Hello everyone. The reliable Trelawney has done it again. I haven’t much to add, except that I noticed rather a lot to eat. Not so much for vegetarians, but plenty for big cats – especially ones big and bold enough to take on those mysterious giant mice in 13a. Thanks Trelawney!
Definitions are underlined in the clues below. In the explanations, most quoted indicators are in italics, specified [deletions] are in square brackets, and I’ve capitalised and emboldened letters which appear in the ANSWER. For clarity, I omit most link words and some juxtaposition indicators.
| Across | |
| 1a | Police officer’s coin (6) |
| COPPER — Two definitions | |
| 4a | Buddy cooked, eating last of bacon (6) |
| FRIEND — FRIED (cooked), talking in (eating) the final letter of (last of) bacoN | |
| 8a | Classic film fazed Horowitz badly (3,6,2,2) |
| THE WIZARD OF OZ — An anagram of (… badly) FAZED HOROWITZ | |
| 10a | Oscar returning bad martini garnish (5) |
| OLIVE — O (Oscar) + in reverse (returning) EVIL (bad) | |
| 11a | Wild lion ate part of foot (7) |
| TOENAIL — An anagram of (wild) LION ATE. | |
| This is also what the Reverend Spooner’s Manx cat had | |
| 13a | Mysterious giant mice all over the place (9) |
| ENIGMATIC — GIANT MICE anagrammed (all over the place) | |
| 17a | Seafood primarily put in stew for popular nightclub (7) |
| HOTSPOT — The first letter of (primarily) Seafood put in HOTPOT (stew) | |
| 18a | Pretentious person is tricky problem (5) |
| POSER — A double definition, methinks. [Strokes whiskers] | |
| 19a | Mae, perhaps, teams with Conservative in musical (4,4,5) |
| WEST SIDE STORY — WEST (Mae, perhaps) + SIDES (teams) + TORY (Conservative) | |
| 21a | Din from bit of sports equipment (6) |
| RACKET — Another pair of definitions | |
| 22a | Partially scan yonder gorge (6) |
| CANYON — The answer is contained in (partially) sCAN YONder | |
| Down | |
| 1d | Fabric from baby’s bed not flipped (6) |
| COTTON — COT (baby’s bed) + NOT reversed (flipped) | |
| 2d | Head of state’s power over inhabitant (9) |
| PRESIDENT — P (power) above (over) RESIDENT (inhabitant) | |
| 3d | Best Mahjong piece turned up on table, finally (5) |
| ELITE — TILE (Mahjong piece) written upwards (turned up) on the end letter of (… finally) tablE | |
| 5d | Socialist encountered holding a steak, say (3,4) |
| RED MEAT — RED (socialist) + MET (encountered) containing (holding) A | |
| 6d | Mythical creature emails law firm at first (3) |
| ELF — Initial letters of (… at first) Emails Law Firm | |
| 7d | Amaze two Zulus in valley (6) |
| DAZZLE — Z Z (two Zulus, using the NATO alphabet) in DALE (valley) | |
| 9d | Tried another treat, initially enticed (9) |
| ATTEMPTED — First letters of (… initially) Another Treat + TEMPTED (enticed) | |
| 12d | Extra playing soccer, say (9) |
| ACCESSORY — An anagram of (playing) SOCCER, SAY | |
| 14d | Deadlock writer’s no longer fashionable (7) |
| IMPASSE — I’M (writer’s) + PASSÉ (no longer fashionable) | |
| 15d | Bathroom feature display heard regularly (6) |
| SHOWER — SHOW (display) + hEaRd regularly | |
| 16d | A crony ruined drawing implement (6) |
| CRAYON — A CRONY anagrammed (ruined) | |
| 18d | Dad’s thanks for Italian food (5) |
| PASTA — PA’S (Dad’s) + TA (thanks) | |
| 20d | Brief moment with most of splinter group (3) |
| SEC — All but the last letter of (most of) SECt (splinter group) | |
All but FRIEND on the first pass of the acrosses and then mopped up the downs except DAZZLE for a bit of panic over those two in the NE. But FRIEND led to DAZZLE and a massive, massive pb of 4.19. The typo catastrophe of last week is forgotten!
Congrats on the PB.
I can only assume that this was a very easy puzzle as I scored a huge pb of under eight minutes!
Oh wow! Our first sub 10 and smashed it at 8.53, even after typing pasta in the wrong place and correcting it!
Right on the Squire’s wavelength and only poser required a revisit.
Lots to enjoy along the way, some excellent anagrams especially the Giant mice for COD
Thanks Trelawney and Kitty
🔥👏
6 minutes. I looked twice at POSER defined as ‘pretentious person’ as I would have spelt it ‘poseur’, but I see both spellings are valid.
A bit ‘slow’ to see COPPER and LOI TOENAIL but other than that a very gentle start to the week.
Finished in 4.09
Thanks to Kitty and Trelawney
13:35 (average: 37, target 23)
An amusing blog title. My mind was also left dwelling, slightly uncomfortably, on all the food in this one. Thanks for resolving that.
Strangely it didn’t feel a lot quicker than some of the recent crosswords, but definitely a PB for me by a couple of minutes. It wasn’t that long ago that no QC was easy, but Trelawney provides a set of good entry points and a great way to measure progress through Times Crossword Land.
Nice to see the great times on here already and looking forward to seeing the other ones throughout the day! I type very quickly, but sometimes I can’t fathom how the clues can be processed that fast.
I too would have more naturally spelt POSER in that context as ‘poseur’ and had to double check my thinking.
Thanks for the nice write up Kitty and to Trelawney for always balancing the difficult task of making the QCs accessible but fun. Bring on a Cheeko or a Joker – I’m ready!
10:37. Just generally slow without a major IMPASSE. I should have worked out the Spoonerism and some of the anagrams more quickly; the not difficult ACCESSORY was my LOI. Favourite bit was seeing THE WIZARD OF OZ then WEST SIDE STORY.
Thanks to Kitty and Trelawney
Which one is the spoonerism?
As an aside , the 500 error is becoming a torture. My times subscription is due for renewal and will have to decide whether it is all worth it.
I don’t think we can blame the Times for this one!
There isn’t a Spoonerism today – I think Kitty was just referring to the fact that ‘toe nail’ would describe the Rev’s Manx cat 😉
I do love a Trelawney, I really do. He makes me feel vaguely competent at this game.
A new PB for me at 8.53, tying with Roundabout Here.
Pi ❤️
Great time …9:53 not QTPi.
Well done, Pi! 🔥
For once, I wished I had timed myself. Anyway I have hardly started my coffee and the QC is finished. Liked THE WIZARD OF OZ and many others.
FOI COTTON, LOI ELITE.
Many thanks, Kitty.
Likewise, this is going to be a pleasant evening finishing my ‘tumbler’ of whisky. I’d hardly had a drink before the QC today was done. Never happened before, very nervous about tomorrow!
🍾
11.05 created a HOTSPOT by carelessly typing HOTSTOP thereby creating a true IMPASSE. Took far too long to notice the error of my ways (an oft repeated scenario in my world ) : )
Nevertheless, a happy start to the week.
Congrats to all with PBs.
Many thanks KITTY and TRELAWNEY
I expect there will be lots of PB today. Mine was 10.32 – a PB.
Thanks Trelawney and kitty
Terrific! The ten minute barrier beckons.
Fastest time for myself, with 11 minutes and 56 seconds. Enjoyable puzzle, both long across answers being musicals made it easier for me. Thanks for the blog 😁
A true QC. LOI IMPASSE. Thank you, Trelawney.
5.02, getting close to my sub-4 PB. Which was also a Trelawney, so there you go. Fun puzzle, thanks both.
On edit: I meant sub-5 PB!
Nice gentle one from Trelawney all green in 5.29 so at least a top ten on my all time list. Inexplicably dawdled over copper and spent a bit of time trying to unravel the film before the Z from DAZZLE madebit a tap-in.
Thanks for blog Kitty
Genuine QC with plenty of fun clues. COD ENIGMATIC. Thanks Trelawney & Kitty.
4:53 (death of Attila the Hun)
My first ever sub-5.
All except HOTSPOT and POSER went straight in on first pass, and those two went in once the checkers were in place.
Thanks Kitty and Trelawney
Oh wow, records tumbling today! Congrats!
PB here too, with 8:17, held up by IMPASSE and ATTEMPTED for a bit.
Enjoyed slamming in the answers for a change 🙂
Rare Sub Ten 9:53
Like Kitty lots for TC to get his teeth into and 1d flew in initially…
Ta KAT
My start was strangely lethargic (I didn’t even see COPPER at first and had to come back to it!). I gradually picked up speed and wondered why I had been so slow to start. 12.28 in the end but it should have been much quicker.
Good puzzle with everything I would expect from Trelawney.
Thanks to both.
3.45
I don’t keep records but not sure I have gone sub-four before. WIZARD OF OZ was nice but ELITE was my favourite.
Thanks Kitty/Trelawney
Woof! 🚀 (Not according to the QUITCH, you haven’t, but it is relatively recent.)
🔥
6:05
Was this the easiest QC ever? My first sub 7 anyway. In fact anything under 10 is extremely rare. No hold ups at all.
Must have been gentle as I have a PB of 22 pretty much all parsed, if you count solving a double definition as parsed. failed on 3d and 9d. It did take a little over 20 minutes.
Manx cat, very good, don’t get me started on Robin Hood’s mate again.
Thanks Kitty and Trelawney
Predictive text knew that Trelawney followed Kitty. but it doesn’t know a capital follows a full stop (period).
Damn and blast (or words to that effect). Denied my first ever sub-10 by loi 9d. For some reason Automated jumped straight into my mind, and so I lost a minute wondering how on earth it could mean Tried or even Enticed (when stuck, I’ve learnt to look at the other end. . .sometimes). Of course, once safely past the 10min mark, Attempted became obvious. The quest goes on. Invariant
Nice gentle jog. Went through all the different mah jong pieces first, wondering which was the “best” one. Also biffed AUTOMATED for 9d (LOI) before realising it couldn’t possibly fit the clue and having another look. Thanks to Trelawney and Kitty.
I suspected there would be quite a few PBs today, and early posts would suggest there are already quite a few with more to come no doubt. I, like others, found it very straightforward, but I was about 40 seconds adrift of a PB finishing in 4.53. More than happy to break the five minute barrier however.
Add another PB to the count: 5:45 for me, which handily tops my previous 6:10. Perhaps a sub-five is achievable for me, but I suspect it would have to be another Trelawney.
Thank you for the blog!
Congratulations to all those breaking records – lots of terrific times! And congratulations to Trelawney too, for producing a crossword which enabled both speedy solves and witty surfaces.
I stumbled a little here and there – mistyped COTTON and so couldn’t see THE WIZARD for a bit; took a while to parse ATTEMPTED (like Jack I like to include parsing in my times); missed that LOI & COD ACCESSORY was an anagram. But still my second fastest time, clocking in at 04:21.
Many thanks to Kitty (some good chuckles in the blog today) and The Squire.
A red hot 4:49 for a personal best.
LOI was COTTON where my first attempt was something with CRIB.
No time for a final run through, so pleased to be all green.
Congratulations on your PB.
Back when you used to express your solving times as dates (a practice I have shamelessly copied) I recall your remarking that if ever you reached the 5th century you would report it as “death of Merlin”.
Many congratulations.
Yes, I’m sure that Merlin remembers your shameslessly copying him, as he stopped using that method, soon afterwards.
9 mins…
Definitely at the easier end of the spectrum and, in hindsight, I think I could have been even quicker. For some reason, 8ac “The Wizard of Oz” took far longer than it should have. 11ac “Toenail” was probably the only clue where it took a few glances.
FOI – 1ac “Copper”
LOI – 11ac “Toenail”
COD – 11ac “Toenail”
Thanks as usual!
The 15×15 is very approachable today (bar a couple of less famous creatives) if less experienced QCers (like me) want to have a go
Can I suggest a recount might be in order ? I thought there were more than just a couple of tricky ones.