Time: 8 minutes. This is Tango’s third QC and the first on my watch as blogger. I hope you all found it as straightforward as I did.
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 | Opera about king and soldiers (6) |
| CARMEN – CA (about), R (king), MEN (soldiers) | |
| 8 | In the morning, more talk endlessly lacking ethics (6) |
| AMORAL – AM (in the morning), {m}OR{e} + {t}AL{k} [endlessly] | |
| 9 | Somewhat fear son is turning criminal (8) |
| ARSONIST – Hidden (somewhat) in {fe{AR SON IS T{urning} | |
| 10 | Two seconds to catch black bird (4) |
| IBIS – I~I (two) + S (seconds) containing [to catch] B (black) | |
| 11 | Fish travels over ice (6) |
| SKATES – Two meanings | |
| 13 | Without pressure, difficult situation’s easy to bear (5) |
| LIGHT – {p}LIGHT (difficult situation) [without pressure] | |
| 14 | The first lady happening to lose books (3) |
| EVE – EVE{NT} (happening) [to lose books – New Testament] | |
| 15 | Wanderer hid among set back houses (5) |
| NOMAD – {hi}D AMON{g} contains [houses] the answer reversed [set back] | |
| 17 | Italian PM’s note implicating Musk? (6) |
| MELONI – M~I (note) containing [implicating] ELON (Musk) | |
| 19 | Newspaper covering Los Angeles apartment (4) |
| FLAT – F~T (newspaper – Financial Times) containing [covering] LA (Los Angeles) | |
| 20 | Memorial not cheap to change (8) |
| CENOTAPH – Anagram [to change] of NOT CHEAP | |
| 22 | Mindlessly repeat standard rubbish (6) |
| PARROT – PAR (standard), ROT (rubbish) | |
| 23 | Periodically, drivers sell fuel (6) |
| DIESEL – D{r}I{v}E{r}S {s}E{l}L [periodically] | |
| Down |
|
|---|---|
| 1 | Duo’s quiet song (4) |
| PAIR – P (quiet), AIR (song) | |
| 2 | Bring in the setter’s wine (6) |
| IMPORT – I’M (the setter’s), PORT (wine) | |
| 3 | Impartial international body founded to protect India (8) |
| UNBIASED – UN (international body), B ~ASED (founded) containing [to protect] I (India) | |
| 4 | Fully absorbed style of music over time (4) |
| RAPT – RAP (style of music), T (time) | |
| 5 | River in spring’s sound perhaps of little interest (6) |
| BORING – R (river) contained by [in] BO~ING (spring’s sound perhaps) | |
| 6 | The middle of that poet’s musical (8) |
| HAMILTON – {t}HA{t} [the middle of…], MILTON (poet) | |
| 12 | Tragic figure’s family glare horribly (4,4) |
| KING LEAR – KIN (family), anagram [horribly] of GLARE | |
| 13 | Lead me on, having mixed drink (8) |
| LEMONADE – Anagram [having mixed] of LEAD ME ON | |
| 16 | Grown-up’s confusing tea and rum (6) |
| MATURE – Anagram [confusing] of TEA RUM | |
| 18 | Landlord’s character (6) |
| LETTER – Two meanings | |
| 20 | Attractive copper and French revolutionary (4) |
| CUTE – CU (copper), then ET (‘and’ in French) reversed [revolutionary] | |
| 21 | Ask questions about closure of Yorkshire quarry (4) |
| PREY – PR~Y (ask questions) containing [about] {Yorkshir}E [closure of…] | |
While nearly everything was a write-in, I had one hesitation – is it Meloni, or Melone? For an Italian, Meloni seemed more likely, so I went with that. Nothing else gave any trouble, as I biffed my way through the puzzle.
Time: 4:41
5:06
Straightforward indeed.
3:16. Same hesitation as Vinyl over MELONI, but it seemed more likely than the alternative.
Thanks Tango and Jack.
Same as all the magi above.
5:04
8:19 for a pleasant Monday solve. I biffed NOMAD and only later saw it was a reverse hidden; otherwise no holdups.
Many thanks Jack for the blog.
6.35, no particular problems, thanks to both
Our first ever sub 10 and smashed it at 9.23 including a few seconds to enjoy the use of boing. Off to celebrate 😊
Congratulations! For whatever reason our times generally echo yours – not today!
Well done!!
Excellent work, congratulations!
Well done!
6:52. Much as others have said, though the one to give me pause was the ‘spring’s sound’ in BORING, probably because in cartoons BOING would usually be shown with a few extra N’s and G’s and some exclamation marks – my excuse anyway.
All good fun.
Thanks to Tango and Jack
Agree with all the above. 11.33 which, for me, is splendid. Loved the boing…
Thanks Tango and Jackkt
Boing came to me immediately and made me smile. Lots of other pleasing clues, too, in a genuine QC. I split my previous two Tango times at 15.38 in a relaxed, enjoyable solve (all parsed although a few were bifd first).
Many thanks to Tango for fulfilling the QC brief with wit and style; thanks, also, to Jack for his usual good, focussed, blog.
Nothing too tricky, apart from the parsing of MELONI where I had the note as ‘me’ and wondered how ‘loni’ equated to musk.
Started with AMORAL and finished with UNBIASED in 6.39.
Thanks to Jack and Tango
Oh, dear – we were VERY slow to get ARSONIST/IMPORT. Really enjoyed this. Only appreciated the full glory of BORING post blog. Much to make us hum in this one.
Thank you TANGO and JACKKT
Great stuff, most enjoyable. Especially in the NE were BORING (as everyone seems to agree), IBIS and AMORAL were an excellent combination. But tougher in the NW where CARMEN and IMPORT were the last to go in. Nice to start the week under 10, all green in 8.44.
If I was introducing a beginner to the QC this is the one I would choose as it demonstrates a series of clues all at the right level.
I came in under 20 minutes which is quite pleasing.
Agree about BORING and also liked IBIS and CUTE.
Thanks Tango and Jack.
Steadily solved in 18:45 with IMPORT the LOI. Liked BOING!
As per Plett on MELONI, plus a delay over LOI IBIS where I thought that I was looking for two abbreviations for seconds containing B and had cycled through various combinations of Mo, S etc before moving on. Returning with the two checkers made it easier.
All done in 06:33 for a Good Day. COD BORING, made me chuckle. Many thanks Tango and Jack.
Nice friendly Monday morning puzzle, thanks Tango. And thanks Jack for showing I-I = two and that endlessly (8) can mean both ends. Yes, I too found the NW corner hardest. LOI UNBIASED.
EVE and IBIS went in without parsing, but obvious in retrospect. Otherwise no problems. BORING fun and my COD. Thanks Tango and Jack
8:55
LOI was HAMILTON, a musical I have seen and enjoyed.
BOING will always be associated with Zebedee, and generally followed by “time for bed”.
Thanks Jack and Tango
Yes, good friendly Monday puzzle. I quickly wrote down MELONI without thinking of Elon. Didn’t stop to parse some others either, like NOMAD and LIGHT.
LOI IMPORT.
Liked many inc CARMEN, BORING, LEMONADE and RAPT.
Many thanks, Jack.
5:18
Nice start to the week. Another here that wasn’t 100% about the spelling of MELONI. Stuck momentarily at the end coming up with the correct musical style for 4d.
Thanks Jack and Tango
From CARMEN to PREY in 5:45. No dramas. Thanks Tango and Jack.
I had almost all the left side before the right, and clearly I’m not awake, or clever, enough to have found this the breeze that those above did. No more than average speed and plenty of not seeing the parsing at first.
However, all fair clues, fun once the pocket full of pennies dropped with many a boing.
I usually recognise when Roman numerals are involved but I don’t recollect seeing the II device before, so I’ve learned a new trick.
I have been off grid for a week so it was great to have a gentle QC to start back. I wondered whether a Momo was a black bird but not for long. MELONI went in from the definition and I was slow to parse the answer as per other commenters. My LOI was HAMILTON in a not too jet lagged 6:03 Thanks Jack
I hate it when my comment disappears and the app jumps to the cryptic blog. How does that happen?
16 par for a Monday
Thanks T and J
There is an article about Meloni in today’s Times which I read just before doing this- so no hold-up there.
I did overcomplicate things at 1a trying to fit NORMA reversed into the answer-keep things simple should be the QC rule.
But all done in 12 minutes. LOI CARMEN.
Favourites were CUTE and FLAT.
David
A thoroughly enjoyable Monday romp. Sub-20 solve for me which is pretty quick.
I’d like to give a lot of credit for 15A – hiding the answer within the words “hid amongst” is a surface of the highest order! Excellent work Tango.
Cheers to Tango and Jackkt
Pretty straightforward solve taking just 7.18, but with an error. Many seemed to have hesitated over the spelling of MELONI; I on the other hand didn’t hesitate and misremembered it as MELONE. Annoyingly it looks wrong to me now but I didn’t give it a second thought.
Very enjoyable puzzle which I didn’t do too badly on. I knew I would struggle with 21d. I wrongly saw it as closure of Yorkshire (e) about quarry (pit), so I initially pencilled in PIET. I looked that word up in the dictionary and discovered it was, in fact, a word. PIET = a magpie. That had me even more confused as I couldn’t see how that would be the answer. 🤣 In the end my snail mind saw that I had read the clue incorrectly and eventually saw PREY.
I have never heard of HAMILTON, other than a racing car driver (isn’t he the guy that got a knighthood for driving a car? 🤔) and, of course, Lord Nelson’s other half.
Somebody above said his would be a good puzzle to introduce a beginner to. I wholeheartedly agree.
First Lap: 10
Answered (no help): 21
Answered (with help): 3
Incorrect: Nil
DNF: Nil
Time: 27:02
I suspect his seven F1 world title wins (so far) might have had something to do with it. . .
But a knighthood? Really? For doing his job, a job he is handsomely paid for.
I’m certainly not going to defend the honours system, but nearly all are given to people as a recognition of achievement in their chosen profession, be it sports, acting, civil service, armed forces etc. Relatively few are given for courageous endeavour: Edmund Hillary, Alec Rose and others.
Very straightforward except had Melone as DNK the gentleman. Thanks Tango and jackkt.
She’s no gentleman, she’s a lady!
7:45, and a very nice start to the week. I dithered for a while over IBIS because I wasn’t certain that the wordplay was “legal”, but couldn’t think of anything else that fit.
Thank you for the blog!
I really enjoyed this. Sone witty clues and just the right level of difficulty.
10:13, with top left the LOIs.
NOMAD was very well hidden, and couldn’t figure out which books were missing from EVE.
COD IBIS
9 mins…
Definitely a straight forward start to the week. As someone else noted above, my main hesitation was whether 17ac was “Meloni” or “Melone” – however, I also opted for the former.
FOI – 1dn “Pair”
LOI – 21dn “Prey”
COD – 5dn “Boring”
Thanks as usual!
12:27
All parsed excepting MELONI who fortunately I knew from her being the first Italian female PM.
This felt more difficult than my time suggests – this being at the quicker end of my solving times. I wonder if that was due (as others have commented) on the nice cross-section of cryptic clues?
FOI: AMORAL
LOI: RAPT
COD: BOING
Thanks to Tango and jackkt
Unfortunately I’ve never heard of the Italian PM (my knowledge of current affairs is not what it probably should be) so I was forced to rely on the wordplay. I used ME instead of the alternate spelling of MI thereby earning a dreaded pink square. Apart from that blip I finished in 11:16 which would have been my best time this year. COD goes to BORING for making me smile. Odd that, so far in 2026, I seem to be improving at the 15 x 15 but getting worse at the QC.
11:21
Was looking at a record time with 3 needed as the clock passed 7 1/2 minutes but LETTER and IMPORT held me up for no obvious reason before I truly got stuck on LOI HAMILTON which I failed to parse.
A comfortable sub-20 was unfortunately waylaid by loi Rapt, where I had a complete blank over the style of music, despite a quick alpha-trawl. A more methodical trawl eventually produced Rapt, but a window seat is scant consolation for what was a gentle enough Tango puzzle.
CoD to 10ac, Ibis, for the nicely constructed misdirection. Invariant
Several biffs on my way to a 13 minute solve. I had the same doubts as many others regarding the spelling of the Italian PM but MELONI looked better than the alternative. An enjoyable solve for a Monday morning.
FOI – 8ac AMORAL
LOI – 1ac CARMEN
COD – 5dn BORING
Thanks to Tango and Jack.
Nice opener for the week. No great problems posed and all solved and parsed in reasonable time. Particular favourites were BORING and HAMILTON. The former reminded me that, in days gone by, if one looked up BORING in the Yellow Pages the entry read ‘Boring: see Civil Engineers’. As a member of that profession I took umbrage!
Thanks, Tango and jackkt
36 minute solve, slowly improving at this! Could someone please explain why Landlord is a definition for LETTER? I had Bitter here for a while.
A landlord lets properties and is therefore a letter.
Thank you
Very pleasant sub 10 start to the day. Nothing to add to the comments already made. Thanks both.
4.39
I did know MELONI but still hesitated for a moment. RAPT needed thought at the end. Very nice puzzle.
Thanks Tango and Jackkt
5.02 Only CARMEN and UNBIASED needed second looks, and PREY took 30 seconds at the end. BORING was nice. Thanks Jack and Tango.
My thanks to Tango and jackkt.
I found it straightforward and fun.
3d Unbiased, LOI I think, hardest anyway.
14 mins, but felt more of a struggle, particularly the NW corner. Ended up working up from the bottom half, then right to left. Eventually spotted 9ac after following the rule that arson is the most popular crime in crosswordland.
FOI Pair
LOI Carmen
COD Boring
thanks Tango and Jack
9 clues solved in 20 mins! – keep forgetting to look at clues as a series of hints rather than trying to make sense of the clue as a whole!
I do agree with you about clues being a series of hints. I think some solvers expect certain clues to be synonyms, but I regard them as just that: hints, to point you in roughly the right direction.
I remained very hung up on the surface meaning of the whole clue for a long time. When I started to unconsciously ignore that I got a lot more proficient but I kind of miss that period, since now I have to go back later and savor the good surfaces.
Straightforward with a sub 20 which is pretty good for me,wasn’t sure whether an IBIS was black, parsing appeared to indicate that it was.
The answer is the bird (ibis) and not ‘black bird’. The ‘black’ is just a way of introducing a ‘B’ into the answer. Jack makes it clear in his blog.
Held up at the end by LOI PREY, where inexplicably I had the wrong definition for far too long. Otherwise all fairly straightforward. COD BORING (Zebedee came to mind too simjt). Thanks Jack and Tango.
We were slow to get going on this but eventually came through in a respectable (for us) 10:27. COD BOING! Thanks, Jack and Tango.