22:29
One of the easiest Friday crosswords I can remember, helped of course by the two starting anagrams. I did not know the playwright, the composer, or the name of the game, but all was quickly solvable with checkers and wordplay.
Definitions underlined.
| Across | |
| 1 | Drunk as McGinty, frequenting bars? (9) |
| GYMNASTIC – anagram of (drunk) AS MCGINTY. | |
| 6 | Man seizing power in country (5) |
| NEPAL -NEAL (man) containing (seizing) P (power). | |
| 9 | What’s seen regularly in guava, ugli — as fleshy part (5) |
| UVULA – every other letter in gUaVa UgLi As. | |
| 10 | Professional attack — always make a quick killing (9) |
| PROFITEER – PRO (professional) + FIT (attack) + E’ER (always). | |
| 11 | Genuine error that’s serious by reported visionary (7) |
| SINCERE – SIN (error that’s serious) + homophone of (reported) “seer” (visionary). | |
| 12 | Little Jeremy Fisher story about day pond half disappeared (7) |
| TADPOLE – TALE (story) containing all of D (day) + half of POnd. Coincidentally, I am writing this blog not far from Beatrix Potter’s cottage; Jeremy Fisher is her famous frog. | |
| 13 | Requiem and what it follows that might do for us? (4,10) |
| MASS EXTINCTION – MASS (requiem) + EXTINCTION (what it (the requiem mass) follows, as it is a part of the rites of funeral). I may need to be corrected about this… | |
| 17 | Features editor in press running after latest in pictures (7,7) |
| PLASTIC SURGEON – URGE (press) + ON (running), all after LAST (latest) in PICS (pictures). | |
| 21 | Hat that’s key for Oscar in city (7) |
| HAMBURG – HoMBURG (hat) with A (key) replacing O (oscar). | |
| 23 | Playwright that’s unpleasant during address to queen? (7) |
| MAUGHAM – UGH (that’s unpleasant) contained by MAAM (address to queen?). W Somerset, 20th century English playwright. | |
| 25 | Cried after snakes exposed to blast (9) |
| WINDSWEPT – WEPT (cried) after WINDS (snakes). | |
| 26 | Small piece of land has a tenant (5) |
| ISLET – IS LET (has a tenant). | |
| 27 | Unusual trace elements may do this (5) |
| REACT – anagram of (unusual) TRACE. | |
| 28 | Who helps with setting leg and part of arm (9) |
| STAGEHAND – STAGE (leg) + HAND (part of arm). | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Unfortunately, morgues are ultimately — this? (8) |
| GRUESOME – anagram of (unfortunately) MORGUES + last of arE. | |
| 2 | What family does at funeral with second container for ashes (5) |
| MOURN – MO (second) + URN (container for ashes). | |
| 3 | Perception of a conflict with English over loch (9) |
| AWARENESS – A + WAR (conflict) + E (English) + NESS (loch). | |
| 4 | Composer wanting end mostly minor (7) |
| TIPPETT – TIP (end) + most of PETTy (minor). Sir Michael, 20th century English composer. | |
| 5 | Serious defeat embraced by Conservative, one in the soup? (7) |
| CROUTON – ROUT (serious defeat) contained by CON (conservative). | |
| 6 | Larva, one a lizard periodically rejected (5) |
| NAIAD – every other letter from oNe A lIzArD. | |
| 7 | What could attract a greater number to get back in ring (9) |
| PHEROMONE – MORE (a greater number) reversed, contained by PHONE (ring). | |
| 8 | Fat English king makes room for food (6) |
| LARDER – LARD (fat) + E (English) + R (king). | |
| 14 | It left a chap cold coming to a Spanish city (9) |
| SALAMANCA – SA (sex appeal, it) + L (left) + A + MAN (chap) + C (cold) + A. | |
| 15 | What’s blue and quite sour when cooked (9) |
| TURQUOISE – anagram of (when cooked) QUITE SOUR. | |
| 16 | Vital I connect in conjunction (8) |
| ANIMATED – I + MATE (connect), all contained by AND (conjunction). | |
| 18 | Resigns after disturbing admission (7) |
| INGRESS – anagram of (after disturbing) RESIGNS. | |
| 19 | Problem with a carrier missing out the last island (7) |
| SUMATRA – SUM (problem) + A + TRAy (carrier) missing the last letter. Perhaps this could also be formed from an endless TRAm? | |
| 20 | Disorganised mob, one involved in demonstration? (6) |
| SHOWER – double definition. | |
| 22 | Lift small alien bug (5) |
| UPSET – UP (lift) + S (small) + ET (alien). | |
| 24 | Game prince over how he addressed Mary de Bohun? (5) |
| HALMA – HAL (prince) + MA (how he addressed his mother?). A strategy board game which I now see I have played. | |
IMO 21ac was a horrible clue. It had to be “change O to A”, but the shape strongly suggested the definition should be “hat”.
Yes I took ages over that one at the end, thinking it was a coin toss. Eventually convinced myself that it didn’t quite work the other way. I imagine it was the cause of the large number of 1-error submissions on the leaderboard, including some very distinguished solvers.
I am one such OWL.
Yes!
I felt quite clever until I didn’t. Oh dear.
I’m glad you said this because whichever way I read it, I couldn’t fathom what end of the clue it wanted. Plumped for the def being the hat as it came first.
Yep. Completely ambiguous with no crossers.
It should be said, our setters do a brilliant job at something that would be well beyond me! An occasional blemish should be accepted as part of life’s rich tapestry.
In this case the potential ambiguity, I think, is in “that’s”. The setter may have intended it as “that has”, making the answer the city. If, reasonably enough, a solver reads it as “that is”, it appears to make the answer the hat.
But, in the end, the instruction to change O to A resolved the ambiguity for me, however uncomfortable it felt.
Thanks setter, we appreciate it all!
That’s a good potential explanation about “that has”. Thanks
I know you’ve had some beasts to blog on Fridays, Will, so I can appreciate this being easy from that POV, but aside from that I found it really quite tricky and I needed 45 minutes to complete the grid.
Several answers came to me only after wrestling with wordplay but I can’t say I knew the answers NAIAD as larva, HALMA as anything, and I didn’t recognise SALAMANCA although I note it has appeared a couple of times before when I also didn’t know it.
Both the long Across answers resisted my efforts past the 30 minute line which certainly slowed things down for me.
Fortunately I knew UVULA but I had severe doubts about NEAL which Wiki treats as commonplace but is not a spelling I can recall seeing before.
9:41, with lots to enjoy along the way. A nice end to the week, and not an emperor in sight.
I was a bit concerned about what turned out to be HALMA (didn’t know the game nor Mary) and TIPPETT (not heard of him), but the parsings were at least possible.
Thanks both.
PS. One of the tracked Snitch solvers seems to be posting some, er, heroic times of late.
It appears he may have gone over to the Dark Side.
I shall pray for him.
Or write a requiem?
I’m sure he’s just hit a rich vein of form. According to Snitch his six fastest times ever have come in the last two weeks. That’s some vein.
OK, I’ve excluded that solver. Until recently, their behaviour looked good, but the last 6 attempts are clearly not genuine.
Hi Stuart, for some reason SNITCH won’t come up for me via Google any more. Can you advise please? I may be at the top of the ratings so far today and I’d like to enjoy the rare moment!
I am certainly not top of the ratings, but have exactly the same issue.
This link works for me: https://times.xwdsnitch.link/crosswords/3510
Thanks – that’s done the trick. Not quite as good a performance as the early indications presaged, but not all bad really.
Good stuff starry.
25.09 with a typo
Yes on the easy side but got slightly breezeblocked on STAGEHAND and particularly HALMA at the end where I wondered whether HALGO was some sort of address to a foreign queen. In the end the M went in with fingers crossed. Saw the possibility of SURGEON but even if it is a chestnut that definition was rather good
Thanks William and setter
I’ve never heard of the game, but I’m more interested to know why the setter included an unnecessary question mark?
It usually implies that an extra leap of deduction is required, but this clue doesn’t demand it. Hal is the prince and it’s an indubitable fact that Mary de Bohun was his mother.
Am I missing something deeper than that?
I think the question mark is there because there are many ways that he could have addressed his mother, of which MA is one. As such it means “how he might have addressed” her – it wouldn’t be fair or accurate to claim it was indeed how he addressed her.
Around 50 minutes. Liked this one and worked steadily through it. FOI AWARENESS then GYMNASTIC, MOURN, GRUESOME, UVULA and SINCERE completing the NW corner. At first I put in HOMBURG in 21A but later realised it was HAMBURG. Interesting new definition and wordplay for the regular PLASTIC SURGEON. Biffed TADPOLE and found out why later. Biffed LOI HALMA on the basis it must be the mother.
Thanks William
19:46 “Features editor”. Lol.
I felt this one earned its Friday stripes but would have been easier if I’d known of HALMA and Hal’s Mum. MASS EXTINCTION and the HAMBURG dilemma also caused some delay.
Only knew SALAMANCA as a character name in Breaking Bad but that felt good enough after all the parts had been assembled.
Thanks setter for the challenge and William for the blog.
Ha, same with SALAMANCA!
But what ‘s to see in stormy weather,
When grey Showers gather and gusts are cool?
Why, raindrop-roundels looped together
That lace the face of Penmaen Pool.
(Penman Pool, GM Hopkins)
15 mins pre-brekker. Not really familiar with Halma, but gettable. And Hamburg, although awkward, has to be the city.
Ta setter and W
I’m glad Will found this easy, I surrendered at about 40 without the NHO TIPPETT and HALMA, neither of which I would have ever got in terms of both definition and wordplay. STAGEHAND was my last genuine one in, and needless to say I found this seriously tough. Didn’t know SALAMANCA was a city in Spain, I only knew it from the convict dock in Hobart where my great-great-grandmother stepped ashore in 1835 and was marched with her fellow passengers up the hill and down the other side to the female factory.
From Isis:
I was thinking about TURQUOISE, I was thinking about gold
I was thinking about diamonds and the world’s biggest necklace
As we rode through the canyons, through the devilish cold
I was thinking about Isis, how she thought I was so reckless
Wait, what? I’ve been singing that last word as “righteous” for 48 years!
Apologies to Bob.
I know someone else who thought the line ‘I knew right away he was not ordinary’ was actually ‘he was not on an errand.’ Bob’s probably not too fussed…
Do go to Salamanca if you get the chance. It is a stunning medieval city famous for its old university.
Sad to say I’ve driven its bypass and not visited! Doh.
… and the most majestic Plaza Mayor that I know of in all Spain.
29:23. If I can do a sub30 then it must’ve been easier than usual for a Friday. And as noted, this is easier than today’s QC. Did the puzzles get muddled up?
I did look up Queen Mary, and when I saw she was the mother of Henry V I could see what was going on. Didn’t parse a few, such as the six parter SALAMANCA, (it=SA is one of my pet peeves). Also struggled with HOMBURG/HAMBURG, clever clue but could have been tidier.
COD MASS EXTINCTION
FWIW she died before Bolingbroke siezed the throne, so was never queen.
31m 10s
I counted 5 anagrams. Any advance on that?
Val, formerly of this parish, might well have described 21ac as a double helix but, really, it was straightforward enough:”key for Oscar”. Here’s Procul Harum to tell us all about the hat….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsPD3wF6UtQ
So, not HILDA then! That and TIPPETT stumped me but I found the rest really enjoyable. COD and many thanks to the Features Editor.
Is anybody else who solves on paper experiencing constant 404s when trying to access the 15×15 on the Times/puzzles page? The quickie can display and print fine. Even right now it’s giving a 404 at 0800 GMT. Can anybody confirm it’s not just me? Thanks.
You are not alone. I often have problems like that. « Oops wrong page », error 404 etc. Very annoying as I too print out the crossie. I currently have about five ways of accessing them including the wife’s computer if all else fails. I wish the Times could sort it out
Thank you. Does that mean you were able to view and print today?
Yes, today was straightforward. Via the Times app at 8:20 French time.
Thanks again. Unfortunately, I can’t print from the app.
You may already have tried this, or it otherwise doesn’t suit your schedule, but you can also download the pdf from the SNITCH.
Thanks William. Being a fairly new member I wouldn’t have a clue how to get to the snitch. Is it somewhere within the crossword club?
https://times.xwdsnitch.link/
I’ve had the same thing a few times recently. Bloody annoying!
Thanks K. I managed to fix the problem by emptying the cache and reloading. At least I know what to do next time.
30 mins which is a record for me , I think, on a Friday. Yippee.
LOI HALMA, of course, but after yesterdays disaster with mi nerva (geddit) I was determined to get it right. MA seemed reasonable for the Lady. I also managed to get the city rather than the hat!
I liked frequenting bars and features editor.
Thanks William and setter. PS I meant to say that the « IKEA » -like construction of SALAMANCA bought back to mind our dearly departed friend Horryd.
10’32”, no issues, didn’t even think about 21ac.
We watched the film ‘Miss Potter’ a couple of days ago, and I found myself calling out the names of all her characters when they appeared. My wife understands.
Thanks william and setter.
12.40
Yes, pretty straightforward (apart from initially misbiffing PLASTIC SURGERY).
I find SHOWER impossible to say except with a Terry Thomas intonation and preceded by “An absolute”.
LOI ANIMATED
COD GYMNASTIC
And the much missed Rotter(Jeff Marshall) who blogged on this site. He had Terry Thomas as his Avatar. Obit here In Memoriam Jeff Marshall, TheRotter, 1951-2023
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8L5LNIi5bAs
31 minutes with LOI STAGEHAND, suggesting a leisurely top to bottom solve, which it mainly was. My colour perception is iffy around the turquoise wavelength, so it can be either blue or green depending what I think first. I was pleased to guess that Mary de Bohun was Hal’s mother. I liked the features editor but COD has to go to MASS EXTINCTION. And you don’t believe we’re on the eve of destruction? I thought that was a joke song at the time but now I’m not so sure. Good puzzle. Thank you William and setter.
12:14. A very similar ending to yesterday, looking for that pesky single letter in HAL_A, just like I had been looking for it in NER_A. Thankfully today even if not knowing the GK, I could take an educated guess at MA. Elsewhere I had to take my time over the HAMBURG clue. I initially put in HOMBURG but something about it prompted me to reconsider, which I’m glad I did.
Failed on the game, halla…
COD plastic surgeon.
V quick tody.. took a moment or two to consider 21ac, having been to both Hamburg and Homburg (and preferred the latter) .. but actually it only works one way round.
I did like the features editor! But I swear this is the third time recently it has been clued. Last time it was a “Theatre worker.”
I have played Halma, as a wee lad, when board games were proper board games 🙂
I also thought Homburg was a much better fit for 21 Ac, so refuse to count that as an error. Can anyone explain why Hamburg is the right answer.
It’s quite subtle, but it’s “key for Oscar” that gives it away. This can only really mean “key instead of Oscar”, not “key replaced by Oscar”. Therefore there has to be a ‘key’ in the answer, not an O.
Ah, so that’s it. Thanks.
9:59
Definitely gentle by “normal” Friday standards.
I really just came here to see what the common error was for so many solvers. I did hesitate over HAMBURG as you can’t tell from the wording of the clue which end has the definition but as Amoeba above has explained it’s the wording of the letter substitution that gives you the answer.
A few biffed and HALMA deduced from wordplay and the assumed relationship between the protagonists.
A strange mixture of easy and difficult. I breezed through 80% of it in 10 mins, then scratched my head for another 30. DNF, beaten by PHEROMONE… and now rather irritated that I didn’t see it.
DNF. 39 mins after a long struggle with NHO TIPPETT and total guess at EXTINCTION only to fall at HOMBURG which is particularly nasty to put on a non-crosser. Also NHO Hals mother despite being subjected to Henry IV pt 1 for O’level.
Mostly easy but a couple of stinkers.
For sure the easiest of the week, at 13.39. I guess I must be lucky: HALMA was a go-to game when visiting Grandma, so all I really learned from the clue was the name of Henry V’s mum. And I know at least one NEAL, and am aware that nymphs and larvae can swap names. I correctly surmised it had to be HAMBURG, though I left my cursor on the A, so was momentarily alarmed when it came back dark pink. Oddly harder for me was 1a, where I spent a while wondering what Paddy and his goat had to do with it.
I managed, by smudging the clue, to invent the word TIPPETY, which I submit as a decent coinage for “minor”. But saw reason in the end: “if Michael writes rubbish, Schotts can Tippett”(Bruno Heinz Jaja).
Definition of the day: features editor.
12:26, with three minutes at the end completely stuck on three or four clues in the SE corner.
NHO HALMA or Mary de Bohun but it was easy enough to guess that she must have been Hal’s mum.
I can understand how you might make the mistake if solving in haste but the clue for HAMBURG is not ambiguous.
All very straightforward, until I got to the SE corner. I biffed HALLA rather than HALMA.
I liked 17ac.
14d is on my list of places to visit. The main square is supposedly impressive.
Thank you setter. 1ac conjured up images of Val Doonicsn singing Paddy McGinty’s goat.
Thanks for the blog William
There’s an interesting article in the News section today about new words admitted to Collins Dictionary in their latest update. Look out for “brat” ( a confident, hedonistic attitude ), “romantasy” ( literary subgenre ), “brainrot” ( the effect of watching too many TikTok videos ) and ” delulu ” ( deluded ) in future Cryptics.
I saw that too! I definitely have the brainrot syndrome.
I again, second time this week, finished this one faster than the QC!! Took me 20:38.
Thought “key for Oscar” made it clear A for O.
NHO TIPPETT (showing my ignorance there I am sure) but was pretty sure about TIP-PETTY.
LOI was the PHEROMONE where even with having the central “more” pencilled in, it took me over a minute to think of phone for ring.
Plastic surgeon I got when I realised the second word had to be surge-on, I agree a very witty clue.
Thanks setter and blogger
21:27
Pleased to finish in a decent time for a Friday, having scored only two answers on the first pass of acrosses. Not keen on the HAMBURG/HOMBURG answer – as several have pointed out, it was not very clear – though did think MAUGHAM was very good. No problem with HALMA – had a set when we woz kidz, but at least learnt (or re-learnt) who Mary de B was. NHO TIPPETT nor SALAMANCA, but guessable from the cryptic.
Thanks W and setter
Good fun, despite typing INLET whilst knowing it was ISLET. I liked PLASTIC SURGEON, GYMNASTIC and MAUGHAM.
I was reading about the latter yesterday. Hugely popular in his day, now largely ignored. A favourite quote “It wasn’t until late in life that I discovered how easy it is to say, ‘I don’t know.'”
Thanks to William and the setter
18:24. Delayed by wanting to put MAGNETICY in 1 across!
COD: PLASTIC SURGEON. Features Editor is very good.
Another low 20’s for me so must have been easy, certainly for a Friday. Knew the Mary de Bohun reference and, just as well, I also knew the Spanish city because I couldn’t fully parse it (SA=sex appeal is a new one on me). Didn’t get caught up in the city/hat dilemma because I thought the hat was spelt homberg! Features editor was good! Thanks William and setter.
If I can do it in 23 minutes then it must be pretty easy, and a Friday as well. Agree with the several who say it must be HAMBURG — one has to take care but it couldn’t possibly be homburg; so long as we interpret ‘for’ as meaning ‘replacing’, which is obvious enough I should have thought. To people of a certain age Somerset Maugham was better known as a short story writer (prolific and really good), and maybe a novelist (‘The Moon and Sixpence’ etc). Several solved more from wordplay than from definition, about which I wasn’t always sure.
Maugham’s short stories are superb. The best known are “Rain” and “The Letter” both of which made fine movies. He is mostly forgotten as a dramatist.
I think he wrote a few film scripts too
Unfortunately I was a HOMBURG too. Just banged it in without much thought. Ah well!
From MOURN to MASS EXTINCTION in 15:56. Loved PLASTIC SURGEON. Always thought MAUGHAM had an N at the end, but the wordplay was clear. Didn’t know the game, but Mary had to be Hal’s Ma. Thanks setter and William.
Technical DNF as NHO HALMA, (nor Mary de Bohun, for that matter). But apart from its missing ‘M’ I found this an easy puzzle, more like a Monday than a Friday. No use of aids so I consider this as a virtual win, my first this week. Here’s my two-penn’orth on 21 ac. If the clue had read “Hat that has key…” rather than “Hat that’s key…” it would have been perfectly legit. (But perhaps then too easy.) My problem with it is that “that’s” never means “that has”, it always means “that is”. So the clue in effect reads “Hat that is key for Oscar in city”, which just doesn’t generate the required answer. OK, it clearly was the city that was required (and not the hat) but that doesn’t excuse the poor clueing.
“That’s” can mean “that has” in the context of the perfect tense of course but that obviously doesn’t apply here. Interestingly the same contraction does work in the first person (‘I’ve an idea that…’) but I think your objection is fair. This construction is quite common!
2a Nepal. I have come across Neal (or was it Nealle?) as a surname but not given, so I was a bit dubious. Only one person, “Thug Neal” a master at school in the 1960s.
13a Mass Ex. I thought this a bit weak, but I bifd it (in pencil) from M???E only. Requiems are pieces of music which honour and remember some dead usually single person rather than a lot of people. Or it could be say the dinosaurs I suppose but I’ve not heard a requiem for them.
OWL club; 21a hOmburg. I was unable to decide which swap to perform. I now reluctantly accept I was wrong.
24d Halma; I remember playing it as a child, so easy-peasy.
Having suffered a string of mainly tedious interruptions since finishing the puzzle, I’m late on parade.
I’ve had a shocking week with a mixture of typos, abandonments, and stupid biffs but I’ve gone out with a bang here. I was very careful with HAMBURG, but otherwise I only had to worry about transposing the M and N of my LOI. A thoroughly enjoyable challenge.
FOI GYMNASTIC
LOI PHEROMONE
COD STAGEHAND
TIME 7:54
Nice one Phil! Scorchio!
Damn and blast. Dithered over the hat/city and it turned out that I’d plumped for the wrong one, if only I’d read the clue, but I was on for a quick one.
Apart from that, whizzed through this in a rare sub 10 (9:40) and enjoyed it very much. “Features Editor” made me chuckle, but STAGEHAND gets my vote today.
DNF
16:40 – HALMA was a new one on me but since a prince usually turns out to be Hal and he is unlikely to address Mary de Bohun, whoever she is, as pa, it had to be ma. And so she was.
Cheated by checking HAMBURG wasn’t homburg and also revealed HALMA, otherwise all fairly straightforward (so must have been an easy one!). Thanks to William for sorting out the parsing of biffed PLASTIC SURGEON and SALAMANCA (always forget sa=it). Liked PHEROMONE. Thanks all.
Solved in about 15 minutes first thing this morning, but only getting round to posting now. Agree with several others that this was mostly quite gentle for a Friday.
– Didn’t know HALMA, and I also didn’t know that Mary de Bohun was Hal’s mother, but M seemed like the only reasonable letter that would fit in HAL_A and explain who she was
– Hesitated slightly over NEPAL as Neal is (in my experience anyway) a less common spelling than Neil
– No problem with HAMBURG given the ‘key for Oscar’ part of the clue
– Also didn’t know NAIAD, but the wordplay helped and it sounded like it could be right
Thanks William and setter.
FOI Crouton
LOI Halma
COD Plastic surgeon
Unusually quick for a Friday puzzle finishing this in 28.14. When I say finishing it, not strictly so as I fell headlong into the HAMBURG trap. Everyone else seems to be caught between two stools on this one, but for some reason I didn’t even notice there was choice in the matter. I was so blinkered HOMBURG went straight in, and I never gave it another thought. Having now seen the answer I initially thought it could be interpreted either way, but on reflection I can see that I got it wrong.
38:04 – DNK Halma. Only vaguely aware of TIPPETT. Otherwise I found this pretty straightforward. Spent 30 seconds or so debating between the hat and the city, but the wordplay seemed to justify the latter over the former. Started with 1d & 1a which made a nice change and probably sped me up considerably.
Faster than today’s QC, and more witty (and enjoyable) to boot. Halma went in with fingers crossed, and loi Hamburg was very nearly Homburg, but the parsing check carried the day. Plastic Surgeon was excellent, but (an absolute) Shower was my favourite today. Invariant
About 50mins DNF – didn’t know TIPPETT but that was only after having DNFed due to mistyping GYMNAtsIC and bunging in some word. Also failed with the HAMBURG/HoMBURG issue.
Edit: should add I was somewhat amazed when seven of the nine downs from the top row went straight in despite not getting either of the Across clues in the top row. Exceptions were obviously TIPPETT and PHEROMONE.
Those who fell into the HOMBURG trap might find some solace in today’s Cracking the Cryptic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHjS8edX_q4
I maintain the answer is not actually ambiguous, but at least you’re in good company!
Gosh! A Friday puzzle I could complete unaided, apart from checking that the composer, the city and the game actually existed. Around 50 mins which is good by my standards.
I somehow made this more difficult than it needed to be, taking longer than I should with the TIPPETT/MASS EXTINCTION crossing which should have been straightforward. I know Tippett and have listened to his music but misremembered the spelling as Tippet, which made me think “Composer wanting end” indicated TIPPE?? which of course I could make nothing of despite spending several minutes on it. Once the penny dropped I finally saw MASS EXTINCTION, which I should have seen much sooner. I didn’t know the game HALMA and had never heard of the lady so although I was reasonably confident my guess was correct I needed to see the solution to confirm it.
Messed up by putting PHEREMONE which overtyped the O of TADPOLE and I didn’t notice. I got the HAMBURG/HOMBURG trap correctly but still ended up with a pink square. Otherwise it was pretty easy.
I knew the playwright (though not so much as such), think I’ve seen the composer’s name but not the German one for the game. But yes, maybe easiest one of the week for me. Finished, of course, lonnnng before the blog appeared… Will read the other comments now.