I found myself romping through this one, wondering when I was going to grind to a halt (which happens often) and unravelling the plethora of anagrams. But there it was finished, without a pause for any prolonged pencil-chewing. Most of this is I think at Quick Cryptic level and I expect to see some rapid times.
Definitions underlined in bold, (ABC)* indicating anagram of ABC, anagrinds in italics, DD = double definition, [deleted letters in square brackets].
| Across | |
| 1 | Extra crop ruined at the farm (9) |
| AFTERMATH – (AT THE FARM)*. | |
| 6 | Examination that involves studying books (5) |
| AUDIT – cryptic definition. | |
| 9 | Have some meal, uncharged? Never (5) |
| LUNCH – hidden word. | |
| 10 | Book two for novelist (4,5) |
| MARK TWAIN – MARK a book, TWAIN meaning two. | |
| 11 | Shy and introspective, so expelled? Just the opposite (7) |
| INDRAWN – DRAWN IN being the opposite of expelled. | |
| 12 | Equipment right for undertaker? (7) |
| TACKLER – TACKLE = equipment, R. Undertaker in the sense of someone who undertakes to do something, not the funereal type. | |
| 13 | This rhapsodic introduction of Ravel’s transported musician (14) |
| HARPSICHORDIST – (THIS RHAPSODIC R)*, the R from Ravel. | |
| 17 | What ex-pat might view as something that divides us from Europe (7,7) |
| ENGLISH CHANNEL – not very cryptic definition. Or a DD, if you think an ex-pat could be viewing La Manche from Normandy. EDIT as suggested below, this could be a “TV channel” being viewed, in which case it is a DD. |
|
| 21 | Trumpet introducing bit of music – it makes a forceful entry (7) |
| CROWBAR – CROW meaning trumpet, boast, BAR a bit of music. | |
| 23 | Piece of jewellery author and poet shortened (7) |
| PENDANT – PEN = author, DANT[e]. | |
| 25 | Once more check and control cult holding power (9) |
| REINSPECT – REIN = check, SECT = cult, insert P. | |
| 26 | Sound of delightful musical sequence (5) |
| SUITE – sounds like SWEET = delightful. | |
| 27 | Republican welcomed by gun firm (5) |
| STERN – STEN gun with R inserted. | |
| 28 | Politician of considerable stature swallowing second dubious account (4,5) |
| TALL STORY – a TALL TORY has S inserted. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Nothing left? That’s OK (3,5) |
| ALL RIGHT – nothing is left so ALL is RIGHT. | |
| 2 | Made adjustments to first of Titian’s nude works (5) |
| TUNED – T[itian’s], (NUDE)*. | |
| 3 | Tries again with a learner in practice session (9) |
| REHEARSAL – RE-HEARS = tries again, A, L. | |
| 4 | Incomplete expression of regret involving piece in annual publication (7) |
| ALMANAC – ALAC[k] has MAN a piece in chess inserted. | |
| 5 | Hamlet’s first speech mainly for his friend (7) |
| HORATIO – H[amlet], ORATIO[n]. | |
| 6 | Like part of Greece that’s reached by final flight (5) |
| ATTIC – DD. | |
| 7 | Send daily broadcast? Do that and be damned (6,3) |
| DEADLY SIN – (SEND DAILY)*. | |
| 8 | Harden after short time in occupation (6) |
| TENURE – T for time, ENURE another spelling of inure. | |
| 14 | Is a modern broadcast haphazardly set up? (9) |
| RANDOMISE – (IS A MODERN)*. | |
| 15 | Spoke about one number overturning analysis of problem (9) |
| DIAGNOSIS – SAID (spoke) has I SONG (number) inserted, > S I SONG AID, then all reversed. |
|
| 16 | Supply key leads in careless fashion (8) |
| BLITHELY – B (a key in music) LITHELY (supply). | |
| 18 | Artist superior to Constable, reportedly (7) |
| SARGENT – sounds like SERGEANT. The American artist John Singer Sargent. | |
| 19 | Topical reforms in American political scene (7) |
| CAPITOL – (TOPICAL)*. | |
| 20 | The writer ultimately diminished great singer as tragic high-flier (6) |
| ICARUS – I (the writer) CARUS[o]. | |
| 22 | Hairstyle worn by sailor and his colleague (5) |
| BOSUN – OS (ordinary seaman) inside BUN. | |
| 24 | Friend from Europe with another on journey (5) |
| AMIGO – AMI (French friend) GO (journey) > Spanish friend. | |
I completed the grid apart from one answer with 26 minutes on the clock, then I wrestled with the remaining clue for another 10 before giving up.
The answer turned out to be BLITHELY which I think of as being more carefree than careless, but I note the dictionaries list both. I had been thrown off course from the start with that one as I was convinced it was to be an anagram [supply] of ‘key leads’ but the T of PENDANT had put paid to that idea.
The definition of AFTERMATH was unknown to me but that didn’t delay me unduly. in agriculture a second mowing or crop of grass from land that has already yielded one crop earlier in the same year.
I don’t understand the purpose of ‘never’ in 9ac.
Before I noticed the things mentioned above I had checked several times that I wasn’t doing a Quick Cryptic as the level of many clues could have been aimed at real beginners.
No such thing as a free lunch (9ac)
Ah. Yes, thank you, now I get it.
Many thanks, Simon.
Another semi-QC which took me 15.15, quick for me and only slightly longer than today’s QC time. But there were some tricky bits and I am indebted to Nelson for explaining DIAGNOSIS, ALMANAC and BLITHELY. I think at 25ac REINSPECT the def is ‘once more check’ and ‘control’ delivers ‘rein’. I know this because I got befuddled trying to make check = rein and getting nowhere.
From Idiot Wind:
Idiot wind, blowing like a circle around my skull
From the Grand Coulee Dam to the CAPITOL
A true ICARUS moment as I flew through this only to end up with B_S_N for the quick time. I forgot our friend the ordinary seaman and opted for BISON. It sounded like it could be a hairstyle. Not come across BOSUN before. I am never sure if words are obscure or I’m just not very learned.
The anagrams in this gave a friendly framework for completion after a first pass was very fruitful.
Couldn’t parse BLITHELY (L-correct-OI) or ICARUS so cheers for the blog.
Liked TACKLER, DIAGNOSIS and REHEARSAL
I also took the cryptic definition to mean an ex-pat viewing an English TV Channel rather than literally the English Channel.
I think I know BOSUN from Mr Smee in Peter Pan. I’m not sure if that makes me very learned or not.
On that comment alone you’re more well read than me 😂
Maybe not, because I think it was in the Disney film.
I think BOSUN is a phonetic rendition of BOATSWAIN, as the sailors actually pronounce it.
A mix of tricky and write-ins today I thought. Assumed the wrong meaning of ‘supply’ in 16d so BLITHELY wouldn’t come. NHO INDRAWN. Got HARPSICHORDIST just by looking at the anagrist. I didn’t know that meaning of AFTERMATH and was unsure of the anagrist as ‘extra crop’ and ‘at the farm’ were both contenders until HORATIO came along. Thought the reference to ex-pat in ENGLISH CHANNEL might mean they were viewing an English (TV) channel! Didn’t get the ‘never’ in the LUNCH clue so thanks Simon. Liked BOSUN and SUITE. COD to MARK TWAIN.
Thanks piquet and setter.
Very quick, this one. The level of difficulty does seem to vary very widely just lately..
Delayed by BLITHELY as I thought it limited to carefree rather than careless but it had to be and by SUITE as I do not normally equate sweetness with delight unless it’s Turkish which is extremely so.
Probably my best effort timewise but not much of a challenge.
Thanks to setter and piquet.
16D derailed my entire solve!!
Mine too!
Finished in around 35 minutes, as quick as I ever have done. FOI AMIGO and then ENGLISH CHANNEL which was a write-in. Anagrams like DEADLY SIN and CAPITOL and even HARPSICHORDIST came easily except when writing in the latter I tend to miss letters so I ended in DIST to early and made a mess writing in the correct letters. As a consequence I was slowed with HORATIO because I mistook the last letter as D for a period as my writing in letters is bad enough with my shaky printing that I often misread it and waste time. My O and D and my A and R in particular look similar.
Thanks Piquet
Hi KG, feel your pain. My handwriting was illegible until last year when I was fitted with a DBS implant system. Problem solved! Excellent bit of kit – bravo, NHS.
38:48
Got a bit stuck on suite and blithely, but finished in the end.
Thanks, p.
About half an hour.
– Didn’t know that meaning of AFTERMATH and delayed myself by thinking ‘extra crop’ might be the anagrist until ALMANAC pointed me in the right direction
– Was confused by the ‘Never’ in the clue for LUNCH, so thanks Simon for the explanation
– Hesitated over TENURE, partly because I didn’t know the enure spelling and partly because I was thinking of the time spent in office, which isn’t the same as an occupation itself (this doubt is of course rendered moot by the fact that it can mean occupation of land, which I didn’t think of when solving)
– Didn’t fully parse DIAGNOSIS because I missed that the whole wordplay was being reversed (I got the ‘I song’ bit but didn’t see how to get ‘dias’ around it)
– For BLITHELY, I tried to make an anagram of ‘key leads’ before the checkers forced a rethink
– Thought ‘Uh oh’ when I saw 18d and worked out it was John Singer SARGENT as I wasn’t sure how to spell it. Luckily Norwich City currently have a striker called Josh Sargent, so I ninja-turtled it based on him
Thanks piquet and setter.
FOI All right
LOI Tenure
COD Bosun
33:15. A romp, yes, until totally bogged down in the southeast with DIAGNOSIS, PENDANT, SUITE (I had TRILL for a while) and LOI BLITHELY. COD to MARK TWAIN with the slow-to-come PDM for book= mark
12:20 Mostly very straightforward with a couple of breeze blocks.
All going swimmingly (and quickly) until I got breezeblocked by 16d. After 5 mins of head scratching I gave up. Just couldn’t see BLITHELY. Damn.
Thanks piper and setter.
16:46 but stuck on BLITHELY for ages at the end. Thanks Pip and setter.
Held up a little in the bottom right corner. Tried to make something out of KEY LEADS*, but then looked elsewhere. SUITE was my LOI down in that corner. Everything else just fell into place really, and all parsed in flight too.
11:20
Another pleasant and gentle solve over 13.48, quicker than yesterday. Perhaps the Fates are doing penance for Friday’s monster.
ENGLISH CHANNEL is a curious clue in that it can be read as a non-cryptic whole: you have to work a bit to make it eligible for a Times.
BLITHELY reminded me of Percy Bysshe Browning’s lines
“Hail to thee blithe spirit: he sings each song twice over,
Lest you should think he never could recapture
The first fine careless rapture!”
Any more for the Skylark
1a Aftermath. The Rolling Stones had an LP called Aftermath, so I looked it up and remembered it for approx. 60 years. Mark you, I can’t remember anything about yesterday….
9a Lunch. Didn’t get the function of the word Never, so thanks Simon.
COD 10a “by the Mark, Twain.”
15d Diagnosis, didn’t parse it so biffed.
Thanks piquet & setter.
Yes, I remember buying AFTERMATH when it first got to stores in Canada and rushing home to listen to it.
Mostly simple but a DNF with a pink in BOSON. I was originally thinking hairstyle = Bob and never rethought.
Not quite QC fodder though. SUITE took a while and NHO Enure.
Lots of humour, I particularly enjoyed the free LUNCH and the Tall Tory.
Thanks both.
18′ 09″, but unsatisfactory as BLITHELY not parsed.
I believe that TNSTFL was much popularised by Robert A Heinlein in ‘The Moon is a Harsh Mistress’, and by the economist Milton Friedman. This is of course a totally reactionary idea which has gained ground along with the prosperity gospel etc.
Thanks pip and setter.
16:14
A few bits that I wasn’t quite sure of:
MARK = book?
NHO ENURE
11a was somewhat convoluted
SARGENT – wasn’t sure of the spelling – could’ve been SARJENT for all I knew
Needed the T of PENDANT to see BLITHELY. Once that was in, LOI was SUITE.
Thanks P and setter
Mark is a book of the Bible!
Of course it is, thanks Amoeba!
DNF. Completed in 30 minutes, but then found I had misconstrued 8dn to produce the rare (and, it appears, non-existent) legal term TINDRY meaning occupancy. Otherwise I agree that this was mainly QC territory, assisted by the long clues at 13ac and 17ac. For what it’s worth:
FOI – LUNCH
LOI – INDRAWN
COD – AFTERMATH
Thanks to piquet and other contributors.
Glad I wasn’t the only TINDRY or BASIN, though it seems I’m the only CLATTERY (something to do with typewriter keys I hoped) for BLITHELY, so not as easy for me as most seemed to find it.
A very quick DNF as, like others, BLITHELY did not come to mind. AFTERMATH definition was new to me (I did initially think “extra crop” was the anagrist but HORATIO put paid to that..). ENGLISH CHANNEL is just strange. Thanks Piquet and setter.
I had a very similar experience to Jack: most of it (apart from INDRAWN, which didn’t convince me) very quick-crypticish and going ‘fast’ until I was stuck on 16dn, with just the same problems. For some reason the answer never occurred to me and I gave up, using a wordsearch, whereupon it was pretty obvious. Wanted it to be dialysis at 15dn, but the correct answer is much simpler, and for a while I wanted the novelist to be Mary something. 41 minutes, with that cheat.
30:10 – Quick, quick, quick-quick, slow – the universal stumbler of BLITHELY turning my quickstep into a rumba for a good 10 minutes.
Mostly straightforward, but held up by a few, BLITHELY, CROWBAR, SARGENT, and trying and failing to parse DIAGNOSIS. 21:51. Thanks setter and Pip.
Held up at the end by not noticing a fat fingered “diagmosis” for some while. I finally realised it was “suppli” rather than “supplie” – I’ve missed that trick on more than one previous occasion. I spent far too long at the start trying to use “extra crop” as anagrist.
FOI LUNCH
LOI BLITHELY
COD HARPSICHORDIST
TIME 8:33
I, too, learnt Aftermath in its agricultural sense, and even found that OED has it as the first definition. And I, too, took a while with Blithely. Thanks pip
Similar experience to others, generally a very straightforward puzzle with 2 or 3 slightly trickier clues plus BLITHELY which looked as though it had been imported from a much tougher puzzle and took a few minutes to piece together.
I solved this over lunch and a colleague was interested to have a go – after I explained LUNCH, she was able to solve AMIGO. Then onto 6a, which neither of us could do… eventually I put in AUDIT thinking I’d come here to parse it. I’m not a fan of cryptic definitions at the best of times, and thought this was a weak one – glad I didn’t attempt to explain it to her.
Dubious ‘as’ in 17a & a shame to see ‘broadcast’ repeated in 7d & 14d.
I don’t like just to moan about a puzzle, though, so plaudits for 5d, 27a, 16d.
Very familiar with aftermath = second cut, as my surname means “mower”
19:27 and definitely on the easier side
Wasn’t sure if it was sergent or sargent, since NHO the person concerned
LOI was BLITHELY where I was totally puzzled about lithely and only after coming here and looking at the blog did it dawn on me supple = lithe and nothing to do with a supply of whatever.
Thanks setter and blogger
15:28
All very straightforward apart from BLITHELY. Only finally solved by staring angrily at the word SUPPLY for several minutes. The anagrams helped a lot. I particularly liked MARK TWAIN.and DIAGNOSIS.
Thanks to Pip and the setter
A very honest comment (experience shared by me)!
A return to solving now that our son’s dog has gone home thewas going really well until BLITHELY took a sub 20 into a DNF in 35. Alas and alack, the blithe spirit deserted me.
Heading for under 10, when I was left with the right hand column – 8d and 16d. Tried to put DRY for harden, and the Scottish word SLITTERY instead of BLITHELY. Ended up 14 mins.
Mark Twain was brilliant.
I liked the way we were initially led to think that the anagram in 1a was of the letters EXTRA CROP.
20 mins. I would use the term “withdrawn” rather than “indrawn” to describe someone shy and introspective, but “indrawn” was clearly the answer. As for BOSUN, I think that although it’s pronounced thus, it’s usually spelt “boatswain”. (Byron had a dog of this name but I’m not sure how he [Byron] spelt it.) Knew about AFTERMATH for some reason despite being a townie. BLITHELY went in last as I was trying to make “supply” into an anagram indicator.
Pretty easy but some lovely clues!
26:56
LOI BLITHELY, delayed in the same way as several others, looking for the anagram that wasn’t.
COD to ICARUS.
Thanks piquet and setter
Mainly straightforward until the last clue 16dn. 25 minutes up until this clue meant I was on for a quickish time, but after a further 10 minutes, I was still no nearer getting it, so I decided to draw stumps. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have got it if I carried on, so BLITHELY was downfall. As it turns out I had incorrectly spelt SERGENT with a J anyway, which would have frustrated me more than failing to finish.
I was on a fast one (for me) after 16 minutes with only two left – I agree that much of it was QC-level – but then completely stymied by BLITHELY and SUITE until I had to stop, so a DNF . Very enjoyable, even so. TENURE went in with a shrug, but clearly it wasn’t TINURE.
Thanks piquet and setter
19.25
Another breezeblocked by those two but finally BLITHELY came. The towel was raised and ready to be chucked, though…
Not helped by-IAN at the end of the musician. Nice clue that, as were a few others inc the excellent MARK TWAIN but the long cryptic was a bit weak and the other one (AUDIT) weaker. (But I know they are tricky to get right)
Thanks all
Failed again, but distracted by birthday celebrations. I got BLITHELY, but failed to see DIAGNOSIS and SUITE. Doh!
Is no one going to complain about 17? What does the setter think an ex-pat is? A former patriot (perhaps post-Brexit)? The word is expatriate, abbreviated expat.
Misspelled SARGENT, with an E. Still looks odd, with an A. But I know I’m wrong. Otherwise 17’14”
Like so many others could not see BLITHELY so gave up with that one error.
Another in the not so blithe camp. Now that I’ve seen the explanation I think it’s a really good clue. Unfortunately, if you take supply to be about logistics, which I did, it was never going to get solved.
Ditto
I didn’t have time to finish this yesterday – didn’t find all of it as easy as many have – so have come on here to see what I missed.
I don’t think I would have got INDRAWN (NHO for a start), even with the checkers, and I was nowhere near getting DIAGNOSIS.
I’m bemused by ENGLISH CHANNEL; the clue might just as well have been “Stretch of water separating the UK from mainland Europe”. The answer was so obvious that I hesitated to write it in, thinking there must be a catch. Possibly the poorest clue I have ever seen. AUDIT (my FOI) was only marginally better.
A big confidence booster, for sure! I too was “romping through this” – until I reached the SE corner, where a hastily written DIALOGUES made for tough solving in that sector…also was blind to the double meaning of SUPPLY in 16d: no excuse. I took the “Never!” extra in 9a just to reinforce the saying “There’s no such thing as a free lunch”.