This is a tough puzzle and will probably provoke howls of outrage from some quarters. Sorry that this is a no-frills (and no time!) blog; I’ve been rather pressed of late and just cranked this out. Forgive typos. And indeed please forgive its appearance – in the classic way of late night endeavour, I have had an IT issue in which TfTT shut me out from the desk top for want of a security code (which it said it had sent but which never arrived), so I’ve had to reconstruct this blog on my phone.
Across
1 – NOVICE. A NOVICE is a trainee nun or monk and should have NO VICEs.
4 – SCORES. Triple (not double as I originally put – thanks gallers) definition – to scratch is to score; scores are lots/loads; and you could keep the score/record.
8 – SERGEANT MAJOR. Anagram (carelessly) of “jams generator”.
10 – IDIOM. IDIO{t} + M for millions
11 – GAINING. GAG (joke) around INN (pub) in turn containing I (setter)
13 – IMPATIENT. Anagram (writhing) of “intimate” including P (papa).
17 – NIRVANA. N (northern) + IR (Irish) + VAN (leaders) + A (start to anticipate). Tough.
18 – BRIAR. Hidden.
19 – QUEEN’S ENGLISH. The QUEEN’S ENGLISH is “proper” English and thus not what common people speak; hint from the year of her death.
21 – EFFORT. E (energy) + FT (paper) going round (rounds) FOR (for). Tough.
22 – PERNOD. NOD after PER (each).
Down
1 – NESSIE. Anagram (swimming) of “seen is”.
2 – VERSIFIER. VERIFIER (checker) checking (containing) S (society).
3 – CREAM. C (carbon) + REAM (paper).
5 – COMBINE. COMBIN{g} (mainly scouring) + E (middle letter of field). Tough.
6 – RAJ. Backwards hidden
7 – SPROGS. S (second) + PROG + S (second).
9 – NIGHTMARE. {k}NIGHT (headless man, as in chess man) + MARE (horse)
12 – INTUITION. IN (home) + TUITION
14 – PLAINER. Anagram (new) of NEPALI + R (king)
15 – UNIQUE. UNI (university) + Q (question) + U (you) +E (last letter of challenge)
16 – ORCHID. O (Oscar) + R (winner finally) + CHID (rebuked)
18 – BUGLE. BUG (hide microphone) + LE (the French)
20 – ELF. Every other letter of “tell off”, makes a change from imp
21:56 for me. Definitely on the tough side. As others have said, it was the NE corner that was hardest.
Thanks to Shay and thanks to Templar along with congratulations for surviving the blogger’s nightmare.
SCC and beyond today but some fun and challenging clues. No vice was good and so was in tuition. Several biffed and parsed later, including NIRVANA and ORCHID. I agree with all those who query the Q element of this one, but the odd more difficult puzzle is OK by me – as long as it does not become the norm!
Hear Hear – I also like a crunchy one, just not all six in one week last we had last week.
Quite slow but no real hold-ups until last three. Didnt get 2d or 7d (despite being familiar with the word), and 16d took ages even after guessing orchid. Thanks Shay and Templar.
Going well except, GAINING a bit too many cryptic steps for me, SPROGS known but never considered here I was just stuck with ‘Son’ for issue, PERNOD must have been dreamt up while drinking!
Surprisingly I didn’t find this too hard but was a DNF thanks to 2d VERSIFIER where I was trying variations on VIRGIL and INVIGILATOR.
Thanks Shay and Templar.
22:03
Tough work, was held up in the corners, SPROGS, ORCHID and UNIQUE, so was pleased to finish only to discover a DPS with a misspelt VERRIFIER instead of the NHO VERSIFIER.
DNB
hmm! the clue is in the title …. quick cryptic. NOT. actually there were not terms and definitions I had never heard before. the clues were just too difficult or obscure. I am not criticising the setter, but rather the editorial process that seems to accept such fodder. just my opinion.
To add to my misery on the QC, I spent an enormous amount of time on the 15 x 15 today and got just 14/29 answers. That is over 6 hours on cryptic puzzles over the last 2 days! Truly inept performance.
Hard but fair
DNF. Effort and Versifier did for me.
Many thanks Templar for blogging under pressure. And to Shay for the puzzle
FOI Nessie
DNF
COD Queens english
By the time I’ve finished (or in cases such as today, ‘not quite’ finished), it’s about 10pm (as I only usually sit down and start after dinner), and there’s not much left to comment, except to say I too wasn’t convinced by VERSIFIED and CHID (though quite familiar with SPROGS!). I take it all those folk who comment before breakfast time live abroad and don’t get up extremely early in order to do the QC! Perhaps you’ll prove me wrong!