Guardian 29,483 / Vulcan

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Vulcan steps predictably into his fortnightly slot with a traditional Monday medley.

There’s the usual mix of charades, anagrams and double definitions, along with several cryptic definitions, some more so than others.

I had ticks for 6ac EUROCRAT, 18ac SUPERMARKET, 25ac CAMERA, 2dn OUT OF ORDER, 14dn HYSTERIA, 16dn ABSOLUTE and 21dn ZOOM – all for the surfaces.

Thanks to Vulcan for the puzzle.

Definitions are underlined in the clues.

(This has been one of those times when my monthly Prize blog coincides with the weekly blog schedule, which is why you’ve seen me three times in a row.)

 

Across

4 Keep home for Englishman (6)
CASTLE
Double definition, the second referring to the expression, ‘An Englishman’s home is his castle’; the keep is the innermost and strongest part of a mediaeval castle

6 Worker in Brussels feeds uranium into unsafe reactor (8)
EUROCRAT
U (uranium) in an anagram (unsafe) of REACTOR

9 Grudgingly admired, having gone green? (6)
ENVIED
Cryptic definition, referring to the expression ‘to go green with envy’

10 Modest changes I see announced involving the family (8)
DOMESTIC
An anagram (changes) of MODEST + I C (sounds like – announced – ‘I see’)

11 Block of prime importance, but not central (11)
CORNERSTONE
Cryptic definition

15 Going up mountain? (7)
VOLCANO
Cryptic definition

17 Song about an aromatic plant (7)
DITTANY
DITTY (song) round AN – a new one for me

18 Silly remark upset consumer here? (11)
SUPERMARKET
An anagram (silly) of REMARK UPSET

22 Series about fungus, not really to catch fire (8)
SMOULDER
SER (series) round MOULD (fungus)

23 Manager installs a piece of office equipment (6)
COPIER
COPER (manager) round I (one = a? – have we seen this before?)

24 Conceded grabbing hand is dead wrong (8)
ADMITTED
An anagram (wrong) of DEAD round MITT (slang for hand)

25 Beer lovers entertain English film maker (6)
CAMERA
CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale – beer lovers) round E (English)

 

Down

1 Run from church in warm coat (6)
FLEECE
FLEE (run from) + CE (Church of England)

2 Dismissed from religious fraternity for not working (3,2,5)
OUT OF ORDER
Double definition

3 Campaign to arouse emotions in people over time (8)
MOVEMENT
MOVE (arouse emotions) + MEN (people) + T (time)

4 Forcing ice cover to crack (8)
COERCIVE
An anagram (to crack) of ICE COVER

5 Critically cut off isle (8)
SEVERELY
SEVER (cut off) + ELY (isle) – a nice change from ‘see’

7 In habitual procedure sent a letter to be read aloud (4)
ROTE
Sounds like (to be read aloud) of ‘wrote’ (sent a letter)

8 Nail sailor’s course (4)
TACK
Double definition

12 Sections of musicals, the finest examples (10)
SHOWPIECES
SHOW PIECES (sections of musicals)

13 Returned to launch boomerang (8)
BACKFIRE
BACK (returned) + FIRE (to launch)

14 Uncontrollable excitement is unusual this year (8)
HYSTERIA
An anagram (unusual) of THIS YEAR

16 Unqualified, sadly bales out (8)
ABSOLUTE
An anagram (sadly) of BALES OUT

19 A maxim with no principles (6)
AMORAL
A MORAL (a maxim)

20 Huge area secured by Vespasian (4)
ASIA
Contained in vespASIAn

21 Rush to call over the net (4)
ZOOM
Double definition

65 comments on “Guardian 29,483 / Vulcan”

  2. Great Monday crossword. Podium places for ADMITTED, CAMERA & MOVEMENT

    DIidn’t know about the Isle of Ely but happy to find out. See also DITTANY

    Cheers V&E

  3. That was fun. I had never heard of DITTANY, but it was fairly clued. Nice misdirection with “unqualified” for ABSOLUTE, and generally an enjoyable puzzle for a Monday. I wish this had been yesterday’s Quiptic!

    Thanks very much Vulcan and Eileen.

  4. Some nice clues, though not over impressed by VOLCANO or SHOWPIECES. Otherwise, good Monday fare. Many thanks Vulcan and Eileen…

  6. Vulcan continues to set fair dependable crosswords in the Monday slot.

    I liked the surface for HYSTERIA, COPIER rang faint bells and I needed the crossers for VOLCANO, but I find cryptic definitions either click on first read (ENVIED) or go in last.

    Thank you to Eileen or Vulcan.

  7. Thanks Vulcan and Eileen
    I’m not impressed by VOLCANO either, and wondered about A for I in 23a. EUROCRAT my favourite – lovely image!

  8. Thank you Eileen. I wonder how long Vulcan has been saving up the clue for VOLCANO. Made me laugh, in a Christmas cracker way.

  10. I found this very tough. I failed 25ac – never heard of CAMRA = Campaign for Real Ale although I guess Inspector Morse was a member 😉
    I was unsure how to parse 15ac but suspected it was a cd.
    Favourite: FLEECE.
    New for me: Isle of ELY (for 5d).
    I have heard of DITTANY via Harry Potter books 🙂

    Thanks, both.

  11. Shanne @6

    COPIER rang faint bells for me, too, but I forgot to go back and look it up. I’ve just found it, in a Picaroon puzzle from last month:
    “Person who manages to fix one office machine (6)”
    which I’ve no problem with.

  12. An excellent puzzle with some clever anagrams and smooth surfaces. DITTANY was new to me too but very gettable.

    I suppose a=one=I in COPIER is a double-step but personally I thought it was ok.

    Many thanks Vulcan and Eileen.

  13. 11@Eileen- I read the ‘i’ as ‘a piece of office’, with ‘office’ therefore having two roles in the clueing? I’m sure your explanation is correct, but I share your slight misgivings. Overall definitely not a write in for me, but I always enjoy Vulcan; thanks to him and Eileen!

  15. PS I was expecting muffin to argue that the isle is not Ely, the isle is the Isle of Ely. Furthermore it’s not even an actual isle! 🙂

  16. Many thanks Vulcan and Eileen. I thought SUPERMARKET, OUT OF ORDER and HYSTERIA were excellent. VOLCANO was a bit of a damp squib for me I’m afraid 🌋. EUROCRAT made me smile 😎

  17. Eurocrat is a neat neo, and tho kinda inevitable I’ve not met it before. Didnt mind Going up mountain, just a bit quirky is all. The herb was a nho so guess, but the real ale folk’ve been here before I’m sure. Nice puzzle, ta VnE.

  18. Yes, some people don’t like one = a, but it’s in Bradford’s and the Chambers Crossword Dictionary. “I have 3 bicycles and 1/a car”, for example. I thought this was a pleasant Monday solve.

    I liked the wordplays for DOMESTIC and ADMITTED, the VOLCANO cd, and the good anagrams for SUPERMARKET and HYSTERIA.

    Thanks Vulcano and Eileen.

  19. I don’t have a problem with a = one(I).

    a1….. adj the indefinite article, a broken down form of an1 used before a consonant sound. [OE ān one]

    an1 adj one…….. [OE ān; see one]

  21. I found the cryptic defs slightly harder to crack than the others – that’s always a wavelength thing – and DITTANY was unknown to me too though, as others have observed, fairly clued. SUPERMARKET, HYSTERIA and CAMERA are my podium.

    Thanks Vulcan and Eileen

  22. Delightful puzzle, accessible, lovely surfaces, clever misdirections.
    Lovely blog from Eileen, as always.
    DITTANY, CAMRA and the fact the ELY is called Isle of Ely, were all new to me and good to know. I worked those clues out from definition or word play. Thanks Eileen for links to all three.
    Favourites were ZOOM for the misdirection and EUROCRAT for the surface.
    I also enjoyed CASTLE (first in), VOLCANO, HYSTERIA, ADMITTED.
    Thanks to Vulcan and Eileen.

  24. Robi @ 18
    One = a is commonplace but what we have here is a = one = letter I – a double step, as Lord Jim says. ( I may have to come back to this when I get home: I’m sitting at the surgery waiting for a blood test!)

  25. Eileen @ 24 – I’m sure we’re all hoping it’s nothing to worry about. Re today’s Vulcan, though, what an ugly grid!

  26. When I first starting going to the annual CAMRA Cambridge Beer Festival (going for over 50 years now, held in May) I used to think that the CAM bit referred to Cambridge, rather than to the word Campaign…

  28. Thanks Eileen and Vulcan. This felt just about right for a Monday cryptic. NHO: DITTANY. LOI: COPIER (Do people say “She’s a good coper”? – I guess so). Favourites: CASTLE, EUROCRAT, SHOWPIECES. Didn’t really like: VOLCANO, BACKFIRE and I needed Eileen to parse CAMERA

  30. This confirms that Mondays are no longer a soft touch. The right hand side was straightforward enough but the left proved my downfall. Soundly beaten today but still enjoyable.

    Ta Vulcan & Eileen.

  31. Nice puzzle, faves EUROCRAT and CAMERA.

    Re 21d, I would call someone but Zoom with them, but I think if you leave out the target it just about works.

    Thanks

  32. The Isle of Ely is so called because it used to be an actual island surrounded by fenland, making it an effective redoubt and the site of several battles. The fens were drained in the seventeenth century but the name has happily persisted.

  33. I found a few of the clues a little harder to crack than I should have. I think I was getting too confident after solving the Prize on Saturday (especially as it was a Paul with a keystone clue: my least favourite type of puzzle). Seeing Vulcan in the Monday slot I thought this was going to be a breeze in comparison, but for some reason my brain seems to be in a lower gear today. I’d also not heard of DITTANY, though I guessed it. My favourites were VOLCANO and EUROCRAT. With thanks to Vulcan and Eileen.

  34. I’ve heard “a man’s home is his castle,” without specifying that he is English. But that’s not surprising, since around here few of us are Englishmen.

  35. Nuntius@33. I’ve never made much progress with the Prize. Only coped with 3.5 clues for the reason you state – everything hangs on 26, 27 across. [Arms spread in helpless gesture emoji].

  36. Dr. WhatsOn@31
    ZOOM
    Felt there was something odd…
    After reading your post, I realise there is possibly a transitive-intransitive issue.

  37. Ricardo@35: It wasn’t until I was a third of the way through the puzzle that the penny finally dropped on 26/27; but it might never have done and I think I’d have given up. I look forward to the blog on Saturday.

  38. The inaccessibility of The Isle of Ely was one of the reasons The Normans had such bother with Hereward The Wake in the 11thC. A shadowy historical character, rather in the same mould as Robin Hood nearly a couple of centuries later…

  40. Please don’t be put off the excellent Prize by Ricardo@35’s ‘everything hangs on 26/27’ – it was almost my LOI.

  41. @11,12,13,18,19,24 Eileen,Robi, LordJim, TimC – sorry to bang on about 23ac but the more I think about it the less I reckon Vulcan would ever sanction a double step, surely the ‘i’ is a ‘piece of office’?

  42. @37 Nuntius and @40 MikeB
    Thanks for the encouragement on Prize. 4 down suddenly jumped out at me and 26/27 across became clear immediately. I’m expecting the rest to fall like dominoes 😬 (not).

  43. nuntius, Ricardo, Mike B

    Please, no more discussion, however vague or cryptic, about the Prize crossword, in accordance with Site Policy.

  45. Is being envious really grudgingly admiring? I don’t think it’s what the proponents of ‘politics of envy ‘ had in mind.
    My wife is an amateur botanist, so DITTANY was no problem.

  46. Zoot @45 – re 9ac

    My eyebrows were raised, too and I was rather surprised to find very similar entries (for envy):
    Collins: ‘a feeling of grudging or somewhat admiring discontent aroused by the possessions, achievements or qualities of another’
    Chambers: ‘a feeling of discontent at the good looks, qualities, fortune etc of another; an object or person contemplated with grudging or envious feelings’

  49. muffin@29, I think CAMRA started as the Campaign for the Revitalisation of Real Ale before settling on the Campaign for Real Ale. Are you thinking of the Society for the Preservation of Beers from the Wood, which is still going?

  50. wrt the a/one/i discussion — I remember reading some time ago somewhere or other that The Listener allows a=i (one) but daily cryptics (Times I suppose) doesn’t. I wonder what the Guardian style guide says about this if antyhing (I’m sure there’s a setter lurking here… 🙂

  51. Eileen @46 Doesn’t it seem odd that Chambers should use the word ‘envious’ to help define the word ‘envy’?

  52. Zoot@51 that reminds me of Knuth’s Art of Computer Programming. In the index, Circular Definition and Definition, Circular point to each other. It must be a recursive dictionary entry 😂

  53. Zoot @51 – yes, that struck me, too but that’s a secondary definition: ‘envy / envious’ has already been defined. I included it only because it, too, contains ‘grudging’.

  54. The things I learn from the cryptics. Today it was the difference between cask and keg ale (I always thought a keg was just a small cask), the pre-drainage (non)isle of Ely, and that I is two steps away from A. (If I is two steps from A , then E is one step away.)

    We get spoiled when the rotation results in three Eileen blogs in a row. Thanks Vulcan and Eileen for the informative puzzle and blog.

  56. This seemed to take me a long time. Don’t know why as I’ve been both a EUROCRAT and a Camra member in the past. Must be all that beer slowing me down. Anyway, all good stuff (notwithstanding a couple of raised eyebrows for COPIER and VOLCANO) and I thought OUT OF ORDER was very nice.

  58. Nice puzzle. 15 could do with an “occasionally” at the start. I share the reservations about 23. I find it interesting that if you change sent to send in 7, you get a clue for RITE instead. Pays to read clues carefully!
    Thanks, Eileen and Vulcan.

  59. I seem to be pickier than others when it comes to anagrinds. I really don’t like “unsafe”, for instance, but no one else has mentioned it.

    Like Eileen and others, I also wondered about A = I.

    But these are quite minor. Other than these small quibbles, I quite enjoyed this Monday cryptic.

  60. Thank you for the blog.

    Can someone please explain 15a? I do not understand VOLCANO at all.

    Failed with a lot of these. I’ve never heard of CAMRA.

    3d, 5d, 12d were too good for me, amongst a good few others!

  61. Hi Steffen, a volcano is a mountain that “goes up”, or explodes, in other words.
    I also found this very tricky, and had not heard of CAMRA either.
    Thanks to Vulcan for the challenge and to Eileen for the thoughtful explanations.

  63. Lechien@49
    In the 70s I worked in an office with several members of the Society for the Prervation of Beers from the Wood. Failure to wear the tie on a Friday resulted in having to buy the others a pint. Current members must be very dedicated. There can’t be many pubs that sell beer from wooden barrels.

  64. Dittany was a write-in for me, as I was doing a puzzle in Chambers Book of Araucaria Crosswords Vol 3 at the weekend with this clue ‘Plant secreting oil for article in song’

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