Guardian 29,642 – Vlad

by

Phew, that was hard. Thanks to Vlad for the impalement.

 
Across
1 NOT MY CUP OF TEA Face up to Tony in desperation keeping money – I don’t like it (3,2,3,2,3)
M in (FACE UP TO TONY)*
10 RHODESIAN Old African’s letter to boys (9)
RHO (Greek letter) + DES IAN (boys’ names)
11 LINGO In retrospect, a mistake defending FA’s language (5)
Reverse of OG (own goal, a “mistake defending”) + NIL (FA – slang for nothing)
12 MORES Former Chancellor’s usual way of doing things (5)
MORE’S (Sir Thomas More, Lord High Chancellor of England under Henry VIII)
13 PHNOM PENH ‘Quiet!’ Hard to handle French nurse in pub in capital (5,4)
P (quiet) + H[ard] + NOM (French name, handle) + EN (nurse) in PH (Public House)
14 AVERAGE Mean to declare how long you’ve been here (7)
To say how long you’ve been here (on earth) is to AVER your AGE
16 TEST BED Bottom of river is experimental site (4,3)
The bottom of the River TEST is its BED
18 PASSIVE I don’t know Vlad’s voice (7)
PASS (I don’t know) + I’VE (Vlad’s)
20 LACE-UPS You shouldn’t slip on these (4-3)
Cryptic definition – a more natural wording would be “you shouldn’t slip these on”
21 LEISURELY Relaxing wear for Hawaii? Of course (9)
LEI (Hawaiian garland) + SURELY (of course)
23 TIBIA Assuming one’s a little backbone (5)
Reverse of A BIT “assuming” or taking in I, with a lift-and-separate for back/bone
24 CONDO Cheats to get flat (5)
CON + DO (two words meaning “cheat”)
25 APOSTOLIC The Pope’s a Pole – look back with upright catholic (9)
A POST (pole) + reverse of LO (look) + I (upright letter) + C[atholic]. The definition includes the apostrophe+S, meaning “of the pope”
26 PRESIDENT MUSK Joke – of kind – sees Trump getting irritated? (9,4)
(KIND SEES TRUMP)* – a satirical title reflecting Elon Musk’s apparent domination over Trump
Down
2 ODOURLESS Rarely used loos round side though seemingly hygienic (9)
R (right, a side) in (USED LOOS)*
3 MEETS Joins baseball team touring East (5)
E in METS (New York baseball team)
4 CHIPPIE Tradesman’s shop (7)
Double definition – slang for a carpenter or a fish and chip shop
5 PINE NUT Seed having nightmare on green, Spooner reported (4,3)
Spoonerism of “nine putt”, which would be a nightmare for a golfer
6 FOLK MUSIC Sick of glamour oddly peculiar to some of Dylan’s work (4,5)
Anagram SICK OF + alternate letters of gLaMoUr – surely some mistake, as these are the even letters
7 ERNIE Before being put outside, turned up in drawer initially (5)
Reverse of IN in ERE – ERNIE (Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment) was the original computer used to draw Premium Bond numbers, the the name is still used
8 GRAMMAR POLICE Less people from school joining force – they won’t like it (7,6)
GRAMMAR (type of school) + POLICE (force) – people in the self-appointed GRAMMAR POLICE won’t like the use of “less” instead of “fewer”
9 GO THE DISTANCE Hated escorting right away: unfortunate but don’t give up too soon! (2,3,8)
Anagram of HATED ESCORTING less R
15 ACIDULOUS ‘O Claudius’ is wrong? That’s harsh (9)
(O CLAUDIUS)*
17 BLUEBELLS Woodland residents keeping alert in Chelsea? (9)
BELL (alert) in BLUES (nickname of Chelsea FC)
19 EMERALD Stone me! Romeo in wood ignoring women (7)
ME + R[omeo] in WEALD (wooded country) less W
20 LAY DOWN Give up on sad song (3,4)
Double definition – 1970 song by Melanie
22 INNER Spiritual sustenance Duke’s lacking (5)
DINNER less D
23 TOTEM Cat round Egypt raised as sacred object (5)
Reverse of ET (former International Vehicle Registration code for Egypt – it changed to EG in 2024) in TOM

105 comments on “Guardian 29,642 – Vlad”

  1. Thanks Vlad and Andrew
    Well, I filled the grid without too much trouble, but so many went in from definition and crossers that I didn’t enjoy it much. (This method gave me an erroneous CRYSTAL PALACE at 8d for some time!)
    I thought 10a might be something to do with RHODES Boyson, ex Minister for Education, but that would have been obscure!
    Favourite ERNIE for the misleading definition.

  2. I had LAY DOWN as LAY (song) + DOWN (sad), but if there’s a song of the same name that also works.
    CONDO two days in a row I noted.
    Great fun.
    Thanks to Vlad and Andrew.

  4. This I found went in very smoothly, but then could not parse the last three in the NW corner. It simply had to be GRAMMAR POLICE from all the crossers in place, but why exactly? It had to be RHODESIAN, with the Greek letter Rho kicking things off, but what was I to make of …desian. Finally 18ac could only be Pastime or PASSIVE, but why that in particular. So especial thanks to Andrew this morning (forgot to look for the blood red moon), and of course to Vlad for the excellent challenge ..

  5. Odd can mean occasional, so oddly can perhaps indicate every other letter without one having to apply a strict mathematical interpretation?

  8. Judging by the lack of comments this morning, I am starting to wonder how many contributors are truly human

  9. The oddly problem could be explained from a mathematical point of view, where it is common to number items starting from 0, but that seems an unlikely explanation for a Vlad crossword.

  10. LAY DOWN
    I took the def as give up.
    On DOWN (sad) LAY (song) —->LAY above DOWN

    Liked GRAMMAR SCHOOL for its unconventional construction.
    Thanks Vlad and Andrew.

  11. Jay@2 I had the same. Held up on “grammar police” by putting “norms” after Norman Lamont, one of our more notorious Chancellors. I think it works just as well. I was thrown by the odd “to” in “phnom penh” as it seems superfluous and suggested I wanted the French for a verb not a noun. Got there as what else could it be, but felt that let the clue down a little, as did the odd odds in Ernie.

    Got to say that those outside the UK would probably struggle with both Ernie (and even those here born after about 1975) and Chippie.

    However, a good tough workout – what else do we expect when we see the name Vlad at the top? We know we’ll be mangled, chewed and spat out but if we survive we’ll be the stronger for it (supposedly). Many thanks Vlad and Andrew.

  12. A cracking conclusion to a fine set of weekday puzzles. It’s certainly been a week for brilliant anagrams.

    So many ticks, for so many different reasons. People here won’t be surprised that top of my list was 8dn GRAMMAR POLICE. My hackles started rising as soon as I read the clue but, of course, I ended up laughing out loud! I can’t not mention NOT MY CUP OF TEA, MORES, PASSIVE, PRESIDENT MUSK, GO THE DISTANCE and ACIDULOUS – but there could have been more.

    I agree with Jay re 6dn.

    Huge thanks to Vlad for the fun and to Andrew for a great blog.

  13. Woolly Head @8, I’m mostly human, I think.

    As to the puzzle, I filled it in quicker than yesterday’s but with many of the clues unparsed. Definition, a bit of guesswork/check button, and crossers later on. I enjoyed the ones that I was able to parse though, and will revel in the novelty of completing a difficult Friday puzzle in one sitting.

  14. Same as Eileen@12 re 8dn. I was yelling ‘fewer’ at the screen until the penny dropped (fortunately wasn’t drinking coffee at the time, otherwise my keyboard would have been ruined!)
    Great fun. Thanks to Vlad and Andrew.

  15. Tough puzzle.

    Favourites: PRESIDENT MUSK (hahaha), PHNOM PENH, PINE NUT.

    New for me CHIPPIE = carpenter (Collins has it as CHIPPY); ERNIE = the computer that randomly selects the prize-winning numbers of Premium Bonds in the UK.

    I agree with Jay@5 about 6d.

    I parsed 20d LAY DOWN in the same way as Jay@2 and KVa @10. I don’t think Melanie’s song LAY DOWN is a sad song, it’s more a song of hope and peace which wrote it inspired by her experience at the Woodstock music festival.

  17. KateE @16
    I usually dislike Spoonerisms, but I thought this one was fine (though I was working with “three putt” to start with – nine is even more of a disaster!) What didn’t you like about it?
    (I had a three putt is all too common an expression in my game.)

  18. I thought the reverse of ET (former International Vehicle Registration code for Egypt) was stretching the friendship a bit far. But a good work-out to farewell the week that was.
    Thanks Vlad, and thanks Andrew for the enlightenment.

  19. Just annoyed as a fully paid-up pedant that it took so long for 8d to click despite immediately spotting the abomination.

  20. A wonderful crossword. 8d held me up for some time as I was so obsessed by the grammatical error in the clue itself – until I saw the light. The parsing of 13a is lovely, and 26a is a stroke of genius. Many thanks to Vlad and Andrew.

  21. Held up by trying NORMS for 12a, even while thinking that Norman Lamont was a long time ago (but not long enough!)

  22. I needed your help with Mores, having stupidly ignored the apostrophe s and so trying to find a chancellor called Mores. Obvious now. Thanks Andrew.

    Oddly in 6D seemed odd to me too.

    But that minor niggle aside, loved this, especially 8D once I spotted it. A gem – as was 26 across.

  23. Thought of some Ernies — Els, Wise, Bell, Dingo (Oz actor), Bert’s mate in SS — but none of them drew anything. Didn’t know the acronym, obvs. The letter to boys was pretty cute. Fun, ta V and A.

  25. Woolly Head @8
    Suspect the lack of comments is because many people are still struggling with it.
    It was a DNF for me. Well above my level.
    Stuck somewhere between Crystal Palace and the back of the drawer.

  26. Ha! Unlike Eileen and Bonnylass, I never got to scream ‘fewer’ as I had some crossers and solved GRAMMAR POLICE from the bottom up meaning I had the solution before really clocking the inaccuracy of ‘less’ but it is a cute trick. I loved the Spoonerism – it’s one that actually works and I am sure I recall a famous golfer in recent times having such a nightmare. Not sure he got to 9 putts but it was not far off. LAY DOWN, I parsed as Jay, KVa etc. I was thrown by LINGO as I could not get ‘defending’ as a container out of my head. PRESIDENT MUSK is very clever if not something I want to think about first thing in the morning. At any time of day, come to think of it.

    Thanks Vlad and Andrew

  27. A tricky solve, and some answers escaped us in the end. GRAMMAR POLICE was particularly challenging, and PRESIDENT MUSK was fun.

  28. PostMark @26 – The real joke was that I was screaming, ‘Not Vlad, of all people!’ but, of course, that’s exactly what it was. 😉

  29. Took a very long time to finish this but lots of enjoyable tea tray moments, especially the funny but scary PRESIDENT MUSK and GRAMMAR POLICE. Other favourites were RHODESIAN, CHIPPIE, PINE NUT (I’ve probably been there), MORES, LINGO, BLUEBELLS and lots more. Another CONDO so soon as well.

    Ta Vlad & Andrew.

  30. I found this more approachable than many Vlad offerings. I’m afraid the use of “less” in 8d held me up for far too long before the penny dropped!

    I really liked APOSTOLIC, PRESIDENT MUSK, GO THE DISTANCE and LEISURELY

    Thanks Vlad and Andrew

  32. Another great one from Vlad. Not an easy puzzle, as expected from the Impaler, but I was surprised that I managed to complete it in a (rather long) sitting. Of course, several solutions went in from the definition (I’m always on the lookout for disguised ones with Vlad) and the crossers, but I did manage to parse everything.

    GRAMMAR POLICE was my LOI as I missed the solecism in the clue – this usage is so pervasive that I’m sure it is becoming standard (though I’m sure Vlad would never indulge in it) 🙁

    I’m also with Jay @2 re LAY DOWN, and the ‘oddly’ in FOLK MUSIC read oddly.

    Favourites: all the peripherals, plus PASSIVE, LEISURELY and ERNIE.

    I see we now have placeholders for those unwelcome avatars. My threat to leave unless this abomination is removed will remain.

    Thanks as ever to Jim and Andrew

  33. Same as Postmark with the (wrong idea of ) ‘defending’ container in LINGO. I know almost zilch about soccer/football but I did know OG and also aware of FA..
    I was stoked that I remembered yesterday’s CONDO, which was my last in, despite it being a hidden. And today I was able to enjoy (two) cheats CON and DO from previous cryptics.

  34. The fewer/less business irritated me so much I couldn’t see straight – then at last the penny dropped and the laugh was definitely on me. Very clever cluing. I too failed to parse LINGO and floundered around trying to put NG = no good into <OIL, this being regarded as a mistake by some nowadays (although still sadly useful).
    All very enjoyable. Thanks Vlad and Andrew.

  35. [Re less/fewer, it is (quite) interesting that Swedish has the opposite distinction: a single word ‘mindre’ can legitimately cover both, but for ‘more’ you have to use ‘mer’ for uncountables and ‘flera’ for countable nouns]

  37. Had to laugh at GRAMMAR POLICE, once I got it. I thought LAY DOWN had the cryptic grammar the wrong way round (LAY=song, DOWN=sad) but apparently it’s an actual song. Wasn’t familiar with WEALD=wood. Chambers says ‘open country or wooded country’ and that it derives from a West Saxon word meaning ‘wood’, but are we expected to know that?

  39. Perhaps I failed to notice the grammatical ‘error’ in ‘less people’ because ‘people’ is an unusual word: singular in form, though treated as plural for verb agreement (it can, however be pluralised – ‘the peoples of the world’). But perhaps it’s just that this usage is so pervasive that it has become almost pedantic to complain about it and it now washes over me. ‘Language evolves’, as some posters comment when we nitpick.

  40. Great crossword, with the four long ones round the edge being the stand-outs. Interestingly they all involve disliking: “I don’t like it”, “they won’t like it”, “hated”, and “getting irritated”. GRAMMAR POLICE was brilliant, with a rather unusual construction – the definition is effectively at the start and end of the clue (“Less people… – they won’t like it”) with the wordplay in the middle.

    Many thanks Vlad and Andrew.

  42. Enjoyed the impalement (a lingering vampiric echo from earlier in the week?) particularly PHNOM PENH, LINGO and ACIDULOUS

    I hope it’s not too gauche to plug my own puzzle for the Independent today, which has something extra going on.

  43. I was another trying norms at first for 12A, but had to change to MORES once the crossers were in place. I liked the good anagrams for NOT MY CUP OF TEA and PRESIDENT MUSK. I loved the GRAMMAR POLICE where the many previous comments here had alerted me to the less/fewer debate. I also liked the Hawaiian shirt for LEISURELY, the difficult definition for ERNIE, and Romeo in the wood for EMERALD. IMHO, the oddly in 6D seems to be a mistake. In crosswordland, oddly is usually an anagram indicator or an alternate, odd, letter indicator.

    Thanks Vlad and Andrew.

  44. Abrax@ 36, one can substitute LAY DOWN for “give up” on the phrase “give up arms.” That fits the transitive (i.e., only, as we all know) sense of the verb to lay. Thus, Kva’s parsing @10 must be correct, in order to satisfy the GRAMMAR POLICE.

    “Less” for “fewer,” though, is an error of usage, not grammar.

  46. Wow – definition of GK well-stretched today! ERNIE took a while to swim into memory. A good long while.
    As for former Chancellors: in the end I Duck-duck-went them; old Sir Thomas was an incredibly long way down the list….
    Thanks Andrew for helping complete the parsing to 11A & 10A (like ronald@4 I couldn’t make sense of “desian”).
    I liked CHIPPIE and FOLK MUSIC – once I’d stopped thinking about Dylan Thomas & Magic Roundabout’s rabbit (I agree with Jay@5 re “oddly”) and I really liked GRAMMAR POLICE. (Waitrose, bless them, have check-out signs that read “10 items or fewer”. People like me enjoy shopping there.)
    Thank you Vlad for the fun

  47. Some pretty tricky GK required today: a sixteenth century Chancellor, an obsolete international code for Egypt, the acronym that used to pick Premium Bond winners (famous in the 1950s, but now?) and obscure 1970s hits (though I didn’t take this to be the intended parsing: I went for song+sad). The Test is a beautiful river, but not one of the usual suspects.

    Several guessed but not parsed: life’s too short for the convolutions needed for PHNOM PENH, and I gave up on the anagram for ACIDULOUS and used an anagram-o-matic on it. Favourites LEISURELY, NOT MY CUP OF TEA, PINE NUT, TEST BED, RHO-DES-IAN and of course the GRAMMAR POLICE.

  49. I worked out ERNIE from the wordplay, but being completely unaware of the draw computer I assumed the “drawer” in the clue was an artist. I actually had Escher in mind but a google found Ernie Barnes who seemed well known enough to be viable. Was pleased with myself until I came here…. However, this is the first Vlad I’ve ever completed so still pleased with myself!

  51. With plenty of guessing and checking, and some clues which I could answer and parse straight off, I finished this. So much better than yesterday when I couldn’t even make a start.

  52. Very clever puzzle today and only a little use of the check button, which is better than my average with Vlad! I share the reservations about ‘odd’ in FOLK MUSIC, and also was expecting “less people” to have some cryptic payoff–it seems unusual to have a phrase at the beginning of the clue whose sole purpose is to be referred to by “it” at the end. Got it when I worked around to PASSIVE which I got stuck on for a while by trying to fit in MYSTERY or something. Speaking of MYSTERY, as JoFT@11 predicts, ERNIE was one. CHIPPIE only half a one, I (and Collins) know it for the shop but not the carpenter.

    Many great ones that looked like they couldn’t possibly work out fairly but did after I got them, like CONDO (LOI), TIBIA (great lift-and-separate), PASSiVE. LEISURELY was particularly satisfying too. 26ac is a bit traumatic though for those of us whose country is now being slashed and burned like one of his companies. As Courtney Barnett might say, I think he’s a joke, but I don’t find him very funny.

    Thanks Vlad and Andrew!

  53. Wow, this was a tricky one but all the clues were gettable. I loved the reminder of schooldays in LACE-UPS, the cheeky lift&separate in TIBIA, and the almost &lit-ish 26a. Thanks to Vlad and Andrew.

  54. Painful, a true impaling, but somehow very enjoyable when they clicked.

    I had a groan about the clue for GRAMMAR POLICE before the answer came. Certainly my favourite clue.

    Thanks Andrew and Vlad.

  55. Thanks for a splendid blog, Andrew It’s a consolation that you found it a challenge.
    I groan inwardly at odd and even type clues, my least favourite device, because of the mix-up they can often cause, and I agree with Jay and Eileen.
    A big round of applause for you and Vlad.

  56. Sorry to be a pain but could someone explain “nine putt” to me? I got it from the definition and crossers. I can’t find it in any dictionaries and even Google is no help. I assume it’s either 9 over par or trying to putt with a nine-iron. Sorry, I’ve never picked up more than a mini-golf putter.

  57. gladys @48: ERNIE still very much alive and picking. Started in 1957 and we are up to ERNIE 5 now, powered by quantum technology, no less!

  58. Staticman @57
    It’s just the number of putts taken on a green. One is excellent; two is normal; three is bad (for good players), so nine would be awful.

  59. Staticman1@57: the ‘Par’ on a golf hole usually allows for 2 putts, so a par 4 should involve getting the ball on the green in two shots followed by 2 putts. A par five similarly should require 3 shots to get the ball on the green and 2 putts. A 3-putt is therefore a signal failure and a 9-putt is a nightmare.

    [muffin@31: I think both Seve and Ernie Els have perpetrated 6-putts.]

  60. [Alphalpha @60
    I was in a team competition last Sunday where one of my teammates three-putted from 6 inches!]

  61. Like many other posters I winced at 8d before realising that was the point of the clue and then laughed out loud.
    I’m with Jay@2 reading it as “on sad” song giving lay on down.
    And I also struggled with the Egypt country code,I had the answer, then removed it after realising the code is eg, and finally replaced it when I had two crossers.
    Overall I loved it, a hard work out, but all fair.

  63. 6d i’ve always thought the indicator ‘oddly’ referred to 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th etc letters of a word, whereas if it is the 2nd, 4th, 6th, etc the indicator bit would say ‘evenly’? Am I imagining that this was the standard? I was thrown by the use of “oddly” in this clue. i know it sounds pedantic, but surely cryptic crosswords are the natural home of pedants who want clues to follow the rules?

  64. Priscilla McHugh @64 – it depends on what you regard as ‘the rules’. Cryptic crosswords rely largely on the fact that words can have different meanings. Certainly, ‘oddly’ can be an indication to take the odd letters of a word, but, as Jay pointed out @5, it can also mean ‘occasionally’ – and also, of course, ‘unusually’, to indicate an anagram. Think of ‘without’, which can mean ‘outside’ and indicate a container, or ‘lacking’, indicating a deletion. And ‘about’, which can be ‘re’ or, again, either a container or an anagram indicator. All perfectly legitimate and thus adding to the fun. 😉

  65. Well! Once I saw what 26a turned out to be, I got the horrors – couldn’t even bear to think of the prospect. Isn’t the present incumbent bad enough?! So I won’t write it down here. But still an excellent clue!

    Rest was fine too, though a real toughie – as only to be expected from the ‘Impaler’. Had to laugh at GRAMMAR POLICE – I guess that, being something of a pedant myself, I have to claim membership of that elite force – though, ironically, use of “less” in place of “fewer” doesn’t bother me. If it did, how would I ever manage to make it through the supermarket’s “Ten Items or Less” checkout?

    I failed to spot the possible error in FOLK MUSIC – pretty much a write-in from the crossers anyway.

    ‘Likes’ for LINGO, PHNOM PENH, AVERAGE, PASSIVE, APOSTOLIC, PINE NUT (memories of my one-and-only attempt at a pitch-and-putt many years ago: I think I took about twelve to sink my first!); EMERALD; GO THE DISTANCE. To name just a few.

    Thanks to Vlad and Andrew.

  66. I don’t get my paper until mid-morning so now just got to do it at teatime .Found this very demanding.
    Still don’t get a lot of it. Some very obscure cluing. Still can’t win them all!

  67. [Laccaria @66
    You could shop at Waitrose instead, as someone said earlier (though I failed to find the post when I checked back through) – their rapid checkouts are labelled “Ten items or fewer”.]

  68. I’m a little worried. I normally struggle with Vlad but I found today relatively straightforward. Maybe because I’ve given up booze for Lent my pistons are firing more reliably?

  69. Methusaleh@42: thanks for the nudge. That’s fun! Not complete yet, but … amazing piece of work!

  70. [muffin@68 – as it happens I was in Waitrose this morning. But I can’t say I noticed. We had a full trolley load so we had to go to the normal checkout.]

  71. Well, I’ll be one of the 8dn today. MORES (12ac) is a plural noun and so shouldn’t be defined by the singular “way of doing things”.

    O tempora, …

  72. Thanks for the blog, excellent puzzle and lasted the perfect time , very friendly grid with the perimeter and so many other first letters . I will pick out TIBIA for neat use of fission .

  73. Ted @72

    Re 8dn (and I’m also one of them): in my book, an excellent translation from Collins for ‘the way of doing things’:
    ‘mores: the customs and conventions embodying the fundamental values of a group or society’.

  74. Happy Pi Day to all , I wanted to post at 1.59 but no chance . For those who cannot remember the first 20 decimal places I have a helpful gift from my students last year –
    Wow . I need a drink alcoholic of course after the extra lectures involving quantum mechanics Roz is now offering each Monday –
    I was impressed by the decimal point .

  75. Eileen @74 — I’m not sure I understand your point. The definition you quote still has the singular-plural problem I referred to.

  76. Re 20d. The print edition has GAVE UP which seems to make more sense.
    I thought of ‘modus’ for 12a before the crossers ruled it out.

  77. Ted @76
    “More” surely can’t mean “the usual way of doing things”? I’m with Eileen on this – MORES is fine as “a way of doing things”; it isn’t a plural, I think (though Eileen would know!)

  79. Is there evidence that “mores” is used as a singular in English? I can’t find any.

    The OED explicitly says “with plural agreement” under definition 2, which is the one that matches the usage in the clue. The examples cited confirm that the word is construed as plural (in all of the cases where the grammar of the sentence allows one to distinguish singular from plural).

    One of the other OED definitions, which is specifically ecological, says “occasionally with singular agreement”, but that definition doesn’t match the clue.

    dictionary.com also quotes a number of examples of the usage of the word. Once again, in all the ones where the grammatical number can be ascertained, it’s plural.

    Vlad is simply wrong on this. Not a huge error, but definitely an error.

  80. At the risk of sounding a jarring note, I seemed to sail through this, and ended up thinking “this is easy for a Vlad.” Perhaps I was just unusually on his wavelength today ! Having said that, GRAMMAR POLICE took me as long as it took several posters above. I think 26ac had to be my favourite today. Thanks to Andrew and to Tramp !

  82. Ted @72 et seq: interesting point, but I would agree with Eileen @74. Something that is grammatically plural can be the same as something that is grammatically singular, for example seven days is a week.

  84. Simon S@82:I think JohnB meant Trump?

    [muffin@61: I’ve done that. Tap-in with the back of the putter (semi-circular profile not a consideration – should have been a consideration) total whiff with the return and in for bogey having chipped it stone dead.]

  86. I was definitely not on the right wavelength and have only just finished without being able to parse a fair few. Consider me truly impaled! My top three of many great clues were GRAMMAR POLICE, LEISURELY and GO THE DISTANCE. Thank you to Andrew for the parsing and to Vlad for the challenge. Happy weekend to one and all.

  87. [Alphalpha @85
    He didn’t even have that excuse! He did it three times playing casual the Wednesday before too!]

  88. [@Alphalpha 86 and @Roz 75 I can’t help pointing out that the Independent crossword I plugged above is extremely on-topic to your conversation!]

  89. Once again, I’m missing the point, Eileen @84. Yes, Cicero used this word. But he used it in the plural! In any case, though, I don’t think that’s all that relevant, as the question is how the word is used in English. As far as I can tell, the answer is that it is always used as a plural.

    If anyone is aware of a single time that this word has been used in English, in the meaning needed by the clue, in a sentence where it is grammatically singular, I’d be interested to hear about it.

  90. Now I, even I, would celebrate,
    In rhymes unapt, the great
    immortal Syracusan, rivaled nevermore,
    Who in his wondrous lore,
    Passed on before,
    Left men his guidance
    How to circles mensurate

    (NB: composed by an American!)

  91. Alphalpha @86 and Roz @75: I’d very much second Methuselah’s plug. If you can find time to do his Indy puzzle of today, it is VERY well worth it.

  92. Ted @90 – I’m sorry, I give up: we’re clearly on different wavelengths / lines of reference: it’s all do with the phrase, not the word. I’m bowing out now. Thanks for your input.

  94. Thanks to Andrew for an excellent blog and to others for their comments.

    I echo the recommendations for Methuselah’s Indy

  95. I was going to say that I couldn’t get from Vlad’s to I’ve. I was expecting I’m or my. But then the penny dropped as I started to type. Vlad’s got it right

  96. If you search on “less v. fewer” and Google far enough down there’s an article by David Standen which tells us that Alfred the Great used the Old English for “less words” in 880 and the rule as we now know it was only formulated in 1770. I can’t get too bothered about it but I couldn’t be doing with the opposite i.e. I can put up with less biscuits but not fewer cake.

  97. Brilliant @95Vlad, took us all evening, loved every minute. As for the parsing terminology of TIBIA, love ‘fission’ – bravo Roz@73 🙏

  98. I have never commented here but during my occassional (odd?) fits of enthusiasm for crosswords it is a happy place. Thank you.

    I did wonder if 8d was Vlad’s little dig at the grumbling about the surface syntax not matching the cryptic grammar and so on. Probably not. It is very good natured, but I like to think so. The setters should be granted a pinch of salt. Duffers like me need to over season the clues to have any hope. Any way, didn’t finish, but probably my best effort for a Friday. I had three left 19 and 22 down and 24 across.

    Thanks all. Have fun.

  99. Methuselah@89 and MrPostMark@92 , many thanks for the thought but I do not have any access to this . On Monday I will try and get a photocopy in the library .
    Alphalpha@86 your date is too late , 22/7 is too big . I am with the Canadians on this .
    Hadrian@98 I will explain soon on the Brockwell today .

  103. 20d, triple definition then; I wasn’t aware of the song title (apart from knowing the tune I now realise) I got it as 10. KVa says.

  104. Got stuck ‘cos of NORMS (like others did). Couldn’t see what would fit … CRANIAL POLICE? GRANDAD POLICE?

  105. Like George @104 I had NORMS at 12d, so 8d was borked. FRONTAL POLICE? CRANHAM POLICE? Before that, like muffin @1 I started with CRYSTAL PALACE. Neat to read about my own experiences from other commenters!

    Despite those two, I correctly solved all the other clues, making it my best ever result for a Vlad

    Re 6d, I’m not convinced that “oddly” can refer to all the even letters of a word. Yes, “odd” can mean “occasional”, but it doesn’t suggest “regular”. If I go to church on the odd Sunday, it doesn’t mean I go every other week. It means sporadically

    For 20d, I had “sad song” as LAY (that is) DOWN

    I’ve mused on occasion to Mrs. Mig wondering why we have one word for an increase (“more money”, “more coins”), but two words for a decrease (“less money”, “fewer coins”). I can’t see any good reason why this should be so. Maybe it’s time to drop “fewer” (as many already do) and use “less” for everything!

Comments are closed.