Time: 17:09. I blame not so early morning torpitude for my slow time. Enjoyable, but for me at least not easy with few write-ins. My favourite was the ‘old-school communications?’ at 8a.
There’s a currency appearing in the grid but I don’t know if this is an intended Nina; probably not.
Thanks to Jalna
Definitions underlined in bold, deletions and letters in clues not appearing in answer indicated by strikethrough.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Insincere praise is more boring and ultimately yucky (8) |
| FLATTERY – FLATTER (‘more boring’) and |
|
| 5 | Plan is pretty much perfect (4) |
| IDEA – IDEA |
|
| 8 | European on newspaper staff supporting old-school communications? (9,4) |
| TELEGRAPH POLE – POLE (‘European’) following in an across clue (‘on’) TELEGRAPH (‘newspaper’)
Nice def. A few decades ago, those staff (Guilty, M’lud) probably weren’t too receptive to 13a’s message. |
|
| 10 | Might start to pity somebody with an overdraft? (5) |
| POWER – P |
|
| 11 | Destroy rapper regularly involved in commotion (7) |
| TORPEDO – R TORPEDO here as a verb. |
|
| 12 | Last part of bowls match you pester people to finish (6) |
| ENDURE – END (‘part of bowls match’) then last letters of (‘to finish’) |
|
| 13 | Computer pro primarily told every client how IT’s essential (6) |
| TECHIE – First letters (‘primarily’) of T I remember the days when there was just one person in a Department who knew anything about computers and who spent his (usually) time telling everyone how important computers were going to be. Turns out he was right. |
|
| 16 | At no extra cost, add flimsy boxes to scrap (5,2) |
| THROW IN – THIN (‘flimsy’) contains (‘boxes’) ROW (‘scrap’) | |
| 18 | Minutiae so perfectly encapsulates fabulous writer (5) |
| AESOP – Hidden (‘encapsulates’) in MinutiAE SO Perfectly
He of the Fables, so ‘fabulous’ as in mythical, to do with fables. |
|
| 20 | Legal investigations I see in TV broadcast needing specific characters? (4-9) |
| CASE-SENSITIVE – CASES (‘Legal investigations’) then anagram (‘broadcast’) of I SEE IN TV
‘Characters’ referring to letters of the alphabet in the answer, though not in the surface reading. |
|
| 21 | Trickle of water runs inside sink (4) |
| DRIP – R (‘runs’) contained in (‘inside’) DIP (‘sink’) | |
| 22 | Sources of fruit or leafy vegetables (8) |
| ORCHARDS – OR (‘or’) CHARDS (‘leafy vegetables’)
Another good one. Seems as though I should have seen this one before, but if so, I don’t recall it. |
|
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Place provided to lift frame (3,2) |
| FIT UP – Reversal (‘to lift’) of PUT (‘Place’) IF (‘provided’)
As in falsely accuse or incriminate. |
|
| 2 | Acknowledged love after everybody married (7) |
| ALLOWED – O (‘love’) following (‘after’) ALL (‘everybody’) then WED (‘married’)
ALLOW for ‘acknowledge’ = admit the truth of, as in “I allow / acknowledge that you are correct”. |
|
| 3 | Large crustaceans in springwater, oddly (5,6) |
| TIGER PRAWNS – Anagram (‘oddly’) of SPRINGWATER
Good surface: not a freshwater species as I understand. |
|
| 4 | Money in Brazil they cleared out for property (6) |
| REALTY – REAL (‘Money in Brazil’) T I think of this as more of an American term – condos in Florida etc. |
|
| 6 | PhD’s title about electronic flying device (5) |
| DRONE – DR (‘PhD’s title’) ON (‘about’) E (‘electronic’) | |
| 7 | Compound of excellent quality (7) |
| ACETONE – ACE (‘excellent’) TONE (‘quality’) | |
| 9 | Pungent plant — sorrel, perhaps — is hard to move (11) |
| HORSERADISH – HORSE (‘sorrel, perhaps’) then anagram (‘to move’) of IS HARD
A sorrel is “a horse with a light reddish-brown coat” (Oxford Dictionaries). |
|
| 12 | Lured knight to be taken in by terrible deceit (7) |
| ENTICED – N (‘knight’ (in chess notation)) contained in (‘to be taken in by’) anagram of (‘terrible’) DECEIT | |
| 14 | Eats part of wedding cake, possibly showing more eagerness (7) |
| HASTIER – HAS (‘Eats’) TIER (‘part of wedding cake, possibly’) | |
| 15 | Increasingly stupid way everyone finishes, right? (6) |
| INANER – IN AN E (‘way everyone finishes’) R (‘right?’)
The word ‘everyone’ finishes in an E – very good. Not sure about the question mark at the end; maybe just for the surface. |
|
| 17 | Gentleman rises before greeting Hindu sage (5) |
| RISHI – RIS = a reversal (‘rises’ in a down clue) of SIR (‘gentleman) HI (‘greeting’)
The recent PM usually gets a look-in for this word, but not today. |
|
| 19 | Push for media coverage (5) |
| PRESS – Double definition | |
A struggle for me as well, 13.02, with the north-east corner (IDEA, DRONE and LOI ACETONE) holding things up for several minutes. So a unanimous points win to Jalna. Thanks BR, I had no idea what was going on with HORSE RADISH or INANER, which turns out to be very clever.
No real problems, although I had to ponder each clue. I put inticed instead of enticed, slowing me down a bit. The springwater/tiger prawns clue was a brilliant single-word anagram, very clever. Acetone was my LOI, I believe we have seen it before, but it was well-disguised.
Time: 9:01
16 minutes, giving myself problems by carelessly biffing INCITED at 12 when there were no checkers to prevent it, and then not checking the anagrist. I didn’t take long to realise that something was amiss but finding what it was took considerably longer.
I didn’t always know what was going on by got there in a surprisingly spritely 11.33. All green too!
Nine minutes or so on this. I think 15d would hardly work without the question mark, because the speaker is making a generalisation, framed as a question. So, I don’t think you need the ? in the parsing of RIGHT.
Steady going until a typo in TOePEDO caused me issues with LOI HORSERADISH.
Finished in 8.19.
Thanks to BR and Jalna
Tough one here, 28.18 when LOI inaner finally fell. Thanks BR for parsing of several that were beyond us, but biffable. Why is sorrel = horse?
Thanks Jalna
See blog! It’s in the dictionaries (new to me too).
11:33
Found HORSERADISH and ORCHARDS tricky.
TIGER PRAWNS, top anagram. But COD INANER.
No real problems on my way to 07:08 and a Good Day.
I thought TIGER PRAWNS was superb and gets my COD for the excellence of the surface, though TELEGRAPH POLE was also very good. Needed to take sorrel on trust for horse, but with the anagram of radish at the end it had to be right.
Great fun, many thanks Jalna and Bletchers.
I sprinted through this in 9:55, though I did not stop to parse my last two of HORSERADISH and CASE-SENSITIVE, both put in from checkers and definitions.
Agree that TIGER PRAWNS/springwater is a fabulous anagram, well worth the COD.
Many thanks BR for the blog.
Hello all, waving from the SCC
22.32, but much fun was had getting here.
NHO of the reddish SORREL horse – however, had to be.
Chuckled when PD for ORCHARDS
COD has to go to INANER (though had not heard the word used in conversation)-delightfully crafted.
Now humming as we set off into our day.
Thank you Jalna – and BletchleyReject for the blog….very helpful!
Jalna knows how to knock you down (especially evident after yesterday’s refreshing QC from Trelawney). This did not fill the brief for a times QC – I thought it was a mini-15×15 and I lost patience with it with a couple of clues still to solve so DNF.
There were some good clues but I can’t be bothered to go back and list them.
I am impressed by some of the times above but, having checked my earlier times, Jalna only occasionally produces a puzzle I would describe as a QC (and, incidentally, I have done thousands). At least I have always finished his offerings in the past. Maybe he and I are just not compatible or perhaps I am just not in the mood.
(Harrumphs and goes off to paint the conservatory……)
Gosh I was slow! Bit of a shock after yesterday’s romp.
Enjoying my time in the SCC having been held up by INANER for an absurd amount of time. My initial reaction was to consider this a very poor clue but having been enlightened by the blog I find it rather clever!
Thanks BR and Jalna.
DNF
I entered TORNEDO for 11a, which is wrong on several levels.
Otherwise, finished in 9:23, with my LOI, INANER, biffed but not parsed.
COD to HORSERADISH.
Thanks BR and Jalna
Not on wavelength here: 9:44. I thought it was difficult, though. I don’t equate TORPEDO with destroy, and HORSERADISH took me ages. Also found ORCHARDS difficult (because I wanted it to begin with F), and needed all the letters for ACETONE.
When I put in 1ac and 5ac straightaway I thought it could be another fast time but this was in fact very slow.
An enjoyable crossword, but on the hard side for sure.
I think TORPEDO as a verb means destroy, as in “The Labour rebels torpedoed Rachel’s benefits reform plans.” I say this without checking any authoritative sources.
I think you’re right that it can be used in a sense which just about means ‘destroy’ – my point is really that I don’t naturally equate them and so found it a difficult clue. So not a criticism of the clue, just seeking to explain my slowness.
11/24 not bad for a Jalna.
Thanks BR & J
23:03. Quite a challenge, but made it with a couple of biffs: INANER and HORSERADISH unparsed – I see I am not alone in this.
I found this tough going, which seems to be consistent with others’ experience. My LOI was ACETONE, after staring at TECHIE for ages, which is ironic since I am one.
Pretty sure we’ve seen the “IN AN E” device for INANE more than once previously. I’d say this is the first time I’ve instantly parsed it, so based on my record, we’ve probably seen it at least half a dozen times before 🙂
I also spent far too long trying to fit TELEGRAPH ROAD (one of my all time favourite songs, regularly listen to the Live version from Alchemy on my long runs) into 8 ac, even tried TELEGRAPH CODE (as in, “you can hear them singing out their telegraph code all the way down the Telegraph Road”) to no avail. Sadly I am just too young to have seen Dire Straits live, and was always jealous of one my teachers who claimed to have been at one of the concerts in Hammersmith that was recorded for Alchemy.
Thanks Jalna, thanks BletchleyReject.
Likewise but I did see The Notting Hill Billies live, twice actually. Both small gigs, one in Folkestone where we were able to meet the band after the gig.
6:37
Finished with four unparsed in flight (THROW IN, CASE SENSITIVE, ORCHARDS, DRONE), three of which took me some time to work out after the solve. I also didn’t know the sorrel = HORSE thing, but the answer was a gimme from the definition. Good, chewy puzzle which I think I got a bit lucky with.
Thanks BR and Jalna
I can’t say that I really enjoyed this one and I certainly wasn’t on Jalna’s wavelength. Normally I follow the word play to the definition but today I did the reverse. I did like the TIGER PRAWNS in the spring water though. Sorrel = HORSE was a guess. I suspect sorrel and realty are more commonly used in the USA. FOI IDEA and LOI ORCHARDS in a sluggish 10:51 Thanks BR
Very difficult – but got there in something over an hour, LOI INANER. Mrs M (Asian GK) helped with RISHI. Part of bowls match? 1d frame (NHO FIT UP)? What is sorrel doing there? REALTY is surely only in the US. Thank you BR for sorting it all out. Oh and a minor pedantic MER for the surface of 18: since minutiae are plural it would have to be encapsulate (not -s).
Or nearly all: still don’t see what the bowls match has to do with END – could as easily be anything at all, day, book, anything, why bowls match??
In a Bowls match, Lawn or indoor versions, Bowls are bowled from one end of the “Green” to the other. When all Bowls have been bowled there will be a winner of that “End” The next “End” is bowled back the other way. There are many ends in a bowls match. (Think of Cricket where each over is bowled from each end in alternately. ) And then there is Crown Green Bowls ????? but enough said.
I see! Well done and thank you. Extraordinary how the details of all these various sports are deemed to be GK. I wonder whether you play bowls yourself or whether you just “knew”.
I have never actually played bowls (Tennis took up the playing time) but have always been interested in various sports (Bowls, Snooker etc.) and how the top level players operate. So knowledge needed to appreciate it. They make it look so easy.
Quite agree – just like top violinists!
Didn’t like this QC one bit. Just could not get into it.
11 minutes today. LOI ACETONE.
I needed all the checkers to get HORSERADISH.
Some excellent clues including DRIP.
David
I thought this was an excellent puzzle, and I needed nearly all my target time finishing in 9.53. The clue of the day for me has to be TIGER PRAWNS. The clue that gave me the most trouble was my LOI ORCHARDS, which took me the best part of a minute before the penny dropped.
Didn’t know the horse and couldn’t parse throw in or fit up but otherwise plain sailing. There are tens of millions of known chemical compounds, just as well only the same two or three got into crossword land. Thanks Jalna and BR.
Set off well with the first two across clues going straight in but after that it became a bit of a slog. I eventually finished in 19 minutes with everything green. I couldn’t parse FIT UP or DRONE although the parsing of neither of those was at all complicated.
FOI – 1ac FLATTERY
LOI – 15dn INANER
CODs – can’t choose between TELEGRAPH POLE, ORCHARDS and TIGER PRAWNS, all of which were excellent.
Thanks to Jalna and BR
16:29 – that started off gently but seemed to ramp up quite quickly. The horse confused me but I managed to biff it in the end, which led me to LOI ORCHARDS. I should probably have got that one sooner but I’m not entirely sure that I know what a chard looks like.
Thank you for the blog!
All green in 18:40. I was very sluggish and some decent effort was needed, but felt very rewarded in the end. Easy COD to 8a TELEGRAPH POLE, what a wonderful definition. NHO sorrel before and THROW IN was unparsed. Thanks setter and blogger.
From POWER to INANER in 7:22. Biffed HORSERADISH, never noticed the sorrel part of the clue, although I do recall it coming up previously. Thanks Jalna and BR.