Guardian 27,306 / Vlad

51 comments on “Guardian 27,306 / Vlad”

1. Thanks Vlad and Eileen

   Nice variety of solving techniques required, all the way up from “put the parts together to generate an unfamiliar term” (HASH OUT) to “guess the answer, then try to tease out the parsing” (VICTOR MELDREW – or fail to parse, as in MUSTN’T GRUMBLE, ENNUI and ESSENTIAL). I didn’t see where the N came from in RHINE either!

   Favourites were the aforementioned VICTOR, WHITE MEAT, VISITOR and DECATHLON.

   Not happy about the definition for 1a.

2. Fantastic puzzle by Vlad – great surfaces, witty, and with some well disguised definitions. My favourites were VISITOR, ESSENTIAL, RHINE and VICTOR MELDREW. Many thanks to Vlad and Eileen.

3. Was annoyed with myself for going with STOMP at 12 (seemed like a good idea at the time) but the enjoyment gradually increased through the puzzle. VM was my LOI!

   Thanks, Vlad and Eileen.

4. I wish I could enjoy Vlad more – I am afraid I have never found much wit in his crosswords.

   I like some of the originality – shady, serial non believer, May’s new pals – is this the wit?

   I found it a struggle, taking me at least 90′. Something like(5’1, 7) for 9d’s enumeration would have helped; and is “one” really a definition for 2d – it doesn’t make much sense to me.

   Thanks Vlad and Eileen, the Masochist.

5. Great puzzle and blog.I loved the serial non-believer and the shady literary hero.
   I was in the dark for a while with 8d-I had the crossers for the second word but couldnt see anything. Then I had the crossers for the first word and I was hit with such a clang.
   We did get OFITG in Australia-and also Father Ted with the great cameo from Richard Wilson.

6. Dave Ellison @6
   Eileen describes 2d as an “extended definition” – not exactly &lit, but heading that way.

7. Thanks blogger and setter.

   2d: I agree with DE@4 – I thought (not from any personal experience) that any carnal satisfaction from a lap dancer had little to do with “watching” her!

8. great puzzle, victor meldrew, mustn’t grumble and poilu last to enter for me, but got the rest and enjoyed it.

9. Dave Ellison @4 and Muffin @6 – just for the record: as I said, I needed Gaufrid to post the blog for me and he asked me what I wanted underlined as the definition in 2dn. I wasn’t sure and we had a bit of a discussion about it, before coming to an agreement, although neither of us was entirely happy. Gaufrid added the ‘extended definition’, not a term I usually use: I usually go for the more sloppy &littish’.

10. Thanks Vlad, Eileen
    Tricky, but I enjoyed it a lot. Favourites were BLEEDING HEART, VISITOR and PRIAM, all smart and pleasingly concise
    I failed on WHITE MEAT, even though I had WHITE *E*T. I couldn’t get past ‘involved with’ supplying the first four letters of WHITE, and couldn’t find anywhere to go from there.
    I think, in 9d, ‘what 8 didn’t say’ and ‘OK’ are two separate definitions.

11. Thanks to Vlad and Eileen; another great and quite tough puzzle.
    We’re all different (thank the Lord!) and I personally find wit aplenty in this setter’s puzzles; I was particularly taken with “serial non-believer” as a def for VICTOR MELDREW

12. I didn’t ever watch “One Foot in the Grave” so failed to solve 8d VICTOR MELDREW or 9d MUSTN’T GRUMBLE”. I also missed the unfamiliar 11a POILU and 14a HASH OUT (wonder if it is variation on “thrash out”?). So all up, not a good day for me with a DNF.

    I did quite like 1a the “BLEEDING HEART” Liberal, 4d IN NO WAY and 17d ON THIN ICE (despite the questionable anagrind in the latter).

    Thanks to Vlad and Eileen.

13. James @10 – re 9dn: I wondered about that one, too.

14. Thank you Vlad and Eileen.

    I found this hard but great fun – luckily I had seen some of the OFITG episodes, my eldest son brings funny DVDs out to France when he visits (and he comes with the family tomorrow).

    At first I thought there was going to be a meat theme, what with the BLEEDING HEART, bladder, WHITE MEAT, chicken, HASH, TONGUE, VENISON, belly – a very Vladish carnal desire and Eileen got her teeth into it…

15. Oh, I forgot CHEEK.

16. Like most non-UK solvers, I’ve never heard of Victor Meldrew. With some checkers, I finally thought that 8d might be Victor Somebody, but had to click Reveal to find out who. Who??? So I googled him, and from the “grumpy old man” description got the very English 8d, feeling chuffed with myself for knowing the expression. Do people still say that? I associate it with English fiction of several earlier decades. And now it’s my COD.

    Enjoyable puzzle. I got most of it last night, put in the last 7 this morning. Thanks to Vlad and Eileen.

17. Collins and Merriam-Webster both state that ‘hash out’ is a US usage, which probably explains why I have never heard it used in the UK. A US indicator would have helped.

18. What a great puzzle! Quite a tough one to finish – POILU was unfamiliar and last in but I loved the definition of VICTOR MELDREW and BLEEDING HEART.

    Thanks to Vlad and Eileen

19. Did anyone else first have REACH for 7d (AC in HER*)? Though I suppose it should then have been “Part of river”, and “current” as an indicator for AC would maybe have been weak.

20. Yes, it is American, and now that you point it out, I realize that it doesn’t mean “debate”. It’s closer to “work through to a solution.” It doesn’t contain the implication that the hashers-out are in opposition, though in some cases they might be.

21. Sorry, I should have said “to Crossbencher @17”.

22. Hi Crossbencher and Valentine – HASH OUT was new to me but Chambers gives ‘to arrive at by debate, thrash out’ [see Julie @12] with no indication that it’s American.

23. Thanks to Vlad and EILEEN. Tough going for me and not just VICTOR MELDREW etc. EN for enrolled nurse and DO for ditto were new to me. I did know POILU but needed help parsing it and WHITE MEAT – and I missed GREY as shady hero.

24. In “the old days” (whenever that was!) I don’t think a compiler would have got away with setting a clue like 13 Across, having to guess the two component words that make up the anagram eventually…

25. …though I see now that it’s not an anagram at all…! Well done Vlad…

26. Well that was a workout and a half for me. I eventually got there by the techniques outlined by muffin@1. And the more I solved the more I enjoyed it and appreciated the really clever clue construction and misdirection – although to be fair the misdirection was entirely of my own making as the brain went down well trodden paths rather than less obvious sidetracks.
    I had lots of smileys (all of which have been mentioned) and lots of unparsed (11, 24, 25, 3, 9, 15, 17!)
    For once I didn’t feel impaled so thanks for leaving your stake at home Vlad, and thanks for helping me see the ones I didn’t get Eileen – all of which were within reach of I’d tried harder.

27. Pity about 11a, because otherwise – at least for British solvers – this was a very good puzzle. 9d was truly excellent, while 1a made me chuckle.

28. Vlad for me is too often spoilt by irritatingly fussy parsing like 9. I end up guessing the answer and then scratching about to make it work. Doable,but not as enjoyable as many other, wittier compilers.

29. On reflection I mis-spoke. I’d never have parsed 9 in a month of Sundays – or any other day.

30. Yeah very good puzzle. I was like bear with little brain above and had reach for 7d, then changed it to Rhone, with on for current. So i ended up entering Piolu at 11a and failed the exam. Enjoyable !

31. MartinD@28:
    Couldn’t agree more!

32. Great puzzle. Loved VICTOR MELDREW. It takes wit and skill to come up with a definition and clue as neat as that. My particular favourite though was TRAMP.

33. All Brits surely know the character VICTOR MELDREW, and fortunately the one thing that I know about him is that he used to say “I don’t believe it!” Otherwise that would have been tough.

    Like ulaca @27 and others, I thought 9D MUSTN’T GRUMBLE was an excellent clue, even though I had to get it without understanding the connection with Victor Meldrew. (I still don’t get the significance of “what 8 didn’t say” and thought the definition was simply ‘OK’.)

    There were many other good clues, but to offset them were some others that made this not the enjoyable experience that I hoped for, and I left seven clues unparsed (or not fully parsed). Of those seven, however, I really should have worked out 3d END UP, which was my second answer in the grid after 10a IMPUDENT. In hindsight that was another very good clue.

    Thanks to Vlad and Eileen.

34. Hi Alan @33
    I think it most unlikely that VM would ever have said “mustn’t grumble”!

35. Late to the party today and I expected today’s puzzle to be really difficult given the setter. However, I was pleasantly surprised because I found this rather a quick solve- for Vlad!
    Never heard of HASH OUT or POILU but they were both easy enough to get and the puzzle was most enjoyable.
    Thanks Vlad.

36. I enjoyed this puzzle greatly, from start to finish. Many excellent, fun and witty clues, but my clear favorites were VICTOR MELDREW and MUSTN’T GRUMBLE, my LOI. Lucky for me as a non-UK solver that I happened to be familiar with the television program referenced in the puzzle — which is far from the norm! (Naming just one recent example from last week, Alan Titchmarsh was completely unknown to me.) Many years ago, I caught a number of episodes of OFITG being aired on the local PBS (Public Broadcasting System) channel here in the Washington, DC area. A hilarious show. I still pull up the “Victor Meldrew Honda Song” on YouTube every now and then (including just before typing this) if I want a good laugh! Many thanks to Vlad and Eileen.

37. muffin @34
    Good point (re Mustn’t Grumble). But to serve that purpose I would have expected “what 8 wouldn’t say” rather than “… didn’t say”. Even then, this is secondary to the succinct primary definition ‘OK’.

38. Well I came to the uk in 1992, but still victor meldrew meant nothing to me so I wasn’t ever going to get 8 and 9d.

    I did get the rest and enjoyed that very much. Favourite is HASH OUT, which has a nice tight surface.

    Many thanks Vlad and Eileen

39. I didn’t realize HASH OUT was limited to the US but I think “debate” is a fair definition. I think of two or more parties hashing out their differences. I think the non-debate connotations evolved due to the term’s conflation with “flesh out” – which hopefully is not also limited to the US.

    It was pretty clear that 8D and 9D were going to be UK-orientated so once I had all the crossers, I just hit the reveal button and was glad I didn’t waste time. I don’t think I’ve ever seen OFITG offered here. BBC America offers some good programs but I think they are missing out on a fairly large potential audience here by not airing any British comedies. They’ve ceded that market to PBS which continues to rotate its “Waiting for God” and “Are You Being Served?” repertoire – both of which I love but I’ve seen every episode upwards of twenty times.

40. My mistake – also their “Keeping Up with Appearances” repertoire. I’ve probably only seen those 17 or 18 times each.

41. I did enjoy this but did not manage VICTOR MELDREW, despite OFITG being screened (and repeated) in New Zealand. I was thinking SISTER and then MISTER, which had me searching for a Dickens character I had forgotten.

    I also tossed up between RHINE and RHONE before the penny dropped.

    My problem is I print the grid and work that way, completely forgetting I could go and click the reveal button on the website. Darn. Senility?

    Thanks to all three of you.

42. Thanks to Eileen for an excellent blog and to others who commented.

43. Brilliant puzzle.
    One of Vlad’s very best.

    All Brits surely know the character VICTOR MELDREW [Alan B @33]
    Well, my British solving partner should have prevented us from solving the whole lot except one, then!
    I actually know One Foot in the Grave but I don’t think I ever saw it.
    I was more focused on Blackadder et al.
    Having said all this, I was very close to the right answer (by construction) but thrown by C = ‘about’.
    However, meanwhile we did find 9d – just by construction, even if initially ???T?T looked a bit odd.

    Thanks Eileen (and Vlad).

44. Martin@31

    When last we “exchanged” words, on Mon 11, the local internet went belly-up before I had the chance to envy your trip to Porto, which I presume you are now enjoying. FWIW, “crypsis” sprang unbidden to mind and I had to look it up – was pleased to discover that it meant what I wanted it to mean!

    Anyway, thanks to today’s setter and blogger – I was with others who DNFd and needed help with parsing. I have enjoyed Vlads in the past but this was a little to Vladdish for me.

45. I wouldn’t have got Victor Meldrew in a million years. Far too involved and contorted a clue. While I enjoyed some of the wit in this crossword, like several other commenters, I generally don’t enjoy Vlad finding him unnecessarilycomplicated

46. Sil @43
    Sorry you proved me wrong in my assumption about ‘all Brits’ knowing Victor Meldrew! In retrospect I’m glad, for my own sake, that I qualified my statement with ‘surely’.

47. Alphalpha@44:
    Many thanks for your kind words. Yes, enjoying Porto very much. Return flight on 22/9 (Ruinair!) not cancelled. I even managed to win one of the prizes for the 9/9 puzzle. Gobsmacked.

48. Excellent torture from Vlad, I only managed to free myself from the wooden stake around midnight last night….

    Favourite just has to be dear old Victor, doesn’t it?! And there I go mulling over sects of pagans, atheists, agnostics, humanists, for hours on end!

    Must admit, not familiar with HASH OUT as a phrase. But the wordplay made it pretty clear. BLEEDING HEART is a bit un-PC, maybe, but it’s 26, so 9!

    As for POILU – the word did ring a bell, but had to look it up. I don’t think it has anything to do with the French slang expression à poil 🙂 – nor with the village Poil in Burgundy, but for your further enlightenment, see here (in French – and warning: not quite work-safe).

49. Too obscure for my taste.

50. Too complicated. I understand that to those in the know? Vlad is a joy, but to me it is just too demanding. I only managed to get about half a dozen clues.

51. Not a fair challenge for those of us who live outside the UK and have never heard of VICTOR MELDREW or the TV series in which he appears, making 8d and 9d unsolvable. Never heard of POILU either. And who is the “literary hero” GREY? The only one we could think of is Dorian Gray, but he’s spelt with an “a”.
    The rest was a hard slog but doable.

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