Time: No – I took over an hour, got a dozen clues unaided, then spent more time than that trying to parse them all. Competition-level stuff.
I hope you solved more of it than I did, because I think it should be A-rated, and you probably deserve a better blogger for such puzzles. Errors and omissions gladly excepted.
Definitions underlined.
| Across | |
| 1 | Dieter’s way out with fudge — ugh! — and endless sandwiches (8) |
| AUTOBAHN – anagram (with fudge) OUT + BAH (ugh!), all of which is contained by (sandwiches) ANd (endlessly). A ‘way’, or road, in German, i.e. of/for Dieter. ‘Ausfahrt’ had me squirming for a long while. | |
| 5 | Analyse essential feature of focal distance (6) |
| PARSEC – PARSE (analyse) + middle letter (essential feature of) foCal. Simple, good in context, devious. | |
| 9 | Fold together approaching third year exams at Latin school? (8) |
| INTERMIX – if one were approaching the end of Year 3 (assuming a 3-term year), one would be in term 9, or IX in Roman numerals. IN TERM IX. | |
| 10 | Youngster in the audience for Antonioni’s first solo? (6) |
| SONATA – SON (youngster) + AT (in the audience for) + Antonioni’s first (letter). | |
| 12 | Stop nearby (5) |
| CLOSE – double definition. | |
| 13 | Old pub: poor fellow left Joe serving in it (5,4) |
| OLIVE DRAB – O (old), then the reversal of (left) BAR (pub) and DEVIL (poor fellow). Stumped until way past the end. The colour of modern American military uniforms, which are obviously not as sporting as bright blood-red ones. | |
| 14 | Note enclosed, what enables one’s first look? (6,6) |
| LETTER OPENER – LETTER (what enables) + first letter of One (… ‘s first) + PEER (look), with N (note) contained within (enclosed). &lit. I figured out the ‘letter’ bit early on, but thought it would be the second word for ages, and I mean ages. | |
| 18 | Unpleasant smell behind play area emerging again (12) |
| RECRUDESCENT – RUDE (unpleasant) + SCENT (smell), all behind REC (play area). Understood the wordplay, had zero chance of “remembering” this word. | |
| 21 | Fruit breads on counter: “One — not ten! — a penny” (9) |
| PANETTONI – reversal of I (one), NOT, TEN, A, P (penny). | |
| 23 | Device turning wheels has run for miles (5) |
| ROTOR – mOTOR (wheels) with R (run) replacing (for) ‘m’ (miles). | |
| 24 | Cavalryman adopting prominent position in attack? (6) |
| RAIDER – RIDER (cavalryman) containing (adopting) first of (prominent position in) Attack. &lit. |
|
| 25 | Is abandoning rewards for high-fliers in high school offensive? No (8) |
| HARMLESS – both of the letters ‘i’ (Is) deleted from (abandoning) AiRMiLES (rewards for high-fliers), contained by (in) HS (High School). Brilliant, brash, too good for me. | |
| 26 | Evening unravels after Victor goes loco (6) |
| ENGINE – anagram of (unravels) EvENING without the ‘v’ (after ‘victor’ goes). As in, locomotive. | |
| 27 | Who’s paid for curiosity ahead of Romeo’s exchange with Tybalt, finally (8) |
| MERCUTIO – MET (paid for) + CURIO (curiosity), with R (Romeo) switching places (exchange) with the last (finally) of tybalT. Of course, Mercutio is the ‘who’ that is killed by Tybalt when stepping up for Romeo. Before Romeo kills Tybalt. Before everyone dies. My favourite clue of the year. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | One round dish each (6) |
| APIECE – ACE (one) containing (round) PIE (dish). | |
| 2 | Display not just items of value! (6) |
| TATTOO – TAT (items of no value) TOO, i.e. not just those of value. As in, the military march/display. | |
| 3 | Escort bearing direct memorandum from France (9) |
| BORDEREAU – BEAU (lover/boyfriend/escort?) containing (bearing) ORDER (direct). A detailed statement (or memorandum), from the French. Nope, me neither. | |
| 4 | Morning pick-me-up restored her good faith (4,2,3,3) |
| HAIR OF THE DOG – anagram (restored) HER GOOD FAITH. I got this one, unsurprisingly. | |
| 6 | Remedy all agreed (5) |
| ATONE – AT ONE (all agreed). | |
| 7 | Big do’s launched around promenade? (8) |
| SEAFRONT – AFRO (big (hair)do) with SENT (launched) around. | |
| 8 | Something you may need to consult lawyers about here? (8) |
| CHAMBERS – double definition-ish. I certainly did! | |
| 11 | Conditions here isolated Mike’s predecessor pursuing reptile — swallowed by it in one (12) |
| MICROCLIMATE – LIMA (Mike’s predecessor, in the NATO alphabet) after (pursuing) CROC (reptile), and all of that contained (swallowed) by IT in ME (one). Hope that makes sense… | |
| 15 | Widely viewed Oscar-winning film role for Dame Judi still grips (9) |
| PANORAMIC – ANORA (Oscar-winning film) + M (role for Dame Judi), all of which PIC (still) contains (grips). Well, it’s on the watchlist now. | |
| 16 | Out of this world being in Algonquian restaurant (8) |
| CREPERIE – PERI (Persian mythological creature, out of this world being) contained by (in) CREE (of the Native American tribe, Algonquian). | |
| 17 | Name accompanying tin whistle bears close examination (8) |
| SCANNING – N (name) with (accompanying) CAN (tin), all of which SING (whistle) contains (bears). One of those odd contronyms; to glance over, or to scrutinise closely. | |
| 19 | Still this man leaves audiences in a spin (2,4) |
| AT REST – ‘he’ (this man) from (leaves) TheATRES (audiences), cycling i.e. first goes to last (in a spin). I don’t ever wish to be in the position of citing amendments to some kind of crossword constitution, but this is taking liberties. | |
| 20 | Set bad breaks for quick movement (6) |
| PRESTO – anagram of (bad) SET, contained by (breaks) PRO (for). | |
| 22 | Promotional material linked to film that is preserved? (3-2) |
| TIE-IN – I.E. (that is) contained by TIN (preserved?). Approved – this is why we don’t have a crossword constitution. | |
I was determined to finish and took over two hours in several sessions. I actually thought many of the clues were more “hard” than “clever”, I didn’t have many “wow” moments while doung this puzzle. And I thought one or two, like LETTER OPENER, were a bit feeble. I did appreciate that the two words I didn’t know, BORDEREAU and PANETTONI, were both gettable from the clue, even if in the case of PANETTONI I needed every crosser to get there.
I do think with these harder puzzles, I do get mentally a bit blocked so that even clues like AT/ONE which should be easy become hard. The NE corner was actually my last part to finish, and it was PARSEC that unblocked it for me- I’d had a C pencilled in at the start for ages, before I finally thought to try it at the end, and then I finally saw it. That unblocked the rest for me, and CHAMBERS is another I should have got much quicker. LOI was SEAFRONT which I have to admit was cunningly phrased!
OK having got all that off my chest – the usual thanks to setter and blogger, and I do think it’s good to be REALLY challenged sometimes.
My admiration is all for William who did blog by 7am – I got nowhere near completing this.
I fall on side of also marvelling at setter’s brilliance – thanks – but without Times for the Times I would never have understood several answers
I wasn’t going to comment today after getting about 60% done and giving up. Picked it up this evening as had nothing better to do and finished it off (with liberal use of the check function)
I’ve done JH’s super toughies before and felt a sense of achievement but just felt flat finishing this. Am I being grumpy I struggled so much, was it too hot today, was I just not in the mood, was it a bit naff? I don’t know but just didn’t enjoy this.
Thanks to blogger (you had a tough day today) and setter. Just watching it on ‘Cracking the Cryptic’ now.
Too hard for me. Not enjoyed.
Great effort William
Pleased to get everything except MERCUTIO without aids, although with several bits of wordplay not fully understood. Very distracted that PANETTONE was reversed hidden, before discovering that was not actually the correct answer when finally I got MICROCLIMATE. I had CROC and LIMA early on but couldn’t see a word with them in. Unlike many others, I actually enjoyed this. My wife was out for the evening so it gave me something to get my teeth into. I was pleased to get CREPERIE once I worked out what was going on and I remembered PERI (from Iolanthe which is subtitled “the peer and the peri”). Annoyed I couldn’t see MERCUTIO. I think the crossword was fair, in that BORDEREAU was the only actually unknown word (and it was not too hard to get from the wordplay which, by the standards of this crossword, was straightforward).
Impressive to watch Simon doing the live solve of this one on YouTube’s “Cracking the Cryptic”.
I’m not saying it was easy. Took me an hour, and I’m 75th on the leaderboard, which is absurd. But I proceeded rather straightforwardly, if slowly. At the beginning, I explained many of the clues to my kids (7 and 9 1/2), before going it alone, which undoubtedly added some time. I didn’t make a lot of progress for about 20-25 minutes in the middle.
Determined to finish and parse everything, and after more than a day (3 solved while asleep!) I half succeeded: Finished, but not all parsed. NHO Anora so panoramic was a guess; missed the parsing of letter opener thinking it just a cryptic def; and couldn’t parse at rest, which I think is pushing the envelope too far. My only other quibble, like others, was “left” for backwards.
NHO bordereau started as breferau, which sounded like a vaguely latinate word for writing c.f. breviary. Intermix fixed that. I liked the plural Is in harmless – remember having a converstion on here with Guy du Sable (sub-editor in real life) over whether letters required the greengrocer’s apostrophe or not. Others chimed in, and we finished with many competing conclusions. Like our blogger I thought Mercutio was brilliant.
Thanks setter and blogger.
2/3rds done unaided after 80 minutes. Then another ten minutes using the check function, cheating to finish. I’m with those liking the occasional challenge at this level of difficulty. I find a partial solve of a puzzle universally considered to be a challenge as or more satisfying than a complete solve of an easy crossword.
Filled in two thirds of the solutions, had guesses about a few more and then slept on it. In the morning I had no inspiration and came on here to find the answers. I wish I had never embarked on the thing!
First post here for me. I enjoy reading other posts, and learning about the answers on clues I failed on.
I’m one who thought this was hard but fair. I took a long time over two days but got there in the end (without fully parsing some of the clues), and felt a sense of achievement. I enjoyed the mental challenge.
Su Dokus are graded for difficulty. I still only succeed in 50% of the Super Fiendish, which is frustrating, but I’m not giving up. Would grading crosswords help?
Are we getting a bit too intense about it? It’s just a game.
Very astute comments for your first post Alan. Well said.
Please post more regularly, you may help to arrest the descent into negativity of this once-delightful site.
Didn’t finish, but enjoyed the ride. That said, some of the clues were clunky and verbose, with dodgy surface readings. I like the odd 200-plus snitch puzzle; when you solve one, you enjoy the buzz. Why the italics in the chambers clue?
Thanks, w – great work.
Phew. OK the setter can’t resist making his crosswords difficult, but why does the editor publish them? On two successive days now we’ve had a crossword that probably breaks all SNITCH records for difficulty. Agony, and of course I used aids pretty freely, but at least I did quite enjoy some of them once either I understood it eventually or it was explained here.
I agree that ‘left’ (13ac) is a pathetic reversal indicator. For what it’s worth I took nearer to three hours than two.
Came here to check the parsing of Olive Drab and now I am feeling quite proud that I finished it in 85min. Never seen a Snitch as high as 258 before!
This was a DNF for me, as was Thursday’s puzzle. I was interested to read the previous comments and agree with the points made by akm97 and others. The reaction to a difficult puzzle is based on the extent to which one feels it is within one’s grasp, if only one had looked harder. I felt this was way beyond me even after reading william’s brilliant blog and trying to unscramble all the parsing. Perhaps the problem was that we had two beasts on successive days. A single beast might be unfortunate, but two sounds like deliberate torture. But chacun a son goût.
4 hours 1 minute 34 secs WOE
Or something like that.
I picked up the comparatively gentler ones to begin with but the problem was there weren’t enough of them to produce enough checkers to help with the others. So after about an hour I forgot the time and just buckled in for the long haul eking them out .
Generally I am not a fan of long wordy clues of which there a good few here, but when I finally twigged AUTOBAHN, I was impressed. Ditto for many others. (PANORAMIC was very good). However, I do agree with Jackkt that AT REST was one of those annoying clues where you keep putting the answer in and out because it’s “obvious” but the parsing stubbonly remains incomprehensible.
I couldn’t fully or partly parse a few including OLIVE DRAB where I was trying to make “poor fellow” = OLIVER without any success (completely missing the “left” thing) but finally remembered the expression.
Overall: I love the toughies and personally see no problem at all in not having puzzles that have to be easy enough to be solved by everyone within a set time every day (emphasis on every). There’s been a long standing similar debate on the other channel relating to the Quickie. Arguably, this needed to be a little gentler but generally something like this every now and again suits me fine.
Forgot to say, my error was INTERTIE. Couldn’t really parse it (IN TERTIE, I was grasping at) but that didn’t stop a few others so in it went.
Thanks setter and great effort Will. I feel for you
Setter one, Jerry 0.
3 days & several hours with aids, guesses, prayers & luck, on & off either side of completing the Saturday cryptic & jumbo, gardening, cooking, going to the pub and attending the village fête, none of which helped. I just decided the setter wanted to win this one and I wasn’t having that.
So both a good and a bad crossword in my mind. But one is enough.
Loved the challenge. Don’t usually finish the hard ones but serendipitously I watched Baz Luhrmanns R&J on Saturday before starting the solve on Sunday so Mercutio was in my mind. And I deal with bordereaux at work so that answer came eventually. Thanks setter editor and William
Finally completed after several goes. But no cheating. Did it in 1 hr 31’58”. I feel impelled to defend the puzzle. It was extremely tough, and some of the parsing I did not see till reading this blog (for which many thanks). But it was all gettable. Surely there is room in the mix for these killers. I certainly enjoy the challenge.
My only objection was CURIOSITY = CURIO. The one is surely just a shortened form of the other. I can see it was needed for the &lit, but it jarred.
Yikes! My wife and I just finished this, correctly and without aids. Time? At least a week, with several days on the NE corner alone. Hugely enjoyed pitting our ageing wits against such a fiendish compiler. More like this one please.
Well, even reading the comments was a bit of a slog! However, they did lift my spirits from the doldrums after attempting and failing dramatically on this one. Kudos to both setter and blogger.
Thanks to the blogger for the title, which gave me a heads up regarding difficulty. I was happy to give up after ten minutes, with only rotor and hair of the dog solved and parsed. Reading his blog was enlightening and entertaining.
I agree a couple of the comments aren’t appropriate.
In passing, may I share my spouse’s recommendation for bubbly-induced headaches? (Generally not champagne, but good local Oz fizz. Economy rules.)
Hair of the frog.
Just the phrase raises the mood.