Not difficult, but perfectly pleasant.
16:28
| Across | |
| 1 | Waste puzzlingly suggesting exercise gear? (10) |
| SWEATPANTS – an anagram* of WASTE (‘Waste puzzingly’) could be indicated by ‘sweat pants’ (where pants means rubbish or in a rubbishy way) | |
| 7 | Cry of equine creature heard (4) |
| MEWL – sounds like MULE | |
| 9 | Host increasingly pious, concealing note (8) |
| HOTELIER – TE in HOLIER | |
| 10 | OK to scoff but possible His Majesty will abdicate? (6) |
| EDIBLE – |
|
| 11 | A river boy reaching the very top (6) |
| APOGEE – A PO GEE (boy!) | |
| 13 | Sacrifice of old boy left country leaderless (8) |
| OBLATION – OB L |
|
| 14 | Bury getting goal in stoppage time (12) |
| INTERMISSION – INTER MISSION | |
| 17 | Captain Hook was so alone! (6-6) |
| SINGLE-HANDED – double definition (DD) | |
| 20 | Doubt over inquest condemned (8) |
| QUESTION – O INQUEST* | |
| 21 | Considered what brought about one journalist going after another (6) |
| HEEDED – HE (eh? reversed) followed by two hacks (ED ED) | |
| 22 | Pay no attention to foreign or English nurses (6) |
| IGNORE – hidden | |
| 23 | Amount of business seen in a pie shop? (8) |
| TURNOVER – a fresh cream apple turnover is my first purchase whenever I return to Blighty | |
| 25 | Amaze fans, making a comeback (4) |
| STUN – NUTS reversed | |
| 26 | Ship’s officer with another moving victory (6,4) |
| SECOND MATE – SECOND (another) MATE (moving victory – we’re talking chess) | |
| Down | |
| 2 | Huge place in London, did you say? (8) |
| WHOPPING – sounds like WAPPING, unless you’re Scottish, or just being difficult… | |
| 3 | Other half once turning up with a weapon (3) |
| AXE – EX A reversed | |
| 4 | Revolutionary endlessly afflicted (5) |
| PAINE – PAINE |
|
| 5 | In France we must keep on rebelling, very excitable (7) |
| NERVOUS – reversal of RE (on) + V (very) in NOUS (French ‘we’) | |
| 6 | Drunk’s greedy: called out for lobster perhaps (9) |
| SHELLFISH – an inebriated person might say ‘shelfish’ instead of ‘selfish’; SHELLFISH sounds like (called out) ‘shelfish’ | |
| 7 | This might keep one running (11) |
| MAINTENANCE – a cryptic definition of sorts; it appears to refer to machinery but there is a hint of a reference to the beneficiary of a divorce settlement. Maybe… | |
| 8 | Hit the drink (6) |
| WALLOP – DD; a British slang word for beer, apparently | |
| 12 | Press on excitedly with yoga, finding nourishment here? (6,5) |
| GREASY SPOON – PRESS ON YOGA* | |
| 15 | Machismo of island hunter avoiding nothing (9) |
| MANLINESS -MAN (Isle thereof) LI |
|
| 16 | Showing respect as always aboard charter (8) |
| REVERENT – EVER in RENT | |
| 18 | Continual rearrangement not on? It’s ridiculous (7) |
| LUNATIC – C |
|
| 19 | Move head of Treasury? That’s the Chancellor’s plan (6) |
| BUDGET – BUDGE T |
|
| 21 | Woman appearing to be a pescatarian (5) |
| HERON – HER (woman) ON (appearing) | |
| 24 | Little resistance in Cockney’s birthplace we hear (3) |
| OHM – sounds like ‘ome, innit? | |
About 45 minute. Reasonably easy but needed parsing for several. Slowed by NW corner where I had SWEATBANDS initially which prevented solution. Change to SWEATPANTS fixed it. I still cannot understand the parsing. Cannot see how pants fit in.
Got it.
“waste puzzling” and “sweat pants” are essentially anagrams of the the same letters so “waste puzzling” is suggesting “sweat pants” as equivalent
“waste puzzling suggesting” is SWEAT PANTS. “exercise gear” is SWEATPANTS
Pants could be suggesting exercise? Being out of breath
I am starting the Pennine Way today but did manage to polish this off first. Straightforward although oblation not a word I use often..
All this rather overshadowed by the sad news about Richard Rogan, who died two days ago of a heart attack.
He was a fine person and I will miss him.
Indeed, Jerry, very sad news. I shall miss not just his editing but also his setting.
Very sad indeed. He enriched our lives.
Very sad news. Radio 4 Extra have just finished repeating a 2020 series in which Dr Hannah Fry introduced Richard and Bobby Seagull chatting about their particular varieties of codebreaking.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000xf67/episodes/player
I was wondering whether to add him to my Cheating Machine now he is deceased, but I doubt his fame extends terribly far beyond this blog, so probably no. He probably deserves to be an answer though.
Very sad news. I’m not sure we ever figured out all his setting pseudonyms on the Quick Cryptic. I always enjoyed his puzzles and the high-level of standard and consistency of all The Times crosswords shows what a fine editor he was. He will be missed.
24:52
Took me longer than it should have, can’t remember why. Other than LOI HOTELIER, where I couldn’t get past host=emcee and host=army. Finally resorted to an alphabet-trawl, and H did the trick.
Sorry to hear about Richard Rogan. The Times doesn’t seem to have published an obituary yet; can we hope to have a link here when one appears?
16 minutes with LOI HEEDED. COD to SWEATPANTS. I’ve always thought that “a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, OBLATION and satisfaction,” was a bit on the clumsy side, combining theological dispute with otherwise beautiful liturgy. Yep, I took Communion yesterday. Nice puzzle with no hang ups.
Me too, it always strikes me as a tautology.
7:22. Didn’t know the alcoholic sense of WALLOP, and momentarily got my EREs and EVERs confused, which slowed me down on REVERENT. But nice stuff all round.
Thanks setter & ulaca.
Sorry to hear about Richard Rogan. RIP.
27 minutes. Didn’t remember PAINE but got to him via checkers and possible wordplay PAINE{d} (afflicted) [endlessly] and put him in with fingers crossed.
I still don’t understand ‘moving’ at 26ac.
I’m guessing you have to move (a piece) to achieve mate (at chess), Jack.
Perhaps ‘moving to victory’ then would have been better?
I took “moving” to mean “making a motion,” as in, “I move that the meeting be adjourned,” “I SECOND that motion,” “Motion made and SECONDed, all in favor say ‘aye.'”
As for the passing of editor Rogan, all I can say, everybody, is that I second that emotion.
That explanation seemed the best yet, but then I thought ‘another moving’ (a motion) would surely be a seconder so I’m still not decided. I think you are on the right lines though.
Isn’t it just ‘another moving victory’ as in ‘another move in chess to bring about victory’, ie the last three words don’t need to be split?
14:52
I was slow off the mark but I eventually got my brain in gear.
WALLOP was entered based on the checkers as the drink definition was unknown, SWEATPANTS needed WHOPPING for the penny to drop, and as I misread “afflicted” as “affected” for 4D Mr Paine took longer than he should.
A nice start to the week so thanks to both.
I read ‘The Rights of Man’ in my twenties, very affecting. The statement by PAINE “a share in two revolutions is living to some purpose” still grips me.
We have a HERON, who periodically raids our pond for fish, frogs etc.
A ‘MATE’ needn’t be a victory – consider stalemate, when nobody can move.
10’12”, thanks ulaca and setter.
I think in Chess circles MATE is always used as an abbreviation and synonym for CHECKMATE. I’ve never heard it used as such for STALEMATE. I think also CHECKMATE is a conflation of the two words CHECK and MATE as the first thing that happens is that the king is put in CHECK and then if there is no way of getting out of CHECK then it is MATE.
28 minutes. I found this harder than usual for a Monday, but that’s probably just me as there don’t appear to be many difficult clues looking at the blog. The SE corner gave me the most trouble, especially TURNOVER, OHM and my COD – for the wordplay – SECOND MATE.
Sad to hear about Richard Rogan; condolences to his family and friends.
About 25 minutes, a good chunk of which was spent on the SE corner where I took a long time to see TURNOVER, to move away from ‘revering’ for 16d, and then to get HERON (where I’m still not 100% sure how appearing=on). Also didn’t know PAINE the revolutionary so had to trust the wordplay.
Honourable mention for INTERMISSION for being a football-themed clue that doesn’t sound absolutely awful – most of them don’t manage to sound anything like football speak.
Thanks setter and blogger.
FOI Axe
LOI Heron
COD Edible
Consider Cilla is on/appearing at the theatre.
That makes sense, thanks!
8:43. I started slowly on this but picked up speed.
I read 26 as ‘another moving’ giving SECOND, thinking of moving a motion in a meeting. But I think your interpretation is probably right.
I think 7dn is a double definition: ‘this might keep one’ in the sense of a financial means of support, and ‘running’ as in looking after.
Very sorry to hear about Richard Rogan.
I parsed 26 the same way you did (but including the “with”, as in one who moves in support of another) and on reflection I still think it’s right. Victory on its own is fine for mate, imho.
I agree that ‘victory’ on its own is fine for mate. I’m more doubtful about ‘another moving’ for SECOND though, because to ‘move’ a motion is to propose it, which isn’t what a seconder does.
Well, mebbe. Anyway, either gets you to the right answer! I don’t suppose we’ll know for sure unless the setter pops by.
Indeed. I’m really unsure.
Working down thru the comments, I hadn’t seen this yet when I made my proposal about SECOND. I’m not sure this objection is fatal; to “move” in a meeting is to propose, and to endorse that proposal is the same as… also proposing it, so that it goes to a vote. Moving it further, if you will…
12:55
A bit trickier than the usual Monday morning fare, but not insurmountable.
I had DEEMED for a while at 21ac, which didn’t really work. (I’m still not sure that 7d does either.)
LOI HERON (ON = appearing as in “on stage” – What time are they on?)
RIP Richard Rogan, a lovely man and a Half Man Half Biscuit fan.
16.54, but I continue to be afflicted by the puzzle on my iPad repeatedly flipping to an adjacent page and different puzzle. I’d like to claim several seconds allowance please.
Granted. But switch to Android.
This thing took much longer than it should have done, with a confident (though it shouldn’t have been) ARM (MR for other half plus A reversed) scuppering any chance of HOTELIER and pushing my time to nearly 18 minutes.
I think I’ll award the Razzie for Least Cryptic Clue in a Times to MAINTENANCE.
When Verlaine broke the horrible news about Richard on Discord yesterday, I immediately looked for confirmation, the way you have to these days to be sure the news is real. Nothing, anywhere, until V posted a Facebook entry. Still nothing in the Times, or even on Crossword news on the club site. One of their (and our) own. May he rest in peace, and his family find consolation, and the tributes, when they come, be fulsome and celebratory of a fine mind who has blessed us all.
35′ and mostly fairly quick for me until I was held up in the NW corner where MEWL and WALLOP evaded me. Then I remembered Davy’s Old Wallop which was a bit of a favourite. Thanks Ulaca and setter
18:17
I thought this was pretty good for a Monday puzzle. Slow to start but finshed at a canter. I liked the “eh” reversed in HEEDED. My late dad was the last person I heard refer to drink as WALLOP – he was a fan.
RIP Richard Rogan.
Thaks to Ulaca and the setter.
18 mins held up by HACKED which made MAINTENANCE rather hard to get. LOI PAINE, had the clue the wrong way round. Liked WALLOP and MEWL when I eventually got them.
Isn’t the parsing of 1across. Anagram of waste and then pants being something you do when exercising so suggesting exercise?
I don’t think so – I think ulaca’s parsing is correct. It is a fairly common device in these puzzles to use PANTS as a reverse anagram indicator.
By the way that is not Nick Wyatt the brother of Robin Wyatt is it?
Yes, a bit more difficult than a normal Monday. WALLOP was my LOI. I vaguely thought that I had heard the drink connection before but didn’t trust it until the checkers were there.
A friend of mine once fancied himself as a setter and sent in a puzzle for assessment (with the customary charitable donation). I THINK it was RR who replied, graciously accepting the donation and also graciously commenting on the quality of my friend’s clues one by one having solved the puzzle. Anyway, whether it was him or not, yes, RIP.
Many thanks to setter and ulaca.
08:06, so a typically pleasant Monday solve. I occasionally refer to a pint of WALLOP but I wouldn’t expect anyone younger than me (and quite a few of those older than me) to have any clue what I was talking about. The GREASY SPOON has also been consigned to history in my part of the world; the late great St Giles Café closed about ten years ago and re-opened with a mission statement to serve the best granola in Oxford. I mean.
Anyway, the puzzle is not such a big deal today; in a community like this, which skews towards the more senior, you’re never far from a reminder of mortality. RIP RR
I wrote a post which has disappeared amongst all the BBC Sounds stuff etc, so my apologies if it eventually appears twice.
Sad to hear about Richard Rogan, whose setting up of the Times Quick Cryptic was his great achievement. A very nice entry-level crossword.
37 minutes. I couldn’t think of appropriate equines and gave up, using aids for MEWL. EDIBLE and APOGEE mysteries until I came here. I thought MAINTENANCE was a rather feeble CD until Keriothe pointed out that it was in fact a DD, and now I think it’s rather good.
Distinctly breezeblocked by PAINE and EDIBLE. Got there in the end though.
RIP Richard Rogan.
16:40
Wallop – as in codswallop, which was a drink in a Cods bottle (one with a marble stopper) but now means something else!
My dad used ‘codswallop’ quite a lot, but I never before knew the provenance, nor that WALLOP was beer.
22:18 – difficult to get a toe-hold but picked up as time went on. NHO PAINE but it was an easy guess
Well, a DNF as I was convinced 1ac was SWEATBANDS, don’t ask. Needless to say PAINE didn’t even come into it, though, as a homophone of course, it did! Oh well.
I liked SINGLE-HANDED & QUESTION once I’d finally sussed the anagrist.
Sorry to hear the news about RR. RIP.
Thanks u and setter.
In case it’s relevant to the Mate/Checkmate etc discussion, the phrase checkmate purportedly comes from the Farsi ‘Shah mat’ – meaning the King is helpless/dead.
I don’t think it’s relevant, but it’s a great titbit of information, if true.
I don’t want to check now, in case it’s not…but I did, and it is. 👍
My FOI was AXE. Biggest hold up came at the end where I biffed DEEMED and couldn’t then solve 21d. Eventually a proper reading of the clue revealed HEEDED and HERON flew in. Diddn’t know PAINE so fingers crossed on submission. Liked SHELLFISH. 16:27. Thanks setter and U. Sad news re RR. Condolences to his family.
13.50 . Not as fast as I would have hoped but almost getting marooned by thinking the start of 20 ac was “But” slowed me down until I realised the anagram.
Thx setter and blogger.
29:19
Went off down some rabbit warrens bunging in ARM instead of AXE, and PRONE instead of PAINE, which made HOLIER difficult to figure out. PAINE turned out to be my LOI, only very vaguely being aware of him. Slow to see TURNOVER too – for some reason, failed to link pastries and pie shops – doh!
I never knew Richard Rogan but it is sad news indeed.
Thanks U and setter
24:50
LOI was NHO PAINE for which I spent a couple of minutes looking for a six-letter revolutionary to truncate. He (she?) seemed reasonable and was correct, so happy days.
Thanks all
Hi All
I’ve been lurking on this site and the previous location for a while now. My girlfriend and I work our way through the compilation books and we’ve been lucky enough to find links to your posts about those individual crosswords by Google searching for the more peculiar clues. It’s been so eye-opening to see your thoughts and solutions.
At one point I found a post that identified the crossword numbers for each puzzle in one of the books. This was so helpful as we were able to check your responses after each puzzle and better understand what had confused us.
Does anyone know of a repository of info about the compilation books and their individual xwd numbers? I’d be so grateful if anyone can help with this.
There are a few scattered indexes for various of the books, of which I think the most comprehensive summary is this webpage created by Andy Burch: https://andyfromoz.livejournal.com/365.html
Otherwise your best bet is to search this site (Times for the Times) for the most obscure answer in the puzzle that you’re interested in – with any luck there won’t be too many hits so you will hopefully find the corresponding blog in the first page of results. Alternatively, most (?) puzzles from 2017 onwards will have blogs also containing the clues, so you should be able to search this site for one of the clues and in most cases get a unique hit.
Thanks that’s really helpful.
Enjoyable puzzle. Around 30 minutes. Held up by Mewl/Wallop L2I.
Liked Sweatpants, Edible and Shellfish.
Good fun. MAINTENANCE and MEWL held me up in the NE and the 1a, 2d, 9a amd 4d combination was very tricky to break into. I vaguely remember PAINE as being a resident of Lewes, in Sussex, which led to PANTS, which then suggested the anagram, and I was off. Liked WHOPPING. LOI HOTELIER, when I finally thought of holier. Timing still around a Keriothe x5!
I started off fast enough but then got stuck in the NW corner where I knew it had to be SWEAT something but took 5 minutes of an alphabet trawl to get SWEATPANTS, whereupon I immediately remembered Thomas Paine my Loi.
So final time was 24 minutes
PS I’m not sure if a lobster is strictly speaking a shellfish??
Colloquially shellfish include Crustacea and molluscs, but the former are of the Phylum Arthropoda and the latter of Mollusca.
An hour 5 minutes, so I didn’t find it easy at all. For 3dn I had ARM for a while (although MR might be someone’s other half, I didn’t quite know why it would have been that once and not currently) and I also had SWEATBANDS at 1ac, but eventually I did correct those and everything else very slowly fell into place. But never mind, I did finish correctly and so all was not lost.
DNF, finding it much harder than others
Very similar to Mike H. Had ARM until wondering whether it was quite right. Even thought of HOLIER but couldn’t put the two together. Not sure I would have got PAINE anyway. At the opposite quadrant got the wrong end of the pescatarian clue and stared at HELEN unable – inevitably – to see how it parsed, but that made TURNOVER impossible. Would never associate a turnover with a pie shop but the literal was easy enough
Sad news about someone that many of you obviously knew in one guise or another. Condolences to his family
Did Mondays just now and wish I had not bothered. Don’t know why some of the clues and answers really annoyed me. Back on the horse for today now.