Time taken 6:29
I expect some pretty slick times today, there’s a lot of biffable answers, particularly in the long entries. Pity, because there’s some nice tricky wordplay in some of those clues.
How did you get along?
| Across | |
| 1 | Writer’s copy replacing contents of schedule (6) |
| SCRIBE – CRIB (copy) inside the external letters of SchedulE | |
| 4 | First duo in studio vocalised with bands? (8) |
| STRAPPED – the first two letters in STudio, then RAPPED (vocalised) | |
| 10 | Retired old hack to finally study Venetian figure (5,4) |
| MARCO POLO – reversal of O (old), LOP (hack), the last letter of tO and CRAM (study) | |
| 11 | Plant from India collected by girl heading west (5) |
| SISAL – I (India) inside LASS (girl) reversed | |
| 12 | Watch over young mammal sheltering by small island (4-3) |
| BABY SIT – BAT (a mammal) containing BY, S (small) and I (island) | |
| 13 | Polish constituent was confused by vote after social gathering (7) |
| BEESWAX – anagram of WAS, then X (vote) after BEE (social gathering) | |
| 14 | Copper knocked back too much — same again? (5) |
| DITTO – DI (detective inspector, copper) then OTT (too much) reversed | |
| 15 | Plain vase is upset (8) |
| OVERTURN – OVERT (plain), URN (vase) | |
| 18 | Look into structural support after end of downpour and see crumbling (8) |
| RESEARCH – ARCH (structural support) after the last letter of downpouR and an anagram of SEE | |
| 20 | Article removed from grubby pawnbroker (5) |
| UNCLE – remove AN (article) from UNCLEAN (grubby) | |
| 23 | Good-humoured American, very loud and fit (7) |
| AFFABLE – A (American), FF (very loud), and ABLE (fit) | |
| 25 | Revolutionary throw in wrestling leads to collection of titles (7) |
| OMNIBUS – reversal of BIN (throw away) inside SUMO wrestling | |
| 26 | Idiot accepted standard returns, saving nothing (5) |
| MORON – NORM (accepted standard) reversed, containing O (nothing) | |
| 27 | Without charge, capacity’s not in battery? (4-5) |
| FREE-RANGE – FREE (without charge) and RANGE (capacity). The definition refers to chickens. | |
| 28 | Top golf equipment? Second shot goes over back of bunker (3,5) |
| TEE SHIRT – TEE (golf equipment) then S (second), HIT (shot, sapped of energy) surrounding the last letter in bunkeR | |
| 29 | More milky? Tiny bit about to turn (6) |
| WHITER – WHIT (tiny bit) then RE (about) reversed | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Holding up two notes, stiff VIP (8) |
| SOMEBODY – the musical notes are SO and ME, put them over BODY (stiff) | |
| 2 | Right time to return starter of bruschetta and Italian dish (7) |
| RAREBIT – R (right), then ERA (time) reversed, the first letter of Bruschetta and IT (Italian). Took a moment to realise Italian wasn’t part of the definition here | |
| 3 | Raise about a thousand more, without opening shop (9) |
| BOOKSTORE – BOOST (raise) surrounding K (a thousand), then MORE minus the first letter | |
| 5 | Type that finds fault gets up one’s nose? (14) |
| TROUBLESHOOTER – if it gets up your nose it TROUBLES HOOTER | |
| 6 | Train drivers cut across middle of sidings to get to walkway (5) |
| AISLE – OK, I biffed this from the definition. I now know of the existence of ASLEF (Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen) who need to lose the last letter and have the middle letter of sidIngs inserted | |
| 7 | Rising very quietly, sailor drinks whiskey following hostilities (4-3) |
| POST WAR – reversal of SO (very), P (quietly), then TAR (sailor) containing W (whiskey) | |
| 8 | Before end of adventure, French couple takes in Lake Superior (6) |
| DELUXE – the last letter of adventurE after DEUX (french couple) containing L (Lake) | |
| 9 | Recycled tyre and used oil for home mechanic, perhaps (2-2-10) |
| DO-IT-YOURSELFER – anagram of TYRE and USED OIL FOR | |
| 16 | Wrong turn — other direction (4,5) |
| TRUE NORTH – anagram of TURN, OTHER | |
| 17 | Crew start to search river for clothing (8) |
| MENSWEAR – MEN (crew) then the first letter of Search, and WEAR (river) | |
| 19 | Implement buried in garden for centuries (7) |
| ENFORCE – hidden inside gardEN FOR CEnturies | |
| 21 | Clubs help to hold popular assembly (7) |
| CABINET – C (clubs) then ABET (help) containing IN (popular) | |
| 22 | Two male animals picked up rodent (6) |
| MARMOT – the male animals are TOM and RAM, both reversed | |
| 24 | Republican leaves meal for group (5) |
| BUNCH – remove R (Republican) from BRUNCH (meal) | |
Nice puzzle and very fair challenge.
Held up for longer than I should have been by BOOKSTORE because I was looking for an answer with ‘M’ in it, forgetting that “thousand” can also indicate a ‘K’.
That’s two reasonably quick completions in two days, which means that, given my average performance, I can look forward to struggling for the rest of the week.
Was glad of the biffable longer answers, because without them this would have been rather trickier. Finished in 40 mins, but somehow it felt harder than that. Was glad that I knew of ASLEF – v tough for non-UK solvers.
nos so much tough as impossible without cheating, although biffable
Fairly straightforward solve finishing in a reasonable 30.16. I did have a little trouble at the end with POST WAR eluding me, but once solved my LOI STRAPPED came to mind soon enough. MARCO POLO was my instant thought on seeing Venice, although not being able to instantly parse it meant I had to leave it until other crossers confirmed it.
14:29
I biffed VARMIT for MARMOT – but went back and checked before getting what proved to be the right answer.
COD: BABY SIT
Thanks to glh and our setter.
Pleasant puzzle, all done and dusted in 31 minutes. Would have been a lot quicker if I had spotted how 28ac, my LOI, worked – a clever piece of misdirection.
FOI – STRAPPED
LOI – TEE SHIRT
COD – FREE RANGE
Thanks to george and other contributors.
Great stuff. I had to replace a telegraph pole midway (and forgot to pause the timer) but about 25′.
Very much enjoyed, thanks setter and glh
You replaced a telegraph pole and still finished the puzzle in 25 minutes? It would have taken me that long just to find the spade in the garage …
Am I the token woman here?
Still trying hard but much appreciate the explanations!
No you aren’t – although think we are in the minority :). Perhaps we don’t post as much? Certainly I don’t bother about timing or trying to be the fastest!
The blogging is incredibly useful for unpicking how the clues work. I’d say that it all comes with practice. I started on the QC and then when I retired and had more spare time I persevered with the full Cryptic Crossword and now can manage to answer most clues most days and increasingly complete the whole thing.
Great brain exercise and good for expanding vocabulary. Although sometimes it does depend on the scope of your general knowledge (for example I struggle with cricket terms but know a lot of musical ones…)
Good luck!
Not at all! I’m primarily a QC solver but am trying these more often.
There are others, but not many. You are very welcome.
Spent far too long trying to get COT into the OMNIBUS answer. Thanks for the parsing.
FOI SCRIBE
LOI BOOKSTORE
COD ENFORCE
I enjoyed this earlier today. Nice succinct cluing with solid surfaces. Took me just under the 20 minutes so I will probably make a fool of myself on the next occasion I have a time to post.
FOI: SCRIBE
LOI: TEE SHIRT
COTD: DELUXE
30:10
I got stuck for a while on 27a by thinking that “without charge” meant flat. MARCO POLO was hard to parse – I entered it and deleted it before finally accepting it.
LOI was OMNIBUS.
Thanks glh and setter
Book shop is the normal english usage.
Just about the right level of difficulty for me – no doubt that will change in what remains of the week.
Well, that’s two on the trot with times measured without having to resort to hours, and with every clue parsed (apart from Back-to-Back yesterday). Today’s solve didn’t start that well, with Ditto foi, but I found the lower half of the grid more friendly, and then slowly worked my way back up to finish where I didn’t start with Scribe and Somebody. Free Range, Tee Shirt and Troubleshooter were my favourites today. Invariant
41 minutes. I’m biffing poorly today so I solved most of this from the wordplay, AISLE included. UNCLE was new to me. Thanks glh.
I’m back to my novice times, taking just about an hour for this. I was somehow blind to TROUBLESHOOTER until it was forced on me. Love SOMEBODY (hmmm).
Thanks setter and glh.
Took this into work, and managed to complete all but two clues. Unfortunately, one of those was a long one, which made the others that much harder. I simply couldn’t see TROUBLESHOOTER, even faced with all the crossers except the initial T. Mr Ego finally supplied the answer this evening, having seen the elusive ‘hooter’. That then enabled my LOI, STRAPPED, straightaway. Some great clues, but I didn’t feel on the wavelength today…
25.50. Got bogged down in SE sector but solving my COD- menswear- got me home.