ParkSolve time: 33:50. Solid run, solid solve on a perfect Perth morning.
Today Joker delivers the goods with a nice mixture of clue types. Notably almost all the clues have the definition sitting comfortably at the start, just where you might expect it to be. Should make it easy shouldn’t it? Hmmm.
As usual, let us know how you went. Or talk about the weather if you want. Or anything really, except politics of course. Looking forward to the comments.
(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 | Toy with sailor giving evidence in court? (4-2-3-3) |
| JACK-IN-THE-BOX – JACK (sailor) + IN THE BOX (giving evidence in court)
In the witness box. |
|
| 8 | Cavalry unit having bad time in retreat (5) |
| TROOP – POOR (bad) + T (time) reversed (in retreat) | |
| 9 | Forceful tennis playing by middle of set (7) |
| INTENSE – (TENNIS)* + E (middle of sEt) | |
| 10 | Sure Japanese currency must finally reverse direction (3) |
| YES – YEN (Japanese currency) with the last letter changed from N (north) to S (south) | |
| 11 | Artwork has English talking wildly (9) |
| ENGRAVING – ENG (English) + RAVING (talking wildly) | |
| 13 | Consecrate bishop in opposition to More (5) |
| BLESS – B (bishop) + LESS (in opposition to more) | |
| 14 | Right give out task for committee (5) |
| REMIT – R (right) + EMIT (give out) | |
| 16 | Mix up prior to cooking (9) |
| POTPOURRI – (UP PRIOR TO )*
Nice elegant clue, good surface. |
|
| 17 | Medic with round in Washington (3) |
| DOC – O (round) in DC (Washington) | |
| 19 | Stage scenery is becoming harder (7) |
| SETTING – Double definition | |
| 21 | Where people may recover honour? (5) |
| AWARD – A WARD (where people may recover) | |
| 22 | Idleness of plummy Eton men disturbed without millions (12) |
| UNEMPLOYMENT – (PLUMMY ETON MEN)* without M (millions) | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Pier initially just extended to take yachts (5) |
| JETTY – First letters (initially) of Just Extended To Take Yachts | |
| 2 | Position on board costs Wren badly (5,4) |
| CROWS NEST – (COSTS WREN)*
Had me thinking chess for a while. |
|
| 3 | Artistic style sir’s mini poems deployed (13) |
| IMPRESSIONISM – (SIRS MINI POEMS)* | |
| 4 | Sudden pain finally hit me around side (6) |
| TWINGE – M E [last letters (finally) of hiT mE] “around” WING (side) | |
| 5 | Remarkable routine supporting minor actor (13) |
| EXTRAORDINARY – ORDINARY (routine) “supporting” EXTRA (minor actor) | |
| 6 | Possess topless dress (3) |
| OWN – |
|
| 7 | Crown Henry VIII (6) |
| HEIGHT – H (Henry) + EIGHT (VIII)
Crown and height as in apex I guess. |
|
| 12 | One million news channels, note, direct (9) |
| IMMEDIATE – I (one) + M (million) + MEDIA (news channels) + TE (note) | |
| 13 | How contestant shows inability to answer in roundabout way? (6) |
| BYPASS – BY PASS (how contestant shows inability to answer) | |
| 15 | Fruits galore? Half of those would show penny-pinching (6) |
| FRUGAL – FRU + GAL (half of FRUits and GALore) | |
| 18 | Trainee acted strangely (5) |
| CADET – (ACTED)*
Another simple but elegant clue. |
|
| 20 | Preserve egg on the turn (3) |
| TIN – NIT (egg) reversed (on the turn) | |
6:01
I biffed the two long anagrams, trusting that the anagrist was all there. Like galspray, I took ‘on board’ to indicate chess at first. Otherwise straightforward.
Weather in Connecticut is good – spring is on the way, the flowers are out.
The puzzle? Jack-in-the-box was obvious, impressionism was not difficult for this art collector, and I am certainly frugal. Unemployment was my LOI….and I am retired! Well, I suppose there’s my position as the Grand Poobah of TftT.
Time: 8:45
It’s nice here too, the dogwoods are blooming. I’d like to know how an art collector can be frugal!
And here 🌞 The blossom on our dark red Japanese crab apple is just beautiful against the blue sky and the snake’s head fritilleries and cowslips are springing up in the grass (I hesitate to call it a lawn😅)
My art collecting is definitely frugal – it is based on postcards after I’ve been to an exhibition. I put them up on my mantelpiece for a few weeks in a mini-exhibition! Most recently a Danish artist called Anna Ancher – lovely 😊
8:56 to complete one of my faster weeks, a shade under 60 minutes for all 6. But not without scratching my head a bit at Crown = HEIGHT, and spending over a minute on my LOI CROWSNEST. A clever clue, both because of the misdirection of “on board” (when meaning on a ship I’m more used to it being one word, onboard), and because the checkers make it look for all the world as if it starts CROSS-.
A nice Saturday puzzle then. Many thanks Galspray for the blog.
I did toy with CROSS NEWT, wondering if it was a chess position!
I’ve sat upon many a corporate board where one of my fellow directors could be called a cross newt. Along with ostriches (head in the sand), lap dogs (nodding obediently to everything the boss says), chameleons (all things to all men) and butterflies (dancing all over the place). And many others too …
My first thought too! And it was so hard to dislodge that CROWS NEST ended up as POI.
Yes, me too!
Well, that was like pulling teeth. Nothing wrong with the puzzle, it’s just that my brain decided to go on strike this morning.
Started with BLESS and finished with HEIGHT in 11.57.
Thanks to Galspray and Joker.
12:44 Galspray’s Perth morning contrasts with me not finding the right setting to bypass that twinge. Great puzzle. Quick for a Joker.
TaGAJ
Rather wet here in the East of Scotland.
I found this one hard work and made several wrong guesses which took time to unravel such as CROWN instead of CROWS thinking it might be a draughts board. Nice misdirection.
Thanks Galspray and Joker.
18:44 – quite quick for me, but needed a number of biffs to get there as several solutions beyond my capabilities.
5:38 very fast
Only hold up was guessing CROSS for first word of CROWS.
COD BYPASS
Just not on Joker’s wavelength (again….). I started fairly quickly and bifd then parsed quite a few of the longer answers. I enjoyed the anagrams but slowed towards the end. Like Merlin, I wasted time with CROSS instead of CROWS and the NW only fell into place when that was resolved. Finally, I returned to HEIGHT to complete the grid (a clever clue but not easy to see).
I blame an enjoyable wine tasting last night.
Thanks to both.
This felt quite tricky, as Joker often confounds me with unexpected definitions, leading to a last two or three that have to be teased out laboriously – in this case FRUGAL (clever) and BYPASS, where I needed all the checkers. I liked HEIGHT and the misdirection of CROWS NEST.
Before I got sufficient checkers to rule either out I was thinking north west or south west….from position on board.
Second completed in three days. 49:24
I was stuck with about seven to go then setting dropped into place in the SW and then twinge to help with the NE.
FoI intense
LoI Height
CoD immediate although I also liked bypass
Cheers J and G
16 minutes. JACK-IN-THE-BOX went in quickly enough but I was rather slow to build off it and had to look elsewhere in the grid for a second foothold.
Enjoyable witty puzzle. Quite fast until sticky on LOsI TWINGE, ENGRAVING and HEIGHT.
FOsI 1d and 1a encouraging. No problem with CROWS NEST, or the long ones.
Liked BYPASS, AWARD, DOC, and FRUGAL, among others.
Many thanks, Galspray. CNP YES! Or TE = note.
Nice Goldilocks puzzle. Took far too long to see yes and doc, in resrospect fairly easy ones, thought boardroom rather than chess, and that 15d could be any six of the 12 letters in fruitsgalore. Just as I was thinking that that was a bit difficult for a QC the penny dropped.
Thanks to Joker and galspray.
All pretty fair, albeit with some slightly doubtful equivalences. I wouldn’t equate penny- pinching ( mean) with frugal ( careful, or limited by necessity ). Idleness for unemployment is a bit harsh, if strictly accurate. Wing for side. Crown for height. Probably all more acceptable in the strange place that is crossword-land rather than the real world – I slightly worry that I may end up only making sense to fellow solvers !
Thanks a lot to setter and blogger for their much-appreciated efforts.
I agree, some of these were also a bit of a stretch for me, apart from WING which I take to be side of a building, East Wing etc.
I also struggled with TIN for preserve. I guess to put in a tin can, “tin it”. I think!
11:04 for the solve. Obviously parksolve isn’t a race but put me down in the results for a just ahead of the blogger 33:36 😉 Incidentally started reading Paul Sinton-Hewitt’s memoir about his life and founding parkrun – what a tough childhood he had and what a gift he has given everybody. Very well written.
As for the puzzle, no major holdups just taking a bit of time to untangle each clue. Finished off with the ENGRAVING/HEIGHT pair. Thought YES was rather convoluted. Liked JETTY for no particular reason. Somehow managed to avoid needing pen&paper for the long anagrams.
Thanks to Galspray and Joker
8:46
Very slow start – just two in on the first pass of acrosses. Needed a while to get the brain on the wavelength, after which everything seemed eminently gettable.
Thanks Galspray and Joker
Took our time with last two – nearly 8 minutes (ugh) on ENGRAVING and TWINGE – just kept drawing blanks no matter which way (clearly not including the right way) we approached those clues.
The rest not in general on our wavelength, though we managed pleasurably enough.
Thank you Joker and Galspray.
12 mins…
Nice end to the week. Like a few above, I was wondering whether 2dn “Crows Nest” was initially some kind of chess position.
FOI – 1ac “Jack-in-the-box”
LOI – 14ac “Remit”
COD – 7dn “Height”
Thanks as usual!
Like Brer Plett I struggled with this. Could not see CROWS NEST once I’d seen cross newt, and was absolutely baffled by LOI YES – was half expecting the DPS and needed the blog to understand it. Also slow with REMIT and BYPASS. COD FRUGAL.
All done in 10:09 for a Slooow Day. Many thanks gallers and Joker.
I thought Joker was in a surprisingly generous mood, especially for a Saturday, to the point where a sub-20 seemed on the cards. An earlier bunged in Cross for the first word in 2d then came back to bite. I haven’t played chess for years, but even I thought a Cross Newt as loi was quite a stretch for a bit of unknown chess terminology. A re-think produced Crows Nest and a consolatory choice of window seats.
CoD to By Pass for the smile, just ahead of Twinge. Invariant
From YES to UNEMPLOYMENT in 8:01. I resisted the temptation to put CROSS at 2d and waited until BLESS and POTPOURRI arrived. It’s bright and sunny here in Skipton on the banks of the Leeds Liverpool Canal, but I’m told it’s bit chilly outside in the breeze. I shall stay in and cruciverbalise for a while longer. Thanks Joker and Galspray.
Thoroughly enjoyed that and, for me at least, perfectly pitched.
The timer stopped on 18 minutes, likely artificially slow as I was listening to the football and noticeably speeded up when we reached half time.
The only crossword-based hold up was being another who focussed on chess for 2d.
CoD POT POURRI.
Thanks both.
8:45 to finish this sweet entertainment from the Joker. Many amusing clues – I loved the plummy Eton men. Parsing TWINGE was confusing until a second look; YEN also gave me pause. I liked TIN best. I do wish setters would give up the whole “note” = do, re, mi, me, fa, so, sol, la, ti, te, si, a, b, c, d, e, f, g thing. But I suppose when the rest of your clue is working really well and there’s no other way to keep going, it must seem like the right thing.
Thanks Joker and galspray.
I tend to agree, and it’s not as if “note” slipped seamlessly into the surface reading.
12.42 Quite slow again today for no obvious reason. POTPOURRI was nice. Thanks galspray and Joker.
6.11. Nice and gentle.
12:50 for me on a rainy California morning. When working out the anagram for POTPOURRI, I knew the definition of what I was looking for (“the stuff people put out in bowls to make the room smell nice”) before the word itself emerged: brains are weird things.
Thanks to Joker and galspray.
I found this a bit on the tricky side but completed it in two sittings. Great puzzle. ENGRAVING/IMMEDIATE held out the longest as my brain stubbornly refused to think of ENG for English until it became oh so obvious; similarly with TE for note. I rather liked TWINGE and INTENSE. Many thanks galspray and Joker,
I really enjoyed this tip-top puzzle from Joker, who I thought was being rather kind to us today, but having read the comments, perhaps not! Amazed to find I’m ahead of Templar and Plett, who I used to gauge myself against, but don’t any more 😂 That makes it A Surprising Day!
Funnily enough, I was refreshing some POTPOURRI just before tackling this earlier, but still didn’t see the answer that quickly. But that was one of many clues that I enjoyed: CROW’S NEST, TWINGE, HEIGHT and FRUGAL also got ticks. Such a selection of excellent surfaces. I did chuckle at 22a, and wondered what Merlin might think of it!
8:42 FOI Jack-in-the-box LOI Crow’s nest COD Bless
Thanks Joker and Galspray