I found this a bit harder than usual for Vulcan, probably because of the large (some might say excessive) number of double definition clues. There are also several that I’ve labelled as “double/cryptic definition”, by which I mean they have a definition and and attached hint. (I tried to coin the word “sesquidef” to describe this type a few years ago, but unsurprisingly it didn’t catch on.) Thanks to Vulcan.
| Across | ||||||||
| 7. | CARTRIDGE | There will be a charge in this case (9) Cryptic definition – the “charge” is in a gun cartridge |
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| 8. | WATCH | Pay attention to what the Spectator does (5) “Double” definition – “Spectator” is capitalised to make us think of the magazine, but otherwise it’s essentially the same definition twice |
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| 9. | INSIDE JOB | Type of crime committed by a prisoner? (6,3) Double/cryptic definition |
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| 10. | SIREN | Bewitching girl that wails loudly (5) Double definition |
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| 12. | ARTERY | Queen contributed to cultural channel (6) ER in ARTY |
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| 13. | ELEPHANT | Trumpeter amazing the panel (8) (THE PANEL)* |
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| 16. | COMPACT | Succinct agreement that’s put into handbag (7) Three definitions |
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| 19. | SPARKLE | Odds on racehorse are glittering (7) SP (Starting price – odds) + ARKLE (racehorse, named after a mountain in NW Scotland) |
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| 22. | DOG-TIRED | Boxer so shattered? (3-5) Double/cryptic definition |
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| 25. | SQUASH | Put down drink (6) Double definition (“put down” as in squashing a rebellion) |
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| 27. | SEPIA | Pigment sounds more likely to ooze (5) Homophone of “seepier” |
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| 28. | PREACHING | Nice graph represented vicar’s work (9) (NICE GRAPH)* |
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| 29. | LED ON | Deceived the French teacher (3,2) LE + DON |
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| 30. | ONCE AGAIN | Ocean waves go fast, as before (4,5) OCEAN* + GAIN (as in “they’re gaining on us”) |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 1. | MANNER | Style of plain title girl received (6) ANNE in MR (a “plain title”) |
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| 2. | STRIKE UP | Knock into the air and begin to play (6,2) Double definition (“strike up the band!”) |
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| 3. | LIVERY | These London companies providing current to railway (6) LIVE (providing current) + RY – see here to read about livery companies |
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| 4. | IGNORED | Disregarded amendment for redoing (7) REDOING* |
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| 5. | DANISH | In plate, an accompaniment to coffee (6) AN in DISH – a Danish pastry |
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| 6. | SCREEN | Loose rock needs new barrier (6) SCREE (loose rock on a hillside) + N |
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| 11. | LEAP | Look before you take such a year (4) Double/cryptic definition – “look before you leap” |
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| 14. | ASK | Request contents of basket (3) Hidden in bASKet |
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| 15. | TIE | Draw something of the old school (3) Double definition, the second referring to “the old school tie” |
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| 16. | COD | Not real fish (3) Double definition |
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| 17. | MUG | This could be raised to part of mouth (3) Reverse of GUM (part of the mouth), and a MUG can be raised to the lips |
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| 18. | CORK | It closes the port (4) Double definition |
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| 20. | ROUGHAGE | Unpleasant period having fibre to eat (8) ROUGH + AGE |
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| 21. | ADORING | Besotted with Gordian knot (7) GORDIAN* |
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| 23. | OPENER | Key batsman (6) Double definition |
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| 24. | TAILOR | Tinker’s follower could suit you (6) Double definition – from the counting rhyme “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor”, and a tailor could make you a suit |
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| 25. | SWAYED | Was a rocker in leather, I gather (6) Homophone of “suede” |
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| 26. | SINK IN | Evil family are absorbed (4,2) SIN (evil) + KIN |
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Thanks Vulcan and Andrew. The confounded grid again, with less than 50% checking (8, 10, 27, 29 across, for instance).
I’m like The Boomtown Rats, I don’t like Mondays.
Well, the usual gimmes like watch, dog tired, elephant and so on, but for some reason the last four or five in the NW took ages: cartridge, inside job, artery and livery. Not sure why now, but well done Vulcan for giving me a bit to chew on besides muesli. Plain title for Mr, and ‘providing current’ for ‘live’ were pretty neat. So, quite happy with Monday, thanks V and A.
Thanks Andrew and Vulcan. Completed most of it without too much effort, although INSIDE JOB took a bit longer as I was convinced the second word was CON. SWAYED was the LOI having toyed with SHAKER for a while, thinking there was some play on leather-clad Shakin’ Stevens, allied with there being plenty of options for S?A?E? to choose from.
I did screw up, putting VIXEN at 10a without really thinking it through.
George Clements @2
Like clockwork?
Did anybody else start off at 7ac with bombshell? Just as good an answer as far as I can see, until you start on the down clues.
George Clements @2 and Penfold @5. It’s all about the fine art of surfacing. Like gif @3 I got stuck in the NW corner.
Defeated by SEPIA for now adequate reason. Not great entertainment I feel.
The problem with dds is that you either get them or you don’t, and about half of these I didn’t, so had to resort to checking. The more normally cryptic ones were mostly fairly quick, pleasingly, though I did not know SP = starting price = odds, so could not parse SPARKLE. I also started with CON rather than JOB. Thanks to Vulcan and to Andrew for explaining some of the more obscure definitions.
And I too had the entire grid complete but nothing in the NW corner…
Like Beaobachterin@9&10 I had a bit of trouble with the NW corner, and for 30a I thought ‘go fast’ wasn’t the same meaning as GAIN. But all enjoyable Mondayish fare. I liked ARTERY. Thanks to Vulcan and Andrew.
Drofle @11 re GAIN: think of a clock, when it is going fast it gains
I had VIXEN for 10a. Seems to work as well.
howard @7 – I didn’t but agree that bombshell is as good and this is my problem with a puzzle full of so many double-ish definitions and cryptic definitions. In Saturday’s very entertaining Prize there were a handful of words I didn’t know but from the wordplay I could say “I bet this means that” and lo and behold on googling it did. Here (although there are no obscure words) if you don’t quite land upon the answer, or settle on a similar but incorrect one you can get properly stuck and the clue offers you no further help to suggest you’ve gone off course.
I found the whole thing rather unsatisfying to be honest.
And I’m another one who held themself up with CON pencilled into 9ac.
Lovely anagram in one of today’s letters. Easily survives travel north to castle (4,5,7,3,5,4,5)
I think some these (eg WATCH and SIREN) should be classed as SDs (Single Definitions). Had to check I wan’t on on the Quick Crossword.
Like others, held up in the NW though, with that awkward grid.
Thanks both
Mostly write-ins, very quick solve, no memorable clues.
Thanks, Andrew – though I did not find this hard. Like rodshaw@17, many wrote in easily – LEAP, ASK, TAILOR, et al.
Some are more cunning than has been mentioned. CORK is an Irish port, it closes, and in particular it can close a bottle of port (many cork trees coming from Portugal). MUG means mouth, as well as being GUM reversed, and what is put to the mouth or gum. And I liked the triple in COMPACT, as identified by Andrew.
Another one who got stuck in NW corner; too many cds and dds for my liking.
Thanks Vulcan and Andrew.
Julia @15
That anagram was tweeted by the Telegraph last week. What are Guardian readers coming to?
A pretty so-so Vulcan this week. Didn’t find much to inspire me. Some bizarre anagrinds made me think I was doing the Everyman for a while.
I think 8a ‘watch’ is a genuine dd. You can watch something physically (the spectator part), but in phrases like ‘watch what you’re saying’ it means give more thought/pay more attention to.
Thanks V & A.
Boffo, my sons say the same when they see The Weekend Australian (Murdoch press) on my table, i.e. I hope you don’t actually read that s..t. Only the puzzles, I reply.
A reasonably speedy solve, though SEPIA held me up almost as long as the rest. A couple of nice anagrams, though they may be new only to me – redoing and (especially) Gordian with knot as the anagrind. Thanks, V&A.
GinF @22. Snap. I used to get it off my father until he died, because I would never give real money to Rupert for that garbage.
I liked CORK.
A propos some comments last week, it was also one of the rare puzzles with nothing American in it.
greensward @21: I appreciate what you’re saying but I’m not convinced as the derivation is the same. A proper dd for me would something like ‘Pay attention to the time’.
I’ve seen the term semi &lit on 225 so could we have the term semi dd?
A strange mix of the absurdly easy with a few chewier ones toward the end by which point I’d mentally switched off so maybe found them harder than they should have been. Ah well, real work beckons …
Couldn’t manage to solve SWAYED, but I think on (shaky) balance it was just about the best concealed clue. I rather liked the preponderance of double definitions in this puzzle for a change.
I was unsure of go fast=gain, so thanks to Shirl @12: a fast clock gains time. As others have suggested, it’s a matter sometimes of being on the same wavelength as the setter, and if you’re not what do you do? Last one in for me was CORK, not because the clue was especially difficult, but just me not quite clicking. I had BAR initially for 17d (raise the bar; sand bar at the mouth of a river) but waited for crossers before writing in, fortunately. I liked “seepier” – some homophones can bring a wry smile, while others just leave you bemused.
Thanks Vulcan and Andrew.
@Beobachterin comment 9…
I completely agree with you about dd & dd/cd-type clues. You either get them, or you don’t – there isn’t really any wordplay. Like others who have posted, I struggled in the NW corner of this puzzle because there was a cluster of the little beggars and I realised that I wasn’t especially enjoying untangling them so binned the puzzle.
I think it’s a good thing that as solvers we are all a bit different, with our likes and dislikes, but I spent years not enjoying Rufus puzzles on Mondays due to the proliferation of this type of clue. And he was really good at them.
mit freundlichen Grüßen
Wiggers @7
Your quip was a tonic for the troops.
Thanks, Andrew.
As usual, more warmup than workout, but I can’t fault Vulcan for sticking to the brief. I hesitated for a moment over DOG-TIRED at 2a, because I couldn’t (can’t) see how “tired” is clued other than in the definition. I liked “Trumpeter amazing the panel” at 13: not difficult, but a nice surface.
I thought this quite friendly for a Monday – I obviously get on well with double/cryptic definition clues. I did notice the grid which, as I remarked to Mr CS, is a strange one
Thanks to Vulcan and Andrew
Thanks to Andrew for the blog – SPARKLE was a mystery to me, nho either element. Liked ARTERY. Thanks to Vulcan.
Thanks Vulcan and Andrew
I spent ages over my LOI, SIREN. I wondered about GAIN = go fast too, but the clock explanation work.s
I liked ELEPHANT and SWAYED.
ARKLE was from a long time ago. The next mountain to it is called Foinaven, which some of you might remember as another surprisingly successful horse, though for some reason spelled FoinavOn. Both were owned by the Duchess of Westminster, who had a shooting lodge nearby.
Lovely gentle Monday puzzle. First time I haven’t had to check my parsing!
[muffin@35 you could also have added the connection between the shooting lodge, the Duke and Coco Chanel]
Still baffled by the opening comment,’less than 50% checking.’could anyone explain this ?
For me, DDs and whatever-else-Ds are a bit of a cop out. They work best when they are rare and unexpected.
Many thanks to Andrew for the pointer to London livery companies. Quite a fascinating article – I was confused by the need for London in the clue.
Harhop @38: I don’t really notice grids, but I think rohanm is saying that this one has many clues with more unchecked than checked squares (a checked square being one that is crossed by two solutions).
Thought I had completed successfully but should have taken more care. Put in ‘resin’ too quickly rather than ‘sepia’ but still think ‘Shakey’ aka Shakin’ Stevens works for rocker in leather
Harhop @38: what Miche @40 wrote. This comment (https://www.fifteensquared.net/2019/12/02/guardian-cryptic-27993-by-chifonie/#comment-399423) also makes a mention of the unchecked to checked squares in Chifonie’s grid having a ratio greater than 1.
GAIN is a result of going fast, not a definition of ‘GO FAST’.
Like many others I got stuck in the NW corner. I generally didn’t find this terribly enjoyable. So much so that I gave up on 1d and12ac so didn’t finish. I enjoyed sepia and swayed. Thanks to Andrew and Vulcan
I quite enjoyed this one. Like others, I struggled to crack the NW, but enjoyed MANNER, INSIDE JOB and LIVERY in the end. Thanks for the link to the Livery Companies, which I was only dimly aware of. Some fascinating ones, my favourite being #29, The Worshipful Company of Curriers, which sounds perfect for Britain’s (and my) favourite cuisine these days. Also enjoyed the speculation surrounding the origin of the phrase “at sixes and sevens”. Intriguing if true.
One clue that I didn’t think worked well was 8, where the singular “Spectator” seems to lead to the answer WATCHES, rather than WATCH. Having said that, the 3rd person present tense can be written as “the spectator does watch”, so I guess the “does” in the clue suffices to suggest the answer. I missed the capitalisation of Spectator, implying the magazine, but this makes the two definitions almost identical, as Andrew said.
Thanks to Shirl for clearing up my other niggle (gain = go fast) and to Vulcan and Andrew for Monday’s entertainment.
Vulcan’s puzzles aren’t difficult but they are sometimes tricky. Some answers are so easy that I assume my first thought must be wrong- WATCH,MANNER while some -like TAILOR are so obvious that they are positively annoying. I do agree with most of the remarks about DD’s.I think they have to be amusing and some of these weren’t. I did like ARTERY,KEY and LIVERY.
The lockdown seems to be evaporating here: I had to wait for the traffic to subside so I could cross this morning. That hasn’t happened for weeks!
Thanks Vulcan
I found this a smooth solve, and (for once) the DDs didn’t grate. Unlike most people here, I sorted the NW quickly, but had more difficulty with the SE. Thanks to Vulcan and Andrew.
To add to Muffin’s comment @35, I believe that Arkle was the better racehorse, but Foinaven is the better mountain – a serious expedition.
g larsen @47
I agree on both points. Foinaven is a great day out!
I confidently entered Robert for 23 down.- Key batsman.
Robert Key is the SKY cricket commentator who opened the batting for Kent and England
Too many double and cryptic definitions for my liking — I gave up in the NW corner on this one. Thanks to both.
This wasn’t my cup of tea as CD/DDs often leave me struggling if there’s no other way to get to the solution – and the NW needed MrsW’s way of seeing things to complete it. Nevertheless it was a perfectly well constructed crossword so my thanks to Vulcan and Andrew.
I found it hard to get into this. As I have on previous Mondays. I think others have probably covered this in previous comments, having had a quick perusal.
I love cryptic definitions and double definitions can be beautifully succinct but there’s a nagging dissatisfaction when it seems a bit loose, with words that appear to be extraneous. I struggled with WATCH at 8 across (amongst others) because it was literally only making ‘Spectator’ a proper noun that made it even slightly cryptic.
I’m sorry if that sounds negative. I’m not having a pop at the setter, it’s a wavelength thing. When I figure out the answer it’s generally a sigh over a satisfied nod.
I don’t know why number of double defs should make things harder than usual (Andrew) nor what constitutes excessive in this number!’ Did not even notice, just thought really nice crossword, Vulcan really getting into his stride with Monday slot.
Vulcan, keep up the good work! Do not listen to these strange complaints, just because they couldn’t do it!
I think homophones are very much a matter of taste. I liked swayed once I couldn’t get anywhere with Shakin Stevens, but sepia just doesn’t work the way I say it.
Bit of an Elephants Graveyard for me. (Though i did also like the elephant clue)
25 across is that rare instance of having two clear and correct answers. SQUASH and ZINGER.
I got ZINGER and it stopped me dead
re 8a, What the spectator does is WATCHES, not WATCH. Bad grammar, old boy.
I don’t see why 26d isn’t past tense if it’s clued with absorbed.