I found this to be tricky to get going: my first pass through the acrosses gave only four answers. I found the downs were more tractable and ended up finishing in 11:40, which is under my average time, so that would indicate a puzzle on the easier side.
But I can’t shake a feeling that I just got lucky in having the needed general knowledge for CARBUNCLE, TABARD and AFTERS. So really I have no clue whether this puzzle was hard or not, and I don’t let myself look at the Snitch until after I’ve written the blog.
COD to PICADOR. As I think I’ve said before, I love a good Dad joke.
Definitions underlined, synonyms in round brackets, wordplay in square brackets and deletions in strikethrough. Anagram indicators italicised in the clue, anagram fodder indicated like (this)*.
| Across | |
| 1 | Dreadful price, English cookery guide (6) |
| RECIPE – (PRICE)*, then E for English. | |
| 4 | Confrontation between players for pudding (6) |
| AFTERS – Double definition.
Both definitions strike me as very English English, if you see what I mean. |
|
| 8 | Ignore the computer industry, that doesn’t matter (6,5,2) |
| FORGET ABOUT IT – another double definition, this one much more inclusive. Information Technology, or IT, of course, for “computer industry”.
I always smile at this phrase, remembering Hugh Grant and James Caan in Mickey Blue Eyes. |
|
| 10 | As a bachelor, employ bad language (5) |
| ABUSE – A + B (batchelor, as in B.A. or B.Sc.) + USE (employ). | |
| 11 | Enliven a friend from Belfast? (7) |
| ANIMATE – A NI (Northern Ireland) MATE (friend). | |
| 13 | Humbly begging, headgear receiving attention (3,2,4) |
| CAP IN HAND – CAP (headgear) IN HAND (receiving attention, as in “the matter is in hand”). | |
| 17 | Run through seaside attraction and almost give up (7) |
| PIERCED – PIER (seaside attraction) and most of [almost] CED An example of the answer being a different part of speech than the definition. We need the adjective here. |
|
| 18 | During blazing row, lovers speak in a menacing way (5) |
| GROWL – Hidden in [during] |
|
| 19 | Nothing in Kashmir delay upset tourists (7-6) |
| HOLIDAY-MAKERS – O (nothing) in (KASHMIR DELAY)* | |
| 21 | Sleeveless jacket finally fit a poet (6) |
| TABARD – last letter [finally] of I wondered if there was a poet called ACKETA, or possibly LAZETA until the R from PICADOR made that parsing impossible. |
|
| 22 | Engineers finished meal (6) |
| REPAST – RE (Royal Engineers) + PAST (finished). | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Change allegiance of judge and convict (6) |
| REFLAG – REF (judge) + LAG (convict). | |
| 2 | Vehicle, black, a relative gem (9) |
| CARBUNCLE – CAR (vehicle) + B for black + UNCLE (a relative).
I think the only place I’ve seen “carbuncle” in the sense of a gem is in the Sherlock Holmes story The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle. It’s much more common these days in the sense of something unsightly. |
|
| 3 | A bit particular in each classroom exercise from the start (5) |
| PIECE – first letters [from the start] of P |
|
| 5 | State’s extremely fearful radio broadcast (7) |
| FLORIDA – first and last letters [extremely] of F |
|
| 6 | Dine in high temperature, forgoing starter (3) |
| EAT – |
|
| 7 | I pose for easy catch (6) |
| SITTER – Our third double definition. | |
| 9 | Possible time of need in half of wet weekend? (1,5,3) |
| A RAINY DAY – A wet weekend would be two rainy days, therefore half of one is a rainy day. The definition is a reference to the saying “saving for a rainy day”, | |
| 12 | A host of stars with City draw regularly (9) |
| ANDROMEDA – AND (with) + ROME (random city) + alternating letters [regularly] of D |
|
| 14 | Bullfighter said, “Choose a way in” (7) |
| PICADOR – sounds like [said] “pick a door”.
Ho ho ho. |
|
| 15 | Promoted, fired? What’s the outcome? (6) |
| UPSHOT – UP (promoted) + SHOT (fired).
“Up” for “promoted” as in football teams moving to a higher division. |
|
| 16 | Cupboard near rear of flat (6) |
| CLOSET – CLOSE (near) + last letter [rear] of |
|
| 18 | Elegance of short pre-dinner speech (5) |
| GRACE – a fourth double definition. | |
| 20 | 15 pounds, old boy (3) |
| LOB – L (pounds), OB (old boy).
Oooh, sneaky. A lob in tennis is a high shot over the opponent, an “up shot”. So the definition, “15” is a reference to the answer to 15d. While there are very few rules that are never broken, it’s worth checking for a clue reference if you see a number written as digits like this. |
|
Didn’t know AFTERS as a ‘confrontation between players’ and apparently it’s an argument between players after a foul or other incident in soccer. I thought this was about middling in difficulty with a few gimmes. Biffed CARBUNCLE but I only knew it as a growth of some sort. NHO REFLAG as changing allegiance but the wordplay was clear. Liked SITTER and ANDROMEDA. COD to LOB for the cunning link to UPSHOT.
Thanks D and setter.
Sorry Doof, as regards the mysterious AFTERS (my LOI) I don’t see what you mean at all. Overall a reasonably straightforward puzzle but with several tricky bits in the lower half taking me out to 12.18. Several, including UPSHOT, HOLIDAY MAKERS and A RAINY DAY, took much longer than they should have. I was a bit put off by the two DAYS intersecting but liked the UPSHOT/LOB device, thanks to both.
Afters means dessert/pudding in the UK, as in ‘what’s for afters? See above for the other meaning of confrontation. I think that’s what D meant by English/English.
I knew the dessert and thus got the answer, the soccer ref a complete unknown
It’s not just soccer, it’s rugger too – confrontations between players “after” the relevant incident. See also “handbags”.
I didn’t know the meaning so looked it up. The source mentioned only soccer. Thanks for the extra info, makes sense.
Afters, ‘He left something on it’, after a tackle which is followed through to hurt the opponent.
I wouldn’t have got LOB if I’d stared at this puzzle for 100 years.
I got it purely from “pounds old boy”. As for the reference to 15dn, I didn’t give it a moment’s thought and, while I’m sure that the blog explanation is correct, isn’t a lob an up and down shot rather than an upshot? Not a great clue imho.
Another expression is “handbags” – although that’s probably a bit old now.
I must have been on the wavelength, because after solving a few I got in the groove and put in the answers without even getting to the end of the clue. Tabard, cap in hand, growl, holiday makers – all the obvious answers. I was afraid I was going to get stuck on the last one, but I managed to see closet after a brief moment of doubt.
Time: 5:13
Pretty fast throughout but held up by AFTERS at the top and REFLAG at the bottom. The first went in a happy groan the other with fingers crossed. Lots here that seemed hard, then yielded. Good fun. All green in 11.28.
16 minutes, my second consecutive target missed this week and it’s only Wednesday!
AFTERS was my LOI as I took forever to think of it as word meaning pudding. I had been looking for a specific dish. I never heard of the other meaning until I looked it up on completion.
Elsewhere I was delayed by REFLAG where I had thought of both elements of wordplay but couldn’t see them making a word until I inserted an imaginary hyphen to give RE-FLAG.
I think I speak for most here if I say that we do not appreciate cross-referenced clues in Quick Cryptics, but if we have to have them the links should be explicit, not disguised like today’s 20dn.
I do enjoy Teazel’s witty style of clueing and I thought this puzzle was at the slightly easier end of his spectrum.
I had a complete brain freeze over the first part of the IT phrase and REFLAG took a bit of figuring out but other than that no real hold ups.
Started with RECIPE and finished with FORGET in 6.43 with COD to PICADOR.
Thanks to Doofers and Teazel
For a Teazel we fairly whizzed through this finishing in a lightning 16.06, right on the wavelength.
We also don’t know the soccer meaning of afters but pudding and the crossers gave little doubt. Half way through I look at Mrs RH and said “pick a door, I love a good dad joke” so a big grin on reading our blogger’s comment.
Thanks Teazel and Doofers (you have a typo in 11a, island instead of Ireland 😀)
Thanks, fixed!
7:17 for the solve. And that was with two mins on REFLAG and AFTERS. Amazing time for me for a Teazel. Until earlier this year I’d never been below fifteen mins on any of their puzzles and then recorded an eleven minuter, so to be in PB territory with two left is something else.
Despite all the sports I’ve watched never heard of AFTERS in the confrontation context. Also didn’t understand LOB at the time but parsed it postsolve upon realising that 15 referred to the other clue. NHO PICADOR either. Thought there was a good range of clue types in here. Liked ANDROMEDA and FLORIDA.
Thanks to Doofers and Teazel
Great time – well done.
Thank-you. Very much a surprise and pleased with it
👏👏👏
thanks Doofers I was the other way round starting strongly and finishing at a crawl for 9;25 with last two in TABARD and then LOB. A decent example of a QC from Teazel.
A solid but not very fast solve in 14:08, with several heavy clunks as pennies dropped. Loved AFTERS, which I associate mainly with rugby more than soccer, but I did think at the time that those outside the UK might find it a bit of a challenge. Needed all the checkers for HOLIDAY MAKERS and then wondered why it took so long. Royally misunderstood/misparsed PIERCED, which initially I had as R (runs) inserted into PIE and CED; the CED was clear and I was left wondering if pies could be a seaside attraction (well I’m sure they are for some).
Very enjoyable puzzle; thank you Doofers for the blog
13:49 with 2 errors. NHO TABARD nor REFLAG. Overall fairly difficult for a QC but not horrendous.
Also bemused by the football definition of AFTERS, but bunged it in anyway. Enjoyable puzzle, including the linking of LOB and UPSHOT which, unlike Jackkt and possibly others, I thought was fair enough and also quite witty. Linkage can go too far (and often does in some Guardian cryptics) but two linked clues in a QC seems OK to me. 9:33.
An unusually gentle offering from Teazel, but three CNPs and one (I think) MER so looking forward to Doofers’s instruction. LOI LOB; could see no connexion between that and 15. Even thought of checking with 15d UPSHOT but that helped me not one iota. Very obscure.
You’re very matter-of-fact about it, Doofers but NHO AFTERS as “confrontation between players”; thank you, Quad (above). Maybe all my NHOs are sport-related.
Thank you for explaining PIERCED; I wanted it to be “ran through” (instead of run) but see what you mean.
Hummm, SITTER = I pose? he/she poses, you pose – would any be valid?
Thanks, Teazel and Doofers.
A lob is a shot (in tennis or badminton) that goes up. Hence “up shot”. If you see numerals in a clue, always check a cross reference.
14:19
Three non intersecting last ones held me up :AFTERS, REFLAG, UPSHOT. I was sure “between players” was between the bridge players, probably E and S.
COD ANIMATE
Me too – also tried P,R,N,B,Q and K for the chess “players”
Biffed LOB, UPSHOT, REFLAG and ANDROMEDA, so thanks for clarification. Done in 24:53, slower than average.
12:27
LOI was AFTERS, entered with considerable doubt, as I am another one of the many never to have heard of the sporting meaning. Like Merlin, I was trying to fit something between two bridge players.
Familiar with TABARD from “Toom Tabard”, the insulting nickname of John Balliol.
COD PIERCED
Thanks Doofers and Teazel
The TABARD was the name of the inn in Southwark where Chaucer’s pilgrims assembled before setting out for Canterbury. Very near to The George where TFtT and other crossword enthusiasts meet regularly.
In Southwark at the Tabard as I lay…
That’s what made this a write-in for me. But I wonder now who would name a pub after an item of clothing? The jeans, the T-shirt, the cardigan…nup.
It was worn over armour to display heraldic symbols etc, so I imagine it came to be associated with battles etc. In my college days, post-school and pre-university, the nearest pub to my college was called The Tabard.
We named our new-build house in Headington Quarry, Oxford, ‘Tabard House’. There is also a hotel in Washington, DC, called Tabard Inn.
Totally on Teazel’s wavelength today finishing in 6.16. The only answers to hold me up at all were sorting out the anagrist for HOLIDAY MAKERS, and considering whether there was an alternative answer to REFLAG.
Enjoyable, witty puzzle. All finished. A struggle with REFLAG at the end, otherwise pretty quick. PDM with clever parsing of LOB.
NHO ‘confrontation between players’ = afters.
ANIMATE made me smile. Also PICADOR.
Thanks vm, Doofers.
Teazel has made some concessions to the ‘Quick’ in the title and I enjoyed this. Until, that is, I was left with UPSHOT, REFLAG, LOB, and my LOI AFTERS. There is always a biff for me with T – he can’t resist including words or usage that I have NHO – AFTERS being a prime example.
Some clever and witty clues to enjoy, as ever. I liked PIERCED; PICADOR raised a smile.
Finished in 17.31 which is not bad for me v Teazel.
Thanks to both.
P.s. I totally agree with jackkt about the hidden (to me) cross-reference in 20d.
19.26 once again, too close to that part of the room to relax. Going quite well until TABARD ( HO but forgotten) and the NHO REFLAG added several minutes of alphabet trawling and repeated clue dissection.
Belatedly remembered wearing a calico hand-painted tabard and morphing into a Middle Ages man for a junior school re enactment. Sadly, my personal middle age is long gone and the new Old(er) Age seems slow to trawl through the library of memories.
COD LOB (post blog)
An enjoyable puzzle. Thanks to all.
Straight down the middle from Teazel, I thought.
Like Doofers I found the downs easier than the acrosses, but the four escapees at first pass (AFTERS, ANIMATE (LOI), HOLIDAY-MAKERS and TABARD) all went in easily enough with the downs in place. I did waste some time racking my brains for a poet called Gilett. There probably is one somewhere.
All done in 08:37 which is pretty much bang on my average. Many thanks Teazel and El Doof.
17:52
CARBUNCLE was a write in having read the Sherlock Holmes story. In fact most of this was pretty straightforward. But I ran aground on the last 2 which added an extra 5 minutes for PIECE and the unparsed LOI AFTERS.
6,40 but with a typo at 3d, PPIEE due to failing to move the cursor to the correct starting square. Drat. NHO AFTERS in the sporting sense. REFLAG from wordplay. Thanks Teazel and Doofers.
Quite amazed that I sailed through. Afters and sitter were early entries after grace and growl. Had andromeda but took a while to know why.
A slow start but finished this in 32 mins.
There were some new meanings for me: CARBUNCLE and AFTERS. I thought of AFTERS but could not see how it parsed.
As usual, the emphasis on sports (especially male dominated ones) let me down.
I got LOB from wordplay and crossers. I am another one who dislikes cross references to other answers in QCs but this was generously clued and checked.
An enjoyable, although taxing, cryptic. Thanks Teazel and Doofers.
16 minutes for me for this relatively gentle Teazel. No really unknown vocabulary although I’m not sure I have seen the word REFLAG before. Obvious in meaning though. I dithered a bit over LOB as I didn’t initially understand the cross-reference (I personally have no problem with cross referencing other clues as long as it stays within bounds).
FOI – 1ac RECIPE
LOI – 20dn LOB
COD – liked PICADOR (ho ho) and also ANIMATE.
Thanks to Teazel and Doofers.
Steady medium-paced solve for me.
Carbuncle went at a glance at the three crossers I had, not sure why. Only afterwards did I realise that I had never heard of it as a gemstone despite once being a collector.
For 17A I think both are past participle. He was run through with a sword, he was pierced with a sword.
I haven’t heard of AFTERS in UK football despite being a lifelong fan (well Southampton – poor approximation to football nowadays) however it is in common use in American football commentary, where the myriad players, coaches and general hangers-on often square up to the officials and each other after each play.
This was a nice QC. Only reflag caused some doubt. I realise now I hadn’t checked the answer for 15 after getting lob because the wordplay was so clear. Ta
8:05
A few pauses for thought in this puzzle – REFLAG, AFTERS (aware of both terms), A RAINY DAY and especially LOB where I didn’t think of looking at UPSHOT.
Thanks for the elucidations Doofers, and Teazel for the puzzle
Slow solve (SCC) but hugely enjoyable. Enjoyed the consigning of IT to oblivion (8a) and the half of a wet weekend (9d). PICADOR my COD with fond memories of the rambling Michael Flanders anecdote in At the Drop of a Hat! We hear ‘afters’ all the time in rugby commentaries – as soon as the players start brawling the commentators always say “Hallo – a spot of afters”. I biffed LOB without parsing – crossref to UPSHOT still seems a bit obscure to me but I get it. Upset tourists in Kashmir is rather alarmingly topical – not sure there’ll be holiday makers any time soon in that region. Tough, witty, very good challenge from Teazel to whom thanks along with Doofers
I had a good day but then I don’t solve in clue order. I solve using checkers in the grid. Despite RECIPE being my FOI REFLAG was my last because I didn’t see it at the start. The parsing of AFTERS remained a mystery until I came to the blog so thanks for that Doofers. COD for me was CARBUNCLE. 6:48
8.10 Mostly very quick. PIERCED, UPSHOT, TABARD and the unknown REFLAG delayed me at the end. Thanks Doofers, Teazel and Quadrophenia for explaining sporty AFTERS.
Thank you Doofenschmirtz & Teazel.
4a Afters NHO sporting def. Still seems unfamiliar. It is the third def in Wiktionary. I NHO the second in W either, post wedding meal party. But did know the fourth, drinks after closing time. DNK the fifth either, after-school care.
1d Reflag NHO. But I have heard of “flagging out” and it was easy to guess.
POI 2d Carbuncle. CIIIR when he was PoW criticised I think it was the Gherkin as being “like a carbuncle on an old friend’s face”. But that is a different carbuncle, as Doofenschmirtz mentions.
20d Lob. Failed to parse, didn’t connect an Upshot with a Lob. Oh dear.
The comment was about a proposed extension to the National Gallery in the 1980s – apparently it was so controversial that the project was cancelled! The other sort of carbuncle is a deep red gemstone like a garnet. I suppose a carbuncle on the skin must look similar – I don’t think I’ll go any further with this train of thought 😅
17 mins…
Surprisingly faster than I thought I would be, as there were quite a few tricky clues. The 1dn “Reflag” and 10ac “Abuse” axis causing issues (I initially had the non-existent word of “Bause” for bad language). I liked the 15dn/20dn connection and the myriad of longer style cryptic style clues and various double/triple definitions.
FOI – 1ac “Recipe”
LOI – 10ac “Abuse”
COD – 8ac “Forget about it” – based on the last few weeks, not great advice for certain companies.
Thanks as usual!
10:32. Everything hung together pretty well. REFLAG and TABARD took the longest.
Saw the setter and anticipated the usual tussle but it wasn’t to be. All fairly straightforward today. Like others, NHO AFTERS in the handbags sense (thanks D). Paused over LOB but then remembered to do the cross-check. Wanted ‘rate’ to be in REFLAG until I had the checkers. Liked PICADOR 😆 and ANDROMEDA. Many thanks D and Teazel.
12:06, so of middling difficulty for us. Didn’t know the first meaning of AFTERS but thankfully knew it as a pudding. LOI LOB, only seeing how the cross reference worked after entry. 19a somewhat topical, as is 7a in a way after M&S and Co-op. Thanks, Doofers and Teazel.
7:24. I found this fairly straightforward today, vocab not an issue but finding UPSHOT, so as to be sure of LOB (which I’d already guessed) took a little while. COD was ANIMATE. thanks both!
12 mins.
NHO REFLAG, and wasted time on this.
Maybe I’m making some progress, but still behind many others.
Thanks for the blog.
First puzzle to finish for a few days, so rather pleased. Thanks Teasel.
A tabard is shaped like a vest with a zip up the front possibly. A bit like a waistecoat (which I always thought was a waste coat, as in make from off cuts). Hi-vis versions are worn by miscrients when doing outdoor community service, highway works, so they are visible whilst standing around talking about football, an infant school children when in a crocodile. Professional footballers wear tabards when they are substitutes warming up. Sensible cyclists also wear hi-vis tabards. I still didn’t get it ….
Tabards are from the middle ages. I’m astounded to find out they had zips back then 😲
Teazel seemed in a more kindly mood than usual today and I finished in 11:12. A few DNK or only-slightly-knew like AFTERS – indeed very English English! -and SITTER and LOB, where I simply had to follow the wordplay as my knowledge of tennis is even slighter than my knowledge of soccer/football/rugby. Chuckled at PICADOR.
Liked PIERCED for the part of speech misdirection, got me! but UPSHOT my COD.
Thanks to Teazel and Doof.
As somebody fairly new to cryptics, I found this to be the hardest quick daily for a while. Was totally unfamiliar with reflag, lag, carbuncle, picador (had matador instead) and repast. Cap in hand only vaguely rings a bell as a phrase. Got lob but didn’t understand the definition. Not very good at double definition clues and struggled on all of them. Not a lot of anagramming in this one. Surprised “afters” is the word people didn’t know, that’s mentioned all the time in sport – “a bit of afters there” when two players square up to each other a little bit usually after a foul or potential foul.
9.06, but still plagued with page skipping.
Yet another lousy fail on 15 x 15. Two incomplete. One NHO and one that was guessable. Easy according to Snitch.
1.5 hours wasted. Just for once, I’d like to complete this.
I lack the speed for the QC and the vocabulary for the 15 x 15.
Perhaps you should visit / post on the blog for the 15×15, and maybe benefit from those solvers’ experience?
I dare not post on there. That really would be mixing with the experts and I’m nowhere near that level. I read the excellent blog and wonder how people solve it so speedily.
But this isn’t the place either!
Hear hear! Totally agree with Penny. You can learn so much from the comments on the 15 x 15 as well as the blog. You may also find some friendly encouragement as a newbie amongst very seasoned solvers – go for it!
Thanks fabian
13m
Held up by afters. Done on phone but thought it might be Teazel.
COD growl.
Late to this but got there in the end.
NHO Afters as a tussle but it was a nice synonym for pudding.
Couldn’t parse LOB so thanks Doofers for the solution and recommendation.
COD PIERCED.
DNF with 9 clues I couldn’t figure out today, but from the blog they were good clues, especially for TABARD. Thank you for the blog 😁
Not a very quick solve, although I’m not too sure why, as I didn’t find it particularly difficult. On reflection, I think I was savouring the surfaces so much that I deliberately slowed down (that’s my excuse, anyway!) As others have commented, there seemed a few apposite clues in there today – definitely don’t FORGET ABOUT IT! That got a tick and so did ANDROMEDA. I liked the anagram for HOLIDAY MAKERS, but again, unfortunate timing.
I didn’t fully parse AFTERS though – I don’t know the first part of the DD, and still didn’t understand it having read D’s blog, until I did a quick internet search (and then continued to read everyone’s else’s posts – that would have been quicker!)
12:35 FOI Recipe LOI Tabard COD Picador
Many thanks Teazel and Doofers
14:59 which is (again) about average for me. Quite relieved to get through it as AFTERS, REFLAG and LOB all confused me greatly.
Thank you for the blog!