Guardian Cryptic 28235 Vlad

by

Thanks Vlad for the challenge. Definitions are underlined in the clues.

Could some of the clues refer to the 2down “fiasco”.

Across

1. Sneakily managing to get rid of women’s sport (7)

ANGLING : “wangling”(sneakily managing/obtaining something through manipulating someone) minus(to get rid of) “w”(abbrev. for “women”).

… social distancing?

5. Wrongly attempt to back current Conservative leader — it makes no sense (7)

ILLOGIC : ILL(wrongly, as in “ill-gotten gains”) + reversal of(… to back) GO(an attempt/a try at) + I(symbol for electrical current in physics) + 1st letter of(… leader) “Conservative“.

9. Put one’s foot down? Minister’s revolting (3,2)

REV UP : REV(abbrev. for “Reverend”, title of a priest/a minister) + UP(revolting/rebelling).

Defn: … on the accelerator of a car, increasing the engine’s revolutions per minute.

10. Generally at sea (2,3,4)

IN THE MAIN : [IN THE](at/where one is) [MAIN](literary term for the sea/open ocean).

11. One minister, I finally concluded, can work without discernment (14)

INDISCRIMINATE : Anagram of(… work) [I(Roman numeral for “one”) + MINISTER, I + last letter of(finally) “concluded” + CAN].

13. Greedy artist has chop for starter (4)

AVID : “David”(Jacques-Louis, French artist) minus its 1st letter(has chop for starter).

14. In trouble, use padre’s influence (8)

PERSUADE : Anagram of(In trouble) USE PADRE.

Defn: …, as a verb.

17. Brit in India, one smoothing over quarrel at last? (8)

ISLANDER : I(abbrev. for “India”) + SANDER(one smoothing/a power tool for smoothing surfaces) containing(over) last letter of(… at last) “quarrel“.

Defn: An example of which is one from the British Isles.

18. Star exploding — somewhat taken aback (4)

IDOL : Hidden in(… somewhat) reversal of(… taken aback) “exploding“.

21. Quiet! Let one on board with keel close to waterline (7-7)

SHALLOW-DRAUGHT : SH!(Quiet!, telling someone to be quiet) + ALLOW(to let/to permit) + DRAUGHT(one of the pieces on the board used for the game of, well, draughts).

Defn: …, describing a floating vessel whose bottom/keel is not much below/close to the water level/waterline.

Any shallower than this?

23. Expecting medicine, sort of ? (9)

OBSTETRIC : Cryptic defn: “expecting” as with pregnant women.

24. Barney and Betty getting wings clipped — very restricting (3-2)

SET-TO : “Betty” minus its 1st and last letters(getting wings clipped) contained in(… restricting) SO(very/to a high degree, as in “so hot”).

Defn: …/a noisy quarrel.

25. Take care over truck being recorded (7)

MINUTED : MIND(to take care of/to tend to) containing(over) UTE(short for a utility vehicle/a pickup/a small truck).

Defn: …, as with what is said in a meeting.

26. Poor bloke on the fiddle slightly twisted? Get away! (7)

SCARPER : SCRAPER(what you might disparagingly call a bloke playing the fiddle/violin poorly) with its 3rd and 4th letters exchanging positions(slightly twisted).

Defn: …/to leave quickly.

DOWN

1. Country on the up? Why pulling out shows arrogance (4)

AIRS : Reversal of(… on the up, in a down clue) “Syria”(a Mid-Eastern country) minus(… pulling out) “y”(used in text messages for “why?”).

2. Government exposed, having to resolve this person’s issue over introduction of algorithm (5,10)

GAVIN WILLIAMSON : G(abbrev. for “government”) + “having” minus its 1st and last letters(exposed, …) plus(to) WILL(resolve/determination) + I’M(“I am”/this person/yours truly is) + SON(one’s biological issue) containing(over) 1st letter of(introduction of) “algorithm“.

Defn: The UK Education Secretary who introduced the use of the algorithm to evaluate students’ grades after A-Level exams cancelled due to Covid-19, and who was criticised in the subsequent controversy.

3. Damage caused by mutation originally, mate — one’s on top of it (6)

IMPAIR : [1st letter of(… originally) “mutation” + PAIR(to mate/to form a couple)] placed below(…’s on top of it, in a down clue) I(Roman numeral for “one”).

4. Something wrong? Idiot left to shaft children (6)

GLITCH : GIT(an idiot/an unpleasant person) containing(… to shaft) L(abbrev. for “left”) + CH(abbrev. for “children”).

Defn: …, ie. a malfunction.

5. Had a feeling it worked with United (8)

INTUITED : Anagram of(… worked …) [IT plus(with) UNITED].

Defn: … intuitively/had a gut feeling, not based on actual knowledge.

6. Extremely wary crossing lake in case (8)

LEERIEST : ERIE(one of the Great Lakes in N. America) contained in(crossing …) LEST(in case/in the event that, as in “lest we forget”).

7. Ugh! A putdown with a hint of absurdity, say? Embarrassed, we don’t want to hear any more (2,4,3,4,2)

GO AWAY AND SHUT UP : Anagram of(… Embarrassed/made difficult/complicated, as in “the situation was further embarrassed by his resignation”) [UGH! A PUTDOWN plus(with) 1st letter of(a hint of) “absurdity” + SAY].

8. Made mistake in discussion before everything’s gone belly up — pantomime! (10)

CINDERELLA : Homophone of(… in discussion) “sinned”(made mistake/committed a wrong) + ERE(before, when referring to time, as in “it was gone ere long”) + reversal of(…’s gone belly up) ALL(everything).

… and her stepsisters.

12. Admire loos, possibly this one (6,4)

LADIES ROOM : Anagram of(…, possibly) ADMIRE LOOS.

Defn: …, ie. a loo/toilet.

How goes the beer?

15. Tributary of Lune fit for swimming around noon (8)

INFLUENT : Anagram of(…for swimming) LUNE FIT containing(around) N(abbrev. for “noon’).

Defn: … that flows into the main river.

16. Lira included in coinage for the Americas (3,5)

NEW WORLD : L(abbrev. for “lira”) contained in(included in) [NEW WORD](coinage/a newly invented word).

19. King’s picked up spoils (6)

WRECKS : Homophone of(…’s picked up) “Rex”(“king” from Latin).

20. State, traditionally powerful one, withdrawing quietly (6)

RUSSIA : “Prussia”(a former/traditionally powerful state, exercising great influence internationally) minus(withdrawing) “p”(abbrev. for “piano”, musical direction to play quietly).

22. I don’t like that Romeo — he’s rude (4)

BOOR : BOO!(said to express “I don’t like that”) + R(letter represented by “Romeo” in the phonetic alphabet).

75 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 28235 Vlad”

  1. Very happy to have struggled through this eventually, with the SE corner last to yield with SET TO and BOOR. Liked the misdirection of ISLANDER. Thanks for the workout VLAD, and for the lovely illustrated blog, Scchua…

  2. oh go on then, I’ll be one of the first. I am usually full of nothing but praise for the setter (in my head, if not bothering to comment here) but this one just wasn’t for me. True, I was weary when I tackled it, but I found it didn’t exactly perk me up so much as fatigue me further. Found some of the clueing very cumbersome. Still, nice to have a different vibe even if not really on my preferred frequency. Thanks scchua and Vlad

  3. I enjoyed this puzzle. I think IDOL=’star’ is a bit iffy.

    And where do Guardian setters get their initialisms from? How is CH=’children’? (Or L=lecturer, or any of loads of other seemingly random first letters of words?)

  4. A fairly tough challenge from Vlad today and I didn’t get OBSTETRIC, LEERIEST or, I’m afraid, GAVIN WILLIAMSON.  In the latter case, I should have stood back from attempting to make sense of the word play and the surface, alone, should have pointed me in the right direction.  Congratulations to our non-UK solvers who got this: I’m based here and have two sons in education so have no excuse.  I’m not sure about LEERIEST: it’s a comparative term whereas the clue seems to fit a non-comparative answer.

    IN THE MAIN was FOI – I feel I’ve seen it before and not too long ago.  CINDERELLA was next and isn’t a word I’d normally associate with Vlad.  Whereas 3d – with PAL indicated by ‘mate’ – was surely IMPALE?  Until it wasn’t.  I find I have fewer ticks on this solve.  No particular criticism but nothing stood out.  LADIES ROOM was a nice anagram, PERSUADE a nice surface, SET TO made me smile with the Flintstones reference and SHALLOW DRAUGHT was nicely constructed though the definition element leaped out at me so it was a write in then parse moment.

    Thanks Vlad and scchua for the blog – which is indeed colourful this morning

  6. wonderstevie @2: we crossed and I think your feeling of ennui equates to my lack of ticks.  I guess we’ve just been treated to a series of gems of late which just shines a spotlight onto any – normally esteemed – setter who possibly delivers just below par.

    pserve_p2:  pop star = pop idol?  Or just Billy?

  9. Well 17ac was unusual but yes, Brits are islanders. Obstetric was neat. The Oz ute has been getting a bit of a run (we don’t call ’em trucks but, perversely given the state of the planet, they’ve grown huge…bloody great gas guzzlers bashing thru the delicate bushland..ugh!). 2d took all the crossers and a guess, and rex/wrecks was a teatray! Not a fluent solve, but got there in the end, thanks Vlad and Scchua.

  10. Thanks for that, sheffield hatter – but it’s more fun the other way. 😉

    My other ticks were for 5ac ILLOGIC, 23ac OBSTETRIC, 8dn, CINDERELLA, 12dn LADIES’ROOM, 16dn NEW WORLD and 19dn WRECKED.

    Many thanks, Vlad – just keep them coming! And thanks, scchua, for the blog.

  11. pserve_p2 @3, please consult Chambers for the abbreviations.

    The Frank Spencer of politics; surely, he can’t last much longer in education?

    A tough but interesting solve. I ticked LADIES ROOM and CINDERELLA.

    Thanks Vlad and scchua.

  12. Lovely blog, thanks scchua, and for bothering to parse the clues I couldn’t. Quite a few overlong, cumbersome, clunky, convoluted and TOO cryptic clues for me, I’m afraid. All solved, but ultimately unrewarding as has been noted above.
    But thanks anyway, Vlad

  13. Plenty to like and the pair of long down solutions together raise a smile, although the clue for Gavin Williamson is so convoluted in it’s construction that I can only imagine most solvers needed plenty of crossers and then an “Oh! That’s where Vlad’s going is it…” moment followed by some “that’ll do” parsing – I know I did!

    But overall I found it fun, and gentler than some of the Impaler’s output although by no means easy.

    Thanks both.

  14. This was a solving experience that had far more puzzled frowns than joyful smiles. I was struggling for the first word of 2d – there’s not many with __V_N, and the second half was beginning to look an awful lot like WILLIAMSON, then came the penny drop moment, except that it was more like an “oh my god, he hasn’t really put Gavin Williamson in the Guardian crossword” moment.

    I couldn’t get anything in the NW apart from REV-UP until I had got the Secretary of State for Education with its all-impoirtant initial G. The other four clues in that corner all seemed to have something dubious about the surfaces, the synonyms or the cryptic grammar which needed crossers to help get my head around them.

    And what is “sort of?” doing in 23a? Is it just for misdirection? If the clue had been just “Expecting medicine?” it would have been a really good clue, and it’s not often I say that about a cryptic definition.

    Got there in the end, but the whole experience reminded me of cycling into a head wind up a long, steep hill. Bloody hard work and glad it’s over!

  15. Thanks, sschua.

    As often with Vlad, I had hardly anything on first pass, but patience paid off and, reading over it again, all seemed so clear I wasn’t sure why I’d been puzzled.

    The wordplay in 2d seemed a bit clunky, but it was worth it for the surface. I presume 2d and 7d carry the message of today’s crossword – just between ourselves, I have a sneaking suspicion that Vlad is not delighted by the present government.

  16. Thanks both. I may be wrong, but I think you’ve missed out the A (introduction of Algorithm) in 2d, so you have WILLIMSON

  17. Eileen @10. As a rather poor typist, and mindful that there may be others on here almost as bad, I thought a clickable link would help more people to have the joy of listening to one of our top politicians expose himself as a total fool.  I must admit though that I sometimes find it quite difficult to raise a chuckle about these idiots.

  18. Sorry if I’m being obtuse, but I can’t see how in 2d “this person’s issue over introduction of algorithm” leads to “Gavin Williamson”. Shouldn’t the answer be something which means “issue”?

  19. Not as much time taken as usual over a Vlad puzzle and I’m not sure that’s altogether a good thing. GAVIN WILLIAMSON was biffed in (that really should be a euphemism) on the grounds that it’s Vlad so there will be some Tory-bashing somewhere, rather than trying to work out the convoluted parse (thanks scchua for your diligence). INDISCRIMINATE wasn’t much better; the solution is far too similar to the definition. But now I’ve followed Eileen’s YouTube link I’m in much better spirits! Do scroll down if you can to see Williamson cut off by Richard Madeley while elephants roam in the background – priceless. A B-lister way out of his depth.
    Must fess up though to an inability to choose between SCAMPER and SCARPER. Had to get Mrs T to put me out of my misery.

  21. Mark @4. I can just about make 6d work with most substituted for extremely: “Gareth Southgate’s England were extremely wary against Denmark yesterday.”==> “England were at their most wary yesterday.”==> England’s leeriest performance? No, not really.

  24. Although I got there in the end, I had trouble with 2d for a couple of reasons.  Not living in the UK, was unaware of the particular controversy, although the fact that there is a problem that needs to be solved is a worldwide one.  The other difficulty is that “this person’s issue” seems to be a part of the definition and the wordplay.

    To confirm my answer, I did a little reading, and was bemused by the prominent use of the generic word “algorithm” in all this.  In any year, in any exam, a student’s grades are computed by an algorithm, even if that is simply adding the marks from individual questions, or averaging different examiner’s scores or whatever.

     

  25. Offspinner @18. It’s not so much an &lit as a clue without a definition. Most strange. (Extremely strange?). The whole clue breaks down into a string of word play: ‘Government’=G; ‘exposed, having’=AVIN; ‘resolve’=WILL; ‘this person’s’=IM; ‘issue’=SON; ‘over introduction of algorithm’=A inside IMSON. But “Government exposed, having to resolve this person’s issue over introduction of algorithm” isn’t really a definition so much as a description of the situation surrounding the mess the government made over the A-level grades. At a stretch, maybe “this person” is doing double duty (as Dr WO says), with the whole clue helping to identify who he his.

  26. Thanks Vlad and sschua

    sh @ 14

    Obstetric is a type/sort of medicine, hence ‘medicine, sort of’. Along with the ? it’s acting as the DBE indicator.

  27. First train journey for a while (Three Bridges to Clapham Junction – 44 minutes) and technically a DNF as lots of button-pressing required whilst remembering to take mask off before trying to sip tea (epic fail on that front).

    I take issue with the definition for 2d – if he really is the Education Secretary then I’m Albert Einstein on a bike.

    Thanks Vlad and Scchua!

  28. Thanks to Vlad and scchua. I actually found most of this puzzle not quite as painfully hard as my usual experience when I tackle a Vlad puzzle. However like grantinfreo@9 and some other non-UK solvers, I didn’t know GAVIN WILLIAMSON at 2d and had to use crossers and then fill in the blanks for his name. But when I came to the blog, I learned some interesting stuff about British politics. I appreciated Eileen@7 and others for helping me to join the dots. Favourite as already mentioned by some others was 12d LADIES ROOM, which like Eileen@10, I would like to spell with an apostrophe.

  29. An observation on the setters’ experience prompted by the two long linked answers: what an absolute joy it must be (as well as a feat of observation) to find that certain well known figures, phrases or things have 15 letters and even more so when two are linked.  For GAVIN WILLIAMSON and GO AWAY AND SHUT UP, his famous (mistyped that as fatuous at first- Freudian slip!) quote, to both stretch to 15 is a wonderful coincidence.  Red, white and blue came up recently as another nice example, though standalone.

    Similarly when nina’s appear that are given phrases – they can’t be altered – but that fit within the constraints of the available grids and unchecked letters.  Nutmeg’s recent There’ll always be an England” and Puck’s brilliant I am that merry wanderer and hob, both fitting perfectly around the perimeter, come to mind.

  30. JulieinAustralia “ I didn’t know GAVIN WILLIAMSON at 2d“. I can’t tell you how many Brits wished they were as lucky as you are not to know him…

  32. Eileen @31: thanks for that.  Yes, very clever.  Though, splitting hairs, my point was particularly focused on existing ‘real’ names/quotes etc.  The Tyrus nina is a quote of his own making (I think) – though very witty.

  33. Phew. This was a slow burn, but a fine crossword nonetheless.

    Almost nothing on first pass until CINDERELLA creaked the door open an inch and I was able to get my size 10 in with ILLOGIC & IN THE MAIN.

    Eileen: thank you so much for spotting that link… as you say, “brilliant!”

    Many thanks, Vlad, you have honed your art, more please.

  34. Thanks Shirl, blog amended.  I was thinking IAM instead of I’M.  In the former, the A from “algorithm” isn’t needed.

  36. Too many loose clues for my liking. I have no problem with difficult clues as long as the cluing is accurate but when it’s not I just find it becomes an unpleasant struggle. Most of the examples have been mentioned already but the one that really irked me was 6d. In no way are extremely wary and leeriest synonymous. Leeriest specifically means most wary and while that might involve being extremely wary, in a small sample of not very wary people it might not mean very wary at all.

    There was some good cluing in there. Difficult, but fair. But there were just a few too many loose ones for me to really enjoy the puzzle.

  37. I’ve been reading the comments as they’ve been coming in, and have to agree that taken together, the topical clues are brilliant.  However, from a clue-construction point of view, I think 2d is terrible.  It is possible to have two opposing views in ones head at once!

     

  38. I had to work out GO AWAY AND SHUT UP because I don’t remember that coming out of the mouth of GAVIN WILLIAMSON when he was the Defence minister. RUSSIA made that story complete, of course. I enjoyed that triplet once I had brought myself up to date.
    I enjoyed the rest of the puzzle too, which had a recognisable Vlad flavour.
    Thanks to Vlad and scchua.

  39. Julie in Australia, who likes owls, may be interested to know that Einstein on a bike’s mate Gavin Williamson is a patron of the World Owl Trust.

    When he was chief whip he kept a Mexican redknee tarantula, known as Cronus, in his parliamentary office.

    Shirl@20 and Robi@11 Apparently he was initially given nicknamed ‘Private Pike’ when he took over at the Ministry of Defence.

  40. A quick defence of 2d. For anyone ofay with UK events its obvious after twigging 7d so its only fair that the clue was deliberately elaborate.

    But I did think he scored 180 or 147 (depending in the game)in Tyrus last weekend

    Rock on JT

  42. I’m afraid Vlad’s brilliance (and the 2d-7d-20d combination was brilliant – thanks, Eileen) was lost on me today. Like some others, I found it to be a painful slog and a dnf. Happy for those who enjoyed it. Thanks to Vlad and scchua.

  43. Thanks Vlad and scchua

    I confess that I didn’t bother to tease all the convoluted parsings, so technically a dnf, though I did eventually complete the grid when AIRS went in.

    I’m with Mark and others on the comparitive aspect of LEERIEST lacking from “extremely wary”. Vlad could have been a bit kinder with 13a – “French painter” perhaps?

    I loved 24a as I spent some time trying to work Rubble in somehow. WRECKS was a good homophone!

  44. pserve_p2 @ 3. The standard ref for setters is Chambers Dictionary (available as an app) although Collins gets used as well. ch for children is in Chambers. I found this crossword a bit awkward in places, but approve of it politically.

  45. Thanks scchua (and others) for taking the time to work through the wordplay elements of the longer clues, I saw the light with a few crossers and the flavour of the surface but couldn’t slog through the justification.  While I sympathise with those who found some clues less smooth than usual (and I only got 23A from a word finder having searched “medicine while pregnant” to no avail), I agree most strongly with muffin@43 since I only got AVID by guessing the definition and looking up synonyms of greedy: not only is DAVID the artist quite obscure (and certainly vs the work of art of course), but the instruction “has chop for starter” is a little clunky (though I concede it helps the surface reading nicely). I nonetheless enjoyed this because of the satisfaction felt when the ones I found tough eventually succumbed – INFLUENT, NEW WORLD and BOOR perhaps my favourites. Thank you Vlad.

  46. Got there in the end but had to stare at all the crossers for GAVIN WILLIAMSON for ages, thinking the first word was probably GIVEN with G and I’VE for Government and ‘this person’s’. I’m not wild about Vlad’s tortuous clueing, but it’s his particular style.  I liked CINDERELLA and ANGLING. Many thanks to V & s.

  47. Dr WhatsOn @37 – you’ve hit the nail on the head and said what I was trying to much more clearly and succinctly. I rather love the filled grid with those two long answers and so many others that feel as though they may be (and in my heart I’m hoping are intended to be) linked. A rather wonderful grid-fill with some really ropey clues to get us there.

  48. The use of “extremely” to indicate a superlative (not a comparative) in a crossword must have been seen hundreds of times but seems to need some explanation here. The slightly playful point is that the extreme is the furthest you can go so “extremely dark” (for instance) is used to mean at the extreme of darkness – the darkest you can get.

    2d is an &lit. (the whole clue should be underlined in the blog). I think it would be better with a question mark but I can’t fault the construction. Very good.

  49. Rarely get on with Vlad, whose clues I often find clunky and stretched. This one was no exception, but got there in the end.

  50. Herb @48: I think you make a good point re LEERIEST.  I’ll take your word on the hundreds of times but I’m persuaded your interpretation could work.  I still feel less than 100% comfortable with it but I’m not sure I can put my finger on why!

  52. I think the parsing for 1 across in the blog is slightly off – wangling is ‘sneakily managing to get’, which is ‘rid of’ the ‘w’ to make angling.

    Had some of the same issues as others, and had never heard the phrase ‘go away and shut up’ despite being British, but generally enjoyed the theme running across the surfaces.

  53. Loved this one, and particularly 2dn which is sheer genius. But . . . is AVID really a synonym for Greedy? Happy to be corrected on this, but cannot find that definition in any dictionary.

  55. Thank you Vlad for the puzzle, scchua for the blog and (as usual) the excellent pictures, and Eileen for the illumination about GW.  Greatly increased the fun!

    I went to bed with four answers filled in, added one more this morning and then had to resort to liberal use of the check button.  I remember on 2d at some point having enough crossers and hypotheses in the lower part that I said, “This must be a name — somebody named Williamson, whoever it may be.”  So I filled in whatsisname and plowed on, waiting for the blog for enlightenment — and delightfully enlightening it was.

  56. I thought the artist was familiar – he appeared recently in Brendan’s Prize …

    “Eg Hockney, or French artist (5)”

    Slim musical pickings today but let’s have some Billy IDOL (also a star) and a bit of Mercury REV

  57. Gazzh @45. “DAVID the artist quite obscure” – are you sure? Britannica: “the most celebrated French artist of his day.” Wiki: “considered to be the preeminent painter of the era.” Here’s one of his paintings. Some obscure general on horseback anticipating a future stage of the Tour de France.

    (I do agree with you about “has chop for starter”; “getting chop” would be ok, but “has chop”?)

  59. There are puzzles that are challenging and fun, and puzzles that are challenging and ultimately unrewarding. This one was……

  61. Desmodeus@about10lessthanme: I would disagree with your categorising the clue for LEERIEST as loose. Although “extremely” is used (loosely) to mean “a lot”, it literally means “at the extreme” and is thus an indicator for a superlative rather than a comparative. (I agree with revbob@milesaway that LEERIEST is not the most attractive of words, but, no matter, it is a legitimate word and that’s what counts.
    Wrt GAVIN WILLIAMSON etc I was well aware of the algorithm business because I am a reader of both the UK and the Aus editions of the G – I less frequently stray into the US edition because the other two provide me with enough reasons for pessimism as it is!

  62. It won’t surprise anyone if I say I’m in the “this was totally my cup of tea” camp.
    And I didn’t even make the (now obvious) connection between 2dn, 7dn and 20dn …..
    Many thanks to scchua for the blog & Vlad for his trumpless puzzle.

  63. Like some, for me this had fun bits but was ultimately less than satisfying; alas, often my experience with Vlad… something about the obscurities, Britishisms, and being just too convoluted for my tastes… ah well, to each there own.

    I too found “extremely”=”-est” troubling, despite @48; “extremely” is in the defn, not wordplay, so “playful” use is problematic?  Makes it a CD at the least; but to me it’s just making up a new meaning, when “most” would be just fine, and sans controversy.

    I’m curious how others view 26A (my least fav).  “Scraper”=”violinist” is obscure (at least here in the US… perhaps a Britishism?), and “scarper” is definitely a Britishism, so I was a bit doomed from the start, but then it’s got vaguely specified indirect wordplay as well.  If indirect anagrams are avoided, while simple/clear indirect wordplay is tolerable, then a line (however fuzzy) exists somewhere; with a vague indicator (many alterations could qualify as “twisted”) and lax specifier (just how slight is “slightly”… 1 letter? 2 or 3?), this seemed on the wrong side of the line to me.

    Tip of the hat to setter/blogger/commenters for giving us much to ponder/haggle over.

  64. Apologies to all for going over old ground. When going back to the site I saw heaps of comments above mine that I hadn’t seen before. I think it must have been because my phone was not refreshed between going to sleep and waking up again. Hang on, can that be right – or am I just imagining things? This lockdown does funny things to the brain, you know!

  65. Eileen @54, thanks, that seems fairly conclusive. I checked Chambers on-line and it was what I expected, i.e. enthusiastic or craving something. I thought that could mean greedy at a bit of a stretch, and in the end could not see what else it could be. Do I need to stop being a cheapskate and buy an actual hard copy?

  66. F Jack @65. I picked up a Chambers 10th edition (2006), hardback, almost unused, from an online bookshop (not Amazon) last week for just £2.99! Free postage, too – despite how heavy it is. AVID: ‘greedy, eagerly desirous (for)’.

  67. Being from the US I had to Google up Gavin Williamson – never heard of him I’m afraid.  Also thought a few of the clue references were a bit obscure (SCARPER, AVID, the other long Down clue). But I did manage to complete it, so there’s that…

  68. Thanks to scchua for the blog and to others who commented. Obliged to Eileen@7 and elsewhere for pointing out the connections and to Herb@48 and Gert Bycee@61 for explaining the ‘extremely’ use in 6dn which is a crossword staple. Surprised at the criticism of 2dn – doesn’t the clue describe exactly what happened?

    Thanks also to young Gav for providing the raw material.

     

  69. INFLUENT and LEERIEST had a slight air of desperation-to-complete-the-grid, but the crossword as a whole more than made up for this.

    2dn, and 7dn his puerile statement addressed to 20dn, were accompanied by the apposite comment in the clues to 5ac, 9ac, 10ac, 11ac, 26ac (probably), 1dn, 4dn, 8dn, 20dn. Yes, Trailman @19, “it’s Vlad so there will be some Tory-bashing somewhere” – and as far as I am concerned the more the merrier.

    Not as fine as the immortal BOLLOCKS TO BREXIT, but cheered me up immensely this morning.

    Many thanks to Vlad for that.

  70. Being in the US I had to cheat on 2D. Once I had the V checker, I first thought it’s going to be COVID NINETEEN but it’s too short. So I assumed it was DAVID somebody. Eventually I got the G which put paid to that. Of course the connection to 7D went right over my head too.

  71. Re 44, Chambers might be the standard reference for setters of Guardian puzzles (at least, IIRC, it is one among those they consult), but I’m sure people won’t mind me pointing out that this is not the case elsewhere.

  72. Oh, and whilst I’m being pedantic, I’ll also draw your attention to the fact that the indicator at 1ac for the W is women’s WITH the apostrophe, not without.

  73. Paul, I surely won’t argue with you about this.
    You are a lot more knowledgeable on this matter than I am.
    However, I have a feeling that not all newspapers are that strict.
    There will be editors who may accept things as long as they are in one of the major dictionaries.
    Probably, The Guardian’s is one of them.

    For example, W = women’s?
    Chambers tells me: Women or women’s
    And Collins: Women’s (size)
    The SOED: women(‘s size)
    Most solvers probably cannot be bothered anyway, for many of them even ‘woman’ is all right.   [you should see my face right now]
    And setters get away with it.
    But what do you expect in a country in which even the PM gets away with things, time after time?

  75. Yeah, this clearly began as Vlad being determined to put Gavin Williamson into a crossword – which is an utterly bizarre thing to contemplate.

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