Regular blog readers may recall that I’m partial to an anagram or two, which probably helped me scoot through this one at a decent clip. It also helped that there was nothing very obscure. The two artists, the writer, the tree, the politician and the city would be familiar to most of us. And I don’t know if RED-TOP is commonly used in the UK, but it certainly is in Crossword-land.
ENUNCIATE might have been tough if you were slow to spot the anagrist. And FORELIMB and FORECASTER were both difficult to parse, if not to solve. But hopefully you had enough checkers in place by then to lighten the load a little.
So let’s get on with it. Looking forward to the comments to see how everyone went. But first, a shout-out to Mara. I’m glad I was blogging today as many of the surface readings were very good, something that can go unnoticed in the quest for a speedy solve. Nice one Mara.
(In the clues, definitions are underlined and anagram indicators are in bold italics. In the explanations (ABC)* indicates an anagram of abc. Deletions and other devices are indicated accordingly, I hope).
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Principal thread, same for weaving (10) |
| HEADMASTER – (THREAD SAME)* | |
| 7 | I’m wearing bright check (5) |
| LIMIT – IM (I’m) “wearing” LIT (bright) | |
| 8 | Right journalist to pick, initially, for tabloid (3-3) |
| RED-TOP – R (right) + ED (journalist) + TO + P (Pick, initially) | |
| 10 | Better headgear (3) |
| CAP – Double definition
A verb and a noun. |
|
| 12 | Character with remarkable powers treated pure horse (9) |
| SUPERHERO – (PURE HORSE)* | |
| 13 | A little nymph one day called (6) |
| PHONED – Hidden in (a little) nymPH ONE Day | |
| 14 | Writer cries uncontrollably about book (6) |
| SCRIBE – (CRIES)* “about” B (book) | |
| 17 | State where niece and aunt resettled (9) |
| ENUNCIATE – (NIECE + AUNT)* | |
| 19 | Snake in need of company, female supporter? (3) |
| BRA – COBRA (snake) lacking (in need of) CO (company) | |
| 20 | Fitness of Conservative prime minister probed by liberals, primarily (6) |
| HEALTH – HEATH (Conservative prime minister) “probed by” L (Liberals, primarily) | |
| 21 | Belief in figure, extra-terrestrial (5) |
| TENET – TEN (figure) + ET (extra-terrestrial) | |
| 23 | Happy boy, one seen on pirate ship (5,5) |
| JOLLY ROGER – JOLLY (happy) + ROGER (boy) | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | The police destroyed right aircraft (10) |
| HELICOPTER – (THE POLICE)* + R (right)
Since realising that this word derives from the Greek for spiral and wing, I find myself pronouncing it HEH-lih-koh-tɛər. I’m assured that this is every bit as annoying as you’d imagine it to be. |
|
| 2 | Objective in the morning to have one tucked in (3) |
| AIM – I (one) “tucked in” to AM (in the morning) | |
| 3 | Steam is swirling for French artist (7) |
| MATISSE – (STEAM IS)* | |
| 4 | Remove English band (6) |
| STRIPE – STRIP (remove) + E (English) | |
| 5 | More mature tree (5) |
| ELDER – Double definition | |
| 6 | Member backing middle-distance runner from Britain (8) |
| FORELIMB – FORELIM {MILER (middle-distance runner) + OF (from)] reversed (backing)} + B (Britain)
I spent a bit of time trying to squeeze old Seb Coe into this one. |
|
| 9 | English author holding card up, one predicting the future (10) |
| FORECASTER – FORSTER (English author) “holding” ECA [ACE (card) reversed (up)]
Definitely a case of solve first, parse later. |
|
| 11 | Impresario procured cast (8) |
| PRODUCER – (PROCURED)* | |
| 15 | Joy envelops street in English city (7) |
| CHESTER – CHEER (joy) “envelops” ST (street) | |
| 16 | Artist playing Harlow (6) |
| WARHOL – (HARLOW)* | |
| 18 | Little room on top of organ for stringed instrument (5) |
| CELLO – CELL (little room) on O (“top” of Organ) | |
| 22 | What takes part in gymkhana, generally? (3) |
| NAG – Hidden in (takes part in) gymkhaNA Generally
And an &lit to round off proceedings. |
|
So many write-ins today in this but came unstuck with FORELIMB, thanks for the parsing G, saw ‘miler’ but didn’t see ‘of/from’. ENUNCIATE was another where I was looking for a country/state, always thought the word meant something more like ‘pronounce clearly’. WARHOL took a while to come, along with CELLO, where I was thinking that the ‘little room’ was ‘loo’ before seeing the light. Everything else pretty straightforward.
Thanks G and setter.
I didn’t worry about the parsing of forelimb, and only glanced at the parsing of forecaster. All the answers went in pretty quickly, although the only real chestnut was cello.
Time: 5:30
7 minutes. A much better week for me than of late. Apart from 17 minutes on Tuesday I solved the remaining 6 QCs within my original target of 10 minutes.
Another straightforward QC to round off the week – especially satisfying as a relative newcomer. Interestingly, the SNITCH wants to suggest that Monday was the easiest of the lot; I wonder if this has ever happened before…
Hardest?
Yes hardest, oops! Clearly force of habit at work.
9:03 for a sprightly solve, but FORECASTER only parsed after biffing and FORELIMB not parsed at all. A very nice puzzle to end the week.
Many thanks Galspray for the blog.
16 something for us – slow NW – held up by BRA (tried long and hard to parse BOA) and FORELIMB. NHO RED-TOP
Thanks Mara – and Galspray, esp for explaining FORECASTER.
Happy weekend,all.
A bit too anagram heavy for my liking but plenty of decent surfaces.
Started with LIMIT and finished with PHONED in 6.37.
Thanks to Galspray and Mara
3:21 Nothing to scare the horses here apart from parsing FORELIMB. COD to the &lit NAG. Thank-you Mara and Galspray. Quite a gentle week as a whole if my slowest of 4:40 and total of 25:04 for the 6 QCs can be a judge, and the Qsnitch agrees, averaging 81 for the week.
A nice way to end the week. I started quickly and forgot the clock, enjoying the parsing (but LOI FORELIMB was bifd) and avoiding fat finger errors. All good and a relaxed 12.20.
COD ENUNCIATE.
Thanks to Mara and Galspray.
A decent and enjoyable 15.11, slowed down by LOI forelimb and taking time to enjoy some great clues along the way, with Mara’s characteristic misdirections. COD to phoned, lovely!
Thanks Galspray, like others, needed you for the parsing of forelimb
Annoyingly defeated by FORELIMB – got too hung up on it actually involving a named runner ( silly me – this setter seems much fairer than that !). The parse seems tough for a QC – maybe this week has spoiled me somewhat. Otherwise no problems. Thanks to both.
CNP LOI FORELIMB. Not keen on that one, but enjoyed the rest of this approachable puzzle. Anagrams galore.
Smiled when I finally saw the hidden PHONED. JOLLY ROGER jolly easy.
Thanks vm, Galspray.
13 minutes. Looks like I found this harder than most other commenters. The clues mentioned by galspray in the second paragraph of his introductory comments were my problem, especially the ENUNCIATE anagram. I liked NAG but that got me to thinking if gymkhanas are a thing anymore; I suppose they must be to be mentioned in a Times crossword 😊.
Thanks to Mara and galspray
4.57
As Plett says maybe a smidgeon anagram-heavy but they are good ones (and an enjoyable puzzle overall). FORELIMB the only pause but I did see the parsing before bunging it in.
I now worry that every time I see a helicopter I’m going to be thinking of our esteemed Western Australian correspondent. Even more worried I’ll start pronouncing it the same way 😂.
21 in 30 minutes to round off the week. Missed forelimb, health, enunciate. I spotted the L first pass and had the three crossers so I should have got health. I made the connection member to limb as well. I fell into the searching for a US state trap.
Thanks M & G
I found this easier than I initially expected it to be. However, I did answer two clues incorrectly and needed help on two clues.
First Lap: 15
Answered (no help): 22
Answered (with help): 2
Incorrect: 2 (4d, 19a)
Time: 22:46
I zoomed through this until I had 3 left. CHESTER and ENUNCIATE held me up slightly, but my nemesis came with PHONED where I totally missed the hidden and finally got it from definition and crossers before noticing. I think that single clue added 4 minutes to my time! Eeejit! 9:03. Thanks Mara and Galspray.
FORELIMB and FORECASTER a bit tricky and unoaresed, but otherwise a pretty steady solve in a reasonable 17:48.
12:46
Put TOP for better headgear which delayed HELICOPTER. Otherwise a fairly brisk solve. LOI HEALTH.
A good start, with 1ac/d and some useful offspring going in with little delay. Steady progress thereafter, apart from the same troublesome few as mentioned by others.
Forecaster was indeed a biff then parse, as was loi Forelimb. The ‘of B’ part for from Britain seemed distinctly iffy, but I couldn’t think of anything else before stopping to preserve a sub-20.
CoD to the very well disguised Phoned – I was at the ‘How on earth are we expected to know every b****y nymph’ stage before the penny finally dropped. Invariant
21:13 for a disappointed solve. Ten mins spent trying to unravel the nho of FORELIMB. Saw limb quickly and assumed that was the member in question. It couldn’t possibly be FORE again with FORECASTER next to. I don’t think this clue should have been in the QC when you look at the parsing. Also a tussle with BRA where I was undecided which end of the clue I should be looking at as couldn’t get past the snake being a “boa” but no complaints about that one. HEALTH my other straggler – 70s prime ministers are the edge of my formative years so I have no idea whether he was Conservative or what
Thanks to Galspray and Mara
These days Heath would probably be classed as a ‘pinko leftie’. . .
My father was a great Heath fan, in the face of my brother, who was, in 1975, a Thatcher man.
Then, my dad got posted to Toronto in 1981 by his company, INCO. By the time he returned to England in 1987, he was further right than my brother.
Wet, no longer!
8:47 despite scratching my head with a forelimb over a forelimb. I could see miler reversed but hadn’t a scooby how the rest worked so thanks G for the explanation. Biffed forecaster and was very quick to see the anagrams today.
Ta GAM
As often happens in the comments here, I must thank you for the warning: I never heard of “hadn’t a scooby” but have looked it up and hope to be ready when it shows up in a puzzle.
One of the great bits of modern rhyming slang.
👍
10 mins. Had the Bra/boa choice, but thought bra made more sense, fortunately, as I was nowhere near parsing it. Did spot the miler in forelimb, and my usual nemesis, the dreaded hidden, so fairly content with that.
FOI Red Top
LOI Bra
COD Enunciate – obvious it was an anagram, but waited for all the checkers to get there.
Thanks Mara and Galspray
9:48, with the dreaded Mara in a gentler mood today, though I was slow to see several very obvious things. As usual I had trouble with the hidden, so the little nymph was my last. I liked ENUNCIATE for the well-disguised (to me) literal and good surface. I got hung up on ScRaPE before STRIPE happened. But otherwise there was a lot of fling it in then parse behavior. Bad me. COD FORELIMB for maximum time to parse. I don’t do sports so “miler” for a middle distance runner was a guess.
Thanks to Mara and galspray. I’m going to join you in irritating everyone with the right way to say “helicopter”. Also, I am so glad I never heard of Seb Coe.
Lord Seb Coe is ‘only’ the head of World Athletics, elected to that role after organising the 2012 Olympics. Probably a member of the IOC and was a Member of Parliament after being the World Record holder for the 800m (18yrs) and mile (a few days). Quite a successful chap.
Actually I seem to remember writing all this previously, so either he has actually appeared or it was a Guardian
Thanks, I’ll try to remember.
I thought this was the hardest QC of the week and a DNF as could not solve FORELIMB (tried to fit in MO or COE).
SOOTHSAYER nicely fitted into 9d with Dorothy L Sayer as the author but it didn’t parse although neither did FORECASTER until I came here.
COD to ENUNCIATE as an anagram with a nicely misleading definition.
Thanks Mara and Galspray.
I considered Coe, Ovett, Cram, Kerr, Muir,Holmes as well as discounting the too many letters Keely Hodgkinson, HunterBell, Bannister and Peter Elliot. Threw in Mo and Radcliffe in case there was some lift and separate between middle distance and runner 🥵
In retrospect ridiculously slow, fell into every single mis-direction mentioned above, nice and enjoyable though. 13a I thought I was looking for a nymph, and 11d for an impressario. Took ages on 1a despite remebering my headmaster, who also taught English, telling us that he was our princly pal so we would always remember the correct spellings for the person and the moral. Ho Hum. Thanks to Mara and galspray.
Another good day for me, although not quite a day out of the SCC. 20-21 minutes.
RED-TOP and PHONED were my F2I and I oscillated back and forth between the Acrosses and Downs, utilising the checkers as they came available. Nothing really stood out for me and a few clues (e.g. HEADMASTER) were only semi-parsed. ENUNCIATE was a difficult anagram and FORELIMB (my LOI) was a pure guess.
Many thanks to Galspray and Mara.
8.00 BRA and FORELIMB took a couple of minutes at the end. Thanks galspray and Mara.
5:27
A comfortable solve, though had to re-justify FORELIMB once FORECASTER went in right next to it. ENUNCIATE my last in, though pretty straightforward with all checkers in place. Like BRA.
Thanks Galspray and Mara
All done in a rapid (for me) 9:24 — in fact, I’m sure that’s the first time I’ve been sub-10. Got all the across clues straight off apart from 13a, where I thought it must be Phoebe — but, of course, she was a goddess rather than a nymph. FORELIMB and FORECASTER went in unparsed, with the former initially slowed down by my trying to work in Coe or Ovett for the middle-distance runner. Thanks to Mara and Galspray.
How is Cram the forgotten man despite being the mile WR holder and World Champion in 1983. Plus great at commentating on curling at the Winter Olympics 🤣
I enjoyed this one a lot, even with all the anagrams. No time to report as I was interrupted, but it felt a little faster than average, which agrees with the general tone of the comments here. COD to PHONED.
Thanks to Mara and galspray.
Solved waiting to board, now on plane. Loved “Mara sang”, bravo. Stuck on LOI FORELIMB like everyone else and couldn’t parse it.
All done in 05:54 for an Excellent Day. Many thanks gallers and Mara.
I thought the author was Forester!!
FORELIMB took as long as the rest of the puzzle. I tried to fit in Mo, Coe and in desperation Ovett until it got to the point of just trying to find a word that fitted.
Thanks blogger and setter
No time. Started lateish Saturday, fell asleep, finished earlyish Sunday. No disrespect to the setter, I was tired. Nevertheless it was a shame to spoil what felt like a good end to a very decent week of QCs by making this so disjointed. There was nothing too hard here though help with some of the parsing was much appreciated.
Thanks both
14 mins…
Didn’t get chance to do this yesterday, so a special Sunday treat.
Overall – a good puzzle of average difficulty I thought. Main hold up was 6dn “Forelimb” where I struggled with both the answer and the parsing. Like a few above, I went through my limited repertoire of middle distance runners (Cram, Ovett, Coe etc etc) before I saw the “mile” element.
Surprised to see 19ac “Bra” – I thought this clue was now frowned upon?
FOI – 2dn “Aim”
LOI – 6dn “Forelimb”
COD – 20ac “Health”
Thanks as usual!