I sometimes feel sorry for the people who zip through these in just a few minutes, just like I feel that I get more value for money when I play a round of golf than someone who only gets to hit the ball 70 times (and I visit ALL of the course). This one took me 18:47 and I enjoyed every moment of it.
My first one in was PALE ALE and I finished in the bottom left corner, after finally abandoning the attempt to fit MATIN into the musical.
There are two heroic hiddens that span four words each, and I spotted what I think are a couple of Milton references: PARADISE LOST in the top row and PARADISE REGAINED bracketing the across clues. Sadly, I don’t know the books well enough to know if there is more to the theme than that.
I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.
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 | Island in March — a heavenly place (8) |
| PARADISE – IS (abbreviation for island) inside PARADE (march).
You have to ignore the tricksy capital M, it’s just there to send you the wrong way. |
|
| 5 | Missing second item for auction houses (4) |
| LOST – LOT (item for auction) contains [houses] S (second).
Lift and separate “auction” and “houses”. |
|
| 8 | Old show featuring Queen Kate, notoriously (5) |
| SHREW – SHEW (archaic version of show, hence “old show”) containing [featuring] R for Queen, as in ER.
The definition is a reference to Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, in which Kate appears in the title role. Not my favourite of his. |
|
| 9 | Dad left each locale after draining beer (4,3) |
| PALE ALE – PA (Dad), L (left), EA (each) LE [L |
|
| 11 | Jesse stripped off, having first fought Resistance in uniform (11) |
| BATTLEDRESS – |
|
| 13 | Learnt about feature of browser? (6) |
| ANTLER – (LEARNT)*
That’s “browser” in the sense of “one who browses” – in this case, a stag. Nothing to do with a web browser. (Thanks to Tina for pointing out that I hadn’t explained this.) |
|
| 14 | Charlie wearing tartan, looking cool (6) |
| PLACID – C for Charlie (phonetic alphabet) surrounded by [wearing] PLAID (tartan). | |
| 17 | I met Pinter, roughly around November … so rude! (11) |
| IMPERTINENT – N for November (phonetic alphabet again) in (I MET PINTER)* | |
| 20 | A pot she stirred here? (7) |
| TEASHOP – (A POT SHE)* | |
| 21 | US soldier going over facilities in White House (5) |
| IGLOO – GI (US soldier), reversed [going over] LOO (facilities).
Again the capitals are just there to fool you. |
|
| 22 | Christmas verse taken from A Christmas Carol? (4) |
| NOEL – V for verse removed from NO V for verse as in Bible references. And of course A Christmas Carol is an example of a novel. |
|
| 23 | Won back Georgia having exercised restraint externally (8) |
| REGAINED – GA (standard abbreviation for the US state), with REINED (exercised restraint) surrounding it [having .. externally]. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Urge American to visit public house (4) |
| PUSH – US (American) inside PH (public house).
I think the only place I’ve seen PH for public house is in the legend on Ordnance Survey maps. |
|
| 2 | Unusual coin that’s plated (7) |
| RAREBIT – RARE (unusual) BIT (coin).
I can remember my grandfather talking about “sixpenny bits” and “thrupenny bits”. Also the phrase “two-bit” comes from when one “bit” was an eighth of a dollar. The definition is talking about Welsh rarebit, a dish that can be put on a plate, or plated. |
|
| 3 | Bandaged own toe, Arthur? To some extent that’s practical (4-2-5) |
| DOWN TO EARTH – Part of [to some extent] Bravo to Bjorn for a hidden that spans four words. |
|
| 4 | Provide drink Polly regularly downed (6) |
| SUPPLY – SUP (drink) and every other letter [regularly downed] of P I justified “regularly downed” to myself by thinking of those little shooting galleries at funfairs where the ducks lie down if you hit them. Just me? Ah well. |
|
| 6 | Hold forth over cost (5) |
| ORATE – O for over (from cricket), RATE (cost). | |
| 7 | Redesign seediest area in the north (8) |
| TEESSIDE – (SEEDIEST)* | |
| 10 | Where Hollywood is cold about musical classic film (2,5,4) |
| LA DOLCE VITA – LA (Los Angeles, where Hollywood is), then (COLD)*, then EVITA (musical). | |
| 12 | Musical morning in Paris? (8) |
| HAMILTON – AM in HILTON (Paris Hilton, famous for, um, being a celebrity?)
So, MATIN not involved after all. |
|
| 15 | Man from Barcelona possibly upset Arsenal at a corner somewhat (7) |
| CATALAN – hidden in [somewhat] Another hidden that spans four words, and this time backwards, to boot! It didn’t fill me with quite the admiration as DOWN-TO-EARTH, probably because two of the words are very short, but a very fine effort. Barcelona, of course, is in Catalonia. |
|
| 16 | Hollow, faint pulse periodically taken (6) |
| DIMPLE – DIM (faint, as a light) plus every other letter of P |
|
| 18 | New moon possibly to disturb, by the sound of it (5) |
| PHASE – Sounds like “faze”, to disturb. | |
| 19 | Deserted area leaving Dodge (4) |
| VOID – |
|
Paris Hilton strikes again! I also tried to stick ‘matin’ into that answer.
I was dnf on this because of the short ones – NOEL and VOID.
I loved DOWN TO EARTH what a great hidden. I also enjoyed all the tricksy fake proper nouns.
Is a ‘browser’ a deer then? I didn’t get that either.
Oh yeah, I forgot to point that out. Thanks, will update.
It was the four-letter word corner clues that seemed to be some of the trickiest for me, but I like them all once I figured them out. ANTLER kept me thinking as I always revert to web BROWSER when I see the word, despite knowing it can also be a ruminant. Same for HAMILTON where I was convinced I was looking for something French. Didn’t know the old word for ‘show’ was shew but saw what was needed for the answer. Liked the surface for TEASHOP and it gets my COD.
Thanks D and setter.
11:25
Judging from the SNITCH, everyone found this difficult. I sure did, with DIMPLE & VOID especially taking ages. I’ve never read ‘A Christmas Carol’, but I wouldn’t call it a novel, which is why NOEL took me a long time. Didn’t notice PARADISE LOST/REGAINED; I don’t see anything else Miltonic.
haMILTON
Ah, yes. 🙂
But A Christmas Carol is a novel – maybe a parable, too.
Musical morning in Paris? (8)
MATINEE needs to get in the bin.
DNF. I should have taken Doofers’ advice and not been in such a rush. I put in LOTS for 2a, not bothering to check when it mucked up 7d. It also denied me the pleasure of picking up the PARADISE LOST and REGAINED goodies. I note (HA)MILTON also makes an appearance.
COD to IGLOO – an oldie but a coldie.
Thanks to Doofers and Bjorn
Like our blogger I found this a most enjoyable puzzle. It took me 12.19, ending with PHASE and VOID. I always think a good QC is not necessarily one done in a few minutes, but one whose references, vocab and devices require some thought but are not so obscure as to be impenetrable. Thanks to the Doof (I never saw the Milton refs or figured out HAMILTON) and well done Bjorn.
ON EDIT: Sorry I forgot, a special shout-out to DOWN TO EARTH…
I only get to the QC from time to time – my lucky day that I did today for the pleasure of Down To Earth. A definite nominee for the Crossword Club email Clues of the Week list.
In Paradise Lost Satan does fall Down To Earth, more or less, but it’s probably stretching the Nina to think that that led to La Dolce Vita.
The hidden was so good I never saw it. Needed to be in a Mephisto, where no enumerations are given.
Speedsters like Verlaine and George Heard found the main puzzle a lot easier than this one, and a non-speedster like me did too!
RAREBIT (do people still eat it? My mum used to make it) clued as ‘that’s plated’ was particularly ungenerous. HAMILTON – drawing as it did on a youngish living ‘celebrity’ – was also tough, I thought. If ‘A Christmas Carol’ isn’t a novel, then ‘Hamilton’ has equal claims not to be a musical!
As it happens, I approached 22 across all wrong but still arrived at the correct answer. It was ‘obvious’ that the ‘verse taken from A Christmas Carol’ was Noel, the initial word of the chorus from ‘The First Noel.’
I have a feeling it may be standing-room only at the SCC today.
13:33
I’d hope Verlaine ripped through the 15×15 as it’s the Semifinal1 puzzle from the Championship and he saw it a month ago!
Probably need to add 20 seconds to get the corrected score!
Rarebit was on the menu at The Cotswold Barn last Saturday. Didn’t try it though.
I put in half the answers without understanding the wordplay: La Dolce Vita, Catalan, battledress, pale ale. I could have checked them, but they seemed all right. It was rarebit and, finally, Hamilton that proved really difficult.
Time: 9:28
I found this hard. Only two on the first pass of the acrosses (PARADISE and PLACID) and really stuck at the end with VOID and PHASE. Like VInyl I bunged a few in, only more slowly. All green in 19.56. This is a tough week for me.
Thank you for the blog. Maybe coincidence Doofenschmirtz but I think you have quoted me in your first sentence. If so I’m flattered! I also play golf and agree with your (jocular) sentiment there- most obstacles a scratch golfer doesn’t even need to think about. ‘What lake?’ Anyway, I couldn’t get near to finishing this puzzle, but it’s bonfire today and I have things to do, and Harvey’s to drink …
We completely echo our blogger’s experience and are thrilled with 18.38. We both had our moments of being right on the Bjorn wavelength. Stopping to go over the parsing and admiring the setter’s art is all part of the fun in these parts. This morning’s puzzle was a joy, thanks B. The hiddens were very clever, but although it may be an oldie we liked the White House.
I play golf about twice a year and very much enjoy the typically 6 miles I need to walk to follow my ball. Thanks Doofers
DNF – HAMILTON, VOID
Sooo many clever clues here. Rather glad we took so long to unravel them 😉
Had not met IGLOO before – loved it. Likewise, LA DOLCE VITA
Hiddens very hidden and only noted in hindsight.
I set us off on a tragic path by triumphantly entering INTEMPERATE instead of IMPERTINENT.
Not entirely convinced by void = deserted and sup = drink. That said, very much enjoyed this.
Thank you Bjorn for this happy workout and Doofenschmirtz for explaining the errors in our ways (mainly mine).
It may not be that convincing, but sup=drink appears like all the time in the 15x15s, so I’d keep it in mind.
Appreciated – thank you! We try to do the Easiest ( as per Snitch) 15 x15 each Sunday… creep up on the category as it were… : )
RH half easier than LH – then saw the utterly brilliant hidden at 3d which unlocked most of it, but still stuck on the last three. Thought of NOEL but rejected as the carol is Nowell – but setter was cleverer than that ….. Oh, I’d never have got HAMILTON, depending on knowledge of (as you say) that famous celeb. Is faze = disturb? Sigh … suppose so in a kind of a way if you insist ….. Thanks, Doofers.
From AI (so must be right!):
Both spellings, “The First Nowell” and “The First Noel,” are correct for the popular Christmas carol, but “Nowell” is the older, original spelling, while “Noel” (from the French word for Christmas) is a more modern and common variation.
A rather misleading 11:19 on this pretty challenging puzzle – misleading because that was what the clock showed as I entered my last answer and got the Congratulations screen, but it left several clues unparsed. Which they remained until I came to the blog – never did work out how LOST or NOEL worked, and didn’t spot the excellent hidden in DOWN TO EARTH (message to self, if the surface makes no sense at all, the clue is probably a hidden).
So in terms of completing the grid, a quick one, but in terms of solving the puzzle with all the parsings, the timer’s still running …
Many thanks Doofers for the blog.
Tough going in places but worth the effort.
The SW was particularly stubborn as I joined those trying hard to fit ‘matin’ into HAMILTON. LA DOLCE VITA had to be crowbarred out of the word play as the my memory wanted the middle word to be ‘bella’ (in my defence the film is 12 years older than me).
Started with PARADISE and finished with PHASE in 10.27. COD to CATALAN.
Thanks to Doofers and Bjorn
Quite tough, taking 25:54 to finish. NOEL/PHASE/HAMILTON last in. DOWN TO EARTH definitely COD.
There is an argument that Welsh rarebit is properly called Welsh rabbit, from the time when any meat was said to be too expensive in Wales and this cheese delight was a decent substitute. This, incidentally, is the view of Delia Smith, and who would dare to argue with her?
Well, she’s half Welsh, so only a pukka Welsh person, I guess…
DNF. Took ages to get going. Solved some gruelling clues but failed on easy ones. Oh dear, dimly put Slot for 5a forcing Lease for 6d. Considering that I mostly solved the rest *eventually*, that’s a pity. Especially as ORATE is such a popular crossword answer.
Anyway HAMILTON was LOI, Matin not fitting in anywhere. POI NOEL.
Also put Peace instead of PHASE, due to exhaustion.
Liked IGLOO, BATTLEDRESS, SHREW, VOID. COD DOWN TO EARTH ( missed hidden).
Many thanks, Doofers.
I had SLOT for a while too, don’t call me dim! 🤪
Well…. I am glad I persevered with this and managed to finish it. There were some very good clues (not least the exceptional hidden) so it was a good training exercise, once the clock was ignored.
Unfortunately it was simply not a QC. Not even close.
I thought I had lost my crossword marbles as I edged my way slowly through it so I was mightily relieved to see the SNITCH and to realise that I was not alone in finding this tough.
My Bjorn times started well with his early QCs but have since got longer and longer. This offering takes the trend to a new record. Given the general response to his most recent good but increasingly challenging puzzles, I couldn’t help wondering if it is a deliberate attempt to push the boundary and to discomfit some of us.
I will have a go at the biggie, later, in the full expectation that it is unlikely to be much tougher than this.
Thanks, Doofers.
Your Jalna times? Are you referring back to yesterday’s puzzle or did you mean Bjorn from today?
Thanks. Yes, I have edited my post.
I think Bjorn has fried my remaining brain cells……
Yeah, could have done without this in the QC slot as I was intending to put the brain into gear for the 15×15 later. We only have so much Perseverance Potion so hoping this hasn’t used up too much of it
I eventually gave up on this with 12d not solved and my morning meetings rapidly approaching. I’m not sorry to say that HAMILTON is my least favourite musical of those I’ve been to see. I honestly don’t see what the fuss is all about.
On 22ac, I couldn’t quite work out the parsing, wondering if the verse was referring to the Christmas Carol “Noel”. I prefer Doof’s explanation, however I will throw in a slight beef in that I always thought of a Christmas Carol as a novella, not a novel. If a novella is a subset of a novel, then fair enough, withdraw my criticism.
DNF. I have been to a performance of HAMILTON, and thoroughly enjoyed it, but somehow it did not come to mind, since I was unable to get matin out of my head.
Thanks Doofers and Jalna
24:12 for the solve but didn’t enjoy it as the “have to dig in and do hard work” part of my brain was engaged rather than the flow state. Took me until IGLOO to get an answer and even then I mentally stuttered to parse it. And that was really story today – almost nothing came easy. And despite being someone who thought they knew a lot about film, La Dolce Vita was LOI and I couldn’t tell you anything about it before I looked it up on Wikipedia. The one bright point for me was the excellent DOWN-TO-EARTH hidden word.
Thanks to Doofer and Bjorn
Oh yeah, on a complete side-note, aimed only at today’s blogger, I was recently railroaded by my partner and son the subscribe to Disney+. I was, however, delighted to discover that every series of Phineas and Ferb is on there, including a recent series that I’ve never seen since it was released long after my two older children from my previous relationship had stopped watching cartoons.
11 and 17 across after 20
4 and 17 down after 30
A bit too cryptic for me.
Thanks DJ
26:09, hard. I usually throw in the towel at 20 mins but worth finishing this high quality puzzle. LHS much harder, LOI PHASE.
At 1a I was sure the A meant a final letter, as many stars end in A (heavenly place, geddit?).
SHEW, seriously ? That’s Book of Common Prayer level of archaic, “And our mouth shall shew forth thy praise” (from Morning and Evening Prayer responses).
A close anagram INTEMPERATE slowed me down, and made me question LA DOLCE VITA, which I hadn’t parsed.
COD ANTLER caused me all sorts of trouble, thinking browser=eye.
I commented about PH on Os maps on Monday when another map-only word appeared: Tumulus.
My father, b 1909, used the “shew” spelling all his life, so it was still in use in the 1990’s.
Katy
I remember “Passes must be shewn” at the gate of a government site in Farnborough in my youth in the 1960s.
From PUSH to TEASHOP in about ten minutes, then another 2.51 to get ANTLER and finally HAMILTON. Another toughie. 12:51. Thanks Bjorn and Doofers.
“Steady but slow”, if you want to be half empty, or “slow but steady” to be half full. I think I feel half full, because that was a cracking puzzle and a very satisfying solve.
Couldn’t believe “matin” wasn’t part of 12d; confidently entered “lots” at 5a; couldn’t parse BATTLEDRESS for the life of me (cheers Doofers, glad I wasn’t on watch for that one). So many clues to admire but IGLOO squeaks in ahead of ANTLER and TEASHOP.
All done in 09:12 for a Very Enjoyable Day. Many thanks Bjorn and El Doof.
Quite enjoyable in parts, but too difficult for me, I gave up with 9 undone and had to use 5 reveals to get the other 4. Thanks to Bjorn and doofers.
Surprised and rather pleased to finish in 48 minutes with only a little bit of assistance from an occasional check.
A top quality puzzle and fun to solve, although I am relaxing in the sun which helps.
Thanks to Björn and Doofers for explaining some of the harder parsing.
Gave up on 30 minutes and resorted to aids for the two remaining clues (12 & 18dn). Prior to that most clues had been a struggle, taking an age to see SUPPLY and DIMPLE and having to stop myself from entering ‘slot’ at 5ac. Couldn’t parse NOEL – not one of Bjorn’s best imo.
FOI – 1ac PARADISE
LOI – DNF
COD – 12dn HAMILTON
Thanks to Bjorn and Doofers.
10:35
Tough start – just two in on the first across pass (PALE ALE and PLACID). More success with the downs. Stuck for a while with the ANTLER anagram, then finishing on two toughies – VOID and HAMILTON (failed to parse, but the checkers worked). Didn’t spot the nina…
Thanks Doofers and Bjorn
My thanks to Bjorn and Doofenschmirtz.
I thought it jolly hard for a QC.
5a / 6d had Slot / Lease for a while.
20a COD1 Teashop.
22a Noel biffed, I had no idea what was going on.
2d Rarebit. Odd clue. I’m amazed Doofenschmirtz has to go back to his grandfather for the “bits”, they seem like yesterday. I never knew there were 8 bits in a dollar. We had 8 half crowns in a quid FWIW.
3d Down to earth COD2.
12d Hamilton, VHO as a musical. Took an age to shake off the Matin.
Missed the Nina as usual, particularly (Ha)Milton.
A very hard puzzle as reflected in my finishing time of 19.35. I wasn’t helped however by being interrupted mid solve by a phone call from my energy company, after I had shortly before queried their extraordinarily inflated bill. In typical fashion they had transposed the middle two numbers of my final meter reading, and were charging me £280 too much. It took twenty minutes of heated discussion to convince them I was right. It’s little wonder my mind was all over the place by the time I got back to the puzzle.
In spite of my shocker of a time, I enjoyed the puzzle with its many clever misdirections.
Yes a long challenging yet enjoyable hike finishing en SCC cet matin. Couldn’t get the browser to reveal Paris Hilton and made a meal of the Welsh Rabbit… 20:20 perfect for watching cricket.
Ta DAB
Very clever stuff. Unfortunately far too clever for me.
14.10 Pleased with that given the difficulty. RAREBIT, ANTLER, PHASE, NOEL and HAMILTON held me up. Thanks Doofers and Bjorn.
The hardest of the week and zero fun when you can only get about 20% of the clues. Glad I am in good company of those that found it difficult.
Definitely a tricky one from Bjorn, which was expected, but the last two took me ages to unravel. It doesn’t help that anything with ‘browser’ or other IT related stuff gives me a brain freeze – my relief in realising it was an anagram was great – but, also fixated on MATIN going in somewhere and missing the Nina (as ever), it took forever to work out HAMILTON, despite seeing the musical and having just seen Ha!Milton, the comic Milton Jones’ stage show. (I was also fooled last week by Hilton being ‘Paris’.) So I hope a good limber-up for the first semi-final puzzle…
Very hard! 44 minutes for me, but at least I reached the finish line.
Knowing nothing about films, musicals and so-called celebrities, meant that clues like LA DOLCE VITA and HAMILTON were almost beyond me.
Many thanks to Doofers and Bjorn.
I found it particularly tedious.
FOI PLACID
LOI HAMILTON
COD TEESSIDE (quite apposite, though Rod Liddle would probably disagree)
TIME 6:05
Battled through in 26 minutes, with a long holdup over rarebit and shrew. Didn’t understand shrew even after putting it in, thought it might be a Shakespeare reference but didn’t know Kate was a character. Not fond of shew for old show either. Some very nice other clues.
Tough going at just over fourty minutes, but I am delighted to start the week with three finishes, surely a first, even if I was just throwing the anagrist in at random until the improbable TEESSIDE was accepted.
COD LA DOLCE VITA
Ran out of time during lunchbreak so DNF for me.
Mixture of very enjoyable stuff and a few “Hmm”s.
Paris being Hilton and “matin” being a red herring, and the white house are very good and enjoyable.
“Browser” and “that’s plated” as definitions for DEER and RAREBIT are rather to vague for my liking.
More of the former and less of the latter, please!
10.28, but not really my sort of puzzle.
DNF
I was never going to get SHREW from the definition Kate, notoriously. The wordplay wasn’t entirely helpful either as NHO shew. So I was left with shrew, screw or straw. Guessed wrongly.
Otherwise just about done in 20 minutes although failed to parse HAMILTON.
Dnf…
Turning into a difficult week this – not helped by putting “Slot” into 5ac. Upon reflection, nothing too difficult – I even got 8ac “Shrew” – but I just wasn’t on the right wavelength for some of the others. 2dn “Rarebit”, 12dn “Hamilton” and 11ac “Battledress” all were a struggle.
FOI – 4dn “Supply”
LOI – Dnf
COD – 22ac “Noel”
Thanks as usual!
26 minutes. Another poor time.
Oh dear oh dear.
I did this in 11’29”, more than a minute longer than it took me to do the 15×15 semi-final puzzle.
I have seen HAMILTON, and won’t see it again. Missed the Milton references entirely.
Even if you don’t know the Shakespeare, anyone heard of Kiss Me, Kate?, and we had Evita too.
Thanks Doof and Bjorn.
I really enjoyed that. The cluing was very clever and I didn’t mind that my solve was way over target. My only guess was SHREW, everything else was parsed. There are so many excellent clues that I can’t award a COD. LOI HAMILTON in 13:19. Thanks Doofers