Times Quick Cryptic No 2942 by Juji

139 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 2942 by Juji”

1. 16:55. Slow work but rewarding. I especially enjoyed SELFIE, CECIL, EAVESDROPPING, and POETIC.

2. I made the mistake of bunging in eavesdroppers instead of EAVESDROPPING which made AGGRIEVE impossible until I saw my error. Height of Glaswegian was confusing and still don’t get it although it had to be BENCH. NHO A BACS as money transfer but it had to be ABACUS. Wasn’t sure about PATCHY but I suppose a plot of land is a patch of land. SELFIE was clever and took a while to see. Liked TIBER when I eventually thought of TIBET as a high land. COD to SHOE after getting the wordplay the wrong way round and putting in shoo.
   Thanks J.

3. It’s reassuring to know that the crossword editor can’t gauge the difficulty of QCs (they said this themself on Saturday’s QC post), otherwise I’d almost certainly assume the increase in number of “hard QCs” was deliberate.
   So many clues in this crossword could have been made a bit simpler (“Height of Glaswegian”=BEN is ridiculous IMO and there are many other examples), but instead lots of clues were a bit hard, which combine to make a crossword gives newer solvers lots of trouble (I’m sure experienced solvers won’t notice this much/at all).

   1. The SNITCH is currently 127, not as high as yesterday’s (John is somehow down for 2:00!). I DNF. (I barely started today’s 15×15, which Verlaine gave up on; a SNITCH in the 200s.)

      1. You’d have got there Kevin if you were willing to spend more than an hour like I did! I wonder at what point Verlaine threw in the towel. Probably around the 8-minute mark.

      2. It’s because he put “7 1/2 minutes” – the scraper reads that as “2 minutes”! [Note to self – this is a great way to improve my average.]

   2. I agree. I thought this was one of the hardest in recent times. Gave up with half unsolved (and apart from a few never would have).

      1. I can’t parse half the clues even with the answers in front of me. It might be OK for a seasoned solver under time pressure, but for those of us working their way up, there are an awful lot of “only in crosswordland” conventions

         Today I learned:

         +Runs = r and Caught = c (a full toss to the Times core demographic, a googly for the rest of us)
         +”pens” is a hidden word indicator (nope, don’t see it)
         + “case” and “wings” are indicators for outside letters

         Also, “At home, I cut” yields “In I crop”. You’d have to see both of those non-obvious synonyms simultaneously and backwards. That’s not the convention for a QC.

         1. “Pens” = pens in, like a pig-pen pens pigs. So the phrase “formula chemist” is a pen for ACHE. I got this one and I’m a sub-intermediate solver.

            “At home I cut” – I solved PORCINI pretty fast and reverse-parsed it quickly. IN for “at home” is conventional.

            I hated SELL FEE, a term I’ve never heard. And I didn’t know earwig was a term for an eavesdropper. I assume these are Britishisms.

      2. mmm me too

4. Too hard for me, DNF with CECIL and SELFIE unsolved. Didn’t know a sell fee was a thing, NHO BACS and there appears to be something about the role of an earwig that I don’t understand. Some very clever clues here, though I’d suggest some are quite a distance outside standard QC territory. Thanks John and welcome Juji.

   1. earwig=eavesdrop

   2. Less than a week since earwig’s last appearance in the QC Lindsay! Although I think you must have skipped last Saturday’s, which probably turned out to be a good move.

      1. There was me thinking about a member of the insect order Dermaptera and wondering what they got up to in autumn. You’re right G I rarely do the Saturday puzzle, it doesn’t always gel with the vibe of the day…

   3. A sell fee isn’t a thing. To market = to sell
      And separately price = fee

      Push them together and you have “sell fee” which sounds like SELFIE

      1. Except that it *really* doesn’t!

5. Don’t be too sure about experienced solvers not noticing – I was going great guns, and came to an abrupt halt in two quadrants. I was stuck in each for quite a while, but in each case getting a single answer cracked the whole thing. Selfie in the NE led instantly to Cecil and corps, while down in the SE, Tiber yielded bench, enhance, and patchy. I had thought of Tiber before, but couldn’t parse it.

   Time 16:44

6. Much too hard for me only got 4 on the first pass and gave up after 1/2 hour. The QC’s are definitely becoming harder and I am getting close to calling it a day as they have been more often than not beyond my abilities over the last couple of weeks. Shame but I want a puzzle that is a real QC as I have no interest in ever doing the 15*15.
   Thanks John always appreciate the blogs

   1. I’ll join your club!

   2. Same here – getting fed up of it to be honest

   3. I am getting to that point too!

      1. Us too!

7. 5:58. Really enjoyed it, but again a few clues felt a bit 15×15-ish. (Well, not like today’s 15×15, which was on an entirely different plane).

   Welcome Juji, and thanks John for the blog and the link to Phil’s always-excellent puzzle.

8. 18 minutes. I had a 3-way breezeblock at the end, SELFIE, CECIL and CORPS which accounted for the last 7 minutes of my solving time.

   It occurred to me that Glasgow is not exactly surrounded by BENs (the nearest is Ben Lomond some 40 miles away) so another town or city might have been a more suitable choice to indicate Scottishness.

   I used to work in accounting so I had no problem with BACS transfers but I appreciate this might not be known to many outside banking and business.

   The placement of the comma in 25ac nearly sent me in the wrong direction but I thought E more likely an ending than O as the last letter and I solved 12dn next to make absolutely sure.

   1. Almost every invoice I ever get offers me the option to pay by BACS.

      1. Yes – but I’ve never “received an invoice” in my life – is it necessarily GK to receive invoices? OK, maybe it is.
         By the way: please, what does ^ ^ mean? Looks maybe like a MER, but surely “wot Cedric said” about BENCH and TIBER was reasonable enough?

         1. I think its just Templar pointing at the comment above

9. 15:59, so not quite as stiff as yesterday’s, but another struggle. I’m coming to the conclusion that for experienced crossword setters, dialling it down to the level of a QC really isn’t that straightforward – another new setter (and it’s really good to see the roster expanded) and another case of their first outing being not quite as many of this parish would like I suspect.

   As to the puzzle itself, the SE corner was my main hold up, with the crossing of TIBER and BENCH especially taxing. Cluing Tibet as “high land” is tough, as is Ben as “height of Glaswegian”, and with the B checker common to both I was really struggling.

   Many thanks John for the blog, and I look forward to the Sunday Special. Which is always not just of a high standard but also a consistently fair one. So it can be done …

   1. ^^ wot Cedric said about TIBER and BENCH

   2. You make a good point about dialling down I think. Some of us will remember teachers who found it difficult to pitch their lessons at a level appropriate for all but their more gifted pupils. I wonder if the QCs were anonymous, as the 15x15s are, this might help by reducing the pressure on setters to look clever. One can only imagine the adrenaline-fuelled competitive world they inhabit!

10. Welcome Juji

    Quick slow quick slow here. All done in about 28 apart from LOI selfie that we just could not see, took SEVEN minutes of aimless meanderings until the PDM.

    Saw Cecil straight away which was obviously a big help.

    A few biff and parse with, eventually, only enhance needing John’s skills to explain, thank you. Liked eavesdropping and poetic

11. DNF with 5 unsolved after 25 mins. Needed the blog to understand even some of the ones I did get, like TIBER.

    Pi ❤️

12. Another tricky one but a very enjoyable solve.

    I’d not heard of the expression ‘sell fee’ before so my LOI went in unparsed once I’d got the final checker from the surprisingly tricky CECIL.
    Finished in 12.11 with my favourite being ABACUS for the PDM.

    By the sounds of it I’m going to need to get the popcorn in before watching Simon or Mark take on today’s 15×15.

    Thanks to John for the blog and welcome to Juji

    1. I wasn’t sure whether SELL FEE = market price is an actual term or a case of needing to create the soundalike from SELL=market, FEE=price

       1. Fair point – I think my brain had short-circuited by that stage!!

       2. Oh. I never checked in the dictionary. I assumed it was a thing but I see you are right. I will amend the blog.

       3. Ah…. thank you. Again, I say to my deaf self, ‘read the clue’.

13. 35:04 for the solve. About half that spent on the BENCH, ENHANCE, TIBER, PATCHY quartet.

    While the clueing is easier than the 15×15, this was still asking me to dig too far down into the dictionary/thesaurus (as per Jackkt and Cedric’s examples plus others).

    I accept Jason’s position of how the QC will be set but it’s frustrating that when I’ve got a busy morning ahead, I can’t rely on being able to knock through this in 10-15mins with the occasional struggle to 25mins.

    Loved seeing a reference to BACS which brought back memories of my IT days of coding for SWIFT, TELEX but not sure how anyone outside that circle would know of it. Unfortunately any other great clues I enjoyed in the earlygoing were long forgotten by the time I reached the end.

    Thanks to JohnI for the blog and to Juji for 80% of today’s puzzle.

    For those who aren’t back for Saturday’s puzzle – have a good weekend. And to those who are, have a good weekend 👍

14. On my way here I noticed this summary of today’s 15 from William: “This might be the hardest crossword I have ever attempted to blog”. So it could be worse, everyone!

    Anyway. I found that at the stiffer end of QC standard but perfectly doable until I got to the SE, where TIBER/BENCH/ENHANCE/PATCHY brought me to a dead halt. Oh, and it turned out that I’d put BLUE instead of SHOE (still think that’s a perfectly good answer – you “get” “blew”, which is “lost, reportedly” (as in blew money at the races) in Oxford).

    Sorting that lot out took as long as the rest of it put together, and then some. So ended up with 09:45, and no desire to try the 15!

    Welcome Juji; many thanks to you and John. Feel free to make them a bit easier 😁

15. Thank you to the blogger for their work, but I’m not even going to bother checking today despite managing about 50% of this in 20 or so mins. Tibet as a synonym for high land is absurdly difficult for a qc and clueing like that is just going to put a lot of people off.

16. 12:53 (death of Elen ferch Llywelyn)

    Biffed TIBER as the only river I could think of that fitted, but could not parse it.
    LOI was CORPS.

    Thanks John, and welcome Juji

17. DNF Thank you Juji and John – much to enjoy though quite a bit of that pleasure only came with the blog
    Some went in easily (e.g. SW corner + AGGRIEVE, TREASURE CHEST). A couple still sit uneasily. Unsure about BEN as height of Glaswegian, and why 14a is not limited to EAVESDROP (he earwigs on conversations..if you can say that, NHO this use of the word before) or EAVESDROPPERS – plural (they are earwigs).

    1. Earwigs may be responsible for ‘this’
       Answer = Eavesdropping

       Wordplay = Leaves dropping minus start (L)

       1. Thankyou!

    2. What is it that earwigs are responsible for? Answer, EAVESDROPPING. Surely that’s right, isn’t it?

18. Better than yesterday, but that’s not saying much. I missed my target by a mere 2 seconds, and there was a lot to dislike.

    “Glaswegian” was a really misleading indicator when “Scottish” would have been perfectly adequate.

    “Sell fee”? Really poor in my opinion.

    I couldn’t decide between “shoo” and SHOE because neither the comma nor the “in” were helpful.

    Why a “plot of land” for PATCHY? There must be better terms for patch. I can think of quilt without even trying.

    Juji : if you’re reading this, feel free to savage my Weekend Special, but I think I can safely guarantee that the target audience will find my amateurish effort more enjoyable than this. You can only improve.

    FOI CARD
    LOI VIOLATE
    COD EAVESDROPPING
    TIME 6:02

    1. I certainly enjoyed your puzzle a lot more, many thanks for going to the effort to write your weekend puzzles.

    2. The weekend puzzles are much appreciated.

19. Apart from initially putting in EAVESDROPPERS which delayed me until I realised it didn’t work with AGGRIEVED, I raced through this until the NE corner. Inexplicably slow to see CECIL and needed the blog to parse SELFIE. Regular user of BACS. Enjoyed the clever surfaces of some of the clues particularly 13D. 2D put me in mind of a certain president. Welcome Juji and thanks John.

20. I think I will take a QC sabbatical. Too many recent puzzles have been a fight for me with the pleasure evaporating as my times extend. I solved 80% of this one OK but the pleasure from the good and appropriate clues was negated by the rest (as listed by earlier posters).

    The 15×15 is great for the really expert solver (except today apparently) but the QC was always a pleasurable but more accessible mental tussle. I have looked forward to solving it each morning since number 1.

    Perhaps I will check the snitch each day and solve the QCs that appear approachable to a normal, reasonably intelligent, reasonably experienced solver.
    Today’s was not such a puzzle. I appreciate the comments from respected solvers above (and in recent days); their views seem consistently to chime with mine.

    Thanks to John for an excellent blog and to Juji for some good clues in an unbalanced first QC.

    I’ll now go back to my part-completed Private Eye crossword and send it off. Much more fun!

    1. With the greatest respect, B, if you can solve the Private Eye puzzle regularly I’d have thought it would need to be a very rare and tough QC that’s too difficult for you to solve. But if enjoyment is the yardstick then that’s subjective and if you’re not enjoying the QC then maybe it will help to take a rest for a bit. Of course the level of fun offered by PE is enough to make one persevere way beyond one’s normal time frame. I still have the last two to tackle as I’ve let things slip a bit recently.

       1. Thanks, Jack. I appreciate your comments.

          You are right to make the point about enjoyment. This has always been a key part of the QC experience for me (as it is for PE). It has consistently been a great balance of challenge and enjoyment in years gone by.

          I know where I am with the 15×15 and have often persevered when the challenge has gripped me (but it is not a point of honour to finish it, as it is for the QC). I look for something different in the ‘Q’C; I have never before reached the point where, having spent 25+ minutes on a QC, I have thought ‘Oh, stuff it. Life is too short! Sadly, it has happened this week.

          Maybe things will settle down as new setters ‘bed in’. I hope so.

    2. Blighter – I always struggle with the PE crossword (Cyclops, I think) – so surprised that you want to take a break from this which I think is easier. However, different styles work for different people.

       1. James, I didn’t say I don’t ever struggle with the PE crossword! It usually takes me longer than the average QC but I don’t have a clock ticking and the enjoyment and humour always keep me going until the end – just like the QC used to until very recently.

          I always send my PE answers in and look at who won the previous puzzle; I was convinced at one point that the winner’s names were just anagrams but that didn’t work for long! I wonder if the setter’s name, Cyclops, is just a label for a range of setters (but I think the standard is maintained impressively).

          1. Fair point. The consistent level of smuttiness, I think, is probably down to one person. Makes me chuckle though.

             1. Me too. 😁

          2. With regard to Cyclops, it surely has to be easier doing a crossword by one individual. Even subconsciously, you will become accustomed to the style. I don’t generally do the PE puzzle. As a consequence, I find much of it tricky when I do occasionally try it. On the other hand, I don’t ever time myself on any crossword – my criterion for calling a halt is only when I am bored – either because it is too easy, or too impenetrable, though I do feel sympathy for those who regularly want to finish the crossword on their morning commute or whatever, and don’t have time to spend longer on it. Having experienced the wide range of QC setters, I admit that I have boycotted those whose crosswords tend to be too facile, but I’m always up to having a go with a new setter, and Juji was (mainly) enjoyably tricky today.

             1. Completely agree about one individual – you defo get used to a style.

             2. A good move to do the crossword without the clock. I will do it more often.
                ‘Times’ for the Times is a hard habit to break….

          3. PE is my favourite crossword – not only because it’s amusing, but there are some great clues, every time. I’d put it on a par with an ‘average to difficult’ Times (15×15) offering – and, like you, I always see it through to the end, probably because it’s fortnightly rather than daily.

             Anyway, this thread prompted me to Google Cyclops, with the following results – I can’t vouch for its verity, of course

             >>>
             Who is Cyclops private eye?
             Incidentally, the person who sets the crosswords for Private Eye under the pseudonym Cyclops is called Eddie James and he also sets crosswords for the Guardian under the pseudonym Brummie.
             <<<

             1. Fascinating. It is one setter, then (and I have become more used to his style).
                We are going to get thrown off this site for discussing the opposition! 🙄

21. I’ve asked this before but is there any possibility that the setters could road test their efforts with each other ??? There have been far too many of these lately which are far from quickies. There was much to enjoy in this but DNF because I needed to be on his Juji’s wavelength and there wasn’t much hope of that for some of these clues.

    1. Not with each other. That would make it worse.

       1. You might be right there! There should be some way of doing it you would think.

          1. FWIW we have a handful of regular QC solvers as test solvers of our Weekend QCs. I think it helps us a lot.

             1. Ah thanks – I hope it might extend to these. The setters do a great job and I’m sure they always want to entertain.

             2. You maintain a consistent standard of fair clues, so your system works, very well.
                I have never got to the end of one and thought, “that was much too difficult”, or “… much too easy”.
                They are always enjoyable and I’m sure you receive only positive feedback.
                I am so grateful that you and the others are prepared to provide them, for us. Thank you, all.

                1. If you’re encouraging me to try to be appreciative and gracious I hope I would try to take that point. However the general feedback on this, and some other crosswords, clearly suggests that sometimes the setters do get it badly wrong. Sadly there are occasions when the cluing is not reasonable – at least for a quick crossword and the setters need to know.

    2. Someone (Countrywoman, perhaps?) replied to the crossword editor’s recent comment here, suggesting that they form a panel of less experienced solvers. I thought it was a good idea then, and it’s looking like an even better idea now.

22. Another fail for me, spent ages on EAVESDROPPING with almost all the checkers. Knew the meaning of “earwig” as a verb but it still wouldn’t come. This stopped PATCHY and ENHANCE.

    ENHANCE was a tricky clue. Although I know the EN, EM device, it didn’t come to mind. And then looking for a synonym of unknown length for lead (or lead, the metal) to truncate the first letter. Close misses with Expense, Essence.

    I have the river EMBER close to me, and that fitted. TIBET for high land was pretty tough stuff. I tried to see how “embed” might work.

    COD IONIC

    Also had the wrong SHOO so was looking at veggies like Avocado.

23. What Phil and Cedric said, sprinkled with Pi’s positivity.
    Bring on Sunday!
    Thanks John and Juji.

24. After an hour, same less-than-half as yesterday. Misery. Once again my eligibility among this erudite company is seeming increasingly questionable. Thank you, John, for explaining it all.
    Oh, John, one tiny thing: in 19, I think R = runs (not = river).

    1. Not questionable at all – I, for one, enjoy your contributions. Chin up!

    2. Oops. Too much of a rush. Blog updated.

    3. Eligibility my foot, all we need is friendly participation, at least I hope so. If not, I’m off.

    4. Don’t say that, otherwise I’ll have to go too! The SCC would be a much emptier place.
       I’m very ineligible solving-wise, just (usually, but not today) persistent and bloody minded. I go to the QC for the brain exercise and then come here for some light banter and entertainment, to which you contribute greatly.

       1. Thanks, you’re very kind … but you see I don’t even qualify for the SCC!

          1. But you do qualify to be part of this community! Just by being interesting and interested in everyone else 😊

          2. Well, I believe the SCC is a haven for anyone who takes more than 20 mins over the QC, including those whose solving is deferred indefinitely, as mine was today. I’ve qualified often enough in solving beyond 20mins that they can hardly decline me when it’s a DNF instead…

             1. OK – thank you – then I’ll accept long-term membership with pleasure!

25. Held up mightily by the CECIL/CORPS/SELFIE and PATCHY/TIBER/BENCH corners, but it’s all been said already. 14:30. Thanks Juji and John.

26. Very difficult again. Managed to finish, but a lot of guesswork with fingers crossed. Over 40 minutes ! It’s getting to be too much like hard work lately.

27. Another toughie! Made slow but steady progress until I reached the SE corner. Eventually biffed BENCH which then made TIBER another obvious biff. Both parsed after the event (oh, I see!). SHOE was LOI by quite some time and I had to alphabet trawl the first letter. COD SELFIE which I also parsed as sell + fee and which made me smile. It must be tricky being a setter or editor at the moment – so, so, so many grumbles, but not from me. Thanks Juji and John.

28. Too much for me again. Mild quibble about abacus – the essence of a computer is the ability to store a program and data, an abacus can do neither. May as well call paper and pencil a computer.

    1. An abacus can store data but it can’t execute a program.

       1. No it can only hold the one number you are manipulating. You cant store a number, do two or three other calculations, and then recall your original number. As mentioned a piece of paper and a pencil can store more data, and you wouldn’t call them computers

          1. An abacus can store a datum but it can’t execute a program.

             I forgot data was the plural….it can only store one number.

    2. I think reckon or calculate can be synonyms of compute so literally speaking a computer could simply be a thing or person who calculates.

    3. The word predates the technology which adopted the word.

       1. Indeed it did does, it referred to people first. Perhaps the greatest was Katherine Johnson who checked the computer calculations for NASA, as she was more reliable than they were.

29. I got card and nothing else. I could only understand the parsing of about a quarter with the answers revealed.

30. Welcome Juji – an excellent puzzle, thank you. Stymied by a couple (SELFIE and TIBER) which took my completion time to 13:32, but very much enjoyed. Needed all the checkers before seeing EAVESDROPPING, but it made me smile when I finally got there.
    Thanks J and J.

31. Welcome Juji. After yesterday’s trouncing I came back with renewed vigour and was rewarded with a very quick start in the NW. I did slow down a little because quite often an answer popped into my head but the parsing took much longer e.g. ENHANCE and TIBER. I thought there was a lot of clever word play to enjoy and I particularly enjoyed the foodie cluing for PORCINI and AGGRIEVE. My LOsI in a respectable 8:07 were SELFIE, CECIL and CORPS. Thanks John.

32. Anyone else do PITCHY instead of PATCHY? I think both work with both definitions, although i’ll admit PATCHY is perhaps a better fit.
    Pitchy = “uneven” musically speaking is pitchy and could also refer to one’s pitch, i.e. their plot of land at a camp site or a market.

    Thanks John and Juji

    1. And a ship pitches in rough seas.

33. I was damned if I was going to submit to two non finishes in a row, so I persevered beyond the twenty minute mark where three clues in the ne corner had held me up for ten minutes. At last CORPS fell into place quickly followed by PORCINI, but it was a further minute or so before my LOI was solved when SELFIE finally dawned on me. I eventually stopped the clock at 22.15 and was just pleased to finish.
    I usually record my weekly average time on a Friday, but yesterday’s non recorded time for my spectacular non finish made this impossible.
    After seeing the comments above about the 15×15, I think I’ll give it a miss! I’ve punished myself enough here in QC land in the last few days without receiving another bloody nose.

34. 9.27

    I totally agree that TIBET and BEN were not the easiest synonyms and EN is one of those crossword words I would banish. For that very reason (in case newbies are interested which you might very well not be!) I solved those clues by reversing back from the literal and checkers, with“seat” and “improve” being quite friendly. River was tougher and I certainly needed the B to reverse engineer TIBER. I’m only trying to make the point that although, for example, the indicator for BEN was not arguably a great bit of w/p it still left Plan B to solve the clue.

    Having said that, and although I like a range of difficulty, it really is important to keep a tough QC to around one a week. At present it feels like it is much more than that.

    I know we all have our favourite setters but OINK – please come back and give us a fortnight of your classy puzzles!

    1. Another vote for Oink.
       🐖👍

       1. Yes, one from me too! 🐷😅

    2. Oink is always a light relief. I hope they do come back.

    3. Yes, I vote for more qcs, from Oink, too.

35. Only one solved on my first run through of the acrosses. Thing improved considerably when I tackled the downs but then I ground to a halt again. I had 8 clues unsolved at my cut-off point at 30 mins. As far as I know this is my first consecutive DNF. I had thought of Tibet for the river but couldn’t parse it so didn’t put it in. Thanks for the explanations in the blog John – I don’t think I would ever have equated a Glaswegian height with Ben.

    FOI – 11ac IONIC
    LOI – DNF
    COD – 8dn ABACUS – made me smile!

36. First of all, a warm welcome to Juji. . .
    As to the QC, this was obviously another very tricky one, though not quite as fiendish as yesterday’s little horror from Shay. I did at least manage to finish this one with the 30 min post just about visible, though sadly only through the rear view mirror.
    While the Patchy Tiber Bench didn’t put up too much of a struggle, it was a completly different story in the NE. The Selfie taken by the Cecil Corps taking nearly as long to sort out as the rest of the puzzle. A relief to finally cross the line, with just Enhance unparsed.
    CoD to Poetic for the surface, a nose ahead of the similarly smooth Capsized. Invariant
    PS Looking at the Snitch, I wonder if Jason has given Shay a run out in the 15×15 ?

37. DNF disaster.
    EAVESDROPPING COD, though I did not solve it. Too many unsolved to mention, except I did know BACS.
    Actually POETIC was good too.
    Sell fee?
    Am now going to read the blog at leisure. Thanks, John. Yes, SCC members could vet QCs, especially if the price was right.

    (Live ROH ballet shown in cinemas last night was a treat.)

38. 20 mins…

    Tough, but got there in the end. From scanning the above, I don’t see anyone questioning “Nits” and “Lice” – the former are the eggs of the latter, although I will concede common usage often conflates the two.

    As we have another new setter (and welcome to Juji), I often wonder whether people on here have ever considered their “crossword setter” name if they were in the position to set one. Is there a national register of setter names? Personally, I would choose “Photon”.

    FOI – 1ac “Card”
    LOI – 10ac “Corps”
    COD – 14ac “Eavesdropping”

    Thanks as usual!

    1. I’d be Hoogle 😊

       (Well done on your solve Photon – although not quite light speed today!)

       1. As well as my stage name here I have also set under the pseudonym Edmundo. If you didn’t know the derivation of the former already (sorry for the terrible pun) the latter is a clue (as is my avatar, for that matter).

    2. Re nits….good point so I looked up nit in Collins and the definition covers both egg and larva. So egg – larva – adult are actually stages in the lifecycle of a louse.
       Having said that I wasted time trying to parse Colin as the name so I was quite happy when Cecil arrived.

39. Really enjoyed it today, it took me just over an hour. I got CORPS quite quickly but parsed it wrong, I was thinking CPS and couldn’t work out where the O came from, very obvious once I read the blog!
    SHOE was my LOI, I stuggled with that for ages!

40. Very tricky puzzle today, had 4 clues I couldn’t figure out, though every answer I managed to figure out gave me a moment of satisfaction. My crossword words are definitely piling up, as only got POETIC due to have OP meaning work in yesterday’s QC. Annoyingly knew to earwig meant to listen in, but never worked my way to EAVESDROPPING, yet somehow drew the word PORCINI out of my brain somewhere. Is it something you knew if it surprises you when you know it? 😆 Thank you for the blog and explaining the clues

41. Tortuous (again)!
    I fell over the line in around 65 minutes, so once again this was not a QC, IMHO.
    I’m with Blighter in thinking “Oh, stuff it!” when the half-hour ticks by and I still have two-thirds of the clues to solve.
    Unenjoyable at the moment. Sorry not to be more upbeat.

    Thanks to John for the blog.

42. Not on the wavelength here; worse than yesterday and probably our worst DNF since shortly after we started doing these around a couple of years ago. The NE corner was our nemesis with 3,10 and 12a and 5 and 6d all unfinished when we threw in the towel after about 21 1/2 minutes. All fair in retrospect. I can agree with James Ed46 re nits / lice but mainly in my grumpiness, not liking names anyway. If we’d seen CECIL it might have opened up the rest but I’d also got tramlined by having mis(partially remembered) enoki mushrooms and thought perhaps we might be looking for something beginning with IN. Thanks John and welcome Juji!

43. Too difficult for me. I do these puzzles for enjoyment in a reasonable time and so had no problem using aids when I started to struggle.

44. Worked away at this off and on for ages and finally, remarkably, I finished.
    EAVESDROPPING required all the crossers before being biffed. LOI SHOE.
    Some tough clues but like yesterday I learned a lot.
    Thanks Juji and John.

45. After a slow start, I got most of this in maybe 25 minutes and then simply stalled out for a DNF on 16d and 23a (gosh I feel silly about ENHANCE). It’s possible that “earwig” in the sense of eavesdropper has crossed my path before (oh shoot, I see from commentary that I saw it not a week ago), but if so I didn’t remember it. Cute clue though. Mountains were a problem for me today making TIBER and BENCH my last correct entries before giving up. I liked CHALK and AGGRIEVE. What is this BACS of which you speak? I biffed ABACUS, “university” being my hook. Isn’t “height of Glaswegian” a bit weird for BEN? I can’t really make it work.

    Welcome and thanks to Juji, thanks to John for much-needed explanations.

    1. BACS is an electronic means of paying directly into someone’s bank account (bankers automated clearing system) – it’s how we regularly transfer funds to our children 🤣
       Re ben: think Ben Nevis for example. I thought it was quite a poor clue – trying to extrapolate the word for a Scottish mountain from ‘Glaswegian height’ is a bit much in the quickie IMO.
       Hope that helps and I’m not (wo)mansplaining 😉

       1. Thanks!

          The “ben” is somewhat familiar to me but the grammar of the clue seemed wonky.

          1. Ah sorry – I did wonder if I was over-explaining! And I agree that it wasn’t the most flowing of clues 😊

46. Started quickly, then slowed considerably in the NE and SE corners, where almost nothing was in when the left-hand side was complete. A MER at SELFIE – nobody ever took a ‘selfee’. Loved EAVESDROPPING – an excellent clue! Also POETIC. Don’t like proper names as answers, and the nits are eggs, as mentioned above. But would definitely tackle another by Juji, so welcome.

    1. “Sell Fee” works fine as a homophone for SELFIE for me. I’m wondering why it doesn’t for you.

47. All said above, a few more easier ones please for those less able.

48. Late to the QC again and another very hard one.
    Not as bad as yesterday. I solved in two sessions and not timed but plenty of minutes spent.
    LOI CORPS after removing an unparsed PARAS.
    I should have got POI CECIL sooner as I had thought of LICE and saw the reversal indicator -I was tired.
    I try the 15×15 most days and quite often finish; most of these clues were at that level.
    Overall a puzzle I enjoyed -perhaps mis-labelled.
    David

49. Strange mixture of witty fun clues (EAVESDROPPING my favourite) and really convoluted ones (Glaswegian church). Dnf the SW corner because teen I try gave me ENTIRETY which I thought fitted age – the entirety of this book, film, whatever. Silly me – ETERNITY obvious now! After 30 minutes in the Suffolk sun I gave up and cut some grass. Jury out on enjoyment factor but thanks Juji and as always John

50. 28.39 I struggled with about a quarter of the clues yesterday. Today it was half, though the puzzle didn’t take quite as long in the end. PLIABLE and CAPSIZED were the last two. Thanks John and Juji.

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