Time: 8 minutes. A thoroughly enjoyable puzzle from Trelawney aimed squarely at the QC market, I would suggest. How did you do?
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 Caret 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 |
|
|---|---|
| 1 | Environment inside marsh a bit atypical (7) |
| HABITAT – Hidden [inside] {mars}H A BIT AT{ypical} | |
| 5 | Piece of music expected before end of concert (4) |
| DUET – DUE (expected), {concer}T [end of…] | |
| 7 | Somewhat overhype a nutritious edible seed (6) |
| PEANUT – Hidden in [somewhat] {overhy}PE A NUT{ritious} | |
| 8 | International organisation simply not fair (6) |
| UNJUST – UN (international organisation – United Nations), JUST (simply) | |
| 9 | Nerdy European hosting start of costly activity for couples (6,5) |
| SQUARE DANCE – SQUARE (nerdy, DAN⁁E (European) containing [hosting] C{ostly} [start of…] | |
| 10 | Winner is Frankenstein, for example (6) |
| VICTOR – Two definitions. Victor Frankenstein. | |
| 12 | It supports whitewater enthusiast? (6) |
| RAFTER – Two meanings | |
| 14 | Drinks event to secure arrival time — smart! (4,7) |
| WINE TASTING – WIN (secure) ETA (arrival time – Estimated Time of Arrival), STING (smart) | |
| 17 | Place for worshipping part of head (6) |
| TEMPLE – Two meanings | |
| 18 | Bury institution’s last trainee (6) |
| INTERN – INTER (bury), {institutio}N [’s last] | |
| 20 | Fine with duck and bovine returning (4) |
| OKAY – 0 (duck), then YAK (bovine) reversed [returning] | |
| 21 | Met hero developing proposition (7) |
| THEOREM – Anagram [developing] of MET HERO | |
| Down |
|
|---|---|
| 1 | Shade house regularly (3) |
| HUE – H{o}U{s}E [regularly] | |
| 2 | Forbid one to leave peaceful feast (7) |
| BANQUET – BAN (forbid), QU{i}ET (peaceful) [one to leave] | |
| 3 | Coach’s expression of annoyance, alternatively (5) |
| TUTOR – TUT (expression of annoyance), OR (alternatively) | |
| 4 | He’d turn off loud noise? (7) |
| THUNDER – Anagram [off] of HE’D TURN | |
| 5 | Detective with journal primarily on French city (5) |
| DIJON – DI (detective), J{ournal} [primarily], ON | |
| 6 | Greet sage cooking seasonal treat (6,3) |
| EASTER EGG – Anagram [cooking] of GREET SAGE | |
| 9 | Phew — Rick’s sorted out disaster at sea (9) |
| SHIPWRECK – Anagram [sorted out] of PHEW RICK’S | |
| 11 | Withdraw extremely rude nurse (7) |
| RETREAT – R{ud}E [extremely], TREAT (nurse) | |
| 13 | Right to split healthier bit of fried food (7) |
| FRITTER – R (right) contained by [to split] F⁁ITTER (healthier) | |
| 15 | What a baby needs — sleep and empty potty? (5) |
| NAPPY – NAP (sleep), P{ott}Y [empty] | |
| 16 | Capture bodies of water, reportedly (5) |
| SEIZE – Aural wordplay [reportedly]: “seas” (bodies of water) | |
| 19 | Liquor and cut of beef unfinished (3) |
| RUM – RUM{p} (cut of beef) [unfinished] | |
Held up a little at the end since I didn’t know Frankenstein’s first name so I was looking for something different. Eventually I thought of VICTOR and surmised he must be VICTOR Frankenstein. 9:41 even with a minute wasted at the end.
Wrote nearly everything in first pass. Looked up at the end and couldn’t believe my eyes. 2:17, my fastest QC by nearly a minute and half.
Good lord! Well done, amazing time
🔥🔥
I can’t even write that fast….well done.
Scorchio!!
4:38
An easy one (SNITCH currently at 65). I biffed SQUARE DANCE & WINE TASTING without reading the clues, parsed post-submission.
Yes, I read each clue and entered the answer. Then I came to Frankenstein and got stuck for a bit, before the idea that it must be a first name occurred to me.
Time: 5:14
7.24, held up by VICTOR and somewhat outfoxed by having not one but TWO hiddens at the top of the clue pile. Thanks Jack and Trelawney.
No X?
Yep, we were looking at LOI Victor and wondering if it might be ?ixt?r
Thanks Trelawney and Jacckt. Most enjoyable and ideal for a Monday morning. Clocked in at 8.33 which, for me, is lightening speed!
What Paul said, but 11.13, thanks Squire and Jack
A bit of a change of pace from last week!
Like others, my only minor issue was not knowing Frankenstein’s first name – but the answer was clear.
Started with HABITAT and finished with OKAY in 3.39
Thanks to Jack and Trelawney
22 in 30 minutes missing Victor and seize. I saw the homophone but plural of sea didn’t occur to me.
FoI Hue
LoI the square of square dance with dance bifd from the crossers.
Thanks J & T
This was a pleasant gentle Monday offering after a hard week and a rapid romp home in 14.26.
COD RAFTER with a nice surface for a DD.
Thanks Trelawny and Jack.
Excellent – a genuine QC for a welcome change. If only a few more setters could emulate Trelawney occasionally. An unrushed 10.42 with the LOI being, predictably, VICTOR; without the delay this caused, I would have been back under 10 (memories of years gone by…..)
Many thanks to T and J.
6:33 for a very straightforward solve, though I didn’t pause to parse WINE TASTING and didn’t know Frankenstein’s first name. Many thanks Jack for filling in those gaps!
I like the way bloggers are now indicating where insertions take place – I try to do so myself – but we are developing quite a plethora of symbols, including Jack’s innovation of ⁁. I wonder if there might be a general standardisation – and if there is, can it be on a symbol on most keyboards including mobile phone ones? I can’t actually make a ⁁ normally (it’s only in this post because I’ve cut and pasted it), nor the upturned caret ^ that some other bloggers use (also carefully c-and-p’ed), and would suggest perhaps the ~, which is on Android phone keyboards at least.
I think we only have three symbols now in general use ~, ^ and ⁁ . I have just switched from using ~ because although it’s the most convenient and does the job it’s not an official printer’s symbol indicating insertion as far as I’m aware. Mine is not an innovation, btw, as it’s used by Bruce on Saturdays, and possibly others. Bloggers here have always been free to annotate their blogs in any way they choose, and I would not like to see that changed.
Yes, I borrowed the ^ (caret) from Merlin’s blog a month or so back. I felt it worked better than the ~ (tilde)
12.36 at a pleasant pace trying to parse each before moving on (self discipline inconsistent as shown by initially biffing retract in lieu of RETREAT, thereby making TEMPLE rather tricky).
A delightful gentle entry into the week’s challenges.
Thank you Trelawney and Jackkt.
A quick time for me helped by the fact that I visited Dijon (colourful tiled roofs and mustard) last week. Many thanks to Trelawny and Jakkt for an encouraging start to the week.
Straightforwardly entertaining. Knew VICTOR from many a movie ( “ throw the switch Igor !”) and even reading the book long ago ( fairly heavy weather if I recall). Held up a while on the dance ( square is not the same as nerdy !).
Thanks to both.
10.27. The Squire is always a welcome visitor chez-Pi.
Pi ❤️
Yes … well, did finish so must be thankful, but LOI VICTOR, no idea he was called Victor. GK? Also guessed SQUARE DANCE which Mrs M assures me exists. It had to be WINE TASTING but the parsing would have taken a lot longer – thank you Jack for doing the grind for us!
12:33 – one of my quickest ever times. Just a steady solve with only a little hesitation here and there.
8:50
They don’t come much easier. Lots of anagram indicators I hadn’t come across but no real hold-ups. LOI VICTOR.
4:41
This must be my fastest QC yet! Only FRITTERS required a pass and return. FOI HUE, LOI FRITTERS, COD NAPPY
Thanks both!
Raced through this to achieve a possible best time, but let down in the end by a clumsy spelling error, which was purely down to me rushing.
First Lap: 14
Answered (no help): 23
Answered (help): 1
Incorrect: 1
Time: 17:18
Well done, PW!
2:57 for a new record and first sub-3 mins. Surely many records will fall today.
Perfect Monday QC – fun and entertaining. If you look back, the surfaces here are all fantastic.
COD to WINE TASTING.
Perfect for a Monday.
17 minutes for me which is considerably better than my average but it’s really nice to feel like I’m getting somewhere with my understanding.
Thanks to setter and blogger!
15 mins…
Should have been faster, but was inexplicably held up by 10ac “Victor”. From a quick scan above, it seems I wasn’t the only one.
Other than that, an enjoyable start to the week.
FOI – 1ac “Habitat”
LOI – 10ac “Victor”
COD – 2dn “Banquet”
Thanks as usual!
8:42. LOI VICTOR. I liked RAFTER, and the Nerdy European in the SQUARE DANCE.
Thanks to Trelawney for a great QC and thank you jackkt for the blog
7:58 almost defeated by the victor.
Ta JAT
A nice easy start to the week, detaining me for just 5.50. It was so straightforward I feel I should have been quicker, particularly as all the down clues went in at first pass. I was delayed as others have been by VICTOR, even though I’ve heard mention of the big fella’s Christian name, it just took a while to come back to me.
4:40
Only three across clues solved on the first pass, but then all of the downs went in first time (apart from SEIZE) which made filling in the acrosses on the second pass much easier. LOI RAFTER. Happy Mondays!
Thanks Jack and Trelawney
All but two write-ins, to whizz through. The two were victor for the reasons mentioned by others, and Fritter which took longest because I had written in theroum doh! Thanks Trelawney and jackkt.
From HABITAT to VICTOR, which I also didn’t know and which delayed me for a while, in 6:49. Thanks Trelawney and Jack.
09:12
Biffed SQUARE DANCE and WINE TASTING not bothering to try and parse in pursuit of a PB – missed by under a minute.
SQUARE, VICTOR and my LOI probably accounted for 3 minutes – I think in future I’ll try and just enjoy the solve.
Great QC.
FOI: HABITAT
LOI: TEMPLE
COD: RAFTER
Thanks to Trelawney and jackkt
I’m not a regular QC solver but dipped in from this site as the blog for the main puzzle wasn’t yet up. A very pleasant romp in just over 5 minutes with a good minute of that spent on VICTOR, the scientist’s first name being well and truly forgotten – if indeed I’ve ever encountered it. Elder son ‘did’ Frankenstein for A Level English and I recall him finding it a bit of a slog.
Thanks to setter and blogger
Extra fast, but, like others, hesitated a minute or two before biffing VICTOR.
Enjoyable to have an easy puzzle for a change.
Many thanks, Jack.
An embarrassing DNF. 14 minutes for all-but-five (jolly fast for me). 7 minutes for four of those five (back to normal). Then, 10 agonising minutes working on _I_T_R before giving up in despair.
The Frankenstein reference was never going to be any use to me, but failing to think of the required synonym for Winner is a clear sign of cognitive decline (especially as I also failed to find VEIN in Alex’s QC on Saturday). Or maybe I’ve just developed an aversion to the letter V.
DearHector says (above) that “They don’t come much easier”. I quite agree, so I’m now properly worried.
Thanks to Jack and Trelawney.
I think it’s quite normal to get breeze-blocked by a simple clue from time to time! I definitely get this sometimes
I was inexplicably held up by SEIZE today- very odd how one’s brain works (or rather doesn’t work) sometimes!
Hey! We can all have temporary blind spots, y’know! Please, Mr Random, don’t worry about this. It’s not indicative of anything more.
Sorry about the gloom-mongering, Mme Pam and thanks for your slap around the chops. I’m an optimistic type on the whole and tomorrow’s another day and another opportunity. Let’s hope, though, that the setter doesn’t throw in any awkward solutions starting with V.
I share your hope for tomorrow’s QC, Mr Random and sorry that my reassuring pat was received as a stinging blow! 🙂
Slow initially on the acrosses but picked up speed once I got to the downs. Also slow to see FRITTER and didn’t know Frankenstein’s first name but VICTOR seemed a safe bet. All done in 16 minutes with everything parsed except WINE TASTING (parsed after the event).
FOI – 7ac PEANUT
LOI – 10ac VICTOR
COD – 15dn NAPPY
Thanks to Trelawney and Jack.
10.19 – my first QC under 20 mins! I must say it does make it a lot more enjoyable! I liked TEMPLE and Theorem and like most others was held up by VICTOR – never knew his name but it had to be as synonym for Winner. More Trelawney I say! And thanks to jackkt.
Latecomer.
My thanks to Trelawney and jackkt.
Had forgotten Victor’s given name, but was also delayed by misspelling SIEZE at 16d. I would have noticed in an across clue but not a down. Delayed 18a Intern obviously, NHO an Extern.
Oh, thank god, it’s Trelawney. 6:21 including a bit of a wobble at the end for VICTOR, and all is right with the world.
Thank you for the blog!
7:34. A welcome confidence builder. All good fun with answers going in steadily apart from VICTOR which had to be entered from the first def only. Favourite was the amusing surface for NAPPY.
Thanks to Trelawney and Jack
8 min PB with no biffing. The crosser on seize sorted out a dodgy first spelling attempt too.
FOI Habitat
LOI Theorem
(Yep, a rare top to bottom solve)
COD Wine tasting
5:07. pretty quick but felt as though I got stuck in the SE corner for a bit. I nearly had DOCTOR instead of VICTOR. v enjoyable puzzle thanks!
All but 3 solved in 25 mins. This is an ideal puzzle standard for improving your game.
VICTOR held me up and never quite parsed WINE TASTING, other than that swift and enjoyable
4.43 A PB but I didn’t even make it onto the leaderboard. VICTOR was a little slow at the end. Thanks Jack and Trelawney.
Lovely QC. I wish I’d timed carefully. It might have shown I’d made a very rare trip out of the SCC. Very happy day today, thanks Trelawney (and Jackkt).
The real VICTOR was ME!! Im so delighted with myself for breaking 1/2 hour for the first time ever. I don’t do biffing so have to « GET » every angle of every clue. My husband led me into doing cryptic crosswords. I had him tortured last week! Really enjoyed this .. THANKYOU.
Congratulations!
And thank you for making me smile recounting your activity last week 😁
Love it! Well done👏
Congratulations, DN!
Again, spent the morning coaching croquet improvers, so didn’t start puzzling until after lunch. A very gentle but enjoyable romp today. All parsed and correct before the cuppa cooled. NHO Victor Frankenstein (LOI) but that’s what it had to be
Thanks Squire and Jack
Is visciousness even more important than skill in croquet?
5:29 and I am 144th on the leaderboard! FOI HABITAT and LOI VICTOR.
Good puzzle for new solvers.