10:07 for me. On Starstruck’s excellent new page, Crossword Setters and Difficulty we can see that Oink is one of the easier setters, and my better than average time confirms this. I liked this puzzle, nice surfaces and good mix of clues, low on anagrams (3 straight, one compound).
Something interesting happened on the 15×15 blog yesterday, several bloggers complained that a clue (2d: TYROL: TYRO + L) could be satisfactorily rendered as TIROL (Tyro is an accepted spelling of Tyro). The second letter was unchecked. We often moan about clues here, but this time the crossword editor actually changed the clue in the on-line edition at about 11:00 in response to the blog. That clue now reads:
Group taking railway around mountainous region (5)
TYROL – LOT (group) containing R{ailwa}Y, all reversed [around]
Well played Jason, and a reminder that our comments may be read by the Editor, and even acted upon. Worth bearing in mind.
Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, synonyms in (parentheses) {deletions in curly brackets} and [square brackets] for other indicators.
| Across | |
| 1 | Gloomy without tabloid newspaper? (7) |
| SUNLESS – SUN(tabloid newspaper) + LESS [without] | |
| 5 | Forest dweller a tiresome customer, they say (4) |
| BOAR – Aural wordplay for BORE (tiresome customer)
This is your de rigeur porcine clue, sus scrofa. |
|
| 7 | Slump in US petrol reversed (3) |
| SAG – GAS (US petrol) reversed
We Brits always say “but GAS is not a gas!”, it’s actually a bit more complicated than that. The word gasoline ireflects its chemical and functional nature. The root gas here doesn’t just mean a general gaseous state but refers specifically to flammable gases used for lighting or heating, such as coal gas or natural gas. The -ol suffix, once common in naming oil-derived compounds (like benzol or pyrrol), signals its oily origin. Finally, the -ine (or -ene) ending is a typical chemical suffix. So, gasoline correctly denotes an oily form of combustible gas—aptly describing its composition as a volatile, oil-based fuel derived from petroleum. |
|
| 8 | Kidnappers on Algarve seizing individual (8) |
| PERSONAL – Hidden in Kidnappers on Algarve | |
| 10 | Perhaps John’s lonely at first in exclusive school (5) |
| ELTON – L{onely} inside ETON (exclusive school)
Elton John, or Reg Dwight to his schoolmates. I now suspect that the ETON-based clues will always appear on Tuesdays when I am blogging. How is ETON exclusive? Well it excludes poor people. And I note that “exclusive” is the opposite of “comprehensive”, so there you go. |
|
| 11 | Friendly duke, one wearing pink (7) |
| CORDIAL – D{uke} + I (one) contained in [wearing] CORAL (pink)
And here is Coral in official RGB code (255, 127, 80) |
|
| 13 | Cold in lorry, very cold (6) |
| ARCTIC – C{old} inside ARTIC (lorry)
ARTIC is British slang for Articulated lorry, which the US (oddly) calls a Tractor Trailer. |
|
| 15 | Went into empty study fast (6) |
| SPEEDY – PEED (went, urinated) inside S{tud}Y
I didn’t see this until I started composing the blog. I like it. |
|
| 17 | Liberal excluded from entire contest (7) |
| COMPETE – COMPLETE(entire) missing L{iberal}
In the old days when there were only two parties, L and C were the abbreviations. With new parties cropping up all the time, abbreviations and colours are all over the place. |
|
| 18 | Order detective inspector to appear in English court (5) |
| EDICT – DI inside E{nglish} + CT(court)
Very nice surface. |
|
| 20 | Manage area in strange regions (8) |
| ORGANISE – (REGIONS + A)* | |
| 22 | Back away initially and disappear (3) |
| AGO – A{way} + GO (disppear)
As in “20 years back”. |
|
| 23 | Responsibility on you and me (4) |
| ONUS – ON + US (you and me) | |
| 24 | Porridge-maker having nothing at supper? (7) |
| OATMEAL – O (nothing) + AT +MEAL(supper)
I overthought this one, thinking that PORRIDGE (meaning jail, as in Thursdays QC last week) might mean we were looker for GAOLER, JUDGE, TURNKEY etc. |
|
| Down | |
| 1 | US canteen’s horrible food (10) |
| SUSTENANCE – (US CANTEENS)*
Although this word can mean anything that sustains you, (air, water) it usually just means food. |
|
| 2 | Sir Lancelot perhaps losing head in time of darkness (5) |
| NIGHT – {k}NIGHT (Sir Lancelot, perhaps)
I looked up the Knights of the Round Table, and there’s some cracking names here. Anyone thinking of naming a baby boy could do worse than picking one of these bad boys. Though maybe not that last one. |
|
| 3 | Thoughtful after Conservative’s last vote? It could be costly (9) |
| EXPENSIVE – {conservativ}E + X (vote) + PENSIVE (thoughtful) | |
| 4 | Well-dressed Christmas tree? (6) |
| SPRUCE – Double def, second being cryptic
If someone is spruced up, they are well-dressed: this is the adjective. |
|
| 5 | I don’t think much of this unfinished work by writer (3) |
| BOO – BOO{k} (work by writer)
I think we might see some Pink squares here, as BIO is also a work by a writer. |
|
| 6 | Greed putting drunken vicar in A&E (7) |
| AVARICE – (VICAR)* inside AE | |
| 9 | Act calmly and lay co-pilot off (4,2,4) |
| PLAY IT COOL – (LAY CO PILOT)* [“off” is the anagram indicator] | |
| 12 | Speak on behalf of Royal Engineers in attendance (9) |
| REPRESENT – RE (Royal Engineers) + PRESENT (in attendance) | |
| 14 | West African country booting out an old prime minister (7) |
| CAMERON – CAMERO{o}N (old prime minister)
He’s only the fifth most recent (hence old), and still only 58 (not old) |
|
| 16 | Actor in study with press, scratching bottom (2,4) |
| DE NIRO – DEN (study) containing IRO{n} (press)
I had the DE and thought this must be a Latin legal phrase for someone acting on behalf of, like de jure. |
|
| 19 | Island judge is very angry (5) |
| IRATE – I{sland} + RATE (judge)
This, and it’s twin “orate”, are chestnuts. |
|
| 21 | Idiot pauses periodically (3) |
| ASS – {p}A{us}S{e}S
If we are going to have “US petrol” for GAS, we could clue this as American behind periodical pauses(3) |
|
PERSONAL neat clue which took a bit of effort, everything else pretty standard
ETON even made it on Only Connect last night are the crossword setters moonlighting ?
An excellent QC and unusual in that I sped up as I went along. Particularly liked CAMERON and my LOI DE NERO. All done in 10:14 for my 3rd fastest of the year and 11th fastest ever. Thanks Oink and Merlin for the great blog.
Really enjoyable puzzle. 45 minutes it took me. Put in REPRESENT without understanding the clue, thought it was RE in a word meaning attendance, then it finally clicked it a while later that it was RE on PRESENT 😆 Thank you for the blog.
6.34 Very quick except for PERSONAL, BOO and BOAR at the end. Thanks Merlin and Oink.
13:08. OATMEAL, BOO, and CAMERON were favourites.
I thought this was a touch harder than usual for Oink (alternatively I was just a bit slow), but there were still a few window seats available when loi Organise went in. Spent far too long trying to get a specific food into 1d, and reluctantly gave up on Co(n) (Daily) Star for the actor only when the parsing became ridiculous. CoD to the nice surface in Oatmeal. Invariant
Substantial failure today. We were already below par on time having struggled to see the hidden PERSONAL (we also were trying to shoehorn in Portugal references) before finally getting lost with BIO and BEAR, both of which you can make a partial case for, though neither parsed properly. Thanks, Merlin and Oink.
7:25
Fine until the last couple – BOAR and BOO – which took me another minute. Couldn’t help wondering whether there was some three-letter author ending in O other than ECO, that I’d missed.
Thanks Merlin and Oink
A great QC. Another one who wondered how Portugal could be made to fit, before I saw PERSONAL. 22mins which is fast for me.
BOAR was LOI – using the android app I did not know this was by Oink.
Thanks Oink and Merlin.
No surprise that you were on blogging duties today Merlin. Smiled at ELTON. Took a while to see PERSONAL and my LOI DE NIRO but still managed a sub 6 minutes solve. COD to DE NIRO 5:55 Thanks Merlin.
Sub 30m but another BEAR for a pink square.
Lovely puzzle from OINK with OATMEAL as a favourite.
Didn’t understand PEED until I came here. Haha. Thanks Merlin, smashing blog.
Glad you mentioned 15 across – speedy. Childish I guess, but has to be my COD!
10:50 with everything parsed. Almost submitted incomplete, thank heavens for the “Your puzzle is 99% complete” screen: I had forgotten about AGO.
Thanks to Oink and Merlin.
Slow to solve 14d Cameron, mainly due to putting ours for 23a. Otherwise a pleasant solve as usual with Oink.
Another puzzle that confirms I am never going to get to a respectable level with this.
A dreadful 21 minutes for a puzzle that has a Quitch of 78. Took ages for PERSONAL, BOO and BOAR (don’t get this clue at all – ‘tiresome customer’??). Could easily have put BEAR.
I can’t do long anagrams and I struggle hugely to recognise different types of clue. I wouldn’t mind if I hadn’t put so much time in, but who else struggles for an hour plus on the 15 x 15 every day in an attempt to improve and then still finds themselves in the SCC most days here?
All that hard work for no return.
Don’t beat yourself up on time. After 21 mins I’m only half way down my first coffee, I really enjoy doing them every day without timing. The sub-10 mins guys have been doing all sorts of crosswords for ages (also several have self-confessed cheat lists which they have built up over the decades).
Thanks Ham.
Very much enjoyed yesterday’s though after the pumpkin hour so too late to say so then… and romped (in our world) through today. Clock said 13 however 2 interruptions, so this was a Very Good Effort on our part (with a Very Kind Crossword).
Am so grateful that there are people out there who create these things- and for this blog, without which we would have stayed as ‘shruggers’, sometimes looking, sometimes not, getting a few clues when we did. Cannot overestimate how much the blog and bloggers have contributed to our enjoyment and to our progress. The joy is in the doing, however, the improvement adds to the pleasure.
Now when all goes to pot tomorrow, I will feel less kindly – but today, a delicious glow.
Just when I thought I’d done a 15 minute solve! BEAR didn’t seem right and it wasn’t!
Should have known there’d be an Oink like answer somewhere! Never mind – an enjoyable puzzle with some clever clues, especially the hidden PERSONAL which I didn’t see but it couldn’t be anything else, except PORTIMAO until BOO appeared!
Thank you Oink and Merlin.
Two friendly puzzles in as many days! 15:55 for me, which should really have been quicker – I spent far too long on 8a having forgotten the golden rule: “If you’ve absolutely no idea, it’s probably a hidden”.
Thank you for the blog!
I was stuck on Boar until I remembered to look for a pig reference. Not sure I would have completed the crossword without that, because I had no idea about 5D and didn’t spot the hidden in 8A until I’d done all the other clues. Merlin, have you got too many Ss in the explanation of 21D? I like your alternative clue.
I thought it was an unwritten rule that living people’s names weren’t included in the Times crosswords except for our reigning Monarch …Elton John and De Niro appear here? Or have I got it wrong ? Just want to know for clarity for future puzzles.
That rule was changed about a year ago: a positive improvement in my opinion. Now we need a similar rule about living slang replacing dead slang.
We had Dua Lipa a few weeks ago: that had a few of the old guard spluttering into their port and lemon.
Would be lovely if it did actually replace rather than adding to. We still get stuff that I vaguely remember my grandad saying.
Almost 90 mins on proper crossword, only to fail by one letter (not a typo). Blogger referred to top half of it as being a doddle!
Every time I think this cannot get any more infuriating, it does!
I feel like I’m banging my head against a brick wall with this.
Most I’ve enjoyed one of these for a while, just super smooth stuff.
P.S, you’ve read/written the Cameron clue wrong. It’s cameroon without O for old, giving Cameron for prime minister.
8:11. I think I wasted quite a lot of time on the hidden word PERSONAL… the rest went in very nicely and was a pleasure throughout (with the notable exception of the living slebs, which rather spoiled it for me. thanks both!