10:23 for me, how did everyone else get on?
Definitions underlined in bold, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, synonyms in (parentheses), deletions in {curly brackets} and [ ] for other indicators.
| Across | |
| 1 | Unfashionable garments for the suburbs? (9) |
| OUTSKIRTS – OUT (unfashionable) + SKIRTS (garments) | |
| 6 | Reduced share of profits? (3) |
| CUT – Double def
This clue exactly matches clue 6d in yesterday’s 15×15. |
|
| 8 | Artilleryman introducing a herbaceous plant (7) |
| GUNNERA – GUNNER (artilleryman) + A
NHO of this one, I was going to post a picture but it’s just a green plant with big leaves. Imagine it, you’ll be close enough. |
|
| 9 | Turn right, initially seeing evergreen shrub (5) |
| GORSE – GO (turn) + R{ight} + S{eeing} + E{vergreen}
And a GORSE is in fact an evergreen: it doesn’t maintain green foliage in the traditional sense like a pine or holly tree, but is still considered an evergreen due to its persistent green stems. |
|
| 10 | Coward, possibly, digesting beginning of Victorian literary work (5) |
| NOVEL – NOEL (Coward) contains V{ictorian}
Other famous Noels: Edmonds, Gallagher, Fielding. So Noel Coward shades it as The First Noel, I think. |
|
| 12 | Rampager in Brazilian port starts to terrorise edgy residents (6) |
| RIOTER – RIO (Brazilian Port) + T{errorise} E{dgy} R{esidents}
This word is not in Collins, but is in Chambers. And it also features in the story about LA in The Times today. |
|
| 14 | Railway employee adjusting to steam trains (13) |
| STATIONMASTER – (TO STEAM TRAINS)* | |
| 16 | Absorbent paper he removed from the children (6) |
| TISSUE – THE ISSUE (the children) with HE removed | |
| 17 | Ravine originally accessed on ship (5) |
| ABYSS – A{ccessed} + BY (on) +SS (ship) | |
| 19 | Put up beams, reportedly (5) |
| RAISE – Sounds like RAYS (beams) | |
| 20 | Old flame worked as model — with nothing on? (7) |
| EXPOSED – EX (old flame) + POSED (worked as model) | |
| 22 | Twisted grass, by the sound of it (3) |
| WRY – Sounds like RYE (grass)
I always though WRY was more like “ironic”, but Collins has twisted as a possible synoym. |
|
| 23 | Denigrator of French farm vehicle (9) |
| DETRACTOR – DE (‘OF’ in French) + TRACTOR (farm vehicle)
There was a storm about “racist” interpretations of “denigrate” a few years ago. |
|
| Down | |
| 1 | Manual worker producing notes in church? (8) |
| ORGANIST – Cryptic definition
The term “manual” distinguishes the hand-played keyboards of an organ from the pedal keyboard that is played with the feet. Most church organs have two or three manuals. |
|
| 2 | Heavyweight head dismissed from school in Berkshire (3) |
| TON – {E}TON (school in Berkshire)
There are 412 schools in Berkshire, guess which is needed. |
|
| 3 | Genuflect, hearing Lord Kinnock’s name? (5) |
| KNEEL – Sounds like Neil (Kinnock)
Pretty easy since a 5 letter word for Genuflect is pretty simple stuff, even if you’ve never heard ex-Labour leader Neil Kinnock. |
|
| 4 | New order ran greater men ragged (13) |
| REARRANGEMENT – (RAN GREATER MEN)* [ragged]
This was a bit tricky to parse, as “New order” is the definition, not the anagram indicator. |
|
| 5 | Sons mostly disregard a married woman in Rome (7) |
| SIGNORA – S{ons} + IGNOR{e} (disregard) + A
The “in Rome” indicator means we are looking for an Italian (or Latin) word, (the Latin would be femina). I’m not sure why the plural “Sons” is used here, I can’t see how S can refer to Sons. |
|
| 6 | Woodwork in vehicle parking on arrival (9) |
| CARPENTRY – CAR (vehicle) + P{arking} + ENTRY (arrival) | |
| 7 | River in remote estate (4) |
| TEES – Hidden in remote estate
Caerful, the first river I saw in there was the Test. |
|
| 11 | Practicality little Violet put before skill (9) |
| VIABILITY – VI{olet} + ABILITY (skill) | |
| 13 | Campaigner from South Africa in simpler setting (8) |
| CRUSADER – SA contained in CRUDER (simpler) | |
| 15 | At home juggling dates as an alternative (7) |
| INSTEAD – IN (at home) + (DATES)* | |
| 17 | Top-grade hotel in mountain area (5) |
| ALPHA – H{otel} inside ALP (mountain) + A{rea} | |
| 18 | Ship’s company uttered exultant cries (4) |
| CREW – Double definition
The second is the strong verb form of the past tense of “crow”, like blow/blew. Most famous in the story of St Peter: “And the second time the cock CREW. And Peter called to mind the word that Jesus said unto him, Before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. “ – Mark 14:72 Many strong verbs are now replaced with their weak -“ed” alternatives. Other examples
|
|
| 21 | Determined group (3) |
| SET – Double definition | |
Straightforward enough, although I took a while to get CARPENTRY. CREW is (was) the past tense of ‘crow’ (cry exultantly) not ‘cry’. In genealogies, S (and D) can stand for ‘son’ (‘daughter’) or ‘sons’ (‘daughters’). 5:31.
Thanks, blog updated. Crow/CREW follows the same pattern as blow/blew.
Most of the answers were pretty evident, as I have heard of gunnera, and I have heard of Neil Kinnock. Well, I tried to biff marquetry, but it didn’t fit the crossers, so I erased it. Rearrangement was my my LOI, as I had trouble finding the anagram letters, and ended up just writing in the obvious answer.
Time: 7:32
Trying ‘marquetry’ was one reason it took me so long to get CARPENTRY.
Held up at the end by CREW. Even though ‘ ship’s company’ couldn’t be clearer, the rest of the clue caused me a headache. Misdirected by ‘uttered’ I dimissed the double definition to hunt for a word that means ‘exultant cries’ and sounds like CREW but isn’t crew. Whacked it in in the end to finish all green in 9.08. Rearranging to get REARRANGEMENT took a frustraingly long time. NHO GUNNERA but it was clued kindly once a couple of checkers went in. Pleased to find Merlin blogging a puzzle with Eton in again – good school count fact!
I was pleased with 8 minutes yesterday, so 7 minutes, fully parsed, today was even more pleasing. GUNNERA arrived via wordplay but then I remembered meeting it here previously.
Wot Kevin said about crow/CREW.
Just under 9 minutes for me (which turned out to be exactly half the time I needed for the 15×15). Never heard of GUNNERA but the wordplay was more than generous. Neil Kinnock is somewhat known in the US since Biden plagiarized one of his speeches and got caught.
Pretty much as written above. On the easier side if allowing for some reliance on word play.
Blow/blew/blown, but Crow/crew/crewn doesn’t work. Such are the delights of the English language.
A quick time for me, 17 minutes.
Thanks Merlin and Orpheus
Well, upon doing a little research, it seems that both blow and crow originated as class VII strong Germanic verbs, and originally had past participles of blawen and crawen.
But, as you know, everything got mixed up in the 13th and 14th century, as uneducated peasants mangled the language while the nobles spoke Norman French.
Thank you Vinyl.
Unfortunately, as a poor uneducated peasant I failed to progress beyond class Vl strong Germanic vowels, but note the similar conjugation as in ‘Donner und Blitzen’. Bonne soirée as they say.
Apologies for Ninja Turtling.
Four write-ins but stalled after that, but I did get Wordle in three…
Much as I would like to start a Wordle section in this blog I suspect we’d probably better stick to Magoo’s enjoyable daily offering!
Indeed – three was a lucky one today. I’ll look at Magoo….thanks for the pointer.
Another quick quickie for me today, 5.23 after a new PB yesterday. REARRANGEMENT was my LOI also, I was looking for a word for ragged. Uh. Also NHO GUNNERA. Thanks Merlin and Orpheus.
Issue singular = children plural?
‘Issue’ in this context is a mass noun, so the singular includes the plural
Yes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Issue_(genealogy)
Mostly straightforward. LOI ABYSS which I struggled with at the end until I realised I’d entered CARPENTER rather than CARPENTRY!!
As others have noted Orpheus was in a generous mood today. I only had two minor issues due to a) forgetting how to spell KNEEL (I wanted to put an ‘a’ in it) and b) biffing ‘test’ from the initial ‘te’ at 7d which left me briefly wondering if there might be a shrub called a ‘gorts’.
I don’t think I’ll ever be able to see the word ETON again without thinking of Merlin so was delighted to see that he was on blogging duty today😁😁.
Started with CUT and finished with GORSE in a pleasingly round 6.00 with COD to DETRACTOR.
Thanks to Merlin and Orpheus
I also couldn’t remember how to spell KNEEL, but reasoned that it probably had something to do with your knees (which might be completely wrong, I didn’t check), but it worked.
Well, the blogging calendar is visible to the public, so I wonder if…..
A rapid solve in 7:45, with only GUNNERA unknown and needing the checkers to decide between that and Gunnear.
Many thanks Merlin for the blog and school stats.
NHO GUNNERA, but it couldn’t have been anything else, I suppose. WRY came slowly, and I made a guess at CREW, not having heard of that version of the past participle. Otherwise, very enjoyable.
Pi ❤️
Nice and easy, finished in 3:11, but alas with “crRsader”. And I sight-checked it too! Should have gone to Specsavers….
COD STATIONMASTER
Two fun crosswords in one day, doesn’t bode well for later in the week, methinks. CARPENTRY was a write-in after seeing ‘vehicle’. GUNNERA came from the wordplay but only after some checkers as I think it was a NHO. Didn’t understand the ‘manual’ part of the clue for ORGANIST. The two long ones were also write-ins and managed to see the correct anagrind for REARRANGEMENT. COD to CRUSADER.
Thanks M and setter.
10:05. Very nearly a sub 10 and a rare BTB (beat the blogger) so happy days.
Lots of half parsed efforts today so thanks for the explanations Merlin.
Great puzzle. Loved the surface of juggling dates instead of going out (conjures up the Smiths…I haven’t got a stitch to wear…)
Detractor made me think of the person that used to be an enthusiast of farm vehicles. An extractor fan.
Thanks Orpheus
A classic Dad joke, sadly unappreciated by children everywhere.
I laughed.
I laughed too. I am not however a child, so I suppose that says it all.
Good to channel our inner child now and then👍
16:47 today for another sub 20m finish. What will tomorrow bring?
Funnily enough we saw some Gunnera the other day. It could be mistaken for Rhubarb but is usually bigger.
I like ALPHA and TISSUE for the misleading wordplay.
Thanks Merlin and Orpheus.
Cracking time #5
Thanks #50. Great couple of times yourself and good to see you back online.
We have a mass of Gunnera around a stream at the bottom of our garden. During winter, there is nothing to be seen… however, come spring, the show begins – and now in June we have 2 large Adirondack (?) chairs sitting beneath a canopy of towering leaves – we are completely sheltered from the fierce 😆 English sun, and hidden from any who may pass – our refuge is accessible only via a path, that, tunnels through the underside of these truly enormous and magnificent plants. All we need is a pet dinosaur to put them into context…
here is a link. Sadly (as Himself noted) it is not me who demonstrates the size….
https://www.cornwalllive.com/whats-on/whats-on-news/gallery/gunnera-goes-gargantuan-after-months-9317225
Worth the scroll!
cornwalllive.com/whats-on/whats-on-news/gallery/gunnera-goes-gargantuan-after-months-9317225
A day late reading the blog but we had a gunnera by a stream in Shropshire- it gave us much pleasure. I’d love to know how it behaved last year, and compare with this. Now in the dry NE I don’t suppose I’ll see one again.
This year ours are huge – we have a forest of them… quite amazing. Nice to have memories even if not the real thing!
This was a pretty pleasant, and quick, solve for me in 5:23, just inside my all time top ten. So not as blistering as yesterday but pretty quick. I didn’t get many in the top half of the across clues at the first pass, but got every down clue on the first go so the rest fell in pretty easily.
LOI for me was the NHO GUNNERA, but with all the checkers it could only be that. I did wonder briefly about GUNMENA but realised that would have to have been artillerymen in the clue, not the singular.
In answer to why it was “sons” and not “son” in 5 down, as well as what Kevin said, above, about the abbreviation being valid for the plural, the clue wouldn’t work with the singular because it would have had to change “mostly disregard” to “mostly disregards” which (given that “mostly” seems by convention to mean “all but the last letter”) would have given us SIGNOREA as the answer.
On wavelength for this one and equalled my PB in 04:41. Sometimes you just see them as you go, though I did wonder briefly whether it was going to be GUNNERA or gunnear. Also tried briefly to make “net” work at 6a, and typed “senora” at 5d only to discover that it was one letter short and that I’d muddled up Spain and Italy!
There are 412 schools in Berkshire and no-one’s heard of 411 of them.
RIOTER is in Collins under “riot” (“Derived forms – rioter (ˈrioter) noun”).
COD to NOVEL, which had a lovely PDM when I thought “How can NOEL possibly mean – oh!”.
Many thanks Orpheus and Merlin.
My sister went to Cox Green Infants in Maidenhead area – so that’s one for the setters to consider – assuming it still exists as it was pre-decimalisation!
What a small world! My brother taught at the junior school in Cox Green for a few years – it’s changed names in recent years though.
Nice! 👍
Noice!
No repeat of yesterday’s aberration for me, a more or less “par” time according to QUITCH.
You are correct regarding 411 Berkshire schools.
Sandhurst and Wellington old boys might disagree.
Wellington school was in Somerset the last time I looked.
I think Merlin means Wellington College (great to see him expanding his repertoire of public schools). I’ll give him that one, but not Sandhurst (a military academy, minimum age 17, not a school).
Leaving aside whether Sandhurst is indeed a school, what will you do with those handy 9 letters to pop into a clue, indicated with the word “school” or “college”?
Not forgetting all the posh schools for nice young ladies in Ascot – Heathfield, St Mary’s etc!
There is one other school in Eton – a state primary called Eton Wick. That probably won’t make the cut either. But see below for another less exclusive school – my alma mater 😂
5:39 for the solve. Not much hesitation – the SE corner needing a little more thought at the end. NHO GUNNERA. Still laugh at DETRACTOR even though I’ve seen it before.
Thanks to Orpheus and Merlin
👏👏👏
Straightforward enjoyable QC. Agree with IanV that Gunnera is very similar to giant rhubarb. NHO CREW as past tense of crow, but it couldn’t be anything else. As a child I was told “when gorse is out of bloom, kissing’s out of fashion”. As I’ve never seen gorse without at least a few yellow flowers, I think kissing is safe enough. Thanks Merlin and Orpheus.
Strange one for me, 23 write-ins, 11d took a little longer and then stuck ages on 22a and 17d, no idea why in retrospect.
3:23 having to come back to only CUT, GUNNERA (which I had heard of) and GORSE after a first pass through the clues. I liked the ‘manual worker’. Thanks Orpheus and Merlin.
Held up by the last two in the SW corner. It had to be CREW but forgot about the cock crowing, of course, thank you, Merlin. Agree with you about LOI WRY (so does Mrs M, NHO = twisted) but we’ve had this here before and curiously Collins gives it as WRY’s first definition.
Interesting about strong/weak verbs. With respect spake and brake are a different issue because we do not now use the weak speaked, breaked; we use a different strong past (spoke, broke). Holpen is the one that is good; surely there are more? My collection starts with hanged/hung which have different meanings, but these are up for grabs: are some old-fashioned, or do they have subtly different connotations?
Burned/burnt, chided/chid, crowed/crew, dived/dove, dreamed/dreamt, pleaded/pled, sneaked/snuck (US), speeded/sped, spelled/spelt, waked/woke. Enjoy!
Chid?
Yes I think you’ll find it exists (it’s in Collins, for example), though certainly less common than chided.
In my experience “existence in Collins” does not always equate to “used regularly real life” – in trying to be a dictionary of record of everything that has been used (even if not very often, and even if not very accurately), it allows in some most unexpected examples. But in the case of Chid, I think it is a fair enough inclusion; and I even think I have occasionally heard it …
Snuck and dove are rare examples of strong verbs being reintroduced. There’s also “swang” which is being coined to match swim/swam/swum. (Usual form is swing/swung/swung)
You’d soon get the hang of it it you learned Old English. The phonology of the strong Germanic verbs is quite interesting: breaking, i-mutation, palatal diphthongisation, Verner’s Law forms, etc, etc. No wonder everybody got confused.
5:49 (Ostrogoths capture Rome)
The clue for KNEEL reminds me of the (probably apocryphal) story of George Thomas greeting Neil Kinnock in a lobby at Westminster with a loud cry of “Neil!”, and a group of visitors on a tour of parliament promptly falling to their knees.
Thanks Merlin and Orpheus
😄
Again a very fast solve. FOsI TON and GUNNERA. Then COD OUTSKIRTS made me smile. Yes, forgetting the Bible, I did wonder about CREW but it had to be. ABYSS was clever too. Not sure about WRY/twisted but again it had to be.
Thanks vm, Merlin.
I have heard of the expression ‘wry neck’ which I never thought about until today. Maybe it has some ancient association to a word like ‘wrench’? Just spit-ballin’ here…
There is a bird of that name, rare in the UK, a type of woodpecker.
Another who was stuck with a_r_s for a synonym for ravine owing to a biffed CARPENTER. But sorted it out. 7:42. Good work out. Thanks all.
5.33
Two minutes nine seconds quicker than my twin. A pleasing start to the day!
Actually flailed around at the beginning but they then all came in a rush with some checkers.
Got some GUNNERA outside my window but just assumed it was giant rhubarb until the plant came up in another puzzle and I made the effort to see what it looked like. Now considered a pest I read.
Anyways, nice puzzle/blog.
9 mins…
One of the easier offerings from Orpheus. Felt like there were a lot of homophones in this, but I’ll have to go back and have a look. NHO of 8ac “Gunnera” – but, like yesterday’s puzzle, the clueing was generous. I chuckled as I felt the bristles being raised at 2dn “Ton”.
FOI – 10ac “Novel”
LOI – 22ac “Wry”
COD – 16ac “Tissue” – amusing surface.
Thanks as usual!
10.11 which is a PB. *
On my wavelength and many answers just went straight in.
Thanks for blog and puzzle.
* so THIS is what it feels like to be able to whizz through cryptics. Wish it happened more. 🤣
Yay! Well done
Well! I managed a fast solve yesterday and thought I might keep half an eye on the clock today, just in case yesterday wasn’t a flash in the pan. It wasn’t. The counter showed 8.20, all parsed.
What is going on? Two genuine Quick Cryptics in two days? Life gets better….
Many thanks to Orpheus for an enjoyable puzzle and to Merlin for a good blog.
I cannot imagine what tomorrow will bring.
What can I say Merlin except that I guessed it was your turn to blog today. 6:06 for me.
4:07, glad to be back to a more normal time for me after a few months of slowness.
Very nice puzzle in that after solving I don’t really remember what was in it, which I like. I also just happened to have the required bits of GK. Had Kinnock been a PM less likely to be known by a millennial Welshman such as myself, I might have been in a bit more bother. Similarly, GUNNERA could have outgunned me had my parents not been particularly proud of theirs when I was growing up.
20A EXPOSED took too long as I tunnelled on ‘worked as model = SAT’, only figured it out when CRUSADER went in. For a moment it did look like the SW might stump me entirely, until I realised that ‘setting’ was a wordplay indicator and wasn’t cluing any letters, and CRUDER was the second synonym of ‘simpler’ I thought of.
Neil Kinnock (aka “Kinnochio” in Private Eye) never became PM.
Another puzzle on the easy side, although not quite as straightforward as yesterday’s perhaps. I wasn’t troubled by any clue particularly, and crossed the line in 6.34 for a speedy start to the week.
From TON to TEES in 7:25. Wasted time seeing CREW as a homphone clue instead of a
dd. Thanks Orpheus and Merlin.
11 minutes all parsed – exactly the same as yesterday. Gunnera was the only unknown but quite simple once the checkers were in. Another excellent QC.
FOI – 1ac OUTSKIRTS
LOI – 8ac GUNNERA
COD – 1dn ORGANIST
Thanks to Orpheus and Merlin.
No problems with Gunnera, regularly seen on Gardeners’ World in damp and dark gardens. If only I could say the same about 5d, where a slight blemish above the ‘n’ in my paper copy turned Sons into Soris. Cue a parsing nightmare, and an eagerly awaited blog to see how that one worked. . . Consequently I’m counting this as a sub-15, despite being a bit over, with CoD to Tissue just ahead of Alpha and Carpentry. Invariant
5:04
Another pleasingly straightforward solve – NHO GUNNERA but was fairly obvious.
Thanks M and Orpheus
4.59 Much quicker than yesterday and nearly a PB. Everything went straight in except REARRANGEMENT, which added a few seconds at the end. Thanks Merlin and Orpheus.
Straightforward enough, not sure about’by’for’in’ in ABYSS
Just barely snuck out of the SCC at 19:43, so well done to those of you posting quick times. ORGANIST, VIABILITY and GUNNERA held me up for ages but I got there in the end.
Thank you for the blog!
Orpheus, like Trelawney, reliably delivers a truly quick quickie that is never boring. I bettered yesterday’s 2025 PB today, finishing in 7:19. ORGANIST my favorite, “manual” haha, even though I generally don’t play well with straight cryptics. REARRANGEMENT my LOI, needing all the crossers to know which part of the clue was the literal.
Thanks to Orpheus and to Merlin for the amusing blog, though I have to defend Gunnera, which is definitely not just any old plant.
Agree GUNNERA is a fine plant if your garden is damp and large.
I would probably have nightmares if one of those things was growing in my garden. “FEED ME”
You can always plant one next to the compost — they are always in a damp and dark corner of the garden — and let the roots find the nourishment 😉
The voice of experience, it seems!
6:39 for a new PB, and gosh it felt fast. How do people routinely do it in half that time? Thanks to Orpheus for the crossword and thanks to Merlin for the blog and for treating us to the First Noel
8:30. CRUSADER was my COD. I never thought of ABYSS and ravine being synonymous but I’m wiser now.
Very quick for me in around 15 mins.
FOI – ton
LOI – cut
COD – crusader
Thanks all.
11:10
Another easy one. NHO GUNNERA and failed to quite parse CREW. Otherwise no real holdups.
8:02 here. I’d also NHO GUNNERA, so needed to unravel REARRANGEMENT to figure out where the A should go. I’ve since looked it up: that’s quite a plant!
Thanks to Orpheus and Merlin.
Another genuine QC – two in a row! I wasn’t rushing but still had half my Costa left so it must have been a quickie for me. NHO Gunnera and biffed Gorse but a very satisfactory puzzle and an entertaining solve.
FOI 1a Outskirts
LOI 9a Gorse
COD 1d Organist – precise clue with the potential to mislead
At 14 minutes this was one of my fastest ever solves and almost certainly my fastest solve of an Orpheus. So, definitely a QC.
Many clues went in at the first attempt and none caused too much angst, although I did finish with my fingers crossed over CREW. That level of old English grammar is just way beyond me, I’m afraid.
Many thanks to Merlin and Orpheus.
The trouble is that Windsor High School for Girls just wouldn’t fit 😂
Super fast today – maybe a PB, I’m not sure as I don’t keep records. But less than 1K and I could barely write any faster anyway! If it hadn’t been for 1d, I might have actually got less than 5 minutes! No point worrying about what could have been though …
I liked OUTSKIRTS and INSTEAD, and EXPOSED made me giggle – childish, I know. I also liked the EXTRACTOR FAN joke!
GUNNERA – that favourite of bog gardens – is now considered invasive and has been banned from cultivation or sale since a couple of years ago. Rather a shame, as it is quite spectacular.
5:06 FOI Outskirts LOI Organist CsOD Novel and Stationmaster
Many thanks Orpheus for the ego boost and Merlin for the fun (and grammatically interesting) blog