Time: 19:31
Music: Ben Webster, Soulville
This puzzle was pretty easy, typical Monday fare, but there was a sting in the tail that I will deal with in due course. I was more than half done shortly after the seven-minute mark, but the last two took nearly as long.
I am not a fan of the cryptic definition, but the setter seems to like them well enough. In the regular cryptic clues, there are some minor attempts to conceal the literal, but these should not be a problem for experienced solvers. Fast times expected!
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Look to comprehend what is being said? (3-4) |
| LIP-READ – A cryptic definition, and a clever one, but I believe we have seen this sort of thing before. | |
| 5 | No one story recalled great joy (7) |
| ELATION – NO I TALE backwards. If this is not a chestnut, it should be. | |
| 9 | Team with good weapons — things you can steal, perhaps? (4,7) |
| SIDE GLANCES – SIDE + G LANCES. | |
| 10 | Relative going round globe? (3) |
| ORB – BRO backwards. | |
| 11 | Medical procedure I had is inducing sleep (6) |
| OPIATE – OP I ATE, another that seems vaguely familiar. | |
| 12 | Harangue horrible family in speech (8) |
| DIATRIBE – Sounds like DIRE TRIBE – a very familiar clue. | |
| 14 | Enough messed about with re: video game company’s environmental threat (10,3) |
| GREENHOUSE GAS – Anagram of of ENOUGH + RE, followed by Sega’s. I do watch storage unit videos on YouTube. | |
| 17 | Canadian maybe runs in Nice marathon, badly (5,8) |
| NORTH AMERICAN – Anagram of NICE MARATHON with R in it. | |
| 21 | Figure of fun taken in by factual counterargument (8) |
| REBUTTAL – RE(BUTT)AL. | |
| 23 | Has eyes on leaving current, fancy accommodation (3,3) |
| DES RES – DES[i]RES. This is short for desirable residence, from UK newspaper apartment ads back when you paid by the line. This is practically guaranteed to give non-Anglophile overseas solvers trouble, and I needed it to get astern. | |
| 25 | The place you might see Aussie politicians play a role (3) |
| ACT – A.C.T., Australian Capital Territory. I did not know this, but the answer is pretty obvious. | |
| 26 | Newly-constructed steps create city view, possibly (11) |
| STREETSCAPE – Anagram of STEPS CREATE. | |
| 27 | Called for more heart in part of curling match (7) |
| ENCORED – EN(CORE)D. Yes, a curling match consists of ten ends – now you know. Encore as a verb is not a usage I care for, but it is in the dictionary. | |
| 28 | Sudden rush concerning theatre employee (7) |
| SURGEON – SURGE ON. The trick here is to see through the literal, which is a common form of deception in these puzzles. | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Capital levy initially is good for Genevans (6) |
| LISBON – L[evy] + IS + BON. Geneva is in the Francophone area of Switzerland. | |
| 2 | Page summing up superfluous content in article (7) |
| PADDING – P + ADDING. | |
| 3 | Unopened load that is almost the equivalent of 1.25 per cent? (9) |
| EIGHTIETH – [w]EIGHT + I.E. + TH[e]. | |
| 4 | Costly endeavour ultimately led by US drug agency (4) |
| DEAR – D.E.A. + [endeavou]R. | |
| 5 | Where writers could be supported as cries turned to anger (10) |
| ESCRITOIRE – Anagram of CRIES + TO IRE. Since the literal is plural, it probably refers to pens, pencils, and such. | |
| 6 | A second TV is something worth having (5) |
| ASSET – A + S + SET. | |
| 7 | Attending to some pressing work? (7) |
| IRONING – A cryptic definition, not very deceptive. | |
| 8 | Entitled people certainly not happy for the most part (8) |
| NOBLESSE – NO + BLESSE[d]. | |
| 13 | Perfect study site millions joined (10) |
| UNIMPAIRED – UNI + M + PAIRED. | |
| 15 | One following US soccer frantically around start of season (9) |
| SUCCESSOR – Anagram of US SOCCER around S[eason]. | |
| 16 | Go up and wait for delivery here? (8) |
| INCREASE – IN CREASE, in the case of cricket and deliveries from the bowler. | |
| 18 | Billions invested in foundation in charge of machines (7) |
| ROBOTIC – RO(B)OT + I.C. | |
| 19 | Sped up judge’s recount (7) |
| NARRATE – RAN backwards + RATE. | |
| 20 | Flower in the middle shunted towards the back (6) |
| ASTERN – ASTER + [shu]N[ted]. | |
| 22 | Shocking thing that’s heard periodically (5) |
| TASER – T[h]A[t]’S [h]E[a]R[d]. | |
| 24 | Partly swollen, sore bit of your eye (4) |
| LENS – Hidden in [swol]LEN, S[ore]. | |
I was under 20 mins so I found this easy. My LOI was UNIMPAIRED where I had UNIM…ED but needed STREETSCAPE to see what I needed to fill in the middle. Very Mondayish.
50 minutes. Not sure what delayed me although I don’ t particularly know SIDE GLANCES as an expression as Collins does and ENCORED meaning to ‘called for more’ is an abomination that I have not come across before; meaning to perform an encore would seem more logical to me. NHO NOBLESSE. DES RES was my LOI.
Not as in noblesse oblige?
Yes, I know that expression but I’ve never met NOBLESSE on its own before.
I’ve never heard of Sega and have no idea for that matter what a storage unit video might be, but that didn’t impede me too much. DES RES has a fine ring about it. One day, I might live in one.
More familiar with SIDELONG GLANCES.
12:52
Monday fare and very enjoyable too. I am a fan of the cryptic definition so LIP-READ was fun for me. NHO DES RES. I agree, ENCORED doesn’t quite sound right. Liked the clue for NOBLESSE with the deception of thinking the clue read ‘certainly’ and ‘not happy’ before lifting and separating. ESCRITOIRE needed all the checkers but it rang a distant bell. IRONING and SURGEON both chestnuts. COD to INCREASE for the almost obligatory cricket clue.
Thanks V and setter.
Never heard of DES RES, LOI, had to check it.
If the crowd called for an encore…
Or “encore”d…
The performer might’ve ENCORED.
Took ACT on faith.
An escritoire is a posh desk.
25:57, all green.
Never heard NOBLESSE without its OBLIGE. And had to guess ESCRITOIRE, which I had only vaguely heard of.
Thanks for the help with the parsing of GREENHOUSE GAS, did not expect to see Sega in there.
COD ACT
9.14 – I don’t record my times but this feels close to a PB so mild whoop?
I got COD SIDE GLANCES quickly which helped I think. Also old enough and Anglo enough to remember DES RES. Thanks blogger and setter.
Spent at least 3′ on DES RES / ASTERN LOsI. Otherwise 12’34” with a typo.
ESCRITOIRE reminded me of Lewis Carroll. Why is a raven like a writing-desk?
Thanks vinyl and setter.
Because there is a b in both. This may well be a Martin Gardner answer. Certainly not me being original.
The most satisfactory answer I have heard to this is “Because Poe wrote on both.”
Never came to any real obstacle on this one, and my momentum took me across the line in 23m. SEGA well-known to me without the aid of storage unit videos and I’ve always wanted an ESCRITOIRE. Come to think of it I wouldn’t mind a DES RES to keep it in, either.
All been said already, above. Des Res may well have originated in Estate Agent small ads but it stands as a phrase on its own, nowadays. I found the last couple, that and astern, took time to do but no problems otherwise.
Nho ACT but it didn’t matter. Also bifd the greenhouse gas – I had heard of Sega, but didn’t notice it while solving!
35 mins with the last few spent on DIATRIBE for some odd reason. I agree with our blogger re the cryptic definitions, a few too many today IMHO. DNK i knew Sega but GAS was obvious once one had the G. ENCORED seemed wrong too but it had to be. I did know ACT.
I enjoyed the anagrams and INCREASE.
Thanks v and setter.
LOI DES RES. The curling was compulsive viewing when the Winter Olympics were on. They have ends in bowls too. When did nobility forget to oblige? COD to DIATRIBE. A gentle start to the week. Thank you V and setter.
I don’t think they ever did oblige all that much. Noblesse vici would be more appropriate.
30 minutes with ASTERN then DES RES taking five minutes or so as my last two in. Apart from those two not difficult though I skipped the parsing of GREENHOUSE GAS and was uncertain about NOBLESSE by itself.
I think I took a bit longer on the quickie today. This was pretty much a write-in.
I got totally stuck on DES RES and ASTERN, got ASTERN after about 10 minutes, should have been quicker I admit, and that gave me DES RES (an expression I haven’t heard for decades) but had to come here to see it was DES(I)RES. Thanks blogger!
18:42. Held up by the same DES RES/ASTERN combi as others. Also needed the crossers to sort out the 6 letters of STREET once SCAPE was obvious. Not at my sharpest today.
Unlike our blogger I do like a CD and these like most of this puzzle were trivial. Happy Mondays. Thanks to Vinyl and setter.
No problems here except I could only guess at ACT. A tidy puzzle but the OED reports 0.06 occrrences per million words in modern English for SIDE GLANCE. Thanks for the blogg!
Monday fare, 14 minutes, ending with ASTERN then DES RES which was a familiar term.
11.51, slowing just a little towards the end because I was in Monday mode and threw in BED SIT without bothering to parse, and then got fooled for the (?) eightieth time by theatre worker. Though it’s been done before, DIRE TRIBE also eluded me for a while because I was looking for a verb rather than a noun. Maybe you can “ENCORE!” but you definitely can’t DIATRIBE.
Not yet you can’t, but I am sure some American will find away.
They’ve all ready done it with Golfing for playing Golf.😠
thanks vinyl1 and setter
have been to ACT at 25a
dire tribe took awhile to come to me even tho chestnut
Thought I was going for an under-1o, but no. Once again hit the heavy mid-solve bogland before cantering away again at the end. I saw the GAS early but for some reason couldn’t think of an accompanying first word. Nor could I work out the wordplay, and in fact never did. I like the cryptic definitions. There an added side-arm in the setter’s arsenal, and serve him/her well. 17’40” all up.
17:10
Having seen the Snitch of 56 (giving me a target time of 13:00), I expected this to be easier and faster that I found it. Eventually left with four to finish – REBUTTAL and UNIMPAIRED came first, but needed ASTERN to think of DES RES, a term which I had completely forgotten about. Have to say though, estate agents will say anything to flog their properties – not all properties termed as such will be “fancy accommodation”.
Thanks V and setter
11:20 – I printed out the crosswords in the wrong order and initially thought I was doing the concise which made for a somewhat fluffed start. Sub-10 remains tantalisingly out of reach.
Can someone please point me in the direction of the Snitch. I haven’t looked for a long time and it has moved.
There are links on this page.
Thank you. Now got it.
Rats. First time under 12 mins for a while, but clumsily entered ESCRITOIRS when my brain had not sent that instruction. I’ll give it to myself as I know it was a typo, but the record books will not be so forgiving.
LOI was UNIMPAIRED.
11:40
Very fast time for me in under 20 minutes. Dnk Sega and thought Des Res was descries minus the ‘I’ (the fact the C wasn’t explained got missed in the rush) but neither made a difference to a satisfying solve.
A nice and largely straightforward puzzle all correct bar having “deal” instead of the correct “dear”. Not sure how or why that happened.
Not met an “escritoire” before but like the look of one and “encored” last one in and a nice penny drop moment when finally figured it out.
Thanks to both our setter and blogger.
Was thrown off by putting in ‘bro’ rather than ‘orb’, which was careless. I’m working class enough to NHO des res, and Scottish enough not to pronounce ‘dire tribe’ like diatribe, though I got that eventually. Just ‘des res’ empty at the end.
15 minutes or so.
– Biffed GREENHOUSE GAS
– Didn’t know ACT as Australian Capital Territory
– Wanted 8d to be NOBILITY at first, as I haven’t seen NOBLESSE on its own before
– Didn’t parse ASTERN
Thanks vinyl and setter.
FOI Lisbon
LOI Escritoire
COD Des res
21:32
Sailed through most of this but then becalmed for some time in the NE. Didn’t bother fully parsing the GAS. Never hear of ACT. Thought that the glances were always sideways. I liked INCREASE and DIATRIBE.
Thaks to vinyl and the setter
From LIP READ to DIATRIBE in 17:03, which wasn’t quick enough to get me in the top 100 on the Leaderboard, so a gentle start to the week. Another who hasn’t come across NOBLESSE without its OBLIGE, and had a mer at ENCORED. No problem with DES RES, although it took a moment to parse. Liked INCREASE. Thanks setter and V.
The blogger clearly finding this one almost beneath him, but for us lesser mortals it was a welcome relief from some toughies last week. Have given myself 50 lines -‘ must remember once and for all that ‘theatre’ exists beyond the West End’.
I am an OK solver, but I still look in awe at the four experts who did this puzzle in under four minutes: Chloe Hutton, Mark Goodliffe, Simon Anthony, and Mathew Marcus. That’s when you get to look down on a puzzle.
Outliers every one, don’t compare yourself with them.
Still learning so not getting “chestnuts” instantly as yet – having to work on them!
Loved stealing side glances to lip read. Wouldn’t be cricket without a CREASE somewhere.
35 mins so slower than most but was fun and learnt a new word ESCRITOIRE to put under my newspaper.
Thank you Vinyl and setter
Definitely a Monday puzzle for me – 18 mins. No unheard-ofs; thanks Blogger for confirming my suspicion/vague recollection that ACT (25A) is an acronym. I am sceptical about ENCORED meaning ‘called for more’ in 27A; to me it means ‘performed again’, if it means anything. First in was ELATION and last PADDING. Favourite clue: to INCREASE. Thank you Setter and Blogger.
Regrettably, encored with that meaning is in the dictionary.
Hate to be pedantic (just kidding, I love it) but ACT isn’t an acronym. It’s only ever referred to as the ACT, never the “Act”.
I am reasonably confident that most people who use the word aren’t aware of this distinction, which means – from a linguistic perspective – that the distinction doesn’t exist.
I agree that’s the case for something like NATO. But I don’t think we’ve reached the stage where the spelling out of initial letters is regarded by many as an acronym.
I wasn’t aware of the distinction until relatively recently, and I read English at university. Nobody in my family was aware of it when I mentioned it to them recently.
And how many times recently have you heard the word ‘initialism’?
Not as often as abbreviation, which is perfectly sufficient.
In my experience people invariably say ‘acronym’.
In my experience people regularly use “noblesse”.
You’re so posh 😉
😁
Agree with all the above comments on the Mondayish nature of this puzzle. All done with no major problems in 17 minutes, about half of my target time. NHO ENCORED in the required sense but we are told we cannot argue with the dictionaries.
FOI – ELATION
LOI – ASTERN
COD – INCREASE
Thanks to vinyl and other contributors.
6:36, but with an incredibly stupid EIGHTEENTH. No idea what was going through my mind, not much apparently.
I’m not entirely convinced that NOBLESSE on its own counts as an English word. See also majesté, déjà, crème etc.
tis in my offline dictionary.🙂
It’s in Collins so it must be true: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/noblesse
Does it have to be an English word? America and the whole world over seems to be fair game, nyet?
Can’t say noblesse is anywhere in my vocab, though.
Yes I did check that before making my comment! Still not entirely convinced that it’s ever used by native English speakers outside the context of the usual phrase.
I nearly put in EIGHTEENTH, without thinking, but since it doesn’t fit(!) I was forced to think again. How did you manage it? 🙂
Simple: by not noticing that it didn’t fit and overwriting the T with the H at the end, and then failing to notice the resulting EIGHTEENH when I checked my answers at the end. Really impressive stuff.
It’s much harder to do that when working on paper! That’s how I managed to avoid… But congratulations on a fantastic time!
Not for the first time touch-typing was my undoing!
12:38. Nice start to the week.
COD: DES RES
Thanks to vinyl and our setter.
53:06
A very rare trip for me from the land of the QC to the land of the 15×15 (thanks Wombat) and an even rarer solve – only my second ever! 😁
Two in on the first across pass and five on the downs – a better start than most of my QCs.
I think the anagrams helped enormously and really enjoyed the PDMs for so many clues.
DNK ACT but ‘play a role’ made it a reasonably safe bet with the checkers.
FOI: ORB
LOI: DES RES
COD: SIDE GLANCES/INCREASE (Or so many others.)
A thank you to Vinyl and a huge thank you to the setter
Congratulations Captain!
Like many others ASTERN and DES RES were my last two in, and I needed the former to get the latter.
My COD is DIATRIBE. I didn’t know it was a chestnut and it made me chuckle when I got it.
Good fun and a nice start to the week.
16.46 with LOI diatribe which I thought was pretty good. Speedy by my standards but slowed by the NW corner and by rushing to put in nobility which added complications to getting my final entry.
Good Monday puzzle.
not that good when you say it with a scottish accent!
Hi, I quite felt good as I was able to do the almost all of the top half. Struggled with most of the second half.
Thanks for the above parsing helps with my learning process. 👍🏾
13:59 on all but one answer. A couple of hours whilst I went about my day thinking about DES RES. I assumed it was going to be a facepalm moment, given the rest of the puzzle, but I am fairly confident I have not encountered that term before. Atleast ASTERN was straight in though I have seen the flower+N wordplay a number of times before.
Thanks blogger and setter
COD SIDE GLANCES
Thanks blogger and setter.
About 8 min, fully parsed and despite having had drops in my eyes which are making everything blurry, so definitely Mondayish. DIATRIBE a very dodgy homophone in my accent. In 5d I took SUPPORTED as being part of the definition, it doesn’t seem to be doing anything for the wordplay.
Oh well, one person’s Monday is another’s… Thursday? It’s always a bit dispiriting to find that what everyone else finds simple is anything but… I just wasn’t on the wavelength of this setter at all. I wanted to put INIMITABLE for 13d, but even with the correct answer eventually I couldn’t parse it. Didn’t know ACT, though guessed it. Got completely stuck on 2LOIs in – DIATRIBE and INCREASE. NHO SIDE GLANCES; I would say sidelong glances. NOBLESSE had to wait for all the checkers. DES RES was one of the few that didn’t cause me a holdup! A difficult puzzle per se doesn’t necessarily lead to a lack of enthusiasm, but I really didn’t enjoy this at all.
DNF, defeated by the ASTERN/DES RES combination, even though I’d heard of the latter. I think “supported” should be part of the definition for ESCRITOIRE.
Found this relatively easy but annoyingly got stuck on 12ac as of course I’d always pronounce “Dire” with an R so DIATRIBE didn’t jump out for me.
Never heard of ENCORED as a noun or NOBLESSE standing without OBLIGE but fair enough I suppose!
Thanks again to setter and blogger.
No problems today, all the long ones straight in. Knew Australian Capital Territory, it’s where Canberra, the capital, is. Some clues a bit on the simple side – eg the clue for IRONING. Hope the crosswords later in the week are a tad more challenging.
“Supported” is part of the definition for ESCRITOIRE.
All done apart from DES RES (NHO, maybe an age thing?) in about 30:00, and spent a further 10+ mins trawling for that answer.
I parsed NOBLESSE differently, I thought the definition was “Entitled people certainly” (as in, by birth) and it was NO[T] + BLESSE[D]. Other parsing seems to work fine though, possibly better.
I thought the rest of this was pretty easy. Oddly, I got ASTERN almost instantly as I have just set a crossword where ASTERN appears in the exact same location.
I wonder how far I will get this week without external assistance!
Thanks setter and Vinyl.
Mostly straightforward, but it took me an age to see INCREASE and ACT.
Good start to the week.
Thanks Vinyl and Setter