An enjoyable puzzle, free from obscure plants, antelopes and poets; it took me about the usual 20 minutes. That was excluding my time to wander off piste and remember Galsworthy’s epic televised, and do some homework on the origins of giant bottles. I’m expecting to see some speedy times for this one.
Across | |
1 | Stole from cupboard finally put on bishop in formal dress (6) |
ROBBED – ROBED (in formal dress) around B for bishop. | |
4 | Break up day with snarled-up traffic (8) |
DIFFRACT – D(ay), (TRAFFIC)*. For me, a word usually seen in relation to a light beam or x-ray beam in physics and chemistry. | |
10 | Refined rough girl, slim-waisted (9) |
HOURGLASS – (ROUGH)*, LASS = girl. | |
11 | Sprinted, heading off being tracked down (5) |
RACED – TRACED loses T. | |
12 | Store to have to keep one in always for Christmas, say (4,7) |
BANK HOLIDAY – BANK (store) HOLD (have) AY (always) insert I. | |
14 | Two bits left smoother (3) |
OIL – 0 and 1 are the first two bits in a byte; L for left. | |
15 | Being agitated may be a source of quarrels (7) |
AQUIVER – a quarrel of arrows may be in a quiver | |
17 | French city boundaries visited by ambassador (6) |
RHEIMS – RIMS has HE inserted. | |
19 | Hopeless sort of case one finally checks out? (6) |
BASKET – double definition, a basket case is a hopeless one, and we check out our baskets in a store. | |
21 | When one knocks out November, calendar gets less complicated (7) |
PLAINER – PLANNER has an N replaced by I. | |
23 | Son has left aforementioned charity (3) |
AID – SAID loses S. | |
24 | Analysing joining the cast? (6,5) |
TAKING APART – taking a part = joining the cast. | |
26 | Doctor short Panorama feature (5) |
MOVIE – MO (Medical Officer) VIE(W) = short Panorama. | |
27 | I’m wearing green, following party instructions (2-7) |
ON-MESSAGE – ON ME’S SAGE = I’m wearing green. | |
29 | Level an area for building? It depends (8) |
PARASITE – PAR (level) A SITE, a parasite depends on another organism, e.g. mistletoe. | |
30 | Axes regularly pronounced in surplus (6) |
EXCESS – a X e S = XS, sounds like excess. |
Down | |
1 | A lot to drink as engineers tramp over a mile (8) |
REHOBOAM – RE (engineers) HOBO (tramp) A M(ile). A rheoboam is a large wine or champagne bottle, holding 4.5 litres or equivalent to 6 normal bottles. It’s named after Rheoboam, a Biblical chap who succeeded Solomon as King; he had 18 wives and 60 concubines, so he’d need more than one rheoboam to keep the party going. | |
2 | Bear being bowled? Disaster (5) |
BRUIN – B for bowled, RUIN = disaster. Bruin is an old English folk term for bear, from Dutch bruin meaning brown. | |
3 | Say, good source of protein (3) |
EGG – E.G., G(ood). | |
5 | Prisoner, maybe, one of an exclusive group (7) |
INSIDER – a prisoner is “inside”. | |
6 | Go faster, say, translating a trilogy (7,4) |
FORSYTE SAGA – (GO FASTER SAY)*. I remember watching the TV series with Eric Porter, Kenneth More, Susan Hampshire and Nyree Dawn Porter, on Sundays in 1967-9; my parents were addicted but I probably didn’t fully appreciate it at the time (except for fancying Susan Hampshire). Apparently it was the first TV to be sold to Russia (then USSR) by the BBC. | |
7 | One presenting an unwelcome task left incomplete by crew (9) |
ANCHORMAN – AN, CHOR(E), MAN = crew. | |
8 | Swallowing 10cl, neat, may make one this? (6) |
TIDDLY – 10 cl make a decilitre or dl, insert dl into TIDY = neat. | |
9 | Screw top of jar I dropped into real mess (6) |
JAILER – J(AR), I inside (REAL)*. | |
13 | A cat may be very nervous (4,7) |
HAVE KITTENS – double definition. | |
16 | Sort of door sadly unproved to secure area (2-3-4) |
UP-AND-OVER – (UNPROVED A)*, A from area. | |
18 | Assembly workers eating the last of their fried food (8) |
FRITTERS – FITTERS has R (last of their) inserted. | |
20 | On application obtain perhaps licence to kill (4,3) |
TAKE OUT – double definition. | |
21 | Airline no longer flying over a country (6) |
PANAMA – PAN AM (defunct airline), A. | |
22 | Intensify struggle over stupid person abandoning pet (4,2) |
WARM UP – WAR (struggle) then MUPPET (stupid person) loses PET. I had a few possibilities for this with PUP involved, such as RAMP UP, but this one works best. | |
25 | A month’s said to be stunning (5) |
AMAZE – sounds like A MAY’S. | |
28 | Happens to be over ten? Apparently not (3) |
SIX – IS = happens to be, “over” = SI, X = ten. |
I missed the parsing of TIDDLY.
ON ME’S SAGE was great, and only fully appreciated when I realised there wasn’t an un-clued S in the middle, as had been my first assumption.
Edited at 2021-01-27 05:54 am (UTC)
Oops, I neglected to parse ON MESSAGE. Thanks!
I thought HAVE KITTENS was just the cutest expression… But then I found this:
“The idiom is attributed as an established idiom in 1918. According to the BBC, particularly painful pregnancies were thought to be as a result of a witch’s curse. Instead of being with child, the woman was thought to have kittens inside her, clawing to get out.”
Edited at 2021-01-27 06:23 am (UTC)
Also failed to parse on message… I had the M in I’m wearing the ONE = I in I’m, but couldn’t account for the extra S.
In our Hash House Harriers pack in Sydney one member was called 10cc…because he was a little squirt!
For a long time I thought ‘stole’ in 1ac might refer to an item a lady might wear.
LOI were FRITTERS and ON MESSAGE with COD going to the latter. I’ve never heard of a REHOBOAM but it was straightforward to work out.
Silly thought: Is DIFFRACT anywhere near PONTE….?
30 mins pre-brekker. Slower than it should have been as I took time seeing the Basket.
It may just be me, but do you think a couple of the DDs took a slight liberty? “A cat may” and “one finally checks out”. I think some editors might ask for a closer fit to the part of speech required.
Thanks setter and Pip.
Having said that… one reading of the DD in 19ac is (Hopeless) (sort of case one finally checks out) and the fact that the ‘hopeless’ can also refer to a ‘case’ is a bonus. Although the basket one checks out isn’t really a ‘case’.
Edited at 2021-01-27 09:09 am (UTC)
The thing I look for with &Lits is whether there is any part of the clue that doesn’t contribute to the wordplay. If there isn’t, it’s an &Lit, if there is, it isn’t.
Edited at 2021-01-27 11:37 am (UTC)
A nurse who drinks used to stay dry (4)
My editor wouldn’t allow it.
A nurse who drinks this used to stay dry (4) was ok.
So the syntax mattered to him.
Edited at 2021-01-27 12:12 pm (UTC)
I suppose the one criticism you could make is that it requires one of two (or arguably one, since the origin is common) quite esoteric pieces of knowledge.
Edited at 2021-01-27 01:13 pm (UTC)
What a delightful puzzle – CODs abounding. Time 43 minutes – around 100 on the SNITCH presently but it was quite a bit higher early on. And no sign of Kevin or Jeremy.
FOI 15ac AQUIVER
LOI 8dn TIDDLY-OM-POM-POM! Seaside Song!
COD 28ac PARASITE (also rans 4ac DIFFRACT and 21dn PANAMA)
WOD 1dn REHOBOAM
NB Godley & Creme’s reason for calling the band ’10cc’!
Edited at 2021-01-27 08:18 am (UTC)
Come – come, Mr. Penfold – 10cc story was no urban myth! Noddy Holder of Slade (remember him?) took his name from a ‘Walsall Contraceptive Machine.’ Honest! Crumbs eh!
Edited at 2021-01-27 08:20 am (UTC)
Liked TIDDLY, didn’t parse ON-MESSAGE.
iPad went crazy after a while, deleting what I’d just put in — advice please.
A byte is eight bits, all of which are 0 and 1. A bit is a binary digit, i.e. 0 or 1, the only digits in base two. This is not necessary to know to solve the clue 🙂
Thanks pip and setter.
Clunker of the day (CLOD)
Is ON-MESSAGE – oh my god!
Else happy i am
Cos i like a pangram
The setter”s a most clever bod
Edited at 2021-01-27 01:41 pm (UTC)
COD plainer mainly because I was convinced the answer was an anagram of calendar without the N. A fruitless endeavour!
Liked bruin, aquiver, warm up and panama.
Thanks setter and blogger.
And as pointed out above, a bit is either 0 or 1, bytes not relevant here.
Not too tricky otherwise, though I made life difficult for myself by putting in ‘Ashoboam’ for 1d, which stymied ROBBED until I looked at it again, realised I hadn’t accounted for the engineers, and remembered REHOBOAM.
FOI Diffract
LOI Robbed
COD Have kittens
Enjoyable puzzle. Thanks pip.
Edited at 2021-01-27 09:54 am (UTC)
And thanks Pip .. nb: a quarrel is a synonym for an arrow (usu. a crossbow bolt, though not always) not a collective noun
Completed corner by corner, though not sure I’d heard of DIFFRACT before, and didn’t see how LOI PARASITE worked, but entered with an ‘Oh well’.
An intellectual is someone who can see the words Forsyte Saga without immediately thinking of Bill Tidy’s Fosdyke Saga.
and Tonto.
Andyf
BTW she was the victim of a pretty terrible stalker back in the day, who I think was eventually imprisoned ( and no, it wasn’t me!).
Briefly tempted by PIE at 3d, which just about works, depending on what you put in it.
6m 33s, finishing on BRUIN.
IO (or in this case OI) has perplexed before, but I remembered the bit bit and thought myself clever.
Back in the day, non-conformist churches in particular had their 6.30-ish evening services as the main event, with larger congregations. There was no sport to speak of, and TV was limited. Then along came the FORSYTE SAGA, and almost overnight numbers crashed and never recovered. Another true story, to go with the one above about kittens.
Edited at 2021-01-27 11:17 am (UTC)
Put it in, based on the second definition and the checkers, with a shrug.
Edited at 2021-01-27 11:23 am (UTC)
I see the Korean Oscar-winning movie “Parasite” got an appearance in the SW. This was one of the better things that occurred in 2020.
16’31”
FOI 3D: EGG
LOI 18D: FRITTERS
Rebooting before tomorrow!
Thank you, pipkirby and the setter.
I solved the top half ,then struggled again with the bottom. But I never got really stuck as I did on this morning’s QC.
LOI was FRITTER, a word I’d spent quite a long time thinking about for the clue writing contest-as mentioned above.
There was a lot to like in this puzzle. High quality I thought.
And I see coming here that I got one wrong. Once I had thought of CASKET, it just went straight in. Not much longer than the QC.
David
PS enjoyed the CRF discussion.
FOI AQUIVER
LOI WARM UP
COD HAVE KITTENS
TIME 10:51
Little anecdote for you. For reasons only explainable by my age, I left my iPad on top of the car. On returning home, I couldn’t find it, so using findmyphone, I located it on the slip road to the A55. On arriving there, it was somewhat camouflaged in the middle of the slip road and had been driven over multiple times. However a new glass front and it is as good as new!
COD: HOURGLASS.
… after a disastrous day at the QC (don’t ask — safe to say I got both more answers and more satisfaction in the 15×15 today).
One query: I parsed 1A differently from Pip’s blog, as “cupboard finally” (ie D) “put on” (ie at the end of) “bishop in formal dress” (ie B in ROBE, or ROBBE). Otherwise, what is cupboard finally doing in the parsing in the blog?
Cedric
Edited at 2021-01-27 10:48 pm (UTC)