Guardian 29,602 / Vulcan

67 comments on “Guardian 29,602 / Vulcan”

1. Gentle offering today, barring ROTA which got the brain cells ticking over.

2. 23 was the only one I couldn’t parse. Otherwise this was pleasantly straight-forward. Thanks, Eileen and Vulcan.

3. I’d be more inclined to use a mallet with a marimba. I couldn’t parse ROTA. And I initially had SECOND for 10a.

   Good fun, thanks Vulcan & Eileen.

4. Confidently entered ‘portcullis’ for 21a till the crossers showed me the error of my ways. NE corner took the most care for me, until I solved ‘POULTICE’ having toyed with finding a word including the letters ‘ITIT’ . Good to see COUNT BASIE making an appearance. Liked the surface for 25. Thanks to Vulcan and Eileen.

5. A bit heavy on the cryptic defs but lots to like including OMF, SPARKY & ROTA

   Cheers E&V

6. Busy Eileen, indeed!

   Yes, a classic bit of Monday fare. Quite slow to get into this but, once a few crossers appeared, I picked up pace. MOPPET was not the first word to come to mind for the youngster and TOPMAST delayed me longer than it should have as I was attempting to incorporate a G. As Eileen observes, OUR MUTUAL FRIEND is a neat anagram and I would add MUESLI and PURSUIT to make my podium.

   Thanks Vulcan and Eileen

7. I hadn’t actually heard of the Dickens novel. I thought I was familiar with his titles whether I’ve read them or not. Excellent anagram though, and gettable from that.

   TOP MAST was unfamiliar to me, too. ROTA is a great clue but I missed the reference.

   Whereas I got through some of this with relative ease, it did have it’s rather more difficult moments, and none the worse for it either.

8. This felt as smooth as silk. Last one in the nho MARIMBA, but then spent some time enlarging my knowledge on instruments like the xylophone…

9. Not as easy as the usual Vulcan offerings so more of a challenge, especially in the NE. I liked the lifeboat reference and the mixture of old and new TEDS and POSSES. I too dimly remember the POULTICE, Eileen, which I think was bread soaked in boiling water, placed on the infected area. Don’t think it ever worked but only added to the agony!

   Ta Vulcan & Eileen.

10. A to m for tiny particles is a regular, but the neat reverse a to r is new, to me anyway. Otherwise, pretty much what PM said @6. Thanks Eileen and Vulcan.

11. Thanks Vulcan and Eileen

    Loved Our Mutual friend and laughed at marimba which is a perfect charade. Top right caused problem – but just a lack of coffee.

12. Still can’t parse ROTA

13. My mum used kaolin poultices on my twisted ankle, very soothing once it had cooled down a bit. She was a nurse though, so knew what she was doing. I was familiar with topmost on account of being a big Hornblower fan in my youth, but still too slow to get it. A fine crossword but the brain just wasn’t working so ended up revealing the last 3. Thanks Eileen and Vulcan

14. Very enjoyable puzzle. Completed the NE corner last.

    Favourites: ALL RIGHT, DRAWBRIDGE, MARIMBA, PUMICE, SUPINE and ROTA (loi).

    re MARIMBA I won’t include the youtube link but if you google the words below, it will light up your day:
    “Drive” (as orig. performed by Black Coffee/Guetta)- 2019 Hilton College Competition Marimba band.

    Always a joy to read your blogs, Eileen!

    Thanks, both.

15. Fairly new to crosswords and mainly tackle quiptics until I have more confidence but managed this one quite quickly. Couldn’t parse 23 but guessed the answer from the surface. Enjoyable puzzle

16. Alison@12- R is the 18th letter of the alphabet, A is the 1st, so “A TO R” is 18 letters, read it backwards (‘returned’) and it reads ROTA

17. GinF @10: E to N for school is another old crozzie chestnut.

18. When I entered the answer to 14ac, I felt sure that I pronounce ‘treaties’ and ‘treatise’ differently. After saying them out loud half-a-dozen times, I realised (with a mounting feeling that I am a twit) that I say them identically.

19. Many thanks for the MARIMBA link, michelle @14 – recommended!

20. Andrew Sceats @ 18 – I was under the same impression: that treaties had a voiced ‘s’ and treatise an unvoiced? I consulted pronunciation sites and the dictionaries. Collins and Chambers both give either for ‘treatise’. I decided to keep quiet. 😉

21. In the same vein as ROTA, another classic clue is HIJKLMNO (5).

22. Andrew Sceats @18, Eileen @20
    I would pronounce treaties as treeteeze (though perhaps that gives to much emphasis on the 2nd syllable) and treatise as treatiss. Maybe that’s just me, although the latter is one of those words I probably encountered first in print and very rarely hear spoken.

23. I like the fact that there was a Count, a Duke (Ellington), and an Earl (Hines). Any others?

24. I realise that the setter wanted the “which way to parse this?” feature in the clue for POULTICE, but I really do think a poultice is a dressing (not a skin treatment).
    And is a posse a “group of urban youths”? Only in the alternative reality world of Chambers, I guess.
    I do enjoy the gentle cruise through a Monday Vulcan.

25. Like tomsdad @4, I thought of portcullis for the let-down admission to the castle, but I was soon disabused. I should have spotted the A to R trick, but I didn’t, although I BIFD it. I liked the OMF anagram, the hammered MARIMBA, and PURSUIT, where clothes for once was not a container.

    Thanks Vulcan and Eileen.

26. nuntius @23: Prince was a band leader, I suppose.

27. Well constructed Monday puzzle.

    My selection is: OMF, TOPMAST, SPARKY and ROTA (the ‘a to b’ device appears quite often, as does ‘a or b’, but I don’t recall having seen it reversed before).

    Re the pronunciation of TREATIES/treatise I’m with ravenrider @22 – for me both the final consonant and the final vowel are different, so not the most convincing pairing 🙂

    Thanks to Vulcan and Eileen

28. HIJKL=LOTH<, HIJKLM = MOTH<, ABCDEFGHI=IOTA< — “How is the noun treatise pronounced?”
    “British English /ˈtriːtɪz/ TREE-tiz | /ˈtriːtɪs/ TREE-tiss — U.S. English /ˈtridəs/ TREE-duhss.” [Whereas treaties would be “/ˈtriːtiz/ TREE-teez“].

29. Monday fare. I liked MUESLI and POULTICE (recall plenty of them from my childhood!)

    Thanks Vulcan and Eileen

30. COTE, DOTE, MOTE, NOTE, TOTE, VOTE, ATOP, ATOY (always thinking of you) etc. I will def be looking out for this device in future.

31. Definitely wasn’t on Vulcan’s wavelength this morning, but even reading through the blog I think I’m still a little clueless, so will have to chalk it up to a bunch of definitions I just have never heard of.

32. Nuntius@23 – King Oliver.

33. Nuntius @23 – Rex Stewart?
    Thanks for the link to the fascinating facts about the witching hour Eileen. Now I know why I wake up at 3

34. How refreshing to have a gently-enjoyable crossword on a Monday.
    My faves were UPSET, TWITCHING, POSSESS – and TOPMAST, which was a lucky guess, but now that you’ve explained it, Eileen, I think it’s rather neat.
    Thank you also for explaining ROTA: it had to be that but I couldn’t, for the life of me, figure out how “teddies” fitted into the parsing….
    Many thanks for a fun blog – and to Vulcan for a fine start to the week.

35. Pserve_p2@24 Some might remember Ali G and the Staines posse?

36. This was tough for me. I got held up by putting in “SECOND” for 10A Back on the floor (as in to back someone’s proposal on the floor of a House of Government). That error out TOPMAST out of reach. I whiffed on ROTA as well, since I kept on looking for the connection to 18D. Thanks to Vulcan and Eileen.

37. This went quickly for me until the upper right, where I ground to a screeching halt. I was forced to reveal one (TOPMAST) to unblock me. I’m another who definitely pronounces treaties and treatise differently, so I wasn’t thrilled by that clue either.

    The marimba for me always calls to mind “Under My Thumb,” which I won’t link to because it’s not the most PC song out there, Mick and Keith’s assurances that the joke is actually on the man notwithstanding. But it’s a pretty good groove, which is why it’s survived.

    Lastly, for those who don’t know OUR MUTUAL FRIEND, it’s decidedly worth a read. It’s late-period Dickens, after he’d lost faith in humanity. That gives it a dark aspect that appeals to modern tastes. The plot prominently features a literal heap of trash, just to give you an idea.

38. Thank you to Vulcan for a lovely puzzle and to Eileen for another very clear and enjoyable blog.
    michelle@14 , thanks for the link to the delightful MARIMBA Band.
    ROTA: I’ve seen this device used recently, (probably for ‘a to m’) but still thought this a delightful clue.
    My other favourites were also those listed by Eileen: OUR MUTUAL FRIEND, POULTICE, TOPMAST, COUNT BASIE.

39. I always look forward to Vulcan on a Monday but unlike most people today found this puzzle a bit more difficult than usual. All fair when I can see Eileen’s parsing so maybe just a wavelength problem. But I still think a couple in there would not qualify as a beginners clue. I live and learn and will try again tomorrow.
    Many thanks to Eileen for the answers and Vulcan for reminding me I am still very much a novice.

40. First ever completion…those quick cryptic are really helping. I thought that would never happen.

41. Congratulations, Tim @40! 🙂

42. Thanks both and a fine entertainment. I enjoyed the surface of MEUSLI – reminded me of the first time I was given it to eat in a friend’s house.

43. Nice to see the Kid from Red Bank getting a mention. [ Nuntius@23 et al: Prince Robinson, Sir Charles Thompson ( once introduced as ” on piano, Mr Sir Charles Thompson”) and Sir Roland Hanna, a real knight. Several other Earls (Bud Powell) and at least one other Duke- Pearson. If we include Rex, perhaps we can have Leroy Vinnegar.]

44. Like Nakamova @36 (and GDU @3) I was fooled by thinking that 10A was “second”. I love punny/cryptic clues but they come with no alternate clue piece to check against and thus are more prone (not supine) to having second valid solutions.

45. Poultice brought back memories of a badly poisoned heel. After toying with the idea of a bread poultice, the local GP recommended a Kaolin variety. More sadistic. After several days of agony and no improvement, my Dad lanced the heel with a surgical needle draining all the infection. Massive relief. He was always brilliant at DIY! Many thanks for all the comments and help with this excellent blog.

46. Me @43 [ Not well known but highly regarded by contemporaries, Margaret ‘Queenie’ Johnson.]

47. I’m among the minority who found this harder than usual for a Vulcan puzzle. ROTA is rather tricky, though very good. Favourite was EXPRESSES.

48. AcrossThePond@44: How wonderful that the same clue can produce two justifiable answers. There should be a name for that. I remember a long ago clue to which, when crossers came into view (and taking the wordplay into account), the answer had to be ‘banana’ – except it wasn’t.

49. I thought this was tougher than the usual Vulcan offering. Maybe I just wasn’t on the same wavelength for the cryptic definitions today. PUMICE and POULTICE are new to me but wife informs me we have both in the house so no excuse.

    Threw the towel in with a few remaining but enjoyed OUR MUTUAL FRIEND for the great anagram and MUESLI for the surface.

    Thanks Eileen and Vulcan

50. I seem to recall seeing the plural for mouse as computer equipment being given as mouses!

51. Enjoyable and I am keeping my pledge for look at the Guardian crossword Mon to Sat

52. I have had a nightmare today (even for me).

    I have no idea how to approach most of these clues, and I refuse to look at the solutions yet.

    Could I please ask/beg for some guidance on 1a, 5a, 9a, 10a?

    Just to get started.

53. I’m the kind of solver who is arrogant enough to expect to finish a Monday fairly easily but pleasantly surprised to manage a Friday (although the editor seems to have done away with these conventions). I found this enjoyably doable until I got stuck on topmast and rota so a relatively bad start to the week for me.

54. S@52

    1a think of a 3 letter synonym for “clean up” and a 3 letter word that “dog” might be an example of
    5a It’s an anagram (indicated by “with dressing”)
    9a find a slightly old-fashioned word for a type of underwear and then shorten it
    10a is a (not very) cryptic definition

55. Does Chambers say posse is a group of ‘urban youths’? I don’t have access to it but cannot see support for that definition in my normal reference places. I would have supposed it was just a rag tag group, most often in a small town with a sherriff, and that the members could be any age.

    Decent crossword otherwise.

56. @54

    Thank you. That has helped immeasurably.

57. nuntius@23 Lady Gaga
    Horace@50 I believe that in the polyamory community the plural of spouse is spice 😎

58. rosencrantz @55, Chambers has:
    posse
    noun
    1. A force or body (of constables)
    2. Any group temporarily established for some purpose
    3. A gang or group of (esp young) friends (slang)
    4. Power
    5. Possibility

    Also, see Petert @35

59. Re 23 Across, I couldn’t for the life of me make any sense of “18 letters” (could only think it might mean using the letters of 18 Down…). However, on the subject of letters of the alphabet, I remember once seeing a clue that read “H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O”. The answer was “water” (i.e. H2O).

60. Funny how some people don’t recognise how a particular word is often used… POSSESS was a write-in for me as POSSE popped into my head immediately. I’m sure the reverse has happened to me with other words though! We all have our gaps in vocabulary, I guess 🙂

61. I’ve spent my life internally proniuncing treatise wrong (as in the word ‘tree’ followed by the word ‘ties’). I assume I’ve never heard it said out loud, and have probably never said it myself either!

    Thanks for the fun. I found it a little harder to get into that some seem to have done, but it worked out nicely once I had a few checkers.

62. Had to reveal TOPMAST as have never heard of it. It no doubt appears in Conrad somewhere. I was trying to shoehorn a G into some unlikely word for a pledge, upside down. Actually, I think that “toast” for “pledge” is quite unlikely. And while I was about it, I revealed SUPINE too. Other than that it was quite a challenging Monday but the rest of it did get done.

63. I’ve done the puzzle, I’ve read the blog and I still can’t see how “back on the floor” is anything other than a straightforward (not cryptic) definition of SUPINE. Help! What am I missing?

64. Mostly enjoyed this (an improvement on my performance last week, anyway!). Thanks, Tim C, for the posse definition but I agree with Rosencranz – for me this is a term out of a Western and definitely connected with people galloping across vast swathes of countryside. There’s nothing in the definition that indicates ‘urban’ so I’m not sure why it was there.

65. Horace@50 I always use mouses, but I thought I better check with the authority… Yes, Chambers online says mouses is the plural.
    Thanks Vulcan. Thanks Eileen.

66. Found this incredibly challenging. So many unfamiliar words (moppet)! and odd ways for clue signaling (with dressing = anagrind. Really????)

    Might stick with the fairer (for me) quiptics. Thanks both.

67. Expected to do better on a Monday, but defeated by six in the NE corner, which others also struggled with

    Others’ suggestion for 10a, SECOND, was much better than the correct SUPINE, which seemed weak. I’m with you Minda@63, I don’t get it

    Didn’t connect pledge/toast, but Mrs Mig thinks it’s okay, so that’s good enough for me

    20a, agree that “mallet” would have been more appropriate for MARIMBA

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