What a relief to have an accessible puzzle after last Friday’s Monster! I thought there was a lot of nice stuff going on here and enjoyed myself a lot, finishing in 20:46.
11 across caused me a lot of head-scratching, though. So much so that I had to ‘phone a friend.’ Actually, having had it explained to me, it was a Hit rather than a Miss in my book. An innovative clue type, where such things are at a premium. Of course, most people would just biff it anyway…
| Across | |
| 1 | Economical type — watch — in pursuit of pub profit (7-6) |
| BARGAIN-HUNTER – HUNTER (watch) after BAR (pub) GAIN (profit) | |
| 8 | Cut out large manœuvre by figure skater (4) |
| AXEL – AXE L | |
| 9 | Historic swindle involving Young Conservative baker (10) |
| PASTRYCOOK – Y (young) C (conservative) in PAST (historic) ROOK (swindle); one thinks of Alun Armstrong’s innkeeper ‘rooking the guests and cooking the books’ in Les Mis | |
| 10 | Consequences surrounding item of legislation for way of working (8) |
| PRACTICE – ACT (item of legislation) in PRICE (consequences; cunning!) | |
| 11 | Cloak that’s for chop? (6) |
| PONCHO – okay, this was the clue I couldn’t make head nor tails of. Thanks to V, who unravelled it for me: CHOP may be rendered as ‘P after CHO’ or ‘P on CHO’ > PONCHO! | |
| 13 | Who’s quiet, working to pilfer? (10) |
| SHOPLIFTER – a nice semi (I think) all-in-one; the whole clue gives you the solution, while every part of the clue (apart from ‘Who’s’) is used in the wordplay, as follows: SH (quiet) anagram* of TO PILFER | |
| 16 | Methodically search quantity of data stored on firm (4) |
| COMB – CO (firm) MB (quantity of data) | |
| 17 | Chamber group tour finishing early? Over (4) |
| TRIO – TRI |
|
| 18 | Secure northern European cosmetic treatment (4,6) |
| NAIL POLISH – NAIL (secure) POLISH (European) | |
| 20 | That woman’s following key Dutch artist (6) |
| ESCHER – ESC (computer key) HER (that woman’s); never herd of the fellow, but he sounded more likely than ALTHER, DELHER, ENDHER or TABHER | |
| 22 | Craftspeople showing outraged reaction about accepting shortened time (8) |
| KNITTERS – cunning wordplay again: a STINK is an outraged reaction; the clue ‘shows’ STINK reversed around (it ‘accepts’) TER |
|
| 24 | Each swirl of nostalgia overlooking old Saxon kingdom (4,6) |
| EAST ANGLIA – EA (each) NOSTALGIA* (minus the O); the five original kingdoms of England are typically deemed to be: Northumbria, Mercia, Wessex, Kent and East Anglia. If you are interested, a very readable account of this period is given by Marc Morris in his 2021 book, The Anglo-Saxons | |
| 26 | Number eight in cricket team in Somerset venue? (4) |
| BATH – if you go in at number eight, an impish scorer might refer to you as Bat H | |
| 27 | Daughter, having reserve and humour, had worked with the risk intensely (4,4,5) |
| DICE WITH DEATH – D ICE (reserve) WIT (humour) [HAD THE*] | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Dog drinks and pants (5,6) |
| BOXER SHORTS – BOXER SHORTS | |
| 2 | Reignited, temperature turned to carbon old item (5) |
| RELIC – RELI |
|
| 3 | Irish, excluding middle third, supporting current measure relating to frogs? (9) |
| AMPHIBIAN – AMP (current measure) followed by HIB |
|
| 4 | Rise of an aroma just beginning (7) |
| NASCENT – AN reversed SCENT (aroma) | |
| 5 | Skill rising when probing revolting part of plumbing (1-4) |
| U-TRAP – ART (skill) reversed (rising) in UP (revolting, as in ‘the natives are revolting’, i.e. in a state of insurrection) | |
| 6 | Possibly chance it over line of mechanical products? (9) |
| TECHNICAL – CHANCE IT* followed by L (line); I’ll leave it to sciency types to get their rubber gloves off and discuss the niceties of the words involved here | |
| 7 | Animal that jumps requiring a lot of space (3) |
| ROO – ROO |
|
| 12 | Final section of NY prison sentence after being out of prison? (4,7) |
| HOME STRETCH – ‘of NY’ here stands for what we normally find as ‘in Manhattan’ or ‘in Idaho’, i.e. it refers to a usage in the USA. What we in Britain call the home straight in the sport of kings is called the home stretch stateside. The wordplay (slightly cunning once more) is therefore HOME (being out of prison) followed by STRETCH (prison sentence) | |
| 14 | Observing the future, support first Conservative leaving in a rush (9) |
| PROPHETIC – PROP (support) HE |
|
| 15 | Criticise demure article being presented in bright colour? (9) |
| REPRIMAND – PRIM (demure) AN (article) in RED; I suppose it’s usually bright or brightish, but the attribution seems a bit arbitrary to me | |
| 19 | Evidence of poor penmanship: I especially note a good deal around end of book (7) |
| INKBLOT – |
|
| 21 | Give new life to King meeting bridge opponents and bridge partners (5) |
| RENEW – R (king) EN (East and North – opponents in contract bridge) EW (partners in the same game) | |
| 23 | Somewhat upset about iodine in bone (5) |
| TIBIA – I (iodine) in A BIT (somewhat) reversed [upset] | |
| 25 | Support anyone in difficulties at the outset (3) |
| AID – initial letters of Anyone In Difficulties | |
Started with ROO and RELIC. AXEL then led to BOXER SHORTS, which provided BARGAIN HUNTER, so I had a load of letters to build on very quickly. I saw the TRA bit of 5d straight away but needed HUNTER to spot the revolting bit. PONCHO went in with a furrowed brow and crossed fingers, although I did parse KNITTERS, which was LOI. 13:24. Thanks setter and U.
OAn enjoyable steady solve, interrupted by the letting agency inspection and a trip to the vet.
I didn’t understand KNITTERS, but the PONCHO type of clue occasionally turns up in the AZED puzzle- my old crossword mentor used to call them ‘self referential clues’.
Thank you to blogger and setter for a great start to the solving week.
21 mins, but (probably because I never wear them) the BOXER SHORTS and thereby AXEL were slow in coming. As others, much biffing so tx for the explanations.
Under 30′ but not by much. Biffed U-Bend, but couldn’t parse it (obviously) so revised and corrected which freed up the neat PASTRYCOOK. Needless to say PONCHO and KNITTERS also unparsed (like Corymbia “kayakers” was an early option). Didn’t get too fussed on HOME STRETCH assuming “stretch” was the Americanism for a time in prison; I’m wrong of course! Also didn’t initially take to TECHNICAL as “of mechanical products” but I suppose it works. Thanks Ulaca and setter.
15:10 – no problems apart from the universally mystifying PONCHO, correct but unparsed. Perhaps it would have been fairer to insert “cryptically” or a similar indicator.
Don’t much like TECHNICAL as a synonym for ‘mechanical’; nor using ‘give new life’ as the definition for RENEW. I always thought this kind of word-repetition between clue and answer was supposed to be anathema. Perhaps these beefs are why I didn’t find completing this grid satisfying.
I gave up concerning myself about American and English terms for the same thing once school proms and trick-or-treating came over to stay. Fifteen mins for me mostly going round the U-bend. NHO u-trap.
14.42
Liked shoplifter.
Well done on the blog for those tricky parsings
5.45. No quibbles.
41.22 which I will gladly take as I wasn’t on same wavelength as setter at all and for a while had DNF writ large. Failed to parse a few so it was with some relief to see no pink squares on submission.
LOI PROPHETIC
COD SHOPLIFTER
Solved in bits, parsing as I went. Of course the one I neglected to parse was U-BEND, leading to the hold-up in the NE. Heard of a trap, not a U-TRAP, but it made sense and enabled 9a and 11a. Eventually parsed KNITTERS, leaving me with the unparsed HOME STRETCH. Less enjoyable than usual, but not overly difficult.
22:30. I made much harder work of this than most of you did. U-BEND didn’t help and PASTRYCOOK eluded me for quite a while. But all very fair.
COD: PASTRYCOOK
22:23
Stymied slightly by cat on keyboard, so completed on ‘phone. Perhaps also a shade off the wavelength as my last three relied on thinking up a dog beginning with B to go with the assumed SHORTS – took far longer than it should! As with others, KNITTERS and PONCHO were a mystery, failing to see how either worked.
Thanks U and setter
14 minutes – I think my fastest ever.
Many congratulations!
Loved this easy one, but have no cricket knowledge, guessed BATH! 30 mins- delightful!
Found this enjoyable, not too chewy Monday fare, thank you setter and, also, many thanks for the blog, ulaca.
I got excited by the mention of the Marc Morris book in the blog, it sounded just the ticket for a Christmas present for Mr SR. Unfortunately, he was very quick to agree with your opinion of it so obviously has it stashed somewhere. Men are difficult to buy for, ime.
Between us we managed PONCHO (Mr SR) and KNITTERS (me).
(Brought back memories of once knitting a poncho for my Barbie doll – happy days)
28’50”
2:30 Belmont Park: Going well coming down the HOME STRETCH, but in this class couldn’t win, place or show…
… but all parsed and no INKBLOTs from the trusty Waterman broad nib. I did also spot the workings of P-ON-CHO; a garment that could save jockeys a BATH after riding in the slop at Sarratoga !
A calf-length poncho and long rubber riding boots cut down my laundry no end when I was mucking out the gee-gees.
This EAST ANGLIAn racegoer enjoyed this a LOT (not A BIT); many thanks setter and Ulaca.
Didn’t have problem with Home Stretch. Home is out of prison and stretch is American for prison sentence.
That’s how I saw it.
And me
But is it? Collins has ‘term of imprisonment’ for stretch in British English. From the days when I lived in England, I remember the word being used all the time too.
Agreed, U. For example in 1960 Peter Sellers starred in a British prison comedy called Two Way Stretch.
Finished it in no idea what time. Just completing is a record for me! I am also in the U Bend club (NHO u trap) and PONCHO was a bung-in without knowing why. Thanks to the setter for a puzzle within my ability and to Ulaca for the blog.
Congratulations! First of many, I’m sure.
I needed two sessions for this ; but it was enjoyable.
LOI KNITTERS.
Had to correct INKSPOT and U BEND.
Hard to pick a COD; lots of candidates.
David
Had to reveal about 3 and looked up the artist, but enjoyed it all. COD BOXER SHORTS. Yes, confused by U TRAP but PASTRY COOK it had to be.
Very much needed the blog as am a QC-er.
So thanks all.
19.18 Quick for me. I figured out the parsing of KNITTERS after I was done but PONCHO didn’t make any sense. Thanks ulaca.
51:33
A rare venture into the grown up crossword from my usual efforts on the QC prompted by the low snitch score.
There’s really nothing here that wouldn’t be out of place in the QC and yet it still took so much more time. Perhaps I was just expecting it would be harder than it was making me reluctant to biff first parse afterwards. LOI PASTRYCOOK as that one I did biff, initially putting PASTRYCHEF.
A couple unparsed, so thanks to our blogger. My excuse: I skipped lunch and am now hungry, so a completed grid in 16’30”, even with the unparsed pair left dangling, is good enough for me. Kitchen here I come!
Cracking fun puzzle. All done (and parsed, except for you know what) in 17:47. Thanks v much ulaca.
WOD to PASTRYCOOK, which always reminds me of the Old Boys consulting the Head in Stalky & Co: “Young blood who had stumbled into an entanglement with a pastry-cook’s daughter at Plymouth; experience who had come into a small legacy but mistrusted lawyers; ambition halting at cross-roads, anxious to take the one that would lead him farthest; extravagance pursued by the money-lender; arrogance in the thick of a regimental row— each carried his trouble to the Head; and Chiron showed him, in language quite unfit for little boys, a quiet and safe way round, out, or under. So they overflowed his house, smoked his cigars, and drank his health as they had drunk it all the earth over when two or three of the old school had foregathered.”
6:35 Nice easy one today. COD to BOXER SHORTS. I’m not sure East Anglia can be described as a Saxon kingdom. Anglo-Saxon yes, and I can see why “Anglian” couldn’t be used in the clue, but I doubt if most subjects of said kingdom would have identified as Saxons. No doubt some historian will disabuse me of that notion…
Didn’t occur to me at the time, but that’s a valid point – completely separate Urheimats.
Nearly completed in my QC time of (gaah) 28 mins, two left. The rather pedestrian PRACTICE and U-TRAP, where I guessed U- GRIP. The revolting=up device seems obscure.
I started off with the BARMAN DODGER, a term I just made up for an “economical type” who never gets his round in.
Thank you for a good laugh at your barman dodger!
Like Bazzock above, I can’t help feeling the setter slipped up when he/she defined RENEW as GIVE NEW LIFE to. It’s a mistake, surely. Apart from that, much enjoyed and finished in 16 or so.
Held up by putting T Trap….which does exist in plumbing…and used revolting (reverse) pt as standard shortening of part. All looked good…for a while.
It’s all very well having these fancy parsings such as for ‘poncho’, but does that mean the idea that the surface should make any sense whatsoever goes out the window?
And an ‘impish’ scorer might refer to ‘Bat H’, but I can assure you they would only do it once.
Then again, it wouldn’t surprise me if Chambers contained a reference to it.