Eleven Days of Christmas – QC 1774 by Noel

Author   CuraristPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Seasons greetings one and all. So there’s a fairly obvious theme here, and also some obscure vocabulary. I imagine the latter is there so that the former can be crowbarred in. But wordplay is fairly easy overall, and I managed to dust it all off in under 6 minutes. All the days of Christmas are represented either in clues or answers, with the exception of the French Hens. This drove me nuts searching for the hidden clue, but I can’t see it. What am I missing?

Across

1 Slowly moving — stealing — quietly away (7)
INCHING – PINCHING minus P for quietly
5 Initially, geese are laying specially for lasses (4)
GALS – first letters of Geese Are Laying Specially
7 Boy perhaps, embraced by maids a-milking (3)
SAM – hidden word: maidS-A-Milking
8 One arranging turtle dove (not first or seventh)? (4,4)
TRUE LOVE – anagram (‘arranging’) of TURTLE DOVE minus the 1st and 7th letters, i.e. URTLE OVE
10 Detective sergeant collecting unusual percussion instruments (5)
DRUMS – DS with RUM inside
11 Old Jute settler, English in his time (7)
HENGIST – ENG inside HIS T. Hengist was invited to Britain by King Vortigern in 449 to assist in defeating the Picts. Apparently.
13 Secular fella, I calculate, in part (6)
LAICAL – hidden word felLA I CALculate
15 A lord’s leaping around at the back (6)
DORSAL – anagram (‘leaping around’) of A LORD’S
17 Money saved, an inducement to a calling bird? (4,3)
NEST EGG – cryptic definintion
18 Steamship going around pale swimmers (5)
SWANS – SS (steamship) around WAN
20 Novelist William accepting right gift for day five (4,4)
GOLD RING – GOLDING with R added.
22 A pound for a priest’s vestment (3)
ALB – A + LB. Never heard of it.
23 Gunned down last of pipers piping (4)
SHOT – S (last letter of ‘pipers’) + HOT
24 Got up to collect set award? (7)
ROSETTE – ROSE with SET inserted. EDIT: as pointed out below, this doesn’t work and I didn’t spot it. I think it must be a setter’s (ho ho) error, as I can’t see any alternative parsing.
Down
1 Nine ladies dancing somewhere on the motorway? (6,4)
INSIDE LANE – anagram (‘dancing’) of NINE LADIES
2 Scenic country farm near Dolgellau, last of all — found here (5)
CYMRU – last letters of sceniC countrY farM neaR DolgellaU. Cymru is Welsh for Wales
3 Without a will in the States, husband and son must leave (9)
INTESTATE – IN THE STATES minus an H and an S
4 Awkward, if essential part of Oberammergau, cherished (6)
GAUCHE – hidden word: oberammerGAU CHErished
5 Hair application allergy not oddly brought up (3)
GEL – even letters of ALLERGY reversed
6 Fibs about United v Villa initially affected players? (7)
LUVVIES – LIES outside U V V.
9 Alibi let us off, being of some value (10)
UTILISABLE – anagram (‘off’) of ALIBI LET US
12 Song’s nine unusually bright red flashy features? (4,5)
NEON SIGNS – anagram (‘unusually’) of SONGS NINE
14 Is hot? No, perishing, truthfully (7)
INSOOTH – anagram (‘perishing’) of IS HOT NO. Never heard of this either. I’ve heard of ‘forsooth’, which is a word used by the sort of people who say ‘gadzooks!’ as though it were amusing in some way.
16 Headless bugler grabbing one: what could be more hideous? (6)
UGLIER – BUGLER minus the first letter with I inserted
19 First half of gift on day one is separate (5)
APART – GIft on day one of course is A PARTRIDGE. Take the first half
21 Point to daughter, getting up (3)
DOT – TO D, reversed.

45 comments on “Eleven Days of Christmas – QC 1774 by Noel”

  1. I needed 10 minutes for this one held up just a little by the unknown INSOOTH, but it had to be. We have a single Jutish HEN at 11ac but I can’t find any reference to French ones!
    1. I’ve never seen INSOOTH written as one word; it’s in sooth. Or it was; it’s obsolete, of course, probably not surviving much past Shakespeare.
      1. Collins has INSOOTH as British English and (via Webster’s) IN SOOTH as American English. Lexico and the Oxfords have only IN SOOTH (no mention of country). Chambers (printed edition) has INSOOTH but nothing online that I can find.

        At least most of these entries agree that it’s archaic.

        1. I actually went to Collins after posting, and was surprised, to say the least, at what I found. Anyway, I repeat that I’ve never seen the phrase written as one word, Collins be damned.
      2. Indeed. The opening words of Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice are “In sooth I know not why I am so sad…”.
    2. I got Rosette too from Rose and Set, and then as I was typing it in thought I had made an error and then couldn’t parse it.
  3. I had a few weeks off the QC in October and November, and it has taken me some time to get back into the groove. This week, however, I managed to finish all 5 puzzles in under 20 mins each, which is good for me. I really enjoyed this one, which was a steady solve of 15 minutes.

    FOI Gals
    LOI Insooth (I always thought it was two words, but not always, it seems.)
    WOD Hengist (I had heard of him, but knew nothing. This forced me to look him up.)
    COD Lots of good ones – Luvvies made me chuckle!

    I am struggling slightly with the parsing of 24 ac. Surely Rose with Set inserted would be Rossete – which would not fit. What am I missing?

    Thank you Noel and Curarist

    Buon Natale a Tutti!

    Edited at 2020-12-25 08:31 am (UTC)

  5. Happy Christmas everyone, especially to the setters, bloggers and posters on here – much thanks for your entertaining efforts. Love a themed puzzle which outweighed the problems I had with the obscure vocab.
    I note that Noel has previous when it comes to Christmas day.
    1. It sort of goes with the name, but he may well have chosen it originally because his first appearance here as QC setter was on Christmas Day 2014. Unfortunately that puzzle appears to have been omitted from the Club archive as it didn’t have a Quick Cryptic number. It was blogged here by Macavity123 but it was in the days before we included the clues so they are lost to posterity.

      Edited at 2020-12-25 09:00 am (UTC)

      1. Hating to be deprived of something I wouldn’t have cared one iota about but for its apparent inaccessibility, I scoured the feed URLs using the date 20141225 and id numbers close to adjacent puzzles, and I eventually found it at #430 – 43 places behind the previous day’s! It seems it wasn’t assigned a QC number so I guess that’s why it doesn’t appear in the Club archive. I know I can’t post links but perhaps you can?

        Meanwhile I’ll just be off solving a puzzle I didn’t even know I needed to before reading your comment…

        –AntsInPants

          1. Thanks. It’s amazing to see only two comments in the blog post. I was almost tempted to add another as I very much enjoyed the puzzle.

            I suspect a lot of people will have more “time on their hands” than usual this year, especially if they’re being as sensible as they should be about distancing. Here’s to vaccinations and hopefully getting back to normal next year!

            –AntsInPants

  6. I seem to remember from “1066 and All That” Hengist and his wife (or horse) Horsa landing correctly at Thanet. I must replace that book. I knew all other words except “laical” and “insooth” written as one. Have seen stuff like “In good sooth, my Lord” of course.

    FOI 7ac, LOI 8ac where I mis-read the clue as wanting an equivalent of “One arranging”. Is it kosher to have the anagrist as part of the definition? WOD “”laical”, COD 11ac with or without Horsa.

    Thanks to Noel and curarist, merry Christmas, and God bless us, every one.

  7. An easy top half with lots of hidden gifts but I slowed in the lower reaches. Slow to see GOLD RINGS and held up by INSOOTH (but it had to be) and HENGIST (because I was trying to crowbar hemp into the answer at first). Interrupted by WhatsApp sequence of distant granddaughter (damn the virus) opening her presents so no time recorded. Thanks to curarist for developing the clever theme. John M.
  8. Tried this over a glass or two of Bucks Fizz, but sadly DNF. Did not know HENGIST or ALB and did not get CYMRU or DORSAL either – my fault for being dim here. Guessed INSOOTH- never heard of it, only FORSOOTH. Have a good Christmas everyone.
  9. Fri, 25 Dec 20

    FOI: 5a GALS
    LOI: 12d NEONSIGNS

    30 Minute Mark: 14
    60 Minute Mark: 23
    Time before use of aids: 30 mins

    Total Answered: 23 /26

    DNF

    Never would have finished this one, as I have never heard of the word LAICAL. Even now I look at it and think to myself “that’s not a word”.

    My favourite clue was 6d LUVVIES. That word did cross my mind, but I put it on the back burner, until it was screaming at me.

    I did have hopes for today. Seeing as it was Christmas I thought “this will be the day!”, but alas another DNF. Will I get to complete one before 2020 is out? Probably not. But I am enthusiastic about my chances in 2021.

    Merry Christmas everybody. I hope you all have a great day.

  10. A very enjoyable puzzle …
    … finished in 9 minutes, and a very pleasant intermission between opening presents and getting down to Christmas lunch. Where Mrs S and I will face a 14 lb turkey ordered for our usual family gathering of 8 or so and alas just the two of us to try to do it justice. In the immortal words of Captain Oates, “we may be some time”.

    Held up just a bit by 14D Insooth and LOI 9D Utilisable, for which I needed all the checkers, but otherwise straightforward enough. I did not spot the (ro-) setter’s error, but 2D Cymru engaged me – is this perhaps the first time the QC has included a word in the language of the Land of my Fathers?

    Many thanks to Curarist for the blog.
    Cedric

    Edited at 2020-12-25 10:11 am (UTC)

  11. A very nice puzzle for a weird holiday period. A very nearly sub-30 solve but got held up by the issue with 24A Rosette which held up 19D Apart in turn. 32 minutes in the end!

    Thanks all for the comments, blogs and puzzles!

    Ruth

  12. A question
    In the absence of a paper edition I solved online in the Crossword Club and was pleased to find I had successfully submitted, for the first or second time only. I see the leaderboard gives scores (for me just over 760) but not times – can one see posters’ times, and if so how?

    Best wishes to all
    Cedric

    1. Perhaps you’re looking at the monthly leaderboard, which shows average scores over the last month? The leaderboard for each puzzle shows times and scores.
    2. It must be the platform. I just get scores on my phone, but I get times and scores on my tablet. So I can see I am roughly two cedrics today at 18:36 (621 points)
  13. ….but that doesn’t preclude Noel from being awarded a ROSETTE for effort – or even a rosetse !

    I thoroughly enjoyed this, and it was tricky enough to take me over my limit.

    FOI INCHING
    LOI UTILISABLE
    COD INSIDE LANE
    TIME 5:48

  14. INCHING went straight in and I ambled around the grid, but was held up at the end by UTILISABLE. INSOOTH went in with a shrug. A fun puzzle. 11:57, so 1a was apposite. Thanks Noel and Curarist and a Merry Christmas to all.
  15. Just outside target at 16 minutes, with a guess at the NHO HENGIST. CYMRU caused a delay, but INSOOTH went straight in from the anagrist, based on knowing FORSOOTH as a single word. As we have a single GOLD RING and unspecified numbers of SWANS and DRUMS, I’m going to assume that the HEN in HENGIST meets the requirement for French hens. Excellent Christmas fare and blog. Thanks both, and Merry everything and Happy always to everyone.
  16. Happy Christmas everyone! We have no idea of our time because we’ve been interrupted by Christmas greetings left, right and centre. However, we’ve had a lovely festive time solving Noel’s puzzle – thank you. For once we bore some resemblance to our avatar as we quaffed Champagne as we solved (well it is Christmas).

    FOI: gals
    LOI: swans
    COD: insooth too many to choose from

    Thank you Curarist – you can have the day off now

  17. Slow work, 25 mins or so. Was really held up by LOI SWANS, I would have been better served by working through the carol checking off each day and finding that Sevens Swans hadn’t been clued yet.

    Very nice puzzle, and obscure vocabulary is part of the challenge, insooth.

    And I had heard of Hengist so that didn’t hold me up, he appears in the great board game “Britannia”.

  18. Normally do the QC on paper and do not accurately time myself but today on the IPad it was 14:13.

    Missed the Rosette error but remembered Hengist and Horsa from my schooldays.

    Enjoyed the puzzle.

    FOI Gals
    LOI Dorsal
    COD Luvvies

  19. Merry Christmas everyone everywhere.
    No problems except Hengist and Laical which I had never heard of.
    Mince pies warming in the oven and experimenting with steaming the turkey prior to roasting for a festive dinner. Managed to reduce it from 12.5 kgs to 8 kg by surgical dismemberment skills.
    Hope that 2021 brings you all health, happiness and a wealth of enjoyably completed grids.
    Richard

    Edited at 2020-12-26 04:36 am (UTC)

  20. Nice Christmas puzzle for all the family.

    FOI 1dn INSIDE LANE – French Hens still missing!?

    LOI 14dn INSOOTH – Like Kevin I remember I’SOOTH – from either ‘The Knight of the Burning Pestle’ or ‘Bartholomew Fair’.

    COD 8ac TRUE LOVE – back in the eighties we employed a young copywriter by the name of Kay Truelove – give us a wave!

    WOD 2dn CYMRU – all the way from Welsh Wales.

    No ROSETTE for Noel?

  21. Happy Christmas all! This was a good day, not too easy and enjoyable.

    Oh my, the entries on this site have increased about 300% during the year, and I enjoy them all.

    COD GOLD RING.

    Now to share our rather large goose between the two of us, the bonus of course are the leftovers and I won’t have to strain the brain trying to think of what we’re going to eat next for a few days.

    Diana

  22. Fun theme, though it may have come at the cost of the obscurities – son #2 was so disgusted by INSOOTH that he had to be persuaded to continue! (“You crossword people are all weirdoes”). No time, since I was coaching beginners through it.

    Goose coming up. Happy Christmas to all and thanks to Noel and curarist.

    Templar

  23. 13:42 – but spent a disproportionate amount of time puzzling over ROSETTE before entering it with fingers crossed.
  24. I put Layman among other errors. Brain did not work very well and on line it is tempting to Reveal Word if you get stuck as happened with INSOOTH, UTILISABLE, HENGIST etc. Got ALB from the clueing. But otherwise a bit of a disaster. I find solving on line quite difficult.
    I enjoyed the rest of Christmas though. Best wishes to all and thanks as ever.
  25. An easy top half with lots of hidden gifts but I slowed in the lower reaches. Slow to see GOLD RINGS and held up by INSOOTH (but it had to be) and HENGIST (because I was trying to crowbar hemp into the answer at first). Interrupted by WhatsApp sequence of distant granddaughter (damn the virus) opening her presents so no time recorded. Thanks to curarist for developing the clever theme. John M.
  26. V late solve for me. Full of grub.

    6:51. Enjoyed the Christmas theme, missed the rosette, all the unusual vocabulary was easily clued I thought.

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