The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/29507.
My apologies for the late blog – I was having all sorts of technical difficulties. At least the solving part was not difficult, and I thought showed Vulcan at his best.
ACROSS
8 Spanish PM goes to loo (8)
MAJORCAN A charade of MAJOR (John, previous ‘PM’ – Prime Minister) plus CAN (‘loo’).
9 A lingering quality, nothing harsh (5)
ODOUR A charade of O (‘nothing’) plus DOUR (‘harsh’).
10 Beat dog. no pet (4)
WHIP A subtraction: WHIP[pet] (‘dog’) minus PET (‘no pet’).
11 Slog brings big defeat – Edgebaston’s beginning a demonstration (5,5)
ROUTE MARCH A charade of ROUT (‘big defeat’) plus E (‘Edgebaston’s beginning’) plus MARCH (‘a demonstration’).
The problem with having to set up the blog manually: the cricket ground (and its area of Birmingham) is Edgbaston.
12 Calm pupil, outwardly sharp (6)
PLACID A charade of PL (‘PupiL outwardly’) plus ACID (‘sharp’).
14 To acquire gadget, small daughter sucked up (8)
SIPHONED An envelope (‘to acquire’) of IPHONE (iPhone, ‘gadget’) in S (‘small’) plus D (‘daughter’).
15 In all honesty, be inquisitive about article of passing interest (7)
PROBITY An envelope (‘about’) of OBIT (obituary, cryptic definition ‘an article of passing interest’) in PRY (‘be inquisitive’).
17 Two legs treading the boards (2,5)
ON STAGE ON and STAGE are ‘two legs’.
20 Top actor fights for media franchise (4,4)
STAR WARS A charade of STAR (‘top actor’) plus WARS (‘fights’).
22 Thin volume agreed to a certain extent (6)
MEAGRE A hidden answer (‘to a certain extent’) in ‘voluME AGREed’.
23 Son writes in notebook where to get his meds (10)
D ISPENSARY An envelope (‘in’) of S (‘son’) plus PENS (‘writes’) in DIARY (‘notebook’).
24 Spy showing restraint (4)
BOND Double definition.
25 She may run a service vehicle after 6 (5)
VICAR A charade of VI (Roman numeral, ‘6’) plus CAR (‘vehicle’).
26 University tires me out – I leave as this? (8)
EMERITUS An anagram (‘out’) of U (‘university’) plus ‘tires me’.
DOWN
1 An educated person, to a certain degree … (8)
BACHELOR Cryptic definition.
2 Well, out of bed for liquid lunch perhaps (4)
SOUP A charade of SO (‘well’) plus UP (‘out of bed’)/
3 Won points, so made the cut (6)
SCORED Double definition, although I would question the second.
4 During search, one may need a jury (7)
INQUEST A charade of IN (‘during’) plus QUEST (‘search’).
5 Plain menu shop prepared (8)
HOMESPUN An anagram (‘prepared’) of ‘menu shop’.
6 New York families that keep up a dreadful racket (4,6)
COSA NOSTRA Cryptic definition.
7 Prophecy of old, deceptively clear? (6)
ORACLE A charade of O (‘old’) plus RACLE, an anagram (‘deceptively’) of ‘clear’.
13 Rebecca is involved with spy, nothing physical in it (10)
CYBERSPACE An anagram (‘is involved’) of ‘Rebecca’ plus ‘spy’.
16 What may be afoot in coaches (8)
TRAINERS Double definition.
18 Bloomer may come to ruin game (8)
GERANIUM An anagram (‘may come to’) of ‘ruin game’.
19 One freed oneself, having stuck head in three quarters (7)
ESCAPEE An envelope (‘stuck … in’) of CAP (‘head’) in E SE E (‘three quarters’).
This parsing is defensible (Chambers gives among the definitions for quarter
“a cardinal point or any point of the compass”), but a better alternative would be CAPE in E S E.
21 That is Victor in the nick (6)
THIEVE An envelope (‘in’) of I.E. (‘that is’) plus V (‘victor’) in ‘the’.
23 PM on edge in extreme disorder (6)
MAYHEM A charade of MAY (Theresa, former ‘PM’) plus HEM (‘edge’).
24 Arm officer contracted to ship (4)
BRIG BRIG[adier] (‘army officer contracted’).
Couldn’t see MAJORCAN, but otherwise no complaints. The Cosa Nostra is perhaps more associated with Sicily than New York.
Enjoyable puzzle, neither too easy nor too difficult.
New for me: ROUTE MARCH. I have learnt so many military terms via cryptic crosswords.
Favourite: SIPHONED (loi).
Thanks, both.
poc@1 – I agree with you re Cosa Nostra
That was worth it for ON STAGE alone. That is a classic clue.
Last two in, BOND and BRIG took me almost as long to twig as the rest of this puzzle put together. Excellent Monday fare, I thought, so many thanks Vulcan and PeterO…
I found it a bit on the chewy side, but satisfyingly so. ON STAGE was my first in, but I don’t see the connection between ‘ON’ and ‘LEG[s]’.
The pedant in me has to point out that there’s only one E in Edgbaston. I lived next to the cricket ground for years…
Thanks Vulcan and PeterO
I think Vulcan got help from Imogen on this one. I found it very difficult, with the NW very slow to fall.
I spent ages looking for wordplay for COSA NOSTRA, but, unsurprisingly, didn’t find any.
BACHELOR is a bit weak.
I ticked SIPHONED, PROBITY, and THIEVE.
scraggs@5: leg=on is cricket terminology: used a LOT in crosswords. As to why leg=on, I’ll leave it to the cricket experts to explain that.
Thanks PeterO. Late for you because you usually post so early, being in a different time zone. Not late for everyone else. Only I’m going to have to get used to the daily cryptic blog coming up later and later as we move into our daylight saving time.
Got what the wordplay was looking for in SIPHONED, but not having an iphone I didn’t cotton on to the small gadget. And an INQUEST doesn’t always require a jury, at least down here.
A few clues requiring UKGK , but I’ll leave that to our North American (and other) friends).
Liked the simplicity and humour in SOUP, the definition for CYBERSPACE. PROBITY my fave.
If you search for the Cosa Nostra in New York the Five Families come up, the Mafia families that operate still apparently, names like Lucky Luciano from the early days.
An inquest rarely has a jury in the UK too. If someone died in custody or for a violent death
Solid puzzle from Vulcan, thank you and thank you to PeterO for the blog
gladys @7 – I did suspect it might be cricket-related, so thanks for confirming. Despite my proximity to the aforementioned ground, it didn’t result in an improvement in my knowledge of cricket terminology 😉
Like muffin @6, I found this quite difficult.
I did like the Spanish PM, although I think many people now use Mallorca. I also liked the ‘article of passing interest’ in PROBITY and the neat spot of SPENS in DIARY. I didn’t much like the ‘may come to’ as an anagrind to give GERANIUM.
Thanks Vulcan and PeterO.
Toucher than usual on a Monday but nicely constructed.
I’m with others re ON STAGE, but also admired the elegant THIEVE.
Many thanks, both.
In 19d I had CAPE for ‘head’ – but works either way
It may just be me, but I think Vulcan’s Monday puzzles are getting slighly harder. Anyway, I managed to complete this in my alloted time with the exception of INQUEST. I really should have got that (!) I liked MAJORCAN (after fruitlessly exhausting my knowledge of post Franco Spanish PMs: I got all but one), SIPHONED, STAR WARS, THIEVE, PROBITY and ON STAGE. With thanks to Vulcan and to PeterO.
Mike @13 – I think your parsing works better (no disrespect to PeterO).
Scraggs @10. I’m afraid this is a bit of a chestnut. Of course leg and on are not synonymous in cricket – that’s why there are 2 words. But it’s become accepted in crossword land so pedants like me tend not to whinge too loudly any longer.
Mike @13. I parsed it as you did.
TripleJumper @16 – I’ll take your word for it. I do love the game but the terminology is another thing entirely, and this is precisely where I hit a blind spot.
Anyway: noted, with thanks.
I also parsed it as Mike@13. Tough but fair. SIPHONED was very good.
Ta Vulcan & PeterO.
Thanks to PeterO and of course to Vulcan. An enjoyable solve with enough challenge for my liking. 15a PROBITY (already mentioned by quite a few others) was my favourite because of the clever inclusion of OBIT!
I found this harder than the average Vulcan. I finished the bottom half first, then struggled with the top half, partly because I initially thought 1d was going to be GRADUATE.
My favourite was ORACLE with its clever surface hinting at the messages from the priestess at Delphi which always used to get misinterpreted.
Thanks Vulcan and PeterO.
Another who thought this a notch harder than most Vulcan’s, but very enjoyable all the same. LOI was SOUP, and I didn’t bother parsing thinking that it would something like a synonym for ‘well’ taken out of a synonym for ‘bed’. A slap of my forehead when I saw PeterO’s explanation. Thanks Vulcan for an enjoyable puzzle and thanks PeterO for the blog.
TripleJumper @16: I’ve been following cricket for fifty years and I can’t for the life of me see the difference between on-side and leg-side. I’m a pedant too, so do please explain! Thanks.
oed.com’s first meaning for 3d SCORED is ‘I. To cut, mark with incisions.’
19d ESCAPEE is an envelope (‘stuck … in’) of CAPE (‘head’) in E S E (‘three quarters’). (SE isn’t a quarter – maybe it’s an eighth?)
Ed@25 – on = leg – it’s the obligatory cricket reference.
What’s the hooha about leg & on in 11a ? There’s no mention of those words in the clue
… it’s in 17a, not 11a.
A good solid Monday puzzle. Favorites included PROBITY and TRAINERS. 6D was last one in, and required an Aha! moment.
Thank you Vulcan and PeterO.
BigNorm @23: the two terms are often used interchangeably, but leg can also be used to mean only the part of on side level with and behind the batter – or equivalently, level with and behind square leg. Thus, long leg is behind the batter, long on in front.
Leg glance, on drive. So leg is behind square, on in front, maybe?
Pleased to complete a puzzle that seemed very hard for a Monday to start with. PROBITY, DISPENSARY, MAYHEM, SIPHONED and THIEVE all good.
Thanks both!
Liked this, despite being harder than usual. SIPHONED the fave.
I noticed that after the Queen died, there were strong voices here saying ER should henceforth be clued using “former”. Today we had two former PMs without the indicator, and no such voices. Just saying! (Personally, I’d vote for no modifier in either case.) Tx.
Picking up on Robi@11’s comment re Mallorca and Majorca. The former is most certainly the Spanish/Catalan name for the island. I think it is only the British who refer to Majorca (?), though as Robi suggests perhaps less so than was the case. (If that’s right then I can see how non Brit solvers might find this clue especially difficult). I’ve seen some people suggest that it is somehow insulting not to use the “correct” Mallorca (the pronounciation being the same), but I don’t see why. Spanish speakers use Londres for London and Inglaterra for England. Fine by me. All part of the rich tapestry.
Thanks both,
I find I wrote in ‘escaper’ as my unconscious self could not abide ‘escapee’.
Was going to say I didn’t much like “afoot” in 16d TRAINERS, but it can mean “on one’s feet” (as opposed to on a horse, &c.).
And that’s where TRAINERS go – “on one’s feet” – so I changed my mind. It’s a cryptic definition, though.
[TiLT: Sherlock Holmes’ “the game is afoot”, a hunting phrase meaning the stags, for example, are astir, was nicked by Conan Doyle from the immortal bard.]
Jacob and Irishman @28 and 29: Thanks for the thoughts, and it’s a fair point you each make. I have to say it’s not something that has ever occurred to me before, however, and the ‘forward and back of square’ distinction is not one which is made in batters’ ‘wagon-wheels’ as shown by the broadcasters or websites such as Cricinfo. I wonder if earlier generations of statisticians made the distinction. Time now for me to dig out my old books from The Bearded Wonder, Bill Frindall. (It beats working, anyway.)
ON STAGE
leg=ON
Forward short leg, and short leg are in the same quarter silly mid on, mid on and long on are in. I feel leg and ON are synonymous in cricket (well..unless BigNorm’s research throws up something different).
Mike @13 – I think your “CAPE” fits the clue better, since it results in three “quarters”, E, S, & E, rather than using SE (which some might say isn’t a quarter of the Compass).
Found this tougher than normal Vulcan Monday fare. But enjoyable once I got going. Thanks Vulcan and PeterO.
Didn’t parse the three quarters, but should have (though was disappointed that it was really two quarters, one of which was repeated!).
I particularly liked ON STAGE, MAJORCAN, SIPHONED and DISPENSARY, but was it just me who thought there was an unnecessary “interest” in OBIT? …and COSA NOSTRA just didn’t really feel like a cryptic definition to me…
Took far too long to get BOND and WHIP, but both were nice tidy clues.
Steppie36
scraggs@5: The orignal crossword has Edgbaston. The rogue ‘e’ is a scribal error!
KVa @ 35: ‘inconclusive’ is the best I can offer. I still see the terms as interchangeable, and, after 50 years following the game, I’m prepared to stick with that while also allowing others who wish to make the distinction to do so.
CJ@37: “of passing interest” = mildly interesting. Or, in the case of an OBIT, interest in the passing of someone.
“Leg” is the side of the wicket where your legs are in your stance; “on” is the side opposite to “off”, though this doesn’t explain the origin of “off side”.
On a specific point, KVa @35, although they are the same side of the wicket, silly mid-on and forward short leg are significantly different positions; the former is much straighter – i.e. closer to the cut surface.
TonyG@39: Muphry’s law strikes again! (Or was that intentional?)
Thanks both.
It’s been a while since I enjoyed a puzzle as much. A slow chewy solve with HOMEPUN (soo good), SIPHONED (clang!), SOUP (of course!) and MAJORCAN saving themselves up for a chorus of pdms at the end.
I need a cigarette…
TonyG @39: absolutely. Not the worst thing of course, but it really stands out for me for reasons mentioned.
Yep, agree this was trickier than Vulcan’s typical Monday fare especially the top half. All good stuff, thought SOUP and ON STAGE were very nice.
I came to this puzzle after work, and more to the point here, after many comments below complained about it being too tough, but I didn’t find it that way, I thoroughly enjoyed it and found it largely in keeping with Vulcan expectations. That being said, the NE held off longest, and I can’t believe that 6 took me so long, given my love of the first two Godfather films and Goodfellas.
FrankieG@41 thanks – I was writing a reply explaining why I still didn’t like it, but then found the thing that “clicked” for me, so leaving it here for posterity.
An “article of anthropological interest” would obviously be an article about anthropology. An “article of passing interest” could therefore be an article about passing = obituary.
Which I think leaves my only issue that “passing” in the CD needs to be simultaneously regarded as an adjective (to fit the above pattern) and a gerund (referring to death). Which as a newer solver I found my brain simply couldn’t accept – I feel like we normally deal with one alternative at a time (albeit often not the same part of speech as the surface implies!)
Concerning the Majorca/Mallorca discussion here, it is always a treat to remember this TV commercial for Heineken, with Sylvestra Le Touzel as a Sloane Ranger being taught ‘Street Cred’.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKRuG4oIu_o
Balfour@49: Thanks for that little trip down memory lane; and with a voice- over from the legendary and much missed Victor Borge.
Certainly a cut above a Dynamo Monday.
I wondered whether “to a” in 1d might mean adding A to the entry gives BA, a particular degree, but I’m probably overthinking it. Similarly, I looked hard for additional wordplay in COSA NOSTRA without success. CDs aren’t really my cup of tea 🙂.
Liked the MAJOR CAN and the MAY HEM. Is prophecy really ORACLE, or something that the oracle provides?
Thanks, Peter & Vulcan.
PS I see Collins backs Vulcan up re: ORACLE. Fair enough.
20a – I had SEAN PENN.
I’ll let you guess how I did overall. 5 clues solved.
Enjoyed this one – hard enough to make me think but not so hard I gave up.
1d was obviously QUALIFIED till I realised that had too many letters, then it was definitely GRADUATE, without my being quite sure why. Until pressing Check for a feeble attempt at10 removed what I thought was the only nailed-on letter in there…
Good misdirection as I think you can it when slog near Edgbaston is nothing to do with an agricultural or uncouth shot
Muffin@42: the origin of “off” and “on” is said to derive from the horse carriages that the gentlemen Victorian cricketers were used to driving. In a carriage, the “on” side was the one nearest to the pavement (through which one would normally seek to exit, for obvious reasons). Carriages, like cars, kept to the left on British roads, and would aim to pass “off” side to “off” side. Most batters are right handers, meaning they stand to the left of the wicket. Hence a delivery directed at or to the left of their legs would arrive on what they thought of as their “on” side, and one on their right would come on their “off” side. But the idea only means something when thinking about a ball, or carriage, that is approaching; once it has passed by, it is no longer on your off or on side, but behind you. Hence mid-on and mid-off are on the appropriate sides of the wicket as a carriage driver might view them, but third man, cover, long leg etc do not recognise on and off in their names.
Thanks Sagittarius @57
I dont understand 6d cosa nostra?
If you’re back, Kirsty, think ‘racket’ = organised criminal activities, not ‘racket’ = loud, intrusive noise.
I am a happy beginner here. Took me till Wednesday but got there eventually, with a tiny bit of cheating /checking in the online version. I am so grateful to guardian and fifteen squared for looking after newbies. Am I too late in this thread to ask which crossword to try between now and quick cryptic on Saturday? I now attempt that, quiptic, everyman and Monday. Thanks.
Hi Gawny@61. Not many people come back here this late after the puzzle was published! I saved this one in my Monday paper for my train journey to France on Tuesday, but in fact didn’t tackle it until Wednesday evening.
The Monday puzzles are usually meant to be entry level or fairly close to it, like Everyman and Quiptic. But I find, as an experienced but not always successful solver, that the difficulty of a puzzle is very often down to my state of mind and ability to concentrate in sometimes distracting circumstances.
The rest of the week can be any level of difficulty, so I would encourage you to have a go and see how you get on. Then come here and try to pick up hints as to how you might have been able to solve the clues you failed on, if you had been better equipped.
One tip that might help: when looking at a completed puzzle, don’t read all the answers at once. Enter them into the grid one at a time and see if the crossers might have helped you solve the next few clues. This might help boost your confidence for the next challenge.
Good luck!