Was going well before being breeze-blocked by the NHO at 3D, have to confess hitting the reveal button. Bad form to DNF on my own blog day. Maybe doing this in front of the cricket wasn’t the best idea.
And apologies to early setters, I had it as -Static not -stalsis.
Happy Twelfth Night to all.
Across
| 1 | Least expensive copy in treasury (8) |
| CHEAPEST – APE (copy) inside CHE^ST (treasury) | |
| 5 | When I start to assess land mass (4) |
| ASIA – AS (when) + I + A{sses} | |
| 8 | You flatter nun when drunk, alas (13) |
| UNFORTUNATELY – (YOU FLATTER NUN)* | |
| 10 | Begin cycling for pastry dishes (5) |
| TARTS – START (Begin) [Cycling, moving S to end]
The “Cycling” device seems well entrenched now. Put the letters in a circle and try starting at different ones. T S A T R |
|
| 11 | Temporary setter’s following Italian football team (7) |
| INTERIM – INTER (Italian football team) + IM (I’m, setters)
The Italian Serie A has 20 clubs in it, but INTER only seems to appear. Try this one which uses a different team: Youngster from Italian football team on river (8) |
|
| 12 | Penny more naive, on reflection, before 1939? (6) |
| PREWAR – P{enny} + RAWER (more naïve) [reversed]
Does rawer mean more naïve? Seems a bit of a stretch, but I guess a naïve person’s lack of experience makes their perspective seem “raw” or unpolished. And can we keep those diareses in there? They are endangered species in English, Chloe Bronte would disagree. Before WWII, the term “prewar” actually referred to the years before World War I (1914). And “antebellum”is specifically tied to the American Civil War. |
|
| 13 | Stones left on burial site (6) |
| GRAVEL – L{eft} follows GRAVE (burial site)
This is a very nice surface. And recently I learnt that the Commonwealth War Graves commission puts flowers on Christian graves, but a it is not in the Jewish tradition to leave flowers on a grave. The placing of a stone is the equivalent and you’ll sometime stones left on the burial site of Jewish soldiers. |
|
| 16 | Quintessential conservative girl in charge (7) |
| CLASSIC – C{onservative} + LASS (girl) + IC (In Charge)
The word quintessential comes from the Latin quinta essentia (“fifth essence”), referring to a medieval concept of a subtle, perfect substance beyond the four elements (earth, air, fire, water) that made up the heavens, evolving to mean the purest, most perfect example of something. “He is the Quintessential/most perfect form of/classic English Gentleman” |
|
| 18 | Missile found in cart with no head (5) |
| ARROW – {b}ARROW (cart)
I was looking for the chestnut NARROW/ARROW, so this is a pleasing alternative. |
|
| 20 | Clerics safe if developing altruism? (4-9) |
| SELF-SACRIFICE – (CLERICS SAFE IF) | |
| 21 | Semi-precious stone on end of calvary cross (4) |
| ONYX – ON + cavalr{Y} + X(cross)
Got the O and immediately typed OPAL (also semi-precious). Had to back that one out when I got 17d. |
|
| 22 | Old stationer’s? Anyone can work there (4,4) |
| OPEN SHOP – O{ld} + PEN SHOP (stationer)
Never heard this expression, but I think it is just the opposite of the “Closed Shop”, a place when only certain people can work (often they must be member of a particular union). Closed Shops were made illegal under the Thatcher Government, so all workplaces are now OPEN SHOPs, so the word is pretty rare. |
Down
| 1 | Carbon put on iron oxide coating (5) |
| CRUST – C {arbon} + RUST (Iron Oxide)
One for the Chemists, who need to know the Chemical symbol for Carbon, and the Chemical Formula for Iron Oxide (Fe₂O₃) |
|
| 2 | Compel compliance with warden for ceremonial guards (7) |
| ENFORCE – Hidden in “warden for ceremonial” | |
| 3 | What aids digestion for every one left in steady state (11) |
| PERISTALSIS – PER (for) + I(one) + L{eft} contained in STA^SIS (steady state)
NHO, and I had the prefix as possibly PARA, with PAR for steady and then a US state at the end, containing ALL. They are the muscles of around the gut that contract to squeeze food down into the stomach. Similar to how you squeeze toothpaste from the tube, or icing from a piping bag. |
|
| 4 | Boss, essentially odious, in workshop (6) |
| STUDIO – STUD(Boss) + {od}IO{us} [essentially=middle letters]
This is not affectionally calling your manager a Hunk, but the centre of a shield. |
|
| 6 | Box containing electronic weapon (5) |
| SPEAR – SPAR (box) containing E (Electronic)[as in E-Mail]
Not that kind of box, but the boxing kind of box. |
|
| 7 | Not all of crybaby’s malevolence is terrible (7) |
| ABYSMAL – Hidden in “crybaby’s malevolence” | |
| 9 | Fight roughly to stop change (11) |
| ALTERCATION – C (circa, roughly) contained in ALTER^ATION (change) | |
| 12 | Artist’s image as child incomplete (7) |
| PICASSO – PIC (image) + AS + SO{n} (child) | |
| 14 | Polish Republican cuts Peter out (7) |
| VARNISH – R{epublican} contained in VANISH (Peter out)
Clever misdirection, no anagram of Peter here. |
|
| 15 | Possible covering on mountain walk, primarily crucial if climbing (3,3) |
| ICE CAP – PACE (walking) + C{rucial} + I{f} all reversed | |
| 17 | Everything very regularly ignored in passage (5) |
| ALLEY – ALL (Everything) + {v}E{r}Y | |
| 19 | Wife to assist young dog (5) |
| WHELP – W{ife} + HELP (assist)
Exactly the same as a Pup, but used by breeders and can also be a verb (to give birth) |
Since I am a Mephisto blogger, I was not stopped by 3 down. You get used to constructing obscure words from the cryptic, and then looking them up. Well, you can’t do that in the Quickie, but at least the crossing letters fit and I was fairly confident. Nothing else gave any difficulty, although I did biff varnish, self-sacrifice, and unfortunately to speed things up.
Time: 7:50
8:06
I wasted some time by putting in BURNISH at 14d and trying to make it work. 3d is PERISTALSIS: PER (for every), I, L in STASIS (steady state). And the muscle contractions–peristalsis is the action of muscles, not the muscles themselves–don’t just move food into the stomach, they move things along and ultimately out.
Yes 3d is a bit out of keeping with the rest of the puzzle, isn’t it. I have a personal doubt that this sort of word is ideal QC material, but on this occasion I did manage to construct it – the checkers are kind – and it looked plausible, so in it went with all fingers crossed. (And I think Merlin it should be PERISTALSIS too).
As for the rest of the puzzle, no real hold-ups though I never parsed VARNISH. 12:24 for an average day.
Many thanks Merlin for the blog.
3:27. Luckily, the phrase ‘reverse peristalsis’, along with the cartoon animation, is burned into my brain from Year 8 (9? 10?) biology.
Great effort on the cycling diagram!
Me too, ugh, but without the animation thankfully.
9 minutes. PERISTALSIS has appeared in two Jumbos (May2023 and Aug 2025) but never in the main puzzle nor even in a Mephisto, so I’m not sure what it’s doing in a QC! I didn’t recognise it but I worked it out from wordplay. As others have mentioned the answer in the blog is incorrect; although it fits the wordplay it’s not quite there with the definition.
It does seem rather out of place in a QC, but I’m surprised by the NHOs; I’ve known of PERISTALSIS since childhood–probably learned it in junior high school biology.
Ditto
Yes, pretty sure it’s part of GCSE (if not earlier) biology.
It’s an essential function of the [human] body and the kind of thing a reasonably well-educated person could be expected to know, I think.
I am occasionally surprised that others don’t know something that I do. GK may vary, as the late HMQ might have said.
A lot of BTP to finish in a pleasing 15.38. Although not all could be parsed so thanks Merlin for explaining enforce (hidden, ouch!) and varnish.
Thanks Dangle, enjoyed the PDM of old pen shop, so nothing to do with paper!
What is BTP? It’s not in the glossary,
Biff then parse
Biff then parse.
Guessing from the definition and checkers then figuring out the parsing later, or not at all, or from the blog.
I think it’s a relatively recent acronym for “Biff Then Parse”. Which is to say, bung it in because you think you’ve found the definition and it looks like it might be plausible, then try to parse it.
Thanks. I love the nested nature of this acronym, in that Biff is itself an acronym.
I wonder how we get it added to the glossary?
Neither BTP nor ‘biff’ is an acronym.
Really? Have I misunderstood the meaning of the term acronym?
Unless we’re talking about the Busan International Film Festival
Mainly a fairly gentle solve until confronted with two tricky ones at the end – OPEN SHOP was fairly clear from the checkers but the NHO PERISTALSIS needed careful construction and fingers crossed when hitting submit.
Finished in 6.32.
Thanks to Merlin and Dangle
I remember PERISTALSIS from O level biology and it came straight to mind – the only delay was in worrying that is was more mechanical than chemical and whether it therefore actually aided digestion. Can’t have pondered too long though because I finished in 6.11 to record my 8th fastest time ever – must buy Starstuck that coffee – to make up for missing out on yesterday’s fast times.
6:10
I’m another NHO 3d and constructed it from wordplay. I can’t imagine that more than 10% of the English-speaking world have heard of it. For a QC, any word that you have to look up to verify its existence possibly doesn’t belong here. Otherwise, this was a comfortable solve.
Thanks Merlin and Dangle
I have a reasonably large vocabulary, and I have done quite a few QCs containing words that were new to me. I envy you if this is your first!
I enjoyed this very much albeit with a bit of Biffing and Bluffing my way round. UNFORTUNATELY were write ins as were SELF-SACRIFICE and PREWAR. Struggled to find a P to eliminate in VARNISH and but felt sure of the answer, super misdirection. Liked RUST, haha, and never a second thought about PERISTALSIS (medical background). Missed IO as being essential meaning middle of word. I/O to me is In/Out as in interface which didn’t help at all.
In the end I finished in 18 with a good feeling and happy to crack the code.
COD GRAVEL. Thanks Dangle and Merlin
An enjoyable test. Recent QCs from Dangle have often taken me into the high teens but, at 12.20 today (identical to my Oink time yesterday), I was closer to my best time for this setter. I found the long clues testing and certainly needed all the crossers for 3d (after wasting time trying to force variations of Paralysis and Stasis into the grid).
RAWER for naive raised an eyebrow and the NHO OPEN SHOP (as an opposite to CLOSED SHOP) seemed a bit of a stretch. I confess to biffing and semi-parsing some of my answers so I will now re-visit the many good clues with Merlin’s help.
Thanks to Dangle.
Nice puzzle from Dangle taking 18:31.
Bunged in PERISTALSIS which I knew and then spent some time working out the parsing.
Other clues went in steadily but did not parse ALTERCATION or VARNISH. Thanks Merlin.
COD GRAVEL.
Enjoyable puzzle with straightforward solve on 7:43 albeit with a fat fingered typo resulting in a pink square
5:04. Most went in quite quickly until I was left with 3, which added a minute or so at the end – I had to write out the letters to see SELF-SACRIFICE, which gave me the second C for ICE CAP and then finally OPEN SHOP. PEN SHOP – Ho ho. I’d no problem with PERSTALSIS, which I remembered from schoolboy biology lessons. Thanks Dangle and Merlin.
9:01, with the only delay being caused by my LOI, ALTERCATION, where I took a while to remember that C can mean roughly.
Thanks Merlin and Dangle
This was a very good puzzle so thanks Dangle and Merlin! But …..what possessed him or her to include 3d and why did no-one at the editing stage say ‘better not for a quickie’ ?
11:13. Almost identical time to yesterday and again slowed by my careless typing, despite thinking I was trying harder.
No issues with 3d a word I’ve known since school days. It’s funny how knowing a word makes you think everyone else knows it too leading to surprise when they don’t. Reminds me of the costard/custard apple from a few weeks back when I felt like the only person on the planet who knew the first but had NHO the latter.
Nice puzzle, liked CLASSIC and PICASSO. SELF SACRIFICE took a moment and I wasn’t aware of OPEN SHOP as a thing.
As always, thanks both.
Like others above, I remembered PERISTALSIS from school biology. I had a problem parsing the much easier ALTERCATION. COD GRAVEL with VARNISH a close second. Thanks Merlin and Dangle.
22:05 to finish, although only getting 3d with a guess for the L in it, since NHO. Biffed STARTS, PRE-WAR, OPEN SHOP (NHO) and ICE CAP. Fairly chewy, I thought.
DNF NHO 3d, unsurprisingly. I don’t remember it in O-level General Science, but then ‘twas a long time ago.
Otherwise I was slow to get going but plodded on steadily.
Yes, NHO the expression OPEN SHOP, but decided like our blogger that it must be the opposite of closed shop. We were obliged to join the union when I was a v minor minion in Fleet Street in ye old days.
Liked INTERIM, CRUST, ALTERCATION and PICASSO, among others.
Thanks vm, Merlin.
19:47
Narrowly missed the SCC with VARNISH and TARTS proving elusive, the latter revealing my LOI.
No pen and paper needed for UNFORTUNATELY and SELF SACRIFICE but, as others, had to construct the vaguely familiar PERISTALSIS from the wordplay.
With the possible exception of 3d, I thought this was a very enjoyable QC.
FOI: CHEAPEST
LOI: CRUST
COD: GRAVEL
Thanks to Merlin and Dangle
Never heard of PERISTALSIS, and after constructing it from the cryptic direction returned to it before stopping the clock to make sure I wasn’t missing something more obvious. It really shouldn’t be in the QC as others have said. A reasonable time though in the circumstances at 8.36.
18mins today, so that means I found it considerably easier than yesterday’s Oink – figure that one out if you can. Obviously 3d was a nho, but as loi the crossers made it relatively straightforward.
As to CoD, the well-hidden Enforce gets an honourable mention, but the prize goes to Varnish for the pdm via Dangle’s misdirection, and a nicely burnished rabbit hole. Invariant
The year is not starting well. Thought to have finished it, but didn’t deserve to as NHO PERISTALSIS (glad I’m not the only one), supplied by Mrs M, as also iron oxide which she tells me is RUST (she learnt both at school in biology and chemistry respectively – I never did either). So LOI was ALTERnATION, kyboshed at the last hurdle. But there were other CNPs:
Is cycling “well entrenched”? Never seen it used that way. Maybe it was in a weekend puzzle (which we don’t get on paper)?
Never seen “compliance” (2d) = “hidden in” before.
So that’s how ICE CAP works. Thanks, Merlin!
Oh by the way I don’t think we actually need the chemical formula for rust?
I was going to moan that rust isn’t iron oxide, but usually contains hydroxides. In brief from Wiki:
“Rust is an iron oxide, a usually reddish-brown oxide formed by the reaction of iron and oxygen in the catalytic presence of water or air moisture. Rust consists of hydrous iron(III) oxides (Fe2O3·nH2O) and iron(III) oxide-hydroxide (FeO(OH), Fe(OH)3), and is typically associated with the corrosion of refined iron.”
Having looked again at Merlin’s blog, I think the definition in 2d should be Compel Compliance (Enforce), and With then becomes the hidden in indicator ?
Alternatively, there is a case for taking Compliance as ‘fits in with’, but I agree both seem a bit suspect.
I parsed it as “compel compliance with” for the literal, and “guards” for the hidden indicator in Yoda-speak.
Ah yes, that works fine
Held up for 6-7 minutes at the end by PERISTALSIS (which I’d NHO, but eventually got from the wordplay), GRAVEL and VARNISH, but still very pleased with my 25 minute completion.
My FOsI were CHEAPEST, ENFORCE, STUDIO and SPEAR. These provided enough checkers for UNFORTUNATELY and I was then up and running.
Many thanks to Merlin and Dangle.
I found this a gentle pleasant QC – about 17mins.
Learnt about peristalsis early in school biology – so no worries
Thanks Dangle and Merlin.
From CHEAPEST to VARNISH in 8:34. Never did biology, but knew PERISTALSIS from a spell in hospital 48 years ago suffering from UC. Didn’t get around to parsing it. Thanks Dangle and Merlin.
7.16 Oddly enough I was thinking of peristalsis just before I started doing the puzzle, so that was no bother. Thanks Merlin and Dangle.
I’m having some fun imagining the scenario for that.
So am I!
23 minute solve here. Slightly faster than my average so not unhappy (and still at the point where getting a complete puzzle is satisfying).
PERISTALSIS didn’t trip me up at all but biffed ALTERCATION as LOI – today I learned that “C” can be used for roughly (circa).
Weirdly, ASIA was my “this took too long” clue of the day – a lot happening in a short word!
Good puzzle, commendations to the setter and blogger!
Hep
I had no problem with PERISTALSIS but then I did do O and A level biology and biological sciences at university before becoming an accountant! I do however have a problem with some literary giants, most philosophers and composers and anything related to sport (except cycling). 6:57 Thanks Merlin
As 30 mins is my target (yes, slow I know), I happily put in peristalsis from O level Biology but found today’s puzzle quicker than yesterday’s Oink, despite my heart sinking on seeing who the setter was.
Is it just me? I have struggled to access the Times for the Times site. I frequently get ‘too many requests error’ and sometimes when I access the site I can’t log in. Now I am logged in, most of the avatars of commenters have disappeared. P.S. this is an observation not a complaint as I know that there are many who give their time for free to keep the site up and running and I really appreciate their efforts.
Just as I posted the avatars reappeared.
Happy enough with 11:34. 3d raised an eyebrow but I dredged it up from somewhere, and my only real problem was parsing ICE CAP (which I failed to do, so I appreciate the explanation).
Thank you for the blog!
No hold-ups and no words I didn’t know; this was a smooth solve, not timed. A nice QC.
LOI ALTERCATION.
COD to GRAVEL.
David
We have also had difficulty getting to the blog today because of a recurrence of the ‘too many requests’ problem. Here now though.
We had no problems with PERISTALSIS. As Kevin, and one or two others have said, it’s something we recall from GCSE / ‘O’ level biology and it never occurred to us that others would find it arcane. In fact we started off quite quickly switching between acrosses and downs before getting rather bogged down in the SE corner. LOI was ICE CAP though, which we didn’t parse. Through in a somewhat slow 13:40. Thanks, Merlin and Dangle.
Eyes peeled for typos today, especially with cold fingers after a long walk starting in blue skies and ending in a snow storm! The trusty phone did not let me down and I clocked off at 06:34 for a Restorative Day.
I knew PERISTALSIS from, err, somewhere and don’t think it’s any more obscure than e.g. the Muses, or the various musical or cricket terms we have to recall.
All good fun, COD PICASSO, many thanks Dangle and Merlin.
9:14 for me. Got all the acrosses on my first pass as far as the long anagram at 20ac, so that gave me plenty to work with for the downs.
I also remembered PERISTALSIS from O-level biology, one of the few things to stick.
Thanks to Dangle and Mërlïn.
9.45. Peristalsis entered with crossed fingers as I had to rely on my reading of the wordplay. I am familiar with the term but think of it as a mechanical process to shift food through the alimentary canal rather than as an aid to digestion, but I suppose it’s fair enough.
9:16 and luckily I didn’t bother with PERISTALSIS until all the crossers were in. Such a help with a wordy clue like that. I’m no chemist, but I liked CRUST best. I think OPEN SHOP might qualify as an Americanism.
Thanks Dangle and Merlin.
Ok all answers but bad parsing (or none) for VARNISH- someone must have mentioned it’s not a polish, I would say- ICE CAP, and ALTERCATION- roughly is ‘C’ seems not quite tight to me. Did know PERIS…LSIS though, learnt it at school. Will that do for a grump!
I remember instigating quite a discussion on varnish versus polish many moons ago.
It went nowhere in the end and I held back today. You are right, though.
That was me!
Try polishing your car with varnish and see what happens.
Hard work this time but all Ok
15 mins…
Like many, I’d never heard of 3dn “Peristalsis”, but at least it was constructable and gave you a chance with all the various checkers. Only 6 days in and so far I’ve a 100% record – which no doubt is the kiss of death for tomorrow.
FOI – 1ac “Cheapest”
LOI – 3dn “Peristalsis”
COD – 10ac “Tarts”
Thanks as usual!
Only just managed to get on (lots of ‘too many requests’ messages) 😕 Anyone know why this is?
Felt fairly straightforward again today. No problems with 3d. Rather liked LOI VARNISH for the misdirection. Many thanks for the blog.
PERISTALSIS. NHO, couple of others beyond my ken
15 minutes.
3 short on 15 x 15
☹️
We were worried about this when we saw the setter’s name, but ended up doing it faster than yesterday’s to our surprise. Two NFPs with 9D & 14D – that sort of Peter! But we both recalled PERISTALSIS from our O’Level Biology lessons once we had a few crossers in.
Thanks Merlin and Dangle.
Could not enter this yesterday – “Too many requests” many times.
My thanks to Dangle and Merlin
Not the easiest QC ever.
1d Crust. I am moaning that rust isn’t iron oxide. From Wiki:
“Rust is an iron oxide, a usually reddish-brown oxide formed by the reaction of iron and oxygen in the catalytic presence of water or air moisture. Rust consists of hydrous iron(III) oxides (Fe2O3·nH2O) and iron(III) oxide-hydroxide (FeO(OH), Fe(OH)3), and is typically associated with the corrosion of refined iron.”
Not that it matters.
2d COD Enforce, was confused and as ever slow to spot a hidden which gave me the assurance I needed.
3d Peristalsis, VHO, no idea what it meant until I came here. Surprised to see it.