Time: 19:37
Music: Mozart, Piano Concerto #21, Bishop/Davis/LSO.
These grids with many longer words are often associated with the difficult Friday puzzles, but this is definitely a Monday one. After getting a few answers, I started to work from the literals and got most of it done very quickly. The NW proved just a little tougher, but getting the tadp0le/tackle crossing was very helpful. I finished with octennial, a word that does not often come up – how many things happen every eight years?
Highly skilled solvers are eating this one up in the early SNITCH results. Verlaine’s time of 3:44 is particularly impressive, or discouraging if you aspire to competitive solving.
| Across | |
| 1 | Little European aquatic larva (7) |
| TADPOLE – TAD + POLE – I should have seen this right away, but did not. | |
| 5 | Move unsteadily over river, one in southern Africa (7) |
| LIMPOPO – LIMP + O + PO, a river I had only vaguely heard of. | |
| 9 | Begin to fish outside old country’s boundary (9) |
| COASTLINE – C(O)AST LINE. | |
| 10 | Shoot service personnel in luxury car (5) |
| GRAFT – G(RAF)T. | |
| 11 | Blooming thing, much like a wolf (5) |
| LUPIN – LUPIN[e]. | |
| 12 | An Italian poet, endlessly in love, moving at a gentle pace (9) |
| ANDANTINO – AN + DANT[e] + IN O. Sounds familiar, somehow, but with an easier cryptic. | |
| 14 | Somehow it’s apparent in summer, ultimately preventing sweat (14) |
| ANTIPERSPIRANT – Anagram of IT’S APPARENT IN + [summe]R. | |
| 17 | Unaided, run part of body finally based in Cambs city (6-8) |
| SINGLE-HANDEDLY -SINGLE + HAND + E([base]D)LY. I thought for a while this must be an English city I didn’t know, but then I took another look | |
| 21 | Great supply of baked food served in a ball? (9) |
| ABUNDANCE – A (BUN) DANCE, with served in as an enclosure indicator. | |
| 23 | Eg Pavarotti’s general tendency (5) |
| TENOR – Double definition, an escaped Quickie clue. | |
| 24 | Interrogate cook (5) |
| GRILL – Another simple double definition. | |
| 25 | Obtain reassurance at last in test for infidelity (9) |
| TREACHERY – T(REACH, [reassuranc]E)RY. | |
| 26 | Dull group losing leader in spinney (7) |
| THICKET – THICK [s]ET. It is very helpful if you know what a spinney is! | |
| 27 | Verbally inform deserters about communications satellite (7) |
| TELSTAR – Sounds like TELL + RATS backwards. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Get to grips with heavy lifting equipment (6) |
| TACKLE – Double definition. | |
| 2 | Father catches eastern vessel, giving nothing away (7) |
| DEADPAN – D(E)AD + PAN. | |
| 3 | Latin once translated at regular intervals (9) |
| OCTENNIAL – Anagram of LATIN ONCE, my LOI, as I needed all the checkers to see the obvious. | |
| 4 | Like the Golden Hind, ablaze in the works? (11) |
| ELIZABETHAN – Anagram of ABLAZE IN THE. Once again, a little historical knowledge is helpful. | |
| 5 | Priest delaying start of Easter Story (3) |
| LIE – ELI with the E moved down. | |
| 6 | Paltry to confine good woman in Llandaff, perhaps (5) |
| MEGAN – ME(G)AN. A name popular in the US in the 90s. | |
| 7 | Wind instrument, kind mostly found in orchestra’s wings (7) |
| OCARINA – O(CARIN[g])A. | |
| 8 | Unacceptable appointments for distant territories (8) |
| OUTPOSTS – OUT + POSTS. | |
| 13 | Detachment dig up English street (11) |
| DISINTEREST – DISINTER + E + ST. | |
| 15 | Like some twins broadcasting in dialect (9) |
| IDENTICAL – Anagram of IN DIALECT. | |
| 16 | Initially employing second vehicle, obtained food in Paris (8) |
| ESCARGOT – E[mploying] + S + CAR + GOT. | |
| 18 | Molluscs identified by mischievous falsehood on radio (7) |
| NAUTILI – Sounds like NAUGHTY LIE. | |
| 19 | Tolerant knight that is taken in fast (7) |
| LENIENT – LE(N,I.E.)NT. | |
| 20 | Possibly collect sportsperson changing sides almost at the start (6) |
| PRAYER – P(-l,+R)AYER. Again, knowledge is helpful, and will perhaps lead to a biff. | |
| 22 | Foremost among Doctor’s adversaries: loathsome extraterrestrial killer? (5) |
| DALEK – D[octor’s} A[dversaries]: L[oathsome] E[xtraterrestrial] K[iller]. An &lit, and an accurate one, but not particularly difficult. | |
| 25 | Make lace, a tangled mass (3) |
| TAT – Double definition. | |
21:50
I’m not sure why I was so slow (I’m a sore thumb on the SNITCH, one of three with 3-digit numbers). POI COASTLINE & LOI TADPOLE were especially long in coming. (Taking ‘begin to fish’ as F didn’t help matters.)
Good old Pole for European gave me TADPOLE straight away. ANDANTINO came up on Friday and DALEK in the quickie on Saturday, so very helpful. NHO LIMPOPO but saw it from the wordplay. Liked ELIZABETHAN. Don’t understand PRAYER for ‘possibly collect’. I wouldn’t have thought a GT is a luxury car. NHO OCTENNIAL but with a few checkers saw it. COD to SINGLE-HANDEDLY, I was looking for a city or town too.
Thanks V and setter.
ODE sv collect 2: a short prayer, especially one assigned to a particular day or season
(stress on the first syllable)
Thank you.
5:17 which is inside my top 10 times, this is a pretty straightforward one. Now on to the jumbo…
My last was OCTENNIAL too.
I know DALEK only from these crosswords, and saw it the other day.
You have missed a life experience, hiding behind the sofa, aged nine in 1963, to gasping the first time one went up the stairs, Torchwood Tower etc.etc.
Well I didn’t think it was THAT easy and got badly held up by four or five at the end to finish in 23.55 (Verlaine plus about 20). MEGAN/GRAFT, TACKLE/COASTLINE and OCTENNIAL variously undid me, but an enjoyable solve. Thank you v.
From Not Dark Yet:
Every nerve in my body is so vacant and numb
I can’t even remember what it was I came here to get away from
Don’t even hear a murmur of a PRAYER
It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there
27 minutes. It didn’t delay me unduly because I knew the lace reference, but NHO TAT as “a tangled mess”. It’s in Collins and SOED but not Chambers or the other Oxfords.
16.13, would have been a minute or two faster if I hadn’t taken inexplicably long to work out that the answer to “little European” didn’t begin with L or S. FOI LIMPOPO; LOI DEADPAN; COD ELIZABETHAN.
Thanks V and setter.
24:49. COD: Coastline
8:00. Very friendly. I hesitated over TAT as I wasn’t sure over either meaning and needed all the checkers for my LOI ELIZABETHAN. I had ROAST for 24A until I got to ESCARGOT. Otherwise it all went in pretty quickly. Thanks Vinyl and setter.
Pretty straightforward, 29 mins. No hold ups. I liked A BUN DANCE.
Thanks V and setter.
26 mins but definitely easier. I took an age to spot ELIZABETHAN, COASTLINE and ABUNDANCE all of which are fine clues, just my dimness.
Liked the Great grey-green greasy LIMPOPO and indeed most of this.
Thanks to Kevin for explaining PRAYER and to vinyl and setter.
23 minutes with LOI TAT, which seemed the most likely of the options. A ‘steady progress’ puzzle for me. COD to THICKET. Thank you V and setter.
A pretty odd one. I feel a lot of these words have come up recently which helped with a speedy run. ANDANTINO was a failure on Friday but a biff today. Held up by my knowledge (or lack of) on a few but the wordplay and checking letters were kind. I also inexplicably missed that ELIZABETHAN was an anagram and it became the penultimate entry.
Favourite today was the simple TADPOLE
Cheers blogger and setter.
About half an hour.
– Hesitated over GRAFT until it became my LOI as I didn’t know the ‘shoot’ meaning
– Relied on the wordplay for THICKET, not knowing that it’s a spinney
– Needed all the checkers before I got anywhere near solving ELIZABETHAN
– Got TAT without being sure of either meaning
Thanks vinyl and setter.
FOI Lie
LOI Graft
COD Disinterest
TADPOLE was the FOI as I immediately thought of ‘tad’,ELIZABETHAN was the POI and GRAFT the LOI. A minor timing issue, I won’t bore you with the details, meant that I’m not sure of the time but around 16 to 17 minutes, so on the easy side.
22 minutes. Not sure how I managed to whizz through THAT quickly, but it happened.
I liked the wolf one for its neat chop-the-end-off indicator.
Cheers V1.
POI 5a “the great grey-green greasy Limpopo river” sprang to mind, from the Elephant’s Child, Kipling, as rv1 above.
10a Graft, didn’t think of a Grand Tourer.
21a I, as Rosedeprovence, like the thought of a bun dance.
Thanks vinyl and setter.
9:48 Should have been faster but untangling OCTENNIAL held me up at the end
TADPOLE went in straight away, nice start for a Bank Holiday.
Didn’t get TAT, NHO it used for “lace”. Should have got TREACHERY, as I saw what was going on but just couldn’t think of try=test, which I think has undone me before. And ELIZABETHAN defeated me with all the checkers, I thought it might be an anagram, but didn’t think to try to include “in the” with the “ablaze”. I knew the ship, so was looking for something like “circumnavigator”.
The first 10 World Cups alternated between Europe and the Americas on an OCTENNIAL basis. Thats the best I could come up with.
It’s not lace, it’s make lace – tat as a verb.
Now I see the oversight from the Quickie… Luckily, I’d forgotten all about it when solving this one!
Started off quickly, with 1ac and all the associated downs being relatively easy (apart from OCTENNIAL), however I needed the check button for TAT (interesting little word).
Nice puzzle to show newcomers to crossword land.
I was expecting a stinker, with it being a bank holiday and many Times commuter solvers not taking the 07.30 train to town today.
Thanks V and Setter.
12:20 Very straightforward and close to a PB but it took some time to see ELIZABETHAN.
TELSTAR by the Tornados was the first single I ever bought. Six shillings and eightpence well spent.
Thanks to vinyl and the setter
Here’s one solver who gets the blog title!
Indeed. It made my morning!
Do you still have it? Also (I believe) it was M Thatcher’s favourite ‘hit’…
Sadly no. I had it for years but It didn’t survive the move to France. I’d heard of Mrs T’s liking forit but try not to think of that when I hear it.
From TACKLE to THICKET in 12:19. OCTENNIAL took longest to solve. Thanks setter and Vinyl.
19:21 I felt this was not as easy as it seemed at first, my LOI was COASTLINE after working out OCTENNIAL.
I’ve heard of tatting.
Thanks setter and blogger
15:16, my second fastest time ever.
Flew through this. Slight hesitation over GRAFT, otherwise no issues.
LOI was TREACHERY.
Quicker on this than on today’s QC.
Thanks vinyl and setter.
7:53, so not quite as easy for me as for others it seems, but not exactly tough. The NW gave me the most trouble: I was very slow to see the rather obvious TADPOLE and both ELIZABETHAN and my LOI OCTENNIAL also took a bit of head-scratching.
About 6 Verlaines for me though should have been one or two less because this was relatively straightforward. LOI TAT where I at least knew one of the definitions. OCTENNIAL didn’t come immediately as I persevered with a “conti..” word. But took too long with north west corner which delivered a couple of “doh” moments. Thanks Vinyl and setter.
Yes very easy, but I didn’t make it so, taking 40 minutes and being unaware of the tangled mass meaning of TAT, also for no good reason becoming becalmed in the NW corner. Eventually I used an aid for the OCTENNIAL anagram and it all steadily but slowly fell out.
I was totally tuned in to the setter finishing in 18.05. I would have been even quicker if I didn’t have to repair the damage caused by initially putting in HANDLE for 1dn. Many people of my age will think of the Tornados number one hit rather than the communications satellite when TELSTAR is mentioned. It was quite common in the sixties for an instrumental to top the charts, although probably unheard of nowadays I would guess.
21.40 – including a good five minutes to get ELIZABETHAN, which I think should have been a write-in. Rest was very straightforward.
20:29
Was going great guns, with all but the NW corner in around 12 minutes, with only LUPIN entered. Came to a sudden halt. Eked out DEADPAN but was still mightily perplexed – it took TADPOLE to break the deadlock, after which all fell into place within another minute or so. One of those days.
Thanks V and setter
Grrrr – chose the wrong vowel for t*t . I now feel like a right t**t….!
As it’s half term, took the opportunity to time myself on the biggie. Had most done inside 40 minutes, but the last five or six took nearly as long. I thought I had come across TAT meaning making lace in a crossword before, but I only remembered after I had TREACHERY. That left OUTPOSTS as my LOI. 72:29 is far from my best time, but anything close to an hour I’m fairly pleased with. Until I come on here and see that hardly anybody else took over half an hour. Never mind, I’m still counting it as a win.
If you are able to do them at all, regular practice and reading the blog should bring your time down considerably. Maybe you’re not a 10-minute solver, but a 30 minute average is probably reachable.
Limpopo will always bring to mind the “Great grey-green greasy Limpopo, all set about with fever trees” where the Elephant’s Child was taught a useful lesson.
Straightforward puzzle today, took about 15 allowing for clumsy entries like rr in prayer, I should stick to pen and paper I know.
confidently started to fill in “grapple” at one down until I ran out of space. Straightforward thereafter
27-ish DNF due to LIMPOPO, TRECHERY, COASTLINE, THICKET, TAT.
Had almost half done in probably around 8 minutes and could tell those at the top would eat this one up. Unfortunately I’m not there yet. Things like noticing river could be PO, not just R, for example. And GK/vocab issues.
Pleased to get NAUTILI from the wordplay.
NHO that meaning of ‘tat’. Went for EAT which made TREACHERY impossible.
THICKET went in ‘trinket’. Hope FC 1-0 Expectation United.
Went LIMPORO in the vague hope that the Portuguese word for gold had a hand in things, given that Mozambique and Angola are ex-colonies of theirs. Oh so close.
Had thought ‘CAST’ but OCTENNIAL wasn’t in at that point. So I guessed CHAVARICE, which urban dictionary has as a portmanteau of CHAV and AVARICE, and Chambers has as a portmanteau of zero and zilch.
23:10. I’ve never come across OCTENNIAL, and it was a difficult anagram without the full set of crossers. LUPIN was neat. LOI TREACHERY. I liked A BUN DANCE; we’ve seen it before but I like it every time
35 minutes – slowed down by Tat/Treachery/Prayer.
At least I knew Andantino this time round – and it was gently clued.
Very pleased to see Dalek in the crossword – instantly transported to my childhood – watching Dr Who petrified from behind the couch!
No drama.
Fairly gentle, but I took some time over several that were in retrospect easy. TADPOLE only went in once I had TACKLE and NHO OCTENNIAL – lucky it was an anagram. LOI was COASTLINE, where I couldn’t get CAST at all for ‘begin to fish’. Liked LUPIN, which was easy, as we’ve just put a couple into the border. Came to this fresh from the Jumbo, where I’m bogged down in the upper half.
Why this took me forty-five mins is a mystery. It was fair and quite easy. Only got it right by biffing tat but it had to be. Thanks all. Two clues for me for each 3 mins 44!
Fairly romped through this, having all the required GK (even the prayer and the spinney), but didn’t give myself enough time to work out ANTIPERSPIRANT, which should have gone in from definition. And took too long to see SINGLE HANDEDLY , as I was trying to to fit some word to precede HELPLESS for too long. But enjoyed the ride, especially the DALEK and the LIMPOPO ( from Aesop’s Fables: “ the great grey, green, greasy Limpopo” – great stuff!)
Unfortunately this biff friendly grid appeared on a Saturday in The Australian, so I had no excuse for delaying chores…which would not have been the case if yesterday’s had applied, plenty of time for PROCRASTINATION over that one.
Thank you setter and blogger, liked the ear worm Telstar.