Parksolve time = 38 minutes, with the run involving a fair bit of walking as we’re experiencing a bit of an Indian Summer here. No need to overdo these things!
I solved this one from Hurley in bang on my median time, but beyond that I offer no opinion as to its relative complexity.
Speaking of which, last time I blogged there was a lively discussion in the comments about the level at which the QC should be pitched. Some excellent points were made, including a very welcome contribution from Jason Crampton, cryptic crosswords editor at The Times.
Regardless of whether we agree with every opinion expressed, it was a revelation to see how engaged our solving community is. Clearly this funny little diversion is something about which many of us feel strongly.
We had over 130 comments that day, but it was the final sentence of the final comment that really caught my eye, and I hope fabian won’t mind me quoting it here:
“You can still enjoy a QC if you don’t finish it guys!”
Hope you all enjoyed your dose of Hurley today.
(In the clues, definitions are underlined and anagram indicators are in bold italics. In the explanations (ABC)* indicates an anagram of abc. Deletions and other devices are indicated accordingly, I hope).
| Across | |
| 1 | Assume the setter’s optimistic? (8) |
| POSITIVE – POSIT (assume) + I’VE (the setter’s) | |
| 5 | Good boy is happy (4) |
| GLAD – G (good) + LAD (boy)
Lift and separate. |
|
| 8 | Charming commercial to cheer finally — clever (8) |
| ADORABLE – AD (commercial) + OR [last letters (finally) of tO cheeR] + ABLE (clever) | |
| 9 | Memo attached showing defensive feature (4) |
| MOAT – Hidden (showing) in meMO ATtached | |
| 11 | National vegetable (5) |
| SWEDE – Double definition | |
| 12 | Mere lad potentially a gem? (7) |
| EMERALD – (MERE LAD)* | |
| 13 | Programme cost I’m working out (6) |
| SITCOM – (COST IM)* | |
| 15 | Dull scenes essentially fronted by principal actor (6) |
| LEADEN – EN [middle letters (essentially) of scENes] “fronted by” LEAD (principal actor) | |
| 18 | Something in kitchen quarrel you heard? “Not half lazy!” (7) |
| SPATULA – SPAT (quarrel) + U [homophone (heard) of “you”] + LA (“LAzy” without the back half) | |
| 19 | On return, did exam second time? That could be stunning (5) |
| TASER – Reversal (on return) of RESAT (did exam second time?) | |
| 21 | Items robbed from Devon maybe, silver (4) |
| SWAG – SW (Devon, maybe) + AG (silver)
Devon is in the SW of England, and this clue is in the SW of the grid. |
|
| 22 | Secret hint (8) |
| INTIMATE – Double definition
An adjective and a verb, pronounced differently. I’m glad I learned English at an early age. |
|
| 23 | Change in deli not working (4) |
| IDLE – (DELI)* | |
| 24 | Like some matches after Friday finish, extremely lively (8) |
| FRIENDLY – FRI (Friday) + END (finish) + LY [first and last letters (“extremely”) of LivelY]
A term for sporting fixtures that aren’t part of a serious competition. Mainly confined to the UK but I think our international community would be aware of it. |
|
| Down | |
| 1 | Quietly mentions compliments (7) |
| PRAISES – P (quietly) + RAISES (mentions)
You learn a few musical terms and abbreviations when solving these things, the very first one being p=piano=softly or quietly. |
|
| 2 | Aggrieved about hotel in coastal area (5) |
| SHORE – SORE (aggrieved) “about” H (hotel) | |
| 3 | Maybe film exotic vale route, Greece’s first? (10) |
| TRAVELOGUE – (VALE ROUTE G)* | |
| 4 | Initially very edgy, lets visitor examine tendentious material (6) |
| VELVET – First letters (initially) of Very Edgy Lets Visitor Examine Tendentious | |
| 6 | One spotted sign of expected standard on top of door? (7) |
| LEOPARD – LEO [sign (astrological)] + PAR (of expected standard) + D (“top of” Door) | |
| 7 | Parent penning note — that’s unfashionable (5) |
| DATED – DAD (parent) “penning” TE (note) | |
| 10 | Collection of quips maybe about cheeky Oscar — anger follows (10) |
| REPERTOIRE – RE (about) + PERT (cheeky) + O (oscar) + IRE (anger)
A nice IKEA clue consisting of four crossword regulars stacked together. |
|
| 14 | Be of use after right upset in Labour? (7) |
| TRAVAIL – AVAIL (be of use) after TR [RT (right) reversed (upset)]
I tend to think of AVAIL as to make use of, rather than be of use, but the dictionaries leave no doubt. |
|
| 16 | Growth area in North Surrey refurbished (7) |
| NURSERY – N (north) + (SURREY)*
Lift and separate. |
|
| 17 | No opening for beginner as breadwinner (6) |
| EARNER – |
|
| 18 | Dish, second, our people welcome (5) |
| SUSHI – S (second) + US (our people) + HI (welcome) | |
| 20 | For listeners, remained formal (5) |
| STAID – Homophone (for listeners) of STAYED (remained) | |
Way off wavelength on this one, couldn’t get a foothold and DNFed after a long time with 2 sets of crossing words missing (4 clues unsolved).
I don’t think it was too hard, just too many two-part clues for me and my terrible vocabulary. When I have to find a non-obvious synonym then do something non-obvious with it, I find it very hard. If I can spot the answer from crossers then parsing it afterwards is trivial, but that just becomes frustrating not satisfying.
I did this while simultaneously watching the footy, so no real time but I’d guess a little under 15. I came here because I had no idea how TRAVAIL worked and, now enlightened, I share Galspray’s reservations. All up a decent test, thanks to both.
12 minutes with my usual final intersecting pair problem taking my solving time over the 10 minute mark.
16:31 here, all parsed but with a typo on NURSEYY. Rats. Liked REPERTOIRE and LEOPARD most today.
Thanks to Hurley and Galspray.
9:26, and a relatively straightforward solve. Though I did look at the -N-I-A-E checkers for 22A, immediately “saw” INdIcATE, and despite realising it was wrong, then could not get it out of my head for ages until a long letter search put me right.
Many thanks Galspray for the blog, and a good weekend to all.
Ditto re. indicate
And me!
and me…
I thought it was indicate, for a while, too.
Struggled to get any real momentum and ended up jumping around the grid for a while before settling in.
Intimate took an age to find, the mantra, 2 word clues are double defs is good but finding the common synonym needed more crossers than we had.
Stared at LOI repertoire for about 8 of our 34.15 convinced the was some special archaic name that ended toire. Finally lifted and separated the about to get re and CLANG!
Thanks Hurley and Galspray. We needed your help with taser. Got sat as did exam but failed to go the extra word to find resat, d’oh.
Under target but over average as a number of clues needed some thought but all were eventually gettable from the wordplay. REPERTOIRE, INTIMATE and TRAVAIL were the main hold outs.
Started with GLAD and finished with TRAVAIL in 9.05.
Thanks to Galspray for the blog and for highlighting Fabian’s very wise words.
7.28
SATSUMA straight in with three checkers – who knew there were two S___U_A things in the kitchen? Once corrected TRAVAIL brought up the rear.
Liked REPERTOIRE.
Thanks Hurley/Galspray
13:20 but with a silly typo. Took longer than I should have to figure out sitcom and that led to LOI travail. Enjoyable puzzle that was trickier than it first seemed.
DNF. Took ages to work out TRAVELOGUE using pen and paper before three other clues in the NW could be entered, but after 7:49 I fell over as a result of missing the hidden MOAT and biffing “post” which barely fitted the clue.
Snap! I missed the hidden (I’m good at that) and posted POST.
10:07, with LOI INTIMATE. Those Double defs can be tricky, needed all the checkers. Didn’t parse 1a, the penultimate one in. “Posit”, that would have been hard to think of as a synonym for “assume”.
38 mins is phenomenal for an aggregate score of Parkrun and QC. I look forward to a “biathlon” where runners run one lap, then have to solve 1/4 of the QC before proceeding with the next lap. First to cross the line.
20.45 with almost 2 minutes spent on final three – SWAG, TASER, NURSERY.
For possibly the first and last time, we have a link with Busman, as we, too started with POST (along the lines of ‘post -it’ note, memo, etc…)
SWAG was a lucky guess (queried SNAG – neither seemed to fit).
In our world, SWAG is an Australian bedroll, hence that jolly man… down by the billabong.
Thanks and happy weekend to all.
A quick, smooth solve (for me!) in 14.59, all parsed. An enjoyable end to a good week of Quick Cryptics. What a refreshing change after the last few weeks.
It seemed to flow as I moved clockwise around the grid, finishing in the NW quadrant, before I returned to my LOI TRAVAIL and the penny dropped.
I liked REPERTOIRE, TRAVELOGUE, and SPATULA.
Thanks to Hurley and galspray.
I’m not a complete novice, but this is the second time in two weeks I’ve been floored by “penning” as an indicator of … something.
How does “penning note” connote “TE”?
Penning means to enclose something, think sheep pen. So DAD is penning TE – musical note.
16 mins…
Dare I say the most straightforward Saturday QC I’ve done in a long time. Only unknown was the use of “essential” for the middle letters of “scenes” in 15ac.
I will have to go back and read the comments from Jason Crampton.
FOI – 5ac “Glad”
LOI – 14dn “Travail”
COD – 22ac “Intimate”
Thanks as usual!
Splendid crossword – several ’15×15-lite’ clues in there, so good practice for those considering taking on the bigger version, IMHO. Ten minutes on the nose for me (well, ok, 10:01).
Very much enjoyed, thanks Hurley and Galspray.
Nine which is ok for me. Mostly NE corner. Biffed earner. Missed sushi which should have been an easy bif after idle.
Thanks setter and blogger. I can never remember names….
17:32
I took ages to get REPERTOIRE, then mistyped it, which delayed me getting my LOI, LEADEN.
Thanks Galspray and Hurley
FOI was SHORE. I certainly didn’t race through this, and had to resort to pen and paper for LOI, TRAVELOGUE. Sadly all was in vain as I had a typo at 20d. SSAID. Drat! 11,17 WOE. Thanks Hurley and Galspray.
DNF. Idiotically could not solve SITCOM, which, when revealed, gave me TRAVAIL.
Rather slow today, distracted by not seeing eclipse.
Liked SPATULA, FRIENDLY, REPERTOIRE.
Thanks, Galspray.
Ha, have now managed image of eclipse. Just a question of choosing the right colander.
Started well enough, but then the clouds parted so I spent the next 20mins hopping back and forth watching the eclipse (1999 solar viewer glasses still in use 👍) and solving the QC. The return of the clouds finally allowed me to concentrate on the last few: Repertoire, Intimate and loi Travail. No real idea of actual solving time, other than it wasn’t quick. CoD to Adorable, for the (clever) parsing. Invariant
27:12
I was flying through this one, well by my standards. Just the 2 left after 13 minutes. But then completely ran aground on INTIMATE, even though obvious with hindsight before a full 10 minutes on LOI REPERTOIRE.
Parksolve? Erm, 58 minutes.
48 minutes to solve this one, though TRAVAIL was my final one but couldn’t figure out the wordplay, just knew it meant labour. PRAISES was my favourite, as initially thought the clue was a double definition, then it clicked that quietly is P! Thank you for the explanations
14:45. REPERTOIRE held the solve up longest while seeing what pert, posit, and avail were doing held up the parsing.
Raises=mentions also on my list of tough parses
Right, that took some thinking about too.
9:03 for the solve. Got to it later than usual so maybe the brain was a little better warmed up. About last 45s spent ‘panicking’ about INTIMATE and whether I was going to be stuck for ages on that set of checkers. On reflection I didn’t think it was an easy puzzle so very pleased to record today’s time.
Parksolve coming in at 32:22- slightly slower than a couple of weeks ago but blasted my legs at the gym this week with some huge squats. Big field today of 1200+ runners and I managed to scrape into the top 25%. Top 3 lads finishing in 15mins but I bet they couldn’t get the QC cracked.
Since Jason’s clarification I am trying not to rate/complain/comment on difficulty but I will note that this week, which most feel has been easier, consisted of puzzles from setters who have been in it from the beginnings of the QC ten years ago. Maybe we all got used to their styles, word choices and the chestnuts they provide. Just an observation.
Thanks to Galspray for the blog and Hurley for an enjoyable puzzle.
1200+, crikey. Bushy Park? Wimbledon?
Poole – it’s fast and flat so attracts people looking for PBs. We often get 900+ but today was the biggest outside of Christmas Days
Delayed by SITCOM (I thought it must be a computer programme ending in “ic”), TRAVAIL (had the definition at the wrong end and thought “Labour” would be “toil”) and LOI INTIMATE (where like Cedric I had to dislodge “indicate”).
Otherwise a smooth passage to 06:54. Many thanks Hurley and Gallers.
That was quick, until it wasn’t. 17:59, held up by SUSHI (I had forgotten to re-look at the clue for IDLE), SPATULA (why oh why couldn’t I get past ARUGULA?) and SWEDE (I call them rutabagas).
Lots of good clues here! I liked EMERALD, INTIMATE, and VELVET, but really too many to mention. I enjoyed putting REPERTOIRE together but the quips maybe gave me pause. No reservations about AVAIL, as I’ve seen it many times in the phrase “of no avail” meaning “of no use”.
Thanks Hurley and galspray.
Those swedes and rutabagas are all just turnips to me!
But rutabaga is so much fun to say.
Truly, two countries separated by a common language (. . . and a few other things these days)
Ouch, no [other] comment.
Enjoyable QC. Most answers went in without too much trouble but my last two (TRAVELOGUE and POSITIVE) took a little while. Setter’s = ‘I’ve’ never comes to mind first. Today I failed to separate the ‘setter’s’ and ‘optimistic’ which didn’t help as I was convinced it was ‘I’m’ that was required. Really liked REPERTOIRE – what a great surface 😆 Many thanks galspray (and thanks too for the shout out!). Nice one Hurley.
I was not on the wavelength for this.
Looking over the helpful blog there was nothing too difficult, but I made very very heavy weather of this.
Solved this on and off while babysitting. Found myself mostly on Hurley’s wavelength and all finished without too much difficulty.
COD LEOPARD which nearly went in as LEOTARD.
Thanks Galspay for sorting some of the parsing.
6.50.
Pretty straightforward today….
FOI5a Glad – a chestnut if ever there was
LOI 2d Shore
COD 24a Friendly
Toyed with 22a indicate v intimate
10:30
A bit slow to get going with this – just five in on first pass of acrosses. Couldn’t see SITCOM even from those 6 letters, needed a couple of checkers for that. LOI MOAT – couldn’t see the hidden…… until I could.
Thanks Galspray and Hurley
An enjoyable and well-pitched offering from Hurley, although I made heavy weather of my final two clues. I reached those in a little short of half an hour (about average for me), but REPERTOIRE and INTIMATE each took around five minutes to crack (again, fairly typical for me). Total time ~38 minutes.
Many thanks to Galspray and Hurley.
11.43 Mostly quick but slow in the SW. LOI TRAVAIL, which I’d thought of earlier and should have tried harder to parse sooner. Thanks galspray and Hurley.
I did this before going off for my usual afternoon of volunteering so have forgotten the details! But I think I mostly enjoyed it, although a few clues seemed a bit tortuous and I found a few quite tricky to parse – POSITIVE, TRAVAIL and LEADEN were semi-biffs, then they fell into place.
11:27 FOI Glad LOI Travail COD Sitcom
Thanks Hurley and Galspray
I’m another who totally agrees with Fabian 😊
I enjoyed that, getting most of it done in around ten minutes without any major problems until I got to my LOI, REPERTOIRE, with its hideous checking letters. Total time: 12:40.
Thank you for the blog!
A few went in quite quickly but it was a good mix with several delaying us as well so we ended up around par these days at 12:17. LOI and COD FRIENDLY. Thanks, Galspray and Hurley.
Solving a day late, but completed after resorting to the thesaurus to get to praises. Must have tried every (im)possible variant of the letters costim, before finally seeing the answer.
Thanks Galspray and Hurley