This is the third time in a row that I have had the pleasure of blogging one of Joker’s offerings. I was definitely on Joker’s wavelength today, finishing this in a decidedly snappy 6:52, which is my third fastest time since the Quick Snitch started tracking them.
Some lovely accurate cluing in here, barely a filler word to be spotted. My clue of the day goes to CONCEALMENT, with honorable mentions to OVERTURN (although I think we’ve seen that quite recently), MEASURED and CHOREOGRAPHER.
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 | Put off post office interrupting mail to northeast (8) |
| POSTPONE – PO (Post Office) inside [interrupting] POST (mail), NE (northeast). | |
| 5 | What might make English church ring? (4) |
| ECHO – E for English, CH for church, O for ring (because it’s round).
I think this is a semi &lit: the whole clue is the definition, but only part of the clue is the wordplay. |
|
| 8 | Tooth damage around filling of gold (5) |
| MOLAR -MAR (damage) around the middle letters [filling] of gOLd. | |
| 9 | Make millions in company position (7) |
| COMPOSE – M for millions in CO (company), POSE (position). | |
| 11 | Hiding cold at one time, illness I avoided (11) |
| CONCEALMENT – C for cold, ONCE (at one time), then A |
|
| 13 | Take no notice of Italian man with son vanishing (6) |
| IGNORE – |
|
| 14 | Artist nominally coming between John and Sargent? (6) |
| SINGER – the wordplay references the name [nominally] of painter John Singer Sargent, but the definition is a different type of artist. | |
| 16 | A China cabal involved in drunken revels (11) |
| BACCHANALIA – (A China cabal)*
“Drunken” is not the anagram indicator this time. |
|
| 18 | Moving report about old soldier (7) |
| TROOPER – (report)* containing O for old. | |
| 19 | Unlike mum not having married (5) |
| OTHER – |
|
| 20 | Moulded actors taking part in play (4) |
| CAST – A double definition. | |
| 21 | Carefully considered element of order USA embassy’s backing (8) |
| MEASURED – Hidden in [element of] orDER USA EMbassy when reversed [backing]. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Question turned up on parliamentarian (4) |
| PUMP – UP reversed [turned] on MP (parliamentarian). | |
| 2 | Ill at ease colonies fuss terribly welcoming head of Commonwealth (4-9) |
| SELF-CONSCIOUS – (colonies fuss)* including the first letter [welcoming head of] C |
|
| 3 | Perhaps business of ripper hasn’t changed (11) |
| PARTNERSHIP – (ripper hasn’t)* | |
| 4 | Pinch purse’s last pound coin (6) |
| NICKEL – NICK (pinch), + L for pound comes from the pre-decimal currency of the UK, in which L, s, and d were pounds, shillings and pence respectively. Wikipedia tells me this is derived from the Roman libra, solidus and denarius, which means I have learned something today. |
|
| 6 | Ballet creator‘s tedious task with old plot on eastern queen (13) |
| CHOREOGRAPHER – An IKEA clue, made from the parts. CHORE (tedious task), O (old), GRAPH (plot), E (eastern), R (queen).
Also note the cunning ambiguity of the ‘s: it looks like it is a possessive, but in fact is a contraction of “Ballet creator is…”. |
|
| 7 | Capsize open vessel (8) |
| OVERTURN – OVERT (open) URN (vessel). | |
| 10 | Sweet mouse ill, upset catching influenza (11) |
| MELLIFLUOUS – (mouse ill)* containing [catching] FLU.
What a lovely word MELLIFLUOUS is. I though this might be onomatopoeia, but apparently not. This is autology, where a word describes itself, like “pentasyllabic”. Onomatopoeia is where the word imitates the actual sound, like “buzz”. So now I have learned two things today. This was my second-to-last one in, I was trying desperately to remember a dessert that I haven’t had since I left the UK 30 years ago, thinking it would fit. It came to me while writing the blog: the word I was trying to remember was “blancmange”. The brain is a funny thing sometimes. Well, mine is. |
|
| 12 | Mention effort raised to protect a sufferer from common illness (8) |
| DIABETIC – CITE (mention) + BID (effort), all reversed [raised], including [to protect] A. | |
| 15 | Made up awful tune introducing rugby union (6) |
| UNTRUE – (tune)* containing RU (rugby union). | |
| 17 | Dry run overwhelmed by support (4) |
| ARID – R for run, surrounded by [overwhelmed by] AID (support). | |
Fun crossword. My LOI was SINGER with crossed fingers since I’d never heard of John Singer Sargent so that part of the clue was indecipherable. Odd. at 1A that POST was in both the clue and the answer (although the post in the clue did not clue post in the answer).
8:30. COMPOSE, DIABETIC, and NICKEL were favourites.
Finished this pretty close to my average time and enjoyed it a lot. Some hard clues sprinkled in with some more gettable ones so I never got stuck for too long even though I couldn’t answer many clues on the first pass. Building answers from a few building blocks (like CONCEALMENT) is quite satisfying when they fall into place.
NHO John Sargent so SINGER was somewhat hopeful, but seemed most likely (least favourite clue in this puzzle).
Some of this was easy, but a few of the long ones like bacchanalia and mellifluous were tough, as I was not sure exactly what I was looking for until I stumbled upon it. As an art collector, I put in singer with hesitation, although Sargent is a bit out of my price range. My LOI was nickel, as I was thinking nip for pinch.
Time: 7:11
Wow! Begs the question: what (who) is within your price range, then? Anyone we’ve HO? How long before one of “your” artists comes up in a QC?!
The artists I collect are not likely to come up, as they are just not well-known enough in the UK. If you want to acquire a top-quality work, you are limited to regional artists, and even some of them can be quite expensive. It helps if they were prolific; the ones who painted 200 paintings a year for 50 years can be affordable.
A very fast start gradually ground to a halt and I finished in 8.26, having earlier thought I’d be under 6. Couldn’t figure out what was going on with LOI DIABETIC, missed the reverse hidden of MEASURED and struggled to find PARTNERSHIP. Liked CONCEALMENT, CHOREOGRAPHER and MELLIFLUOUS, enjoyable puzzle, thanks to Joker and the Doof.
DNF for the second day running – for the first time for over a year I think – but a very different experience to yesterday’s omnishambles as I raced through this very nice puzzle until I came to a complete stop on SINGER. If one has not heard of John Singer Sargent I think this clue is impossible without guessing blindly, and since I don’t really like doing that I pulled stumps pretty immediately. Just under 8 minutes to there and an enjoyable ride, but spoilt very slightly by the last clue.
Many thanks Doofers for the blog.
I was thinking BBC news correspondent and Strickly Come Dancing thus danser without any checkers. Strickly speaking a dancer wouldn’t come between him though.
I satisfied myself that perhaps there was a series of great sewing machine makers that began with John and ended with Sargent !
Well, okay, thanks, N.D., you’ve given me a small opening to tell one of my favourite jokes. Isaac Merritt Singer was the famous sewing machine chap and Isaac Bashevis Singer was the renowned writer in Yiddish and English ( Nobel Prize for Literature).
Anyways, I would ask Jewish friends ” What is the difference between I.M. Singer and I.B. Singer?
Answer: I.M. Singer is Standard English while I.B. Singer is quaint rural English dialect.
Ha ha very good. That took the better part of a minute for the penny to drop. Like it 👍
10 minutes. It wasn’t a problem for me but I have sympathy with Cedric’s comment about 14ac as a QC clue. John Singer Sargent isn’t exactly a household name so if one doesn’t happen to know him the solver is stuffed. The vague definition designed to mislead is of no help.
Struggled over the line and as so often didn’t find a tough one that much fun. SINGER and BACCHANALIA both well outside my knowledge – but I’ll be ready for them next time. Perhaps. MELLIFLUOUS was hard too, especially as I anchored ‘flu’ to the first L as I tried to see what letters went where. Made it in 23.26 but with a P for an O in CHOREOGRAPHER.
John Singer Sargent is Mrs RH’s favourite artist so that was a write in. If you’re in London, take a look at his portraits in Tate Britain, they are beautiful.
Enjoyable puzzle which we very much enjoyed and came very close to a day out of the SCC until an alpha trawl trying to find LOI arid took us to 20.35, but we’ll take that for a Joker.
COD to choreographer, which took a while. Like our blogger’s blancmange (not a sentence you say every day!) I had a ballet in my head that started with C and only now has it popped in – Le Corsaire so doesn’t really start with a C.
Thanks Joker and Doofers for info on LSD which we also didn’t know.
Yes. Good old LSD. Nowadays, LP doesn’t have the same ring to it but the L presumably is still the pound even in our post-decimalisation currency
Like our blogger, I was “decidedly snappy” this morning, albeit rwo minutes slower than him at 8:33 for my 8th best time.
An exhilarating pace (for me) not fully parsing everything but I was satisfied the makings were there before moving on. Great fun. I liked the OVERT URN.
I was helped by knowing John Singer Sargent. My commiserations to those who didn’t. He featured very recently in the biggie, causing problems there with the spelling of Sargent. A difficult chap.
A splendid job today by setter and blogger. Many thanks
Is there a word that describes the action of your brain sending instructions which your fingers decide to ignore? A random ‘u’ in the middle of TROuPER produced a DPS , an annoyingly common occurrence over the last couple of weeks.
Other than that a very enjoyable solve with MELLIFLUOUS proving surprisingly tricky to spell and SINGER somehow getting dredged from the depths.
Thanks to Doofers and Joker.
DNF. At 20 mins did not get ARID. Also SINGER was a wild guess. That seems pretty obscure GK, knowing a barely-heard-of painter’s middle name. Also thought that MELLIFLUOUS was the French name for a desert like millefleurs.
In defence of Joker, Sargent is always referred to by the full three names so it’s not really a middle name. But obviously for those who have never heard of him that won’t help much…
Eight in 13 minutes, two of which were GK biffs.
28:44. Fortunately I knew John Singer Sergeant from his captivating portait of Lady Agnew of Lochawe at the Scottish National Gallery. He has quite a mellifluous sounding name.
Took a few attempts to spell BACCHANALIA until I remembered it was derived from Bacchus not Bach.
Thanks Joker and Doofers from whom I learned a few new things today.
Sargent … sorry to be a pedant!
Thanks M. Careless of me.
Dnf…
Some good clues here, but spoiled I think by the somewhat obscure 14ac “Singer” and 10dn “Mellifluous”. I guessed the first, but had only vaguely heard of the second – therefore couldn’t spell it. With all those vowels in non-checker spaces it was pretty much impossible to work out if you didn’t know it.
FOI – 1ac “Postpone”
LOI – 10dn “Mullifluoes” (incorrect)
COD – 7dn “Overturn”
Thanks as usual!
“Mullifloes”: What a great word! I will introduce into some conversations today.
Weirdly, your “Mullifloes” turned into “Multiples” on the Times for The Times Comment notification via email. Are our tech overlords auto-correcting text without even telling us?
I nominate MULLIFLUOES for the Dictionary of Mombles!
Dear Mme B,
Mrs R has asked me to remind you not to plant out your Mullifloes until the last risk of frost has passed. I said I would do as asked and, at the same time, would ask you to suggest to Mr B that he searches out and has a listen to the old prog band of the same name.
All correct in 30-35 minutes, but more by luck than judgement. I could not parse the DIAB bit of 12d and had no idea why 14a was SINGER. Also, I wanted 10d to be mille-feuille and then couldn’t immediately decide between MELLIFLUOUS and MiLLeFLUOUS.
Otherwise, rather too many long solutions for my liking, so I’m pleased to have crossed the line unscathed.
Many thanks to Doofers and Joker.
An unhelpful grid with lots of longer answers that were challenging even when crossers gradually emerged. Enjoyable, though, and I just avoided the SCC at 19.51.
In fact, once I had crossers, many of the longer answers were biffable, (followed by parsing, given enough IKEA bricks to make them convincing).
I liked MELLIFLUOUS and had no problem with JSS (again, only once the 3 crossers were in). My LOI was ARID which held me up for a while.
Thanks to Joker for a good, but testing, QC and to D for a good blog.
14:04 for the solve. Plodded through this one and spent a couple of mins on my last two of MELLIFLUOUS (nice word although I’ve never used it) and COMPOSE plus bunging in the NHO Singer. BACCHANALIA also needing careful spelling.
Thanks to Joker and The Doof
My first thought without knowing why was SINGER – think John Singer Sargent was in the recesses of my brain. Pleased to get BACCHANALIA but had to write it out to check the spelling. Loved the mental picture of a sweet mouse ill in bed, but no problem getting MELLIFLUOUS once I knew FLU was in the word. LOI DIABETIC. COD OVERTURN. Thanks Doofers and Joker.
Another DNF, as NHO John SINGER Sargent. A couple unparsed but successfully biffed.
8.54
Bit sluggish here for the reasons Vinyl mentions but an excellent puzzle.
On SINGER I’ve been essaying some old (to be fair main fare) puzzles from 2011-ish and it’s noticeable how the expectations of GK then seem very different to now. Just the other day I came across a clue which required you to know the (to me completely unknown) poet Crabbe. Virtually uncommented in these august pages, as if we all had his collected works on our bedside tables. Not sure whether SINGER counts as fair or unfair but I certainly agree clues should be solvable even w/o the GK.
Anyway apologies for ramble – enjoyable puzzle Mr Setter and great blog as always.
Well, Crabbe was an important predecessor to and influence on Wordsworth. The second half of the 18th century was a bit sparse in the poetry department, so Crabbe and Gray have made their way into the syllabus.
Guessed SINGER, but otherwise straightforward – Joker’s definitely giving us easier puzzles than she/he used to, methinks, but still excellent, nonetheless. COD to mellifluous, because it is (as Doof says), a lovely word.
7:18 – thanks Doof and Joker.
Greatly enjoyable, thank you, Joker. Unfortunately had 17d bRut (support = but as in buttress? yes, dubious) which made the US embassy difficult, but at last saw that one and ARID was LOI. Still don’t understand the business of a ripper being PARTNERSHIP – oh of course it’s an anagram. Thank you, Doofers. There was a good exhibition of SINGER Sargent just recently at the Tate. He specialised in recreating in paint the bewitching and complex fabrics of luxurious frocks and gowns, so that it seemed certain that the painting on page 8 must be him – but no! Now there’s a painter I’ve NHO.
Merlin: you mean you’ve HO MAILLOT (yesterday) but not of Sargent? Extraordinary, the different worlds we all live in.
OK – who was the painter on page 8?
Ha! So glad you’re intrigued. One Charles Baugniet, his “After the Ball”, showing a society beauty, exhausted by partying, lying slumbering on a sofa. Most of the picture is taken up by her white gown. Very Sargentesque. Exhibition at the King’s Gallery centring on Edward VII and his love of pleasure and elegance. NHO him – have you?
No, but I do research artists. He is not my style, but he did produce some nice works. “After the Ball” is probably one of his very best paintings.
I expect Romi Behrens (1939-2019, mainly portraits of musicians) is too obscure for you? Slightly different tack: my mother was a collector of Keith Vaughan but I’m afraid I couldn’t live with it and we sold them all.
Lovely puzzle. I squeezed in at just under 10 minutes after spending most of the last minute on diabetic, which I also failed to parse (thank you to Doofenschmirtz for the explanation). I knew JSS but sympathise with those who didn’t – no way of solving the clue other than guesswork . But that’s just sometimes the way it is with general knowledge I suppose.
10:22
There are a couple of excellent paintings by JSS in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid, which I visited a few weeks ago, so SINGER was a write-in.
COD to MELLIFLUOUS.
LOI was OVERTURN.
Thanks Doofers and Joker
A good puzzle as always from the Joker, but one I found a bit tougher than others seem to have found it. I struggled to finish in 12.30, MELLIFLUOUS and the fairly straightforward COMPOSE causing me the greatest holdup.
My excuse is that my visiting grandchildren interrupted my train of thought by asking me to check on a dead mouse they’d found at the end of the garden. Post completion I duly attended the scene, and can confirm their diagnosis was correct. Funeral arrangements to be confirmed, family request no flowers.
So the sweet mouse didn’t make it 😥
5:35 which is just over average for me. Good puzzle, as always, from Joker. The longer ones mostly didn’t come easy until I had checkers. LOI ARID. COD to ECHO. Thanks Joker and Doofers.
When Joker appears as the setter, I know I’m going to enjoy the experience. This was no exception. Really entertaining puzzle. Difficult to choose a CoD as there were so many lovely clues.
LOI was OVERTURN where the parsing eluded me until I spotted the 5,3 break rather than the 4,4. Held me up for a couple of minutes!
Thanks Joker and Doofers
Well, nobody’s ever accused me of having an extensive art knowledge, but thankfully John SINGER Sargent did ring a vague bell so I put that in albeit without being 100% confident. The two that caused me the most trouble were the 12d and 16a crossers (well, T-junctioners). With all the other checkers in place I worked out that 16a was probably BACCHANALIA, although I’d never heard of the word and only thought afterwards of Bacchus. That might have helped get DIABETIC, which in turn confirmed 16a so this was a rare case of not really being sure which of those was my LOI. Those two took many minutes to unravel so I ended up on 25:07.
Thankfully MELLIFLUOUS didn’t cause me any trouble because I have known the honey bee is Apis mellifera since my university days and at some point learnt the connection with honey. I assume the French miel has the same parentage, if that’s the right word.
Thanks Joker and for the great blog Doofers.
You are of course correct regarding the honey-based derivation of MELLIFLUOUS. Indeed, the full name of the commonest illness called diabetes (as experienced by DIABETICs) is diabetes mellitus, so named (long before the discovery of insulin) because it makes one’s excessive urine taste sweet, like honey. This distinguishes it from a rarer condition, diabetes insipidus, in which the excessive urine tastes bland.
I guess Joker got the ‘tone it down’ memo, but then couldn’t resist throwing in a couple from the left field. I was going to quibble that a millefeuille shouldn’t count as a sweet, but then it didn’t fit anyway. Loi Singer also strayed well into GR territory. Those two seemed completely at odds with the rest of the puzzle. I doubt they would have got past RR. Invariant
DNF
Breezed through this in 12 minutes before coming unstuck on LOI COMPOSE. Just couldn’t see it so biffed Commode as a random word that fitted the checkers. Annoying as this was a very gentle offering today.
13 minutes today. LOI MEASURED – I missed the hidden even when writing it in.
And did not fully parse ECHO -thanks for that.
I thought of John Singer Sargent immediately but then thought it was probably something else that was intended; so SINGER went in late.
I have seen much more obscure artists in puzzles. It’s the perennial GK question.
COD to COMPOSE.
David
As a UK resident don’t think I’ve had blancmange for over 30 years and not missed it.
7:07
I recognised the name of the painter, but didn’t know that I knew any of his stuff – as IanV points out, his Lady Agnew of Lochawe is in the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh – I was there back in November and recall seeing the painting – it’s very good.
There were a few I bunged in from definition here without teasing out every twist and turn of the wordplay – all of the long downs fell into this category – for 10d, I was thinking MILLEFEUILLE as a sweet, but it has too many letters and other answers put paid to it anyway. LOI was DIABETIC.
Thanks Doofers and Joker
I thought the clue for the “echo” was subtle where ring is implied to be resound. Liked mellifluous too. Did get stuck with Measured as I took a while to see the hidden indicator.
Started off at a gallop but slowed down as I proceeded, coming to a grinding halt with LOI, SINGER. I hadn’t heard of him, so that became a guess, after some dithering. Fortunately it was correct. 8:35. Thanks Joker and Doofers.
Still in fat-fingered lockstep with Plett. Today it was MULLIFLUOUS and NICKEK. A perfectly decent 06:35 but.
Grr.
Enjoyed the puzzle very much until 2 seconds after hitting submit! Many thanks Joker and Doofers.
Solved today’s puzzle, found it very fun. My LOI was MELLIFLUOUS as I’d never heard of it before, but worked out the FLUOUS part, then had to rearrange the other letters until something sounded vaguely like it could be a word. Only got SINGER as hears them referred to as artists before, but very interesting to learn of John Singer Sargent, will look him up later. Must thank my love for The Wizard of Oz for getting BACCHANALIA 😆 Thank you for the blog today
On the wavelength so fairly speedy. LOsI PDM SINGER and MELLIFLUOUS.
Much enjoyed. Knew the painter. Biffed a few like BACCHANALIA and the other long ones.
Thanks vm, Doofers.
A treat indeed! The easiest Joker for a while, I think, and without losing his trademark witty and precise surfaces 😅
John Singer Sargent was no problem for this U3A art appreciation member – the answer went in straightaway, but the parsing took a little longer. I was (w)racking my brains for an artist called SINGER, until a different kind popped into my head (or maybe rocked up?) I did think it was a bit of an ask – he’s not exactly Monet or Leonardo! Personally, I’m not overly keen on his portraits of rich women, but at a recent art meeting, we looked at some of his pictures of Venice, and they were delightful.
Of course, I got caught out by the reverse hidden at 21a – that one was biffed.
I particularly liked ECHO, MOLAR and OVERTURN, and BACCHANALIA made me smile.
8:07 FOI Postpone LOI Measured COD Self-conscious WOD Mellifluous
Many thanks Joker and Doofers
I ran out of steam after having guessed SINGER, troubling over the spelling of MELLIFLUOUS and working out that the NHO revelry had something to do with Bacchus. I probably would have got BACCHANALIA, given all the unchecked As, had I persisted and then the B would have pointed the way to DIABETIC (it may be relatively common and also an illness (disease) but I wouldn’t have said it was a common illness. Cold, flu, pneumonia, diarrhea and vomiting are common illnesses to me. Ah well. Thanks Doofers.
Echoed my thoughts on what is considered a common illness.
And mine.
A most enjoyable 12 minutes, which I think is a record for me. The answers tended to come first, the parsing thereafter.
11.29 A bit bleary today. I didn’t get held up but after the first pass the right-hand side had only ECHO. I finished with SINGER (whom I knew) and ARID (which should have been a write in). Thanks Doofers and Joker.
Lovely puzzle. Fairly speedy solve. LOI SINGER. Liked ECHO. Lots of biffing then parsing of the long clues. Failed to spot MEASURED was hidden, again! Many thanks to D and Joker.
Funny how the brain works. What could come between John and Sargent? Singer just popped up although I didn’t recognise him as an artist but thought he was a conductor. On second thought the conductor is probably Michael Tilson Thomas which has a similar cadence.
Similarly for John Cooper Clarke, the poet.
…. or Will.I.Am the rapper, (and frontman of The Black-Eyed Peas)?
Puzzled by what 14a is doing here. It literally says “artist John Sargent’s middle name”. How is this cryptic?
I experienced that clue the same way — it held me up for a little while looking for the crypticity.
9m and enjoyable until singer, pretty poor clue imo.
COD partnership.
A very pleasant solve in 12:47; unusually for a Joker, I didn’t get stuck. There was a fair amount of biffing though, with the feeling that I had subconsciously used the wordplay because on inspection it was obvious. An odd experience. POST OFFICE was amusing and I liked the innocent-looking COMPOSE clue, but the sweet mouse was my COD.
Sargent may not be a household name, but the next chance you get, I’d say spend some time enjoying the poetic brushwork. There’s nothing like it.
Thanks Joker and Doof.
Lovely puzzle! No problem with JSS.
FOI 1a postpone
LOI 9a compose
COD 21a the clever Measured
Nicely filled the gap between a Covid jab and haircut – timed to perfection!
Very enjoyable -15 mins so slightly faster than average for me. Echo made me smile but Singer was a guess. Thank you Joker and Doofenschmirtz.