Quick Cryptic 2744 by Cheeko

Author   CuraristPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

I don’t think I’ve blogged one from Cheeko before, and this one has quite an interesting style. There are some fairly obscure answers – though the wordplay is always fair – and a couple of cracking anagrams.  As an added bonus there is a little Nina for the eagle-eyed. Perhaps on the harder side judging by my above-par 8 minutes.

Across
1 Grabbing glimpse of decisive victory, punch cheat (8)
HOODWINK – Glimpse of ‘decisive’ is D, victory is WIN, put both inside HOOK – a kind of punch in boxing
5 Unlimited information relating to The Listener? (4)
OTIC – ‘NOTICE’ minus its ‘limits’ i.e. first and last letters.
9 Excellent lingerie, very alluring up-front (5)
BRAVA – BRA (lingerie) + V[ery] + A[lluring]. ‘Bravo’ when addressing a woman.
10 Tip with change, having no time at all for port (7)
IPSWICH – OK, this is an interesting one. basically you take the Ts out of TIP SWITCH. It’s a bit odd in that it uses both the word in the clue for TIP, but then a synonym for SWITCH, but I guess it’s the only way to make the surface work.
11 Digital outlier that’s manually located? (6,6)
LITTLE FINGER – cryptic definition
13 Book van, going back round Northern Ireland (6)
DANIEL – Van is LEAD (as in vanguard), reverse it and insert NI
15 Introduction of soft metal with nickel backing (4-2)
LEAD-IN – LEAD + Ni backwards
17 What would assess final appeal of criminal computer user (7,5)
SUPREME COURT – anagram (‘criminal’) of COMPUTER USER. Nice. Kind of works as an &lit too.
20 Old dons deserve being in media, periodically (7)
EMERITI – MERIT inside alternate letters of mEdIa. My dictionary reckons ’emeritus’ is an adjective.
21 Snatch letters, reportedly (5)
SEIZE – sounds like C’s
22 Window frame needs front of seasoned wood (4)
SASH – Front of “seasoned” = S, plus ASH
23 My oracle, unfortunately mine (8)
CLAYMORE – anagram (‘unfortunately’) of  MY ORACLE. A type of anti-personnel mine.
Down
1 Tramp primarily has overpowering personal whiff (4)
HOBO – H[as] + O[verpowering] + BO (body odour)
2 Unconfined tapir chasing fine animal (5)
OKAPI – [T]API[R] after OK
3 Have whittled fragments — that’s annoying (4,3,5)
WHAT THE DEVIL – anagram (‘fragments’, verb) of HAVE WHITTLED
4 Fixed trouble in elevated study (6)
NAILED – AIL inside DEN backwards
6 Got temperature wearing hairpiece (7)
TWIGGED – T + WIGGED
7 Sticking together recent changes about erected house (8)
COHERENT – anagram (‘changes’) of RECENT around HO backwards
8 Song from dreadful egoists, maybe (2,4,4,2)
AS TIME GOES BY – anagram (‘dreadful’) of EGOISTS MAYBE
12 Hero sussed most of you out (8)
ODYSSEUS – anagram (‘out’) of  SUSSED + YO[U]
14 Threadbare Italian city embraces saint (7)
NAPLESS – NAPLES with S inserted. Another NHO for me
16 Entertaining both sides in election, face refusal (6)
DENIAL – Both sides in election ins EN, put inside DIAL
18 Hard-nosed type that might charge you (5)
RHINO – cryptic definition
19 There’s unwrapped present (4)
HERE – [T]HERE[S]

133 comments on “Quick Cryptic 2744 by Cheeko”

  1. While I am usually one of those championing the idea of there being some QCs that are on the harder side, I am going to have to be honest and say that even I think this once crossed the line. I really enjoyed it (it is a lovely crossword) but this really did feel as though I was doing the main crossword rather. And not a particularly easy main at that. I guess the QUITCH being 170 suggests that other have found it tricky as well.

    1. Although I agree that this wasn’t a QC, I have to say I didn’t even enjoy it. Van for lead? The Ipswich clue? Emeriti? Needed some serious editing.

  2. I found it hard, 16.40 worth of hard so more than double my usual target range. All up a terrific puzzle though some of these were definitely 15×15 material. Hello IPSWICH, hello HOODWINK and hello SIEZE, the use of ‘letters’ to denote Cs was crafty and I don’t recall seeing it before. Thanks to Curarist and Cheeko.

  3. This was the first puzzle from Cheeko.

    I found it hard and needed 16 minutes to compete it missing my extended target time by one minute.

    I think my only unknown was CLAYMORE as a mine but the answer was easy to arrive it via the anagram so the definition simply had to be.

    Collins has EMERITUS/I as a noun.

    1. I didn’t recall seeing the name before but didn’t realise it was Cheeko’s first go, well done and welcome to the crease new setter. It seems like we have had a number of newbies in the last little while.

  4. I found this tough too and had to have my weekend-solving head on but all fair and well-clued.
    FOI HOBO to LOI ODYSSEUS where I needed all the checkers.
    I marked IPSWICH as a favourite after seeing the parsing and 6dn when I twigged TWIGGED.

  5. In no way was this a Quick cryptic for me. Nearly 55 minutes of alphabet soup. Straight forward anagrams did little to ease the pain.
    NAP LESS as in the snooker table cloth didn’t make much sense for threadbare, VAN is Lead. Really? BRAVA caught me out.
    I am glad that others enjoyed this from Cheeko, sadly I didn’t.
    Thanks Curarist. As to the Nina, no idea and not bothered.

    1. The NINA is to look at the four words leading to the middle i.e. nailed, lead-in, daniel, denial … not sure there’s anything more exciting than that going on.

  6. Clever but not fun. Took a while at the end of a slog to choose between ‘genial’ and DENIAL – finally saw what ‘face’ was doing. All green in 28.42.

  8. That was a very thorough workout with some excellent clues but Cheeko may have slightly misjudged the ‘q’ in QC.
    Started well in the NW with both of the 1s going straight in but I slowed down afterwards with particular struggles over EMERITI, IPSWICH (answer was obvious but working out why took an age), OTIC (never did parse it) and LOI SEIZE.
    Finished in 15.24 with favourites being NAPLESS and LITTLE FINGER.
    Thanks to curarist and Cheeko

  9. DNF Couldn’t see IPSWICH, I was looking for something a bit more foreign. Bit of a bizarre a construction that one.

    “Glimpse of” for seeing the first letter of doesn’t make a lot of sense.

    Tough one all round

  10. This one reminded me of our early days when we just doggedly kept going, picking off another one every few minutes to finish in 48.15. But we finished, which is a result.

    Thanks Curarist for the complete parsing of too many to mention.

  11. I made a stupid error, probably because I couldn’t wait to see the back of this puzzle. I didn’t enjoy it at all, and wouldn’t care if the setter never appeared here again. Am I just in a grouchy mood? Nope – I thoroughly enjoyed the 15×15 so all is (reasonably) well.

  12. 30:41 … definitely not a QC … so much going on in those clues just look at HOODWINK where you’re expected to realise a “glimpse of decisive” = D; IPSWICH – take off both Ts for a random port …

    Generally felt like almost every clue seemed to need you to do a 3-step manipulation to get to the answer – think of the abbreviation for house (HO), turn that upside down, put it inside an anagram of RECENT.

    Currently QUITCHing at 174 which is the highest I’ve ever see although I’m sure that will come down to the 130s as the day goes on. (Edit: shows what I know – up at 179 at 1pm. It was hitting 183 earlier. 160 at 5pm but still the highest in recorded history since Quitch began in March 2023).

    Criticism aside, I liked the SUPREME-COURT clue for its surface and who knew it’s an anagram of computer user.

    Well done to everybody who got through it and have a good weekend if you’re not back for Saturday 👍

    1. Yes that was my problem with it – too many multi step clues so I felt bogged down and unable to really get going

  13. 19 minutes, with aids, bafflement and mounting irritation at a puzzle which I did not enjoy at all. I always try to welcome a new setter but this was quite simply not a QC and I suspect poor Cheeko has been let down by the absence of a seasoned full time crossword editor to guide him/her into where the boundaries for QCs are.

    Claymore as a mine – extremely obscure GK. Rhino as “hard-nosed type” – vague and unhelpful wordplay. Ipswich – a 15×15 clue. Emeriti – never used in common speech whatever the dictionary may say (99.9% of academics would say of two old dons that they were “emeritus professors”). “Glimpse of” for first letter – fair enough but IMO but too hard/unusual for a QC. Napless – NHO the word, nor has my spellchecker. Otic – difficult word clued by difficult wordplay (information = notice far from obvious, as a notice can give information but is not itself information).

    Please Cheeko, don’t give up or take the barrage of comments from me and others to heart. New setters are always welcome. But this was not a QC and I do hope that (a) we see you again and (b) with something more “of this parish”.

    Many thanks Curarist for helping us through this one.
    Cedric

    1. I agree with your comment about the lack of a seasoned editor and I assume someone is doing double duty at the moment.

      With RHINO – I believe, perhaps wrongly, that it is Latin for things connected with the nose – certainly a nose job is properly termed a rhinoplasty.

      The clue I felt gave no help was AS-TIME-GOES-BY … nothing to do with egoists. Casablanca is a 1941 Oscar winning film and the song is famous within that but it is 80+ years ago.

      1. In defence of Cheeko, egoist was just part of the anagrist and is not required to relate to the title in question. Because it was an anagram the answer was right there, we just had to unravel it. It is quite common for definitions to be simply song, film, book, author etc, which obviously leaves a huge field for us solvers to puzzle out. I thought the clue was fair, and although the song is old both it and the film have iconic status and are widely known.

        1. Good points – well made. I was just expecting (somewhat like the supreme-court clue) for the surface to help us out. I’m sure it’s easy enough to unravel once you’ve got checkers in there.

          I just asked my 22-year-old nephew if he knew the song – his reply “Probably, who is it by?” 🤣

          1. Ha ha, say Taylor Swift and see if he buys it. I needed a few checkers to sort the anagram but that’s how it usually works for me and anagrams. It jumped out with the enumeration plus a few letters – which is more than I can say for claymore.

        2. Widely known amongst the 60+’s perhaps (or 60++’s in my case). Iconic status is only iconic amongst us oldies. I thought QC was supposed to be about bringing in new solvers, any new solver seeing this one would never look at another one again.

    2. For people under about 40 I suspect that CLAYMORE = Mine is much less obscure GK than, for example, DANIEL = Book thanks to the Call of Duty franchise

  14. I managed everything except seize where I couldn’t get past swipe although I knew it didn’t fit the word play. Sorted everything else and had many satisfying moments but it took me twice as long as usual. Thanks for excellent blog.

    1. I did the same and convinced myself it was “S” “Y” “P”

      Knew it was wrong but when I put it in I felt like I was going to DNF anyway, which (nearly) didnt end up being the case (I had to cheat to find a word that fit _T_C)

  16. Can someone explain the “manually located” part of the cryptic definition of little finger?

  17. Couldn’t do a single one – cruel. Actually I did get two letters: the IN of 15.
    I read the blog, and cannot reproach myself – wouldn’t have managed any of these even with a week on a desert island.

    1. It was difficult indeed. My first pass produced six answers – HOBO, LITTLE FINGER, DENIAL, HERE which were independent of each other plus OKAPI, NAILED which had the benefit of checkers from little fingers. Plus the -IN part. And that initial readthrough took 8+ mins itself.

  18. This was definitely not one of my favourite QC puzzles. It was like doing the full size beast masquerading as a QC. I parsed all the clues, but it was a tough slog.

  19. 5:45.
    Unfortunately that’s because I gave up after just two, realising I would get nowhere here – confirmed when I read Curarist’s excellent blog. All very clever I’m sure, but not a QC and not enjoyable. Many of my comments have already been made above by others (New Driver and Cedric especially). I have no problem being DNFed by the odd tough clue, but it has to be a fair fight.

    FOI SASH
    LOI (and COD) SUPREME COURT

  20. I got all but five of the answers but only after a slow struggle. I gave up at 45mins.
    The pleasure at finally seeing and parsing answers like IPSWICH was totally negated by bamboozlement elsewhere. I have an Emeritus position but I had to kick myself for totally failing to see EMERITI. This is my first total QC failure since QC number 1.
    I think Cheeko is a very bright setter and, with Curarist’s help, I appreciate how clever some of the clues are but I agree with many posters above that this was not even close to being a QC.
    Thanks for the workout, Cheeko, but you are in the wrong place with this one.

    1. Absolutely agree. After very few answers on an initial run I realised that this was not a QC type puzzle. Came back to it several times but still nowhere near finishing. Who approved this as QC? Not at all enjoyable for me.

  21. Welcome Cheeko, and may you contribute many more puzzles.

    This one was more a Monday 15×15 than a QC, and the IPSWICH clue only fell because I went to school there – the device seemed a muddle. We’ve had CLAYMORE before (it’s also a sword). Really liked SUPREME COURT.

    9’45”, twice my target time 🙂

  22. Reading Curarists explanations has done more for my solving abilities than many of the entertaining explanations of easier QCs so despite the disappointment of DNF I still feel I’ve had a productive morning

    1. That is entirely the right attitude Henrietta – following the excellent bloggers on here is a practically guaranteed way to hone your solving skills.

  23. Cheeko missed the mark pretty badly on this, but hopefully they can moderate the difficult to a reasonable level, since there were some interesting clues. I wonder whether they looked at a QC before attempting to write their own, since surely it was pretty clear this was well outside the usual standards.

  24. Very hard, taking 20 minutes for a DNF with ODESYEUS – if I had taken more care counting letters my spelling mistake would have been easier to spot.
    NHO BRAVA as the female equivalent of BRAVO.
    NAPLESS was my LOI. I had tried every five letter Italian city around ST, but all to no avail.
    CLAYMORE was known as a Scottish sword ( “Many’s the lad fought on that day
    Well the claymore did wield”) but not as an anti-personnel mine, so I was stuck looking for alternative names for a colliery, such as COALMERY.

    Thanks Curarist and Cheeko

  25. I would like to encourage newcomers – so I do say welcome and thanks. However, I have to agree with those who say this is too hard. Some very obscure stuff for sure and I’m not sure that it was always fair! When would anyone really say Brava these days?? I don’t think that even in the days when ‘As Time Goes By’ was familiar anyone would ever say that. I had to check that it brava was in the dictionary and I’m nearly 72!

      2. I called it out at Glyndebourne only last month (Johanna Wallroth singing Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare – she was amazing).

          1. I obviously don’t go to enough concerts – and at which women are performing!

            I still think it’s too obscure for a quickie mind!

            My 80 year old crossword pal is less of a philistine than me but she’s never heard it either 🙂

            1. I put Bra-vo first, then looked at the parsing. But then I solved rather few of the rest!

              1. I thought it was Bravo because they seem to be fond of bras but this one wouldn’t fit 🙂

      3. Agree. I don’t think brava is all that unusual and I wouldn’t exactly call myself a concert-goer.

  26. Definitely not a QC. Don’t mind the odd difficult puzzle but this was way beyond me and not suitable for aQC. Nothing personal but I hope I don’t see this setter again

      1. Well actually they are ALL anagrams of each other.

        Having given up my QC blogging post some time ago I normally only do the main cryptic nowadays. But I was over at the blog for that and someone mentioned that this one was particularly difficult. So I came over here and had a go. I thought it was a perfectly fair QC, not the easiest but certainly not all that hard, and I didn’t find anything particularly obscure either.

        I had only ever heard of BRAVO before but then several years ago I noticed that when my wife is spelling something over the phone phonetically she says ‘BRAVA’ for ‘B’. And then I thought, well, of course, that’s obvious that there would be a feminine version. So although I don’t think I have ever seen it before in a crossword I was ready for it when the wordplay called for it.

        Thanks Curarist and Cheeko.

  28. Looking at the comments now, I also found this on the hard side for a QC taking 11:56
    My sister lives just outside Ipswich so it came to mind pretty fast! I also was unsure about Brava so waited till I got 3dn for the final A. And I didn’t know that meaning of claymore.

  29. I did not find this easy but worked through it steadily. FOI TWIGGED, LOI HOODWINK.
    Hard yes, but maybe not as bad as others have suggested.
    No time as travelling, so not done in one sitting.
    Not quick.
    David

  30. Well, if Cheeko is to be a regular QC setter, I think he (or she) needs to reduce the overall difficulty, as it’s apparent that too many solvers consider this to be too tough for this level. In itself I think the puzzle is great, but it’s definitely more orientated towards 15×15 solvers in my opinion. I finished in 13.42, nearly 4 minutes outside target, and I feel this wasn’t too bad in the circumstances.
    A couple of poor times this week pushed my total weekly time to 55.31, giving me a daily average of 11.06.

  31. Hmm, Curarist; Harder than firm, and fair(ly, or very, tricky).
    This was right on my upper level of doability with a bit a guessing to get me over the line in a deep into SCC time. Felt like I was venturing into 15×15 levels quite regularly. CLAYMORE (albeit only feasible anagram) OTIC (ok if you can get Notice first) and EMERITI in particular were v tough to me.
    BO in clues two days in a row?! I know it’s hot and sweaty just now, but…!
    It is surely an editorial responsibility to ensure the puzzle fits requirements, and to advise a setter if it exceeds what is needed.
    There are a lot of good, albeit hard, clues here, but overall the consensus seems that in its entirety it is not a QC as we know it. Unfair to shoot Cheeko at their first submission for that. I would like to see them setting again with a slightly dialled down level of difficulty. Hard QCs have their place as much as the ones we can waltz through, so a bit of reviewing could give us some fun and challenging future puzzles which I would welcome.

    1. With OTIC this was one of those clues where the definition jumped out at me so wasn’t at all hard. I then just looked around for the right word to top and tail.

  32. DNF disaster. Far too difficult. Liked HOBO, LITTLE FINGER – solved about half and then gave up. No fun.! Actually BRAVA was one I did solve, and biffed EMERITI from checkers revealed. I thought CLAYMORE was a sword.

  33. I did finish but it was a real struggle. Reading all the comments I know I’m in good company. I was thinking of doing a more detailed blog but Cedric’s says exactly what I would have said about the clues I found problematic. I also echo his words to Cheeko. Thanks Curarist for explaining the tricky solves.

  34. Regular reader but rarely comment. Having completed QCs since number one I suspect this is the hardest yet and IMO far to hard. As many have already said many of the clues could have been in the 15X15 and although fair enough for the many who also do the main puzzle ( like me) very upsetting for those relatively new to cryptic puzzles.

  35. 35m

    Too hard for QC. Poor judgement from new setter and the editor.
    I have said lots of times, the 15×15 and this type of quickie is great for someone like me who has been doing them for 8 years, but will just put of newer solvers which kind of defeats the purpose of the QC.

    COD none.

  36. Thanks for a really tough workout Cheeko. This took me a very long time to complete but I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge. I never did parse IPSWICH or OTIC (thanks C) but eventually worked out everything else. Lots of complaints about this one but definitely not from me. I think it helps not to worry about how long these puzzles take 😆 EMERITI held me up the longest. Liked SEIZE. VHO CLAYMORE but couldn’t have told you what it was. More from Cheeko please.

  37. Well, that was quite a tester, even for a Friday. I certainly didn’t help myself by opting for (the longest) Middle Finger, which made 3d quite a tricky anagram, but given the other numerous delays all over the grid, that was neither here nor there. Seize looked like being Swipe for a worryingly long time, but if it doesn’t parse. . . and loi Otic rang a distant small bell with no clapper, so also took ages. A finish, of sorts, spread out over several sittings, but hard work throughout. Quite a memorable introduction, Cheeko, I wonder what you will give us next time? Invariant

  38. “Firm but fair”. Really? No, sorry, I disagree.

    I found this to be extremely difficult and unenjoyable.

    I gave up in the end having barely scratched the surface.

    My verdict: 👎👎👎
    Pumpa’s verdict: I wasn’t going to bother him with this one. I don’t want my eyes scratched out. 🤣

    I need a candy bar to get me over this one. 🤣

  39. Gosh.
    Really surprised to read some of the above comments.
    The combination of a Friday puzzle and a new setter caused Mr SR and me to exchange apprehensive glances, but got through it all in our usual sort of time (we don’t formally time ourselves) and thought it very enjoyable. Must be a wavelength thing but we’re looking forward to the next Cheeko.
    I do think some comments here are a bit harsh and would have had me very despondent if I were the setter. Of course if the majority feel this isn’t QC level that should be addressed and considered, but there are different, more pleasant ways of putting things.

    Welcome Cheeko and thanks.
    Also thanks for the blog Curarist – didn’t need it today but always read it and very much appreciate the effort and time that goes into blogging.

  40. Getting in before GaryA feels bad about this one – everyone feels bad about this one lol

    The QUITCH is at a all time high

    1. I’m sure GaryA will only have positive comments for it. He’s been trying the 15×15 recently so will be capable of finishing this. As he’s already failed the week with a DNF he will be able to sit back and enjoy the solve.

      1. Yeah he’s been doing so great at the big one. He’s so good at finishing puzzles easy or hard.

  41. Someone yesterday (I think) predicted a stinker, and today’s puzzle was indeed that. Longest I’ve taken over one of these in years I think.

    As some have said above, not a bad puzzle, though I have to admit I was nowhere near parsing IPSWICH (I had the IP from tip, the WI from witch and the CH from change and no idea where the S came from, but it fitted the checkers!). SEIZE was my LOI which I eventually twigged despite writing in SWIPE at least 3 times. I should have just pluralised the letters and done an alphabet trawl and I’d have been there in 3 seconds! LITTLE FINGER, NAPLESS and ODYSSEUS stood out for me.

    I did have to abandon QC mode and dig in for the longer haul. I’m a great believer in harder puzzles improving your ability once you have a certain level of competence. Obviously if you’re a complete beginner then this puzzle is impenetrable, but if you are regularly completing the QC, then something harder like this should be interesting to dig your teeth into. I accept that my view is not shared by all, and there are those who say that the main puzzle performs that function. However, there’s a lot more satisfaction for me in this type of puzzle than dashing an easier one off.

    Welcome to Cheeko, and thanks to Curarist for unpicking IPSWICH.

    13:10

    1. Exactly! I feel encouraged by finishing this puzzle and am having thoughts of visiting the 15×15 when there’s time in my day.

  42. 8.58. More like a 15×15 than most QCs, although all entirely fair (I satisfied myself with BRAVA from crossers, wordplay, and patatas bravas, while I knew CLAYMORE from previous appearances and video games – XCOM2 rather than Call of Duty!). Obscure words don’t make a puzzle unfair provided the wordplay is clear, and I don’t think any other arrangement of letters for CLAYMORE was very plausible, although as I happened to know the word, I could just be missing an option.

    Like hopkinb, I consider the QC as an entry route into the genre and then onto harder puzzles, and if that’s the case you need the occasional puzzle to bridge the gap (likewise some easier 15x15s).

    Of course, that’s far from the only way to approach the QC, and I can see why it’s not been universally welcomed. But I also agree with some commenters that some of the reaction above is rather OTT. Perhaps it’s the heat.

    Thanks Cheeko and Curarist.

  43. Whilst I agree this was well above averagely hard, it does provide daily QC solvers like myself who don’t regularly tackle the 15×15 with some form of stepping stone. If, like me, you still start out with the belief that it should be possible to fill in the grid as opposed to being put off by the reputation of the main puzzle, it seems easier to push yourself. If you’re reading this Cheeko, thank you for this very fair but tricky offering, and perhaps next time the editors will know to step in and take the difficulty down a couple of notches.

  44. 28:26. At the time of writing the Snitch is a record high of 181. I certainly found it difficult but felt a sense of achievement when I finished with all green even though my usual target is 700 points (under 13:23). FOI LITTLE FINGER (only across clue I got on first read-through), LOI DENIAL, COD SEIZE. Thanks Curarist for the blog, and thanks and welcome to new setter Cheeko. May I suggest toning down the difficulty for your next puzzle so that regular solvers aren’t put off when they see your name on subsequent QC crosswords.

  45. A tough one. BRAVA to DENIAL in 19:45. I like that the hardness was in the cluing, not obscure vocab or GK (although Odysseus and emeriti might have been pushing it a bit). I liked HOODWINK, IPSWICH and the OKAPI.
    Many thanks Cheeko and Curarist

  46. 16 minutes. Yes, tough stuff and one of the hardest QC’s I can remember doing. Started out being hoodwinked by HOODWINK and it didn’t get much easier after that. I didn’t know CLAYMORE apart from the sense in “The Skye Boat Song” as mentioned by simjt above but the crossers helped in untangling the anagram.

    Missed the Nina which is annoying but at least I’ll be on the lookout for one in Cheeko’s next puzzle.

    Thanks to Cheeko (is the ‘Tramp’ in 1d a clue to his identity I wonder?) and Curarist

  47. Definitely a mini 15. The QUITCH is running at 179 (highest I’ve ever seen) and my 14:21, which would usually have seen me deep among the also-rans, placed me in my familiar mid-table mediocrity (55 out of 130). So that was a proper stinker. Whether the occasional stinker is a good thing or not is a matter of taste. For me it depends what mood I’m in; today I quite quickly realised that this was going to require more time and thought than I usually devote to the QC and I decided to go with it.

    COD to BRAVA, very good!

    Many thanks Cheeko and curarist – love the insouciant “perhaps on the harder side” for the record QUITCH score!

  48. Managed all but 7 and three of these were anagrams which I should and could have solved with a bit more effort.
    Not helped by NOHs OTIC and NAPLESS, and EMERITI was a stretch.
    So overall one of the hardest QCs ever but a good workout for the brain.
    Thanks both and congratulations to those who finished.

    1. Good try #5 … a toughie today.

      You just reminded me today’s Daily Express Crusader had “Some notice about the ears (4)” clued in the same NE cornerspot.

      1. Nice coincidence. That clue is a bit easier but it’s another word I will try to remember.
        Another coincidence is that we’ve had BO two days in a row.

        1. If you think of the eye as being optic, you can link them in your memory palace to ears=otic.

          1. Alternatively, if you need something to hang it on, you could consider erotic E(A)ROTIC !
            Incidentally, an instrument for looking in ears is an OTOSCOPE and people may be more familiar with inflammation, Otitis.

  49. I agree with those who felt it was like the gard crossword. I gave up after only getting 12 answers and I found it depressing I’m afraid 😨

    1. You did better than me – only 9 answers here. And yes, I agree, I don’t mind the occasional DNF but to not even get halfway is dispiriting.

      Thank you to Curarist for particularly needed blog!

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