Good morning, and for the second fortnight running I am blogging a puzzle by Hurley, my fifth from his pen and definitely a setter whose puzzles I enjoy both solving and blogging on. 8:22 today, so again perhaps towards the easier end of his range.
There is nothing I think that should cause too much upset; all the words are in common enough use and the wordplays should all be in most QC-solvers’ canon. I said a fortnight ago when blogging QC no. 3027 that Hurley had given us a very nice example of the QC-setter’s art, and I would say he has done so again.
How did everyone else get on?
Definitions underlined in bold italics, (abc)* indicates an anagram of abc, and strike-through-text shows deletions.
| Across | |
| 1 | Home, well-behaved? Something believed sincerely (2,4,5) |
| IN GOOD FAITH – IN (home) + GOOD (well-behaved) + FAITH (something believed). A slightly unusual IKEA clue to start us off, with each component giving a discrete word of the answer. | |
| 8 | Feature of parachute drop starts to cause regular injuries unfortunately (3,4) |
| RIP CORD – (drop + c r i)*, the anagram indicator being “unfortunately” and the anagrist being completed by the first letters of (“starts to”) Cause Regular Injuries. I biffed this and only later saw how the wordplay worked. | |
| 9 | Wife is extremely eager, extra shrewd (5) |
| WISER – W (wife) + IS (from the clue) + ER (extremely, ie first and last letters of, EageR). | |
| 10 | Was a fan of fantastic Reds up top (9) |
| SUPPORTED – (reds up top)*, the anagram indicator being “fantastic”. I biffed this carelessly and put in Supporter to start with, and only corrected it when it made 11D impossible. | |
| 12 | Greek character’s quiet greeting (3) |
| PHI – P (musical indicator of quiet or quietly) + HI (greeting). | |
| 13 | Believer’s arithmetic calculation recalled little interesting maths to begin with (6) |
| MUSLIM – MUS (sum, ie arithmetic calculation, reversed, given by “recalled”) + LIM (initial letters of Little Interesting Maths, given by “to begin with”). | |
| 15 | Secure gold in vehicle (6) |
| LANDAU – LAND (secure, as in “land the contract”) + AU (chemical symbol for gold).
Landau is one of those words that often appears in crosswords, and I am familiar with it without ever knowing anything more about the carriage behind the name. So I looked it up, and to save anyone who is in the same position as me having also to do so, a Landau is a four-wheeled luxury horse-drawn carriage with a removable cover. This and its low body-shell provided maximum visibility of the occupants, a feature that made it a popular choice for the nobility at ceremonial occasions. Landaus were first made in the 1740s in the German city of Landau, from where they get both their name and their standard pronunciation, which is usually Land-ow to rhyme with Hand-cow. Though English being what it is, there is evidence for Land-oh, Land-or and probably others as well. Who would be a non-native trying to learn the language! |
|
| 17 | Money, two notes (3) |
| TIN – TI (a note in the sol-fa scale) + N (abbreviation for note).
A very neat surface, playing on banknotes. Though it probably works less well in those countries which call their folding money bills. |
|
| 18 | Believer in God accepts blame for counsellor (9) |
| THERAPIST – THEIST (believer in God) containing (ie “accepting”) RAP (blame). | |
| 20 | Nothing held back wicked girl (5) |
| OLIVE – O (nothing) + LIVE (evil, ie wicked, reversed, ie “held back”). | |
| 22 | NE Irish broadcast shedding more light? (7) |
| SHINIER – (ne irish)*, with the anagram indicator being “broadcast”. | |
| 23 | Providing strong protection lest pet deal unravels (5-6) |
| STEEL-PLATED – (lest pet deal)*, with the anagram indicator being “unravels”. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Expecting popular pupils? Half missing! (2,3) |
| IN PUP – IN (popular) + PUP (half of the word pupils, with the other half missing). | |
| 2 | Expert in soil — go get changed (9) |
| GEOLOGIST – (soil go get)*, with the anagram indicator being “changed”.
Or the definition could be “Expert in soil”, which a Geologist is, even though one perhaps more commonly thinks of them as specialising in rocks etc. But since the word soil is part of the anagrist, that would mean it is doing double duty. I’m never entirely sure if that is allowed, permitted but frowned upon or outright forbidden. Either way, what Hurley wants as the answer is clear, and whichever way you go for the definition is probably “umpire’s call”. |
|
| 3 | Working in relation to tax (2,4) |
| ON DUTY – ON (in relation to) + DUTY (tax).
On is an extremely busy little word – Collins has 47 entries for it. Confusingly, in Crosswordland On is often used as a direct synonym of Working, and this misled me at first as I looked at the clue and thought “Working = ON, but where’s the definition?”. In fact Working is the definition and ON comes from the wordplay, as in “A comment on the latest news / A comment in relation to the latest news”. I’m sure others can think of better examples still. |
|
| 4 | As you say, gosh, not many here! (3) |
| FEW – A DD, with the first being a homophone of PHEW (gosh) and the second being “not many”. | |
| 5 | Initially irritated, rising uproar about drink, tasteless (7) |
| INSIPID – I (initially, ie first letter of, Irritated) + NID (din, or uproar, reversed, ie “rising”) surrounding (ie “about”) SIP (drink). | |
| 6 | New court rule hit garden business (12) |
| HORTICULTURE – (court rule hit)*, with the anagram indicator being “new”. | |
| 7 | Bold porter regularly displaying extravagance (12) |
| PRESUMPTUOUS – PRE (every other letter of PoRtEr, given by “regularly”) + SUMPTUOUS (displaying extravagance). | |
| 11 | Small drink at first for writer (9) |
| DRAMATIST – DRAM (small drink) + AT (from the clue) + IST (first, ie 1st) | |
| 14 | Newspaper pay increase — everyday event? (7) |
| SUNRISE – SUN (newspaper) + RISE (pay increase). And the sun does indeed rise every day for most of us, though for people who are north of the Arctic Circle or south of the Antarctic Circle, there will be days each winter when it doesn’t. | |
| 16 | Leaves Selby carrying vase maybe (6) |
| VESSEL – A hidden, in leaVES SELby, with the hidden indicator being “carrying”. A DBE, as a vase is an example of a vessel. | |
| 19 | Island fellow penning one poem (5) |
| ILIAD – I (abbreviation for island) + LAD (fellow) containing (ie “penning”) I (one).
A clever surface, because as well as meaning “containing”, penning can also be used for “writing”, and “penning one poem” leads one to think of someone writing a poem. |
|
| 21 | Untrustworthy person in shelter after revolution (3) |
| EEL – LEE (shelter) reversed (“after revolution”). Eel as in “a slippery customer”, and if you have ever tried to pick up a live eel they are indeed very slippery. | |
I biffed PRESUMPTUOUS & RIP CORD. Took me a while, as usual, before I saw the hidden VESSEL. 7:46
I was convinced the vase would be ‘urn’ in 16d VESSEL and wondered who Selby was before seeing the hidden. Liked THERAPIST and was surprised I immediately saw ‘theist’ for believer in God, not being very that way inclined. I thought it was unusual to see ‘fellow’ clued for lad in ILIAD but I guess it fits. Same thought for ‘on’ in 3d ON DUTY but not really held up by it. Good to know I’ve been pronouncing LANDAU correctly all these years, thanks for the extra info. DRAMATIST was my only hold-up but once the checkers were in I saw it and gets my COD.
Thanks Cedric and setter.
7:03, I found it tough. Funny you say that all the words are in common enough use, but this was the QC that has caused me the most lexical difficulty in recent memory. NHO LANDAU or IN PUP. Thanks for the Landau explanation. TIN on the very edge of my ken, as never seen it in the wild.
Everything went in smoothly enough apart from TIN which I’ve never heard of as a word for money. RIPCORD was a biff.
Pi ❤️
I always remember it from the Camptown Races (“I come down here with my hat caved in, Doo-dah! doo-dah! I go back home with a pocket full of tin, Oh, doo-dah day!”).
That is memorable. Thanks.
These hot nights are not conducive to sleep so tackled this early before heading off to roast at Lord’s. Not a horse-frightener, but not packed with gimmes either.
I needed almost all checkers for PRESUMPTUOUS, and needed RIP CORD to get the second words of both IN PUP and ON DUTY (COD). Good to see LANDAU and TIN making an appearance; harrumphing will ensue! MUSLIM, FEW and ILIAD all very good.
Got home in 08:04 for a Decent Day. Many thanks Hurley and Cedric.
11:16, but it turns out I spelled Sumptuous “sumptious”.
I agree that TIN is never heard in the wild, although it features regularly in crosswords.
Liked THERAPIST.
10 minutes, which surprised me as I felt I was a bit slow and expected to find more on the clock when I finished.
Since LANDAU is a German word there’s only one possible way to pronounce it. Unlike the English, the Germans have strict rules about such things.
I had TEN rather than TIN which I think works just fine
10:06
I really thought about TEN but it doesn’t work because the note is TI not TE. Also, I think for money it would have to be TENNER instead.
There is actually quite a lot of variance in the spelling of the notes. I’ve seen all of these used:
MI or ME
FA or FAH
SO or SOL or SOH
TI or TE
Fortunately I didn’t think of TEN!
I’ve seen TE many times and “I’ll give you two fives for a ten”
“Te” can be used as a note – although you would expect it to be a Tenner if referring to money.
Plain sailing until having a brainfreeze with my LOI where I looked at M _ S _ I _ and the only word I could come up with was ‘mystic’ which was clearly wrong. Eventually common sense prevailed …
Crossed the line in 7.35.
Thanks to Cedric and Hurley
12 minutes. Generally slow without many specific problems. Yes, TIN for ‘money’ is one of those crosswordy words which you rarely see; thanks to Templar for the “Camptown Races” example. I didn’t bother to parse ON DUTY properly, falling for the ON for ‘Working’ trap.
I agree that the ‘Expert in soil’ in 2d is there to mislead, with the def just being ‘Expert’, but I looked it up anyway. Lo and behold there is a name for a soil scientist, who is known as a pedologist (UK & US spelling); I think that would be too much for a QC!
Thanks to Cedric and Hurley
Neither fast or slow but no time as interrupted. Readily alerted to TIN from xword usage but no idea of its origin.
Couldn’t parse RIPCORD, thanks Cedric.
Also fell into the mystic/Muslim rabbit hole before seeing the light.
Thanks Hurley.
Another Presumptious here. It’s harder to spot spelling errors on a down clue – at least that’s my excuse. Otherwise all finished in 22:15.
COD DRAMATIST. Probably a chestnut but I enjoyed it.
Thanks Hurley, and Cedric for the informative blog.
Started off super fast, finished super slow (NHO TIN, veeery slow with no excuse for MUSLIM and DUTY – also held ourselves up with careless supporter in lieu of SUPPORTED).
Enjoyed the puzzle and the blog! Thank you Hurley and Mr CS.
19:34 my brain was most definitely not on duty. Half-parsed that working=on, then spent ages trying to think of a four letter word starting with d meaning ‘in relation to’ and a phrase meaning ‘to tax’ starting with on…. on debt….on deal…on dues… on reflection I should have solved the ‘red up tops’ anagram sooner. That little minx Olive also held me up although I’ve had the measure of her before. All very fair and apart from the aforementioned tin Landau (again common in crossword land and didn’t Charles take Emmanuel for a ride in one this week) nothing out of the ordinary.
Thanks C&H
10 which is now satisfactory rather than good
I thought in pup was pushing it for expecting. Never heard that from either dog breeders or politically archaic expectant fathers.
Probably could have got a few more with a bit more head scratching.
5:03. Held up only by the parsing of RIP CORD. A great clue. LOI TIN. I think the definition at 2D has to be “expert” to avoid “in” and “soil” doing double duty. Clever of Hurley to get the surface to include “expert in soil”, but I don’t think the entire surface bears too much scrutiny. Thanks Hurley and Cedric.
Not sure about TIN or EEL (both biffed), as was RIP CORD. Otherwise a fairly steady solve, with getting PRESUMPTUOUS helpful!
Been on holiday this week, so treated myself to buying the newspaper each day to have a go at the puzzles, mainly the quick cryptic. Got Saturdays, and didn’t realise they don’t print it in the newspaper so had to do it on my phone, and for some reason my mind doesn’t work as well when it’s on my phone 😆 Managed to complete the puzzle, in 63 minutes, but some answers, such as SHINIER I think I’d if got quicker if doing it on paper. That’s my excuse at least 😆 Thank you for the blog 😁
Enjoyable QC. Only held up by not looking at the clue properly, eg did not at first notice STEEL PLATED was two words.
Luckily remembered TIN from previous puzzles.
FOsI 1a 1d a good start.
Liked DRAMATIST, SUNRISE, FEW, ILIAD, among others.
Thanks vm, Cedric. Interesting about LANDAU, used mainly by royals these days. At least that’s how I know the word.
8,39 but with PRESUMPTIOUS, as I’d pencilled in TIOUS from crossers before solving the whole clue, and didn’t type far enough to overwrite the I. Drat! Thanks Hurley and Cedric.
DNF
NHO TIN for money and thought the note was spelt te so put ten. Dissapointing as otherwise pretty straightforward. Oh, apart from LANDAU which was only vaguely remembered.
I found this one of Hurley’s tougher offerings, and eventually biffed my LOI, parsing it quickly afterwards.
TIN for money has practically died out, and needs sending to the rest home, alongside “it” and “SA” in a sexual context, and that bloody educational establishment in Berkshire.
Thanks Hurley, and Cedric for the usual high quality blog.
FOI SUPPORTED*
LOI RIP CORD
COD THERAPIST
TIME 5:15
* My team play in red (stripes actually) and I shall shortly be making a 15 mile journey to Warrington where we start our pre-season friendlies. Much depends on whether we’ve managed to recruit an experienced goalkeeper.
At the time of writing there is at least a 34% error rate on the leaderboard. “Presumptious”? “Ten”? Or just typos?
10:41
Another example of TIN outside crosswords comes from the chorus of the folk song “all for me grog”
Well it’s all for me grog, me jolly jolly grog,
It’s all for me beer and tobacco.
For I spent all me tin with the lassies drinking gin,
Far across the western ocean I must wander.
LOI was ON DUTY, having fallen into the same trap as others of thinking “working” just meant ON.
Thanks Cedric and Hurley
Dnf…
Two errors: I put “Ten” for 17ac, which I concede doesn’t really work in relation to money, and I can’t spell Presumptuous. Other than that, an enjoyable Saturday crossword.
When I was at University, I had a friend who studied Geology and we would often joke they were studying mud and stuff.
FOI – 4dn “Few”
LOI – 21dn “Eel”
COD – 2dn “Geologist”
Thanks as usual!
Same as but put Ton for money which doesn’t work either. I had a 1/5 chance of getting it right!
Apart from those two errors a very enjoyable solve in about 30 minutes.
11:00 minutes but alas another person who couldn’t spell SUMPTUOUS
Thanks Cedric for blog.
8:40. Pleasant challenge( always pleasant when everything comes out)!
7.19 When I drew a blank on 1a and the first three downs I started to worry but the rest was straightforward. I’ve made the “sumptious” mistake more than once so I was pleased to avoid it this time. IN PUP was new. Thanks Cedric and Hurley.
The usually friendly Hurley had me all tied up in knots. I got the wrong end of the clue for 7d PRESUMPTUOUS and hung on like a pit bull for quite a few minutes, taking 20:33 to finish. Otherwise indeed entertaining without being frustrating, and I especially enjoyed TIN, THERAPIST, GEOLOGIST and SUNRISE.
Thanks to Hurley for good setting and to Cedric for good blogging.
Since I hate it when regular commenters simply disappear, I’ll add that intense work will take me away from the QC for a week or more. Will miss you all.
Don’t work too hard!
👋
I started fairly well and was making good progress until I ventured into the bottom half of the grid. There followed a (mercifully) relatively brief version of my customary brain-freeze-despite-still-having-lots-of-clues-to-work-on, which was thawed by solving PRESUMPTUOUS. This one clue gave me four more starting letters and the means to complete the rest of the grid.
Time = 26 minutes, which is quite good for me.
Many thanks to Cedric and Hurley.
I got muddled with Rip Cord, Presumptuous and On Duty. Reasonable QC still.
Thanks to Hurley and Cedric Statherby.
Fairly straightforward I thought apart from the Green Paint at 23a Steel Plate. I’ve added steel plate to Cheating Machine, but rather against my instincts.
I too biffed the ripcord at 8a.
I also agree that a 2d Geologist is about rocks not soil, but as the def is “expert” then OK if a bit weak.
14d Sunrise. Nice to see the Times sister organ get a mensch.
The answer at 23ac is STEEL-PLATED which is perfectly legitimate according to Collins, Chambers and the Premium Oxford online. Chambers is alone in also listing ‘steel plate’ (no hyphen) so I think the case for that being Green Paint would be stronger were it to appear as an answer.
Interesting! My researches were much less in depth – just a look at Wiktionary (which I find has alot of phrases in, and hasn’t missed one in quite a while.) It has armour plated though, which isn’t at all green paint-ish.
Yes, armour-plated is common enough, and gold-plated of course which can have figurative meanings too (gold-plated pension, for example). We recently had it confirmed that the three source dictionaries for Times puzzles are Collins, Chambers and the Concise Oxford, although the last of these hasn’t been updated in more than a decade so I suspect they more likely use the online Premium Oxford English which is updated regularly. Of these only Collins is available free online and carries a great selection of phrases in addition to individual words. I would suggest you make it your first port of call for anything you want to look up, and if you don’t find something you can expand your search elsewhere. The Premium Oxford is excellent too if you feel like paying the modest annual fee of £16.66.
Many thanks jackkt!
14:16. Never managed to parse RIP CORD, so thanks to Cedric for that. LOI TIN, dredged up as being “money” in the Flashman books.
Thanks to Hurley and Cedric.
6.09 WOE
Another one.
Thought of TEN but rejected it. After seeing the comments above I’m more inclined to think it borders on a double answer.
Nice puzzle and an excellent blog from CS as always
An eel isn’t a person
The usual nightmare. I’m tying myself in knots (or perhaps I’m just incapable of doing it). Don’t know how to improve or where to go for help with this. It’s no fun being so bad after 4+ years of trying. No-one labours as long as me on cryptics for such little return. I’m an imposter.
For me crossword solving is half rigid formulaic thinking and half artistic intuition and as such requires engagement of both left and right hemispheres. Perhaps you’re overthinking with one side of your brain?
Have you read the novel “Pretty Girl in Crimson Rose” a memoir by Sandy Balfour? It’s a fun read and explores the workings of some common cryptic devices with an added emotional context.
Thanks TC. I appreciate you taking the time to comment.
I haven’t read that memoir but will seek it out.
👍
4d if the first part is a homophone, how is it also a definition?
6:30
A catch-up day today. Found this quite gentle with pauses only to consider the correct spelling of PRE SUMPTUOUS, and to determine that the scientist was not an ECOLOGIST. Camptown Races fixed in my head for the day, so thanks for that.
Thanks for the interesting and illuminating blog, Cedric, and for the puzzle, Hurley.