QC 1815 by Orpheus

Author   astartedonPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

A crossword that is notable for the near-absence of one of the staple clue types of the Quickie: as far as I can see there is only one anagram (including clue elements as well as whole clues) in the whole puzzle. FOI was 1A and LOI was 9D because although I was sure I had heard of this it was on the periphery of my knowledge and I wanted to give it a final interrogation before inserting it. My COD was probably 8A for the misdirection mentioned in the blog.

Many thanks to Orpheus for a gently teasing start to the week.

Definitions are underlined, and everything else is explained just as I see it as simply as I can.

Across
1 Old provincial governor finally senses an ambush (6)
SATRAP – S (‘finally’ senseS) + A TRAP (an ambush).
4 Mellow sound made by farm animal in south (6)
SMOOTH – MOO (sound made by farm animal) ‘in’ STH (south).
8 Disputed claim initially about balls bowled in test (13)
CONTROVERSIAL – C (Claim ‘initially’) + ON (about) + OVERS (balls bowled) ‘in’ TRIAL (test). Nice misdirection because the surface could lead you to think about balls being bowled in a test (match) as the definition of OVERS in that clue element but in fact ‘test’ is part of the overall cryptic.
10 Alter the last word at end of screed (5)
AMEND – AMEN (the last word) + D (the end of screeD).
11 Aussie native’s short word for male fowl (7)
ROOSTER – ROO’S ([kanga]roo’s, Aussie native’s) + TERm (term = word, so without the last letter it is a ‘short’ word).
13 Plot involving a legendary archer’s sidekick (9)
SATELLITE – SITE (plot) ‘involving’ A + TELL (legendary archer, although I would say that technically William Tell was a crossbowman. An archer is defined as ‘somebody skilled with bow and arrow’ which is not the same thing, but I don’t suppose we care.).
17 Levelling out late in the day (7)
EVENING – double definition.
18 Woman identified in ghastly diatribe (5)
LYDIA – hidden word: ‘identified in’ ghastLY DIAtribe.
19 March exhibition (13)
DEMONSTRATION – double definition.
21 Complete set of books kept in European republic (6)
ENTIRE – NT (New Testament, a ‘set of books’) ‘kept in’ EIRE (European republic).
22 Early settler finally relaxed and fished (6)
ANGLED – ANGLE (an early settler) + D (‘finally’ relaxeD).
Down
1 Thus American spies left an informal gathering (6)
SOCIAL – SO (thus) + CIA (American spies) + L (left).
2 Broadcast game, behold, in US state (9)
TENNESSEE – TENNIS (game) + SEE (behold) when said out loud (broadcast) sounds like TENNESSEE.
3 Gave vent to anger in commercial (5)
AIRED – IRE (anger) ‘in’ AD (commercial).
5 Italian physicist taking brandy on island (7)
MARCONI – MARC (a type of brandy produced from grape skins left over from wine production) + ON + I (island). Marc varies greatly in quality (as of course does wine) but the good stuff is a particular favourite of mine. Most commonly you get Marc de Bourgogne and Marc de Champagne, and these French products are roughly equivalent to grappa from Italy. For crossword beginners it might be worth mentioning that MARC sometimes comes up in cryptics as cluing for WASTE or REFUSE or similar, reflecting the fact that it is made from the leftovers. I just tried to think of a sample clue using MARC and came up with this one (which would only work as a down clue):
School waste washed up by sea in France (7)
Not the best clue in the world, but I hope it gives an illustration.
6 Sash originally bought in old India (3)
OBI – B (Bought ‘originally’) ‘in’ O (old) + I (India, from phonetic alphabet or common abbreviation).
7 Mountaineer forks out pounds for a term at Oxford (6)
HILARY – Sir Edmund HILLARY was a mountaineer (of Everest fame). If you ‘fork out’ one of the Ls (pounds) you are left with HILARY, the term we would currently be in if we were up at Oxford. The others are Michaelmas and Trinity. The name of Michaelmas Term is the same at Cambridge although the others are called simply Lent and Easter.
9 Signaller’s device weighing practically nothing? (4,5)
VERY LIGHT – double definition. A Very Light is another one of those nautical things (like earings, sheets, cleats and cringles) that deckhandiana will be able to tell you about. I believe they are bright flares that you can use to draw attention to yourself when lost at sea, or if you prefer you can save them up and use them (a bit like footballers and racing drivers use bottles of Champagne) to draw attention to yourself when celebrating after you have won a race.
12 Exercise machine reforming team drill (9)
TREADMILL – straight anagram (the first (and only?) today!), ‘reforming’ TEAM DRILL.
14 Bar coated with the right solvent (7)
THINNER – INN (bar) ‘coated with’ THE R (right).
15 Stick one’s nose in, hearing gong? (6)
MEDDLE – sounds like MEDAL (gong).
16 Woman breaks record, being the worse for wear (6)
CANNED – ANNE (woman) ‘breaking’ CD (record). CANNED is one of the euphemisms for ‘drunk’ (the worse for wear) that Polly doesn’t use in her famous Fawlty Towers speech attempting to alert Basil ‘subtly’ in front of bemused guests to the fact that their chef is hopelessly drunk in the run-up to evening service: “He’s POTTED… the shrimps… He’s SOUSED… the herrings… He’s PICKLED the onions and he’s SMASHED the eggs IN HIS CUPS, UNDER THE TABLE.” I suppose she could have added “He’s CANNED the sardines.
18 Study Latin at first and make money (5)
LEARN – L (Latin ‘at first’) + EARN (make money).
20 Encountered leaders in Middle Eastern territory (3)
MET – M + E + T (‘leaders’ in Middle Eastern Territory).

73 comments on “QC 1815 by Orpheus”

  1. I biffed CONTROVERSIAL, never did parse it. I wouldn’t have remembered VERY LIGHT, but the checkers came through (LOI). 3:54. on edit: I didn’t know CANNED meaning ‘drunk’, nor did I think of ‘drunk’ when reading ‘worse for wear’, but I felt confident enough in the parsing C(ANNE)D.

    Edited at 2021-02-22 03:06 am (UTC)

  2. Completed in a satisfactory 22 minutes, a couple of answers biffed with varying levels of confidence but learning to trust my instincts! A good start to the week.

    Thanks to astartedon for explaining the parsing.

    WB

  3. This was definitely on the tough side for me. Some general knowledge that was a little on the outer reaches for me. MARC/MARCONI, HIL(L)ARY and several others unparsed and half-remembered. Didn’t know CANNED or SATRAP and was worried about both.

    It’s worth mentioning that the 15×15 today only took me 12 minutes! So at least for me, the main was quite a bit easier than the quickie today!

    1. Thanks Jeremy. I occasionally have a go at the 15×15 but get dispirited when there are too many unknowns in the cluing/answers. Not today though! 23:02 which is probably a PB for me.
  4. Only in oldies’ crosswordland are CDs called records! Normally ‘record’ only refers to those vinyl things, which are undergoing a wonderful renaissance!
  5. I think there’s a lot in this that will fox our newbie friends and less-experienced solvers in general. I made my target 10 minutes but only with seconds to spare.

    I would never have thought of ‘sidekick’ as a definition of SATELLITE so it’s as well that the wordplay was clear, but even so it was my LOI.

  6. All green but shorter than usual on pleasure because some lacking general knowledge meant there was more finger crossing than PDMs. SATRAP, Marc, VERY LIGHT, OBI. But nice to enter the obviously half known HILARY. Usual problem with not being able to recall US States — though I do know them once I know what they are. CANNED only known from crosswords. Hopefully some of these words will lodge in my brain for future use.

    EDIT: Encouraged by Jeremy I went from here to the 15×15. Took about an hour in two sittings but got there in the end — picking up pace after a slow start as the wavelength arrived. Given the Snitch says it’s the second easiest of the year I’m going to need to keep practicing.

    Edited at 2021-02-22 01:38 pm (UTC)

  7. More polka than walz as I hopped skipped and jumped around the grid. NHO SATRAP and LOI Satellite because I was determined to Tuck one of Robin Hood’s band in somewhere but couldn’t manage Marion and W. Tell was not an archer in my mind.
    Liked Very light (named after Edward Very, US Navy). Very gun is part of required maroon kit on leisure craft in US and have been asked to produce it as well as having in date fire extinguisher when checked. More general knowledge than usually required for a QCC but really enjoyed it and finished spot on target of 40 mins. COD CONTROVERSIAL. Thanks Astartedon and Orpheus.
    PS What a fine Sunday evening’s viewing between Pottery throwdown and gripping snooker accompanying steamed & roasted chicken dinner

    Edited at 2021-02-22 07:54 am (UTC)

    1. Yes, we enjoyed the Throwdown and chicken! Interesting about Very.

      Edited at 2021-02-22 10:52 am (UTC)

  8. Tend to agree with Jackkt — some non-QC vocab (and I also had a MER at SATELLITE (and the archer reference)) though VERY LIGHT my only NHO. A few easy ones but was expecting this to fall into the “toughish” camp

    Thanks all

  9. Some of the GK required for this one was a stretch for me but the wordplay and checkers were kind enough to point me in the right direction. I was slowed down at the end by wondering if STH was a valid abbreviation for south, but once I’d decided that it was HILARY swiftly followed, allowing me to sneak under the 10 minute mark with seconds to spare. FOI and COD to SATRAP.
    Thanks to astartedon
  10. Hesitated a little over SATELLITE for sidekick and CANNED for worse for wear as I was unfamiliar with both. COD for the groanworthy TENNESSEE.Thanks for the entertaining commentary in the blog, Don. 4:39.

    Edited at 2021-02-22 08:22 am (UTC)

  11. Since I’m the poster who finds famous dates, I can point out that today’s cryptic is Battle of Waterloo. I guess that setters don’t know what number will be assigned to their puzzles, as the puzzle number never seems to feature as a Nina.

    And no date from me with another DNF, but breaking my poor run on the QC with a fast solve of the Times Cryptic Jumbo again on Saturday. I actually find it an easier step up than the 15×15.

    Tough Vocab today, with Verey Light pulled from memory banks only, NHO MARCON or OBI. More Oxbridge slang again at 7d, sigh.

    13A has much misdirection. “Storyline” fitted the checkers I had in at the time, and as Orpheus had plotted, I went through Friar Tuck, Little John, Alan O’Dale…

    Then finally CANNED which is a tough clue even with three checkers. Michael McIntyre points out that ANY noun can be converted to slang for “drunk”, memorably coining “Gazebo-ed”.

    Edited at 2021-02-22 08:25 am (UTC)

    2. I wouldn’t have said that HILARY is Oxford slang; it’s the official name for the spring term, although I can’t remember why, if I ever knew. It’s called Lent Term in the ‘other place’ (Cambridge), which is more obvious.
    3. DNF here as well. Couldn’t get canned, even with aids – I did think of synonyms for drunk but not that one. Also failed on satellite. I filled it in from the checkers but had no idea of the definition, so can’t claim to have biffed it. Tell never occurred to me – he’s not an archer, IMHO. I was thinking of Robin Hood (little would have fitted the start until I worked out Tennessee) and Paris as legendary archers. Never got to site from plot either, don’t really see them as synonyms.
      Quite pleased to have remembered satrap and very light and to have spotted the hidden Lydia, otherwise, not a good day.
    4. I think Marc, also came up in a QCC last week, or the week before. Too fiery for me, I would rather a mellow Armagnac.
  12. 42m 25s. FOI SMOOTH, LOI ROOSTER. A slow clockwise trip around the grid in which SE, SW, NW and NE were steadily filled. Dwelled more than a pause on 13a, where the crossers had me trying to anagram “Little” (as in “John”) and searching for three more letters. Incidentally, ROOSTER could be defined by most of its clue, apart from “short”; I have vivid memories of being an eight-year old newly-arrived pommie in Australia and being told by the other schoolkids that it was not a cockerel, it was a “roostah”. Thanks to Orpheus and astartedon.
  13. Good morning all.
    A long-soak-in-the-bath of a puzzle today, although I’m pleased to say I did finish it.
    In mitigation, I did type 12d in wrongly (TRRADMILL) which left me puzzling for an age over 13a S*TELL**R until I finally twigged. I must’ve had soap in my eyes.
    I was able to finally pull out the plug after 41 minutes.
    Have a good day friends. It finally feels as though spring might be arriving down here in Dorzet. Fingers crossed!

    Edited at 2021-02-22 08:40 am (UTC)

  14. DNF with one missing …
    … as I did not/could not spot 16D Canned. Got it by using aids but would seriously question CD = record. They’re not, they are discs, and the point for anyone my age is that they were different from the records (vinyl 45s, EPs and LPs) that made up one’s music collection those days. And if anyone says “Ah but they are recordings”, then so are tapes and cassettes. As indeed are the clay cuneiform tablets that satraps used, for that matter!

    Apart from that, I thought this required quite a lot of GK. DK 6D Obi, though the cluing left no alternative, but 1A Satrap, 9D Very light and 5D Marconi all dredged from deep memory satisfactorily, but they took time. Held up too for a while by mis-parsing 11A Rooster; I thought it was Aussie native = Roo, Short = S and then Word for male = Ter??

    Tough for a Monday. Many thanks to Don for the blog
    Cedric

    Edited at 2021-02-22 09:14 am (UTC)

    1. Chambers has the setter’s back covered:

      record – a thin plastic disc used as a recording medium for reproducing music or other sound.

      1. Hmm, I remain unconvinced. Ask the average person what a record is and you will not find many coming up with a CD. It smacks of some of the VAR decisions bedevilling football these days — not 100% wrong but not what the ordinary person would understand by the word. I suspect it is a definition formed in the era of of LPs and the like, and the fact that it can be now construed to cover CDs is an unintended consequence of Chambers not updating their, er, records.
        1. We definitely had “records” for “tapes” the other day! To extend your VAR metaphor, I think this one is “umpire’s call”. The setters have to have some latitude (cf “bar, “inn” and “pub” all being treated as the same thing).
          1. Tapes and records work as verbs — I used to record the top 40 and was also taping it — which is how I solved that one when it came up but it wouldn’t work for nouns. I’m reluctantly OK with CD = record as I can accept record = album, and have you heard their new record / album / CD all work. Not sure anyone ever said ‘have you heard their new tape’ though!

            Edited at 2021-02-22 01:45 pm (UTC)

        2. I’m sure it will be technically correct per the dictionary — but, like you, as far as I’m concerned a record is not a CD — it is vinyl.
          1. My first records were made of shellac and those that survived are still in my collection. I think the terminology gets updated with the passing years and becomes more inclusive. These days my ‘record collection’ includes MP3 downloads.

            Edited at 2021-02-22 01:45 pm (UTC)

            1. I know what you mean — but as you’ve stated your record “collection” contains MP3’s etc. If someone said my records only I’d still think of LP’s and vinyl.
  15. The Times of London QC with with a butterscotch, not vanilla, flavour. One has to be of a certain age to take SATRAP, VERY LIGHT, SATELLITE, LYDIA, CANNED, MARCONI, OBI, HILARY and SOCIAL in one’s stride. Had this been set in the early sixties I would not have been surprised.

    FOI 1ac SATRAP

    LOI 14dn THINNER another Oldie

    COD 2dn TENNESSEE where climate change doesn’t exist

    WOD 9dn VERY LIGHT

    My time was veteran too! But everything was tickety-boo!

    A note to Mr Merlin – Waterloo might well have been part of this puzzle at 18ac.

    Lydia, oh! Lydia, say have you met Lydia
    Oh! Lydia, the tattooed lady
    She has eyes that folks adore so
    And a torso even more so
    Lydia, oh! Lydia, that “Encyclopedia”
    Oh! Lydia, the Queen of tattoo
    On her back is the Battle of Waterloo etc etc

    Grouch Marx’s signature song from 1939-ish. Kermit the Frog revived it in 1977.
    Kermit Roosevelt – remember him? Of course you don’t.

    Edited at 2021-02-22 09:03 am (UTC)

  16. Agree with Horryd that this had a distinctly elderly whiff to it. It felt as though there were lots of obscurities but they kept falling in so progress was swift by my standards. I liked SOCIAL, CONTROVERSIAL and DEMONSTRATION.

    FOI SOCIAL; LOI SATELLITE (tough for “sidekick”); COD MARCONI (though I’m not sure that marc, an eau de vie, is really “brandy”); time 8:08 and even though that’s over 2K I’m still giving this a Very Good Day rating.

    Many thanks Orpheus and Don.

    Templar

    1. I am sure you are right about the technicalities of brandy and eau de vie, but I just don’t know. I have been round many wineries and distilleries in my time and I am afraid I have always just been more interested in the final product than the terminology.

      But the online dictionary gives meaning 1 as “… the residue, as skins and pips, remaining after the juice is expressed” and definition 2 as: “(in France) the brandy distilled from this residue”. That is what I was relying upon. I did in fact wonder before writing the blog for that clue if it was technically a brandy and that is why I checked — but perhaps the online dictionary is not the best reference.

      1. Thanks Don. Having now done some googling I can see that I am completely wrong and that “brandy” is a much broader term than I had thought!
        1. OK! That’s what I love about crosswords. They are an enjoyable way of furthering one’s education!

          I recently read Martin Amis’s ‘Inside Story’ and greatly enjoyed it. A lot of people say he is pompous and arrogant but I found him to be very honest and humble. He admitted to having used a thesaurus in his younger years just to dazzle people with obscure words (I think I was guilty of that as well), but says he now uses it regularly just to avoid ‘chimes’ in his writing, so that if something doesn’t ‘sound’ right he can easily and quickly find an alternative. And far from being arrogant about his evident command of the language he says he refers to his dictionary every day when writing just to make sure he has got the meanings of even common everyday words correct and to learn more about their etymology.

          Doing this blog has produced similar behaviour in me — I am far less likely now that when I started just to slap in a word without knowing what it means! So although as I said MARC was very familiar to me as a word, I did feel the need to look it up just to make sure and also to consolidate my understanding. And of course comments from contributors like you always help as well. The more dialogue the better!

  17. Very pleased to get this all OK in a quick time (for me). I enjoyed my rather jumpy circuit of the grid and was pleased to find that OBI was correct, together with (biffed) SATELLITE. Thanks to Don for parsing this. No problem with CANNED, given crossers. I thought the long anagrams were fairly easy to biff but was much relived to find that my NHO LOI SATRAP was correct. Many thanks to Orpheus for a good, balanced start to the week, and to Don for the detailed blog and parsing. John M.
  18. My FOI was AIRED, followed by SOCIAL and SATRAP. Steady progress was interrupted by wondering whether a SATELITE is a sidekick. However, I trusted the wordplay and moved on, until slowed again by considering whether a CD can be classed as a record. I suppose it can if it’s a data CD and contains information. That was my LOI and I submitted at 7:55. Thanks Orpheus and Don.
  19. Hopeless today, I wasn’t on the right wavelength at all and gave up after doing about half.

    I do appreciate the blog — but, I didn’t even get VERY LIGHT, Don! Luckily we’ve never needed one. I do remember setting off flares from our boat, off Cowes in 1969, to celebrate the fireworks and quite rightly getting a severe ticking off from the harbourmaster.

    Diana

  20. As commented above, a few words rarely encountered here, and didn’t have Mr Tell in mind as an archer, but the cluing was sound throughout and got me safely through. Off to try the 15×15 now.
    1. I thought I would also give the 15×15 a go after a fairly smooth QC and I completed it in 45 mins which is good for me despite some trip wires.
      I hope you found it approachable. John.

      Edited at 2021-02-22 11:23 am (UTC)

  21. CANNED is not one with which I am familiar. Eventually put it in from ANNE inside CD, but with an expectation of a DNF.

    Otherwise, no problems, though I can see there is a level of GK required.

    7:25

  22. 12 minutes for me after returning to 16d to try to justify CANNED. It’s not a word I would use for drunk although it did occur to me as a possible answer. At first I had ANN as the woman. No problem with CD.
    Prior to that I had constructed SATRAP, a word which I’m sure I’ve seen before in puzzles.
    Otherwise SATELLITE required some work, and the definition a bit of a stretch in a QC.
    David
  23. There were a lot of unknowns for me in the QC today. I hope I will remember them going forward! They were at least fairly clued. My unknowns were SATRAP, SATELLITE = sidekick (my LOI), HILARY, VERY LIGHT, CANNED = drunk. Fortunately I have seen ANGLE and OBI enough times to remember them. I sneaked in under target in 9:26 for an OK day.
  24. FOI SOCIAL but that didn’t help as much as I hoped. Liked CONTROVERSIAL once I worked it out. Ditto SATRAP which was somewhere lurking in the depths of my mind along with VERY LIGHT.. Biffed SATELLITE.
    MEDDLE was also an early clue solved leading to EVENING, but, that corner apart, it was all very slow. Was pleased to finish, finally, with all correct. LOI CANNED, nearly put Panned.

    Thanks vm, Don.

  25. Firmly in the SCC today at 22 minutes. No real problems with the GK, just not on the wavelength! OBI and SATRAP known from crosswords, but familiar with MARCONI, VERY LIGHT and HILARY from life. I have been CANNED too many times in my life not to be familiar with that use, but did wonder if CD could be a record ( along with LP and EP, the other usual suspects). Orpheus 1, theRotter 0 today. Thanks both.
  26. Couldn’t find a way in today until FOI 19A DEMONSTRATION but still struggled.
    NHO SATRAP, HILARY nor a VERY LIGHT
    With 13A. was thinking of Robin Hood, though biffed SATELLITE (not understanding explanation until found here.)
    Will now keep MARC in mind, as was stuck here, too.

    A tough start to the week, but what I have learned to expect from an Orpheus QC!

    Thank you for the answers Astartedon

  27. 14.36 after battling to find a way in with the across clues and coming back to start with 1dn SOCIAL. Then VERY LIGHT. I somehow knew very pistol, so not a stretch to get there. LOI SATRAP, which I did know, but it did not surface until i’d stared at it for ages. Enjoyed struggling with both TENNESSEE and SATELLITE.
  28. Not often I get to 30 mins in the QC and only have half the grid completed, so a bit of a shocker for me.

    I will put it down to Monday morning, not being on the right wavelength and not knowing some GK. Think that pretty much covers everything.

    My biggest stumbling block was 13ac and putting in “Storyline” — even though I couldn’t parse it. Never in a million years would I have thought of Satellite for sidekick and whilst going through an assortment of merry men I would never have thought of William Tell either. The problem was that this was a key word in the middle of the puzzle and it threw everything else off.

    NHO of 16dn “Canned” for being drunk (only in the context of being murdered) and whilst I should have known 7dn “Hilary” I didn’t equate it with a term at Oxford. To add insult to injury, I put in “Commemoration” for 19ac.

    FOI — 1dn “Social”
    LOI — dnf
    COD — 8ac “Controversial”

    One to forget. Thanks as usual.

  29. First of all, a tip of the hat to Astartedon, Plett and anyone else who started with my loi, the unknown Satrap. Having that initial setback wasn’t a good start, not helped later by wanting one of Robin’s men to make an appearance in 13ac, but Very Light finally put paid to that idea. Poi, after about 25mins, was 22ac Angled where a misread finished for fished was a problem all of my own making. CoD to 8ac, Controversial, a good build-up clue. Invariant
  30. I’m afraid Mrs Random and I both toiled away for more than an hour without success today. I gave up with 7 clues unsolved and Mrs R did so with 6 clues remaining. Neither of us knew the general knowledge required for 1a (SATRAP), 6d (OBI), 7d (HILARY – we’d both heard of Sir Edmund, obvs!)) and 9d (VERY LIGHT).

    Mrs R is now rather put out by having spent so long on the puzzle when “there was never any chance of completing it” and has gone into the kitchen to pummel some home-made bread dough. I feel less peeved, partly because I’m more used to being well and truly beaten, but also because we will enjoy some of Mrs R’s delicious home-made bread with our wholesome winter veg soup this evening.

    Many thanks to astartedon and (through gritted teeth) to Orpheus.

  31. Not a bad day with a bit of pondering here and there, particularly when it came to SATRAP and VERY LIGHT, but both were lurking at the back of my mind so when the wordplay revealed them, I felt fairly sure of the answers. No problem with MARC or OBI – we’ve seen them pretty often.

    A bit concerned that CANNED came easily to me, considering how it was unknown to so many – I fear that the company I kept and the amount of alcohol we consumed in our younger days has contributed to my wide range of words and phrases for getting plastered!

    FOI Social
    LOI Satrap
    COD Very light
    10 minutes

    Thanks Orpheus and Don

    I’d also recommend the biggie today. Another one with a very low SNITCH rating – I did it in 22 minutes (with one silly error) which proves how user friendly it was!

  32. Although we eventually (in 23 minutes) completed the puzzle it was hard work. NHO satrap and Very light but we deduced the answers. We spent absolutely ages trying to fit one of Robin Hood’s Merry Men in to the solution to 13A, then we remembered Mr W Tell and all was clear. Very few write ins – Orpheus made us work today – thank you.

    FOI: obi
    LOI: canned
    COD: social

    Thanks Astartedon for your much needed blog.

  33. Twenty three minutes to a dead end at 16d, canned, so DNF. Disinterested husband offered canned, and only then did I see Anne and the CD. FOI amend. Very much enjoyed the head-scratching, all part of life’s rich pattern. Thanks, Don, and Orpheus. GW.
  34. I found this hard going but was pleased to complete it without recourse to any aids. Some tricky and uncommon items, but managed to dredge them up from the recesses of my memory.
  35. I’ve never seen STH as an abbreviation for “south.” It seems no one has remarked on this. Sources have STH as short for “something.”
    1. I thought it was odd as well, but guessed it would have made an appearance in one of the reference books sometime in the last century or so…
    2. To me, STH is just natural for south so I made no comment and raised no eyebrow. I seem to remember it being a lot more common in my youth though. And when I plugged it into the online dictionary it came up straight away.
  36. Slow going today but managed to finish in 24 minutes with all correct. Biffed controversial and satellite so thanks to Astartedon for enlightenment on those two. No problem with the GK required and I’m slightly surprised at the number of respondents never having heard of canned for drunk. Maybe like pebee my knowledge of such words stems from a somewhat misspent youth.

    FOI – 17ac EVENING
    LOI – 13ac SATELLITE
    COD – 19ac DEMONSTRATION for the concise clueing

  37. ….I suffered from active eyebrows when considering “sth = south”, “CD = record”, and “SATELLITE = sidekick”. I found the puzzle quite tricky, and a tad disappointing.

    FOI AMEND
    LOI SATELLITE
    COD HILARY
    TIME 3:45

  38. Failed to get 1a, but should have done from the word play. Otherwise ok, some words suiting our advancing years. Very lights brought back memories of National Service, driving around the runway to place very lights to facilitate night flying, happy days, mostly. Thanks, Orpheus and for the blog.
  39. I was wondering the other day what was my record number of Kevins was. I’m sure this wasn’t it, but at 17 it might be my most for quite a while. I can put this partly down to being tired as I actually had to get up at a sensible time this morning to start my son’s school Zoom lesson but I’d gone to bed at half term time. This meant I started nodding off at around the half hour mark. I can also put it down to this being on the trickier side to say the least. I think SATRAP has come up before, but it still took a while even after I’d realised it ended with TRAP. Can’t believe ROO didn’t immediately come to mind for “Aussie native” and, being a runner, albeit an outdoors one, I should have unravelled TREADMILL faster too. NHO VERY LIGHT or OBI and SATELLITE and THINNER for “sidekick” and “solvent” weren’t the most obvious synonyms either, but I got there in the end. FOI AMEND, LOI CANNED, COD 15d, time 66:24. Thanks Astartedon and Orpheus
  40. Mr Tell was an arbalist
    Mr Hood was a toxophilist

    The former used bolts and the latter arrows

    Do not confuse.
    Gentle crossword tonight. One course only (cheese omelettes)

  41. I cannot finish the majority of Orpheus crosswords. Clearly ‘easy’ for the seasoned solver (and those that went to THAT other place) but the usual sprinkling of obscure GK to annoy me greatly.
    Satrap??
    Satellite = sidekick??
    Hillary? to lead onto Hilary?? NHO
    Marc for Brandy?? (sheltered life here)
    Very Light — got it but hmmm
    CD for record?? Hmmm
    One to forget. But I must admit that I won’t forget Hilary. Hilarious!
    John George

  42. Very tricky for me and a DNF. I had penciled in canned although wasn’t sure about it, but couldn’t get LP or EP to work. But got stuck on angled & meddle which I just couldn’t see. Everything felt very slow today with the long clues slow in coming. I didn’t get round to starting until 6pm on a Monday so not the most auspicious time. Merlin I found the jumbo quite approachable this weekend. I haven’t finished it but half of it went in pretty quickly.

  43. Not too bad for me, which may be to do with my age. As I arrived in the first wave of baby boomers I may be more familiar with Very Lights (watching too many war films in the 1950s) and canned. I preferred sozzled, but that seems to have died out, and is not recognised by this spellchecker.
  45. All finished at 22.30hrs after snatches spent during the afternoon and evening! FOI 1a Satrap. LOI 16d Canned after an alphabet trawl. COD either 8a Controversial or 13a Satellite (quickly chose Wm Tell as fewer letters seemed more likely than the Sherwood Forest lot). Thx to Orpheus for a very entertaining puzzle and to Astarton for an entertaining blog leading to an interesting discussion. Might try the 15×15 as it is so recommended — but first tomorrow’s QC.
  46. All finished at 22.30hrs after snatches spent during the afternoon and evening! FOI 1a Satrap. LOI 16d Canned after an alphabet trawl. COD either 8a Controversial or 13a Satellite (quickly chose Wm Tell as fewer letters seemed more likely than the Sherwood Forest lot). Thx to Orpheus for a very entertaining puzzle and to Astarton for an entertaining blog leading to an interesting discussion. Might try the 15×15 as it is so recommended — but first tomorrow’s QC.

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