Parksolve time = 37:36. Both elements involved a bit of trudging through sand, one literally and one metaphorically.
Today we’re doing battle with Cheeko, for only the seventh or eighth time I think, and the first time on my watch. His (or her) reputation so far is for puzzles on the more challenging end of the Quickie scale, without being impenetrable. And that’s about where I’d rank this puzzle, coming in at roughly 50% over my median solving time for Quickies.
Let us know how you went, let us know what I missed, let us know anything you like really. Everyone enjoying a long weekend I hope? Please leave a comment.
| Across | |
| 1 | In the morning, gripped compass (5) |
| AMBIT – AM (in the morning) + BIT (gripped)
Compass= ambit as in the scope or extent of something. |
|
| 4 | Hated communist encapsulates wickedness (7) |
| REVILED – RED (communist) “encapsulates” EVIL (wickedness) | |
| 8 | Release one French jerk (7) |
| UNHITCH – UN (one in French) + HITCH (jerk)
One meaning of hitch is to move something with a jerk, as in hitching up your skirt. |
|
| 9 | Notes, a few minutes, sent over (5) |
| MEMOS – [SOME (a few) + M (minutes)] reversed (sent over) | |
| 10 | Perhaps bone is a mess (4,6) |
| DOGS DINNER – Double definition
I’m more inclined to use “dog’s breakfast” (we don’t say “mad woman’s breakfast” any more), although it’s always “dog’s dinner” when referring to how someone is dressed. |
|
| 14 | Welcome in first of trainees in brief inspection (6) |
| INVITE – IN + T (first of Trainees) in VIE [brief (truncated) VIEW (inspection)] | |
| 15 | Static rates should change with time (2,4) |
| AT REST – (RATES)* + T (time) | |
| 17 | Welsh town’s drunk part blotto (4,6) |
| PORT TALBOT – (PART BLOTTO)*
Wasn’t familiar with the town, but it was comfortably the most plausible arrangement of the anagrist once the checkers were in place. |
|
| 20 | Fly back, retaining western accent (5) |
| TWANG – TANG [GNAT (fly) reversed (back)] “retaining” W (western) | |
| 22 | Greek character grabs vulgar Canadian Liberal (7) |
| TRUDEAU – TAU (Greek character) “grabs” RUDE (vulgar)
Referring to erstwhile Canadian PM Justin Trudeau or his Dad, the ersterwhile Canadian PM Pierre. |
|
| 23 | Present first half of demo standing by organ (7) |
| DELIVER – DE (first half of DEmo) “standing by” LIVER (organ) | |
| 24 | Additional member of cast doing little (5) |
| EXTRA – Double definition
A rare instance of a Times setter eschewing an opportunity to use a cricket reference. |
|
| Down | |
| 1 | Nearly missing over border (4) |
| ABUT – AB Verb form of border required here. |
|
| 2 | I’m surprised to be embraced by British Nobel laureate (4) |
| BOHR – OH (I’m surprised) “embraced by” BR (British)
The estimable Danish physicist Niels Bohr. Had a big role in the early days of quantum theory. That’s the branch of physics which is endlessly fascinating to numpties like myself, even though it sounds like they’re making it up as they go along. |
|
| 3 | Italian stronghold in Otranto periodically offers retaliation (3,3,3) |
| TIT FOR TAT – IT (Italian) + FORT (stronghold) in TAT [alternate letters (periodically) of oTrAnTo] | |
| 4 | Hackneyed output on the subject of mess (6) |
| REHASH – RE (on the subject of) + HASH (mess)
A reuse of old ideas or material without significant change or improvement. |
|
| 5 | Energy provider’s centre opening in May (3) |
| VIM – VI (centre of proVIder) + M (opening in May) | |
| 6 | Mourned for soldiers among deceased 500 (8) |
| LAMENTED – MEN (soldiers) among LATE (deceased) + D (500)
I’ll nominate D as the least familiar of the Roman numerals, probably because we don’t watch many movies made between the years 1400 and 1899. |
|
| 7 | Separate record on damaged tree (8) |
| DISCRETE – DISC (record) on (TREE)* | |
| 11 | Preface reduction, somehow (9) |
| INTRODUCE – (REDUCTION)*
Preface as a verb, as in to preface one’s remarks. |
|
| 12 | Criminal studied entrance to prison in question (8) |
| DISPUTED – [STUDIED + P (“entrance” to Prison)]*
Criminal is my favourite anagram indicator. Took me years of solving before I started to twig it automatically. |
|
| 13 | Make repairs along said passage (8) |
| OVERHAUL – OVER (along) + HAUL [homophone of (said) HALL (passage)] | |
| 16 | Lecherous type lowers large coat (6) |
| ULSTER – LUSTER (lecherous type) “lowers” L (large)
The coat’s name is derived from the province of the same name. “Luster” meaning “one who lusts” is an effectively obsolete usage, but there are skerricks of support for it in the approved sources. Oh, and “lowers” meaning to move one or more letters down might be an unfamiliar device to some. Only works in a Down clue, obvs. |
|
| 18 | Joke cigars ultimately wrapped in black (4) |
| JEST – S [last letter of (ultimately) cigarS] “wrapped in” JET (black) | |
| 19 | Starts to take up bronze age instrument (4) |
| TUBA – Initial letters of (starts to) Take Up Bronze Age | |
| 21 | Backing essentially saved Hugo Boss (3) |
| GUV – V + UG [centres (essentially) of saVed and hUGo] reversed (backing)
Good one to finish on. Thanks Cheeko. |
|
Interesting that DELIVER is a reversal of REVILED in 4a and at opposing corners. I stumbled all around the grid in this with some making me think before seeing what was needed. Vaguely knew ULSTER the coat but it took a while to see it. Sherlock Holmes wore the caped version. GUV was very clever and a great surface with the Hugo Boss misdirection. All good fun.
Thanks G and setter.
Also ABUT / TUBA.
At 20 minutes I found this very hard and wondered at one point if I’d be able to finish as I had been completely struck for too long. Eventually I remembered ULSTER as a coat and that filled the final gap.
I had a couple of queries about definitions (‘jerk / HITCH’ and ‘welcome / INVITE’) but checked the books afterwards and they said they were okay. I’m still not 100% on the second of these.
You’d think I might have checked the other opposing corners, but no. And that was after I checked the whole crossword for more reversals or some kind of Nina and didn’t see tuba/abut. Thanks
I only spotted it after your alert to the first one.
… and if we squint a bit we also have Beau Geste at 2&18d!
Just about all Cheeko’s puzzles have done something like this. Sometimes it’s been the four clues heading to the centre being anagrams of each other.
GUV went in unparsed, so thanks for that, and otherwise very good and rather tricky, resulting in 12:11. Very slight MER at DISPUTED: normally when there’s a letter added to an anagram in such a fashion it goes at the end/beginning of the answer, I would think.
Having a splendid weekend, thanks galspray – though being retired, it’s always a weekend for me 😃
As far as I can think, all the dailies allow “first of X” to be added to fodder & mixed up.
They do, however differ as to whether simple, visible abbreviations like ‘pressure = P’ can form part of the fodder or should be treated separately. If I remember rightly, the Times & Independent are OK with this, but not the Telegraph. Not sure about the FT or Guardian, but they’re usually more liberal, so I’d expect it’s allowed.
Tricky but enjoyable puzzle which eventually defeated me as the NHO BOHR proved too difficult. With hindsight I should have been able to get it from the wordplay but I think I my brain cells had worn themselves out by that point.
Thanks to Galspray and Cheeko
A weakness at last ! I can only hope that setters now home in on quantum mechanics. . . 🙂
I shall start swatting up in preparation!
12.33. I definitely would not rate this as a Quick Crossword.
I parsed two on the first pass and that was my lot. Spotted two anagrams but couldn’t solve them. No patience.
I couldn’t even change my profile picture…
NHO PORT TALBOT, but as Galspray says. Never parsed TIT FOR TAT;with the initial T and the enumeration, it was eminently biffable. 10:43.
Quick Cryptic? You must be joking.
Thanks for the blog, Galspray.
P.s. SNITCH 140
SCC 22:22 Cheeko wasn’t throwing us any bones with Ulster Guv and Dogs dinner imho. No complaints on everything else and clever reversals. Thanks Galspray and you cheeky little…
About twice round the SCC before my LOI, ULSTER, hit the grid, but I wasn’t very focused on the task. Despite or because of that I enjoyed this puzzle, and never quite felt stuck, although the SW, fittingly for me, was the main bottleneck.
Jerk/Hitch? OK…. Live and learn. Worked through every flying thing I could think of but missed Gnat until the checkers helped me out. GUV was nearly too clever for me. Thanks Cheeko, and Galspray.
The SW of England is wreaking its revenge on Easter holidaymakers by raining vigorously and incessantly after weeks of drought. Well, we need it even if they don’t. In sadder news, Argyle’s late loss yesterday seems to doom them to relegation. Makes all the travails of the QC seem insignificant in comparison.
😥 You’ll have to will them to come right back up next season.
22:05 for the solve. Like our esteemed blogger Galspray – took me about 50% longer than usual. Actually that 50% was from having to trawl to the INVITE/OVERHAUL pairing.
Given the standard for the QC is clueing isn’t as difficult as the 15×15 then I’m not sure what happened with TIT-FOR-TAT (put an abbreviation and synonym into the alternating letters of another word), GUV (middle letters of two words and then reverse it), INVITE (charade of clueword + initial of a clueword into a shortened obscure synonym).
No parkrun today as wet and windy so will do a run from home.
Thanks to Galspray and Cheeko (whose potential is great but still not feeling quick)
6:34 so a little on the harder side. Held up by trying to make DRAWL work for 20A. LOI INVITE. I liked the matching reversals. Thanks Cheeko and Galspray.
From AMBIT to GUV in 8:39. I put GOV in then read the clue fortunately! PORT TALBOT is one of our towns that no longer make virgin steel. I noticed TUBA/ABUT, but missed REVILED/DELIVER. Thanks Cheeko and Galspray.
I also put in GOV intending to then check the parsing but as this was my LOI the Times Puzzle flashed up ‘unlucky,’ Worked out that it must be GUV but felt annoyed at the technical DNF and awarded myself a finish.
In future I’ll use the pencil option for the last letter.
I take out a letter from a nearby answer when I’m stumped on my LOI.
It was a clue that I probably spent a good 30secs unravelling whether to put O or U. I’d guess that was Cheeko’s intention given that Hugo has both.
Good tip thanks.
DNF, the SW corner proving beyond me. And after “trudging through sand”, as Galspray so aptly describes it, for 20-odd minutes to get that far with more than one BTP (biff then parse) on the way, the incentive to continue battling on was sadly missing. By then I had guessed UNHITCH, never seeing hitch = jerk, failed to see the Welsh town, guessed GUV (not often one is stuck on a 3 letter word with 2 checkers!) and had a MER at REHASH, not very close to hackneyed IMO.
I am happy to accept there is room for the occasional real toughie, but I do also have sympathy with George C’s and Blighter’s comments! Many thanks Galspray for the blog, and very glad this one was not on my watch.
For me, modern cinema is full of “hackneyed output” just rehashing the same stories over and over again. Prime example – Disney remaking their much loved cartoons with live action versions.
It’s funny that although this puzzle has the highest SNITCH score of the week it was my second fastest time at just under 39 minutes. It just shows how variable we are. Sometimes it just takes a lucky spot or two to make all the difference.
I had a slight MER at DISPUTED for ‘question’ until Galspray pointed out the definition was ‘in question.’ Should have known better.
Thanks Cheeko and Galspay. Enjoyed the blog too.
Way beyond me, gave up less than half complete. Several MERs at the answers as mentioned by others. Schoolboy joke is that Quantum Physics is Bohring. (its not its fascinating). If you really want your brain to pop check out the double-slit experiment in wikipedia.
There is a great explanation of that in the book how to teach quantum physics to your dog.
My colleague and I were YouTubing the double slit just this week funnily enough. I love that stuff even though it’s way beyond my ken. Makes you wonder how far we are from really understanding the reality we exist in. And does it matter?
What is matter? – never mind. What is mind? – it doesn’t matter.
Beat me to it 🙂
Our ability to decode streams of electromagnetic waves that enter our eyes and pressure waves that enter our ears in real time (if there is such a thing) is mind boggling.
There’s the question!
If you ever think you’ve got the hang of it, I have a cat to sell you. . .
Dead or alive? Not both, surely?
I hesitated when I saw the setter was Cheeko, but the previous scars are healing nicely so I set off, albeit more in hope than expectation. Ambit and Abut were early markers of what was to come, but Bohr was a write-in for this physicist, and so was Tit For Tat. The rest of the grid, not so much.
Twang, Overhaul, Dogs Dinner (🙄) and loi Ulster(!) were all a bit of a struggle, and I couldn’t parse Guv even though I was fairly sure it was correct. I really must remember that essential refers to the middle bits. Just north of 40mins in total (so about par for Cheeko), with CoD to 3d, Tit for Tat. Invariant
DNF NHO ULSTER the coat, and LUSTER isn’t really a word. I saw what was going on and assumed there would be a NHO, but not two. I went with SLATER, a grey coat with thick padding originally worn by roof tilers, and SALTER, another word for a flasher.
Also made a mess of MEMOS, getting confused with SEMIS, MINIM, MO, MIN. Went with MIMES, but MEMES was second choice.
FOI BOHR, pleased to see that one straight off.
And this after 25 mins.
Can anyone give me an explanation for how ABOUT = NEARLY?
All but ULSTER in in 20 mins, at 29 mins i used an aide to get it. Hard
Is the meat about/nearly done yet ?
Okay maybe. I still feel like about = more or less whereas Nearly strictly on the less than side
Agreed, but an overlap is all the setter needs.
If I’m being really pedantic I’d say NEARLY is a DBE of ABOUT and should be indicated as such but I think I’ll take my medicine on this one
DNF LOI ABUT – revealed then cursed as it was very doable, just hadn’t considered border as a verb 🙄 Several biffed then parsed. Took a very long time to see ULSTER, not a coat I’m especially familiar with. Liked VIM but COD to GUV for the misdirection. Nice one Cheeko, and many thanks galspray.
16.54 That did feel hard. GUV, MEMOS and ULSTER took a while. OVERHAUL and INVITE were the last two. Thanks galspray and Cheeko.
PLease can someone confirm whether this is actually in the paper edition. If so, where? Thanks
I don’t think it is – when the Saturday QC was introduced it was advertised as online only.
18:18 Some very tricky to parse but got there in the end. I was puzzled by “VILE” in REVILED until Galspray explained to me it was rather EVIL that was enclosed! In the movie The Trip Rob Brydon proudly points out that he, Richard Burton, Anthony Hopkins, and Michael Sheen are all Port Talbot natives.
The Movie? Blimey – I sat through 2 or 3 series of him and Partridge doing impressions of Michael Caine et al 🤣
Yes, besides the original movie set in England there are”Trips” to Italy, Spain and Greece. Brydon’s fellow-traveller/ sparring partner is Steve Coogan- better known to you as Alan Partridge!
I must admit they are quite enjoyable. Think the BBC only had rights to UK and Italy so those are the ones I’ve seen. I might have read recently there is another in the pipeline.
Coogan is indeed the name that wouldn’t spring to mind when I was writing my comment. Fifteen mins later out on my walk, it tripped straight off my tongue.
That’s a regular occurrence for me at my age!
It’s been a slowish week but we didn’t do too badly at 13:38 given the Quitch and comments from others. Worried about DISCREET / DISCRETE before convincing ourselves that the meaning required DISCREET – and then finding that AT REST wouldn’t work. Can’t guarantee that I’ll get it right the next time! Wasn’t sure either about hitch / JERK but BOHR was well known enough to provide support. COD GUV amongst a number of good ones. Thanks, Cheeko and galspray.
Thanks
Another DNF disaster, though I did get ULSTER.
NHO BOHR. DOGS DINNER made me smile, a bit, once revealed.
Way in the wrong direction re AMBIT and many others.
Thanks, Galspray.
I think I have failed to solve (or made very heavy weather of) every Cheeko puzzle to date and today’s was no exception. A 3-clue DNF, despite spending more than an hour on it. INVITE, OVERHAUL and the NHO coat (ULSTER) remained unsolved when I gave up the struggle.
Does OVER really mean along?
Is LUSTER actually a word?
I have decided not to attempt any more of Cheeko’s offerings, at least until I read here that he/she produces three relatively straightforward QCs in a row.
Many thanks to Galspray.
I wasn’t particularly happy with OVER=ALONG but I suspect those more qualified will give you a sentence where you drive your car over/along the road or some such.
You’ve reminded me that I found it a bit dodgy too. ‘Over / along’ is listed in Chamber’s Crossword Dictionary but I can’t think of an example where they mean exactly the same.
Gemini came up with this but I note that neither example works as a direct substitution:
Figuratively both can sometimes be used figuratively to describe a course or progression.
“The project developed along certain lines.” (Following a particular direction or course.)
“The discussion went over similar ground.” (Covering or moving through similar topics.)
Tricksy! an entertaining almost-solve (careless American GOV) in 21:27. Of course I didn’t see ABUT/TUBA, DELIVER/REVILED until I was done and went back to try to parse ABUT. I forgot about “over” for O. FOI AMBIT, and knew I was in for an interesting time immediately. Enjoyed BOHR (COD), ULSTER (partly because for the first time in my encounters with this device I saw immediately how the clue worked), and DISPUTED.
Thanks Cheeko and galspray.
Oof, well beaten today with the SW corner remaining almost empty after 45 minutes. Ah well, there’s always Monday.
Thanks to Cheeko & Galspray for much-needed explanations.
13:03
Very unconvinced by HITCH = jerk, but it had to be once I’d finally remembered BOHR. Think if his winning category (physics) had been mentioned, I’d have got there far, far sooner
Thanks Galspray and Cheeko
Double-ish my average, but I have more time and more brainpower at the weekend so I enjoyed it. OVERHAUL, ULSTER and DOG’S DINNER all came very close to beating me, but I persevered longer than I normally would.
Thank you for the blog!
DNF. Managed about two thirds. Not on the wavelength at all. Too hard for a QC.
I agree! I hope the difficulty level can be more consistent for QCs. I don’t mind a challenge but completed yesterday with no real trouble, got about 25% through today.
Stinker. Coo-err. I thought it was just me being knackered after a 12 mile slog through the Argyll hills but no, proper stinker.
Hitch/jerk 🙄, couldn’t parse INVITE (cheers gallers), AMBIT/ABUT were tough. ULSTER known from Conan Doyle. GUV was brilliant, COD from me.
Crawled home in 12:47 but still made the top 100! Thanks for the education Cheeko and gallers.
Dnf…
Just not on it and had loads of empty answers. You could say I made a 10ac of the whole thing. Definitely a few I had never heard of, like the “Ulster” coat.
One to forget for me I think.
FOI – 4ac “Reviled”
LOI – Dnf
COD – 22ac “Trudeau”
Thanks as usual!
Saved this for a Sunday lunch solve and its taken about an hour to complete. Very slow start, but persevered and the tricky but fair clues began to unlock.
FOI Port Talbot
LOI Dogs dinner (and largest groan at pdm).
Thanks to all