In keeping with Dangle’s position as the second most solver-friendly setter (led only by Trelawney) [On edit – I must have been looking at an old version of the setter difficulty league table because in the latest version Dangle is actually the third easiest regular setter, just behind Pipsqueak] this is a pretty straightforward romp and we could see some fast times today. There were still some lovely clues, though, especially among the anagrams (10a, 12a, 16a all very good indeed, bravo Dangle). All done in 05:17 for me; hope you enjoyed it too.
Definitions underlined in bold.
| Across | |
| 1 | Transmission of wide-ranging group of actors (9) |
| BROADCAST – BROAD [wide-ranging] + CAST [group of actors]. | |
| 6 | Milk apt to go off (3) |
| TAP – anagram [to go off] of “apt”. Tap/milk is fair enough as a definition, I think. You can tap/milk someone for information, for example. | |
| 8 | Exploit that woman’s touch (7) |
| FEATHER – FEAT (exploit) + HER [that woman’s]. To feather is “to touch lightly” (Collins), as in “Crawley’s feathered that to the wicketkeeper”. | |
| 9 | Difficult to saturate (5) |
| STEEP – double definition, as in to be “steeped in” something. | |
| 10 | I’m sore and bitchy about science (12) |
| BIOCHEMISTRY – anagram [about] of “I’m sore” + “bitchy”. Great surface. | |
| 12 | Energetic person working Monday (6) |
| DYNAMO – anagram [working] of “Monday”. Very neat clue. | |
| 13 | Famous detective defects around 5th of November (6) |
| HOLMES – HOLES [defects] going round [around] M [the fifth letter in November]. | |
| 16 | Any video game ruined first journey (6,6) |
| MAIDEN VOYAGE – anagram [ruined] of “any video game”. | |
| 19 | I complain about Osaka, perhaps (5) |
| NAOMI – ooo, NAOMI for me for the second blog in a row, I’m on a hat trick. Last time it was the Biblical one (you remember, yes you do, mother-in-law of Ruth, there’s going to be a test at the end of term so I hope you’re taking notes at the back). This time it’s the Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka. Look out for Naomi Campbell in a fortnight. It’s I MOAN [I complain] backwards [about]. | |
| 20 | Starmer even gets to show retribution (7) |
| REVENGE – hidden. | |
| 22 | Reserved pitch (3) |
| SHY – double definition; “pitch” as in “throw” (coconut shy). | |
| 23 | Dog in fancy tea garden (5,4) |
| GREAT DANE – anagram [fancy] of “tea garden”. The Great Dane is a much-anagrammed mutt, because its letters are so rearrange-able. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Light brown polish (4) |
| BUFF – double definition. | |
| 2 | Helping to follow Oscar speech (7) |
| ORATION – O [Oscar, NATO alphabet] with RATION [helping] coming after [to follow]. | |
| 3 | Character in Morse had shown up (3) |
| DAH – reversal [shown up] of “had”. DAH is one of the two characters in Morse Code (the other one being “dit”) but the misdirection towards Morse the TV series was very strong and I had to blink at the answer even though it was obvious. | |
| 4 | Settled on interrupting geriatric (6) |
| AGREED – RE [on – “on” = “re” is a sneaky setters’ trick, look out for it] going inside [interrupting] AGED [geriatric]. | |
| 5 | Evidence of assessment I’m running ending in calamity (9) |
| TESTIMONY – TEST [assessment] + IM [I’m] + ON [running] + Y [ending in calamity]. My LOI. | |
| 6 | Regularly started acts for pleasant surprise (5) |
| TREAT – every other letter [regularly] of “started acts”. I’m not sure that a TREAT is always a “surprise”, though. My dogs get a treat every night just before bed; it’s always pleasant but never a surprise. In fact they start getting excited about it an hour before bed. | |
| 7 | Father, for example, returned fruit (7) |
| PAPAYAS – PAPA [father] + YAS [which is “say” backwards, “say” being “for example” and “returned” indicating the reversal]. | |
| 11 | Maybe dog stops advancing, taking part in Crufts? (9) |
| COMPETING – PET [maybe dog] goes inside [stops] COMING [advancing]. | |
| 12 | Urgent requests from Democrat and leader of Socialists (7) |
| DEMANDS – DEM [Democrat] + AND [and] + S [leader of Socialists, not that they have a single leader obviously, they have a committee]. | |
| 14 | Married spy, American, in purple (7) |
| MAGENTA – M [married] + AGENT [spy] + A [American]. | |
| 15 | Opposed advanced section of poetry (6) |
| AVERSE – A [advanced, as in A Levels] + VERSE [section of poetry]. | |
| 17 | Yellowish-white, like an anglicised Welshman? (5) |
| IVORY – definition with a whimsical second definition. Ivor is (or was – it hasn’t actually been in the top 100 baby names since the ONS began recording them in 1996) a stereotypical Welsh male name, so if a Welshman is only Ivor-y then maybe he’s been a bit Anglicised? Something like that. Look don’t blame me, I didn’t write it. | |
| 18 | Yield of grain picked up (4) |
| CEDE – homophone [picked up] of “seed”. | |
| 21 | Butt tax (3) |
| VAT – OK I sniggered. Double definition and COD from me. A butt tax could raise a fortune in Obese Britain: come on Rachel, sort it out. | |
5:05
I wondered briefly about FEATHER, as it’s not in my vocabulary–or in ODE–but it seemed likely enough. I’d say that the def of VERSE here is ‘section of poetry’.
Thanks.
My first sub-10 minute finish since I began solving online. I looked twice at feather / touch but the usage seemed vaguely familiar. The tennis player didn’t come to mind but the wordplay left no room for doubt.
Congratulations! 🥂
I was not so swift – I could not remember Holmes as the famous detective for too long. I also couldn’t see the obvious biochemistry, even thought I thought it was probably bio- something. Couldn’t remember Naomi Osaka, so I just followed the cryptic.
Time: 7:51
Left at the end with OSAKA and CEDE with both added time. I was trying to pronouce the missing _E_E like Pele and I never thought of a person called Osaka until all the checkers were in. I’d previously had Dot in for DAH, dot made sense but didn’t parse, DAH parsed but I’ve NHO of dits and dahs. Concentrating properly on FEATHER sorted that out. DYNAMO is an anagram of Monday – fancy that. Giggled at VAT. All green in 15.37 – a fun struggle.
9:01, and some lovely anagrams in this enjoyable puzzle. I didn’t know morse code was made up of dits and dahs; I thought it was all dots and dashes and wondered how to make Dot (clearly a character) fit the rest of the wordplay. But FEATHER put me right.
Many thanks Templar for the blog.
Biffed AGREED, liked the two long anagrams that jumped off the page for once and smiled at VAT. A satisfying solve, albeit 22 mins to head into the club for a quick breakfast before taking the girl (Bedlington terrier) to the groomers. Woof woof.
Thanks Dangle and Templar
A very good puzzle but not the easy ride I expected at first. Some fine PDMs (DAH, VAT, SHY), excellent anagrams, and amusing answers (e.g. IVORY – sounds like something from ‘I’m sorry I haven’t a clue’ or the Uxbridge English Dictionary).
I had to follow the clueing for NHO NAOMI OSAKA and for PAPAYAS. I biffed MAGENTA and finished in 17.30.
Thanks to Dangle for an enjoyable QC and Templar for his usual entertaining blog.
16.53 with minutes spent on NAOMI until belatedly, we focussed on the instructions.
Tried to parse Poirot in lieu of HOLMES and Dot in lieu of DAH.
Pleasingly, BIOCHEMISTRY leapt out.
Like many, we chuckled at the tax – and at Templar’s handling of it.
Much enjoyed – thank you Dangle and Templar.
No problems, no unknowns bar Osaka. GK fortunately not required for that. Wondered about touch/feather, but it sort of works as a verb…
16 in 20 and 23 in 30
Missing feather, shy and cede.
I should have solved shy.
Thanks D and T
That woman = her : comes up regularly, also that man = him. So many three or four word bits get used to make longer words.
I’ll try to remember that…
16:16
Shy Naomi gave me ivory
Ta TAD
10 mins…
Started off slowly, but managed to whip thorough the rest of it fairly quickly. It seems I’m not the only one who thought Morse Code was a series of “dots” and “dashes”. Similarly, I didn’t know “Buff” was a light brown colour.
FOI – 1ac “Broadcast”
LOI – 1dn “Buff”
COD – 19ac “Naomi”
Thanks as usual!
Steady, the Buffs ! (East Kent Regiment)
8:49 with NAOMI my LOI.
The correct Welsh spelling of the name is Ifor (a single f makes the v sound in Welsh), so anyone spelling it Ivor has anglicised the spelling – that’s how I read 17d.
Thanks Templar and Dangle
8:03 for me LOI was NAOMI which I didn’t understand so thanks for clearing that up Templar.
Nice puzzle all done in 13:10. A bit slow recalling dahs and dits but no real problems. Yes, the final clue made me snigger.
Thanks to Dangle and Templar
Good puzzle, thank you Dangle. Hardest was the BUFF/FEATHER cross, and NHO some random tennis player but she had to be. LOI AGREED.
Thank you Templar for explaining DAH – I always thought it was dot and dash but doubtless I’m out of date.
She was only the wireless operator’s daughter but she did it did it did it ….
There was a whole series of music hall one liners along those lines…
🤭
9:29 for the solve. Individually many of the clues seemed difficult yet given a checker or two they flew in. Joining the Dots-and Dashes club. COD DEMANDS.
Thanks to Templar and Dangle
PS 33secs on Cryptic Quintagram – had a giggle at the parsing of #5
From BUFF to CEDE in 7:21. NHO the tennis player, just followed the instructions. Thanks Dangle and Templar.
I started slowly and had to abandon the NW corner. My FOI was TAP and I then accelerated through the rest of the grid with just HOLMES and NAOMI (had to be from the word play) slowing me down. LOI in 6:13 was DAH…..bit of a doh moment. Thanks Templar.
21:25. Didn’t find this so easy, getting hardly any of the across clues at first pass. Better luck with the downs and steadily progressed, although biffing a few.
13:25
7:27
I didn’t find this especially straightforward, but I can’t really see what the hold up was. I did need to write out the letters for the science – without 11d in place, had been thinking it might start with MICRO – and that, in turn, gave enough for PAPAYAS, TESTIMONY and LOI COMPETING.
I currently have Dangle in third place, behind Pipsqueak in second place, and Trelawney as the gentlest setter, but our experiences may differ…
Thanks Templar and Dangle
I was just not on Dangle’s wavelength. I eventually finished but it was a real struggle.
NHO Naomi Osaka – got clue from the instructions.
LOI CEDE
Thanks Templar and Dangle.
10:15, all of which I found fairly straightforward until I ran headlong into CEDE and COMPETING (my LOI). It turns out that “yield” has at least a hundred million synonyms and it took me a while to find the right one, and I just bashed in COMPETING from the checking letters and did the parsing afterwards. Wasn’t familiar with DAH but it was clued generously.
Thank you for the blog!
Good puzzle. Finished all correct, thanks to some fast biffing. I admit that it so happens I have recently read a review of Meghan Sussex’s latest Netflix show where she decorates plates with NAOMI Osaka apparently! Anyway I am a tennis fan so did know her.
LOI SHY. Also liked CEDE, DYNAMO, and others.
Confused by DAH. Yes, surely Morse Code is Dot and Dash. I assumed there was a character in the TV show and we were meant to remove the S.
Thanks for much needed blog, Templar.
Thanks for the reminder to go read the review of Meghan’s Christmas show – find they a good way of keeping up to date on the twee rubbish without actually having to watch any of it … “Naomi Osaka, the tennis player and Meghan’s first celebrity […] I’ve never seen anyone more desperate to get home.” said The Guardian review
Brilliant! 🤣
For me this was not that easy. Some of the definitions needed were a bit obscure I thought: FEATHER, as noted by others, STEEP, COMPETING etc.
But I was nearly finished in 13 minutes when, like yesterday, I needed to spend time sorting out the last clues. My problems were DYNAMO -good clue which foxed me- and LOI COMPETING where I was sure it would end in RING (where dogs parade at Crufts ) and might have CUR.
So 17 minutes in the end on an enjoyable puzzle.
David
Found Dangle pretty straightforward – 10.2 mins. My last one in was NAOMI – not a tennis fan so NHO. Thanks for the explanation Templar. FOI was BROADCAST – lovely clue I thought and COD together with SHY, which was clever. Thanks to setter and Templar.
Took a while to get going and there were a few tricky ones as mentioned by others: CEDE, FEATHERS, NAOMI and DAH. I’m a dots and dashes man myself and didn’t know of the tennis player. 24.51 to finish.
However they all fell into place from the clueing so all very fair and full marks to Dangle for an enjoyable QC.
And thanks too to Templar.
9:41. The only one I had no idea about was NAOMI, for which I did as I was told by the wordplay with the help of the crossers. Looks simple but I liked the DYNAMO anagram as well as the not so simple looking BIOCHEMISTRY anagram.
Thanks to Dangle and Templar
The general consensus says that this was straightforward, so I was clearly not at the races today finishing in a disappointing 13.58. I feel under the weather today with a sore throat and headache, so perhaps I’ll give myself a little leeway.
We’ve had so many new setters lately that I’ve lost track of which camp they all fall in. Hence my pleasure at a very comfortable sub-20 finish was somewhat tempered by finding that Dangle is apparently commonly regarded as second easiest. Some might quibble about that classification, particularly if they are new to this game and have yet to pick up all the crosswordese. Sadly, I don’t have that excuse.
CoD was going to be the chestnutty Dynamo, but the hiding in plain sight nature of Demands came through on the line. My thanks to Dangle and Templar. Invariant
8.34 Sluggish throughout and held up by CEDE at the end. I probably would have struggled with NAOMI if we hadn’t seen it recently. Thanks Templar and Dangle.
A nice, enjoyable puzzle with some great clues – apart from “IVORY” which was beyond lame.
My LOI was NAOMI, not because I haven’t heard of Naomi Osaka, but because I didn’t see it on first pass and came back to it later, by when it was very obvious.
I think I recall a year or two back complaints in this blog about clues/answers that broke a “rule” that there should be no reference to living persons. No such complaints this time, so do I take it that these are now generally considered acceptable?
Yes, the rule was changed some time ago.
The complaints are now all internalised!
Quite!
Pleasant solve – all done in 26:12, the last five minutes or so consisting of staring at _E_E and doing several alphabet trawls until it finally clicked.
Only knew papaya as a shade of orange thanks to the McLaren F1 team, but fortunately the cryptic was generous.
12:48, but with a typo on “VST”, gaah! Struggled to unravel BIOCHEMISTRY, but MAIDEN VOYAGE leapt out at me. The brain is a strange thing.
Thanks to Dangle and Templar.
Oh, NAOMI, got this one and never got the Osaka, very sorry. Tried hard to force ‘Bere’ a kind of grain pronounced ‘Bear’ = Yield (harvest of grain) into a correct answer, but I concede CEDE!
DNF due to cede. Got the long anagrams on first reading. Had to be Naomi but thanks Templar for explaining. Enjoyable puzzle, thanks Dangle.
BROADCAST and TAP went straight in and I reached my final clue in 23 minutes, which is fast for me. However, despite parsing the clue and getting the M very quickly, that clue (HOLMES) required an extensive alphabet trawl and held me up for a further 8-9 minutes. Inexplicable! How could I fail to think of the most famous of all famous detectives for so long? I despair!
Many thanks to Templar and Dangle.
If it makes you feel any better I spent 10+ unsuccessful mins on H-L-E- in Bjorn’s puzzle back of Jan 6th … “Detective Bjorn interrupts brief vacation (6)”
Got held up putting pawpaws in 7d.
Well it worked but was wrong.
All done and dusted.
if you want a morse message repeated do you send ditto?
Very much enjoyed by this resident of the SCC. Old enough to think of dit and dah as well as dots and dashes. NHO Naomi Osaka but it had to be. Thanks Dangle.
I have been thinking about Templar’s dogs (which seems to have been trained by Pavlov)
“I’m not sure that a TREAT is always a “surprise”, though. My dogs get a treat every night just before bed; it’s always pleasant but never a surprise. In fact they start getting excited about it an hour before bed.”
Surely if they get a treat every night then that is no longer a treat and has become a standard part of their diet.
What a total nightmare!
16 minute DNF after putting in PAPPYAS.
NHO PAPAYAS, but that is no excuse for such ineptness. I am useless.
I got 12 on 15 x 15 in a long way over an hour.
Another week that will go down in the fail column. I am frazzled and frustrated by my inability to put together anything like a decent weekly performance.
PS On reading blog for 15 x 15, I missed some easy ones. I simply haven’t got what it takes to do this to a satisfactory standard.
Botanically a grain is a fruit, though most of the grain is seed.
8:59 but a fat-fingered DYNNMO. Just got to this at the end of a busy day, and a very enjoyable solve it was. I left the long anagram for the crossers, which turned out to be a good decision, as the other long one, MAIDEN VOYAGE, was a write-in, so I had plenty of crossers as I pinged between across and down clues pretty much from top to bottom, coming back to fill in BIOCHEMISTRY and NAOMI (couldn’t remember this person). Whew. Back to the special crossword, hoping to finish it eventually, then a much-needed sleep.
Thanks Dangle and Templar.