No real obscurities apart from the Japanese sash at 1d, but with the rest of the wordplay and a couple of cross checkers the unknown (to me) bit of the answer could be written in with a high degree of confidence. The difficulty of the puzzle (at least to me) came with the cryptic definitions at 4a and 10a (both very good – but it took me some time to see what was going on) and the tricky / well disguised definitions at 5d and 20a.
A couple of impressive anagrams at 2d and 6d – although they were some of the easier clues I thought – but my COD goes to 4a for reasons I suspect only my shrink could explain.
Well, playmates, that’s me over and out as a blogger of the QC I’m afraid. For those of you who did not look at my last Sunday Times blog, I’ve decided to pass on the baton due to pressure of work and generally being time poor at the moment. I was privileged to be in at the beginning of the QC and blogged QC number 3 back in March 2014. Since then I have done around 108 all up (not that I’ve been counting – but that’s roughly what the sums suggest) so it’s time to give someone else a crack.
It only remains for me to say a big thank you to all the setters and editors of the QC. It was a bold experiment when first launched (which attracted criticism from some of the more conservative quarters) but has, I believe, encouraged a new generation of solvers to get into the Times crossword scene. Some will go on to become top flight solvers of the 15×15, some will stay comfortably enjoying the QC but will venture no further, and some will say the whole thing is just too damn hard. But at least everyone will have had a crack and decided whether the investment of time and intellectual energy associated with being eventually able to solve The Times 15×15 is worth it. And that’s great.
So toodle pip and thanks for the (generally) positive feedback you have provided to my efforts over the last 4 years.
Definitions underlined: DD = double definition: anagrams indicated by *(–): omitted letters indicated by {-}
| Across | |
| 1 | Put back part of wall on Kentish hill (5) |
| KNOLL – Reverse hidden (put back part of) waLL ON Kentish hill | |
| 4 |
Result of getting teeth stuck into Hawthorn, perhaps (7) |
| SAWDUST – Cryptic definition revolving around the teeth of a saw – and the strangely pleasing notion of sinking our teeth into a setter from time to time | |
| 8 | Playing lute etc in Cos? (7) |
| LETTUCE – *(LUTE ETC) with “playing” signalling the anagram | |
| 9 | Affectedly sing end of witty poem by Pound (5) |
| YODEL – Y (end of wittY) + ODE (poem) + L (abbrev. for pound sterling). Was it only me that found this a slightly odd definition? | |
| 10 | A sound defence aiding nightwatchman? (7,5) |
| BURGLAR ALARM – Cryptic definition steering us down a cricketing line of thinking – straight bat and all that – when in fact the key is in the noisy kind of “sound” and the nightwatchman is of the traditional variety rather than the tail end batsman promoted to take the last few overs to save a leading batsman from exposure at the end of the day’s play. | |
| 12 | To step backwards in part of shoe (6) |
| TOECAP – TO + reversal of PACE (step backwards) | |
| 13 | A naturalist primarily twitches for larks (6) |
| ANTICS – A N (A Naturalist primarily) + TICS (twitches) | |
| 16 | The very best peach biscuit (5,7) |
| CREAM CRACKER – CREAM (the very best) + CRACKER (peach – terminology employed by one’s grandfather with regard to a particularly attractive gal) | |
| 18 | Cautious statement fellow had withdrawn for example (5) |
| HEDGE – HE’D (fellow had) + EG reversed (withdrawn for example) | |
| 20 | Engineer ran good railroad (7) |
| DRAGOON – *(RAN GOOD) with “engineer” signposting the anagram | |
| 21 | There’s tons in cigars that’s bad for the stomach (7) |
| GASTRIC – T (tons) ‘in’ *(CIGARS) with “that’s bad” indicating the anagram | |
| 22 | Avoid old magistrate after pocketing diamonds (5) |
| DODGE – D (abbrev. diamonds in Bridge notation) ‘pocketed’ by DOGE (old magistrate) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Some memory of Scottish garment bearing Japanese sash (7) |
| KILOBIT – KILT (Scottish garment) is ‘bearing’ (i.e. carrying inside) OBI (Japanese sash). Did not know the OBI, but once the K hove into view the garment had to be a kilt, which (with the definition) inevitably meant that OBI must be some kind of Japanese sash – which apparently it is. And that, I might say for the benefit of new solvers, is a good example of having to make educated guesses sometimes as words which are completely unknown to you will inevitably crop up from time to time. | |
| 2 | Craft sure to be hired for remote islands (5,8) |
| OUTER HEBRIDES – *(SURE TO BE HIRED) with “craft” signalling the anagram | |
| 3 | Liberal judge restyled Banjul a capital (9) |
| LJUBLJANA – L J (liberal judge) + *(BANJUL) – with “restyled” signposting the anagram – + A giving us the capital of Slovenia. I visited it some years ago, and I couldn’t spell it correctly then, either… thank goodness the cross checkers didn’t leave much room for getting it wrong! | |
| 4 | Son tries gardening tool (6) |
| SHEARS – S (son) + HEARS (tries – as in a judge trying / hearing a case) | |
| 5 | Biting cereal noisily (3) |
| WRY – Sounds like RYE (cereal noisily). The wry / bitter equation surprised me somewhat, as I’d always associated it with sardonic humour rather than real bitterness. But the dictionaries (of course) support the setter… | |
| 6 | Loud workmen I’d recast in radio play (5,4,4) |
| UNDER MILK WOOD – *(LOUD WORKMEN I’D) with “recast” pointing to the anagram. How many other radio plays does anyone know? | |
| 7 | Conversation arising in Greek/Latin (4) |
| TALK – Reverse hidden (arising in) greeK LATin | |
| 11 | Help close a hotel in the country (4,1,4) |
| LEND A HAND – END (close) + A + H (hotel – as in the phonetic alphabet) ‘in’ LAND (the country) | |
| 14 | Crazed singer swallowing unknown medical item (7) |
| SYRINGE – *(SINGER) – with “crazed” indicating the anagram – and Y also in the mix (swallowing unknown) | |
| 15 | Sharp American spies returned to protect detectives (6) |
| ACIDIC – CIA reversed (American spies returned) wrap around (to protect) CID (detectives) | |
| 17 | Time to embrace ruffian (4) |
| THUG – T (time) + HUG (to embrace) | |
| 19 | Blunder as US hospital department shortened radius (3) |
| ERR – ER (US hospital department ) + R (shortened R{adius} | |
Edited at 2018-05-16 12:42 am (UTC)
Sorry to see you leaving, Nick, as noted above you were one of the 10 original QC bloggers leaving only three remaining (Will and Chris being the other two). I hope you will still drop by to comment and keep in touch. Don’t work too hard!
I don’t keep records for individual bloggers but I reckon today was your 110th QC. Not a bad score by any standards! Thanks again.
Edited at 2018-05-16 09:30 am (UTC)
Dnk under milk wood, although it sounds amusing reading wiki.
COD thug.
Good luck and thanks Nick, enjoy the craic!
NB
Enjoy your “retirement” — hope we see you here as a commenter on a regular basis!
Lucy x
I began with the QC about 14 months ago and am def. an aspiring 15x15er.
Managed my 4th finish on Monday. They’ve only ever happened on universally acclaimed ‘easy’ days but what the heck, a win’s a win and great for morale.
Wouldn’t have happened without the QC and help from you and all other bloggers.
Good luck with the new job, hope it’s as rewarding as it’s demanding.
Re today: I’m another who wasted minutes sighing ‘Oh no, not cricket’ at 10a until PDM. 4a was my LOI, bunged in in desperation – still don’t quite geddit but thanks to Hawthorn too.
Edited at 2018-05-16 01:18 pm (UTC)
Sorry to see you go, but I totally understand why you are going, so good luck in the future. In my limited experience, solving the QC may take as little as 10 minutes (or as much as 25 for todays!), but writing the blog invariably takes a couple of hours out of ones day, and is a significant commitment to keep up for an extended period. I take my hat off to those of you who have been doing it since the beginning.
I’ll miss you too, and hope you’ll be able to find time to drop in here occasionally.
On edit: I forgot to say I really liked SAWDUST too.
Edited at 2018-05-16 12:17 pm (UTC)
I too thank you Nick, for your blogging.
The new blogger has been engaged, received his training, and done a test blog. Everything looks good, and he will make his first appearance in two weeks.
Today was a dnf due to being put off by the capital H in Hawthorn – although I knew 4d had to start with S I just didn’t get Shears and so managed to convince myself that 4a was Lawsuit thinking that there was some greater thing in Hawthorn that I just didn’t know about. But this was a pity because I chuckled at the answer and was annoyed because I am a keen gardener.
Another lesson learnt – expect misdirection.
I will never be a 15×15 contender – so please keep the QC going. Perfect entertainment. Thanks Nick.
John George
By careful explaining
And high-level training
He’s helped us to conquer the Quick.
So long Nick, and thanks for all the blogs!
I found Hawthorn tough today but managed it in 2.5 Kevins; LOI was SAWDUST. Thanks for explaining why “peach” = “cracker”, I just couldn’t see it.
Templar
As he thought that a sin
He hadn’t a clock
So thought – tick tock!
I’ll judge my times by Kevin.
Nick – thank goodness your blogs are/were so much better than my limericks! All the best, mate.
Btw – I was deceived all over the grid today so really enjoyed chewing my way out of the mental messes I’d got myself in. Cod to 1dn which I’d convinced myself was some sort of psychological memory thing and could hardly believe it when the word shaped itself into something really obvious. Cryptic crosswords heh – who’d have them?
Edited at 2018-05-16 02:26 pm (UTC)
There was a young fellow called Dan
Whose poetry never would scan
When asked to say why
He replied with a sigh
“Because I always try to fit as many words in the last line as I possibly can!”
Except in your case it would appear to be the first line…
Cheers mate
There are lots of knolls around here but having the K did not make 1d that simple. Lots of clues required very careful thought.
I ended up needing 4a and 5d. At 5d I put ICY (= biting) with a question mark admittedly. That did make 4a tough and only after a major alphabet trawl when Sawdust emerged did I go back to 5d. Even then WRY took awhile -COD to that I think.
Thanks again Nick. I hope your new employers allow you to wear your pictured outfit. David
Toodle Pip indeed!
Pip
Today’s was definitely tough, taking me 26.08 with a typo at the end of 7d. My last two in were 5d and 4a.
So many great clues today, but I am always impressed by the way the setters come up with the long anagrams, so favourite is probably 2d. LOI 4a. MM
As for today’s crossword, this delayed me nearly a couple of minutes more than average, but all was fair. A big thumbs up to SAWDUST, where our setter managed to get his pseudonym into the clue at a time when the blossom is at its best. Thanks Hawthorn and Nick.
Edited at 2018-05-16 08:53 pm (UTC)
I disagree with ‘biting’ as a synonym for ‘wry’. Wry is surely more gentle.
Thanks to blogger. A lot of work for our benefit.