A public school which isn’t Eton, a couple of hiddens, a US President – what’s not to like? I’ll tell you what’s not to like, and that’s two clues which rely upon two other clues already having been solved. Booo! Anyway, all good fun and overall I enjoyed it as always. Gingerly I venture to say that this is on the easier side, because it detained me for only 06:36. Hope you were entertained too.
Definitions underlined in bold.
| Across | |
| 1 | Correct a method at once (5,4) |
| RIGHT AWAY – a clever start, since the clue misleads you (well, it misled me) into thinking that it’s an anagram of “a method at” (indicated by “correct”). It isn’t: it’s RIGHT for “correct” + “A WAY” for “a method”. 1-0 Mara. | |
| 6 | Part gripped (3) |
| BIT – double definition, the second requiring a moment’s pause to see – think “the tyres bit/gripped”, for example. | |
| 8 | American introduced to stuff by principal in Italy, pasta! (7) |
| FUSILLI – US for “American”; that goes inside (“introduced to”) FILL for “stuff” + I for “principal in Italy”. A rather clunky surface. | |
| 9 | Boy, I understand that! (5) |
| ROGER – double definition: a male name (the clue would have worked just as well with “Man”)/a word used for “affirmative”. ROGER in the second sense comes from the early days of radio communication, when recipients of a signal would signal back the letter R for “received”. Around WW2, the spoken word ROGER started being used instead, since that stood for R in the US spoken alphabet. (Roger lost out to Romeo, however, when NATO formulated its own spoken alphabet.) | |
| 10 | Try sport in school? (5) |
| RUGBY – today’s random public school is RUGBY, a gloomy place near Birmingham where the eponymous style of football was invented by William Webb Ellis in 1823. It involves scoring tries, and so it’s a “try sport”, ho ho. [How to classify this? Well, never ever ever call something an &Lit, or the Clue Police will have you in cuffs up against the wall faster than you can say Ximenean. So I’m going to call this … a cryptic definition. They never pull you up for that.] | |
| 12 | A street in play, comfortable and warm (6) |
| TOASTY – A ST is “a street”; that goes inside (“in”) TOY for “play” (e.g. “the cat toyed with the mouse”). | |
| 14 | Clairvoyant seeing wealth with banker (7-6) |
| FORTUNE-TELLER – “Aha!” thinks your blogger, seeing the word “banker”, “Good job that I am now a Wise Old Hand who knows that this is always a codeword for river!” After much futile racking of brain for suitable rivers, I realised that today it just means an actual banker (TELLER). I can hear Mara sniggering quietly. 2-0 Mara. | |
| 16 | Something sparkling captured by astronaut in selfie (6) |
| TINSEL – hidden (“captured by”) inside “astronaut in selfie”. | |
| 17 | Reporters appearing in Ypres slowly (5) |
| PRESS – hidden (“appearing in”) inside “Ypres slowly”. In revenge for Mara doing me like a kipper over “banker”, I’m going to award a penalty against him for having two consecutive hiddens. My blog, my rules. 2-1 Mara. | |
| 19 | Different parent loses head (5) |
| OTHER – {m}OTHER. | |
| 20 | Giant in unlikely story? (7) |
| WHOPPER – double definition. As a boy I used to do logic puzzles about three tribes – the Pukkas (always told the truth), the Shilly-Shallies (sometimes lied, sometimes didn’t) and the Wottawoppas (always lied). You’d be given a set of statements and had to work out who was who from their internal logic. That was our idea of fun in the 70s, no wonder kids prefer iPhones. | |
| 22 | Parent dreadful at dancing, primarily (3) |
| DAD – a sideways swipe at the notorious phenomenon of dad-dancing (Collins: “enthusiastic but inelegant dancing to pop music, regarded as typical of middle-aged men”). It’s the first letters (“primarily”) of “dreadful at dancing”. | |
| 23 | When shattered 13 down energy — keep going (9) |
| PERSEVERE – this is an anagram (“shattered”) of 13d + E for “energy”. It feels as though Mara was running out of E for energy at this point and just thought “to heck with it, that’ll do”. Using the answer for one clue as the anagrist for another is a stonewall penalty so that’s 2-2. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | A few notes on leader of revolution overcoming a very strong rabble (4-4) |
| RIFF-RAFF – I needed the first R and F as checkers before I could get this. RIFF is “a few notes” (I’d been trying variants of do-re-me, or even ABC) + R for “leader of revolution” + A + FF for “very strong” (musical notation). Phew. | |
| 2 | Fuel cut, briefly (3) |
| GAS -GAS{h}. | |
| 3 | Finally, assailant and comrade agree (5) |
| TALLY – T is “assailant, finally” + ALLY for “comrade”. “The numbers TALLY/agree.” | |
| 4 | Informer, train dispatcher? (7-6) |
| WHISTLE-BLOWER – double definition. At Charing Cross the platform staff blow a whistle precisely one minute before the train leaves at such ferocious decibel levels that I have learned never to be within 5 yards of them. | |
| 5 | Measure of distance unknown, a grade miscalculated (7) |
| YARDAGE – Y is the “unknown” + an anagram (“miscalculated”) of “a grade”. | |
| 6 | Wrong label, tag with error initially, minor detail (9) |
| BAGATELLE – an anagram (“wrong”) of “label tag” + e for “error initially”. This sense of BAGATELLE (as in “a mere bagatelle”) is its oldest usage in English, going back to 1645 according to my Shorter Oxford. It comes from the Italian “baga” for package, possession, from which we also get baggage. I first knew it as a word for a children’s game involving firing a metal ball onto a pinboard. | |
| 7 | Cutting pastry dish (4) |
| TART – double definition: a TART/cutting remark. | |
| 11 | Decorated with herbs say, his garden embellished (9) |
| GARNISHED – anagram (“embellished”) of “his garden”. | |
| 13 | Keep piano book (8) |
| PRESERVE – P for “piano” + RESERVE for “book”, as in “I must reserve/book a table”. That threw me, because I was fixated on “book” as a noun. 3-2 Mara. | |
| 15 | Free run past turning (7) |
| UNSTRAP – anagram (“turning”) of “run past”. I found that a remarkably difficult anagram to solve, no idea why. | |
| 17 | Page came up for written work (5) |
| PROSE – P for “page” + ROSE for “came up”. | |
| 18 | US president supportive of daughter (4) |
| FORD – FOR for “supportive of” + D for “daughter”. Gerald FORD was the 38th President of the United States from 1974 to 1977. I’d barely heard of the guy before I started doing crosswords; now I write him in without a second thought. (In checking his dates for the blog I learned he was very lucky to be alive, since a member of the Manson Clan tried to shoot him at point blank range during a walkabout. Fortunately she didn’t understand how the gun worked and there was no bullet in the chamber, or he’d have had it.) | |
| 21 | 7 down spoiled, odd bits discarded (3) |
| PIE – if you take out the odd letters of “spoiled” you are left with PIE, which is close enough to a TART (7d) to count for dictionaries, whatever Escoffier thinks. In my view using the answer to one clue as the definition for another is poor form, and so that’s another penalty against Mara resulting in a 3-3 draw. *shakes hands* | |
Yes! (yeah, oui, da, ja, 예, vâng, はい)
6:56, a mere bagatelle. A word I only ever saw in Poirot books but I have consumed a lot of those.
The two cross references were a bit annoying and I did find UNSTRAP difficult as well. Dad dancing made me laugh, as did this highly entertaining blog!
👍👍
Pleasant change from yesterday. Got 1A RIGHT AWAY right away! A lot of food going on here with toast(y), preserve, fusilli, tart, whopper, garnished and pie. I’ve always thought a pie to be enclosed in pastry while a tart is just a pastry base, but close enough. COD to RIFF-RAFF.
Great blog Templar, thank you.
The americans make all sorts of pie that are just tarts really like pumpkin pie, pecan pie lemon meringue etc they have no pastry tops!
I love non sensical categorising debates like ‘what makes a pie’ if it’s just pastry with a filling, is a pasty a pie? Samosas? Shepard’s pie is not a pie.
Thanks. Now you’ve got me drooling for a pecan pie/tart and a coffee!
I also dislike cross-referential clues (who doesn’t?), especially when they refer to a clue I haven’t done yet. I had TART before I had to do PIE, so no problem, but not PRESERVE; I biffed PERSEVERE and then PRESERVE, then read the clue. 5:34.
I went fast, and ignored the issues. Answers like riff-raff and fortune teller were write-ins from the definitions and enumerations – that’s the way to speed-solve. I always confuse fusilli with Fuseli, so I had to think a bit, and resort to the cryptic for help. I was left with the two cross-reference clues, but will all the crossers they were just write-ins.
Time: 6:37
I think we can all agree that Mara has served up a genuine QC after some stiff workouts in recent days. 6.03 for me, which was quicker than I expected at the start having failed to get any of the top half acrosses except BIT. When I switched to the downs things got moving and even the cross-refs didn’t hold me up. I too thought the anagram for my LOI UNSTRAP was hard to crack, probably because it’s such a weird word. Thanks Mara and thank you Templar for an entertaining blog.
Solid time of 11:22 after a couple of disasters.
COD RUGBY
Top blogging, Templar.
Wot Tina said. Love DAD, dragged UNSTRAP out for ages, LOI and needed all the checkers to see where the remaining anagrist went. Briefly invented President Prod. All green in 10.51.
10 minutes is my fastest time since Jimmy’s QC last Friday. I was pleased I double-checked the wordplay at 8ac because my first thought there had been the non-existent FUSELLI.
RUGBY TOASTY in Row 5 reminded me of the incident in Tom Brown’s School Days when Tom and his friend East were ‘roasted’ in front of a fire by Flashman and his gang.
Even though we started with about 30 seconds of looking at the letters of “a method at”, once we moved on this was pretty much a top to bottom solved finishing in 13.12, exactly 2.00 T (Templar) probably a PB as I think previously we were at 14 something.
Dad dancing definitely clue of the day, one of my favourite pastimes.
Thanks Templar for the parsing of riff raff that was biffed in and forgotten, and a great blog, we’ll take a draw with Mara any day 😀
Nice easy crossword, great blog. Slight MER at ‘yardage’ being described as a measure – the measure is a yard, and yardage is the actual distance, surely – and the clue would’ve been neater without ‘Measure of’. Ach, enough nitpicking.
How about “How long is the racecourse, can I get a measure / yardage”
First one I’ve raced through in one sitting inside half an hour (am learning the ropes with help of this blog). LOI was TINSEL, as I’d convinced myself it was an anagram of SELFIE till penny dropped
🏆
Good job!
Felt a bit sluggish working my way through this one but no major hold ups.
Started with RIGHT AWAY and finished with WHISTLE BLOWER in 7.36.
Thanks to Templar
5.43 for me – about as quick as I ever go. Hopefully means I’ve emerged from fitful nights slumber with my thinking cap on which I should no doubt take to work rather than sitting here watching another woeful batting performance. Slightly annoyed I didn’t wait to do this on computer rather than fat-fingered on phone – the former normally shaving a few precious seconds…
15:22
Struggled in the top half, bottom went in quickly and then had to pick them off. Pleased to get it done in fifteen as had visions of being held up by some intractable clues
NHO BAGATELLE in this sense, knew it as the pinboard game
80% done quite quickly then had to put it down and do something different for 5mins then came back and finished the bottom right corner – a good puzzle with some good clues COD would be 4D
A really enjoyable puzzle but I was constantly distracted as England’s batting collapsed again in the final Test in Pakistan
So good to have a genuine QC after some recent head-scratchers. Not a great fan of cross-referential clues, but both today’s were easy. Like jackkt, I was reminded of Tom Brown’s School Days, the image of Tom’s roasting haunting me for months, thanks to a graphic illustration in my copy of the novel ☹️. COD Dad dancing. Thanks Templar for great blog.
6:23
My comments will be identical to Tina’s.
Thanks Templar and Mara
All green today – much to enjoy, but couldn’t quite parse the TART/PIE game. Gloomy place 10a certainly is; I was sent there for my sins and hated it. Thank you, Mara and Templar.
A well pitched QC after the recent toughies, although I biffed a couple of answers. Took me 25′ 32″, which is a decent time for me!
Under 6 minutes for one of my faster times – I even guessed the PERSEVERE / PRESERVE pairing on just reading the across clue before getting to the down. The very definition of being on wavelength!
It is interesting that this puzzle, which I suspect most will find very approachable, and yesterday’s, which few thought other than very hard, both count as a QC. My impression is that the variation between the extremes has got wider of late; new setters such as Cheeko and Asp regularly test even experienced solvers while others like Jimmy can be relied on to be more beginner-friendly. For myself I have more sub-7 minute solves (14) and more over 20-minute solves (13) so far this year than in the three years 2021-2023 combined. One is all for a range of challenges, but there is perhaps a discussion to be had about how wide that range can be before those looking for “a genuine QC” are too often left disappointed.
Many thanks Templar for a sparkling blog
Cedric
I’ve commented before the QC has felt more variable in its level since the passing of Richard Rogan. Under his various setting names he supplied a bunch of the puzzles each month which gave us a predictable level of clueing and his demise has obviously led to new setters needing to be brought in. Secondly I suspect he tweaked and pushed back, more than we realise, on certain clues from the old guard of setters to help the consistency.
Interestingly I took longer on this QC than on yesterday’s…
I’m another who did.
Just to add another perspective to this issue. A wide range of variability is probably what keeps me coming back for more – a kind of intermittent reinforcement if you like. I find it motivating to be challenged every now and then. I don’t beat myself up if I can’t finish but try and learn for next time. A consistent level would fast become dull and very ‘un-Times-like’ – variability provides a certain cachet IMHO. I do concede I may hold a minority opinion 😁
It’s a valid point, and I suspect you are not in as small a minority as you might think. I like variety too; the question I was posing was (a) has it got wider (answer I think undoubtedly yes) and is it now too wide (on which I expressed no view but invited a discussion).
Interestingly the Sunday Specials have gone the opposite way and are now very finely honed to a standard level. My times for them, in over 100 puzzles set by John, Phil and Sawbill, have almost never strayed outside 9-13 minutes, a very tight spread. This consistency, which I assume comes from having just 3 very skilled setters in the roster, is actually remarkable (and a feather in their collective hats), but has not meant any lack of enjoyment at the lack of variability.
Sorry, I thought you were implying that there might be a variability in the QCs so wide as to be off-putting for some. That clearly wouldn’t be the case for me, but maybe others might care to chip in?
I too like the variability. I always approach these in the spirit of the bran-tub at a fete – you stick your hand in (1a or 1d), have a rummage and see whether you start finding chocolates or mousetraps!
I’d like to echo Cedric in giving a big shout-out for the fortnightly weekend puzzles: they are really good examples of the QC setter’s art by three top-notch solvers. You can find them linked through Johninterred’s QC blog every other Friday.
Dear Cedric,
I am on a temporary break from the QC precisely because of the increased variability in their level of difficulty over the past couple of months.
During that time I have achieved a PB, avoided the SCC on numerous occasions (normally an uncommon occurrence for me) and DNF’d or timed-out nearly 50% of the time (as compared with my previous DNF/TO rate of <10%).
Some variability is inevitable – crossword setting can’t be an exact science – and welcome, but the current inability of setters to gauge what is/is not a QC has been doing my head in. So, some days off here and there are in order for me and, hopefully, I will come back suitably refreshed.
I’d have to agree with this. Whilst my average solving times have narrowly increased, it seems to go from one extreme to another. Perhaps I should do a distribution curve as part of my stats to see if it’s flattening and a standard deviation for good measure.
I did enjoy this overall but like you I get irritated on clues which rely on an earlier solve. I did get unstrap quite quickly, but a bit like overleapt yesterday its hard to imagine anyone saying it. Thanks all!
I thought I was in for a slow time today as I was over halfway down the puzzle before getting TINSEL to kick things off. Fortunately I quickened up after that and finished in 8.05. It would have been sub eight minutes if I hadn’t at the eleventh hour gone back to check the parsing of my original effort FUSELLI. Like others, not a fan of cross referenced clues, but in this case it was fairly straightforward.
From FUSILLI to RIFF-RAFF in 6:49. I knew of the word BAGATELLE but didn’t know it’s meaning. Back on track after yesterday’s disaster.
What a terrific blog today Templar!
Very friendly offering today. I too was interrupted by England wickets falling. Particularly liked riff raff and rugby
4:56
Lots of food in today’s grid – FUSILLI, TOAST, PIE, TART, PRESERVE (i.e. jam/marmalade) and for Burger King fans, WHOPPER (other burger joints and products are available). Food-related words might include BIT and GARNISHED. Hungry, anyone?
Fairly plain sailing through this puzzle – only five acrosses on the first pass, but plenty of fodder from the downs which made filling the last few gaps quite comfortable.
I, too, recall the Pukka, Shilly-Shally and Wottawoppa tribes, as well as the game of BAGATELLE, played with marbles on a wooden board, which my Dad introduced to his six kids to hone our adding-up skills.
Thanks Templar and Mara
5:24 I think that’s my best ever time! The clues were gentle and witty.
Bit of a slow but nonetheless enjoyable plod today. Held up by PRESERVE, and therefore PERSEVERE. Didn’t immediately spot the hidden TINSEL either. Not as easy for me as some have suggested! Just shows how different we all are. As I’ve said above, found yesterday’s QC less challenging. I’m clearly bucking the trend here, although the sample is as yet rather small 😆 Very entertaining blog. Many thanks all.
5:21
Might have been my first ever sub 5’ submission since I joined you all but for LOI TOASTY.
Thanks Templar and Mara
I started with GAS and persevered until I finished with PERSEVERE. 5:05. Thanks Mara, and great blog Templar!
4.28. Great puzzle, lots of variety of clues. LOI was yardage, simply because it was the last one that I looked at.
COD to Dad dancing, of course.
Thank you Mara, and to Templar for his usual excellent blog.
Failed to rub out my bad biff of hidden Rip for 6a despite solving BAGATELLE, so came unstuck in NE corner. Failed on ROGER even though we had it recently. So DNF, oh dear. Also misspelt the pasta.
Various things less important than the crossword distracted me.
Liked WHISTLE BLOWER, FORTUNE TELLER, TOASTY.
Thanks vm, Templar.
By the way, in 1824 Lord Byron planned to help the Greeks attack the fort of Lepanto then held by the Turks, but he became ill and died in nearby Missolonghi.
Hope that crucial info makes up for my duff efforts today.
I don’t normally think of Mara as an easy setter, but at 14mins this was about as quick as I go these days. Started with 1ac/d and then just a steady solve, though like others the cross referenced clues didn’t impress. CoD to Whistle Blower for the smile. Invariant
7 minutes for me which I regard as very quick.
LOI PIE because I needed to check the parsing.
COD to RUGBY, easy but pleasing.
Great blog.
David
13:38
Nothing too tricky here, though unusual to have 2 answers effectively anagrams of each other which held me up in the SE corner. Of course that meant once I got PERSEVERE, PRESERVE flew in.
Have only been doing cryptics for a couple of weeks. This blog has been very helpful to learning so thank you! Today was my closest to completion, just got Bagatelle wrong which I’d never heard of, put the a and e the wrong way round.
Very much appreciate the easier run today as the last few have required a few reveals to get me going! I don’t mind the variation in difficulty though.
Well done, Nick, and welcome!
You’re going to have a great time! welcome to the blog!
8a DNF, FusElli, doesn’t parse either. Bah! I see jackkt was sharper than I.
14a Fortune T, I too was still looking for a river for ages. Finally the ATM rescued me.
POI 6d Bagatelle, knew the game and was introduced to its “minor detail” by sister-in-law being fond of saying “a mere bag of shells” instead, which I was surprised to find mentioned in –
Wiktionary:
Misconstruction of bagatelle (“trifle”).
Noun
bag of shells (plural bags of shells)
1) Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see bag, shell.
2) A trifle.
13:18. UNSTRAP took the longest.
10 mins…
We seem to go from one extreme to another. Anyway, I enjoyed this and thought there were some good clues. Nearly came a cropper on 7dn by putting “Tort”, but it nagged me as it didn’t really make sense until the obvious pdm.
FOI – 1ac “Right Away”
LOI – 20ac “Whopper”
COD – 22ac “Dad” – simple, but both amusing and effective.
Thanks as usual!
Possibly you were thinking of ‘torte’…
Funnily enough I was thinking of “Torte”. But, more than likely wrongly, I’ve seen it spelt the other way as well – hence my hesitation.
After expanding on the origins of words in the QC, wonder why you didn’t expand Escoffier?
12.47 I made hard work of that. On the first pass only ROGER went into the top half but the bottom was fairly quick and, with a few checkers, the top turned out to be very biffable. Thanks Templar and Mara.
This ended up faster for us than it felt like it was going to be. 8:22. Like Tina, I can’t think of BAGATELLE without preceding it with ‘a mere’. I wouldn’t have recalled a Poirot influence but it’s quite possible! Thanks all.
Fixated on ‘rip’ for 6a. I don’t like cross references either, but these ones difficult to make a mess of. I liked WHISTLE BLOWER, and ROGER ( loi)
Not much to add. Nice straightforward crossword.
Not too bothered by referential clues as I do a lot of Guardian puzzles too.
Difficulty of the QC is remarkably consistent in the average. QUITCH shows that quite clearly, and my average completion type has varied by 20 seconds or so in 18 months. That may be distorted as it doesn’t pick up all solvers.
LOI was UNSTRAP, COD was RUGBY – being a native Midlander and rugby player, I played a couple of school matches against Rugby School on the Close, where Webb Ellis allegedly first picked up and ran with the ball.
4:29
I made little headway on a first run through the top half, but made more progress in the south. Worked back up steadily but didn’t find it anywhere near as easy as some clearly did.
I think some of the newer setters have upped the difficulty somewhat. I am happy with Izetti type difficult, but others have felt less attuned to the QC vibe. Those who do both 15×15 and QC wouldn’t perhaps have the same feeling, and maybe I’m just getting dimmer, but that’s my take on it.
Given that you 7 down “Cutting pastry dish” could only be a synonym of “cutting”, “dish” or “pastry dish” (cutting pastry being unlikely for a QC), and 23 across pointed so obviously (on my first pass anyway) to persevere as an answer, I disagree with the assertion that this puzzle contained “two clues which rely upon two other clues already having been solved”. In fact, in both cases I solved the referenced clue after reading the reference.
A fairly gentle offering from Mara which I managed to mess up by entering ‘fuselli’ at 8ac and failing to go back and check the parsing. Otherwise all done and parsed in 15 minutes. I hadn’t cracked either 7dn or 13dn when I got to their cross-referenced clues, which irritated me – like others, I’m not a fan of cross-referencing.
FOI – 1ac RIGHT AWAY
LOI – 18dn FORD
COD – 4dn WHISTLE BLOWER
Thanks to Mara and to Templar
Ello Ello Ello, clue police here.
Surely RUGBY was a double definition? Try sport // {in} // school?
There’s no way I’m accepting “try sport” as an actual definition, as opposed to a cracker joke definition. You’ll never take me alive, copper!
You can certainly say it’s a straight definition with a cryptic hint instead of a double def.
But in no way is it an &lit.
Good job no-one said it was an &lit then, officer! (Are the Clue Police doing ThoughtCrime now?)
18:00 after a slow start left me staring at a very sparse grid, and thought I was set for a sojourn in the Club. The bottom half of acrosses came in more quickly though and I took heart. FORTUNE-TELLER was an element of the NYT Connections this morning, which helped bring it to mind instantly. (I do that first to get myself thinking slantwise.) FOI TOASTY, LOI PIE, COD RIFF-RAFF, so good. I never mind the cross-reference clues; they’re just as likely to make things easier as not. DAD very cute.
Yes, I was fooled by RIGHT AWAY in exactly the same way as our blogger. Today I learned that RUGBY involves scoring ties.
Thanks to Mara and Templar! Great blog today. Off to read a bit of Ximenes now.
A very happy wander through this and into the SCC. Pleased by the lack of really obscure words /gk (LEPANTO and OVERLEAPT for example)