Time taken: 10:54. I was held up thinking that this might be a pangram and was hunting for a Q in the last few answers, but it was not to be.
I got off to a pretty quick start, but my last few in were definitely alphabet trawls, ending with the plant at 2 down, which I expect will draw a little consternation from the crowd. Thinking pangram did help me get 18 across after pulling what little remains of my hair thinking of Scots terms.
How did you get along?
| Across | |
| 1 | Shift to the left endorses first requirement of policy expert (9) |
| BACKSPACE – BACKS(endorses), then the first letter of Policy, ACE(expert) | |
| 6 | Outstanding run eclipsed in sport (5) |
| OWING – remove R(run) from ROWING(sport) | |
| 9 | Raffles, say, nearly all food sent back, right? (7) |
| BURGLAR – reversal of ALl minus the last letter and GRUB(food), then R(right). Reference to A. J. Raffles, the Gentleman Thief | |
| 10 | Abnormal dry heat is cause to take in more water (7) |
| HYDRATE – anagram of DRY,HEAT | |
| 11 | Advance column capturing island (5) |
| POSIT – POST(column) containing I(island) | |
| 12 | Terribly long title removed without asking (3-6) |
| ILL-GOTTEN – anagram of LONG,TITLE | |
| 13 | Promising person penning regular pieces for Proms? (8) |
| COMPOSER – COMER(promising person), containing alternating letters in PrOmS | |
| 14 | Note followed by second note (4) |
| MEMO – ME(musical note) then MO(second) | |
| 17 | Dismiss author killing two leading characters (4) |
| OUST – the author Marcel PROUST minus the first two letters | |
| 18 | Fabric to cover a horse from the time of Macbeth (8) |
| JACOBEAN – JEAN(fabric) containing A, COB(horse) – referring to Shakespeare being active in the Jacobean Era | |
| 21 | Dazed by drugs, leaving gaps between words? (6,3) |
| SPACED OUT – double definition | |
| 22 | Champion died for king (5) |
| HEROD – HERO(champion), D(died) | |
| 24 | Car meeting reported tailback could be prompter (7) |
| AUTOCUE – AUTO(car) then an homophone of QUEUE(tailback) | |
| 25 | Cold roll for pudding (7) |
| CRUMBLE – C(cold), RUMBLE(roll) | |
| 26 | Appetising and pleasantly warm, nothing less (5) |
| TASTY – TOASTY(pleasantly warm) minus O(nothing) | |
| 27 | Veronica’s competently following career (9) |
| SPEEDWELL – WELL(competently) after SPEED(career) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | British poet backed including British jazz (5) |
| BEBOP – B(british), then POE(poet) reversed containing B(British) | |
| 2 | What’s out at the present time? (9,6) |
| CHRISTMAS CACTUS – cryptic definition for the winter floral. I had the CHRISTMAS part long before CACTUS | |
| 3 | What one seeks — forgiveness — a bishop withheld (8) |
| SOLUTION – ABSOLUTION(forgiveness) minus A,B(bishop) | |
| 4 | Broadcast cover of record that should take off (8) |
| AIRLINER – AIR(broadcase), LINER(cover of record) | |
| 5 | Surround prince dropping in to opera company (6) |
| ENHALO – HAL(prince) inside ENO(English National Opera) | |
| 6 | Better than even extra offspring (4-2) |
| ODDS-ON – ODD(extra), SON(offspring) | |
| 7 | Cruel ruler Ethelbert VII ran amok (4,3,8) |
| IVAN THE TERRIBLE – anagram of ETHELBERT,VII,RAN | |
| 8 | Like old copper perhaps warning raw recruit (9) |
| GREENHORN – old copper might be GREEN(think the Statue of Liberty), then HORN(warning on a car) | |
| 13 | Cooked corn, as it’s something for breakfast (9) |
| CROISSANT – anagram of CORN,AS,IT’S | |
| 15 | Song has the ability to amuse — not a Mozartian number (8) |
| CANTICLE – CAN(has the ability to), TICKLE(amuse) minus K – the system of naming Mozart pieces. | |
| 16 | Dog turned up guarding unknown house (8) |
| FOXHOUND – FOUND(turned up) surrounding X(unknown), HO(house) | |
| 19 | Ratty and the rest in Toad Hall, yes initially (6) |
| TETCHY – ETC(and the rest) inside the first letters of Toad Hall Yes | |
| 20 | A lot of animal homes around Australia (6) |
| DOZENS – DENS(animal homes) surrounding OZ(Australia) | |
| 23 | Live close to good source of water (5) |
| DWELL – last letter in gooD, WELL(source of water) | |
Failed on JACOBEAN and COMPOSER. Bunged in ‘Bar’ for the first three letters of 9a thinking of Raffles in Singapore. Couldn’t get ‘nankeen’ out of my head for the fabric in 18a and wouldn’t have thought of ‘jean’ but it does ring a bell. Christmas went in from ‘present’ in 2d and had to assume ‘cactus’ followed, but it’s a NHO for me. Liked the anagrams of ILL-GOTTEN and CROISSANT. Biffed IVAN from the checkers of OWING and HYDRATE. Lots to like here, HEROD, SPACED OUT, CRUMBLE. CODs to BEBOP and CANTICLE with the reference to Mozart’s filing system, clever.
Thanks George and setter.
Fascinating how wavelength works. I seemingly haven’t been able to solve a puzzle (without error) in a week or more. Today’s puzzle was a breeze for me. Unfortunately, I’ve never heard of a CHRISTMAS CACTUS and once again the wordplay gives you no way to get the answer (same happened with GHILLIE earlier in the week). Otherwise ~12 minutes for the puzzle.
Hopefully we’re not entering a new era of ‘relatively unknown terms clued with no wordplay’ – as you say, there have been a few this week. I eventually got CACTUS having thought of it, laughed at how silly it sounded, then a little while later connecting it with the right meaning of ‘out’, where I’d been hung up on ‘asleep’ being the disguised meaning.
DNF
NHO the cactus, and as Jeremy says. I did an alphabet trawl, but should have tried the U square instead of the initial. I wasn’t as fast as Jeremy, but did the rest of the puzzle in under 16′ or so.
I was another seemingly on the wavelength… except for CHRISTMAS CACTUS(?!). I came to the blog having forgotten that the second word was unsolved.
(UK XMAS seems weird. I don’t associate the holiday with cactuses or grottos.)
Got caught out by CHRISTMAS CACTUS. I took the present time to be late spring (as opposed to late autumn in Australia) and biffed DECIDUOUS PLANTS which should be well out. This meant none of the crossers helped except for OUST.
Thanks George
Got caught on the cactus like many of us seem to have been. I was fairly happy with CHRISTMAS PANTOS until I saw the pink squares. It seemed to work. Isn’t Christmas the pantomime season in England?
I also went with pantos rather than cactus. Could this become a thorny issue? Probably not, as the plant doesn’t have thorns like other cactus. The giveaway in the clue appears to be that I would say pantos are on at Christmas rather than out.
My alpha trawl missed Cactus and yielded Pantos first time through. I wasn’t happy and did a second trawl.
Yes.
I was a pantos too. Maybe “out” as. flowering gives a clue, but not much.
Was very pleased to come up with CHRISTMAS PANTOS, which are after all out at Christmas. Yes, the singular/plural didn’t quite match up, but I lived in hope. Alas…
[edit…just noticed Corymbia’s comment above, sorry for aping!]
27 minutes plus extra time checking if there might be a better alternative to COMPOSER at 13ac. It fitted, but the definition seemed a bit loose and I was unable to parse it as I’ve never heard of COMER as ‘promising person’. I found it later in POD where it’s said to be North American, and in Collins.
I’d heard of CHRISTMAS CACTUS but never knowingly seen one before. The pictures on Google look vaguely familiar, but poinsettia is the plant most widely associated with Christmas in the UK these days (other than holly, ivy and mistletoe of course).
I agree with you about poinsettia, Jack. Mine is still going well from last Christmas. A real ‘mer’ about ‘cactus’.
Another PANTOS here.
After 34.17 minutes of headscratching I’d agree with the “tricky Thursday” headline, borderline DNF as I needed aids more than once. Off to a quick start with IVAN THE TERRIBLE but there were several traps for the unwary (of which JACOBEAN was my favourite). Needed checkers for the second word in CHRISTMAS CACTUS and nearly fell at the final fence by trying AIRSIDES.
Thanks G and setter.
This seemed a steady solve, but … another PANTOS here. Nho the cactus; nor do I do much ENHALOing. Also I thought the time of Macbeth was c1050, but I did twig after a bit that it was the play being referred to.. if that play were premiered today there would be loud complaints about malicious distortion of history.
Pants! Another PANTOS
Santas as they are out delivering presents.
Not impressed with the CHRISTMAS PANTOS clue. That’s twice in a week; the first was for RUN WILD. In both cases I think my wrong answer was justifiable.
I agree. Both those answers are better than the ‘correct’ ones.
What word for angry speech starts ‘run’? It must be rant, then truncate it.
As above, pantos are on not out. I have grown the cacti in NQ, as they tolerate humidity unlike others. As they are now just finished flowering I didn’t associate them with Christmas, so had to do a trawl. Here they are Zygo or crab cactus, but in their Brazilian home, Mayo.
I was FOXed by the 15d 18a crossing. Jean is in my cheat machine but I didn’t bother.
20.00, with half of that spent trawling for the CACTUS. Fortunately I’d just finished a CROISSANT as I started down the left-hand side; ENHALO came to me a while before its derivation, and CANTICLE before the “Mozartian number”.
COMPOSER could have been an &lit, though some are more promising than others.
LOI CHRISTMAS CACTUS
COD AUTOCUE
I was only in need of the cactus and composer after a quarter of an hour, but then stayed that way for as long again before I came here in despair. Seems to have been a common experience. I liked the puzzle otherwise.
surely the time of macbeth was in the 11th century, so is not jacobean
The play methinks.
29:01 so I just made it inside the half hour, I had all but 3 in just over 20 minutes but then CACTUS of Christmas Cactus (and actually, I do know about Xmas cacti, it was realising the clue was about plants that took me ages), then Herod, then finally the F of Foxhound took me ages.
She dwells with Beauty—Beauty that must die;
And Joy, whose hand is ever at his lips
Bidding adieu; …
(Ode on Melancholy, Keats)
About 35 mins post-brekker, held up by alpha-trawling Cactus after eyebrow-raising Pantos.
Nice one.
Ta setter and G
Gave up on the CACTUS which is a horrible clue and failed to spot after 10+ mins of alphabet trawl. I have heard of it too.
Shame because this is an example of an otherwise enjoyable puzzle spoiled by one borderline unsolveable clue. Bah humbug.
Liked SPACED OUT.
Thanks blogger and setter.
CHRISTMAS was my first word in, and CACTUS was my last. Enough has already been said about the clue. Had no idea what was going on with COMPOSER. ENHALO seems an odd word. Like others, spent time wondering who was the monarch during Macbeth’s time (Duncan).
All three famous Herods were of course Roman client ‘kings’, so not in the same league as the Jameses.
17’31”, thanks gl and setter.
About 20 minutes, eventually finishing with CHRISTMAS CACTUS. I have some sympathy with those who put PANTOS, but as Glen and dr.shred above point out, “What’s” indicates a singular and a panto isn’t “out” at Christmas – you’d say it’s “on”.
– Needed the checkers to remind me that Raffles was a BURGLAR
– Wasn’t completely sure how rumble=roll for CRUMBLE
– Have never come across the word ENHALO before
– Didn’t quite parse FOXHOUND as I got fixated on ‘turned up’ meaning ‘reverse’
Thanks glh and setter.
FOI Dwell
LOI Christmas cactus
COD Ill-gotten
What’s out (on) at Christmas? Pantos are out (on).
Might not be technically grammatical, but that’s how I speak.
I wondered, then thought of a rumble/roll of thunder.
That makes sense, thanks!
Well, I managed to get lucky and saw CACTUS and bunged it in before I thought of pantos or anything else. Serendipity perhaps as I still have one someone gave us last year. 40 mins.
What I can’t believe is that I took an age to see CROISSANT as, a) I have them fairly regularly and b) I love anagrams and usually unravel them pretty quickly.
Anyway, I enjoyed this one especially IVAN THE TERRIBLE, JACOBEAN & CROISSANT.
Thanks G and setter.
Same same regarding the NHO cactus, never happy with clues like that. Pantos? Santas? So a DNF in 32, but I’d already cheated via the check function on ENHALO (now there’s a word I’ll be using from here on). Pleased to get JACOBEAN after twigging the cob bit, and guessed CANTICLE knowing nothing of Mozart’s K. Challenging puzzle, thanks G.
From Love Minus Zero/No Limit (Back when he used to talk to the audience Bob intro’d it at a concert by saying the title was actually a fraction):
The cloak and dagger dangles, madams light the candles
In ceremonies of the horsemen even the pawn must hold a grudge
Statues made of matchsticks CRUMBLE into one another
My love winks, she does not bother, she knows too much to argue or to judge
17.57. We actually owned a Christmas cactus which obstinately bloomed any time of the year except Christmas, possibly in protest at our irregular watering and care which came close to killing it on many occasions.
Probably unjustly, this one gave me an impression of looseness, with COMER for promising person, AIRLINER, though I remember when proper records had an inner sleeve, and the poet at 1d not quite being Pope. Apropos, I have a regular raven visiting my garden, which of course I call Quoth.
Credit to the community for not linking ILL-GOTTEN to last night’s Europa Cup result. Van de Ven’s match-winning clearance in the BACKSPACE surely justified what otherwise looked like BURGLARy. Coys!
This was a bit of an odd one. I had a good time (in my top 5) but it felt more being on wavelength rather than it was particularly straight forward. GREENHORN had come up recently for me when completing some of the back catalogue. I didn’t know you could ENHALO something but chose the right company and it felt right. Didn’t get the Raffles reference but got lucky in trying the correct synonyms first.
Finger was over the submit button with CHRISTMAS PANTOS in place but I thought ‘oh no it isn’t’ (are there other types of pantos?) and after an alphabet trawl the CACTUS came to mind. I try to be positive on here but that one gets a groan.
Made up for by COD: COMPOSER and a few others so an enjoyable solve overall.
Cheers blogger and setter.
15:28* (1 typo again! BEBEP)
So annoying.
Otherwise no major issues, like Jeremy I felt on wavelength throughout but it took a while to come up with CACTUS. The only real unknown was the K in relation to Mozart but it was obviously the answer so no issues there.
Tomorrow is another day.
Thanks to both.
24m 37s so roughly within Verlaine x3; that’s unheard of! But…..CHRISTMAS PANTOS did for me. I still think it is a valid answer. As Jack says, the plant that’s out at Christmas in the UK and here in NZ is the Poinsettia. Mine is still going well from last Christmas.
15d reminded of the time I used to take piano lessons at an adults-only music school in Sydney. On one occasion I found myself struggling a little with a Mozart piece. The I saw it was K6. The little so-and-so probably wrote it when he was 6!
Poinsettia flower in winter so yours should bud up soon, it would have been ‘forced’ by artificial lighting to flower for last Christmas.
I always buy one then, for a bonus bit of colour around now. They have to be fed for a good show.
DNF
Cactus? Nah, can’t be that. Pantos? Santas??
Thanks, g.
DNF. I had all but three letters of this done in about 6 minutes but then ground to a halt. I considered PANTOS, but that didn’t seem to tally with the singular in the clue. Then I considered CACTUS, but it seemed implausible that such a thing could exist without my having come across it at least once in my life. So then I just looked it up.
Macbeth is a particularly JACOBEAN play, because James was supposedly (and at the time famously) descended from Banquo, so the plot is a fairly unsubtle attempt to suck up to him. Shakespeare knew which side his bread was buttered on.
Thanks glh and setter.
1a Backspace. I don’t remember seeing policy for “P” before, but I expect there to be justification somewhere.
2d Christmas Cactus didn’t come to me at first and I was trying to stretch Christmas Rose to 6 letters, without success. Needed _A_T_S to get cactus; I have an Easter cactus in the downstairs loo and have had Christmas ones. Grr! It’s actually not a cactus but a succulent.
5d Enhalo, ghastly word that we don’t really need; I for one will never use it. But it’s in the dictionary.
15d Can ticKle, BIFD, missed the Kochel number. Clever. COD.
It’s ‘first requirement of policy’ that gives you the P – not an abbreviation.
Ah, thanks.
25 minutes, not very tricky I thought, with a MER for Jacobean as like @jerry I was thinking Macbeth time not play-writing time. Mrs piquet has long cherished Christmas cacti so that was a write-in. Sorry George that it caused you more hair-loss.
I had Christmas Pastis, thinking there might be a version of that drink, with Christmas Past Is (out) as the equally implausible cryptic. Once I saw the pink squares the correct answer came to me immediately.
I thought this was a great crossword and particularly liked 15d. 16m for me, Christmas cactus last one in of course, but I don’t see why some thought pantos could be an option. They are not ‘out’ at Christmas, are they? If the clue was ‘What can be seen at the present time’ then that would make sense. Or am I missing something?
I thought you might describe a panto as ‘out’ in the way that a film is said to be ‘out’. But I wasn’t convinced enough to put it in!
13:12 CHRISTMAS CACTUS is the sort of limp CD that makes them my least liked clue type. I have grown plenty though so it wasn’t an unknown.
Not one that will linger in the memory.
Christmas Santas. It fitted so easily I thought it was a gift.
DNF. Pantos and Santas are as far as I got with the Christmas theme, Cacti not so much. Otherwise fair albeit tricky in places (took me an age to get CROISSANTS though identified the anagram immediately) and not helped by having a reasonable “strung out” for a long time. Thanks George and setter
LOI JACOBEAN, which I didn’t get. Tried to justify CAROLEAN knowing full well he/they came far too late — or perhaps there was an obscure continental Charlie around in the 11th century? So a DNF. Enjoyed the rest, though.
CACTUS immediately leapt out at me, one of my favourite words, meaning in the local argot completely “broken” and never going to work again. But I never put it in… do those staunchly Christian Mexicans put out edible cactus (my dogs love prickly pear cactus, when they can find it) at Christmas time? That would never be a Times clue/answer. Except it was. Also failed on Jacobean: the Jacobean, jean and cob parts – I got the A. Had to make up ENO and ENHALO. So DNF, but, beh.
Slight MER at rumble/roll – looking it up I guess they mean find out something trying to be hidden.
I wonder if the setter was thinking of thunder?
Never thought of that. Where’s Lindsay? Didn’t His Bobness have a Rolling Thunder tour once?
Fabulous doco, and if Scarlet Riviera happens to be on this blog (ok, unlikely) please get in touch. I know it’s been 50 years, but still…
I thought thunder.
OK I’m obviously in the minority. I liked CHRISTMAS CACTUS and I did have one once that magically bloomed every year around Christmas time when it detected that the shortest day had passed. A very pleasing example of biology in action and also a triumph for me who usually manages to kill anything green. In fact I imagine it only survived so long because I never had to pay it any attention.
18:30 but…
…cheated with the unheard-of CACTUS – where was the wordplay?!?!?! “What’s out” simply is insufficient. Spoiled an otherwise very decent crossword.
Thanks G
DNF on 30 minutes.
Same as everyone else on the missing/incorrect three letters. Didn’t think of either possibility but don’t think I would have loved PANTOS as an answer as it seems a bit green paintish (plus the other objections). The clue was v annoying at the time but actually I like it now I see the answer. Otherwise CANTICLE was amusing.
Another rube here who fell for CHRISTMAS SANTAS
DNF
Another PANTOS, although, tbh, I came here having given up on JACOBEAN.
Thanks all
30 mins DNF due to…well, due to all of the things I couldn’t get. CANTICLE, CACTUS, ENHALO, AIRLINER, GREENHORN, BACKSPACE (not entirely sure about the definition on that one). Pleased to be able to add ‘Mozartian number = K’ to my setting arsenal though.
Nice puzzle.
I was off to a good start with BEBOP and BACKSPACE, then just kept going. I was helped with the CHRISTMAS CACTUS by my in-laws having one which did indeed flower quite regularly when we went for Christmas. The South East was last to crumble, with FOXHOUND, CRUMBLE, CANTICLE (lovely clue!) and JACOBEAN (needed some cogitation) closing the deal. 14:38. Thanks setter and George.
All done bar the NHO cactus- would never ever have thought my 3 missing letters would be CCU – I did wonder about santas but in the end had to reveal the answer. Shame as I had happily solved the rest.
PANTOS proved my undoing – relieved to see I was not alone in this.
Convinced myself that 1ac was KNOWLEDGE: policy expert led me to wonk, shift gave know and edge with left providing the L. Sort of! Wasted time there.
NHO Jean as a fabric in itself but couldn’t see any alternative.
Thanks to glh and setter.
DNF after 22 mins and some seconds. Like many of us I was undone by the Christmas clue. I went with PANTOS having considered SANTAS. Never heard of the CACTUS.
Funny old world – I’ve owned a Christmas cactus which I bought when I was a teenager, and fifty-plus years on, it’s still going strong (and even in flower now!). Still took me the best part 45 mins to do the rest, but enjoyed it well enough, with JACOBEAN being a stubborn LOI.
Thanks George and setter
Typical CDs, you just don’t know (I had Santas for a while, but thought The Times crossword would never make that mistake, having a singular verb for a plural. Anyway I bet Christmas Santa isn’t in any dictionary). 36 minutes. Liked the Mozart number.