I thought this was a well-judged QC, and I solved it just about at my average time, 12:16. As Columbus said when he raised the telescope to his blind eye, “I See no Nina”. (see what I did there)
Definitions underlined in bold , synonyms in (parentheses) (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, other wordplay in [square brackets] and deletions in {curly} brackets.
| Across | |
| 1 | Lack of progress from unruly antagonist (10) |
| STAGNATION – (Antagonist)* [unruly]
Another straight 10-letter anagram, maybe seen before, but not by me. Actually this website has 1000 of them if you’re they type that likes to learn things, I hope to see Australian / Saturnalia soon |
|
| 8 | Second grade in a trial, ideally (2,4) |
| AT BEST – B (Second Grade) inside A TEST (A Trial)
Since we are in A-Level season I should point out that a B is actually the third grade, after A and A*. |
|
| 9 | Gents at sea capturing one small seal (6) |
| SIGNET – (GENTS)* [at sea] contains I (one)
A Signet is a seal small enough to fit on to a ring. |
|
| 10 | Awesome, ace, flawless person making a comeback (4) |
| MEGA – A + GEM (flawless person) reversed [making a comeback]
The OED doesn’t have a separate entry for GEM as a person, but Collins has it. I think I’ve heard in phrases such as “That new intern is an absolute gem”. And MEGA as an adjective already feels pretty dated. |
|
| 11 | Have a siesta, then shower? Check! (8) |
| RESTRAIN – REST (Have a Siesta) + RAIN (Shower) | |
| 12 | Periodic payment given by father and mother, maybe (6) |
| PARENT – PA (per annum) [periodic] + RENT (payment given)
Parsing a pit tricky. That Periodic usually indicates alternate letters in the next word, but not today. Edit: Kevin below has an alternative parsing which works a bit better. |
|
| 14 | Some slides aren’t about to get destroyed (6) |
| ERASED – Hidden in slides aren’t then reversed [about]
I didn’t spot the “about” instruction, so actually looked up ESAREN. Perhaps Esaren International (“a one stop shop for your global commodity, investment and property needs) are wondering about the extra traffic on their web site today. |
|
| 16 | Defensive equipment meant to be deployed by a group of soldiers (8) |
| ARMAMENT – A + RM (Royal Marines) [ group of soldiers] +(meant)* [to be deployed]
Are Armaments Defensive? Surely the Ukrainian tanks and artillery pieces that have crossed the Russian border are not defensive equipment. Would have worked better as “Military Equipment” |
|
| 18 | Swimmer flagging at the outset, kind of (4) |
| FISH – F{lagging} + -ISH (kind of)
ISH can be used standalone to mean “kind of”. Eg “I thought Jalna’s puzzle today was easy, what about you?”. … “Ish”. |
|
| 20 | Slow song from fancy dance promo (6) |
| BALLAD – BALL (Fancy Dance) + AD (Promo) | |
| 21 | Last bit of orange put in port? Bliss! (6) |
| HEAVEN – HAVEN (port) contains {orange}E
Haven=port is the original meaning, with metaphorical use following in later centuries. |
|
| 22 | Teams write about something unproductive (4-6) |
| TIME-WASTER – (TEAMS WRITE)* [about] | |
| Down | |
| 2 | It is included in the tax (5) |
| TITHE – THE contains IT
Very smooth and my COD, for using both IT and THE for the word play, words that are usually overlooked when scanning a clue. |
|
| 3 | Explosive anger possibly ends in wild dispute (7) |
| GRENADE – (ANGER)* [ possibly] + {wil}D + {disput}E | |
| 4 | Fat cats oddly ignored decree from parliament (3) |
| ACT – {F}A{T}C{A}T{S} | |
| 5 | Resolute aim to get hold of family member (9) |
| INSISTENT – INTENT (aim) contains SIS (family member) | |
| 6 | Northern Ireland, Germany, and another country (5) |
| NIGER – N{orthern} I{reland} + GER{many}
This African country and its neighbour MALI make frequent appearances in crosswords. Its other neighbour Burkina Faso less so. |
|
| 7 | Scoff at extremely dire rollercoaster? (6) |
| DERIDE -D{IR}E + RIDE (roller-coaster) | |
| 11 | Nasty sort starts to drink all my port (9) |
| ROTTERDAM – ROTTER (Nasty Sort) + D{rink} A{ll} M{y}
And let’s raise a glass to The Rotter (Jeff Marshall), who blogged regularly on TfTT and who died December, 2023 |
|
| 13 | A minor thoroughfare in Europe, say (6) |
| ABROAD – A B-Road
B-Roads being the minor roads in Britain. |
|
| 15 | A group of words said to indicate breaches of the peace (7) |
| AFFRAYS – Sounds like A PHRASE (group of words) | |
| 17 | Complete collection of books set aside (5) |
| ALLOT – ALL (complete) + OT (Old Testament: books, of the Bible) | |
| 19 | Unseemly outburst is noticed on a podcast (5) |
| SCENE – Sounds like SEEN (is noticed)
“On a podcast” is a new way of indicating a homophone. “One the Radio” is the more common indicator, but many people listen to podcasts instead of the radio, so this is a good update. |
|
| 21 | Part of the wall fell (3) |
| HEW – the wall
This would be fell the transitive verb, such as felling a tree. |
|
12 minutes! Hurrah! First finish it what feels like absolutely ages.
ERASED took me the longest. I ended up biffing it from the checkers and friends when I tell you I think my face has a mark where I may have facepalmed too hard when I realised it was a reverse hidden
‘MEGA’ meaning ‘awesome’ is being kept alive and well in the Formula 1 community where every good drive or performance seems to be described as Mega by the driver or the boss or the engineer.
Well done! 19:16 here, so you’re vastly ahead of me. MEGA caused me no end of problems – it seemed to be the only thing that fit but I couldn’t parse it, and so stared at it for a frankly useless amount of time before submitting.
Thank you to Merlin for the blog!
Oh i did a full alphabet trawl before getting to MEGA it really could have been anything
I biffed ARMAMENT, but paused long enough to raise an eyebrow or two. I was going to say that ‘father and mother’ (=PARENTS) should have been ‘father or mother’, but now it occurs to me that it’s RENT (periodic payment) by PA (father), and the definition is ‘mother, maybe’. 6:37.
Yeah, that’s probably it, I edited the blog.
I wonder if a group of soldiers should be “arm”. If it is A Royal Marine then “group” is not needed.
Generally “a” is omitted in clues to make them sound more snappy, even when grammatically they would be expected. So 5 down doesn’t have “a family member” even though it reads better. But 8 across, 13 and 15 down all do, and it is needed for wordplay. So seeing a “a” in a clue is usually significant.
I read it initially as a double homophone ARMA (Armour) defensive equipment and MENT (meant) but decided the lack of a sonic indicator had some other parsing. A bit unhappy about its definition as defensive, but I suppose it depends on which side you’re on.
We have a ministry of defence but no ministry of offence. It is what sounds best that gets used.
All complete but I was distracted by watching the DNC, some of the speeches have been absolutely extraordinary. So 15.09, with MEGA (I kind of forgot about the awesome bit) taking up a bit of time at the end. Thanks Merlin and Jalna, nice blog and crossword. Oh here’s Joe! Everyone holds their breath in case he stuffs it up, but it probably doesn’t matter now.
12 minutes. I went with the Royal Marines parsing at 16ac but I can see Silverware’s alternative might work, especially as floating A’s are all too common around here (and even more so at The Guardian). I still wonder why ‘defensive equipment’ though.
Iron Dome is defensive equipment but is still an armament.
I also parsed 16ac as Silverwaver above ARM +AMENT (meant*).
FOI ACT to LOI DERIDE my COD and lots of scribbling along the way to sort the anagrams.
Throught of the The Rotter (and Terry Thomas) as ROTTERDAM went in. Generally struggled through this. I don’t reckon MEGA will be in the running for clue of the year. Struggled with ARMAMENTS – bunged it in but the ‘defensive’ bit threw me. All green in 20.56.
Not really feeling it this morning and made slightly heavy weather of this one.
Wasn’t overly impressed by ‘defensive equipment’ but I see it’s the second definition of armament in Chambers. Like our blogger I spent time wondering about ESAREN, even though it’s clearly not a word.
Started with STAGNATION and finished with ERASED in 9.34
Thanks to Merlin
A pleasing finish in 33 mins (with one wrong letter).
Great puzzle without any NHOs refreshingly, and with all answers for me at least accessible though very few immediately obvious, thank you!
10:37. I went with Merlin’s parsing of ARMAMENT and I was also a bit surprised at “defensive” but my main MER is elsewhere. I don’t see hew = fell. You can do both with an axe, but that’s as far as it goes
I had the same thought about ‘hew’, but figured the setter probably had his proverbial covered in Collins or somewhere. I think you need ‘down’ to get the ‘fell’ sense. (I notice ODE doesn’t give an example where hew=fell; they’re all ‘hewn from [solid rock, etc.]’.
I was delayed at the end by the podcast, a concept of which, as Manuel in “Fawlty Towers” would put it, I know nothing.
FOI STAGNATION
LOI SCENE
COD PARENT
TIME 4:40
Gosh, easy today. Maybe the Powers-that-Be have listened to our worries. Liked SIGNET, AFFRAYS, ROTTERDAM, among others.
In recent weeks I have been spending so long on the QC it’s been a bit of a TIME-WASTER.
By the way, I first saw Bad Gateway when I tried to print the puzzle, so I approached the collection of puzzles as a whole, rather than via Most Popular, and that way worked.
Many thanks, Merlin.
4:03. Nice QC. No marks on my copy except LOI against HEAVEN. Like others, I wondered about HEW = “fell” at the time, but I see it is meaning 2 in Chambers. I see our setter is also vindicated by Chambers for ARMAMENT = “Defensive equipment”. Which reminds me… if I think a setter has got something wrong it is more than likely that it is my own mistake not theirs. Thanks Jalna and Merlin.
Chambers really is extremely liberal in what it includes- if someone, somewhere, at some time uses a word with a certain meaning (even if a meaning most people would not recognise), Chambers dutifully records it. So be it; it is a recorder of usage not an arbiter of correctness.
So on the two clues causing comment, I am another who didn’t really like Hew = Fell, but I was absolutely convinced Chambers would nod it through. And as for Armament = Defensive equipment, surely the question is not whether or not armaments can be defensive, but whether they always are, to justify Jalna’s wordplay. And enough of us think they are not to allow I think a small MER at the clue – perhaps it should have had a qualifier, or perhaps just “Military equipment” as Merlin suggests.
Ambling into the SCC as I finished: although STAGNATION went in first and promptly, there was some more of that as I meandered sleepily through the rest of the clues.
Liked ABROAD although I suspect it has chestnut status, and TITHE for its simplicity. FISH – doh… ARMAMENTS, see above, but had to be so in it went.
Fond reminder of The Rotter, long may his spirit haunt the grids of this place.
The Times app seems to have permanently forsaken congratulating completion, pressing “check” to get the all green isn’t quite the same.
7:30, no problems
Yes I did pause over HEW = FELL
Back to something approaching normality today after yesterday’s struggle, finishing in 8.59. My LOI was ARMAMENT for the reasons others have outlined above, but if Chambers precisely defines it as such, then fair enough. Nice to be reminded of The Rotter in 11dn, I miss his contributions.
This was more like a QC after yesterday’s struggle. ARMAMENT was my LOI, but COD was RESTRAIN, when two totally unconnected words join to give another meaning.
5.13
Excellent puzzle – plenty of gentle ones; some excellent anagrams; and lots of smooth surfaces.
TITHE and HEW my faves plus the two 10 letter anagrams.
Also hesitated over “defensive” but the w/p was unambiguous
Thanks Merlin and Jalna
Fat finger failure with BALLED instead of BALLAD. Grrr.
LOI ROTTERDAM.
5:50 but..
Easier than of late. Much to like including AFFRAYS, SCENE, DERIDE (made me smile) and RESTRAIN. Thanks for explaining various parsings of PARENT.
12:06
Good level of challenge.
Thanks, M.
In the middle of my target range (15-20 mins) at 18 minutes. I didn’t manage to parse ARMAMENT, the question mark on my paper copy indicating this and also a MER at the use of defensive in the clue. Otherwise no problems although I tended to overthink some of the clues and should really have been a bit faster. All a bit easier than of late which is definitely a plus as far as I’m concerned.
FOI – 1ac STAGNATION
LOI – 19dn SCENE
COD – 13dn ABROAD
Thanks to Jalna and Merlin
10 minutes for me. LOI ARMAMENT wondering a bit about the definition. FOI was HEW, without hesitation.
I too thought of The Rotter, our erstwhile blogger. He came to our summer drinks at The George and was a pleasure to meet.
Hard to pick a COD; some nice anagrams.
David
Didn’t unscramble STAGNATION until I had the crossers. FOI was ACT. Switched back to the acrosses but got stuck after ERASED and went back to the downs. Nice to be reminded of The Rotter. LOI was TIME-WASTER. 5:58. Thanks Jalna and Merlin.
Normally struggle with Jalna and thought this was going to be no exception when I had only got three of the acrosses on the first run through. Thankfully the downs were mostly write-ins and with the checkers, the acrosses I missed went in without too much trouble, so I ended up with my best time for a couple of months I think (records are patchier these days) of 12:26. COD to TITHE for the smooth surface. LOI TIMEWASTER. Surely not. Thanks Jalna and Merlin.
Pitched at just the right level for a QC, I would say. A sufficient level of cryptic-ness, but no obscure words or niche GK to block progress. 21 minutes for me, so a decent enough seat in the SCC awaited me.
I started with STAGNATION (always good to get 1a early) and made fair progress during my first pass through the grid. I drew a smiley face next to FISH to indicate my CoD and I finished with AFFRAYS, ABROAD and DERIDE.
Many thanks to Jalna and Merlin.
A 16min ‘sprint’, with loi Scene preventing a (rare these days) sub-15 – podcast certainly didn’t help. Same issue as others with Armament, but apart from that and Scene, everything else more or less went in at first sight. Even yesterday’s missed Erase turned into a useful primer for Erased. Lots of potential CoDs, but my favourite was Restrain, a nose ahead of Tithe. Invariant
A very approachable puzzle which took me 9 minutes with no real hold-ups. Same two question marks over the precise linkages and definitions for HEW and ARMAMENT, but others have commented at length on these so, like the third judge in a Court of Appeal verdict, I think I can just say “I concur with m’learned friends”.
Many thanks Merlin for the blog
Cedric
Finished correctly in 56 minutes. Two correct in a row. Hooray !
What is this NINA ?
I once worked in an office where there was a very unpleasant lady called Nina.
Colleagues said her name stood for : Not
Intentionally
Nice to
Anyone.
If you go to the Useful Links at the top of the page, and select glossary, you’ll find a list of all, or most of the terms and acronyms in general use here and explanations thereof.
I can’t believe so many of you found this easy. I had to give up with half still unsolved – just couldn’t see the wood for the trees. A really bad day.
Us too! Perhaps it’s the effect of having family dogs staying, who need lots of exercise!
8.31 In addition to the ones already mentioned I thought the definition of ALLOT was a bit loose. An enjoyable puzzle though. My first solve under ten minutes in weeks. Thanks Merlin and Jalna.
I found this medium difficulty – some flew in, others distinctly chewy. Same reservations as many others about ARMAMENT but it had to be. Enjoyed ABROAD – Continent cut off, eh? The ANTAGONIST/STAGNATION anagram was brilliant! Very enjoyable but 25 minutes (or slightly more) so I’m firmly embedded in the SCC this week.
Another par for me. Respectable-ish times for all but the last couple which then breezeblock me for ages.
14:04. Same thoughts re fell/hew and ARMAMENTS as others above. I enjoy a clue like PARENT that can be got at different ways. Also enjoyed the ISH in FISH!
Struggled with this giving up with 4 to go at 28 minutes. Defeated by mega, erased, armament and aboard.
21:45 with no errors. I found this a little above average difficulty for me, well done to those who didn’t gain entry to the SCC. FOI ERASED, LOI GRENADE COD AFFRAYS. Thanks Merlin and Jalna
From STAGNATION to the INSISTENT/SIGNET crossing in 7:33 which feels quite speedy given my performance over the last week. Other than initially putting in NIund instead of NIGER and hesitating over the parsing of ARMAMENT the solve seemed quite smooth.
5:58
Mostly pretty quick, just got a bit stuck for a short time with ARMAMENT and ABROAD – had “A minor” in mind as Am…
Thanks Jalna and Merlin
DNF due to Mega. Slow progress on the crossses but the downs came easily and gave the checkers for the now easy across clues.
Enjoyable. Thanks Jalna and Merlin
15m
RM for soldiers held me up as I identify them more as sailors but I guess it still works.
Liked restrain, fish, tithe, and Rotterdam.
17:11 here, slightly over my target time, but better than yesterday’s shocker. COD to FISH, and I also parsed ARMAMENT as ARM + (MEANT)* with the help of the Fleet Air Arm.
Thanks to Jalna and Merlin.
Shall I draft a letter to the prime minister for all the complainants to sign saying it is entirely wrong for the ministry of defence to continue procuring armaments?
Just posting to say this was my first complete solve!
I’m very new to these and I suspect I skew to the younger side, so really appreciate this blog to help parse some of the more obscure wordplay as I (v slowly..) work through the daily QCs.
Thanks Jalna and Merlin.
Congratulations, notaclue! Jalna’s are generally clever, but can be tricky compared to other setters. You will find that as you complete more puzzles, your vocabulary will expand backwards towards the more archaic 50’s and earlier terms that are only found in crosswords and old literature! Almost every archaic or obscure term I come across these days has already previously been used in a crossword, as Jackkt will attest.
Welcome, notaclue, and congratulations on your first completion and also on successfully finding this blog. Your pen-name already seems a bit out of date. . . 😉
Welcome! So nice to have new people. This blog and community is truly invaluable.
Had no idea what ‘podcast’ was doing in 19d but now I understand and will be more alert in future.
Also failed on MEGA but enjoyed the rest.
COD RESTRAIN which had a nice PDM thanks to the pronunciation.
A pleasing slow 50 minute solve. Nothing I hadn’t heard of with some great clues, especially 2d 13d and 15d. Don’t see the problem with Mega – fairly straightforward clue which took me about two minutes!
Thanks Jalna for a good workout and to Merlin for either confirming or explaining what should be the obvious but never is!
As lichdb I’m surprised everyone found this so easy, I rambled a bit but remained stumped on MEGA and PARENT in latter case heading off in completely wrong direction, also assumed flawless person was a saint(st) i which just wouldn’t go in
Maybe I was intimidated by seeing it was from Jalna, but I made heavy weather of this puzzle. A DNF by 10a Mega, 16a Armament (fixation with Regiment from crossers and was first thinking around Shield etc as ‘defensive’),13d Abroad.
Not a good day!
Another who didn’t find it easy and gave up with 5 to go (including MEGA)
Late to this today, but a pleasing solve with no MERS – I didn’t see HEW=fell as egregious – unless I do, I tend to shrug and move on. MEGA was a nice PDM. Thanks, Jalna and Merlin.
I found that easy which was just as well as I lie here prostrate with mal de mer after foolishly agreeing to skipper a fishing trip for son #3. In these winds! What was I thinking?
07:13 and hoping for the room to stop moving. Many thanks Jalna and Merlin.
Noblesse oblige ?
Not easy for me, but not impossible.
Got no acrosses on first pass. FOI: ACT
Needed a full alphabet trawl for LOI: MEGA – not sure why I didn’t see that before.
Lots of PDMs so enjoyable overall for me and no words NHO.
So thanks to Jalna and Merlin.