Guardian Cryptic 28,848 by Vulcan

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The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/28848.

My apologies for the late blog – I just overlooked the rota.

ACROSS
7 HAIRLINE
Initially high flyers sort of crack (8)
A charade of H (‘Initially High’) plus AIRLINE (‘flyers’).
9 VOX POP
After victory sign, steer dad into street interview (3,3)
A charade of V (‘victory sign’) plus OX (‘steer’) plus POP (‘dad’).
10 WERE
Used to be poor at the last with little around (4)
An envelope (‘with … around’) of R (‘pooR at last’) in WEE (‘little’).
11 LEAF INSECT
Master of camouflage worried, if scent found on meadow (4,6)
A charade of LEA (‘meadow’) plus FINSECT, an anagram (‘worried’) of ‘if scent’.
12 DEARER
More loved, even if up in price (6)
Double definition.
14 SUNBEAMS
Star smiles in bright lights (8)
A charade of SUN (‘star’) plus BEAMS (‘smiles’).
15 STAND BY
Avoid being involved in support (5,2)
Double definition.
17 BREAKER
Wave going right through vessel (7)
An envelope (‘going … through’; ‘going’ does not sit comfortably either as a container or as connective tissue) of R (‘right’) in BEAKER (‘vessel’).
20 MADHOUSE
In super-busy environment had failed to feed little animal (8)
An envelope (‘to feed’) of ADH, an anagram (‘failed’) of ‘had’ in MOUSE (‘little animal’).
22 SHEATH
Cover small moor (6)
A charade of S (‘small’) plus HEATH (‘moor’).
23 HANOVERIAN
Have an iron prepared for old George (10)
An anagram (‘prepared’) of ‘have an iron’. The ‘old George’ could be I, II. III or IV.
24 SUMP
Heard some pressure in drain (4)
A charade of SUM, sounding like (‘heard’) ‘some’ plus P (‘pressure’).
25 MIDGET
Not very bright, about to father baby (6)
A charade of MID, a reversal (‘about’) of DIM (‘not very bright’) plus GET (‘father’, verb).
26 FELICITY
Happiness in life, moving to big place (8)
A charade of FELI, an anagram (‘moving’) of ‘life’ plus CITY (‘big place’).
DOWN
1 BASEMENT
Worthless people finally put in cellar (8)
A charade of BASE MEN (‘worthless people’) plus T (‘finally puT’).
2 URGE
Press for admission to surgery (4)
A hidden answer (‘admission to’) in ‘sURGEry’.
3 TILLER
One working the land is used to steer (6)
Double definition, the second with an implied “something which … “.
4 TV DINNER
After starters of tapas, very delightful private meal on lap? (2,6)
A charade of TVD (‘ starters of Tapas Very Delightful’) plus INNER (‘private’).
5 EXASPERATE
To annoy old flame eat pears messily (10)
A charade of EX (‘old flame’) plus ASPERATE, an anagram (‘messily’) of ‘eat pears’.
6 ROMCOM
Starts to run over many classic old movies, this sort typical? (6)
First letters of (‘starts to’) ‘Run Over Many Classic Old Movies’.
8 ELAPSE
Pass bottom of slope and slip (6)
A charade of E (‘bottom of slopE‘) plus LAPSE (‘slip’).
13 RUN THROUGH
In rehearsal hurry from beginning to end (3,7)
A charade of RUN (‘hurry’) plus THROUGH (‘from beginning to end’).
16 BRUNETTE
Beast about to grab a girl — not fair (8)
An envelope (‘about’) of NET (‘grab’) in BRUTE (‘beast’).
18 ESTIMATE
Think I’m trespassing in someone’s grounds (8)
An envelope (in’) of ‘I’m’ in ESTATE (‘someone’s grounds’).
19 BELIEF
Give a wrong idea of felon’s first conviction (6)
A charade of BELIE (‘give a wrong idea of’) plus F (‘Felon’s first’).
21 ARABIC
Language of associate academician and writer (6)
A charade of A (‘associate’) plus RA (‘academician’; member of the Royal Academy) plus BIC (trade name, ‘writer’).
22 SENILE
English railways directed up past it (6)
A reversal (‘directed up’ in a down light) of E (‘English’) plus LINES (‘railways’).
24 SACS
Pouches in which commandos keep cape (4)
An envelope (‘keep’) of C (‘cape’) in SAS (‘commandos’).

picture of the completed grid

31 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 28,848 by Vulcan”

  1. Thanks Vulcan and PeterO
    I enjoyed this, though, as I’ve said elsewhere, it was a lot easier than the Quiptic. Thanks for the parsing of MIDGET, which I missed.
    I didn’t like the “ins” at the beginnings of 20a and 13d; they make the definitions slightly wrong.

  3. This felt pretty easy to me, but enjoyable.

    muffin @1. The “in” is not part of the definition; they’re saying “in (this definition) we see (this wordplay)”.

    I missed the dairy products at top and bottom of the grid.

    Thanks to Vulcan and PeterO.

  4. SH @3
    I see what you mean, but it doesn’t read like that. By convention (which can be broken, of course) the definition part of a clue appears at either the beginning or the end. Hence the definition in 13d, for example, is “In rehearsal”, whereas RUN THROUGH is just “rehearsal”.

  5. All very straightforward. I didn’t see the Nina, but wasn’t looking for one from Vulcan, although that grid has had some memorable ones. I was amused by the reversed SENILE.

    Thank you to PeterO and Vulcan.

  6. Well, I found some of these needed a little teasing out, especially in the NW corner. When “crack” appeared in the first one I read at 7ac, there was some consternation, with recent memories of the furore over Paul’s very recent “narrow fissure”. But no such worries this morning, though HAIRLINE was loi. Couldn’t parse BRUNETTE, really liked MADHOUSE…

  7. PeterO Is the Nina a remarkably prescient clue to you getting diary wrong? I liked HAIRLINE, FELICITY and MADHOUSE.

  8. Good fun, and it fell into place more quickly than usual, without any sticky ones. The only thing that stumped me was the ARA in 21d. I didn’t see the butter and cheese. Do they have any secret significance?

  9. …I like the name FELICITY, Verity too. Though I suppose they don’t quite have the same meaning. As an eight year old I was very smitten by a ten year old girl called Verity, but of course she truly out of my league…

  10. A very pleasant and gentle puzzle. I ticked VOX POP and ARABIC for their clever and misleading uses of “steer” and “writer” respectively.

    I agree about “going right through” in 17a. It helps make a reasonable surface but it’s a rather awkward way of telling you to insert an R.

    Thanks Vulcan and PeterO.

  11. Thanks for the blog,the clues seemed very sound today with good variety. Are the commandos from the SAS ? My knowledge is limited but I thought they were different.
    BRUNETTE reminded me of the very worrying A-Level results this year , it seems that less than 1% of girls with dark hair have got good grades.

  15. Neill97 and SinCam Chambers had beget as the 22nd definition of GET (archaic except when used of animals) Midget and Baby can both be used as qualifiers to mean small.

  16. A good Monday puzzle, much needed after looking at Saturday’s and thinking ‘life’s too short’!! My favourite was Madhouse which I thought had a great surface. Thanks to Vulcan and PeterO.

  18. This was a very enjoyable warm-up for the week ahead.
    Favourites included BRUNETTE, LEAF INSECT and EXASPERATE.
    [That’s an odd statistic, Roz, re brunettes; are they all bleaching/colouring their hair?]
    Thanks to Vulcan and PeterO.

  20. Senile meaning ‘past it’ not very woke for a supposedly liberal paper like The Guardian, maybe? Otherwise no complaints.

  21. Not much to say about this one. Pretty fair for a Monday I thought. I had not noticed the ‘in’ issue but am inclined to agree with muffin@1 that they detract from the clues, even if they are not ‘wrong’. Also was puzzled by the indicator for R in BREAKER. Favourite was LEAF INSECT and LOI was MIDGET which I failed to parse but guessed eventually after wasting a lot of time trying to think of an answer where ‘beget’ was around a letter. Thanks PeterO and Vulcan.

  22. Sorry Diane@18 I was mocking the media coverage of A-Level results day. We get many pictures of girls jumping joyfully into the air after getting their results. They are invariably blonde. We may infer that girls with dark hair never get good results.

  23. A nice Monday puzzle. As always missed the hidden word clue so 2dn was a DNF. Didn’t like Midget for baby but I guess it’s OK. Thanks for the blog Peter O. For 21dn ARA ia a recognised abbreviation for Associate of the Royal Academy so the explanation doesn’t need splitting into two parts. Thanks to Vulcan as well.

  25. I had RA as Research Assistant (although at my university, it was what we called Residence Advisors in the dorms).

    Roz, thanks for the clarification. I thought maybe you had access to more detailed data, hair color did see like an odd datapoint!

  27. The SAS and commandos are indeed different. IIRC, there were TV adverts a few years ago enticing youngsters to be a commando. But one cannot join the SAS straight away: one has to be a serving soldier already and getting in is very difficult.

    And, indeed, commandos are Royal Marines whilst the SAS are Army. A slight own goal by the setter, I’m afraid.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Marines
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Air_Service

    Thank you to PeterO for the elucidation for a couple of the trickier clues.

  28. Still no light shed on the BUTTER/CHEESE references?
    Was Vulcan just making notes for his/her shopping list? Was it International Dairy Products Day? Perhaps a Liz Truss reference?

  29. Had to reveal a couple in the NW, and I didn’t enjoy this nearly as much as the Quiptic, with too many initial-type clues. MADHOUSE was a gem though.

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