Guardian 28,208 – Vulcan

60 comments on “Guardian 28,208 – Vulcan”

1. Nothing was too hard here although the sports questions stumped me for a while – as they often do in trivia competitions as well. I didn’t understand the cricket reference in 14a EXTRA, and I had to have a couple of crossers before I could recall the golf news on TV mentioning 24a AUGUSTA. Slight detour when I thought 12a might be POINTLESS (maybe I had points on the brain because of 1a), but as the crossers came in I saw the error of my ways. I liked 1a BESIDE THE POINT, 9a MANGOES, 24a THE WINTER’S TALE, 6d OWLET and 21d SHREW. With a few more clues, 24a and 21d could have become part of a Shakespearean theme. A pity, as I would have really enjoyed that. Many thanks to Andrew and Vulcan.

2. We managed this in 20 minutes so we seem to be getting better at this crossword game. It is easier with two however.

3. Gentle Monday morning exercise for the brain, but now I’ll have The Sultans of Ping FC in there all day.
   Dancing in the disco, bumper to bumper, wait a minute: “Where’s me jumper?”

4. Also enjoyed this, though I needed some checking for the final few. As often my brain is not quite on Vulcan’s wavelength. I think the definition of EXTORTS is ‘compelled to cough up’. Thank you to Vulcan and Andrew.

5. Somewhat ditto JinA re Augusta…I do know it as the venuee, but recall on demand is another thing. Extra, otoh, while the clue is a neat misdirect, is totally familiar. Quite a goody from Vulcan today I thought, enjoyed it. Thanks both.

6. Enjoyed this mostly straightforward puzzle. FOI was NOT A BIT. OWLET was new, even though it is an Australian nocturnal as per google. Will we see ‘tawny frogmouth’ one of these days? I spent a long time on 12ac; not convinced that the answer is synonymous with ‘not necessary’. In fact my SOED agreed. Also spent a while on 24ac and 14d, my LOI. I liked 25ac, 11ac, and 17d.

   Thanks Vulcan and Andrew.

7. Lovely puzzle, just right for a Monday.  Certainly not a write-in: the anagrams for THE WINTER’S TALE and HESITATOR were (to me) far from obvious, and I loved BESIDE THE POINT.

   And I appreciated the lack of cds.

   Thanks V & A

8. Nice easy puzzle for a Monday.

   New: AVERTABLE.

   Thanks V & A.

9. I think that’s two in a row where Vulcan has upped the game.  And comments on here already seem to be acknowledging that.  I started with 1d and then 2d and initial thoughts were that this was going to be another almost too straightforward puzzle but then things improved rapidly.  Some nice surfaces, a couple of super anagrams, as noted by essexboy @7, with whom (and JinA) I also share a liking for BESIDE THE POINT.  DROWNS OUT and AVERTABLE are both nicely constructed, along with ESTRANGES and EXTORTS.  SHREW has an excellent definition and BIGOT is getting &littish.

   Many thanks Vulcan and Andrew

10. Thanks, Andrew.

    Vulcan does seem to be giving us a better variety of devices lately.

    I wonder if anyone else thought, of 6d, “But surely owlets aren’t old enough to fly?” However, I learned here that:

    “The term owlet is also part of the common name of two dozen small owl species and many of their associated subspecies such as the spotted owlet, chestnut owlet, Javan owlet, forest owlet, and long-whiskered owlet. When the term is part of the species name, however, it is applied to both mature and young birds, whereas all young owls of any species can be referred to with the generic term owlet.”

11. Slow start, easy finish.

    When I was a lad in the UK they were called bumper cars and then the name was changed to the antithetical dodgems. An early harbinger of health and safety, perhaps.

    Thanks to Andrew and Vulcan.

     

12. Thanks Vulcan for a doable puzzle with enough trickier clues to get me thinking. The NW was straightforward but 12a AVERTABLE and 14d EsTrANGes were well clued. I thought 25a neatly had me looking for ‘misrepresented’ until I got the W from SHReW. I liked SEEPAGE as well. Thanks Andrew for reminding me about cricket ‘extras’ and the rest of the blog.

13. I was slowed down at first by thinking 17a was ATHEORIST. Once I started on the down clues, my mistake was obvious.

14. A doable puzzle that required some thinking.

    I never would have got AUGUSTA, luckily cobro has golf knowledge.

    Favourites were ESTRANGES and EAT IN.

    Thanks to Vulcan and Andrew.

15. Miche@10: thanks for the disambiguation.

    Here’s one bearing the name “owlet” that won’t fly again and perhaps never did!

16. I agree with the general verdict here – eminently doable but with some clues to get your teeth into. EAT IN was clever, and the longer anagrams nice. With Hmmm @6, I did wonder about AVERTABLE as ‘not necessary’, but reasoned that if something can be averted, then it’s not necessary that it will happen. So I shrugged and entered it as my LOI.

17. Thanks both
    [Forced to study 25a for O levels – that ages me – seemed really dull play until the entirely unexpected “Exit, pursued by a bear” stage direction. Maybe Bill thought that his work needed livening up!]

18. A fun solve with hardly any many head-scratchers. Like Julie in Australia, I also started out thinking there might be a Bard theme, since the delicious anagram THE WINTER’S TALE and SHREW were pretty much my first two in. I’m another who grew up in London knowing dodgems as bumper-cars (& until today, hadn’t even noticed Auriga’s point that “dodgems” is the complete opposite. Where’s the fun in dodging?)
    AUGUSTA was a wild guess – I assumed “golf” merely referred to the g – so thanks to Andrew for the explanation! And thanks to Vulcan for the entertainment.

19. “Hardly any many”? The heat musta got to my spellcheck….

20. Auriga @11. ‘Bumping cars’ was the name we used as kids.

    As others have implied, Vulcan is giving us a bit more to think about lately.

21. Hmm. I think 3D should have read “stops from being heard’…….

22. Lovely start to Monday morning with a doable puzzle from Vulcan.   FOI was 1d BUMPER TO BUMPER which is not what the M23/M25/A3 was this morning (thank goodness).  LOI AUGUSTA but that’s because my knowledge of sport is around zero…

     

    Thank you V&A!

23. JulieInA@1: “the sports questions stumped me for a while…. …. didn’t understand the cricket reference”. Like what you did there. Reminded me of my childhood when as a cricket lover I was introduced to this new word “sundries” by the late great Richie Benaud. As a kid I was pretty thick at English language so I had no idea he was talking about “extras”. He also confused me talking about “curators” meaning “groundsmen” over here. … and finally, he always referred to the score as, say, 2 for 53, when clearly he meant 53 for 2. In all seriousness my childhood logic presumed this was because he was Australian and is therefore upside down.
    Brits and Aussies, another two nations divided by a common language.

24. Very easy but much better clued and therefore more enjoyable than recent Vulcan puzzles in my opinion. Nothing that went in doubtfully and a few smiles, especially the “playful” misdirection in 21d. Thanks Vulcan and Andrew

25. This puzzle 20A for Monday, and was certainly fit for 8D. One or two weak clues were 12A, but on the whole it provided a 17D experience for those recent to cryptic puzzles, with some clues providing an 14A challenge – so we should 5D our thanks. I managed to complete it with 7D of trouble and minutes 4D before dinner – it’s an 11A evening.

26. Phil K @23. When I was a lad of 12 or 13, Richie Benaud visited our school and addressed the assembly. I had recently watched a Test he played in and spoke to him afterwards about a wide that he had deliberately nicked. It went straight to the boundary. I asked him if the shot wasn’t a bit risky and he replied: no, I thought it was a safe shot. So instead of just scoring a single run for a wide, he added 4 to his total. And we were given a half-day off!

27. rodshaw @25: nice.  Only I’ve closed the window with the completed grid so I’ve just spent the last two minutes scrolling madly up and down between Andrew’s blog and your post in order to decipher.  Reminded me of the recent puzzle with atomic numbers scattered throughout the clues.

28. Enjoyed this gentle Monday solve. AVERTABLE last one in. For a moment or two with SHREW and THE WINTERS TALE solved in quick succession, did wonder whether Shakespeare might become a theme…

29. …as Wellbeck and Julie have already suggested…must pay more attention…

30. Simple but elegant. A lot of fun.

    Many thanks Vulcan and Andrew.

31. A trifle (though not unconsidered) of a puzzle which I snapped up and progressed through smoothly. As noted by others, the quality of clueing has improved IMHO. ANNUL was my favourite. 8D’s clue reminded me of (anyone remember?) Alias Smith & Jones (“The governor can’t come flat out and give ya amnesty now…”)

    [Penfold @3: thanks, now I’ve also got “Where’s me jumper” as an earworm. I’m surprised you didn’t refer to “smarmy acrobats and balding SENATORs.”]

32. Hooray a Vulcan puzzle that was an enjoyable solve at last. I hope he keeps this up. As others have noted not too hard but enough to exercise the grey matter. I wanted to put in Atlanta for 24ac but had a feeling it wasn’t right so I am glad I resisted. Otherwise all 20ac.
    Thanks Vulcan and Andrew

33. Sat down, glass of beer, saw it was Vulcan, sighed. Oh no, not another slew of wilful cds to disrupt my day, and in the heat too. But no. Indeed, a pauseless write-in. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. But do I want the old Vulcan back? No sir.

34. [2Scotcheggs @31 – thanks for that – “I sure wish the governor would let a few more people in on our secret”]

35. As others have noted, the quality of a Vulcan puzzle appears to be inversely proportional to the number of cryptic/double definitions. Not many today and no complaints about those that were there, although like JinA @1 I didn’t get the cricket reference for EXTRA. Also didn’t think of the Shakespeare connection for SHREW (must have been really tired last night), so thanks to Andrew for pointing out the obvious. It’s a nice clue on rereading. Ultimately a dnf, as I got to the last couple of blank spaces and wrote in ANNAL (= article?). Hey, I said I was really tired! Anyway, thanks, Vulcan, and keep varying your clue types.

36. Thanks Vulcan and Andrew

    I enjoyed this. EXPRESS was a very neat dd. I didn’t parse NOT A BIT.

37. I’ve always felt for the Monday setter (remember Rufus, anyone?) who must surely derive less pleasure from this blog than their compatriots.  And I have certainly contributed the occasional criticism of my own to the Monday pages.  I rather hope Vulcan does tune in today: the overall tone of the comments has been pretty positive thus far which, like the puzzle, is a welcome turn up for the books.

38. Yes, an enjoyable Monday puzzle. I’m another who liked the paucity of cds.

    The top half went in fairly smartly but the bottom half took me much longer. Some good anagrams.

    Thanks Vulcan and Andrew.

39. Enjoyed this – only the second time I have managed to complete a cryptic without reference to fifteen squared – but with help from the crossword dictionaries and the check button I managed. Though there were a couple I couldn’t parse so thanks Andrew

    Thanks to Vulcan

     

40. I enjoyed this, as apparently we all did, so thanks to Vulcan, and to Andrew for his helpful blog.

    6a I think that even young owls of any species who aren’t baby owls can fly — their parents teach them, don’t they?

    I have the impression that THE WINTER’S TALE occurs more often than other plays in Guardian  crosswords, though I can’t think why it should.  Anybody else?

    essexboy @24 — when I clicked your link, I got to YouTube and a black screen that told me that the video is blocked in my country.  It must be hot stuff!

41. Am I the only person here who is rather partial to a cryptic clue in a cryptic crossword – and who, what is more, is often quite glad to “reverse engineer” a clue from a definition to its internal wordplay? And, (horror of horrors) I’ve even been known to appreciate the odd double definition as well.
    In expressing these heterodoxical opinions I feel a bit like an errant monk confessing to heretical thoughts in the company of his disapproving brothers. Mea culpa! 🙂

42. GB@41 – I doubt you are the only one who enjoys CD/DDs, but I’m not in that camp and as a consequence found this puzzle very much to my liking. There were some very neat clues with NOT A BIT being favourite as it took me ages to parse it. Thanks to Vulcan for the puzzle, Andrew for the blog and to rodshaw for his neat appreciation.

43. I’m with Gert, I like a good cryptic clue…ive always thought that writing a great cryptic, puzzling solvers through pure misdirection alone, to be one of the toughest things for setters…tougher than say splitting a word into three or four bits (and if necessary hoover any spare letters up with an abbreviation referencing the military, probably) and throw into a vaguely plausible sentence …

    Anyway, good fun today, thanks Vulcan and Andrew…and as I haven’t seen much (any) discussion of it, helped by quite an easy grid I think …no -a-e four letter words to find!

44. Having been a bit harsh on Vulcan’s puzzles in the past I tried to approach this with an open mind and was pleasantly surprised. I’m sure the limited number of CDs helped. I liked the misdirection in PALETTE and the cringe-inducing SEEPAGE

    It would be great to see what Vulcan could do on a day other than Monday

    Erstwhile heartthrob David Essex is here to serenade us with THE WINTERS TALE and on that note …

    Valentine @40 it’s unlikely to beat Hamlet with 113 mentions in clues & answers or Macbeth with 44. I could only find 6

    Cheers all

45. Brother Gert@41 You’re quite entitled to express that opinion, just don’t get into the habit. Oh, you already have!

    2Scotcheggs@31 Just back from walking the dog. Didn’t see any Gubba look-a-likes, but had Where’s Me Jumper on a constant loop all the way. I remember the lads at school playing a card game called Montana Red Dog after it featured in an episode of Alias Smith & Jones.

46. bodycheetah @44 I wasn’t talking about references to this or that play, but specifically about the name of the play itself being the answer.  I think I’ve seen The Winter’s Tale being the answer to fill in the grid several times.  (Where’s beeryhiker when you need him?)

47. Thanks Vulcan for a most enjoyable crossword. I liked HESITATOR and THE WINTERS TALE — nice surfaces for anagram clues. BIGOT and NOT A BIT were favourites but the best in my opinion was SHREW. Thanks Andrew for parsing — “dodgems” was a new word for me so I failed at 1d.

48. “Dodgems” v. “bumping cars” is a matter of philosophy . When I used to go on one at Barnstaple Fair, I always tried to dodge, but I was in a minority!

49. Me@41
    I should perhaps have added to that rather querulous post my thanks to Vukcan and Andrew – and indeed to all the setters, bloggers and contributors on this site. Climbing out of my uncomfortable monkish habit, as Penfold @45 suggested, I’d simply like to say that there is room for a wide variety of clues in Crosswordland and The G’s stable of setters caters for nearly all tastes. Some clues are cleverer than others, some are funnier, some are more fiendish – but very few of them in my opinion deserve to attract the kind of harsh criticism that we see quite often on these pages.
    (Just thought I’d spread the love around a little bit – positive vibes and all that!)

50. Not much to say. I didn’t like this as much as others did but I’m not sure why. Perhaps I expect to be disappointed by Vulcan’s puzzles and I duly was. Not reasonable I know!
    Thanks Vulcan.

51. I liked this crossword. I got most of the answers quickly, then had to think a bit more carefully about a few, with nothing very obscure. I smiled at the cute definition for owlet.

    Fifty years ago I studied The Winter’s Tale for A Level and like Shirl @somewhat earlier, I found it somewhat dull. Then we had a school trip to Stratford to see an RSC production starring Dame Judy Dench (who I knew very little about at the time); it and she were spellbinding.

    Thank you Vulcan and Andrew

52. Without ever having seen or read A winter’s tale, I still know two things about it:

    Autolycus (spelling?) a picker-up of unconsidered trifles (close?)

    Stage direction: exit, pursued by a bear….

53. I think just about all of those who have talked about the quality of this puzzle relative to previous Vulcans are quite on-point.  I enjoyed this one a lot.

54. Gert Bycee @41 and 49, as one who has sometimes been annoyed by Vulcan’s past efforts, perhaps I should amplify my previous remark today. I do not object to cryptic/double definitions, but I do object when any particular construction accounts for half of the clues. I would also complain if half were, say, hidden words. All of this is just to say that our views are not as much in opposition as you may have imagined. (Positive vibes right back atcha!)

55. I generally enjoy a Vulcan, regardless of what others might say. I thought SHREW, PALETTE and AUGUSTA were very nimbly constructed today.

56. Re dodgems, I have a memory from a long long time ago of a beautifully sign-written exhortation on Pat Collins Dodgems at Loughborough Fair, saying: “Hey, the idea is to dodge ’em!” Needless to say, nobody took any notice.

57. I didn’t find this a write-in and had a couple of missteps – ATHEORIST, like John Wells @13, and ENDED for 14a (as in his race is run/ended).  I thought the OWLET clue would have been better as “Know letting houses a fly-by-night” (one fly-by-night, one letting).  Apart from that, all nicely parsed.  I enjoyed the petite behind!

    Thanks, V&A.

58. [Valentine @40 – how strange, I re-checked and Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry don’t appear to be outlawed in the UK, but that doesn’t help you much!  I guess the railroads and the banks weren’t happy about it.  Or possibly ABC 😉 ]

59. Muffin@52
    I’ve often thought that Autolycus should be the patron of crossword solvers. A talent for picking up unconsidered trifles seems to be essential.

60. Surprised myself by completing this today! Couldn’t quite satisfy myself that ‘extra’ was correct, as cricketing references are not my forte, but otherwise very happy about that.

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