I enjoyed this one a lot. It took me 11:23, about 3 minutes faster than my average, so if my experience is typical, this would be slightly towards the easier end of the scale.
Long anagrams usually beat me, but today I was able to get 1ac first, which gave lots of lovely starting letters for the down clues. I wasn’t quite as lucky with 1 down, which held out until most of the crossing letters were in place, but then that came with a lovely penny-drop moment and caused an audible snort of laughter, so that’s my clue of the day.
If anyone is new to this site – welcome! – and there’s a very helpful glossary in the links that explains a lot of the lingo and abbreviations that you’ll see in use, such as PDM and COD, both of which I wrote out in full in the previous paragraph.
Definitions underlined, synonyms in round brackets, wordplay in square brackets and deletions in strikethrough. Anagram indicators italicised in the clue, (THIS)* indicates that the included letters are anagrammed.
| Across | |
| 1 | Sad tormentor needs to change, one protests (12) |
| DEMONSTRATOR – (SAD TORMENTOR)*. | |
| 8 | Invigorating snack (just a bit) (5) |
| CRISP – A double definition, the first in the sense of “a crisp winter day”, and the second in the sense of “potato crisps”.
I think the “just a bit” part of the clue is telling you to drop the ‘s’ from “crisps”, but that seems a bit unnecessary to me: one crisp may not be much of a snack, but it still counts. |
|
| 9 | Bill said less than expected in dramatic scene (7) |
| TABLEAU – TAB (account, bill), then a homophone [said] of “low” (less than expected). | |
| 10 | Accurate recipe cooked with hint of salt (7) |
| PRECISE – (RECIPE + S)*
Initially I thought “hint” was a bit sneaky to mean “first letter of”, but then I thought of those salt & pepper shakers that are identical except for “S” and “P” written on them, where the “S” is a hint that salt is inside. But perhaps that’s just me and Hurley really did just mean “take the first letter”. |
|
| 11 | Male heir finally changes royal domain (5) |
| REALM – Take MALE and the last letter [finally] of |
|
| 12 | Deal with physical challenge at rugby (6) |
| TACKLE – Another double definition. | |
| 14 | Back horse after winner? (6) |
| SECOND – And another one! The horse after the winner in a race has come second.
This was my last one in: I was trying to think of short words for “horse” that I could reverse, but it’s simpler than that. |
|
| 17 | Seaport that uses newest industrial systems principally (5) |
| TUNIS – first letters [principally] of T |
|
| 19 | First-class paper under discussion? (2,5) |
| AT ISSUE – A (first-class), TISSUE (paper). | |
| 21 | Finished with preliminary race, having missed start — pig out (7) |
| OVEREAT – OVER (finished with), then |
|
| 22 | Claw, vital one to some extent (5) |
| TALON – hidden in [to some extent] viTAL ONe. | |
| 23 | Easy to understand employer, sociable (4-8) |
| USER-FRIENDLY – USER (employer), FRIENDLY (sociable).
Not that it matters, but I added the dash as indicated by the clue. The online puzzle has a solid bar between the words. |
|
| Down | |
| 1 | Make light of plight with this approach? (12) |
| DECAPITATION – Remove the head from “plight” to make “light”. Very neat. | |
| 2 | State of confusion about island crop (5) |
| MAIZE – MAZE (state of confusion) around I for island.
The noun definition of “maze” in my dictionary that is defined as “state of bewilderment” is also marked as “archaic, except dialect”. But then there is also the sense of “a maze of regulations” and the word play was friendly, so I’m not going to complain to the management. |
|
| 3 | Referring to wedding, not quite platinum, in new way (7) |
| NUPTIAL – all but the last letter of PLATINU |
|
| 4 | Tense furry animal in unsteady walk (6) |
| TOTTER – T for tense, OTTER (furry animal).
T for tense is used in dictionaries and works of linguistic analysis, apparently. Fortunately I remembered it this time because I think I queried it the last time it came up. |
|
| 5 | Team beret displays colour (5) |
| AMBER – Hidden word: teAM BERet displays it… | |
| 6 | Love exotic orange herb (7) |
| OREGANO – O for love (as in tennis), then (ORANGE)*. | |
| 7 | Bad-tempered crone, ugly, mud thrown? (12) |
| CURMUDGEONLY – (CRONE UGLY MUD)*. | |
| 13 | Admit argument against, finding evidence seems satisfactory at first (7) |
| CONFESS – CON (argument against, the opposite of “pro”), then the first letters of F |
|
| 15 | Letter eastern saint put in pile? (7) |
| EPISTLE – E for eastern then ST (saint) in PILE. | |
| 16 | Provide food about noon — no great hurry! (6) |
| CANTER – CATER (provide food) around N for noon. | |
| 18 | Scornful remark from son? Never getting disheartened! (5) |
| SNEER – S for son, then NE |
|
| 20 | Alas, on way up, daughter’s no hot meal (5) |
| SALAD – ALAS reversed [on way up], then D for daughter. | |
3:46, my new fastest ever, yet held up for a full 30 seconds trying to conjure up SECOND. Outside of that I nearly wrote everything in on first pass!
Blisteringly fast. 🔥 Well done.
Wow. Congratulations!
7:07
CRISP & especially LOI DECAPITATION slowed me down. Some months ago, hyphens disappeared from the grids, to be replaced by bars, so that a hyphenated answer looks like a two-word answer; I find this annoying.
I think the vertical hyphen in the grid always looked odd in a down clue. You still have (4-8) in the clue itself.
Solved in stages between interruptions, so no actual time but suffice to say it would have been substantially longer than those registered above. DECAPITATION took an age and I required the blog to understand it, and CURMUDGEONLY was also slow to arrive even after resorting to pen and paper. Otherwise all good, thanks to Hurley and the Doof.
21.00 so a touch faster than usual. Bifd LOI 1D which was a shame as it was very clever and my COD. LOI 23a as I reflected for a while to equate employer=user. Thanks Hurley and Doofers
10 minutes with a MER at the CRISP clue which seems unsatisfactory unless we are missing something.
A sprightly 14.00 with 1d also LOI and unparsed until Doofer’s help, for which thanks.
Otherwise, very similar experience to his, with most falling at first look.
Thanks Hurley
22 mins…
The longer clues held me up today, and I wasn’t completely sure about 1dn “Decapitation”. The parsing is clever even if I missed it – I thought it had something to do with candles.
FOI – 2dn “Maize”
LOI – 1dn “`Decapitation”
COD – 15dn “Epistle”
Thanks as usual!
Wednesday and I still haven’t completed a puzzle. Two days of typos and then a careless ‘sever’ where SNEER should have been – messing up OVEREAT in the process. DECAPITATION and EPISTLE weren’t parsed, so perhaps it’s fair! Back up to 10 errors in the last month – I seem to be in double figures quite a lot! My failure took a little under 11 and a half (or more than three Metaglorias!).
A gentle 1a lead a breezy solve until left with CRISP and DECAPITATION which put up a bit of a fight before the penny dropped.
Finished in 5.52 with WOD to CURMUDGEONLY.
Thanks to Doofers and Hurley
11:45 … just a second…
TaDAH!
8:18 for a pleasant CANTER through this enjoyable puzzle, with only two hold-ups – TABLEAU put in from checkers and only subsequently parsed, and LOI DECAPITATION likewise put in from checkers but not parsed at all. Now I see how it works, it is very clever.
Many thanks Doofers for the blog.
14.56 after a quicker than usual start. DECAPITATION was slow to come and I needed Doofer’s help to parse it properly even though it was not difficult to see it when all the crossers were in!
Some very good clues and it flowed well. I only got SNEER (d’oh) when I saw the USER of my penultimate answer, 23a. Like Jack, I was not sure about CRISP but it went in anyway.
I enjoyed CURMEDGEONLY and SECOND amongst many others.
Thanks to both.
13:00. All very quick, except the ones that weren’t: CURMUDGEONLY, SECOND and CRISP. I think the parsing of CRISP must be “just a bit of crisps” as it says in the blog, but I don’t like it. I would take “just a bit of crisps” to be C, the first letter, in the same way that “a hint of salt” is S in 10ac.
But the rest makes up for it. A very nice crossword. I liked OREGANO. Thanks to Hurley for the puzzle and thank you Doofers for the blog
20:43 – an average time overall, although DECAPITATION (still don’t really get it) and CRISP took time to get.
We were with you and have only just moved into the PDM group …so, if it helps – this is how I understand the mechanics –
Definition = approach.
What approach do you need to turn PLIGHT into LIGHT?
You have to take the first letter (head) off > decapitate
So the approach = decapitation
: )
Decapitation=Remove the head.
If you remove the head of Plight (P) you’re left with Light.
So you’re making light of plight by decapitation.
7.54 – it felt like the majority of which was spend on SECOND. For whatever reason, I find words with predominantly vowel checkers really hard.
Great puzzle, and COD to DECAPITATION.
8:01
LOI DECAPITATION, where I needed the blog to understand how the clue worked.
Thanks Doofers and Hurley
Agree, Doofers: 1a was easy, but 1d – so that’s how it works, of course – almost LOI (which was CRISP). Ah, less than expected, said, = LEAU, not obvious. I was wondering what the code for platinum was but now I see. Thanks, also to Hurley ‘cos it was all doable.
Definitely a quickie today! Went straight for the long ones – 1ac, 1d and 7d fell quickly. Loved DECAPITATION (CoD). After those fell, the solution flowed from NW to SE without any major hold-ups. all very enjoyable
Thanks Hurley and Doofers
Around ten minutes for this one, finishing with the two most people had trouble with.
Talking of which, at 8across, I took ‘snack (just a bit)’ to refer to a single crisp. I can’t see how ‘just a bit’ can be an instruction to delete a letter.
Yes. Thank you, Sir. Very crisply dealt with
21:24
A nice cross section of clues which manifested itself in a bit of a ‘stuttering’ solve – and I was very grateful for the long anagrams.
Decapitation went in unparsed (clever!) but with all the checkers I doubted it could be anything else.
A chunk of time was lost on my LOI as ‘tense’ indicating the letter ‘T’ was not known to me, and it went in with a hopeful shrug.
FOI: PRECISE
LOI: TOTTER
COD: DECAPITATION (now that I understand the clue)
Thanks to Hurley and Dooofers
17:16, tough. It was CRISP that opened up DECAPITATION (clever clue) but SECOND was LOI.
Gentle enough jaunt. Not sure quite why SECOND held me up for so long – I was trying to be too clever I think ( I see I’m not alone tripping over this one – I wonder why that is – it seems so straightforward…). Forehead slap and chuckle when DECAPITATION dropped – very neat. Again, try not to overlook what’s staring you in the face ! NHO T as abbreviation for tense. Thanks to both.
For ages, I carelessly had Remonstrator instead of DEMONSTRATOR (doh), but even after I changed to D and biffed DECAPITATION, I just could not parse it until I saw the blog and the penny slowly dropped.
Otherwise I found the puzzle fun and fairly easy, though also a bit slow on CRISP.
Liked many inc TABLEAU, USER-FRIENDLY, EPISTLE.
Yes, WOD CURMUDGEONLY.
Thanks vm, Doofers.
12 in 20 minutes.
Accuracy might be synonymous with precision to an academic but it definitely isn’t to a scientist or mathematician. Didn’t stop me seeing it as the anagram foder was obvious.
If you are aiming for the bullseye and all your darts end up as close as they can get in the treble twenty they are precise but not accurate. If they end up distributed around the twenty five ring they are accurate (up to a point determined by statistical analysis) but not precise.
I could have probably got a few more if I had had the time…
Thanks H and D
Dear Nutshell,
Did you remember the darts example from one of my OM lectures at BBS, some years ago? If so, it might be just about the only thing anyone has ever remembered from my teaching. Well done, anyway!
I don’t think I caught that lecture. I picked up the dart analogy from asking an AI question. I use the analogy in my aero testing book. Repeatability being more important than accuracy when comparing two alternatives. What most people conducting tests miss is the necessity for repeat testing of each setup to get some idea of the precision and the statistical significance.
9:32, so I’m quite pleased with that, though I needed the blog to understand 1d. Now that I do, I think it’s very nice and I should have seen it myself.
Thank you for the blog!
A satisfactory 14 minute solve for me with everything parsed. A bit of a delay while I worked out the exact spelling of CURMUDGEONLY but otherwise no great problems. I also delayed entering DECAPITATION for a while as I couldn’t initially see the parsing.
FOI – 1ac DEMONSTRATOR
LOI & COD – 1dn DECAPITATION
Thanks to Hurley and Doofers
Not quite at the races today struggling to a 12.38 finish. It took some time to parse DECAPITATION, but having done so I did like the clue. I wasn’t entirely comfortable with CRISP, and I didnt feel confident with it until I had parsed 1dn.
Very late PDM with DECAPITATION – clever and my COD. A good satisfying example of a QC. Thanks Hurley and Doofers
Against the tide here. Not one of our favourites. Some nice clues, however, for us, a laboured, rather than joyous, romp to the finish. CANTER for not in a hurry? Admittedly not a gallop, neither a trot. Have never used this as a synonym.
First time trying to spell that long CURM… word : )
Struggled with DECAPITATION… needed the blog- thank you! COD
The varying personal experience as seen in these comments never fails to intrigue – and only confirms the need for the variety of puzzles these clever people so kindly provide.
Thank you Hurley and Doofenschmirtz
For me a strange mixture, some were a lot easier than I at first thought and some harder, didnt get 1d or 8a. Agree with comments on the difference between accuracy and precision but absolutely nobody in crosswordland would know, long since stopped expecting it. Thanks Hurley and Doofers.
Still have the same login problems, it just tells me my password is wrong (3 times now), and then says I can’t reset my password to the same as the previous one. I will change it for a fourth time and see how it goes.
For the record, I see a dash, not a vertical bar, on 23ac. Not sure if it was corrected after some solvers solved but before I got to it, or maybe the phone / tablet version is different from the website version (that I use)?
5:25
Some biffing evident here, as three of the four long words were bunged in from definition and checkers. I didn’t understand DECAPITATION at all until coming here – thanks Doofers – but with all the checkers in place, I couldn’t think of what else it might be. That U checker in CURMUDGEONLY really helped with TABLEAU.
Thanks Doofers and Hurley
Could not finish this one. I found it difficult and therefore lost enthusiasm.
Better luck tomorrow.
I was very quick to see DEMONSTRATOR and very slow to see DECAPITATION, my penultimate solve. CURMUDGEONLY tested my spelling and my LOI was CRISP. 6:29 Thanks Doofers
Like others I was slowed down by DECAPITATION which I biffed from crossers. Needed the blog to see how it worked. It was my LOI. Straightforward otherwise, although my brow was furrowed as I tried to make sense of (just a bit). 9:17. Thanks Hurley and Doofers.
A friendly enough puzzle from Hurley, but with a few left field contributions thrown in for good measure. Setting aside the Precise/Accurate schoolboy howler at 10ac, I’m also at a loss to understand the need for ‘just a bit’ tagged onto the clue for Crisp: if anything its inclusion hindered rather than helped. Likewise the horse in 14ac. Of course setters have a right to be deliberately mischievous – just as solvers have one to moan when they are.
Loi Decapitation went in because nothing else would fit and because I was in danger of missing out on a seat. Thanks to Doofers blog, it now gets my CoD vote, nudging out User (employer!) Friendly. Invariant
DNF. Despite extensive alphabet trawling, I never found CANTER and put wAiTER (a provider of food and someone in no great hurry) instead. Not knowing it could be abbreviated I had no idea what noon was doing in the clue.
Time = 31 minutes (average-ish for me), for what it’s worth.
Several clues (e.g. DECAPITATION and TABLEAU) went in unparsed. I was also slowed by biffing CONcEde (in place of CONFESS), which made USER FRIENDLY more difficult than it should have been. Overall, I really could and should have done better.
Many thanks to Doofers and Hurley.
As with SHEARER yesterday, a biff then PDM then smile for DECAPITATION; a lovely clue.
No problem with CRISP, seems fair to me.
I needed the blog to explain DECAPITATION (very clever) and TABLEAU (missed the homophone).
SECOND held me up for some time at the end before the penny dropped.
Very nice puzzle taking 24 minutes at a leisurely pace.
Thanks Doofers and Hurley
14 minutes.
2 hours on 15 x 15 and several answers short. Completely out of my depth.
All but 2 entered in 20 minutes. Couldn’t get Second or Epistle! Much better week so far but still only completed one whole puzzle this year!
Keep going!! You were nearly there today.
9.47 I tried to justify MANIA for 2d but I suppose manna (which can be spelt with one n) isn’t really a crop. CRISP and DECAPITATION took a good while too. I’m still dubious about crisp meaning invigorating. Thanks Doofers and Hurley.
DNF. Beaten by decapitation. Neat clue, but totally failed even with the crossers, and gave up trying to make up words. Most of the rest flowed fairly easily.
FOI Precise
LOI dnf
COD Tableau
thanks Hurley and Doofers
Second = Back???
“I second the motion”
Thanks. For some unknown reason I was stressing the second syllable 🙄
Exactly as Plett except + 30 for 06:22 and a Very Good Day. COD DECAPITATION. Many thanks Doofers and Hurley. [Wrote this on the train but now see it didn’t post … maybe I was going through a dead spot.]
. . .Reading perhaps ?
Ouch! 😂
All done fairly quickly, except for DECAPITATION, which despite help of blog, which seems to offer two explanations, still a little unsure. Liked AT ISSUE
Enjoyed, but should have seen SECOND we had it almost word for word the other day – according to my ‘Imprecise’ memory!
All done in 20m at end of a long day, bar CANTER: I biffed FASTER thinking of someone fasting until noon and then lifting and separating hurry: so FASTER. I now see my error! Is a trot faster or slower than a canter? (Horse Nonsense is my only book on matters equestrian!) Good fun, thanks to Hurley and Doofers. Decapitating PLIGHT was apt for a down clue.
See my comment to Penny🐎
A lovely sub 10 solve (the first for a while) despite a momentary fat finger issue.
I needed help understanding DECAPITATION, but now that I do it’s definitely my COD.
Thanks Hurley and D.
Going against the grain here – I biffed DECAPITATION and couldn’t parse it, which I find frustrating. I do understand the wordplay now, but am still not loving it. I was surprised at CANTER = not very fast. I’m no equestrian, but I thought cantering was quite quick! Agree about the extra words in the clue for CRISP, but one would never be enough anyway 😅
Otherwise no major issues. I liked USER FRIENDLY and DEMONSTRATOR.
11:15 FOI Demonstrator LOI Decapitation COD, AOD and WOD Curmudgeonly
Thanks Hurley and Doofers
I agree with you and Flaxmill and others re horse paces. They walk, then trot, canter and gallop, so cantering is pretty fast. But occasionally horse race commentators will say ‘the winner cantered past the post’ meaning the horse was so far ahead it didn’t need to gallop to win.
Apologies for late reply – I continue to have major problems with email notifications not coming through from the blog. Sometimes it can be three or four days before I get one, so I guess 24 hours isn’t too bad!
Thanks for your comment on the horse pace topic – I guess these things are all comparative!