Yesterday’s Trelawney puzzle had one of the lowest QUITCH ratings ever, and multiple bloggers identified Personal Bests including me. Well done Mendesest, Roundabout Here, andybry, Pi-curious, xwordnumpty, Bevets, simjt, MartinRG, Dvynys, DearHector, Nutshell, Wombat, dr.shred, Boovers, curryown, Steel city and Desdeeloeste. An extraordinary 18 Personal Bests, but before we all get too carried away, Verlaine completed in 1:27. I tried filling every letter in with an A, and it still took me longer than that.
As simjt pointed out, I used to indicate my scores by giving a historical fact for the time, (a practice that he has taken up) I remarked that if I ever reached the 5th century I would actually be in the “times of Merlin” and yesterday’s 4:49 (449 AD) meets that.
And my time today is in much more recent times. 17:45, rise of Bonnie Prince Charlie.
Across
| 1 | Neat small tool plus second utensil (5,3,4) |
| SPICK AND SPAN – S{mall} + PICK (tool) + AND (plus) + S{econd} + PAN
My daughter used to have two goldfish called Spick and Span. ‘Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable’ (a great reference work, BTW) gives : Quite and entirely new. A spic is a spike or nail, and a span is a chip. So that a spick and span ship is one in which every nail and chip is new. The more common expression today is spick and span, meaning all neat, clean, bright, and tidy. |
|
| 8 | Structure in support of motorway (4) |
| FORM – FOR (in support of) + M{otorway}
I really wanted this to be PROM, thinking a Promenade is a structure. |
|
| 9 | Two cuppas you finally got in stately home (7) |
| CHATEAU – CHA (tea) + TEA [both cuppas] + {yo}U | |
| 11 | Troublesome old emperor coming to US (7) |
| ONEROUS – O{ld} + NERO (emperor) + US | |
| 12 | Sense of dissatisfaction when nuisance is about (5) |
| ENNUI – hidden in “when nuisance”
Very common word in crosswords. |
|
| 14 | Holiday afloat for Tom? (6) |
| CRUISE– Tom Cruise, the actor | |
| 15 | Increase of noise in Great Haywood initially (6) |
| GROWTH – ROW (noise) inside GT (great) and H{aywood}
GT is a legitimate abbreviation, as on a map for, say Gt. Yarmouth. |
|
| 18 | Wide awake right after beer (5) |
| ALERT – RT (right) after ALE (beer) | |
| 20 | Climber’s aid is fiddle around slope (7) |
| CRAMPON – CON (fiddle) contains RAMP (slope) | |
| 21 | Order international court to stop appointment (7) |
| DICTATE – I{nternational} + CT (court) inside DATE (appointment)
The International court is actually called the ICC. I=International is one of those second order abbreviations, it is only ever seen inside another abbreviation. See previous rant about A=American. |
|
| 23 | Plant, one to come up endlessly (4) |
| IRIS – I (one) + RIS{e} (come up)
I was sure this one was going to be IRISH truncated. |
|
| 24 | Excessively high prediction of rigged Emirates vote (12) |
| OVERESTIMATE – (EMIRATES VOTE)* [rigged]
Is it just me, or are the phrases it’s difficult to overestimate or it’s easy to underestimate (or variations of the two) very confusing? |
Down
| 2 | Take action against core set-up that goes wrong (9) |
| PROSECUTE – (CORE SET UP)*
And if you don’t pay close attention to the anagram, it’s very easy to make PERSECUTE fit. |
|
| 3 | Greens perhaps in parliament (7) |
| COMMONS – Cryptic Def
A village green is also a Commons, and the Commons is one of the Houses of Parliament. |
|
| 4 | Point the finger at copper in unusual case (6) |
| ACCUSE – CU (copper) in (CASE)* | |
| 5 | Padre condemned hanging (5) |
| DRAPE – (PADRE)*
“Condemned” is a bit of an odd anagram indicator, but its a past participle, so it’ll do. In fact just about any part participle can be justified as an anagram indicator. |
|
| 6 | Bake Off item regularly taking prize (3) |
| PIE – P{r}I{z}E [regularly taking]
This is a reference to the British Baking Show, where cakes and bread feature. Not often pies though. |
|
| 7 | Word broken by Sunak on good nursing? (10) |
| NOURISHING – NOUN (word) contains RISHI (Sunak) + G{ood}
That’s the second time I’ve seen Sunak=RISHI, that might end up being his only legacy. |
|
| 10 | Risky feel with journey (5,3,2) |
| TOUCH AND GO – TOUCH (feel) + AND(with) + GO(journey)
There’s an internet meme that says “How old were you when you learned that the game TAG stands for “Touch and Go”? It doesn’t. |
|
| 13 | Modern athletics event and where it’s reported (9) |
| NEWSPRINT – NEW (Modern) + SPRINT (athletic event) | |
| 16 | Common sense is in the monarch’s domain (7) |
| REALISM – IS contained in REALM (Monarch’s Domain) | |
| 17 | Emphasise account needs money (6) |
| ACCENT – AC (Account) + CENT (money)
Although “accentuate” is the usual form for “emphasize” |
|
| 19 | Very little to track down and find (5) |
| TRACE – Double definition
I think this is right, but you could maybe stretch this to a triple definition, if we think that trace=”track down” and also “find”. |
|
| 22 | What actor must follow Bond’s tech wizard, reportedly (3) |
| CUE – Sounds like Q (Bond’s tech wizard) |
25:10, making steady progress throughout.
Many thanks to setter and blogger.
From PB to DNF overnight. NHO CRAMPON, hadn’t heard a con called a ‘fiddle’ before, and I slammed DECLARE in without liking it or noting that I had made a wild guess.
The rest of the puzzle was smooth and enjoyable, and went down in a time that would have seemed very good for me before yesterday. I suspect I’ll be chasing that one for a long time.
Thanks to the community here for explaining that AC ” account the other day, that was immediately helpful.
18:21 here, with all the bear traps fallen into. Eventually stopped thinking of cats and Tom Sawyer for 14ac, which meant my biffed COMPOST couldn’t be right. Ho hum.
Thanks to Merlin and Joker.
Finished again a bit longer than yesterday. Not quite sure how NOURISHING equals Nursing, one is feeding the other is caring, I would say. Joker pleased me thanks and Blog.
After 5 yesterday, 20 today (on the cusp of the SCC). My comments yesterday failed to load, so I repeat my appreciation of Trelawney and a fun, quickfire puzzle: and my less effusive tribute to Joker, whose thought process when setting seems less approachable! But I got there, eventually. No IMPASSE today, and little ENNUI. Back on normal track. Thanks setter and blogger.
12 mins.
In no way does this make up for yesterday’s disaster. That will haunt me for months.
Well short on proper crossword. Dismal.
Not good, although distracted by battle with council’s planning permission website
GARBAGE!