An excellent puzzle by Hurley for us this morning which took me 11:13, almost exactly my par time. I think there’s only one clue where the GK required may not be familiar to everyone – it depends how well you know the names of Irish provincial rugby sides – but otherwise no obscure words, straightforward wordplay in the main and some lovely surfaces. All in all a very good example of a QC – thank you Hurley!
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 | Means of communicating in Asia is part of our duties (4) |
| URDU – A hidden, in oUR DUties.
Urdu is an Indo-Aryan language spoken primarily in South Asia. It is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan, and an official language in several states in India. It is closely related to Hindi (they evolved from the same root, and the two are mutually intelligible), but unlike Hindi it is written using a version of the Arabic script. |
|
| 3 | Food item — mince on the outside — at formal event (8) |
| MEATBALL – ME (first and last letters of MincE, given by “on the outside”) + AT BALL (at formal event). | |
| 8 | One will insist at beginning city mainly wrong (7) |
| ILLICIT – ILL (ie I’ll, or one will) + I (first letter of Insist, given by “at the beginning”) + CIT (city with last letter deleted, given by “mainly”). | |
| 10 | Sign, first of many in America (5) |
| MINUS – M (first letter of Many) + IN US (in America).
Ah, that sort of sign. Nothing to do with the signs of the Zodiac, as I first thought. |
|
| 11 | Real tale boy revised in complex way (11) |
| ELABORATELY – (real tale boy)*, with the anagram indicator being “revised”. | |
| 13 | Fish in tin moved to and fro (6) |
| SHAKEN – HAKE (fish) in S~N (Sn is the chemical symbol for tin). A very nice surface, as we’re led to think of tinned fish here. I was brought up on tinned pilchards on toast as a regular high tea dish. | |
| 15 | Initially challenged at debate, stop working as club advisor (6) |
| CADDIE – CAD (first letters of Challenged At Debate, given by “initially”) + DIE (stop working).
“Club advisor” as in a tournament, professional golfers are allowed to ask their caddies for advice on which club to use for a shot. |
|
| 17 | One running meeting — no fan of standing? (11) |
| CHAIRPERSON – A DD, the second definition mildly cryptic, because if you do not like standing you are a chair fancying person.
Many people continue to find such constructed gender-neutral words strange, though the alternative of calling someone “the chair” is to my mind even stranger. |
|
| 20 | Bail arranged before one’s evidence about location (5) |
| ALIBI – (bail)*, with the anagram indicator being “arranged” + I (one). | |
| 21 | Charm a non-drinker right before performance (7) |
| ATTRACT – A four part IKEA clue, the components being A (from the clue) + TT (non-drinker) + R (right) + ACT (performance). | |
| 22 | Piece of music, caught in the past, retro, regularly ignored (8) |
| CONCERTO – C (caught) + ONCE (in the past) + RTO (every other letter of ReTrO, given by “regularly ignored”). | |
| 23 | Tolerate gradual impairment from use (4) |
| WEAR – A DD. | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | World half united over poetry (8) |
| UNIVERSE – UNI (half of UNIted) + VERSE (poetry). | |
| 2 | Greek character, model, talented to some extent (5) |
| DELTA – A hidden, in moDEL TAlented, with the hidden indicator being “to some extent”). | |
| 4 | Parent’s strange catch (6) |
| ENTRAP – (parent)*, with the anagram indicator being “strange”. | |
| 5 | Personality name — pet term at work (11) |
| TEMPERAMENT – (name pet term)*, with the anagram indicator being “at work”. | |
| 6 | Cross as nothing new organised, you’re extremely disappointed at the outset (7) |
| ANNOYED – Formed from the first letters of As Nothing New Organised, You’re Extremely Disappointed, with the indicator being “at the outset”.
I was very slow to parse this – the checkers made the answer clear, but I initially thought that “at the outset” only referred to the -YED at the end of the word, and took a long time to work out that it also referred to the ANNO-. D’oh, as some might say. |
|
| 7 | Lean record (4) |
| LIST – A DD, as two word clues so often are. | |
| 9 | Helpful to cover a pie somehow (11) |
| COOPERATIVE – (to cover a pie)*, with the anagram indicator being “somehow”. | |
| 12 | Irish XV listener recollected (8) |
| LEINSTER – (listener)*, with the anagram indicator being “recollected”. A slightly strange anagram indicator, and especially with it coming straight after the word “listener”, I was looking for a homophone of something. But of what?
Leinster is one of Ireland’s four professional rugby teams, the other three being Munster, Ulster and Connacht. They represent the four traditional provinces of Ireland, and it is a quirk of European rugby that the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) covers the whole island, ie including Northern Ireland, part of a different sovereign state. The confusion extends to the national side, who play under the name “Ireland” and also represent the whole island – the contortions that the IRFU went through to find an acceptable national anthem to play before their matches were non-trivial, and the result is that two anthems are played: “Ireland’s Call”, a song specifically commissioned for inclusivity, and “Amhrán na bhFiann” (The Soldier’s Song), the official national anthem of the Republic of Ireland. |
|
| 14 | Legal case about university sale (7) |
| AUCTION – A~CTION (legal case) surrounding U (university). | |
| 16 | Not entirely loyal worker? He doesn’t turn up (6) |
| TRUANT – TRU (ie true, or loyal, with the last letter deleted, given by “not entirely”) + ANT (crosswordland’s favourite worker). | |
| 18 | Money risked in post (5) |
| STAKE – A DD, our fourth of the puzzle. | |
| 19 | Powder story is given new ending (4) |
| TALC – TALE (story), with the last letter changed to a C (“given a new ending”). No clue in the wordplay as to what the E is changed to, but fortunately the C is a checker. | |
8:06
I wasn’t sure what to do with 12d until I remembered that rugby teams have 15 members; then it was a simple matter of rearranging ‘listener’.
I didn’t quite get some of the clues, but I didn’t let it stop me. Leinster is an anagram of listener, and it has something to do with Ireland, so in it goes. Concerto is a piece of music starting with C for caught, so it’s probably right. I only hesitated with wear – does that really mean tolerate? Well, it can’t be tear, so I entered it as my LOI.
Time: 7:38
There’s ‘bear’, but it doesn’t fit the 2d def.
Since the clue seems to be alluding to ‘wear and tear’, I took those as my two choices.
The fourth definition of wear in the ODE gives
4. [with object, usually with negative] British English informal tolerate; accept: the environmental health people wouldn’t wear it.
12:23 but WOE. I had BEAR instead of WEAR for tolerate. As Kevin says above, it doesn’t fit the second definition, but I didn’t let that stop me. I’ll go for MEATBALL as COD.
Thanks Hurley and Cedric
5.52 WOE
Another BEAR. Poor. Failing to parse an answer in the main fare is usually less of an issue (I’ve probably missed some w/p) but a doubt in the Quickie ought to be re-checked.
Liked LEINSTER.
Thanks Hurley and Cedric.
I feel as though I dodged a couple of bullets today – I managed to think beyond ‘bear’ at 23a and remembered to go back to check the parsing of a biffed ‘swayed’ at 13a (maybe I’m finally learning).
An enjoyable solve starting with URDU and finishing with SHAKEN in a pleasingly precise 7.00.
Thanks to Cedric for the, as ever, informative blog and Hurley for the puzzle.
14 minutes. Dodged the BEAR bullet on my LOI.
Tipped over my target time by LOI, SHAKEN, where I was sure it would have to end in D, so must start with SN. Got there eventually. FOI was URDU. 10:04. Thanks Hurley and Cedric.
Me too. I wrote Snaked and then realised it would not do.
A good puzzle but I fell into the BEAR trap. I jumped about a bit and ended up in the NE with MEATBALL as my LOI.
High teens showing on the timer but this was an overestimate – not accurate because the layout kept changing on my iPad and I had to keep closing the app and starting it up again. When I tried to reload in the usual way it just showed the rotating wheel for ages but wouldn’t finish. Put me off my stroke and spoiled what would otherwise have been an enjoyable end to the crossword week but, instead, led to some very cross words.
Thanks, both.
6:01. I was slow to get started and held up at the end trying to make 13A SNAKED. I needed some checkers for the long anagrams too. I liked MEATBALL. Nice puzzle as always from Hurley. Thank-you Hurley and Cedric.
Oooo oooo – a sub-John! Pigs fly, moons turn blue. 05:58 thus goes down as a Magnificent Day. What a contrast to yesterday’s duck against Wurm.
That felt a little repetitive, with six anagrams and four DDs, but I did like MEATBALL and my COD SHAKEN (which I only got after I’d stopped trying to fit in sardine).
Nice shout-out to JerryW in today’s newsletter.
Many thanks Hurley and Cedric.
Sawbill gets a mention too… aka the novelist David Jarvis. I hope he doesn’t mind me outing him here, but his books are a good read! P.S. This weekend’s Weekend Quick Cryptic is one of his. You can find it here.
Took ages then a DNF as I put Skated instead of SHAKEN. I should have looked up Tin, as am weak on scientific symbols. (Sorting books yesterday, I found my mother has won a school science prize in 1934 – pity such genius not inherited).
I also slow on the amusing MEATBALL, and in the relatively easy NW.
PDM with LEINSTER. I liked CADDIE, TALC, TRUANT and WEAR, among others.
Many thanks, Cedric.
I won the chemistry prize at O Level and the dunce prize for English. They didn’t have dyslexia in 1967 🙂 I did get a degree in molecular physics despite my spelling handicap. I think dyslexia helps with anagrams though.
An interesting QC.
I got there but I spent an age on 12d. I gathered it was to do with rugby.
Desperation led me to put in LEINSTER. This was on the shaky logic that the word fitted and related to Ireland. I totally missed the anagram indicator.
COD SHAKEN
Thanks Cedric and Hurley.
10.24 About average for me. I was very slow to spot the anagram in ENTRAP and finished with TRUANT. Thanks Cedric and Hurley.
20 in 30 minutes which is probably a record for me. missed 1ac and 1d which I’ll probably kick myself for when I look at the blog. 16d which I’m sure has something to do with bees and 21ac which I guess has something to do with teetotal as it has two Ts.
My CoD shaken having twigged SxxxxN
Thanks Cedric and Hurley
I chose the wrong worker….
Caddie was also a good clue.
Fan of Munster myself. There are a lot of Barretts in Limerick but I’m not sure any are my relatives. However, prior to a match at the old Thomond Park against Gloucester a few of us were having a Guinness (as you do) and my friend chimes up, Rob here is looking for his relatives, anyone here called Barrett? And the fella next to us says yes and buys us a round. Consequently we almost missed the hospitality “lunch” before the game.
8:38
Nothing too tricky until I reached the last three – thought of BEAR first, but it didn’t fit the wordplay, but the penny drop of LEINSTER gave the final R, which was enough to come up with WEAR. LOI was TRUANT – with the obvious ANT as the worker, it took a few more moments to come up with TRU(E).
Thanks for the educational and entertaining blog, Cedric, and for the puzzle, Hurley
Nice one, thanks Hurley and Cedric.
Many moons ago I did a project in a branch of the civil service, their gramatical purist flatly refused to use chairperson as an abomination, some also disliking chairwoman – pointing out that the “man” bit is not actually a denotion of gender (e.g. mankind). That left the awkwardness of e.g “who is going to be chairman/chairwoman/chairperson”. Finally theu banned all three and referred only to “in the chair was Jane Bloggs/Joe Bloogs”, which I thought was a rather elegant way of mollifying everyone.
As they have both been mentiond today’s science lesson is that sardines spawn in the Mediterrainan around Sardinia (hence the name), and remain sardines while they are caught there. A soon as the swim out into the Atlantic “ta ta” they become pilchards.
Since person comes from the Latin persona, the mask worn by an actor in Latin drama, person is actually appropriate. The chairperson is playing a role, pretending he can control the committee!
It may be appropriate, as you say, and it is certainly gender-neutral, but it is a pity it is not a slightly more elegant term. That may be why the alternative of using “the Chair” arose – though actually that has a long pedigree, not least in the US Congress, where “The Chair recognises …” has been the formal phrase used by the presiding officer (eg the Speaker of the House) to grant a member of Congress permission to speak for a very long time.
One can take this too far though. A company I once worked for had memo pads printed for its senior officers with the phrase “From the desk of …” (the CEO or whoever). One was sorely tempted to reply “Dear desk of …”
I spent many years as Chairman of a large Wine Society and, being an old ****, I insisted that I was not a piece of furniture but a (Chair) man who occupied the chair.
I do recognise the dilemma but I see nothing wrong with Chairman and Chairwoman.
Pilchards unless they are near Cornwall, when they become (Cornish) sardines again I gather.
18 mins…
Like many, nearly fell into the bear trap at 23ac, but it just didn’t parse – and, if I’ve learned one thing from doing these over the last few years, it’s not to put something in if it doesn’t feel right.
FOI – 1dn “Universe”
LOI – 23ac “`Wear”
COD – 10ac “Minus” – nice and simple.
Thanks as usual!
DNF
All done in 12 mins but carelessly biffed ERRANT instead of TRUANT for he doesn’t turn up.
8:36 for the solve. While I obviously did fine, I thought it was harder than most above found – with two mins to go, I still had ten unfilled answers. SHAKEN and TRUANT had me worried that they might need an alphatrawl; and WEAR followed by STAKE (LOI). Decent week of puzzling scraping under 54mins.
Thanks to Cedric for the informative blog and to Hurley
I was very slow today, 40mins with more puzzling than was due to finish successfully in the end.
Never knew the difference between a sardine and a pilchard, thanks Ham. I guess that somewhere along the journey they pick up the tomato sauce. Cold pilchard in tomato on toast was regularly served at my school on Sunday evening. I have never and will never eat another. Dinner last night was a mountain of redfish and sheepshead, I caught an hour earlier, fried in butter and accompanied by a green salad and vinaigrette.
LOI LEINSTER. COD MINUS. Thanks Hurley and Cedric
Thanks Cedric for the Leinster heritage. Knowing little about rugby I thought the def was a typo and should have been Irish XII referring to the 12-county Leinster province.
A dreadfully slow solve – anagram hat in the wash, wrong end of clue and over thinking, all combined to produce a finish the far side of 25mins. Nothing at all wrong with Hurley’s clues, and on a better day a comfortable enough sub-20 would have been possible, but today just wasn’t my day, even though Wear was a (rare) write-in.
CoD to Caddie for the pdm. Invariant
PS Skippers (Brisling) on toast fan here, much to my wife’s disgust.
A surprisingly straightforward solve in 17.02 with only a slight delay over the last two: WEAR and LEINSTER.
One learns something new with every puzzle and while I enjoy tinned sardines I assumed I had never tasted a pilchard until now.
Thanks Hurley, and Cedric for the usual informative blog.
Usual pattern for me. First 18 clues solved at a rate of around one a minute, but my last six (all on the RHS of the grid) added a similar time again. Total time = 37 minutes.
URDU, UNIVERSE and DELTA got me started and I made good-ish progress from West to East until I ran into the sand. My final few were WEAR, LIST (I hate double definitions), CHAIRPERSON (despite getting to CHAIR_E_S__ very quickly) and LEINSTER (which I knew is a rugby team, but I didn’t realise recollected was an anagrind).
By the way, is ‘recollected’ actually a word? Shouldn’t it be ‘recalled’?
Many thanks to Cedric and Hurley.
I assume it is re…collected – as in collect up the letters and arrange them rather than anything to do with memory
That’s how I read it, too.
14 mins, 5 of which on SHAKEN. Not SWAYED, not SNAKED. Insufficient mental list of fish to trawl through. Weak pun intended.
Some lovely clues in here, I liked the surface for ALIBI so COD but also CADDIE and TRUANT.
Great puzzle and blog, thanks to Hurley and Cedric.
An about average 12:13 here. We’d just about heard of that meaning of WEAR and luckily resisted the bear trap. I’d heard also that Cornwall have rebranded their pilchards as sardines because they sound posher. Thanks, all.
14:57 so a pretty average time for me. My LOI, SHAKEN, took a while as I’m not very good with names of fish, and kept trying to parse “swayed”. I was held up longest by not knowing LEINSTER as a place name, or that there are 15 players on a rugby side, let alone the existence or names of Irish provincial ones, or indeed the custom (is it one?) of using Roman numerals to refer to them, but was saved from a DNF by clear wordplay and the patience to fiddle with the letters until they looked plausible. Also my anagram hat is back so the longish ones pretty much assembled themselves, which is always fun. I thought WEAR was sly.
Thanks Hurley and Cedric.
Yes, it is the custom to refer to teams in Roman numerals. (Repeating what our blogger said, sorry) – Ulster, Munster, Leinster and Connaught are the provinces of Ireland, by the way. That’s how I guessed the rugby team.
I think it is amazingly clever that you Americans can solve these British Isles QCs.
Thanks for the info — and it’s very nice to be thought clever, but there’s a lot of patience, not to mention pigheadedness, involved.
12:43, a little below my average. I spent a couple of minutes at the end considering my options for anagramming “listener”, which wasn’t easy as I’ve NHO LEINSTER, but fortunately I guessed correctly.
Thank you for the blog!
My thanks to Hurley and Cedric Statherby.
Lots of anagrams, no bad thing. Fairly straightforward.
1a Urdu. Thank you Cedric for the info on Urdu. I always assumed it was some version of Arabic, no.
13a Shaken, nice clue but I tried to shoehorn Snaked instead, beginning with Sn rather than wrapped in it. I think the ake pushed me to hake.
1d Universe. I have to raise an eyebrow at world=universe, I thought it was everything, of which our earth is a microscopic portion.
12d Leinster. Thank you again Cedric for the info on IRFU, I had no idea. I did know that Ireland has 4 provinces of which one, Ulster, has 6 counties in UK and 3 in ROI. But DNK that the provinces mapped onto the professional sides. I also knew that Ireland is one of the 4 Nations, and includes NI in it.
18:49 here. Six anagrams is more than ideal for me, but I managed them all without pen & paper, which makes me happy.
“The Durham miners will never wear it” was Herbert Morrison’s reason for not attempting to join the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951. I remembered the quote, which helped me avoid the BEAR-trap, but had to look up the details.
Thanks to Hurley and Cedric.
Straightforward I thought – all green in 7:11 having been disrupted by Deliveroo dropping off a couple of bottles of Bordeaux from Majestic.
Cheers all
9.17.
Narrowly avoided both the ‘errant’ and ‘bear’ traps to finish a few seconds over my revised target in 15:20.
COD to MEATBALL once I’d worked out what was going on. Also liked CONCERTO.
Thanks both.
23:24 – about an average time for me. took a while to sort out the long anagrams and to find WEAR, SHAKEN and TRUANT. Nice puzzle.
11:15 almost tied with Cedric. Universe Shaken by Leinster Wear (well I think they played in pink a few years back) 😧
Ta CAH