Another puzzle from the remaining unpublished stock by the late (great) Richard Rogan, aka Felix. As usual with Felix there is a theme, which this time is so obvious that (unusually) even I was able to see it. I’m not going to explain it here in case anyone didn’t see it and now wants to go back and have a look, but feel free to discuss it in the comments. The whole puzzle is riddled with it – I counted at least 11 references!
I completed it in 08:37 which is pretty standard for me, so I’m hoping everyone will find this reasonably accessible. It’s certainly a lot of fun, with RR’s trademark economy and ingenuity on full display. Happy 2025 to all!
Definitions underlined in bold.
| Across | |
| 1 | Inquisition to do when late, finally — and who’d be in favour? (2,3) |
| NO ONE – the wordplay is straightforward enough: the last letters (“finally”) of “Inquisition to do when late“. I struggled to understand the overall parsing, though. Is the idea that no-one would be in favour of being on the receiving end of an inquisition? Maybe it was just necessitated by the theme! | |
| 4 | Anticipates old cats and dog eg catching cold (7) |
| EXPECTS – “cats and dog[s]” are examples [eg] of PETS, and since they are “old” they are EX PETS. That then has a C inserted [catching cold] to give the answer. I suspect “dog” may be a typo for “dogs”. | |
| 8 | Way to store English wine (3) |
| RED – RD [way, i.e. “road”] with E [English] inside. English wine is really very good now, with some excellent still whites emerging in addition to the now well-known sparklers, but I have yet to taste a really good red from these shores. I’m sure it’s coming. | |
| 9 | One maybe doing sincere imitation of increasingly dull monarch (9) |
| FLATTERER – “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”, as the proverb remarks, and so a FLATTERER might be doing a sincere imitation. Very neat! FLATTER [increasingly dull] + ER [monarch]. | |
| 10 | Follows contents of music LP (6) |
| TRACKS – this was my LOI because I was convinced that “contents of music” was either USI or just S. In fact this is just a double definition, with no “lift and separate” required. | |
| 11 | New or unfamiliar proprietor (5) |
| OWNER – anagram [unfamiliar] of “new or”. Very elegant. | |
| 13 | Separate article released by BBC (5) |
| UNTIE – the verb to separate, not the adjective. The wordplay requires you to know that the BBC has for decades been called “auntie”. Remove the “a” [article released] from “auntie” and you have the answer.
According to the BBC’s Written Archives “Auntie” is “A phrase of obscure origin: presumably journalistic, possibly from cartoons. Increasingly used in 1950s to contrast BBC’s prudish, cosy, puritanical ‘refained’ image with that of the much brasher ITV. Certainly had wide currency by July 1959: see cuttings on Hugh Carleton Greene’s appointment as Director-General.” |
|
| 15 | Classes in favour of maths empty! (5) |
| FORMS – FOR [in favour of] + MS [maths empty, i.e. m{ath}s]. | |
| 17 | Try tango, displaying courage (5) |
| HEART – HEAR [try, as in a Judge hearing a trial] = T [tango, NATO alphabet]. | |
| 18 | Light reading with this? (6) |
| KINDLE – a KINDLE is an electronic reading device which comes equipped with a light for night-time reading. Very good! | |
| 21 | Code of practice broken by tutee (IQ nearly ten!) (9) |
| ETIQUETTE – anagram [broken] of tutee + IQ + TE [nearly ten, i.e. “ten” minus its last letter]. | |
| 23 | Not just any old townhouse — has extension, first of all! (3) |
| THE – as in “Richard Rogan wasn’t just any old Nina-creator, he was the Nina-creator!”. The first letters [first of all] of “townhouse – has extension”. | |
| 24 | European health resort: new, rather (7) |
| SPANISH – SPA [health resort] + N [rather] + ISH [rather]. | |
| 25 | Primitive weapon with point placed in box (5) |
| SPEAR – SPAR [box, as in people hitting each other] containing E [east, a “point” placed in box]. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Roman emperor seen in fine robes (4) |
| NERO – if you’re suffering from déjà vu, it’s because NERO popped in on 30 December 2024. Loves a QC, does Nero. Today he arrives incognito, hiding away (“seen in”) in “fine robes”. | |
| 2 | Kind nick to reserve summons? (5) |
| ORDER – the lesser-spotted quadruple definition. I simply could not make head nor tail of the parsing here and in desperation downloaded an AI thing called Crossword Genius to see if it could help. It could – it suggested that this was a quintuple definition, and although I don’t actually agree (I can’t see how “to” = ORDER, so I think that this is quadruple not quintuple) it did enable me to see how the clue worked. So that’s AI 1, human 0. Boo. (Mind you it couldn’t solve 1a at all, suggesting “be for”, let alone parse it, so that cheered me up. 1-1.)
Anyway, ORDER is: (1) “kind” (as in a class or group); (2) “nick” (as in “my car is in good nick/good order”); (3) “to reserve” (as in “I’m going to reserve/to order some tickets”); and (4) “summons?” (since a summons is one type of ORDER which a Judge might issue). Very ingenious – but not actually a great surface, in my view. |
|
| 3 | Competent if chaotic fifteen guards in charge (9) |
| EFFICIENT – anagram [chaotic] of fifteen containing [guards] IC [in charge]. | |
| 4 | Pass drinks in middle of speech (6) |
| ELAPSE – LAPS [drinks] going inside [in] EE [the two central letters of “speech”]. Time passes/elapses. | |
| 5 | Stone mine (3) |
| PIT – double definition. That’s why you can buy pitted olives/dates. | |
| 6 | Trap catching old public official (7) |
| CORONER – CORNER [trap – a cornered rat] containing [catching] O [old]. | |
| 7 | Amazement, with male teacher getting award we hear (8) |
| SURPRISE – homophone/aural wordplay [we hear] for “sir” [male teacher] + “prize” [award]. | |
| 11 | Not on, people finishing as lawbreakers (9) |
| OFFENDERS – OFF [if it’s “not on” then it’s “off” … think either cricket or electrical devices] + ENDERS [people finishing – a little whimsical]. | |
| 12 | Harsh description of defective Old Testament? (8) |
| RUTHLESS – the Book of Ruth (one of the Five Megillot or “scrolls” in the Hebrew Tanakh) is in the canonical Christian Old Testament. If, therefore, the printer omitted it by mistake, that Old Testament would be “defective” because it would be “Ruth-less”, ho ho! I liked this a lot and it gets COD from me. | |
| 14 | Artisan crazy for old empress (7) |
| TSARINA – anagram [crazy] of “artisan”. | |
| 16 | Simple drawing of small craft (6) |
| SKETCH – S [small] + KETCH [craft]. A ketch is a sailing vessel which has a mizzen stepped forward of the rudderpost, for all you Patrick O’Brian fans out there. | |
| 19 | Volume of literature in abbreviated form, note (5) |
| LITRE – LIT [literature in abbreviated form] + RE [note, as in do-re-me]. This took me a while because I was trying to break up “literature in abbreviated form”; the clue was actually much simpler than I was trying to make it. | |
| 20 | Have horror of what’s at bottom of cliff, shell-like (4) |
| FEAR – F [what’s at bottom of cliff, i.e. the last letter of cliff] + EAR [shell-like, as in “A word in your shell-like”]. | |
| 22 | College, a French one (3) |
| UNI – UN [a French] + I. | |
22:33. I think KINDLE might be a DD as you kindle or light a fire. NO ONE and ORDER took me the longest to figure out and THE was my COD.
Agree – had kindling as a double meaning for lighting
I didn’t know that Felix puzzles had themes, and I certainly noticed nothing when solving, but when I looked just now the top line stood out; I think I only found 7 relevant items. The year seems to be starting on a slow note, judging from the SNITCH; I’m near the bottom of the NITCH scores, yet again. 9:54.
The theme is a bit messed up since it is NOBODY expects not NOONE expects. And it is RUTHLESS EFFICIENCY (and FEAR and SURPRISE) but we got EFFICIENT.
I never see the themes when solving at speed, but in go the answers. I agree tracks was a bit deceptive, but in the end got stuck on the empress, looking for some variant spelling of Titania or Theresa.
Time: 7:45
Pretty easy all round but became stuck at the RUTHLESS, UNTIE, HEART crossroads. Didn’t notice the NINA so look forward to someone revealing them at some stage.
Thanks T.
14 minutes. I missed a couple of the definitions of ORDER and agree with curryowen about the DD of KINDLE.
I spotted the NINA theme at 1,4 and 24ac but that was all as I am evidently less familiar with the topic than others and I look forward to finding out more here later.
Sorry, there was a theme? Never mind, I doubt it would have helped. A bit of a struggle for me, 12.36, with ORDER, NO ONE and the overthought TRACKS holding me up, as well as the splendid RUTHLESS which I should have got much earlier. In general a very nice puzzle, thank you Templar.
On edit: Now that I’ve gone back and looked I guess that theme is about as obvious as themes get. Disappointingly there was no mention of Cardinal Fang.
or the comfy chair
Found this a bit of a struggle but that was down to me rather than the quality of the puzzle.
I assumed that there was a theme relating to the top line of the puzzle but, despite staring at it, I can’t see what it is (as usual 🙄).
Started with NERO and finished with NO ONE in 11.50.
Thanks to Templar
It’s a c50yo reference to a famous Monty Python sketch which begins ‘No one expects the Spanish Inquisition’ whose chief weapons include surprise, fear…and so it goes on. Anyone unfamiliar with the sketch will be nonplussed.
Thanks LindsayO – MP was a little before my time, although the ‘no one expects..’ line does ring a very vague bell.
Ah, no wonder it was so obvious to Templar who is obviously a fan of MP. I was left scratching my head why I couldn’t see the obvious.
Only saw the theme at the end but enjoyed the solve until, like Quadrophenia, completely stumped by the bottom left, with ruthless and untie taking about 8 of our 27.15 and only arriving after working out it would be ????less and resorting to the thesaurus. Of course once seen, ruthless is COD.
Thanks Templar as always, great blog which raised a smile or two and gave us the completely obvious but not seen parsing of no one.
12:26. Very enjoyable with a struggle at the end to make sense of NO ONE and ORDER. COD has to be the quad-def ORDER but I did like the preposterous “defective Old Testament” for RUTHLESS
12:35, and a rather bitty solve as I jumped around the grid trying to find a foothold. The number of times I have spotted a NINA “in flight” (as opposed to on completion) can be counted on the fingers of one rather mutilated hand, and today did not add to the tally, not least because EXPECTS was one of my last ones in. But before that there were some smiles and lightbulb moments; I particularly liked the surface for THE, once I had convinced myself that yes, that really was the answer.
Many thanks Templar for the cracking blog.
Cedric
Superb puzzle completed in 16.25. Spotted the Nina and liked having INQUISITION as the first word in the first clue.
FOI No one
LOI Ruthless
COD Surprise
Thanks to Templar and especially the late Felix
Struggled a bit at the top but msde good progress at the bottom until I put Candle for 18A which blocked 16D which was clearly S KETCH, so KINDLE and a DD jumped off the page, with the Nina penny dropping at the same time. A first for me!
Struggled to fully parse ORDER, thank you Templar.
COD RUTHLESS. All in all, 22 minutes and a smile on completion.
RIP Felix
So the theme …
As others have spotted, it’s a puzzle with lots of links to the Monty Python “Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition” sketch. Here’s a link to the script https://people.csail.mit.edu/paulfitz/spanish/script.html and here’s what I saw – do add anything I missed!
NO-ONE EXPECTS THE SPANISH (1a, 4a, 23a, 24a) INQUISITION (clue for 1a).
RED UNI FORMS ((8a, 22a, 15a)
FEAR, SURPRISE and RUTHLESS EFFICIEN[cy] (20d, 7d, 12d, 3d)
SKETCH (16d)
Oh, and there’s a POPE if you look hard enough … the unches in row 4 + the central unch (row 6).
PS I’m travelling today so may be a bit slow to respond.
12:22 for the solve! Which is a complete surprise given I’ve rarely got on well with Felix puzzles and it’s my fastest time in over three weeks. Went looking for the theme post-solve and very much enjoyed finding it. Long time since I watched it so the details are a little vague but I will be off to watch.
Brilliant time. Well done. 👏 👏👏👏
19:57, escaped the SCC by three seconds.
RUTHLESS held me up, thinking it would end IOUS, and only had to sound correct, so could be a book like PSALMS, AMOS etc.
Crossword Genius can be good, it does miss very easy ones, and the ability to be able to take a photo of a paper crossword and start solving is an impressive party trick. Not sure if it uses TFTT as part of its corpus, if not, it should.
I noticed “no one expects” but didn’t recall it. Well done if spotted during the solve.
COD RUTHLESS and SURPRISE
26 mins…
As usual, didn’t really spot the theme, but at a quick glance I recognise most of the elements from the famous sketch. As a puzzle, I was doing fairly well until the SW corner – not helped by putting in “Candle” for 18ac and then wondering why 16dn didn’t work. Some good clues though, including 12dn “Ruthless”, 13ac “Untie” and my COD 21ac “Etiquette”. Only two days into 2025, but I’m still at 100% completion! 😀
FOI – 1dn “Nero”
LOI – 21ac “Etiquette”
COD – 21ac “Etiquette”
Thanks as usual!
I spotted the theme when I had another look after being alerted to it by our esteemed blogger. Very good! Otherwise a rather sluggish trip from NERO to RUTHLESS(ha ha). 9:46. Thanks Felix and Templar.
No newspaper delivery on New Year’s Day; lovely to start the year with a resurrected Felix! Always found him difficult, so pleased to finish it. LOI ETIQUETTE. Only CNP UNTIE, so thank you, Templar – forgot about Auntie.
15 minutes for me with delays over parsing for example PIT and CORONER ( my LOI).
I enjoyed the puzzle and now I see it was one from Richard Rogan; great to be reminded of him.
I missed the nina but know the Monty Python sketch well; this is typical of Richard’s ability and sense of humour.
COD to RUTHLESS.
David
I found this much tougher than yesterday’s offering finishing in 11.38. Even though I was a big Monty Python fan I failed initially to spot the theme, but there again I never do. After Templars prompting it was fairly obvious however. I just couldn’t seem to build up any speed today, and when I did try to quicken I made stupid errors such as initially putting in PROMS for 15ac. Solving OFFENDERS quickly sorted that out, but I was slow to finish in the sw corner with ETIQUETTE my LOI. I also spent a little while at the end checking NO ONE which I had trouble parsing. The penny finally dropped and I stopped the clock.
Sliding doors – pretty sure I gave away that idea on a tube train in 1991. Never mind.
12 with two biffs but I did solve order and the without any hesitation. Took me two passes of the set to get the SPA in as the first three letters.
John Hannah and Gwyneth Paltrow film with John Hannah delivering the line…sort of French Lieutenant’s woman story line with parallel universes…
Guessed a few and parsed them afterwards – some very clever! Loved the Nina – very unexpected!!
What a fun puzzle! Quite a few fell on first pass (including the witty RUTH LESS) but I slowed up after 10 minutes and spent a further 5 trying to get 4d – which completely eluded me. So a DNF in 15 minutes. BBC suggested Auntie immediately and I suppose that goes with the Monty Python theme: as does 16d SKETCH. Clever stuff. Thanks as usual to a great setter and an excellent blogger. And Happy New Year to all!
And Templar wants to try a good English red. The best I’ve drunk so far (up with a decent Burgundy) is the Pinot Noir from Danbury Ridge in Essex. It’s a serious wine!
Didn’t spot the theme, but then I never do! A very piecemeal solve but got there in the end, and certainly more easily than yesterday. Another to try candle before changing to KINDLE. Didn’t understand ORDER at all – thanks for explanation Templar. HEART and LITRE held out the longest, although not sure why. Favourite clues were SURPRISE and RUTHLESS (lovely). Many thanks.
I was grateful that Richard was thoughtful enough to include a few write-ins to help make up for some of his more fiendish clues on offer today. I was certainly ‘inefficient’ with loi 3d and, for that matter, not exactly speedy with Elapse, Flatterer and Untie. The nett result was a very enjoyable but slow solve, and a nod to the familiar 30min post. CoD to 12d, Ruthless, one of several parsing gems scattered around the grid. Invariant
PS I wonder if Crossword Genius is thinking of Stand-To! in 2d ?
9:31
Struggled in the NW with NO ONE and ORDER L2I. Love the theme, especially RED UNI FORMS, which I didn’t spot until Templar’s post. Thanks.
Enjoyable puzzle, easy at first but I slowed down in SW, with other gaps elsewhere, like ELAPSE. Finally worked out RUTHLESS (COD) after an earlier PDM with ETIQUETTE. LOI (A)UNTIE made me laugh.
Lots of other to like inc CORONER, FLATTERER, NO ONE (FOI).
Only vaguely remember Python’s Spanish Inquisition so the theme passed me by, as usual.
Blog much needed today so thanks, Templar.
17.24 With nearly half the time spent on UNTIE, HEART and RUTHLESS. I missed the theme. Thanks Templar.
Very nice puzzle, and I did see the theme.
I wonder if Richard Rogan did today’s or yesterday’s 15×15, both of which have been high quality?
So I didn’t look for a theme but I did take just under 10 minutes for what I thought was a tricky offering.
FOI was NERO and LOI ELAPSE. I biffed KINDLE from the gadget and ORDER before realising there was a quadruple definition. 9:42
It took me 18:35 to do this excellent puzzle. Finally noticed the theme when it was too late to help me out, though of course 1a should have tipped me off immediately. A fine lesson in the fun of looking around and appreciating the solve while in flight. Loved NO ONE, RUTHLESS, and FLATTERER.
I need to learn BBC=”auntie” and that “try” and “hear” almost always refer to legal proceedings. Could not parse ORDER and threw it in with hope. Thanks for the parsing! I wonder if capitalizing “nick” would have made a better surface.
Many thanks to the shade of the lamented RR and to Templar for the blogging!
Another slow one, but at 32:38, it was at least six minutes quicker than yesterday, so I’m going in the right direction. Didn’t spot the Nina and to my shame I’m not sure I’ve ever seen the sketch in its entirety (I have now). Even worse, I had very little, in fact none at all, idea of what the Spanish Inquisition actually was. I have remedied that too, although how long I will remember what I’ve just read on Wikipedia is anyone’s guess. Anyway, posthumous thanks to Felix for the education and thanks too to Templar. COD to LITRE.
I’m old enough to remember the sketch and as a student in Ealing at the time, Used to often see the Monty Python team filming nearby.
However, what is a NINA?
Go past the comment box at the bottom and look into Glossary.
36 mins
I enjoyed this. Totally missed the theme, but then no-one expects the Spanish inquisition..( Sorry!)
Thanks for helpful blog Templar.
20:08
Steady solve. Failed to parse ORDER. LOI ELAPSE. Oh, and didn’t spot the NINA although I’m vaguely familiar with the sketch.
Lovely puzzle which I solved in 12:40 having waited all day for the rest of the household to clear off to the pantomime. I refuse to go as I always get picked on by the cast much to the delight of my now teenage offspring. Was glad I waited and savoured this with a bottle of Gale’s HSB having cracked open my third Fuller’s brewery advent calendar (these having been picked up at a substantial discount half-way through December).
Didn’t spot the Nina but then have never really ‘got’ Python.
Failed to parse ORDER which was POI having solved all the checkers.
LOI and COD for me was RUTHLESS.
Cheers Templar for as ever thorough blog.
Wavelength! Saw it was a Felix, so possibly themed, and as soon as the first two across clues went in, and with Inquisition already mentioned, I was expecting much of what followed.
Zipped around the grid to see how many of the most likely words made it in, then filled in the rest. My favourite Nina ever, despite the absence of a chair, comfy or otherwise. Didn’t spot the RED UNI FORMS until I saw the blog however. Genius. RR, we miss you but thanks for this little gem.
DNF today. In a horror of timing, the ex-pets clue came on the day a beloved cat died, and I didn’t have the heart to continue. Back tomorrow.
Ouch 😢. Sympathies.
Very sorry to hear that Doofers
45-50 minutes for me, I think. Five Acrosses and seven Downs in my first pass through the clues, so quite good (for me) at that stage. Unfortunately, however, my progress slowed and basically came to a halt with 7-8 clues to go. All of those, bar ORDER, were in the NE corner, so I had hardly any checkers upon which to build.
Eventually, OWNER appeared out of the fog, its N led me to CORONER, the C of which led me to EXPECTS and I was able to stumble my way to the finishing line.
ELAPSE was my LOI and I never did pass ORDER.
Many thanks to Templar and Felix.
My sincere sympathy.
We have been privileged to own a number of cats. This happens, but it never, ever gets any easier.
You have my deepest sympathies.
That’s sad Doofers, best wishes
How sad. Sympathies.
8.15. Missed the theme but enjoyed the puzzle once I got into it.
Theme much too clever for me to spot even though I was/am a Python fan. Happy to finish in about 30 minutes.
Thank you Templar – always good to verify (or not) the Parsing.
51 minutes. I was better than this as a beginner. After countless hours on the 15 x 15, this is where I’m at. Dreadful.
Sorry to those of you who have kindly given advice, but I just cannot get any enjoyment from being so slow. I’ve recorded the worst time on here today, and I find that humiliating given the amount of time I’ve been doing the QC and the countless hours spent on the 15 x 15.
So many of you clearly gained great pleasure from this puzzle, which makes me wonder if I’m ever going to ‘get’ cryptics. I didn’t like it at all, but I’m obviously the odd one out.
PS Had a brief stab at 15 x 15. Got a dozen in an hour. Par for the course for this very high handicapper.
Indeed a 💩💩💩 time by your standards.
The joy for most people of the puzzle wasn’t the solving. It was the memory of Richard Rogan, an appreciation of his setting and that he’d put together a theme that some considered ‘comedy gold’.
I often prefer the clues that have really made me think, have taken a long time to solve, or even those that have beaten me. It’s NEVER about solving quickly for me, as then the fun is over too quickly. It sounds like it’s all about the end goal for you, and there’s nothing wrong with that of course, but it is the process that is the enjoyable part. I wonder whether, in your efforts to beat yourself (and others), you are missing the whole point… 🤔
I have read your comments for some time now.
I like the endeavour – if the endeavour is to be honest and encourage others to share in the sometimes agonising thing that is doing puzzles, then that’s grand. But is it?
Frankly, if after a couple of years of spending an hour or two a day on crosswords, you are still only able to extract humiliation and misery from the experience, my advice would be to find a different hobby.
Painting, meditating, knitting, guitar (ideally in a soundproof room), anything really. Planespotting if you’re really low on ideas. Isn’t one of the main strengths of humanity that we all have different, uh, strengths?
Aldous Huxley once said that learning how to meditate is roughly as difficult as learning how to play the violin. As in maybe a hour a day for a decade or so to be vaguely passable. Your time, and mine, would be vastly better attempting that instead. (Not that the two are somehow exclusionary – but at least try to enjoy it!)
Thanks everyone (New Driver, fabian, rolytoly) for your comments.
I’m going to persevere. However, for the next week, I will simply record my times here and desist from my usual self-criticism. A small start perhaps, but it will cut out the negative chat.
Thanks again.
Way too difficult for a QC in my humble opinion
We never spot themes. Neither did we find this particularly easy. 15:27 without having parsed NO ONE. Enjoyed a smile at COD RUTHLESS though. Thanks Templar.
19:43 with no errors. After staring at 12D (RUTHLESS) for quite some time I decided to leave it and see if coming back to it later helped. When I resumed this afternoon the PDM came in less than a minute and instantly became COD. FOI – RED, LOI & COD – RUTHLESS. Thanks Templar and posthumous thanks to Felix (RIP)