Guardian Cryptic 29,568 by Brummie

71 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 29,568 by Brummie”

1. It took me a while to get into this as well, especially the NW corner – even after getting the answer to 1 it took me a while to see the parsing. Thanks loonapick and Brummie.

2. Forgot about top being kill or murder so sleigh took a while (thinking slay as in heavily defeat, which is more oblique). But yes, then the NW fell out. Good puzzle, ta Brum and loona.

3. As our blogger found, LEAK held out til the end, though in my case, it fell just before the interlinked SLEIGH and LORD. I had twigged what the ‘fall’ might be in the former but took far too long to spot what the homophone was doing. ALLIGATOR my favourite clue by a country mile. IRASCIBLE and HARDEN make up the podium.

   Thanks Brummie and loonapick

4. Favourite for me was C OF G not just because it was an early easier entry but because of my fondness for reverse clues. MONOPOLY was pretty good as well.

5. thanks LP and B! Sleigh completely slayed me in the topping sense.

6. The NW corner held out for me as well, but in my case seeing LORD helped me get SLEIGH with a smile of triumph. Agree with loonapick’s estimation. Working through the across clues first as is my usual process left quite a lot of gaps, but the crossers from the down clues helped as often happens. Liked 11 and 16 and my LOI 1 as well. Thanks to Brummie and loonapick.

7. I looked at the across clues first and didn’t get a single one which is a first. I was beginning to worry but fortunately, HARDEN and C OF G opened the flood gates. Thanks to setter and blogger.

8. I couldn’t parse SLEIGH nor LORD, and was unaware of what a poly is. I took a while to solve LEAK, but when I did it elicited a chuckle.

   Very enjoyable, I appreciated there being nothing obscure, and Goldilocks difficulty.

9. Well, that was fun. Glad to see that I wasn’t alone in taking a while to work out SLEIGH and LORD.
   Pleasant chortle first thing in the morning about LEAK.
   Thanks, both.

10. Took me a while to get started but it was enjoyable. SLEIGH was one of my last clues to be solved.

    Favourites: LEAK, CENTRE OF GRAVITY.

    Thanks, both.

11. Thanks Brummie and loonapick
    LORD and SLEIGH my last two as well. CENTRE OF GRAVITY was a write-in, though, so gave me a good start. Favourites OFFERING and the nice anagram for ALLIGATOR – surprised I haven’t seen it before (I think).
    IMMATURE is rather weak, as “mature” has the same meaning in definition and wordplay.

12. Very good crossword.
    LEAK was the LOI and must have been borrowed from my namesake.
    Annoyingly, SLEIGH was given away on the Guardian website. That was a tough clue and I’m not sure that LORD would have been cracked without it. Why do people give answers like that? The mediators must still be on strike.
    Far to many clues to single out a favourite, but I will anyway, ALLIGATOR for the surface.
    Thanks both.

13. LEAK caught me out.

14. NAMELY

    I took this as ‘awful’ (as an anagram indicator) *(-LY MEAN).
    Then I was wondering where the ‘to put one out’ came into it!

    Good blog, btw.

15. Thanks Brummie and loonapick for today’s offering with ‘gorilla at play’ firm favourite, but I also like the idea of an angry moo-cow, and the touch of Advent with COME LORD COME or come HITHER.

16. I’m in agreement with the comments so far. LEAK and SLEIGH were the last ones in for me. ALLIGATOR is lovely. I also liked VERB, BREATHTAKING and C of G. I wonder if the last two have been done before?

    Another enjoyable challenge from Brummie and an accomplished blog from loonapick.

    [HIYD @12, why is leak your namesake, or is it best not to ask?]

17. Me too for LORD and SLEIGH as LOIs. But I must have a mind like a sewer as LEAK took me a very wee while indeed…

18. Pauline @ 16 – my Christian name is Paul! That’s all. Up the Blues!

19. I had much the same journey as others. Like loonapick, (thanks for the extra smile) I took a wee while to see LEAK.

    My ticks were for SLEIGH (when I got it), NAMELY, DURESS (liked the ‘force of habit’), HARDEN, IRASCIBLE and the lovely ALLIGATOR.

    Thanks to Brummie and loonapick.

20. Goodby Mishal Husain from Today, irreplaceable.

21. I tried to convince myself that Zen is the way Sean Connery recovered from a fall in a Bond film in a desperate attempt to justify ZENITH for SLEIGH, making me another to find the NW harder than the rest.

22. Yes, like HYD @12, I was given the easy way in by some arse giving SLEIGH away. All fell in smoothly after that and I also liked the image of the angry moo-cow, wynsum @15. COME COME, ALLIGATOR and C OF G, firm favourites.

    Ta Brummie & loonapick.

23. I’m another for whom SLEIGH/LORD were the last to fall. As I had the crossers (not being an across-then-down solver), LEAK was a write-in 🙂

    Not for the first time, I’ll second Eileen’s choice.

    Thanks to Brummie and loonapick

24. I’m with everyone else with SLEIGH and LORD being last in, and LEAK just before them. I didn’t quite have nothing on first pass of across clues, but it was sparse. Then all but the last handful in.

    [HoofItYouDonkey – I was listening to that too]

    Thank you to Brummie and loonapick.

25. I had a similar experience to others, with SLEIGH the LOI (and a lucky guess). HARDEN probably my favourite, also CENTRE OF GRAVITY. What is ‘vans’ doing in 3d?

26. HoofitYouDonkey @20 – absolutely.

27. RedRodney @25
    Indicates first letters (van/vanguard – in the lead)

28. Many seem to have found the top left as exasperating as I did, but not exactly breathtaking even though taken literally they mean the same thing. English is a strange language!

29. Ah ok, thanks

30. @20, 26 – reactions may vary. Best stick to the crossword?

31. Couldn’t finish due to SLEIGH, LORD and LEAK – for the latter I even went through in my head each word it could possibly be, and LEAK seemed most likely but I couldn’t parse it until I came here.

    Found myself not enjoying the solving of a lot of these – in many cases I either couldn’t parse the answer (BREATHTAKING, CHERRY PICKER) or found them a bit flat on figuring them out.

    I did greatly enjoy C of G though (after correcting from the nonsensical ‘theory of’) and MONOPOLY was strangely satisfying to me.

    Thanks Brummie and loonapick

32. LORD had me puzzled for a long time – especially because I couldn’t see what “wing” was doing. I think it might be a bit more subtle: rather than S = south, “lacks south wing” might be intended to mean “remove the end letter”, which is at the south end in a down clue.

33. Similar experience to others in that at first it looked impenetrable and then the dominos fell quite easily. Couldn’t parse SLEIGH but once it was checked then LORD was obvious. LEAK was LOI.

34. Quirister @32 – I think you’re right.

35. Ravenrider@26: If it were logical, you would probably dash off the crossword in 5 minutes every morning and where would be the fun in that?
    I had zenith for 1a for a while, but I could not parse it, I’ve learnt that if the parsing escapes me completely, then I’m probably wrong, and then I got LORD. SLEIGH was my Loi but it took me forever to get my head round it. I needed both crossers for LEAK, but laughed when it clicked.
    An enjoyable puzzle, by no means easy, thanks both.

36. A steady solve, with no real holdups for once, so I’m feeling a little proud. (I’m sure I’ll get my comedown tomorrow.) Pleased to have gotten LEAK (peer has come up before, I think) and the reverse clue at 5D.

    SLEIGH was my LOI; I knew it was a homophone but it took me a while to get the definition.

37. I found this a bit impenetrable at first too, but once I began to insert on or two this all fell pleasingly. Though had to have Loonapick’s explanation of the parsing of SLEIGH (loi) and NAMELY. And as for the LEAK, that took a while, as for some reason I thought that the word for someone relieving themselves (tempted there to use one of several well-known euphemisms) had at least three E’s in the middle to give it extra oomph so it could be pronounced with two syllables. If you know what I mean…

38. Living in Vietnam, I rarely listen to the Today programme these days, it comes on at the wrong time of day
    However, I was an avid listener when I lived at home and go back. I can understand Hoofityoupaulie;s feelings. Gently probing, she managed to put interviewees at ease, but got them to reveal more than the more aggressive ones.

39. I enjoyed this though I’m not sure I was on Brummie’s wavelength today: the answers didn’t flow but then that’s not a bad thing either, I found it was worth the effort.

    Defeated by SLEIGH though, and one or two other parsings (including LORD) escaped me.

40. HoofItYouDonkey @12 – many times I’ve reported blatant spoilers on the Guardian site, and nothing has ever been done about them, so no change there, sadly.

41. I’m a bit confused, having read through the comments properly now, where exactly is/was the LEAK about SLEIGH…?

42. Had TRAILBLAZING instead of BREATHTAKING for ages. Seeing that was incorrect took half the time especially as three of my down answers concurred.

    Couldn’t see SLEIGH so had to reveal that and hadn’t come across vans as an indicator to take the first letters before (only been doing these a few months). Otherwise a challenging but fun solve.

43. [ronaldman @41 – a reply to a query about 1A by Ramanth from a ChrisBeeNZ about 10 hours ago. It’s why I don’t go to the Guardian comments much – too many spoilers when I want to make my brain work, not rely on someone else’s smartness, and being in the UK, this time zone means unless I’m solving in the wee small hours, the NZ and Australian solvers have already solved crosswords by the time I wake up.]

44. Shanne@43…many thanks for clearing that up for me!

45. ZENITH and YORK were the brain blockers that held me up for a whole circuit of Peckham Rye, great crossword, great blog, thanks both!

46. SLEIGH/LORD me too! If there any universal theorems about cryptics, they must be about what’s going on in that corner today.

47. Very nice crossword and blog – thanks Brummie and Loonapick.

    Did anyone do this on the new Guardian app? I tried and gave up, as I couldn’t find a way to look at the whole grid and the complete clues, as was possible before. Reverted to my PC.

48. Phil @47, I don’t use the app but I remembered there was a post on yesterday’s Vulcan blog – it is @30, where one of our number suggests how to do it. Hope it works.

49. Sleigh and Lord were last for me too.
    Liked duress and leak.
    Overall pretty straightforward though and a pleasant hour of puzzling (rather than a week:- still not finished Saturday’s prize Picaroon).

50. I was a bit surprised when my 86 year old mother got TINDER instantly. And we had a multi-generational snigger at LEAK

    SLEIGH was our festive favourite

    Cheers B&L

51. Petert@21: you weren’t the only one to try to shoehorn ZENITH into 1a (and HASTEN instead of HARDEN, briefly). Never did get LORD: I failed to identify the House.

    scraggs@40: I reported that spoiler, but I see it’s still there. They do sometimes get removed.

52. gladys@51: me too. I’m glad to hear they have been removed at times. Thus far for me it’s felt like a pointless endeavour in practice (though I continue as a matter of principle).

53. A game of three halves. A while to get started, then everything went in quickly after the excellent CENTRE OF GRAVITY, before ages spent staring at loi SLEIGH. I thought wrongly that BREATHTAKING was a bit weak until the blog put me straight. Wondered why AGRONOMY wasn’t just set up as a straight anagram of “angry moo” for a more pleasing surface. Favourites, among many pleasing clues, were FILMED and LEAK. Good Tuesday fare ie harder than Monday but not hard hard.

54. Pauline @48 – thanks: that worked.

55. I’m a big fan of Brummie usually, but I found some of the parsing a bit too convoluted for me this time, probably just me being a bit thick.

56. @13, can happen to the best of us.

57. I found CENTRE OF GRAVITY unsatisfactory from a Physics point of view; “centre of mass” was the preferred term in my young day, and I am unconvinced by the definition “point at which weight is concentrated”. It works well as a crossword clue though, so I will just have to grumble quietly in my corner. A good puzzle overall.

58. I am 85, but, unlike Bodycheetah@50’s mother. TINDER was the only one to defeat me.
    Centre of gravity was my favourite, as a retired maths teacher

59. Thanks both and lovely jubbly.

    There is a force in play in my solving that means that when I decide ‘CRUTCH’ is a candidate for 1a nothing can dissuade my enthusiasm until the crossers made it clear that ‘ZENITH’ must surely (…but it doesn’t parse….) and at this point the traffic won’t clear and what should have been LOI (lovely clue (but I preferred the witty dd BREATHTAKING)) was a regretted reveal (rr) or (since we haven’t had one in a while) a ttm.

    (Tea-tray moment)

60. Succeeded with 20a, 12d and 15d.

    Nothing else.

    The kind people on crosswordsolver.org blogs tried their best to help me with 1a, but to no avail.

    Thank you for the blog.

61. I think whether or not the g removes a spoiler is dependent on which moderator is on duty at the time.

    It does seem very variable.

62. Very late to the party but I enjoyed it all – many firm favourites in the puzzle, a helpful explanatory blog for a couple of question marks, and an interesting array of comments from solver colleagues. Thanks to Everyone but most especially to Brummie and loonapick.

63. Alphalpha @59. Never a comment so apt, brilliant and funny.

64. There’s at least one toilet in the House Of Lords which says on the door “Peers Only”

65. paddymelon@63: Blush! (Purr….)

    Etu@64: Lol!!

66. As a physicist, I’m perfectly content for people to use the term “centre of gravity” more or less interchangeably with “centre of mass”, but Monkey @57 is quite right that the definition in the clue is simply wrong.

    (If a technical term is used in a nontechnical context with a slightly different meaning, I have no objection to using the “imprecise” nontechnical meaning in a clue, but I can’t see that that’s happening here: I know of no context, technical or otherwise, in which this phrase is used with this meaning.)

    I didn’t know that clingfilm was made of PVC — I always think of the latter as the hard plastic used in, e.g., plumbing. But apparently it is, so I learned something today.

    Because I’m still a schoolboy at heart, I thoroughly enjoyed 18ac (LEAK). I also thought that 12dn (PERFORMING ARTS) was a nice anagram.

67. Sorry to be late, but can someone explain what “vans” is doing in 3d?

68. Hi JK, “vans” refers to the leading letters of the preceding words, i.e. C, and L (“terms” is sometimes used to refer to the endings.)

    In this case they’re used along with “Siberia” as anagram fodder.

69. Thanks Etu, I’ve not seen that used before.

70. As always no one will see this as I’m so late. But I had LOOK. for 18ac. Seemed obvious, with peer being neither the lord nor the urinator,, but one who peers at things., or takes a look. I didn’t have the crosser from 8d, and so I was stuck for an answer there.

71. Like many others I was defeated by SLEIGH and LORD — interesting to see how that was a very common experience. Like Petert@21, Adrian@45, and some others, I wrongly guessed the unparsed ZENITH for 1a, which wouldn’t let go, and which hopelessly blocked 2d…

    …but I did get LEAK, which had a very satisfying and delightful penny-drop!

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