It may be just me as I’m a bit out of sorts, but I thought this was on the very challenging end of the Quickie spectrum. It took me almost triple my median solving time to complete.
There were no real obscurities to deal with, but some complex construction required for many of the clues. So think of it as a good springboard into attacking the 15×15 and thank Joker for the challenge! After all, what better way is there to start your Saturday?
Or maybe you just breezed through it. Let us know in the comments.
| Across | |
| 1 | What gets water inside? Employ scheme when it’s baking outside (10) |
| HOUSEPLANT – HOT (baking) “outside” [USE (employ) + PLAN (scheme)]
Not the most obvious definition and we’re off to a slow start. |
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| 8 | Complaining after church has gone very cold (6) |
| BITING – BIT A little surprised to see this term for complaining but it’s still in all the dictionaries. Let’s not have too much of it in the comments! |
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| 9 | Weary about doctor’s tone of voice (6) |
| TIMBRE – TIRE (weary) “about” MB (doctor) | |
| 10 | Beast roaming two thirds of Oregon (4) |
| OGRE – [OREG (two-thirds of OREGon)]* | |
| 11 | State of stagnation far from new in barrels of oil? (8) |
| DOLDRUMS – OLD (far from new) in DRUMS (barrels of oil?) | |
| 12 | Who breaks things left behind London museum? (6) |
| VANDAL – L (left) behind V AND A (London museum) | |
| 14 | Car park associated with house? (6) |
| ESTATE – Double definition
A very subtle lift-and-separate required for car park. |
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| 16 | To an extent, any fitter people running round will get trim (8) |
| PRETTIFY – Reverse hidden (to an extent, running around) in anY FITTER People | |
| 18 | Regretting missing university’s call (4) |
| RING – R |
|
| 20 | Time to maintain new pub (6) |
| TAVERN – T (time) + AVER (maintain) + N (new) | |
| 21 | Stones, v. small or v. large possibly (6) |
| GRAVEL – (V LARGE)* | |
| 22 | Inattention getting sack, perhaps, around a pit (10) |
| DREAMINESS – DRESS (sack, perhaps) “around” [A + MINE (pit)] | |
| Down | |
| 2 | Outstanding triumph in uphill advance (5) |
| OWING – WIN (triumph) in OG [GO (advance) reversed (uphill)] | |
| 3 | Allowance of three points (7) |
| STIPEND – S (point) + TIP (point) + END (point)
S being a compass point, in case you missed the, um, point. |
|
| 4 | Animal regularly appearing in spring (3) |
| PIG – Alternate letters of (regularly appearing in) sPrInG | |
| 5 | Army equipment badly blocking main road (9) |
| ARTILLERY – ILL (badly) “blocking” ARTERY (main road) | |
| 6 | Clock, say, showing minutes in order (5) |
| TIMER – M (minutes) in TIER (order) | |
| 7 | Concert pianist extremely quick to respond (6) |
| PROMPT – PROM (concert) + PT [first and last letters (extremely) of PianisT] | |
| 11 | Flirtation from each and every one during ball (9) |
| DALLIANCE – [ALL (each and every) + I (one)] “during” DANCE (ball) | |
| 13 | Something less than a major route overseas (6) |
| ABROAD – A B-ROAD (something less than a major route) | |
| 15 | Country’s queen formerly travelling by rail? (7) |
| TERRAIN – ER (former queen) in TRAIN (travelling by rail) | |
| 17 | Opening of the grass flower (5) |
| TWEED – T (opening of The) + WEED (grass)
You’ll recall from your first class in Cryptics 101 that round these parts, something that flows is a flower. |
|
| 19 | Wants what Able Baker does in radio comms? (5) |
| NEEDS – Homophone (in radio comms) of KNEADS (what an able baker does)
Sorry folks, the capitalisation is just there to trick you. And me. Which it did. |
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| 21 | Brilliant cut and mounted? (3) |
| GEM – &lit*. MEG *&lit (crossword shorthand for “and literally”) describes a clue where the entire clue serves as both the definition and the wordplay. I agonised over how to categorise this one before settling on &lit, mainly because I had “brilliant” on its own as the definition. But you need to take the whole clue as the definition. ie a diamond (possibly a “brilliant”) that has been cut and mounted is an example of a GEM. The DBE (definition by example) is signalled by the question mark. Or you could look at the clue and the G_M, shrug your shoulders and say “must be GEM”. Either method works. |
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I have no access to the Saturday QC, other than to come here and reveal the clues one by one, trying to solve them without checkers but knowing the straight definition and the wordplay.
I got about 6 today, my lowest ever. From that I can conclude that I would have had a 60 minute DNF or something similar had I done this normally.
I did spend 3 hours on the Jumbo and got about 2/3, reinforcing my firm conviction that I do not have the right type of brain for this and never will. Another dismal day in cryptic crossword land. The more time I put in, the more frustrated I become. ☹️
Only 167 in the table and I made it into the top 90 for the first time ever, with a sub-19-minute finish. Thoroughly enjoyed this while solving, even before I discovered my time wasn’t woefully slow, as I had first feared. COD STIPEND for outside-the-box wordplay.
Took a long time with this today, often thinking “ugh, no, I’ll finish this later” and tossing my phone aside, and it wasn’t until my fourth run through of it that I actually got them all in – at 50 mins way over my target but that seems to be the case with most people today. The only ones I couldn’t parse were GEM, NEEDS and STIPEND – for that last, my mind immediately went to PENALTY (correct number of letters, gets you three points in rugby), and so my mind was then stuck thinking in sports mode for it. Today’s lesson for me: the pre-NATO radio alphabet, even if it was just there as a misdirection. Thanks Joker and Galspray!
This was hard…although I did finish! But I had to go away and come back to get the last few. I do the 15×15 almost every day so I was fine with the difficulty level, but I think this is the hardest quickie that I’ve done (I don’t do it every day).
There have been quite a few stinkers recently? We found it impossible but as many here finished it without turning a hair, I think we might be in the wrong place.
12:51
Yes, this did feel like 15×15 clues stuffed into a QC grid, but no less enjoyed for it (by me at least). I struggled to get a foothold anywhere on the grid really, until a few went in at the SE corner. HOUSEPLANT popped up giving some useful first letters, after which it was more a case of filling in the gaps. I too, finished with the tricky BITING, having enjoyed TWEED, PROMPT and STIPEND particularly.
Thanks Galspray and Joker
I found this one really hard to get into. I’ve come back to it several times since starting yesterday and have eventually finished. I’m too stubborn to give up!
Thanks Galspray and Joker
For Cunard – that’s all I’m saying.
So you’re saying you “cruised” through it?
In my dreams… it’s a very old school boy joke….
First woman: My husband is a ship’s captain, he works for Cunard…
Second woman: My husband’s an engineer, he works quite hard too.