A classic QC, I think, with a nice mix of clues and no obscure answers. Plus it has the bonus that you don’t have to spell TAOISEACH. It detained me for an enjoyable 06:35 and I hope you had fun with it too.
Definitions underlined in bold.
| Across | |
| 1 | Young creature originally observed in Cornish river? (4) |
| FOAL – the FAL (as in Falmouth) is our river, inside which goes the first letter of “observed” [originally observed]. Very decent of Orpheus to specify “Cornish”, to save us trotting through Dee, Don, Tay, Esk, Ure and so on. | |
| 3 | Collected what the Strausses did? (8) |
| COMPOSED – definition with a cryptic hint. Johann Strauss the Elder begat Johann Strauss the Younger; both were very successful composers (although the father wanted the son to be a banker, not a musician, and famously whipped him for practising the violin as a child – only when the Elder abandoned the family and ran off with his mistress was the Younger able to blossom). | |
| 8 | Sick in charge? It’s not permitted (7) |
| ILLICIT – ILL [sick] + IC [in charge] + IT [it]. | |
| 10 | Military detachment crossing lake without illumination (5) |
| UNLIT – UNIT [military detachment] with L inside [crossing lake]. | |
| 11 | Time to stop demo by newlywed in lounge (7,4) |
| SITTING ROOM – T [time] goes inside [to stop, ie to fill, like a cork stops a bottle] SIT IN [demo] + GROOM [newlywed]. Phew! I don’t think the word “lounge” has ever recovered from being included by Betjeman in How To Get On In Society (“It’s ever so close in the lounge dear, But the vestibule’s comfy for tea”). | |
| 13 | Cud-chewing mammal better over in a US city (6) |
| ALPACA – this took me a while; I confidently typed in LLAMA (on the simple basis that it’s a cud-chewer with LA in it) and discovered as I typed that not only could I not parse it but it was one letter short! I then had a brain freeze and returned once I had checkers. The breakdown is: CAP for “better” (as in “she capped/bettered his story with one of her own”) going backwards [over] inside [in] A + LA [a US city]. Phew 2. | |
| 15 | Brainboxes managed to infiltrate American intelligence (6) |
| CRANIA – literal brainboxes, then, being the Latin plural of “cranium” (the part of the skull which encloses the brain). RAN [managed] inside [to infiltrate] CIA [American intelligence, soon to be twinned with the FSB]. | |
| 17 | Formidable religious education subject to uncertainty (11) |
| REDOUBTABLE – RE [religious education] + DOUBTABLE [subject to uncertainty]. I always assumed that this word came from “redoubt” as in “fortification”, but I now learn that they are unrelated. “Redoubt” is a C17 word coming from the medieval Latin reductus (shelter), and “redoubtable” is a C14 word coming from the Old French redouter (to dread). Every day’s a school day! | |
| 20 | Venetian artist turning out one giant figure (5) |
| TITAN -Tiziano Vecellio, known in English as Titian, is our Venetian artist; remove the second i [turning out one] to get the giant figure. | |
| 21 | Applaud a contention read out loud (7) |
| ACCLAIM – sounds like [read out loud] A CLAIM. Can’t argue with that as a homophone, rhotic speaker or not. | |
| 22 | Frustrated old peasant before duke (8) |
| HINDERED – to my astonishment as soon as I read “old peasant” I found myself thinking “ah, that’ll be hind then”. I must have spent too much time on here. HIND [old peasant] + ERE [before] + D [duke]. I think it’s the verb rather than the adjective: My attempts to enter the building were hindered/frustrated by the security guard. | |
| 23 | Study occupied by a university official (4) |
| DEAN – DEN [study] including [occupied by] A. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Day Welsh girl secures English cow (8) |
| FRIESIAN – FRI [day] + SIAN [Welsh girl] going round [secures] E [English]. All Welsh girls are SIAN, just as all Scotsmen are IAN. This be the verse. | |
| 2 | Share out every set of holy books (5) |
| ALLOT – ALL [every] + OT [set of holy books, ie the Old Testament]. | |
| 4 | Scandal overlooking Republican’s loss of power (6) |
| OUTAGE – OUT{r}AGE. An outrage would be a “scandal”; remove the R [overlooking Republican]. | |
| 5 | Corrupt capital wanting a court governed by the wealthy (11) |
| PLUTOCRATIC – an anagram [corrupt] of CAPITL [capital wanting a, ie lacking one of its two As] + COURT. | |
| 6 | Wise man thus goes on Scottish loch without daughter (7) |
| SOLOMON – SO [thus] on LOMON{d} [Scottish loch without daughter]. King Solomon asked God for the gift of wisdom to govern Israel, and was granted his request because he had not asked for wealth or the death of his enemies (1 Kings 3:4-15). My COD since I regularly drive along Loch Lomond on my way North and that’s a lovely device. | |
| 7 | Information — a bit going north (4) |
| DATA – A TAD [a bit] read upwards in a down clue [going north]. | |
| 9 | Detectives dividing cash in French church? A fluke (11) |
| COINCIDENCE -CID [detectives] goes inside [dividing] COIN [cash] + EN [in French] + CE [church]. Phew 3, lots of trips to IKEA today. | |
| 12 | Trader primarily supplying drinks on island (8) |
| SALESMAN – S [primarily supplying] + ALES [drinks] + MAN [island, as in the Isle of Man]. | |
| 14 | Train up new person adhering to strict moral principles (7) |
| PURITAN – anagram [new] of “train up”. | |
| 16 | Compassionate fellow kept in shade (6) |
| HUMANE – MAN [fellow] inside [kept in] HUE [shade]. | |
| 18 | Support British nation (5) |
| BRACE – B [British] + RACE [nation]. | |
| 19 | Make an impression, and so on, on husband (4) |
| ETCH – ETC [and so on, from the Latin et cetera “and other things”] + H [husband]. Slightly tenuous definition but in my view well within the benefit of the doubt always allowed to setters. | |
9.25. Chewy enough to be interesting.
12m
Completed in two sittings.
LOI plutocratic.
COD sitting room.
11.03. was not racing but trying to eat sausages and mash. the answers kept coming just as I had a forkful ready. Lovely puzzle with a few things to trap the unwary. Like me with the NHO HIND. Got there in the end but will have to try to remember that one.
I thought some time away from here would improve my levels of performance and enjoyment. It hasn’t.
I continue to lag way behind the majority with some slow times. I’ve realised that I’m trying to compete with some brilliant minds, and that is simply beyond my ability. I’m no good at biffing and I still find it very hard to discern what is wordplay and what isn’t. How the under 10 minute brigade do this baffles me.
I am slightly improved on the 15 x 15, but it still takes an age and I rarely finish. I find it astonishing that attempting the 15 x 15 has had a negative impact upon my ability to solve the QC.
Thank you for the blog.
Re trying the 15×15, I have had exactly the same problem. In the end I concluded it was because, having got used to the 15×15 clues being more complicated, I would simply ignore the obvious/simple answer when doing the QC in search of something more devious.
PS Good to see you back, Gary
Thanks Invariant, much appreciated.
I think you’re spot on with that analysis of the difference between the QC and the 15 x 15 in terms of one’s approach to solving. All adds to the challenge I suppose!
Fun but with a few quite acerbic surfaces, I thought, particularly for CRANIA and PLUTOCRATIC, and with added ticks for COMPOSED and REDOUBTABLE.
10:43 FOI Illicit LOI Hindered COD Crania
Thanks Orpheus and Templar
Enjoyed this one – nice wordplay.
Didn’t know hind but got it without that.
Unfortunately got one mistake with Soloman – thought it was Loch Lomand.
Thanks Templar and Orpheus
(Time about 2 1/2 hours off and on)
A steady solve until HINDERED (NHO Hind = Peasant), so a guess in the end, and CRANIA, eventually worked it out. Likewise FRIESIAN, until I saw FRI as the day.
Don’t know how long this one took me as kept coming to it bits and pieces, but managed to muddle through it. Thank you for the explanations, as some of them I only got from the checking letters, though where in my brain I pulled PLUTOCRATIC or loch lomond from is a surprise to me!
My worst performance in days.I believe cryptics aren’t my true calling.Toodles👋