Good morning, and the scheduling gods have given me a second puzzle by Jalna in a row. And a fine puzzle it is too – I was on for a very fast time until my very last clue, where I stalled, and sat, and thought, and thought again before inspiration struck. The very definition of a breezeblock, and it pushed my time out to 11.36. A par finish for me therefore rather than anything better, as had once looked likely.
I think we have almost every sort of wordplay in this puzzle that the QC regularly sees except a Spoonerism, so great variety. And some very smooth surfaces, of which I think 22D is my favourite. Add in no unusual or archaic words, and the occasional chestnut, and there is much to enjoy here. Thank you Jalna!
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 | Outline of refurbished hotel suite (10) |
| SILHOUETTE – (hotel suite)*, the anagram indicator being “refurbished”. | |
| 7 | Put a coat on? (5) |
| PAINT – A cryptic clue. The coat is a coat of paint, and if you are putting a coat of paint on something you are painting it. | |
| 8 | Ruthless sort of extremely tetchy, angry speech (6) |
| TYRANT – TY (“extremely”, ie first and last letters of, TetchY) + RANT (angry speech). | |
| 10 | Band lacking new equipment (3) |
| RIG – RING (band – nothing to do with music, think wedding ring/wedding band) with the N deleted (“lacking new”). | |
| 12 | Exactly where glasses may sit? (2,3,4) |
| ON THE NOSE – A DD. | |
| 13 | Park worker managed to finish everything before winter (6) |
| RANGER – RAN (managed) + GER (last letter, ie “to finish”, of everythinG beforE winteR). One of several very smooth surfaces. | |
| 14 | Means of access in a concert site (6) |
| AVENUE – A (from the clue) + VENUE (concert site). | |
| 17 | Second occasion to vote: this is what the choices are (9) |
| SELECTION – S (second) + ELECTION (occasion to vote). | |
| 19 | American about to head west for notable period of time (3) |
| ERA – A (American) + RE (about), all reversed (“to head west”). | |
| 20 | Set where one may see Glastonbury attendees? (6) |
| INTENT – IN TENT (in which many attendees bivouac while at Glastonbury).
This was the clue that breezeblocked me, as even with all the checkers I struggled to find a word that meant set. In the end I worked from the wordplay end of the clue, saw that “in tent” could describe people attending Glasto, and then finally the penny dropped and I saw that “intent” could mean “set”, as in “She was intent on/set on doing something”. All of which added over 3 minutes to my time! |
|
| 21 | Catalogue featuring unknown music producer (5) |
| LISZT – LIS~T (catalogue) including (“featuring”) Z (unknown). Something of a chestnut I think, or even perhaps a chesztnut. | |
| 23 | Means of ascending stage with large snake (10) |
| STEPLADDER – STEP (stage) + L (large) + ADDER (snake).
Not just one but two lift-and-separates in the same clue, as we are not ascending a stage and an adder is not actually a very large snake. |
|
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Great singer who collaborates with the Police? (10) |
| SUPERGRASS – SUPER (great) + GRASS (singer, in the sense of informer). | |
| 2 | Garland that is left lying around (3) |
| LEI – IE (that is) + L (left), all reversed (“lying around”). | |
| 3 | Beaten at the end, do you just need to train more? (7) |
| OUTDONE – Last letters (given by “at the end”) of dO yoU jusT neeD tO traiN morE.
Clues where one takes either the first letters of a string of words or the last letters often read somewhat clunkily and forced. This surface by contrast is very smooth indeed. |
|
| 4 | Property in eastern New York, perhaps (6) |
| ESTATE – E (eastern) + STATE (New York, perhaps). | |
| 5 | Portion of parfait, or terrific cake (5) |
| TORTE – A hidden, in parfaiT OR TErrific, with the hidden indicator being “portion of”.
Another lift-and-separate, as terrific is part of the wordplay and cake is the definition. Though actually, tortes are terrific cakes. |
|
| 6 | Divulge periodically gaining small amount of weight (8) |
| ANNOUNCE – ANN (“periodically”, ie every other letter of, gAiNiNg) + OUNCE (small amount of weight). | |
| 9 | Performer supporting complaint about new sponsor (10) |
| BENEFACTOR – BE~EF (complaint) around (“about”) N (new), + ACTOR (performer). Actor supports Benef as it is underneath it, this being a down clue. | |
| 11 | Criminal world from part of UK, heading out for Georgia (8) |
| GANGLAND – ENGLAND (part of UK), with the E deleted (“heading out”) and replaced by GA (2-letter abbreviation for the US state of Georgia). | |
| 15 | Country home housing an orchid plant (7) |
| VANILLA – V~ILLA (country home) containing (“housing”) AN (from the clue).
I learn from the internet that vanilla flavouring comes from the seed pods of a specific tropical climbing orchid (Vanilla planifolia). It is apparently one of the only orchids in the world grown for a purpose other than just its flowers. Today’s learning point, as I did not know that. |
|
| 16 | Excellent bit of advice to present up front (6) |
| TIPTOP – TIP (bit of advice) + TO (from the clue) + P (Present “up front”, ie first letter of). | |
| 18 | High point of centre for dedicated relaxation (5) |
| CREST – C (centre) + REST (dedicated relaxation).
We had Crest in Jalna’s last puzzle two weeks ago – also one I blogged – where it was clued as “Top clubs are supported”. This excited quite a bit of comment, as it is fair to say not everyone thought it was the best clue in the puzzle. I wonder if this is Jalna coming back to show he can clue CREST in a way that no-one could find fault with? |
|
| 22 | Run endlessly up and down (3) |
| SAD – DASH (run), with the H deleted (given by “endlessly”) and then the resulting DAS reversed (given by “up”).
And an extremely smooth surface to end on, my COD. |
|
I saw intent right away, but not spelling silhouette correctly set me back a bit. I did have to save paint until I had all three checkers – then it was easy.
Time: 7:31
13 minutes. Both INTENT and SILHOUETTE delayed me a little.
9:34 for the solve for the Quitch. SAD was LOI with INTENT preceding it. Some intricate clues in there with OUTDONE, CREST and TIPTOP going in as bifs and parsed postsolve. COD OUTDONE.
SUPERGRASS – I couldn’t quite decide whether it’s some kind of &lit as singer=grass seems to be the same as someone who collaborates with the police. Being picky, I would say the surface needs The capitalised for the band. And I have to say they were one of my favourites listening back in the 80s – amazing – the latter albums especially.
Thanks to Cedric and Jalna
Edit: Cedric – I had the C in Crest parsed as “centre of dediCated” with rest=relaxation
Yes that works too.
Interesting point. A little research on line (by no means exhaustive, but how could it be?) suggests that although when taken in isolation names of groups such as The Police, The Beatles, The Who etc have the definite article capitalised, when the groups are referred to in sentences it’s more likely that lower case ‘the’ will be used. Scroll through articles on the above groups on Wiki for examples.
Isn’t the rule that you always ignore punctuation ( including capitalisation) in cryptic clues, on the grounds that it’s so often used for misdirection ? Apostrophes trap me regularly ( and not just in crosswords ). In this case, the band only fleetingly occurred to me – singer and grass are clear synonyms to me ( maybe that’s the London in me).
Generally yes, you should ignore punctuation when solving. However Jackkt’s well made point was a reply to my comment about the surface of the clue
over 18 for me with not only intent but also avenue and Liszt (duh) holding me up for many minutes and going well over my 10 min target max. An enjoyable test.
14:58 Delayed by sad vanilla benefactor.
Ta CAJ
Tricky in places and made harder by a carelessly biffed ‘gangster’, but there were enough checkers around to ensure there were no serious delays until hitting the buffers with INTENT.
Finished in 8.23.
Thanks to Cedric and Jalna
All bar four in 20 minutes.
Supergrass are an 90s band with Gaz Coombes as the lead singer, Alright.
I didn’t get intent, tiptop, sad or vanilla.
Sad occured to me after another 10 minutes.
Thanks setter and blogger
I haven’t done the crossword yet, or read the blog, but just popped in to wish everyone a Happy George Day 🍺 Perhaps I’ll make it one of these years! In the meantime, have fun.
Well, said, Penny B! Will raise a glass to all – though not to ‘us’ today – first DNF in a rather long time. Beaten by the belatedly obvious INTENT. Also slowed by CREST, one of many delightful clues.
Thank you Jalna and Mr S for the excellent crossword and blog to match.
13 minutes, much enjoyed. Like others it took a couple of minutes to see that INTENT = set and I was also slow to parse SAD, these being my L2I. I knew the vanilla/orchid connection but as usual missed the last letters hint to parse OUTDONE, my CoD.
Thanks both.
DNF. I managed all (including INTENT) apart from AVENUE, VANILLA, and TIPTOP and just lost the will to live.
I have said before that Jalna and I are simply never on the same wavelength. There are many good, clever clues but I simply cannot get comfortable with the way his mind works.
I have finally learned my lesson and will not spend my time on a Jalna ‘Q’C in future.
DNF STEPLADDER, SAD, TIPTOP or INTENT (doh!).
Pretty difficult, I thought. But snake is often Adder so I was rather dim there.
COD BENEFACTOR.
Thanks vm, Cedric.
Have a good party, you guys! (I note that nowadays young waitresses address everyone as ‘you guys’ regardless.)
7:36 but…
one wrong. Fast to finish but bunged in ENTITY (property) for 4d thinking that the parsing scales would fall from my eyes when I went back to check, however, I didn’t go back to check. Doh.
I found INTENT tricky too. Not a keen camper – too uncomfortable, cold, poor toilet facilities etc.
Thanks Cedric and Jalna
Completely forgot George day – have a good one.
DNF but only because I ran out of time rather than inspiuration.
Thanks Jalna and Cedric.
Hesitated over whether it was SZ or ZS for Brahms’s chum.
Tried hard to make INVEST work (well all those smelly festival goers are usually in vests).
Couldn’t parse OUTDONE (thanks Cedric). Parsed CREST like New Driver, and don’t think C for “Centre” works (it’s not even in the 50+ list of abbreviations and symbols listed for C in Collins!).
Otherwise plain sailing to 06:40 and an Excellent Day.
Many thanks Cedric and Jalna.
I once worked for an organisation called the Centre for Central Banking Studies, known to everyone there as CCBS, so C for Centre came very naturally to me. A rare day where I know a usage Collins doesn’t – it’s usually the other way round!
Also well and truly breezeblocked by INTENT. Having got that I was the presented with a pink square for TIRANT, having initially biffed TIRADE and only changed the second half of the word when the correct answer presented itself. Drat. SILHOUETTE was FOI. Just over twelve minutes WOE. Thanks Jalna and Cedric.
13:03
Very much a puzzle of two halves. The top half of the grid flew in, whilst the bottom half was a struggle. As with many others, I loitered for a long time with INTENT, my LOI.
I parsed CREST the same way as New Driver and Templar.
Thanks Cedric and Jalna
24:23
Tough going, entered the SCC, and will
be able to discuss in person at The George later today.
The outsiders were the main problem: SILHOUETTE took an age (was looking at summary, precis, abstract etc not an actual outline ) , and really struggled with SUPERGRASS and BENEFACTOR.
INFORMANT matched my checkers and had to be backed out when I decided PAINT must be right. And had DACHA for my country home so my orchid was DACHANA, since I don’t know many plants it sounded quite possible.
COD OUTDONE
Dachana sounds like a great plant, I’ll have to try it in my garden.
A little slow as I couldn’t get away from “KIT” (KNIT with the N removed) instead of RIG.
I was using KNIT as in “band together/KNIT together”.
I really have to stop falling in love with my first instinct!
My first thought was KIT, but luckily didn’t think of knit!
I also tested out K(N)IT.
28:03 denoting that I struggled with this. Saw INTENT (eventually) but needed the odd alphabet trawl to get a couple of others. SAD, VANILLA, BENEFACTOR and OUTDONE all taking ages.
I agree, a fine puzzle. I can swallow set/ intent as synonyms if I think fixed/ focussed. Missed the surfaces for RANGER and OUTDONE for no good reason. Many neat surfaces – I liked BENEFACTOR. DNK vanilla is an orchid – now I do.
Thanks to setter and blogger
I got somewhat held up on INTENT and TIPTOP whilst also being held up on the train to Waterloo, but hopefully will make The George in time. Great puzzle, as usual…
Nice puzzle. 18:11. Held up by BENEFACTOR. INTENT works like the clue in yesterday’s 15×15 for INNIT.
Couldn’t make it to London today, but I hope to one day.
Thanks Cedric and setter.
12:49 for an ON THE NOSE Saturday puzzle. I had exactly the same experience & thoughts as Cedric, although I can never remember how to spell the composer. Spent a long time wondering if Glastonbury was in Kent, having not been able to wedge in mud, field or pyramid. Lovely PDM.
Thanks to Jalna & Cedric and cheers to everyone this weekend!
I noticed a couple of new (to me) notification boxes under the comments box today , so like a mad fool, I ticked the one that said ‘Notify me of follow up comments by email’. I’ve been having a lot of problems getting notifications of replies to my posts, and thought it was a new option for that. Big mistake – I’ve now got an email from every one of ‘you guys’ in my inbox! It’s nice to be popular but … 🤣 I think it only applies to today’s puzzle, but can’t seem to undo the action.
On to the puzzle: the first time I’ve posted in a while as we’ve been away, but I’ve been keeping up with you online. Last week was pretty good, but today – oh dear! It turns out I was OUTDONE by SILHOUETTE, which I can’t spell properly. If only I’d read the clue for 3d more carefully, I might have finished.
DNF in about 25 minutes with a break that didn’t help! Oh well, onwards and upwards 😅
Thanks Jalna and Cedric
Thanks for warning – I won’t tick the box!
Best not!
I’ve queried that too and hopefully Johninterred will get back to me later or tomorrow. I think it was something we tested in an early version of the site when building it but settled on a different option controlled under Account Settings on the top menu bar
Many thanks John – hopefully it will return to normal tomorrow. I won’t make the same mistake twice 😅
Just replying to provide you with another test of the checkbox functionality 🤣
Oh yes, I’m still getting all the emails 😱
Hi Penny .. you will have had an email from wordpress asking to confirm your subscription (check spam if you can’t find it). Click on the link provided and it will provide a list of all your wordpress subscriptions and means to amend or cancel them.
12.59 Slow again. I biffed a fair bit once I had some checkers and finished with BENEFACTOR. Thanks Cedric and Jalna.
12 minutes to solve this, and the downs seemed like a different, more challenging, and more amusing puzzle than the acrosses. Stuck for a little on the only vaguely heard of SUPERGRASS, my LOI. I greatly enjoyed picturing the snake handler mounting the stage. My favorite surface among so many good ones is 3d OUTDONE but I couldn’t parse it, off to read the blog. (Oh, another last letters clue, the very sort of clue that’s been plaguing me lately.)
Thanks Jalna and Cedric.
Oh! Happy George Day to all who can be there! and all who can not!
Easier than of late for this happy plodder. Only really held up trying to parse LOI OUTDONE (doh). Many thanks Cedric. COD SILHOUETTE (as I now know how to spell it!).
Have a lovely time at the George. Would love to join you all one day but I have a bit of an aversion to London. If it’s ever anywhere else I’ll try my best to get there 😃 Cheers all!
18 mins…
A good puzzle. Particular mention must go to “Outdone”, which outdid me when it came to the parsing and has become my COD from reading the blog. I didn’t realise vanilla came from an orchid plant, so that’s a new one for me.
FOI – 1ac “Silhouette”
LOI – 16dn “Tiptop”
COD – 3dn “Outdone”
Thanks as usual!
Very nice crossword – 10 mins on the nose, with INTENT delaying me a tad at the end.
I do hope you’re all enjoying the George trip – too far for me to attend, but I’ll raise a glass to you at my local!
Slightly over target at 33 minutes, but it didn’t really feel that long. Maybe that was because my progress was steady throughout, rather than fast then glacial.
My only real holdup came right at the end when I revisited my earlier biff (faintly pencilled-in) of EnTiTy at 4d. I was pleased I did when I found ESTATE.
Thanks to Cedric and Jalna.
Yes, I put ENTITY in first too – even though I couldn’t parse it. One of my many errors today!
10.55. In my usual position in the middle of the pack.
13:32
This was after several hours of Georgian inebriation*, which I am not sure helped or hindered. But a pleasure to meet some of you in any case! 🦡
*Liszt happening to appear in the answers, but not Brahms…
I was slow and distracted today and ended up with a biffed ENTITY, which I’m almost happy about because I don’t have to divulge how long it took me!
COD to GANGLAND.
Thanks to Jalna and Cedric.
Many thanks all.
But please don’t expect to see a Spoonerism clue in a puzzle of mine any time soon. Or indeed ever. 🤨
13:02
Thank you so much Jerry – I did indeed get the email, so will now check to see if I can undo this.
The irony is, of course, that I am being informed about replies to my posts (as well as everyone else’s) more or less immediately. This doesn’t happen usually (if at all), even though I chose to receive the notification messages via our own TfTT site!