cricket in England know of “hoon” driving as Kevin Peterson was done for it in a Lamborghini lent him by Shane Warne.
    go-faster stripes possibly originated by Ford’s racing livery for the GT 40,
    allegedly tested at 200 mph on the M1, triggering the introduction of the national 70 mph limit.

45. Thanks for the blog, buen dias a todos y todas ,I thought this was just right for the Monday tradition. A couple of very neat anagrams, FORTIES my favourite , I listen to the Shipping Forecast every day and know the order off by heart .

46. I got quite excited by 1a thinking it would be an anagram of horse inside ST ie East Enders. Then I remembered it was Vulcan and under rather than over thinking would be needed

    Cheers V&A

47. MY for motor yacht has appeared before

    I was so irritated by it at the time that it obviously stuck in my mind 🙂

48. Bodycheetah@46: me too. Has anyone used the EasT enders trick? It’s potentially a good one, and sounds like something Philistine might try.

49. Of course, here in the land of Fahrenheit, the forties are sorta chilly. You’d need a medium-weight jacket, but not your winter coat.

50. Did anyone else have HEART for 10A? “Hearth” with no end turns into a term of affection: one’s delight may be one’s (sweet) heart.

51. Yes!!! The puzzle world is no longer upside down as we get some ‘normal’ Monday fare which was very enjoyable. I have the same miniscule gripes about some of the clues but they should not detract from the overall quality of the quiz. The jumbo clue took ages to figure out when it was there in plane sight.

    [As an aside, I was doing some research for a friend who was visiting the Clink prison museum in Southwark today, in Clink Street no less. Among the interesting facts I gleaned, many others (Marshalsea, Clink and Kings Bench) were all clustered around the same area of London. Also, that Stoney Street which I know well as it’s the main road through Borough Market and leads to Clink Street and according the the Wiki entry for Debtor’s Prison gave rise to the term Stoney Broke as the entrance to the Clink was on this street, although Andrew Robinson Stoney is quite a rake too. ]

52. I didn’t know MY for “motor yacht”, but then I don’t move in circles where I would need such an abbreviation.

    I got stuck in the SE, failing to get PLANELOAD and HEAT. This seemed to me tougher than the usual Monday Vulcan, but perhaps that’s just me.

53. muffin, sorry, only just seen your comment @37. Neil’s suggestion is fine, and I suppose it is (slightly) more short and sweet. But I didn’t think Vulcan’s version needed amending in the first place! 🙂

54. I made harder work of this than I needed to – took me a while to get on Vulcan’s wavelength today and made life unnecessarily completed by, for example, thinking Eastenders meant e and t. Once I tuned in, things got a bit easier although nho angelus and epitome as a summary. Ticks for pageant, sphere, helicopter and fiddler amongst others.
    I was commenting on Everyman yesterday about whether a saxophone is a horn or woodwind or both. I said it wasn’t an orchestral instrument and then three turned up in the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra during yesterday’s summer concert…
    Thank you Andrew and Vulcan

55. As a solver from the states, is the Forties sea area the same place as where the Forties oil field is/was?

56. Jay@55. Pretty much. Both 100 miles or so roughly north east of Aberdeen. The oil field dates from 1970 but the shipping area was much earlier based on the fact most of it was around 40 fathoms deep. At least that’s what the internet says…!

57. Thanks Pianoman!

58. Btw – in the small world of shipping MY is fine for Motor Yacht. Most vessels will be designated as Type + Name. The type almost always abbreviated. M (motor) or S (Steam not used much as not many left) and S (ship) V (vessel) T (tanker) Y (yacht) etc.

    Not exactly widely used or known – but definitely extant as term of art

59. Having been on holiday with no time to read the Guardian, never mind the crossword, this was a very nice welcome back. Yes, it was fairly easy, but no less enjoyable for that. Several solves led to an appreciative nod: ART LESS and REST ART, for example, had inventive definitions, and even the very simple HEAT, FIDDLER and DISCOURAGE (when I finally put the pieces in the right order) earned a smile.

    I failed on the same one as Gladys@27, with ACED fitting the wordplay, and the definition seemingly apt if one thinks of a tennis player on the receiving end of an unplayable service.

    Thanks to Vulcan and Andrew.

60. Andrew @50: I also had HEART and thought it nicely clever. Never heard of an INGLE so took forever to disabuse myself.

61. didn’t love fiddler, can anyone explain why scraping is part of it?

62. Helen@61. The action of playing a violin, particularly if done without finesse, is often described as “scraping” the bow across the strings.

63. comments insinuating that “rap” cannot be “music” are so indicative of the rampant gatekeeping in the cryptic community. Some people seem to be unable to abide the idea of somebody under the age of 75 attempting one of these – Why? To what gain?

64. [A very late earworm for 7d:
    ‘…But the ANGELUS bell(s) o’er the Liffey ’s swell(s) | Rang out in The Foggy Dew‘ – sung by Sinéad O’Connor with The Chieftains in 1995.]

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