I thought this was a fine Monday offering, with a nice mix of clues, accessible vocab and a reminder of ex-POTUSes, almost-POTUSes and didn’t-really-wannabe-POTUSes.
My effort was shipwrecked after 20 minutes on the rock that is my inabilitity to spell Italian words correctly, even when I see them on packaging and menus every day.
Com’è andata le parole crociate per voi?
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Humbled Conservative used speed (9) |
| CHASTENED – C HASTENED | |
| 6 | Characteristic quality and length of Listeners? (5) |
| AURAL – AURA L | |
| 9 | Kurdistan thatched houses removed (7) |
| DISTANT – hidden | |
| 10 | Perhaps West Sussex’s leader snubbed left-winger, one conducting proceedings? (7) |
| MAESTRO – MAE (perhaps West) S~ TRO |
|
| 11 | Backing some reporters’ figure of speech (5) |
| TROPE – reverse hidden | |
| 12 | Irritability of vice-president protecting thug and liar regularly (9) |
| PETULANCE – T |
|
| 14 | Offer behind cleaners getting half-cut (3) |
| BID – um, BID |
|
| 15 | RAF drones go bombing urban greenery? (4,7) |
| ROOF GARDENS – anagram* of RAF DRONES GO | |
| 17 | Untrained, so agitated group of workers (6,5) |
| TRADES UNION – UNTRAINED SO* | |
| 19 | South American liable to create mistrust (3) |
| SUS – S US (classic lift-and-separate); some people use sus (or suss) as shorthand for suspicious | |
| 20 | As per, drink quickly (4,1,4) |
| LIKE A SHOT – LIKE (as) A (per) SHOT (drink) | |
| 22 | Provided revolutionary with revolutionary source of data (5) |
| FICHE – IF reversed CHE | |
| 24 | How best to get into vase exhibition? With a bright smile (7) |
| BEAMING – BE A MING; yeeees! as Paxman might sibilate. If you dressed yourself as a Ming vase, or were indeed transsubstantiated (is that the right word?) into a Ming vase, you would, according to the setter in whimsical mood, be guaranteed entry to the Tate, MOMA or wherever. | |
| 26 | Begin in field next to tip (4,3) |
| LEAD OFF -LEA (field) DOFF (tip [your hat]) | |
| 27 | Creep left border patrols (5) |
| SIDLE – L in SIDE; the most famous sidler in history might well be Phil Squod in Bleak House | |
| 28 | Wading bird running after dull woman (4,5) |
| GREY HERON -GREY HER ON (running) | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Musk nearly leaving wine for trainee (5) |
| CADET – |
|
| 2 | Take one’s leave from scientific study on commercial traps (7) |
| ABSCOND – BSc ON (from the clue) in AD | |
| 3 | Somewhat concerning end to programme supporting loathsome individual, say (2,1,6) |
| TO A DEGREE – TOAD (loathsome individual) EG (say) RE (concerning) ~E (final letter of programme) | |
| 4 | Idle poor? (3,2,2,4) |
| NOT UP TO MUCH – double definition | |
| 5 | Obscure coin’s last to be scrapped (3) |
| DIM – DIM |
|
| 6 | Asian sea filled with earth of the region (5) |
| AREAL – E in ARAL (once the world’s fourth largest lake – now little more than a puddle) | |
| 7 | Attendants regret storing cryptocurrency? (7) |
| RETINUE – E-TIN (cryptocurrency?) in RUE | |
| 8 | Predators somehow noiseless (9) |
| LIONESSES – NOISELESS* | |
| 13 | Ribbons over back door cut by that woman in Calais (11) |
| TAGLIATELLE – reversal of TAIL GAT |
|
| 14 | Hit by surprisingly subtle campaign vehicle (9) |
| BATTLEBUS – BAT (hit) SUBTLE*; this seems to foreshadow Al of 21 down, though, if my memory serves, he preferred to take the plane | |
| 16 | Group exposure may be enhanced by this? (4,5) |
| RING FLASH – RING (group) FLASH (exposure); it’s typically used for insects, flowers etc, but they can come in groups, I guess | |
| 18 | Embarrassing week stuffing a raffle up (7) |
| AWKWARD – WK in A DRAW reversed | |
| 19 | Relieve dupe over the phone (7) |
| SUCCOUR – our bon ami ‘sounds-like-sucker’ | |
| 21 | Maybe Gore and Eisenhower similar (5) |
| ALIKE – AL IKE; one close but no cigar, the other nailed it – with a lot of cigars | |
| 23 | Delicate and charming female trapped by rising river (5) |
| ELFIN – F in NILE reversed | |
| 25 | Joke 50 per cent of crowd ignored (3) |
| GAG – GAG |
|
16:17. Terrific puzzle – on the difficult side of the Monday range, but still not hard, and lots of fun.
I should have been quicker – first speed bump was reading 1ac as “used speech” rather than “used speed”. Another was stubbornly trying to anagram “predators” rather than “noiseless”.
A couple of NHOs: RING FLASH and AREAL, but straighforwardly clued once checkers were in. I only know of SUS from cryptics.
COD to BEAMING, made me laugh.
I was a bit slow off the mark as none of the 3-letter answers jumped out at me when I was looking for an early foothold, but once I got started with TROPE as my FOI things flowed quite nicely. I completed the grid in 26 minutes and achieved my half-hour target with time to spare.
I laughed at the ‘bidets’ clue and liked E-TIN for ‘cryptocurrency’. GREY HERON went in with fingers crossed, and even more so, RING FLASH, which I’ve never heard of. I missed the parsing of CADET as the answer was obvious and I wanted to move on.
When I saw that 12ac was going to end in ANCE I naturally assumed the VP required was JD, which led me down any number of dead-ends trying to place the V but we got there eventually. Well, in 28.27. A very enjoyable puzzle, even if I had no idea what a BATTLEBUS was, or a RING FLASH. Thanks Ulaca, especially for explaining the pasta of which only ELLE was parsed by me.
From It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding):
You lose yourself, you reappear
You suddenly find you got nothing to fear
Alone you stand with nobody near
When a trembling DISTANT voice unclear
Startles your sleeping ears to hear
That somebody thinks they really found you
Not a Monday puzzle, I thought. No idea whatsoever about RING FLASH.
I knew SUS as the street name for the 1824 Vagrancy Act, under which I was once arrested.
BEAMING made me smile.
19’17”, thanks ulaca and setter.
21:42 which suggests it was harder than the average Monday but not as much as it felt. Although I wasted a lot of time on how exactly you spell TAGLIATELLE despite it being my first choice pasta.
I interpreted RING FLASH as a whimsical description of a group of people revealing themselves perhaps inappropriately. That thinking maybe more for the Guardian though.
Enjoyed the groan from BEAMING.
Thanks blogger and setter
Good fun right the way through. Started a bit slowly but then it all finished in a smooth sweep once there were some crossers to which to return. BEAMING my COTD for the pdm and laugh. ROOF GARDENS and the delightful NOT UP TO MUCH make the podium. A shade over 21 minutes.
Thanks to setter and blogger.
Molto bene grazie! 35 mins, not the easiest of Mondays but some fun stuff in there.
BE A MING made me laugh.
Thanks U and setter.
Had to be up early so had this finished before eight with no real problems. SUS with one S isn’t in my vocabulary and that was LOI. RING FLASH was entered uncertainly. COD to BE A MING. Nice puzzle. Thank you U and setter.
.
I’ve not consciously seen AREAL before though apparently it’s well established English, used in technical contexts. Sounds like ‘aerial’ which might offer other cluing possibilities!
Some nice anagrams. Was held up a little bit by LIONESSES as I assumed for no good reason I was looking for an anagram of ‘predators’ rather than ‘noiseless’
About 12 minutes.
– Nearly entered a careless TRADE UNIONS before I looked at the definition properly and checked the enumeration
– Initially put SLIDE for 27a before the D from AWKWARD set me straight
– Didn’t parse CADET as I didn’t know (or more likely had forgotten) Muscadet
– Not really familiar with RING FLASH, but the cluing was kind
Thanks ulaca and setter.
FOI Elfin
LOI Areal
COD Beaming
I did go straight for TRADE UNIONS, ignoring the enumeration, and so wasted a couple of minutes before a rethink.
I enjoyed this, a slow start then suddenly it was all finished. A very tidy puzzle although perhaps the random removal of letters for 14ac was a bit unusual? Thanks for the blog.
The clue says to remove half the word, which isn’t really random and is quite a common device.
A nice one. Quite tricky vocab….
COD to 24A
18.26 Indeed Tricky for a Monday, but good fun to be had. Community indecent exposure looks like a possible party game, worthy of the (otherwise unknown) lighting. Behind cleaners not giving loo paper. The wonderful invitation to dress up as Ming dynasty porcelain.
Things to learn, hopefully: I must come up and see sometime West indicates MAE, but apparently that time has not yet come. However you spin it, TEARDROPS are not noiseless. Just because a clue includes Listeners, it doesn’t mean a soundzlike. And must remember and use that version of Bitcoin.
Still struggling to understand our fine blogger’s headline!
Think The Simpsons and the Radio Shack Democrat.
That explains why it was lost on me too. The Simpsons is pretty well unknown territory.
7:31. Not difficult but plenty to enjoy in this. BE A MING and ‘behind cleaners’ my favourites.
NHO RING FLASH. My kids say ‘sus’ quite a lot so that was familiar.
27 minutes. Good fun, particularly with the appearance of the US presidents and vice-presidents (plus one of each implied), BE A MING and the ‘noiseless’ LIONESSES. A BATTLEBUS isn’t a thing here as far as I’m aware and I see it’s noted as Brit. informal in the ODE. TAGLIATELLE, for which I needed most of the crossers, will be one to remember for the future.
Thanks to ulaca and setter
However, he did avoid turning Biden into a bidet.
Nice crossword, not too hard as befits a Monday, but an underlying hint of steel nonetheless.
Nho ring flash, and AREAL was a new word to me, though an obvious enough construction. 10ac was tough to parse, a neat lift-and-separate required.
Blog title totally lost on me I’m afraid. I don’t even understand Ulaca’s attempt at an explanation, above..
My thanks to ulaca and setter.
Good puzzle, a few NHOs.
Maestro, missed the TROt but there wasn’t any doubt so biffed.
12a Petulance, tried to force Vance in there instead of Pence.
14a Bid, biffed. Gosh.
17a Trades Union; apparently a dated form, we usually say Trade Union I gather.
16d NHO Ring Flash, added to Cheating Machine.
23d Elfin. Took me a while to reach and interpret Nile.
The governing body is the TUC which stands for Trades Union Congress, so it can’t really be dated.
Ah, that’s a thought. it was wiktionary’s comment about being dated, I have no opinion.
15.40
NHO RING FLASH but what else could it be? Ditto AREAL. Also loved the “behind cleaners” thing.
Assumed I was being slow at the start of the week but nope just a wholly incorrect “trade unions” made a few thereafter impossible to get.
Blog appreciated for the parsing of a couple on top, too.
Hopefully a better effort tomorrow!
Dnf stumbling at the known but forgotten (KBF?) Asian puddle. Didn’t parse BID but liked it when I saw it! Nice puzzle.
Thanks Ulaca and setter
The word in Italian is “cruciverba”.
Italians would beg to differ: https://youtube.com/shorts/FI1B5yntkF8?si=eTafTPmb00LI6kAc
16:40 – knew RING FLASH, in which I assume flash is cryptically what the naughty group is doing and literally the thing that would help get a good picture (if not of them). The Ming vase made me smile, though it rang a bell so perhaps it has been used before.
About 10 min, slowed by having TRADE UNIONS for a while until 4dn made it impossible. On the chewy side for a Monday I thought. COD BEAMING. Like others NHO the FLASH but it had to be.
All enjoyable, good crossword, although AREAL struck me as a word to be avoided by setters. Had never heard of RING FLASH and SUS was not really known. The parsing of 1dn (CADET) escaped me but it shouldn’t have.
Areal was probably forced – it’s the only English word that fits the checkers.
Yes it does seem to be quite a tricky corner, but you’d think somehow the setter could have arranged it OK by changing some of the words nearby.
33:20. A tricky Monday, much enjoyed. I associate RING FLASH with the forensics team taking photos at crime scenes, just from watching too much rubbish on the box. I liked TO A DEGREE and NOT UP TO MUCH
I didn’t have too much trouble with this one, despite not actually knowing AREAL (which was an easy parse), or my LOI (parsed afterwards, along with TAGLIATELLE which I biffed).
FOI CHASTENED
LOI RING FLASH
COD BID
TIME 6:16
50 mins
Was slowed by have CHASTENED and 1 across, this led to NOT UP TO MUCH being LOI.
Like others I had to rule out VATULENCE, also tried the anagram of “predators” without seeing TEARDROPS. Didn’t get BE A MING, love that kind of whimsical definition.
Figured RING FLASH must be like a Ring camera, which apparently influencers use. And now we have Ring Cameras and Ring Doorbells as well.
TAGLIATELLE for “ribbons” was a tough one.
Against the trend found that quite easy, up until the last: AREAL. Did a mental traverse of seas from Med, Red, Arabian, Andaman, … unknown … , Phillipine, Yellow, Japan, Bering?, White? without luck. Then looked at the A..L and ARAL leapt out. Surprised I put in TRADES UNION not TRADE UNIONS without crossers, fortunately the enumeration “stuck” while I was typing. Heard of ringflash and Boris’s battlebus, it’s side proudly proclaiming Brexit would save £340m a day or something. Liked BID and BE A MING best of all.
More annoying pedantry: plural nouns need plural verbs – Come sono andate le parole…?
Andare is always (?) reflexive – sono – but that doesn’t sound right to my ear: How are they gone, the words? Not sure if it’s possible to use it non-reflexively: How have they gone / come hanno andato le parole… ? Probably not possible.
23:43
Not my favourite ever Monday puzzle – I missed several bits of the wordplay on top of the few unknowns:
MAESTRO – failed to parse apart from the S, forgetting MAE and TRO{t}
TROPE – pencilled in as I wasn’t sure it is a figure of speech
BID – didn’t get what was going on here – very good in retrospect
TRADES UNION – minor eyebrow for the S placement, but it’s valid apparently
CADET – forgot about MUSCADET, but the answer was obvious from the checkers
ABSCOND – Had S CON = scientific study and AD surrounding it, but wasn’t sure what to do with the B
TAGLIATELLE – bunged in from checkers and parsed the ELLE bit
AREAL – NHO, but have heard of ARAL sea, so in it went
RING FLASH – NHO – learn something new every day
LIONESSES – spent too long trying to make an anagram from PREDATORS – doh!
Thanks U and setter
Relatively straightforward, but a couple delayed me enough to send me over thirty minutes at 31.36. Although I worked out both AREAL and RING FLASH from the cryptic direction, I was still a little uneasy about them when I stopped the clock. Unnecessarily as it turns out.
I managed to read the OFFER in 14ac as OFFICER, so was mystified at B _ D: does it count as WOE if you idle through the vowels getting the Unlucky! sign four times before the process of elimination finally comes good? 16:53 with a couple of queries cleared up in the blog – thanks setter and U.
Good fun and just right for a Monday, but somehow I typed TRADES UNION with three Us. The fact that I’ve managed to dislocate a finger and have to wear an ugly clamp-like device on my hand may have something to do with this.
Thanks to ulaca and the setter
Finished in 26 minutes, NHO RING FLASH but luckily r-n- was pretty unambiguous for a group and I‘ve seen those things in silent witness
Anyway I just came here to say, what a great puzzle, some really very clever clues and NO VOCABULARY THAT ONLY SCRABBLE FIENDS HAVE HEARD OF!!!
Thanks to setter and blogger
Cheers
AREAL, though?
Nice puzzle solved in an average time for me – 23 mins. Wordplay all understood. I didn’t know GREY HERON or RING FLASH, and couldn’t remember seeing AREAL before. I enjoyed E-TIN = ‘cryptocurrency’. In the early 1970s I regularly appeared at the old Bow Street Magistrates Court defending (usually) young men charged with ‘sus’ i.e. being a suspected person loitering with intent i.e. a policeman allegedly spotted the defendant trying car door handles. The offence was abolished, not before time, in 1981. First in was LIONESSES and last LEAD OFF. Favourite three clues: to BEAMING (v funny), NOT UP TO MUCH (v clever) and BATTLEBUS. Thank you Setter and Blogger.
22.56. I found this tricky. Not helped by thinking the VP was Vance. Ditto, tagliatelle took me ages. More taxing than recent Mondays.
Ha ha yes I was on the Vance trail for a while also
I learned a couple of days ago (thanks Vinyl) that “indirect anagrams are not allowed in Times crosswords”. Can I ask the more experienced solvers and setters in this group whether BATTLEBUS comes close to being an indirect anagram, at least in part?
As Pope remarked every trade has its tricks
“…that amaze the unlearn’d
And make the learnèd smile…”
I am conscious that even asking this question puts me firmly in the ranks of the unlearn’d…..
There are two distinct elements: hit=BAT, followed by an anagram of subtle. So, no hint of an indirect anagram.
Thank you for dispelling the cloud of unknowing.
It took a while to pull the various random clues together. I wasted a lot of time trying to get VEEP into the PETULANCE clue before the penny dropped.
Most of my time was wasted on the last two- FICHE and RING FLASH- but I now remember microfiche medical records.
I failed to parse MAESTRO and BID.
Thanks U and Setter for an excellent blog and puzzle.
35 minutes for a superb Monday puzzle, full of witty clues. I had no problem with TRADES UNION because when I saw it would be an anagram, I picked out the letters for UNION first (group of workers) and only then tried to see what I could do with the rest. My only very brief holdup was wondering whether it would be GREY HERON or GRAY HERON, but then I remembered which was the British spelling and of course the pasta eventually confirmed my choice. I liked BE A MING as much as anyone, but E-TIN for cryptocurrency within RETINUE is even better. And in the comments, the video explaining “parole cruciate” is superb (with the subtitles, I could even follow it). Thanks to setter and commentators.
Returned firmly to earth on the train home after a morning PB on the QC. Failed on the AURAL/AREAL (NHO) crossing. Also struggled on NHO RING FLASH (guessed from checkers) and the ones I couldn’t parse – BID, CADET, and SUS. So half an hour for a DNF … it’s a game of two halves, Brian!
Many thanks Ulaca.
As above passim. Some great stuff. I assume, when there is a VANCE-PENCE confusion or similar, that it is all deliberate on the part of the setter. In which case I say bravo. His or her sole aim must be to fox us. I was certainly set back a while by that one. VIRULANCE almost made an entry. 20’44”.
29.29 BID and TAGLIATELLE were unparsed. E-tin elicited an oath. I spent five minutes at the end looking for alternatives before I realised that AREAL was correct. I should have written it down. Thanks ulaca.
OWL as I don’t recall knowing the ARAL sea- so had to guess at AREAL and did so incorrectly!
A bad start to the week. I shall hope for better tomorrow.
Finishing with TAGLIATELLE was amused to write the missing E from the end of GATE, going up, in the black square under DIM, making the DIME.
AREAL is odd.
About 30 minutes plus another 10 plucking up the courage to enter Ring Flash, which was a bit of an oddball clue.
Tricky for a Monday, and several entered with fingers crossed – AREAL and SUS for 2, but then I remembered to separate South and American and knew it was correct. Nearly missed the hidden Thanks Ulaca and setter.