A pleasant if undemanding puzzle today, featuring several famous people from history and a fifteen letter word you don’t hear often. It took me about 15 minutes, ending with the French couturier.
Definitions underlined in bold, (ABC)* indicating anagram of ABC, anagrinds in italics, [deleted letters in square brackets].
| Across | |
| 1 | Directed opening of Cor Blimey! — new English play (9) |
| CYMBELINE – C[or], (BLIMEY N E)*. I’ve never seen this play, but I knew it was one of The Bard’s, and that Cymbeline’s daughter was called IMOGEN and so is one of my granddaughters. | |
| 6 | Unearth detective uniform hidden by family doctor (3,2) |
| DIG UP – DI (detective), GP with U inserted. | |
| 9 | Second brew — fine coffee (5) |
| MOCHA – MO (second) CHA (tea, brew). | |
| 10 | Big boss mostly crazy to have backed corporation first (3,6) |
| TOP BANANA – POT (corporation) reversed > TOP, BANANA[s]. | |
| 11 | Some cut off from this outfit for pool competition (8,7) |
| SWIMMING COSTUME -(SOME CUT)* = “swimming” meaning the word is an anagram of SOME CUT and “off” being the anagrind. | |
| 13 | Showered in loo building around one (8) |
| LAVISHED – LAV (loo), I, SHED (building). As in lavished / showered with gifts. | |
| 14 | Let me see setter’s fur (6) |
| ERMINE – ER… = let me see; MINE = the setter’s. | |
| 16 | Seductive dancer Oscar married in Cheshire town (6) |
| SALOME – SALE (in Cheshire), insert O[scar], M[arried]. | |
| 18 | Doctor corrupt photos that might be produced in court (4,4) |
| DROP SHOT – DR, (PHOTOS)*. | |
| 21 | One lying across large mountainous region surrounding city of rock, the silly goose! (15) |
| FLIBBERTIGIBBET – FIBBER = one lying, insert L[arge], TIBET our mountainous region, insert GIB the city of (the) rock. | |
| 23 | I clean out wound to protect against infection (9) |
| INOCULATE – (I CLEAN OUT)*. | |
| 25 | Write off the entire amount (5) |
| TOTAL – double definition, total as in total / write off a car in a crash. | |
| 26 | Host’s delivery of treasure trove (5) |
| HORDE – sounds like HOARD. | |
| 27 | Broadcast game’s link between two places (3,6) |
| AIR BRIDGE – AIR = broadcast, BRIDGE the game. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Clubs briefly entertain writer and philosopher (5) |
| CAMUS – C[lubs], AMUS[e]. | |
| 2 | High speed on wide street upset sick Italian diplomat (11) |
| MACHIAVELLI – MACH 1 = high speed, AVE[nue], ILL reversed. | |
| 3 | Time and arithmetic problems boosted scholar (7) |
| ERASMUS – ERA (time), SUMS reversed (boosted). | |
| 4 | Some paint and emulsion at the same time (2,6) |
| IN TANDEM – nicely hidden, but the 2,6 made it easy to get. | |
| 5 | Suppose former partner nibbled on the ear? (6) |
| EXPECT – EX (former partner), PECT sounds like PECKED = nibbled on the ear perhaps. | |
| 6 | Letter opener? (4,3) |
| DEAR SIR – Cryptic definition. | |
| 7 | Regularly good at beach cricket here? (3) |
| GOA – alternate letters as above. I expect this does happen in Goa. | |
| 8 | After climbing mountain, Bond gets an assignment (9) |
| PLACEMENT – ALP reversed, CEMENT = bond. | |
| 12 | Open University behind IT’s development (11) |
| UNINHIBITED – UNI[versity], (BEHIND IT)*. | |
| 13 | Become disillusioned, I shed a few pounds outside hospital (4,5) |
| LOSE FAITH – I with LOSE FAT outside, H for hospital. | |
| 15 | Aloofness of France’s top couturier turning over his cash (8) |
| FROIDEUR – F[rance], DIOR reversed, EUR[os]. French word for coolness. | |
| 17 | British upper-class spy circles criminal order (3,4) |
| MOB RULE – MOLE (spy) ‘circles’ BR U. | |
| 19 | Artist/playwright penning article (7) |
| PAINTER – Harold PINTER has A (article) inserted. | |
| 20 | Endless farce exposed banal secrets (6) |
| ARCANA – ‘endless’ and ‘exposed’ centres of words as above. | |
| 22 | Lines packed into day’s material (5) |
| TULLE – TUE[sday] with LL inserted. | |
| 24 | Blade cut off pig’s head (3) |
| OAR – [B]OAR. | |
24 minutes. The puzzle seemed easier than my timing would suggest so I was a little surprised to find I had finished only 6 minutes under my target half-hour. Perhaps I allowed myself to be distracted, wondering about the spelling of FLIBBERTIGIBBET and having to follow the wordplay closely, and trying to fit an R into CYMBELINE. I also wondered what qualified MOCHA as ‘fine coffee’ rather than just ‘coffee’, and what the hell beach cricket had to do with GOA.
FROIDEUR was unknown to me and is making its TfTT debut.
ODE (and so probably the other Oxfords) defines MOCHA as ‘fine-quality’.
Thanks. Yes, I saw that after I finished but I had wondered about it when solving. I asked my AI assistant why “fine”?
Mocha coffee is described in dictionaries as being of “fine quality” due to its historical significance and unique flavour profile.
Historical Significance: Originally grown in Mocha, Yemen, Mocha coffee beans were highly prized for their rich aroma, unique flavour, and smooth texture. They were among the first coffee beans to be exported and traded globally, establishing a reputation for excellence.
Flavour Profile: Mocha coffee beans are known for their distinctive flavour notes, often described as spicy, winey, and slightly chocolatey. This complex flavour profile, which differs from the more common Arabica beans, contributes to its reputation as a fine-quality coffee.
While the term “Mocha” is sometimes used to describe chocolate-flavoured coffee drinks today, the original Mocha coffee beans from Yemen still hold a place of honour among coffee connoisseurs.
So now I know!
Me too! Interesting. I think of arabica as the finest coffee but perhaps I’ll have to seek out some mocha to see what the fuss is about.
29m 53s Very pleasant!
Yesterday in 6d we had ‘Post Office’ = ‘Job Centre’. Today 6d was ‘Letter Opener’ = ‘Dear Sir’.
I thought both could have come from the mind of Dean Mayer. They certainly made me smile.
I also liked ‘swimming costume’. I don’t always get that kind of clue.
Thanks, Pip! I also know an Imogen; she’s my chiropractor.
19:23 but
One error, and one typo costing me two, plunging me 70+ places on the leaderboard. Having seen L in FIBBER, I didn’t bother to parse any further and typed in FLIBBERDIGIBBET, which may even be the way I would have spelled it. I didn’t get SWIMMING COSTUME–clever clue. On the other hand, and pace Martin, I thought DEAR SIR was QCish. I liked ‘I clean out wound’.
24 minutes with LOI ERMINE. COD to FROIDEUR, SWIMMING COSTUME being a bit too clever. A pleasant puzzle. Thank you Pip and setter.
A really well-pitched puzzle I thought, and I vote a pay rise to piquet for figuring out the cryptic for 21ac which is too long for me to be bothered writing out. 24.57, and a special shout-out to PLACEMENT, ERMINE and especially FROIDEUR.
From Floater (Too Much To Ask):
One of the boss’s hangers-on
Sometimes comes to call
At times you least EXPECT
Trying to bully you, strong-arm you, inspire you with fear
It has the opposite effect
I thought her as chaste as unsunn’d snow
(Cymbeline)
20 mins with brekker. Nice and gentle. A tiny MER at the “off” in the reverse anagram one. If ‘swimming’ is what makes costume=’some cut’, then the off isn’t needed.
Ta setter and Pip.
The way I read this was that both wordplay and answer can be read as indications of STOMCUE.
24:16 but with a typo (LOSE FIATH / ANOCULATE)
I didn’t exactly race along but it was a steady solve. FLIBBERTIGIBBET was a complete unknown but the cluing was kind enough, SWIMMING COSTUME took far too long, and I needed all the checkers for my last in FROIDEUR.
Thanks to both.
13:55 with several COD contenders, FROIDEUR by a short head from ERMINE and FLIBBERTIGIBBET. Fertile biffing territory, eg “pool competition” gave me SWIMMING COSTUME immediately without needing any painstaking analysis (for which I am indebted to the setter and Pip).
I still don’t quite get SWIMMING COSTUME. I’ve seen plenty of ‘reverse clues’ before, but having the anagram indicator ‘off’ in the actual clue, which is clueing another anagram indicator (‘swimming’) in the answer isn’t quite right, I feel… That’s not normally the formula for this type of conceit, I feel, but I can’t exactly say why.
Yes, again on the easier side, 31mins. LOI FROIDEUR oddly enough.
Although I saw the FLIBBERTIWHOTSIT early, I also wasn’t sure of the spelling so I waited for most of the crossers and paid close attention to the wp. Phew.
I agree with Jack, what’s relevant about beach cricket to Goa?
I liked SWIMMING COSTUME.
Thanks pip and setter
I should have said that I later Googled ‘beach cricket Goa’ and was left in no doubt that it’s a local speciality.
Aha, so AOK then. I have seen it played on Mallorca too!
Raced through the top half having seen CYMBELINE immediately but slowed down slightly after that though still a few minutes under 30. Most of my time then spent on the goose and FROIDEUR, both words I’d vaguely heard of and had to be constructed. Not helped by an early biff of LOSE “heart” which INOCULATE helped to correct. Enjoyable and doing reasonably well this week so far. Thanks Piquet and setter.
I was a lose heart too but I wrote heart VERY faintly.
6.37, no drama, lots of fun.
I enjoyed the appearance of FLIBBERTIGIBBET, and thought UNINHIBITED was very good. Goa’s in India, where they play a lot of cricket and it’s by the sea, so there’s plenty of beach, ergo I’m sure there’s beach cricket galore. Worked for me.
Thanks both.
10:39 which I think is a PB. Completed on a train for first time ever, instead of in a dim living room morning haze. Perhaps that says something about the role of atmosphere and surroundings in successful solves!
14:54 with 2 minutes at the end on my LOI FROIDEUR before I found the dressmaker. I liked FLIBBERTIGIBBET and SWIMMING COSTUME. Thanks Pip and setter.
15 mins – shaved off some time by not parsing Julie Andrews I think. Was this clue attempting to be a kind of &lit? The mountains certainly helped jogged my memory!
15:27
COD: DEAR SIR
Just under 15 minutes.
– Had the same query as Jack re MOCHA, which I see has been answered
– Didn’t parse SWIMMING COSTUME at all, and I echo flasky_robinson’s thoughts above
No other issues. Thanks piquet and setter.
FOI Dig up
LOI Top banana
COD Inoculate (beautifully smooth surface)
25 mins. This one managed to miss all the gaping holes in my GK making for an enjoyable amble.
Did not parse the swimming bit so thanks for that.
LOI FROIDEUR
COD or at least Word of the Day to FLIBBERTIGIBBET. Lovely
A doddle but a very tidy puzzle. Thanks for the blog.
Quick today, but some excellent clues from this fun crossword. 4dn is a thing of beauty. Also liked the swimming costume and the big boss..
19:54
Good fun with some witty clues. I particularly liked FROIDEUR, UNINHIBITED and MOB RULE.
Been a while since I’ve used my own SWIMMING COSTUME as a hole in the sleeve needs darning.
Thanks to Pip and the setter
My swimming costume has a hole in the knee, we could make a team
My swimming costume is cut too tight round the waist – can’t understand why they don’t make them bigger…
I’ve given up and moved to shorts. Better quality elasticated waists I find…..
Sadly, one of the wheels fell off my bathing machine some years ago….
22:50
Straightforward solve.
Thanks, p.
An enjoyable puzzle. IN TANDEM was FOI. Biffed SWIMMING COSTUME from the enumeration and the N from 4d and C from EXPECT. Also biffed FLIBBERTYGIBBET from the B in UNINHIBITED, T from TULLE and rock in the wordplay. I then corrected the spelling by checking the wordplay carefully. Liked INOCULATE. FROIDEUR was LOI. 14:42. Thanks setter and Pip.
6:43. Talk about a breezeblock! I had all but 15dn done in 4 1/2 minutes so was confidently expecting a sub-5 but that single clue took me over 2 minutes. I’ve no idea why it took me so long to think of it.
Exactly the same, except took me from just under 9 to 10:39. Since I take your always impressive performances as my unofficial ‘ones to beat’ (perhaps unrealistically), was quite pleased to hear this.
Great minds and all that 😉
Things I was thrown by:
9a Fine in the chocolate flavoured coffee clue: I expected an F as in DECAF
7a Beach cricket in Goa: I mean, it is a thing: here’s a video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mV-h2blkiZU, but it’s by no means special to Goa.
17d Trying to remember anyone on my list of Gentleman Spies and only coming up with Buckingham from the 3 Musketeers and almost anyone from Wolf Hall.
18a As usual, flummoxed by the wrong kind of court.
On the other hand, I appreciated the implied cryptic for swimming COSTUME. I think the off is there to improve the literal meaning and not as an anagram indicator: competition costumes are usually cut closely to the advantage of the swimmers, are they not?
17.43 for this pleasant trundle. And now I can spell CYMBELINE and FLIBBERTIGIBBET. Win/win!
39 minutes, which as usual was perhaps too long on a pleasant gentle crossword which everyone seems to have found easy. I did too, but was generally slow and was distracted by the off in the reverse anagram clue, which as many have said is unnecessary, indeed misleading. Also I was thinking the city of rock was Petra and for a while that fitted, so the answer was slow to appear. At the end MOB RULE was entered without parsing because it was clearly right and I parsed it afterwards.
Had no problem with GOA – been there and seen locals playing it! Even easier than yesterday’s, completed in under 15 mins.
Fairly straightforward solve today in 26.48, but ultimately ruined by carelessly misspelling FLIBBERTIGIBBET with a D instead of a middle T. After going back to correct the parsing of a wrongly inserted word on the QC, I failed to do it on this word. Annoying!
13:49
I was well on the wavelength today – one of those where anything thought of went in – a couple of delays, for UNINHIBITED wondering about the anagrist; for the spelling of the unparsed FLIBBERTIGIBBET (was pretty sure I had it correct); and for LOI FROIDEUR for which I saw the reversed DIOR in reasonable time once I had the final checker in. Had no idea that GOA was necessarily the beach cricket capital of the world, but the obvious answer…
Thanks P and setter
This felt like a QC to start with, but with the usual hiccups it still took me 22 minutes. I enjoyed the humour of a lot of the clues, and I am always going to make a stab at MOCHA for a coffee clue, whether it is fine or not. I needed all the crossers for 21ac, and the clueing saved me from mis-spelling it at the end. A very satisfied customer here.
FOI – DIG UP
LOI – FLIBBERTIGIBBET
COD – PLACEMENT
Thanks to piquet and other contributors.
A careless “uninhabited ” put me in the OWL club (I should have checked the anagram fodder and queried my internal unease about how the definition didn’t work), but ploughed on. I think I was more worried about getting FLIBBERTIGIBBET correct.
Lovely puzzle.
Many thanks for the blog.
Most enjoyable. Held up a little time-wise by putting in the wrong HOARD. Unable to solve OAR or MOB RULE until I spotted it. LOI was ARCANA, which was much simpler than it seemed!
16:15
Surely the best crossword for months? When I started these, all those years ago, a certain level of erudition was assumed. Now? Five minute famous “slebs” I’ve never heard of and nadir reached, for me at least, with Mud the other day. What an unalloyed pleasure to find Cymbeline, Camus, Machiavelli, Salome and Erasmus inhabiting the same grid. And froideur. Sure, a quick solve but a lovely reminder (perhaps I am wrong though?) of older days
Hear hear!
I did OK, recognizing that swimming costume was probably some kind of reverse cryptic, and not parsing flibbertigibbet, since the I is checked. I had my doubts about the town of Sale; you’d think someone would have used it before. OTOH, we do have the town of Purchase about here.
Time: 21:26
9a Mocha. Didn’t understand the clue so biffed. I resent the presence of “fine” as it serves only to distract and not to clarify in any way.
11a Swimming Cos; never spotted the anagram, so biffed.
26a Horde. I couldn’t decide which homophone I was asked for but I had the ch R from OAR.
7d Goa; once I saw the drop-letter instruction I didn’t even read “beach” so was unfazed.
15d Froideur added to Cheating Machine. Quite a few foreign imports have needed adding. I don’t understand the clue as I see no instruction to take the last letter off the Euro. Oh and it wasn’t until I was struggling to spell it that I saw Christian Dior.
EUR is the abbreviation for Euros, similar to GBP for Sterling or USD for US Dollars, and used pretty univerally in the world of business and finance.
Oh of course! Thanks.
26:05, with one pink square, for a misspelling of FLIBBERTIGIBBIT. I should have paid more attention to the wordplay, and allowed TIBET to show me the correct spelling.
LOI was FROIDEUR.
7:40. A good workout. As others, FROIDEUR took a while, French not being my specialist subject.
20 minutes. Good literary fun!
A PB for me today – first time ever under 30 mins, and no “aids”!! Should have been quicker but 21a held me up until I got enough crossers to be sure of the spelling.
I expect a couple of stinkers in the next two days.
Well done!
Very enjoyable finish with a couple of cheaty ‘checks’ along the way for spelling of FLIBBERTIGIBBET and answer double-check for ARCANA. Liked FROIDEUR and CAMUS, but also enjoyed building up LAVISHED – anything with loo in the clue gets my vote. Many thanks for the blog.
“This is the foul fiend flibbertigibbet. He begins at curfew and walks till the first cock…..”
This from King Lear. And another of my Shakespearean faves in Cymbeline. Imogen is a well-established name now, but it is a misprint: it should have been Innogen. Imogen has more lines than any other female in Shakespeare.
I liked Dear Sir.
19.45. Liked this a lot but got a bit stuck around flibbertetc. When I finally got that lose faith, mob rule, oar and horde quickly followed. Last two were ermine and dear sir both very cute.
Thx setter and blogger.
20:42 but would’ve been quicker if I hadn’t had to stare at 15D for 2 or 3 mins. I see that several people bizarrely said ‘froideur’ was the COD and others tactfully said it was just LOI without further comment. I’ll be the first to be tactless and say what others are thinking by saying I didn’t really like it, not really an English word in my book.
22’40”
Out of the stalls smartly, somehow kept up the gallop.
Was expecting to get distracted by Composer of the Week, Michel Legrand but all was done and dusted before Anna Lapwood had finished her Pembroke evensong. Given that the youth of India can utilise the narrowest of alleys for cricket, I took it as a given that Goa’s beaches would generally have a game in progress. I was once involved in an improvised England-Bangladesh match in a square in Italy; the square hectare was almost perfect. However, a dirty great statue of Vittorio Emanuele II with a palm tree at each corner rather got in the way. Not rain but the appearance of the Carabinieri stopped play.
Thoroughly enjoyed this; many thanks to setter and Pip.
19.05 Quick for me after a dismal QC performance. We had a very similar Pinter clue recently. MOCHA, SWIMMING COSTUME and FLIBBERTIGIBBET were biffed. LOI ERASMUS. Thanks piquet.
14.13
FROIDEUR also LOI but remembered seeing a reversed DIOR before which got me there.
Thought UNINHIBITED was VG
Thanks Pip/setter
Pedant here.
Sale is a town in Trafford, one of the ten boroughs which together form Greater Manchester. I should know because I live in Sale. It isn’t in Cheshire although I do occasionally receive letters which contain Cheshire in the address.
Peter
Nice straightforward but chewy crossword, much appreciated. Got 21a pretty quickly with the F-I and a B somewhere, but had to parse it very carefully to get the spelling right. Nearly put a J, but TIBET then revealed the rock and all was well. Share disquiet about the double anagram indicator for the COSTUME, but shrugged and moved on. Liked the surface for INOCULATE. OAR and GOA were very QC-ish, but were more than made up for by the abundance of excellent clues.
Why did I put in UNINHABITED? Beats me. Otherwise a steady 21’54”.
32:27. LOI FROIDEUR puzzled (like andyf above) by the disappearance of the O from the EURO . But EUR is the standard three-letter abbreviation of the Euro, like GBP is our own pound sterling, and I’m sure I knew that. I liked ERMINE