Oh my. At 4:20 pm California time this afternoon (12:20 am UK time), the Times app on my phone still wasn’t showing the “Crossword Club” tile, which is where I normally solve these. I reluctantly pulled out the laptop, even though I don’t know how to use the web interface very well. So I was all discombobulated when I started solving this one. Things did not get better for me from there on.
As I have mentioned in previous blogs, anagrams are my least favourite type of clue, and we have a bumper helping today, including both the answers that span the grid.
As well as the anagrams, I struggled today with clues that on other days would have been fast: SHERRY, TUDOR, BREAST and BOREDOM were among the culprits.
My last one in – by a mile – was AMERICA (where I live, d’oh! – although no-one here actually calls the country “America”). I had a total brain freeze, and after my time went over the 30 minute mark, I allowed myself to look at Chambers’ Word Wizard, which told me there were no words that match A_E_I_A. Well, thanks a bunch, Chambers. After that I started trying to remember fictional countries, until in desperation I turned to the bloggers’ WhatsApp group, where I got the answer in seconds.
Ultimate time: 32:56, one of my slowest times ever, and almost definitely the slowest when I’ve been writing the blog. Sometime you just have one of those days.
I wasn’t so grumpy that I didn’t think about a Clue of Day: my vote goes to NUMBER, because I do like a good pun.
Apologies if this is all self-indulgent “oh poor me”-ing. But everyone struggles sometimes, even those of us who write these columns. And to those of you who check whether you were faster than the blogger, you’re welcome 😉.
Definitions underlined, synonyms in round brackets, wordplay in square brackets and deletions in strikethrough. Anagram indicators italicised in the clue, anagram fodder indicated like (THIS)*.
| Across | |
| 1 | Pull dependant back (4) |
| DRAW – WARD (dependent), reversed [back]. | |
| 3 | Scholar’s account interrupted by media broadcast (8) |
| ACADEMIC – ACC (account) containing [interrupted by] (MEDIA)*. | |
| 9 | Old and short, quite wrinkled (7) |
| ANTIQUE – AN |
|
| 10 | Jargon in advance written on back of manual (5) |
| LINGO – IN (from the clue) and GO (advance) after the last letter [back of] |
|
| 11 | Vessel in amphora, or tankard (5) |
| AORTA – Hidden in amphorA OR TAnkard.
A blood vessel, of course. |
|
| 12 | Fluff found in modest drink (6) |
| SHERRY – ERR (fluff, as in lines) in SHY (modest). | |
| 14 | Ultimate ban on rocky peak that’s flat (5,8) |
| TABLE MOUNTAIN – (ULTIMATE BAN ON)*.
I spotted that “peak’s that flat” has 13 letters, so spent too long trying to make that anagram work. Once I got the N from NUMBER I realized that couldn’t be right. But did I ever bother counting the letters in “ultimate ban on”? I did not. |
|
| 17 | For example, some chicken run circled by wild animal (6) |
| BREAST – R for run (cricket), contained in [circled by] BEAST (wild animal).
I think “For example” at the start just makes this clue harder by adding another piece that looks like a cryptic element but ends up having to be part of the definition. |
|
| 19 | Bird beginning to make a raucous cry (5) |
| MACAW – first letter [beginning] of M |
|
| 22 | Strange tour taking in back of terraced house (5) |
| TUDOR – (TOUR)* containing the last letter [back] of As in House of Tudor. Which took me a long time to spot. |
|
| 23 | Country song featured in musical (7) |
| AMERICA – double definition. The second definition is a reference to the song from West Side Story.
Oh dear oh dear. I spent 10 minutes gazing at A_E_I_A with nothing coming to mind. As mentioned above, the bloggers’ WhatsApp group came up trumps for me: many thanks to glheard. I was so convinced this would be a word for “song” contained in the name of a musical that I never even considered the possibility of a double definition. |
|
| 24 | Revolutionary made it with no control (8) |
| DOMINATE – (MADE IT NO)* | |
| 25 | Everything going past bat originally — for example, a bouncer (4) |
| BALL – ALL (everything) after B A bouncer is a type of delivery in cricket. |
|
| Down | |
| 1 | Tarnished tin made a shiny material (8) |
| DIAMANTE – (TIN MADE A)*. | |
| 2 | Remove top of beam later (5) |
| AFTER – Follow the instruction and remove the top of |
|
| 4 | Cook at once sees hot snack (6,2,5) |
| CHEESE ON TOAST – (AT ONCE SEES HOT)*
Clever anagram, but to be honest I had had my fill of anagrams by this point. |
|
| 5 | Five hundred pixies shortened burrow (5) |
| DELVE – D (five hundred in Roman numerals), plus ELVE That’s the verb sense of “burrow”, as a rabbit does. |
|
| 6 | Main rock almost formed island (7) |
| MINORCA – (MAIN ROC |
|
| 7 | Animal scoffing hot dog (4) |
| CHOW – COW containing [scoffing] H for hot. | |
| 8 | Fuddy-duddy in shape (6) |
| SQUARE – Double definition, the first being perhaps slightly dated. | |
| 13 | Mushroom, advocaat and lemonade (8) |
| SNOWBALL – Another double definition.
My first thought on reading this clue: “Ugh, what a terrible recipe.” |
|
| 15 | State showing little interest in colour during time of prosperity (7) |
| BOREDOM – RED (color) during BOOM (time of prosperity). | |
| 16 | One, perhaps, is less sensitive (6) |
| NUMBER – Another double definition.
This time it is “number” in the sense of “more numb”, but also watch out for “number” to mean “anaesthetic” or “anaesthetist”. |
|
| 18 | Protective garment worn regularly after month in spring (5) |
| APRON – APR (standard abbreviation for April), and then |
|
| 20 | Strike beginning to affect country (5) |
| CHINA – CHIN (strike), plus A |
|
| 21 | Learning, no end, for macho man (4) |
| STUD – STUD A pair of mirror image clues to finish the downs. |
|
I didn’t have too many problems with the anagrams (with the exception of TABLE MOUNTAIN, which came late) (and I didn’t know it was an anagram) but the lower half was a challenge for me. I didn’t know chin could mean strike, for a start, so rejected CHINA from the get-go. I also didn’t remember AMERICA being a song, and in the end hold-ups like these gave me a finish time of 10.42. Some of these clues (ANTIQUE, for instance) would not have been out of place in the 15×15 – not that there’s anything wrong with that. I enjoyed it, thanks to Mara and the Doof.
Maybe this puzzle actually is hard. I had to guess that snowball might be some bizarre drink, and cheese on toast might be a thing. Diamante? Never heard of it. And yes, I struggled with America.
Time: 13:02
A quite chewy but enjoyable puzzle, I thought. I agree with Lindsay that some of the clues could be escapees from a biggie. The ones that held me up were BREAST (Duh!), SHERRY and DIAMANTE. AMERICA was a write-in so that’s my ear worm sorted for a while. Liked ANTIQUE and LINGO. Thought BOREDOM was going to be a geographic state until I finally saw it. COD to TUDOR when I realised the type of ‘house’ required.
Thanks D and setter.
8:58
Biffed ACADEMIC, LINGO, TABLE MOUNTAIN, SNOWBALL, & AMERICA, parsed post-submission–except AMERICA, which I never figured out. I knew the song, didn’t know its title. Also DNK SNOWBALL; I suspect that even without the mushroom I’d say, ‘Ugh, what a terrible recipe’.
16:34. Slow for me, with AMERICA and the long anagrams holding me up too. Looking back, nothing unfair so can’t complain. Some good surfaces for MACAW, CHEESE ON TOAST and SNOWBALL and I liked the BOREDOM def.
Thanks to Doofers and Mara
PS, Doofers, If you’re still up and about, check your current Quick SNITCH time; very impressive!
Heh, yes I had noticed that. The “4:20 pm” in my first sentence was interpreted as my time! I’ve sent a note to starstruck_au to see if it can be fixed.
13 minutes, so a little slower today but within my extended target of 15. I remember the popularity of the SNOWBALL in the 1970/80s but I don’t think I ever tried one as it had a reputation for being very sweet. I know the advocaat was made with egg yolks and there was always the suspicion that it may have gone off if kept on the shelf for too long, like Bailey’s with its cream content.
I recall that at a party in the 1960s when a certain amount of drink had been taken, someone suggested that it should be possible to fry Advocaat, making a sort of omelette. It didn’t work.
I can see the appeal of an alcoholic omelette – but advocaat is far too sweet for the purpose.
And a) doesnt contain enough egg, and b) only contains yolks, you need the white and/or milk to make the texture of an omlette. (Think hard boiled egg yolk for what you get if you just cook yolks). And c) the cooking would drive off the alcohol anyway.
Tricky, but enjoyable none the less. Put in “drag” for 1 ac, hoping that “gard” might be some word I did not know before seeing the error of my ways. Thanks Doof and Mara
Did the same! But failed to correct it, so a DNF for me. Mostly an easy puzzle for me but one or two were tricky, if not baffling.
Outclassed today. Only three on the first pass and then hard work to the end. Needed Doofer’s help to understand LINGO and AMERICA (oh, literally a song from a musical) and just slow to lots, especially in the SW – BOREDOM (tried to do something with blossom), TUDOR (wrote the letters out and still couldn’t anagram it, even with the checking R) and STUD (I guess that is the definition but I was on a hunk track). All green in 23.16 – all fair, just hard!
Doofers, there will lots of us today who really appreciate your blog for the lift we get when the blogger struggles too. Thank you 😉
As I’ve written here before, when we see Mara, I use up 5 seconds saying “ah, Mara, King of misdirection”, and so it was. Lots of “oh that ….”
We got there in 22.41, COD to snowball for the reminiscence of me and my sister’s first taste of alcohol at Christmas a long time ago
Thanks Mara
You’re most welcome. I’m approaching 100 blogs now but have never completely got over the initial “Really, they chose ME??” reaction when I was added to the roster.
Oh, that’s interesting. You were the blogger on the day a couple of years ago when we first came across this site and have always assumed you one of the main people here 😉
SNOWBALL was my final effort, reducing six to five to the bad. Thought it must be AMERICA but decided it’s a continent (or two), not a country. Four others in the bottom half just too difficult. Thanks, Doof.
Well now, a rather different experience for me, as everything clicked and everything went in pretty much first time for an 8:46 solve. I confess I never stopped to parse TABLE MOUNTAIN, as it was an easy biff once I had the initial T, and LOI BREAST held me up briefly, but otherwise no issues. But I’ve had enough days like our blogger’s in my time so sympathise.
Many thanks Doofers for the blog and the honest report!
Found this straightforward albeit a few of them biffed – all green in 7:24. Like others wondered about AMERICA. I quite like quizzing but could never be a contender due to a serious blind spot for musicals and operas.
Thanks for blog and setter for a well pitched QC.
A little tougher than some of the puzzles we’ve had recently but a fun challenge
I’d heard of the cocktail but couldn’t have told you what was in it and I couldn’t parse AMERICA altough I’m sure I’d recognise the song if I heard it.
Started with DRAW and finished with BREAST (tricky definition for me) in 8.33.
Thanks to Doofers and Mara
This was fairly tough in parts, and AMERICA took forever to figure out as I could not get my mind to dislodge ARIA from being part of the answer – the letters worked, but just not in the right way.
21:01, and I’m so glad that others far more estimable than I found this tricky.
Pi ❤️
15:05
A slow solve, not helped by biffing MADEIRA for the island, causing problems getting LINGO and SHERRY. MINORCA was therefore my LOI.
Thanks Doofers and Mara
Always pleased to solve in around 10 minutes, although very rarely. Raced through top half in 3 minutes (and thinking I might hit a personal best), then slowed dramatically. Biffed SHERRY and AMERICA and a final time of 11m 29s. Some clever anagrams. Then, over to see this site and encouraged to see a faster time than the Doof!
Hard yards here too, falling into some of the traps already identified (tried to anagram “peak’s that flat” ✅, got confused by “For example” at the start of 17a ✅) and then inventing some new ones.
Got home in 09:49 for a Tricky Day. COD ANTIQUE. Many thanks Mara and terrific blog, Doofers!
23:41. Struggled with this, especially the across clues, and needed many biffs to get the unparsed solutions. Definitely one of the hardest recent puzzles.
I started very quickly and was almost done after 12 mins but then I hit the chewy bits. Ended up complete in 17.50 after a slow finish in the SE corner with MACAW, CHINA, and AMERICA. I wasn’t sure about parsing the last two.
A good puzzle. Not easy but lots to like. I enjoyed the anagrams. My COD was ANTIQUE and PDM of the day was TUDOR.
Thanks, both.
14:02 for the Quitch solve! Generally a bit slow and helped as checkers went in. Thought ANTIQUE was a very good clue. About half a minute on the end double-checking AMERICA before realising it was a double-def rather than an insertion of some sort.
No idea what DIAMANTE is but in the days when I first had a TV with all the freeview channels, I’d occasionally get sucked in to watching QVC or the shopping channel and I feel like it’s one of those expensive sounding but cheap things which are used to make the sort of overpriced tat products they have on there. Fortunately I eventually found the setting to remove channels like that.
Thanks to Doofers and Mara
I thought it was those tacky, blingy fake jewel things that you see attached to clothes – although I may be getting confused with sequins.
You’re pretty much spot on. My quick search returns “Diamante fabric is a material covered with glittering ornaments such as rhinestones, sequins, or crystals to create a sparkling, diamond-like appearance.”
See also spangles (not the confectionary).
10:06. One of the toughest recently in my book. Snowball – no idea how that worked, and NHO the drink. MER / dislike AMERICA for country. I suppose it’s OK, just about. Not my favourite QC, but I think mostly fair and much was enjoyable. Fortunately, or unfortunately, my time doesn’t count as I managed to misspell ANEIQUE.
I feel quite chuffed to get 10 in 20 minutes, 14 after 30 minutes, and 23 after 45 minutes.
Failed on draw sherry and chest.
There is an instrumental version of America by The Nice dating from the late 1960s. I still have the 45.
thanks D & M
… played repeatedly on the jukebox in the uni café in the early 70s! Brilliant rock version.
If I remember correctly it ended with a child reciting :
“America’s government was promise and anticipation, but it murdered by the hand of the inevitable”.
Correct but I had to check it on Spotify. The first three The Nice albums are on Spotify, probably all of them. I have the first four vinyls (still).
The site wouldn’t accept my post yesterday..
.Slow start but I ended up with 21 with my last “get” being slap. Bit of a mere at 1d which I didn’t get even with all the crossers. Sometime in the context of has dabbled in occasionally, as a sideline or hobby. Former as in was active in this pursuit as a career or main hobby. I am a former cyclist, I was not a sometime cyclist. I doth protest too much.
9:57 and saved from a pink square with the very last letter changed from DRAG to DRAW.
22:59
Found that really hard, each clue needing deep thought. Failed to parse LOI AMERICA.
Took ages then forgot to go back and check doubtful Drag at 1a. Aargh, DRAW, of course.
Otherwise finished all correct…..eventually. PDM with MACAW while unstacking the dishwasher helped in SW with NUMBER etc. Had guessed SNOWBALL.
Biffed TABLE MOUNTAIN but at first missed anagram.
Couldn’t spell DIAMANTE originally. Liked AFTER, CHOW, DELVE & ANTIQUE.
Thanks vm, Doofers.
Many interruptions possibly added to our sense of plod here. Can’t say we entirely enjoyed this – rather we made it through. SNOWBALL, song AMERICA and some others well outside our world…very chuffed though to not wander up the NUMBER garden path.
Possibly stayed out of the SCC, however, most enjoyment today has come from delicious blog. Not to say not clever, simply didn’t hit the spot here.
Thank you Mara and D.
7:54
Not the easiest – I too, stared at A_E_I_A for longer than was polite, and only vague recollections of Advocaat (urgh!) at Christmas gave me the SNOWBALL answer. For 6d, I’d bunged in a hasty MAJORCA at first (MAJOR=main) but with the 10d checkers L_J_O, had to reconsider. Both of the two long anagrams were speedy write-ins though.
Well done for battling through, Doofers, and thanks also to Mara
Despite a good start along the top of the grid, I gradually slowed down and in fact ended up needing a second sitting to put the last handful to bed. America, Boredom and loi Breast pushed my time out and left me wondering if Doofers was the one I waved to as I crawled past the 30min post?
Overall, I thought this was one of the hardest from Mara for quite some time, so just glad to finish. CoD to Snowball for the pdm. Invariant
Feeling quite pleased to complete in 32:44
Draw and chow taking an age…
Thanks blogger and setter 🙂
Clawed my way through this with so many forehead slapping moments that I now have a headache. This is why I don’t try the Biggie too often, I don’t have sufficient twisty brain cells…
All fair, much cleverness, and going through Doof’s blog afterwards it was “me too”, “me too”, “yes…”.
The only one that I had no trouble with that others seem to have found tricky was AMERICA, probably because my Dad was a West Side Story fan and the LP was played frequently enough that I can pretty much sing the whole libretto.
Well done Doof for the very honest blog, good to know that even the experts can have “Doh!” moments too. And I didn’t beat your time although I was close!
From DRAW to BALL in 6:32. No dramas. Thanks Mara and Doofers.
My thanks to Mara and Doofenschmirtz.
Slightly harder than usual I thought. I expect I was faster than Doofenschmirtz though.
17a Breast, oh yes, sloooow PDM.
24a Dominate LOI. Just didn’t think of it for ages.
22a Tudor; I thought it might be a style of build. We call it B&W or half-timbered.
23a America. Thanks Plymouthian for confirming that that is the title of a song in West Side Story. This clue went straight in. It’s a tune that stays in the mind. I have an earworm now.
13d Snowball. I agree with blogger, one of the few drinks I haven’t tried. I just COULD NOT think of its name.
16d Number. I got this straightaway as I have been “had” by number before too many times to mention.
20d China gave me pause as chin=strike is a bit left field, but the answer sprang out at me straight away.
Chin is a bit archaic.
We keep getting scientific terms that were all replaced in 1948 by SI. Chin is relatively recent by comparison!
Also there is royal house of tudor… As blogger mentions
I found this quite tough, needing 13.24 to complete. I spent way too long on AMERICA, and on finally getting the answer wondered why it took me so long. Having said that, I see a whole load of other solvers had similar troubles, so I’m glad it wasn’t just me. I got SNOWBALL instantly, knowing it was a popular drink in the early seventies. In fact my wife to be, as she was then, used to occasionally have one. I once tried a sip, an experience I didn’t repeat, revolting!
I was straight onto Mara’s wavelength today, and only had 3 clues left after the first pass.
FOI DRAW
LOI CHOW
COD TABLE MOUNTAIN *
TIME 2:57
* BIFD and only parsed afterwards, at which point the artfulness of the surface gained my appreciation.
All but three went in quickly, china took ridiculously long and immediately gave macaw which also shouldn’t have been difficult. LOI (and COD) was breast – brilliant misdiretion. Thanks Mara and Doofers.
24:27
This felt like a real work out.
Biffed AMERICA and TABLE MOUNTAIN. Had the latter not been an anagram it would have been a DNF.
It would probably also have been a DNF were it not for CHEESE ON TOAST.
This felt on the limit of my cryptic ability, solvable (for me) only due the anagrams.
FOI: AORTA
LOI: TABLE MOUNTAIN
COD: BREAST
Thanks to Mara and Doofers
10.09 I was slow in the SE but AMERICA became clear once I had some checkers. I mentioned West Side Story just a few days ago (in the context of headshrinkers) so it was fresh in my mind. I enjoyed LOI SNOWBALL. Thanks Doofers and Mara.
25 minutes for me today, which is a little faster than my average.
I started in the NW corner and successfully built the whole of the top half from there. The lower half of the grid proved a little more sticky in places, especially BREAST, CHINA and AMERICA (my LOI).
Thanks to Doofers and Mara.
TABLE MOUNTAIN went in from checkers and AMERICA was my LOI and I couldn’t parse it! I spell MINORCA as Menorca so I had to check the letters but all done in 7:21 for seemingly a good day. Thanks Doofers
Wow! – 2nd completed puzzle in a week! – still slow though at 30mins! – Slowly managing to de-couple from literal associations with words, but so easy to slip back!
Congratulations – 30 minutes isn’t slow, and obviously just right for you 😊
Took some perseverance but got there eventually. I didn’t know what went into a SNOWBALL but guessed it straight away from ‘mushroom’. The ones that held me up the most were MACAW and CHINA. Like some others, got hung up on aria being part of AMERICA. COD ANTIQUE – great surface 😄 Tricky in places. Many thanks D, and good to know even experts have their off days, so thanks for sharing. Thanks Mara.
21 mins…
I found this on the harder side as well, and was one of many trying to fit “aria” into 23ac “America” until I realised it couldn’t be anything else. Similarly, the simple anagram of 22ac “Tudor” had me head scratching for quite a while.
Some great surfaces though.
FOI – 2dn “After”
LOI – 12ac “Sherry”
COD – 9ac “Antique”
Thanks as usual!
Given all the comments above about “hard”, this resident of the SCC feels super chuffed to have finished . . . if I’d timed properly I might even beaten our estimed bloggers time . . . and that would have been a first.
And there’s also a song AMERICA in “The Jazz Singer” with Neil Diamond. Cue arguments about whether that’s a musical??
Not going to argue that The Jazz Singer isn’t a musical, but I might be able to ‘out-niche’ you here… Paul Simon’s ‘America’ is used in Cameron Crowe’s musical, ‘Almost Famous’, making three legitimate routes to solving the clue!
I just wanna share
Elvis
‘You’re so SQUARE,
baby, I don’t care.’
Tough, nearly into the SCC but just made it. I like NUMBER as a dd and I like CHEESE ON TOAST either as an anagram or a snack: in my case the toast went in first. BREAST gave me the most trouble: CHOW and MACAW on the other hand went straight in. I guessed time of prosperity would be BOOM and played with possible insertions until red came to mind. Thanks Mara and Doofers
Problematic for me, didn’t really get going
I finished, but in 25 minutes of confusion, frustration and annoyance.
NHO DIAMANTE or SNOWBALL.
Way behind the competition and proof positive that I will never achieve the level of competence to which I aspire.
I can’t do long anagrams to save me life!
What a dismal week. Already nearly at the hour mark.
I struggled filling in ANTIQUE/SQUARE for ages after everything else was filled. But when I did I was so elated that I forgot to go back and double check some of my more poorly reasoned fills and ended up with two errors! I got DRAW and CHOW wrong in the end with drag and crow; neither fit the wordplay very well, if at all, but I put them nonetheless and now I reap what I’ve sown.
My time is not completely accurate because I tend to forget to pause the timer when I step away from the puzzle to do other things for stretches but this probably would have been over an hour either way. (I choose to be up front about my abysmal solve times in the hopes that other lurkers on this site realise that there are others out there that don’t breeze through these like so many of the other commenters and contributors)
Time: 1:42:21
Well done on almost getting there 👍
I used to put up my ‘abysmal solve times’ (to quote you) in the hope it would normalise the presence of them on here.
Your time today was typical of my solves four years ago; so hopefully you will make similar progress to me. Think I was only successful on about 45% the puzzles in 2022 and an average time of 45mins by the end of year. Took me six months to break out of the SCC.
Yes I mostly use abysmal in a self-deprecating manner. I’m very happy with the mere fact that I’m able to semi-consistently solve these at all, it’s been a journey just getting to this point! Thanks for the kind words and encouragement.
Nothing abysmal going on here, but it is thoughtful of you to share your times. It took me months before I completed my first solve, and a year or two before I was brave enough to put my head above the parapet! I was very slow for a long time after, but over time, things improved. But as many of us say, what really counts is the pleasure you get from doing the crossword 😊
Well done for persisting. I remember recording times like that not so long ago. Keep going and you will see your times fall rapidly.
I spent somewhere in the region of 2 hours on the 15 x 15 today, so I really do understand what it’s like to record times that seem very slow compared to others.
Interesting what you say about AMERICA Doofers – my immediate reaction to 23a was: But America isn’t a country! It sort of spoiled what was actually rather a nice surface. My Brazilian d-i-l gets very cross when people refer to US citizens as Americans. Quite rightly, she says that she is also an American! We have a similar situation here though, don’t we, when people call anyone from these islands English 😱
I was also slower today – after a spate of quite speedy solves, I nearly doubled my times from the last couple of days. Not sure why – in retrospect there wasn’t anything particularly troublesome, apart from BOREDOM, which obviously I was mispronouncing until I saw it written down 😅 Ticks for ACADEMIC, MACAW and MINORCA.
CHEESE-ON-TOAST? Always called toasted cheese in our family – the other version does not necessarily mean the cheese is grilled! Like RH, SNOWBALL reminds me of Christmas. My naughty great uncle was the first adult to buy me an alcoholic drink in a pub – I was about 15 and we’d been Christmas shopping. Probably the first and last time I ever drank one 😅
15:00 FOI Academic LOI Stud COD Diamante
Thanks Mara and Doofers – hope you get an easier one next time
Collins and OED both include the definition America = USA. Quite logical in my view because they are recording usage.
“where are you going on holiday?”
“we are off to America to watch the World Cup”
Think it’s only in recent years we’ve tended to refer to it more often as the U.S. or USA than America
Oh quite so! I’m not arguing against that – quite clearly it’s common usage and if you say America, people automatically think of the USA and vice versa. But I think it’s interesting what both Doofers and my South American daughter-in-law have to say about it.