Guardian 29,256 – Vulcan

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It’s not often that I can complete even an easy crossword in a single pass, but that was the case today. Definitely one for beginners and those in a hurry… Thanks to Vulcan.

 
Across
1 FLOWERPOT Something in the garden for pet owl to chew (9)
(FOR PET OWL)*
6 PESOS Extremely plaintive, desperate appeal for money abroad (5)
P[laintiv]E + SOS
9 TEACH Time for everyone to pass on their knowledge (5)
T + EACH
10 EN PRIMEUR New to drink, run empire badly (2,7)
(RUN EMPIRE)*
11 ADO Notice love is a great bother (3)
AD (notice) + O
12 CLEAN-SHAVEN Having nothing to face? (5-6)
Cryptic definition
14 SKYWARD Died after aerial battle: going to heaven? (7)
SKY WAR (aerial battle) + D[ied]
15 TWADDLE Two shortly become confused in silly talk (7)
TW[o] + ADDLE (become confused)
16 MINIBAR Hotel room may have this ban on short skirt (7)
MINI + BAR
19 PROUDLY Showing arrogance, paid sportsman perhaps duly sacked (7)
PRO (a paid sportsman) + DULY*
22 CONTRIBUTES Adds something against eulogies (11)
CON + TRIBUTES
23 PEA Tiny vegetable, and not a whole fruit (3)
PEA[r]
24 DIETITIAN Newly initiated into food authority (9)
INITIATED*
26 ACORN A hard growth seen on oak (5)
A + CORN (hard growth on the foot)
27 MAYAN PM meeting an indigenous American (5)
[Theresa] MAY + AN
28 GRAVEYARD It may be close to the church, or a serious distance (9)
GRAVE (serious) + YARD (distance)
Down
1 FAT CATS Undeserving rich and their pampered pets? (3,4)
Double definition
2 ORATORY Eloquent preacher’s year in church (7)
ORATOR + Y
3 ECHO CHAMBER Nymph has bedroom that creates sound effects (4,7)
ECHO (nymph) + CHAMBER
4 PRETEND Could this suggest daughter only nine? Imagine! (7)
A daughter of nine could be a PRE-TEN D
5 TOPKNOT Best, perhaps, granny’s hairpiece (7)
TOP (best) + KNOT (granny is a kind of knot)
6 PSI Foreign character turns up in Paris park (3)
Hidden in reverse of parIS Park
7 SHELVED Put off seeing how library books are displayed? (7)
Double definition
8 STRANGE Unusual way to the mountains (7)
ST (street, way) + RANGE
13 HEAD OF STATE S for Sovereign (4,2,5)
S is the first letter or HEAD OF the word STATE
16 MACADAM Scotsman, the first person that’s regularly driven over (7)
MAC + ADAM
17 NUNNERY Arsenal supporter heading off into New York women’s house (7)
[g]UNNER (Arsenal supporter) in NY
18 RUBBING Something done on the brass perhaps, causing some friction (7)
Double definition
19 PETUNIA Perhaps dog at college a bloomer (7)
PET (e.g. a dog) + UNI + A
20 DIPLOMA Certificate Foreign Office employee doesn’t complete (7)
DIPLOMA[t]
21 YEARNED Told a tale about drug being craved (7)
E (drug) in YARNED
25 IAN Man a terrible tsar? Not very (3)
IVAN less V

60 comments on “Guardian 29,256 – Vulcan”

  1. What a great puzzle to introduce others to cryptics. Very enjoyable, and the right level of difficulty, I thought. My ignorance of Greek mythology meant that echo/nymph was new to me, but otherwise plain sailing.

    Arrogance is a negative thing, and I don’t put being proud in the same category. I’m proud of some of our scientists in their discoveries to combat cancer. Does that mean I’m arrogant?

    Thanks Vulcan & Andrew.

  3. Thank you Andrew.
    Lots of chuckles in the surfaces and wordplay. MINIBAR, NUNNERY, ECHO CHAMBER, IAN, PSI.
    Are FLOWERPOTs in the garden, or somewhere else where your pet owl can’t chew them?

  4. GDU @1. That was my first thought on ‘proudly’ but a check in Chambers shows ‘proud’ can mean ‘arrogant’. The phrase ‘proud as a peacock’ comes to mind.

  7. Yes, nice and easy. My only hesitation was for DIETITIAN, which I’d have spelt ‘dietician’, but it seems either is correct, with my spelling the less common.
    Thanks both.

  8. Perfect Monday puzzle. Thank you Vulcan for a gentle start to the week. My favourite was 12ac which was one of my last ones in. Thanks for the blog Andrew.

  9. Lovely Quiptic fodder and Monday fare, with nothing too obscure. I’d forgotten EN PRIMEUR, but I heard it when Beaujolais Nouveau was such a big thing in the 80s.

    Thank you to Vulcan and Andrew

  11. Geoff du @1: me too re proud = arrogant but Chambers gives it so my resistance crumbled.

    Also, I thought The Gunners were the team rather than its supporters. No doubt a footie fan will put me straight.

    Now for the Christmas tree…

  12. I’m all for a puzzle on the easy side of the spectrum for a Monday, , and this certainly fits the bill. Nicely put together. Ovid’s tale of ECHO and Narcissus is one of his most memorable, and there aren’t many other nymphs that spring readily to mind..With thanks to Vulcan and Andrew.

  14. William @11: the fans are called Gunners or Gooners. It seems Gooners was introduced in the 70s after hooliganism which gave them goon nicknames.

  15. Thanks Vulcan and Andrew
    Fine, b ut I found it very much easier than the Quiptic.
    “Tiny” could have been omitted in 23a.

  18. More proof that crosswords don’t need to be difficult to be delightful. It was great to see an alternative Scotsman in MACADAM although the ubiquitous Ian turned up a few clues later

    Top ticks for PRETEND, SKYWARD & FAT CATS which felt timely after yesterday’s Laura K interview

    Muffin @15 if tiny had been omitted I’m sure we’d have quibbles that vegetable was too vague 🙂

    Cheers V&A

  19. Beautifully constructed puzzle with excellent surface readings, ideal for the beginner. Good anagrams – I loved the pet owl.

    I agree with nuntius that Gooners (supporters) rather than Gunners (the team) is more usual now, but I defer to AlanC’s superior knowledge.

    Thanks to S&B

  20. Good, enjoyable start to the week.

    I’m not a great fan of cds but I did like CLEAN-SHAVEN and the good anagram for DIETITIAN. I also enjoyed the wordplay of PRETEND.

    Thanks Vulcan and Andrew.

  21. Quick solve delayed slightly by Gooners and having to check EN PRIMEUR was a thing. I do like Mondays.
    Thanks both.

  23. For DIETITIAN vs DIETICIAN see https://www.fifteensquared.net/2019/12/07/guardian-prize-27992-picaroon/ especially ValM@30.
    Also Guardian and Observer style guide: D ‘dietitianmust be trained and qualified in dietetics, and registered with the Health Professionals Council; not the same as a nutritionist, a less precise term (although some nutritionists are also registered dietitians)’
    “These guys think it’s the correct spelling and dietician is an incorrect variant.”

  24. I thought this was a great example of what Eileen often says, that a crossword doesn’t need to be difficult to be enjoyable. Very good, with lots of amusing surfaces. Favourite was SHELVED for the clever double meaning of “put off”.

    GDU @1: I’m sure we’ve discussed before how pride can suggest both good and bad things depending on the context. You can of course be proud of your children (good), but you can also be proud and haughty (bad). And pride is of course one of the seven deadly sins as dod says @22.

    Many thanks Vulcan and Andrew.

  25. Yes, delightful, easy but fully cryptic. But shouldn’t it have been a quiptic? Beginners looking for a way into cryptics are directed to the Quiptic, only the initiated know about the “easier on a Monday” tradition.
    And while I’m on the subject, and if the new editor is reading, what the Guardian needs is an easy cryptic in Saturday’s paper, to go with the Prize. Then I’d be more likely to buy Saturday’s Guardian instead of the Weekend FT.

  26. Gentle introduction to the week. Favorite was definitely 13d.

    LOI was 24a which I have always spelled with a C and which I now learn is “non-standard” or at least rarer.

  27. Geoff @1: Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall (Proverbs 16:18), so it can definitely have a negative sense.

  28. Lovely fun start to the week when my brain wouldn’t have coped with anything too tricky. Plenty to make me smile. Thanks Vulcan!

  30. As everyone has said lovely gentle puzzle to start the week. Loved ECHO CHAMBER and NUNNERY.

    Thanks Vulcan and Andrew

  32. Yes, I too would have my only quibble with this smooth as silk solve that the Arsenal fans like to be called Gooners, the club itself The Gunners. We are Top Of The League,Top Of….at the moment, anyway.

  33. A rare post from me as I am able to say that I actually completed this, making it my 3rd in 5 years.
    I almost feel intelligent!
    Thanks V. and Andrew.

  34. A very nice Monday.

    As a one-time Arsenal fan myself (lapsed, since I gave up caring about the game when it became too cynical), I thought “what the hell is a “noonnery” first, before correcting myself. But yes, Gunners for fans is correct, and Gooners is much more informal.

  35. En primeur and the gooners were new to me. I got Nunnery from the definition and crossers and en primeur from the only thing I could assemble from “run empire” that looked like words.

    [FAT CAT story. We used to have Christmas at my grandfather’s house, and my aunt and two cousins would come over from across the Hudson. We all brought our cats and dogs. My aunt’s cat was named Honey, but everybody called him Fat Cat because he was. One Christmas my aunt made him a catnip mouse for a present. It was so small that he swallowed the whole thing and proceeded to become very drunk, walking along a wall by leaning against it. We called the vet, who did not like being called out on Christmas day and who had already consumed a good deal of catnip-equivalent himself. He gave Fat Cat a shot that he said was strong enough to make a horse vomit, though I’ve since learned that horses can’t. Fat Cat couldn’t either, or wouldn’t, so we left him to sleep if off, and the vet went home to do the same.]

    Thanks to Vulcan and to Andrew for a happy morning.

  36. @25. Does this mean Hugh Stephenson is no longer Grauniad Crossword Editor. If so news to me and I suspect many others.

  37. Cedric @36
    Yes. Alan Connor took over a few weeks ago. There was some discussion on this site about it, but I can’t find where.

  42. Interesting to read the comments on the negative aspects of pride. And I won’t say that I’m sticking to my guns because that would be — what’s the word? — arrogant? 😉

  44. Roz @40. I am a beginner and I loved it! Nice mixture of clues – Head of State my favourite. I had to ckeck where the vowels went in “primeur” – otherwise all my own work. I think thats the first time I could say that. Thanks Andrew (though I didn’t really need explanations today) and thanks Vulcan – more please. (And thanks to bloggers for their positive comments on an “easy” puzzle – that hasn’t always been the case)

  45. Can I say I am not finding this easy?

    I don’t know what I am doing/not doing correctly.

    I don’t want to reveal answers just yet.

    I have EMPTY-HANDED for 12a.

    Could someone give me some guidance on 9a, 14a, 15a, 22a please?

    I’m hoping these might allow me to get some more down clues

  46. Isn’t ADDLE a transitive verb? So to confuse someone else is to addle (their brain). To “become confused” is to be addled, yet there is nothing in the clue to tell us to delete the terminal “d”.

  49. Tyro@44 the Guardian used to have more puzzles like this , expert setter but suitable for all , Custos , Janus , Quantum etc. It also had very hard setters . These days nearly every puzzle seems to be in the middle range which is a shame.

  50. Steffen@45 if you return.
    9Ac Time = ? very common single letter. For everyone/???? . Def at the end.
    14Ac Died = ? again single letter , after means at the end of the word. Aerial battle gives two 3 letter words for a battle in the air . Def at the end.
    15Ac Two shortly so knock off the last letter, become confused = a slightly unusual word , add it to TW . Def at the end.
    22Ac Adds aomething ( pause ) this is Def, against= 3 letter word , eulogies= 8 letter word.

    When you are really stuck just treat as a quick crossword. look at first or last word(s) , many are simple straight definitions and give you letters to help elsewhere.
    Think of 12Ac as Having nothing ON face. Key word is face.

  53. Thoroughly enjoyed that. Especially when you get a key word or two and then the rest just fall into place! Been doing these cryptic crosswords now for 6/12 and hopefully will be a lifelong habit now!

  54. Roz@50. Many thanks.

    Not a good start to the week when everyone finds it so easy.

    I’ve said it before: I would/will pay serious money for an expert to sit down with me to do these crosswords.

    Maybe Santa will give me the gift of being better at them! Ho-ho-ho.

  55. AlanC @ 14. The origin is a caricature of a Northern pronunciation of ‘gunners’, riffing off the goon connotation.

  57. Only looked at this today, having gotten nowhere with the quiptic yesterday. Managed all but 4. Of the ones I didn’t get I arguably should have got 3 of them but despite parsing the clue correctly I’d never have gotten EN PRIMEUR, since I’ve never heard of it before.

    A couple I got without being able to parse them but overall this felt fair and made sense. Thanks all!

  58. Steffen, I didn’t find it easy either and it’s discouraging when people say how quickly they manage it. I only ever do Vulcan and it takes me many days using all sorts of techniques including thesaurus, crossword solver, and then I am really pleased if I manage 50% without cheating. But gradually you do get to learn some of the tricks of that particular compiler.

  60. Finishing this the Saturday after but I did finally manage to get through the whole thing. Makes the second time I’ve finished a grid other than the Quiptic or Everyman, so it’s nice to have these in-betweens.

    I actually didn’t catch PEA[r] as an explanation for ‘not a whole fruit’. I figured it was a cryptic definition representing that while a pea is a vegetable, a single pea would be only part of the fruit of the pea plant (from a botanical perspective, the pea pod is the fruit of the plant).

    Thanks for these posts, it’s so helpful in terms of learning and getting better. Especially for when I can get a word from half the clue, but can’t work out the wordplay. In this one for example, 13d I only got from the definition, and didn’t really grok until I read this.

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