Not too much resistance from the Asp today, though many answers were easier to work out than their parsings. Overall a thoroughly enjoyable solve and blog. Just under 6 minutes for me.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Company allowed to keep politician involved (9) |
| COMPLICIT – CO + LICIT with MP inserted | |
| 6 | Beat player with international experience? (3) |
| CAP – double definition. In various sports when players are selected to play for their country, they are said to be awarded a ‘cap’. I don’t know if they get an actual cap, if so Jos Buttler must have a room full of them. | |
| 8 | Refer to one not in novel (7) |
| MENTION – ‘one’ here is the royal version, meaning ‘me’. Add an anagram (‘novel’) of NOT IN. | |
| 9 | Receive grant (5) |
| ADMIT – double definition | |
| 10 | Job gets son covered in dirt (5) |
| DUSTY – DUTY with S for son inside. Not sure if ‘covered’ is supposed to be wordplay or definition, but it probably works best if it’s doing double duty | |
| 12 | Ground rent is something that has been introduced (6) |
| INSERT – anagram (‘ground’, past tense of ‘grind’) of RENT IS | |
| 14 | Got brief experience of something becoming enjoyable (8,5) |
| ACQUIRED TASTE – ACQUIRED (got) + TASTE (brief experience) | |
| 16 | Judge is hardly entertaining female companion (6) |
| GEISHA – hidden word | |
| 17 | Actor killing lead character in film (5) |
| LAYER – PLAYER minus the first letter | |
| 19 | Meandering route deviating considerably from the norm (5) |
| OUTRE – anagram (‘meandering’) of ROUTE | |
| 20 | Forced setter’s model to meet daughter (7) |
| IMPOSED – I’M (the setter is) + POSE + D | |
| 22 | This woman and that man are naked (3) |
| HER – HE + [ |
|
| 23 | Orange, light brown and green I mixed up (9) |
| TANGERINE – TAN + anagram (‘mixed up’) of GREEN I. Obviously a tangerine is not an orange, but as colours they are similar. | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Clown’s trick spread by newspapers and TV perhaps (8) |
| COMEDIAN – CON (trick) ‘spread’ (i.e opened up) by MEDIA | |
| 2 | Masculine article? (3) |
| MAN – M (masculine) + AN (article), plus the whole thing is the definition (an &lit). | |
| 3 | People not belonging to the clergy abandoned Italy (5) |
| LAITY – anagram (‘abandoned’) of ITALY | |
| 4 | What may be taken into account for payment? (13) |
| CONSIDERATION – double definition. ‘Consideration’ means payment in legal contexts. For a contract to exist, some sort of consideration has to be paid, which is why completely bankrupt companies get bought for £1 rather than being given away. | |
| 5 | End of freight trains disrupted movement of goods (7) |
| TRANSIT – T + anagram (‘disrupted’) of TRAINS | |
| 6 | Appeared covered in spots? Unwilling to be photographed (6-3) |
| CAMERA-SHY – CAME RASHY | |
| 7 | Top athletes going round track (4) |
| PATH – another hidden word, which I took ages to spot | |
| 11 | Separate witness providing case for search (9) |
| SEQUESTER – SEER (witness) outside QUEST (search) | |
| 13 | Resent move to imprison beggars periodically (8) |
| BEGRUDGE – BUDGE (move) ‘imprisons’ the alternate letters of bEgGaRs | |
| 15 | Small creature visited by quiet vet (7) |
| INSPECT – INSECT ‘visited’ by P | |
| 17 | Fault in circuits on radio (5) |
| LAPSE – sounds like LAPS | |
| 18 | I’m surprised silence follows game (4) |
| GOSH – SH after GO | |
| 21 | Go downhill rapidly and almost lose control of vehicle (3) |
| SKI – SKI[ |
|
Really enjoyed this one, it had a few challenges – COMEDIAN, SEQUESTER and DUSTY spring to mind – but nothing that really stumped me.
Started with COMPLICIT and finshed with ADMIT in 7.21. COD to CAMERA SHY.
Thanks to Curarist and Asp
Yes I agree, some clues easier to solve than parse. I never parsed MENTION (one = me is a new trick to me, but obvious when pointed out), or HER – my excuse for the latter is that it was my LOI and so I got the “game over” screen straight away. The two definitions in ADMIT were also both slow to emerge. But all done in a pleasing 11:27 for a nice start to Friday. COD to the very clever CAMERA-SHY.
Many thanks Curarist for the blog.
18:17 for the solve for the Quitch. About what I’d expect from Asp on a Friday. Took twice as long as any of this week’s puzzle but a decent challenge. Just a general undermined feeling of confidence throughout – couldn’t have told you the meaning of SEQUESTER or LAITY – the latter missed it was an anagram and though I was being expected to do something clever with inserting IT into LAY. Missed the hidden GEISHA until it was LOI. A lot going on in many of today’s clues.
The week coming in just under 53mins but two DNFs both of which were a bit silly. That killed a streak of 34 solves – interesting that I’m always a bit sloppier when they are going in fast as they have this week than when they are struggle as they were in April.
Thanks to Curarist and Asp. Have a good weekend everybody 👍
I was initially slow to make progress with this puzzle. I was frustrated but, for some reason, soldiered on. My pace picked up gradually as crossers emerged . My LOsI were MENTION and COMEDIAN and I was relieved to find that I had avoided the SCC by a minute or two (my entry had seemed inevitable early on).
Not a friendly QC for some of us but a correct finish gave some satisfaction in the end so thanks to Asp for a Friday challenge. It makes a change for me to finish an Asp NVQC in under 20 mins.
Thanks to Curarist; I clearly found it more of a challenge than he did. I bifd a couple so I will now explore his blog to check some post-solve parsing.
19mins for a fully parsed Friday Asp suggests that our setter has turned over a new leaf/shed a skin, or I was very lucky: either way I’ll bank the sub-20, especially as the 18th minute was spent spotting the hidden Path 😉
1ac/d and both long answers went in with barely a crosser in sight, and after that it was just a case of using the starters to best effect. Geisha was a lucky spot, and I always thought Sequester was more like ‘seize’, but I suppose ‘separate’ works just as well.
CoD to the early front runner, Camera Shy, though I did also like the surface of Inspect. Invariant
Good time. Asp has always been tough for me.
Very much on Asp’s wavelength today, finishing in 9:57, with LOI ADMIT.
PATH was very well hidden – I wasted time trying to make PROS make sense.
Thanks Curarist and Asp
Completed in a tad under 50 minutes. I can’t claim solved as my first one in was a bifd camera-shy.
It’s another thanks to C&A
If it’s completed correctly then it’s solved. Bifs are as valid a way of getting a solve as figuring out the wordplay. Well done 👍
13 minutes
7.47 – so the toughest of the week, but not too hard.
Enjoyable throughout. I liked BEGRUDGE and COMEDIAN best.
Ideal QC fare IMHO. I managed the parsing, with the annoying exception of HER – banging my head against the 15*15 is clearly beginning to help ( with the essential aid of this blog I should add).
So far this week, I’ve run into “ lay”, “ laity” and (most obscurely ) “ laic” ( not all in QC admittedly). Makes me very glad I never had to learn English as a foreign language! I guess the ultimate test of proficiency in a language is a cryptic crossword ( though I wouldn’t want to communicate regularly in “crosswordese”).
Many thanks to both setter and blogger – efforts much appreciated.
Wild guesses all correct, fortunately. Yes, I found the parsing difficult. Had to begin with SKI and trudge back uphill.
CAMERA SHY was a help, ditto ACQUIRED TASTE, TANGERINE and GEISHA. Followed, eventually, by PDMs with COMPLICIT, COMEDIAN and CONSIDERATION.
This QC might be a struggle for beginners, imo.
Thanks for vital blog, Curarist.
15:48
19:48 Got to admit ASP’s acquired taste once I found the path.
Ta CAA
From COMPLICIT to TANGERINE in 7:42. Failed to parse MENTION. Thanks Asp and Curarist.
14:35. Good puzzle. On the challenging side as expected from Asp but nothing unfair or too difficult. Favourite was the clever MAN – not a wasted letter in either clue or answer.
Thanks to Asp and Curarist
Rare is the Asp I can finish and it wasn’t going to be this one either. Tried and tried but it’s time to concede defeat with two to the bad, SEQUESTER and ACQUIRED just too difficult. Thanks Curarist.
Finally, an Asp I got on with.
15:45. Surprisingly speedy for me, all things considered.
Pi ❤️
Very tough, taking 29:40 to struggle home. Not on Asp’s wavelength (as usual) and reliant on pure guesswork too often to make it enjoyable.
21 mins…
A good challenge, probably just at the right level of difficulty from a setter with a fierce reputation for tough crosswords.
Nothing much gained on the first pass in the NW, but steadily worked my way around the grid. Only panic was around the spelling of 11dn “Sequester”.
FOI – 12ac “Insert”
LOI – 15dn “Inspect”
COD – 6dn “Camera Shy”
Thanks as usual!