A lovely puzzle from a new setter, a bit on the tricky side.
My slowest solve of the week, at 7:22. There was definitely an extra wrinkle or two in some of the parsing, but little obscurity or crosswordese, and a few generous openers and anagrams, so I’d say this was an excellently pitched debut from Apus.
I particularly enjoyed the quality of pretty much all the surfaces (I think my favourite being ONION), and the nifty wordplay (CHAMPION being one of many).
Super stuff – welcome and many thanks to Apus!
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Unspecified number of streaming channels offering basic service (2-6) |
| NO-FRILLS – N (unspecified number in maths), OF, RILLS (streams/streaming channels) | |
| 6 | Kind characters in variety performance (4) |
| TYPE – “characters in” varieTY PErformance | |
| 8 | Starts to prune around large maple tree (4) |
| PALM – “starts” of the next four words | |
| 9 | She scores 100 initially on maths problem (8) |
| COMPOSER – C (100) O M (“initially” On Maths) POSER (problem) | |
| 10 | Republican backing amendment of crucial letter (8) |
| CIRCULAR – R(epublican) backing an anagram (amendment) of CRUCIAL | |
| 12 | One serving Whoppers in bar on the counter (4) |
| LIAR – RAIL = bar, on the counter = reverse. The rule for words like “Whoppers” is that any word can be capitalised in the middle of a clue for misdirection (the Burger King burger in this surface reading), because we should ignore punctuation (or lack thereof), and that is how it would correctly start a sentence; proper nouns, however, cannot be “uncapitalised” for misdirection (but might appear disguised at the start of the clue: “He”, cluing Helium, for example, but masquerading as “he”). | |
| 13 | Search over a long period, with no end in sight (6) |
| FORAGE – FOR AGES (over a long period) “with no end in sight” = dock the tail | |
| 16 | Hamper emptied out except last of fruit (6) |
| IMPEDE – anagram (“out”) of EMPTIED, except the T (“last” of fruiT) | |
| 17 | Identity of small supernatural creature (4) |
| SELF – S(mall) ELF (supernatural creature) | |
| 18 | Support man entertaining millions in boxing ring (8) |
| CHAMPION – CHAP (man) entertaining/absorbing M(illions), IN boxing/absorbing O (ring) | |
| 21 | Attractive model acting with me (8) |
| MAGNETIC – anagram (model) of ACTING with ME | |
| 22 | Beginning of short family film (4) |
| SKIN – S (“beginning” of Short) KIN (family) | |
| 23 | My turn — quiet! (4) |
| GOSH – GO (turn) SH! (quiet!) | |
| 24 | Bring down other end somehow (8) |
| DETHRONE – anagram (somehow) of OTHER END | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 2 | Took a picture capturing wild animal (5) |
| OKAPI – “captured” by toOK A PIcture | |
| 3 | Farm animal close to river in the morning (3) |
| RAM – R (“close”/end to riveR) AM (in the morning) | |
| 4 | Pub suitable for some dieters? (5) |
| LOCAL – and LO-CAL is suitable for some dieters | |
| 5 | Old fighter in Asia struggling to keep spirit up (7) |
| SAMURAI – anagram (struggling) of ASIA to keep RUM (spirit) “up” | |
| 6 | Spooner’s advice for dog is so long (6-3) |
| TOODLE-PIP – and a POODLE TIP = advice for dog | |
| 7 | Spotted horse that is in lead with extraordinary lad (7) |
| PIEBALD – IE (that is) in PB (lead) with an anagram (extraordinary) of LAD | |
| 11 | Two churches hosting a very loud popular singer (9) |
| CHAFFINCH – CH CH (two churches) hosting A, FF (very loud) IN (popular) | |
| 14 | Aromatic herb and orange cooked with duck (7) |
| OREGANO – anagram (cooked) of ORANGE with O (duck) | |
| 15 | Left outside cold and agitated (7) |
| EXCITED – EXITED (left) outside C(old) | |
| 19 | Son wearing fancy coat and tie (5) |
| ASCOT – S(on) wearing an anagram (fancy) of COAT | |
| 20 | Love and marriage not appropriate for everyone? That might cause some tears (5) |
| ONION – O (love) and UNION (marriage) lacking U (appropriate for everyone, in films, etc) | |
| 22 | Knight is returning with king (3) |
| SIR – SI (is “returning”) with R[ex] (king) | |
I hope our new setter doesn’t get much trickier than this going forward. Finished with no real problems but some clues took some fathoming. Bit of a mer at FORAGE with ‘no end in sight’ indicating the ‘T’ but I suppose the ‘S’ could also be at one end too. I really liked CHAMPION and thought that the ‘man entertaining millions in boxing ring’ could also be a ‘champion’ whether intentional or not. Not for the first time attractive threw me for MAGNETIC. Quite liked the clue for COMPOSER. Failed to parse NO-FRILLS, not thinking of ‘rills’ as streaming channels. ONION was very good too and gets my COD.
Thanks Roly and setter.
Yes good point about CHAMPION – it almost looks like it was a rather nice &lit, that was then softened a bit for the QC by adding the extra, more explicit definition of SUPPORT. Still, lovely clue either way.
Nice first entry from the footless one. 7:01
“Apus (The Bird of Paradise) is a small, faint constellation in the southern sky, named from the Greek for “without feet” because its stars form the shape of a bird-of-paradise, a creature once believed to have no feet.”
So he either has no feet, or is a constellation, or is a bird.
Or she, unless you know differently!
I wondered about that, given the clue to 9A starts “She scores”. Of course it should not seem any less natural than “He scores”, and it is more a reflection of the gender-rules of English (which is not as gender-free a language as we might sometimes think) that it does. But it caused me to pause momentarily – in the British English sense of the word, not the American!
It’s also the scientific name for the common (European) swift, which has tiny feet which it scarcely ever uses
FWIW birds of paradise were thought to have no feet simply because the hunters who sold skins to Europeans removed the unexciting parts from the skins just to save the weight – not very much weight.
I thought this was an excellent QC, a great debut from Apus. I couldn’t pass ONION (haven’t heard of U) but it had to be.
9.25, nice puzzle, especially NO FRILLS and ONION. Thank you Roly and welcome Apus, great start.
Clever cluing forced me to think, but I’ve gotten used to that with the way the 15 x 15 puzzles are going. I may have seen some of these clues before, such as the Spoonerism and the lo-cal pub. I almost biffed liar, but paused to parse it, which is not a good idea if you are going for a speed solve.
Time: 9:08
13 minutes. CHAMPION and ONION were my last two in and I failed to parse the latter.
Enjoyed that. More reliance on the definitions than usual and never did parse LIAR but I reckon I made up for that by understanding ONION. Delayed putting in ASCOT but I thought there was a good chance it was a tie! Good one, all green in 10.37.
I really didn’t enjoy this. I found it inelegant. Not especially difficult but altogether too clever for clever’s sake. It felt more like a Guardian crossword than the Times.
A fine debut with some lovely PDMs and that rarest of beasts – a Spoonerism that I saw straight away. However I completely stuffed myself by misspelling OREGANO which made my LOI very tricky until I sorted out the mess.
Started with NO FRILLS and finished with MAGNETIC in 8.33.
Thanks to Rolytoly and Apus
An interesting debut involving some very thoughtful constructions. I enjoyed this despite returning late to NO FRILLS and being held up at the end by CHAMPION and ONION (great clues), ASCOT (it had to be a tie, I suppose, but NHO), and EXCITED. I was wrong-footed by some of the cleverer clues at first but managed to avoid the SCC.
To be honest, I didn’t parse every clue as carefully as I usually do so I will now enjoy Roly’s blog in detail.
Thanks to Apus and Roly.
Lovely debut from Apus with some really nice clues. Felt I was always at the races but was nevertheless slower than usual coming in at 10:13.
Failed to parse ONION so thanks for that Rolt
Welcome Apus!
I found that a curious mix of write ins and toughies. Fortunately there were enough of the former to make the latter gettable and parsable – with the exception of ONION, which I couldn’t unpick. LOI FORAGE, COD CHAMPION.
All done in 07:20 for an Unremarkable Day. Many thanks Apus and Roly.
23:15 – slightly above average, but surprisingly fast for me for a difficult puzzle needing some biffing and the occasional alphabet trawl to struggle home. Thanks for the blog for explaining the unparsed! ( NHO ASCOT as a tie.)
First of all, a warm welcome to Apus.
I found this quite hard going, and gave up trying to parse No Frills and Onion at the 25min mark. Having said that, it was an enjoyable journey with more than just the occasional pdm, and a few smiles along the way, so I will certainly keep an eye out for the next one from Apus.
CoD to Champion for the ‘in boxing ring’ misdirection, just ahead of Gosh in a strong field. Invariant
Welcome Apus. Started with NO FRILLS and was held up by my last 3 in, FORAGE, EXCITED and CHAMPION. Scraped in under my target at 9:47. Thanks Apus and Roly.
A delightful crossword. Thank you Apus
I noticed straight away that here was a puzzle from a setter whose style I did not recognise, with a mix of relatively straightforward clues and really quite intricate ones. The bottom half was rather more difficult than the top: I had to take on trust that an ASCOT is a tie (NHO), and ONION was a biff then parse (very slowly), but I battled away to a 15:09 finish, all parsed, and looking back I am both satisfied with that and enjoyed nearly all of it.
I was quite surprised having completed the puzzle in what was for me a slow time that the SNITCH was only just over 100. The pattern of the SNITCH is interesting: fast solvers largely took this in their stride with very little if any extra time required, whereas a rather larger number of the slower solvers (like me …) needed quite a bit of more time. A not uncommon pattern I find.
Anyway, a welcome to Apus and thanks to Roly for the blog.
Seemed impenetrable at first, but gradually everything surprisingly went in even if a few parsing queries remained. POI MAGNETIC quickly unlocked LOI EXCITED. So conclusion: a good and interesting puzzle! Thanks for your good blog, Roly, but so sorry, may we have the explanation of why “on the counter” = reverse? And 19d: what or where is the tie? I think something needs to be underlined to show the definition?
I got the meaning of it straight away but also struggled to think of any real-world examples. Counter-attack or counter-proposal perhaps?
counter means to come back:
“I called him fat and he countered that I was ugly”
Golly, I suppose you’re right – I see what you mean, thanks. Must try and remember that one.
A better example of counter meaning a reversal is Counter (Anti) – Clockwise.🙂
An ascot is a type of cravat (tie) typically seen at things like weddings where the guests are wearing morning dress.
Well well, so it is. Thank you. Not too obscure for a QC, then? Must be my limited GK.
We had the Ascot tie only the other day unended to give SCO. But that might have been the 15*15.
Ah, it was SCORE DRAW, where WARDER (reversed) was part of the clue and the tie was unended or similar.
Yes the vocabulary for the 15×15 is of course broader. It certainly wasn’t in a QC – unless perhaps a weekend one which we paper readers don’t see?
10 minutes. I very much enjoyed this debut puzzle from Apus. More than enough to get my teeth into with ONION, CHAMPION and CHAFFINCH all requiring some thought to solve and parse. A good couple of opening clues too with Apus ? being a NO-FRILLS TYPE.
Thanks to Apus and roly
Superb crossword, Apus, thank you, and welcome! 9 mins for me, fwiw.
Great stuff, and thanks rolytoly for the blog, too.
5:27 which is about average for me. Great debut from Apus and perfectly pitched. COD to Champion. Thank-you Apus and Rolytoly.
Right on the money as far as I’m concerned for a QC, and an excellent debut from Apus. As others have said, a mixture of straightforward clues and some tougher ones to stretch you a bit, and this makes for a good puzzle. Some of the answers came readily enough, but the parsing of one or two took me just beyond my target time finishing in 10.12.
10.52 That was quite tough but all fair. I hesitated over “with no end in sight”. It was an unusually wordy way of dropping a letter. LOI EXCITED. Thanks rolytoly and Apus.
I found this tricky. I carelessly managed to put COMPOSES not COMPOSER as I did not think enough about the clue.
Some answers I biffed and hoped for the best.
I particularly liked CHAFFINCH. I was also pleased with the Spooner clue – as I actually solved that properly for once.
Thanks Apus and Rolytoly
12 minutes for me, about my average.
LOI EXCITED after FORAGE.
I enjoyed this puzzle overall. Welcome to a new setter. But not everything was parsed whilst solving and there were some tricky bits.
I was most held up trying to think of female composers. I wonder why SHE was included at 9a?
COD to TOODLE PIP and tick for OREGANO.
David
Why not? There are plenty of times ‘he’ is used in crosswords where it could be someone using any pronoun, so good to have a feminine one for a change 🙂
Well, you could start with Fanny Mendelssohn, Barbara Strozzi, Dame Ethel Smythe, Clara Schumann or Hildegard, who were well known even in the not-too-distant past when female composers were completely sidelined. But leaving aside the present Master of the King’s Music, Errolyn Wallen, who is female, there are literally hundreds of present-day and historical women composers who are now being rediscovered and found to be – shock, horror – as good as their male counterparts. I commend a week or two of listening to Radio 3 to discover some of them.
Forgive a nit-picker. Not Smythe but Smyth! Indeed, she used to insist on being pronounced the same as Smith; “there’s no E at the end”, was her defence. We always *say* “Smythe” nowadays but I’ve failed to find this earlier than about 1970. Beecham, for example, always said just “Ethel” in recorded interviews; tantalisingly, we don’t know how he said Smyth. Any offers?
Given that he (Beecham) seemed to know her quite well, even visiting her when she was imprisoned for her suffragette activities, and that she strongly preferred ‘smith’, I don’t think there can be much doubt surely ?
Well now that is a nice point. Everything you say is of course right … and yet the different pronunciations spoken by different people can be notoriously capricious and unpredictable. I’d like to think “there can’t be much doubt”, yet to hear him actually say it would be a most comforting corroboration of the story.
Good stuff from the debutant. Most invigorating!
CIRCULAR was my LOI and I enjoyed CHAFFINCH and TOODLE PIP, though there were several good clues.
Took a minute or so over my current average, which puts me over par. Mainly because I had to find a pen to solve CIRCULAR as I couldn’t unpick the anagram in my head.
Welcome Apus indeed! 11.17 for me, a puzzle I found maintained a steady level of challenge throughout rather than whizzing through parts and getting stuck on others. COD for me was TOODLE-PIP.
I found this one to be very tricky. I’m not sure if it was me but some of the clues I found to be rather clunky.
However, I managed to finish it with no errors, but with a generous helping of time.
First Lap: 9
Unaided: 22
Aided: 4
DNF: Nil
Time: 41:50
I found this very challenging and after achieving very little on the across clues thought I would have to give up. Eventually begun to get more on Apus’ wavelength and finally finished in 28.33.
18 mins…
Didn’t realise it was a new setter (there have been quite a few recently), but it was enjoyable nonetheless. Definitely some good clues, including 12ac “Liar”, 9ac “Composer” and 20dn “Onion”, with 18ac “Champion” being my COD.
FOI – 3dn “Ram”
LOI – 9ac “Composer”
COD – 18ac “Champion”
Thanks as usual!