Time taken: 10:38.
I’m feeling tired and a little thick, I don’t think this is as difficult as I made it out to be, and there are several times ahead of me on the leaderboards already. There are a few write-ins but most clues take a bit of digesting. Some clever anagrams today as well.
How did you get along?
| Across | |
| 1 | Left-leaning character supports corporal punishment (9) |
| BACKSLASH – BACKS (supports), LASH (corporal punishment). Kicked myself when I saw this after about four reads | |
| 6 | That lot getting back to first principles (5) |
| ETHOS – THOSE (that lot) with the E at the beginning | |
| 9 | Dire straits for supporter of monarchy (7) |
| TSARIST – anagram of STRAITS | |
| 10 | Bring up remedy, caught out after funny turn (7) |
| NURTURE – CURE (remedy) minus C (caught) following an anagram of TURN | |
| 11 | Combine with city and state to store carbon after energy crisis (9) |
| EMERGENCY – MERGE (combine) with NY (a city and a state) containing C (carbon), all after E (energy) | |
| 12 | Pass over eating starter of meal to save money (5) |
| SKIMP – SKIP (pass over) containing the first letter of Meal | |
| 13 | Chewy confection’s hard for a duck (6) |
| NOUGHT – NOUGAT (chewy confection) with H (hard) replacing A | |
| 14 | Lordship to imitate flunkey (8) |
| DOMINION – DO (to imitate), MINION (flunkey) | |
| 17 | Change train to get away (4,4) |
| TURN TAIL – TURN (change) and TAIL (train) | |
| 19 | Increase tower’s maintenance cost (6) |
| UPKEEP – UP (increase), KEEP (tower) | |
| 21 | Recurrent question often asked about university following drink (5) |
| QUAFF – FAQ (question often asked) reversed surrounding U (university), then F (following) | |
| 23 | Communication with cooler character? (3,6) |
| FAN LETTER – FAN (cooler), LETTER (character). I wonder if these exist anymore. | |
| 25 | Fatty? These days I’m a model (7) |
| ADIPOSE – AD (these days), I, POSE (model) | |
| 26 | One not doing well, alas, nor developing (4-3) |
| ALSO RAN – anagram of ALAS, NOR | |
| 27 | Former Tory leader putting attorney general in shade (5) |
| HAGUE – AG (attorney general) inside HUE (shade) – got this from wordplay | |
| 28 | Task setter to rewrite clue she’d rubbished initially (9) |
| SCHEDULER – anagram of CLUE, SHE’D and then the first letter of Rubisshed | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Dairy fanatics perhaps reject vegetable (9,6) |
| BUTTERNUT SQUASH – BUTTER (dairy) NUTS (fanatics, perhaps), QUASH (reject) | |
| 2 | Resent a boring copper in Englishman’s home in France? (7) |
| CHATEAU – HATE (resent), and A inside CU (copper) | |
| 3 | Mixed drink’s popular — it’s good for getting people stoned (9) |
| SLINGSHOT – SLING’S (mixed drink’s), HOT (popular) | |
| 4 | Follow first person to escape from fighting (3,2) |
| ACT ON – remove I (first person) from ACTION (fighting) | |
| 5 | Mobile phone toy is a big draw (8) |
| HONEYPOT – anagram of PHONE, TOY | |
| 6 | Makes note to charge those that attend? (5) |
| EARNS – N (note) inside EARS (those that attend or listen) | |
| 7 | Nameless Afghan perhaps minutes away from car — he could escape (7) |
| HOUDINI – remove N (name) from HOUND (Afghan, perhaps) then M (minutes) removed from MINI (car) | |
| 8 | I’m beside you when we go out but I’m quiet in company (8,7) |
| SLEEPING PARTNER – tichy double definition | |
| 15 | I don’t have much time for experiencing enthusiasm (9) |
| IMPRESSED – I’M PRESSED (I don’t have much time) | |
| 16 | Energy sources derived from Isle of Bute’s western half (8) |
| BIOFUELS – anagram of ISLE, OF and the first two letters of BUte | |
| 18 | Rambling ignoramus leaving US in trouble (7) |
| ROAMING – anagram of IGNORAMUS minus US | |
| 20 | Gutsy gangster’s stage direction? (7) |
| ENTERAL – the gangster’s stage direction could be ENTER AL | |
| 22 | Father, regularly sozzled, stopped suddenly (5) |
| FROZE – FR (father) and alternating letters in sOzZlEd | |
| 24 | Poet’s not over partial to wine at home (5) |
| NEATH – hidden inside wiNE AT Home and a sneaky definition | |
I found this very hard to get started, being stuck for quite a while, then filling in the left hand side quickly, then being stuck again. I misparsed some of the clues, thinking emergency was a strange mixture of EC, NY and MERGE. Biofuels and enteral were tough, and I couldn’t parse ethos. Earns was my LOI.
Incidentally, butternuts were Confederate sympathizers in southern Ohio. That would have made an interesting clue, and thoroughly flummoxed our UK solvers!
Time: 42:05
Just under an hour of enjoyable solving. The only hiccup was initially putting SKINTIGHT instead of SLINGSHOT. Liked DOMINIION, ROAMING, SLINGSHOT. COD HOUDINI. Needed the blog with some of the parsing of several clues.
Thanks G
20:48
Tricky it wasn’t. I had some difficulty with EMERGENCY and LOI BIOFUELS, but by and large this was Mondayish.
Unless Monday has suddenly got a lot harder, I wouldn’t describe it thus.
My apologies that the SNITCH has crashed. I’m looking into it but it may take a while.
Nice puzzle, though. Thanks, George, for the blog, which I needed for a couple of my partial biffs.
I looked at 1D first and immediately saw BUTTERNUT SQUASH giving me lots of first letters. Next I tried the other long one and immediately saw SLEEPING PARTNER (with no checkers). So I had a flying start.
My LOI was also BIOFUELS (too many vowels to get in the anagram). Almost precisely 30 minutes for me.
Minor typo in the blog at 25A where you have POST instead of POSE.
Ta – that was an odd one, they are two keys away.
13:33 for me, very satisfying set of clues.
Tasty puzzle. A second serving isn’t it lately of BUTTERNUT SQUASH. I loved the butternut squash lasagna a restaurant had once, memorable. And it was a special I never caught again…
Try: bake then mash the squash, chop and fry mushrooms, lightly boil and chop (or the other way around) some spinach. Layer up lasagne/spinach/ricotta/squash/mushrooms seasoned with pepper, salt, a bit of nutmeg and I like sage, too. Bake. Serve with tomato/onion/garlic/oregano sauce; top with parmesan.
Well, thanks. I’m not crazy about the texture of spinach, but it might be fine chopped. Main thing is, though, that I don’t cook. I don’t have a working oven (been thinking about getting a microwave), but I didn’t cook when I did. I now heat up things from the deli over boiling water (sort of a “bain Marie” method). I used to eat out most nights…
44 minutes. A slow but satisfying solve. I lost time of BIOFUELS having remained convinced for far too long that the answer would begin with OIL-. Spooner clues that don’t mention the Reverend are always welcome but today at 6ac we have an equivalent, a cycling clue that doesn’t mention cycling.
Or to put it another way, a cycling clue but with wordplay that makes sense 😉
About 33, enjoyable. I missed the parsing of several (ETHOS, HOUDINI, QUAFF and the utterly simple TURN TAIL) so thank you G.
From You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere:
Clouds so swift, rain won’t lift
Gate won’t close the railings FROZE
Get your mind off wintertime
You ain’t goin’ nowhere
I wouldn’t listen to that one while solving – it sounds like Dylan is mocking you crosswording abilities!
And many another thing besides! Though I don’t think it’s just me…
DNF – stuck at the end on BIOFUELS. Mostly as I had the wrong sort of cooler in PEN LETTER, thinking that’s what pen-pals must write. Oh well. Otherwise enjoyable, just the right level of trickiness and no obscurities. Slight MER at Frequently Asked Questions being clued in the singular – biffed then parsed.
18’48”, no crossed wires today. Liked BIOFUELS, and EARNS took a while.
Thanks gl and setter.
Very enjoyable. Didn’t know ENTERAL but got from wordplay. NEATH and EARNS were my favourites among many good clues.
Thanks George and setter.
40 mins, a bit chewier today compared to the rest of the week, for me anyway.
Had a slump in the middle which ended when I finally saw the BUTTERNUTS QUASH!
I liked HOUDINI & ´NEATH.
Thanks g and setter.
20.25, the last couple of minutes trying to squeeze OIL into an anagram of BIOFUELS.
Nice to see a proper &lit for FAN LETTER, and “clue she’d” rather than the more traditional “clues he’d” for SCHEDULER.
55 mins but with one error, I had EUROS, for EARNS. Saw “note” and maybe it referred to the European Championship , but didn’t really work. Couldn’t see anything else that might work.
LOI BIOFUELS where I didn’t see the anagram for ages.
NHO ENTERAL, nice clue.
PEN LETTER stymied me on that one. Without the P I’d have probably guessed it, as I’m not convinced about ‘derived’ as an anagram indicator.
It’s ‘derived from’.
12:40. Fun puzzle and, yes, not a “Tricky Thursday” one. LOI BIOFUELS. I liked the clue for NURTURE best, with its use of “funny turn”. Thanks George and setter.
28 mins. Cracking puzzle. Like our blogger I felt slow at times but thats just the misdirection doing its job which is why I love these. Plus I am actually slow. But happy.
COD SLEEPING PARTNER.
Thanks to glh and setter.
24:06 on the train with my phone and many an interruption. Guessing this would have been sub-20 at home.
Getting the two long down clues quickly helped. BUTTERNUT SQUASH comes up so often that if I see that enumeration and vegetable in the clue it’s straight in. I’m sure it will catch me out one day.
SE quadrant was my main trouble today but in hindsight it doesn’t seem much more difficult than elsewhere.
Enjoyed the whimsical definitions.
Quite enjoyed this one. COD ADIPOSE
Thanks blogger and setter
Beefsteak Tomato would do it
About 20 minutes.
– Hesitated slightly over the train=tail part of TURN TAIL (I assume it’s in the sense of e.g. a bridal train, “the bit that follows”?)
– Took a while to get ROAMING as I initially thought ‘Rambling’ was the anagrind
– For 20d, I stared at E_T_R_L for ages, trying to justify ENTHRAL – eventually I realised what the question mark in the clue might be doing, thought of ‘enter’ and got ENTERAL
Thanks glh and setter.
FOI Also-ran
LOI Enteral
COD Adipose
‘nother good crossword I thought. Nho ENTERAL but it didn’t matter.. also put pen letter to start with, until the biofuels emerged. cod HONEYPOT.
Also a mer at train = tail, but on reflection it does work, in the dress sense.
23.33, and a Tricky Thursday over here. Admittedly, when reviewed, it’s not that hard, but the neat misdirections that belong in proper cryptic clues did their job very effectively on me. EARNS, for example, was very nearly my last in because, well, EUROS are notes but they can’t be made to sound like anything else. But I appreciated CHATEAU and DOMINION (flirting with POSITION for the latter), and eventually ground out HONEYPOT (unpromising anagram) and BIOFUELS (first find out what the anagram letters are).
Quality stuff, and whatever you’re taking, George, it’s clearly working for you!
19:26
COD: QUAFF. LOI: OILFUEBS (nearly!)
Thanks to fly and our setter.
Quite a tricky one but not overly so, as I did all but 2 of them in around 34 mins. Failed to get DOMINION and NEATH with SKIMP the FOI, EARNS the LOI and the bottom half being slightly easier than the top overall.
Managed well, but failed at enteral and slingshot. So silly, not to get slingshot but thought it started with anagram of ‘it’s’ and tried for too long to make something out of sting, stinger, I do not know how I got so lost. And i had enter in my head but did not remember the word enteral, a good fun puzzle tho, thanks all, Cx
26:08 Another classy puzzle in what has been a very good week so far. Thought it was going to be a tricky Thursday but the last half dozen or so fell into place easily. Favourites were HOUDINI, BIOFUELS and SLEEPING PARTNER.
Thanks to George and the setter.
19.35 – and enjoyable throughout.
No HNOs here. ENTERAL came up recently somewhere, and I thought it was a great clue too.
I also really enjoyed NEATH, ADIPOSE, BACKSLASH, CHATEAU and SL. PARTNER.
An unusually high percentage of witty definitions here, so clearly a brilliant puzzle.
It was ENTERON which came up recently. NHO it then, but know it now. https://timesforthetimes.co.uk/times-cryptic-29459
It struck me that there might be a word SLINGShip at 3dn and it was only when looking in Chambers to see whether it really was a word that I saw the obvious SLINGSHOT. BIOFUELS I found difficult and like several others was convinced it started OIL … Otherwise pleasant, not too difficult but still gently testing at times.
A highly enjoyable puzzle with lots of excellent clues.
All fully solved and parsed, with only “enteral” checked en route to see if a word, when left with “turn tail”.
Could see the “turn” easily enough, but the “tail” just wouldn’t come to mind and not sure something I remember ever saying/seeing (probably have).
So off the crossbar today and thanks to both our setter and blogger.
I found this a bit on the tricky side and was stuck for quite a while with most of the edges filled in but the centre missing. I finally saw EARNS which begat NURTURE and HONEYPOT, where I’d been fixated on HYPNO—, and then EMERGENCY and SLINGSHOT emerged. NEATH and FAN LETTER left me needing 16d, but LOI, BIOFUELS kept me busy for a while longer. 30:23. Thanks setter and George.
21:32 – no quibbles though more than the usual number unparsed as being pretty obvious from the definition. FAN LETTER was nicely put together: a double definition and cryptic in one.
You wait years for a BUTTERNUT SQUASH, then ..
Too hard for me. I was sure that 24d was going to be PLATH, ( poet, at H for home etc) – that didn’t help. Nearly all done in 20 mins but brain freeze set in.
I thoroughly enjoyed this, although I only parsed ACT ON and EARNS afterwards, and then scratched my head and wondered why I’d had to!
NOUGHT or SLEEPING PARTNER would have vied for COD most days, but the surface for ROAMING, while the answer was a shoo-in, just struck me as a perfect snipe at Donald Trump!
FOI NURTURE
LOI BIOFUELS
COD ROAMING
TIME 7:27
Yes, very convincing surface!
😄
Another quick solve, of a puzzle with quite a lot of very witty clues – 13m – bringing my aggregate for the week so far up to 57m. But, as happened last week, I expect tomorrow to tell a very different story. Apart from wondering whether QUASH = ‘reject’ (1D), as opposed to ‘annul’, I had no moments of doubt. First in was NEATH (I decided to start at the end) and last TSARIST. My favourite four clues: to ADIPOSE (very neat and clever), CHATEAU, SLEEPING PARTNER and IMPRESSED. Thank you Setter and Blogger.
Yet again gave up with just the one answer missing. And no excuses: I now see the clue for NEATH was excellent and I should have got it.
An enjoyable puzzle that occupied me for 48.47, but spoilt rather by getting my LOI wrong. I just didn’t look past OIL being part of the answer, and put in the nonsensical OILFUEBS in desperation. I also failed to parse EARNS and it was almost a toss up between that and EUROS. At least I went the right way here
Late to this but a DNF anyway having bunged LATERAL which made UPKEEP impossible. Most of the rest was fine but time consuming for some reason, so I’d ran out of patience in the SE corner…
thanks George and setter
14:09
First sub 15 for god knows how long.
FOI Backslash
LOI Biofuels ( After revisiting a BIFD Oilfields, just didn’t parse)
COD Sleeping Partner (Great surface)
6:35. On the wavelength today, no unknowns and I was mostly able to spot the definitions quickly.
Me too was just making BUTTERNUT SQUASH lasagne — I mean, like, this morning! Except of course BUTTERNUTs are nearly out of season, so had to make do with sweet potato, grated. Worked fine. Tired this evening, and I completed this in a disappointing 32’05”. I seem to be always behind the SNITCH these days. Would have been quicker with pen and paper for those two tricky anagrams HONEYPOT and BIOFUELS. Thanks to all.
Very enjoyable. All correct. Didn’t understand EMERGENCY clue, so thanks for that. I’m glad the NOUGHT and nougat clue had a checking letter, with H /A, otherwise I’d have been delayed considerably.
Thanks George and Setter.
Really enjoyed this, perfect level for me. I found the answer for NEATH but assumed it must be a poet I had never heard of. Couldn’t get TURN TABLE out my mind so took an age to come up with TAIL. And I really liked the surface for NOUGHT, simple but nice.