Time taken: 12:14.
I struggled a bit with this one – not a lot of the answers came immediately to me, but I think if you are familiar with the town, the insect and the word for slender that I had to piece together from the cryptic, then you could put in a very fast time. I notice that with the early solvers there is a mixed bag of times, at the time I am writing this, I am third, but there is a big gap to the rest of the field.
The setter is fond of a rather nice surface enhancement – it is kosher to capitalize a word in a clue that does not really need capitalization in the sense it is being used (see Rod in 10 across, Carol in 12 across and Penny in 21 across). It is not OK to go the other way and take a word that needs capitalization in the sense it is being used and make it lower case.
How did you get along?
| Across | |
| 1 | Make sure gullible person’s collecting right fabric (10) |
| SEERSUCKER – SEE (make sure) and SUCKER (gullible person) containing R (right) | |
| 6 | Macho gear periodically sent west for commander (4) |
| AGHA – alternating letters in mAcHo GeAr all reversed | |
| 9 | American coin is fluid capital (7) |
| NICOSIA – anagram of A (American) COIN, IS | |
| 10 | Perform again on time after Rod returned (2-5) |
| RE ENACT – RE (on), then T (time) after CANE (Rod) reversed. | |
| 12 | Scary Carol circling Charlie on long slope (5-8) |
| SPINE CHILLING – SING (carol) containing C (Charlie) after PINE (long) before HILL (slope) | |
| 14 | Wind last of Omega watches at the bazaar in city (8) |
| EASTERLY – the last letters of omegA, watcheS, aT, thE bazaaR all inside ELY (city) | |
| 15 | Mounting agreement by the sound of it (6) |
| ASCENT – homophone of ASSENT (agreement) | |
| 17 | Manage spinning empty half-truths for ages (6) |
| EPOCHS – COPE (manage) reversed, then the external letters of Half-truthS | |
| 19 | Tie small hearts to nameless Xmas card (8) |
| SHOELACE – S (small), H (hearts) then remove N (name) from NOEL (Xmas), ACE (card). This is a fun clue! | |
| 21 | Fault occupant entertaining Penny in deputy’s office (4,9) |
| VICE PRESIDENT – VICE (fault) and RESIDENT (occupant) containing P (Penny) | |
| 24 | Some expel liar bleating about dots on pages (7) |
| BRAILLE – hidden reversed in expEL LIAR Bleating | |
| 25 | Long-suffering saint painting around edges of cupola (7) |
| STOICAL -ST (saint) and an OIL painting surrounding the external letters of CupolA | |
| 26 | Twisted reptile losing tail in mythic poems (4) |
| EDDA – reversal of ADDER (reptile) minus the last letter | |
| 27 | Who’s first seen yeti moving close to tents? (10) |
| EYEWITNESS – had to write all the bits out of this to see it – it’s an anagram of the first letter of Who, SEEN, YETI and the last letter of tentS | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Reasonable except when noun plays part of verb (4) |
| SANE – SAVE (except) with N (noun) instead of V (verb) | |
| 2 | Retired engineers excluded from training duties (7) |
| EXCISES – remove the reversal of RE (engineers) from EXERCISES (training) | |
| 3 | Short nurse taking home English man left in holy place (7,6) |
| SISTINE CHAPEL – SISTER (nurse) minus the last letter containing IN (home), E (English) and CHAP (man), then L (left) | |
| 4 | Cold fish crossing large marsh recalled leggy six-footer (5,3) |
| CRANE FLY – C (cold) then RAY (fish) surrounding L (large) and FEN (marsh) all reversed | |
| 5 | Cycling centre generates electrical connection (5) |
| EARTH – cycling of HEART (centre) | |
| 7 | Slender holy object inscribed with C and E (7) |
| GRACILE – GRAIL (holy object) containing C, then E at the end. Had to get this from wordplay | |
| 8 | Quite good anaesthetic agent bolstering singer (10) |
| ALTOGETHER – G (good) and ETHER (anaesthetic) underneath ALTO (singer) | |
| 11 | Northern town magazine’s covering of macabre shop (9,4) |
| ELLESMERE PORT – ELLE’S (magazine’s), the external letters of MacabrE, then REPORT (shop, rat out) | |
| 13 | Advice Bishop Lee put out is taken in easily? (10) |
| DECEIVABLE – anagram of ADVICE, B (Bishop), LEE | |
| 16 | First son observed husband’s drilling power tool (8) |
| CHAINSAW – CAIN (first son), SAW (observed) containing H (husband) | |
| 18 | Where you may get crabs and more shelled fish on delta (7) |
| ORCHARD – the internal letters of MORE, then CHAR (fish) on top of D (delta). The crabs are crab-apples | |
| 20 | Presenter’s prompt US vehicle at head of line reported (7) |
| AUTOCUE – AUTO (US vehicle) on top of a homophone of QUEUE (line) | |
| 22 | Blues guys alternately backing key song in service? (5) |
| ELEGY – alternating letters in bLuEs GuYs after the key of E | |
| 23 | Replacement handle missing essential part, unfortunately (4) |
| ALAS – ALIAS (replacement handle) minus the middle letter | |
I got in trouble because I biffed spine tingling and never bothered to parse it. Since spine fits the crossers, it must be right – right? Wrong. After twenty minutes of frustration, I finally reconsidered, erased it, and used the cryptic to get the correct answer. Then Ellesmere Port and earth became possible, and I was left with shoelace. I had already considered that you might have to take the N out of Noel, so it was not long before I triumphantly entered my LOI – but a long time I began the puzzle!
Time: 76:54
65 minutes, but I note I’m slightly ahead of the only other commenter to date and I don’t feel so bad about my time now. I enjoyed the challenge.
NHO GRACILE making its first appearance here today, nor AGHA with that spelling.
A 45 minute DNF with a silly typo at the SISTINE CHAPEL. A pity as I really enjoyed the challenge, particularly the SHOELACE clue. NHO ELLESMERE PORT and GRACILE for ‘slender’ also new.
I biffed a few when I was awake, never parsed SPINE-CHILLING (fortunately nevet thought of TINGLING), EPOCHS, SISTINE C, EARTH. DNK ELLESMERE PORT. Knew GRACILE in the context of primatolgy, had forgotten the meaning; we are gracile hominids; nice that someone considers me slender. Are there crab apple orchards?
I enjoyed this one. I think adding a misleading capitalisation is okay since all words can be capitalised in some circumstances but it’s perhaps a little overused here, my personal gripe is the use of the singular “last” to take the last letters of multiple words. It should be plural, imo. Thanks glh and setter.
GRACILE I knew, was pleased to meet it here.
Saw the parsing immediately too.
Unlike some others, which I could’ve flung right in regardless if trying for time. (Not my style, really…)
Guess it’s been a while since I’ve seen “twisted” meaning reversed.
I considered SPINE-TINGLING too… briefly.
Lovely puzzle and, at 30 minutes, certainly Tricky Thursday stuff for this solver. A couple of unknown words, some fun surfaces and a few constructions that took a while to tease out. EYEWITNESS, ALTOGETHER and CHAINSAW my podium.
In my book, false capitalisation is an acceptable tool for the setter. Yes, it can be hidden by making the word in question the first letter of the clue and I know some solvers prefer that. But I don’t personally believe that restriction need apply. As our blogger says, decapitalisation of a word that should be capitalised is a no-no.
Ref Dr Jack’s point about ‘last’ that is a tricky one. A nounal indicator such as ‘end’ would certainly need pluralising but I don’t believe ‘last’ is a noun though it is acting like one. (I suspect the same would apply to ‘first’ whereas ‘beginning’ would need pluralisation.)
Thanks to setter and blogger.
The LAST clue feels grammatically correct to me, whereas lasts wouldn’t.
As for false capitalisation, I don’t like it. Making it the first letter of a clue doesn’t just disguise it, it legitimises it. Otherwise it feels like an outright lie to me, rather than misleading. I’m aware that other views exist and it is certainly a widely used device. I just don’t like it, the way others dislike Spoonerisms etc.
Just one left, when i threw in the towel at the hour mark. SHOELACES. It was the use of Xmas rather than Christmas that threw me off, and I only considred R or E as the letter after the SH.
Great biff of ELLESMERE PORT with only one checker, no idea why it sprang to mind, I’ve never been there, and don’t really know where it is.
COD CHAINSAW
Xmas means Christmas exactly, they are the same thing – the cross is the clue.
As a former inhabitant of the Wirral peninsula, I can inform everyone that that is where Ellesmere Port is, just down from Port Sunlight. It is, or used to be, the home of Unilever and is near the start of the Manchester Ship canal. As such, a favourite spot to visit in my childhood, to watch the ships go by.
Since my daughter used to work for ELLE, a write-in clue for me 🙂
Nice crossword, nho GRACILE but every nho is a learning opportunity and I can see me deploying this word regularly.. “Hi Jane, you’re looking very gracile today. Not at all like Jim.. oh hi Jim, didn’t see you there…”
DNF, defeated by the unknown SEERSUCKER.
– Initially considered SPINE-TINGLING but rejected it and then got SPINE-CHILLING
– Had to piece together the unfamiliar GRACILE from wordplay
– Didn’t see how ALAS worked
Thanks glh and setter.
COD Easterly
I have passed roadsigns to ELLESMERE PORT, which nonetheless was my LOI. I have visited the SISTINE CHAPEL, a disappointingly areligious experience, many hundreds of people, everyone whispering until it gets too loud, when a guard claps their hands and shouts at everyone to be quiet.
I don’t have an issue with any of the setters’ current armoury, although the two-step “think of a synonym, cycle it to then get the answer” could become irksome.
CHAINSAW, EYEWITNESS and the above town took a long while to fall, but I managed to finish in 19’34”.
Thanks george and setter.
“SILENCIO!!”
GRACILE was the only thing I could come up with. I needed a surprising number of crossers for ELLESMERE PORT. Am I finally losing my northernness or am I just shutting out the memories of chemical works and oil refineries? It’s a long time since I’ve driven past there. Maybe the Mersey is a wetlands bird sanctuary now. LOI EASTERLY. COD to SHOELACE. Decent puzzle. Thank you George and setter.
32 mins so not as tricky Thursday as some.
V. pleased to dredge SEERSUCKER without recourse to Mrs rv.
Ellesmere Port is very local, I do a rainy afternoon at the cinema there sometimes. Still took a while to click, northern is all relative and I was thinking further north.
Most enjoyable, thanks to setter and George.
12:04. Bit of a mixed bag this one. I enjoyed most of it but I dislike the ‘cycling’ device and I agree with Dr Jack that ‘last of Omega watches at the bazaar’ can only indicate R. Irrespective of the grammar it’s a bit of a lazy device.
The capitalisation question has been much discussed here of course. I had a go at explaining my understanding of it in a recent blog.
18:04. I’m another who dislikes the ‘cycling’ device which feels like an excuse for an indirect anagram. LOI EXCISES after remembering the word SEERSUCKER and then seeing it fit the wordplay. Not quite as tricky a Thursday puzzle than some. Thanks George and setter.
26.05, with ELLESMERE PORT and SHOELACE the late entries. I was looking for a shop , possible some sort of post, and one of those ties that no-one has ever heard of. A sense of relief when the penny dropped.
I didn’t spot how EASTERLY worked, so can’t contribute to the last[s] debate. As to cycling, for me the issue was more that the word to be cycled was not actually in the clue, and I tried vainly to work something with the centre of “generates”, which gives ANTRE, a cave not noted for its electrics.
All adds to the fun, and, yes, I thought this was a traditional tricky Thursday. Cheers, George!
No time as called away several times, but at least finished. Still can’t get used to this on-line business! Anyway. Last three in took an age, SHOELACE, AUTOCUE & EYEWITNESS.
Pretty tough i thought today, and I too do not like the “find a synonym, then cycle it” trick.
Thanks glh and setter.
33:14 I though this less tricky than some Thursdays and really enjoyed the challenge. I’m another who’s not keen on cycling clues but had no trouble with this one, Needed George to sort out the shop part of the Northern town – an excellent clue as were many others. LOI and COD SHOELACE.
Thanks to George and the setter,
Just over 20 mins. No issues with devices used by the setter, we have seen them all before many times. I understand peoples preferences and dislikes though. I am poor at Spoonerisms but that increases the enjoyment when I get them.
LOI Sane
CODS to Shoelace and spine-chilling.
Thanks setter and G.
33:18 but was quite a speedy run for me with a slow, slow crawl over the line. NHO of SEERSUCKER and vaguely heard of ELLESMERE PORT accounting for a disproportionate amount of time.
COD EXCISES
Thanks blogger and setter
Really enjoyed this and “gracile” and “seersucker” were today’s answers which I have knowingly heard of but gettable from the wordplay.
Needed to jot down “Sistine Chapel”, “spine chilling” and “crane fly” to underline/strike through the various links.
Thought “orchard” a great clue.
Thanks to our setter and blogger.
Ellesmere Port has the oil refineries, car factory, and 3 of the UK’s top 20 tourist attractions, the National Boat Museum, Blue Planet Aquarium and the Cheshire Oaks shopping centre.
From AGHA to SHOELACE in a tad under twenty nine minutes, but with another very careless misreading of the clue at 15a giving ASsENT. Eeejit!! Not my day today. NHO GRACILE, but it had to be. I’m another who isn’t enamoured of the cycling synonym type of clue. Thanks setter and George.
26:44 – rigorous cluing and GRACILE was the only NHO, though it was hardly a problem. The “last of” device in EASTERLY didn’t strike me as logically incorrect. The plural indicator (the last [components] of) is omitted but implied, which seems legit.
I resorted to a “cycling” clue in last week’s Weekend Quickie, so it ill behoves me to criticise the setter here, especially with EARTH being easily biffable. However I really didn’t like the clue to EASTERLY (which I took on trust). ELLESMERE PORT would have come to mind far more quickly had I heard of the magazine, which I’m guessing is not my sort of reading.
FOI AGHA
LOI SHOELACE
COD EPOCHS
TIME 9:38
39:07
Reasonable progress until the last few where I had to redouble my thinking powers to drag this over the line. After several intractable clues suddenly became so obvious, I was left finally with EARTH, the vaguely remembered SEERSUCKER, SANE (bunged in but failed to understand the parsing in-flight), the pencilled but unsatisfactory EXCUSES became EXCISES when I understood what was going on, and GRACILE – holy object only understood once all checkers in place and there were no other clues to solve…
Thanks G and setter
43.46
Struggled with this, failing to think of some fairly obvious synonyms (SUCKER); also biffing TINGLING, and needing a lot of checkers to see the PORT.
No complaints. Thanks George/setter.
Didn’t quite get there, being two short, but much more approachable than recent Thursdays and hoping this is the same for tomorrow.
Maybe 45′ before and after a (poor) golf game. However I chose the wrong ASsENT, doh! Biffed SANE, though should have seen the parsing, and manufactured GRACILE. LOI SHOELACE made me wonder why I hadn’t seen it earlier.
Going to Rome in a fortnight for the first time. Not quite sure whether to join the queues (or indeed which ones to join..) or just look from the outside. Will do some investigation!
Thanks George and setter
This one seemed toughish – surprised to finish in only 25 mins. GRACILE (nice word) was new to me but the wordplay was clear. Thanks, Blogger, for explaining ELLESMERE PORT. I’m against ‘last of’ covering more than one word in the clue, but support the ‘cycling’ of synonyms of words in the clue. First one in was AGHA, last one SHOELACE. Favourite clues: to ORCHARD and ALAS. Thank you to Setter and Blogger.