An excellent puzzle from Pipsqueak, with a good range of tricks and no obscure vocabulary. I thoroughly enjoyed that and went through it in what is for me a sprightly time of 05:57. I hope you enjoyed it too.
Definitions underlined in bold.
| Across | |
| 1 | Lack of resistance in the end (6) |
| DEARTH – R [resistance, the symbol from physics] goes inside [in] DEATH [the end]. Smooth cluing. Ohm’s Law (V = IR) has proved far more useful to me in crosswords than it did at school, since “current” for I and “resistance” for R crop up all the time. | |
| 4 | Dance with May on more than one occasion (6) |
| CANCAN – horrible visions of Theresa in Africa . Also memories of pedantic schoolteachers in my youth insisting that “may” and “can” are not the same thing: “Please can I …” was regularly met with “Of course you CAN, but you MAY not.” Pipsqueak obviously had nicer teachers. Anyway, if you ignore that then CANCAN = MAYMAY [May on more than one occasion]. | |
| 8 | Overwrought, always being caught by FBI agent (7) |
| FEVERED – EVER [always] going inside [being caught by] FED [FBI agent, now also modern British youth slang for the police]. | |
| 10 | Second XI’s source of power (5) |
| STEAM – S [second] + TEAM [XI]. I tried hard to convince myself that BTEAM was a word. | |
| 11 | Policemen arresting Republican group (5) |
| CORPS – COPS [policemen] going round [arresting] R [Republican]. Why on earth does “crops” mean “group”, I wondered at first. | |
| 12 | Important places India rebuilt (7) |
| SPECIAL – anagram [rebuilt] of “places I” (India = I in the NATO alphabet). | |
| 13 | Getting better? Yours truly’s demonstrating that (9) |
| IMPROVING – I’M [yours truly] PROVING [demonstrating], probably a chestnut but new to me and I liked it. | |
| 17 | European prices fluctuating? That’s correct (7) |
| PRECISE – anagram [fluctuating] of E [European] + “prices”. | |
| 19 | Further inconvenience, bishop resigning (5) |
| OTHER – “bishop resigning” tells us to remove a B from a word meaning “inconvenience” to get the answer; so it’s {b}OTHER. A very topical clue, given the C of E’s current travails. | |
| 20 | Neighbourhood welcoming new stadium (5) |
| ARENA – AREA [neighbourhood] including [welcoming] N [new]. | |
| 21 | Illegal trade in cars? (7) |
| TRAFFIC – a definition with a cryptic hint. Collins sense 5: “trade, esp of an illicit or improper kind” | |
| 22 | You shouldn’t miss this model (6) |
| SITTER – a SITTER is someone who poses for an artist and thus a “model”; it is also a extremely easy chance, usually in a sporting context, and thus something that “you shouldn’t miss” – for example an easy opportunity to score a goal in football is a “sitter” (usually described as such after the player has failed – “X missed an absolute sitter”). This second sense probably came from the expression “sitting duck”, meaning a duck which was extremely easy to shoot because it was sitting on the water rather than being in flight. Shooting sitting ducks was once a very popular activity, as recounted in this article about punt-gunning . | |
| 23 | Bankrupt recalling rubbish place to sleep (6) |
| DEBTOR – reversal [recalling] of ROT [rubbish} and BED [place to sleep]. A DEBTOR owes money and so could be a bankrupt. However, most people who owe money (eg mortgagors) are not bankrupts and so I did wonder if this should have been clued as a definition by example. Before the Debtors’ Act 1869 people could easily be imprisoned in England and Wales for not paying their debts; the most famous debtors’ prison was the Clink in Stoney Street, which gave us both “clink” as slang for prison and “stony-broke” for penniless. Its slightly gruesome history is here | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Go over to the other side? That’s a mistake (6) |
| DEFECT – double definition, depending on where you place the stress (deFECT/DEfect). | |
| 2 | Wrongly determines VAT for commercial (13) |
| ADVERTISEMENT – anagram [wrongly] of “determines VAT”. Lovely smooth clue. | |
| 3 | Son excited after performer appears (5,2) |
| TURNS UP – S for “son” + UP for “excited” (a bit tangential but Collins does offer sense 31 (!) in American English – “in an active, excited, or agitated state“) after TURN for “performer” (old school slang, especially from music halls). | |
| 5 | Passage extracted from Rabelais letter (5) |
| AISLE – hidden [extracted from] in “Rabelais letter”. | |
| 6 | Chatting away, like Jack Sprat’s wife at dinnertime? (7,3,3) |
| CHEWING THE FAT – “Jack Sprat could eat no fat, His wife could eat no lean” as the nursery rhyme says. So she would indeed have been CHEWING THE FAT at dinnertime, ho ho! COD from me. | |
| 7 | Sprightly doctor taking dip in river (6) |
| NIMBLE -“doctor” can be so many things – DR, MO, MD, DOC, PHD, RIG or even WHO! And of course it can be an anagram indicator too. Today it’s … none of those, it’s MB, which goes inside [taking dip in] the NILE. Lovely clue. | |
| 9 | Corrupt detective inspector did well on street (9) |
| DISHONEST – DI [detective inspector] SHONE [did well] ST [street]. My LOI, because it took me a little while to see SHONE. | |
| 14 | I’m angry, holding on for a significant period (4,3) |
| IRON AGE – I RAGE [I’m angry], which contains ON [holding on]. | |
| 15 | Fruit on board for Britney? (6) |
| SPEARS – megastar chanteuse Britney SPEARS is today’s living person (definitely famous enough to pass muster under the new code in my book). The wordplay is neat: PEAR [fruit] inside SS, and thus “on board” (because (a) SS is short for “steamship”, and (b) if you are “inside” a steamship then you are “on board”). Fun fact: “Britney Spears” quickly became Cockney Rhyming Slang for “beers”, as in “get the Britneys in, Dad”. I learned this from my disreputable children. | |
| 16 | Shopkeeper more overweight, might one say? (6) |
| GROCER – the grosser grocer drops by again; Trelawney brought him round only on 6 December. He’ll lose weight with all this exercise. | |
| 18 | Senseless expedition beginning thus? (5) |
| INANE – “expedition” begins IN AN E, geddit? | |
My only holdeup was starting with 1D and immediately filling in ACROSS (which, thinking more about it, doesn’t quite work), but “a mistake” and “a cross” works, but it doesn’t really mean “go over to the other side”. But FEVERED made me rethink. I, too, had an MER at DEBTOR not really being the same as bankrupt.
Pretty straightforward, although like Paul I had a MER at DEBTOR. I tried to make SHOWS UP work, but not for long; no problem with UP. 6:18.
10:06. SITTER and TRAFFIC held me up the longest. I couldn’t parse INANE but now thanks to Templar’s explanation it’s my favourite!
I enjoyed this with nothing too tricky but a few that required a bit of thought. CANCAN was one such as I never really thought of it as a dance, but the usual references describe it as one. Liked CHEWING THE FAT and DEARTH.
Thanks T and Setter.
I thought this was an easy one, since the two long down clues were instant write-ins. Quite a few chestnuts, too, like arena, corps, turns up, and defect. I did get stuck at the end, not being able to see debtor. I was working from the cryptic, but thought place to sleep was the literal – held me up for a minute.
Time: 6:35.
Unlike everyone else so far I found some bits of this to be quite a challenge, and finished in 10.13 when DEARTH, CANCAN, TURNS UP and NIMBLE all came in a little flurry. I started very slowly but there were some very gentle gimmes in the lower half that allowed me to build some momentum. Thanks to both.
10 minutes. I needed an extra think about INANE before seeing how it worked.
Like our blogger I was at a school where one was corrected for saying ‘can’ rather than ‘may’. It doesn’t bother me now except in the recent double whammy of people ordering food or drink who say ‘Can I get…?’ when they mean ‘May I have…?’
I think that means it still bothers you Jack…
I used to intensely dislike the (invariably young) people, who, having got into my cab and sat down, would begin with “Can I get a taxi to…..”
Of course you can, you dimwit. You’re already sitting in the goddam thing!
Quite. It really winds me up. I’m also with Templar’s pedantic schoolteacher on CAN and MAY. And whilst I’m on the subject of pedantry, if Britney is rhyming slang for “beers”, one should say, “Get the Britney in, Dad!”, because “Britneys” would mean “beerss”.
That’s a cracking piece of pedantry, which I shall try to remember to deploy next time!
I’d have suggested “getting the Alberts in”, instead, but for better or worse that one was taken long ago for “balls”.
Bah. DNF due to a fat-thumbed ADEVRTISEMENT, thus ending a nice run of results in the Quickie.
Thanks Pipsqueak and great blog Templar. Had not heard the origins of clink or stoney-broke before. BTW you can add GP to your list at 7dn.
Re CRS and beers, some of my mates use Dolly Parton for carton but I imagine a Dolly of Britneys would be a bridge too far.
If we’re on this game, we had “doctor” = LACE a few months ago.
It’s been some time since a cat was doctored here……
Back in the days of COVID in Oz they called the virus the Miley…
9:18
Almost all done after 5 minutes but then took an age to see DEARTH and SITTER.
Share the discomfort at DEBTOR, otherwise enjoyed.
Thanks Templar for a diverting blog.
We really enjoyed this after a slow start. Once we got going, took a few pauses to enjoy some excellent cluing and definitely agree on chewing the fat for COD with in an e close behind. All done bar two in about 16 but debtor and LOI dearth took us to 19.16.
Great blog as always Mr T. Didn’t know the origins of clink and stony. Thanks for the link for the May dance, that’s something you can’t unsee!!
Inabilty to type continues to plague my solving. Doesn’t take much shine off this excellent puzzle. Only three on the first pass of acrosses but then I built up from the bottom to finish in a respectable 13.18 with DEARTH, which I loved once I finally saw what was going on. Typo on DEfECT aslo ruined fEVERED. So that’s 11 errors in the last 20 puzzles according to the leaderboard.
I think the doubts about DEBTOR are unfounded, however I hesitate before challenging our resident legal eagle. Not all debtors are bankrupt, but surely all bankrupts are debtors and that’s the way the clue is set? ‘Debtor’ clueing ‘bankrupt’ would be the DBE. SOED: bankrupt An insolvent debtor, a person who is hopelessly in debt.
That’s how I saw it as well.
This is a point of crosswording analysis, not law, and I definitely bow to your judgment there! However, this is how I saw it.
All cats are animals; therefore the answer “cat” can legitimately be clued by the word “animal”. But not all animals are cats; therefore the answer “animal” cannot legitimately be clued simply by the word “cat” – it has to be “cat, say”.
Transposing that here, all bankrupts are debtors; therefore the answer “bankrupt” can legitimately be clued by the word “debtor”. But not all debtors are bankrupts; therefore the answer “debtor” cannot legitimately be clued simply by the word “bankrupt”. A bankrupt is a specific type of debtor, a lesser group within a larger group. When using the lesser in the clue when the answer is the larger, shouldn’t the lesser be clued as a DBE?
I’m off to Court now, so will see whether my submissions have been received favourably or not later on!
I’m convinced! But I don’t think it’s obvious like the cat/animal analogy so the setter and most solvers would probably not have noticed.
I wasn’t that worried about bankrup=debtor because of a voice in the back of my head telling me that bankrupt could be used a noun.
And checking on that, I turned to the SOED, where the second definition of bankrupt as a noun is
2 An insolvent debtor, a person who is hopelessly in debt; spec. an insolvent person (orig., a trader or merchant) whose estate is administered and distributed for the benefit of all his or her creditors by a court of law. M16.
And Collins says
2. Any person unable to discharge all his or her debts
So, good enough for me.
I had no problems with debtor on the basis that on day 1 of Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings the company becomes known as “the debtor”.
Sure, but that’s before the debtor has been declared a bankrupt. To refer to them as the latter during proceedings would be like referring to the defendant as the criminal.
Couldn’t make head or tail of the first three across clues or 1d so I thought it was going to be a tough challenge however solving STEAM seemed to wake the grey cells up and it was smooth sailing from there.
An excellent puzzle from Pipsqueak with the highlight for me being Mrs Sprat’s contribution.
Finished in 6.22
Thanks to Templar
Oh dear. I saw the MB in the NILE for “sprightly” but my fingers typed NIMBLY. And I had enjoyed this one too. Not hard but tricky enough to be fun
I wish my fingers could type nimbly.
I wish my brain could think anywhere as nimbly as my fingers can type. But very happy with my 12 mins today.
17:17 for the solve! Held up in a few places – CANCAN (LOI) needing a trawl; couldn’t parse INANE and put CHEWING-THE-cud because I just don’t know the Jack Sprat poem that well, other than it appears in Jasper Fforde’s The Big Over Easy which is a very enjoyable satire/parody thing on nursery rhyme characters. Liked Spears – good use of the living person rule.
I’d forgotten Jasper, but I’ve read a lot of his books, some time ago.He seems to have gone quiet in recent years. Liked the Thursdays: the Nursery Crimes were, for me, a bit hit and miss, albeit clever. Shades of Grey was promising.
P.S. There’s a new one, Red Side Story, continuing the colours theme. Isn’t the intersearch wonderful.
I love that wonderfully offbeat sense of humour and postmodernism throughout his books. I keep meaning to reread them all – I picked up The Big Over Easy and Lost in a Good Book from the charity shelf last year. I’d forgot there is a Shades of Grey sequel – that should have been on my Christmas list – damn.
From DEARTH to SITTER in 6:14. Liked CHEWING THE FAT. Thanks Pipsqueak and Templar.
Well this all seemed very friendly and they all went in, but five CNPs including LOI DEARTH, so thank you, Pipsqueak and Templar.
24:11 to complete today’s witty puzzle. A few biffed before parsed (e.g. DISHONEST, IMPROVING..) with NIMBLE and CANCAN last in.
I went for HAMBLE at first instead of NIMBLE, as Hale (sprightly) with doctor going in, and of course the Hamble is a fine river. I was corrected but 4a but I still think it’s not an unreasonable answer, if not as clean as NIMBLE.
Overall though this was a nice QC, thanks to Pipsqueak and Templar.
HAMBLE is a good answer!
That was my first try too. But the H as the last checker of 4A made that clue impossible so after wasting quite a few moments I rethought.
It doesn’t really parse though, does it? With Hamble the MB is taking a dip in the sprightly, not in the river!
A bit Yoda-speak it is, I admit, but I’ve seen more convoluted word order in clues. Far more convoluted …
5:40
No major hold-ups except for the dance which had me foxed for a wee while. Pipsqueak maintains their burgeoning reputation as the gentlest of all setters (followed closely by Trelawney and Jimmy).
Thanks T for the educational blog, and Pipsqueak for the puzzle
15:50
This took far longer than it should have. Mostly done in 10 but struggled with the last few. Failed to parse INANE, had Dr as MO which delayed NIMBLE and was looking at the wrong end of the clue for LOI CANCAN which added 2 minutes to the clock.
9 minutes apart from 4a which I had already looked at several times.
Eventually saw CAN CAN and my total time was 15 minutes. I had moved from Theresa to Brian, particularly as my FOI was the Britney clue; and lots of dances recalled. I fell fully into the setter’s trap.
A lot to like in this including SITTER and INANE but COD to CAN CAN.
David
4:10. I was slow getting focussed, but then the answers came quickly. A neat QC and a good one for beginners, I think, but no less entertaining for that. Thanks Pipsqueak and Templar.
No problems with this one today finishing in a swift (for me) time of 6.34. Roughly half the clues were solved on first read, and the remaining clues were solved on second reading.
Seeing the setters name reminded me of an expression used by my long departed mum, who was not one to use profanities. If something or someone annoyed her, she would say ‘I don’t give a pip squeak or a wilfred’. I wondered if this was something peculiar to her, but on checking I find that Pip, Squeak and Wilfred were comic strip characters dating back to 1919 when they first appeared. Who knew!
While enjoying Templar’s usual excellent blog, I found myself wondering whether one would dance a “maymay” around a “canpole”. I blame mixing red wine and Italian lager at the Altrincham Football Club Christmas Dinner yesterday. Luckily I didn’t open my raffle prize – a gin liqueur infused with blackberries and edible gold flakes – so that’s New Year’s Eve sorted.
A very neat puzzle, no difficulties for me, thank you Pipsqueak.
FOI CANCAN
LOI DEFECT
COD DEARTH
TIME 3:59
I mixed Newcastle Brown with a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc last night. Trying to drown a nasty virus! (cough splutter). I won a half bottle of Morrisons 3 yr old Scotch Whisky in the raffle at Guisborough Folk Club on Sunday. That’s sinking fast too!
I have drunk much Newcastle Brown and much Sauvignon Blanc but never together. I can’t really get my tastebuds around how that would work. I guess you did it and survived!
🤣 I see my comment is open to more than one interpretation. When I said mixed, I didn’t mean in the same glass! They were consumed in the same evening at different times.🤣
10.35 Mostly very quick but held up at the end by SPECIAL, NIMBLE, INANE and CANCAN. I briefly wondered if the Lier was a river for LIMBER. Thanks Templar and Pipsqueak.
13:19
LOI CANCAN (good one!) and INANE (needed the blog to see that).
Never knew the origin of “stony broke”, that’s top blogging right there.
Liked CHEWING THE FAT as well, soon traditional Nursery Rhymes will seem as obscure as ancient Greek references.
For some reason I raced through this until the last couple of clues when my brain went on strike. Technical DNF
A lovely puzzle.
Thanks Pipsqueak and Templar
Enjoyable – hit the right level, imo. Was held up at the end by LOsI CANCAN (COD) and NIMBLE.
Also liked CHEWING THE FAT, STEAM, SPEARS, TRAFFIC, and FEVERED, among others.
Thanks vm, Templar. CNP INANE.
COD to Grocer for reminding me of a recent Private Eye cover.
Great blog Templar, thanks Pipsqueak 👍