Another quite tricky QC.
I had a fairly empty grid after a first pass of the acrosses (managing 1,4,8,20,22,25), and then was held up at the end with CHAD, GO WALKIES and SWEEPING all taking some extra thought.
I came in at 7:58, which was actually about a minute slower than yesterday’s done just before, but I would guess the quitch is a good bit lower today. Much enjoyed – many thanks to Mara!
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Attempt of father to make cake? (6) |
| PASTRY – PA’S TRY = father’s attempt | |
| 4 | Job in agriculture a long way off, worth abandoning it (6) |
| FARMER – FAR (a long way off) MERIT (worth) “abandons” IT | |
| 8 | Downfall of God, nun I suspect! (7) |
| UNDOING – anagram ( suspect) of GOD NUN I | |
| 10 | Clean teeth — with candy? (5) |
| FLOSS – double definition | |
| 11 | Country cousin initially fooled (4) |
| CHAD – C (Cousin “initially”) HAD (fooled) – “I was royally had”, for example. | |
| 12 | General clearing things up (8) |
| SWEEPING – double definition | |
| 14 | Lost sample CID doctored (9) |
| MISPLACED – anagram (doctored) of SAMPLE CID. Bit of time spent wondering if the definition was going to be LOST or DOCTORED | |
| 18 | For example, Iberian spinach I cooked (8) |
| HISPANIC – anagram (cooked) of SPINACH I | |
| 20 | Rejection of some parliamentary post (4) |
| MAIL – “rejection” = reversed, “some” = partly, in the word parLIAMentary | |
| 22 | Chose part included in Oxford English Dictionary (5) |
| OPTED – PT. (part) in OED | |
| 23 | Crossword writing environs (7) |
| SETTING – double definition | |
| 24 | Invalid reason for woman, 18 (6) |
| SENORA – anagram (invalid) of REASON; 18 referring to 18ac | |
| 25 | Exact measurement ultimately fills ladle (4-2) |
| SPOT-ON – T (measuremenT “ultimately”) fills SPOON (ladle). A very British saying, I’ve started to hear it being used more frequently in US TV shows and the like. Intriguingly, the Collins usage chart shows it being popular from around 1700-1900, before tailing off, whereas the OED’s first citation is from 1920. I think I’d trust the OED on this one. | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Chap upset about a French corporation (6) |
| PAUNCH – anagram (upset) of CHAP about UN (A, in French). CORPORATION for BELLY, TUM, etc crops up every so often. The OED’s first citation is Smollett in 1753, “Sirrah! my corporation is made up of good wholsome English fat.” | |
| 2 | Revolutionary admires weapon (7) |
| SIDEARM – anagram (revolutionary) of ADMIRES. More ofen a reversal indicator, it clearly also works for anagrams. | |
| 3 | Bar likely to break, top sheared off (4) |
| RAIL – FRAIL (likely to break) “top sheared off” | |
| 5 | Sore calf massaged outside (8) |
| ALFRESCO – anagram (massaged) of SORE CALF | |
| 6 | I wander up to see 13 down (5) |
| MAORI – I ROAM (I wander) “up” = reverse | |
| 7 | Leave leader of gang stuck in viscous substance (6) |
| RESIGN – G (“leader” of Gang) stuck in RESIN (viscous substance) | |
| 9 | Get lost, as might canine in the morning? (2,7) |
| GO WALKIES – double-ish definition. I would use this to mean “stolen” rather than lost, but Collins lists both. | |
| 13 | Brit, say, learns ID has been forged (8) |
| ISLANDER – anagram (has been forged) of LEARNS ID | |
| 15 | Mounted attack is beginning to terrify Frank? (7) |
| DIARIST – RAID (attack) “mounted”, IS, T (“beginning” to Terrify). As in Anne Frank. | |
| 16 | Wife rings, uh-oh! (6) |
| WHOOPS – W(ife) HOOPS (rings). Made easier by a similar clue in the 15×15 earlier in the week. | |
| 17 | Mark on large bottle (6) |
| FLAGON – FLAG (mark) ON | |
| 19 | Material placed at home (5) |
| SATIN – SAT (placed) IN (at home) | |
| 21 | Plenty turned up to stay (4) |
| STOP – POTS (plenty) “turned up” | |
This was just a bit harder than usual. However, quite a few of the clues are pretty easy, and I was helped by having seen that clue for Hispanic somewhere else. I was left at the end with go walkies, an expression not found in the US, and I had to draw on my knowledge of UK expressions. On the other hand, spot-on is widely known.
Time: 9:30
13 minutes, my first solve this week within my revised target of 15. According to OED ‘WALKIES’ in this sense dates back to 1929 but it enjoyed a revival in popularity in the 1980s when used as a command by the author, trainer and presenter Dr Barbara Woodhouse in her TV series Training Dogs the Woodhouse Way.
Wasn’t easy but I got there. Liked the clue for DIARIST with only Frank as the definition. Don’t really see cake as the same thing as pastry but the sources seem to think so. GO WALKIES had me scratching my head for a while before I saw it and that allowed me to see SWEEPING. WHOOPS twice in one week as it was in the 15×15 earlier.
Thanks R and setter.
In a professional kitchen the term ‘pastries’ can cover all manner of desserts including cakes.
Thanks.
Really enjoyed this. Left at the end with DIARIST and SENORA, both great clues. Seven on the first pass of acrosses. THought I was going to creep under 10 but I’d failed to spot SPOT. Must have taken me 13 seconds to find the blank square and solve because I ended up all finishing in 10.11. Not all green though, I have MAOmI. There’s 5 keys between the R and the M so it’s one hell of a typo! I must have got confused spelling ‘roam’ backwards and gone back to the start again!
13:09, and that felt good, as this seemed tricky.
LOI DIARIST, but uneasy as didn’t understand the definition, until finally twigging Anne.
I’m in New Zealand at the moment, so MĀORI went in for “islander”. Although since there are two big islands, it does seem an odd definition.
Wow! But surely an ISLANDER wouldn’t feel their definition is undermined by the existence of another island next door? Arguably Britain, too, comprises many islands – not so?
Took me roughly the same time as the 15×15 today, so definitely on the tough side. Not even sure where the hold-ups were now, but there were plenty of them.
Please shoot me if I ever use the expression “GO WALKIES”.
Thanks Mara and Roly.
What about if you don’t use it?
🤣🤣
I seem to remember that an item of your property “went WALKIES” at the George….
DNF …DIARIST 😖
GO WALKING started our problems
Had by CHAD
Tried hard to incorporate Che into SIDEARM
Clever crossword. Not so clever solvers.
Much enjoyed.
Thank you Mara for the workout and Roly for showing us how it should be done.
Great comment!
A steady solve for me hindered by inexplicably typing ‘ungoing’ in at 8a thereby making SIDEARM doubly impossible as it being an anagram didn’t occur to me until I’d spotted my mistake.
Some excellent clues of which CHAD and FLOSS were my favourites.
Finished in 8.07.
Thanks to Rolytoly and Mara
16:11 That pastry was the undoing of my paunch.
TaRAM
Yes, a toughie, and it took me 15:33, one of my slowest completions for a while. Looking back I’m not sure why, as I did eventually parse everything in flight, but at the time PASTRY as a cake was a hold-up at the start, flag for mark in FLAGON ditto, and I usually spell AL FRESCO as two words which also caused delays. LOI was DIARIST, a very clever clue where I certainly needed all the checkers.
Many thanks Roly for the blog.
25:54 – pretty slow, held up by SE corner with DIARIST LOI, not seeing the Anne Frank connection for ages. GO WALKIES and SPOT ON also chewy.
10:35 for the solve. Agreed that felt a bit tougher as shown when the left side of the grid was complete and the rightside empty with the exception of the tail letters of misplaced. Felt a little bit anagram heavy but SPOT-ON, WHOOPS, DIARIST were top notch clues. Thanks to Mara
Didn’t understand the first def of GO-WALKIES so thanks to Rolytoly for giving that context and still not that sure about POTS=plenty.
Those people with the blue Rolls-Royce must have pots of money?
Sorry, Templar – we were at exactly the same second!
Thanks Martinů and Templar – long time since I’ve heard that phrase but yes – I can go with that.
Pots of money?
Five in 20 minutes but then I switched to using a bit of logic in the NW corner. Ended up with 18 solved in 40 minutes. Pleased with that given the other comments.
I didn’t ace it, needed a rubber, thought about jacking it in, no trumpeting and no honours.
Yes, this was tricky (but fair). I was left with one clue to solve well within 15 mins and, given the crossers, I should have found it easier to finish. However, DIARIST was a blind spot despite seeming to be the best fit. It would not have taken me to 16.60 if I had twigged Anne Frank. D’oh….
Some very good clues – thanks, Mara. Now to explore them all again (and my parsing) with Roly’s help.
36mins.
I find Mara’s offerings hard so I am very happy with this time.
I was unable to parse some eg DIARIST.
nho PAUNCH in this context, and I was unaware of rejection being a reverse indicator.
SIDEARM took me ages – a word I associate with the US. Fortunately not something I come across.
My usual moan about linked clues in QCs. Two of these today.
COD GO WALKIES Reminds me of Yes Minister/Prime Minister.
Looks as if the 15 x15 may be worth trying today.
Thanks rolytoly, Mara
I agree the 15*15 is worth a go today. Not tricky Thursday. I did it in about the same time as the QC.
7:28
Reasonably quick until the last three or four where some extra thought was needed for MAIL, DIARIST, GO WALKIES and SWEEPING.
GO WALKIES reminds me of a friend’s dog from years ago, that would get very agitated if teased a few times by one saying “W-w-w-w-w” before exploding with excitement when “Walkies!” was finally announced.
Thanks Roly and Mara
Mustn’t complain ‘cos I (sorry we) did finish it; Mrs M came up with the viscous substance, shamefully rejected at first “sorry, – GN can’t be right”, humble pie duly eaten. Oh, *that* Frank. She wished to be remembered; she certainly got that, even if not much else in her tragically short life.
My unfavourite word in the QC is “bar” – can be so many things. Did everything at the breakfast table except that, for which I had to consult my list of words compiled from previous QCs – and there it is, (LOI) RAIL.
Thanks, Roly; I wondered what “things up” is doing in 12?
Perhaps to help point us towards the answer. If it just said “clearing” then you have to contend with empty places in forests and the “clearing things up around the house”version becomes that bit harder to get to.
I’d never say GO WALKIES for “lost” – “go walkabout” maybe. So that took a while. Also held up on DIARIST, because I was looking for an “honest” sort of Frank! Excellent deception and COD from me.
An enjoyable tussle, completed in 08:35. Many thanks Mara and Roly.
I think it’s lost in the sense that if you can’t find your car keys they might be said to have “gone walkies”
Yes. That’s exactly what I wouldn’t say.
😄
Most people seem to have found this on the tough side, so I have obviously bucked the trend with a comfortable 8.18 finish, not finding it too tricky at all. Perhaps I was helped by starting on the down clues first, as I note someone has commented above that not too many were solved on the first pass of across clues.
I didn’t find this particularly tricky perhaps because the answers to the clues in the first row and first column came easily. I solve from first letter checkers which today worked in my favour. FOI PASTRY and LOI SETTING. COD to DIARIST which I ikea constructed from the wordplay before the PDM. 7:35 Thanks Roly
P.S. Yesterday was a DNF disaster.
The NW ceded only RAIL at first glance, buth the NE yielded ALFRESCO and MAORI and I worked clockwise from there. GO WALKIES led to my UNDOING and PAUNCH. SENORA was LOI. 7:32. Thanks Mara and Roly.
18:31
Pleased to get PAUNCH. I’ve never heard it called a corporation but it came up here a couple of months back and somehow it stuck. Rather like my attempt to fill the grid which got stuck after putting go walking. Then spent several minutes on LOI DIARIST. Oh, that sort of Frank!
I finished in an about average time for me of 17 minutes although it seemed quicker while I was doing it. I had to write out a couple of the anagrams which added a bit to the overall time. All most enjoyable.
FOI – 1ac PASTRY
LOI – 9dn GO WALKIES
COD – 16dn WHOOPS
Thanks to Mara and Rolytoly
Put me down for a GO WALKING, making 23a rather tricky. Finally sorted, albeit in a slower time than I’d like, but at least it was correct after two days of suffering with Fat Finger Error Syndrome.
PASTRY is at least partly responsible for my PAUNCH, but it’s more down to meat and potato pies than anything sweet.
I didn’t find this particularly difficult, and was inside my Snitch average, but I’m clearly in the minority, so my opinion would seem to MISPLACED.
FOI PASTRY
LOI GO WALKIES
COD DIARIST
TIME 4:17
You looked in good shape in the documentary which I have just watched.
(See Useful Links above. )
I was late to yesterday’s QC, which I found very tough.
11 minutes today, a bit below average, with LOI RAIL; it’s often difficult to think of the word e.g. FRAIL before knocking something off it.
I did wonder about the definition of GO WALKIES; the phrase occurred to me quickly- common in the dog world I think.
COD to WHOOPS.
David
My bad week continues, although I did at least finish this one (15:24, the last five of which were spent pondering GO WALKIES (ughh) and SWEEPING).
I wonder whether “go walkies” is a US term? I don’t think I’ve ever heard the phrase over here, though I have heard “walkies” by itself. And what’s the significance of “in the morning”?
Thank you for the blog!
The morning walk is a vital part of most dogs/owners day.
17:50
All parsed with a little confidence recovered after yesterday’s DNF.
I agree with the general consensus on GO WALKIES. Otherwise, thoroughly enjoyable.
FOI: PASTRY
LOI: SETTING
COD: WHOOPS
Thanks to Mara and roly
Like David I was late to yesterday’s QC and also found it tough.
I was grateful for the anagrams today which helped me kick things off fairly smartly but slowed to cross the finishing line in 16:04, a little outside my target time thanks to the SETTING/STOP combo which proved absurdly tricky. No idea why guess my brain went walkies.
Needed help parsing the latter part of FARMER
Liked WHOOPS and DIARIST.
Thanks Roly and Mara
16 mins…
Thought I was going to have another last clue failure with 15dn “Diarist”, but whilst the definition escaped me, the parsing eventually revealed itself. A clever clue, amongst many.
FOI – 1ac “Pastry”
LOI – 15dn “Diarist”
COD – 1dn “Paunch” – although 15dn was a close second.
Thanks as usual!