I finished this one in 18:32, but never felt like I achieved any sort of rhythm. Anagrams are not my strongest clue, and we had eight of them today, so that’s probably why this one didn’t hit the sweet spot for me.
When I submitted, I had my fingers crossed because I wasn’t 100% convinced by my parsing of SNATCH for 23a. So I wasn’t entirely surprised to see that I had a mistake. But I WAS surprised when I found that SNATCH was right, and BEYOND was wrong for 15d. I don’t normally look at the Snitch before publishing the blog, but I just broke my rule and so far 4 of the 12 reference solvers have got errors, so I think I’m not alone.
I thought we were going to have a pangram, but there is no J in the grid.
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 | A calf I massaged in cosmetic treatment (6) |
| FACIAL – (A CALF I)* | |
| 4 | Sporting figure in Lord’s hat? (6) |
| BOWLER – A double definition, the first referring to a cricketer playing at the cricket ground in London called Lord’s. | |
| 8 | Vault I have for record collection (7) |
| ARCHIVE – ARCH (vault, as in a ceiling), I’VE (I have).
Ah, that sort of record collection. Nice one. |
|
| 10 | Same rare quality’s captured (5) |
| EQUAL – Hidden in [captured] rarE QUALity. | |
| 11 | European probe reported? (5) |
| CZECH – sounds like [reported] “check” (probe). | |
| 12 | Praise adult I trained on piano (7) |
| PLAUDIT – P for piano + (ADULT I)*
I didn’t do myself any favours here by pencilling in the P at the wrong end of this word on my first pass. |
|
| 13 | Ultimately hilarious punning in cutting performance? (9) |
| SWORDPLAY – last letter [ultimately] of |
|
| 17 | Test applied, odd parts ignored for instance (7) |
| EXAMPLE – EXAM (test) + the even letters [odd parts ignored] of aPpLiEd. | |
| 19 | Characteristic of revolutionary paintings etc with it (5) |
| TRAIT – ART (paintings etc), reversed [revolutionary] + IT (from the clue). | |
| 20 | Oil for cooking half of very green fruit? (5) |
| OLIVE – (OIL)* + half of VE |
|
| 21 | Versatile kitchen set (7) |
| THICKEN – (KITCHEN)*
Very neat. |
|
| 22 | Sweet piece of music entertaining lower classes, primarily (6) |
| DULCET – DUET (piece of music), containing [entertaining] the first letters [primarily] of L |
|
| 23 | Pilfer handful of notes (6) |
| SNATCH – A double definition, I think. The “handful of notes” definition as in “a snatch of song”. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Intended to work in cafe (6) |
| FIANCE – (IN CAFE)* | |
| 2 | Bird bites as nip infuriated dog (6,7) |
| COCKER SPANIEL – COCKEREL (bird) contains [bites] (AS NIP)* | |
| 3 | Sneeze in a sneeze catcher, did you say? (7) |
| ATISHOO – Sounds like [did you say?] “a tissue” (a sneeze catcher). | |
| 5 | Greek character, old and big (5) |
| OMEGA – O (old), MEGA (big). | |
| 6 | Place for dirty habits? (7,6) |
| LAUNDRY BASKET – A cryptic definition, which works well if you’re in a monastery. | |
| 7 | Tell English story about being led by king (6) |
| RELATE – E for English + TALE all reversed [about], following [being led by] R (rex, king). | |
| 9 | One going in deep next, where swimming appropriate (9) |
| EXPEDIENT – (I DEEP NEXT)* | |
| 14 | Remarkably valiant European (7) |
| LATVIAN – (VALIANT)* | |
| 15 | Further back (6) |
| SECOND – A double definition. The first as in “to promote, to further”, the second as in “to second a motion”.
Huh. I think BEYOND works just as well, and once the phrase “back of beyond” had popped into my mind, nothing was dislodging this answer. |
|
| 16 | Beginning to sense fish smell badly (6) |
| STENCH – First letter of [beginning to] S My Shorter Oxford English Dictionary marks the intransitive verb usage of “stench”, meaning “to stink”, as “rare”. Certainly I’ve never come across the verb form before. And it isn’t in my copy of Chambers, which only has a transitive verb usage, meaning “to cause to stink”. |
|
| 18 | Slice pastry, case unfilled (5) |
| PIECE – PIE (pastry) + the outer letters [unfilled] of C |
|
Approximately 9.47. Not the sort of puzzle I enjoy.
This resident of the SCC was going to say what a lovely QC. Then I discovered BEYOND was wrong 😥. At least I was in good company! But overall a good workout for me, and I was very happy about the word STENCH feeling pleased to know the fish. I didn’t stop to think of the use of STENCH as a verb.
DNF gave up after 20mins
6:21
More than half of today’s contestants (117 out of 263 as I write) in the Crossword Club have stuffed this one up. I’m another BEYOND for the same reasons as others have justified their mistake. I don’t think it’s the worst answer ever, and sadly the puzzle is somewhat spoilt as a consequence – guess this possibility was not picked up in the editing.
Thanks Doofers and Mara
Fortunately beyond didn’t occur. Record did, but it was so obviously wrong that I was able to resist it. I never really saw SECOND/further, but SECOND/back was so strong that in it went.
The number of errors does explain how on earth I am 56 of 265 with a time of 08:14!! COD to SWORDPLAY.
Many thanks Doofers and Mara.
Didn’t enjoy this one. No rhythm, nor much pace either. Another with Beyond and others to query too.
I considered both BEYOND and SECOND and didn’t much like either of them, eventually going with the latter. So all green in 16:29 but not entirely satisfyingly, as a few of the definitions felt rather tenuous – perfectly legitimate, I know, but not to my personal taste.
Thank you for the blog!
Funny – I saw ‘back’ at 15d, biffed SECOND and then had a little think about ‘further’. It seemed a bit loose, but I went with it, for which I’m relieved. STENCH, as discussed above, was also biffed, but without pause for thought!
I liked PLAUDIT, SNATCH, THICKEN and LAUNDRY BASKET. Quiche tonight, so our PIE case will be filled 😉
8:55 FOI Facial LOI Bowler COD Swordplay
Thanks Mara and Doofers
All done and at least partly parsed. Second for back was the closest I got, hoping that you’d be insecond if you were further back. Thanks Invariant for the clearer example.
FOI piece
LOI laundry basket. I had laundry early but needed the checkers for basket
COD Swordplay
thanks Mara and Doofers
46 minute DNF.
Spent half of my time looking at 13 ac and eventually put in SHODDILLY! At least that will give you all a laugh at my ineptitude.
Well over an hour on proper crossword and got about 3/5.
Over 2 hours on cryptics today and absolutely zilch to show for it. Another day when I come away feeling despondent. There is a secret to this that I cannot fathom. Frustrating beyond measure!
Not liking expedient as appropriate either. Expediency is conveniently a means to an end and can often be inappropriate.
Never gave a second thought once I put beyond in. Shame.All good otherwise.
A late in the day and relatively fast for me 9:01. It felt faster. Slight discomfort with second = further but never considered beyond. Likewise with stench as a verb but really didn’t hesitate once I saw tench. LOI SWORDPLAY. Thanks, Doofers and Mara.
No qualms with EXPEDIENT here.