Guardian 28,525 / Vulcan

53 comments on “Guardian 28,525 / Vulcan”

1. Possibly “votes cast” is the definition for 4d (therefore “votes” is doing double duty). Thanks to the setter and blogger, as per.

2. Feels like Vulcan was channelling Rufus for this one. Whether or not this is a good thing is probably a matter of personal taste!

   Thanks Eileen and Vulcan.

3. I liked this a lot: although at the very easy end of the spectrum, the cluing was rather good, I thought. Many thanks to Vulcan and Eileen.

4. Surely definition is ‘votes cast about embargo’

5. Oscar Hammerstein II rhymes LORGNETTE with ‘born yet’ in ‘https://youtu.be/IVqoc_GOH-0’ from Carousel. It’s a seven and and half minute song, but you can skip to about 3:13 for the relevant bit.

   Thanks Vulcan and Eileen

6. Oh, and thumbs up for this ‘gentle start to the week’. as Eileen says

7. Sorry, that should be a link to Soliloquy.

8. The sides of the head could be the temples perhaps but the ears are not. They are the organs on the side of the head.

   Didn’t know DESCANT was also a verb.

   Many thanks both.

9. Enjoyable, although a DNF – I felt 29A was a bit obscure for a CD. (I dimly recognised the word having hit reveal, but certainly didn’t have it ex ante.)

   Thanks Vulcan and Eileen.

10. I was puzzled by the parsing of VETOES too, and concluded that it was an attempted &lit – not a very successful one, IMHO. For EARLINESS, I had head = ‘ness’, the sides were R&L, which left me flummoxed as to where the EA and I came from. I agree that 3d is GK rather than cryptic, Eileen. I thought I DNK LORGNETTE, but it eventually bubbled up from somewhere. 5d had to be either ASPHODEL or ASPHEDOL. Otherwise, not bad. Where’s the Quiptic, though? Thanks, Vulcan and Eileen.

11. I think GODCHILD is a double definition, rather than a cryptic one. I agree with Pedro that VETOES has to be a partial clue as definition. I thought the two meanings of FUSE were too similar for a proper double definition. It felt like Vulcan was making up for the missing Quiptic.

12. Easy fun

    Ta Eileen & Vulcan

13. Yes, a gentle start to the week of which the blessed Rufus would not have been ashamed. I’d been puzzled by 4d and 25d; but I find Pedro @4 entirely convincing about VETOES and Eileen’s explanation of 25d makes complete sense.
    Thanks to Vulcan and Eileen.

14. I parsed 19d as divine=GOD and little creature=CHILD.

15. Right behind you, Petert@11 !

16. I like a gentle start to the week so this was perfect. A couple of words I wasn’t familiar with at 5dn and 29ac but still solvable. I agree that 3dn is barely cryptic but it was my FOI so I was actually grateful. Thanks Vulcan and Eileen.

17. For me, 3d was irritating. Not knowing the Latin phrase, all I could do was look it up. There was no wordplay to the clue, just a definition.

18. 14 ac I would rather see the “to” as either part of the definition or as “can’t” = “is unable to”, rather than being superfluous.

    TassiTim@10 I tried to work ness in there too.

    I liked the Pauline 1d and 2d for the double meaning of “precautions”.

    Thanks Eileen and Vulcan

19. Good puzzle to start the week.

    Favourites: SCOOP, TWEAK, HEEL, DUNKIRK

    Thanks Vulcan and Eileen.

20. Dave Ellison @18 – thanks for that. That was a careless omission – I’ll fix it now.

21. Petert @11

    I also thought 19d was a double definition.

22. I thought 8d was a bit iffy.

23. Thanks Vulcan and Eileen
    The Quiptic is there now. I found it much harder than this one.

24. Fun, quick solve. It is not often that I finish a puzzle in less than 20 minutes.
    Favourites: DESCANT, PENNE.

    Thanks, both.

25. Comfy start to the week.
    I just failed on 29a, and the CD was a but obscure as has been mentioned.
    Thanks both.

26. and easy. Thanks Vulcan and Eileen.

27. I’m with Auriga@14 on GODCHILD. No problem with LORGNETTE and I quite liked the CD.
    Comments above seem to be rather sniffy about poor old Vulcan’s light and easy Monday puzzle. I enjoyed this one, albeit a swift solve.

28. I’ve not looked at today’s crossword but am putting this in to let Azed followers know that yesterday’s Playfair explanation was lacking the first half in my copy. Hope followers will not be put off. It was a treat.

29. Thanks for the blog, Drofle @3 says ti all for me, will just add praise for the variety of techniques.

    William@8 , you are being anthropomorphic. Many animals have recessed ears on the side of the head, for example seals have no external ear, unlike sealions.

30. Most definitely reminiscent of Rufus with some slightly dodgy/barely cryptic defs.

    On the other hand very enjoyable with many more smiles than frowns, I particularly liked SECOND HAND.

    For HUNCH I parsed irrational as not rational hence not based on reason or logic leading nicely to intuitive.

    Thanks Vigo and Eileen.

31. I really must get my setters right apologies Vulcan!

32. To an American the calve/carve “homophones” are particularly nonfuncional Not only is there the usual rhotic/nonrhotic issue — I’m used to that — but the vowels don’t match. I pronounce “carve” with the broad a of “palm” and “calve” with the short a of “plan.”

    We don’t call all gardens (UK) yards (US) — only if they have no plants other than grass or maybe a hedge around the sides. If there are flowers or vegetables it’s a garden over here as well.

    I’m with Auriga on GODCHILD.

    Roz@29 I think you’re missing William’s distinction @8. “Sidesof the head” is not what the ears are, it’s where they are.

    Pleasant puzzle, thank you Vulcan, and cheerful blog, thank you Eileen.

33. Mostly straightforward today and even though it was questionable, 14a gave me a bit of a chuckle.

    Thanks Vulcan and Eileen!

34. Roz @29: Never been accused of that before! Point taken, Roz, but the ears, recessed or not, are still on the sides of the head and can’t surely be described as the sides of the head.

35. My experience of garden/yard is similar to Valentine@32, but with a twist. What I’ve seen/heard is that the whole plot is the yard, and an optional section carved (!) out for the specific purpose is the flower garden or vegetable garden.

36. William @34 – doesn’t it depend how you view what a ‘head’ is? Is it the skull, or is it the totality of the above-neck body? Are SEEP, SCOOP etc on the edge of the puzzle, or are they the edge of the puzzle?

    One other query: isn’t NOT AT ALL a self-deprecatory remark?

    Like others I thought this was quick but fun. Thumbs up for the OTHER HALF. Thanks Vulcan and Eileen.

37. I would have thought that yard for garden was more Aussie than Yankee, especially in “backyard”.

38. Nice analogy from MrEssexboy@36, SCOOP and TWEAK are the “ears” of the puzzle, and also the sides of it.
    Put your hands on either side of a seal’s head and your hands are covering the ears.
    Sorry William, I was only joking and now we are getting carried away.

39. It’s apparent many people like the easy Monday puzzle – unfortunately for me I’m not one of them and this seems to stray into the overly simple category. I agree with the several quibbles about imprecise definition and some barely cryptic definitions.

    For what it’s worth I thought “votes cast about embargo” was doing double duty in 4d

    Thanks to Vulcan and Eileen – just not my cup of tea

40. Roz@38: {Smiley face}

41. essexboy @36: I blame myself for starting this. I’m in a corner with my hands on my head.

42. I have a friend who, though a Michigander by birth, spent over a decade living in London; she married a Scot and moved to Chicago when their work took them here. She picked up a lot of British turns of phrase, which she delivers in an American accent; it’s very odd.
    Anyway, just yesterday I was teasing her about calling her backyard her back garden. It’s in Chicago, so it’s a yard.

    And yes–the word “yard” here is reserved for the parcel of land attached to a dwelling. It may or may not contain a garden, in which vegetables or flowers are grown. You can also have a garden that isn’t in a yard.

    I agree with Valentine that the carve/calve homophone is worse than usual in most North American accents. I can’t even make that work talking like a stereotypical Bostonian (the easiest U.S. non-rhotic accent for me). It’s straight-up a different vowel.

43. Late to the party today. Simple puzzle, well constructed, apart from a homophone which is far from universal.

    My one objection is the definition of ASPHODEL as ‘lily’. Chambers defines it as a plant of the lily family, which is not the same thing. The common ash is a member of the Oleaceae, but you would never describe it as an olive. In fact Chambers is taxonomically out of date. The ‘old’ Liliaceae was a dustbin taxon – molecular biology has clarified the phylogenies of the plants formerly lumped together. The genus Asphodelus is now more usually classified in the family Asphodelaceae in the order Asparagales – not even in the same order, Liliales, as the ‘genuine’ Liliaceae.

44. Hi Gervase @43 – thanks for that.

    You set me off on a merry trawl through the archive. I’ve met ASPHODEL so many times in crosswords that, this morning, I took the definition at face value and didn’t look it up.

    I had a feeling that I’d blogged it not very long ago and, sure enough, it was just last month – Pasquale, July 9: Plant deal splashed outside new shop

    Then there was Knut August 13 2019: Being a plant, I must leave “Hail, Spode!” movement.

    There were a number of others, all avoiding ‘lily’ as the definition.

    Top favourite ( not surprisingly) was

    Arachne September 4 2015: Lily’s relative pole dancing with dash

45. Have to agree completely with Ark Lark @39 – simple enough, but I’m not a big fan of cryptic definitions and there were way too many for my liking.
    Thanks Vulcan and Eileen.

46. PS – me @44

    I meant to include this from Dogberry (our Shed) in the FT November 30 2017:

    Lops head off flower

    I just love the 15² search facility – hours of fun. 😉

47. Question: why can following be abbreviated to F?

    I liked this one. On the easy side but with fun clues and nice variety – exactly what Monday’s should be!

48. Benissimo @47. F=following is used in referencing. For example, a reference to something on pages 23 and 24 ?would be 23f, to pages 23 to 27 might be 23ff. (It’s in Chambers.)

49. I found this easier than today’s Indie.

    On the matter of American yards/gardens, a few years ago I got in a discussion on the net with an American who had been confused about people in WWII in England building air-raid shelters in their gardens. It turned out he thought it meant building them in either a flower bed or a vegetable patch and he wanted to know why.

50. Thanks sheffield hatter!

51. A DNF, unfortunately, as I was too wedded to CARVE for 20a. Otherwise pretty straightforward, and I say that as someone at the lower end of the solving spectrum.

52. Thanks Eileen and Vulcan! It’s nice to solve one quickly for once. I’d heard that generally when someone in the UK says “garden”, they mean what we in the US call a yard, so that one made sense to me. LORGNETTE was LOI and got it only by staring at the letters. I agree on calve/carve being annoying. I also didn’t parse GEL; I guess I need to give in and learn cricket terms.

53. As an American, CALVE and CARVE aren’t homophones, so I parsed ‘slice it up’ in 20a as a reference to glacial calving. /shrug

Comments are closed.