Solving Time: 10 minutes. A very enjoyable puzzle. The arrival of so many new setters recently has led to innovation and a degree of inconsistency that I’ve found a little unsettling at times, so it was a pleasure to be in the hands of one of the tried and trusted ‘old school’ today.
As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones]. “Aural wordplay” is in quotation marks. I now use a tilde sign ~ to indicate an insertion point in containment clues. I usually omit all reference to juxtaposition indicators unless there is a specific point that requires clarification.
 Across |
|
|---|---|
| 1 | Generous to burn one item of furniture (10) |
| CHARITABLE – CHAR (burn), I (one), TABLE (item of furniture) | |
| 8 | Shrub originally planted next to metal bolt (6) |
| PRIVET – P{lanted} [originally], RIVET (metal bolt) | |
| 9 | Competitor seen on board carrying right club? (6) |
| DRIVER – D~IVER (competitor seen on board) containing [carrying] R (right) | |
| 10 | Miserly average (4) |
| MEAN – Two meanings | |
| 11 | Main toilet, on reflection, is ancient (8) |
| PRIMEVAL – PRIME (main), then LAV (toilet) reversed [on reflection] | |
| 12 | Writer initially organises references skilfully (6) |
| ORWELL – O{rganises} + R{eferences} [initially], WELL (skilfully) | |
| 14 | Sample fresh treats (6) |
| TASTER – Anagram [fresh] of TREATS | |
| 16 | Famous physicist from nineties confused (8) |
| EINSTEIN – Anagram [confused] of NINETIES | |
| 18 | Scheme relying upon search engine primarily (4) |
| RUSE – R{elying} + U{pon} + S{earch} + E{ngine} [primarily] | |
| 20 | Clandestine faction adopts religious education (6) |
| SECRET – SEC~T (faction) contains [adopts] RE (religious education) | |
| 21 | So last year hot lad worked out? (3,3) |
| OLD HAT – Anagram [worked out] of HOT LAD | |
| 22 | Marginal queue at customs? (10) |
| BORDERLINE – BORDER LINE. A cryptic hint supports the literal | |
| Down |
|
|---|---|
| 2 | Mob with gardening tool circling road (5) |
| HORDE – HO~E (gardening tool) containing [circling] RD (road) | |
| 3 | Income from extremely remote location (7) |
| REVENUE – R{emot}E [extremely], VENUE (location) | |
| 4 | Young child to blow horn half-heartedly? (3) |
| TOT – TO{o}T (blow horn) [half-heartedly] | |
| 5 | Poor place for making money playing sport (9) |
| BADMINTON – BAD (poor), MINT (place for making money), ON (playing) | |
| 6 | Best piece of Chinese literature (5) |
| ELITE – Hidden in [piece of] {Chines}E LITE{rature} | |
| 7 | Threaten chaps with excellent service? (6) |
| MENACE – MEN (chaps), ACE (excellent service) | |
| 11 | Dancing to Presley’s material (9) |
| POLYESTER – Anagram [dancing] of TO PRESLEY | |
| 13 | Felt bad about keeping home that’s wrecked (6) |
| RUINED – RU~ED (felt bad about) containing [keeping] IN (home) | |
| 15 | Dessert rustled strangely (7) |
| STRUDEL – Anagram [strangely] of RUSTLED | |
| 17 | Vigorously wash undergrowth (5) |
| SCRUB – Two meanings | |
| 19 | Generate small chess piece (5) |
| SPAWN – S (small), PAWN (chess piece) | |
| 21 | Poem stevedore partially recalled (3) |
| ODE – Hidden and reversed [partially recalled] in {stev}EDO{re} | |
Plain sailing except for reading the clue for 9a in the space for 8a so couldn’t figure out ?r?v?t for ‘club’. Careful to ensure I spelt STRUDEL correctly. DRIVER had me thinking the ‘competitor on board’ was on a vessel of some sort until the penny dropped, and thought it clever. Liked SPAWN for generate. Fun crossword.
Thanks Jack and setter.
11:18, steady solve with ORWELL LOI.
COD BORDERLINE, very nice.
5:37
I also was misled by ‘on board’; I thought of DRIVER (club) before I got the wordplay. Straightforward otherwise.
Most of the clues were fairly easy, and I made good progress before getting a bit stuck. It would be helpful if I could read my own handwriting. At the end, I just biffed likely words without bothering with the cryptics – primeval, badminton, driver. There, that looks about right.
Time: 7:55
10:15 here, no major holdups. COD to DRIVER.
Thanks to Trelawney and Jackkt.
A very kind start to the week. 16 min for a speedy solve for me without much to challenge once the grid started to fill up. After a moment contemplating chess board the club and DRIVER popped out. Nice.
Thanks Trelawney and Jackkt
A very nice puzzle, with several clues holding me up before the Aha! moment. Was sure the “competitor on board” was a chesspiece until the penny dropped, and only then with the D checker saw BADMINTON. More than enough to engage the grey cells on a very grey Monday morning, and took me 9:18 to complete.
Many thanks Jack for the blog; I echo your opening paragraph completely.
Another voice of contentment – an enjoyable and unhindered solve today. Like others, I enjoyed competitor on board when it finally clicked. For what it’s worth my time was 17:46, which I am delighted with.
Many thanks to Jack and Trelawney today, and to the bloggers and contributors of many years. You have helped this former lurker learn more about crosswords.
Welcome. It’s great to hear from you and congrats on your time.
Welcome Jimmy! That’s a jolly good time, it took me years to get under 20 minutes.
Many thanks to you both.
Templar, to reassure you, I have been at this for many years, and am half way through the tenth book, so I have been lurking around for a long time. I generally read the blogs from a couple of years ago, and have only just decided to try the online puzzles. It is refreshing to be in step with you.
Welcome! Let’s hear more from you.
A top puzzle at the gentler end of the spectrum.
Started with CHARITABLE and finished with the POLYESTER/PRIMEVAL combo in 4.41. CsOD to BADMINTON and BORDERLINE.
Thanks to Jack and Trelawney
Nice from Trelawney small pause for thought towards the end for LOI ORWELL but a gentle solve overall in 6:39. Thanks Jack for parsing of the very nice DRIVER.
9:30 a Three Digit Time a Rare Sub Ten and a Quicker Than Blogger(s)… must be something in the water.
Took a moment over the (somewhat anachronistic) Primeval Polyester intersection and the half-parsed Tot.
Ta JAT
primeval polyester, a terrifying thought
Have you seen One million years BC😉
Didn’t see the movie but who could forget that poster!
13 in 20, 18 in 30. I should probably carry on for the hour. I missed primeval and polyester.
Thanks J and T
18:00 without too many hold ups. Just the right level for a QC.
Excellent puzzle. Stared at LOI REV-N-E, couldn’t see it, but Mrs M got it straight off and gave me one of those as-if-I-were-an-alien looks. So that’s what the competitor seen on board was, thank you, Jack. New DRIVER on Friday, couldn’t find our house, so no newspaper.
I don’t deliver newspapers 😄
Very wise!
11:49
Lovely puzzle, lots of great clues.
All parsed though, as others, took a while to see DRIVER. LOI added a couple of mins, but another nice clue.
FOI: MEAN
LOI: ORWELL
COB: BORDERLINE (clever!)
Thanks to jackkt and Trelawney
8 minutes. Another v. enjoyable and not too difficult puzzle from the ever reliable Trelawney though the first three across clues took a bit of working out. Favourite bits were the ‘competitor seen on board’ part of the wordplay for DRIVER and the ‘So last year’ def for OLD HAT.
Thanks to Trelawney and Jack
9:31
It took me a while to see what the “on board” meant in DIVER.
LOI was RUINED.
Thanks Jack and Trelawney
I didn’t get any in the NW at first (I can’t see why). I toured the grid with more success and completed, all parsed, in 11.38 which is slower than most of my recent Trelawney times (though faster than my recent times more generally).
A decent start to the week. Some good clues to go back over with jackkt’s blog.
I enjoyed the anagrams with POLYESTER my choice. I was very slow to see ‘diver’ but the club was clear. I liked BORDERLINE, PRIMEVAL, and my LOI CHARITABLE.
Thanks to Trelawney who always seems to strike a good balance for a QC.
From —–TABLE to BORDERLINE in 5:19. My favourite clue was OLD HAT. Thanks Jack
4:00. Slim pickings at first with across clues, but then everything went in quickly. I liked the competitor on (the diving) board best. LOI ORWELL. Thanks Trelawney and Jackkt.
Tackled in a grump after a cold night with a failed central heating system and having to wait in for the engineer after self-help via ChatGPT didn’t work. Huh.
Mostly quick but hung up on CHARITABLE, PRIMEVAL (after trying loo, can, gents, WC, bog, head …) and LOI ORWELL, where I thought “writer” was going to indicate “me” or “I”. COD DRIVER, very good!
Great fun for 07:05 and a Decent Day. Many thanks Jack and the Squire.
18 minute completion (didn’t even have the usual 3 clues keeping me stuck for an hour).
Really enjoyed this one.
Cheers to the blogger and setter!
Hep
10:17
A nice start to the week. Just taken over 10 mins by the unparsed DRIVER and LOI ORWELL.
I was never quite on the wavelength today. It was a bitty solve.
Held up by PRIMEVAL and PRIVET and TOT (the parsing).
LOI was REVENUE which perhaps shows I was feeling a bit sleepy.
The clock said 13 minutes, so around my average.
As people have said, a very good QC.
David
11:02. Great surface for the POLYESTER anagram. COD to BORDERLINE. Many thanks Trelawney and jackkt
A gentle offering from Trelawney that didn’t give me any problems. I particularly liked the ‘on board’ direction, or perhaps misdirection for DRIVER, and the simple yet elegant clue for BORDERLINE. A time of 6.12 gives a good springboard (see what I did there) for the week.
An enjoyable puzzle and a great one for new solvers to get their teeth into.
7:22 but I cant spell CHARaTABLE or PRIViT
Six and a half minutes, but I can’t spell STRUDLL. BORDERLINE, my LOI, nearly put me right! Thanks Trelawney and Jack.
5:51
Gentle Trelawney is the perfect start to ease us into the week. Only hold up was my LOI ORWELL where the penny took more than a few seconds to drop.
Thanks Jack and Trelawney
Not at the races today – I think I was over-complicating everything. I originally had ‘medieval’ at 11ac but it didn’t hold me up too much as I saw BADMINTON immediately when I tackled the downs. I took 21 minutes before eventually finishing and couldn’t parse DRIVER.
FOI – 10ac MEAN
LOI – 11dn POLYESTER
COD – 22ac BORDERLINE
Thanks to Trelawney and Jack.
I felt that this was a tad trickier than Trelawney’s usual offerings, but none the worse for that. As others have said it meets the benchmark for a perfect QC.
After two passes I was slightly alarmed to have one totally empty light – so that has to be COD.
FOI CHARITABLE
LOI RUINED
COD ORWELL
TIME 4:06
Great puzzle, satisfying finish although ORWELL held me up. Liked BORDERLINE
I found this quite tricky for a Trelawney, clocking in at 14:16. POLYESTER baffled me for far longer than it should have, but the penny finally dropped and let me finish with ORWELL.
Thank you for the blog!
A reasonably gentle return after a few days away, with loi Primeval putting up just enough of a rearguard to nudge me into the SCC. Like others, Driver had me touring the warren of chess and ship terminology before the pdm. CoD though to Borderline for the smile. Invariant
PS I gather last Wednesday’s Loon was a bit of a challenge, so since it’s raining steadily, I’ve printed it off to have a go.
On edit: About 40mins, but fully parsed otherwise it would have been Hooker
The 15 x 15 today might be one to have a crack for those (like me) who sometimes struggle.
👍
Thanks for the heads up. Called time with only one and a half clues missing – a really good achievement for me.
Though as ulaca summed up – it truly was a biff fest!
(Edited – removed the one and a half clue answers as I realised they might be a spoiler.)
Well done 👏👏👏👏
All reasonably straight forward but spent ages looking at _ _S_E_ thinking it must be an anagram of sample meaning treats, and eventually had to reveal 11d. Thanks to Trelwney and jackkt.
Great puzzle. Thanks, Jack.
7:21 for the solve. One of my slowest Trelawney’s for the year! Assuming there are no more to come then all puzzles under 10mins and all but one under 8mins! Average 6:37. Oh and one DNF in 4:38.
Thanks to Trelawney and Jackkt
Are there any other scientists in crossword land?
Many, many I’m sure. Probably I don’t count as “computer science” isn’t really science.
I read this as a reference to 16ac ?
I have degree in Chemistry & Physics and 2 years as an inductrial chemist, but I dont think there are many of us. Quite a few IT people though which is what I became after Industrial chemist.
Sports and Exercise scientist here
Are these puzzles for beginners? How on Earth they are finished in minutes is beyond me. It took me 30 mins to solve 13 clues and then I gave up! What is the benefit to learners in reading how quickly they are solved? Isn’t it just a measure of how long you have been solving crosswords!
. . . if only 🙄
I won’t argue that reading about the quick times of others helps learners learn. But it can be fun and interesting.
But to your question, of course we all get faster as we learn, but length of experience isn’t everything (thus Invariant’s comment). Motor skills, attitude, motivation, breadth of general knowledge, recall, spelling, many things feed into one’s speed. Some of us don’t care much about that, some of us care enough to make it part of the game, some of us (I suppose) must be highly motivated for whatever reasons.
And to speak to your experience, I expect we’ve all been there, and we have subsequently solved (or will do) puzzles in times that looked impossible to us at the beginning.
What a good comment. I am sure no one, on first attempt, achieved much. With time, we all improve from our starting position. So, yes, faster times are indicative of experience – as to the rest, I could not agree more with the above. Some keep records of all efforts, some go further and note times as per setter. Many do not. Himself and I swim daily if possible – enjoyable exercise. We aim to achieve a certain distance. Other regulars jump in solely for the pleasure of spending time in the sea, swimming wherever and for however long as the whim takes them. Some might ask how far we’re planning to swim, or how far we’ve swum. I have the same curious/passing interest about the progress and times of others – and enjoy sharing their pleasures and pains even if our goals are quite different.
Interesting comments! I’ve been compiling crosswords for decades for an in-house magazine and had one published in Magpie. However even though I have learnt how to construct cryptic clues, I have never progressed beyond beginner’s level in solving other people’s puzzles! I wonder what the timings are of the compilers in these puzzles?
Now that is verrrrrry interesting!
You cannot seriously believe, Mr K Byron, that our compilers can’t also solve crossword puzzles? Of course they can. When we were all discussing recently the level of difficulty of crosswords – the QC in particular – the Crossword Editor (who is also one of the compilers here) said this:
“It is also worth noting that the setters and I are all expert solvers. Quick Cryptics do not take me long to solve and there is little variation in the time it takes me to solve them. So it isn’t as easy as people might think to judge the difficulty of a Quick Cryptic”
They are expert solvers. That’s what he said and it is what you would expect
No benefit whatsoever. In my mind the times are for the personal benefit of the individuals concerned. I record mine, well, just because really. For me the challenge is firstly to solve the puzzle correctly, secondly to enjoy the puzzle and maintaining my times is part of that and helps me judge how tricky the puzzle is, thirdly I enjoy comparing my times with others who mostly finish with similar times.
Don’t let the times recorded put you off, use the excellent blogs to learn the tricks of solving, ask if something really doesn’t make sense and most of all just enjoy the process.
I think the blog is for everyone, not just for beginners. I don’t ever post times as it’s not an important element for me but I know it is very much part of the fun for others. Many people commenting, myself included, have been practising for years. It doesn’t happen overnight (well, not in my experience), so keep at it and you’ll get there.
As you are now
So once were we
As we are now
So you will be.
Just keep going! I used to start the QC when I got on the train in and be delighted on the very rare occasions when I’d finished it before arrival (45 minutes). I got so frustrated when I couldn’t understand the answers (printed the next day) for the ones I hadn’t got that I searched online and found this site. Like you I could hardly believe the speeds being recorded … but now, after years of patient instruction from the gurus on here, I finish below 10 minutes most days.
Just keep at it, and it will come.
I’ve done some of your crossword – mostly the bottom right corner – but happy to abandon it. Not my cup of tea
I have done practically all of the QCs since 1. I am still in the bottom third on speed.
Have you researched the history of this site? Or thought about why it is called Times for The Times? Have a look through some of the links and it will help explain.
Recording times isn’t a requirement any longer. But if, during your reading through the links, you came across the Quick Snitch then that is my reason for clearing stating my time. Because the Quitch which attempts to measure the difficulty of a puzzle uses my time from the blogs.
Having arrived here four years ago, I somehow got into keeping a record of my times for the QC – I don’t do that for any other newpaper’s puzzles.
I will say it has been a great encouragement for me to see how my times have evolved. Something like an average of 48mins in 2022, 25 in 2023, 18 in 2024 and now somewhere around 13-15mins.
My improvement is down to having done a lot of cryptic crosswords in the meantime- I recently estimated it is approaching 2000 hours. Of course it’s probably more informative to know how many clues one has looked at because in the early days I was taking 2+hrs to go through a QC whereas I will do a week’s worth inside that time now so be looking at six times as many clues.
8.53.
5.31 I spent 30 seconds on TASTER at the end but still very quick for me. I liked POLYESTER. Thanks Jack and Trelawney.
06:26. enjoyed this one but too much biffing to really love it.
16 min and fully parsed. Thanks all
11:05, a few challenges but a steady solve with some amusing moments and some how-can-I-be-so-slow moments, notably with CHARITABLE. I grumped a bit about “seen” in the clue for DRIVER, which kept me from seeing it and then I still couldn’t parse it for a while. (It’s always someone else’s fault haha.) When will I learn “lav” for toilet??? ON for “playing” in BADMINTON was new to me, very good. Perhaps I just never noticed before?
Word aversion of the day: TASTER for “taste”. COD OLD HAT! Runner-up POLYESTER.
Thanks Trelawney and jackkt.
Nice puzzle for the busy Christmas period.
What a lovely puzzle! Despite the distractions of dog brandishing his squeaky toy and Mr K encouraging said dog I was happy to finish in 13.22.
Liked TOT, BORDERLINE and POLYESTER.
Thanks Trelawney and Jack
Another slow to see how DRIVER worked, otherwise a gentle start to the week for me. I rather liked BORDERLINE. Many thanks Jack and T.
8:01 so certainly on the gentler end for us.