Something of a Quickie feel to this, and indeed about halfway through I checked to make sure I was doing the right crossword. Only the orchid stands out as an odd, esoteric word, though some of the references may be less familiar to non-UK solvers. I rattled through this in 13.17, and expect, in my usual trusting and optimistic way, there will be many quicker times. I’ve been watching archers obliterating the little dot in the centre of the bullseye aiming the bow with their feet, and a cracking swimmer with foreshortened arms and no legs whizzing through the water like a paddle wheeled torpedo, so come on guys and gals, throw of your self doubt and show anything is possible if you only believe!
Definitions underlined in italics, [exclusions] like this, and the rest more or less self explanatory.
| Across | |
| 1 | Muslim leader has a cheek, breaking into church (6) |
| CALIPH – A plus LIP for cheek contained within C[hurc]H. Lip in this context is impudent talk, usually from a youth to an elder, hence cheek. Caliphs may be familiar to you from such as Sinbad the Sailor. | |
| 4 | Leaflet covering poor entertainment that kills the buzz (8) |
| FLYPAPER – Possibly the most vile form of insect control. PAP is poor entertainment covered by FLYER for leaflet. | |
| 10 | Not confident, making changes by force (9) |
| FALTERING – F[orce] by ALTERING for making changes. | |
| 11 | Fleece provides warmth, after cold (5) |
| CHEAT – In its verbal meaning. C[old] followed by HEAT for warmth. | |
| 12 | Transport uncle, for one, right away (7) |
| ELATION – “Oh what transport of delight from thy pure chalice floweth”, and cf Flanders and Swann on the London omnibus. Your uncle is at least a RELATION, take the R[ight] away. | |
| 13 | Seaport’s redevelopment not needed (2,5) |
| TO SPARE – An anagram (redevelopment) of SEAPORT. | |
| 14 | Only partially clean a dirty bottom (5) |
| NADIR – Not the most pleasant of surfaces in any sense, but our answer is hidden (only partially) in cleaN A DIRty | |
| 15 | Disreputable, in without a date, drooped (8) |
| SLOUCHED – Disreputable is LOUCHE and without a date gives you S[ine] D[ie] from the Latin. Put one in the other. | |
| 18 | Pass on social occasion for sport (8) |
| HANDBALL – Pass is HAND (on) and a social occasion is a BALL. It’s what American Football should be called because only one player ever kicks the ball and he’s only on the field for the occasion. The forward pass can be a thing of beauty, though. | |
| 20 | Lawn in front covered in a lot of fertiliser (5) |
| MULCH – The “front” of L[awn] contained in a lot, MUCH. | |
| 23 | A large tree next to small plants (7) |
| ALPINES – Such as edelweiss, coincidentally small plants because of their location. A plus L[arge] plus PINE tree plus S[mall] | |
| 25 | Informed about female with flea in ear? (4,3) |
| TOLD OFF – The first three words translate to TOLD OF F[emale]. If you’re sent off with a flea in your ear you’ve usually been told off. | |
| 26 | Engineers text covering one cathedral (5) |
| REIMS – The cathedral puts on a spectacular light show at this time of year – catch it if you can! R[oyal] E[ngineers] plus MS for text (old style) surrounding I, one. | |
| 27 | Scouting technique’s thrown a crowd of townsmen at first (9) |
| WOODCRAFT – I assume Scouts get a badge for it. An anagram (thrown) of A CROWD OF T[ownsmen] | |
| 28 | Farm animals always knocked over orchid (8) |
| CATTLEYA – It rang a very faint bell when I realised always AY knocked over gave you YA and the most likely farm animals were CATTLE. Native to Central and South America. | |
| 29 | A demon barber and son quarrelling (2,4) |
| AT ODDS – You surely know the demon barber of Fleet Street was Sweeney TODD. Add A at the beginning and S[on] at the end. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | From greasy spoon, a German stimulant (8) |
| CAFFEINE – A greasy spoon is a downmarket CAFF, and EINE is German for a if the noun is female. | |
| 2 | Religious reformer is very funny, and fat (7) |
| LOLLARD – Early protestant follower of John Wycliffe (d. 1384). LOL is textspeak for laughs out loud (and not lots of love) and LARD is fat. | |
| 3 | Heath potentially made a first appearance (9) |
| PREMIERED – Edward Heath, yachtsman, organist, conductor and Prime Minister could be introduced as PREMIER ED. | |
| 5 | Land cut back, one blocking airport that causes a glow in the dark (5,9) |
| LIGHT POLLUTION – Land is LIGHT, cut back gives you POL, the airport is London LUTON (where the disastrous car park fire was in March this year), and I, one, needs to be inserted. | |
| 6 | Call for truce heard in scout groups (5) |
| PACKS – More scouts. The call for peace might be PAX, sound mimicry for our answer. | |
| 7 | Bishop perhaps about to dip into church collection (7) |
| PRELATE – About is the venerable RE, dropped into PLATE for church collection, as in pass the plate round. | |
| 8 | Do the dirty on some woman for preference (6) |
| RATHER – Do the dirty on RAT, some woman HER. | |
| 9 | Remarkable rocky formation where unstable genius cast away (6,8) |
| GIANTS CAUSEWAY – An anagram (unstable) of GENIUS CAST AWAY. | |
| 16 | School briefly allowed to be partnered in immoral activity (9) |
| COMPLICIT – One form of school is COMP[rehensive], and allowed (to be) is LICIT. | |
| 17 | Three Sisters run being cancelled in venues bearing fine (3,5) |
| THE FATES – Start with THEATRES for venues, scrap the R[un] and insert an F[ine]. | |
| 19 | Select a beer, taking work over (7) |
| APPOINT – A PINT stands in for a beer, insert OP for work reversed, over. | |
| 21 | One spotted curtain length turned up, concealing nothing (7) |
| LEOPARD – Curtain is DRAPE, add L[ength] and turn upwards, insert O for nothing. | |
| 22 | Textile is wonderful, almost sumptuous (6) |
| FABRIC – Wonderful is (or used to be!) FAB, and sumptuous is RICH, drop the end. | |
| 24 | Nosy, first to look a veteran nursing home over (5) |
| NASAL – The first letter of L[ook] plus A plus SAN[antorium] for an antique nursing home, all reversed (over) | |
By45 minutes, so I clearly didn’t find this as easy as Zabadak. I raced through much of the top half but apart from a couple of clues the lower half seemed a lot trickier.
A delay in coming up with the second word in 5dn was problematic and I had to wait for checkers to bring it to mind. THE FATES, REIMS (I’d have sworn it needed an H), WOODCRAFT defined as ‘scouting technique’, and of course CATTLEYA all held me up. I was tempted to put CATTLEYE which sounds more apt as a name of a plant but that surely would be ‘cattle eye’ so I reconsidered and decided to follow the wordplay.
MY LOI was SLOUCHED which required an alphabet trawl lasting nearly 10 minutes. When I eventually got there I could see LOUCHE as ‘disreputable’ but had no idea how SD = ‘without a date’. On seeing sine die in the blog I realised I vaguely knew the Latin expression but I don’t recall meeting it as an abbreviation before.
Re 8dn, a group of Scouts is called a Troop, whilst Pack is reserved for Wolf Cubs. Other names of groups within the movement are Beaver Colony and Rover Crew.
There’s no doubt the crossword toughened up for me after that half-way point, so I clearly haven’t learned yet that suggesting a puzzle is easy is not a sensible thing to write.
On Scouting for Boys, my experience and knowledge is coloured by “Steadfast and Sure” experience with Brigades. Are Wolf Cubs still known as Cub Scouts, which would let our setter and me off the hook?
Certainly Cub Scouts in the U.S. but I checked the British BS/GS website and all the groups around the country are listed there as in my posting above plus Senior Scout Troop.
Trying to remember 60 years ago I’m fairly sure the ‘cubs’ of cub scouts actually meant wolf cubs. I think I remember a wolf’s face coming into the branding somehow.
According to Wiki, Wolf Cubs became Cub Scouts in 1966, nine years after my time there was up. After that I preferred the Church Youth Club, where there were girls. DYB, DYB, DYB.
There’s a socialist anti-imperialist scout movement called the Woodcraft Folk. They wear sandals, I believe.
cf LYON / LYONS, MARSEILLE / MARSEILLES
And it’s pronounced ‘rance’.
They’re “Cub Scouts” in the UK not “Wolf Cubs”. Hence, I don’t think it’s unfair to clue PACKS as “scout groups” – cubs are a type of scout.
They certainly used to be ‘Wolf Cubs’ in the UK because I was one briefly in 1954. And the collective noun back then for both cubs and scouts was certainly ‘pack’.
COMP for a school is strictly UK, and thus COMPLICIT was my LOI.
I know CATTLEYA from Proust, in whose Du côté de chez Swann “faire cattleya” is a private euphemism between lovers.
I couldn’t have spelled Cattleya without the wordplay, but I know it from the rather large oeuvre of Nero Wolfe stories. A bit, but only a bit, down market from Proust.
Around 70 minutes. Steady going with no problems. FOI CALIPH, then CHEAT, TO SPARE and NADIR all went in quite quickly. I then had a 30 minutes interruption. This put me right off and I took a while to get started again. Liked SLOUCHED, FLYPAPER, LIGHT POLLUTION, AT ODDS and LEOPARD. LOI biffed CATTLEYA. I was able to parse all but 2 or 3 and thank Zabadak for them.
9:31. To me this felt like a quickie crossed with a Mephisto, my LOI CATTLEYA definitely feeling like a word you’d see in the latter. Indeed, when I checked its last appearance was in a Mephisto, though it has appeared twice in the main puzzle, the last time being 10 years ago.
Yes. The crossword reverting to its frequent habit of inconsistency across the grid.
As a Libran it is probably appropriate that I find myself balancing somewhere between the ‘seemed like a QC’ mob and the ’40 miles of bad road’ crew. 28.40 for me, my main problems being the SW and the COMPLICIT/SLOUCHED intersection, my last in. NHO the orchid and was pleased to figure it out, also flummoxed by the SD in slouched so thank you Z.
From Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat:
I see you got a new boyfriend, you know I never seen him before
I saw him makin’ love to you, you forgot to close the garage door
You might think he loves you for your money, but I know what he really loves you for
It’s your brand new LEOPARD-skin pill-box hat
9.17. No real holdups. I liked the demon barber’s appearance. Don’t think I knew LOLLARD, but the wordplay was generous. In the London 2012 Olympics, I got quite into watching the HANDBALL, although it didn’t persist beyond that summer.
Thanks both.
I was so confident in 28a – I had COWSLIPS, since that also works for cattle and sort of works for knocks over and definitely works for orchids … I really struggled with the bottom left corner but I just didn’t consider my solution could be wrong. Ah well, lessons were learned.
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
(The Second Coming, Yeats)
After 25 mins pre-brekker, on Ipad in York, I was left with the one where I could only fit Scorched. So that took a few more mins to see Louche.
I liked it. Nice degree of difficulty I thought.
Ta setter and Z.
12:34
My fastest for some time.
No problems, with CATTLEYA the only unknown which was very generously clued.
Thanks to both.
17:54
I don’ know why I know CATTLEYA, but it was a gimme.. Which FLYPAPER wasn’t; bunged in PAMPHLET from a P, but debunged it soon enough. LOI SLOUCHED. I liked AT ODDS, although I thought the ‘demon’ was rather too helpful.
A morning full of interruptions so no time but definitely nearer Jack than our blogger.
Another stuck in the SW with the unknown CATTLEYA (worked out from cryptic) POI & SLOUCHED LOI. DNK SD. I
Quite tough I thought. I did like FLYPAPER, though I don’t, if you see what I mean.
Thanks Z and setter.
30:12
Solved on paper from workplace. All straightforward other than the orchid from word play alone and SLOUCHED despite not knowing the Latin.
Thank you to Zabadak and the setter.
Only my LOI left after 9 minutes, and the NHO orchid took over 5 minutes to emerge. I simply never saw ‘cattle’ and can have no excuses.
FOI CALIPH
LOI CATTLEYA
COD LIGHT POLLUTION
TIME 14:24
7:28. I started very quickly indeed on this, but then as jackkt says the bottom half was a bit trickier and progress slowed gradually. No major problems though, the orchid was unknown and looks strange, but was very clearly clued.
You went to school in France but never read Proust?!
I did, and really enjoyed it. It’s on my long-term reread list. When I retire perhaps.
However from there to remembering the name of a flower that appeared in it nearly 40 years later is a bit of a leap!
Well, it’s true that I was no longer a schoolboy the first time I read it, and that I have reread it since, some parts a few times.
(I don’t know if I will ever retire!)
About 20 minutes.
– Didn’t parse FLYPAPER
– Just about remembered SD as ‘without a date’ for SLOUCHED
– Hadn’t heard of CATTLEYA but the wordplay was helpful
– Got THE FATES before I worked out the parsing
Thanks Zabadak and setter.
FOI Caffeine
LOI Cattleya
COD Premiered
17.44 with LOI fabric solved after guessing cattleya right. I must admit to always experiencing a frisson of fear whenever plants are involved. Other than that, very pleasant way to start the day.
Thx setter and blogger.
11’35”, no issues other than the orchid. Liked PREMIERED (it was fifty years ago we had two elections in one year).
Thanks z and setter.
As a regular QC player I am always intimidated away from the ‘grown up’ crossword. I do recall an episode of Inspector Morse where he was on a train journey and just staring at the Times Crossword in his newspaper. A fellow passenger leaned over and said ‘I also have no idea where to start’. Morse looked at him and said ‘I’ve already finished it [in my head]. The timer says I took 360 minutes however I started at 2pm when I could not sleep and finished just now. Probably took me around and hour but, hey, you guys completing in 20mins. How!!
I searched to see when CATTLEYA last appeared, which was 10 years ago, and I noticed that on that day the puzzle took me about 40 minutes which was probably about normal at the time. My average time now is about 15 minutes. So practice makes a huge difference 🙂
And youth. Although I have done the crossword daily for at least 20 years my solving skills have only improved a little. I’m quite old and past it.
Though there is the compensation that GK expands with age (unless you start to forget some!).
After FOI, CALIPH, the NW fell into place, but things slowed down considerably as I moved southwards. I managed to construct the unknown orchid successfully, but after 25 minutes or so was still left with 15a and 16d. It took an age before I saw COMPLICIT, then a while longer before SLOUCHED. I saw LOUCHE, but SD as without date was beyond my ken, so I shrugged and submitted. 36:53; not so easy for me. Thanks setter and Z.
Was unsure how to spell 26a Reims and 1d Caffeine, but the wordplay made the spelling clear.
15a Slouched, was trying to incorporate all of Sine Die, but didn’t know which single letter to add to the anagrist. Never seen it abbr to SD.
Never worked out where the Ed came from in 3d PremierEd. DOH!
POI 5d Light Pol; London Luton is a misnomer! But more accurate (just) than London Southend.
Cheated for 28a NHO Cattleya as wasn’t convinced by my correct guess.
22′ which is pretty good for me. I wouldn’t class it as a QC, but it just fell into place with the right GK. LOI NHO CATTLEYA which was very generous in both wordplay and crossers. Didn’t fully parse SLOUCHED, not seeing the SD (though I know the term sine die – football players were once banned “sine die” for extreme or continued indiscipline). Otherwise reasonably straightforward, thanks Zabadak and setter.
A late arrival at the ball today after a tooth extraction. Mr and Mrs Bear and their geriatric son Gummy? The dentist told me the tooth had deep roots and he would be taking at least half an hour. A minute later, he’d done it. I’m falling apart. No, this puzzle wasn’t that easy, particularly not SLOUCHED nor the unknown CATTLEYA. COD to LIGHT POLLUTION. Thank you Z and setter.
28 mins. Had this all but done and dusted in 20 only to grind to a halt in the NE. How I didn’t get RATHER straight away I’ll never know. Wife very keen on FLYPAPERS, I hate them, can’t get all that sticky stuff off my hands after putting them up.
18:40 – LOI SLOUCHED, as soon as I saw the sine die abbreviation. CATTLEYA – as others – from Proust. An entertaining mix of write-ins and obscurities.
28:00. I am enjoying the chat about somewhere between a QC and a Mephisto (a lot nearer the former). Same difficulties as others, though I think for once I parsed everything. Thanks both!
I considered CATTLEYA, but thought it too weird, and opted for CATTLEYE, even though it made less sense. Also failed with PRELATE, bunging in PIECASE (!) as some type of collection plate.
Ah well.
I liked the CAFFEINE clue.
Thanks as always for the entertaining blog
…and this is supposed to be a ‘quickie’?! I dread to think how long a ‘slowie’ will take me.
With CATTLEYA I really should have been more confident and said “Oh that’s a new word I’ve learnt” instead of feebly looking it up to see if it really existed. Used aids on SLOUCHED, being unaware of sine die, and for no good reason the WOODCRAFT clue was entered without understanding: I was fixated on raft being a crowd and failed to see the anagram. 44 minutes.
A quickish one but for 28 ac. Biffed it in as NHO. Enjoyed this thanks and no idea why it took me an hour!
Pouring with rain here so stayed in to look at this over lunch.
A fast start on the QC level clues but took some time to see LOUCHE -pleased about that- and POI was CATTLEYA. I had decided on Cattle early as the likely animals.
My LOI was FABRIC. I had to correct a biffed SPIRE (it’s got RE in it) which had caused Nasal congestion.
An enjoyable puzzle.
David
24:12
My last two in were CATTLEYA (NHO) and FABRIC (not sure why it took so long to see this).
Thanks Z and setter
No time to record as it was completed in three sittings. I found it pretty straightforward however, most answers going in at first reading, so I’m fairly sure it was under 30 minutes. I had to smile at the cryptic definition for PREMIERED; I shouldn’t think Edward Heath was ever called Ed by anyone as his rather starchy persona would suggest.
Thanks to the setter for including LIGHT POLLUTION – it’s a source of much sadness in my community and we need more people to be aware
13.38 WOE
Quick one here but put in a dumb CAMRIC. Yes it’s CAMBRIC and CAM doesn’t mean wonderful…More haste, less speed I should impress upon myself.
Didnt really hesitate over CATTLEYA once COWS had insufficient letters.
Otherwise some nice surfaces (CHEAT) and nothing wrong with a gentler one
19.09, but with repeated needs to get back to the correct puzzle as the page continues to flip as I enter text on my iPad. It’s very annoying, but I don’t know how to stop it.
Reinstall The Times App maybe?
Is your iPadOS up to date?
Thanks for the suggestions. Yes, my iPadOS is up to date; in fact, the latest update was just a few days ago. I can try reinstalling the app, but that too was updated quite recently and the issue has persisted.
Thursday crosswords are the only ones I ever manage to finish. Had to look up cattleya(but only after entering it )Natch !
24’02”. Game of two halves. Zipped through most if it, then lost the mojo. LOI SLOUCHED.
29:07
Another here that didn’t find it akin to a QC – even allowing for completing on my phone and allowing for interruptions, being 195th from 282 completers in the crossword club suggests a bad day for me. Top 100 is a good day, either side of 150 is about par for the course, bottom 100 is bad day/lack of wavelength etc. Nothing ungettable though didn’t know CATTLEYA and couldn’t have said what a LOLLARD actually is/was.
Thanks Z and setter
Smoked the NW corner at QC speed, then steady progress but blocked by the last one, SLOUCHED where I stared at those checkers for an age, but couldn’t get there.