8 minutes. I’ve had quite a bad patch of QC solving times recently which finally ended last Friday with 8 minutes spent on an offering from Wurm, my first sub-10 solve since Trelawney’s last outing on 20th April (also 8 minutes). Today with the return of Trelawney I’ve equalled that. I don’t keep track these days, but I think both of these setters are generally considered to be at the easier end of the spectrum. How did you get on?
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 | Least expensive copy found in wooden box (8) |
| CHEAPEST – APE (copy) contained by [found in] CHE⁁ST (wooden box). I wonder if I was alone in thinking of coffin before chest? | |
| 5 | Some nap secretly in part of church (4) |
| APSE – Hidden in [some] {n}AP SE{cretly} | |
| 9 | Closely follow mum’s doctrine (5) |
| DOGMA – DOG (closely follow), MA (mum) | |
| 10 | American writer turned into fat cat (7) |
| LEOPARD – POE (American writer) reversed [turned] contained by [into] L⁁ARD (fat). My LOI and one of the few clues I needed to return to when more checkers were in place. | |
| 11 | Consequence of extremely rude orchestra section (12) |
| REPERCUSSION – R{ud}E [extremely], PERCUSSION (orchestra section) | |
| 13 | Tolerate part of play featuring creep periodically (6) |
| ACCEPT – AC⁁T (part of play) containing [featuring] C{r}E{e}P [periodically] | |
| 15 | Detest a hotel terribly (6) |
| LOATHE – Anagram [terribly] of A HOTEL | |
| 17 | Scarlet Lycra pants very obvious! (7-5) |
| CRYSTAL-CLEAR – Anagram [pants] of SCARLET LYCRA | |
| 20 | Inventor’s right to hug one invalid? (7) |
| PATIENT – PAT⁁ENT (inventor’s right) containing [to hug] I (one) | |
| 21 | Wireless advertisement in Brazilian city (5) |
| RADIO – AD (advertisement) contained by [in] R⁁IO (Brazilian city) | |
| 22 | Pleasant afternoon finally to chill (4) |
| NICE – {afternoo}N [finally], ICE (chill) | |
| 23 | Save prisoner to join the military? (8) |
| CONSERVE – CON (prisoner), SERVE (join the military) | |
| Down |
|
|---|---|
| 1 | Swimmer ultimately broke cipher (4) |
| CODE – COD (swimmer), {brok}E [ultimately] | |
| 2 | Gale disturbed European bird (5) |
| EAGLE – Anagram [disturbed] of GALE, then E (European) | |
| 3 | Aviation enthusiast quietly tracks ceramicist (12) |
| PLANESPOTTER – P (quietly), LANES (tracks), POTTER (ceramicist) | |
| 4 | Choose the Spanish to infiltrate faction (6) |
| SELECT – EL (‘the’ in Spanish) contained by [to infiltrate] S⁁ECT (faction) | |
| 6 | Musician heading back inside west Sinai peninsula (7) |
| PIANIST – Reversed [heading back] and hidden [inside] {wes}T SINAI P{eninsula} | |
| 7 | Jeopardise finale and get cross (8) |
| ENDANGER – END (finale), ANGER (get cross) | |
| 8 | Peer group? (5,2,5) |
| HOUSE OF LORDS – Cryptic | |
| 12 | Cooked canapé with US kitchen utensil (8) |
| SAUCEPAN – Anagram [cooked] of CANAPE US | |
| 14 | Mysterious wail before photo capturing ghost’s foot (7) |
| CRYPTIC – CRY (wail), P⁁IC (photo) containing [capturing] {ghos}T [’s foot] | |
| 16 | Rather drunk, beginning to bet on numbers game (6) |
| BLOTTO – B{et} [beginning to…], LOTTO (numbers game) | |
| 18 | More unhappy after losing small snake (5) |
| ADDER – {s}ADDER (more unhappy) [after losing small] | |
| 19 | Wisecrack from judge offended King Edward primarily (4) |
| JOKE – J{udge} + O{ffended} + K{ing} + E{dward} [primarily] | |
4:52 for my 3rd fastest solve, following up another top-10 solve last Monday. I’ve been struggling more than usual with QCs recently (more DNFs than I’ve had in quite a long time), so it’s nice to have a confidence booster.
This was a very nice puzzle, I would imagine it would be a very good introduction to a new solver.
Yes, a Monday puzzle if there ever was one. Saucepan and leopard were the only ones that gave just the slightest bit of difficulty.
Time: 5:40
6:38
Currently the NITCH is at 68, one of the lowest this year (I’m bringing up the rear again with a 95). Like Vinyl, I needed a bit of time for LEOPARD & SAUCEPAN.
7:01. Yes, good QC which was both enjoyable- I particularly liked the ‘Scarlet Lycra pants’ – and not too difficult. Like our blogger I needed the crossers for LEOPARD and I was again slow to spot the PIANIST reverse hidden, looking at the other end of the clue for the name of a ‘peninsula’ as the def. Slight MER for SERVE for to ‘join the military?’ (rather than to be a member of) but I suppose it’s close enough.
Thanks to Trelawney and Jack
🎉🥳🍾 9.55 our first ever sub 10. Thanks! Off to lie down.
Congrats!
Well done ⚡
🔥🔥
Congratulations!
Yay!
Fantastic!!
Excellent work!
Always good to achieve a milestone -well done!
Fantastic! Well done, the RHs.
Congratulations 🤩👏
Great job.
Congratulations! 9 times out of 10 our performance aligns (in broad terms) with yours…. when the going gets tough, we take strange solace from this (though you are the ones who at times break rank and do v well when we sink) – anyway – delighted that all beams in your world, too. : )
Amazing! 👏
6:37, which is a new PB by 23 seconds.
Felt like everything just slotted into place. I can’t see where I lost much time, so I still have no idea how people regularly finish these crosswords in under 5mins! Slight issue with PLANESPOTTING due to reading the clue as Avian enthusiast and wondering if pigeonspotting was a thing.
As a ‘3x Kevin’ type of guy, I did have matching Mr Gregg’s time as one of my long term goals, so to see that I have sneaked inside his time by a second today gives me some encouragement that I’m getting better at these things, although I doubt this anomaly will be repeated anytime soon!
Congrats!
Well done 👏
Congratulations!
👏
Oh well done!!
And congratulations to you too!
Very well done 🔥🍾
Brilliant!
Congratulations 🙌
🍾
3:28 – so a quick quickie. But none the less enjoyable for it and exactly what I wanted from a Monday morning QC. Perfect.
COD to CRYPTIC, but also liked CRYSTAL CLEAR and LEOPARD, amongst many nice clues.
Nine on the first pass and then all green in 5.01. SAUCEPAN and PATIENT being the last ones standing. That’s my joint 2nd fastest in goodness knows how many of these. Today hasn’t all gone well though, dropped a bottle of vinegar in the kitchen while searching the fridge for the vegetarian tuna that I now know was eaten on Saturday and then while the cat was shut out for glass cleaning he used the tent for his business. On balance, still a positive morning!
Worth it for CRYSTAL-CLEAR
Agree with Sawbill, and the thought of someone wearing bright red lycra made me smile. LEOPARD and ENDANGER my L2I and a small delay finding then pushed me out to 9:08 when a much faster time was briefly on the cards. Much enjoyed; thank you Trelawney and Jack.
Oh dear – my team skin suit was yellow and claret so almost qualifies. Picture available on the eBook page of my floataero website (!)
Fascinating. Thank you.
I like it! And now understand your blogging name! 🙂
4:39 for the solve for the Quitch. 2nd fastest successful solve ever and unsurprisingly the others sub5s were Trelawney. Always a fast time but with no loss of quality.
Didn’t get much in the SW on first look through and ENDANGER added about 30secs at the end to an otherwise flurry of continuous typing.
Thanks to Jack for the blog and to Trelawney for yet another excellent QC.
Nice one #5. Your brain was firmly in gear.
PB of 21:42 about half of my previous best.
Thanks J & T
Well done 👍
Congrats!
Wow, spectacular improvement!
Very well done, Nutshell.
Another great result! 😊
Congratulations!! : )
Thank you. The challenge now is can I do better with the other setters.
Brilliant! 👏
I was on the right wavelength and I think this was a gentle introduction to the week.
Refreshing and reassuring, given that I’ve struggled with the last few and DNF.
12min, a PB!
Well done on the PB! 👏
Thank you!
I didn’t find this quite as straightforward as some of The Squire’s puzzles but still a brisk solve. My main issue was having a complete brainfreeze for HOUSE OF LORDS and CRYSTAL CLEAR.
Started with CHEAPEST and finished with CRYPTIC in 5.27.
Thanks to Jack and Trelawney.
5:47, my 5th fastest ever.
Whenever I see NICE defined as “pleasant” I am reminded of the old definition in Chambers “…used in vague commendation by those who are not nice”.
Thanks Jack and Trelawney
Bally Dan, a schoolmaster, used to discourage us from using nice unless we meant precise rather than pleasant. He said it was lazy. He also had a go at “I think…” by saying he was not interested in our mental processes but in the answer.
All done and dusted in 5.56 though TBH I thought it was going to be quicker than that because everything seemed to go in without much difficulty. But here and there crossers were required so I suppose that’s what eats into the time. Thanks Trelawney, thanks Jack.
7:13 with a 2+ mins spent trying to see PATIENT
Another one here with a relatively quick solve all green in 5:39 and probably amongst my top 10 time wise.
Very pleasant and gentle introduction to the week. 8:45 to solve and parse.
Initially wondered why 1a was cryptic and I was a little slow to recognise which peer group I was looking for but the orchestra section sorted me out.
COD to PATIENT.
Having got all bar two of the across clues on the first pass, I really thought I was on schedule for only my second ever sub-10. The loi Patient may well have been invalid, but they had other ideas and so this became a 12min solve – still a good effort (for me). Definitely one that got away.
CoD to Crystal Clear, once I overcame the Clearly (strac)* dead end. Invariant
Total delight. Might even have set a stopwatch but for the added stress. Only one hiccup, put preSERVE (nearly works; military = reSERVE?), put right by BLOTTO, hence LOI CONSERVE. Thank you, Trelawney, all the clues very tight without being too obvious. Thanks also to jackkt for the blog.
Very pleasant puzzle solved steadily, but no time as 00.01 showed at the top! Probably around my average 18-20 minutes.
Another Rare Sub Ten here 8:21 Crystal clear for patient planespotter.
Ta JAT
I didn’t find this quite as easy as previous Trelawney QCs and managed a relaxed 15.17. A good QC, though; I was just not in the mood after a disturbed night.
No problem with the anagrams. My LOI was Leopard and my penultimate few are listed by posters above so I will not repeat them.
Thanks to Trelawney for the usual well-thought-out and enjoyable QC and to Jack for his usual good blog.
Very fast then slowed because I had put Preserve instead of CONSERVE, but on correction BLOTTO and PATIENT fell quickly into place. LOsI LEOPARD and ENDANGER.
COD REPERCUSSION. Also liked Lycra.
Congrats on fast times above. And thanks, Jack.
Brisk fun. Pants as an anagram indicator was a minor “what?” until I stopped thinking of underwear, and LEOPARD needed a few more brain cells to flicker before the light came on.
Way-hey – I join the “new PB today” club but more to the point I have finally managed to break the 4 minute barrier! I’m glad they aren’t always this easy but a varied diet is important for the QC and as always Trelawney writes great clues.
COD CRYSTAL CLEAR, what a terrific surface. All done in 03:51 for a Never To Be Repeated Day.
Many thanks Jack and the Squire.
Well done Templar, some achievement! I thought there may be quite a few PBs today, and congrats to all who achieved it. It was The Squire at his most benevolent, and I feel I missed an opportunity to be even quicker than my 5.57.
Well played sir ⚡
Wow, congratulations!
There’s no reason why you can’t beat 3:51 but when you do it’ll give you tremendous pleasure.
Bravo.
Chapeau (sp?) sir -those tethered be a few fast ones today – if I was on a computer rather than this tiny effing phone I reckon I’d be in the low 4s
Well done. Blistering pace.
Never say never! What a scorching time 🔥😊👏
Congratulations…may the moment be repeated soon…
Roger Bannister managed it more than once : )
Thank you everyone for kind comments! I’m not convinced that lightning will strike twice but it was a great feeling:)
Awesome!
The PBs are falling like dominoes! 👏
Splendid!!
Well done all those pbs. I dont time but certainly very quick. Pleasant romp through, thanks Trelawney and Jackkt.
Thanks Trelawney for enabling a bucket-list target of a complete solve straight through, no need for checkers on any clue. Thanks also to jackkt for the excellent as usual blog.
Not a pb, but fastest of the year so far at 8:39. My tenth ever sub-9 solve and seven of those are thanks to Trelawney. Liked REPERCUSSION. Loi CRYSTAL CLEAR. Thanks Jack and Trelawney.
3.58
Loving all the PBs 👍👍👍
A rare but not unique foray into sub-4 minute territory here. I love hard puzzles but like Templar agree that we need (a lot) more of these gentler ones. Just look how happy everyone is!
I didn’t do too badly on this one
First lap: 9
Answered (no help): 19
Answered (with help): 5
Time: 24:42
6:49, one of my better times. An enjoyable puzzle, gentle but still clever with a nice mixture of clue types. Thanks Trelawney and jackkt.
A disappointing 12 minutes. No excuse for not achieving a sub-10 today. Nowhere near my comparators.
Saw it was a Trelawney, knew it would be straightforward and so got stressed out when they didn’t all go in easily.
Failed by 2 on 15 x 15 in well over an hour. Very disappointed.
3:50
Didn’t think I was that quick out of the blocks, only about half of the acrosses on the first pass, but managed all of the downs first time round, which, with all of the checkers in place, just left some mopping up to do.
Thanks Jack and Trelawney
Some way off a PB at 7:23, but enjoyable as ever.
Thank you for the blog!
My thanks to Trelawney and jackkt.
Pretty much top to bottom solve, which I like as long as it isn’t like that ALL the time.
15a Loathe. Hotel is usually just H not the whole thing.
3d Planespotter. Wot, no wizards?
A straight top to bottom solve, but a fine puzzle from Trelawney, as we’ve come to expect.
FOI CHEAPEST
LOI JOKE
COD CRYSTAL CLEAR
TIME 2:55
11:52
A nice start to the week. Just LEOPARD and LOI CONSERVE delaying me slightly.
A PB at just over 10 minutes. Must have been very easy!
Thank you for a super enjoyable puzzle and also for the blog. I don’t watch times as usually do the puzzle in bits (frequently not finishing). But today finished in under 20 mins. Delighted!
6:32. Second fastest ever. Great fun.
Thanks to Trelawney for the super puzzle and thank you jackkt for the blog
COD (obviously) to CRYSTAL CLEAR – brilliant! All over a little too quickly, but enjoyable as ever. LOI CONSERVE. Thanks Trelawney and Jack.
Crystal Clear indeed for first sub-15 min solve in the past year. Makes a ‘nice’ change from the more usual Stuck in the mud offering.
Thanks Trelawny and Jack
Slightly disappointing at 17 minutes. Although a respectable time for me I would expect to be faster on a Monday Trelawney and it was clearly straightforward as witnessed by all the PBS (congrats to you all).
FOI – 1ac CHEAPEST
LOI – 3dn PLANESPOTTER
COD- chuckled at the scarlet Lycra but my favourite was 10ac LEOPARD
Thanks to Trelawney and Jack
Just 12-13 minutes, which is super-fast for me, though not a PB. And, I wasted at least a minute trying to solve 18d (ADDER) whilst inadvertently looking at _L_T__ (16d) in the grid. Doh! A schoolboy error.
No obscure GK. No archaic language. No umpteenth meanings in the dictionary. No obtuse wordplay. Just straightforward and very doable whilst enjoying a cup of coffee. A Quick Cryptic, actually. Some other setters (you know who you are) please take note.
Thanks to Jack and Trelawney.
Happy days Mr R ⚡😊
Wow! – second time this year to actually finish a QC! It took me an enjoyable 20 mins!
It must have been a very easy one today – I was sub-10 mins..!
What fun! Yes, it was very user-friendly, but there were such a lot of great clues – CHEAPEST, LEOPARD and HOUSE OF LORDS among others. But there was only one possible COD today. MrB – a keen cyclist – does wear red lycra, but fortunately only in the form of a jacket 🤣
Not a PB for me but congratulations to everyone who has done so well today.
5:48 FOI Cheapest LOI Conserve COD Crystal clear
Many thanks Trelawney and Jack
Well said. We whole heartedly agree
After struggling with heat haze and hangovers all last week in Spain, this felt a lot easier. I managed it in 4:21 (my second fastest ever), with no significant hold ups. I missed just DOGMA and PATIENT on the first pass, and got all the down clues straight in. It didn’t take more than a split second on each of these when I came back to them. All of which makes me wonder how I once completed one of these puzzles in 3:51!
FAILED 😭 The two word clue got me. I was looking for a word that meant “peer” and also “group”. The usual “lift and separate” thinking. So never got to HOUSE OF LORDS 😭
What bad luck, but onwards and upwards 👍👍