A stiff and cheeky Friday challenge from Cheeko today (who is perhaps accidentally outed as Mark Kelmanson in the messed up title, which also reveals some Spoonerisms I wouldn’t have spotted). Some great clues, including 23A, 3D, 14D and 19D, but I was somewhat off the wavelength and got stuck at the end on 10A, taking me over 9 minutes in total – 80% over target. Is it hard, or was I just being slow? I’m sure you will tell me! Thank-you Cheeko for the excellent puzzle.
Fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic. This time it is Sawbill’s turn to provide the extra weekend entertainment. You can find the crossword here. If you are interested in trying our previous offerings you can find an index to all 156 here.
Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, deletions and [] other indicators.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Sane arbiter resolves tricky problem (5-6) |
| BRAIN-TEASER – (sane arbiter)* [resolves]. | |
| 8 | Alerts broadcast about northern available properties (7) |
| RENTALS – N (northern) in (alerts)* [broadcast]. | |
| 9 | Wide secondary thoroughfare (5) |
| BROAD – B ROAD (secondary throughfare). | |
| 10 | The Reverend’s reserved vessels, more than one circular (9) |
| FLYSHEETS – “The Reverend” here is Dr. Spooner – his SHY (reserved) FLEETS (vessels) become FLYSHEETS. This one gave me trouble as I couldn’t think of “flysheet” for a “circular”, knowing of it only as a part of a tent. Not FLYWHEELS as I had originally but, not surprisingly, couldn’t parse. | |
| 12 | Fish going under keels, essentially (3) |
| IDE – Middle letters, [essentially], of goIng unDer keEls. | |
| 13 | See result of voting back in lounge (6) |
| LOLLOP – LO !(see!) + POLL (result of voting) reversed, [back] -> LLOP. | |
| 15 | Leave behind fake centrepiece for altar (6) |
| FORGET – FORGE (fake, the verb) + middle letter, [centrepeice], of alTar. | |
| 17 | I’m surprised nothing accompanies hot duck (3) |
| OHO – O (looks like 0; nothing) + H (hot) + O (o; duck in cricket). | |
| 18 | What could make pets ultimately seem dire? (9) |
| DISTEMPER – [could make] (pets + {see}m + dire)* with “ultimately” meaning take the last letter. A nice semi-&lit. | |
| 20 | Good girl’s mirror (5) |
| GLASS – G (good) + LASS (girl). | |
| 22 | Eg polar rocks on which climbers develop (7) |
| PERGOLA – (e.g. polar)* [rocks]. | |
| 23 | Valiant Bill to intensify checks (11) |
| REDOUBTABLE – REDOUBLE (intensify) with TAB (bill) in [checks]. | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Adopting new name, purchase pet (5) |
| BUNNY – BUY (purchase) including, [adopting], N (new) + N (name). | |
| 2 | Maybe spider-like broken anchor secured with help (9) |
| ARACHNOID – [broken] (anchor)* in, [secured with], AID (help). | |
| 3 | Want to bite heads off some toys, like Russian dolls? (6) |
| NESTED – NEED (want) outside, [to bite], initial letters, [heads off], Some Toys. Good grief. A rather macabre surface. | |
| 4 | English, repeatedly bowled, decline (3) |
| EBB – E (English) + B (bowled, in a cricket score card) + B (bowled) [repeatedly]. | |
| 5 | Pushing succeeded, glutton grabbing French wine (7) |
| SHOVING – S (succeeded) + HOG (glutton) outside [grabbing] VIN (French for wine). | |
| 6 | Happy occasion — landlord cuts half of rent on June 6, 1944 (3-6,3) |
| RED-LETTER DAY – LETTER (landlord) inside, [cutting], [half of] RE{nt} + D-DAY (June 6, 1944). | |
| 7 | Old guard fret about juvenile miscreant (6,6) |
| ARTFUL DODGER – (old guard fret)* [about]. | |
| 11 | Beach resident’s husband in urgent run in taxi (5,4) |
| SHORE CRAB – H (husband) in SORE (urgent, as in sorely in need of) + R (run) in CAB (taxi). | |
| 14 | I’m spotted in dance outfit after change of heart (7) |
| LEOPARD – LEOTARD (dance outfit) after changing the middle letter [after change of heart] -> LEOPARD. Along with 5D this makes a Spoonerism of Loving Shepherd. | |
| 16 | Something under fire has exploded mine (3-3) |
| ASH-PIT – (has)* [expoded] + PIT (mine). | |
| 19 | Strong acid may score this buzz (5) |
| PHONE – PH ONE (strong acid may score this). The pH scale runs from 1 (strong acid) to 14 (strong alakali) with 7 meaning neurtral. Along with 1D this makes a Spoonerism of Funny Bone. | |
| 21 | Dubois regularly raised very small amount of cash (3) |
| SOU – Alternate letters [regularly] of dUbOiS [raised] -> SOU. | |
The Crossword club helpfully has (at time of posting) the answers to 4 clues written at the top of the puzzle, along with the Spoonerism and anagrams identified.
Unfortunately even with that head start I found this very hard, Cheeko and I remain firmly on different wavelengths.
Yes, as David says, the Club version has some notes on clues made by setter or editor. Also there’s nothing there to say the puzzle is by Cheeko; it’s credited to Mark Kelmanson. The on-line newspaper app version has Cheeko at the top and the other name beneath the grid with the puzzle number as 3314-27.
After I’d attempted to solve the puzzle all of this made me wonder whether it had been through the normal editing processes as I don’t recall ever having such problems with a QC and in the end I gave up with answers missing as I had no idea what was going on and I was disheartened by some of the clues I had eventually solved with some difficulty.
One I gave up on was SHORE CRAB although I had all the checkers and CRAB in place. I never heard of this. And urgent = sore does it? Really?
The indirect Spoonerism seemed a little obscure for a QC and ‘circular / flysheet’ ditto in the same clue although I have since found it in the dictionaries.
The printed version that I solved on also has a title that includes both names.
Yesterday’s online Cryptic Quintagram came in a new style. It seems like the IT Department have been back in action making changes to some of the Puzzles so I wonder if this somehow accounts for the messed up details in today’s online QC.
Yes, a couple of days ago there was a pop-up inviting me to look at the new crossword layout which I did, but afterwards when I went to print it gave me a massive grid in black not grey that almost filled an entire side of A4 and underneath it was a single clue! I couldn’t find any means of choosing a preferred option, so eventually I closed everything down and reopened and somehow it had all reverted to normal. Why can’t they stop tinkering with things that have been working satisfactorily for years?
It is frustrating and I’d guess the reason for change is threefold – enhanced capability particularly on mobile phones, cost efficiency with common code being used across puzzles and Microsoft / tech companies forcing the pace of change. I realise now it’s end of month and when I was in IT that’s often when we used to put all our changes in.
Thanks for the insight. I guess that accounts for Apple releasing an iPhone update yesterday that changed some of my personal settings to what they want them to be rather than what I had deliberately chosen. I’ve changed back the ones I’ve found but I don’t supposed I’ve noticed them all yet.
As far as I’m aware, I still can’t print the puzzle off an iPhone or iPad via the app. As a result, I have to crank up my Mac and do it via the web. Whilst I understand some people may not print anymore, I find it staggering that simple things like this are not resolved.
After attempting this puzzle I was in sore need of some refreshment?
Unfortunately it’s 9:30am here so I had to content myself with another mug of coffee, to see if that would stir my brain to life…
Collins lists “urgent” a meaning for sore from “in sore need of…” which makes sense to me, at least. Chambers doesn’t give “urgent” but does have some words of similar intent.
Just snuck in under ten minutes. The “not a Quickie” crowd will have a field day today, and with some justification. And what’s happening with the reveal (which I didn’t spot until post-solve)?
All good fun though. Thanks John. And thanks Mark, Cheeko, the editor, the IT team and everyone else who apparently enjoyed a long lunch yesterday.
As probably the first of the “Not a Quickie” crowd to comment, may I announce, no doubt to some surprise (especially mine), that I finished this in a relatively normal – for a Cheeko puzzle – 14:55. I’ve certainly fared worse with some of his previous offerings. But two clues were complete guesses – FLYSHEETS (indicating a Spoonerism by reference to “the Reverend” is surely not QC fare) and my LOI PHONE, a lucky stab at a word that fitted the checkers but with no idea of the parsing.
One such puzzle every so often won’t stop me enjoying the QC. But when John calls it “a stiff and cheeky challenge” I think our crossword editor might take note that it hasn’t exactly hit the spot.
Many thanks John for the blog and I look forward to Sawbill’s Sunday Special.
I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of this puzzle but I wholeheartedly agree with this: indicating a Spoonerism by reference to “the Reverend” is surely not QC fare
Indeed. Definitely some unwelcome visitors from 15×15 land here. NHO IDE, LOLLOP, SHORE CRAB, FLYSHEETS (archaic cognate of “Flyers”?) or a more specific sense of ASH PIT than “a pit containing ash” (cf. “red paint”).
Can someone help me with explanations for:
“Succeeded” clueing “S”?
The inclusion indicator for REDOUBTABLE?
The anagrind for PERGOLA?
The Anagrind for PERGOLA is ‘eg polar’ with ‘rocks’ as the anagram indicator
REDOUBTABLE is an example of yoda speak, so ‘intensify’ (redouble) is checked or stopped by ‘tab’ (bill)
Someone else may have to enlighten you about S for succeeded – I think it’s an abbreviation used in family trees, but I’m not entirely sure!
As someone who does the QC everyday and reads this really valuable blog each day too, can I say I completely agree with your comments. Cheeko is not a QC setter IMHO. I completed both the Monday and Tuesday 15×15 much faster than I was able to complete this one. When I see those of you whose times I always admire struggling, then something is wrong.
Phil
15.17, and while much of this was enjoyable my last few were essentially guesswork. The reverend? The PH scale? What Jack said about SHORE CRAB? Otherwise there were some terrific clues here, thank you outed setter and John.
Excellent puzzle but tough in places (I’m an advocate of the odd tricky one).
I managed to avoid most of the giveaways at the top but ‘spoonerism’ did catch my eye which helped me make sense of ‘The Reverend’ in 10a a lot more quickly than I might otherwise have done.
Started with BRAIN TEASER and finished with ASH PIT in 10.16, which I’m going to score as a success having seen the Quitch. COD to PHONE for the PDM.
Thanks to John and Cheeko
The note on the Crossword Club Club ruined it for me. Must be some kind of screw up.
Spoonerisms are hard enough and even on the 15×15 they are well signposted. Just using “The Reverend” is too much.
For my miscreant at 7d I had something-FORGER, thinking I’d go back to it. And also had the anagrist as ({pet}S SEEM DIRE) which looks fine.
Also uneasy about passing up EEL which was sitting right there in {k}EEL{s}.
Some good clues, but seeing four answers before I even started drained the enjoyment.
Luckily for me, I solve on paper so didn’t see the spoilers until adding the answers online for the blog generator.
I did not pass up eel (which I had previously heard of) for ide (which I hadn’t). Unsurprisingly this made the right hand side of the puzzle somewhat trickier until I had enough other crossers for Red Letter Day that I could no longer convince myself that it must be something else!
A long battle but we did eventually finish at 31.12 😄 (although a quick check grid in the middle did show wheels was not the circular part referenced)
As a (long time ago) graduate chemist, ph one came reasonably quickly once we had the p, but we needed John’s help on a couple of other biffs.
Is shoving leopard also a reverend’s version of the Good Lord?
Thanks Mark and John
Yes. I commented on that in 14D, but I would never have spotted it without the unintentional notes at the top of the puzzle online.
How did this get past the editor? Shocking!
I don’t use the Crossword Club page so didn’t have the experiences (spoilers/aids?) described above. I certainly had no hints about Spoonerisms, not that such a nudge would have helped.
I found this hard and only connected with Mark’s wavelength sporadically. I found it strange (even for a Cheeko QC) and even more idiosyncratic than usual but I completed most of it still hoping to avoid the SCC. Unfortunately, DISTEMPER, SHORE CRAB, ASH PIT, and PHONE held me up at the end. Biffing and part-parsing got me through in 21 mins (exactly the same time as my lat two Cheekos for what that is worth). I will now go through my parsing more rigorously.
Note. A FLYSHEET (one word) is a second layer on a tent to protect the basic tent in case of excessive rain (and to make the inner tent cooler in strong sunlight). I think it was a very poor clue.
Thanks to Mark/Cheeko for an ‘interesting’ and unusual experience and to John for a much-needed blog which I will now explore in detail.
No point in my adding to complaints. Never had so many NHOs: FLYSHEET, IDE, LOLLOP, SHORE CRAB, ASH-PIT, nor pH 1. Either I’m ignorant or this was obscure; bit of both, I suspect. Managed nearly half. Thanks, John.
Exact same list of HNO’s here, which makes me feel a little less ignorant.
Having read the comments the five that I was missing are the not so much QC clues.
bunny
phone (despite being a scientist)
ide
lollop (contrived to say the least)
fly sheets
Fly sheets aka fliers are randomly distributed in my experience (like fly tipping, fly posters) whereas circulars are delivered by post.
I will now have a look at the crossword club on my phone to see what’s going on there…
Thanks John and settee
I, too, have spent my life in Science (chemistry) and picked up on pH but then biffed PHONE having got other letters as crossers. Clever (?) but too far out for a QC imo.
When was the last time you heard someone say “I’ll give you a buzz” ?
About 30 years ago, so quite normal for a crossword!
Last week actually, admittedly by an old timer.
19:58 for the Quitch for the solve. What a mess. I’m always internally thrown by change; so to see the messed up info (as Jackkt mentions above) left me wondering whether the system was going to blow up on me. Yesterday’s Cryptic Quintagram had IT changes which look awful and didn’t pop up a “Completed” banner when I’d finished -so my fight-or-flight system is on high alert!
As for the puzzle. Meh. FLYSHEETS went in with fingers crossed; probably one of the few times I’ve ever looked at a QC clue and had no idea of why. And this was despite having read mention of a Spoonerism in the mistake title card. Never heard of OHO or ASH-PIT, didn’t like Bunny=pet; urgent=sore; couldn’t have told you what a PERGOLA is. Plus I got caught out by the EEL/IDE trap but was inclined to wonder if the system issues had resulted in some kind of major glitch. All in all not a satisfying experience.
Thanks to JohnI for the blog and to Cheeko for what was a workout – all but FLYSHEETS clue forgiveable.
What’s most amazing is that the “reveals” are still there on the Club site. Surely somebody’s started work for the day over there?
The hardest QC I have completed I would say. My time of 20.35 was a little over twice my target time, and at times I felt I was not going to complete it. 1ac pretty much sums it up, and it took me three visits to solve that one. I really felt at times that I was doing the 15×15.
My total time for the week was 57.30, giving me a daily average of 11.30.
16:18
A very slow solve, despite the strange hints at the top of the grid.
I fell in the EEL trap before eventually seeing IDE.
LOI LOLLOP nearly defeated me.
Thanks John and Cheeko
Wow, 12 minutes to complete this which is seven minutes over my target. Having said that, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Glad I have the paper version and so didn’t get unintended hints.
COD too 1ac as it was a suitable introduction to the whole puzzle.
I’m rewatching The Prisoner with the wife prior to a holiday in North Wales and I felt I was doing battle against Number Two – well, all of them, actually.
I tried to avoid the notes, but, like John, spotted The Reverend.
The Club site tells me I made it home in 13:39, but can I really trust it? I felt like I was on a journey but I ended up exactly where I started.
Scary.
Coincidentally I watched The Prisoner for the first time a couple of months ago (available on ITVX). Had seen some of the early episodes before but definitely not the later ones. Great spotting some of the younger faces of actors like Leo McKern who became staples of 80s/90s TV. And also seeing the near empty streets of London etc. I’d love to visit Portmeirion* as offbeat things always fascinate me – also used in the Tom Baker Dr Who story – The Masque of Mandragora (available on BBC iPlayer) as an Italian town.
No notes seen.
I stopped without FLYSHEETS.
After I’d exceeded my 15×15 time.
I guess I didn’t find this as tough as some, finished in 19:07 — on the longer side for a Quick cryptic for me, but not actually my longest this week. I didn’t figure out the clue for FLYSHEETS but got it anyway, COD for me was 6d which I biffed without even fully reading but is actually a delightful clue when I went back to look at it properly. I got the CRAB part of 11d quickly enough but the rest had to wait for crossing letters.
The online software seems to have grown a new stats tracking page that pops up after completing the crossword.
I’m pretty sure the definition of FLYSHEETS is incorrect. It refers to a single sheet of paper inserted into a (broadsheet) newspaper so the pagination is no longer a multiple of four. They used to be very annoying when folding the paper. I don’t think it is a circular
A quick search suggests you’re thinking of flyleaves?
Using the link to Chambers from this site gives “flysheet” as “2 a single-sheet leaflet.”
As a paper solver, I didn’t get any of the additional ‘hints’, so I’m feeling quite pleased to even finish this, with just loi Flysheets unparsed – I was beginning to suspect Spooner’s involvement, but I’d already spent over 30mins and so begrudged any further effort.
Clearly not a QC, but still an ‘interesting’ challenge, with Phone edging out Red Letter Day for CoD. Invariant
I did this on the club site but didn’t notice any tips. Perhaps they’ve put it right now. I found this extrememly difficult taking over twice my target time. I guess it might be standing room only in the SCC, as even with my excessive time I was 49 out of 97 on the leaderboard. I was breezeblocked by my last 2 in, SHORE CRAB and FORGET. The latter took an age as I’d posited —GHT, which took me nowhere. Eventually I looked up synonyms for urgent as an alpha trawl for S–E gave me nothing. I can see the equivalence now, but sore =urgent isn’t in my everyday usage. From ARACHNOID to FORGET in 22:25. Thanks Cheeko(I think) and John.
Did not spot the Spoonerism, but had heard of flyshheets as distributed circulars, so bunged it in unparsed. Thought many of the definitions were erroneous, e.g. red- letter day for D Day, lollop for lounge ( loll, yes, but lollop is a loose clumsy run), and oho – not really an expression of surprise, more a eureka moment. Managed it in 21.00, but like other Cheekos it wasn’t right for a QC. Thanks to Johninterred for the blog.
D-day is the date, and part of the clue after ‘half of rent’ – RE, and contains LETTER (landlord)., The definition is Happy Occasion.
24 minutes for me, about twice my average. This was tough and I had an unparsed FLYWHEELS; I thought the circular bit was enough and moved on.
5 or 6 clues really held me up. LOI was PHONE; NESTED and SHORE CRAB required a lot of work.
I don’t mind the odd hard QC but I was completely misled by “The Reverend” and I had SHY for reserved.
David
BTW we should be able to watch Simon Anthony solve this on Cracking the Cryptic later today. It’s on YouTube and a very watchable and helpful programme.
He’ll struggle a bit with this, I expect.
Does he do the Quickie? I thought it was just the 15?
He tends to do a ‘speedrun’ of the quickie after the 15×15.
He does the 15×15 first, explaining everything, then does a speed solve of the QC at the end with minimal explanation.
As a long time defender of the harder QCs, I suggest any detractors take a look at the biggie today. By that standard, tricky though todays QC may be, it is still very much a quickie compared to the biggie.
I did as you suggested! This puzzle: finished after 19:55, with one wrong entry (FLYSHEETS) and two others unparsed. The 15×15: finished after 40:12, all correct and one unparsed (14a, I’m going to skip over to the other blog now and check that out).
So the 15×15 took about twice as long but on the other hand it’s got more clues, so the time per clue isn’t dramatically longer. I certainly wouldn’t want to argue that the average difficulty per clue (if you see what I mean) isn’t higher in the 15×15, but I do seem to have achieved a more successful result in that one.
Pretty similar experience to John, but it took me correspondingly longer, of course, and certainly on the hard side. LOI was FLYSHEETS, which resisted for ages, until I suddenly thought of Spooner, and then it made sense, seeing the definition at the back of the clue. That was pretty sneaky – don’t think I’ve ever seen a Spoonerism clued without his name! I missed the parsing of IDE, of all things, but with checkers it couldn’t be anything else. LOLLOP came as a surprise, too – I associate the word with movement, not lounging. But a fun challenge, and nice to know Cheeko’s identity.
I completed around 70% of this in 19 minutes. What remained was a series of completely incomprehensible “clues”. Perversely (and having the time) I continued beyond my normal 30 minute cut-off time. Having filled in the grid (I won’t say solved the puzzle) in 44 minutes I came here to find there are 2 problems with my solution. Firstly I confidently entered EEL at 12ac without being able to parse it. However RED LETTER DAY soon forced a rethink and I overwrote the final L. I then saw SHOVING so overwrote the first E and realised that the answer was probably IDE. However I couldn’t parse it and moved on without ever coming back to it having therefore invented a new species of fish called the IEE. The second problem was my LOI at 10ac. I solve on paper so didn’t see any give-sways, helpful or not. Left with F-Y-H-E-S and a clue which made no sense to me whatsoever I turned to an aid and entered the only word it came up with: FLYWHEELS. Couldn’t parse it of course.
An interesting exercise all round I thought but more frustrating than enjoyable.
FOI – 8ac RENTALS
LOI – DNF
COD – 14dn LEOPARD.
Thanks to Cheeko and John
I do two Times puzzles most days, the QC and the Polygon. In my view the latter has become much harder. The three letter Polygon days (Mon and Tues) used to be a gentle starter for the more tricky days ahead, but not any more. Is this reflecting an editorial policy generally to make puzzles harder, or is old age taking its toll?
I have been finding the Monday and Tuesday Polygons much harder as well lately, but conversely I have been finding the Saturday and Sunday ones rather easier than I used to.
I can’t decide whether I am just getting better at anagrams (I can’t remember when I last failed to get the polygram or reach the Very Good mark) or whether there has been some editorial policy towards making the Polygons more uniform. If if is the latter then personally I am all in favour. I used to find Mondays and Tuesdays so trivial that they were not worth doing.
For sure the 15×15 has a progressively ascending difficulty throughout the week. This is confirmed by the Snitch.
I know ‘redoubtable’ from Stephen Crane, not sure I’ve seen it anywhere else.
A god in wrath
Was beating a man;
He cuffed him loudly
With thunderous blows
That rang and rolled over the earth.
All people came running.
The man screamed and struggled,
And bit madly at the feet of the god.
The people cried,
“Ah, what a wicked man!”
And –
“Ah, what a redoubtable god!”
Redoubtable saw action at Trafalgar, unfortunately (in more ways than one) on the French side.
I gave up after about 10 minutes and cheated.
Never made the connection between The Reverend and Spooner, will have to remember that, but this one feels particularly harsh for a QC. At least I managed to parse all the others once I had cheated to get the answers.
Definitely at the top end of toughness for a QC as far as I can tell.
DNF, having bunged in FLYWHEELS with a shrug at 10a. More concerningly, I was unable to parse three of the answers (10a, 18a, 19d) which is significantly worse than my usual performance in the 15×15.
This was my first go at a a quick crptic. Not the introduction I was expecting. I managed to battle through it but it took ma 74 minutes and I needed a thesaurus. Onwards and upwards from here.
This was definitely a tough one to start with so well done on battling through.
The editor tries to increase the difficulty as the week goes by. ie Mondays easy, Tuesday harder … Friday toughest of the week. Saturday which is only online can go either way in my experience.
obviously the difficulty rating is subjective and the editor bases it on his own completion time when the setters submit their puzzles to him.
on top of that, some weeks feel easy from start to finish while others can be a dispiriting run of toughies.
good luck with your solving 👍
Well done indeed
Very impressive that you finished! More than I could do, and I’m in my third year of solving these.
12:43 but…
…not very satisfying. Sorry.
The Reverend reference will go over most QC attempters’ heads, particularly those who are looking to it as an introduction to cryptic crosswords – one of its original intentions. Similarly, SORE for urgent isn’t very QC-friendly either.
I expect it’s just brain-tiredness for me, having flown home from Leipzig yesterday evening, and feeling quite slow and sluggish today.
Thanks John
I feel rather guilty today. I don’t do the QC every day but dip in every so often and had time on my hands today. 7 minutes of which was used up solving this puzzle. Having seen some of the solving times for previous QC’s, I thought I was bumbling along but was happy enough with my time. So coming here has been quite a revelation (and perhaps particular apologies to Andy D whose post is right above where I am writing – you must think I am taking the proverbial!) I also did not see any of the hints, tips, titles etc to which others have referred: I did the puzzle on the Times website and noted nothing unusual. Very odd.
I enjoyed many of the surfaces here and there were some super anagram spots. DISTEMPER, PERGOLA and BUNNY my podium.
Thanks to setter and bloggerr
DNF – flysheets, of which I knew none of the elements of the clue. Also confirmed SHORE CRAB. The Reverend is a spooner reference that has escaped me for my entire crossword career thus far. I went for Flywheels as being circular!
Not a QC for my money, though that’s not to criticise the quality of the cluing. PHONE, for example, is a great clue in my book.
Dnf…
Seriously tried with this – but even after 30 mins, I still had a few clues to go. Not sure I would ever have got 10ac “Flysheets”, as I’d forgotten the spoonerism reference. A real toughie from Cheeko (or whoever did it) I think.
FOI – 1ac “Brain Teaser”
LOI – Dnf
COD – 3dn “Nested”
Thanks as usual!
Much too tough for me. Gave up after about 45 mins. With lots of NHOs, guesses, some correct and some not, and ones I coutldn’t parse. I don’t like NINAs much, particularly when producing them has obviously taken its toll on producing a good crossword. Gentle reminder, the stated purpose of the QC was ” …. to cater for the newer or less exepienced solvers.” mmm.
Re the IT, I was Systems Manager for years in what now sems like a very old fashioned department, we never made a release at a month-end (Why on earth do it at your busiest time?) and we had a silly rule, you actually had to test things before releasing them to make sure that they worked!
A guess for PHONE was my LOI which turned out to be correct unlike my other guess FLYWHEELS. But I don’t feel bad about that as no idea what was going on there.
Overall though I rather enjoyed this puzzle and working out clues such as LOLLOP and DISTEMPER which require close examination of the wording.
Thanks John and. Cheeko.
DNF LOLLOP, PHONE and put Flywheels.
Pretty slow with those I did solve. Had to correct a few biffs too. Among LOsI were SHOVING, RED LETTER DAY, DISTEMPER. Obviously I knew D Day but couldn’t work it out at first.
Liked ARTFUL DODGER, BUNNY and LEOPARD. I agree with whoever said Lolloping involves movement rather than lounging on the sofa.
Thank for vital blog, John. I didn’t know the Crossword Club gave hints.
How is one supposed to know the Rev is Dr Spooner?
got there in the end but some of this was a bit tenuous I thought. particularly fly sheets and distemper. Not really QC material even on a Friday.
Given other comments I am happy with my 25:15 time and overall experience of this, which was completed on paper, thus avoiding any spoilers. LOI was DISTEMPER so I didn’t have the initial P for 19d and put in DRONE at first. Once I tried to parse it though, the ONE and the acid gave the correct game away. Completely flummoxed by FLYSHEETS and would have been even if I’d seen it was a Spoonerism as I can rarely see those, but I’m grateful for being introduced to The Reverend as an indicator of one. If the QC is meant to be an introduction to the 15×15 then it’s helpful to see what might come up. I always think actually putting the word Spooner in a clue spoils the surface anyway. It would be better if there were more normal sounding indicators of the device. Anyway, hard, but some great clues with RED LETTER DAY being the stand out for me. Thanks Cheeko and John.
I thought this was going to be easy after solving 11 clues quickly, but then ground to a halt and gave up! Having seen the solutions I did the right thing because I would never have solved the others. Never heard of Lollop or Ide and the double N in 1 dn confirms that any word can be reduced to its first letter!
Not pleasant for me – IMHO at least a couple of clues are well beyond QC. Perhaps I simply haven’t experienced the upper end of QC yet, but this one didn’t satisfy, as I find a well- pitched QC does.
Whatever learned tomes say, I dislike sore as a synonym for urgent, and would never use it with that meaning .
Centrepiece “for” rather than “of” altar is somewhat ( and unfairly IMHO) misleading
End of whinge
Thanks to blogger and setter – my problems are not actually of your making !
PS At least the app has stopped gratuitously deleting my progress now – thanks to Times help for suggesting delete and reinstall ( which I should have thought of). Tech is a double-edged sword – bah!
26.19 The spoilers had been removed by the time I looked at it. I knew LOLLOP as an action rather than inaction. SHORE CRAB and ASH PIT were new to me. FLYSHEETS was uncomprehendingly biffed. My slowest for a good while. Thanks John and Cheeko.
LOLLOP not really fair, ditto reverend=spooner, biffed my way through in 20mins
Didn’t see the spoilers. Took some perseverance but got there in the end. Couldn’t parse FLYSHEETS as I didn’t know The Reverend was a reference to Spooner. I felt a little cheated as Spoonerisms are my absolute favourite clue-type and this made me smile when it was explained! At least I know for next time 😃 No problems with LOLLOP as my mum used to say ‘get up you great big lollop’ if we’d been lounging about too long (charming). Wasn’t at all sure OHO was going to be correct as I thought it hyphenated. Biffed then parsed both IDE and DISTEMPER. Tricky but satisfying, and always great to learn some new stuff. Thanks John and Cheeko.
One error – biffing flywheels. To be honest was delighted to have thought of a word that fitted at that point, so not too distressed. Worked out my last one, phone, after 40 mins.
At least Cheeko gave us a warning of wat would follow with 1ac.
FOI Brain teaser
LOI dnf
COD Artful Dodger
thanks Cheeko and John
2 typos in DOfGER and LEOPAeD which is why I don’t submit these but I enjoyed it. Nearly 13 mins so well over target but it tested lots of cryptic skills while offering plenty of QC fodder to get some crossers in.
OTOH I don’t recall Spooner being clued like that even in the 15×15, biffed IDE and NESTED and took a while over DISTEMPER.
Thanks Cheeko and John.