A similar solve to the last couple of days.
A fairly breezy 5:33 today, within a half-minute of the previous two days – all done in a row though, which I think might have given me a bit of a warm-up advantage, as this seemed a touch trickier.
Lots to like, including a couple of very neat anagrams – many thanks to Jalna!
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Book everything for party (4) |
| BALL – B(ook) ALL (everything) | |
| 3 | Game ultimately attracts frantic, unruly crowd (8) |
| SCRABBLE – the “ultimate” letters of attractS frantiC, and RABBLE (unruly crowd) | |
| 8 | Late deliveries initially didn’t unsettle employees (7) |
| OVERDUE – OVER (deliveries, in cricket) “initially” Didn’t Unsettle Employees | |
| 10 | Storyline probed by one introductory episode (5) |
| PILOT – PLOT (storyline) probed by I (one). Helped a notch by another PILOT yesterday. | |
| 11 | Horribly westernised, sweet drink (7,4) |
| DESSERT WINE – anagram (horribly) of WESTERNISED. Always love a single word anagram, although there can’t be many original ones left: this has appeared once before in the TftT era (in Jumbo 1699 from 2024 blogged by Jackkt) as “Artificially westernised Muscat”. I prefer today’s formulation. | |
| 13 | Where you may find gaming machines are broken open by scoundrel (6) |
| ARCADE – ARE in plain sight, broken open by CAD (scoundrel). CAD derives from the same idea as CADET and CADDIE, originally being a somewhat lowly helper to a skilled worker: the required shift was from “uneducated, ill-mannered, and unsophisticated” to “dishonest and dishonourable.” | |
| 15 | Greek goddess seen in Sparta, then Alexandria (6) |
| ATHENA – “seen in” spartA THEN Alexandria | |
| 17 | Struggling Romeo finally falling short in casual relationship (11) |
| FLOUNDERING – O (romeO “finally”) UNDER (falling short) in FLING (casual relationship) | |
| 20 | Held cold item in chest? (5) |
| CLUNG – C(old) LUNG (item in chest) | |
| 21 | He’s not troubled by first hint of severe spice level (7) |
| HOTNESS – anagram (troubled) of HES NOT, by S (“first hint” of Severe) | |
| 22 | Singer looking embarrassed prior to intro (8) |
| REDSTART – RED (looking embarrassed) prior to START (intro) | |
| 23 | Dismal Conservative (4) |
| BLUE – double definition, the first as in feeling blue/sad/dismal | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Good place to go for long run in New York? (8) |
| BROADWAY – cryptic definition, as in the “run” of a musical, etc. | |
| 2 | Northern city is ahead of all others, according to reports (5) |
| LEEDS – or LEADS “according to reports” | |
| 4 | Make wooden box to be filled with earth (6) |
| CREATE – CRATE (wooden box) filled with E (Earth, in solar system notation and the like, I imagine) | |
| 5 | Particular guys involved in relevant meeting (11) |
| APPOINTMENT – POINT (particular) MEN (guys) in APT (relevant). A POINT = a particular in, well, a meeting. Very nice! | |
| 6 | Bishop and priest almost always have faith (7) |
| BELIEVE – B(ishop) and our favourite priest ELI, and EVER (always) “almost” | |
| 7 | Has lamb and chicken, say, but without a starter (4) |
| EATS – lamb and chicken are of course MEATS, take the starter and throw it away | |
| 9 | Huge warship a thunder god destroyed (11) |
| DREADNOUGHT – anagram (destroyed) of A THUNDER GOD. Another lovely anagram. The word has appeared various times in the TffT era, including a couple of times as an anagram: (HAD GO + TURNED) and (GOT A HUNDRED) – I much prefer the thunder god idea! | |
| 12 | System periodically supporting big charity (8) |
| LARGESSE – SSE (the “periodic” letters of S y S t E m) supporting/underneath LARGE (big) | |
| 14 | Jointly start company with nothing in kitty (2-5) |
| CO-FOUND – CO(mpany) with O (nothing) in FUND (kitty) | |
| 16 | An endless job for lead TV presenter (6) |
| ANCHOR – AN in plain sight and CHORE (job) going “endless”. Same answer in the same spot as Tuesdays puzzle. | |
| 18 | Perfect current agreement (5) |
| IDEAL – I (symbol for current, in SI notation) DEAL (agreement) | |
| 19 | Sign of damage in rear end of goods vehicle (4) |
| SCAR – S (“rear end” of goodS) CAR (vehicle) | |
18:29 Took ages to Create Blue Redstart.
Ta RAJ
Last days in NZ or perhaps not if Emirates cannot transit Dubai airspace next Tuesday…
7:35
I took a long time to get FLOUNDERING & LOI REDSTART.
9 minutes. I lost time over FLOUNDERING as it required several revisits and all its checkers in place before the answer occurred to me.
10 minutes. Nothing to cause any major headaches but I was generally a bit slow and spent a while trying unsuccessfully to parse APPOINTMENT. Like Jack and Kevin, FLOUNDERING also didn’t come straight away and was an appropriate one for my LOI.
Yes, I agree that DREADNOUGHT was a v. good anagram.
Thanks to Roly and Jalna
If you don’t read the clue you can get the wrong answer! SCRAmBLE. What was I thinking? Pity as I’d had to work hard and had been pleased to finish relatively quickly.
All done in 9:56 but REDSTART put in on trust as I DK the bird, and FLOUNDERING guessed and only parsed later (much later). Also not entirely sure how Particular = Point in APPOINTMENT. LOI was BROADWAY for which I needed all the checkers. Did enjoy the DREADNOUGHT anagram.
Many thanks Roly for the blog.
Right on the wavelength today storming to a very decent and all parsed 12.31. Helped by getting Broadway at first glance with the B in place. Thought we might be going sub 10 for a bit but the bottom proved more chewy. Haven’t seen singer for bird in a while so that had to be dredged up.
Thanks Jalna and Roly
An interrupted solve which delayed me more than once but I managed to complete it before stepping into the SCC. A close thing, though.
Last in were OVERDUE and DESSERT WINE. I was surprised that the last one didn’t click sooner because I had WINE early on. Perhaps I should have had pen and paper on hand.
Thanks both.
Bifd REDSTART but had no idea what that was all about until I read Cedric’s comment. Thank you.
I liked DREADNOUGHT, pity ours are a bit thin on the ground (sic) at the moment. Spent longer than needed on APPOINTMENT which dropped in as the checkers fell into place.
LOI FLOUNDERING which is apposite to my usual cryptic performance.
26 mins for a bit slower than usual.
Thanks Roly and Jalna
Got to ask; why have you put “(sic)”? Isn’t sic used to show you are quoting which includes, for example, an error in grammar made by the person you’re quoting?
PW, I think that’s normally the case, but it seems (according to online sources) that “Some writers place [sic] after their own words to signal a deliberate, ironic choice of language that might otherwise be seen as an error.”
Warships being thin on the ground is ironic, I guess.
I had trouble with definitions today, either looking at the wrong end of the clue or failing to lift and separate. I was convinced the definition at 4d was ‘make wooden’, making what was a relatively simple clue much more tricky and spent time wondering if there was a technical term for sheep giving birth at 7d 🤦♂️.
An enjoyable workout, starting with BALL and finishing with CREATE in 8.36. COD to DREADNOUGHT.
Thanks to Roly and Jalna
From BALL to FLOUNDERING in 8:51. The latter was delayed by a biffed DREADNaUGHT. Thanks Jalna and Roly.
Managed a Jalna! NHO LOI REDSTART but that’s what it appeared to be and behold: the bird exists! Thanks Roly.
18 in 30 minutes
Redstart eluded me despite being aware of the bird. Just didn’t twig singer = song bird.
Scrabble went in after revealing the S and then the three remaining down clues had starting letters.
Thanks J and R
I thought FLOUNDERING was going to be an anagram [struggling] of “Romeo” + “finall” [finally falling short] meaning “in a casual relationship”. So that held me up a bit. And I needed all the checkers to get LOI BROADWAY. But otherwise plain sailing on my way to 05:49 and an Excellent Day.
COD LARGESSE, but lots of good ones. Many thanks Jalna and roly.
I found this to be an enjoyable puzzle which, on the whole, was not too difficult. However, I did struggle to answer 11a, 6a and 3a for a while. Also, I did have BLUE and IDEAL in early on but was not too confident about them until later on.
First Lap: 8
Answered (no help): 23
Answered (with help): 1
DNF: Nil
Time: 33:17
22.15 first time in the corner for a while. Nevertheless, enjoyed this, with every solve a pleasure.
NHO REDSTART. Took too long on CLUNG. Brain refused to move on from Bronx, so BROADWAY remained elusive until late in the piece.
Thank you Jalna and RolyToly
Had spelled it DREADNaUGHT which held me up for a while with LOI FLOUNDERING
Eventually fixed it and spotted straight away then
LOI BROADWAY- didn’t see it was a cryptic clue. Otherwise no problems in this enjoyable QC. Thanks Jalna and Roly
I more or less just wrote in the answers, but was denied a straight top to bottom solve by my LOI. I biffed it, and still couldn’t parse it post submission – thanks Roly.
FOI BALL
LOI FLOUNDERING
COD DREADNOUGHT
TIME 2:58
Didn’t know REDSTART, but bashed it in as it fitted the cryptic and allowed me to get a sub-4 minute time. Fortunately it was right. I enjoyed the puzzle. Can’t seem to get the Quitch? Anyone else finding that Thursday is not showing?
I thought E for earth was an electrical reference: Live Neutral Earth LNE.
And I parsed particular guys as “POINT MEN”.
19 mins…
Took a while to get going, but fairly straightforward in the end. Only issue was the unknown 22ac “Redstart” and initially trying to fit “Brooklyn” into 1dn.
FOI – 7dn “Eats”
LOI – 22ac “Redstart”
COD – 17ac “Floundering”
Thanks as usual!
All pretty rapid – at 9:30. Held up at the end by the Broadway/Overdue crossers and then loi Floundering went in with a biff.
A decent 8.33 to complete this nice puzzle with BROADWAY holding me up at the end. Didn’t get the point of point in APPOINTMENT, still seems very loose to me.
22:04. A pretty steady start with no real hold ups, just taking a while to get the long anagrams.
1ac Ball was a write-in, but the Good in 1d was sufficiently confusing to relegate Broadway to loi. In fact I had trouble with parsing several of Jalna’s clues today – Particular guys becoming Point Men was the best I could manage
Rather embarrassingly, Dessert Wine eluded me for quite a long time – I’m often wondering about a port by that stage – but it did at least help with Broadway and meant there was still a choice of aisle seats.
CoD to Believe for the smooth surface. Invariant
16:53
Quite a hold up on LOI BLUE due to the app finishing LARGESSE with an S. The first S was already there so by typing a double S I ended up with 3 of them. Really must look at what goes in the squares, not what I type.
6:36 so a good day. Definitely some on topic stuff with current discussions around naval capabilities and the demise of the COFOUNDERS of brewdog.
Also had dreadnAught meaning that I didnt get 17a, otherwise fairly stariaghtforward. Thanks Jalna and rolytoly.
18:59
A good workout.
As others NHO REDSTART but with all the checkers it went in with fingers only partially crossed.
APPOINTMENT went in only partially parsed – thanks Roly.
LOI required a coffee break before it revealed itself – pleased I was not alone.
Interesting to read the comments on anagrams throughout the week. It would appear the ‘purist’ cryptic solvers are not overly fond of them, certainly not when there are more than a couple.
As someone still relatively new to art, I generally find these easier than the cryptic clues. So without the checkers they provide, I fear my solve rate would be decimated.
It would be interesting to hear the thoughts of others.
FOI: PILOT
LOI: BROADWAY
COD: DREADNOUGHT (for the checkers!)
Thanks to Jalna and Roly
5:31
Only five in from the first pass of acrosses, but did very well on the downs, leaving the remains to be mopped up. Didn’t fully parse FLOUNDERING in flight, could see FLING and just bunged it in. Feel I’ve heard of REDSTART before, but very much doubt I could pick one out in a line-up. Liked DESSERT WINE.
Thanks Roly and Jalna