Time: 8 minutes. A very pleasant puzzle from Rongo that I hope you found easy.
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 | Village play (6) |
| HAMLET – Two meanings | |
| 4 | Endlessly trod grassy plain (6) |
| STEPPE – STEPPE{d} (trod) [endlessly] | |
| 8 | Extreme misery of USA, nigh exploding (7) |
| ANGUISH – Anagram [exploding] of USA NIGH | |
| 10 | Take away menus with second item replaced by starter for Indian (5) |
| MINUS – MeNUS with its second item (e) replaced by I (starter for Indian) becomes MINUS | |
| 11 | Some players win, especially a scoundrel (5) |
| SWINE – Hidden in [some] {player}S WIN E{specially} | |
| 12 | Disguised by cloth with irregular patches of colour (7) |
| BLOTCHY – Anagram [disguised] of BY CLOTH | |
| 13 | Popular time traveller beginning to trust self-absorbed person (9) |
| INTROVERT – IN (popular), T (time), ROVER (traveller), T{rust} [beginning to…] | |
| 17 | Combustible rock covering a street beside the sea (7) |
| COASTAL – CO~AL (combustible rock) containing [covering] A + ST (street) | |
| 19 | Lift up one among many (5) |
| HOIST – I (one) contained by [among] HO~ST (many) | |
| 20 | “Magic” being just technology in the end (5) |
| FAIRY – FAIR (just), {technolog}Y [in the end] | |
| 21 | Russian-born author reversed vehicle across trashed book (7) |
| NABOKOV – V~AN (vehicle) [reversed] containing [across] anagram [trashed] of BOOK. ‘Russian-born’ because he became an American citizen in 1922 at the age of 23. Despite his many other achievements he probably remains most widely known as the author of Lolita, a somewhat controversial novel written in 1955. | |
| 22 | Star role in Barbie is below the usual level (6) |
| SUNKEN – SUN (star), KEN (role in Barbie). This is the second time in recent weeks that Ken has come up on my watch. | |
| 23 | Lots joining Anglican church simultaneously (2,4) |
| AT ONCE – A TON (lots), CE (Anglican church) | |
| Down |
|
|---|---|
| 1 | Maybe nag can be heard speaking roughly? (6) |
| HOARSE – Aural wordplay [can be heard]: “horse” [nag, maybe] | |
| 2 | Facing in, aim to develop enlargement (13) |
| MAGNIFICATION – Anagram [develop] of FACING IN AIM TO | |
| 3 | Famous rapper, mostly not without heart (7) |
| EMINENT – EMINE{m} (rapper) [mostly], N{o}T [without heart]. I’ve met him in another puzzle clued as ‘rapper’ very recently so this was unexpectedly easy for me. | |
| 5 | Musical work: NY opera company raised its speed? (5) |
| TEMPO – OP (musical work) + MET (NY opera company) reversed [raised] | |
| 6 | Frantic, disorderly span in cricket (5-8) |
| PANIC-STRICKEN – Anagram [disorderly] of SPAN IN CRICKET | |
| 7 | Not all of scribes say something in writings on a subject (6) |
| ESSAYS – Hidden in [not all of] {scrib}ES SAY S{something} | |
| 9 | Under cooking surface, almost lose ability to see mischievous creature (9) |
| HOBGOBLIN – HOB (cooking surface), GO BLIN{d} (lose ability to see) [almost] | |
| 14 | Show former partner Hello! piece (7) |
| EXHIBIT – EX (former partner), HI (hello), BIT (piece). For those who may not know, Hello! is the name of a magazine. | |
| 15 | Scratches small restraints on wrists (6) |
| SCUFFS – S (small), CUFFS (restraints on wrists) | |
| 16 | Wonder who sings — that is after send-up of animal doctors (6) |
| STEVIE – VETS (animal doctors) reversed [send up], IE (that is) | |
| 18 | As of old, your meal’s half herb (5) |
| THYME – THY (as of old, “your”), ME{al} [’s half] | |
Fair enough QC but stared at the clue for Tempo for some reason. Is it a a &lit?
Yes, an easy puzzle to start the week with no hold-ups and pretty much every answer going in from the definition alone. With TEMPO, I think maybe the definition should include the ‘its’ (referring to the opera) as otherwise it would have to be ‘it’s’ if it was saying ‘it is speed’ for the definition, but…
Thanks Jack and setter.
Agree, speed as the sole def doesn’t make sense
6:23
I biffed the long downs and a couple of others, if I recall.
3:27. Nice to see Stevie Wonder make an appearance.
I agree this was mostly easy, even though I couldn’t see the anagram for blotchy until I had some crossers, and struggled with eminent – how do you spell Eminem? Some were biffed – Stevie, magnification, introvert, hobgoblin. I was left with S _ N _ E _ at the end, and I nearly put sunset, but thought again.
Time: 7:21
So was I – and unfortunately *did* put singer (= star, at least). One word (mine) fits the first part of the clue, one word (yours) fits the second, a third fits both – all three S_N_E_.
A regulation five on the first pass before an awful lot of the downs. Hard work was left in a few places though, especially the NE where MINUS (!), BLOTCHY and finally TEMPO needed careful extraction. FAIRY had me worried for a bit too. Enjoyed SUNKEN and STEVIE. Ended up all green in 9.26.
9:29 nothing crazy
Fairly gentle apart from brief brainfreezes over my last two in, BLOTCHY and SUNKEN.
Finished in 6.54 with COD to HOBGOBLIN.
Thanks to Jack and Rongo
Breezeblocked by SUNKEN, which took nearly a quarter of my 8:47 time. Relieved to find that the rapper in 3D was Eminem; I think he’s the only one I’ve heard of! Otherwise no holdups for a very pleasant and gentle start to the week, though the clue for MINUS must get a prize of sorts for the most wordy and laborious construction. (MINUS was one of the answers in Saturday’s QC too – it must be rare to have the same answer in two consecutive puzzles – and I think rather more elegantly clued there).
Many thanks Jack for the blog.
8:27. Pleasant puzzle which I thought was a bit more gentle than the last couple of QC’s. Even so, I completely missed that BLOTCHY was an anagram and was slow to see AT ONCE, my LOI. I liked SUNKEN and EMINENT.
Interesting that HAMLET makes an appearance elsewhere today (as part of the clue, not the answer) though I probably took as long working out the answer to that clue as I did solving today’s QC!
Thanks to Jack and Rongo
15:53 – quite quick for me, despite a slow start with the across clues. Down solutions came readily however and the crossers helped to sort things out.
Plain sailing on a dreary January train. I did like NABOKOV, whom I Ninja Turtled via The Police (“Don’t stand so close to me”). COD SUNKEN and AT ONCE also very good.
All done in 05:34 for an Excellent Day. Many thanks Rongo and Jack.
Good puzzle with TEMPO for once correctly clued as ‘speed’ – good! But not being familiar with Barbie lost me that one, NHO Ken – who he? – dear oh dear is that GK?!
Learnt last week that EMINEM is a rapper. Thanks, Jack.
8:40
Only hold-up was BLOTCHY, where I wasted time looking for words ending OOR or CLU.
Thanks Jack and Rongo
10 mins…
Thought there was a Shakespeare theme going on at one point, but apart from Hamlet and Fairy it’s probably only in my head. As most people have said, a fairly easy start to the week, the only issue ensuring I spelt Nabokov correctly.
FOI – 1ac “Hamlet”
LOI – 6dn “Panic Stricken”
COD – 16dn “Stevie”
Thanks as usual!
Enjoyable puzzle, finished fairly quickly for me. SUNKEN made me smile. I also liked SCUFFS, STEVIE, NABOKOV and HOBGOBLIN, among many others,
I knew Pampas wasn’t right for 4a then STEPPE sprang to mind, though I usually think of them in the plural. Anyway, that helped with LOsI TEMPO and ESSAYS, where I’d dimly failed to see the hidden despite the ‘Not all’ hint.
Thanks to Jack.
But actually a Hamlet is smaller than a village.
Fast solving time today. Eminem the only rapper I could name, but no idea of any of his work (is rap music?!) There seem to be more and more clues requiring GK these days. Fortunately for me, today’s were no problem. Thanks Rongo and Jack.
I used to be awakened at 6am every morning by my neighbour trying to start his old car, it went U ruh, U ruh, U ruh, U Raaaa (repeat ad nauseam). When Rap music came out it always reminded me of that old car.
10:16, bit slow to start but then got tuned in.
Knew HOBGOBLIN from “he who would valiant be” hymn at school. “No HOBGOBLIN or foul fiend shall daunt his spirit”. They don’t write em like that any more.
LOI EMINENT
I have been fighting since last night with the transfer of data from an old MacBook to a new one and thought my brain might be tired. Quite the reverse, it seems: I managed my first sub-10 in a while (9.10).
Thanks to Rongo for an enjoyable QC and to Jack for the blog. I parsed superficially as I filled in the grid and will now check my efforts carefully against the oracle.
Nice stroll through. Thanks Rongo and jackkt. One short of all the acrosses in one go, I would have spent more time on 12a if I had known I was going to get all the rest. DNK 21a so had to guess where the A went, fortunately I did know that OV is a common Russian name ending so guesssed correctly.
Got a bit tangled up on the LHS with the long anagram and COASTAL (no good reason) but still crept just inside 10 minutes. Nabokov was a ‘just follow the instructions’ clue, fortunately.
I started a bit slow on this one but things got easier as I went along. Alas, a clumsy oversight on my part caused me to submit the completed crossword with a spelling error.
I have never heard of Nabokov but I have certainly heard of his book Lolita. Tony Hancock was keen to get his hands on it in Hancock’s Half Hour, along with that missing page of Lady Don’t Fall Backwards.
First Lap: 7
Answered no aids: 22 (1 misspelling)
Aids: 2
DNF: Nil
Time: 32:06
Thank you for reminding me of that particular Hancock sketch. 😂
Some beautiful wordplay here. Sometimes biffing spoils the fun!
5:07. Good puzzle. I was a bit slow getting going, but once I got to the downs the answers all fell into place. We had NABOKOV in the Quizle one day last week. Thanks Rongo and Jackkt
A gentle start to the week. A careful check of the clue allowed me to correct NABUKOV before I moved on. From HAMLET to AT ONCE in 6:42. Thanks Rongo and Jack.
Pretty straightforward start to the week, taking me 7.57 to solve. Started quickly with HAMLET and STEPPE going straight in, but then failed to sort out the anagram for ANGUISH, eventually needing all the checkers to make it my LOI.
I got a bit bogged down in the NE corner, being unable to think of a NY opera company, but eventually crossed the line in 10:51.
Thank you for the blog!
7:09
Felt a trifle slow this morning, only five in from the first pass of acrosses – had to come back for the second word of 6d, had been thinking PANIC STATIONS (without attending too closely to the anagrist) until AT ONCE went in. LOI SUNKEN took more than a few moments until the answer popped up and slapped me in the face.
Thanks Jack and Rongo
A gentle start to the week. All correct and parsed before I even made the cuppa.
Liked HOBGOBLIN and STEVIE
Thanks Rongo and Jack
My thanks to Rongo and jackkt.
I didn’t breeze through this.
1a Hamlet, I overthought this one and needed lots of crossers, which didn’t jump out at me, for instance 2d Magnification didn’t occur to me quickly either.
Never mind, enjoyed 9d Hob Go Blin(d), COD.
12:51
Breezed through this and was on for a rare sub-10 before spending 3 minutes on LOI SUNKEN. It took an age to separate star and role to give the Sun part.
Was really enjoying this and all completed in about 11 minutes until 22ac when BARBIE froze my brain and so DNF. Very annoyed with myself!
Spot on 30 minutes, so about average for me. I made a fast start with HAMLET and STEPPE going straight in, but I couldn’t maintain that early pace for very long.
Biffing PANIC STations caused me some trouble further down the line, as did the NHO NABOKOV and my LOI, SUNKEN. I know that Barbie’s KEN has come up before, but it’s not the sort of thing that will ever stick around in my brain for more than a nano-second or two.
Many thanks to Jack and Rongo.
Now to dig out my copy of Defector (Steve Hackett’s 1980 solo album) to play The STEPPEs. Always an audience favourite when he performs it live.
Defeated by 22ac as I know absolutely nothing about Barbie. Otherwise all done in around 17 minutes.
FOI – 11ac SWINE
LOI – DNF
COD – I found many of the clues a bit wordy for my taste which is why I’m going for 1ac HAMLET
Thanks to Rongo and Jack
My knowledge of rap music could safely be written on the back of a postage stamp, and I’m thinking of the small, old fashioned ones. Hence 3d was left to the end, by which time Eminent was a write-in. If Blotchy had been equally forthcoming, I could have had a sub-15, but dabbling with clu and oor pushed me out to what was still a very comfortable sub-20.
CoD to my lesser-spotted imp variant at 9d, just ahead of the Ikea Introvert. Invariant
8.50 The NE was slow, particularly MINUS where I spent far too long trying to think of another word for menus. I liked STEVIE. Thanks Jack and Rongo.
A gentle start to the week thankfully. I got very little sleep last night with the winds in Mallorca gusting up to 90kmh rattling the roof tiles. I started with HAMLET and finished with BLOTCHY in 5:53. My favourites clues today were HOBGOBLIN and EXHIBIT. Thanks Jack
Did the tiles all stay on?
13:34
As others, the NW proved the most elusive.
DNK NABOKOV and biffed COASTAL & INTROVERT – thanks Jack.
A very nice start to the week.
FOI: SWINE
LOI: ESSAYS
COD: SUNKEN (for the groan after the PDM)
Thanks to Rongo and Jack
9:13 for about par for me on an enjoyable puzzle. Thanks Rongo and Jack for parsing TEMPO.
I have seen the author recently- maybe yesterdays Quizle?
18 thought with swine it might have been an Oink.
My thoughts too
I found this very gentle today. Paused at the end with LOI SUN-E- before Ken came to mind and SUNKEN appeared. Otherwise all went in fairly swiftly. COD to the excellent FAIRY – what a fantastic surface! Many thanks to Rongo and Jack.
Good puzzle for a cold Monday – nothing obscure, but a bit of work needed to fully parse.
FOI Steppe
LOI Coastal
COD Blotchy
thanks Rongo and Jack
Gentle start to the week. Solved during waiting times during my assessment for cataract op – so a bit bleary too… 1a no problem as we live in a Hamlet (125 souls IF everyone was at home at the same time). Had to move from the USA to Russia+ for 4a. GK seems to be getting more and more contemporary and soon likely to completely overtake me…
FOI 1a Hamlet
LOI 22 Sunken – I’m not really up with the Barbie genre
COD 14d Exhibit – a 3-parter in just 7 letters.
Very nice QC with plenty of good surfaces to enjoy.
COD: STEVIE
Thanks Rongo and Jack.