Guardian Cryptic 28,114 by Vlad

by

THe puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/28114.

This started off easily enough – for any setter, yet alone Vlad – but the last few caused a fair amount of head scratching, ending up with 22A BARS, which seemed for quite a while to have no wordplay. There are passing references to the vagaries of modern art, obvious in 12A MY BED, but also in the works of Pierre Brassau, whose brushwork was described by critic Rolf Anderberg (14D) as having ‘furious fastidiousness’ (18A). As suggested in 16A, Pierre was a chimpanzee.

ACROSS
7 SONNETS Works of Shakespeare special (none played to empty theatres) (7)
A charade of S (‘special’) plus ONNE, an anagram (‘played’) of ‘none’ plus TS (’empty TheatreS‘).
8 NOSE JOB Is aware of discussing one patient’s operation (4,3)
A charade of NOSE, sounds like (‘discussing’) KNOWS (‘is aware of’) plus JOB (‘one patient’ – not a sound alike, but the biblical character).
9 TOSH Rubbish! Best to leave quietly and say nothing (4)
A charade of TO[p] (‘best’) minus the P (‘to leave quietly’) plus SH (‘say nothing’).
10 HEADDRESS She dreads wearing tiara (9)
An anagram (‘wearing’) of ‘she dreads’.
12 MY BED Artwork (some say) made by man? Not entirely in retrospect (2,3)
A hidden reversed (‘not entirely in retrospect’) answer in ‘maDE BY Man’. The definition refers to the piece by Tracey Emin.
13 GNARLIER More difficult in larger form (8)
An anagram (‘form’) of ‘in larger’.
15 CRAG Caught by tabloid’s bluff (4)
A charade of C (‘caught’) plus RAG (‘tabloid’).
16 GO APE Try to take off, but freak out (2,3)
A charade of GO (‘try’) plus APE (‘take off’, imitate).
17 FORA Representing American marketplaces (4)
A charade of FOR (‘representing’) plus A (‘American’).
18 ASSAULTS Attacks with a ‘furious fastid­iousness’, ultimately — fine to ignore flaws (8)
A charade of ‘a’ plus SS (‘furiouS fastidiousnesS finally’) plus [f]AULTS (‘flaws’) minus the F (‘fine to ignore’).
20 STALL Sly individual leaving stand (5)
A subtraction: STALL[one] (‘Sly’) minus ONE (‘individual leaving’).
21 DESECRATE Show active disrespect for one poor critic’s conclusions — teased outrageously (9)
An anagram (‘outrageously’) of ERC (‘onE pooR critiC‘s conclusions’) plus ‘teased’.
22 BARS Stops but still in front (4)
A charade of BAR (‘but’ – “everyone saw the joke bar/but me”) plus S (‘Still in front’).
24 REISSUE Is sure to be injured — athlete’s back put out again (7)
A charade of REISSU, an anagram (‘to be injured’) of ‘is sure’ plus E (‘athletE‘s back’).
25 CREATES Makes Charlie see art fancifully (7)
A charade of C (‘Charlie’) plus REATES, an anagram (‘fancifully’) of ‘see art’.
DOWN
1 POLO Work’s been mounted, look … as sport (4)
A charade of PO, a reversal (‘being mounted’ in a down light) of OP (‘work’) plus LO (‘look’).
2 IN THE BAG Secured hat, being windy (2,3,3)
An anagram (‘windy’) of ‘hat being’.
3 ETCHED Made an impression and got fellow going (6)
A subtraction: [f]ETCHED (‘got’) minus the F (‘fellow going’).
4 ROAD RAGE Paddy on the way? (4,4)
Cryptic definition.
5 REVEAL Take great delight over one in show (6)
An envelope (‘over’) of A (‘one’) in REVEL (‘take great delight’).
6 EONS One’s embarrassed for ages (4)
An anagram (’embarrassed’) of ‘ones’
11 AEGEAN SEA Roads sound here mainly (6,3)
‘Roads’ is a homophone (‘sound’) of RHODES, with ‘mainly’ a hint for SEA.
12 MARKS Acknowledges Kelvin in bar (5)
An envelope (‘in’) of K (‘Kelvin’) in MARS (‘bar’, proprietary).
14 ENROL Admit when Rolf’s taken in (5)
A hidden answer (‘taken in’) in ‘whEN ROLf’s’.
16 GOLF CLUB Whip-round by group for driver? (4,4)
A charade of GOLF, a reversal (’round’) of FLOG (‘whip’) plus CLUB (‘group’).
17 FLAMBEAU Light hit lover with force on head (8)
A charade of F (‘force’) plus LAM (‘hit’) plus BEAU (‘lover’), with ‘on head’ giving the order of the particles.
19 ASSESS Judge, after tip-off, goes by — heading for Specsavers? (6)
A charade of [p]ASSES (‘goes by’) minus its first letter (‘after tip-off’) plus S (‘heading for Specsavers’).
20 SIERRA Model gets disheartened over artist’s range (6)
A charade of SI[tt]ER (‘model’) minus its middle letters (‘gets disheartened’) plus RA (‘artist’).
21 DIET Parliament‘s reduced intake (4)
Double definition.
23 RHEA One can’t fly? Try cycling! (4)
HEAR (‘try’) with the H ‘cycling’ to the end. R ‘cycling’ to the beginning.

 

image of grid

73 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 28,114 by Vlad”

  1. I thought this was on the easy end of the Vlad spectrum, meaning somewhat less than fiendishly difficult but still with lots of nice misdirection (NOSE JOB, STALL, MARKS). Just a couple of quiblets with 9a (where TO seems to be “quietly to leave best” rather than vice versa) and 18a (where AULTS seems to be “flaws to ignore fine” rather than vice versa). After reading the blog I think I’m okay with the former but not so much with the latter. Anyway, all solved and parsed, so all good. Thanks to Vulcan and PeterO.

  2. I notice that several at the Guardian blog thought this was very easy, but it was quite a difficult puzzle for me. I failed to solve RHEA and ROAD RAGE. I solved but could not parse 20a, 22a, 11d. I totally missed the reference to Sylvester Stallone – obviously, I am not a fan!

    Thanks Peter and Vlad.

  3. Very easy indeed, but one or two enjoyable clues, NOSE JOB, STALL, RHEA etc, so worthwhile solving overall.

  6. Yes, my head-scratching over bars turned out to be much ado about nothing-nothing (as one partisan Oz pundit describes nil-all soccer games). Raised the same eyebrow as DaveinNC about 18c, and had no idea re the allusion to the brush-wielding chimp. Knew stand would be stall, but took a bit to click Stallone, and ditto [f]etched, d’oh. And the Rhodes sound, too, was a bit hmmm? Couple of product placements thrown in, the chewy bar and the specs shop. In general though, pretty gentle from the Impaler and quite fun. Thanks Vlad and PeterO.

  8. A brilliant puzzle, somewhat spoiled by the two object-verb-subject constructions pointed out by Dave@1.
    So we had GNARLIER today and GNARLED yesterday; GNARLY in the near future, perhaps?

  9. Thanks PeterO. Agree relatively straightforward, but didn’t manage to parse BARS. Saw the Nina and googled it, as nho Pierre Brassau, which then gave me a laugh seeing GO APE in the centre. Liked 1a for the surface and othrt fav was RHEA. Another TILT for me was FLAMBEAU.
    Thanks to Vlad for the fun.

  10. Definitely at the easier end of Vlad’s scale, but clever and entertaining, and Googling Pierre Brassau made for a nice bonus.

    Thanks to Vlad and PeterO

  11. I spotted most of the definitions here which I was surprised by, given the setter, but needed help for the parsing, which now all makes,sense. Thank you to Vlad and to PeterO.

  12. Queried ‘wearing’ as anagram indicator and AEGEAN SEA was rather obtuse, but I enjoyed this. Thanks to Vlad and PeterO.

  13. Thanks Vlad and PeterO

    I revealed RHEA and still didn’t understand it, so thanks for that. I also missed STALLone – also not a fan!

    The ‘s isn’t needed in 21d – “Parliament reduced intake” makes perfect sense.

    SONNETS was favourite.

  14. It was only after reading the blog that I realised I’d flung in a few of these without fully parsing them. I also stared at STALL for a while until the penny dropped that it was the poor man’s Jason Statham we needed. I thought GOLF CLUB was cute. An enjoyable romp overall. Cheers all

  15. Definitely on Vlad’s wavelength today – I must’ve filled in about 75% on first pass as I worked from top left to bottom right. Only after stepping back did I see the perimeter nina and then googled this artists I’d not heard of which made everything clear and brought an additional smile.

    I had the same gripes as others re fine and flaws but thought there were some really simple run-ons and anagrams which were beautifully disguised. In the art of misdirection, hiding the simplicity of a clue is to be admired. “Golf club” was first-rate – one of the best and most economical clues I’ve seen in a long time, one of many excellent surfaces.

    Great fun – thank you Vlad and thank you PeterO. Just because it was not fiendish doesn’t mean it wasn’t super.

  16. Theme completely unknown to me, I’m afraid, so Ninas and cultural references went straight over my head.  It’s been noted before that employing a theme can sometimes make a setter produce a slightly easier puzzle than usual and I imagine this must have been the case here.  No other reason for me to fairly fly through a Vlad.

    Still some super clues in here, though.  I’m certainly not complaining.  I loved NOSE JOB, GO APE, STALL, SIERRA and GOLF CLUB and agree with muffin on SONNETS as favourite.  Yesterday sheffield hatter observed “the possibility of a word beginning GN didn’t come anywhere near entering my mind “: were it not for that observation, I don’t think I’d have got GNARLIER so quickly.  Another of those strange coincidences.  (As is DIET appearing in both Telegraph and Guardian today.)

    Thanks as always Vlad and PeterO for explaining the theme and swatty for the keen observation

  17. Vlad in gentle form but none the worse for that. I spotted the Nina (which helped me get TOSH) but only as far as ‘Pierre brass abstracts’, not knowing what the ‘au’ was doing – I’d never heard of the artist.

    Ticks from me for ROAD RAGE and especially NOSE JOB.

    Thanks to Vlad and PeterO

  18. Thanks for the blog, PeterO

    Brilliant puzzle!

    TheZed @15 describes my solving experience almost exactly. I was so chuffed at for once spotting a nina and so very thrilled when I googled him and saw the point of ‘furious fastidiousness’, ‘go ape’ and ‘Artwork [some say] made by man? Not entirely…’

    Ticks for SONNETS, NOSE JOB, ASSAULTS, STALL, ROAD RAGE, GOLF CLUB, RHEA and AEGEAN SEA [which reminded me of Robert Southey’s nickname, ‘The Colossus of Roads’ for Thomas Telford.

    Huge thanks to Vlad for a super puzzle.

  19. The 1964 hoax was new to me, but when all had been revealed (thanks, PeterO) my favourite clue was 14d, with its reference to Rolf being “taken in’. Brilliant! Thank you, Vlad.

     

  20. I was enjoying this until I came to 4d. Surely it’s time this Victorian-era racist term was put to rest?

    I was tempted to put in STONE for 20a (as in Sly and The Family …) but demurred.

  21. No complaints but 9a amused me – using four words to clue two letters when one of those words is the two letters.

    17d took me an age to work out and like others I saw the name but it meant nothing until I googled, it added an element of interest post solve so thanks Vlad and thanks to PeterO.

  22. Yes, agree in principle poc, but they’re hard to erase…Shakespeare (Shylock), Mother Goose (Taffy was a Welshman..), “I wouldn’t start from here..”, and so on.

  23. A really great idea, this puzzle. News to me, so good to read about the story. I saw the Nina when I had PIER*E BR*********ACTS and was convinced it was about PIERCE BROSNAN until I made myself look again at 5d! Nice one Vlad, and thanks to PeterO

  24. Really whizzed through this, though held up at the end by NOSE JOB. Never noticed the Nina, though did wonder whether (Tracey Emin’s) MY BED indicated something subtly artistic in the theme, as it was Vlad.

  25. poc @20 you’re so right and maybe you could contact that popular bookmaker who insists on perpetuating this slur and put them straight. And then have a with the neolithic rice-farming cultures of the Yangtze River about their rice fields. Don’t get me started on the scuba diving lot

  26. A wonderful crossword, I thought. Short sadly but very sweet happily. Vlad being kindly, certainly, but the elegance of his constructions…..in places he commandeers the niceties,and intricacies, of our joyous language with the deftness of a poet.
    (How the craft of crossword setting taps on the door of art?)

    Many thanks, both and all.

  28. Thank you PeterO, bravo Vlad and many thanks to Peter/Pierre for the best laugh I’ve had in weeks.

    (7ac also thematic perhaps.)

    I thought this was as priceless as one of Peter’s pictures.

     

  29. Drofle at 12: Do you mean obtuse, or abstruse? If the latter then I’m with you. I had Appian Way initially, until I realised it made little if any sense, and would not fit with other clues. Thanks to all.

  30. I’m amused (and not the only one, apparently) to read how many thought this an easy Vlad, when all I could think was “Phew!”. Some clever boys and girls out there! Thanks Vlad and PeterO.

  31. Cookie @27:  That was fun – I scored 100% by the simple expedient of choosing the exact opposite of my first response!

  32. Andrew Jordan @29 reminded me that I meant to respond to drofle’s query re ‘wearing’ as an anagram indicator.

    We’re so used to seeing it indicating inclusion but thinking of ‘wear’ as ‘harass, weaken’ [Collins] or ‘consume, waste or damage; exhaust, weary; to be reduced or impaired [Chambers] works for me.

  33. Thanks to Vlad and PeterO.

    Bit of a rallentando eventually but great fun, particularly for the appearance of GNARLIER after the joyous GNARLED yesterday.  Yeah, I solved AEGEAN SEA but don’t really get the parsing – I seem not to have my parsing boots on today: a lot of bifs.

    The surfaces for 21a DESECRATE and 19d ASSESS are also thematic possibles.  Poor Rolf Anderberg – unfortunate to be remembered for expressing what I suspect, in reality, most of us privately think about modern art.

     

  35. Just 20a needed a reveal, annoyingly I thought of Mr.Stallone but totally overlooked the meaning of what was left after removing ‘one’, it was obvious really!
    I need the blog for a few explanations, thanks very much!

  36. Interesting about abstract art; know bugger all about it but got the test right by picking the ones with design/structure as human…

  37. I enjoyed this and was pleased to nearly finish.  Put in SMALL where it should have been STALL:  looking back that was stupid but STALL = stand just did not register.  Favourites were NOSE JOB, MY BED (poor Tracey the ‘some say’ was a bit harsh I thought)  and GNARLIER.  How strange we should have had GNARLED yesterday.  They are both lovely words though.  Thanks to the Impaler and PeterO for the early blog!

  39. Not generally wild about Vlad’s offerings. There always seems to be something clunky, superfluous or over-complex. Cracked it in the end.

     

  40. Missed the NINA, and never heard of PIERRE BRASSAU, but what a lovely story. I think a chimp could have done MY BED. I only got 67% with Cookie @27’s test – just shows we plebs don’t know what is great art (and neither does Rolf.)

    I did think twice about ‘wearing’ as an anagrind but I think Eileen @32 has given context.

    I got rather stuck by the ROAD RAGE/NOSE JOB couplet – both were good in retrospect.

    Thanks Vlad for impressive setting and PeterO for revealing all [it took me an age to see Sly Stallone.]

  41. Wonderful, and would make up for the easy solve if only I’d understood it. (Yes, I do get the irony there). Confessions (1) Sorry to the people on the Guardian page who were unduly helped by my seeing the start of the perimeter nina. I thought it was going to be about South Dakota. (2) I followed it round, then, not knowing the name Brassau, gave up and didn’t see the abstracts bit. How pathetic is that? (3) Sorry Vlad for not appreciating your puzzle properly. Great story. At least I’m in august company. Also perhaps in not being the greatest fan of conceptual art (quite a lot of abstracts I do like).

  43. Mostly fairly easy, but there were a few tortuous ones. ‘Nose Job’ took a bit of working out, & for some reason it took me ages to get ‘Headdress’, which was actually fairly straightforward. I’d question the use of ‘light’ as a definition of ‘flambeau’: the tense doesn’t seem right.

    ‘My Bed’ made me chuckle, especially because of what passes as ‘art’. But, hey, all-in brawling is classed as a ‘martial art’, so who am I to criticise?

  44. Thanks, Cookie.  I got 100%, but had the advantage that I’d already seen the first picture in the article about “Pierre.”  Beyond that, I picked humans for pictures that showed fine coordination.

    And thank you Vlad and PeterO for the entertainment.

     

  46. PeterO, did you already know these fascinating stories about the art world, or did you find them by inspired googling?

    grantinfreo @22 — I had no idea why “I wouldn’t start from here” was racist, so I googled the phrase and found a review of a book with that title about the Irish diaspora, which sounds fascinating.  Being of entirely Irish ancestry myself on my father’s side (though three or four generations back, probably dating to the famine) I don’t find digs at the Irish in these times mean.  The US is the home of “No Irish need apply,” but that was a long time ago.  But from the book review I gather that others’ experience in England may be different.

  47. Thanks both,
    I was held up by trying (w)easel for 20a. ‘Wear’ as an anagrind makes me think ‘gybe’ as in sailing and similar to ‘go about’. (See Patrick O’Brian novels passim.)

  48. Coby @42

    Yes indeed. I think I was so intent on phrasing the description to include ‘cycling’ that I did not bother about what was cycling where. Now corrected.

    Valentine @46

    A bit of both, mostly the latter. I did recall a chimp’s work having been passed off as a human artist’s, but the phrase ‘furious fastidiousness’ (helpfully in quotes) led to the details.

  49. Grantinfreo @22. First time I heard the “I wouldn’t start from here” gag it was in fact referencing a Devonian, so make of that what you will.

  50. Like Robi @40 I only got 67% in the test, Valentine @44 got 100% by picking those pictures showing fine coordination as being by humans.  If I had to choose one of the paintings, I would choose the first, the blue toned one by Congo – not sure that “fine coordination” necessarily benefits abstract paintings (and I may have agreed with Rolf that Peter’s painting was the best in the exhibition).

  51. I had AEGEAN SEA stuck in my head for ages, even without the crossers, but couldn’t parse it till I came here.  I couldn’t get past it sounding like “A, G and C” and trying to turn those into road names somehow.

  52. Cookie @50  I wasn’t saying that “fine coordination” made it a better picture, just that it was a giveaway to human skills.

  54. Desmond Morris wrote an entire book about a painting chimpanzee. The ape liked doing “fan-patterns” – always in the same direction (I can’t remember which, now). One day he looked at the paper and deliberately did the fans in the opposite direction.

    btw 5/6 for me!

  55. This was indeed the easiest Vlad I can remember, but I enjoyed it as much as his chewier ones.  I like Vlad’s style of clue writing very much and it produces some superb surfaces.  TOSH is a good example.  As robert @21 pointed out, the wordplay for TO is quite long winded, but well worth it.  My other favourites were NOSE JOB, BARS, IN THE BAG (great surface and use of “windy” as anagrind) and RHEA (another fine surface).

    One quiblet:  shouldn’t HEADDRESS clue have a ? at the end for the DBE.  Surface would be OK still, I think.

    I missed the Nina and theme, but it just adds to the puzzle’s beauty.  A work of art in itself.  I got 100% on the quiz (thanks, Cookie!) but cheated, since I’d seen the first.  I agree that there are elements of coordination in the human ones (leading to definite intended images) absent from the chimp ones.

    Great puzzling.  Thanks, Vlad and PeterO.

  57. 83%, but I’m not alone in liking No.5. The three  in the test are the three that Bonham’s sold for $25,000 !

  58. Nice puzzle.  I didn’t get 20 ac and I still can’t parse it.  Is Paddy a Britishism?

  60. Jay: a stand or stall at a show or market.

    Sly is a nickname for Stallone.

    A paddy is a slang term for a temper tantrum. Hope that helps.

  61. Well. I was so pleased to have finished a Vlad. In the end by use of the Nina that I was so excited to have spotted. And then I came here to read all the smug buggers. ‘So easy’ . You have no idea at what level you play this game. Stop expecting the Editor to only satisfy your requirements.
    Sadly it is so late in the day, no one will read my rant.

  62. TC @61

    Rant read and understood.  I for one do not expect the editor to take my comment as a request for something tougher, nor do I expect Vlad to ratchet up his difficulty level on my account.  I did however want to convey my particular impressions of the puzzle.  Sorry if that sounded smug – it wasn’t intended to.  I would again emphasise that I enjoyed today’s puzzle enormously, as I usually do with Vlad regardless of difficulty level.

    Sounds like you enjoyed it too, so I’d say the setter did a bang-up job.

  63. Well done TC, I didn’t get close and found it as tough as normal for Vlad. (Minor rant about almost anything constituting an anagrind deleted!)

  64. Fun puzzle thanks Vlad and PeterO.
    ‘Wearing’ (becoming worn) as an anagrind reminds me of this classic from iirc Paul:
    “Are orgasms a plus wearing rubbers here? (7,8)”

  68. Not much success yesterday but solved this morning Oz time. Liked 7a SONNETS, my LOI, 8a NOSE JOB and 4d ROAD RAGE. Thanks Vlad and PeterO, and previous bloggers for a tough puzzle and an interesting forum.

  70. Simon S @45

    ‘Light’ is also a verb, as are ‘table’, ‘chair’, ‘plate’, ‘glass’, ‘cup’, ‘knife’, ‘fork’, ‘spoon’, & ‘cake’, etc.

    No apologies for being intransitive.

  71. PS I didn’t get the “end game” (natch) but have so enjoyed reading about the hoax just now. Brilliant Nina and inclusion of references, Vlad! Thank you again for that whole other layer.

  72. Highlander @ 70: I was talking about the context of this crossword. And flambeau is only a noun, so tense doesn’t come into it. Maybe you were thinking of flambé?

  73. Was surprised when straightforwardly progressed with this (Vlad!) but alas pride went before fall as became a DNF due to wrongly inserting (W) EASEL for 18ac’s STALL.
    But I must say I think 20 down a bit much! Taking out a random number of letters from the middle of a word not appearing in the clue is yet another sneaky creep towards anagrams of words not in clue. Please stop this sort of stuff, compilers, it makes crosswords a tedious, tortuous guessing game.
    I too noticed the gnarlier/gnarled, and I have noticed this synchronicity so many times when doing crosswords regularly. Do compilers have a sort of mental resonance?
    Thank you Vlad and PeterO.

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