Guardian 29,313 – Vlad

80 comments on “Guardian 29,313 – Vlad”

1. Thanks Vlad and Andrew!
   A lovely puzzle filled with excellent surfaces and clear clueing.
   A neat blog!
   Loved: CHORD, AWESTRUCK, SOUPCON and AMPERSANDS.

   SELF-DEPRECATION: An extended def, I thought. Lovely surface for sure.
   (a minor omission: ON is not added after the anagram)
   SWILL: A skinhead’s preference. Another great surface.

2. Some amazing clues (love CHORD). Others a bit meh.

   Overall a real challenge.

   Thanks Setter and Blogger

   Is awestruck one word? I would hyphenate

3. An utterly brilliant end to the week. I expected to be still working on this tomorrow – which would have been a joy – but careful and meticulous working through the clues gave a highly satisfactory finish today. Too many favourites to name, but I did enjoy finally working out RATTLED. One question – I thought that there was some convention about not allowing anagrams of words which are indirectly indicated by the clue (i.e. the letters are not in the clue), such as Vlad used for SKID. But I have probably remembered this wrong and got mixed up with another bit of guidance. Anyone know what I’m talking about? Thanks Vlad and Andrew.

4. A wonderful, if tough, ending to the week. I enjoyed the pertinent political commentaries pertaining to both the UK and USA. 14D was a favourite but I found 2D a bit weak – there certainly is no requirement to participate in an exit poll and apart from the crossers, there is little to give much help. Thanks to Vlad for the challenge and to Andrew.

5. @larry #4. Agree with your point re exit poll. Even a hint by person taking poll that it is required is – I think – a breach of election law.

6. Further to my comment above, on re-reading 2D, perhaps it means the polls depend on people co-operating by participating as they leave. However, I still see it as a bit vague.

7. Sex and drugs, what’s not to like 😉 .Then of course there’s Thor [ … the one that ends Yeth I’m thore too but I’m thatithfied] But enough of smut and lewdness, nice puzzle, ta VandA, with a lovely surface and anagram for 16a, then re-referenced for the trumpeters.

8. Splendid Friday fare. As always, patience and a fair degree of twisting and turning required but everything came good in the end. It is remarkable how succinct Vlad manages to be, even when cluing long/unpromising solutions; many of these clues are six words or less. ROACH, RATTLED, CHORD, SELF-DEPRECATION, SWILL, BOWLED, AMPERSANDS and the rather smutty SMUTTY were my picks of the day. I feel I have seen IT professional for SEX WORKER before – it’s very neat; if I haven’t then apologies to Vlad and it deserves to join the list.

   Thanks Vlad and Andrew

9. @paul #3

   I think Vlad gets away with Kids being clued rather than printed fodder as it is a simple letter cycling end to beginning rather than full anagram, also short, and straightforwardly clued

10. Thanks Vlad and Andrew
    That wasn’t as hard as it appeared at first sight, though I needed the parses for DWELL and SMUTTY. Slow finish in the NW.
    Too many good clues to list, but I particularly liked IBIDEM.

11. paul@3: I don’t think cycling the S from last to first counts as an anagram, does it?

    Agree that this was entertaining and pitched at a satisfying level of difficulty. I seem to struggle more with Vlad than with other impalers, there’s something about the construction of his surfaces that renders them more opaque than most. Thanks to Vlad and to Andrew for the blog.

12. Thanks Matthew@3 and Charles@11. I hadn’t spotted that it was just a ‘cycling’ of one letter. So maybe my memory of a ‘rule’ is not so faulty after all!
    I had the same immediate thought as Larry @4 and @6 but, also, on reflection, read it to mean that people leaving are required for the poll to happen. Seems fair to me.

13. That was a game of two halves for me today, ultimately resulting in a DNF.

    So many were fantastic and entertaining: TRUMPETERS, DAIQUIRIS, SOUPCON, SELF DEPRECATION to name a few. But, I’d never heard of IBIDEM and so had to reveal and EXIT POLL took too much mashing of the Check button to qualify as a solve. DAUNTLESS seemed a bit forced to me, but maybe that’s just because I struggled today.

    Thanks Vlad and thank you Andrew for explaining the parsings that I couldn’t get.

14. Most challenging puzzle this week, but I expect that from Vlad, and satisfying as it came together.

    I needed the blog to parse DAUNTLESS, but otherwise it mostly came together.

    Thank you to Vlad and Andrew.

15. Lechien @13
    One usually sees IBIDEM abbreviated to ibid., to mean “see reference elsewhere in the same article/book”.

16. I had EXIT VISA for EXIT POLL and I thought seed for plant even as a verb was a bit of a stretch, though I suppose you can seed a lawn??? I liked SELF-DEPRECATION and AMPERSANDS, though. Thanks V and A. (I shall now think of the museum as the setter and blogger museum)

17. Very good. I’m with PM@8 in appreciating concise clues like many of Vlad’s. Favourites include RATTLED, DEUCEDLY, AMPERSANDS and many others.
    I read the EXIT POLL clue like Larry@6, but agree the wording doesn’t quite work.
    paul@3 – as Charles@11 says, it’s a cycling, not fully an anagram. You’re right that there does seem to be a convention that indirect anagrams shouldn’t be used, but I see no problem with them – the point is to make the solver think, and some crosswords are meant to make the solver think quite hard, so what’s wrong with making a clue difficult?
    Thanks Vlad and Andrew.

18. So much for EXIT Sign, which was my first attempt for EXIT POLL before being disabused by the crossers. I found SEX WORKER my favourite (ahem, no, don’t jump to conclusions) and as PM @8 says, it’s genius if original.
    paul @12 et al, I think that the thinking behind “indirect cycling” versus “indirect anagrams” is that there are a lot more possibilities with anagrams as opposed to cycling which is what makes them “less fair i.e. unfair”.

19. Thanks to Andrew and Vlad.
    AWESTRUCK struck me. Misdirected, trying to think of an American equivalent to ‘darn’. Drat?
    TRUMPETERS shouted at me. Great clue. SOUPCON was clever, but maybe a bit too clever. Maybe verging on unfairness. Wordplay and def both challenging. Fav AMPERSANDS. Brilliant anagram, manspreads, how did Vlad see that?

20. Thanks Vlad & Andrew.
    It was a pleasure to untangle some of the parsing.
    Favourites RATTLED, CHORD and SELF-DEPRECATION (which is worthy of praise)

21. paddymelon@19
    SOUPCON
    Curious to know why you call the clue unfair (ok…almost).
    AMPERSANDS
    Great anagram indeed. What an ill-mannered habitual manspreader(no such word?)!

22. Excellent except for SOUPÇON – agree with paddymelon@19 not necessarily unfair but poor

23. This is the first Vlad puzzle of the year! – and well worth waiting for.

    Apart from the inspired anagrams for AMPERSANDS (highlighting one of the lesser attractions of my weekly bus ride into town) and SELF-DEPRECATION, brilliantly combined with TRUMPETERS and IDIOCIES, I had ticks for RATTLED (loved the construction and surface), DAUNTLESS, DEUCEDLY and IBIDEM.

    I’m with PostMark and beaulieu in admiration of Vlad’s succinctness.

    I smiled at the thought of Vlad having his tongue in his cheek when he wrote ‘rich crossword setter’ for 22ac.

    Many thanks, as always, to Vlad for a super challenge and to Andrew for the customary fine blog.

24. I agree with the above, but re SOUPÇON, why does the clue need to include ‘originally’? It already says ‘opening course’. That fooled me for ages and Andrew’s parsing didn’t help me either!
    Otherwise a slow but reasonably steady workout, quite hard even for a Friday. Thanks V and A

25. I thought this was generally less impaling than some of his previous ones. No getting away from TRUMP though!

    I liked the wordplays of AWESTRUCK, DAUNTLESS and IDIOCIES, the surface for SKID, and the good anagram spot for AMPERSANDS.

    Thanks Vlad and Andrew.

26. SinCam@24
    SOUPCON
    CON SOUP originally
    SOUP comes first (originally) then CON

27. I can’t see any problem with SOUPCON, I think forgetting about the cedilla is OK and the clue was fair, though I admit I needed the crossers having first thought of ‘modicum’ and trying to parse it in somehow. Agree with all the other (favourable) comments. After a quick start with SEX WORKER and ROACH (does that say something about me?), I quickly entered a mystified state for a while, but everything worked out in the end. Loved the 5,16, 18 combination. Thanks to Vlad and Andrew.

28. I’m fine with SOUPCON, but M=Madam? Chambers doesn’t agree so I imagine there must be support for this somewhere else.

    I too thought that the ‘required’ in 2d was surplus to requirements.

29. Tough and enjoyable.

    Favourite: RATTLED, OSTRACISED, BOWLED.

    New for me: CHORD = a straight line joining the ends of an arc.

    I could not parse 18d or 25ac apart from D=duke.

    Thanks, both.

30. poc @28
    It’s “madame”, so French. Madame and Monsieur are aften given as M.

31. a steady enjoyable solve. failed to parse AWESTRUCK. 16a very clever. thanks to V and A

32. Thanks for the blog, the return of Vlad very welcome, nice to have a setter who just concentrates on writing good concise clues. I could list many, OSTRACISED and CHORD flow so neatly , SOUPCON and DAUNTLESS very clever………..
    EXIT POLL , you can only be surveyed straight after voting, so people leaving the polling station ( outgoing ) are required for the sample.

33. Paul@3 there is only one rule, the setter sets and we try to solve, anything is allowed but we have the right to grumble. Indirect anagrams deserve a severe Paddington stare .
    As Matthew , Charles and yourself note, SKID is just cycling, TimC mentions the numbers.
    Including the original , 4 possibilities for cycling, 12 for an anagram.

34. Poc@28 & muffin@30: 20D would have worked better had it read monsieur, which is normally abbreviated to M. rather than Madame which is normally abbreviated to Mme. I can find no justification for m. being used for Madame. Chambers does give a dated use for ‘m being used for madam, as in « yes’m » = yes, ma’m.

35. poc@28
    IBIDEM
    It didn’t occur to me while solving the puzzle. Only after you questioned if M stood for Madame, I googled and could find only this (wiki):
    “Monsieur” (M.) for a man, The plural is Messieurs (MM. for short).
    “Madame” (Mme) for a woman. The plural is Mesdames (Mmes).
    “Mademoiselle” (Mlle) is a traditional alternative for an unmarried woman. The plural is Mesdemoiselles (Mlles).
    Someone may cite another reference that has M for Madamme.

36. Finally got there and really enjoyed the ride. As others have said, Vlad has stretched things a bit far in places (‘seed’ for plant ? ‘antless’ for lacking an army?), but I still relished it.

37. Yes it was quite difficult, but there were some truly lovely words along the way like 19a DAIQUIRIS, 22a CHIMERA, 23a SOUPÇON and 17d DEUCEDLY. I needed to come here to understand that particular meaning of CHORD as a line (13a), and also to unravel 18d IDIOCIES (the old SEE for DIOCESE trick snookered me yet again!).
    Thanks to Vlad and Andrew.

38. Clever and hard but no complaints except for DAUNTLESS . Does “army” often signify ants? I couldn’t think beyond “aunt”.

39. Ricardo @38 ‘Army’ for ‘ants’ is rather unusual – but ‘soldier’ for ‘ant’ is quite common and worth filing away.

40. DAUNTLESS
    I thought ‘army’ was a whimsical (but intended) extension by the setter from ‘soldiers’ (always thought it was a colony of ants) to indicate a group of ants. This site says something else:
    https://thecollectivenouns.com/animals/ants/
    The most common collective noun for Ants is a Colony. Besides that, based on different situations, collective names like Army, Swarm, Nest, Cluster, Caste, Horde, Congregation, Thriving, and Mound are used to denote a group of ants.

41. KVa@40, I was looking at exactly the same. There are also ants known as “Army ants”: https://www.britannica.com/animal/army-ant so despite my inability to parse it, I retract my statement @13.

42. Loved SEX WORKER. It went in right away (did I just say that?) so I thought this might be plain sailing, but it wasn’t. You’d think the last ones in might go quickly with all those crossers, but I found it tough till the end.

43. An indirect almost-anything is allowable as long as it isn’t (o horror!) an anagram. Seeing how much trouble I usually have with thinking of the original text for cycling clues and synonyms for charades and words that have to have bits chopped off their beginnings,ends or middles, I’m rather pleased that I’m not expected to think of anagram fodder as well.

    Lots of fun with this: favourites the SELF DEPRECATION group, AMPERSANDS, KINDLINESS and CHORD for a neat lift and separate. Failed to parse AWESTRUCK and SMUTTY.

    M may be OK for Madam, but Madame is always Mme.

44. Good fun for a Friday, just chewy enough. Can we say ‘al dente’ perhaps? The parsing of 14A eluded me, so thank you Andrew.

    Two minor peeves: along with others I question M for madame, especially with other more conventional clueings possible. And L for lecturer is new to me, unless we allow pretty much any word to be replaced by its first letter with no indication of such?

45. Got off to a flying start then ground to a halt with 6 blanks and several unparsed. Just about worth it for the excellent anagram in 16A.

46. Very very good. Paulish! Thrown by putting ‘cigar’ for smoked fish at first. It is a thing.

47. I originally had the same doubts about “required” in 2d as Larry@4 and others, but then began thinking (the very reason for doing crosswords!) about the definition of a requirement. I realised that I was interpreting a requirement as a thing that had to be given, but to require is to ask, and surely one is entitled to decline a request rather than an order? As has been pointed out, one certainly has the right to decline to answer an exit poll questioner.

48. Jacob@44
    DWELL
    Chambers has L for Lecturer.

49. An excellent end to a great week. I was defeated only by CEDE, which seems so obvious now. Favourites include TRUMPETERS, SOUPCON, DAIQUIRIS and AMPERSANDS. With thanks to Vlad and Andrew.

50. KVa@48 Given how often Chambers comes up short, I’m wondering how much credit we should give it when it comes up long, so to speak. Just saying!

    BTW the Online Chambers has these for L (note no Lecturer): lake, learner driver, Liberal, licentiate, lira or lire, 50, left, length, line, litre.

51. Never would have thought of “antless.”

    How are AMPERSANDS more than once?

    Why isn’t 17d DLYDEUCE?

    Thanks to Vlad and Andrew.

52. AMPERSANDS
    ‘And’ more than once

53. Jacob@44: while it’s fun to trawl through Chambers to confirm a rarely seen “abbreviation”, for practical solving purposes I have long since assumed that any word can mean its first letter if the setter wants it to.

54. Dr. WhatsOn@50
    LOL
    I have the Chambers mobile app. Is the online Chambers dictionary site a paid one?

55. KVa no, it’s a link, it’s free, and it’s here.

56. Thank you!

57. Gladys @53: couldn’t agree more. I’ve long given up contesting the legality of abbreviations. It’s rather what Roz said @33… setters set, and we try to solve.

    Loved this crossword. I took “required” in EXIT POLL as leavers of the booth were ‘necessary’.

    Many thanks V&A

58. DrWhatson @50 – my online Chambers has a longer list for capital L, which includes lecturer; it’s an app I paid for (though not very much, as far as I remember). It cites the developer as Antony Lewis, presumably with the agreement of the publishers. I find it (and the Thesaurus) invaluable.

59. Sarah, very interesting. It sort of makes sense that the various Chambers offerings differ if they were created at different times and/or with different mandates or objectives. We need a Venn diagram!

60. Chambers93 , the first edition , has L=lecturer , this is used in job descriptions and pay scales.
    It does not have L=live which is in every electrical socket, light switch and plug in the UK so very widely used.

61. Some beauties here – with a special mention for the &.
    The lady without a boy caught me out. Try to remember this for the next time.
    I was hoping the blog would show me what I missed with the exit poll, but hey hoh, mustn`t grumble.
    Many Thanks to the V&A

62. 2d EXIT POLL – Why the hyphen in “co-operate”?
    The Guardian and Observer style guide: C says: ‘
    Co-operative Bank (abbreviation: Co-op bank), Co-operative Group, Co-operative party
    Co-op as in “I still shop at the Co-op”
    co-operative movement when talking about Robert Owen, the Rochdale Pioneers, etc
    co-operative (abbreviation: co-op) as in a housing co-operative
    cooperative, cooperate, cooperation when used in a general sense, as in “they were surprisingly cooperative when asked to work longer hours for less money”’
    Hyphens usually don’t last long. E-mail quickly became email. I think this one persists in Britain because without it we’re reminded of chickens, barrel-makers,
    Alice, Bradley, DB, Gary, Henry, Tommy, Yvette, FBI Special Agent Dale and all the other Coopers.

63. Not my cup of tea at all – reminded me of Paul at his most irritatingly tricksy. Unlike yesterday’s actual Paul, which was unusually enjoyable

64. Frankie @62
    Instead of the hyphen, an umlaut could be used, as in Boötes.

65. [me @64
    As an aside, nearly everyone (me included) mispronounces “zoology”.]

66. muffin@64 – As still in use in The New Yorker style guide for coöperate

67. [Thanks for that, FrankieG. I’m surprised that Americans would be so avant garde!]

68. I had chard for smoked fish, which threw me out

69. after 16a, which was sublime, 23d was my favourite clue in this mostly excellent puzzle.
    maybe it’s just me but 23d perfectly exemplifies the art of cryptic clueing. 3d is also very tidy.

70. I think “required “ in 2d is a simple piece of misdirection and is fine. The point is that the outgoing are required for the poll, not that they are required to complete the poll. I don’t think that is weak. If I was going to moan I would moan about the constant use of “it” for sex, but I won’t because it’s all just fun.

71. This puzzle definitely resulted in an extra-long US lunch hour as I struggled to get something more than sex worker and a few scattered short ones. Self-deprecation was my breakthrough, but it was still a tough slog. Bowled was my LOI, as I played with various meanings of out.

72. Great puzzle but somewhat puzzled by 17d as did not see how Deuce came before the other letters ??

73. Took all day (on and off) but always delighted to finish a Vlad. Thanks to him and Andrew.

74. Thought this was Vlad at his most, well, DEUCEDLY fiendish. Though perhaps this wouldn’t be my adjective (or is it an adverb?) of choice before I attempted this. For all the complicated clueing, my favourite solve was in fact SHUT. Thanks very much Andrew for untangling OSTRACISE and DWELL for me today…11 ac RATTLED in last of all

75. I have never seen “in court” used for tennis players/umpires, they are always “on court”.
    A ball might land “in court” but balls don’t say anything.

76. S@72 The word “by” indicates that DLY and DEUCE should be put together, but it does not specify in which order.

77. Dekkers@70, it’s more than just fun. Without it the species wouldn’t last very long.

    My reaction to this puzzle, and list of favourites, was the same as Eileen’s@23, except that I would add 23a SOUPÇON to her list.

    Thanks Victoria and Albert for the fine Friday fun.

78. Belated thanks to Andrew for the blog and to others who commented.

79. You can add my vote to the opinion that Madame for M is simply an error on Vlad’s part. These things happen.

    Otherwise a very nice, if difficult, puzzle. I failed to solve a couple, but they’re perfectly sound now that I see how they work.

80. Almost; I had RUMPLED and EXAM ROLL instead of RATTLED and EXIT POLL. I actually think mine works as well as Vlad’s for the latter, but not as well for the former.

    CHORD would have been delightful if the CH/OR part weren’t so oblique. BOWLED had a lovely clean surface and SELF-DEPRECATION was very nice.

    I also struggled with trying to fit MME into 20d. M is “monsieur”, not “madame”.

Comments are closed.