Solving time: 18 minutes
I missed even my extended target of 15 minutes so I would have to count this as harder than average, but having reviewed it all whilst writing the blog I have no idea what my problems were.
As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones]. “Aural wordplay” is in quotation marks. I usually omit all reference to juxtaposition indicators unless there is a specific point that requires clarification.
 Across |
|
| 1 | A base insult badly open to being prolonged (11) |
| SUSTAINABLE | |
| Anagram [badly] of A BASE INSULT | |
| 8 | Competitor raced in European northern Tourist Trophy (7) |
| ENTRANT | |
| RAN (raced) contained by [in] E (European) + N (northern) + TT (Tourist Trophy) | |
| 9 | Rubbish three times gets left out (5) |
| TRIPE | |
| TRIP{l}E (three times) [left out] | |
| 10 | Fruit old queen put in stirred neat gin (9) |
| TANGERINE | |
| ER (old queen) contained by [put in] anagram [stirred] of NEAT GIN. I wish setters wouldn’t clue our late monarch as ‘old queen’. It’s unnecessary. |
|
| 12 | A foot behind (3) |
| AFT | |
| A, FT (foot) | |
| 13 | Some swear thyme is blue (6) |
| EARTHY | |
| Hidden in [some] {sw}EAR THY{me}. Obscene, bawdy, racy. | |
| 15 | Flow of vapour across river (6) |
| STREAM | |
| STEAM (vapour) containing [across] R (river) | |
| 17 | Dry in southeast and cold (3) |
| SEC | |
| SE (southeast), C (cold). Usually with reference to wine. | |
| 18 | One in penny casino game losing pound in turn (9) |
| PIROUETTE | |
| I (one) contained by [in] P (penny) + ROU{l}ETTE (casino game) [losing pound]. Spinning round in ballet. | |
| 20 | Irritable like a horrible child having lost book (5) |
| RATTY | |
| {b}RATTY (like a horrible child) [having lost book] | |
| 22 | Some empty out of the way resort area (7) |
| SEASIDE | |
| S{om}E [empty], ASIDE (out of the way) | |
| 23 | Former college, filthy place, to mostly renovate insulation, perhaps (11) |
| POLYSTYRENE | |
| POLY (former college – polytechnic), STY (filthy place), RENE{w} (renovate) [mostly] | |
| Down |
|
| 1 | Rich fabric not entirely satisfying (5) |
| SATIN | |
| SATIN{g} (satisfying) [not entirely] | |
| 2 | Enterprise, say, opening small joint (9) |
| SPACESHIP | |
| SPACE (opening), S (small), HIP (joint) | |
| 3 | Certain characters in regatta individually win (6) |
| ATTAIN | |
| Hidden [certain characters in] {reg}ATTA IN{dividually} | |
| 4 | Catch a number climbing (3) |
| NET | |
| TEN (number) reversed [climbing] | |
| 5 | Girl marrying outside key alpha group (7) |
| BRIGADE | |
| BRIDE (girl marrying) containing [outside] G (key) + A (alpha) | |
| 6 | Stable incident has me turning prude, extremely embarrassed (4-8) |
| EVEN-TEMPERED | |
| EVENT (incident), then ME reversed [turning], P{rud}E [ extremely], RED (embarrassed). As in a well-adjusted personality. | |
| 7 | Threw parties, organising a guard for doors and windows (7,5) |
| WEATHER STRIP | |
| Anagram [organising] of THREW PARTIES. SOED: a strip of wood, rubber, etc., applied to a door or window to exclude rain and wind. I recognise the description but never knew what it was called. |
|
| 11 | Group is mostly keen about new holiday itinerary (9) |
| ENTOURAGE | |
| EAGE{r} (keen) [mostly] containing [about] N (new) + TOUR (holiday itinerary). My last one in a couple of minutes after all the other answers. | |
| 14 | One wrapped up in Bottom’s performance (7) |
| RECITAL | |
| I (one) contained [wrapped up] in RECTAL (bottom’s) | |
| 16 | Attempt to contain burnt material and rubbish (6) |
| TRASHY | |
| TRY (attempt) containing [to contain] ASH (burnt material) | |
| 19 | Head of embroidery is after double thread (5) |
| TWINE | |
| TWIN (double), E{mbroidery} [head of…] | |
| 21 | Certainly you expect soup to begin with (3) |
| YES | |
| Y{ou} + E{xpect} + S{oup} [to begin with] | |
I know what my problem was: perfunctory proofing before submitting (although I too was unaccountably slow). My hair-trigger keyboard often gives me a double letter, and I didn’t notice STRII. Two errors for the price of one. I biffed a bunch, including WEATHER STRII, SUSTAINABLE, ENTRANT, PIROUETTE (LOI), SEASIDE, SPACESHIP, never parsed. I liked RECITAL. 9:27.
You made up for it on the 15×15 though Kevin! Superb time on what I thought was a tough one.
If that’s a spoiler for today’s 15, it ought to be removed please
‘Mongoose’ is in the clue and no-one has mentioned the answer so I don’t think it counts as a spoiler.
OK thanks. I didn’t know, hence the “if”.
I also thought this was hard, finishing in 12 after a fast start that deceived me into thinking a quick time was in the offing. We have had a few toughies lately and once again there were several today whose wordplay would be at home in the 15×15. PIROUETTE, for instance, and EVEN TEMPERED, POLYSTYRENE and SPACESHIP (that definition was clever misdirection). Thanks Jack and Joker.
19:01 A lot were time-consuming but ultimately gettable. I didn’t see SPACE for opening so couldn’t figure out how to parse SPACESHIP. I enjoyed most putting together POLYSTYRENE and EVEN-TEMPERED.
19.27
A couple of biff then parse – eg Polystyrene and Seaside, Pirouette
Not easy but nothing I didn’t know. Loved the reference to Star Trek. Be nice to get some non dystopian Sci fi back on my screens. RL is bleak enough.
As a long-time trekkie, I agree about the enjoyment of seeing a reference to Star Trek but I can’t recall ever hearing the STARship Enterprise ever referred to as a SPACEship so that threw me for quite a while.
I finished this very close to my average time (~19 minutes) and quite enjoyed it. Definitely not easy, and I had to biff a few answers, but nothing felt out of reach. Really enjoyable challenge for my level, thanks Joker.
I’ll join the 19 minute BRIGADE too. My problem ones were SPACESHIP, SEASIDE and TRIPE and I wasn’t helped by instantly bunging in “nectarine” for 10a, which mucked up the crossing answers. I didn’t know a WEATHER STRIP as a thing either.
Happy to have avoided the SCC anyway.
Thanks to Joker and Jack
5:18 after a stuttering start. Like Bletch I’ve never heard of a WEATHER STRIP but it wasn’t exactly a stretch. Thanks Joker and Jack.
Pen and paper had to come out for the NHO WEATHER STRIP, seemed plausible enough to go in. Started with a regulation five on the first pass of acrossed but then had to work hard. Loved PIROUTETTE and the anticlimax of seaside after I’d braced for a geography challange I wasn’t up to. Ended up all green in 14.57. Good one.
Some tough ones here, but all fair. BRIGADE and EVEN TEMPERED took some constructing and POLYSTYRENE was entirely biffed from the crossers – clues that involve thinking of a word (renew in this case) and removing a letter usually fox me. Thanks Jackkt for unscrambling this (and several others) for me.
No issue with ‘old queen’ – having eliminated VR and AR, got back to ER (1558-1603), never considering E II R, although she was pretty old when we lost her…
COD SEASIDE because it was so simple but took so long to finally sea ‘aside’ with its changed pronunciation in context.
LOI SPACESHIP – having never got past the opening titles I would have thought of Enterprise as a starship, had I been thinking along those lines at all.
Fun start to the week. 18 minutes by my analogue timing.
We always enjoy a Joker and this one no exception. Some clues took some teasing out to get the parsing after a biffed answer but we got them all in 28.21 apart from the parsing of entourage, thanks Jack.
LOI was tripe as trice was shouting at us but which we were sure was wrong!
COD to recital, even though it was a bum clue😂
I see I‘m not alone in having found this on the hard side, taking 14:04, almost as long as the main puzzle.
But Steve has not given an answer, just referred to a clue, I can’t see the harm..
You’d only know that if you’ve done the 15. I haven’t.
Another in the current run of toughies but at least I had no pink squares today.
I struggled with three of the four long perimeter clues (I’m another in the NHO WEATHER STRIP club) which didn’t help matters, desperately wanted ‘stateship’ to work for the Enterprise and toyed with ‘entripage’ at 11d.
Started with ENTRANT and finished in PIROUETTE in 11.26.
Thanks to Jackkt
9.39 DNF
Forgot to insert SPACESHIP which by then was clear though had tried ADVENTURE earlier wanting VENT for opening.
Quite tricky with the STRIP NHO and needing checkers for some of the other longer ones. All doable but needed thought though nowt wrong with that
Thanks J and J
I found this a little tough but got there in the end.
FOI NET followed by TRIPE got me going but my last two in PIROUETTE which took a while to think of which ‘casino game’ before getting, then ENTOURAGE where I had to write out E_T_U_A_E and stare at to find a word then work out the parsing.
So it’s not just the consolatory dram after the final slowing me up, then. Hard yards on a Monday morning [on edit: Quitch at 117 so definitely a chewy one] and some very enjoyable tussles. COD to LOI SPACESHIP for the sneaky definition. PIROUETTE took a while too, I always forget L for “pound”.
I don’t like “key” as cluing a random letter between A and G, it’s so imprecise. No problem with “old queen” though – here it makes the surface very slick.
Many thanks to the two Js. All done in 10:55 for a Decent Day.
I have removed some postings referring to a clue in the 15×15. I didn’t view them as spoilers but the conversation gave rise to further discussion so it seemed easiest to delete them all. Strictly speaking I believe we are not even supposed to say that a current other puzzle is easy or difficult or mention how long we needed to solve it, so on reflection I think deletion was the right thing to do.
I don’t really follow. Steve’s post gave nothing away, it merely referred to a word in a 15×15 clue, not the answer. And in the past myself and others have mentioned to the QC community that the 15×15 on a particular day might be more approachable than usual, and have been thanked for that by those who might normally be a bit hesitant to move beyond the QC. I have no idea how this might be regarded as spoiling.
Well it’s a fine line, Lindsay, and TBH I didn’t think there was problem today but I took the view that by the time there had been 5 or 6 comments referring to a clue in another puzzle, two of them complaining about it being mentioned, it was better to close the discussion down by removing it.
Comments referring to clues and answers from ‘open’ competition puzzles are out of bounds (see About This Site) so it seemed logical to apply that to a reference to a clue in a current puzzle that others may not yet have solved.
As for comments about the general difficulty of other ‘open’ puzzles, I’m not aware of any official guidelines but in the past contributors have complained about this being discussed, and that was what I was referring to when I said I believed it was to be avoided. However it appears to be accepted practice that if a 15×15 may be of interest to QC solvers aiming to extend their skills it’s okay to draw their attention to it in the QC blog without going into specific details.
Appreciate that, thanks Jack. TBH I didn’t see any further comments after mine on Steve’s post so I’m not sure what people were saying. I think it is a good idea to let the QC gang know if the 15×15 is worth a shot. As I mentioned before, people seem to like it and they presumably approach the 15×15 with more confidence. And we all know that a positive mind-set is the key to success over these infernal puzzles!
Thanks, Lindsay, I agree letting QC-ers know seems reasonable if no details are given away. I don’t think anyone has complained about it so far.
6:40 (and slower than my time for the 15×15!). I was all but finished in 5 minutes, but got stuck on the unknown WEATHER STRIP, eventually resorting to writing out the letters. EVEN-TEMPERED and ENTOURAGE took a while to parse. I liked the blue thyme and RATTY. Thanks Joker and Jackkt.
I believe ODE marks WEATHERSTRIP as (N. Amer.). I would have called the process weatherstripping and taken weatherstrip as a verb, but. I’ve always assumed, rightly or not, that the process includes keeping the bleeding cockroaches from coming in under the front door. My Honolulu apartments always had front doors that would hardly have let an ant in, while the place I’m in now don’t get me started.
I appear to have had the same experience as many others – this was surprisingly chewy (16½ minutes), and when done, I am not quite sure why. I do struggle with the “find a word and take a letter off it” clues – Rene{w} in POLYSTYRENE, for example, or Eage{r} in ENTOURAGE – and I had not heard of WEATHER STRIP as a thing, but that apart I think it was just a slow day.
SPACESHIP held me up most and was my LOI. The -HIP ending was not difficult – just as Crosswordland only has one school (Eton) and one art gallery (the Tate), its inhabitants appear to have only one joint (the hip) – but the rest of the clue delayed my completion by a couple of minutes, not least because like At Times The Fool I only know the Enterprise as a Starship. But when I got it it was my COD for the cleverness of the clue and the misdirection (I was sure the enterprise in question was a company or firm).
Many thanks Jack for the blog
Cedric
For a time, I was eager to get a Knee in 11d.
23A. I think that Poly=former college was a bit misleading. Polytechnics (Polys) and Colleges of Advanced Technology were both types of institution which have now become Universities in UK. Perhaps “college” in Crossword Land should be reserved for institutions like “Eton”!!
Being “a bit misleading” is surely the intention of a cryptic crossword?
BITCHY looked pretty good to me, B+ ITCHY (irritable).
But pink squares caused by STATESHIP, which is a made up word that feels enterprise-like, with STATE=say.
So 20+ with pinks. Hoping for an easier run on the Big One.
9:48, felt pretty on-wavelength except I had never heard the term WEATHER STRIP, and I foolishly kept thinking of craps and poker only for a while, rather than roulette. I liked the neat use of a genitive noun (‘bottom’s’) as a synonym for the adjective, and the Shakespearean surface.
Phew! What a struggle. LOI POLYSTYRENE. Agree about “key” being a bad clue for any letter between A and G.
(Later) I couldn’t understand “blue = EARTHY”, so thanks, Tina – you posted your kind and helpful explanation at exactly the same time that I deleted my (perhaps rather stupid) comment about it!
I think ‘blue’ also means lewd. Like a blue joke is a dirty joke.
Look I’ve never heard anyone say this but the crossword guys told me so, so it must be true
I think it comes from the censor’s use of a blue pen to mark up required deletions, but could be wrong.
‘blue movie’ I knew from childhood.
Yes, thank you – blue movie I knew too, which is why I thought to delete the comment – too late! But to extend that to “earthy = blue” is one step further; you could also argue “earthy = brown”, so then, by similar extension, “brown = blue”. Not sure how far this process can be deemed valid.
14:07
With one error: I had STATESHIP because I saw “say” = STATE, “small” = S, and joint = HIP and thought no more about what the definition might mean. Feel daft as a brush in retrospect, though. After a decent streak of breaking 10, I have been thoroughly put in my place by the last three puzzles.
Started slow but things got easier as more answers came to light.
Needed Pumpa’s help on 7d (never heard of a weatherstrip) and 1a. Sometimes I find anagrams easy, other times they take too much of my time.
23:53
My verdict: tough but fair.
Pumpa’s verdict: Purrrrr.
Slow but successful. ENTOURAGE took some time, and doing the WEATHER STRIP anagram in my head took far longer than I can now rationalise. All enjoyed in a just into the SCC time.
And may I endorse Johninterred’s late comment in the recent Asp blog: “I propose that the membership qualification for the SCC should be anyone who attempts for at least 20 minutes to solve the QC and doesn’t finish in less than 20 minutes.” None shall be excluded who wish to enter. Have it carved above the double doors at the top of the entry steps.
Add me to the 19 minutes club.
LOI SPACESHIP but then, at the last minute, I reviewed a dodgy Bridage and quickly corrected to BRIGADE.
I thought this was tough. And putting in [B]ITCHY whilst thinking-Would Joker and The Times really intend that? -held me up quite a bit.
PIROUETTE was tough for a QC.
David
Hard – LOI ENTOURAGE taking up quite a bit of time at the end.
I liked ENTERPRISE, I just about refrained from slapping my forehead when I got it, which to me can be the mark of a good clue.
9:12
With my head still scrambled after last nights crushing disappointment, I was hoping for a gentle start to the week, but the Joker had other ideas. Like others, I found this pretty tough, and after never really picking up any speed from the off, eventually crossed the line in 13.45. My LOI was WEATHER STRIP which took me a while, and although with my architectural background it was a term familiar to me, it took me far longer than it should have.
They are not getting any easier. This one took the best part of 25mins before I decided to use aids for loi Entourage – just couldn’t see it. Quite a few tricky parsings along the way, especially the pe bit of Even Tempered and CoD Seaside. Perhaps RR was a better gatekeeper than he got credit for. Invariant
DNF. Gave up after 22 minutes, having failed to see ENTOURAGE.
WEATHER STRIP was a NHO, and required pen and paper to untangle. Enterprise was always a Starship, never a mere Spaceship; in common with others, I did briefly wonder whether she was a STATESHIP, with state=say, before seeing space=opening.
Thanks Jack and Joker
6:38
I found several answers eminently biffable from definitions with a cursory look at the cryptic to check I was on the right track. As with others, wasn’t sure I’d ever heard of WEATHER STRIP, but I did actually buy a packet of ‘Pile Weather Stripping’ recently for my draughty front door – essentially the same thing.
POLYSTYRENE, ENTOURAGE, EVEN-TEMPERED all went in from checkers and without fully checking the cryptic.
Thanks Jack and Joker
DNF. Failed on BRIGADE and TRIPE, relatively easy but was exhausted by then. Must remember Girl Marrying = bride. Liked PDM SPACESHIP Enterprise!
A big struggle today. NHO WEATHER STRIP. Solved Strip early on then realised it was an anagram. Took ages to get SUSTAINABLE too.
Also liked PIROUETTE, RATTY, and, eventually, ENTOURAGE.
Thanks for much needed blog, Jack.
DNF.
Really did not like this at all. Gave up after 30 minutes.
23 Across. POLYSTYRENE. I thought it had been banned from use. This puzzle should have been.
2 Down. SPACESHIP ?
Wrong. Starship Enterprise.
STARSHIP not SPACESHIP.
Still, considering the realm in which the Starship Enterprise boldly went, it should be fair to consider it a SPACESHIP.
I believe that 2D is referring to the first Space Shuttle used for atmospheric drop tests and named after the Star Trek ship by NASA as a bit of a PR stunt – hence spaceship is perfectly ok.
I do not count the Space Shuttle as a spacehip (or a starship). As you say, a PR stunt.
Thanks thatjohn. Didn’t know this about the first space shuttle name. Really interesting.
Great GK to dig that one out! But it moves the clue from “slight mis-reference” to “really obscure fact and devious attempt to confuse and mislead”, along the lines of Shirley being clued as “man’s name” – yes it was once, and very occasionally still is, so it is not actually wrong, but it is hardly one’s first (or second, or third, …) thought.
If that is really what Joker meant, I take my hat off to him – but in that case I wonder if one solver in 100 spotted it.
Hard work to eke this one out. POLYSTYRENE, BRIGADE, ENTOURAGE, PIROUETTE and WEATHER STRIP (NHO) took ages to get. Didn’t find it much fun – too many fiddly long words.
I found this really difficult and, unusually for me, ended up revealing ENTOURAGE, EARTHY and SPACESHIP. I just couldn’t seem to persevere today. Anyhow, of the ones I completed I did like SEASIDE. Thanks for the blog Jack.
Another STATESHIP here. Not a Star Trek fan, so this DBE never occurred to me.
16m
Held up by even tempered, pirouette, entourage, and LOI spaceship.
COD tangerine. Gin o Clock!
SPACESHIP and RECITAL left outstanding
15.13 A very slow start with 1a and the downs descending from it yielding nothing. I continued slowly with all of the long answers needing checkers. ATTAIN was LOI. It all seemed very reasonable after it was done. Thanks Jack and Joker.
I started by putting ABLE at the end of 1a. NET and TRIPE then went in and I assembled EVEN TEMPERED according to the instructions. Slightly slower progress followed and I ended with PIROUETTE and then ENTOURAGE. 8:04. Thanks Joker and Jack.
Hard work but got there in the end and a comfy chair in the SCC. Found the clues requiring “think of a word then shorten it” particularly hard. For example 23a, renovate becomes renew becomes rene. And glad there was no need for detailed AMND knowledge (Bottom’s performance). I read the play when I was 10 (shortly after the printing press was invented??)
Looking at the Quitch and reading of others’ experiences we’re rather happy in retrospect with our 14:37. A tough solve but nothing abstruse. A satisfying workout! Thanks Joker and Jack.
Scraped in just under target at 14:51, which I’m happy with, particularly as others have found this one tricky. COD SPACESHIP for the PDM when I realised we weren’t looking for any sort of company.
Thanks to Joker and Jackkt.
DNF for me cos Twist (for Twine) mucked up my chances of getting polystyrene. But lots of fun on the way, and bags of misdirection, as expected from a Joker. Bottom being the prime example: went through every character in AMND and thought of Peasblossom as a wrapper-upper: then it suddenly dawned! Earthy for blue is OK by me but only just: an earthy sense of humour is not necessarily a blue joke aficionado. I agree with other comments that ‘key’ for any letter between A and G (or H if you’re German) is loose. Well into the SCC but an enjoyable, challenging QC – thanks Joker and Jack.
I have noticed two very unlikely bedfellows at the bottom of the grid – the prog-rockers, Yes and the late punk frontwoman, Poly Styrene (X-Ray Specs). And they even share the same S. Strange!
I realised when I saw the grid that 1a and 7d would be the keys to a comfortable ride today. And so it proved. Fortunately, SUSTAINABLE went in within the first half-minute or so, so even though WEATHER STRIP held out until much later I had enough to build on as I progressed down the grid. ENTOURAGE gave me some trouble and RECITAL was my LOI.
Time = 21 minutes. I just missed the coach trip out from the SCC, but given the setter I’m not complaining.
Thanks to Joker and Kitty.
Thanks for the memories: Yes and Poly Styrene!
DNF. The culprit being the NHO WEATHER STRIP. The rest of the puzzle took 10 minutes so not the easiest of Monday puzzles.
I have just looked at the stats for Friday’s QC and I’m now rather glad that I was at sea with no wifi.
Most of us who tried it were all at sea too …
32 min finish. Seaside and entourage being my last ones in. COD Pirouette.
Thanks Joker and needed Jack to parse a few of the downs
DNF
Struggled over the line in 22 minutes but foolishly had TRICE for LOI TRIPE.
Great misdirections meant a tough challenge for me. All of the E was pretty straightforward but left plenty to work on. Done with several in pencil. Grateful to Jackkt for parsing several of my ‘it has to be’ efforts.
FOI 8a Entrant
LOI 9a Tripe
Cod 2d Spaceship
25 mins…
Although, to be fair, it felt longer. I got thrown by 13ac thinking the hidden word was “rhythm”, which led to some delays on the LHS of the grid. The rest went in steadily, even if a number of clues took a bit of parsing (6dn “Even Tempered” and 23ac “Polystyrene” come to mind).
FOI – 1dn “Satin”
LOI – 19dn “Twine”
COD – 2dn “Spaceship” (obviously 😀)
Thanks as usual!