A puzzle for those of you who want a gentle start to the week.
This may well have been the easiest puzzle I have ever had to blog (and I blogged a fair few Rufus crossweords in my time). The two extremely obvious long down answers gave you an “in” to all of the across ones, most of which took no thought at all.
Personally, I like a bit more of a challenge on a Monday morning to get my brain cells going, so was disappointed with this, but I’m sure many solvers prefer a gentle start to the week, so this will be right up their street.
Thanks, Vulcan.
| Across | ||
| 1 | DAM ASK | Mother’s request for silk (6) |
| DAM (“mother”) + ASK (“request”) | ||
| 5 | SAGACITY | Wisdom in town with elderly tourists? (8) |
| SAGA is a travel firm which specialises in travel for the over 50s | ||
| 9 | WHITE LIE | No BAME person would spin such a harmless story (5,3) |
| BAME stands for Black, Asian and Minor Ethic, and has come to be mean “non-white” (son’t like the term myself!) | ||
| 10 | ABUSES | Swears at area transport (6) |
| A (area) + BUSES (“transport”) | ||
| 11 | WI-FI | Partner briefly I used to connect with (2-2) |
| WIF(e) (“partner”, briefly) + I | ||
| 12 | MEDITATING | Thinking timid agent needs replacing (10) |
| *(timid agent) | ||
| 13 | AT REST | Still relaxing (2,4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 14 | READY-MIX | Recipe ingredients x-rayed, suspiciously found across motorway (5-3) |
| *(xrayed) across M (motorway) | ||
| 16 | HALF-TE~RM | Break time at school? (4-4) |
| Barely cryptic defintion | ||
| 19 | PUBLIC | Sort of house, nothing secret when in it (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 21 | SCANDALISE | Shock as canal sides crumble (10) |
| *(canal sides) | ||
| 23 | GOLD | The first colour? (4) |
| Cryptic defintion – gold being the mormal colour of a winner’s medal. | ||
| 24 | GROTTO | Attractive cave reached round river (6) |
| GOT TO (“reached”) around R (river) | ||
| 25 | BEAR ARMS | Be a soldier without sleeves, do we hear? (4,4) |
| Homophone of BARE ARMS (“without sleeves”) | ||
| 26 | BLACKLEG | In rear limb, large scab (8) |
| L (large) in BACK LEG (“rear limb”) | ||
| 27 | TRYING | Judge’s job is tedious (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | A CHRISTMAS CAROL | Book Silent Night, for one (1,9,5) |
| Double definition | ||
| 3 | ASTAIRE | Step into A&E, Fred! (7) |
| STAIR (“step”) into A + E | ||
| 4 | KILOMETRE | Like Metro to travel a distance (9) |
| *(like metro) | ||
| 5 | SPENDER | Extravagant poet? (7) |
| Double defintiion, the second referring to Stephen Spender | ||
| 6 | GIANT | Enormous pair of soldiers (5) |
| G.I. (American “soldier”) + (soldier) ANT | ||
| 7 | COUNTRY | Run through Cumbria, say — it’s rural (7) |
| R (run) through COUNTY (“Cumbria, say”) | ||
| 8 | THE INVISIBLE MAN | Book male unseen (3,9,3) |
| THE INVISIBLE (“unseen”) + MAN (“male”) | ||
| 15 | APPLE TART | Dessert created by small program with skill (5,4) |
| APPLET (“small program”) with ART (“skill”) | ||
| 17 | FANATIC | Enthusiast I dressed in flowing caftan (7) |
| I dressed in *(caftan) | ||
| 18 | MAILBAG | Result of operation of prison sewer? (7) |
| Prisoners used to sew mailbags (don’t know if they still do that kind of thing) | ||
| 20 | BAG LADY | Grab woman who’s on the streets (3,4) |
| BAG (“grab”) + LADY (“woman”) | ||
| 22 | ATOLL | Some coral with a heavy price (5) |
| A TOLL (“heavy price”) | ||
*anagram
Yes I had “not cryptic” next to half-term too Loonapick, and yes pretty much a write-in, though I looked up mailbag/prison to be sure that they were indeed sewn there (from the ’20s through 80s, says wiki). Thanks L and V.
[Agree with the posters who found Friday’s Paul toughish, I did Saturday’s Brummie before it and in half the time]
A lovely start. Liked SAGACITY and MAILBAG – Mr H was misdirected by my reading aloud the clue as sewer (underground). Less keen on HALFTERM and READYMIX but happy to take them.
Agree with grantinfreo @1 re Paul and Brummie but enjoyed both for different reasons.
Thanks Vulcan and Loonapick.
I do like an easy start but I\’m inclined to agree with loonapick that this was over a bit too quickly.
I also concur with grant re Fri vs Sat
All good fun as I achieved the “don’t look anything up” challenge, though I was unsure of 26a BLACKLEG, an unfamiliar word. I quite liked the DD for 5d SPENDER, and 20d BAG LADY raised a little smile. Thanks to Vulcan and loonapick.
[grantinfreo@1 et al, I have solved the bottom half of Friday’s Paul and am still working on the top half. I haven’t started on the Brummie yet but hope it is a good one. All “electioned out” here on the east coast of the country. Saturday was a long day as I worked as a polling official. Not the place here for a comment on the outcome…but still a bit shell-shocked.]
Gaufrid if you’re there, is there s reason I’ve had the following every time I’ve tried to post in the last few days?
‘Sorry, but I think you might be a spambot. Please complete the CAPTCHA below to prove that you are human’.
[Ditto re Saturday’s outcome JinA, shudder!]
A few glitches held me up slightly. “Buses” always feels wrong to me, it took me a while to unsee “pretty” for 24 (probably as intended), and Spender seems a bit obscure for 5d coupled with extravagant has to be taken as a noun, which just about works. Other than those I would have probably achieved completion in two straight passes through the clues, which I have never managed though it’s been close on one or two Mondays.
9ac BAME = Black and Minority Ethnic (not “minor ethic”!).
I loved the humour of quite a few of the clues. My favourites were BAG LADY, ASTAIRE, SPENDER, WIFI, GIANT. I was unable to parse the SAGA bit of 5a, as well as 18d MAILBAG.
New for me was BLACKLEG.
Thanks Vulcan and Loonapick.
[I enjoyed Saturday’s Brummie]
pex @5
This site uses a spam filter (Akismet) which intercepts suspected spam and either deletes it, if definitely spam, or puts it in a folder for manual checking. To avoid the need for me to have to go through several hundred entries in the spam folder each morning (and more during the day) to check for false positives, I have installed another WordPress plugin which works alongside Akismet and which avoids the need to have a Captcha for every comment posted (as there was for several years until there were too many reports of valid entries being rejected).
If Akismet considers a comment to be spam, this additional plugin presents the originator with a Captcha. If the originator is a human then the Captcha can be completed and the comment will appear on the site. If the originator is a spambot, and so the Captcha is not completed, the comment is deleted raher than being placed in the spam folder.
Having checked, I can see that some of your comments in recent days have been marked as ‘Flagged as spam by Akismet’ but others have not. I can see no reason why your comments should have been considered to have been spam (none of the usual trigger words or too many links included) but obviously the Akismet software has other ideas. I don’t think it is possible, but I will investigate to see if I am able to whitelist a particular individual so that comments are not intercepted.
A very gentle start to the week indeed.
Thanks to Vulcan and loonapick.
BTW – The parsing at 14a should be *(xrayed) across M1.
Gaufrid @10: Many thanks for the explanation.
Had to look up BAME. Was asked to state my ethnicity when joining a table tennis club recently. I put green.
With SAGACITY in mind, I am tickled to learn that, at my great age, I am considered by people who study these things to be a member of that much-valued sector referred to as silver-surfers.
Nice week, all.
Thanks Vulcan and loonapick
I enjoyed this, with SAGA CITY favourite for the mental image it suggests.
SPENDER is a bit obscure and barely works either; I agree that HALF TERM isn’t cryptic at all.
A pet dislike of mine – what happens to the ‘s in 1a?
muffin, I read it as mother’s request becomes dam’s request becomes dam has request [next to it] = damask; indirect, but pretty standard.
Well, I ‘didn’t see’ THE INVISIBLE MAN until nearly the end. Fairly gentle though but entertaining.
I liked the prison sewer.
Thanks Vulcan and loonapick.
Gaufrid: Thanks for explanation (all understood) and thanks for checking. I\’m relieved to know that I haven\’t posted anything untoward (although I possibly have done at times).
BTW, you might have noticed that when I go through the Captcha any apostrophes I\’ve used end up with an added / in front.
\\ even
Very straightforward and quite enjoyable
Thanks to Vulcan and loonapick
Very straightforward indeed – I too liked the prison sewer
Thanks to Vulcan and Loonapick
Thanks both.
I wonder if HALF TERM, rather than being a (non-)cryptic definition, was meant to be a charade of HALF (break) + TERM (time), and an &lit-ish definition. But then “half” would need to be a verb, and should therefore be “halve”.
Thanks to Vulcan and Loonapick.
This really was very gentle, though I like to persuade myself this is because of my increasing abilities, despite being “elderly” as in 5ac.
pex @16/17
You should have mail.
I read 16a the same way as beaulieu. “Half” as a verb is apparently an obsolete form of “halve”. On the other hand surely 5d is a cryptic definition, indicated by the question mark. As others have said, it doesn’t work as a double definition because “extravagant” and “spender” are different parts of speech.
Thanks to Vulcan and Loonapick.
Thanks to Vulcan and loonapick. As others have said relatively straightforward, but nontheless still and enjoyable solve. Favourites for me were sagacity, bag lady and mail bag, and thanks again to Vulcan and loonapick.
Easier than the Quiptic today. I feel so unchallenged that I’ll have to go and buy another paper and hope theirs is harder.
This is the closest I’ve come to a write in, but I had to come back to WI-FI. I ticked FANATIC for its surface. Thanks to Vulcan and loonapick.
My wife breezed through this on the 350km TGV journey to Paris (1h 15m).
Several favorites today, including WI-FI, APPLE TART, and BAG LADY. My enjoyment was muted by the much-maligned 16a, as well as AT REST, which seems to be almost a repeated single definition rather than a double. In addition, the two long down clues went in so easily that I felt spoon fed. On the whole more good than bad, and certainly a step up from today’s Quiptic. Thanks to Vulcan and Loonapick.
Enjoyable. I like an easyish start to the week.
Re: 26 across. This is plain wrong. Scab and blackleg are not synonymous. A blackleg is an employee who breaks a strike by returning to their job, A blackleg is a worker drafted in from outside to do the job(s) of striking workers.
This was quite gentle although I didn’t find it a write in. The two long answers were extremely easy however. I liked SAGACITY and DAMASK.
Thanks Vulcan.
Hammer, I think you might want to proofread your post!
It’s all already been said: this was a total write-in for me, with disappointment at the non-crypticness of both long answers and HALF TERM. For me, this was over in less time that it took to read the comments from y’all.
Here, the current equivalent of BAME is POC (for “person(s) of color”). Incidentally, even after (quickly, and without looking it up) working out what that abbreviation had to mean, I found that clue unsatisfactory, because “lie” wasn’t really indicated in any way in the supposedly cryptic half.
But I did appreciate the APPLE TART and the SAGA CITY in particular.
Very easy, in fact wrote 1a instantly, my FOI. Would someone please tell me how BAG LADY= who’s on the streets.
Chadwick @33
I don’t know if it was invented or simply promulgated by Ralph McTell, but look at his lyrics for “Streets of London” here.
Two incorrect versions of BAME so far. I understand it as Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic.
Chadwick @33; Collins definition of bag lady: ‘A bag lady is a homeless woman who carries her possessions in shopping bags.’
Thanks Robi & Muffin.
“dam” for mother is new to me. Is it from “madam”?
Yes it was gentle, but it was very enjoyable. Liked sagacity and grotto especially. I have a couple of friends who are new to cryptics, and finding it tough going. They often find even the Monday slot too hard for them. This seems to me like it would provide them with a fairly stiff, but mostly achievable challenge. Believe me it will be no cakewalk for them.
For a bit of background, I’ve spent over 20 years working in videogames – a medium that was often brutally hard in its infancy when I got into them, but then tried to become more welcoming to engage people of all abilities. In recent times there has been a resurgence of difficult games that require skills beyond anything I’ve ever been able to muster. Far too hard for my liking (and as I say I cut my teeth on hard games). The key here is that it’s a genre that can afford to be brutally tricky at times now because it has built a massive audience by fostering growth through accessibility. It can afford to make “niche” games that are really exceptionally tough because it only needs to sell to a small percentage of gamers to succeed.
Crosswords need new blood, new solvers coming through. They’re given very short shrift currently. The barriers to entry for cryptic crosswords are MASSIVE. As pastimes go, it has to be one of the trickiest, most off-putting ones to even attempt to get started in. I’d liken trying to get started with cryptic crosswords with trying to take up videogames by picking one of the harder game available, and then playing it in a foreign language you don’t have any knowledge of. It really is ridiculously tricky compared to almost anything else that people could choose to spend their time doing.
If it wants to survive as a hobby it really should be lowering the barriers to entry more often. There need to be more simple puzzles, more often. Simpler even than this one. Puzzles can’t be for everyone – we just need to accept that some will be too hard for us, and by necessity some will be too easy (crosswords alas cannot provide different difficulty settings like videogames can).
Wheal Dreath @31 Thanks for the heads up. The first definition should, of course refer to “scab” not blackleg. Its the brain met wot does it……
Old man @38 —
“Madam” and “dam” are certainly related, but I don’t think the latter comes from the former. “Dam” surely comes from “dame” (lady), and “Madam” comes from French “ma dame” (my lady). So they both come from the same source, but it’s not quite right to say either comes from the other.
“Dam” is used for “mother” in stock-breeding – horses in particular.
I like the fact that Monday is a little easier. I have completed several early weekers in my life, and the Friday one maybe three times ever. That’s thirty years of admittedly irregular Guardian cryptics.Its nice to get a win to keep you interested.
It’s. Sorry.
Halleujah! After over 3 months trying I completed a Guardian Cryptic with no recourse to cheating with word finder or anagram solver – though my wife did help with my last clue 14a. Loved 5a and 18d. In six months I might even be able to solve one of Paul’s clues.
Thanks to loonapick and Vulcan
Mostly standard fare and enjoyable enough but a couple that I’m not sure how to read.
9a As I understand it one might be from the ME part of BAME and be white, if so the clue doesn’t work.
16a I’m not sure what the setter intends here. If it is HALF (HALVE) TERM i.e BREAK TIME as wordplay then surely OFF SCHOOL? should be the def. Or is it simply a not very good CD. I don’t know.
MarkN@41 (I think) – I completely agree with you about getting more people into cryptics and isn’t that exactly what the Quiptic was introduced to do?
This was easy, even on the scale of Vulcan.
No problem with that. It will suit those who’d like to solve and finish a (Guardian) crossword for the first time ever.
That said, I found the (surface of) the clue for 20d (BAG LADY) really inappropriate and/or lacking taste.
However, nobody seems to be bothered today (but I am).
Many thanks to loonapick & Vulcan
Well said Mark N!!
Sil, I fail to see what you find offensive about 20d
How about:
“Grab woman who’s on the streets. Listen to her story. Give her a room.”
Or more likely
“Grab woman who’s on the streets. Listen to her story. See if you can help. But be prepared to be told to **** off and patronise somebody else. ‘This is the life I choose.'”
Why look for offense in surfaces as most English phrases can have several possible meanings. Without context they’re really impossible to judge.
More importantly. It’s only a crossword. 🙂
As one of the many who enjoy a gentle start to the week I’m not sure I’m comfortable with the slightly patronising tone of the introduction to this blog. And I’m saddened to see that even though Rufus retired some time back, he’s still being kicked for being “too easy”. Those of us who are his fans adored him for his erudition and witty wordplay, rather than because his clues were easy-peasy. Many were anything but. Vulcan does occasionally try something similar, and I enjoyed the wit of SPENDER, SAGACITY, and the prison sewer. Thanks to Vulcan and Loonapick – and thanks too to Hammer for reminding me of the fine distinction between a scab and a blackleg!
Wellbeck@51
I apologise profusely for any unintended patronising in my intro. I was pointing out my personal preference is for something more challenging than the puzzle offered to us yesterday. I didn’t say the puzzle was bad, just too easy. I was not the only one to find it easy – at least ten of the commenters above have commented on it in that vein. One even suggested that he may have to buy another paper to get his fix.
There are plenty of other crosswords out there for people who prefer basic level puzzles (Metro, Herald, eg). The Guardian and the Times even produce their own quick cryptics (Quiptic in the Guardian; don’t know the name of the Times version offhand) to satisfy that market. At the risk of sounding patronising again, puzzles like the Guardian, the Times, the Telegraph are not meant to be easy – they are meant to be a challenge that new solvers would find difficult, and should only be taking on once they have finished their apprenticeship on the nursery slopes.
MarkN@39 used video gaming as an analogy. I wouldn’t dream of playing any of the more complicated video games as I have not yet mastered the simple ones. I didn’t learn to read by studying Shakespeare, or learn to play the piano by playing Rachmaninoff (actually I struggle with “London Bridge is Falling Down”).
It is gratifying that some of the commenters were able to use this puzzle as the step up, and so the puzzle did its job in that respect. There will be more challenges ahead as the week goes on, so maybe I was a bit quick to criticise, but that is my prerogative as a blogger, and the beauty of this site is that all opinions are presented and, at least by me, appreciated.
Have a great week everybody!
As always I post late, but in case MarkN and Ian Verber are reading, just a note of appreciation for your posts. Yes this was easy, close to a write in for some of us; clearly Vulcan pitches his/her puzzles at the traditional Monday level, and maybe it makes up for some of the maulings that we receive from Paul, Vlad and the like! Congrats to Ian Verber, and I hope you also defeat Paul very soon (he is a deviously clever so and so)!
We have some brilliant and highly experienced solvers among the regulars on here, and it’s easy to forget that not everyone has yet reached that level, the friends that MarkN describes being a case in point. If there isn’t a gentle entry level to welcome new solvers, there won’t be many after us.
Mark refers to video games; I never graduated from a severe Tetris addiction years ago. Nowadays I wouldn’t have a clue, so no room for smugness here.
Very easy puzzle, basically a ten minute write-in, didn’t even have time to get my second cup of tea. Strange that nobody commented on the spelling of kilometre, I had kilometer but realised my mistake when I got the ridiculous half term. Anyway, you have to take the easy with the tough. I am still working on the 27,800 puzzle, now that is what I classify as hard!
Thanks to setter and blogger.
All the comments about being easy and a ‘write-in’ always irritate me. I only try one or two regular compilers where I know that, over the space of a week, I may manage to complete 75%. Please please be patient with us newbies (a year in, in my case) and stop bragging that it only took you 10 minutes. Makes me feel very incompetent. Does it matter how easy you found it? Rant over!
Missed this during a busy week, and have only just caught up. What it leaves me wondering is: how many BAME cryptic crossword solvers are there? Any here?
As far as I understand it, a lot of people resent “non-white” because it implies that white is the norm and everything else is non. That said, I know a few BAME people who hate BAME too.