Time: 12:44. Joker is a setter I often struggle with, but despite a not exactly speedy time and a few tricky bits, I didn’t find this as tough as some of his in the past.
No real obscurities to deal with and for the most part (not always) the wordplay was clear. Seven anagrams which seemed to put themselves together with little effort from me helped. One difficulty was with the double unchecked letters which always makes things a bit harder.
I’m glad it wasn’t me undergoing the ‘suffering’ but I liked the surface for 4d and I always appreciate a triple definition, today’s at 21a. I probably haven’t explained it very well and would welcome others’ comments about 13d.
Thanks to Joker
Definitions underlined in bold, deletions and letters in wordplay not appearing in answer indicated by strikethrough.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Thus see single performer’s act (4) |
| SOLO – SO (‘Thus’) LO (‘see’)
Paul Simon say. He appears with Art Garfunkel in 6d. |
|
| 3 | Hushed-up bungle came first (7) |
| MUFFLED – MUFF (‘bungle’) LED (‘came first’)
I seem to remember we had MUFF for ‘bungle’ a little while ago. Yes, looking it up it was in QC 3233 by Pedro last month |
|
| 8 | Drug for allergies? He maintains it is working (13) |
| ANTIHISTAMINE – Anagram (‘working’) of HE MAINTAINS IT
The question mark I suppose as antihistamines can also be used for other symptoms or conditions such as nausea and motion sickness. |
|
| 9 | Bird concealed by plumes in retreat (3) |
| EMU – Reverse hidden (‘concealed by… in retreat’) in Of the greater-spotted variety – also appeared yesterday. |
|
| 10 | Dread slithering snake (5) |
| ADDER – Anagram (‘slithering’) of DREAD
Indeed. Nice surface. |
|
| 12 | Fruit and nut alas melting (7) |
| SULTANA – Anagram (‘melting’) of NUTS ALAS | |
| 14 | Trouble with deep tracks blocking attempt reversing (7) |
| DISTURB – RUTS (‘deep tracks’) contained in (‘blocking’) BID (‘attempt’) all reversed (‘reversing’)
Followed by another… |
|
| 16 | Deer beginning to nurse a back leg joint (5) |
| ANKLE – ELK (‘Deer’) N |
|
| 17 | Make a choice spinning top (3) |
| OPT – Anagram (‘spinning’) of TOP | |
| 20 | Chewed once forty nice sweets and chocolates (13) |
| CONFECTIONERY – Anagram (‘Chewed’) of ONCE FORTY NICE | |
| 21 | Did groom put on clothes prepared? (7) |
| DRESSED – Triple definition
DRESS(ED) for ‘(did) groom’ as in to style hair, for ‘prepare(d)’ as in to clean or make food ready. |
|
| 22 | Entertainer’s presence, not good (4) |
| HOST – My last in, needing both the crossing letters. GHOST wasn’t the first word to come to mind for ‘presence’ as something not seen but felt to be present, but it’s used in this way. |
|
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Usual place cabs wait on a road (8) |
| STANDARD – STAND (‘place cab waits’) A (‘a’) RD (‘road’) | |
| 2 | Overdue coffee losing heat ultimately (4) |
| LATE – LAT |
|
| 3 | Regret the absence of American wife (6) |
| MISSUS – MISS (‘regret the absence of’) US (‘American’) | |
| 4 | All of a tingle suffering whipping (12) |
| FLAGELLATION – Anagram (‘suffering’) of ALL OF A TINGLE
Hurts even thinking about it. Hands up if you initially put in FLAGELLATING. |
|
| 5 | Casual help accepted by large sponsor (4-4) |
| LAID-BACK – AID (‘help’) contained in (‘accepted by’) L (‘large’) BACK (‘sponsor’)
BACK for ‘sponsor’ as a verb. |
|
| 6 | Work for a couple that ought to be paid on time (4) |
| DUET – DUE (‘ought to be paid’) T (‘time’)
Progressing on from 1a. Work in this sense being a musical or dramatic work or yes, an act. |
|
| 7 | Hearty quality of free lunches unsettled son (12) |
| CHEERFULNESS – Anagram (‘unsettled’) of FREE LUNCHES plus S (‘son’) | |
| 11 | Aloofness of daughter with current point of view (8) |
| DISTANCE – D (‘daughter’) I (‘current’) STANCE (‘point of view’) | |
| 13 | Name thy stone? There’s nobody limiting one’s answer (8) |
| AMETHYST – Variation on a hidden, with the letters ‘N…one’ (‘there’s nobody’) containing (‘limiting’) in NAME THY STone
Interesting construction with the letters surrounding the hidden – ‘N…one’ – indicated separately by ‘nobody’ and then the definition referring back to the ‘stone?’ as ‘one’s answer’ = one (example / type of a) stone is the answer. |
|
| 15 | Went sailing, royalty regularly occupying berth (6) |
| BOATED – |
|
| 18 | Relief about carbon cutting (4) |
| ACID – AID (‘Relief’) containing (‘about’) C (‘carbon’)
Acid as an adjective. |
|
| 19 | Leading actor is the woman’s love (4) |
| HERO – HER (‘the woman’s) O (‘love’) | |
17 minutes delayed by ANKLE because although it was the first answer I thought of it took me a while to justify it from parsing.
I spotted AMETHYST as hidden and thought no more about it so didn’t appreciate the clue’s additional level of complexity which was rather good.
There seem to be a lot of EMUs around here these days so I asked Gemini for the relevant collective noun. Apparently there are three, of which I like ‘mob’ the best:
A Mob: This is the most common and widely accepted term. Given that emus are large, powerful, and can look a bit intimidating when they’re running toward you, “mob” feels pretty fitting.
A Drumming: This is a more poetic, descriptive term. It refers to the deep, resonant booming or drumming sound emus make using their inflatable neck sacs.
A Flock: The reliable, “safe” choice for any group of birds, though it’s arguably the least exciting option for a bird that can’t even fly.
Yes, a “mob” it is but I like the idea of a “drumming” of emus and my browser AI does give it some support, saying it is a “recognised phrase”, if not a “traditional” collective noun. I couldn’t find it as a collective noun in the dictionaries, including our Macquarie. Emus certainly can move at a great rate of knots if you come across them unexpectedly in the bush and can be a bit intimidating.
A bit intimidating? Like, they can kill you? It’s always been mob for me, same with roos. Did the puzzle in, um, 8.21, delayed by the ‘deer’ ref for ANKLE believing some obscure African animal would be required. Thanks BR and Joker.
Yes, more than a bit intimidating
“Let’s talk about the 1932 Emu War. In which the Commonwealth of Australia fought and lost a short but bloody war against…
…well. Against Emus.”
https://threadreaderapp.com/search?q=https%3A%2F%2Fx.com%2Fgarius%2Fstatus%2F1167470771696033792
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1167471307539341313.html
I made SULTANA hard by spelling FLAGELLATION with two Gs. Had to check the anagrist to convince myself otherwise. Also held up by HOST and DISTANCE at the end. Didn’t know any of the collective nouns for EMU – do like a mob! All green in 15.29.
A well pitched QC with plenty gentler clues to provide checkers for the tougher ones. I’m glad SULTANA was an anagram as I always want to spell it with 3 As and no Us.
Started with SOLO and finished with HOST in 6.55.
Thanks to BR and Joker
11:33 for a par solve, but I did not parse ANKLE, and like Jack, did not spot the multiple cleverness in AMETHYST. To have four 12 or 13 letter anagrams is quite something – not a puzzle for anagramophobes!
Many thanks BR for the blog.
Are they “pink” or “green” these days? Should “pink” and “green” be added to the glossary?
13.14 with brief interruption so definitely one of our better times. Rarely are we sitting amongst the likes of various of the esteemed solvers above.
Needed the blog for DUET and HOST.
Also missed the hidden aspect of AMETHYST
Enjoyed (then again, love anagrams) though found many were biffed first, parsed later.
Thanks to Joker and BR.
18 so par for the course.
Good job the E in CONFECTIONERY was checked because I still can’t spell it. Thank you, HERO.
Nothing to add – also didn’t see the full beauty of AMETHYST once I’d spotted the hidden, also with HOST as LOI. All done in 06:45 for a Very Good Day.
Many thanks Joker and Bletchers.
Neither can I! My LOI was HERO after looking at -A-O for too too long.
14:11 – a quick time for me, helped by getting all the anagrams straightaway and being able to biff a few once some crossers were in. Most time spent on my LOI HOST which I couldn’t parse at all.
Recently started doing QCs. First time completed before 9am. Usually do them on the phone when walking the dog.
Help on terminology please?
Parsed – I know it’s right and why?
Biffed – I don’t know why it’s right?
Mer ??
Nina ?
Thanks for the blogs, really helpful
Parsed – as you say.
Biffed is from an acronym for Bunged In From Definition.
Mer – minor eyebrow raise
Nina – a hidden theme to a puzzle.
There’s a Glossary under Useful Links which will explain these in better detail along with many more
Gosh, quick progress – and while walking the dog! Welcome,NB.
Welcome! As ND said, there’s a Glossary link which is entertaining as well as useful.
Welcome, I’m impressed, hope to see more of you.
7:27 for the solve. Thought the clues for STANDARD and AMETHYST were excellent. My time lost a few seconds here and there with the need to count the vowels in ANTIHISTAMINE and CONFECTIONERY; ANKLE and DISTURB needed a few moments to understand the parsing.
Last time out from Joker, I mentioned how I felt sad that their QCs had lost their simplicity and wit; but today I felt that some of it was back in there – so thank-you for that. And thank-you to BR
A clever but very chewy puzzle for me. Lots to enjoy but I was delayed by a daft typo (DistanFe would you believe) so it was a DNF, really. 19.40.
I bifd ANKLE, AMETHYST (clever), DISTURB and parsed at leisure.
COD ANKLE.
Thanks to both.
So that’s why it was ANKLE – failed to spot ELK in there. Good puzzle, anyway, thanks Joker and BR. LOI ACID, then went back and corrected DeEd to DUET (phew).
No one has yet commented on BOATED which caused me a MER – did you boat yesterday – is that really English? nAMETHYSTone extremely clever.
Yes, I think BOATING = sailing would be more common.
Agreed. I don’t think anyone would ever say ‘I boated round the IoW yesterday.’ Sailed or went by boat.
As there is famously an “Eton Boating Song”, then there has to be verb to boat.
Well! With respect (to a fellow-lover of FXTs), it might refer to the phrase “to go boating”, not so?
Good point about BOATED, I went right by it without noticing.
On second thought, is it English to say “she boated across the lake” or such? Funny how sometimes I don’t know my own language.
Made heavy weather in parts but finished all OK. Biffed the long ones fairly quickly. LOI HOST. CNP ANKLE, or DISTURB.
Liked SOLO, AMETHYST, MISSUS and LAID-BACK, among others.
Thanks vm, Jack.
4:40. Held up by the schoolboy error of spelling
STATIONERYwrong. Doh! The long anagrams fell quite quickly, which helped. Great clue for AMETHYST! Thanks Joker and BR. Update: I did of course mean CONFECTIONERY. I don’t know where that came from!Or maybe Confectionery?!
Wow. You did spell confectionary incorrectly. 🤣
Confectionery/confectionary are alternative spellings, although -ery is preferred, according to AI Overview, which adds that -ary is sometimes used to describe the business as opposed to the items of sweets and chocolates.
11 minutes for me after struggling to parse a few. LOI HOST.
Did not parse e.g. ANKLE and missed the hidden AMETHYST.
High quality puzzle from Joker.
COD to LAID BACK but several contenders.
David
You know you’re in for a testing puzzle when the Joker sets it, and I rarely better my ten minute target time. Today was no exception, finishing in 10.30. I would have finished inside but for my LOI, where HOST took me the best part of a minute to solve.
From SOLO to CHEERFULNESS in 6:58. Biffed AMETHYST without seeing the hidden or the wordplay. It just seemed to jump out at me! Like Templar, I was glad for HERO. Thanks Joker ad BR.
11:30 a good time for me for a Joker. An enjoyable time too. Helped considerably by the four very accessible long anagrams…thank you!
I also didn’t appreciate the cleverness of ‘amethyst’ and cannot spell ‘confectionery’. Happily our esteemed blogger enlightened me as to the former and ‘hero’ helped with the latter.
FOI SOLO
LOI HOST
COD AMETHYST now that its quality has been explained.
Thanks Joker and BR
I should have been quicker but I struggled to parse ANKLE (I got there in the end) and my LOI HERO nearly ended up as halo. AMETHYST cluing was very clever….thank you for explaining it BR. 6:39
5:38
No issues other than momentarily wondering whether CONFECTIONERY needed an A, but HERO came to my rescue. Sometimes I write in the letters and work out the parsing backwards, literally in the case of DISTURB which I couldn’t quite see until I did exactly that. Liked the trick with AMETHYST.
Thanks Bletch and Joker
4.57
Also misspelled CONFECTIONERY but HERO was generous so that was corrected swiftly.
I thought this was another good QC. Perhaps a few too many anagrams for my taste, but that didn’t slow things down.
COD to AMETHYST.
10:44 TYTBAS
A reasonable start in the NW and no problems with the four long anagrams should have seen me home in a respectable time, but my last three: Distance (where I couldn’t get Disdain out of my head, despite it not parsing, nor for that matter even fitting), Acid and loi Host were today’s SCC harbingers. Invariant
13:16
Nice and easy thanks to all those anagrams. I failed to parse AMETHYST though and wouldn’t have got it without the checkers. LOI DISTANCE.
A quick time for me today (14.06) thanks to the anagrams being readily solvable. Biffed some answers but parsed them all afterwards. ANKlE and HOST my last in and held me up most. Very enjoyable.
I found this one to be not too bad for difficulty and was enjoyable. I was not convinced at first with DRESSED as I could not work out why the answer would be that. But in the end I risked it.
First lap: 9
Answered (no help): 21
Answered (help): 3
Time: 32:11
Mostly trouble free today (a welcome relief). Luckily I was wearing my anagram hat and the four long ones went in with barely a pause. The only real hold-ups were DISTURB and HOST. All done in 17 minutes and everything parsed except ANKLE. Couldn’t make head or tail of 13dn but thought of AMETHYST quickly but then saw the hidden and thought no more about it.
FOI – 1ac SOLO
LOI – 22ac HOST
CODs – 3ac MUFFLED and 5dn LAID BACK
Thanks to Joker and BR
13:05
A lovely QC and an absolute pleasure to solve after 3 consecutive DNFs.
I believe my time must reflect the quantity of large (and small) anagrams giving me all those checkers.
All parsed, even ANKLE – albeit towards the end of the solve.
As others, a MER with BOATED but still very enjoyable.
FOI: SOLO
LOI: HOST (Oh! that presence.)
COD: ANKLE
A big thanks to Joker and BR
I only realised that my LOI was a clever triple definition when I got to it the second time, having discarded it first time around because it seemed too obvious.
FOI SOLO
LOI DRESSED
COD ANTIHISTAMINE
TIME 3:15
Was a bit impatient and threw the towel in when I couldn’t see DRESSED or ACID. I was sure that Acid would be starting with an S, and the triple def of DRESSED did not leap out at me.
Although triple defs have more “definitions” their rareness and the way they break the convention of definition + wordplay make them tricky. At least for me.
AMETHYST is a great clue
28 minutes, which is about average for me.
ANTIHISTAMINE and CONFECTIONERY went in fairly quickly, but the other two long anagrams came much later. Having said that, CHEERFULNESS was my fault entirely as I somehow missed the clue on my first, second and third passes.
I enjoyed AMETHYST, but didn’t like BOATED. HOST and ACID were my L2I.
Many thanks to BR and Joker.
All but 3 done in 20mins. Mis-spelt confectionery which would have led to two more solutions. Stymied by another short form word – Good = G! Oh to know when these abbreviations apply!
13.22 DRESSED and ACID took an age. Thanks BR and Joker.
A much better 10:53 for us today, though that was with ANKLE parsed only after the event. Liked HOST (our LOI) but COD to ANTIHISTAMINE. Thanks, BR and Joker.
15 mins…
Like a few above, I struggled to initially parse 16ac “Ankle” – I don’t really think of an Elk as a deer, even if it is. Other hold ups were the SW corner of 18dn “Acid” and 21ac “Dressed”. Other than that, a decent time for a Joker puzzle.
FOI – 1ac “Solo”
LOI – 21ac “Dressed”
COD – 11dn “Distance” – a statement that can often be very true.
Thanks as usual!
9:25, feeling more capable today, in spite of a lot of bungling. CONFECTIONERY should have been a write-in, but I had somehow put CHEERFULNouS without noticing. I saw AMETHYST immediately but spent a silly amount of time parsing the overly helpful ingenious wordplay. Somehow I couldn’t bring FLAGELLATION to mind (witty!) Joker is always amusing, and today I liked HOST best.
Thanks to Joker and Bletch.
13:28 for me. I spelled CONFECTIONERY correctly only because there was no A in the anagram fodder, phew. My COD goes to DUET, which I thought was very neat.
Thanks to Joker and BR.
22:50 a bit slow, and spent nearly five minutes pondering HOST.
CONFECTIONERY was a word I didn’t know how to spell, I now realise.
6:58, which is about half my average – surprised to manage that with a Joker puzzle! I felt on the wavelength through the whole thing, though I only parsed ANKLE after the fact. Very pleasing.
Thank you for the blog!