The new Saturday QCs require an extension of the blogging team and I am honoured to be invited to join them. And as this is my first blog, I should introduce myself briefly. I am a Londoner born and bred, and have lived all but 4 of my nearly 70 years in the city, so my comments will inevitably have an Anglo-centric feel to them I suspect. My TfTT picture is not a random picture from the internet but my great grandfather, a successful businessman, bon viveur and society man about town – he sounds as if he was enormous fun and I am sorry I never knew him. And I have a secret weapon, which is Mrs S, who is much more experienced than me at solving crosswords – we do the puzzles together, she on the 15×15 and me on the QC, and it is about 50-50 which of us finishes first. If I admit to “using aids” it usually means I have asked her for help!
Today we have a very elegant puzzle from Hurley, which took me 12:25, which I consider about my average. No difficult words or unusual GK, 6 nice anagrams and a variety of other well constructed clues – what’s not to like! My COD was 11A for the surface which can be read in two ways, both very good.
How did everyone get on?
Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, deletions and [] other indicators.
| Across | |
| 1 | Perfect location, you heard, the best: central Siam (6) |
| UTOPIA – An IKEA clue, made up from U (you heard, ie sounds like “you”), TOP (the best) IA (central letters of Siam). | |
| 5 | Area under water in southeast a British journalist follows (6) |
| SEABED – Another construction special, with SE (southeast), A B (a British), ED (the crossword setter’s go-to journalist). | |
| 8 | Field officer referring to boss’s facial feature (8) |
| FOREHEAD – Our third “build it from components” clue in a row, this time FO (Field Officer), RE (referring to), HEAD (boss). I did not know FO for Field Officer but it is a recognised abbreviation. | |
| 9 | Talk about king’s clothing (4) |
| GARB – GAB (talk) with R (for King) in the middle of it. Interestingly the clue “Talk about clothing” also just about works, as GARB = Brag, ie talk, backwards. Who needs the king, as a republican might say. | |
| 10 | The Spanish finally comb the river (4) |
| ELBE – The German river (though its source is actually in Czechia), made up from EL (“The” in Spanish) with the last two letters of comB thE. | |
| 11 | Ceremony at first, then often it’s thrown (8) |
| CONFETTI – C (Ceremony at first, ie take the first letter) followed by (often it)* – “thrown” being one of the countless indicators of anagrams. A very nice surface because confetti is often thrown after a wedding ceremony, and my COD. | |
| 12 | All actors in show alternatively star (6) |
| CASTOR – CAST (all the actors) + OR (alternatively), the star Castor being one of the two very bright stars in the constellation Gemini, the other being Pollux. My LOI and I was held up by initially reading “alternatively” as “take alternate letters of” – but of what? | |
| 14 | Season of gold corporation needs starting out (6) |
| AUTUMN – We are back on IKEA clues again with AU (chemical symbol for gold), TUM (corporation), N (needs starting out, ie take the first letter of needs). Tum for corporation is used extensively by crossword setters (most recently only 3 days ago in QC 2580) and almost never by anyone else. | |
| 16 | Itchy, let loose in bad-tempered way (8) |
| TETCHILY – (itchy let)*, the anagram indicator being Loose. | |
| 18 | Small piece of land in place associated with Old Testament (4) |
| PLOT – PL (common abbreviation for place) + OT (standard crossword abbreviation for Old Testament). | |
| 20 | Praise twofold on way back (4) |
| LAUD – DUAL (twofold) reversed (“on the way back”). Slight question-mark over Dual = twofold in my mind initially, but Collins has it. | |
| 21 | One watching rook, lone, confused (8) |
| ONLOOKER – (rook lone)*, the anagram indicator this time being Confused. | |
| 23 | Resolute golfer’s support for furniture item (6) |
| SETTEE – SET (Resolute) + TEE (golfer’s support). A classic “lift and separate” – we are not considering a determined golfer here. | |
| 24 | Party decoration Dad’s welcoming home — cheers after (6) |
| PINATA – PA (Dad) around IN (standard crossword shorthand for home), followed by TA (cheers). A pinata (Mexican Spanish piñata) is a decorated container, usually filled with sweets or candy, which is broken open – often violently – at the culmination of the celebrations so that all may share in the contents. | |
| Down | |
| 2 | Charge to restrict right on-line nuisance (5) |
| TROLL – TOLL (charge) containing R (right). The old meaning of a troll as a mythical monster, usually large, malevolent and very ugly, has largely been lost. | |
| 3 | Specious excuse before phone message (7) |
| PRETEXT – which we had as recently as last Tuesday (QC 2579), when it was clued as “Supposed reason”. This time it is PRE (before) + TEXT (phone message). I thought initially of answerphone messages, which rather shows my age. | |
| 4 | Copy, ample, regularly used (3) |
| APE – the odd letters, ie “regularly used”, of AmPlE. | |
| 5 | Being this, exercise needs a try? (9) |
| SEDENTARY – (Needs a try)*. A clever surface: if one is sedentary one needs exercise, and exercise is also doing duty as the anagram indicator. I tried fitting Sedentiary in the grid at first, before realising it was (a) not the right spelling and (b) not the right letters. | |
| 6 | Corner fish (5) |
| ANGLE – two meanings, and our first Double Definition of the puzzle. Fish as the verb not fish the noun. | |
| 7 | Mistake translating “maturer” (7) |
| ERRATUM – (maturer)*, with translating as our fifth anagram indicator of the day. | |
| 11 | Unexpected rain — cover predator? (9) |
| CARNIVORE – (rain cover)*. Unexpected is the word indicating an anagram this time. | |
| 13 | Assert time is typical (7) |
| AVERAGE – AVER (assert) + AGE (time). Aver for assert is a regular in crosswordland, and well worth remembering. | |
| 15 | Extremely testy on phone, mostly about old storm (7) |
| TYPHOON – TY (the outermost, ie extreme, letters of TestY) + PHON (phone, mostly, ie dropping the last letter) around O (old). A typhoon is the Asian name for what in the Western hemisphere is called a Hurricane, and can be just as devastating. | |
| 17 | Part of facade thrills trainee (5) |
| CADET – Hidden in (ie part of) faCADE Thrills. | |
| 19 | Completed on time? That’s clear (5) |
| OVERT – OVER (completed) + T (time). Because it is a Down clue, Over is “on” (ie on top of) the T. | |
| 22 | Circuit of China recalled (3) |
| LAP – the construction here is PAL (China is CRS for Pal or Mate, via China plate = Mate) backwards (ie recalled). A complex clue to finish with. | |
11.38 SEDENTARY and CONFETTI were both very nice, the latter taking me several minutes at the end. Thanks Cedric for the excellent blog and Hurley for the elegant diversion.
Had to go out before solving LOI NHO PINATA. Could have been Pinsta, so ‘Dad is welcoming home’ would have been kinder than Dad’s.
FOsI UTOPIA, TROLL, a good start, but though I finished I didn’t find it easy peasy.
Liked CONFETTI, AUTUMN, AVERAGE, SEABED, LAP, among others.
Carelessly put Testily at one point.
Great blogging from Cedric!
Welcome Cedric and yes, that COD was very nice today.
Top notch blog Cedric, thank you. What a delightful good natured offering from Hurley.
A lovely puzzle and excellent blog. Thanks to everyone who fought hard to get us a Saturday Quickie.
I had Castor from (actors)* alternatively, so was perplexed as to what “All” and “in show” were doing in the clue!
Thank you to Cedric for a very readable and informative blog, and to Hurley for a very pleasant 22 minutes!
Quick – 8:06 and fun, rounded off by an excellent blog – seems you’re a natural – welcome!
A gentle puzzle indicating the random selection of difficulty. Pretty well a write-in other than having to momentarily ponder Forehead/Pinata/Confetti.
Well done Cedric on your first blog, and as a late in the day/evening solver I always look forward to your contributions.
Top blogging, Cedric! Well done and here’s to many more.
That was a fun romp for me, with huge enjoyment in particular of both SEDENTARY and CONFETTI (my COD). My eldest son is getting married in June and is a QC fan, so I’ve put the clue on the Wedmin WhatsApp group!
All done in 06:13 for 1.2K and an Excellent Day.
Many thanks Cedric and Hurley.
Templar
What an excellent debut blog, Cedric – you have set the bar high.
Thanks for the kind remarks on the puzzle
Hurley
16:10 here, a bit outside my target.
Welcome Cedric, lovely blog. And a lovely puzzle. I was held up by the intersecting SEDENTARY, FOREHEAD and CONFETTI: those three took me the last six minutes.
Thanks to Cedric and Hurley.
I’m a day late as I was otherwise engaged yesterday. Still, perhaps someone will read this.
UTOPIA and SEABED went straight in (almost), so a great start and I maintained momentum until about the six-to-go point. A potentially concerning phone call to Mrs Random then halted proceedings for a while and, whilst SEDENTARY and CONFETTI then went in quickly upon my return, I struggled with my last four.
PIÑATA was a NHO, as was CASTOR. However, both were clued relatively kindly. LAUD and AVERAGE were just difficult, for me at least. Total time = 22 minutes, so a very good day.
Congratulations on your promotion, Mr S. Excellent blogging, I must say!
Many thanks to Hurley and Cedric.
Definitely A Very Good Day – an excellent time. Hope all is well chez Random.
I’m also late to this. Welcome Cedric and thank you for the most informative blog. I do like the picture of your grandfather.
I found Hurley’s puzzle very enjoyable and fairly straightforward until CONFETTI which I just could to see. Nice clue though.
PIÑATA is another new word to add to the list of those that I carefully consign to memory and then forget after a week or so.
Dear Mr V,
Well done for remembering new words for a whole week. Regarding PIÑATA: I learnt it yesterday and can still remember that it is a word, but I have already forgotten what it means.
Good luck this week!
I have come to this belatedly (I keep forgetting a Saturday QC exists) but congrats Cedric, excellent blog and I look forward to many more. As for the puzzle, I struggled mightily with FOREHEAD, TETCHILY, PRETEXT and AVERAGE which dragged me from an ok time to 14.18. I was also thrown by CASTOR in that the answer was also an anagram of the key word actors, so thanks for sorting that out!
Please: “exists” – online only? I can’t find it in the newspaper …
Indeed it is online only. But you can print it off from the website if you prefer a pen-and-paper solve.
Thank you for your kind reply, Cedric.