Time: 14:58 This didn’t feel much like a Tricky Thursday with most of my answers suggesting themselves readily from some kind and economical cluing, never more than two lines of print. There’s really only one of the clues which requires a sort of Times Literary Supplement background, unless you count Mary Shelley’s creation. I liked the laconic and understated “many miles” and “large plant”. An agreeable grid.
I present definitions underlined in bold italics, unwanted letters in [], and everything else as the fancy takes me.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Irresponsible benefit given out freely? (4-3-7) |
| GOOD-FOR-NOTHING – A benefit is a GOOD, which is supplied freely or FOR NOTHING. | |
| 8 | Make public secrets regularly withheld by counsel (9) |
| ADVERTISE – I’m not keen on withheld as an inclusion indicator, but since here ADVISE for counsel (verb) holds every other letter of sEcReTs, it’ll have to do. | |
| 9 | Not at home a week a year (4) |
| AWAY – Two indefinite articles and two standard abbreviations, A W[eek] A [Year] | |
| 11 | Kick-off ends in furious fight round pitch (5) |
| START – The last letters, ends, of furiouS fighT with TAR for pitch inserted. | |
| 12 | Many miles they staggered in disposing of grail (5,4) |
| LIGHT YEAR – I’ll concede that 5,878,625,373,183.6 miles is “many” (“but that’s nothing compared to space”). An anagram (staggered) of THEY within an anagram (disposing of) grail. | |
| 13 | Reduced waste following public proposal (8) |
| OVERTURE – Waste must be UREA, which is reduced by the unwanted A. Tack it onto OVERT for public. | |
| 15 | Arthur Brown keeps material in check (6) |
| TARTAN – ART short for Arthur kept in by TAN for brown. Check patterned material. | |
| 17 | Preserve large plant opened by business graduate (6) |
| EMBALM – Having conceded that a light year is “many” miles, I’ll agree that an ELM is a large plant, in which I’ll hide an MBA. | |
| 19 | Able to figure out true name (8) |
| NUMERATE – An anagram (out) of TRUE NAME | |
| 22 | Change a result that is not working (2,7) |
| AT LEISURE – An anagram (change) of A RESULT plus I.E. for that is | |
| 23 | Salary used to be supplemented by tips from good employer (5) |
| WAGES – Used to be WAS with the tips, this time the first letters, of Good Employer included (supplemented by). | |
| 24 | Chorus perform wrong note (4) |
| SING – Chorus becomes a verb, where perform wrong is SIN and the note is G. | |
| 25 | Confession of drug smuggler about LSD never changing (9) |
| IMMUTABLE – I resolved this after completion, though the confession bit made for a likely I’M start to the answer. A drug smuggler is a MULE, and the LSD to be inserted is just another word for money, which is the slightly unlikely TAB. My innocence is showing! A TAB is of course a serving of the hallucinogen LSD, as the more experienced of our number have noted below. | |
| 26 | Too enthusiastic about growth of legal profession? (4,3,7) |
| INTO THE BARGAIN – A definition easily missed. Enthusiastic is INTO, and the growth of the legal profession is BAR GAIN. | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Pleased revised notes talk about case (9,3) |
| GLADSTONE BAG – Probably the source of the Graduate Ben Braddock’s choice of alias when meeting Mrs Robinson at the Taft Hotel. Pleased is GLAD, followed by an anagram (revised) of NOTES and a reverse (about) of GAB for talk. | |
| 2 | Get round former pupil by half term (7) |
| OBVIATE – Former pupil is almost always O[ld] B[oy]. The barely-noticeable by supplies VIA, and half of TErm supplies the rest. | |
| 3 | Leading newspaper charged by taxman in US (5) |
| FIRST – The newspaper is the F[inancial] T[imes], charged or filled by the American taxman shortened as the IRS, the equivalent of the UK’s HMRC, much harder to work into a crossword clue. | |
| 4 | One will almost blunder into bit of light banter (8) |
| RAILLERY – One will contracts to I’LL, an “almost” version of blunder is ER[R] and both are inserted into RAY, a bit of light. | |
| 5 | Nervously excited about move, in a cautious way (2,4) |
| ON EDGE – About gives ON, and move in a cautious way gives EDGE. | |
| 6 | Vital sign that’s beginning to divide two judges (5,4) |
| HEART RATE – The beginning of That between HEAR and RATE, both synonyms for judge | |
| 7 | Most within reach of place of birth receiving attention (7) |
| NEAREST – Place of birth is a NEST, into which EAR for attention is inserted. | |
| 10 | Forthright genius dismissing one mad genius? (12) |
| FRANKENSTEIN – Forthright is FRANK, the genius (currently reduced to extolling the virtues of domestic power usage displays) is EINSTEIN, He loses the first of his Is (one). | |
| 14 | Learner admitted to becoming keen on lecture (7-2) |
| TALKING-TO – TAKING TO renders becoming keen on. Insert a(n) L[earner] | |
| 16 | Bewitching creature that Parisian married, stopping return of curse (5,3) |
| QUEEN MAB – As described by Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, responsible for Romeo’s sudden access of love. That in French is QUE, then M[arried] plugs into BANE for curse backwards. Probably the most demanding of today’s clues both in construction and definition. | |
| 18 | Speculative buyer charged item as means to make money (7) |
| BULLION – A speculative buyer is a BULL, one who reckons the value of his purchase will increase. A charged item is an ION. | |
| 20 | How one deals with unknown quantities? (7) |
| ALGEBRA – A cryptic indication. | |
| 21 | Correct wordplay is hard (6) |
| PUNISH – Wordplay is PUN, add IS and H[ard]. | |
| 23 | Server disconnected from current electricity generator (5) |
| WATER – The best example of a water powered generator I’ve seen is the incredible Dinorwig Power Station in North Wales, which makes use of two reservoirs connected by a hollowed out mountain. We need no such feat of engineering to “disconnect”, remove the I (electric current) from WAITER, a server. | |
My chief goal here was to beat my time for the Quickie, which would be an unprecedented reversal, but I fell a bit short. As it was, I biffed away like our blogger – although I did have to use the cryptic to get immutable. Here, LSD really is LSD, and a tab was a single dose, back in the day. My LOI was Frankenstein, a brilliant clue which I was convinced involved an anagram of genius without the I, with mad as the anagram indicator. I needed all the crossers to see otherwise.
Time: 17:03
Not so easy for me but very enjoyable. I failed on QUEEN MAB but kind of guessed it would be that from ‘que’ and ‘m’ and the ‘b’ from INTO THE BARGAIN, which I thought was a cracking clue along with TALKING TO. The tree in EMBALM eluded me for ages until GLADSTONE BAG went in. Thought FRANKENSTEIN was going to be a synonym of ‘forthright’ until the answer jumped out at me. My first two in were START and FIRST, leading me to think this was going to be quite easy. Really liked GOOD FOR NOTHING. Thought LIGHT YEAR very good too. Agree with Vinyl that the LSD in IMMUTABLE is a ‘tab’, nothing to do with ‘tablet’ but rather a small quarter-inch square of absorbent material soaked in the drug.
Thanks Z and setter.
An enjoyable solve that was stretched to 48 minutes by some delays on the RH side which unlocked when I FRANKENSTEIN suddenly leapt out at me when I noticed the pattern of available checkers. Prior to that, like V above, I had been working on a partial anagram of GENIUS without the I. TARTAN was my LOI. Very few workings on my print-out – only two anagram circles.
I just now worked yesterday’s and today’s, in rapid succession. What a week. Friday may be a shock.
Suddenly nostalgic for those sheets of microdot.
Don’t do it. 🙂
Just over 22′ before bed last night for everything except QUEEN MAB, which I didn’t know and couldn’t parse. Otherwise some very nice clueing which I enjoyed. Tab for LSD brought back memories, but no flashbacks…And INTO THE BARGAIN took a little while, especially without the aforementioned Queen which I’d assumed was Meg or Mae or May (anything but Mab).
Thanks Zabadak and setter
Struggled a bit more with this one than the SNITCH suggests we should have. Plenty of nice clues but I’m not convinced by “electricity generator” for WATER, surely it’s the turbine, dam, or hydroelectric plant that does that? If that’s allowed, then the same definition could be applied to wind, or bicycle wheel, or anything that burns couldn’t it? Fortunately, the nice wordplay saved it. Thanks setter and Zabadak.
8:12. No dramas. A bit of a pause over IMMUTABLE, which I felt the need to parse for some reason.
‘Withheld’ just seems plain wrong. Chambers gives ‘to keep in bondage or custody’, but if you’re relying on a usage the even Chambers marks as obsolete you’re pushing things a bit.
Wasn’t convinced by 23d. Perhaps I am being too pedantic but water does not generate electricity, although it can be used in the process of doing so.
Little bit harder than yesterday’s, I thought, but not much. As the snitch currently indicates.
Re 8ac, surely the “withheld” is required to get you to sEcReT? So if it is to be a containment indicator as well, it is doing double duty. So the “by” must be the containment indicator. Which it is not much better at than “withheld,” imo. “In” instead of by would have made a much better clue.
I didn’t really parse 25ac, but I assumed a “tab” was referring to a different sort of LSD than our esteemed blogger.
I think ‘regularly’ gives you the ‘ert ’ and withheld is the containment indicator.
25.29, a nice elegant puzzle. No real problems, but I didn’t twig to the tab = money/LSD bit in IMMUTABLE: I thought tab was short for tablet. LSD was synthesised by the Swiss chemist Albert Hofman, who famously tested it on himself before embarking on a weirdly psychedelic bicycle ride home.
Thanks Z and setter.
Mainly a top-to-bottom solve with LOI PUNISH. COD to ALGEBRA. In my National Grid incarnation, Z, I used to chair the Pumped Storage Business, ie Dinorwig and Ffestiniog. It was a great asset the CEGB built. I’d go up there from London in the Grid helicopter for meetings, hoping the pilot had gone down the right valley in the fog.
Enjoyable puzzle. Thank you Z and setter.
23 minutes. Not too hard, continuing the run this week, though I didn’t look at the parsing of some clues as closely as I should have and many of the points raised by our blogger and commenters went over my head. FRANKENSTEIN was good as was the ALGEBRA cryptic def which I happened to cotton on to quickly today, though could easily have missed it at another time.
21:34. Not hard but quite brilliant. The surfaces in this made it one of my favourites for a long time. There is always the QC if I want difficult.
I was so busy enjoying HEART RATE that I typed BEAT instead which held me up later. Didn’t parse IMMUTABLE but concur with Vinyl about TAB.
More like this please, thank you setter. And Zabadak of course, space is indeed big.
20 minutes or so.
– Slightly surprised at the indirect anagram involved in AT LEISURE, where we had to work out what ‘that is’ was indicating and then incorporate it into the anagrist
– Didn’t fully realise how INTO THE BARGAIN worked, even after spotting the definition (minor thing: I would say it’s ‘enthusiastic about’ that gives ‘into’, rather than just ‘enthusiastic’)
– Trusted the wordplay for the unknown for plausible-sounding GLADSTONE BAG and RAILLERY
– The equally unfamiliar QUEEN MAB sounded slightly less likely, but the wordplay worked so in it went
Thanks Zabadak and setter.
FOI Away
LOI Queen Mab
COD Into the bargain
Space can be described as big, but all numbers are relatively small.
While editing a student newspaper in the 70s, we ran a joke diary column which one week included the good news of a new batch of LSD being available in a certain student residence. We found out later that this was in fact true, and had led to serious panic.
12’36”, thanks z and setter.
Going well, but NHO QUEEN MAB, and didn’t see BANE. I thought QUEEN MUM, and QUEEN BEE were possible.
Tried hard to make RIBALDRY work
Only got INTO THE BARGAIN right at the end, so went with QUEEN MOB.
COD ALGEBRA
A biff-fest, very easy until I got to INTO THE BARGAIN and QUEEN MAB. The former took far longer than it should have, and the latter I simply guessed without parsing; it was obviously right.
49:05
Steady solve with no dramas.
Thanks, Z.
Crept in just under the hour with LOI FRANKENSTEIN holding me up for a while. In fact to start with I thought I’d be on for a good time as two thirds went in quite quickly but I got stuck on the right and the SE. IMMUTABLE also nearly did for me.
The only Arthur Brown I know was a fire-eating singer who lived in a Crazy World!
I liked GOOD FOR NOTHING & INTO THE BARGAIN, clever clues.
Thanks Z and setter.
For posterity’s sake I would include a mention of another famous Arthur Brown: one who, along with John Alcock, were the two British aviators who, in 1919, made the first non-stop transatlantic flight.
28 minutes without error or aids. We are being treated kindly this week, aren’t we? I have come to realise that one function of these puzzles is to serve as safekeeping for things that would otherwise surely be forgotten: QUEEN MAB, for example I remember only for this reason and the GLADSTONE BAG likewise.
Thanks to setter and Zabadack.
I actually achieved Vinyl’s aim for today by completing this in over two minutes less than it took me to do today’s QC! FOI was FIRST, then RAILLERY after which GOOD FOR NOTHING leapt out. Rapid progress then stalled as I hit the SE corner. Also a biffed HEART BEAT had held up TARTAN. I eventually dredged up INTO THE BARGAIN and ALGEBRA materialised. That left 16d which kept me busy for quite a while. Eventually BANE occured to me and a faint tinkle of recognition was engendered by the QUEEN MAB that resulted from assembling the wordplay. 16:52. Thanks setter and Z.
Would have been a fourth sub 20 in a row but defeated by QUEEN MAB. The character completely escaping me despite considering my own Shakespearean knowledge being adequate enough for crosswords. I couldn’t parse it after hitting reveal so was never going to get there.
I guess I can’t call it straightforward if I failed but should we be bracing ourselves for a really tough offering tomorrow?
COD INTO THE BARGAIN
Thanks blogger and setter
Just came here to say although today’s was pretty easy (I finished in 21 minutes which is pretty fast by my normal standards) some of the clues were really excellent, especially imo my loi FRANKENSTEIN
thanks setter! And today’s blogger of course
14.33 with LOI raillery. Felt on the wavelength today but not as quick as I hoped. I”ll now take a look at other results. Suspect this will be a rather low snitch.
No time as usual but completed in a few sittings quite quickly.
A very enjoyable puzzle.
I also had a query at 8a ADVERTISE and the role of “regularly withheld”.
In my view it would have read better as:
8a Make public secrets oddly withheld in counsel.
It is the odd letters in secret that are withheld and “in” replaces “withheld” as a containment indicator.
Constructed QUEEN MAB from the cryptic, recognised her as being from Shakespeare, but wrongly thought A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Thanks to setter and Z.
Quite easy but very good. Tomorrow will be a little harder. I thought there was a green paint quality to HEART RATE. It isn’t in Chambers, but now I see that it’s in Collins, although without all the usual headings for the entry. And since I don’t usually enjoy CDs it struck me that the ALGEBRA clue at 20dn was barely cryptic.
It took me ten minutes longer than any of the last three puzzles – 27 mins. I’m not sure why, though I was eating my lunch at the same time and possibly dawdling a bit. No problems: no unheard-ofs and, for once, I understood all the wordplay. A model puzzle. First in was AWAY and last IMMUTABLE. Favourite three clues: to INTO THE BARGAIN, FRANKENSTEIN and ALGEBRA. Thank you Setter and Blogger.
I did this before sleep last night in about 40 minutes and enjoyed it very much. I hesitated a little on QUEEN MAB due to the not-very-specific literal. We did spend a lot of time on that speech in high school, and sorting out the excellent wordplay confirmed my guess. For some reason START took a very long time; maybe the repeated Fs (furious fight) confused me. Not to mention my aversion to sports. I liked all the long perimeter clues. Thanks setter and Zabadak.
14:40 – RAILLERY went in with a mental note to return at the end and see if there was anything that looked a bit more likely. Fortunately I forgot and there wasn’t, although that double L still seems strange.
I failed on QUEEN MAB- I’m afraid I’ve never heard of the character. I did like FRANKENSTEIN, but most of the clues were smooth and concise.
Thanks Z and setter.
All done in 25 mins. Last one in was IMMUTABLE, obviously saw it was ‘never changing’, but couldn’t figure out the parsing.
Spending tooo much time on these puzzles- today almost 4hours didn’t get 16d and 10d.
This week so far feels a sense of achievement as I have managed to do more than last week.
At 25 minutes, this only took five minutes more than today’s quickie! Fun – lots to like, inc PITCH, WAGES and FRANKENSTEIN.
Many thanks setter and Zabadak.
An excellent puzzle, with no obscurities, that almost answered itself until the last four in, which held me up as long again as the rest of it. FRANKENSTEIN was got from the R and first N – a great clue! Those that caused trouble were ALGEBRA, INTO THE BARGAIN, QUEEN MAB and NUMERATE. Once I saw the anagram of the latter, the others came to me, but I’d fixated on ‘that’ being ‘ce’ or ‘cet’ rather than ‘que’ and next to the M instead of at the beginning of the word. Others I loved were TARTAN, so simple and elegant, IMMUTABLE and RAILLERY.
Missed into the bargain, queen mab, algebra and tartan (put in barton stupidly). Can now add raillery to persiflage and badinage as synonyms for banter in my personal lexicon (not forgetting repartee) 😂
19:49
Delighted to duck under 20m on a Thursday, the only unknown being QUEEN MAB, which wasn’t too tricky to build, I just had no idea who she is. Everything else parsed, present and correct.
Thanks Z and setter
I got off to a flying start, with the first four across clues solved immediately, before slowing down to my normal pace and limping over the line in 29 minutes. Was able to biff quite a few, though the subsequent parsing was usually not too time-consuming. Loved 10dn, although there was initially some competition from GUILDENSTERN and WITTGENSTEIN.
FOI – GOOD-FOR-NOTHING
LOI – TARTAN
COD – FRANKENSTEIN
Thanks ro Zabadak and other contributors
Me too, got off to flying start, but the bottom right was the problem. LOI FRANKENSTEIN. 21’09”. Once again just under my average, but I bet the SNITCH will mean I’m behind the field.
I found this hard to get into but then flew through it only to get stuck in the SW corner as I didn’t see BARGAIN/BAR GAIN. Thanks for the explanation.
Speaking of hydro schemes, the best example is Cruachan between Glasgow and Oban which was a major engineering achievement as it was the first reversible pumped storage hydro system on this scale to be built in the world. First conceived in the 1930s, building started in 1959 in very inaccessible location and it came into operation in 1965. I remember my father taking me to visit it when I was a teenager and I thought it looked like something out of a James Bond film! There is a Visitor Centre and a cafe with spectacular views over Loch Awe.
The SE slowed me down but got there in the end to make it four in a row. Unprecedented. Tomorrow will be a different story, I’m sure.
I liked Heartrate. thanks Z
Wages are not the same as salary. Wages is an expression of weekly earnings, salary of annual.