Time: 28.36
A bit like yesterday’s I rattled through most of this very quickly (the SW and NE seemed particularly gentle) before coming unstuck with a few trickier ones at the end, though, as always, when you come to write the blog, the answers seem blooming obvious.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Spicy food in pastry cases can lead to trouble (7) |
| PICANTE – Nice surface. Not “spicy food” but “spicy” is the definition we need, with “food in pastry” being PIE which goes around (cases) CAN (in plain sight) and T (first letter (lead) of trouble). Liked this one. | |
| 5 | Shot out of bed close to dangerous temporary installations (3-3) |
| POP-UPS – POP (shot) + UP (out of bed) + S (last letter (close) of dangerous). | |
| 8 | Ate garlic, transforming body tissue (9) |
| CARTILAGE – Anagram (transforming) of ATE GARLIC. | |
| 9 | Revise setter’s boring conclusion (5) |
| EMEND – ME (setter) is inside (boring) END (conclusion). An escapee from the Quickie. | |
| 11 | Wise to follow universal convention (5) |
| USAGE – SAGE (wise) follows U (Universal, think film classification). | |
| 12 | Bother about current head’s tendency to be late (9) |
| TARDINESS – Plenty of low-key swear words to choose from for “bother”. DRAT is what we need, which is reversed (about) and placed before I (current) and NESS (head). For newbies NESS is a headland, rarely seen in common parlance but a familiar visitor to Crosswordland. | |
| 13 | Emergence of insect from active colonies (8) |
| ECLOSION – Anagram (active) of COLONIES.
Didn’t know this and needed all the checkers to be happy about the answer. Another neat surface, but obscurities clued by anagrams aren’t everyone’s cuppa. |
|
| 15 | Collar robber that is hiding (6) |
| BERTHA – Hidden.
Forgotten, if ever known, but very generously clued. A woman’s deep (usually lace) collar worn to cover a low neckline. More Georgette Heyer reading needed. |
|
| 17 | Middle Easterner from Bahrain regularly after narcotic leaves (6) |
| QATARI – “Bahrain regularly” gives us ARI which goes after QAT, a shrub whose leaves are chewed as a recreational stimulant. Rang a vague bell helped by the biffability of the answer once you know it ends -ARI. | |
| 19 | Famous husband will run India with Conservative (8) |
| HISTORIC – A multi-section charade. H (husband) + IS TO (will) + R (run, cricket) + I (India, NATO alphabet) + C (Conservative). | |
| 22 | Knock out European chasing bronze approximately 1600 metres back (9) |
| ELIMINATE – “Back” is always quite a tricky word. Here it is instructing us to reverse the whole of the wordplay, which is E (European) + (chasing is used an “addition” word here, for the surface) TAN (bronze, as in getting a suntan) + 1 MILE (approximately 1,600 metres). | |
| 23 | More conservative Britpop band covering Bowie at last (5) |
| BLUER – BLUR (Britpop band) around (covering) E (last letter of Bowie).
A more modern cultural reference than many we see even if their heyday was 30 years ago. |
|
| 24 | Peasant couple start to live (5) |
| YOKEL – YOKE (couple as a verb) + L (first letter of live). | |
| 25 | Festival established for Spooner is outrageous (9) |
| BAREFACED – FAIR BASED (festival established) is what the Reverend Spooner might say for our answer
We’ve had plenty of gentle clues so far and this wasn’t the hardest Spoonerism but without the checking F, I struggled to see it. |
|
| 26 | Work of art liberated Celt, mostly (6) |
| FRESCO – The instruction to take off the last letter (mostly) applies to both FREE (liberated) and SCOT (Celt). | |
| 27 | An enthralling cultured raver? (7) |
| PARTYER – I was also missing a key checker for this (the Y) for an age which made the clue hard for me, not least as I am not sure I really know the word, nor can I see it in the online Chambers.
ARTY is “cultured” which goes inside (enthralling) PER, which we often see as a synonym for “a” (as in “for each”), but which I can’t ever recall representing “an”. |
|
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Equips with cutlery supply in an attractive manner (13) |
| PICTURESQUELY – Lovely clue. An anagram (supply, the adverb of supple) of EQUIPS + CUTLERY. | |
| 2 | Restrict dogs (7) |
| CURTAIL – The answer is a synonym for “restrict” but I am struggling to understand how “dogs” works as it is not a synonym in a double definition clue, nor can I see how it works as an element in a cryptic clue. Obviously a CUR is a dog, but that doesn’t seem to be sufficient. ON EDIT: Thank you Jackkt/Jerry for your elucidation. TAIL of course means to “dog” as well. | |
| 3 | Innocent I buried in central part of church (5) |
| NAIVE – I (in plain sight) inside (buried in) NAVE (central part of church). Another escapee. | |
| 4 | Demand from alimony claim? (8) |
| EXACTION – EX (from) + ACTION (any legal claim, including one for alimony). Another smooth surface but I didn’t find this one so easy to bring to mind. | |
| 5 | Supply weapons before war? Starmer possibly holding back (6) |
| PREARM – I mentioned earlier that “back” can be a tricky word. Here it is being used as a straight synonym to give us REAR, which goes inside (holding) PM (Starmer, possibly). | |
| 6 | Trump is one citizen following Putin’s overture (9) |
| PRESIDENT – RESIDENT (citizen) goes after P (first letter (overture) of Putin). Another very gentle one. | |
| 7 | The Now Show (7) |
| PRESENT – Double definition. Not difficult nor entirely original but a nice clue nonetheless. The Now Show was a long-running BBC Radio satirical show which came to an end after 25 years in 2024. | |
| 10 | Area covered by detective with additional clause in contract, one who must deliver (8,5) |
| DISPATCH RIDER – PATCH (area) goes after (is covered by) DIS (Detective Inspector) and is followed by RIDER (additional clause in contract). | |
| 14 | Surprisingly, it results in help for understanding opera? (9) |
| SURTITLES – Anagram (surprisingly) of IT RESULTS. Almost a lovely clue, my only caveat being that it is not at all surprising that subtitles might assist if you don’t otherwise know what is going on (even if it is all about the music).
For those that have not seen them, they are a translation of the libretto shown on a suitably sized screen above the stage. |
|
| 16 | On reflection, somewhat wicked method to catch animals (4,4) |
| LIVE TRAP – A reversal (on reflection) of PART (somewhat) + EVIL (wicked).
A device designed to safely capture an animal without causing injury, typically made of wire mesh, or a solid box. |
|
| 18 | Hospital stopping heart is relatively stupid (7) |
| THICKER – H inside (stopping) TICKER (heart). | |
| 20 | Outrageously sexy rector with beer belly, perhaps going topless (7) |
| RAUNCHY – R (rector) + PAUNCHY (with beer belly, perhaps) without its first letter (going topless). | |
| 21 | Cane puzzle with a third missing (6) |
| BAMBOO – BAMBOOZLE with its last third removed. | |
| 23 | Easily close growing business losing millions (2,3) |
| BY FAR – BY (close) + FARM (growing business) without its M (losing millions). | |
I think the idea at 2dn is that the answer consists of two words meaning ‘dog’ (CUR + TAIL) so dog + dog = dogs.
40 minutes. It seemed very easy at first but as I progressed I came across several things I didn’t actually know, and that delayed me a bit. PICANTE, which is Spanish I believe and needed to be worked out from wordplay; BERTHA as a collar; ECLOSION, where I had to wait for all the checkers; QAT as narcotic leaves; LIVE TRAP; PARTYER (really?). Nevertheless I enjoyed the journey.
There was a similar device to 2d in another paper recently.
Several nhos today, which Jackkt has already listed, but i managed to get them all and found it all very enjoyable. As a confirmed Heyerite I should have known Bertha but I don’t remember ever seeing it. A bit more medieval than Georgian, perhaps.
Agree with Jackkt about CURTAIL. Two dogs!
Thought it might be a pangram, but no ..
Put me in mind of that wonderful Burns poem ‘The Two Dogs”. One of the best bits of social commentary you’ll ever read.
Simply delightful
Snuck in under 20 minutes with the left side proving more tricky than the right. Although I was slow to get PICTURESQUE which would have made it a few degrees easier.
Both NHOs were anagrams thankfully.
COD LIVE TRAP
Thanks blogger and setter
32:50. A clockwise solve for me beginning top right, undoubtedly the gentlest corner. Very enjoyable, and accessible with my usual 4 or 5 clues which occupy much of the last half of the solve, including 1d, and 1a where I was rigidly adhering to the answer being “trouble”. Many thanks Dyvnys for your explanations.
Mostly enjoyable 31 minutes, but let down at the end – I conjecture that the setter was faced with P*R*Y*R and glued together PARTYER, a word making its first (I think) and last (I hope) appearance.
Thanks Dvynys and setter.
I can’t think of any context when I would use the odd sounding PARTYER instead of partygoer.
It was all going along quite nicely until I hit the SE, which took a prospective sub-20 solve out to 25.08. BAMBOO, BAREFACED, PARTYER (!!?!) and BY FAR were the culprits, though a special mention to PICANTE which also puzzled me and turned out to be a terrific clue. Same same on the NHOs, and I’m struggling to see the point of a low-cut neckline if a special collar is required to cover it. Thanks D for helpful blog.
From I Shall Be Free:
Well, my telephone rang it would not stop, it’s PRESIDENT Kennedy callin’ me up
He said My friend Bob, what do we need to make the country grow?
I said My friend John, Brigitte Bardot…Anita Ekberg…Sophia Loren…
27.49, and I’m guessing I wasn’t the only one to guess ECLOSION? Quite liked the misdirection in QATARI and the nice Spoonerism. Thanks blogger and setter!
31.16 NHO QAT but was obvious from the crossers. Also ECLOSION was new to me. Not fond of spoonerism clues.
23’59”, although Club went down as I submitted. Same comments as others. I thought ‘piquant’ was spelt with a qu.
Thanks Dvynys and setter.
I think pecante derives from the Italian but both are ok.
piccante is Italian
Piquant is French, PICANTE is Spanish.
I managed to parse everything and came here to find help understanding the words I didn’t know or had forgotten.
I parsed the “Area covered by detective” as DI’s patch.
Many thanks Dvynys and setter.
Yes me too on DI’S PATCH.
24 mins. A proper puzzle rather than just a race, really enjoyed this. Yes some NHOs but all believable on construction.
Tried PITINTE at first, that “in plain sight” device is something I associate with the QC where it often catches me out.
I do like a Spoonerism, the 2 dogs thing was neat and COD to LOI BAMBOO just because I love the word bamboozle.
Thanks to Dvynys and setter.
ECLOSION was the only combination that sounded like a word. After being becalmed, I finished in a rush without thinking too much, not getting round to parsing QATARI. PARTYER was LOI, not that I was convinced. I didn’t know BERTHA but then I’ve never read a word of Georgette Heyer. (I hope Olivia isn’t reading this.) I was grateful it was a hidden. COD to PREARM. Thank you D and setter.
I’ve read most of her books and never seen BERTHA. I suspect it is more Elizabethan than Georgian..
12:10. Held up for a minute or so at the end on EXACTION by misspelling 8A as CARTILEGE. DNK BERTHA or ECLOSION. COD to PRESENT. Thanks Dvynys and setter.
About 20 minutes
– Like many others, didn’t know ECLOSION but it was the only viable option
– Didn’t know that a BERTHA is a kind of collar
– Also hadn’t heard of the qat shrub, but QATARI was obvious with the Q checker
– Didn’t parse PARTYER
– Can’t recall seeing the adverbial PICTURESQUELY anywhere in the wild
– Had forgotten that ‘rector’ can give R, but RAUNCHY had to be once enough checkers were in place
Thanks Dvynys and setter.
FOI Naive
LOI Eclosion
COD Picante
23:17 – a real tale of two halves. I finished NW, NE and SW in less than 10 minutes, the going was good and the running was strong. Then breezeblocked by most of the clues in the SE.
The only SE clue I got quickly was BLUER, the rest took time. The most problematic clues were DISPATCH RIDER (where I had DIS….. RIDER at an early stage but the term DISPATCH RIDER is just not one I am very familiar with and PATCH = AREA is also relatively difficult) and BERTHA, a NHO and couldn’t see the hidden, even though I was instructed explicitly by the setter that the answer was hiding. Funny how that happens. No problem with anything else, even the NHOs like ECLOSION.
A terrific puzzle.
Dispatch riders used to tear around London on motorbikes delivering urgent documents (not pizza).
I guess they’re unnecessary now in the age of PDFs and Docusign.
I was wondering whether it could be something like DISTRICT NURSE (do they deliver babies?). DISPATCH RIDERS are definitely before my time.
I had DISTRICT NURSE which fitted my checkers. District=area then waving of hands for the rest.
19.50. Relatively smooth except for the bottom right, where I had wordplay-supported fingers crossed for ECLOSION, LIVE TRAP and PARTYER, the latter also not known to online Chambers. I thought a BERTHA was someone who questioned the nationality of presidents… I find I didn’t parse PREARM, which looks like another invented cross word. And thanks to Glen for explaining where the S came from in DISPATCH, which I also couldn’t see.
Cheers Dvynys and adventurous setter.
I think (but happy to be corrected) that DIS and DI can both work for Detective Inspector but I like Glen’s “DI’s patch” much better.
13:11. I did about half of this quickly, the second half required close attention. The SE was tricky but it was the NW that resisted the most.
NHO ECLOSION or BERTHA but did know QAT.
22:07. but one pink square as I forgot to spell check and there was a rogue V instead of a C. Quite a straightforward puzzle so annoying to mess it up!
21:19
More sting than rattle for me but I’m a bit rusty.
NHO of BERTHA and ECLOSION, but the former was obviously right as a ‘contained’ word and the latter seemed the only combo that could possibly work. I don’t mind unknowns when the clues make them gettable/clear. Only the SE corner really gave me any trouble, with 10 mins puzzling over the ridiculously easy BAMBOO.
DNF. Two short BERTHA and BY FAR.
38 mins.
Also NHO Bertha or Eclosion and couldn’t parse Partyer. Per for a/an frequently does for me and I never seem to learn.
One small victory today was that I picked up on supply being an anagram indicator in 1d which I also normally miss.
Thanks Dvynys and setter.
As D says, obscurities clued by anagrams aren’t everyone’s cuppa. I’m in the group that doesn’t like them and had no feelings of guilt when I used a dictionary to confirm that ECLOSION really was the right word, as I did for BERTHA as well. Otherwise a pleasant crossword with a few quite easy clues. I liked PICANTE and had no trouble with it because I remember a poser asking me if I wanted my steak bland or picante.
19:50 – with the same unknowns as others. I think EXACTION might be cleverer than noted above: an alimony claim is, presumably, the sort of legal action someone’s ex would make (or face).
A bad day for me so far with silly typos in the Concise and the QC. At least this one was all correct, even if I missed out on the SNITCH by 6 places on the Leaderboard. NAIVE and USAGE got me going. Like others, NHO BERTHA as a collar or ECLOSION. Someow I knew QAT. LIVE BAIT was corrected by The Rev S. EXACTION was delayed by a biffed CARTILEGE, where I’d checcked the number of Is in the grist, but not the Es and As. Needed PICANTE to get PICTURESQUELY even though I had QUELY at the end and wrote it all out. Brain dead today I guess! ECLOSION and SURTITLES were last 2 in. 31:54. Thanks setter and Dvynys.
38 minutes. The unknowns made things more difficult, even if they all seemed a reasonable bet from wordplay and checked letters. I wasn’t too keen on PARTYER but otherwise enjoyed this one and it was a bonus to add a few words to the vocabulary, for crosswords anyway.
Ditto wot Jack said. 39 mins. LOI ECLOSION, NHO, QAT neither.
I liked PICANTE & PICTURESQUELY..
Thanks Dvynys and setter.
Emend may be obvious, but I still biffed amend. Well, at least I understood curtail – clever, but seen before. Fresco was another good one. Eclosion? I boldly put it in without any checking letters, thinking of how these Latin-derived words typically work – it must start with some variant of ex-, and end in -ion, so there’s not much to chose from.
Time: 33:07
My thanks to Dvynys and setter.
As Wednesdays go not toooooo hard but not a pushover, and fun.
1a Picante. Wiktionary says this word is Portuguese, implying it isn’t English, but good clue.
8a CartilEge, I learned today how to spell this word when the anagrist had too few Es.
13a NHO Eclosion. Notepad NHO it either.
15a Bertha NHO in this context but gettable.
27a PartIer biffed and corrected by 20d RaunchY.
5d NHO Prearm, not in Cheating Machine, added.
14d Surtitles, not familiar with these.
20d Raunchy COD.
About 35′ with the mix of easy and not so easy all mentioned above.
1dn, once solved made it plain that the “potari” are indeed not a Middle Eastern tribe. The NHO ECLOSION built from the available bricks.
I looked at BERTHA for ages (assumed the first 3 letters were LEI as garland/collar) until I realised it was a simpler hidden, (presumably, as it was another NHO).
Nice puzzle, thanks Dvynys and setter.