Time: 10:51
A very enjoyable and in parts quite difficult puzzle from one of our less common setters. A TfTT site Search shows Kybos has appeared only a couple of times before, in September and November of last year.
I took a while to get into the swing of things, but seeing the ‘excellent’ 1d gave me confidence and I was then able to finish off more quickly. There were several interesting clues containing a word which could have been a definition or an indicator.
In case you haven’t noticed it there is a Nina:
Definitions underlined in bold, deletions and letters in wordplay not appearing in answer indicated by strikethrough.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 7 | Caught some cattle by the sound of it? (5) |
| HEARD – Aural wordplay (‘by the sound of it?’) of HERD (‘some cattle’)
‘Caught’ can also be an aural wordplay indicator, so this is one of the indicator v. definition clues alluded to in the introduction. |
|
| 8 | Self-inflicted harm aroused a long “ow”! (3,4) |
| OWN GOAL – Anagram (‘aroused’) of A LONG OW
For the def figuratively, more than just on the soccer field. |
|
| 10 | Chat about crack and ecstasy cases? (7) |
| BAGGAGE – BAG, a reversal (‘about’) of GAB (‘Chat’) GAG (‘crack’) E (‘ecstasy’)
GAG for ‘crack’ as in a joke, not a drug-related reference to go with ‘ecstasy’ as the surface mislead me into believing. |
|
| 11 | A dimwit returned, showing no interest in others (5) |
| ALOOF – A (‘A’) LOOF, a reversal (‘returned’) of FOOL (‘dimwit’) | |
| 12 | Inside complex is ten centuries’ way of life (9) |
| EXISTENCE – Hidden (‘Inside’) |
|
| 14 | Marine mammal without a tail (3) |
| SEA – SEA Do seals have tails? Something I’ve learnt today is that they do. It is a small structure between the hind flippers which helps with balance and in some way with thermoregulation. The &lit clue that wasn’t. |
|
| 15 | Metal container of potassium, for example (3) |
| KEG – K (‘potassium’) EG (‘for example’) | |
| 16 | Scrambled key North Carolina railway dept decoded (9) |
| ENCRYPTED – E (‘key’) NC (‘North Carolina’) RY (‘railway’) then PTED, an anagram (‘decoded’) of DEPT. On first reading anyway, another “Which is the indicator and which is the def?” clue. | |
| 18 | Feature with content-free news brings the money in (5) |
| EARNS – EAR (‘Feature’) N |
|
| 20 | Traditional treat for dog, running around tree burning waste? (7) |
| BONFIRE – BONE (‘Traditional treat for dog’) containing (‘running around’) FIR (‘tree’) | |
| 22 | Sudden increase hiding company’s cause of suffering (7) |
| SCOURGE – SURGE (‘Sudden increase’) containing (‘hiding’) CO (‘company’) | |
| 23 | Spirit going back, haunting temples initially after dark (5) |
| NIGHT – NIG, a reversal (‘going back’) of GIN (‘spirit’) then (‘after’) H You could also argue for ‘after dark’ being the def here. |
|
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Something excellent in a particular worker’s joints? (3,4,5) |
| THE BEES KNEES – THE BEES (‘particular worker’s’) KNEES (‘joints’)
I’ve probably seen this clued similarly before, but still my COD. Looking this up, the term originated in the 1920’s in the US when there was a fad for coming up with humorous, anatomically related phrases to mean “the best”; the “cat’s whiskers” is another. The whole clue could also refer to the pollen which is carried in sacs on the bees’ hind legs, and it is speculated that the term could be related to this. Of interest the first OED quotation, with “knee” in the singular, is from 1657 and refers to something small or insignificant. |
|
| 2 | Husband, shaking, leaves wife negotiating (8) |
| HAGGLING – H (‘Husband’) |
|
| 3 | Guess assistant has head demoted (4) |
| IDEA – AIDE (‘assistant’) with A (‘head’ = first letter) moved to the end of the word (‘demoted’)
Guess and idea are somewhat similar words and appear as synonyms in eg Chambers Thesaurus but I can’t give a convincing example of substitution of one for the other. Maybe “I would have an idea/guess that the missing fugitive has now fled the country.” |
|
| 4 | One man emptied grave (6) |
| SOLEMN – SOLE (‘One’) M |
|
| 5 | Madly slay nine indiscriminately (8) |
| INSANELY – Anagram (‘indiscriminately’) of SLAY NINE
Another example of “Is it an indicator or the def?”. To me, INSANELY fits better for ‘madly’ than for ‘indiscriminately’. |
|
| 6 | Alone and very depressed, endlessly (4) |
| SOLO – SO (‘very’) LO How sad – an appropriately mournful surface. |
|
| 9 | Crucial feat I handled disastrously (4-3-5) |
| LIFE-AND-DEATH – Anagram (‘disastrously’) of FEAT I HANDLED | |
| 13 | Somehow sure Tyra Banks could get bailed out by this (8) |
| TREASURY – Anagram (‘Somehow’) of SURE TYRA
OK, I’ll put my hand up to admit to being probably the one person on the planet who had never heard of Tyra Banks, an “American (super)model, television personality, producer, writer, actress, and entrepreneur” according to IMDb. She is now living in Sydney where amongst other activities she has started an ice-cream business. She sounds very dynamic and enterprising. |
|
| 14 | Modelling sessions appropriate without female aboard ship (8) |
| SITTINGS – |
|
| 17 | You and I taken by horse and black trap (designed for six-footer) (6) |
| COBWEB – WE (‘You and I’) contained in (‘taken by’) COB (‘horse’) and B (‘black’)
From Collins: cob: 2. a thickset short-legged type of riding and draught horse. |
|
| 19 | Criminal decapitated bird (4) |
| ROOK – |
|
| 21 | Midday, second knight advances — forbidden move! (2-2) |
| NO-NO – NOON (‘Midday’) with the final or second N (‘second knight’) moving closer (by one position) to the start of the word (‘advances’) | |
Yes, I first took the definition for ENCRYPTED to be ‘decoded’, so bunged in DEcrypted but immediately saw that I’d nuked North Carolina in the process and saw the correct definition.
I found this very tricky with some quite convoluted clueing requiring some thought. COBWEB was one such as ‘cob’ came to mind for horse but then wondered about what the ‘black’ was doing. OWN GOAL took ages for some reason. HAGGLING was another that caused problems. Liked TREASURY and BAGGAGE. Missed the Nina, well done and thanks BR and Setter.
Back in the day, daughter I used to watch ‘America’s Next Top Model’, which was hosted by Tyra Banks, with my daughter. (I watched the show with my daughter; she wasn’t co-hosting it.)
Somehow, whichever aspirant might be strutting her stuff, I was always waiting for Ms Banks to appear to give her feedback.
7’33”
13 minutes. Puzzlement over the definition re ENCRYPTED, and COBWEB held me up towards the end. Missed the Nina. Nice puzzle.
Five on the first pass and each clue neeeded careful unravelling. Particularly enjoyed COBWEB but plenty of other great clues too. Ended up with SOLEMN and then BAGGAGE. All green in 10.56.
A good challenge, on the stiffer side if my time of 14:01 is anything to go by, but much enjoyed when I finally completed it. Ear for Feature in EARNS and IDEA as guess both took time to see – neither very close IMO but I’m sure the crossword third umpire will allow them. LOI was BAGGAGE, for which I needed the G from HAGGLING before I saw it, and a very good clue once I’d finally clocked how it worked. Not drugs then after all …
Many thanks BR for the blog.
Tricky in places which made this a satisfying solve. I even spotted the nina so look out for blue moons, eclipses and other strange events today.
Started with HEARD and finished with the COBWEB/BONFIRE combo in 8.08.
Thanks to BR and Kybos.
Missed the Nina (thanks BR) but got 1d straight off the bat and all those helpful first letters set me on my way. I did get a bit stuck on LOI BAGGAGE, but sorted out its bits and pieces in time for 07:20 and a Very Good Day.
Less good was the fact that the Club site is not functioning on my Times app on my iPhone. It does a strange thing where it starts out ok, but then either doesn’t record the letters as I type (so the cursor moves but everything is blank) or the cursor stays in one place so that every letter I type is overwritten by the next letter. So I had to use the “not club” tiles for the various puzzles, where everything worked as normal. This happened yesterday too, but because I couldn’t enter this site (“too many attempts” message) I’d forgotten about it by the time I posted. Is this happening to anyone else?
Lovely puzzle, COD BONFIRE. Many thanks Kybos and Bletchers.
PS Bletchers – I think this is quite a good space in which to find other people who hadn’t heard of Tyra Banks … add me to the list
Yeah – repeated Too many attempts today.
Oh, there was a Nina. I feel no better for finding that out. NHO Tyra Banks. Biffed 3 or 4 answers. Held up at the end because I had “havering” at 2D and couldn’t see BAGGAGE at first. Not my favourite puzzle.
FOI HEARD
LOI HAGGLING
COD COBWEB
TIME 6:44
11:06
LOI was BAGGAGE, unparsed.
COD COBWEB.
Thanks BR and Kybos
10:45
Unable to get any rhythm going with this one – probably unused to Kybos’ style – had to start from the bottom up when none of the first half-dozen acrosses went in. I didn’t spot the nina either. LOI HAGGLING
Thanks BR and Kybos
A good mix of easy, middling and hard. And I got the Nina – entirely by chance. 11:49.
What a slog! IDEA (good clue but not easy to see aide), HAGGLING and BAGGAGE took me ages. I had lost the will to live by the time I finished. To be told there was a b****y Nina just put the tin hat on it. Surprising how my unusually slow solves often coincide with a Nina. They distort the whole puzzle and I wish setters would desist.
Thanks to BR.
Like Mike (above), I was not on Kybos’s wavelength and had to start at the bottom having no early success at the top. I took an age with his last puzzle, too, so maybe we are just incompatible!
Great puzzle with clever Nina which I missed. LOI BAGGAGE – needed the blog to parse. OWN GOAL my COD with THE BEES KNEES a close second. Thanks BR for interesting info about the origin of this phrase.
6.10 so over a minute past my target, suggesting this was a bit tricky. All clues good and fair, however, so many thanks to Kybos.
Well done for spotting the NINA BR, I never notice these things.
11:28. Fab puzzle, much to my taste, only held up HAGGLING.
Obviously not everyone will agree but this is exactly what I need from a quick cryptic, some easy clues scattered across the grid to give a framework on which to build the harder answers.
COD: COBWEB.
Thanks to Kybos and to BR.
Tough. A long 33:11 to finish. Much biffing and the odd alphabet trawl required. NHO Tyra Banks. One of the more difficult puzzles by a distance.
A good test for a QC today, and I’m not overly disappointed in finishing in 12.17. Some good clues including my LOI BAGGAGE. COBWEB was also a good clue although I thought the cryptic might have suggested ‘designed by spider’ rather than ‘designed for spider’.
It’s a trap “designed for six-footer”. Spiders have eight feet … insects have six … the spider has designed the trap for the insect. It’s actually a rather brilliant clue.
Quite right Templar, schoolboy error on my part! I agree, an excellent clue.
Another DNF
Too long spent with HAVERING, a word I knew existed but didn’t know what it meant. Then thus messed up BAGGAGE, where I wanted the “cases” to equal EY, and tried BLARNEY and BALONEY.
Also struggled with IDEA and SOLEMN.
COD COBWEB
Ditto! Though I knew HAVERING was something like wavering and so thought could just about mean negotiating. Unravelled it eventually in the SCC
22:17
Well, I was fine with the easy ones (isn’t that always the case?) but struggled over several of these. Shaking leaves wife? The other way round surely?
Would have avoided the SCC but for the last 2, BONFIRE and COBWEB which I still don’t understand even after reading the blog.
7.01
NHO Tyra Banks but that was a cracking clue.
Overall, liked it, not noticing a particularly different style.
Not bothered by Ninas but don’t mind them either.
Thanks BR/Kybos.
Finished all correct, eventually. Slow on HAGGLING (cnp) and ALOOF. LOI COBWEB (COD). Also liked FOI THE BEES KNEES – though not quite as helpful with crossers as I’d anticipated. CNP various others inc SITTINGS, IDEA, EARNS. NHO Tyra Banks.
Enjoyable puzzle. Thanks vm, BR.
I thought COBWEB was a brilliant clue which at first made no sense and then made compete sense.
My time today was 30 minutes, the same as yesterday despite the Snitch being 107 vs 74.
Thoroughly enjoyed this. Thanks to Kybos and BR. I don’t know how you spot these Ninas.
From HEARD to TREASURY in 9:41. NHO Tyra Banks. Liked COBWEB. LOI was LOI because I had DECRYPTED for 16a until I didn’t. Thanks Kybos and BR.
I’ve never heard of Tyra Banks either: just assumed it was a made up name! I also was misled by DECODED and wrote in DECRYPTED before realising it had to be ENCRYPTED to make TREASURY fit.
Overall an enjoyable brain teaser and I was pleased to finish in 18.19.
57:22, good by my standards!
HAGGLING and BAGGAGE were last, with some confusing stuff even after reviewing the answers above.
COBWEB’s literal definition was very enjoyable!
I have now learned a cob is a breed of horse, I have no idea how “key” can mean E and now I know what a Nina is (not to mention a “Tyra Banks”).
Key here is a musical key. Setters use key for any of the letters A to G , and very occasionally for (eg) E-flat, which one could theoretically work into a clue whose answer was eg Deflate.
What gets you half way from A to B ? (4,4), was in the biggie last week . . .and took some time to see
11.55 I had HAVERING in place of HAGGLING for a good while which made BAGGAGE very slow at the end. COBWEB was nice. Thanks BR and Kybos.
My thanks to Kybos and BletchleyReject.
I found it very challenging for a QC and thought I might have to cheat for a bit.
14a Sea, good clue but I didn’t believe in it until both checks were in.
3d Idea, took an age.
13d Treasury, and I NHO Tyra Banks either, but to be fair the knowledge is irrelevant to solving.
Missed the NINA of course, thanks BR.
Long wait for the Too many accesses to go away.
There were certainly some tricky clues on show today, and the parsing challenges were hardly pushovers. Having said that, it still proved to be a very enjoyable 24mins, albeit with the Baggage/Haggling pair taking an age to appear at the end – shades of Heathrow?
CoD to Cobweb, another one that was slow to appear but a joy to parse. Invariant
A fun QC. Took around 30mins.
As usual I didnt see the hidden word. Also missed the excellent Nina.
Another who has nho Tyea Banks
Thanks BR and Kybos
Slow to solve HAGGLING/BAGGAGE and COBWEB/BONFIRE but much enjoyed tackling a different style of QC. LOI EXISTENCE – failed as ever to spot the hidden. COD COBWEB was a brilliant clue, but I also liked working out BONFIRE. Many thanks kybos and BR (informative blog).
14.32 for us with some chatting. One of our better times. Who knows how brains work – we are usually way slower than so many yet not today.
Found this clever and delightful.
Needed blog for BAGGAGE (missed GAG as joke) and SOLO
MER at IDEA = GUESS.. but I guess we have no idea, do you have any idea, can you take a guess… I’ve got an idea…. ?? Just can’t find a phrase where they can be switched.
Enjoyed many clues – THE BEES KNEES, COBWEB, workings of ENCRYPTED.
Missed the Nina…as we do.
Have just looked up T Banks…
Thank you Kybos and BletchleyReject
. . .my first guess/idea was that it was some sort of meteorite?
and after our many minutes of contemplation…. just like that, within seconds..all ignorance is pushed aside. : ) Thank you Invariant!
Usual pattern, once again. Hard to get started, but smooth progress through the middle phase. Then breezeblocked for 6-7 minutes at the end by SCOURGE. Time = 36 minutes, which is a little longer than average for me.
I found the Nina once alerted by BR, but would never have done so otherwise.
Many thanks to BR and Kybos.
Did start until one PM. Five on the first pass 13 I. total after I twigged K EG which gave the K for knees and the clue to the parsing of 1d.
13:40, successfully mislead by Kybos at various points, but no major hold-ups. A marked improvement upon yesterday’s disaster (by which I mean my dismal attempt at solving, not the puzzle).
Thank you for the blog!
15:16 here, a little above my average, but thoroughly enjoyed this one. COD is a 3-way tie between EXISTENCE, ENCRYPTED and COBWEB. I spotted that there might be something odd about the top row when it read T_ISIS, but didn’t remember to look again once I had finished the grid.
Thanks to Kybos and BR.
13:19. Quite tricky throughout, I thought. For whoever is keeping the lists: (a) I have never heard of Tyra Banks, and (b) I did not spot the Nina. I liked ENCRYPTED and BONFIRE.
I had always believed THE BEES KNEES came from Italian immigrants to the USA who thought their destination was “the business” but with an Italian accent.
Thank you BR for putting me straight and thanks to Kybos for the crossword
11 mins…
Contrary to a few above, I didn’t find this too bad. Perhaps I was just a little lucky on some of the trickier and longer clues which appeared fairly quickly. As usual, didn’t see the Nina.
FOI – 7ac “Heard”
LOI – 4dn “Solemn”
COD – 10ac “Encrypted” – a real lego style clue.
Thanks as usual!
We found this difficult but interesting, needing help to finish.
First pass yielded very few – KEG and NO NO and NIGHT. Thereafter bottom to top, with NW corner proving last to yield. The limbs of that worker bee proved very useful and – slowly – I got there. But dnf because COBWEB defeated me: I biffed CABMEN thinking solely of a ride in a trap for hire, and ignoring the six-footer – silly omission. Kybos new to me and (eventually) I got on his wavelength, or so I thought! Thanks to him and to BR for very helpful blog. (Had I spotted the Nina, I might have changed N of CABMEN to a B, and thought again!
Kybos is female 😉
Good to hear that there is another female setter, but how do you know? I have referred to the Best for Crosswords Who’s Who site before, which has been interesting, but it hasn’t been updated in a long time, so there’s no info about many of our newer setters.
On edit: I just popped into the Cracking the Crossword site for the first time, where they were solving a 15×15 puzzle from a few months ago, and seemed to know it was by JC. Since the biggies are anonymous, I’m intrigued to know how they know who the setters are!
Kybos posted about it on BlueSky 🙂 A few newer QC setters like Loon and Tango – and a couple of newer 15×15 setters – have claimed puzzles of late.
I expect Cracking the Cryptic are granted access to inside information, although this is an educated guess!
Thank you so much for replying – there’s obviously a whole new world of crosswording to explore out there! I’ve not come across BlueSky before but shall investigate 😊 On edit: I’ve just realised what Blue Sky is!
I did wonder whether the CtC team would have insider knowledge – it seems likely.
Just to report, while I can, that the dreaded ‘too many requests’ message has made an unwelcome appearance this afternoon…
Delayed getting here again today by ‘too many requests’ but we rather enjoyed this. whilst, of course, completely oblivious to the Nina. Our time of 13:47 was a bit slower than our average, perhaps in line with the Quitch, but thankfully much better than yesterday’s. COBWEB may have been our last one in but I’d say it was COD, though EXISTENCE was a great hidden. Thanks, BR and Kybos.
I found this very tricky and had to give up for a while and then return to it. Around the 30 minute mark spread over those two sessions. Couldn’t parse BAGGAGE but managed everything else despite the convoluted nature of some of the clues.
FOI – 12ac EXISTENCE
LOI – 14dn SITTINGS
COD – 6dn SOLO
Thanks to Kybos and BR
I hadn’t noticed there was a nina as I don’t look for them – in the days of RR and his many guises, you knew you had to, but I’m not sure whether many of the newer setters regularly include them. For once though, as soon as you mentioned it, I went to have a look – and there it was, nice and clear.
It’s also strange how all the setters have different styles, and yet I couldn’t put my finger on how they do it. But this one definitely had a different feel. I enjoyed it and it took just a bit over my usual sort of time. I’ve heard of Tyra Banks but I’m afraid I don’t know what she looks like – beautiful, I’m sure! I didn’t parse either BAGGAGE or COBWEB fully.
OWN GOAL, LIFE AND DEATH and TREASURY got ticks, but my COD was the hidden at 12a for the cracking surface.
11:24 FOI Heard LOI Cobweb COD Existence
Thanks Kybos and BR
Did finish it before having to catch an early train – but could only biff OWN GOAL (NHO “aroused” as anagram indicator) and BAGGAGE (GAB and GAG too obscure for me), and SOLO (missed the very fair LOw). Thanks for those, BR. LOI SCOURGE which took some sorting out. Loved COD COBWEB.
21 minutes.
Made a mess of 15 x 15.
Should it be Life OR Death?
Would someone explain why a cobweb is signed for six footer? I thought it was a reference to spiders but they have 8 legs!
My thoughts exactly, we must be missing something.
Ignoring the deliberately misleading parentheses, the def is ‘trap designed for six-footer’, meaning a trap designed to catch an insect, which has six legs or feet, which has been spun by an eight-legged spider. Hope that makes things clearer.