Guardian 26,516 – Vlad

by

Another week, another new setter. Actually Vlad has appeared a couple of times as the setter of the Genius puzzle (including the current one), but I think this is his (?) first appearance in the cryptic slot. As with Screw last week, I wasn’t sure what to expect, and took a long time to get started on this one, and even once I got going it wasn’t an easy task, with some stragglers in the NW corner being the last to fall. So I narrowly escaped impalement – thanks to Vlad, and welcome.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Across
1. THE POWERS THAT BE Those in charge could be better — what hopes! (3,6,4,2)
(BETTER WHAT HOPES)* – Vlad gives us a relatively easy one to start with, but even so it took me a while to get it
9. CADENCE Dance round in church showing rhythm (7)
DANCE* in CE
10. LORELEI One previously learning the French for “siren“‘ (7)
As in a couple of other clues the wordplay is a bit contorted, but I think it works: One (I) with, previously, LORE (learning) + LE (the French). A change from “rock singer” as a clue for Lorelei, anyway
11. ION Rugby players robbing banks — one’s charged (3)
LIONS (any of several Rugby teams) less its outer letters, or “banks”
12. TRANSPARENT Obvious replacement for Ant’s partner (11)
(ANTS PARTNER)* – I’m sure many UK solvers will, like me, have tried to find a word beginning with DEC…
13. EL SALVADOR Country clubber on course to a meal ticket (love won’t go the distance) (2,8)
[Ernie] ELS (golfer, so “clubber on course”) + A L.V. (luncheon voucher) +ADOR[E]
15. STOW Entering directions to store (4)
TO in (entering) S + W
18. SARK Here was dame with small chest (4)
S + ARK. The island of Sark was ruled by a Seigneur, most famously, and for a long time, by the Dame of Sark , Sibyl Hathaway
20. UNIT TRUSTS Investments one relies on (4,6)
UNIT (one) + TRUSTS (relies on)
23. PAPER-PUSHER Rapper — he’s up anyway for clerk (5-6)
(RAPPER HES UP)* – the expression “pen-pusher” is perhaps more familiar, but this is an obvious variant
25. LEO Found in whole of house (3)
Hidden on whoLE Of
26. TROUNCE Easily beat time on training run with Coe (7)
T + (RUN COE)*
27. VEGGIES Rivals eating chicken one day? Not these (7)
EGG (“a chicken one day”) in VIES
28. PUT THE MOCKERS ON Ruin the chances of those oafish Australians inspired by Don (3,3,7,2)
THEM OCKERS in PUT ON (to don)
Down
1. TACKINESS Poor food in dining area — having no starter and lousy taste (9)
TACK (poor foor) + IN [M]ESS
2. ENDINGS Finishes posting — site initially down (7)
SENDING (posting) with S[ite] moved to the end
3. ORNATELY No service in cathedral city? Plainly not! (8)
O RN (Royal Navy – service) AT ELY, and “plainly, not” = ornately
4. ENEMA Spaces start to appear in evacuation procedure (5)
EN + EM + A[ppear]
5. SELL SHORT Fail to acknowledge good points of Flo? (4,5)
Flo is Flog shortened, so “SELL SHORT”
6. HERMAN Name of that woman’s husband (6)
HER + MAN
7. TALLEST Most remarkable everyone’s taking part in challenge? (7)
ALL in TEST
8. EDICT Order around — what my boss does about it (5)
C (around) in EDIT (what the setter’s boss does)
14. AD NAUSEAM AA named us in error, so it’s very annoying (2,7)
(AA NAMED US)*
16. WISCONSIN State is stopping John working? Wrong! (9)
IS in WC (toilet, US slang “john”) ON (working) + SIN (wrong)
17. PROROGUE Acting poor — urge to adjourn for the time being (8)
(POOR URGE)*
19. RAPPORT Bond reportedly stole gold (7)
Homophone of wrap (a stole) + or (gold)
21. SALLIES Attacks on supporters succeeded (7)
S on ALLIES – again the cryptic wording is a bit devious
22. WRENCH Pull woman Romeo’s into (6)
R in WENCH
23. PUT UP Given room but taken advantage of — that’s not on (3,2)
PUT UPON (taken advantage of) less ON
24. HAVOC Henry’s a brave man taking over in chaos (5)
H + O in A V.C. (Victoria Cross, but can also mean someone who has been awarded it)

90 comments on “Guardian 26,516 – Vlad”

  1. Thanks Vlad and Andrew
    Refreshingly different. 1a was a write-in, but it took along time before anything correct was added (I tried SNUB NOSES from the S for 5d, thinking it might be a reference to Flo in “Andy Capp”!) I also tried to start 12a with DEC; one of my favourite clues when I saw the anagram. Thanks for explaining the RAPP part of RAPPORT, Andrew – I hadn’t seen that.
    I took too long to see “finishes” as a noun rather than a verb in 2d – good misdirection. ORNATELY was very nicely constructed too.
    Only one slight quibble; I don’t think the definition for AD NAUSEAM is very close. It would have to something happening “ad nauseam” to be very annoying.
    I’ve been to Sark. It was famous when the Dame was in charge for only having one car on the island. What no-one tells you is that everyone else drives a tractor – the roads were a mess of dust!

  2. P.S. I neglected to say that I really enjoyed it. Lots of good clues. Let’s hope for more from Vlad.

  4. muffin – I had the same concern as you about AD NAUSEAM, but if you take the definition as “so[,] it’s very annoying” I think it just about works.

  6. Thanks, Andrew.

    As muffin says, refreshingly different. Several places where the answer came first and the parsing later [or not at all, in the case of 28ac, as I didn’t know ‘ockers’.] I didn’t see RAPPORT, either, so thanks for those.

    I bet most of us [here, anyway] tried to begin 12ac with DEC – a really nice clue. Other favourites were LORELEI, EL SALVADOR, SARK [I’ve been there, too!] VEGGIES, ORNATELY, SELL SHORT, WISCONSIN and HAVOC.

    I look forward to more from this setter, to whom many thanks for an enjoyable puzzle.

  7. Thanks Andrew, including for parsing ION for me. Glad to see Vlad the Compiler on our scene. I rather regretted that several clues jumped out readily, including the teasing 28A with one crosser only, and that opened up the state in 15D; and several anagrams ditto. But it got harder, with the likes of the excellent 13A and the last two,SARK and RAPPORT. Very nice.

  8. Thanks, Andrew. I found this very difficult and didn’t finish it, and after reading the blog it’s clear I would never have got there. I still don’t understand the parsing of ENEMA – why are EN and EM spaces? And where does the first S in SALLIES come from – is it S(ucceeded)?

    Did not know TACK=poor food, and I agree that AD NAUSEAM is a bit oblique for “annoying”. And as for 5 and 13 – have I mentioned that I’m just useless at subtraction-clues?

  9. Thank you, Andrew.

    Well done for sorting out SARK – didn’t know that (and I haven’t been there!)

    SARK was one of 2 I entered unparsed, along with PUT THE MOCKERS ON. Ockers are new to me.

    Muffin coined “refreshingly new” and I heartily endorse that description. Loved the cluing of LORELEI, WISCONSIN, (where I have been recently and nearly froze to death) ORNATELY & RAPPORT.

    Warm welcome to the impaler, long may he torture us.

  10. gladys @8
    en and em are printing terms for spaces – the size of their respective homophonic letters.
    Yes, the S comes from “succeeded”. Read it as “on supporters, (allies) S”

  13. Thank you Andrew and welcome Vlad, good stuff!

    The puzzle feels like one from a new setter rather than an established setter moving across from another paper. I hope this is the case.

  15. Thanks Andrew and Vlad. I found this very much on my wavelength (apart from Els – golf is a bit of a mystery to me). Liked the reminder of Luncheon Vouchers – ours used to be 15 pence in the 1970’s!

  16. I enjoyed this: welcome, Vlad, and thanks to Andrew. Did anyone else notice that oafish Astralians also cropped up in Tees’s fiendish ornithological offering in yesterday’s ‘i’? Could he and Vlad be related? (Or perhaps they’re Dave Lets, or Steve Dal…)

  17. Yes, I thought it must be S(ucceeded) – yet another crossword-setter’s abbreviation for a word I’ve never seen abbreviated. Thanks for en and em which I will store away in my mental Things To Look Out For In Wordplay folder.

    (Dec? Me too.)

  19. gladys @17 – it puzzled me for a long while why anyone would want to abbreviate the word succeeded. It finally dawned on me that it meant succeeded in the sense of ‘followed’ rather than ‘made a success of’. I can now easily imagine it used in royal lineages and ancestry in general.

  20. It took me a while to get on Vlad’s wavelength and close attention to the word order was most definitely required. Count me as another who was looking to fit “Dec” into 12ac and I finished in the NW. I am looking forward to the next puzzle from this setter.

  21. Thanks Andrew and Vladimir
    A worthy newcomer. Lots of clever deviousness. I got but failed to parse 28. I am ambivalent about ‘guess now and parse later’ clues but I expect some solvers have to do it more than others.

  22. Thanks Vlad and Andrew.

    This was hard but fun. I needed help with some of the parsing, even with Wisconsin and Sallies which for me were write ins having the capital letters.

    There were several points for impalement, PEAK, TOP and BEN (cols 4, 10 and 14), I searched for ‘Nevis, Ben Nevis being the TALLEST mountain in the British Isles…

  23. Thanks Vlad, interesting crossword.

    Thanks Andrew, I couldn’t parse PUT THE MOCKERS ON because I didn’t know ‘ockers,’ and I also didn’t know ‘tack’ for food.

    I didn’t fall into the Dec trap as I thought that looked a bit too obvious from the impaler. I thought the clue for UNIT TRUSTS was somewhat weak but many other good clues. I particularly liked SELL SHORT (now it has been parsed for me!) and ORNATELY.

  24. I have an inkling that this is a new alter ego of an established setter and, if so, surprised myself by not being impaled at all, finding this enjoyable puzzle a read-and-write.

    Thanks to Vlad and Andrew.

  26. Thanks Vlad and Andrew

    Valentine @ 25: Ant and Dec are two UK TV presenters. Best avoided in my opinion.

  30. Surprised people thought this hard. I found it most a write-in, reminiscent of Monday puzzles from the days of Julius and Custos (that dates me!). Exceptions were SELL SHORT, where the clue was spoilt by the capitalisation of “Flo” and UNIT TRUSTS, where the components are clued in essentially the same senses as in the full answer,which to me is highly undesirable.

  31. Hi all

    Thanks to Vlad and Andrew

    Regular bloggers will by now know that I am an irregular poster. I do have interests other than crossword solving and sometimes these interests keep me occupied for days at a time. (Currently involved in a renovation but I would hardly call that an interest.)

    I wish to respond to Cookie@27 on the blog on Rufus on March 9. Please tell me (politely) if this post is off-topic or unacceptable.

    Cookie, I thought you said (in a previous post) you were a New Zealander. Does your comment mean that NZ is not an English speaking country (tongue firmly in cheek). However, as an Australian, I admit I spent 6 years living in another country (and not all that far from NZ) so I will let you off the hook if you now live somewhere else.

    I take no offense to 28 despite thinking that this expression is not necessarily unique to Australia.

  32. [Alan R @27
    To expand on my post @29, these lyrics are from the musical “Hair”:

    When the moon is in the Seventh House
    And Jupiter aligns with Mars
    Then peace will guide the planets
    And love will steer the stars

    This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius
    The age of Aquarius
    Aquarius!
    Aquarius!]

  35. [Hi Kevin, I left New Zealand when I was 12, then lived in England until 22, then left English speaking countries, except for 7 years in Jamaica (a joke here with mrpenney as he thinks Jamaicans don’t speak understandable English, actually most people there speak it perfectly, perhaps more accurately as many usages date from Elizabethan times). I am now 73, so my English is fossilised.]

  36. Thanks Cookie

    On the assumption that you might still live in NZ and be asleep at this time, I thought that I might have to wait some time for a reply. I won’t ask where you live now as 99% of the bloggers probably don’t care.

  37. [I’ve just noticed Cookie’s (@35) and Muffin’s (@32) square brackets ([]} and realise I have a lot to learn.

    Apologies for not following the protocol]

  38. I really liked this one. The clues are all beautifully tightened up, so to me it has the feel of a Times setter. 27a, 28a and 4d were my favourites. My only quibble is 8d – I’m not entirely convinced that the Graun’s crossword editor actually does any editing 😉

    Thanks Andrew and Vlad, I hope we see some repeat performances soon.

  39. Thanks, Andrew

    Enjoyable debut puzzle (in this slot, at least) from Vlad.

    I’m one of those who found this pretty straightforward (though, I’m ashamed to say, a ‘Dec’ man at 12a) with the long answers at top and bottom both write-ins (like jillfc @16 I had seen ‘ockers’ in the recycled Tees in yesterday’s ‘i’).

    Some nice clues here. Particular favourites were SARK, UNIT TRUSTS, WISCONSIN and RAPPORT.

    LOI was LEO. Pace muffin @29 & 32, an astrological ‘house’ is emphatically not the same as a ‘sign’: the latter are fixed portions of the ecliptic – the path of the sun and planets across the sky – whereas the former are measured from the ascendant – the point rising on the horizon – and thus depend on location and change constantly with time (as it says in the Wiki page). Chambers gives one def as ‘one of the twelve divisions of the sky in astrology’ – but astrologers divide the sky into twelve parts in two different ways.

  40. [Kevin an afterthought, I think New Zealanders probably speak better English than the English do now. Nearly every crossword has some ‘rubbish’ in it, look at Picaroon yesterday, CRUMMY = RUBBISH = PANTS. Vlad has avoided this here (are you a wowser having a laugh at ‘them ockers’, 28a).]

  41. Gervase @39
    I said “sign period”, meaning the duration, rather than the sign itself. However, how does “Leo” – “house”. then?

  45. I’m another who struggled in the NW, despite 1a coming early, but got there in the end, though not with all the parsings. Preferred this to last week’s Screw and look forward to more.

  46. muffin & Cookie: My contention is that LEO is a ‘sign’ and NOT a ‘house’. Terminological inexactitude!

  50. I loved this one. Lots of fun tricks – some quite devious – but the definitions were always accessible, so that kept things ticking along nicely…which was helpful, as it allowed one to acclimatise painlessly to this enjoyable new setter.

    A very warm welcome Vlad.

    Like others, I was going to comment that a house is not a sign…but we all know what was meant so it’s close enough for me!

    Very much liked the “chicken one day”.

    Thanks all.

  51. Thanks to Andrew for the blog.
    I am another who found this hard to get started (after the simple 1a and 28) then gradually made progress.

    I have one question. In 19d I can see RAPP=wrap and OR=gold but where does T come from?

  53. Even I was looking for Dec, having done one or two too many of these. To Americans, I generally describe describe Ant and Dec as Britain’s version of Ryan Seacrest (who, in the picture on that Wikipedia page, looks refreshingly horrible–ain’t schadenfreude a blast?)

    A couple of these, all the same, fell into the “Too British For Me” bin. “Put the mockers on” is not a phrase we have—nor, obviously, “ockers.” I also didn’t know “sark,” and the clue for “El Salvador” was baffling. (Not because of Ernie Els, who, if you do American-style crosswords at all, is pretty much the only golfer who ever appears. But because of the rest of the clue—L.V.?)

    Was surprised to see Andrew say that “pen-pusher” is more familiar than “paper-pusher.” I guess the latter must be the American version of the phrase, since it’s quite familiar and I’ve never heard the former.

  54. Quite an enjoyable debut – mostly straightforward but it then took ages for me to get my last two, RAPPORT and SARK – SARK in particular was down to lack of general knowledge – I didn’t know the Sark dame and had forgotten that the Ark of the Covenant was a chest!

    Liked WISCONSIN, TRANSPARENT, ORNATELY and VEGGIES.

    Thanks to Vlad and Andrew

  56. [the square brackets were introduced when comments on scchua’s picture quizzes used to get mixed up with the main blog, and were used to distinguish the comments on the pictures. As muffin says, their usage has since been widened to cover anything that is not directly relevant to the crossword du jour]

  57. I don’t see the square brackets in the site policy. What is the point of having a stay on topic rule and then ignoring it?

  58. [PeeDee @57 – I agree that site policy states that everything should be on-topic, so I am inclined to agree that the square brackets shouldn’t be needed, but I for one find that a few tangential/off-topic comments enliven the place, and for those who can’t resist them it is a useful if unofficial convention. There is far more off-topic chat on the Guardian site]

  60. mrpenney @ 53

    LV = Luncheon Voucher, which were dockets of variable value which companies could give to their staff, who could then take them to locqal shops or cafés and exchange them for, wait for it, something to eat at lunchtime. As far as I know any (food) shop could sign up to the sheme, giving the wokers the choice of where to go.

    hth

  62. I thought this generally OK. I spent some time getting on the right wavelength but then the bottom half of the puzzle went in quite easily with PUT THE MOCKERS ON being one of the first in. I’m rather surprised the aforesaid caused confusion.
    For the top half I rather fell off the wavelength and spent far too long getting THE POWERS THAT BE and TRANSPARENT- yes I was looking for a DEC connection.
    In response to parsing after the event, I have done this since I started doing crosswords. I think of it as a flash of inspiration rather than guesswork. A macro rather than a micro approach.
    Welcome Vlad and thank you.

  65. Yes this was pretty good. I agree with the blogger that some of the clues are a bit tortuous, for me the ‘order of elements’ shall we call it, in some clues is or seems false, and that makes for difficult readings and tougher solving that doesn’t have to be there. If that is set aside, then the technique is as stated pretty good. Better (for me 😀 ) than a good few of the ‘established’ Guardian writers.

  66. Re 25 Leo is a Roman House, so the capital is left off illegally, or possibly it is defined incorrectly as an astrological House (again, the cap would be off in error). Actually, in Astrology Leo rules a House. Just my parsing, you understand!

  67. Thanks Andrew and Vlad. Enjoyed this one. Like some others, I had a few answers that were not fully parsed. However, re 25a, I have just googled house leo and find that the “House of Leo” ruled the Roman Empire for a considerable period – so no more worries about star signs!

  69. Enjoyed most of this offering. When is it acceptable to use a word to indicate its initial letter? Small for S in 18a is common but succeeded for s in 21d and over for o in 24 down seem to be stretching it a bit.

  71. John @69
    Both standard, I think. As PeeDee @17 says, S for “succeeded” as in “followed” (e.g. in a Royal line); O is used for “overs” in cricket, could also be “over”.

  72. Some really excellent clues – I look forward to more Vlads in future. Too many favourites to list.

  73. John @69: I gave up worrying about it long ago – just assume that when it comes to wordplay, anything whatever might turn out to be its first letter. Someone, somewhere in the mists of time will once have abbreviated it that way, and that makes it legitimate!

  74. John @69 and gladys @73. While it may appear to be so, it’s actually not just a general free-for-all, or even a set of crossword-specific conventions. If you look up “S” in Chambers you will see Definition 6 is “Succeeded”, and likewise “O” has Definition 4 as “Over(s) (cricket)”.

    All the abbreviations used in Crosswordland must be in regular(ish) usage in the real world, and so will appear in Chambers or similar.

    But it does take a year or to until they stand out like the throbbing digit in a clue.

  76. Limeni @74, but that is what Gladys is virtually saying, everything you look for is in Chambers.
    We crossed, but I won’t apologise.

  78. “year or two” obviously – blame macPro keyboard not picking up keystrokes!

    …and inadequate proofreading 😉

  79. @Cookie – Well, not really…my point is that “what makes it legitimate” is specifically the fact that it is recognised in Chambers or similar (not simply that someone used it that way “in the mists of time”).

  81. Hi Tramp @77

    Absolutely! [Is no one else going to add to the chorus of approval of the Indy’s Tyrus joining this side? See beery hiker @63]

  82. Eileen @81, yes, I was just waiting for my last comment to do so, a dig at Chambers will do nicely.
    Thanks again Vlad, and welcome. I always want to do the Indy puzzles, but one of my sons does not want the necessary programme on this computer. I often go through the parsing, and today was able to ‘do’ the real thing. Hope we get another one soon.

  84. The Times permits a relatively small number of single-letter indicators, presumably to prevent solvers being inundated with examples that they have little hope of knowing. Also, it promotes ingenuity among the compilers, who must come up with jolly wacky ruses instead of relying on ye sacred booke.

    So is this old Lebanon then? Congrats!

  85. Welcome to Vlad.

    I enjoyed this. Started off quite slowly but gradually the puzzle succumbed. I did however spend the last 10 minutes parsing 3 of the answers I had already entered. (3d, 11a and 28a) Got there in the end.

    Thanks to Andrew and Vlad

  89. John @89

    !!!

    Glad to hear about your spells but you’re not fooling us.

    Your doc is an anagram of LAM RUFUS MADLY which I think is a little unfair. 😉

Comments are closed.