Guardian Saturday Prize Crossword 28,715 by Vlad (26 March 2022)

62 comments on “Guardian Saturday Prize Crossword 28,715 by Vlad (26 March 2022)”

1. Thanks to mc_rapper67 for an interesting and thorough blog. I made exactly the same mistake with 5a, confidently filling in MATINS on my first pass. When I finally solved half of one of my favourite clues 22d BACK, I realised that 8d was almost certainly SIDE, and then i spotted the hidden, so out came the eraser. MANTIS was certainly a clever play on “pray-er”. My other favourite clue was the equally cheeky 2d REDECORATE. In the end, despite lots of challenge and fun, I had to declare this a DNF as I couldn’t get 23d VEEP, a word that hasn’t made it into my lexicon before. I did think fleetingly, I wonder which Harris the setter means – could it be Kamala? – but that was as far as I got. A very good puzzle so thank you to Vlad – and yes it’s an unfortunate appellation for the current times.

2. There was a variety of tricks and twists to baffle me in this puzzle. COCK A DEAF ‘UN is the one that baffled me the most because I have never met this phrase before. What helped me to get it was having seen COCKADE recently in a crossword, and the ‘F’ from 11d helped me to complete this unusual phrase (which had the meaning ‘pretend not to hear’ when I looked it up, but I have now forgotten where I found it).

   IDOLISES is the sort of clue that I expect to see in a Vlad puzzle, making a topical point with a helping of wit.

   The generous helping of long answers made this satisfying to solve. I was left with the two ‘small corners’ at the end, and they were quite challenging. VEEP was a favourite clue.

   Thanks to Vlad and mc_rapper67.

3. I also banged in MATINS and was thrown for ages. Similarly with KIPPED. Haha great minds – not.
   Thanks both.

4. I too made the MATINS mistake, but unfortunately never unmade it. Usually when I see an impossible slot, in this case 7d I_K_, it tells me I’ve made a mistake with one of the crossers, but MATINS seemed to fit so well I couldn’t see past it. However, now that I do see it, the supposed prayer was very clever.

5. Well, this is getting repetitive, as I also had MATINS and LAPPED, and although I spotted the first error and was thus able to get TAKE and NICKED, I was too heavily invested in 26a and was left with the unfillable _A_LS_D_ for 22, 8. Thanks to mc_rapper and others above for helping me to feel, if not better, then at least in good company.

   And thanks to Vlad to, for the impala.

6. Thanks mc_rapper67. Quite a mixture of write ins and the much more difficult. Most of the phrases went in readily enough though I had some initial trouble fitting ‘turn a deaf ear’ into 12a. Put me down as another who entered ‘matins’ for 5a, it was my FOI, (I know it’s a plural but that didn’t bother me) and subsequently 6 and 8d seemed to confirm it but it did mean that the NE corner baffled me for some time.
   LOI was 23d, -e-p should not have been hard but no possibilities would fit. I was led down the blind alleys of tweed, islands and three men on a boat and had quite run out of ideas until a belated PDM.

7. I’m puzzled about the parsing of ‘Had listened to jockey here?’ I wasn’t sure how ‘jockey’ could be an anagrind, but I see that Chambers has “jostle by riding against”, which would – of course – be against the rules of racing, not to mention difficult to execute if you happen to be on a horse and you’re trying to jostle some letters!

   But all I can think of is that it should be read as ‘Had listened [changed] to jockey here?’, with ‘changed’ tacit, i.e. investing that small word ‘to’ with the power to mean “changed from this to that, somehow”. But that is, if anything, even more unsatisfactory. I hope someone can get inside Vlad’s head for an instant, and let us know what he intended.

8. I had the same problem as you mc_rapper67 with MANTIS/Matins but fortunately not with KIPPED. I’d heard of Turn A Deaf Ear but not COCK A DEAF ‘UN and even though not in Chambers which I checked, it couldn’t really have been anything else. I failed to parse BACKSIDE so thanks for the explanation.
   I’m still trying to convince myself that “realaxation” is OK as an anagrind for ELIMINATE.
   Favourites were SWITCHED ON for “No” and VEEP for “go”.

9. sheffield hatter @7, your second explanation (this to that) is exactly how I read the clue and didn’t give it a second thought. That gives “jockey here” as the definition (as per the blog) without jockey doing double duty as an anagrind. The “to” would then be an ‘implied anagrind’!?
   Not sure about the &lit though mc_rapper67.

10. 27 A:

    I DO LIE about S (Truss’s ultimate) +S (direction).

    This is how I see it. Somehow, not comfortable with ‘I DO LIES’.

11. Just discovered that I’d put TEMP (for now) instead of VEEP (Harris for now), but I must have got MANTIS late enough to prevent me making the tempting MATINS error. I did however have DECADENT instead of INDECENT for a long time, and DECK QUOITS for the “board” game. Lots of Vladdish deviousness here: particularly liked SWITCHED ON, REDECORATE, HIT AND MISS, AVAIL among many.

12. This was a good puzzle, but I had to wait a week for the checks to be turned on before I could do more than 4 clues. I had fallen into the MATINS trap, and never saw the reverse hidden SIDE.
    So count me as impaled, Vlod.

13. First thought – it’s Vlad which means it’s going to be difficult.

    But found I started off not too badly and got 20 out of 27 – then ground to a halt in the NE and SW and put it away to return to during the week.

    Returned mid – week and got the ones in the NE but did not get KIPPED or VEEP

    My favourite – which took me ages annoyingly enough – was MANTIS. (I too had matins at first)

    Never heard of COCK A DEAF UN but once I got cockade and with the F from 11d it had to be that.

    Thanks Vlad and mc_rapper67

14. Thanks for an inspired blog, I had the same as KVa @10 for IDOLISES , letter s is there twice, intricate but perfectly correct.
    20AC a slightly different take – HAD LISTENED ( to jockey ) gives the anagram and the answer . here? is asking where did it happen. Not very convinced.
    I thought COCK A DEAF UN was great and I am sure most people know it.
    BACKSIDE is just brilliant.
    PPE stands for pretty poor education or there was a slightly coarser version.

15. Another one who first thought of MATINS, but at least I didn’t enter it as it didn’t seem to fit the definition properly. Hence MANTIS was one of my last in (shortly after VEEP – here, I too had thought of TEMP which didn’t fit the word play). I thoroughly enjoyed this crossword with all its misdirections and tricks. I had heard ‘Cock a Deaf Ear’ before, and it took me some time to replace ‘ear’ by ‘UN’. Thanks to Vlad and the blogger.

16. I got most of this on Saturday but had to take a second run at it on SUNDAY to fill in the last few, mostly in the top right, including an unparsed BACKSIDE, very clever now I’ve seen it, and ALIENATED, where I just didn’t see the detail. COCK A DEAF ‘UN was unfamiliar, but Google recognised it, and it had to be that.

    I didn’t see the MANTIS anagram until late enough that I’d solved TAKE and suspected SIDE, so didn’t fall into that trap, but I’ve taken part in enough Matins services to discount it as a prayer. VEEP, when I checked, seems a recent name for the Vice President, from the TV show, but I did realise Harris must mean Kamala.

    Rhank you to Vlad/Vlod and mc_rapper67

17. I really enjoyed this one from Vlad, though it was over too quickly, despite some tricky moments.

    Tried hard to squeeze DEAF EAR instead of DEAF ‘UN into 12ac until the penny dropped.
    Got caught out by another meaning of present at first in DONATION, which I like a lot now.
    Another political comment in 27ac. I’d quite like to forget about it all when doing the crossword. However loved VEEP, even though I had to cheat a bit.
    Liked SWITCHED-ON and BACKSIDE.
    Felt sorry for the NONDESCRIPTS.
    My first thought for 14dn was QUOITS not DECK TENNIS, but that gave some really awkward crossers.

    That was fun. Thanks Vlad and mc_rapper67.

18. A dnf for me. Didn’t get VEEP – never heard that and how does the acronym work anyway? Another MATINS here, ha ha. Excellent misdirection. And BACKSIDE – so wish I’d seen that.
    Brilliant entertainment, thank you Vlad, and rapper for the comprehensive and very much needed blog!

19. Thanks mc. I confess to getting MANTIS straight off, and smiling at the praying angle. Got the rosette eventually but the phrase itself was a total newie to me. Couldn’t parse BACKSIDE so thanks. Good work Vlad: great name.

20. Trish @ 18 it is VP said as VeePee and presumably shortened ? Our US friends may know more ??

21. I enjoy being challenged by Vlad, but always expect to be beaten at some point. This one seemed much easier than most, at first, and phrases with their enumeration always seem to give you more to go on , even when, like the ‘deaf un’ here, I’ve never heard of them. And then, right at the very end, I simply could not see KIPPER and VEEP – you’re not alone, Fiona Anne @ 13! So near, and yet… Ah, well. I thought BACKSIDE was particularly neat. Thanks, mc_rapper67, and thanks, Vlad.

22. Many thanks, Vlad and mc_rapper67. Took me until Wed to finish, and Fri to shine light on BACKSIDE. A weird connection of clues had secured a breakthrough earlier. Might 10A possibly end in ED for Miliband? 22D/8D could then be _ _ _ _ SIDE. Then guessed BACK and finally managed to correct my pencilled POPPET to KIPPED. T’is man praying for more Vlad.

23. Trying very hard not to sound smug here, but (like molonglo) MANTIS was my first in. True, Matins could be ‘Morning Prayer’, even though it’s a whole service, not just one prayer, but what would the ‘supposedly’ be doing? And whenever I see a prayer in Crosswordland, alarm bells start ringing, as they do with flower and banker.

    Re 20ac – ‘Jockeying for position’ implies changes in the order of which contender is placed 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc, so if all the letters of ‘had listened’ jockey/jostle with each other, you might end up with IN THE SADDLE. Like Roz I took ‘here’ as the definition, referring back to the rest of the clue. Not an &lit exactly, but as our blogger suggests, &littish.

    Thanks Vlod and blagger.

24. Very enjoyable puzzle. Thanks Vlad. And if it’s any consolation, “Vlad” is not a shortened form of the Russian name Vladimir (which would be Volodya). It’s a distinct Romanian name, shared by several members of the illustrious Dracula family.

    But did anyone else have 14d as DECK QUOITS until the crossers went in? That shouldn’t happen. Where there are two equally possible solutions some indication should be given as to which one to choose: c.f. the subtle use of “prayer” rather than “prayers” in 5a.

25. Aah. Thank you, Roz.

26. I got stuck at napped for 26 so failed to get backside. And I failed to get 12 because I’ve never heard that phrase. My other failure at 1d didn’t help.

27. Half impaled! (is that Imped or Aled?) I did fall for an initial MATINS but, as I was doing the clues in order, it only lasted until TAKE displaced it two clues later. However, I’d fallen for LAPPED – probably because I had a pretty poor education – which left me stumped right at the end.

    hatter @7: (investing that small word ‘to’ with the power to mean “changed from this to that, somehow”.) and Tim C @9: (The “to” would then be an ‘implied anagrind’!?). I am just imaging trying to have a debate with my test solver and persuade him to let me get away with that … 😀 I think I ‘m running with a mix of Roz’s ‘here?’ as def and mc_rapper’s &littish?

    NICKED made me smile and I did like the SWITCHED ON trick. Thanks Vlad (and I don’t think you should change your pseudonym one bit) and mc for the blog.

28. I’ve one more mistake to add: I initially entered 27ac as IDOLIZES – though it pained me to use that spelling – and parsed it as I DO ES round LIZ (Truss) (disregarding the ‘direction’, of course).
    I finally parsed it as KVa @10 did.

    Nothing more to add except thanks to Vlad andmc_rapper67

29. I took a convoluted route to VEEP having mistakenly assumed there was a rhyming slang element and the four letters could be arse. So I did at least learn the origin of the phrase: “the phrase Bottle and Glass became rhyming slang for Arse. Then Bottle because Aristotle, which was finally shortened just to Aris”

    Following the wordplay was a much better idea 🙂

30. Completed this ,though, like Choldunk, it took until Wednesday and a few revisits to do so. MATINS went in a bit too easily and would have been an uncharacteristically poor clue for Vlad .so the mistake didn’t take long to spot. I got stuck on VILLA rather than DACHA as “Scoundrel’s (Villain’s) given up second home”, and like Gladys also played with DECADENT for far too long. I resisted UN as a word, on the plausible grounds that it isn’t one, and like Biggles went through Tweed and Three Men in a Boat (couldn’t get the classic Hampton Court maze episode out of my head) before hitting upon the equally wonderful Kamala and VEEP. IDOLISES , BACK SIDE and NONDESCRIPTS were also standouts in a puzzle where every clue had its merits. Thanks to Vlad and to rapper for a full, honest and particularly interesting blog

31. Thanks for all the comments and feedback so far – this seems to have turned into a group therapy session over the MANTIS/MATINS deception! Nice to know I wasn’t alone…

    I will defer to KVa (and Roz and others) on the parsing of IDOLISES – I was drawn towards the plural LIES by the fact that he is such a compulsive and serial fibster…will update the parsing when I get the chance…

    On the role of ‘jockey’ in 20A, opinions seems to be more divided – I’ll leave that one as it is, but I can see the arguments in all directions!

    On VEEP, I was aware of the term from the US TV programme (although I’ve never watched it), but I’m not sure if the word was in general usage before that – it is in Chambers, so I guess it has been around a bit.

    lenmasterman at #30 – UN is a word, in Chambers as UN or ‘UN, dialect for ‘one’ – hence COCK A DEAF ‘UN. (For some reason I just remembered the phrase with that apostrophe…)

    I did toy with DECK QUOITS, having enjoyed that pursuit on a childhood cruise on the ‘SS Vaal’ from Cape Town to Southampton in the late ’70s, but I resisted on the grounds that it led to crossers ending in U and I, so I waited a while and then plumped for TENNIS – don’t the balls just keep going over the side?…

    Lastly – I certainly wasn’t pushing for pseudonym change, just reporting the correspondence from the Letters page. As things stand, I suspect (and hope) our Vlad will outlast the other one…

32. Thanks Vlad and mc_rapper67
    Not much to add on the puzzle. I thought “jockey” was doing double duty, and was surprised.
    On “UN”, in cricket a googly (legspinner’s delivery that spins from the off) is often called a “wrong’un”. Commentators from the subcontinent seem never to be able to bring themselves to say this – it’s always “wrong one” from them!

33. Good Vlad that I found slightly more straightforward than some of his.

    I didn’t know COCK A DEAF ‘UN, although it is in Wiktionary. I certainly considered matins but BACKSIDE soon put paid to that. I particularly liked ON THIN ICE for the surface and the ‘money lost’, IDOLISES again for the surface and for the Boris bashing, and OFF THE RECORD for the good charade. I thought the clue for NICKED was a bit weak.

    Thanks Vlad and mcr.

34. Same as Fiona Anna@13 for the first two paragraphs. It was probably the same 7 unsolved too! Unlike her, I forgot to return to the puzzle later in the week.

    MANTIS went straight in but that didn’t help with the crossers! Didn’t we have PRAYING MANTIS recently?

    What I did, I enjoyed. Thanks Vlad and mc_rapper67 for another entertaining blog.

35. Highly enjoyable puzzle from the Impaler, full of interesting constructions and brilliant surfaces. For once, even this pedant has no quibbles (sheffield hatter – I’m conscious of your late post yesterday!)

    Fortunately, I was too slow to see that 5ac was an anagram, so MANTIS went straight in after a few crossers. I also toyed with DECK QUOITS but abandoned the idea immediately as it seemed unlikely that 20ac would end in U (I disagree completely with Xenopus @24. Ambiguity is an essential part of a good puzzle – and it is a CROSSword, after all).

    IN THE SADDLE works for me as a practically perfect &lit, taking ‘to jockey’ with an immediate future sense:

    ‘Hope springs eternal in the human breast
    Man never is, but always TO BE BLEST’

    Far too many gems to enumerate.

    Many thanks to S&B

36. [Gervase @35. Nothing wrong with pedantry and quibbling per se – my post yesterday to which you refer was more about the way that some commenters express themselves, with a tone of voice not unlike someone complaining about their steak being overcooked. Your comments are always more elegantly expressed. And I totally agree with what you say about ambiguity and crossers.]

37. Mc_rapper67
    Although a few cruise ships have full or reduced size tennis courts these are usually not on the top deck or are enclosed by high fences. They tend to be used for paddleball, badminton and volleyball.
    Deck Tennis does not use balls but quoits which are thrown over a raised net towards opponents. On land the game is called tennis quoits. It is a bit like volleyball, points being scored if the quoit ring hits the ground in the opponents court.
    Thanks for the blog and crossword, very entertaining.

38. Well I didn’t actually put MATINS in because I thought it couldn’t possibly be that easy for a Vlad, and to my shame I didn’t get MANTIS either, so DNF. I also didn’t get BACKSIDE — thought it must be the answer but couldn’t figure out why. I thought VEEP a very difficult clue but somehow got there.

    Enjoyable, if difficult for me. Thanks to Vlad and mc_rapper67.

39. Card-carrying member of the MATINS club.

    Never heard of the academic sort of PPE. Heard all too much of the other sort.

    Pleasant puzzle, though I didn’t get the opposing “short” corners either. Thanks to Vlad and mc_rapper67.

40. Matins is obviously wrong because “supposedly” has no place in its definition. The only one to stump me was VEEP which is hardly surprising for American slang. Altogether a great workout. Thanks Vlad and mc_rapper67.

41. Volodymyr the Impaler, eh? Hmm…

    A very challenging puzzle, which I was unable to finish, despite returning to it several times through the week. I had a last look just before coming here, and realized that the crossers for 20ac allowed the possibility that I needed an anagram of “had listened” and that “jockey” could be the indicator and “here” a definition for a place which would relate to the rest of the clue (as per Roz@14).

    I had earlier put in the (much better known?) DECK QUOITS for 14dn (as Gladys@11, Crossbar@17, Xenopus@24 and agree with the last that this is a weak clue because of the failure to distinguish which game was meant). I’d never even heard of DECK TENNIS till I searched the internet for another deck game that would fit with the newly-acquired crosser from IN THE SADDLE.

    I was another who put in Matins. I have no first-hand knowledge of terms for elements of Christian ritual, but had heard (from another crossword, perhaps?) of Matins as (the time slot for?) morning prayer. Taking the (quite possibly mistaken) ‘time-slot’ meaning, that justified the word “supposedly” because not everyone (witness me) actually does partake of prayer at that allotted time. Of course the actual meaning of the clue was brilliant and I do wish I’d got it.

    Obviously, I couldn’t get 7dn, TAKE, as a result. At the risk of being accused of crying “sour grapes” I do question whether a bet is the stake itself, or the act of placing the stake. (I doubt I’d be questioning it if I’d got it, though). If I’d got TAKE, I’d have known Matins was wrong. Curses!

    Also failed to get 23dn, VEEP, which I now recognise as a very clever and amusing clue, but Ms Harris occupies a very faraway and dim corner of my consciousness. Rex, and even Rolf, are far more prominent, although I accept the latter is unlikely to figure in a Guardian Crossword any time soon.

    Unlike others, such as Alan B@2, I thought of COCK A DEAF ‘UN immediately from the definition and enumeration but not knowing the literal meaning of the word ‘cockade’, didn’t fill it in until I came back to it with confirmatory crossers in and a dictionary search verified the definition in the wordplay.

    I guessed from the def that 22dn, 8 was probably BACKSIDE, but never cracked the highly ingenious wordplay, unfortunately and for some reason thought the initial K for 26ac dubious, even thought it should have made it a gimme. I got a bit fixated on Isis as the “course at Oxford”.

    I agree with KVa@10 and others re I DO LIE.

    Postmark@27: “I did fall for an initial MATINS but, as I was doing the clues in order, it only lasted until TAKE displaced it two clues later.” What order would that be, then?

42. I’m amused by those that say that 14dn is unfair! When the clue is a single cryptic definition there is bound to be some ambiguity. SHIP BRIDGE anyone? 🙂

43. Gervase, on the contrary. Some editors, possibly those of a more Ximenean bent, and Peter Biddlecombe in his role as editor of the ST crossword for sure, would not allow a cd that had alternative answers.

    Surprised Roz hasn’t commented on this. She will give you an earful if and when she does.

44. Btw, Gervase@42, if you are trying to illustrate a point with your capitalized SHIP BRIDGE, you would do better to spell it out, rather than setting (an ambiguous) puzzle for those you purport to be trying to communicate with.

45. TC @41: am I missing something? 5a mistakenly MATINS, 6d beginning with A – ALIENATED, 7d is TAKE so MATINS can’t be right. 5, 6, 7, is an order I learned at school, though I can’t now recall in which year … 😉

46. Never heard of “Cock a deaf un”, it’s funny when someone has heard the phrase they presume its well known to all.

    Mantis was my first one in.

    And I DO LIE with the final S of Truss and the extra S from the word direction (South) was my parsing for idolises.

    Loved NICKED and SWITCHED-ON

    thanks MC

47. Thank you mc_rapper67 and commiserations on the false starts – I avoided the MATINS trap (like some above I deemed it too obvious and loosely defined, luckily did not consider that the “supposedly” could excuse that) but it didn’t save me any time – i was fairly sure about BACKSIDE on Sunday from the definition but took me til Wednesday to see the wordplay and only then felt able to enter it! NHO the deaf un but it is plausible, the last two words fell out of crossers and then I just had to find synonyms for rosette. DECK TENNIS on the other hand was a confident entry very early on as I have seen a v similar construction somewhere else – my lucky day as I have never heard of “deck quoits” so that could have been a false start of my own. Thanks CliveinFrance@37 for explaining it as I had wondered how long the average game would last before all balls were in the briny. And thanks Vlad for a very worthy challenge.

48. PS TonyCollman@41 you have my sympathy too but I don’t think there can be any doubt that “bet” can be both a verb to wager and a noun equivalent to a stake, otherwise the phrase “Place your bets please ladies and gentlemen” would not exist. My go-to online dictionary concurs although it is no Chambers. I am going to try to remember your “course at Oxford” though as it sounds like it will come in handy one day.

49. TonyC @43,44: SHIP BRIDGE was a possible (albeit facetious and very unlikely) solution to ‘Game that’s played on board’ 🙂

    Guardian crosswords are not scrupulously Ximenean (and never have been to my knowledge) and I maintain that the only ambiguity that is really unfair is one that persists even with all the crossing letters.

50. Thanks (again) to mc for an excellent blog and to others who took the trouble to comment.

    Can’t see anything wrong with IN THE SADDLE – isn’t it a (partial) &lit as others have pointed out?

51. Gazzh@48, I think (to my chagrin) that you have exposed my complaint as pure sour grapes! I think I’d be surprised if “course at Oxford” for ISIS hadn’t been used before. It certainly deserves to have been, doesn’t it?

    Gervase@49, you are right to say Guardian crosswords aren’t (or at least aren’t required) to be Ximenean, but you originally stated that “When the clue is a single cryptic definition there is bound to be some ambiguity”, which is not at all true: the best ones only have one possible answer. Roz is going to give you such a roasting, if she can be bothered …

    [PM@45, I’m surprised to hear you didn’t learn 5, 6, 7 till you got to school and that you’re not even sure whether that was covered in your first year. I learnt it perhaps a couple of years before I went to school, but I’ve never considered it particularly applicable as an approach to solving crosswords, when some of the numbers are for across clues and some for downs (and some, both); I usually work my way through the across clues in sequence, followed by the downs, on first pass. I wonder if anyone else here adopts your solve-in-numerical-order method? I know mine is by no means the only one used and, iirc, our esteemed blogger starts with whichever clue stands to give him the most first letters, followed thereafter (once one has been solved) by whichever clue’s answer already has the most check letters.]

52. Eileen describes her method as doing clues in order, which sounds like doing them in numerical order. I do acrosses and then downs, but I don’t fill any of them in on the first pass, just put a check mark outside the puzzle next to the ones I can solve. Then I fill in one and see how many others I can do using those crossers, avoiding ones already solved that cross it until I’ve gone as far as I can without them.

53. TC @51: you, of course, don’t know when I started school! But you did raise this thread… I have several approaches to solving a puzzle and do vary them but doing them in numerical order, regardless of whether across or down, can be quite fun. It’s a bit like Roz doing them without reference to crossers: focus on the clue as a standalone first. Sometimes one can end up with as much as two thirds done on that first pass through and then go back over the grid looking at the gaps and crossers that are left. But this was only ever meant to be a comment in passing about MATINS and why it didn’t stay in the grid for long.

54. Loved the misdirect and definition in MANTIS.
    I think this description is apt for solvers : ”(They) have a flexible joint between the head and prothorax that enables them to swivel their heads.”

    I saw mc_rapper67’s comment, and others’, as elucidating the steps and missteps we take towards solving a clue, and how later solutions may make us reconsider our first attempt.

    However I don’t agree with this: ”This ability, along with their rather humanoid faces and long, grasping forelegs, endears them to even the most entomophobic people among us.”
    You can’t be entomophobic here in Oz. You’d never step outside the door. But ‘endear’? Anthropomorphic? I don’t think so. More likely aliens. Robots have been designed to replicate their movements.

    Doesn’t matter in what order anyone does the clues, or for whatever reasons. I tend to use a grammatical approach on the way through. That’s likely to be a plural, or 3rd person present tense, ending in s, that one a past tense either d or n, or a superlative, or adjective etc. (Doesn’t always work of course, but helpful if an intersecting letter. )

55. Tony PM PDM et al . My usual method is Across clues in order and write them in. Down clues in order , do not look at the grid, write them in when you reach the bottom then tackle each corner. Each clue gets a fair chance on its own.
    For Azed I am solving to time and a barred puzzle so across the top first and then down the left hand side giving lots of first letters.
    I may try the numerical method for the FT just for a change, see how it works.

    Gervase @42 I think every clue should be solvable on its own , even a cryptic definition, without any ambiguity or crossing letters. The good setters do manage this. I never say that clues are “wrong” or “unfair” unless it actually does not work properly. 14 D certainly earns a frown here , if it was an Across clue it would deserve a Paddington stare.

56. Tough but enjoyable.

    Liked REDECORATE, ON THIN ICE, ALIENATED, KIPPED, VEEP, IDOLISES, MANTIS (Loi).

    New: COCKADE = rosette (for 12ac).

    Did not parse 22/8 back side or 1d as I had skimmed over the word NO in the clue.

    Thanks, both.

    I am another one who put MATINS at 5ac before revising it

57. Valentine @52 – to me, doing clues in order means doing them in the order in which they appear: Across then Down. It would never have occurred to me to do them in numerical order.

58. Rox@55 (with some trepidation …) “I think every clue should be solvable on its own … without any ambiguity or crossing letters.” The former, I agree-ish, the latter I do not precisely because it is a crossword. Indeed, I would say it’s fair game to compose a clue that DOES require the crossers to remove any … err, ambiguity. However, Roz, I do also acknowledge your subsequent-but-one sentence regarding the use of ‘wrong’; a few contributors here would to well to acknowledge such sagacity.

59. Wow…lots of diverging threads here – some maybe a little off topic!

    Eileen at #57 – it wouldn’t have occurred to me either, but it certainly did to whoever specified the Telegraph website interactive grid: as soon as you type the last letter of a clue (or if you hit TAB before finishing a clue), it repositions you to the first letter of the next clue numerically (or the down clue for the current number). So, for this grid, after the T of 1A STRIDENT it would have taken you back to the S to fill in 1D, then 2D, 3D and 4D before coming to 5A. It is quite a disconcerting context switch after using any of the other main sites, where they tend to follow the more conventional ‘Acrosses then Downs then Acrosses etc.’ approach. But it keeps me on my toes!

    (I just realised there might have been an HM Bateman-esque gasp in the room, as I confessed to being a Telegraph puzzle subscriber in a Guardian blog?!… I am a self-confessed prize puzzle tart, and I will admit to being a Times subscriber too. My justification is that I usually end up in net profit over the Barclay brothers/ol’ Rupe over the year, with book tokens, cash prizes, fountain pens, etc…)

    My solving order is a bit whimsical – sometimes I work through methodically; sometimes I ‘cherry-pick’ to get the most crossers, most first letters, etc.; sometimes I go for the shortest entries; and sometimes a clue just catches my eye before I have got started and I just dive in and work outwards/upwards/downwards from there. I certainly don’t have the self discipline of a Roz or a Valentine to deny myself any checkers until I have attempted all the clues!

    Anyway, there is a new puzzle from Brendan to focus our attention on…thanks for all the comments, it has been a busy 24 hours here!

60. I forgot to mention – thanks to Vlad for popping by at #50, and for your kind words.

61. PM@53, well at least this has sparked off some interesting revelations about how different people go about it. It’s always nice to be in total agreement with Eileen: makes me feel sure I’m doing it right!

    Btw, part of another sequence I learnt before starting school is “a, …, d”. 😉

62. Can we please not politicize crosswords?

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