Time: 7 minutes. This was my best QC solving time since my last blog a fortnight ago. How did you do?
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 |
|
|---|---|
| 7 | Is monkey allowed to eat this? (6) |
| CANAPE – CAN APE (is monkey allowed to?) | |
| 8 | A vote, initially on name for space programme (6) |
| APOLLO – A, POLL, O{n} [initially] | |
| 9 | Confirm live data needs correcting (8) |
| VALIDATE – Anagram [needs correcting] LIVE DATA | |
| 10 | Support nobleman when caught (4) |
| PIER – Aural wordplay [when caught]: “peer” (nobleman) | |
| 11 | Abandon the Sahara? (6) |
| DESERT – Two definitions, the second by example | |
| 13 | Quietly recommend expulsion (5) |
| PURGE – P (quietly), URGE (recommend) | |
| 14 | Aussie native runs round and round (3) |
| ROO – R (runs), O (round), O (round) | |
| 15 | Almost losing head at dawn? (5) |
| EARLY – {n}EARLY (almost) [losing head] | |
| 17 | Careless about failure (6) |
| REMISS – RE (about), MISS (failure) | |
| 19 | Couple I encountered on way back (4) |
| ITEM – I, then MET (encountered) reversed [on way back] | |
| 20 | Tory I rip off is most pressing concern (8) |
| PRIORITY – Anagram [off] of TORY I RIP | |
| 22 | Resident gullible about start of trouble (6) |
| NATIVE – NA~IVE (gullible) containing [about] T{rouble} [start of…] | |
| 23 | Shopkeeper selling food increasingly vulgar, I hear (6) |
| GROCER – Aural wordplay [I hear]: “grosser” (increasingly vulgar) | |
| Down |
|
|---|---|
| 1 | Two personal assistants for old man (4) |
| PAPA – PA + PA (two personal assistants) | |
| 2 | US state harbouring resistance fighter (6) |
| MARINE – MA~INE ( US state) containing [harbouring] R (resistance) | |
| 3 | Depart NY in turmoil, splitting hairs (8) |
| PEDANTRY – Anagram [in turmoil] of DEPART NY | |
| 4 | Contact attendant at court (4) |
| PAGE – Two meanings | |
| 5 | Policeman, one managing to acquire power (6) |
| COPPER – COP~ER (one managing) containing [to acquire] P (power) | |
| 6 | No crossword setter could be so ignorant (8) |
| CLUELESS – A cryptic hint precedes the literal. | |
| 12 | Ultimate net value to be adjusted (8) |
| EVENTUAL – Anagram [to be adjusted] of NET VALUE | |
| 13 | What you might have at breakfast time in prison? (8) |
| PORRIDGE – Two meanings | |
| 16 | Last of weather holding me up (6) |
| REMAIN – R~AIN (weather) containing [holding] ME reversed [up] | |
| 18 | Former Lothario hoards red wine (6) |
| MERLOT – Hidden in [hoards] {for}MER LOT{hario} | |
| 20 | Periodically protect man of letters (4) |
| POET – P{r}O{t}E{c}T [periodically] | |
| 21 | Outsiders expelled from Athens at that time (4) |
| THEN – {A}THEN{s} [outsiders expelled] | |
14:05 So pleased to get a quick time ( for me) that decided to register on this site and post. Can see not as quick as some real rockets on here but slowly improving.
FOI Apollo
LOI Page
COD Clueless 😳
Thanks all
Welcome as a contributor, Enigma!
Welcome Enigma, and congratulations on your quick time. Hope to hear more from you 😊
Welcome, congratulations on the time!
Back from tennis, settled down and 10 minutes later all parsed and entered. Great to have a fluent and (relatively) easy workout. CANAPE produced a smile (simian niceties notwithstanding) and EARLY from nearly ditto. Great way to start the week – thanks Pipsqueak and Jack
9.35 Stuck on MARINE and CANAPE at the end. Thanks Jack and Pipsqueak.
This resident of the SCC was very happy today 😊. All solved and parsed in about 30 minutes. Thanks Pipsqueak even if some were a bit cunning (Like “Last of weather” not meaning “r”!)
A fast 7:06 but it should have been even faster as we were slow to see the hidden MERLOT and CLUELESS for too long with our LOI. Thanks, all.
I was quick Jack but I am still outside the top one hundred on the leaderboard! Crossed the line with CANAPE in 5:01. Thanks
16 mins ish. Slowed down by Remain and Merlot. Don’t see the hidden until Jacks blog. Thanks Jack and Pipequeak
All done and dusted in well below my average time, which I was more than happy with. But my goodness, there are some cracking times today, which I was nowhere near – well done everyone! Like many others, CANAPE was my downfall – they often are – and probably added another minute on to the total. I very much liked the anagrams for VALIDATE and EVENTUAL.
7:25 FOI Desert LOI Canape COD Clueless
Thanks Pipsqueak and Jack
Well done, Penny! 7:25 was almost exactly the time I spent alphabet trawling _A_A_E.
You were en route to a cracking time 😊 Not so long before we’ll be enjoying some canapés!
11 minutes. Can’t say I enjoyed it and a poor time compared to the times of so many others. Don’t think I’ll be in PB territory any time soon.
Well done to everyone with a good time today. 👏
About 3/4 of 15 x 15. Out of my league quite frankly.
Most definitely a proper QC. All done and dusted inside a speedy (for me) eight minutes…apart from PAGE which took very nearly a further five. So annoying!