Guardian Cryptic 28055 Vlad

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Thanks Vlad.  This was no pushover, but not too difficult, giving enjoyment to the end.  Definitions are underlined in the clues.

Across

9 One’s not committed? Get an answer to this (4,5)

FREE AGENT :  A reverse clue.  “Get an“ is an answer to:  anagram of(FREE) AGENT.

10 Retail giant right to leave island (5)

TESCO :  “r”(abbrev. for “right”) deleted from(to leave) “Tresco”(one of the islands in the Isles of Scilly in Cornwall, England).

11, 14  Congress can get ready to remove Trump, initially for being crazy (6,1,5,5)

HAVING A SCREW LOOSE :  [HAVING A SCREW](slang for “in congress”/in the act of sexual intercourse) + LOO(like “can”, an informal term for the toilet) plus(get) “set”(ready/prepared) minus 1st letter of(remove …, initially) “Trump“.

A surface relevant to recent events in the US.

12 Power mindless Republican held, looking back, is worry (7)

PERTURB :  P(symbol for “power” in physics) + reversal of(…, looking back) [BRUTE(mindless/savage) containing(… held) R(abbrev. for member of the US Republican party)].

Another relevant surface – and he’s still holding power.

13 Sell one before hotel gets turned over (4)

FLOG :  Reversal of(… gets turned over) GOLF(in the phonetic alphabet, code for the letter before “h”, whose code is “hotel”).

14 See 11

15 Decide to repair boot Victor’s wearing (7)

RESOLVE :  RESOLE(to repair a boot by providing a new sole) containing(…’s wearing) V(whose code in the phonetic alphabet is “Victor”).

17 Useless dope taking over — resentment generally high (7)

DUDGEON :  DUD(useless/failing to function) + GEN(dope/information) containing(taking) O(abbrev. for “over” in cricket scores).

19 Doctor got billed crossing river here? (10)

TOLL BRIDGE :  Anagram of(Doctor) GOT BILLED containing(crossing) R(abbrev. for “river”).

Defn:  …/a location where one could cross a river.

22 Pool money before finishing (4)

MERE :  M(abbrev. for “money”, or the former German money, marks) plus(… finishing) ERE(before, when refering to time).

Image result for mere … at Ellesmere.
23 A number on side street taking the most negative view (2,5)

AT WORST :   A + TWO(the number after “one”) + R(abbrev. for “right”/the side opposite the “left”) + ST(abbrev. for “street”).

24 Cancelled by Henry, with or without consideration (7)

OFFHAND :  OFF(cancelled, as in “the match is off”) plus(by) H(symbol for Henry, the unit of electrical inductance) + AND(with/plus).

26 Either way, woman’s not denying love affair (5)

EVENT :  EVE(the woman with the palindromic/either way name) + “not“ minus(denying) “o”(letter signifying 0/love in tennis scores).

Defn:  As in the “The Christmas affair in the churchyard”.

27 Botch pronunciation of maiden name (9)

MISHANDLE :  Homophone of(pronunciation of) “miss”(a maiden) + HANDLE(a name or nickname).

Down

1 Top-quality programme that writer’s off — point taken (2,3,5,5)

OF THE FIRST WATER :  Anagram of(programme) THAT WRITER’S OFF containing(… taken) E(abbrev. for “east”, a compass point).

2 Receptive earlier, after energy up slightly (8)

PERVIOUS :  PREVIOUS(earlier in time/prior) with its “E” placed before “R”( after … up slightly, in a down clue).

Defn:  …/allowing access.

3 Save new building in the countryside? (4)

BARN :  BAR(save/except for, as in “he’s the best player, save none”) + N(abbrev. for “new”).

4 Foolishly charmed by English political manoeuvre (8)

DEMARCHE :  Anagram of(Foolishly) CHARMED placed above(by, in a down clue) E(abbrev. for “English”).

5 Quietly stops old joiner (6)

STAPLE :  P(abbrev. for “piano”, a musical direction to play quietly) contained in(stops) STALE(old/out of date).

Image result for applying staple in surgery … not just joining papers.

6 Did rock celebrity ultimately meet all the crowd? (8)

STARTLED :  STAR(a celebrity) + last letters, respectively, of(ultimately) “meet all the crowd“.

7 Does up building that’s not authentic (6)

PSEUDO :  Anagram of(… building) DOES UP.

8 Condemned rude teen’s blonde jokes (6,9)

DOUBLE ENTENDRES :  Anagram of(Condemned) RUDE TEEN’S BLONDE.

16 Meant to get 20% off? It’s free! (8)

LIBERATE :  “deliberate”(meant/on purpose) minus(to get … off) its 1st 2 letters out of 10(20%).

17 Wells up with old soak outside — this place is disgraceful (8)

DOGHOUSE :  [R(… up, in a down clue) H.G.(Wells, English writer who wrote, amongst others, “The War of the Worlds”) plus(with) O(abbrev. for “old”)] contained in(… outside) DOUSE(to soak/to drench, with a liquid like water).

Defn:  A metaphorical place where disgraced persons are sent to, and which, as one might say, is therefore full of disgrace.

18 It’s nice to see president and disgraced royal in conversation (3,5)

EYE CANDY :  Homophone of(… in conversation) [“Ike”(nickname of US President Eisenhower) + “Andy”(diminutive of “Andrew”, the English prince/royal disgraced by his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, sex offender)].

And guess what would Trump and the Prince talk about.

Image result for eye candy richard gere

20 Barman‘s wife in bed? (6)

LAWYER :  W(abbrev. for “wife”) contained in(in) LAYER(a bed/a stratum, of, say, rock).

Defn:  Cryptically, one in the Bar, barristers collectively.

21 Eventually cheers up, having left close friend (2,4)

IN TIME :  Reversal of(… up, in a down clue) “Ta!”(cheers!/thanks!) deleted from(having left) “intimate”(a close friend, one to tell confidential/ intimate things to).

25 South-east Asian fellow’s upset young Arab? (4)

FOAL :  Reversal of(…’s upset, in a down clue) [LAO(one of the indigenous people of Laos, the South-East Asian nation) + F(abbrev. for “Fellow”, especially a member of a learned society, as in “FRCS”)].

Defn:  …, a four-legged mammal of a breed originating in Arabia.

Image result for arabian foal

72 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 28055 Vlad”

  1. The parsing for 19 is missing the “R” from crossing river, and I read the whole thing as an extended definition (“got billed crossing river here”)

  3. All solved correctly, bit I couldn’t parse 12ac, 18dn, or 21dn. So thanks, Vlad, for the puzzle, and scchua for the explanations.

  4. I really enjoyed this puzzle. My favourites were DOUBLE ENTENDRES, DUDGEON, HAVING A SCREW LOOSE, IN TIME, FLOG, FREE AGENT.

    New for me were ‘of the first water’, Tresco island.

    Thank you, Vlad and scchua.

  7. I hope the Guardian keeps this up: that’s three crackers in a row now.  I thought this was superb.  And I’m always particularly chuffed to finish a Vlad. Smooth surfaces, some (very) clever ruses, plenty of wit and just about everything parsed beautifully.  I always love it when you look back at the clue and find that the answer follows precisely from the instructions.  Admittedly, it’s better when it happens the other way round!  Which some of these did for me but even the ‘write in, parse afterwards’ answers were hugely satisfying.

    Almost too many good ones to name a favourite – though FLOG comes very high on the list.  Also loved TOLL BRIDGE, FOAL, STARTLED, RESOLVE.  Learned a new – and rather attractive – phrase in OF THE FIRST WATER.  And Paul would have been proud of Vlad’s use of Congress.

    Thanks Vlad and scchua

  9. thanks Scchua – agree with your comments; it was a good work out for the little grey cells. Did not manage to parse ‘Having a screw loose’ nor doghouse (completely did not think of HG Wells), so thanks for that.
    TILT Tresco Island and Demarche.
    Favs: GOLF, PERVIOUS but much to enjoy
    Thanks to Vlad for the fun.

  11. Thanks Vlad and scchua

    Pleased I filled it all in, though I didn’t parse 9a or all of 11,14. Favourite was LAWYER – was anyone else looking for a composer?

    [Did you hear about the Essex girl who asked the barman for a double entendre, so he gave her one?]

  12. Thanks, scchua.

    Lots of fun, as ever from Vlad. Favourites today were FREE AGENT, HAVING A SCREW LOOSE, FLOG, EVENT, MISHANDLE and EYE CANDY.

    Many thanks, Vlad, for putting a big smile on my face.

  14. I enjoyed the topical political references (& included 1D amongst these, since I only know “of the first water” when preceded by, well, generally an expletive – but any pejorative term will do). I’d never come across PERVIOUS before, and had always considered it to be like unkempt, one of those words where one doesn’t use the opposite: being pervious to new vocabulary, I shall now try to work it into conversation. A lot of these were guess-first-parse-later – which I’m okay about – and though I couldn’t completely parse EYE CANDY, now that Scchua’s kindly explained it I think it’s a classy clue. As were GOLF, MISHANDLE and LAWYER (Muffin, how does the composer fit into it?)
    Thank you Scchua for the much-needed assistance, and a big thanks to Vlad for giving me something to really get my teeth into.

  16. Fell ar 17a and 17d. Impervious is a common term but pervious for some reason is much rarer. Odd how that happens. Similarly, you never hear someone say ‘he was totally gorm’!
    Thanks Vlad, and Scchua for parsing tesco and free agent.

  17. Knowing the setter influences and affects my enjoyment of a puzzle, much as I try to take each one on its merit. In this case I ended up being a bit underwhelmed as it went in too readily for a Vlad. With Paul I find myself noticing the clunky clues more than the smooth ones and with my favourites like Arachne, Nutmeg and Picaroon I tend to overlook any shortcomings. The main reason I come to fifteensquared (apart from the parsing I don’t get) is to get others’ perspectives to counter my biases – and today is a good example of how this changes my appreciation of a puzzle – so thanks to all contributors as well as Vlad and scchua. There were several part-parsed ones I needed help with today.

    Wellbeck@14 barman=composer in crosswordland and he is someone who works in (musical) bars.

    Muffin@11 – you are turning into the site’s resident comedian, although you might be getting into Bernard Manning stereotype territory with this one.

  19. Is there a word for words like “unkempt” and “gormless” which are opposite words rarely, if ever, seen in their original form? And why does it happen that a perfectly good word like PERVIOUS becomes rare (such that (US) spellcheck doesn’t recognise it) whilst IMPERVIOUS persists as an everyday word?

  20. Thank you Vlad and scchua.

    I tried to fit “of the first order” into 1d, thanks muffin @15 for the link, and I tried to find a composer for 20d…

  21. One of the reasons I so enjoy checking into this site is the wealth of information I gain from it, in addition to much-needed explanations of parsing etc. (For example, my knowledge about elks and completely unrelated species has increased beyond measure…)
    Thank you Muffin @15 for clearing up the lawyer/barman connection, also for the derivation of First Water: I can now idly speculate why/how the term came to be used so often in connection with thoroughly dislikeable characters. And White King @ (er…how DO you all keep track of positions? Is there some way of numbering entries, or do you simply count them laboriously, as I have to?) when you find out the collective term in question, you can add “illote” to the list.

  24. It all worked nicely, although I struggled a bit, especially as I have never heard of: OF THE FIRST WATER – sounds like something to do with childbirth.

    I missed old HG Wells but liked the Trump ones, EVENT and EYE-CANDY.

    Thanks Vlad and scchua for the enlightenment of some.

  25. Wellbeck @ 21

    If I view the site on my laptop all entries are numbered.  If I view the site on my phone they are not.

  26. Some days tricks like can/loo/John and Arab?/horse are obvious, some days not; definitely not a machine, the brain, more like a teeming rainforest with moods. So, several ‘slow’s in today’s margin, for the ‘loose’ bit of 11/14, for 24ac and for foal. As for 17d islands, well they’re like fish species–thousands of the buggers–so put the r in the suspected answer and, hey Tresco, there it is! Knew the word demarche but vague on meaning, so a semitilt. Disgraceful for ‘where you’re sent when in disgrace’ is quirky Vladish shorthand. All good fun and nicely chewy. Thanks both.

  27. It’s rare I manage to complete a Vlad (if a crossword is taking too long I either give up, ore reveal some answers). So this must have been one of his easier ones, but fun nonetheless. I particularly liked EYE CANDY.

    Wellbeck@21 – what Wiggers@25 said. There should be a setting in your browser somewhere to switch between desktop and phone versions (of course the desktop version will not be optimised for small screens such as found on phones).

  28. I found this a joyless solve, and regret that I didn’t walk away from it when halfway through. No comparison with the richness of the clues of the last two puzzles, and only 18D raised a faint smile.

  31. Loved the Trumpian clues at 11/14a and 12a, and I would throw in 17a as well. Is it just me, or are political clues becoming a Vlad trademark? Many others to enjoy as well, including MISHANDLE in addition to those already mentioned. Thanks to Vlad for the entertainment and to scchua for the parsing of a few, such as the reverse clue at 9a (I always admire those but seldom spot them).

  32. WhiteKing@19 – my father always took delight from using the adjective ‘couth’ where he could, as the opposite of uncouth.

  34. This was the latest in a series of first rate (water) crosswords from the Graun.

    This was full of invention and wit.  Quite a few were “enter then parse” but none the worse for that.

    People seems to differ over the origin of OF THE FIRST WATER.  The derivation that most appeals to me is from the making of mead:  The honeycombs were washed after the initial removal of honey and the resulting honey and water mixture was fermented to make mead.  The highest quality mead came from the first washing, or first water, with subsequent washings producing an inferior brew.

    I don’t profess to know whether this is the true origin, others say it relates to diamond grading, and still others prefer the nobility aspect of childbirth referred to by Robi @24.

    Many thanks Vlad for an entertaining break from the miserable weather.

    Nice week, all.

  35. It’s all been said in various preceding posts including my favourites and the same two “unfamiliars” as michelle@4. Thanks to scchua for the interesting blog and Vlad for the challenging puzzle.

  36. OF THE FIRST WATER seemed a bit old-fashioned, but this was an enjoyable challenge. I had to look up DÉMARCHE which I didn’t know.

  37. After getting 8d quite readily, I wondered if DOUBLE ENTENDRES were necessarily jokes, so I did a bit of checking. As far as I can tell, the only requirement is that there are two meanings, and one of them is sexually suggestive. It must be that no matter how old we get, we can’t quite leave the schoolboy humour frame of mind in the playground, so these things always get a bit of a titter.

  38. I am laughing so much as I read the posts above

    Nitsuj@16

    I will use gorm from now on!

    Whiteking@19

    I will also use kempt from now on

    wellbeck@23

    I will also try to jokingly use ert, shevelled (?), trepid and gruntled as words on their own from now on

    grantinfreo@30

    haha, I love committal

    Nitsuj @33

    haha, I like ruth/ruthless

    The British PM is definitely not showing much ruth today!

  39. In 22ac. although MERE was obviously the answer, I’m struggling to think of an everyday example where the letter M is used to represent ‘money’. Is scchua’s suggestion of M for German Marks the intended solution?

  40. I remember a Guardian puzzle of a few years ago that had as many “unopposite” solutions as possible. I’ve not been able to find it with a site search so far – can anyone put a finger on it?

  41. The unopposites are a hoot, but we have to watch out for the switch of part of speech when the “less” is removed. Maybe that’s part of why we never hear “He was totally gorm”!

  42. I struggled badly with that one. The SW was a a relative breeze, and I had a memory of OF THE FIRST WATER from Blackadder. I then got a lucky break with DEMARCHE (I knew the word, but not its meaning), which in turn led me to HAVING A SCREW LOOSE, as it made the third word a near certainty to start with SC (I’d assumed word two was A). From then it was slow and often painful progress. No fault of the setter. My head was misfiring today, my parsing skills were all over the place.

    Thanks to scchua and Vlad.

  46. Ta for that link muffin. Brought up a pang re Cookie, whose comments I’ve much enjoyed, not seen for a while…

  51. Thank you Wiggins at 25 and Beaulieu at 27! All is now clear. I generally log in via my phone – but am currently sitting at my desk with my laptop.

    Like Benington at 44, I’m now completely gruntled!

  58. [Hi grantinfreo, I tend to post now only when I have something to say, but each day I mentally send thanks to the setter and blogger.]

  59. Thanks to Vlad and to Scchua! Some true class in these clues today – I’m another who solved everything correctly, but with lots of questions about the parsing which Scchua has so eloquently resolved. My favourite has to be FLOG.

  61. Thanks both,
    Has anyone commented that 19a is given as a single word? Scchua’s Blog gives it as two words, as would I. The OED hyphenates it.

  62. Thanks for the blog, Scchua.
    I must beg to differ with your view that this was “not too difficult”. I think it was too difficult.

  63. I have suffered at the hands of Vlad in the past, so when one is solved as steadily as this it’s very gratifying. Either they are getting easier or I am improving. (Or I got lucky this time and will be destroyed tomorrow!)

    Anyway, lots to enjoy, plenty of invention and variety, and a few bits to check, namely PERVIOUS, DEMARCHE, MERE and TrESCO; 1 down rang a bell, but dimly.

    Thanks to Vlad and Scchua, and fellow posters for entertainment in comments abov.

  64. Tyngewick @61, I also questioned TOLLBRIDGE as a single word but found that according to Collins it can be either one word or two.

  66. Thanks Vlad and scchua – excellent puzzle

    dantheman @ 39: M = money is a standard abbreviation in economics, referring to money supply, suffixed by 0,1,2 3 etc for the different definitions available.

    Bingy @ 65: me too.

  67. Like Oleg @54, we slowed ourselves down by having ANTE for MERE initially.

    And regarding ‘gruntled’ etc, I have a vague recollection of a Wooster story beginning with Jeeves ‘not being entirely g-d’ – no doubt Oofyprosser could confirm!

    overall an enjoyable and interesting  solve – loved EYE CANDY in particular – and a blessedly decent grid. Thanks to V&s.

  68. [Off topic (sorry), but my favourite Wodehouse quote is from Blandings Castle:

    “It is never difficult to distinguish between a Scotsman with a grievance and a ray of sunshine.”]

  69. Draggled? Or perhaps even “raggled”. “Bed raggled” conjures up an appropriate picture in the mind.
    Thanks to Vlad vand sschua for parsing “loose” and 12a and 21d.

  72. I would never have guessed this to be by Vlad had it been anonymised. It’s rather boorish to mention times here but I solved, and fully parsed, this in under 10 mins. So a little disappointed as usually Vlad is a far more challenging setter – and I’d purposefully kept to savour with my Sunday morning coffee! Very smooth I thought and, though I consider agreeable surfaces to be a bonus rather than a necessity, I really enjoyed EYE CANDY!
    Many thanks, both and all.

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