Time: 15:44.
I think this is my first time blogging a setter’s first offering. I searched the archives for any other puzzles by Frank and came up blank as far back as I looked (to 2022). So welcome, Frank.
I enjoyed this, although I was fast to start with and then very slow. With less than 10 minutes gone I had only three clues left: INITIALS, RIALTO and my last one in, SEESAW.
Frank gives us a wide selection of the clueing techniques for part of a word: “at first”, “beginning to”, “to start with”, “missing”, “starting late”. And that’s just from the Across clues.
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 | Performer caught out at first by microphone (5) |
| COMIC – C |
|
| 4 | News articles beginning to slate Conservatives (7) |
| STORIES – S Two very similar clues to start off the acrosses. |
|
| 8 | The author’s entering one worried candidate (7) |
| NOMINEE – MINE (the author’s, as in “that’s mine!”) inside (ONE)*. | |
| 9 | Farewell from university following a pass (5) |
| ADIEU – U (university) after [following] A [in the clue] and DIE (pass).
I still don’t like the euphemism “pass” for “die”. |
|
| 10 | To start with, scouting contingent walking and climbing (10) |
| SCRAMBLING – First letters of S The third outing of this clue construction. |
|
| 14 | Get the better of unfashionable humorist (6) |
| OUTWIT – OUT (unfashionable) + WIT (humorist). | |
| 15 | Retreat after retirement to Venetian location (6) |
| RIALTO – LAIR (retreat) reversed [after retirement], plus TO [in the clue].
The Rialto is the centre of Venice. There is also the very famous Rialto Bridge, which may be what Frank had in mind. |
|
| 17 | Eating, rave about having no meat (10) |
| VEGETARIAN – (EATING RAVE)* | |
| 20 | Come to religious lesson at a church (5) |
| REACH – R.E. (Religious Education: religious lesson), plus A and CH for church. | |
| 22 | Missing golf, move abroad — somewhere like Dubai? (7) |
| EMIRATE – EMI |
|
| 23 | Steelmen starting late forged iron? (7) |
| ELEMENT – s(TEELMEN)*. In this clue, we need to drop the first letter [starting late].
The question mark shows that this is a definition by example: other elements are available. |
|
| 24 | Argue against Root being withdrawn (5) |
| REBUT – TUBER (a root) reversed [withdrawn]. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Coin dispatched to be picked up (4) |
| CENT – sounds like [to be picked up] SENT (dispatched). | |
| 2 | Note characters turning up during home matches (4) |
| MEMO – Reverse hidden [characters turning up] in |
|
| 3 | Cheat with writing one’s made to join up (9) |
| CONSCRIPT – CON (cheat) + SCRIPT (writing).
Very neat. |
|
| 4 | Witness was lying about up-and-down affair (6) |
| SEESAW – SEE (witness, the verb), plus WAS reversed [lying about].
This is the “an object of a particular type” meaning of “affair”, as in “she was wearing a black, off-the-shoulder affair”. Very P.G. Wodehouse. |
|
| 5 | Djokovic, maybe, neither starting nor finishing eggs (3) |
| OVA – Djokovic the tennis player’s first name is Novak. Remove the first and last letter [neither starting nor finishing]. | |
| 6 | Personal letters? (8) |
| INITIALS – Cryptic definition. Your initials are certainly personal to you, although almost certainly not unique to you.
I was gazing at I_I_I___ for ages. I even wondered if the answer was going to be IIIIIIII for a moment. |
|
| 7 | Scot lacking heart to encourage SNP politician (8) |
| STURGEON – S Nicola Sturgeon, former leader of the Scottish National Party. |
|
| 11 | Military officer organised air bridge (9) |
| BRIGADIER – (AIR BRIDGE)* | |
| 12 | Join RAC finally on roadside? (8) |
| CONVERGE – last letter [finally] of |
|
| 13 | Agents at ground stand still (8) |
| STAGNATE – (AGENTS AT)* | |
| 16 | Passionate artist laid up with depression (6) |
| ARDENT – RA (Royal Academician, artist), reversed [laid up], plus DENT (depression).
Today I learned that the number of Royal Academicians is capped at 80. |
|
| 18 | Insult in pub borne by British (4) |
| BARB – BAR (pub) on top of [borne by] B for British.
Bars and pubs are not the same. Here in California we have too many of the first and far too few of the second. But in Crosswordland all drinking establishments are fungible. |
|
| 19 | Crack shot’s first to plug jumbo? (4) |
| JEST – S |
|
| 21 | Long-handled device regularly used in The Open (3) |
| HOE – alternate letters [regularly used in] tHe OpEn. | |
6:20
I sort of knew STURGEON, though if given the name I doubt I could have said who she is; and I knew Djokovic, but had no idea what his given name is. But in both cases the wordplay was clear.
Amusing, but not too difficult. I couldn’t remember Novak, but once you have the two crossing letters the answer is obvious. I was wondering about initials, but biffed Rialto without hesitation, and then parsed it. I was a bit taken aback by Sturgeon – wasn’t expecting her, although as a Times subscriber I get to read all about her and her party.
Time: 7:24
5:56 for me, finishing up with RIALTO. I have been on the bridge several times but didn’t know it was a part of Venice too. I thought the only SNP politician I knew was Alex Salmond (you have to be named as a fish with an extra letter it seems!) who seemed to be the leader for decades, but I did know of Nicola Sturgeon, it turned out.
I think 7D should be depicted as ScoT with CO deleted not ST deleted.
She is certainly well known in the UK and not necessarily for the right reasons.
Whoops, thank you. Will fix.
After a fast start I slowed down in the middle and stopped at SEESAW to take particular care to follow the syntax to reach the result. Many ‘follow the recipe’ type clues which fit the QC genre without requiring obscure GK. Thanks Frank and Doofers. 17 mins for me and a rare opportunity to avoid the pitfalls and give the SCC a miss.
6.11, all good, thanks Doof and welcome Frank, well done.
16 minutes as a result of tripping over myself by writing STAGNANT at 13 when I meant to put STAGNATE. That made solving my LOI ELEMENT impossible until I had noticed and corrected my error.
Is mention of Ms Sturgeon intended to mark her official retirement from frontline elected politics as of today with the dissolution of the Scottish Parliament in readiness for the General Election tomorrow at which she is not standing in any capacity?
I looked more than once at INITIALS before deciding it was the only option although I don’t find the clue all that convincing.
After yesterday’s SLEDGE I was super careful with STAGNATE, which like Jack started life as ‘stagnant’ – well done me for spotting the lack of E. Slow on SEESAW and it’s only thanks to yesterday’s Richard Osman’s House of Games that I got RIALTO – just 12 hours ago I’d have found this clue a lot harder! All green in 10.12. Good one!
Welcome Frank! And a fine debut puzzle, which certainly breaks my rule of thumb that a new setter’s first offering is often a tough one as they calibrate to the requirements of a QC.
I was on for a very fast time indeed until my L2I, RIALTO (dredged up from somewhere but not perhaps entirely “G” GK) and INITIALS, which I only got from the checkers and like Jack was not entirely sure about. Those two pushed the clock out to 8:36.
Many thanks Doofers for the blog.
I think The Merchant of Venice is GK: “What news on the Rialto?” But I probably remember it more as I studied it for English O-level!
13:15 Troubled by Rialto Sturgeon Initials but that’s enough about my RSI issues.
Ta DAF
😄
👍
Welcome Frank. Slow for us bogged down in several places. Could not see jest for ages, likewise seesaw, abject lessons in lift and separate.
Liked the surface for emirate.
Thanks Doofers for the blog, which we needed for parsing of rebut (in the description of scrambling you have rambling = climbing , instead of walking😉)
Thank you, now fixed. It’s no excuse, but I was in a FaceTime call with my son & his fiancée while I was writing part of this blog. Moral of the story: don’t allow your children to get engaged. Clearly.
A well pitched debut and very entertaining to boot.
Started with COMIC and finished with INITIALS in 6.53. COD to SEESAW.
Thanks to Doofers and Frank
4:59
Blasted through this INITIAL offering of Frank’s. Indeed, INITIALS was the only clue where I wasn’t 100%, but RIALTO seemed to confirm it.
Thanks Doofers and Frank
A neat and elegant debut from Frank, welcome! (Solving through the Club on a phone means you don’t know who the setter is, but it did feel like a new style.)
No hold ups in a clockwise solve apart from not being able to see CONVERGE without a few checkers, which held me up a little. From COMIC to ELEMENT in 06:32 for a Good Day. COD RIALTO.
Many thanks Frank and Doofers.
as an American I was very concerned when the last entry left was likely an SNP politician. Very grateful to complete without errors but more grateful for this site for helping me improve
5:45. I was a bit slow getting going, but no real difficulties. LOI JEST and COD to EMIRATES. Thanks Frank for the neat debut puzzle and Doofers for the blog.
4.45 – so a good day.
Alas a genuine typo meant I’m not on the leaderboard. I fat-fingered SrURGEON.
Really enjoyed this puzzle – nice variety of witty clues. COD to VEGETARIAN
18:35 – an average time for me. An entertaining puzzle with biffs required to complete: INITIALS, RIALTO & SEESAW.
How can initials be a biff?
I biffed this too. Wasn’t at all sure this was the right answer for a while
Very enjoyable puzzle today. By one of those quirks of coincidence, was just talking about the Rialto bridge yesterday, so that was a write-in. Thanks Frank and Doofers.
Finished this enjoyable puzzle all OK. Had to jump about a bit today, but all the while thinking ‘I should have got that one straight away’.
Biffed many inc OVA, REBUT and RIALTO.
Liked STURGEON (the clue) but assume we won’t see much more of her IRL.
Also liked LOI INITIALS, EMIRATE, CONVERGE and JEST.
Thanks vm, Doofers.
Oh, so vm means very much? I always thought you were referring on the down-low to the real name of the setter that the rest of us didn’t know! And I wondered who vm might be…certainly not Frank. Ha!
Yes, I like INITIALS in moderation, especially e.g. LTS (life’s too short).
That’s how I feel sometimes with the 15×15…
Saw name of new setter and feared for the worst, but no, all eminently doable, so thank you and well done Frank. No problems; LOI ELEMENT.
DNF
An annoying puzzle because most of this was a breeze but then I was completely stumped by RIALTO and INITIALS. The latter I guess is my own fault for not thinking beyond a double definition.
I always remember the late lamented Rotter’s Law. ‘Two word clues are always double definitions’. I started collecting exceptions, the only one I can remember is ‘Reversible canoe (5)’.
I just came to offer my view and saw Hector’s post. I also had difficulty seeing RIALTO and INITIALS after a quick and clean sweep through the rest of the puzzle. I spent minutes on my last two before the penny dropped for Rialto but my LOI was then easy to see, given the crossers.
A good debut from Frank but a real sting in the tail for me.
Thanks to both.
Started fast (although I didn’t immediately see the rather straightforward 1ac) but slowed a bit later on. Still, all finished and parsed in 14 minutes which is a fast time for me.
FOI- 4ac STORIES
LOI – 6dn INITIALS
COD – 22ac EMIRATE
Thanks to Frank and Doofers
10:52, which is a bit under my average, with STURGEON not fully parsed and RIALTO taking up a good three minutes or so at the end.
It’s amazing how often I have thoughts like this when solving crosswords: “Roadside? It can’t be ‘hard shoulder’ and I don’t know know any other synonyms for roadside. In fact there absolutely, definitively aren’t any other synonyms for roadside so I must have got this completely wro- oh right I see it’s ‘verge’, thank god for that”.
Thank you for the blog!
What about Kerb?
I too wondered how the new setter would pitch his puzzle. It was all straightforward for me until my last two: INITIALS and finally RIALTO.
I had to rely on GK to get RIALTO; LIDO was stuck in my mind.
But 12 minutes in the end with 2 or 3 of those dedicated to those two clues.
Welcome Frank; a good start.
COD to SEE SAW.
David
An excellent debut QC from Frank – welcome indeed to a setter who seems to be an experienced practitioner, not averse to some playful cluing.
A fairly straightforward top to bottom solve, with half a dozen ticks against potential CoDs along the way. However, loi Rialto took several visits to see, and only then after a pdm with Initials had produced the missing crosser. Those two pushed my solving time out a bit, but it was still a comfortable enough sub-20.
CoD to the wonderfully clued Seesaw, just ahead of the shorter but equally impressive Initials. The surface for Converge was another strong CoD candidate. Thanks to Doofers and Frank. Invariant
What a cracking debut from Frank. Ticks everywhere – the surfaces were very neat. I like anagrams and there were plenty of excellent ones to keep me happy. I zipped along quite quickly until the last three or four, but that’s ok – I was enjoying it too much. I got a little stuck at 13d by putting in STAGNANT at first and panicked slightly at the possible cricket clue 😅 It’s going to be hard to pick a COD, but highlights are EMIRATE, REBUT, STURGEON*, BRIGADIER and CONVERGE.
A palindromic 10:01 FOI Comic LOI Jest COD Vegetarian (by a whisker)
Many thanks Frank – come back soon – and thanks to Doofers too (I agree with you about pass = die!)
* for the clue! It makes a change from something fishy 😉
I also dislike PASS = DIE. A setter used it in the last couple of weeks and a number of us agreed that it was an unacceptable euphemism.
I wonder if setters might see these comments (or perhaps the Crossword Editor can jump on it in future?)
It is a usage that does exist, documented in the dictionary. Therefore, it may be used in puzzles.
I know. However, there are lots of words in dictionaries which are not used in crosswords (or in life generally) for a variety of reasons.
I’d have thought it still has valid meaning for those with a religious belief that their dearly departed has passed on to the afterlife.
I don’t like any of the euphemisms for “die”. However, if we ban them all it would make clueing those three letters rather difficult.
I agree about PASS, for DIE. I had hoped the reference had become outdated, but, not in Crosswordland, it seems.
Welcome Frank, and thank you for a neat puzzle – clever but not too arcane. A PB of 13.5 for me. Thanks to our blogger too. All very enjoyable and just right for a QC imho.
Welcome Frank. An enjoyable puzzle. From COMIC to ELEMENT in 7:38. Needed crossers for INITIALS and a brief pause to come up with RIALTO which I walked across some 25 years ago. Thanks Frank and Doofers.
9:27 – very good for me
Oh dear, oh dear! An embarrassing, but very typical DNF.
After 20 minutes I had only three clues to solve (jolly fast for me), but the INITIALS/RIALTO combo then held me up for 7-8 minutes or so and, despite applying brute force for a further 7-8 minutes, OUTWIT simply never came. OUT for unfashionable came straight away, but every pass through the alphabet (and there were several) missed its target until, totally exasperated, I gave up.
How could that happen with such a simple word? It was almost as if I was deliberately trying not to find it.
Thanks to Doofers and Frank.
Oh u twit 🤭
Yes, absolutely!
_hen I sa_ the ans_er I _ondered _hether I _as _orking _ith an alphabet _hich _as _ithout a W.
👍
A nice puzzle from newcomer Frank, and I certainly seemed to be on his wavelength finishing in 7.22. I was actually surprised it wasn’t faster because most clues were solved on the first pass, but still a decent time for me.
Seeing RIALTO reminded me of my visit to Venice, when we stayed in a hotel right by the bridge (most publicity pictures of the bridge show our hotel which is always painted in a dark pinkish/red colour). Our first day there was memorable for reasons other than enjoying the staggering beauty of the city. We arrived on 9th September 2001 in the early afternoon, and after booking into our room I turned on the television to see if any English speaking channels were available. What I saw stopped me in my tracks, and we watched open mouthed for hours as the tragedy of 9/11 unfolded in New York.
One unfortunate knock on effect for the American tourists who were due to fly out of Venice in the next few days, was that air flights into America were not possible as air space was closed down. The Venetian hotel proprietors didn’t cover themselves in glory by deciding to triple the price of hotel accommodation for those guests who were stranded, and having to extend their stay.
Dear Mr Pandy,
On a more upbeat note, may I ask if you made the long journey to Barrow? Let’s hope next season proves less precarious.
As it was a nine hour round trip, and our away ticket allocation had been snapped up, I decided to spend a tortured two hours in front of the television watching all the latest score flashes. After 75 minutes we were 1-0 down and heading out of the football league. I then went from the slough of despond to total elation as we scored two late goals to keep our league status. I went to the Barrow away game last year so know what the journey meant for our hardy supporters. Yes I do hope next year is less precarious! We live in hope!
15 minutes, 4 of them spent on INITIALS.
Watch out for personal letters equals monogram.
I am having problems logging in and often have to go to Settings, Safari, delete History ( and cookies?) to do so.
And I don’t remain logged in, despite ticking the box.
I’ve learnt that, if I tick the box first and then enter my details, I seem to stay logged in. Not sure how that works 😅
Good idea!
Hope it works 🤞
13.07. Took me far too long to see ‘jest’.
Very straightforward apart from semi-biffed INITIALS which I wasn’t 100% sure was correct. COD OUTWIT. Another to loathe ‘pass’ for die. Many thanks Frank and D.
Very nice debut Frank. Not particularly quick for me, but the only short hold-ups at Rialto, Initials, and LOI Cent, I was thinking k – k – k , (Cant, Can’t, Cone ???) only when I eventually switched to s – s – s did the cent drop. Thanks Frank and Doofers.
I was nearly outwitted by RIALTO but I got there belatedly and I am awarding it my COD. 6:52 Thanks Doofers
8.57 DNF with the obviously wrong VEGETERIAN. I had been feeling lucky after a checker corrected BRIGADEER. Idiocy aside, this was mostly quick. I spent a couple of minutes failing to recall MONOGRAM before getting the last two, INITIALS and RIALTO. Thanks Doofers for the blog and Frank for the excellent puzzle.
Great puzzle, Frank – thank you and welcome! 7:20 for me, with a few smiles on the way. Nice one.
4 short on 15 x 15 in well over an hour. Probably easy for the boffins.
16 mins…
Let’s be frank, an excellent debut! Some nice clues across a range of difficulties. Main hold ups were 6dn “Initials”, where I took an age to see what was going on, and 15ac “Rialto” where I couldn’t get that fountain from Rome out of my head.
FOI – 1dn “Cent”
LOI – 15ac “Rialto”
COD – 4dn “Seesaw”
Thanks as usual!
Trevi
I join the chorus of praise for Frank – just right for a QC and all done in 13m. I got OVA for the wrong reasons, thinking (carelessly) oh Djokovic is a Slovak so it must be OVA (he’s not – he’s a Serb). I seem to recall “bridge to singer’s divinity lesson” as a previous clue for RIALTO but I can’t remember the setter! OUTWIT was neatly clued and so was EMIRATE, although not many seem to be moving there at the moment. Highly enjoyable, hope to see many more of this quality! Thanks to Frank for an excellent debut and to Doofers for very good blog.
A lot of fun until I could not think of RIALTO, and INITIALS also eluded me. I got stuck on the idea that the setter might have cruelly and radically set IIIIIIII! I knew it couldn’t be but the very idea seemed to paralyze me. Finally got tired at about 23 minutes and abandoned the solve.
Thanks to Frank and Doof.
I carelessly entered STAGNANT, which meant I didn’t see ELEMENT for ages. I also didn’t get JEST, which isn’t that difficult!
A nicely pitched QC. Thanks, Frank and Doofers!
Just right for me, enough to keep me occupied for 20 mins, without being overly problematic
18:07
Nice one Frank 🙂
Biffed a few but took the time to parse them all for a very enjoyable solve.
For some strange reason the NW was last to go in. When CENT finally went in (do’h!), it opened up.
A full two minutes staring at my LOI C_N_C_I_T, until the PDM.
Seems I struggled with ones others didn’t and vice versa.
FOI: STORIES
LOI: CONSCRIPT
COD: CONSCRIPT
Thanks to Doofers and Frank
13 mins. I found this at the easier end with a few clues causing a bit more thought (initials, seesaw).
FOI Comic
LOI Seesaw
COD Initials
Thanks Frank and Doofers