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) | |
Not too hard, although several where I didn’t bother to look at the wordplay since the answers were obvious. I too wasted time looking for an Italian dish at 2D before I realized how the clue worked. My LOI, MARMOT, took far too long since I could only think of hamster, and I was trying to remember what that South American rodent is called that comes up from time to time (coypu, so not relevant today). As you say, the two long answers are easy to just put in from the definition and the enumeration.
So, now we have to know ASLEF is the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen? Unbelievable! Biffed the answer but would have liked to have parsed it. Or, maybe it’s just me.
Really liked RAREBIT and good misdirection with Italian. Had the wrong anagrist for D0-IT-YOURSELFER, thought it was ‘tyre and used oil’ but saw my error before too long. BABY-SIT had me thinking ‘cub’ must be in there somewhere for young mammal. DELUXE went in easily after getting BEESWAX which provided the ‘x’. Thought FREE RANGE was very good. RESEARCH held me up as I was convinced the structural support was ‘pier’. COD to TEE SHIRT for the misdirection and surface.
Thanks G and setter.
It appears that one thing which years of putting up with strike action on the rail lines gave me is I was able to parse Aisle today. Doesn’t seem like that good of a trade, but you take what you get. Thanks GH
I don’t biff much, as a rule. So I looked up the ASLE(F). A smooth ride.
24:51. What felt like some very clever clues going on here. MARMOT took an age, as did SCRIBE, SOMEBODY (which I thought was quite hard), and BOOKSTORE. TEE SHIRT completely fooled me. Luckily I’m getting up to speed on some of the more crosswordy synonyms like UNCLE for ‘pawnbroker’ and SISAL for ‘plant’, so no holdups there. ASLEF vaguely known from watching the news as a kid in the 90s.
Thanks setter and glh.
Ditto with SISAL and UNCLE. Once had me scratching my head but now old friends.
Nice! I’d love to see a large painting of crossword tropes, like that painting Netherlandish Proverbs (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlandish_Proverbs). Could be a good AI prompt!
Someone with artistic talent should get right on that. Which conveniently counts me out! Here’s what I would add to that canvas, though:
– any variety of IBEX
– a CELESTA
– a copy of PUT OUT MORE FLAGS
– A big old REREDOS
Started very slowly and had little to show after 30 minutes but then it all fell out in less than an hour. My biggest weakness is getting out clues with no crossers and my speed goes up dramatically once I have even one letter known. Got out
DO-IT-YOURSELFER with just the first O and the middle R.
Thanks G.
Nothing terribly hard, although I did have to biff aisle. Having do-it-yourselfer and troubleshooter as the easy write-ins really sped up my solve. The only one I found really tough was tee shirt, but I finally broke the clue apart in the right place.
Time: 19:39
Did most of it in about 20 minutes but ground to a halt with the last two (OMNIBUS and CABINET), eventually scraping home four seconds ahead of my personal standard scratch score of 30 minutes. Some rather nice wordplay and helpful parsing so thanks G and setter.
COD joint TROUBLESHOOTER and SOMEBODY
Opened the QC in error on my mobile and was making such good progress until I realised it wasn’t 15×15. However I found I generally made similar progress here, helped by the longer answers and finishing in a good 20′ or so for me.
Got stuck a little in the NW corner, for no particular reason it seems in retrospect. A few biffs but everything parsed or post-parsed (I think..)
Thanks George and setter
Clever crossword. I enjoyed it. Thanks stter and glh
30 minutes. As others have said, nothing very difficult in retrospect, perhaps with the exception of ASLE(F) which took a while to come to mind. Favourites were the surface for TROUBLESHOOTER and the original def for FREE-RANGE.
Thanks to George for filling in as blogger and to setter
23:23. After a slow start, the brain got going and I think this one went in fully parsed, other than NHO UNCLE in this context. The average times seem to be slower than usual so wonder if there’s something in here that isn’t clear for the overseas solvers.
Don’t know about slick but 26 mins is fair enough for me. I suspect people who twigged DO-IT-YOURSELFER early might have had faster times. Liked DELUXE and TROUBLESHOOTER.
27 minutes. Aslef came to mind straightaway. I was a commuter for long enough. LOI MENSWEAR. COD to SOMEBODY. I went through this easily enough once I got going. Thank you George and setter.
33 minutes but felt much longer.
A bit of a struggle and certainly not the bif-fest it seems to have been for others. Kept going down the wrong tracks eg NUR rather than ASLEF, searching for a revolutionary for 25ac, striped for bands. Obviously one of my dimmer days!
Thanks to setter and glh.
About 25 minutes. Can’t recall ever seeing DO-IT-YOURSELFER before, but I pieced it together once I’d worked out the anagrist and got the R at the end to rule out DO-IT-YOURSELVES. No other major issues, though that meaning of UNCLE was only dimly remembered.
Thanks glh and setter.
FOI True North
LOI Omnibus
COD Deluxe
38 mins and another with L2I OMNIBUS & CABINET.
I liked MARCO POLO and the two long clues. Good fun. ASLEF well known as they always seem to be on strike!
Thanks G and setter.
Spent a little while trying to get RMT into AISLE, and slightly confused by the possible meanings of ‘to find fault’.
No issues otherwise, 13’50”, thanks george and setter.
27:36. Slow to get going, FOI DITTO before DIY gave a lot of crossers and the biffing commenced. I did reverse parse most of it.
ASLEF are due to strike over xmas this year, happy holidays guys.
DELUXE raised a smile reminding me of the Box Standard vs Box Deluxe origins of a couple of modern phrases.
Thanks glh and setter.
24:33 but 9 minutes of that was on OMNIBUS and CABINET just completely missing them. I think they are ones I would have got a lot quicker if it wasn’t for this terrible cough and cold.
A very poor first pass on this but the clues were there once I spent a bit of time on them. Just how I like it so a big thumbs up for this puzzle.
The only other hold up was STRAPPED where my head played with all sorts of weird homophones before a spotted how the clue worked.
Glad to get MORON on the first visit. I have a habit of making those words my LOIs, just to shatter any hint of self-esteem.
COD TROUBLESHOOTERS but also liked BABY SIT and FREE-RANGE
Thanks blogger and setter
AISLE derived from ASLEF was my first one in.
33 minutes, which like yesterday I am counting as solved within my target time of half-an-hour as I am handicapped by being forced to solve on line, scrolling the screen up and down when accessing the bottom row of the keypad. If I zoom out to avoid scrolling, the clues are too small to read without squinting.
The top half went in very easily but some clues further down the grid required several revisits.
I note ‘throw away’ is in the blog to explain ‘throw’ = BIN. I think the clue works as written but I had a MER or two before coming to that conclusion.
18.51, with all the delay in the NW sector, despite an early MARCO POLO. Also took me a while to work out what the POST WAR was, since we’ve had in living memory the Scallop War and the Cod War, and rather longer ago the War of Jenkins Ear, the Pig War and the War of the Oaken Bucket (sic, 1325). Otherwise pleasant enough stuff, with thanks to George as today’s short notice stand-in.
41:40 First pass only yielded about three answers but steady after that. I’m not a great biffer. I thought TEE SHIRT was a nice bit of misdirection.
19’09”. Didn’t parse TROUBLESHOOTER, but now I see it, it is quite clever! No great difficulty, but nor was it a complete write-in. LOI MARMOT because I was looking for two parts that sounded (picked up) like male animals. Like MANCOB (homophone thereof). A deliberate mislead by the setter, I imagine, so hats off. Many thanks.
34:36
Very good puzzle. Made heavy weather of it and not sure why now. Plodded along then after a half hour interruption I finshed off the last eight or nine in five minutes. Some very clever cluing : RAREBIT, OMNIBUS,TEE SHIRT.
Thanks to George and the setter
All OK, and I was due to finish in about 30 minutes but, like several others, became blocked by my last two CABINET and OMNIBUS and spent another 20 minutes on them. The parsing of the latter was easy enough if you’re not stupid and fail to see sumo round the outside, leading to another easy enough bin = throw away; and CABINET = assembly refused to come to mind and I initially thought it was rather odd, but all right now I think about it. One sees ‘Polish’ at the beginning of a clue so often that one deliberately ignores the country.
No proper time for this, because I took a phone call and forgot to stop the timer. I’d estimate about 11 or 12 minutes, so not particularly easy.
I didn’t notice while solving but I can’t see how ‘throw’ (without ‘away’) means BIN, and I can’t find any dictionary support for it either.
You can throw a game. Personally I do use throw without away when I’m feeling lazy.
Well yes but you can’t bin one.
I wondered about that, too. I thought toss would have worked, but not so well for the surface
Not at all for the surface, going by my experience and the dictionaries: ‘toss’ isn’t a wrestling term.
Sorry, that was an American “not so well”. Quite.
My thanks to glh and setter.
I didn’t find it a doddle, and DNF at 28a.
4a Strapped, biffed.
10a Marco Polo, much easier to biff than parse, after all apart from a few Doges and Shylock how many Venetians can we name?
28a Tee Shirt (2 words) added to Cheating Machine. It looks very easy now but I got a bit cross and stumped off to this blog.
1d Somebody, I took a while to read the clue as two notes followed by corpse. I was trying to insert 2 upside down notes into a corpse.
5d Troubles hooter, ho ho, COD I think.
6d Aisle. I too found that the NUR didn’t help, then ASLEF came to my aid.
9d NHO Do it yourselfer, but happy to accept it. I think I’ve heard of a DiYer.
Re Venetians: Vivaldi and Titian 🙂
Casanova
Not to mention Casanova and Goldoni😀
I initially drew a blank in the NW and thought I was going to be in for a slog, but then AISLE, SISAL, DELUXE and BEESWAX dropped into my lap and I was off. TROUBLESHOOTER arrived next, although POST WAR and STRAPPED came much later. MARCO POLO came straight after TROUBLESHOOTER and the NW was then rapidly populated. Before long I was left with 22d and 28a. TEE SHIRT and MARMOT took a moment or two and the job was done. 19:16. Thanks setter and George.
20.21
Wanted something to do with strip for the banding so STRAPPED and an unparsed AISLE brought up the rear. Middle of the road puzzle and nothing wrong with that. Liked TROUBLESHOOTER.
Thanks George/setter