Good morning, and for my 50th QC blog since joining the roster 2 years ago we have a puzzle from Shay which I think I would have found tough at any time of year, but two days after Christmas and with a large family gathering in the house and too much to eat and drink over the last few days, it proved a really stiff challenge. In the end I did finish it, so better than yesterday’s DNF, but it was something of a struggle as I came home in 16:05, with several of the clues only parsed after completion. But my slow time allowed lots of opportunity to admire some very fine surfaces on the way.
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 | Gladiator acts badly, pinching you after fight (9) |
| SPARTACUS – SPAR (fight) + TAC~S (anagram of acts, the anagram indicator being “badly”) containing (ie “pinching”) U (you).
Since I only know the name of one gladiator, this was not too difficult to guess. Which is probably just as well, as it is a complicated clue to start us off, with several moving parts and a slightly strained ordering of the wordplay components. Definitely therefore a “biff then parse” clue – I wonder how many people will have derived the solution entirely from the wordplay. |
|
| 6 | Very much failing at romance at first (3) |
| FAR – Initial letters (given by “at first”) of Failing At Romance.
I was initially struggling to find the link between Far and Very much, but it is as in Far better/Very much better. |
|
| 8 | Ignoring answer, sovereign is put in jeopardy (7) |
| IMPERIL – IMPERIAL (sovereign) with the A deleted (given by “ignoring answer”). | |
| 9 | Scare section of Territorial Army (5) |
| ALARM – A hidden, in TerritoriAL ARMy, with the hidden indicator being “section of”. | |
| 10 | Puritanism and fervour finally stopping gluttony (12) |
| PRIGGISHNESS – P~IGGISHNESS (gluttony) containing R (last letter of fervouR, given by “finally”).
My LOI, and I was very slow to see it; neither Piggishness nor Priggishness came at all readily to mind for far too long |
|
| 12 | Slight sign of intoxication (4) |
| SLUR – A DD.
I spent some time on this clue, my first stab once I had the -L-R checkers being Blur, making it an &lit clue with the whole clue defining the answer and no other wordplay. But that did not really give the word Slight any part of the wordplay, so I thought again. Slight = Slur did not immediately come to mind, but on reflection I think it works well enough and that led me to score it as a DD. |
|
| 13 | Bouquet of autumn’s last roses unwrapped (4) |
| NOSE – N (last letter of autumN) + OSE (roses with first and last letter deleted, given by “unwrapped”). | |
| 17 | Excitedly alter a toupee for royal household member (4,8) |
| POET LAUREATE – (alter a toupee)*, with the anagram indicator being “excitedly”.
It was fortunate that I worked out the anagram here fairly easily, because I don’t really understand the definition. The post of Poet Laureate was created by Charles II of England in 1668 – the first PL was John Dryden – but while he was appointed by the king, to say that this made him a member of the royal household is I think a bit of a stretch, and these days the PL is very much just another government-appointed position (the sovereign may in theory appoint him or her, but it is on the prime minister’s advice). And this ignores the fact that many other countries now have a national poet too, some actually using the nomenclature Poet Laureate like the UK does. So I am not convinced that the definition entirely works. |
|
| 20 | Misgiving of peer dropping ecstasy with male (5) |
| QUALM – QUAL (equal, or peer, with the E deleted, given by “dropping ecstasy”) + M (male). | |
| 21 | Hound leaving lead on a stone floor (7) |
| ASTOUND – A ST (a stone) + OUND (hound with the H deleted, given by “leaving lead”).
Floor as a verb here, and a very smooth surface, complete with a fine lift-and-separate to split the definition “floor” off from the wordplay. |
|
| 23 | Some good news about goal (3) |
| END – A reverse hidden, in gooD NEws, with the hidden indicator being “some” and the reversal indicator being “about”. | |
| 24 | Fancy any old guy or girl (5,4) |
| YOUNG LADY – (any old guy)*, the anagram indicator being “fancy”. Another very fine surface. | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Steal underwear (4) |
| SLIP – A DD, with the first meaning as in, for example, “Steal/Slip into the room quietly”.
Another clue that was not too hard to find the answer for once I had the S-I- checkers, but where I then had to think a while to justify the first of the two definitions. |
|
| 2 | Clobber vacuous reprobate in disgust (7) |
| APPAREL – APPA~L (disgust) containing RE (first and last letters of ReprobatE, given by “vacuous”, which here means “remove the middle letters”).
A clever clue, as we have to use the noun sense of Clobber, a word more often met as a verb, and the verb sense of Disgust, a word more often met as a noun. |
|
| 3 | Cobblers climbing hill (3) |
| TOR – ROT (cobblers, rubbish, nonsense) reversed, given by “climbing”.
The word Tor (a high, rocky hill) has a disputed etymology. It comes from the Old English torr, but views on its provenance before that differ, with some sources saying it was borrowed from Old Welsh (either twr, meaning heap, or perhaps tor, meaning belly or bulge), while others see a link to the Scots Gaelic tòrr (lofty hill, mound), or perhaps ultimately to the Latin turris (“tower”). Tors are primarily found in the South West of England, which might support the Welsh origin of the word, but they are also found in the Peak District, and the Pennines. |
|
| 4 | Employee of mine clipped dog (6) |
| COLLIE – COLLIER (worker at a coal mine) with the last letter deleted, given by “clipped”. | |
| 5 | Reportedly watch coppers complete shift (3,6) |
| SEA CHANGE – SEA (sounds like see, watch) + CHANGE (coppers, ie small coins or loose change).
Originally a nautical term, reflecting the fact that a change in the state of the sea often necessitated considerable work to adjust a ship to the new conditions, and from that the meaning became “a major change” (of eg perspective, approach, mood etc). Now often used by politicians, business leaders etc to indicate more minor fine-tunings which they nevertheless hope will be seen as substantial and significant. |
|
| 6 | Shaving stick on middle of shelf (5) |
| FLAKE – FLAK (stick, as in criticism) + E (middle letter of shElf).
Another fine lift-and-separate, as we need to ignore the reference to a shaving stick to get at the definition part of the clue. |
|
| 7 | Careless misers ruined (6) |
| REMISS – (misers)*, the anagram indicate being “ruined” (and not careless, as I first thought). | |
| 11 | My gerbil sadly eating old crumbs (9) |
| GORBLIMEY – G~RBLIMEY (anagram of my gerbil, the indicator being “sadly”), containing (ie “eating”) O (old).
Another very fine surface, with a mental picture of a rodent eating up the crumbs, but I think I would usually spell this as two words, “gor blimey” or also “cor blimey”. Both are derived from the original term “god blind me”, long since dropped out of use; unusually the expression can be shortened in two separate ways, giving both “cor” and “blimey”, both used to express surprise or shock at something. |
|
| 14 | Fruit is a necessity when laid up (7) |
| SATSUMA – A MUST (a necessity) + AS (when), all reversed, given by “laid up”. | |
| 15 | Cloudy over Pennsylvania and half of Quebec (6) |
| OPAQUE – O (over) + PA (abbreviation for Pennsylvania) + QUE (half, ie first three letters, of QUEbec) | |
| 16 | Almost worth supporting trade union in Pacific nation (6) |
| TUVALU – VALU (value, or worth, with the last letter deleted, given by “almost”) following (ie “supporting”, as this is a down clue) TU (trade union).
Tuvalu’s most valuable asset is its internet country domain, .TV, which it licences to television stations around the world. Anguilla has in the last 2 years or so received a similar windfall, as their internet country domain is .AI. |
|
| 18 | Dash ultimately exhausted antelope (5) |
| ELAND – ELAN (dash) + D (last letter, ie “ultimately”, of exhausteD). | |
| 19 | Current covers of expurgated diary (4) |
| EDDY – ED + DY (covers, ie first and last letters, of ExpurgateD DiarY). | |
| 22 | Periodically forgetting strange name (3) |
| TAG – Every other letter (given by “periodically”) of sTrAnGe. And one final lift-and-separate to close with, as we are not looking for an unusual moniker. | |
I got into trouble because I confidently put in rot for 3 down, and it didn’t get corrected until I saw imperil. Having Spartacus from the get-go would have provided lots of useful starting letters, too. Many of the clues were pretty stiff; as an experienced solver I could solve them, but not quickly. I struggled at the end with the far/flake crossing.
Time: 15:48
Based on the current QSNITCH today and yesterday both in the top 4 hardest puzzles of the year (today’s SNITCH will likely fall). No easy Christmas gifts from the crossword editor!
Well, the 15 x 15 on Friday was unusually easy for a Friday, a mere 101 on the SNITCH.
I associate SEA CHANGE with Shakespeare,
Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade,
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
(The Tempest
One of my favorite bits of Shakespeare.
17 minutes to end the week with yet another missed target. That makes 4 out of 6 this week including 2 DNFs.
Within the official Royal Household the Poet Laureate comes under
Ceremonial & Specialist Roles
Beyond the administrative staff, the Household includes various specialized and ceremonial positions:
Medical & Ecclesiastical Households: Includes the King’s physicians and the College of Chaplains (the clergy).
The Military Household: Includes Equerries (military officers who assist the King daily) and ceremonial units like the Gentlemen at Arms and the Yeomen of the Guard.
Honorary Roles: Traditional positions such as the Poet Laureate, the King’s Bargemaster, and the Master of the King’s Music.
Don’t forget The Master of the Swans…
Thanks. Covered by ‘such as’, I assume.
Of course yes. I used to overlook the Thames at Marlow, hence my awareness of this position from seeing the swan uppers.
Thank you Jack for digging this out. I think I shall move my assessment of the clue from “does the definition work?” to “Yes the definition works but it is not exactly the most straightforward”. On the other hand, if I was asked to provide a definition of Poet Laureate for a crossword clue, I’m quite sure I would struggle to come up with anything better!
Chief rhymer?
Probably best to just go with an example of one. Someone obvious like John Betjeman or Ted Hughes if looking to make it quick or more obscure (depending on GK) like Cecil Day-Lewis or John Masefield.
Technical DNF.
Sadly, although this took less time than yesterday’s, I found this less enjoyable.
This is when many beginners have the time to tackle a cryptic. This won’t encourage them.
Thanks for the fascinating blog Cedric
Four on the first pass and then continued to struggle. Made the SW tricker by whacking a typo in OPAgUE (not sure how since all I had to do was copy out half of Quebec) – QUALM became much easier once I spotted that. It never occurred to me to think of an example of a gladiator – and I don’t think I knew Spartacus was a gladiator although I have heard of him as being something Roman – so that remained to the end – getting the chestnutty COLLIE a lot earlier would have helped. Not in a rush but still a but stunned to have been taken out over 30m!
I’m going to try harder to restrict myself to positive comments in these blogs. Thanks Cedric – nothing else to say!
23:29 Tuvalu Priggishness! Young Lady (Poet Laureate) in Flake Slip Apparel. Gorblimey! I Shay that was a bit shlightly twickshay.
TaCAS
🤣🍷
Superb crossword, and a splendid blog. 12′ for a good workout. Thanks Shay and Cedric!
DNF, cut it short at 20 mins with IMPERIL and SLIP unfilled.
Darn, I just could not get POET LAUREATE, so DNF.
Had also needed a hint for TUVALU as I could not squeeze in Vanuatu.
With a great deal of biffing, I had managed quite well up until then.
Luckily SPARTACUS sprang to mind straight away, so I pencilled him in lightly, ditto APPAREL & SLIP. Liked FLAKE, GORBLIMEY, NOSE, among others.
Interesting puzzle, thanks Cedric.
I’ve been doing these for a couple of years. This ranks as one of the toughest. Only parsed the three easier glues in the NE corner. Reveals helped with retrospective parsing but there were three that baffled me.
Slow…. very…over 30..plodding through treacle.
GORBLIMEY? V slow – thought it was CORBLIMEY Can’t say have written it down before, and assumed two words. TUVALU slow (not keen on geography). FLAKE likewise.
Some clever clues and moments of pleasure, though nothing to enjoy with wider and younger family.
FOI SEA CHANGE
LOI PRIGGISHNESS (a late PDM)
Terrific blog! Thank you.
Normally Corblimey but not usually written, I agree. Supposedly from God blind me.
14.43
Hesitated at the end for a couple of trawls as couldn’t see flak for stick but put FLAKE in anyway. Yes, tough and similar comments to Vinyl. Didn’t get SPARTACUS very quickly and also had TOR/ROT the wrong way round. POET LAUREATE needed paper and pencil as I was expecting PEER with the checkers. GORBLIMEY was also rather difficult. Certainly one of my slowest times.
Thanks Cedric/Shay.
..on the topic of level of difficulty at times like Christmas/New Year (and possibly Easter etc.)
Presumably those in charge have to consider various solver scenarios, which I’m sure at this time of year can be extreme.
Doubtless some regular solvers are super relaxed, have more time on their hands and relish the prospect of sitting down and getting their teeth into something really tricky – whilst others find this a particularly busy time and delight in the prospect of a fun, easier offering – one that can perhaps be shared with others less familiar with the joys (and pains) of cryptic crossword solving.
I wonder if a varied offering during holiday periods could be considered – with the 15 x 15 playing an increased role for those regular QC solvers who wish to challenge themselves?
Either Shay has turned over a new leaf, or my channel hopping has finally found a connection between my brain and theirs. The top half went in quite easily (bar loi Priggishness), but Poet Laureate needed all the crossers before becoming visible.
Other than that, no real problems, though admittedly you do need to squint just a bit to get Blur to look like Slur. . .
CoD to Astound for the surface and the looks I get as I take a window seat. Invariant
10.17.
37:33 for the solve. In my bottom 10 times for the year. Slowed by being unable to unravel the POET-LAUREATE / GORBLIMEY (LOI) anagrams; not being able to think of any synonyms for either part of PRIGGISHNESS, forgetting the COLLIE(r) chestnut; and needing an alphatrawl to get to SLIP and then onto IMPERIL. Agree there were some fine surfaces in this and the OPAQUE felt like a perfect QC clue and YOUNG-LADY was another stand out. Nonetheless thanks to Shay for the stiff workout.
Possibly it went under the radar yesterday but I agree with what our esteemed blogger, Cedric, wrote about it would be good to have easier puzzles over the festive period simply for the reason that it is a chance to introduce any visitors to the cryptic arts. And I’d add that while there is usually some downtime available, somewhere in the day – you may just not have the time to struggle for longer as I did today. Might be considered rude to be ignoring any guests. If more time is available, tougher puzzles and alternatives like SuDoKu are available.
Finally thank-you to Cedric for his half of the Saturday blogs – who is obvious takes much time, care and effort in producing them.
15:59
Yes, a tricky solve. I didn’t get SPARTACUS for some time as I had ROT rather than TOR pencilled in. Also missed the parsing of ELAND whilst in flight. Liked GORBLIMEY, TUVALU and SEA CHANGE. LOI was the tricky FLAKE, which took some considerable thought.
Thank you Cedric for the usual high-quality blog and congratulations on your half-century, and thanks to Shay for the puzzle.
I thought this was a whole level of difficulty above Cheeko’s yesterday – it certainly took me about twice as long, though not one of the clues was unfair. I enjoyed it, albeit with a degree of nervousness that I would be unable actually to finish, which took the edge off somewhat. Entirely my fault, I felt – I missed the so-obvious COLLIE chestnut – it was actually my LOI! And I was incredibly slow at getting 1a. I decided there must be another term for a gladiator, never imagining a specific example. I can only put it down to the exhaustion, mental and physical, that is generated by this rather taxing time of the year. Thanks to Shay and to Cedric for manfully tackling a tricky one.
13 minutes. Yes, not an easy one. Many of the same difficulties as Cedric, including the MER at POET LAUREATE as ‘royal household member’ – thanks to Jack for the further information. Favourites were the surface for PRIGGISHNESS and our poor gerbil eating his old crumbs for GORBLIMEY.
Thanks to Shay and Cedric
12.40 This was fine except for LOI SLIP, where I spent a couple of minutes failing to think of a better answer. I never saw how it meant steal. Thanks Cedric and Shay.
I found this tricky in places, but much easier than yesterday! DNK quale so QUALM was biffed. Otherwise all solved at my usual rather leisurely pace. There were several standout surfaces (ASTOUND, FLAKE, SLUR), however COD is awarded to SEA CHANGE. Really enjoyed this one. Thanks Shay and Cedric (interesting blog as ever).
Yet another interminable struggle and yet another DNF. Why has The Times stopped publishing the QC? Did I miss an announcement to this effect?
I gave up at 56 minutes with PRIGGISHNESS left unsolved, ASTOUND unparsed and undefined, and an error with bLUR instead of SLUR. APPAREL, SLIP, IMPERIL, SPARTACUS and FAR each also added around 5 minutes to my time. Once again, this was the 15 x 15 on a small grid.
Many thanks to Cedric for the blog.
QC usually only on line on Saturdays.
Knowing MrRandom’s sense of humour – he was suggesting this wasn’t a QC and we haven’t had one for a few days now
😀
I too found this really hard work and biffed quite a few before parsing. Never did manage to parse COLLIE, which suggests my brain is still not firing on all cylinders. PRIGGISHNESS took me ages, even though I thought I knew what I was looking for. All finally done in about 35 minutes. Thank you for the blog.
I thought this was difficult , and like yesterday I’m not convinced that this is the best time of year to run such a puzzle. That said, the timing isn’t Shay’s fault (unless he’s the crossword Ed) and there were plenty of fantastic clues in there, ASTOUND being my favourite. Pleased to finish in 16:58.
Thank you for the blog, and congratulations to Cedric on hitting your 50th!
Obviously tricky but not unfair, and in hindsight a nice mix. I ended up overthinking some of the simpler clues and it took Mr P’s hints to point me in the right direction.
FOI Alarm
LOI Flake – massively held up by not spotting what was going on with Far
COD Priggishness
thanks Shay and Cedric
Definitely a hard one and I had to use a little bit of help to finish in 50m. However some very nice surfaces such as QUALM, OPAQUE, TUVALU and ASTOUND made it overall an enjoyable experience.
I was another with ROT initially for 3d as I think it can be read either way.
Thanks Shay and Cedric for a fine term on duty. Your blogging contributions are heartily appreciated.
30:45 and I’m dead.
GORBLIMEY and “crumbs” were new to me. Didn’t know a poet laureate is a member of the royal household. Slow to see “sovereign” as an adjective. Forgot British “stick”. Thought I might be looking for a type of gladiator. May not have seen “cobblers” in this sense. Also “clobber”, hmmm. Etc. etc. etc. I had one piece of luck: never having heard of a shaving stick, I had no trouble separating the two words.
A very, very British puzzle I think, so the Americanism haters have their revenge.
Liked SLUR and QUALM, and agree about the many superb surfaces.
Thanks for the thrashing, Shay. Thanks for the elucidations, Cedric, and happy 50th.
Cobblers is good old Cockney Rhyming Slang … Cobblers Awls – load of … rubbish
Ah, thank you!
35:8, my slowest solve of the year. Found it very difficult and much headscratching and biffing needed to eventually limp home. Not on this wavelength at all.
Agree this was a toughie, but a typical Shay puzzle. Took me ages… A scatter of obvious answers, but several clues where I had to squint to parse and several others where I just had to be content with what fitted best! Consequently, neither a fun nor entertaining challenge for me. One error with flake/flame (I knew it didn’t parse but…). Eventually saw Sparticus from the crossers.
FOI 9a Alarm
LOI 6d where I failed to successfully resolve the correct answer
COD 24a Young Lady
Well done, Cedric!
Another day when I should not have bothered.
Failed on 15 x 15 by 2 (2 hours plus). Parsed very little (as usual).
Failed on QC as well. Too tired/frustrated/ angry after 15 x 15.
Misery all round.
The year is ending as badly as it began.
I came to this after a long drive home and a long list of standard chores to be completed after a period away.
I did not make a quick start and soon realised it would be a slow solve at best
I quite enjoyed it and found some clever clues although many seemed a bit too chewy for a QC. I was pleased to finish in a relaxed 24 mins.
Thanks to both. I will now read the blog and see what everyone else made of it.
Note added later.
I now see that the snitch stands at 140. I’m not surprised and think that the last few days have been very tough and will have been dispiriting for many newer solvers.
I agree that the Christmas holiday should be a great time to relax with an easier puzzle and to share the cryptic arts with younger/inexperienced potential crossword solvers who might be encouraged to get some enjoyment out of a QC. The last few puzzles would put any inexperienced solver off for life. Pity.
I agree. I say with my visiting daughter to solve it together to rekindle her interest in cryptics. It had the exact opposite effect.
From SPARTACUS to POET LAUREATE in 9:40. I found this tricky, but am very surprised to find I’m 54 on the Leaderboard at 11:15 at night! Still got the 15×15 to tackle after a busy day. Thanks Shay and Cedric.
Tackled this on Sunday, Saturday having disappeared in a day of foolishly trying to drive to the Highlands. The traffic was so appalling that we gave up in Cumbria and spent the night in Sedbergh!
Very good but difficult; Shay the Merciless living up to his name. Thank goodness POET LAUREATE was an anagram! TUVALU was LOI with a shrug and a prayer.
All green in 10:46 for an Educational Day. Many thanks Shay and Cedric.
30 mins…
To be honest, I’m surprised I finished this, but for once I persevered. Whilst I had most of the answers after 20 mins, I got stuck on 6dn “Flake” and resorted in an alphabet trawl, the “flake” element finally appearing to me.
Feels like there have been tough QC’s to end the year.
FOI – 1ac “Spartacus”
LOI – 6dn “Flake”
COD – 6dn “Flake”
Thanks as usual!