For me, this was a bit of a tricky one, but other solvers seem to have done pretty well. Perhaps I am not on the wavelength? Normally, Pedro is quite an easy setter for me, but not this time. The vocabulary was not that obscure, and frankly I missed some chestnuts like friction/fiction which would have definitely sped things up.
So how did you get on?
Across | |
1 | Runs from disagreement? That’s a lie (7) |
FICTION – F[r]iction. | |
5 | Task mostly incorporating second check for fingerprints? (4) |
DUST – DU(S)T[y]. | |
7 | Angry figures in Ancient Rome (5) |
LIVID – L, I, V, I, D – not anyone’s favorite type of clue, but they still use it. | |
8 | Navigational aid in competition given to a ship (7) |
COMPASS – COMP + A SS. | |
10 | Fish responsible for some receding ripple effects (3) |
EEL – Backwards hidden in [ripp]LE E[ffects]. | |
11 | Aim to go round edges of land and sea to get top prize (4,5) |
GOLD MEDAL – GO(L[an]D,MED)AL, a rather tricky construction most solvers will biff. | |
13 | Not at home, going round US city no matter what (6) |
ANYWAY – A(N.Y.)WAY, and not “out” for once. | |
14 | Sudden blow absorbed by the German dealer in cloth (6) |
DRAPER – D(RAP)ER, which may give some who don’t know the word difficulty. | |
17 | Dog associated with Hans Christian Andersen? (5,4) |
GREAT DANE – A double definition, one allusive, that we have seen before. | |
19 | Notice ends of Möbius strip rarely (3) |
SPY – Last letters of [mobiu]S [stri]P [rarel]Y | |
20 | I feel bad backing youngster as intermediary (7) |
LIAISON – I AIL backwards + SON. | |
22 | Clear a number of deliveries will be required before end of Test (5) |
OVERT – OVER + [tes]T. | |
23 | I encountered returning couple (4) |
ITEM – I + MET backwards, a chestnut I did recognize. | |
24 | Stage? Run out to play guitar, perhaps (7) |
ROSTRUM – R + O + STRUM. |
Down | |
1 | Rebellious figure completely hidden in fen with a northern set (6,5) |
FALLEN ANGEL – F(ALL)EN + A + N + GEL. | |
2 | Chartered Accountant to change when interrupted by 50 horsemen (7) |
CAVALRY – C.A. + VA(L)RY, where I wanted to put a plural before seeing how it worked. | |
3 | Annoyed pub worker receiving rude comment (9) |
INDIGNANT – IN(DIG)N + ANT, where you must lift and separate, unless you actually employ ants at your pub! | |
4 | Knight showing reserve about the Spanish? Exactly (6) |
NICELY – N + IC(EL)Y, a chess knight, that is. Nice originally meant exact or finicky. | |
5 | One investing in Deutschmark? Not bright (3) |
DIM – D(I)M. | |
6 | Small, unyielding splinter (5) |
SHARD – S + HARD. | |
9 | Collection of planets: Mars and — yes — lots spinning (5,6) |
SOLAR SYSTEM – Anagram of MARS + YES + LOTS | |
12 | Very dangerous rumours spread about rising newsman (9) |
MURDEROUS – Anagram of RUMOURS around ED upside-down. | |
15 | French chemist in history linked to half of Europe (7) |
PASTEUR – PAST + EUR[ope]. | |
16 | One ruling against what demonstrators carry? (6) |
BANNER – Double definition, only slightly jocular this time. | |
18 | Former legislation is precise (5) |
EXACT – EX ACT. | |
21 | Everything is left out of poor-quality housing (3) |
SUM – S(L)UM. |
I thought the make up of LIVID was very clever. I kept looking for a hidden clue.
… with a 9 minute solve, faster than I usually manage for a puzzle from Pedro. I was a bit surprised to see Competition abbreviated to Comp in 8A Compass, and the Roman numeral trick in 7A Livid was new to me, but otherwise no real hold-ups.
Calling Hans Christian Andersen a “Great Dane” amused me — it set me thinking how many other Danes might qualify for the sobriquet. King Canute, certainly, and Tycho Brahe perhaps, but there my woeful knowledge of Danish historical figures runs a bit dry.
Many thanks to Vinyl1 for the blog
Cedric
The right hand side went in rather quickly, but it was the left hand side of the grid that held me up today.
FALLEN ANGEL was a tricky clue in my mind; the wordplay clunky and the definition fairly unclear. LIVID, GREAT DANE & LIASON also left blank.
NHO Hans Christian Andersen.
Always learning something new here!
FALLEN ANGEL took me forever and all crossers to get, finally twigged when GREAT DANE went in after a good head scratch.
5 clues in the SW corner took me more than 10 minutes to get, the rest of the grid flew in.
Thanks setter and blogger.
I think I will give these so-called QCs a miss for a while.
The main delaying factor was surely that the clues were so lengthy. One clue had only 3 words and one had 14, but the average per clue was 7.3 words, which is a lot for the mind to process especially if working against the clock!
Like Cedric I was a little surprised by ‘comp’ for ‘competition’ which I don’t recall seeing before, but it’s perfectly legitimate according to the usual sources, and Collins counts it as ‘informal’ rather than as an abbreviation.
Edited at 2021-11-10 10:52 am (UTC)
Runs from disagreement? That might be vulgar (7)
I think the clue GOLD MEDAL is unbalanced, almost impossible not to biff, then a minor shrug when one doesn’t see the parsing. Obviously biffable clues like this one should have a simpler construction, otherwise the setter is wasting their time. SOLAR SYSTEM was also biffable, but a glance at the second part of the clue left me satisfied that there “must be an anagram in there somewhere”.
Did not like LIVID, I guess we should look out for CIVIL, MIMIC & VIVID. Apparently DIVIDIVI is a type of South-American tree, but that’s probably a bit much even for PolyMath and Mephisto.
COD FALLEN ANGEL
Edited at 2021-11-10 11:03 am (UTC)
Still not sure about the definition for 4dn “Nicely” — will have to look up the context later.
However, enjoyed 5ac “Dust”, 17ac “Great Dane” and 1dn “Fallen Angel” (when I eventually got it and dismissed various pretenders to the throne). 2dn produced some amusing imagery as well.
FOI — 5dn “Dim”
LOI — 4dn “Nicely”
COD — 3dn “Indignant”
Thanks as usual!
I can only endorse jackkt comments to @maozedung. However well or badly I have done I always read the blog; it is a rare day when I don’t learn something
Thanks all
I can’t recall my LOI etc, but I remember struggling with and then enjoying FALLEN ANGEL when it all fell into place.
6:53
FOI 21dn SUM
LOI 5ac DUST and there was me thinking DABS!
COD 1dn FALLEN ANGEL excellent!
WOD 5dn DIM and DIMMER!
Time 9:15 minutes
On edit: I too noticed how verbose some of the clues were. Thanks Jack!
Edited at 2021-11-10 02:11 pm (UTC)
MY COD just has to go to 17ac Great Dane. I’ll add Peter Schmeichel and Christian Erickson to the list.
Edited at 2021-11-10 02:05 pm (UTC)
I’m quite happy to show what I don’t know (even when it is with a little embarrassment) – mainly because I hope it gives some confidence to others that a lot of the QC’s can be completed without inherent general knowledge. In many cases (and I accept not all) as long as you follow the rules you can finish them.
FOI FICTION
LOI DUST (once I erased “dabs” !)
COD LIVID (initially entered “cross”, as X = 10)
TIME 5:18
Thanks to Vinyl and Pedro
Liked the GREAT DANE, also BANNER, PASTEUR. Must be on Pedro’s wavelength today.
Thanks vm, Vinyl.
FOI: DIM
LOI: ANYWAY
COD: GREAT DANE
Thanks Vinyl and Pedro.
Most of my observations have been made above so I’ll just thank Pedro and Jeremy. John M.
The idea of the QCs is to help one to move onto the 15×15, where GK is essential.
Ad Astra!
As for parading ignorance I agree with James that when experienced solvers own up to not knowing things it can give confidence to others. The honesty of one particular blogger when I first came here gave me the confidence to stick around and persevere when the majority of the contributors were so obviously crossword champion material and general brainboxes. I’m always suspicious of people who give off the air of knowing everything and never admit to any failing.
Edited at 2021-11-10 06:34 pm (UTC)
Danes are famous for design – eg Arne Jacobsen
Karen Blixen – writer as played by Meryl in Out of Africa
Explorers Rasmussen and Bering.
Not that keen on the films of Lars von Trier, though, I must admit.
Last ones in Indignant and then Fiction.
I got Fallen Angel but must look up the Rebellious figure connection…
Thanks all
John George
My last two in were NICELY and DUST because, whilst I had thought of both words earlier, I struggled to parse them.
Mrs R is away again today, so she will catch up in due course.
Many thanks to Pedro and vinyl1.
BW
Andrew K
LOI 5 ac “dust” — I was another looking at “dabs” until 6 d “shard” came to the rescue.
COD 3 d ” indignant” once I’d remembered to lift and separate.
Thanks to Vinyl for the blog and muchas gracias to Pedro
I usually find Pedro quite a wordy setter and have just counted up the number of words in today’s quickie compared with the biggie (a bit sad I know, but I was intrigued!) Quickie 190 over 26 clues, Biggie 220 over 30 clues. Mara, on the other hand, can be positively terse!
FOI Cavalry
LOI Fiction
COD Livid
Thanks Pedro and Vinyl