i Cryptic Crossword 4128 by Vigo
April 30, 2024
Difficulty rating (out of five): ⏳
A fun puzzle from Vigo today that won’t have held up seasoned solvers for too long I suspect, but is definitely one to pass onto anyone keen to learn. As it’s Tuesday there’s a theme that will have probably taken longer to unearth – things that can begin or end with “milk”. No, I didn’t spot it either. Another example nevertheless of why a puzzle doesn’t have to be hard to be one of the best. I also suspect that it’s harder to set a crossword this accessible than it is one at the other end of the scale, so hats off to Vigo.
CoD? I’ll go with the nice triple definition at 22ac – “Finish off set of drinks in rotation (5)”.
All the answers and parsing of the clues can be found in Fifteensquared’s blog from June 2020:
https://www.fifteensquared.net/2020/06/02/independent-10495-by-vigo/
Borodin
batarde
Saboteur
Denzo
flashling
jonofwales
Cornick
sprouthater
uiytjhgmj
willow1235
idothei 
I can add little to ,the above except that the SE corner shoved my time up to two. In CoD ,I saw ROUND immediately, but didn’t see why; perhaps a double def would have been easier for me! Delayed on BREAST where I was expecting a single letter compass point and unsure of BR as abbreviation, and on UMAMI which I remembered from a recent puzzle but took time to see again what it meant. I am surprised that I have never come across it before. Favourite clue was 2d, fittingly, as the puzzle was indeed a treat.
Lovely puzzle, reminiscent of the late, lamented Dac. Very enjoyable and satisfying – even if I was expecting something more chewy on theme-Tuesday. Speaking of which, I didn’t get the Milk references, despite looking for something.
A lot of those went in without even reading the whole clue, which might be a bit disrespectful, but it was very easy I thought. Hadn’t met BR for bronze before though. Thought the theme might be something chocolate-y (now that was an elegant clue) but forgot to look again at the end. Nice one.
Lots of write-ins, but fun while it lasted. SLENDER and POWDER took me as long as the rest of the grid, but still just about finished in ⏳ time.
Like Denzo and thebargee, I had to pause a little in the SE, so maybe ⌛½ as a result. No, didn’t spot the theme.
As always a nice tractable puzzle from Vigo. Missed the theme, though, this time around.
As always a nice tractable puzzle from Vigo. Missed the theme, though, this time around.