Guardian Cryptic 29,489 by Dynamo

by

An enjoyable mix of clues and a number of nice surfaces in Dynamo’s second Monday appearance. I particularly liked 11ac, 2dn, 3dn, and 5dn. Thanks to Dynamo

ACROSS
4 SECURE
Copper right to enter spot – it’s safe (6)
CU (chemical symbol for “Copper”) + R (right); both inside SEE=to notice=”spot”
6 VIBRATED
Violet ladies’ underwear? Theodore trembled (8)
VI (shortening of the name Violet) + BRA=”ladies’ underwear” + TED (short for Theodore)
9 GROUSE
Beef meat (6)
double definition: to “Beef” can mean to grumble; or, the “meat” of the grouse game bird
10 SWINGING
Spilling the beans about women engaging in group sex (8)
SINGING=confessing=”Spilling the beans”, around W (women)
11 PATRON SAINT
Guardian is not partisan, after editing (6,5)
anagram/”after editing” of (not partisan)*
15 SHAMPOO
Cleaner in Post Office wearing fake ring (7)
PO (Post Office), inside SHAM=”fake” + O=”ring” shape
17 TADPOLE
Little person from Warsaw one’s seen in a pond (7)
a TAD=a “Little”; plus POLE=”person from Warsaw [in Poland]”
18 KILLER WHALE
Deadly creature – he’ll like war, possibly (6,5)
anagram/”possibly” of (he’ll like war)*
22 PRESS-UPS
Rumpus periodically follows media exercises (5-3)
regular/periodic letters taken from [R]-U-[m]-P-[u]-S; after PRESS=”media”
23 ARDOUR
A Republican forbidding passion (6)
A (directly from surface) + R (Republican) + DOUR=”forbidding”
24 VOLTAIRE
Awful love rat entertaining one satirical Frenchman (8)
definition: French philosopher Voltaire [wiki] known for satire such as Candide

anagram/”Awful” of (love rat)*, around I=”one”
25 ARGYLE
Maybe bitter about odd parts of rugby jersey’s pattern? (6)
ALE=”Maybe [a] bitter” + around odd letters from R-[u]-G-[b]-Y
DOWN
1 FRESCO
Painting outer parts of foyer enhances casino (6)
outer letters from F-[oye]-R E-[nhance]-S C-[asin]-O
2 TIN WHISTLE
Some achievement in whist, leading? You might blow it (3,7)
hidden in (“Some” of): [achievemen]-T IN WHIST LE-[ading]
3 URINATED
Weed in nature I’d cultivated (8)
definition: ‘weed’ as the past tense of to wee

anagram/”cultivated” of (nature I’d)*
4 SIGNPOST
E.g. envy about good job, one providing info for drivers (8)
SIN=”E.g. envy” around G (good); plus POST=”job”
5 CROATIAN
Split personality, perhaps, of actor in a shot (8)
definition refers to Split, the city in Croatia

anagram/”shot” of (actor in a)*
7 TOIL
Leader of Tories, crude for Labour (4)
leading letter of T-[ories] + OIL=”crude” as in crude oil
8 DOGS
Scoundrels perform leads in Gilbert and Sullivan (4)
DO=”perform” plus leading letters of G-[ilbert] and S-[ullivan]
12 SPOILSPORT
Loot left aboard for killjoy (10)
SPOILS=”Loot” + PORT=”[the] left [side, when] aboard [a ship]”
13 ROTATORY
Rubbish by a Conservative using spin (8)
ROT=”Rubbish” + A TORY=”a Conservative”
14 REHEARSE
Run through outskirts of Rochdale on black car (8)
outer letters of R-[ochdal]-E + HEARSE=”black car”
16 PAKISTAN
Asian country’s king, in pain, sat awkwardly (8)
K (king, chess notation), in anagram/”awkwardly” of (pain sat)*
19 WAR CRY
Suspicious about the king’s call to arms (3,3)
WARY=”Suspicious” around CR (Charles Rex, “king”)
20 SPIV
Wide boy and dignitaries turning up (4)
definition: someone of questionable trustworthiness

VIPS (Very Important Person, plus S for plural)=”dignitaries”, reversed “up”
21 SEAL
Whiskery aquatic mammal in the deep lake (4)
SEA=”the deep” + L (lake)

74 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 29,489 by Dynamo”

  1. Lovely surfaces throughout with lots of humorous solutions made this a joyful start to Monday. CROATION, TADPOLE, PATRON SAINT, SHAMPOO and URINATED were amongst many likes.

    Ta Dynamo & mahehi.

  2. Really good Monday puzzle, I enjoyed this. Not too hard (it’s Monday after all) but some nice clues still and not a dodgy CD in sight. I particularly enjoyed URINATE, and I would have enjoyed the “split personality” trick more if Paul (I think?) hadn’t used it to clue Goran Ivanisevic a few months back! Not 100% sure in what context violet is “vi” but I guess there is one.

    Is this only the second dynamo? I’d be very happy to see more. Thanks for the blog and puzzle.

  3. This was brilliant – lovely Monday-ish crossword with great surfaces, but approachable.

    I’d be happy to recommend this to the new solvers from the Quick Cryptic as something to try – and for me it would have fitted well in the Quiptic spot.

    Violet as a woman’s / girl’s name is shortened to Vi – it’s one of those older names that’s coming back. I know a few very young Violets, and it was one of my grandmother’s middle names.

    Thank you to Dynamo and manehi.

  4. Yes, a gentle delight from Dynamo (new ?) to start the week. I don’t generally pay much attention to surfaces but many of these were so well-crafted they deserve a mention; FRESCO, ROTATORY and DOGS

    And nice to see Charles getting an outing in WAR CRY

    I think we’ve scene the “split personality” before but it bears repeating

    Cheers D&M

  5. I’m beginning to like Dynamo’s style.
    Asian in Australia I think is more thought of as S.E. Asian (I may be wrong) so “Asian Country” always makes me think of PAKISTAN, India and the like last.
    Favourite has to be URINATED for the great surface.

  7. A very welcome start to the week, on its own merits as a fun and accessible puzzle, and also following yesterday’s miscategorised quiptic.

  9. bodycheetah@4
    From Andrew’s blog (August 19, 2024)
    A new setter today, or at least a new pseudonym. DYNAMO is famously an anagram of MONDAY, which may be significant.

    Edit: manehi has mentioned that it’s Dynamo’s second Monday appearance. I missed that. Sorry.

  11. Nice and gentle with some very pleasing surfaces. I agree with manehi’s list of favourites and would add to it KILLER WHALE and SEAL.

    Thanks Dynamo and manehi

  12. Very nice and gentle this morning, with some lovely smooth surfaces and sharp definitions. Liked both the potentially misleading Weed and Split for URINATED and CROATIAN…

  13. Fun puzzle with some very welcome humour in the clues.

    Many favourites today: TADPOLE, ARGYLE, URINATED, VIBRATED, SWINGING, ROTATORY, REHEARSE, SEAL, CROATIAN (loi).

    New for me: wide boy (20d).

    Thanks, both.

  14. A nice start to the week with some great surfaces. As Shanne@3 said, this would have been a great Quiptic. Echoing what others have said, I liked CROATIAN, URINATED and TADPOLE among others.

    I particularly appreciate the effort Dynamo takes with their surfaces. Using the definite article in 19d for “the king” made it very precise.

    Thanks Dynamo and manehi. Have a great week all 🙂

  15. REHEARSE
    black in the sense of ‘gloomy’ (if not necessarily the colour)?

    CROATIAN
    @4 I think we’ve scene the “split personality” before but it bears repeating
    Agree.
    Thanks Dynamo and manehi!

  16. Just perfect for a Monday – friendly and inviting for beginners, with enough wit and ingenuity to satisfy more experienced solvers.
    I loved it – and especially appreciated the excellent surfaces.

    Many thanks to Dynamo (come back soon!) and manehi.

  18. Over too quickly for such an enjoyable crossword with ticks the same as manehi’s.

    If I might be allowed an impertinent suggestion, REHEARSE is nicely clued but on a car is a little odd. With might have improved the surface.

    Many thanks, both

  19. TimC @ 5 – you’re right. Asian country in Australia generally means China, Thailand, Vietnam Malaysia and so on so I always run through those before remembering that in the UK it often refers to India, Pakistan etc.

    Lovely puzzle, thanks Dynamo and Manehi

  21. Thanks Dynamo and manehi
    Very nice puzzle, but very much easier than yesterday’s “Quiptic” – wrong way round again!
    I share the liking for URINATED and CROATIAN

  23. I join the chorus of approval and just wonder if Dynamo could up the voltage and set later in the week? Or maybe they do already?.. Thanks to Dynamo and to manehi

  24. A lovely start to the week. I hope Dynamo will continue to set puzzles like these. Eileen@16 said it all really. I didn’t have any quibbles and there were so many I liked.. My favourites were TADPOLE, PATRON SAINT and URINATED. I was chuffed to remember split personality from an earlier Cryptic. I think Khayyam@2 is right to say that one was set by Paul. Many thanks to manehi for the blog.

  25. Split personality, queen in Glasgow district is put out, briefly (5,10) Paul-G
    Split personality? Actor has that off (5) Wanderer-FT
    Split personality perhaps stirred up a riot in Canada (8) Klingsor-Indy
    Some clues from the archives of 225 in today’s context.

  26. Really enjoyed this. Lovely surfaces and some excellent misdirection (I had OWN TRUMPET for 2D for a while). Lots of favourites with double ticks for URINATED and CROATIAN. Thanks to Dynamo for a great start to the week and to manehi for the usual excellent blog.

  27. I’ll join in with the praise. Witty, clever clues all combined into a gentle but most enjoyable whole.
    The rather neat ‘Left aboard’ for PORT seems like it ought to be a chestnut, but after a lifetime crypticing it rings no bells.

  28. [TimC@5 and Greyhound@19: I agree that we Aussies do tend to think that way, but Asia is huge – much bigger that South East Asia. The Indian subcontinent is often called South Asia, and we need to remember that much of the Russian Federation is in Asia (much more than is in Europe).]
    That said, I have nothing to add to the general praise for this excellent Monday offering: thanks, Dynamo and manehi.

  34. [Yes I wouldn’t disagree with you TassieTim @28. I think the differing conception of what ‘Asia’ brings to mind in Aus and the UK probably results from the differing levels of migration from different parts of Asia in the two countries.]

  35. Yes, good enjoyable Monday puzzle with, as others have noted, good clue surfaces.

    I liked the anagrams for PATRON SAINT, KILLER WHALE, and URINATED. I also ticked the wordplays of VIBRATED and REHEARSE.

    Thanks Monday Dynamo and manehi.

  36. Perfect! A decent challenge with good wordplays and no obscurities to force me to spend time in Wikipedia or elsewhere. Very enjoyable.

  37. FG@30… isn’t it similar to the “posh car = roller” wordplay that we often see? Not all posh cars are rollers and not all black cars are hearses but some are. Whether it should be a DBE depends on whether you see hearse as an example of black car or black car as an example of a hearse?

  40. I was returning from Northern Ireland last week and got overtaken by a bright pink Mercedes hearse FrankieG@various, kenmac@various. Not the norm in these islands, of course, but a welcome change.

  41. “Dynamo” may well be an existing setter in disguise, but unlikely to be Pasquale, who is already quite happy to set on any day of the week under his usual name.

    Anyway, a very enjoyable Monday puzzle – good anagrams for KILLER WHALE and PATRON SAINT, and the Split personality was new to me – and could bear repeating even if it wasn’t.

    If we are going to get picky about hearses being cars, black or otherwise, we need to add these to the equation. Available in both black and white.

  42. Very enjoyable, with lovely amusing surfaces. My favourite probably VIBRATED, but lots to choose from. Many thanks Dynamo and manehi.

    (Nobody’s mentioned today’s theme of fonts: FRESCO, SHAMPOO, TADPOLE, VOLTAIRE, ARDOUR…)

  44. Adding to the various interpretations of “Asia”, as an Englishman in the USA it seems that “Asia” here is most likely to mean Vietnam, Korea, and Vietnam’s neighbors. Again reflecting patters of immigration? India and Pakistan are typically “south-east Asia” even though Vietnam is just as southerly as and more easterly than India.

    Anyway, echoing the other praise for this “just right for a Monday” puzzle. Favorites included 3D once the penny dropped, 5D, and 2D.

    Thank you Dynamo and manehi.

  45. I agree with Eileen @16: a beautifully crafted crossword with lots of pleasing surfaces.
    My own faves were ARGYLE, REHEARSE and URINATED – but honestly the whole thing was classy.
    I, too, would recommend it to newer solvers – which certainly isn’t the case with yesterday’s Quiptic. (I’ve just emailed a beginner-mate to say not to bother with it and to try this, instead!)
    I’d really like to see more of Dynamo – on any day. Thanks to him/her and to manehi.

  46. gladys @41, my theory is not that Dynamo = Pasquale, but that today’s Dynamo is not the same as the Dynamo of two weeks ago (Carpathian?). Apart from the puzzles being quite different, surely the theory is supported by the name Dynamo? What setter would choose a name that is tied to a day of the week?

  47. As a resident of Pakistan currently on holiday in Croatia it was fun to see both countries turn up in today’s puzzle!

  49. This is the first proper cryptic I’ve completed! Fair amount of guessing and checking but most of the clues made sense to me (which they often don’t in other crosswords). Very satisfying.

  50. Well done Amma, it’s such a lovely feeling!
    James@46 and Jay@48, it’s a good theory. No doubt we will all be enlightened at some point 🤔
    [Lord Jim@42, ha! ha! I assume you read Friday’s blog…]
    [FrankieG etc al@various, loved the pictures]

  51. Me too Amma @49. Thanks to Dynamo for a great start to the week and a historic personal milestone, as I completed this on my own. I got seriously involved with cryptics during Lockdown and was fortunate to be aided, most mornings over breakfast, by him indoors [Cobbler@26]. but this is the very first one unaided!
    Thx to manehi who is also my favourite blogger.

  53. [Shropshirelass @51: congratulations on the achievement, especially unaided. A very satisfying feeling. At least, if I have understood your allusion to Cobbler@26 correctly, you are not blowing your OWN TRUMPET about it 😉]

  54. NHO “press-ups”, SPIV, or “wide boy” — but all were clear from context and clueing. A nice quick-but-clever puzzle to get me back into the habit…

  55. I tried to find the derivation for SPIV. No-one seem really sure, but one possibility mentioned is that it is just a reversal of VIPS.

  60. Thanks Dynamo for a praiseworthy crossword. My favourites were SWINGING, PATRON SAINT, SHAMPOO, SIGNPOST, URINATED (COTD), and WAR CRY. Thanks manehi for the blog.

  61. So today’s party game is guess the Dynamic setter. My vote is for Philistine, or, with the absence of medical clues, his partner Matilda. Both are masters of smooth and witty surfaces, and this puzzle was full of them.

    Thanks Dynamo, whoever you are, and thanks manehi for the fine blog.

  64. Late to the party today; didn’t get to this until the afternoon (CDT).

    Re TimC @5: In America, “Asian” usually makes one think of East Asians before South Asians, so I guess like in Australia. And yes, this is due to the relative levels of immigration. It’s been nearly a century since we last had Japanese migrants in large numbers, but there’s been a steady stream of Chinese immigration for years, and a large displacement from Vietnam to here during and shortly after the war. A fair few Koreans, too. Immigration from India has picked up in recent years, but the South Asian community here is still smaller.

    I had never heard of either “wide boy” or SPIV, but the clue was unambiguous.

  67. Like mrpenney, both SPIV and “wide boys” were new to me, but the clue made it clear what to do.

    I thought this was a delightful puzzle. I agree that it was on the easy end, but with some very entertaining deceptions. If I’d seen the “Split personality” trick before, I’d forgotten it, so I got to enjoy it anew. The misleading definition of URINATED also made me smile.

  68. Thank you for the crossword and explanations.

    It’s a fantastic feeling to be able to solve several clues, and having a fighting chance with a few others.

    Lots of checks and still needed a fair few reveals.

    6a – I thought this was an anagram of THEODORE
    10a – I had SWINGERS
    25a – I had no idea what to do with this clue.

    2d – I had DOG WHISTLE. Embarrassing not to get.
    5d – I had no idea what was happening in this clue/what type of clue it was.
    8d – ashamed not to get this…I was hoping to find IGAS in the dictionary (for leading letters)

  69. Thx Postmark@63 It was a very satisfying moment and Cobbler@63 thank you for your patient guidance over the past 2 years.
    So much more to learn and enjoy, especially the comments from Fifteensquared.net experts. 🙂

  70. Asia: It is interesting to note that Asians could mean East and SE Asians generally in Oz and the US, and sometimes South Asians.
    What about West Asia? Is it always the Middle East?
    And Central Asia?

  71. I was just wondering, if Dautsey or Ruth Days ever appear as our new mystery midweek Guardian Cryptic Setters, continuing the trend set by Dynamo, the plot really does begin to thicken…

  72. I don’t normally try the cryptic, but I got absolutely nowhere with the quiptic so I thought I’d give this a go – much easier! Couldn’t finish it, needed to reveal the last 8 answers.

    I parsed 3d correctly but couldn’t see the answer, presumably because I was looking for a plant. Shame as it gave me a laugh when I revealed it. Still not really sure how CROATIAN works however.

    Thanks Dynamo and manehi.

  73. [Just to say, very belatedly, well done Steffen. Keep persevering.

    5d was really hard but very clever. I was able to get it because Paul set a similar clue a few months ago. The Split personality bit is a pun. Spilt is a place in Croatia and the tennis player comes from there. KVa@25 gave the Paul example, which is the whole name GORAN IVANISEVIC, which was RANI inserted into GOVAN (a Glasgow district) plus IS plus EVIC(t). For me that was a solve first from the crossers and parse after. The other two given by KVa were anagrams
    CROAT = (actor)* and CROATIAN = (a riot in)* plus C]

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