A puzzle of medium difficulty, if my time of 11.10 is anything to go by, but containing more than enough to cause the odd furrowed brow on the way. There is one piece of US geography at 24A, but I suspect most people, even those outside the States, have heard of it, and one very British colloquialism at 22A. I was brought up on the Christmas visit to the theatre to see the likes of Puss in Boots and Cinderella, so it was a write-in for me, but I’m not sure how well known the word will be for others from outside the UK.
One strange omission from the staple fare of QCs is that as far as I can see there are no hiddens, but that apart, very much a mainstream QC, with no obscure or archaic words and no unusual wordplay. Thank you Teazel!
How did everyone else get on?
Definitions underlined in bold italics, (abc)* indicates an anagram of abc, ~ marks insertion points and strike-through-text shows deletions.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Clumsy boat close to sewage pipe (4) |
| TUBE
TUB (clumsy boat) + E (close to, ie last letter of, sewagE). Tubs are generally broad open containers, and the word was used for the open barges of that shape that were commonly used to carry freight on the early canals. These tub boats had limited manoeuvrability or streamlining, and the word was later expanded to include any basic clumsy boat with limited or no refinement. |
|
| 3 | Tea not elaborate for college minister (8) |
| CHAPLAIN
CHA (tea) + PLAIN (not elaborate). |
|
| 9 | Previous title-holder that is first to resign (7) |
| EARLIER
EARL (title-holder) + IE (that is) + R (first to, ie initial letter of, Resign). I was slow on this one, despite getting the -IER ending almost immediately, as I was fixated with “title-holder” being the holder of a sports title, and tried to get words meaning winner or champion in there. |
|
| 10 | Right for a child to admit crime (5) |
| ARSON
A~SON (a son, a child) with R (right) inserted, the insertion indicator being “admit”. |
|
| 11 | Gag miserable person told (5) |
| RETCH
Sounds like WRETCH (miserable person), with the homophone indicator being “told”. |
|
| 12 | Losing heart, violent anger in power cut (6) |
| OUTAGE
OUTRAGE (violent anger), with the R deleted (“losing heart”, ie with its middle letter deleted). |
|
| 14 | Cheating in keen exercise (5,8) |
| SHARP PRACTICE
SHARP (keen) + PRACTICE (exercise). |
|
| 17 | Record odd bits of guitar in open-sided room (6) |
| LOGGIA
LOG (record) + GIA (odd bits, ie every other letter of, guitar). Loggia, a loan-word from Italian, is one of the very few words in English where a double-G is pronounced as if it was a J. The I is silent too, and the word is usually pronounced like Lodger. |
|
| 19 | Stratagem to store energy for recycling (5) |
| REUSE
R~USE (stratagem), containing E (energy), the inclusion indicator being “store”. |
|
| 22 | Gasp over Christmas show (5) |
| PANTO
PANT (gasp) + O (over). Panto, short for Pantomime, is these days a form of theatre full of slapstick and comedy, cross-dressing and corny jokes and is very popular Christmas entertainment for families. But the word Pantomime itself has much older origins, being from the Greek παντό (panto, meaning all) and μιμος (mimos, meaning dancer or actor) and used in classical Rome for a performance where one actor played all the roles and acted out a story silently – the word mime retains today the sense of silent acting. From there to the merry chaos that is a modern British panto, where silence is neither required nor expected from either actors or the audience (“Oh yes it is!”, “Oh no it isn’t!”), is quite the journey! |
|
| 23 | Similar things in article to enjoy (3,4) |
| THE LIKE
THE (article) + LIKE (enjoy). Deceptively simple, but took me a long time to see it. |
|
| 24 | Mount is to gallop further (8) |
| RUSHMORE
RUSH (gallop) + MORE (further). Mount Rushmore is a mountain in the Black Hills region of South Dakota, famous for the Mount Rushmore National Memorial, a massive sculpture carved into it showing four US presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt. The four were respectively chosen to represent America’s foundation, expansion, preservation and development. The sculpture took 14 years to create and was completed in 1941; so far all proposals to add further presidents to the quartet have been refused. |
|
| 25 | Just love end of fall in New York (4) |
| ONLY
O (love) + N~Y (New York) containing L (end of, ie last letter of, falL). |
|
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Speculate the old get promoted (8) |
| THEORISE
THE (from the clue) + O (old) + RISE (get promoted). |
|
| 2 | Lancaster possibly welcoming small spell of increased activity (5) |
| BURST
BUR~T (a reference to Burt Lancaster, with the “possibly” because it is a DBE) with S (small) inserted, the insertion indicator being “welcoming”. Burt Lancaster (1913-1994) was an American actor, initially known for playing tough characters with tender hearts, and although in the course of his 45 year career he graduated to more complex parts, it is what he is most remembered for. |
|
| 4 | Hour on a bare rostrum unsettled port official (7,6) |
| HARBOUR MASTER
(H + a bare rostrum)*, the H coming from hour and the anagram indicator being “unsettled”. |
|
| 5 | Establish factory (5) |
| PLANT
A DD, and another example of the remarkably reliable rule of thumb that 2 word clues are usually DDs. |
|
| 6 | Fool say, regularly manic, pointed weapon (7) |
| ASSEGAI
ASS (fool) + EG (say) + AI (regularly, ie every other letter of, manic). |
|
| 7 | Number no German mentioned (4) |
| NINE
Sounds like NEIN, German for “no”, with the homophone indicator being “mentioned”. |
|
| 8 | Bad luck: his map is faulty (6) |
| MISHAP
(his map)*, with the anagram indicator being “faulty”. |
|
| 13 | Split Cambridgeshire city in a serious way (8) |
| SEVERELY
SEVER (split) + ELY (Cambridgeshire city). This one also took me a while to see, and the checkers were not exactly helpful even after I worked out the ending of the word. |
|
| 15 | Relatives eating second helpings (7) |
| AMOUNTS
A~UNTS (relatives) containing MO (second), with the inclusion indicator being “eating”. And a very smooth surface, including a nice lift-and-separate to prise the definition “helpings” from the wordplay “second”. |
|
| 16 | The opera for motor mechanics? (6) |
| CARMEN
A very nice &lit. |
|
| 18 | Good space for man of the match (5) |
| GROOM
G (good) + ROOM (space), giving us the male half of a wedding couple. Not a sporting reference then. |
|
| 20 | College working for merger (5) |
| UNION
UNI (college) + ON (working). |
|
| 21 | Knocks up something for a mast (4) |
| SPAR
RAPS (knocks), reversed (given by “up”), to give us part of the rig of a sailing vessel. Spars are usually attached to the vertical masts, and are thus “something for a mast”. I hope the fact that the last three answers go Groom (wedding day) to Union (being married) to Spar (fighting) is a coincidence and doesn’t indicate what Teazel thinks of the state of matrimony! |
|
I found this quite tricky. I don’t think I’ve come across SHARP PRACTICE before but once enough checkers were in it had to be. ASSEGAI was in a 15×15 last week so it was a write in, but maybe not as well known to many. Liked THE LIKE when it eventually dawned on me what I needed. EARLIER took a while as Earl for ‘title-holder’ wasn’t quick in coming. AMOUNTS took ages as I assumed, wrongly, that I was supposed to put an ‘S’ into relatives but tried ‘mo’ instead and it fell. Interested to see what folks have to say.
Thanks Cedric and setter.
* Today I received the following message when trying to get to this page:
Too Many Requests
The user has sent too many requests in a given amount of time.
I’ve been getting this all week. Today though, I have only checked last week’s 15×15 about four hours ago and not since. Anybody experiencing the same?
Also noticed the avatars were missing from the comments yesterday, Cedric’s doesn’t appear today either. All of the bloggers’ avatars appeared though, Jerry, Zabadak, William, et al.
We are aware of these problems, and we are working on them.
Sorry. Didn’t see that this had been reported yesterday.
You are not alone, Quad. I raised both of these issues in yesterday’s blog and 8 or 10 people responded to say they had the same problems.
I received a kind reply to my contact message to TfT Admin. We were promised action then and, touch wood, things are normal today. I hope I didn’t speak too soon!
11 minutes again. The ODE has LOGGIA pronounced “lojjia” which is how I’ve always said it, but also “lowjia” as an alternative. Collins has the version that appears to omit the “I”. LOGGIA boxes are to be found on the seating plan for the Royal Albert Hall which has 34 of them.
An eminently biffable crossword – answers like sharp practice and harbor master were write-ins, speeding up my solve. Assegai is very popular with setters, and sever Ely is nearly a chestnut. As an American, I put in Rushmore without a second thought, and as an Anglophile, added panto.
Time: 5:30
I found it a bit harder than usual – took just over an hour. NHO loggia or assegai. And took ages on LOI The Like
Loggia boxes at the Royal Albert Hall which are far as I could tell was just a posh name for rows of seats that weren’t chairs in the proper boxes.
I might have seen assegai once or twice before doing these puzzles, but I doubt it. It’s a crosswordese vocabulary item.
I accidentally left my timer running while I took a break, so 15:00 seems more realistic than the recorded 46 plus change.
Thanks to Joker & Cedric.
For me a very difficult puzzle gave up after 20 mins
17.48 delighted to be out of the SCC with this one. Very much enjoyed the mechanics of all clues. Poor performance on first run through, gained traction with Downs.
Needed Cedric S to remind us of Burt.
NHO ASSEGAI though had to be.
Thank you Teazel and Mr S.
Well this has been a disaster of a week for me in QCland with three failures – today’s pink square being a typo in 1a.
The puzzle itself was excellent and didn’t put up to much resistance until I was breezeblocked by LOI RUSHMORE.
Thanks to Cedric and Teazel
11:54
LOI RUSHMORE, recognised ASSEGAI from last weeks 15×15, so that one is no longer NHO.
22:23 in the SCC (TC inverted mast)
I usually associate shopping and boxing with spar, spent far too long in the tube and wasn’t a big fan of Rushmore and the like.
Each to their own.
Ta CAT
14:54. I took far too long with LOI CHAPLAIN. I liked THE LIKE.
And I liked CARMEN, but is it an &lit? or a double definition, or a definition plus cryptic hint, or a cryptic clue? It’s like a bonus extra puzzle.
Many thanks Cedric – I’m trying to imagine a silent one-man pantomime – and thanks to Teazel
I soon realised that this would not be a quick solve and settled down to enjoy the tussle with Teazel. I found it full of good clues and PDMs and enjoyed it even though I leaned into the SCC by half a minute (although the last minute of this was spent trying to work out why I got the ‘unlucky’ response when I completed the puzzle even though, when I checked carefully, it was all correct). The clock is still ticking even though the grid is all correct so I was within my 20 min limit in reality.
Another example of weird behaviour on the Times site when using the ‘Classic’ version of The Times online in Safari on my iPad. I keep saying I will use a different way of accessing the QC but am stuck in my ways…
My LOsI were GROOM and RUSHMORE. I spent a while on THE LIKE before I risked entering it and I biffed BURST but didn’t see the Burt connection at the time.
Thanks to both.
P.s. Does anyone else dislike the use of the word ‘outage’ when they mean ‘cut’? I bristle whenever I see it. What do people say when the power is restored? ‘We have a power inage’?
Outage imported from America I think. Power cut I assume came from the idea of a disconnection. We don’t say a power splice when it comes back on, we just say the power is back on or restored. Fortunately we have been spared “brown out” which is when the voltage drops but there isn’t a complete outage. That can really mess up your appliances. I guess you could say a cut implies and event happening in an instant whereas an outage implies a continuous condition which could be said to be a more accurate description?
This is about the English language. We have perfectly good words to describe power cuts, voltage reduction, localised cuts, power restoration etc. etc.
We don’t need ‘outage’ it is just as ridiculous as my frivolous suggestion of ‘inage’ which, I assume, would be a step too far for American English.
26:35 for the solve. All but the NW corner done in eight mins and then just struggled to get into it until RETCH came along. As someone said, very much a biffer’s puzzle because the wordplay wasn’t helping much. Shame really because I really like CARMEN, GROOM and PANTO
Thanks to Cedric and Teazel
Enjoyable puzzle today. Knew the word ASSEGAI although not sure of the meaning, but easy to work out from the clue. LOI EARLIER as thinking about different types of title-holder. Thanks Cedric for great blog, particularly for info about pantos.
Type of spear I believe. I’ve only heard of it in the historical context of South African tribes.
13:26, an average sort of time for me for a very enjoyable puzzle. Delayed in the NW because I was sure 11a was LAUGH – until I realised that I had the wrong sort of gag. Nicely played Teazel.
Thanks Cedric for the blog.
I bucked the trend, getting onto Teazel’s wavelength on the second clue, and having only 5 clues left after the first pass. Relieved to see no pink squares though. I’ve been clumsy again on a few occasions of late. Thanks as ever Cedric.
FOI CHAPLAIN
LOI BURST
COD RUSHMORE
TIME 4:13
9.47.
Outstanding first class puzzle.
Under 30 minutes with no passes.
Thanks Cedric and Teazel
I found this though. Only managed seven in 20 minutes, eight if you count biffing burst.
I hadn’t come across assegai in a crossword before, but I’m old enough to remember the Charlie Drake comic song “I bent my assegai” which was released in 1962. All done in 11 minutes. Thanks to Cedric for an excellent blog (as always) and Teasel.
That must have been his follow up to ‘My Boomerang won’t come back’
This took me all of 38 minutes with three holdups:
SEVERELY not helped by three E crossers
RUSHMORE for obvious reasons
Finally the NW where slowly but surely THEORISE, TUBE, BURST and RETCH fell into place, each one requiring some working out.
Thanks Teazel for a good testing puzzle and Cedric for the blog.
11:27 for an entertaining solve that needed some thinking but went more smoothly than yesterday’s. Maybe the absence of hiddens helped me. (Wonder why that’s such a stumbling block?) I learned PANTO from doing the QC so no problem there. I semi-biffed HARBOUR MASTER and sorted out the used from the unused Os, Us, and Rs later. COD to THE LIKE.
I’m always fooled by the equivalence “college” = “uni”; we Americans often refer to universities as colleges, at least in the context of the undergraduate experience, but we never call them unis as far as I know, and somehow it all gets scrambled up. I guess I assumed that in British English a “college” is very different from a “university”.
Thanks to Teazel and Cedric. Particular thanks for the PANTO explanation; for a long time I imagined the Christmas panto as a silent performance haha.
PS I have a confession: during solving my inner monologue proceeds in a (undoubtedly terrible) British accent in an effort to avoid being fooled by homophones that don’t work in my dialect (e.g. sort/sought). Anyone else?
Homophones are remarkably region- and accent-dependent. For example, for me as a Home Counties Englishman, paw, pore, poor and pour all sound identical. There are many in the UK who will make them into two, three or even perhaps four distinct sounds. But the same is true in other languages too – my (Parisian) French sister-in-law can tell the difference between jouer, jouai and joué, but in some French dialects they merge into one sound.
Root = Route = Rout? Weird!
love this!
As a Brit, I don’t like the uni-college equivalence. For me, a college is a different beast. But its confused by the fact that some UK universities (Oxbridge, at least) are split into colleges. So, I suppose I have to learn to live with it.
9.01 That’s the third ASSEGAI I’ve seen recently. SEVERELY, CARMEN and AMOUNTS needed the checkers. Thanks Cedric and Teazel.
Hard going! 40+ minutes for me.
Six full minutes had passed before I found my FOI (ONLY, right down in the SE corner). I wonder how many solvers had actually finished by then (Busman and Vinyl1 so far). Fortunately, I didn’t panic and my second trawl through the clues brought more success – but not much. So, as SCC opening time approached I seriously wondered whether I would reach the line at all.
Many thanks to Cedric and Teazel..
Dnf…
After 16 mins, I had what I thought was everything bar 15dn “Amounts”, but for the life of me I couldn’t get this – the reason being I had 24ac”Rushmore” wrong. I thought it was something to do with a horse and put in “Runamore” thinking it was some obscure breed. Th rest, however, was enjoyable.
FOI – 5dn “Plant”
LOI – dnf
COD – 16dn “Carmen”
Thanks as usual!
Tricky Teazel. Got there eventually but struggled to solve LOI THEORISE/EARLIER (latter gets COD for misdirection). Also liked RETCH and THE LIKE. Many thanks both.
This was a relatively swift 8:34 for us. In addition to having come across ASSEGAI recently I’m sure we’ve seen SEVERELY almost identically clued in the last few days. Thank you Cedric and Teazel.
As a footnote we’ve had a lot of problems with the ‘429, too many requests’ error this week though not today.
Another day, another nightmare performance. Try as I might, I do not have what it takes for these puzzles. ☹️
On wavelength for 06:42 and a Brisk Business Day. 1a and 1d were last two in!
Many thanks Cedric and Teazel.
Enjoyable but fairly tough today.
Can I please ask how MO relates to seconds in 15d?
Mo here is short for Moment, and using it to mean second(s) is fairly standard Crosswordese. It is based on phrases like “I’ll be down in a mo”, meaning (sometimes) “I’ll be down in a few seconds”.
Aha! New to me but makes sense. Thank you.