Quick Cryptic No 2826 by Trelawney

Author   DoofenschmirtzPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

 

This one was a lot easier than many we’ve had over the last couple of weeks or so. I breezed through in 9:18, with the only hold-up being in the SW corner, where I tried to be too clever by three-quarters for BORNEO and spent too much time concerned that I knew nothing about X Factor.

COD to TENOR, very clever.

Definitions underlined, synonyms in round brackets, wordplay in square brackets and deletions in strikethrough. Anagram indicators italicised in the clue, anagram fodder indicated like (this)*.

Across
1 Worry about rugby player’s Rastafarian hairstyle (10)
DREADLOCKS – DREAD (worry about) LOCK’S (rugby player’s).
8 Sorcerer, one close to Oz, enters part of hospital (6)
WIZARD – I (one) + last letter of [close to] oZ in WARD (part of hospital).
9 Thin man finally gets pointer? (6)
NARROW – maN [finally], ARROW (pointer).
10 Drink absinthe at first in sea (4)
MEAD – Absinthe [at first] in MED (sea).
11 Churning out meals for perfect partner (4,4)
SOUL MATE – (OUT MEALS)*
12 George Weasley, say, gets extremely grave pain (6)
TWINGE – TWIN (George Weasley, say) + outer letters [extremely] of GravE.

The Weasley twins are in the Harry Potter series of books, in case you’ve been living under a rock since 1998.
14 Unfortunately let pop fall over (6)
TOPPLE – (LET POP)*
16 Merlot I’d distributed for senior citizen (3-5)
OLD-TIMER – (MERLOT I’D)*
18 Part of Royal Society in addition (4)
ALSO – Hidden in [part of] royAL SOciety.
20 Carried oxygen for large Asian island (6)
BORNEO – BORNE (carried), O (oxygen).

I tried to get too clever here, looking for a word meaning “carried” where I could swap an O for an L to give me the island.
21 A second food carrier is off course (6)
ASTRAY – A + S for second + TRAY (food carrier).
22 Run into hamper that’s in poor condition (10)
RAMSHACKLE – RAM (run into) + SHACKLE (hamper).

I’m so used to R for “run” that it took me a little while to justify where the “AM” came from. That was a real “d’oh!” moment when it arrived.
Down
2 Boost beams of light for the audience (5)
RAISE – Homophone [for the audience] of “rays” (beams of light).
3 Desert a professor embracing prohibition (7)
ABANDON – BAN (prohibition) inside A DON (a professor).
4 Boy content to skip starter (3)
LAD – gLAD (content) minus its first letter [skipping starter].
5 Copper, say,  one giving out tickets (9)
CONDUCTOR – Double definition, the second as in “bus conductor”.
6 Get lost with small pack (5)
SCRAM – S for small + CRAM (pack).
7 He lost bananas in budget accommodation (6)
HOSTEL – (HE LOST)*
11 Store ammo haphazardly in humid location (5,4)
STEAM ROOM – (STORE AMMO)*
13 Wood that’s amazing outside, poor inside? (6)
WILLOW – WOW (that’s amazing), with ILL (poor) inside.
15 Synthetic material finally captured by photograph (7)
PLASTIC – LAST (finally) inside PIC (photograph).
17 Singer from X Factor ignoring true statement? (5)
TENOR – TEN (X in Roman numbers) + factOR [ignoring fact – true statement].
19 Stop running  market stand (5)
STALL – A double definition.
21 Top cut off money tree (3)
ASH – cASH (money) with the first letter removed [top cut off].

“Top” for first letter works for a down clue.

123 comments on “Quick Cryptic No 2826 by Trelawney”

  1. I suspect I’m not the only one here who has never thought of opening a Harry Potter book, let alone reading enough of them to find out who the Weasleys are; and yet who don’t live under a rock. 5:23.

    2. Hear, hear. No need to be disparaging about others’ ignorance. I haven’t read the books. I haven’t seen the films. My choice.

  2. 22:42. A slow one, distracted by watching election results.

    Only Weasley I knew was Ron, and I didn’t know he was a twin.

    The real hold up was RAMSHACKLE and TENOR, where TENET looked good for “true statement”. Still not sure ram=run into, seem like different motions to me.

    I also tried to be too clever with BORNEO, with Borelo looking possible for an NHO in the Philippines or Indonesia.

    COD TENOR

    3. To be fair, the clue does say “large” Asian island, I suppose that’s why it was unlikely to be an NHO.
      But what you say below is of course right, apologies.

      1. Yes but several of us thought an L and and O were to be switched, so that could have been a lift and separate.

  3. Make me a +1 for never read a HP book. Also fell for thinking 5D, must end in utter and tried to come up a with a word meaning copper with four letters. Also spent time trying to fit picnic or basket in 22A, RAMSHACKLE. And the X Factor clue had me worried until I saw what was going on, very clever misdirection. Fell for the replace ‘L’ with ‘O’ in 20A, BORNEO. Nice to have a quickie that is one for a change.
    Thanks D and setter

  4. I have read all of the HP books 😂

    There’s a Professor Trelawney in them, played in the movies by a delightfully kooky Emma Thompson.

    Anyway, it was super nice to have an easier one. I finished this in 6:23.

  5. 3:10, proving I still have some speed when the mood strikes. Then I look at the leaderboard and see verlaine solving the same puzzle over a minute faster. The mind reels. I am truly in awe of our fastest solvers.

  6. 11 minutes. The main delay was the Weasley clue. I never read any HP books and saw only one film years ago, but I knew of Ron Weasley because he was referenced in a QC I blogged in August this year when RON was defined as Friend of Harry. I was unaware that he had a brother, let alone a twin.

    I noticed WIZARD at 8ac and wondered if there might be a theme, but I wouldn’t know if there were any other HP references.

    1. Fred and George Weasley are Ron’s twin elder brothers. While “living under a rock” may have been a touch unkind, I’m still surprised that it has been possible to be alive through the 26 years since 1998 without some of the characters and plot lines osmosing into your consciousness.

      1. Some things simply hold no interest for some of us. The only reason I saw the first film was because I was a guest at a house with children and short of pointedly leaving the room I had no alternative but to sit through it.

        1. I love the Harry Potter books and they are high up in the list of the world’s best selling books.
          I have no interest whatsoever in football and cricket yet I accept that past and future answers to football and cricket clues will be considered sports GK to most here.

      2. A touch unkind? A touch offensive, perhaps. Like Jack, I saw one of the movies and knew of Ron Weasley; didn’t osmose much more. I also couldn’t tell you the names of the ninja turtles.

        1. I apologize if I offended you. It was intended to be a lighthearted throwaway line. But it seems clear that the setters are now assuming that the Harry Potter franchise is now part of the general knowledge that solvers need to have.

      3. I’m not sure unkind is the word, many people take great delight in telling others they don’t know anything about HP and this blog gave them a change to engage in another bout of it. It was a kindness if anything.

  7. Hurrah! We always find Trelawney on the gentler side and this one produced a PB only 24 seconds beyond the 10 minute barrier.

    Didn’t pass tenor, thanks Doofers, and having had children at the right age have read all of HP although Mrs RH gave me the raised eyebrow😀

    COD to soul mate, thanks Squire

  8. 14:00

    Usually get on very well with Trelawney but just struggled through this. Was beginning to think I’ve lost it, I know my brain isn’t synonyming well, but looking back in records see that my last-but-one Trelawney took sixteen minutes so perhaps I haven’t.

    Thought the George Weasley clue was somewhat obscure as he’s hardly a main character. I had him down as Ron’s dad. I’ve read all the Harry Potter books back in the day and they get increasingly longer (and less interesting). There is a part of me that wonders how people can’t think “I want to know for myself what all the interest in this cultural sensation is” but then I realise I’ve not joined TikTok or Instagram and have no desire to go see what is happening there. I’ve also never seen Game of Thrones but, happened to come across the first book in the charity shop and am currently reading 800 pages of that.

    Had to figure out the X-Factor clue postsolve – understood the “remove fact” bit insolve but missed the Latin X. Very clever. On the flipside of the two ‘modern’ clues, I felt Borneo is a place you only ever hear of in WWII. And are there really any conductors giving out tickets anymore? Certainly not on the bus when I used them in the late 80s. Maybe on trains but reading the stories of people done for fare-dodging it seems you can’t buy a ticket onboard.

    Anyway thanks to Doofers for the blog and The Squire for being reliably solvable!

    1. See Cedric’s comments about Borneo. Do you ever watch programmes about SE Asia orang utans?
      I guess we all have different interests.

      1. It’s not that I haven’t heard of it; just that my knowledge of Asia is better based on actual countries and as Cedric says Borneo is shared between three. BORNE=carried also didn’t spring to mind as a word I’ve ever used.

        I live about 10miles from Monkeyworld in Dorset. I’m sure they must have had some orangutans when I visited many years ago when my daughter was young. That used to be have a series on TV – think it still is.

        I rarely watch TV though – although I put it on last Saturday afternoon and watched about 10mins of one of the Harry Potter films between other things. The previous time it went on was the Saturday before that!

    3. Look forward to your verdict on Game of Thrones – can that possibly be worth wading through 800 pages? Let us know! Agree with you about social media – but you don’t mention Facebook or X, maybe you succumbed to those?

      1. I am signed up for Facebook and Twitter in 2007 when they were new and not toxic. They built their empires on getting people to invite their friends by uploading their email address books. They wouldn’t gain that sort of traction these days. I gave up using FB/X mid 2010s but still pop in every couple of weeks to check nothing earth shattering has happened to one or two acquaintances who use them or to find out what local organisations I use are doing.

        Games of Thrones is a decent enough book, well written and plotted. If I stumble across the other books, I’d probably read them but wouldn’t go out of my way to get them because kingdoms and medieval stuff isn’t that interesting to me.

        My underlying point isn’t whether I use them though, it’s that I like to make my own mind up about things. I’ve been working my way through the Sherlock Holmes stories – very good writing. And this week the charity bookshelf has provided me with Herman Melville’s Moby Dick along with Thomas Hardy’s The Mayor of Casterbridge which I read at school at age 13 and hated but would like to reappraise with an older head on my shoulders. The shelf has also given me a copy of Hillybilly Elegy which takes on even greater interest to read now – even if I will apply a very critical eye to its ramblings.

        1. Thank you! I enjoyed Casterbridge (you need to be older than 13 I think) but Tess is an even better, more touching story.

          1. IMHO the Potter books are far better than anything by Hardy. I felt like slitting my wrists after reading Jude the Obscure.

            1. Ah but I would never recommend Jude the Obscure which is nothing but a hard grind. Surely we mustn’t judge an author by his most dreary works, but by his best ones.

        2. Moby Dick! Not for everyone but if you can do 800 pages for Game of Thrones I predict you will be happy.

  9. I saw it was a Trelawney puzzle and decided to go as fast as possible so I didn’t parse everything before pressing submit. Only LOI CONDUCTOR put up any resistance and prevented me from an exceedingly rare sub 4 minute solve.
    Finished in 4.17.
    Thanks to Doofers and Trelawney

  10. A gentle stroll to a 6 minute completion, so yes, not one of the more challenging puzzles. But not without some lovely clues: TENOR is a stand-out clue, very clever, and I liked RAMSHACKLE too.

    BORNEO was a clue with a real D’oh moment as I realised how it was constructed – I was trying all sorts of clever tricks and missed the wordplay right in front of my nose. It is the only island in the world shared between three countries (it contains all of the state of Brunei and parts of Indonesia and Malaysia). It also has an orang-utan sanctuary which was a real bucket-list moment when I visited it a few years ago.

    Many thanks Doofers for the blog.
    Cedric

    1. Just a thought (and I’m sure you can shoot me down on some technicality) but our own island – our very own island – is shared between three countries

      1. Of course, and any Scot or Welshman would agree with you, even if non-Brits might debate the point. Perhaps I should have said sovereign states, or members of the UN, or something.

  11. I am confused, George Weasley is an important character in one of the biggest and most well-known series of novels of recent times. Compared to a random Hebridean island or an ancient landscaper this is such a well-known piece of knowledge.
    But I’m glad that many solvers will have learned something today (as they are glad to tell me when I complain about the 27th island or river or lake or whatever 😂).

    1. Is he important? I had the twins down as a couple of side characters who show up for a few pages in the early books, sell magic tricks to younger students and show up for the big battle in the last film.

      1. No, the twins are fairly important characters (less so than Ron, but two of the characters with more dialogue/story than most).

  12. Solved on a train and paid the small keyboard price with SOUL MATr. Held up at the end thinking I needed to swap an O for an L in a six letter carry – alpha trawled to be surprised to see BORNEO. Not all green in a shade under 9.

  13. I read Kevin’s post at the top of the posts, and recognised myself instantly. Despite that clue (biffed obvs) I enjoyed this far more than yesterday’s.

    FOI DREADLOCKS
    LOI WILLOW
    COD RAMSHACKLE
    TIME 3:37 (which feels slowish for this one)

  14. If the first HP book is the fourth best selling (non religious) book of all time and the Harry Potter series is the best selling series of all time and Ron’s older twin brothers play significant parts in the aforementioned, does that make them the most famous literary twins in the world? Forgot they were twins, couldn’t think of cram or arrow…22 minutes after quite a fast start. Nice puzzle great blog.

    1. Most famous literary twins. Hardly a vast field! There’s Jamie & Cersei of course but all I can think of after that is Tweedledee & Tweedledum.

  15. A fair gallop by my standards at 7.42. Got held up briefly in SE corner before penny dropped on how COD TENOR was parsed at which point the others dropped in.

    LOI was ALSO which I thought was nicely disguised with a slight misdirection of looking for RS.

    Also got delayed slightly by having INSPECTOR for the copper/ ticket clue

    Cheers Trelawney and Doofenschmirz

  16. Yes, encouraging to have a non-stop correct all-parsed solve for a change. I had forgotten the the Weasley twins, but once Ginge wouldn’t fit I thought of TWINGE. Perhaps a mention of Castor and Pollux would have been more suitable for the Times? Or, if they were too esoteric for these modern days, the Krays?
    Liked RAMSHACKLE, TENOR (clever COD) , DREADLOCKS, BORNEO.
    Thanks vm, Doofers.

  17. Very jolly puzzle, much enjoyed. CODS were my last two, TENOR (a real snort when I saw what was going on there) and RAMSHACKLE.

    I had children of the right age to read HP to them and I read the books with enormous pleasure myself. JKR is a brilliant story teller and the oeuvre has some very sophisticated devices. The fourth book (Goblet of Fire) is particularly clever, as it marks the moment at which the villain moves from being a cartoon baddy to being a genuinely sinister, alarming, complex character. (This also coincides with Harry’s move from childhood to adolescence.) If you like Trollope, you’ll like JKR.

    06:12 for 1.2K and a Very Good Day. Many thanks Doofers and the Squire.

    1. The 4th book also marks the point where the page count becomes absolutely stupid – the thickness of the books double. I believe JK envisioned the readers growing up with Harry and therefore they would also move from childhood to adolescence in their reading ability. Although I never discounted that she was being paid by the word …

      1. The page count in her Cormoran Strike series continues the trend but they are still good reads.

  18. Enjoyable – thank you, Trelawney. Liked the DREADLOCKS! LOI WILLOW, needed TWINGE to get that, and NHO George Weasley – US baseball player, perhaps? Liked TENOR, too, relieved I didn’t need to know anything about pop groups for that!
    Ah, I see, Harry Potter. Well not quite under a rock; I did read the first one, but found it so meretricious that I didn’t bother to venture further. Was GW in that first one, I wonder.
    Drat: failed MEAD – so that’s why CNP dEAD. Thank you, Doofers.

  19. Nice to have a gentler one for a change – I always enjoy a Trelawney.

    And nice to have a reference to HP books. Like most, I suspect, I got into them when my kids started becoming interested in longer stories, but I soon became an avid reader of HP in my own right. They are a delight, and utterly spellbinding (of course!).

    Horses for courses though – HP absolutely counts as GK for me, but there are plenty of sporting references in the QC that are GK for many, but which sail past me completely. NHO LOCK for rugby player, for example, though I got the answer from the wordplay.

    As well as a challenge, I am finding QC solving a didactic process. Not sure why I need to know some of the more obscure or archaic terminology, but hey, what the heck.

    1. Yes indeed, lots of huffing and puffing about Harry Potter, while the crossword is still rather masculine in someways, although it has improved. Cricket and Rugby hum.

      It would be nice if the female setters would make themselves known, I am guessing their choice of GK might be different?

  20. I am another Harry Potter ignoramus, but saw TWINGE. Struggled a bit with BORNEO and TENOR, but the rest a steady solve.

  21. 6:17, making it my second fastest ever.
    I discovered the HP books at the time the Prisoner of Azkaban was published, and was immediately hooked. George and Fred are definitely major-ish characters.
    TENOR and BORNEO were my last two in. Impressed with TENOR as a clue when I finally spotted it.

    Thanks Doofers and Trelawney

  22. I’ve not been living under a rock but have never had a wish to line JKR’s pockets with that particular gravy train, though I enjoy Galbraith’s work. I am old enough to remember bus conductors but the only tickets they issue these days are non payment penalties.

  23. 9 mins…

    Best for ages with a number of amusing clues. I will admit I never parsed 17dn “Tenor”, but it was clever.

    FOI – 2dn “Raise”
    LOI – 17dn “Tenor”
    COD – 12ac “Twinge”

    Thanks as usual!

  24. As an old-timer I have vivid memories of bus conductors operating the little ticket machine. When I was teaching I found it really useful to know what my students were interested in, so sat through one episode of Neighbours, 5 minutes (too much) of Love Island and read all of HP. Thought the latter cleverly plotted, with appeal to all age groups. Good to have a straightforward QC after a run of problematic ones. COD TENOR. Thanks Trelawney and Doofers.

  25. Managed to squeeze in a sub-20, which is becoming quite a rarity these days, despite having no idea as to whether George was Ron’s twin or not. Apart from that, my other hold ups were Soul Mate and Ramshackle. CoD to Tenor, for the parsing, though Conductor ran it close. Invariant

  27. 12a Twinge, had forgotten that there was more than one Weasley. All I could remember was something to do with a rat, but I couldn’t shoehorn it in; Gerat was too short.

  28. 4:58

    My first sub 5’ submission and thus a PB. Realised after DREADLOCKS and all its hangers-on went in without a thought that it was a possibility, and continued apace until an unparsed LOI, RAMSHACKLE, was suggested by checkers and went in to stop the clock ticking towards 5’. Left a few seconds out there on CONDUCTOR, but apart from that, that is as fast as I can write them in.

    Thanks Trelawney and Doofers

  29. I’ve never read a Harry Potter book as my children were well into adulthood by the time they were first published, but I’ve seen enough of the films on television to know it’s not quite my thing. Everyone else in my household seems to love the genre, so I have sat through most of the films without particularly enjoying them. Having said that, I think the imagination displayed by JK Rowling is extraordinary, and I can well see why it is adored by so many. I certainly wouldn’t disparage those that love it.
    Having said all that, I knew of Ron Weasley and that he had ginger hair colouring, but not that he had siblings who were twins. For this reason 12ac was not as easy for me as some, and this combined with being initially unable to parse TENOR to be sure it was right caused me delay. After finally sorting it out my LOI RAMSHACKLE went in, and the clock was stopped at 9.18. I was left with a feeling it should have been a good deal faster, as many of the times so far posted would suggest.

  30. I’m busy writing the seventh in my series of crime mysteries and it is partly set in Borneo so I was in there straight away. It is remarkable for being the third largest island in the world and one of only two places where you can see the wonderful orangutans.

  31. 15 mins.
    Really enjoyed this. This level of difficulty is for me. I also learn more, as it reinforces the crossword solving skills I have managed to pick up. Once I have got to grip with the basics, it will be easier to progress. Or so I hope…
    Thanks to Trelawney and Doofers.

  32. Looking at the comments, once again there seems to be a lack of weak solvers that the QC was invented for!
    I do wonder if all the, I am so clever I can do this under 5 mins chat is putting people off.
    It certainly does me, as mine would be all DNF comments.
    Love the explanation though, thank-you.

    1. I began to comment on the QC about five years ago because I thought there must be others like me who took ages to finish. I didn’t found the Slowcoach Club but must have been an early member.

    2. Did you see the conversation yesterday, DT? A lot of people feel like you – my view is not to take much notice of the speedsters as it can feel very dispiriting (they mostly biff rather than parse as they go anyway, which for me defeats the point of the exercise. Having said that, I am always quite astonished that they can see the defintion straightaway and confidently bung it in). If you enjoy having a go, that’s the most important thing. One of these days that DNF is going to turn into a fully-parsed completion, so good luck 👍

    3. When I started doing QCs I had no notion that solving time was of any interest to anyone. But couldn’t understand a lot of the clues, so found this wonderful blog with its generous bloggers and commenters. My only problem with the emphasis on times is that it occasionally tempts me to enjoy my solving session less than I would if I had remained innocent, haha. I don’t see the speedsters as off-putting, they’re just in their own world, which is a different place from the one I inhabit.

  33. Trelawney! Hurrah, we are saved, etc. 10:57, and it would have been under ten minutes had I not completed spaced my LOI CONDUCTOR. No excuses.

    Thank you for the blog!

  34. 8:28. Threw SCRUM in first but luckily saw the light. Never read any Potteriana but discussions with children and grandchildren in which they share their enthusiasms have broadened my GK range!

  36. Well, that should stop the whinges about the QC being too difficult lately. All the across clues went straight in without needing any checkers, with the exception of TWINGE (I’ve never read a Harry Potter book); then, obviously with checkers, all the downs went straight in, quickly followed by TWINGE. I don’t time myself, but it no more than three minutes or so – determined by my writing speed because not much thinking time was required.

    When the crossword is that easy it’s not actually much fun.

    1. Dear A-R,
      Congratulations on your admirable performance. I can well believe that such a speedy solve doesn’t provide you with “much fun”. Fortunately, you don’t need to do the QC as there is a more challenging option available to you …. the 15×15.
      I took around 10 times as long as you today, rarely escape from the SCC and have failed to finish more than half of the QCs over the past 2-3 months. Unfortunately, The Times does not publish a less challenging option for the likes of me.

      1. Slap on the wrist accepted. I did think afterwards, “oh dear, that sounds a bit smug”. Since I wrote very recently that one man’s meat is another man’s poison and difficulty is a subjective thing I should have borne that in mind.

        I do do the 15×15 most days, and even complete it sometimes, but never in 3 minutes…

        1. Thank you for your very polite and civil reply, A-R. I agree that difficulty in this game is very subjective and that setting for a wide range of abilities must be a nightmare. Let’s hope the next crossword editor manages to keep the variance under control. Good luck going forward.

    2. Adolpho-Rodolpho, as a QC newbie I found today’s puzzle great fun, taking 50 minutes from start to finish and bringing me a great deal of satisfaction. I hope you don’t mind.

  37. Thanks Doofers.
    Offense can only be taken, it can’t really be given. Even if it could, you clearly weren’t handing it out.
    Like Tina, loving some southern hemispheric references 😁

  38. Finally a puzzle that suits a QC. Can’t approach the time of the super solvers but managed 15 minutes. Great puzzle and a nice blog thanks.

  39. You can always tell the easier puzzles as I am able to complete them!

    I thought the anagrams were easy today with most of them straight write ins for me, an area I normally struggle with.

    Thanks for the blog

  40. From LAD to TWINGE in 7:36. I knew Ron Weasley was ginger but that’s about it. My daughter is a great afficionado of the franchise and has taken the grandchildren to various locations associated with it. I failed to parse TENOR. Thanks Trelawney and Doofers.

  41. I lifted and separated George and Weasley to get GRONGE as a word for pain. Obviously not right once the checkers arrived, but sounds like it should be a word!

    2. A momble – we haven’t seen one of those for ages 😅 Check the glossary if you’re not sure what I’m talking about!

  42. I don’t seem to be any quicker with ‘easy’ QCs, which I find a rather amusing observation. This one took my fairly usual ‘one cup of coffee time’. Held up by TWINGE, even though I read all the HP books to my children many years ago. Very happy memories… Puzzled long and hard over TENOR/RAMSHACKLE before the pennies finally dropped. Enjoyable. Thanks Trelawney and D.

  43. 9:52 with no errors. My best time since Trelawney’s last appearance (2800 where I recorded my second best ever time of 5:53). FOI – SOUL MATE, LOI and COD – TENOR. Maybe I’m missing something, but why do Roundabout Here and New Driver refer to Trelawney as The Squire? Thanks Doofenschmirtz and Trelawney

  44. On setter’s wavelength and knew all required general knowledge to come in at a first sub-15 minute puzzle for some time (14:08).

    COD to brilliant “tenor” which I greatly enjoyed.

  45. Quick solve, and then stupidly spelt ‘conducter’. I wouldn’t have done that using pen and paper, but it sort of looked ok on the app!

  47. WOW! A rare non-DNF. Only my 7th from the last 20 (so-called) QCs.

    30 minutes for me, although my last three clues held me up for 8-9 minutes. They were WILLOW, TWINGE (I knew of George W, but forgot that he was a twin) and CONDUCTOR, where I couldn’t think past ‘centutter’ – cent for copper and utter for say.

    It was good to get DREADLOCKS at the first attempt, as it quickly led me to RAISE and SCRAM (great word!) and I built quickly from there …. until the last three, that is.

    Many thanks to Trelawney for knowing how to set a genuine QC, and to Doofers for the helpful blog.

  48. Definitely of the easier variety, as is normal I find with Trelawney. Off to a slightly slow start in the top half but soon picked up speed and was all finished in 13 minutes. For some reason I couldn’t parse PLASTIC but I had all the crossers so the answer was clear. I’m also reasonably knowledgable about the Harry Potter books courtesy of a niece and grandchildren.

    FOI – 1ac DREADLOCKS
    LOI – 10ac MEAD
    COD – 17dn TENOR

    Thanks to Trelawney and Doofers

  49. 6:55 and outside the top 100 on the leaderboard by some margin. I was slowed down by trying to make an anagram out of ‘hamper’ and ‘that’ which meant run into. The C and the L of RAMSHACKLE forced me to reconsider the clue. I never did parse TENOR (it is very clever). LOI CONDUCTOR.

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