Solving time: 5:19
Hopefully, you didn’t find this puzzle too troubling – to me, it appeared to be of the ‘fairly gentle’ variety. My only issues were the spelling of 20a (DAEMONIC, DEMONAIC or DEMONIAC – luckily, the crossing words were all very helpful in confirming the correct configuration of letters), and some uncertainty over the existence of 1d – I had not heard this term before, but again, checking letters guided me to the right answer.
What did you make of it?
Definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [directions in square ones]. I have also adopted jackkt’s use of the tilde sign ~ to indicate an insertion point in containment clues.
| Across | |
| 1 | Choose the French preserves to have with meals (7) |
| PICKLES – PICK (Choose) LES (‘the’ in French i.e. plural definite article) | |
| 5 | Fellow in short section of book (4) |
| CHAP – CHAP{ter} (section of book) curtailed [short] | |
| 7 | Bedlam when odd characters get lost in wood (3) |
| ELM – Remove odd characters from |
|
| 8 | A squire frenziedly crossing river hunted animals (8) |
| QUARRIES – Anagram [frenziedly] of A SQUIRE containing [crossing] R (river) | |
| 10 | Jolly good supporter, very old (5) |
| BRAVO – BRA (supporter) V (very) O (old) | |
| 11 | Crucial point editor put about alcoholic drink (7) |
| DECIDER – ED (editor) reversed [put about], then CIDER (alcoholic drink)
I had sport in mind when thinking about ‘Crucial point’ e.g. in a tennis tie-breaker, or a soccer penalty shoot-out. |
|
| 13 | Understand fool (4,2) |
| TAKE IN – Double definition | |
| 15 | Sign he’s not found in Roget’s reference book? (6) |
| TAURUS – T{hes}AURUS (Roget’s reference book) without HE’S | |
| 17 | Illegal players? They know the ropes (7) |
| RINGERS – The second part of the clue alludes to bell RINGERS who will be familiar with bell ropes.
As for ‘Illegal players?’, in 16th century criminal slang, the practice of substituting items of wildly differing values was known as ringing the changes (a phrase derived from campanology) and those who practised this con were known as RINGERS. The term ringer also turned up in 19th century horseracing where, as well as referencing the conman fraudulently substituting a slow horse with a faster horse, the term also came to mean the substitute horse itself. The term dead ringer (with dead meaning ‘exact’), when the two horses looked identical, may also come from this source. Fast forward to the present day, where a ringer means a secret professional, or someone posing as an underdog but who actually dominates. I used to come across the occasional ringer in my cricketing days when a friendly fixture might become distinctly unfriendly if a ‘cousin’ of a member of the opposing team, making up the numbers, went in as a tailender and knocked off a quick half-century… |
|
| 18 | Sarah’s leading a dance (5) |
| SALSA – SAL‘S (diminutive of Sarah’s) ahead of [leading] A | |
| 20 | Dreadful comedian is possessed by the devil? (8) |
| DEMONIAC – Anagram [Dreadful] of COMEDIAN | |
| 22 | Some strange episode? Gosh! (3) |
| GEE – Hidden [Some] in strange episode | |
| 23 | Try turning creatures of the night back (4) |
| STAB – BATS (creatures of the night) reversed [turning….. or back]
Not sure why there are two reversal indicators here other than for surface reading |
|
| 24 | Setter atingle with excitement (7) |
| GELATIN – Anagram [with excitement] of ATINGLE | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Elders of church arranging best prayers — ace output! (10) |
| PRESBYTERS – Anagram [arranging] of BEST PR |
|
| 2 | Mark and maiden in state of unconsciousness (5) |
| COMMA – M (maiden – the abbreviation comes from the world of cricket) inserted into CO~MA (state of unconsciousness)
The tilde ~ suggests where to insert the M, but could also be inserted at COM~A |
|
| 3 | Something alcoholic, something very cold and sweet (9) |
| LIQUORICE – LIQUOR (Something alcoholic) ICE (something very cold) | |
| 4 | Tolerates provision for spectators at matches (6) |
| STANDS – Double definition
As for the second definition, they are still called STANDS, even though fans have been sitting down for years. The term STAND in this sense, originated in the 15th century, when elaborate structures were built for spectators at tournaments and jousts. These STANDS were usually made of wood and could accommodate a large number of people. Over time, the term came to be used for similar structures at other events, such as races, sports matches, and theatrical performances. |
|
| 5 | Vehicle is endless worry (3) |
| CAR – CAR{e} (worry) without its final letter [endless] | |
| 6 | Word of prayer associated with the German reformer? (7) |
| AMENDER – AMEN (Word of prayer) DER (“the” in German – masculine singular definite article) | |
| 9 | Maybe crab and tuna, scarce at sea (10) |
| CRUSTACEAN – Anagram [at sea] of TUNA SCARCE | |
| 12 | Conservative girl I term “mostly traditional”? (9) |
| CLASSICAL – C (Conservative) LASS (girl) I CAL{l} (term) with the final letter removed [mostly]
Today’s IKEA clue, where the quotation marks should not prevent you seeing the need to lift and separate… |
|
| 14 | Most compassionate type, English saint (7) |
| KINDEST – KIND (type) E (English) ST (saint) | |
| 16 | Making request in the role of monarch (6) |
| ASKING – AS KING (in the role of monarch) | |
| 19 | Torch, say, not hard to carry (5) |
| LIGHT – Double definition | |
| 21 | Part of regalia held by senior bishop (3) |
| ORB – Hidden [held by] in senior bishop | |
11:23, not too bad
COD GELATIN for “setter”, very clever, good misdirection.
Foxed a bit by the unlikely spelling of DEMONIAC, and tried DIABOLIC.
Sarah=Sal comes up from time to time in puzzles. The only Sal’s I know are short for Sally. Knew Presbyters, but would be pushed to spell it. From the Greek for “old man”, (πρεσβύτερος ) and same root as the much better known Presbyterian.
Is an AMENDER really a word? Perhaps it’s one of those odd trades in Chaucer, like summoner.
So far as I know, AMENDER only means ‘person or thing that amends’, and means that by virtue of the same derivational rule that gives us teacher, reader, etc. But that’s enough; it doesn’t need its own entry in a dictionary to qualify as a word.
That’s my understanding of the definition too, and AMENDER is listed in all the usual sources so there no worry on that account.
On the validity or otherwise of agent nouns (derived from verbs by adding -ER) the adjudicator on the TV gameshow Countdown who works as a lexicographer at Oxford Dictionaries disallows agent nouns submitted by contestants if not specifically listed in the ODE. This has always struck me as odd, especially considering the ODE is more restrictive than other dictionaries on the agent nouns it chooses to include. There’s a similar rule on comparative and superlative versions of adjectives.
Also the same root as presbyopia, which many of us know about…..
My other half had a friend whose name was Sarah but she was always known as “Sally”. My research indicates this is quite usual: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally_(name)
I didn’t notice the turning/back problem; ‘back’ is unnecessary, but as Mike says. I took some time over RINGERS (LOI), taking ‘illegal’ too strictly. 6:19
I’m still quite new to this but isnt the reversal indicator the commonly used phrasal verb ‘turning back’, despite being split by the rest of the clue?
As well as making the surface reading more smooth, if the word “back” at the end of the clue, therefore connected only to “creatures of the night” and definitely NOT connected to “try”, is missing, the clue could be ambiguous as either could be reversed, and either could provide the definition.
In a QC, I think I’ve noticed this before, the reversal indicator is always unambiguously connected to one or the other. In the 15×15 I’ve noticed (I don’t keep records though, so I can’t back this up with an example), that sometimes the reversal indicator could apply to either, and you therefore have to wait for checkers before you can write it in.
So i think the reversal indicator is “turning…back”, both of them together. Sidenote – is this a split infinitive? I’ve never quite understood…
I didn’t finish — couldn’t find RINGERS. My first guess was RUNNERS, but I couldn’t see how that worked for the second meaning. And then I thought RINGERS perhaps but couldn’t quite get the first meaning and the second was a stretch.
Given how long your blog entry was for that clue, I feel justified in finding that one a bit of a dud.
I started with RUNNERS, too, as in gun- or rum-, but dropped it for the same reason.
I started with RIGGERS but was corrected by KINDEST.
4:26. Held up slightly by DEMONIAC, RINGERS and PRESBYTERS.
Like Merlin, NHO ‘Sal’ for Sarah. I also appreciated the long RINGERS explanation. The word I would think of for that is ‘hustler’ – although we did have CARDSHARP recently in the 15×15, which might be used as a synonym, I suppose. Or indeed CARDSHARK, which Wiktionary tells me is an eggcorn of the former. (Eggcorns being misheard versions of words which then become established in their own right, like ‘pacifically’ for ‘specifically’.)
Thank you Mike and setter.
Re STAB, “turning…back” seems to me one reversal indicator. “Turning” alone needn’t necessarily mean a reversal, though it can. In any case, this is clear.
Likewise, DEMONIC and RINGERS held me up a little and AMENDER went in with crossed fingers.
5:07. Knew RINGER, though we call it a ring-in in Australia. The most celebrated example being the Fine Cotton affair in the 1980s which involved a ring-in at a Brisbane race meeting. There were suspicions over the betting activity, but the jig was finally up when the horses returned to scale. The crowd became restless as the white paint that was used to disguise the ring-in’s legs (I’m not making this up) began to melt in the Queensland winter sun.
Good puzzle today. Needed all the checkers for DEMONIAC and PRESBYTERS. Thanks Mike and Izetti.
Great story!
10 minutes. DEMONIAC took the most time as I don’t recall meeting it before, however it has made three previous appearances here in the regular format puzzles, on one occasion also clued as an anagram of COMEDIAN. Its last outing was in 2016.
6.25, with a bit of puzzling over RINGER and DEMONIAC at the end. Also DNK the Sarah/Sally thing. In Oz there is an ABC radio announcer named Sally Sara, whose name would now appear to be a tautology. Thanks Izetti and Mike.
PS: Today’s 15×15 is quite approachable.
10.08. My fastest time ever. Usually average around 20+ mins. I’ve come across plenty of “ringers” in work rugby and cricket matches, so that was a write in for me. Thanks Izetti and Mike.
You get RINGERS in choirs as well; when a part seems a bit flakey at the final rehearsal and a tenor friend of the conductor shows up to bolster the line for the concert.
Well done!
Comfortably more than half of the acrosses on the first pass but not many write-ins – although RINGER was among them. Regularly heard on the touchline of youth football. My big hold up were PRESBYTERS and DEMONIAC where I paid very close attention to the anagrist before deciding those were the answers. All green in a speedy 8.47.
07:42 for Izetti, Gee! Found myself needing extra letters here and there for BIFD and half-parsed answers like the pickle quarry, and having an excess in others like the demoniacal Presbyterian. Got there in the end.
I was called a ringer once when I was a last minute fill in for a local Doc’s cricket team (quickly changed that to handicap once I took to the field)
Ta M&I
Another gentle one – I’m waiting for a shocker at some point this week.
For once my proof reading worked as I’d lazily assumed 20a would be demonic without checking the fodder or the number of letters so ended up spelling it with a double c at the end.
Also I’m not sure I’ve ever seen QUARRIES (for prey) in the plural before – I’d just assumed that quarry was one of those words that were both singular and plural. No complaints about the correctness of the clue, just a bit of a curiosity for me.
Started with PICKLES and finished with AMENDER in 5.44.
Thanks to Mike and Izetti
Much to be enjoyed and pushed into the club on 24 minutes. I knew my speed streak would not last. NHO PRESBYTERS, kept looking in vain for direction to remove ‘IAN’. COD LIQUORICE.
Thanks Izetti and Mike.
Yes, definitely Izetti in friendly form, as I completed this in 6:06, I think the fastest I have ever finished a puzzle by the Don. Not quite all correctly parsed though, as I realise on reading Mike’s blog that I miscounted the anagrist for PRESBYTER and didn’t notice that the A was missing. So that was what “ace output” meant – I wondered at the time, and now I see it, it is definitely one of the cleverest indicators of dropping an A I’ve met.
DEMONIAC seems a strange word (it seems Izetti always has to have one word one has NHO), and I’m more familiar with Demonic, but the checkers were kind.
Many thanks Mike for the blog.
14:06. Like others, I spent time on RINGERS, DEMONIAC and PRESBYTERS, but rather more of it than most. Thanks Mike and Izetti
I filled the grid steadily without jumping about – rare for me. I could not believe this was an Izetti. I finished in 11.55 and I enjoyed it. I take Cedric’s point about DEMONIAC – I hurriedly typed my answer only to see DEMONICC just in time to correct it. Also PRESBYTER – the ‘ace output’ went over my head!
Thanks to Izetti and Mike.
Having been interrupted twice I’d already decided not to submit the puzzle – but DNF anyway! I had RIGGERS at 17A, and I think it works. Obviously I couldn’t solve KINDEST as a result, not helped by failing to see TAKE IN. Not a good start to the day.
FOI PRESBETYRS [sic]. Oh the shame. Thus two DPSs and a DNF. Jolly good puzzle and blog, many thanks Don and Mike.
DPSs? Didn’t Parse or Spell? It isn’t part of the Glossary.
I am guilty of occasionally amending LOI to LOsI to make it plural but I think that is clear. Perhaps I am being thick in not understanding your new acronym.
Dreaded Pink Square, I believe!
Oh! I never thought of that. Thanks.
I don’t solve using the Times Crossword app (I just use the online Times Newspaper) so it didn’t click.
Times crossword app?
Is that free to use ?
No, unfortunately.
Thanks Amoeba, yes. We really must get it added to the Glossary!
10:03 but with a careless error – PRESBYTERY instead of PRESBYTERS. Enjoyable puzzle all the same.
Yes: another nice, friendly Izetti, thank you. LOI TAKE IN. Had most trouble with QUARRIES. No problem with ace output; best prayers = 11, needs an indicator to throw one out.
Oh! RUNNERS surely works equally? Often illegal, and my suggestion to Jeremy and Kevin is that ropes travel along the runners. Not so? (Thank you, Countrywoman, Invariant – and more?)
Yes, RUNNERS was my first thought, too. No help from crossers to distinguish it from RINGERS.
The latter is, on balance, the better fit, though.
Ah, yes; but you see this is the moot point! If you have a possible answer, but there is admittedly an even better one, does that make the “possible” one *wrong*, so that you have to score a “DNF”? Or is there such a thing as a “permissible alternative”? If not, then potentially it is never enough to solve a clue, in case there might be an “even better” solution. Hummm….
I think you need to take that up with the setters. It wouldn’t be hard to set up a program to test for alternative words fitting the crossers and then parse them to see if they fit the clue. You could probably ask chatGPT to write that program for you…
‘Ace output’ is the deletion indicator, admittedly an unusual one.
Yes – that’s why it was “no problem”.
Many apologies! I misread what you had written.
Ah! No worries – I suspected it was a misunderstanding. All the best.
Not much to say about this. Very gentle. Slight hesitation over DEMONIAC, and a check on the crossers to make sure it was right. Liked PRESBYTERS.
No problem with ringer, which I came across regularly in my misspent youth as an owner of greyhounds. Also, when living in New Zealand and playing for the office cricket team, we discovered that our opponents in one match included three NZ Test players.
Could have been worse. . .they might have been west islanders 😉
Oh, 17a, I put Runners, as in gun runners and reins/runners.
Otherwise OK. Had to think about spelling of PRESBYTERS, LIQUORICE, and DEMONIAC.
Liked TAKE IN, TAURUS.
Many thanks, Mike.
19.18min. A lovely QC. Some clever clues, and nothing too obscure, although I have only come across SAL as an abbreviation for SALLY.
LOI TAURUS.
CODs PICKLES, GELATIN
Thanks Izzeti and Mike
9:32 with TAKE-It and PRESBYTERa needing correction. Wrote out the angrist wrong for the latter, missing the second S and therefore assumed the A of my 10-letters gave me some kind of Latin plural. With T-K-/I- I just couldn’t see past IT.
Another enjoyable quick from Izetti – particularly enjoyed LIQUOUR-ICE and STANDS, no concerns about RINGERS. Thanks to Mike for the blog.
7:29. Izetti has been in gentle form lately and this was no exception. The only one I had real trouble with was the ‘Illegal players?’ def for RINGERS. As galspray says, they’re known as “ring-ins” here and like him, the Fine Cotton affair instantly came to mind, even if it was 40+ years ago; you couldn’t make it up.
I liked PRESBYTERS who I imagine would look very stern and take no nonsense.
Thanks to Izetti and Mike
Three easy ones on the trot, what’s going on? One thing we can be fairly sure of I think is that we’ve got something a good deal tougher on the way. Fairly evenly paced solve in 7.13.
Thank you for introducing this American to the NHO “on the trot”, it wouldn’t surprise me if it crops up in a puzzle. Hope I can remember what it means.
I think all Brits will be familiar with the term. Interesting to find you’re American; having seen your posts under ‘Steel City’, I assumed you were from Sheffield in England. Presumably you’re from Pittsburgh then!
Right!
Another very easy one, pretty much a write-in. Izetti seems to have toned it down even more than other setters following the spate of “it’s too difficult for me” comments a few months back, which is a shame, as his/her puzzles used to be so much more interesting.
But a vote of thanks anyway, Izetti, as setting a crossword is a tricky task, and very much appreciated – and thanks, Mike, for the blog.
(btw ‘ringer’ is very familiar to me from pub pool/darts teams back in the day!)
A bit harsh. Chaps can always stick to the 15×15 if they think the QC is now too easy.
👍 Countrywoman
When I moderated on websites twenty years ago, this comment would have fallen foul of the “No flaming” rule i.e. no being inflammatory. I’m surprised it’s allowed here, it just seems plain rude towards a cross-section of the people who come here.
I agree, CW.
These recent QCs have been both clever and approachable, which feels right, to me.
I see ‘mummy’ has been edited out😯
Perhaps a tacit acknowledgment that it was an inappropriate remark. It has always been such a considerate and polite community but with a fine sense of humour. I hope it will remain so.
15m-16m (interruption).
NHO SAL SARAH, PRESBYTERS – though sorted by crosses.
DEMONAIC needed some thought, hesitated with AMENDER
LOI and COD GELATIN Clever. : ) Fell for misdirection, HL&S.
Thank you Mike Harper and Izetti.
9:10 (Battle of Tettenhall. Mercia and Wessex beat the Danes of Northumbria)
LOI was DEMONIAC, which needed all the checkers to spell correctly.
COD GELATIN.
Thanks Mike and Izetti