Thank you to Vlad. This wasn’t a write-in for me. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1, 18. He dealt with state affairs a lot — wrong description of Boris? (1,6,2,2,5,3)
A FATHER OF AT LEAST SIX : Anagram of(… dealt with …) [HE + STATE AFFAIRS A LOT] + X(a mark indicating a wrong answer, say).
Defn: … Johnson, who has fathered six children and, maybe, plus an unknown number.
A clever surface. My LOI as I’m not current with British affairs, state or otherwise.
5. Gridlock on motorway going west — go east (7)
IMPASSE : Reversal of(… going west, in an across clue) MI(M1 the north-south UK motorway, with the Roman numeral substitution) + PASS(go/move in a specified direction) + E(abbrev. for “east”).
… yes, the other way.
9. Rudeness reciprocated leads to extremely serious complaint (5)
PILES : Reversal of(… reciprocated) LIP(rudeness/impertinence) + 1st letters, respectively, of(leads to) “extremely serious“.
Defn: …, specifically, haemorrhoids.
10. Clue’s naughty about great man having a roving eye (9)
LECHEROUS : Anagram of(… naughty) CLUE’S containing(about) HERO(a great man/one who is admired).
11. Big Mike trapped by scary alien space travellers (6,4)
COSMIC RAYS : [OS(abbrev. for outsize/big, as used in sizes of clothing) + MIC(like “mike”, informal term for a microphone)] contained in(trapped by) anagram of(… alien) SCARY.
12. One repeatedly fired from EastEnders (4)
STEN : Hidden in(from) “EastEnders“.
Defn: Short for a particular automatic weapon.
14. Needing breaks? Could be Amazon job on the line (6,6)
ENGINE DRIVER : Anagram of(… breaks) NEEDING + RIVER(an example of which/could be, the Amazon in S. America).
Defn: …, a railway line, that is.
18. See 1
21. Very short, my youngsters (4)
LADS : “Vlad’s”(my/the setter’s, with Vlad using the self-referential possessive pronoun) minus( short) “v”(abbrev. for “very”).
22. Weird — say, who’d be taking you inside old knocking shop? (5,5)
BAWDY HOUSE : Anagram of(Weird) SAY, WHO’D BE containing(taking … inside) U(a substitute for “you”, as in “U-Drive” or in texting).
Defn: An old term for a …/brothel, where you pay for your knocks.
25. Writer‘s block getting worse? Initially, yes (9)
HEMINGWAY : [HEM IN](to block/to contain) + 1st letters, respectively, of(… Initially) “getting worse” + AY(yes/agreed).
Defn: Ernest, American writer.
26. Tenant doesn’t have right key (5)
ENTER : “renter”(a tenant/one who occupies a rented property) minus(doesn’t have) “r”(abbrev. for “right”).
Defn: … on your computer keyboard.
27. City in retreat — Coventry wingers showing good form (7)
DECENCY : [EC(abbrev. for “Eastern Central”, the postal code area that includes almost all of the City of London) contained in(in) DEN(a retreat/one’s private room)] + 1st and last letters of(… wingers) “Coventry“.
28. Name going up in the early stages (7)
NASCENT : N(abbrev. for “name”) + ASCENT(going up/a climb up).
Down
1. American star wearing nothing upstaged by a furry animal (6)
ALPACA : “Al Pacino”(American movie star of The Godfather fame) with [“in”(wearing/clothed in) + “o”(letter representing 0/nothing)] replaced by(upstaged by) A.
2. Red colour largely visible amongst evidence of fire (6)
ABLUSH : “blue”(a colour) minus its last letter(largely visible) contained in(amongst) ASH(evidence of/what remains after fire).
3. Jailed German boy, cunning little pest (7,3)
HESSIAN FLY : HESS(Rudolf, German Nazi who was captured and jailed) + IAN(a boy’s name) + FLY(cunning/shrewd).
4. Head of state is stock market malefactor? No way! (5)
RULER : “rustler”( a market malefactor/one who rounds up and steals stock/cattle, sheep or horses) minus(No) “st”(abbrev. for street/a way).
5. Wish to travel? Minimal cost when cycling (5,4)
ITCHY FEET : [TITCHY(minimal/tiny) + FEE(a cost/a charge for a service)] with its 1st letter moved to the end(when cycling).
6. Phil’s number one cut — that was close! (4)
PHEW : 1st letter of(…’s number one) “Phil” + HEW(to cut down/to chop)
Defn: An expression of relief after a close shave.
7. Lively and encouraging, though not winning (8)
SPORTIVE : “supportive”(encouraging/uplifting) minus(though not) “up”(winning/in the lead in a competitive match).
8. Tragically timeless in role set here (8)
ELSINORE : Anagram of(Tragically) [“t”(abbrev. for “time”) deleted from(…less) “in role set“].
Defn: The locale/here, where the Shakespearean play, and its tragic figure/role, Hamlet, is set.
13. Ships they’re scrapping about to be saved (10)
FREIGHTERS : FIGHTERS(they’re scrapping/fighting) containing(… to be saved) RE(about/with reference to).
15. I catch visiting duke inside — pretty sick (2,1,3,3)
IN A BAD WAY : I + NAB(to catch/to arrest) + AWAY(visiting someone, and therefore is not at home) containing(… inside) D(abbrev. for “duke”).
16. Saw in here money raised by cast? (4,4)
TOOL SHED : Reversal of(… raised, in a down clue) LOOT(slang for money) plus(by) SHED(to cast/take off).
17. Current unwelcome visitor camped in compound (8)
PANDEMIC : Anagram of(… compound) CAMPED IN.
19. Relatively famous broadcaster (6)
AUNTIE : Cryptic defn: The relative-like(Relatively) nickname for the famous British Broadcasting Corporation.
20. Coastal road (some might say) is capital (6)
BEIRUT : Homophone of(some might say) [“bay”(a coastal location) + “route”(a road/a way to somewhere)].
Defn: … city of Lebanon.
23. Senior member makes the same money (5)
DOYEN : DO(abbrev. for “ditto”, indicating the same thing again/a repeat) + YEN(Japanese unit of currency/money).
24. Old Testament fellow (one getting leg over) (4)
ONAN : AN(article for a single item/one) placed below(getting … over, in a down clue) ON(the leg side in a cricket pitch/the side to the rear of the batsman as stands in readiness to bat).
Thanks Vlad and scchua.
Hard for me, guessed for part of 1/18 but didn’t get it all, nor the little pest
I read 21A as My = Vlads minus v (very) = LADS
whoops
My = Vlad’s of course!
I had (V)lad’s as well.
Thanks minty. That’s a better explanation. I wasn’t quite happy with very/loads. Blog amended.
Superb puzzle and great blog.thanks for parsing ENGINE DRIVER
Still trying to get my head round LADS
i started with SPORTING for 7d which didnt help the crosser so changing it helped
Tough but hugely enjoyable. LOI was the long Boris clue. I particularly liked HEMINGWAY, ONAN, and ENGINE DRIVER. Couldn’t parse ALPACA – many thanks to scchua, and to Vlad for a great puzzle.
Thanks Vlad and scchua
Hard, and not a lot of fun, though I did like ENGINE DRIVER. I failed on the long one – I guessed OF AT LEAST from the crossers, but it got me no further. Several others not parsed.
AUNTIE is one of the most parochial clues I’ve seen. I wonder what our overseas solvers will make of it?
btw, wasn’t ONOAN known for not getting his leg over?
I’m another (V)lad’s but I shouldn’t be crowing about clues I solved when I reflect on those I didn’t. HESSIAN FLY, ALPACA and the long one all defeated me. Is the long one a well known phrase or a political quote or something? Apart from being factually correct (I assume), I’m not sure where it comes from.
I found this a struggle today; not on Vlad’s wavelength for about a third of it. Little chance for me of solving from either wordplay or definition alone; it had to be the whole kaboosh if I was to stand a chance. Not that I’m being critical (perhaps, apart from the long one). LECHEROUS, COSMIC RAYS, ENGINE DRIVER, DECENCY, SPORTIVE and FREIGHTERS earned my ticks today. I suspect we have potential for another pronoun discussion with the clue for ELSINORE; no idea whether we’ll have a homophone one too with regard to BEIRUT. I have to say it works for me.
Definitely feeling a bit mauled this morning. Thanks to Vlad and scchua.
..ONAN, of course
muffin @8 – your comment made me laugh!
muffin @8: I rather wondered the same. Having just looked up the story (it seems the Good Lord was decidedly short tempered when it came to dealing with Judah’s sons), I was charmed to discover that Onan’s elder brother was named Er. Not only does it imply a degree of absentmindedness when it came to the naming ceremony, it offers setters yet another way to clue those two letters…
muffin @8: PS – in the circumstances, ONOAN actually sounds more appropriate!
Very difficult for me.
Liked BEIRUT, LECHEROUS, RULER, ENGINE DRIVER (loi).
Did not parse ITCHY FEET, LADS, ALPACA.
Failed ONAN.
Thanks to Vlad and scchua.
That took a while, don’t think I was on Vlad’s wavelength, with a couple unparsed. Never heard of a HESSIAN FLY, thanks for the picture. Also did not know re Boris’ issue but did work out the anagram. I liked ENGINE DRIVER too and PANDEMIC.
Muffin: Onan was indeed known for coitus interruptus,and it was his choice not to get his leg completely over.
Thanks to Vlad and scchua
I’ve learnt to always quiver when I’m about to be compiled by Vlad and this was no different. Being my second favourite beast-of-burden after Llama, ALPACA was my FOI. The BoJo reference also dropped in quite quickly – that charlatan and his hopefully impeding impaling is never far from my thoughts.
Some lovely surfaces; LECHEROUS and ENGINE DRIVER were a bit of a snigger.
Like others, hard work and took longer than usual but it’s a Paul tomorrow so I’m fully expecting to still be trying to find my FOI by tea-time. Vlad’s a pussy-cat by comparison…
Thanks Vlad and scchua!
Quite a different puzzle to yesterday, yet similar in several respects. This time, difficult to get a decent foothold, and almost every clue had to be wrestled to the ground, willy-nilly across the grid. Never thought I’d finish with even more answers to be parsed than yesterday, but I managed it today (seven). The last one of these to fall was the big Boris job, which I took a lucky stab at from the crossers, then confirmed with an on-line Brit scandal rag (he certainly puts himself about – not sure that news of this talent of his has crossed the pond). Favorite clues included ITCHY FEET, HEMINGWAY and TOOL SHED. Finished it in almost the same time as yesterday, and similarly now give thanks to the setter for an hour well spent.
Thanks Vlad and Scchua. Tough but enjoyable. My COD 14a: a plausible surface, cryptic definition and nifty wordplay in one neat package!
Quite a bit of fathoming required here..which one of Boris’s notorieties, pass for go (works if both imperative), Mike as mic, Vlad’s for my, hem in for block, EC for the city (a regular, but still not automatic, and ditto do for ditto), and in o for wearing nothing. Phew indeed, he makes you work a bit, fun though. Thanks both.
Can ‘going up’ be a noun..’we found the going up quite arduous’… spose so..
Vlad is the master of the tightly constructed clue with the smooth and misleading surface – I always find his puzzles a most satisfying challenge.
LOI for me was STEN. I often seem to get stymied by ‘hidden’ clues; in this case I spent a long time looking for something with a dropped aitch because of the EastEnders.
Favourites: IMPASSE, HEMINGWAY, ENTER, DECENCY, PANDEMIC – all with great surface readings
And [s/he was all] ablush was pretty quaint..
So, 6 down I say to this Vlad puzzle! Gradually and slowly worked my way in through the NE quarter, ended up with the OT character at 24d, whom I had to look up as I’d not bumped into him before. Enjoyed solving the anagram of yet another Boris reference…
A game of two halves with the top going in methodically but slowly. Eventually, the excellent HEMINGWAY and BAWDY HOUSE gave me a foothold below. Lots of building with insertion of letters and checking, which I suppose is poor practice, but I wouldn’t have finished without the help. Lots of great clues including the Boris shenanigans, which I got quite early by guessing and then working out the anagram. Also ELSINORE, HESSIAN FLY, ITCHY FEET and ENGINE DRIVER. I thought the same as you muffin@7 about AUNTIE. Thanks to scchua for the blog and parsing ALPACA, DOYEN and ONAN and to Vlad for the toughest challenge, IMO, in many weeks.
A tough one this morning. I didn’t care for the Boris solution, with A FATHER OF AT LEAST SIX not being a thing, if you know what I mean, but I enjoyed ITCHY FEET.
[ONAN always makes me think of Dorothy Parker’s parrot and ELSINORE reminds me of Martin Carthy’s Oor Hamlet, which is a lot shorter than the play.]
Thanks Vlad and scchua
Failed to shoehorn the wrong Al (Capone) into ALPACA, so thanks for parsing that one and SPORTIVE. I had CREW for 6d for quite a long time – I’m sure the references to a No.1 cut and its closeness were meant to produce just that misstep!
Liked ENGINE DRIVER, ITCHY FEET, PANDEMIC and LADS. Never heard of the fly, and took forever to work out Boris’s clue because I was expecting it to be a known phrase or saying, when it wasn’t.
Thanks for the blog, scchua.
A most enjoyable work-out, the satisfaction in some of the parsing (HEMINGWAY, LADS, ENGINEDRIVER) being all the greater for having to wait a minute or two for the penny to drop.
I did manage to work out the anagram for 1,18 and thought it was quite hilarious, Boris being so evasive about the number of children he has. (I discovered this morning that the names of his first four are Lara Lettice, Milo Arthur, Cassia Peaches and Theodore Apollo.)
I’d never heard of the HESSIAN FLY but the cluing was absolutely clear. Other favourites were IMPASSE, LECHEROUS, and ELSINORE.
I took ‘away’ in 15ac to refer to the fact that the sports team playing away from home are known as the visiting team/visitors.
Many thanks to Vlad for a most enjoyable puzzle.
PS: Julius’ puzzle in the FT is highly recommended.
What Eileen said at both 27 and 28
Thanks to Vlad and scchua
As suggested by both PostMark and Penfold, 1,18 was distinctly odd. Can any meaningful/true combination of words be a potential crossword answer, say “A driver of a blue car”? Or is A FATHER OF AT LEAST SIX in fact “a thing” which nobody has yet identified?
I thought 14a ENGINE DRIVER was very good.
Thanks Vlad and scchua.
[The ‘knocking’ bit of 22ac reminded of a current Phillip Adams interview with Grantlee Kieza, author of Banks (ie the famed Joseph) who, he said, was a lusty lad, known at Oxford as The Bed Breaker]
A bit of a struggle for me, too, this morning.
Agree with Lord Jim et al re the Boris clue. I can’t find A FATHER OF AT LEAST SIX in my copy of Chambers – if that means anything.
Took me ages to see ITCHY FEET.
Enjoyable puzzle, though. Thanks to Vlad and scchua.
Lord Jim I think Father of at least Six is a (new?) phrase in the UK political context, so ‘A driver of a blue car’ would not be acceptable.
Also, I loved Elsinore, and the bottom right hand corner was my FOI.
SinCan @33: A quick Google reveals this exact phrase in relation to the flop-haired many times over but the reference I like the most is “Boris Johnson “resigns as Prime Minister next year”
Tough, but I pieced it together gradually, although I didn’t see the Vlad’s – very short but nice!
I also enjoyed ENGINE DRIVER, ALPACA, ITCHY FEET, FREIGHTERS and ONAN. Woody Allen once defined Onanism as: “sex with someone you love.”
Thanks Vlad for the tussle and to scchua for the enlightenment.
Robi @ 35: I thought the Allen line was ‘sex with someone who loves you’.
Thanks SinCam @33 and MaidenBartok @34. Although aware of the PM’s paternal profusion, I didn’t realise that those particular words had become a known phrase. If that’s so I happily withdraw any objection 🙂 .
‘Onanism’ is used to mean masturbation, but as ngaiolaurenson@15 points out, It was actually coitus interruptus which Onan resorted to. And he was struck down by the Lord (lots of smiting in the OT) not because of this practice as such, but because he refused to father a child by his dead brother’s widow, thus violating custom.
[Either way, Robi and Simon, knew that bit, but not the sign-on-the-door bit (Coitus, don’t interrupt us)]
Vlad trying a bit too hard with 1,18 I thought. I really don’t mind how many children Johnson has as long as he’s paying the right amount of child maintenance grant to all the forsaken mothers together with a sum towards all their future carbon emissions.
That said, it’s strange that I needed every other clue (other than LOI FREIGHTERS) before I solved it. Uncertainty over the anagram fodder was the reason, and I didn’t twig ‘wrong’ till afterwards. ONE and TWO both got tried, though who knows, it might be TEN!!
That apart, not the trickiest Vlad ever, and on the basis of the last two Pauls, I’ll cast this as the light and gentle breeze before tomorrow’s storm.
Best laugh today from PostMark@12 re the naming ceremony. “And I name this child … Er … “ Haha.
Great puzzle, but tough, tough. Recognised 8d ELSINORE as one of those Microsoft PCs we were talking about yesterday. Have never used ABLUSH but enjoyed many others. Many thanks to Vlad and scchua.
PHEW, indeed!
Ground it out from crossers and definitions, but found the wordplay too convoluted to be useful.
I thought I had got the hang of Vlad, but I was wrong!
Thanks, as ever.
Did nobody else mislead themselves by putting Auburn for 2 down? I think it works pretty well as an answer if one parses U as “largely visible” – ie a film visible by the world at large and with no age restriction. I have no problem with the correct answer, which is a better one, but it held me up for ages. The usual thanks to setter and blogger.
Sagittarius @43; yes, I tried it at the beginning, although I wasn’t entirely comfortable with it.
Late to finish this one today. [I had to tidy the shed – I’d spilt some seed on the ground] Do you think compilers who have chosen a longer nom de plume, like Picaroon, say, ever regret the missed clueing opportunities available to Vlad, Boatman and Nutmeg?
I always find clues where you have to think of a word then discard bits of it more complicated. There seemed to be lots here eg alpacino, rustlers, supportive, renter. So all the more satisfying to finish (nearly). I couldn’t parse DECENCY and didn’t get ONAN. Thanks Vlad and scchua
[Nice one, Petert. ;0 ]
Struggled with this one for far longer than it deserved, not enjoying it much. Had ANON instead of the seed-spiller at 24d, but eventually had to admit that fellow could not really be equated with author.
Failed on several in the SE, not to mention the long one, failing to get on Vlad’s wavelength. (Should have seen wrong=X, but the fodder was hard to assemble with conviction when the answer was an obscure phrase.) Did enjoy LADS though.
Trying to avoid being PROLIX in my comments today, after getting a severe spanking from a poster at the end of yesterday’s comments; thankfully essexboy defended me (thanks again to him), but I’m still feeling a little shaken.
Petert @45: this is the second time I’ve read your comment and I took the parenthesis at face value the first time. I, too, have gardening jobs. And now I’ve got it! You need to be taken in hand.
Stop it or you’ll go blind..
[hatter @47: you? Prolix? Personally, I wouldn’t recognise prolixity if it punched me on the nose. Thank goodness no-one’s ever accused me of that… Funny that your comment arrived at the same time as mine; I nearly suggested Petert deserved a good spanking before choosing alternative phrasing. And that would have been two spankings in two posts which might have brought us to the attention of the authorities!
Oh, and well said essexboy @90 yesterday/this morning]
[Mark – thanks for taking time out from your gardening chores.]
sheffield hatter — if you are feeling underappreciated, let it be known that you made my day with your comments yesterday. The vivid imagery you evoked of walking back from the newsagent with a newspaper reminded me of trips there with my dad as a lad, and me coming home with a Beano or similar, if lucky. Later came the newspaper with a cryptic crossword, and my introduction to the puzzles. I’ve not held a newspaper in my hands for years, but the cryptics have kept on giving ….. and I’ll never forget those walks.
[sheffield hatter @47 Is that another answer to a previous puzzle that you’ve capitalised in your final paragraph? You’re just asking for trouble!]
I am a Vlad fan but found the long clue a bit odd. The phrase may be true but is it in common usage?
Consequently DNF a very nice crossword. Harrumph!
[rodshaw – Thanks for sharing. Glad to know that I touched a chord there.]
[Penfold – yes, a deliberate reference to Monday’s Pan. Oops, I just did it again!]
Vlad won.
[Eileen …. just glancing again at last night’s late discussion on Plug and Play, I have only just read your kind comment. Thank you for your warm words. Much appreciated.]
[rodshaw @52 Just in case you missed the news that thisweek’s Beano includes a pull-out section called Bean-OLD
sheffield hatter @55 Nice to see you channelling your inner Britney]
Like Penfold @25 and Lord Jim @30, I found 1ac to be a very strange entry, unless A FATHER OF AT LEAST SIX is some sort of set phrase (also known as “a thing”) that I don’t know about. I’m aware of the interest in BoJo’s offspring, but I can’t find evidence that this exact phrase has that status.
I found this puzzle very difficult. In the end, the only one I didn’t get was 20dn (BEIRUT), although in hindsight it’s not particularly hard. But I struggled a lot with many others and failed to parse at least three.
I did smile at 14ac (ENGINE DRIVER) and 21ac (LADS).
A broad question chaps:
I’m new to CC and would like to get better. I attempted this one and got nowhere, I occasionally have a good time in the FT. The only ones I can comfortably complete are in the Viz! With many Guardian puzzles the best I can do is reveal answer and try to reverse engineer the meaning.
These puzzles have such a steep learning curve due to the assumed knowledge of archaic abbreviations, indicators and ‘in-jokes’. Is there a tier list of which newspapers/setters are better suited to beginners progressing to intermediate?
Tough but very enjoyable puzzle.
One quibble – I am not a fan of using a generic common noun as the indicator for a proper noun. More specifically, “boy” for “IAN” (in HESSIAN FLY)…
Yes, I know this is completely kosher and not uncommon with many cryptic composers, but I just find it lazy – it’d have been so much more elegant to clue in some well-know Ian instead!
trishincharente @57 – thanks for that. I really do hope you’re finding it less terrifying by now. 😉 I still remember how scary it felt to press the ‘Post Comment’ button for the first time.
Hi Gregoire @60 – welcome, if this is your first comment (and my apologies if it isn’t.) You’ll have noticed that a number of commenters have said that they had problems with this puzzle and Vlad is generally acknowledged to be one of the more challenging setters. The Monday puzzle is generally the easiest of the week and there’s also the Quiptic on Mondays, which is reckoned to be more straightforward.
I think we’d all agree that it’s worth persevering. I hope you find the blogs useful. If there’s anything you don’t understand, just ask. Good luck!
Gregoire@60. I don’t know of a tier list as such. Having recently been recommended to try the Independent cryptic, I can say that I find it, on average, substantially easier than the Guardian, though as here there are variations between the different setters. I’ve only done the FT a couple of times, but found it a bit more straightforward than the Guardian.
When I first started doing the Guardian cryptic in my late teens I did exactly as you have done – reverse engineer the clues, but in my case by reading the answers in the next day’s paper. No internet and 225 in those days! The problem with revealing answers, I find, is that it immediately becomes less compelling to try to solve the next clue for yourself. Doing it on paper, either by printing out the grid or going to buy the newspaper, means your are more committed. But on the other hand more stymied if you get stuck…
Good luck.
This was like a trip to the TOOL SHED… a bit of a spanking!
Definitely a tough ASCENT, and I hit an IMPASSE a bit shy of the summit, blocked by ONAN & AUNTIE… a couple obscurities/Britishisms too steep for this USian to scramble over (as was posited by others). And I guessed MILL SHED first… clearly wrong once the crossing O came in about halfway through my climb. Managed to get/parse the rest, though at a somewhat glacial pace. Quite an exercise… PHEW indeed!
As PostMark & trishincharente note, more fodder for the pronoun/defn/blogging discussion today (see @56 & @63-@70, of blog for Guardian 28,293 two days back, plus @4 & @8 yesterday):
– For ELSINORE, “here” alone can’t really be seen as the defn… by itself, sans any context, it’s a practically meaningless pronoun. Instead I see the defn as at least “role set here” (a defn by description), or perhaps the whole clue (a cad with defn – perhaps cd? – by allusion).
– As with the initial discussion two days ago, there seems some variability here too. For STEN, all of “one repeatedly fired” is underlined (perhaps since it more readily passes plug&play). And for TOOL SHED, “saw in here” is underlined (despite being defn by description, and quite analogous to the construct for ELSINORE). I agree with the underlining in both of these, and think ELSINORE is the odd man out.
Nods to our setter, blogger, and commenters!
Gregoire @60: Welcome to the site (and to cryptics too – I’m not sure just how new new is). Given that I was introduced to the Guardian and fifteensquared by a recommendation from another site, I’ve never had a problem with returning the courtesy: you might also find it worth having a go at the Telegraph cryptic which I find to be generally consistent with the Monday Guardian. There’s also a dedicated site similar to this one – Big Dave. Eileen was right, though: you did rather jump in at the deep end with Vlad. (Funnily enough, I think I also encountered him on my first visit to the Guardian and retired hurt! Now, he’s less scary though still difficult and he beat me today). There are other setters in the Guardian stable who are more accessible – last Saturday’s Prize by Brendan – which will be blogged the day after tomorrow – was a real pleasure and worth you trying. His oft-repeated motto is a puzzle doesn’t have to be difficult to be enjoyable. Good luck
Yes, welcome, Gregoire! I’ll second Eileen… Vlad is often VERY hard, and frequently not well suited for beginning solvers. The Monday Cryptic and weekly Quiptic are much more gentle… and the Guardian Everyman puzzles also generally offer a blend of begginer to intermediate clues (esp if you go back a couple years in the archives, IMO). Also these sites offer some useful solving tips/info:
http://crypticcrosswords.net/
https://www.crosswordunclued.com/
Hang in there!
[Re the spoiler discussion, would simply say that yes, not including spoilers is surely much appreciated… but then so is civility and understanding. No doubt many of us have submitted comments which, in retrospect, we wish we’d handled/worded differently. Trying to remain civil, constructive, and positive can go a long way to smooth over such rough spots and make this community even stronger and healthier going forward.]
Alpacas are woolly not furry and a whole bunch of other gripes. Far too convoluted and devious for me.
A blog of no little genius. Thanks scchua; I can now sleep undisturbed
Gregoire @60: Welcome Aboard! I am new to cryptics having started at the start of Lockdown 1 – although I used to marvel at my French master solving the Torygraph every morning on Choir trips to Llangollen every year and have always been a keen puzzle solver (Sudoku’s, things like Only Connect, RBQ, BoB, concise, etc.)
If I may be so bold as to suggest some reading fodder:
Book “How to Crack Cryptic Crosswords” by Tim Moorey. (Times Books)
Book “Learn How to Solve Cryptic Crosswords – A Course for Beginners” by Henry Howarth (www.czdcrosswords.co.uk)
“Big Dave’s Little Guide to Cryptic Crosswords” – here Download, print and read on the loo 🙂
“The Usual Suspects” – all those odd abbreviations here Download, print, etc.
“Cryptic Clues” – here
Worth giving this a go every day as well – https://simplydailypuzzles.com/daily-cryptic/
But Vlad? Vlad is bad. Bad Vlad.
Expect this to become an obsession. Expect to start learning a whole new language in abbreviations.
It’s fab – wish I’d done this YEARS ago when I had a functioning brain… Lovely to (virtually) meet you.
OddOtter @64 et al, passim, for the last three days!
I’ve really enjoyed the discussion: as a blogger, the underlining of definitions has often caused me some head-scratching and I admitted on my Crucible blog (spoiler alert, WFP) I was inconsistent there.
I can’t remember when we started underlining definitions – intended to be helpful, I’m sure! Maybe it’s time we stopped and allowed you to deduce the answer from the clue, as has been possible in all the examples from the last few days, where I think the queries have been about the blogging, rather than the clues.
I’m amused to remember what blogs were like when I first started:
*no clues
*not all clues blogged, by agreement, because the Guardian had a premium phone line for solvers who were stuck
*and, sometimes, no blog at all, because (for bloggers) ‘life intervened’.
I offer my own first blog, as an example. We’ve come such a long way. 😉
*No clues
*Not all answers to not all clues included, because the Guardian had a premium phone line for people who were stuck.
*Sometimes there wasn’t even a blog, because ‘life intervened’.
We’ve come a long way. 😉
Forgive me for using my own first blog as an example. We’ve come a long way!
Sorry for the random notes, stored below.
13d “Ships they’re scrapping” gave me DESTROYERS, which fitted at the time, but naturally I could make nothing of “about to be saved”. I needed a lot of help with this puzzle, but still had some “ah, of course!” moments. LECHEROUS and ELSINORE were nice but took me an age to see. IMPASSE, ONAN and PHEW were a bit quicker.
Thanks for the link to your first blog, Eileen. (I like the commenter @17 who couldn’t help asking “ps, are you an English teacher by any chance?”)
This was like pulling teeth. Then again, I don’t usually manage to complete a Vlad oeuvre, so I suppose I ought to feel some satisfaction at having done so this time. Vast screeds were guess-first, parse-later. In truth, mostly semi-parse – so a virtual round of applause to Scchua for the comprehensive explanations.
It’s taken me so long, that all the obvious points have already been made – so I’ll just say hear-hear to the comments about 1,18 not being a “thing”, and ONAN’s absence of leg-over.
It’s getting late here, and a much-needed beer is calling me – so I’ll just raise two quibbles.
The first is in agreement with Jay in Pittsburgh’s comment about the vagueness of “boy” / “girl”/ etc being assigned a random name. Since the boy in 3d was German, my post-guess attempt at parsing started with “Hans” – from whence, of course, I could get no further. Frustrating, very.
With 11a, there was also no way I was going to complete the parsing; I worked for the BBC for an unconscionably long time: microphones were and are frequently called mics, but never ever ever Mikes. Or was it that this clue has a homophone in it, as well?
Oh boy I need that beer! Thanks to Vlad for the mental workout, and to Scchua for the calming balm afterwards.
[ Eileen @69: Thanks for sharing! Very fun to read that old blog (and to see some familiar names in the comments even way back then). Yes, things have come a long way… I occasionally search 15^2 and always find it such a change dipping into “pre-clue” days! What I really enjoy, though, is still seeing the same sort of community discussion and polite haggling to sort things out for the greater enjoyment of all.
Yes, for me it’s about elucidation/blogging, not clue validity. Ref’d clues have themselves been fine, and I rather enjoy the alternate defn forms, which add variety and allow interesting constructs/surfaces. But how to capture/describe them?… something that’ll surely never be perfect; we’ll always have clues that engender disagreement – but trying to sort it as clearly as possible is part of the fun 🙂
Would hate to lose underlining… quite valuable for readers/commenters. Just think we sometimes over-focus on fitting “square” defns to “round” grammatical/plug&play holes. Explicitly recognizing/noting other defn forms (e.g. description, allusion) might help a lot. With synonymy, grammar/plug&play tests are totally fair (am as much a stickler on that front as any); for other forms those tests shouldn’t block highlighting a more meaningful defn. My two cents, anyway… I’m sure some will disagree! ]
]
Gregoire @60: As a long time solver of American crosswords but a relative newcomer to the British ones I understand the frustration when nothing seems to fall. I don’t even attempt puzzles by Vlad anymore and I’m about to give up on Io in the FT. I find a lot of my success is setter-related; those who do double-duty in both the FT and the Guardian usually save their trickier stuff for the Guardian so begin with the FT alter-ego e.g. Mudd before Paul, Wanderer before Puck, and Goliath before Philistine. With practice and patience things improve. Good luck.
Late to the party, but I just wanted to say what a great puzzle this was, with laughs all over the place. Faves ENGINE DRIVER, DECENCY, ALPACA, PANDEMIC and A FATHER OF AT LEAST SIX. Regarding the latter, it does feel odd to have an answer that’s just any old phrase, but I’m still undecided as to whether that matters. I loved the clue because of the surface, even though it took ages for me to parse.
Thanks, Vlad and scchua. Sparkling stuff, much enjoyed.
Gregoire @60: Excellent advice all round of course, undoubtedly. Now what you actually will do is pick a random online xword, press “reveal all” (yes, you’re sure) and read each clue and the answer. Continue until you start to parse. Come here for those that don’t parse. Repeat at regular intervals, while trying today’s crossword without reveals, but eventually (how much time do you have available to a crossword?) revealing and parsing (or not).
Eventually you will win the battle with some setter – they will become your favourite setter.
That’s not how Vlad has become my favourite setter, it’s just a wavelength thing; (sometimes – like Radio Caroline back in the day).
{SPOILER ALERT}
More á propos: the second day in a row we have “cycling” as a (well I don’t know what the word is – anagrinds are one, spooner is another) thingy indicating “do this”. Is this new? Ish?muffin@7 I got the AUNTIE with some crossers, having run across it before. Nowhere near as parochial as the Boris clue or any number of past ones about athletes or television. (And, now that it’s been explained, I think the Boris clue is quite legit, a reference to a familiar issue in the news.)
OddOtter @64 By me, “here” will do for a def in the ELSINORE clue. It tells me that the answer is a place, and that the identity of the place will emerge from the rest of the clue. It’s true that the “definition” doesn’t add any information, as definitions usually do, but I can live with that, especially for such a fine clue as this one. “Here” isn’t a pronoun, for what that’s worth, but an adverb, so it doesn’t quite fit yesterday’s pronoun discussion. though if the “definition” is, say, “him,” it’s the same sort of structure.
Eileen@70 I remember running across your first blog when I was digging up old puzzles to do on a Saturday night when there was no regular puzzle. I didn’t write down its number or date, so I’m very glad to see it again. I loved the warm welcome you got from solvers and your new fellow bloggers.
Wellbeck @74 I think microphones can be called mikes in the US, as in “open mike.”
Many thanks to scchua for the blog and to others for commenting.
1,18 is a description of Johnson which humorists have previously used and not merely a random phrase. And, according to my sources, Onan did get his leg over before practising the withdrawal method..
Valentine @79. “Here” isn’t a pronoun, for what that’s worth, but an adverb. No arguments from me, but its function in the clue is as a sort of placeholder, as was “this” in another clue one day recently that I’m not allowed to mention. I say “a sort of placeholder” because you can’t just put the answer back into the clue and get a meaningful expression, because you’d have to use IN ELSINORE (rather than just ELSINORE) on account of here being an adverb. See, told you I wasn’t arguing.
Incidentally, the ELSINORE clue reminds me that when I started on this puzzle I got BAWDY HOUSE just before I got this one, which led me to think that there was going to be a Hamlet theme. When none materialised, I berated myself for confusing a nunnery with a bawdy house. (Doh!) But this shows that I wasn’t so far out after all.
Yes, “nunnery” is a convent. But “nunnery” was also slang for whorehouse in Shakespeare’s day.
I’ve seen Hamlet a couple of times, once on TV and once when Robert Lindsay toured with the Royal Exchange – I saw the performance in a tent in Whitehaven in 1984. But all this “bawdy” stuff must have gone straight over my head.
AlphaAlpha @78, re cycling: Seems a form of “letter shifting”, though don’t see rotation/cycling called out specifically at that site. Pretty sure I’ve seen the construct on occasion over the years. See 27a here for a blogged example on Big Dave’s site, 2012.
Valentine @79: Thx for your thoughts re defns, and esp for pronoun/adverb clarification (sorry if I made the grammatically adept out there cringe!)… though FYI, Chambers does indicate “here” can be a noun. But either way, your own comment indicates “identity… will emerge from the rest of the clue”, and I argue if rest of clue is necessary to identify place then it’s part of defn (perhaps a rather Ximenean point, but then that’s where my leanings are). Also, if an adverb, then part of speech doesn’t match, undermining the reason for limiting to “here”. And I wonder if plug&play even works either… “a tragedy set here” vs “a tragedy set Elsinore”? Again, clue itself is fine to me… just unconvinced by the blog underlining.
OddOtter @82. Totally agree about plug&play in this instance (and probably in others, if we were to explore this topic to exhaustion), but when scchua in the blog writes “The locale/here, where the Shakespearean play, and its tragic figure/role, Hamlet, is set”, it makes perfect sense.
sh: Agreed. Again, just talking about the underlining, which excludes the elements mentioned in the subsequent elucidation. And wonder why TOOL SHED, also built on “here” is any different.
For those wondering what sheffield hatter is on about @47, he was torn off a strip in Wednesday’s blog for revealing solutions to clues in the previous day’s crossword without any great necessity. I would probably have been similarly scathing as William FP if I did not have a reputation to lose. It is disappointing that he did not take the strength of the comments as a confirmation about how annoying it can be to have a crossword that you were hoping to catch up with spoiled and decided instead that his hurt feelings justified doing it again in this blog.
It is a longstanding practice for solvers to express their displeasure at spoilers appearing in these blogs, including particulary reveals of themes, with the burden being on the contributor to consider site policy 3 and ensure relevance to the puzzle under discussion.
28a. Parsing of “going up” as ascent is grammatically suspect.
[ Van Winkle @85: Your post spurred review of associated comments of yesterday/today. Yes a spoiler got posted yesterday, IDing a prior puzzle, clue, & solution, albeit in context of a multi-puzzle discussion, and in response to queries of another commenter, so perhaps not altogether inappropriate per policy 3 (though more circumspection is perhaps warranted). The poster was chastised (some might say a bit harshly), and appears to have owned up to the slip (while also rebutting said perceived harshness). I don’t find today’s situation comparable. A word was used that was in fact a response to the exact same word applied as criticism by another poster in yesterday’s @87, without any other context or reference. It was in fact a different poster today, @53, who first indicated a link to a preceding puzzle (though even then not by clue number nor specific word). Blame, if any, seems shared at best, or better directed at those who first used the word or linked it to a puzzle. In the mean time, I hope all will remember policy 1 as well. ]
OddOtter @87 – how does post 55 fit into your argument?
Postmark @9 and various others. The long clue has been much referred to in the Guardian news pages, especially the humorous political commentators such as Marina Hyde and John Crace. This confirms to me what I have suspected for a while, crossword solvers don’t seem to read the actual paper much!
[VW @88. My only excuse for #55 was that I was upset by the way I had been attacked (by WFP) and sought to lighten the mood a little by making a joke. I apologise if you had not by that point completed Monday’s Pan.]
OddOtter@82: Thanks for that. I suppose it was the solitary “cycling” that stood out – we’re used to letters being moved under a soubriquet but I don’t recall “cycling” as an agent on it’s own. But it’s clearly not unprecedented.
Van Winkle @88: As mentioned, that poster was not first to use the word, nor first to indicate it was a recent puzzle soln. Indiscretion was shown in confirming the latter point… for which the poster has again apologized (tho not the others). And even then, one had to intentionally and carefully cross reference parts of three separate, non-contiguous comments to infer a spoiler, which still lacked a clue number… hence my assessment the two occurrences aren’t comparable.