The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/29895.
I am rather too tired at the moment to raise much enthusiasm, but content not to be tested too hard. However, the Guardian comment were favourable, and seemed to agree that it was a notch harded than usual for Vulcan – so here is your chance to express your opinion.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | GARDENING |
Sort of leave work around the house (9)
|
| Cryptic definition; a play on ‘leave’ as a verb in the uncommon sense of produce foliage. | ||
| 6 | TOTEM |
Venerated object to carry miles (5)
|
| A charade of TOTE (‘carry’) plus M (‘miles’). | ||
| 9 | AS WAS |
A swimmer’s name forgotten – that’s his former name (2,3)
|
| A subtraction: A SWA[n]’S (‘a swimmer’s’) minus the N (‘name forgotten’). | ||
| 10 | PROFUSION |
Favouring potential new power source is an extravagance (9)
|
| A charade of PRO (‘favouring’) plus FUSION (nuclear, ‘potential power source’). | ||
| 11 | DOE |
US plaintiff, kid’s mother (3)
|
| Double definition. John or Jane Doe are now principally thought of as unnamed litigants in US justice, but derive from mediaeval English law; the ‘kid’ is a deer. | ||
| 12 | ECO-FRIENDLY |
Revising creed, only if good for the planet (3-8)
|
| An anagram (‘revised’) of ‘creed only if’. | ||
| 14 | DELIBES |
French composer ponders, losing speed (7)
|
| A subtraction: DELIBE[rate]S (‘ponders’) minus RATE (‘losing speed’). | ||
| 15 | MERITED |
Appropriate service held in the sea (7)
|
| An envelope (‘held in’) of RITE (‘service’) in MED (Mediterranean ‘sea’). | ||
| 16 | COCONUT |
What may be knocked out of shy clown enthusiast (7)
|
| A charade of COCO (‘clown’, from the performing name of a famous circus clown, Nicolai Poliakoff) plus NUT (‘enthusiast’). The definiition refers to the old fairground game, the coconut shy. | ||
| 19 | GRITTED |
Ground given anti-slip winter treatment (7)
|
| Double definition, the first being the past participle of grind; GRITTED in this sense is obsolete except in the expressions like “gritted ones teeth”. | ||
| 22 | CURRY FAVOUR |
Suck up the taste of Indian meal without dal in the end (5,6)
|
| A subtraction: CURRY F[l}AVOUR (‘the taste of Indian meal’) minus the L (‘without daL in the end’). | ||
| 23 | FLU |
Sickness was carried in the air, it’s said (3)
|
| Sounds like (‘it’s said’) FLEW (‘was carried in the air’) – with reference to the discarded miasma theory (and the derivation of the word malaria) | ||
| 24 | OVEREATEN |
Had too much already, before we hear a tea going into the cooker (9)
|
| An envelope (‘going into’) of ERE (‘before’) plus A T (‘we hear a tea’) in OVEN (‘cooker’). | ||
| 26 | IDEAL |
Perfect negotiator’s motto (5)
|
| I DEAL (‘negotiator’s motto’). | ||
| 27 | ERECT |
Tall tree collapsed, locking in carbon (5)
|
| An envelope (‘locking in’) of C (chemical symbol, ‘carbon’) in ERET, an anagram (‘collapsed’) of ‘tree’. | ||
| 28 | REPUGNANT |
Distasteful ruling holds up in turn (9)
|
| An envelope (‘holds’) of PU, a reversal (‘in turn’) of ‘up’, in REGNANT (‘ruling’). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | GRANDAD |
One relative or one of each sex (7)
|
| GRAN and DAD | ||
| 2 | RAW DEAL |
Bad treatment of green wood (3,4)
|
| Definition and literal interpretation. | ||
| 3 | EASTER BUNNY |
Rabbit that lays eggs? (6,5)
|
| Scarcely cryptic definition. | ||
| 4 | IMPIOUS |
I am godly? No I am not (7)
|
| A charade of I’M (‘I am’) plus PIOUS (‘godly’), with an extended definition. | ||
| 5 | GROGRAM |
Rum stuff, this material (7)
|
| A charade of GROG (‘rum’) plus RAM (‘stuff’). | ||
| 6 | TAU |
Not entirely tense character (3)
|
| A subtraction: TAU[t] (‘tense’) minus its last letter (‘not entirely’), fot the character in the Greek alphabet. | ||
| 7 | TRIED IT |
Tasted some dish, make three changes? (5,2)
|
| A whimsical formation TRI-EDIT (‘make three changes?’). | ||
| 8 | MONEYED |
One day, looked to be rich (7)
|
| A charade of MON (‘one day’) plus EYED (‘looked’). | ||
| 13 | EAR-PIERCING |
Such a scream, having a very minor operation? (3-8)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 16 | CYCLONE |
Weather pattern is working through a sequence (7)
|
| An envelope (”through’) of ON (‘working’) in CYCLE (‘a sequence’). | ||
| 17 | CORTÈGE |
As commander, sadly greet such a procession (7)
|
| A charade of CO (‘commander’ – the initialism is for Commanding Officer) plus RTEGE, an anagram (‘sadly’) of ‘greet’. As the ceremonial procession which is a cortège may be at a funeral, the clue may have an extended definition. | ||
| 18 | TOASTER |
Kitchen appliance closed at the back? Not quite (7)
|
| A subtraction: TO (‘closed’) plus ASTER[n] (‘at the back’) minus its last letter (‘not quite’). | ||
| 19 | GROWN-UP |
Mature woman heartlessly breaking into clique (5-2)
|
| A envelope (‘breaking into’) of WN (‘WomaN heartlessly’) in GROUP (‘clique’). | ||
| 20 | TAFFETA |
Fabric, rich, folded over cheese (7)
|
| A charade of TAF, a reversal (‘folded over’) plus FETA (‘cheese’). | ||
| 21 | DOUBLET |
One sported with hose, wetter holding this (7)
|
| DOUBLE T (‘weTTer holding this’). | ||
| 25 | EFT |
Amphibian wandered away, off its lead (3)
|
| A subtraction: [l]EFT (‘wandered away’) minus its first letter (‘off its lead’). An eft is a largely obsolete or dialect word for a newt (and is indeed etymologically the same with the N transferred and a variant consonant F to W). |
GARDENING
Garden leave (also known as gardening leave) is common practice in executive-level employment contracts, referring to the period after an employee leaving a job is instructed to stay away from work during the notice period, while still remaining on the payroll.
Looks like
Def 1: Sort of leave
Def 2: work around the house
With KVa #1. GARDENING. Had heard about it before and re-confirmed. British of course. It doesn’t translate down here. What’s a garden and why would you do that on your leave? 🙂 I can think of all sorts of other things to do.
😃
Thanks Peter O. I love it when you’re blogging, a) because I like your blogs, and b) I can put the crossie to bed, and go to bed myself, at this time of year. I appreciate your help with DOUBLET, got the def but not the wordplay,
I got carried away with 14 DELIBES. I decided ponders was a clever way of referring to amphibians (which contains speed mph), but of course led nowhere.
I, too, found it tougher than usual, with only one solution OVEREATEN first time through.
Thanks PeterO and Vulcan
Perfectly Goldilocks level, most enjoyable. DOUBLET was the only one I failed to parse. I’d even heard of DELIBES — but then, I’m a muso.
Rather harder than Vulcan usually is on Mondays, and all the better for it: DOUBLET was fun. However, I’m not sure in what animal a kid is the offspring of a doe: deer usually have fawns and goats have kids, but perhaps there are other animals where it is the right terminology?
The history of GROGRAM is interesting: the British sailors’ “grog” is derived from it via the nickname of the admiral who introduced the diluted rum ration and who always wore a GROGRAM cloak: “Old Grog“.
I agree with KVa@1 about gardening leave: didn’t realise it was a purely British concept, but it doesn’t need extra wordplay about green leaves.
It turned out to be fairly-Mondayish in the end but there was time early on when I was not so sure! The grid was worryingly empty after first pass through – but then everything came together with only the nho and unlikely GROGRAM holding out til the very end. DOUBLET was very nice when the penny dropped. CYCLONE, REPUGNANT, MONEYED, GROWN-UP, TAFFETA were my other faves. COCONUT and CURRY FAVOUR also good though I do think I’ve seen them before.
Thanks both
thank PO and V! I too found this harder than the usual Vulcan. Only had two entries after a complete pass. Thanks for various parsings (GRITTING, DOUBLET) and I wondered a bit about the grammar of OVEREATEN
Comment #10
Thanks Vulcan and PeterO
I see that Gladys has already pointed out that offspring of does are fawns, not kids.
I too found this harder than usual for Vulcan. Favourites were REPUGNANT and LOI TRIED IT.
Re 11, a female goat is also a ‘doe’. ‘Nanny’ is used informally.
Thanks to V and P.
I’ll buck the trend and say I found this overall easier than usual Vulcan. Which is to say that the answers went in a little more slowly than usual, but I wasn’t left with a couple that required putting the puzzle down and coming back later in the day.
Nho grogram, but gettable from wordplay and crossers.
Ta, Vulcan and PeterO
I also found this harder than a usual Vulcan but I find him one of those setters where the difficulty varies depending on whether you can get on wavelength or not especially with the cryptic definitions.
Not heard of GROGRAM which was the last one in. Two tough materials in this that relied on the wordplay.
Liked PROFUSION and REPUGNANT
thanks PeterO and Vulcan
I forgot to mention that ERECT isn’t necessarily tall.
#25 – an eft is a juvenile newt and the term is common in modern usage.
Took a while but worth it.
Failed to spot the double T gag in DOUBLET and now think it’s very neat.
Still not sure about DOE. Could have sworn baby deer were fawns.
Enjoy your rest, PeterO, and thanks.
Came here for the parsing of DOUBLET – lovely, really should have seen it! In 1a I took GARDENING as something you do “around” as opposed to “inside” the house so a rather neat clue. In the medical world “on gardening leave” is used informally to mean suspended pending a malpractice enquiry. EFT is not obsolete, but in modern use its meaning has contracted to juvenile newts and it seems to come up pretty regularly in crosswords and pub quizzes. Guessed DOE but have never heard of kid being used as an alternative to fawn. GROGRAM new to me and unlike others I didn’t guess it from wp/crossers so a defeat. Thanks V and PO.
According to Russthree@12, it isn’t a question of baby deer being “kids”, but of female goats being “does”. News to me, but I’m no expert.
Russ@12 just seen your post about doe being a female goat – thanks, that makes more sense; I blame Julie Andrews for my missing that. And CA@16 apologies for duplicating.
Vulcan/Imogen typically not a wavelength setter for me and I struggled more than usual today. Ultimately defeated by what I saw in Guardian comments were thankfully the most difficult ones: 5d (nho for me) and 21d (just could not see it).
But unfortunately also by 1d, mostly due to entering Roe at 11 (of Roe v. Wade fame, and in my mind having a more plaintiffy connotation than Doe, which feels more defendantish to me; and also a deer), but also as I think I would spell it GRANDDAD…
Oh well…
The equation of MERITED = ‘appropriate’ seems to me rather too loose. “Attire appropriate for the occasion”, “an appropriate response to US threats”, “the show is not appropriate for under-10s” etc. don’t work with ‘merited’ substituted, because ‘merited’ is all about deserving, earning something through one’s ability/actions/behaviour.
Grogram is a coarse, stiff material. A coat made of it was habitually warn by Admiral Edward Vernon (12 November 1684 – 30 October 1757) who was nicknamed “Old Grog” because of it. He is remembered for ordering the dilution of sailors’ rum ration with water to prevent drunkenness (watered rum wasn’t as easy to store (hoard) than the neat version) and the mixture was named “grog” after him. So there’s a bit more to the clue than others have noted.
Congratulations to anyone writing in Delibes who has already managed to shake off this earworm, wonderful though it is. Thank you Vulcan and PeterO!
Dave@23: “So there’s a bit more to the clue than others have noted.” — Well, actually, no, because Gladys@7 told us about “Old Grog”.
I enjoyed this and thought it was a good Monday level. Favourites were TRIED IT = TRI-EDIT, and DOUBLET for the clever play on “sported” to mean “played around” for the surface and “worn” for the definition. I do agree that GROGRAM was a bit circular because GROG for the rum ration actually derives from GROGRAM the material as others have mentioned.
I was ok with both MERITED = appropriate and ERECT = tall. Surely the point is that though they don’t always mean the same, they can in certain contexts. For the latter, think of the Val Doonican song (sorry) “Walk Tall”.
Many thanks Vulcan and PeterO.
Yes, one or two tricky ones. I liked DELIBES, GRANDAD, EASTER BUNNY, TOASTER and DOUBLET. From Wiktionary: A female deer; also used of similar animals such as antelope (less commonly a goat, as nanny is also used).
Thanks Vulcan and PeterO.
Re: DOUBLET. Curiously enough the following clue was in The Times last week.
Jacket that’s suggested by tourist on vacation?
Chambers doesn’t support a nanny ever being a doe. Fawn nor kid.
Another enjoyable crossword. I also completed Saturday’s Prize one..
I’m on a roll !! 😊
Good fun today with my favourites already mentioned. Parsed GARDENING as KVa @1.
Ta Vulcan & PeterO.
Mostly fun, but I had a couple of minor quibbles. DOUBLET was my favorite, a real groan when the penny dropped as I wrote it in.
Having lived in the US for three decades and being now moderately fluent in the language, I associate DOE more with an unnamed defendant or, most commonly, an unidentified corpse. “US litigant” would have been better. Also, the wordplay of 4D seems weak. Just me?
Others have covered MERITED and ERECT.
NHO GROGRAM, DELIBES, EFT, nor DOE as a female goat.
Loved the “scarcely” component of PeterO’s parsing in 3d. Thought that was rather simple.
Either this was easier than normal, or I’m getting better – no way I solved it, but I got about half in without reveals or checks. That’s “advanced” for me 🙂
It may have had Vulcan’s name at the top, but I felt the hand of one or other of his personae in this one. A bit more brain work required that I am used to on a Monday. Excellent puzzle though, with GRANDAD, IMPIOUS and EASTER BUNNY three of my particular favourites. I scratched my head for a long time over ‘nanny goat’ and eventually went to Google for help with female goat and ‘doe’ was the first answer up. Perhaps it’s time to retire Chambers et al. Thanks Vulcan and PeterO.
Thanks for the blog , REPUGNANT and DOUBLET very neat .
proFUSION hardly a potential new power source , stars have been using it for quite a while .
Calling the footballer a cheating diver was entirely MERITED/appropriate .
Chambers93 had doe=female antelope and kid=young antelope .
Bottom half done quickly last night before bed, leaving the upper half as a treat for breakfast; that second half proved to be a little more chewy.
Another one here putting DOUBLET in but remaining baffled as to parsing, so thanks to PeterO for clearing that up. Like several others, I find the DOE / kid relationship a bit iffy – though it seems to be allowable. A decent familiarity with the Aubrey/Maturin books is now becoming a useful source of lore for things like GROGRAM. TAU took me longer than it should have to click. NHO DELIBES, but very clearly clued. Since I’d worked with the Culham Lab (wiki) for 20 or so years before retiring, it was pleasing to see PROFUSION.
Ticks for TRIED IT (I always like – once I’ve seen them! – these clues that cross word boundaries) and CURRY FAVOUR.
Overall, a very pleasant start to the crosswording week. Thanks V & P.
Anyone else have ‘saw’ for ‘Sickness was carried in the air, it’s said (3)’ sickness anagram indicator on ‘was’ with saw being a homophone for ‘soar’ i.e. carried in the air. I feel hard done by 😀
I’m trying to learn how to do cryptics in 2026 so still learning the rules.
I agree that this was harder than usual for a Monday Vulcan.
I couldn’t parse 1ac, 19ac, 7d, 21d.
New for me: GROGRAM.
Russthree@12 – thanks for explaining about DOE=female goat.
Hard work for this Monday of Mondays. Thank you for my in-flight entertainment to Vulcan, and for the explanations to PeterO.
I was more familiar with GARDEN LEAVE than GARDENING, and I vaguely knew about Old Grog but not where the name came from — so much appreciated to gladys @7 and Dave @23 🙂
Mike @38: welcome to the hobby! There’s (almost) always one definition and “one” wordplay; your suggestion would have two wordplays instead, an anagram and a homophone, with no definition.
Another unsolicited tip (sorry!) is that the cryptic grammar should scan. A “sick person” could be someone who’s out of sorts (hence anagram); but “sickness person” wouldn’t quite work grammatically — same goes for your idea of “sickness was”. Anagram indicators tend to be adjectives or verbs. Happy solving!
I hesitate to say it was harder than usual for Vulcan, but it certainly took me longer than usual.
I agree with the quibbles re: ERECT and MERITED: the mismatches didn’t get in the way of solving if done by wordplay-first.
Calabar Bean @40 – thanks for the tips! Managed to solve 5 in this crossword, so will try for 6 next time 🙂
Thanks Roz@36 for clearing up the kid-doe confusion – antelopes, not goats!
I found this to be the most difficult Vulcan I’ve done. Came back to it after not getting very far this morning, but have thrown in the towel and revealed over half the answers. Clearly not on the wavelength today, but that’s fine. Some of the clues I got took far more work than they may have needed, but on a good day (for me) I think I might have struggled with this, at least to a degree.
Onwards.
Yes, tricky for a Monday. Took a while to get a foothold. NW last to fall. Mrs Mig and I struggled a while with nho loi 5d GROGRAM until the GROG penny finally dropped. Like other commenters I didn’t parse 21d DOUBLET, but it’s a good one. I enjoyed the wordplay in 7d TRIED IT (“make three changes”)
No problem with 15a MERITED, as Roz@35 points out. The award was MERITED/appropriate
I couldn’t parse DOUBLET, though, once revealed, the parsing is delightful. Otherwise all made sense, except for ‘to’ being ‘closed’. The answer was obvious but this foxes me. Could someone please explain?
(I also had the quibble about does, but loved all the information here. Also the insight into why grog was so named.)
Re Kid for baby deer
Google AI overview
Fawn: The common term for any baby deer (e.g., White-tailed, Mule deer).
Kid: A specific term for young Roe deer, known for hiding in grass with their spotted coats. (This is specifically in UK. Also see Deer Society)
Calf: A young deer of larger species like Red or Sika deer.
Bunty @46
“Push the door to, please”
Might be only in a few dialects.
I thought that was tough for a Monday, unlike Gladys, do not think that a good thing. Give us beginners a chance, please.
muffin@48 – Sheesh, that makes sense now but seems a bit of a stretch..
Calabar@40 – Is it a hobby? Or a pastime? I’ve always thought of hobbies as active/creative uses of time and a pastimes as inactive and inconsequential.
[yonoloco@50: or even, in time, given current trends, a sport. Darts, once a pub pastime, is now a sport. It may even be in the Olympics for all I know. Ballroom dancing, at my university, changed its name to “dancesport” – I guess there was funding in it?
One criterion might be that “if you can drink beer while doing it, it’s a pastime, not a sport”, though that would rule out cricket as my dad’s works team used to play it.]
[Roz @35: Thanks for the antelope and I’m a bit worried about your continued obsession with the beautiful game 😉]
I enjoyed this. On first pass through, I confidently entered ATHEIST for 4d (A theist is godly!) before 12a put the kibosh on it. GROGRAM was a real jorum for me. Thanks for the added info re the good admiral, gladys et al.
Fine puzzle. Thanks, Vulcan and PeterO. Hope you’re feeling more rested now!
[ AlanC@52 , the Beautiful Game is water-polo , the phrase was coined by Ervin Zador in 1956 . I am afraid I can’t give you the original Magyar . ]
Vulcan on fine form. CURRY FAVOUR made me chuckle.
Y@50 if you don’t believe muffin try Chambers: “In or into a required or fixed position, contact, closed or fastened condition”
I’m from Yorkshire originally and TO meaning closed sounds familiar
Cheers P&V
[Roz @54 No, sorry, the Beautiful Game is cricket, and the fact that cricketers sometimes prevented you from taking the diagonal route from LMH across the Parks to the Physics Lab does nothing to diminish that. Your avowed hydrophilia cannot make water polo even vestigially interesting.]
Roz@54: ‘Gyönyörű játék’ by all accounts. Appropriately catchy….
Very late to the party here but just wanted to add that DOE was my FOI. I looked at the clue and googled “female
Goat” and got “doe or nanny “ straight away. It seems doe is quite correct and can also be applied to a hare, rabbit, rat, ferret and kangaroo (? Perhaps our Australian friends can confirm?). I assumed that it fell into the category of the many names for animals I have never heard of that frequently pop up in crossword land. (I recall a wether from some recent crossword which flummoxed me).
A tired effort today and a new record solve of precisely zero. Checking the blog/comments, Easter bunny made me groan (or graun) and grogram and eft made me want to give up cryptics for good. To paraphrase a comic great, I’m using all the right letters but not necessarily in the right order.
I found this a bit harder than the last few Monday cryptics but I’m just moving up to these from the Quiptics and the Quick Cryptics so maybe just me. Took 2 long sessions: first time through I got 4 and then faltered, but second visit things fell into place. Thanks Peter O for your blog which clarified some wordplay misses I had; and to Vulcan.