DNF, consisting of 13 minutes to solve all but one clue, and then 15+ more minutes to not solve that clue.
| Across | |
| 1 | Nurse takes day in country (6) |
| SWEDEN – SEN (nurse) around WED (day) | |
| 4 | Wine[’s] harsh — ultimately, trouble with gold filling (8) |
| SAUTERNE – STERN + {troubl}E around AU (gold) | |
| 10 | John noticed detective [has] unfinished business (5,4) |
| LOOSE ENDS – LOO + SEEN + DS (detective) | |
| 11 | Used to manage cattle and horses, primarily (5) |
| RANCH – RAN (used to manage) + C{attle} + H{orses} | |
| 12 | State one’s earlier blunders (6,5) |
| SIERRA LEONE – anagram of ONE’S EARLIER | |
| 14 | Tooth finally extracted, [which is] cool (3) |
| FAN – FAN{g} | |
| 15 | Idiot needs help to trap bird (7) |
| AIRHEAD – AID around RHEA | |
| 17 | Affectionate pooch welcomes time at home (6) |
| DOTING – DOG around T + IN | |
| 19 | Broadside from craft protecting island (6) |
| TIRADE – TRADE (craft) around I (island)
This is the one that got me. |
|
| 21 | Fantasy about unkempt hair absorbs me (7) |
| CHIMERA – C (about) + anagram of HAIR around ME | |
| 23 | Peers initially ignored vote? (3) |
| YES – {e}YES (peers)
The eyes have it. |
|
| 24 | Around lake, Barry sits in mobile home — the most prominent in field (11) |
| TRAILBLAZER – BAZ around L in TRAILER | |
| 26 | Black slimy stuff [found in] drink (5) |
| BOOZE – B + OOZE | |
| 27 | Evidence of debts, earlier run up, without interest (9) |
| INCURIOUS – IOUS after INCUR | |
| 29 | Just over three feet in length, European species that bears fruit (4,4) |
| LIME TREE – I METRE (just over three feet) in L (length) E (European) | |
| 30 | Wild activity with setter? Father’s lacking protein (6) |
| ENZYME – {fr}ENZY + ME (setter) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Duty [of] music maker to carry article in case (5,3) |
| SALES TAX – SAX around A (article) LEST (in case) | |
| 2 | Travel to away match as intended (5) |
| ELOPE – cryptic definition | |
| 3 | Seen inside, sheltering with female (3) |
| EWE – {s}EE{n} around W (with) | |
| 5 | Escape [using] muscles: prisoner departs (7) |
| ABSCOND – ABS + CON + D (departs) | |
| 6 | Naughty terrier? Salt of the earth! (11) |
| TERRESTRIAL – anagram of TERRIER SALT | |
| 7 | Call on criminal to protect funds in this way? (4-5) |
| RING-FENCE – RING (call) FENCE (criminal) | |
| 8 | More than ever, it needs this gas (6) |
| ETHANE – hidden in MORE THAN EVER | |
| 9 | Nude relative scratches bottom on trailer (6) |
| UNCLAD – UNCL{e} + AD (trailer) | |
| 13 | Meant to be involved with recent portrayal of historical event (2-9) |
| RE-ENACTMENT – anagram of MEANT + RECENT | |
| 16 | Wet weather[’s] coming, endlessly covered by press (9) |
| RAINSTORM – IN STOR{e} in RAM (press) | |
| 18 | Leicestershire’s opening pair handling over [in] game (8) |
| LACROSSE – LE{icestershire} around ACROSS (over) | |
| 20 | Flame once applied to an explosive device [in] test (7) |
| EXAMINE – EX (frame once) + A MINE | |
| 21 | [From] West Coast state, one firm [supplying] cloth (6) |
| CALICO – CAL + I + CO | |
| 22 | Throw my shilling up, [making] representation (6) |
| SYMBOL – LOB MY S reversed | |
| 25 | Money from state regularly — yet too lazy to get up (5) |
| ZLOTY – every other letter of YET TOO LAZY, reversed | |
| 28 | Carry / ladder (3) |
| RUN – double definition
I think ‘carry’ = RUN as in a newspaper running/carrying a story or feature. |
|
DNF. Made a great start and then came to an abrupt stop. I knew it was lacrosse but missed the opening pair and assumed it was just ‘L’ for Leicestershire’s opening. Didn’t see Baz for Barry and considering I’m a great fan of the late Barry Humphries I should have got it. Loved elope. Not sure about trade/craft.
Thanks setter and Jeremy
Trade: 9th definition in Chambers is “a craft, esp requiring training”
Around 90 minutes. Slowed very much by putting SHE in 3D which I then thought was a hidden word. 7d RING-FENCE was easy since I remembered yesterday’s clue about protecting funds. Liked ELOPE, TRAILBLAZER, AIRHEAD, LOOSE ENDS.
Thank you Jeremy for the parsing.
I got stuck at the end on ENZYME, although not for as long as I took on the rest of the puzzle (which did go in fairly steadily). I got ETHANE early on as the only gas that fitted the checkers…but as sometimes happens I totally missed that it was hidden for ages. TIRADE didn’t cause me any problems. RAINSTORM was another I biffed and then took out since I couldn’t see the wordplay (at the time I had just one checker). Later it was clear that it was correct and I worked how the wordplay worked. Not too difficult for a Friday.
ETHENE also fits so you might consider this a lucky escape!
And ETHYNE…
Stirred up by J’s headline, I worked thru this over lunch. No major delays. Nothing like good motivation! LOI 2dn.
MER at TRADE=CRAFT, but Chambers has CRAFT (definition 3) = skilled trade.
20:20
Another MER at trade=craft. Biffed TRAILBLAZER from TRAILER, no idea about BAZ. Didn’t we just have RING-FENCE? (Jeremy, it’s A on B in a down clue, so A is in fact on B.) Pretty easy for a Friday.
Ah yes, I was blogging too fast. The same device is used a few clues later but I noticed that one was in a down clue.
No problem with trade for craft. I finished with EWE, which I thought was very cunning. Only got there after I had rejected ‘Eve’ and ‘Eye.’ Felt rather virtuous for persevering rather than biffing…
23:37
6:33 – I breezed through this thinking that the Monday puzzle suddenly appeared on Friday, though I did a double-take on RING FENCE being an answer two days in a row! Trade and craft are quite interchangeable in the USA, so I had a leg up there.
I loved the clue for SALES TAX.
Some good stuff. I particularly enjoyed SALES TAX, ELOPE and EWE.
37 minutes and would have achieved my target half-hour if I’d written in RAINSTORM when I first thought of it instead of delaying because I was unable to parse it at that stage and thought there might be a better alternative.
SALESTAX was another source of delay, but there I didn’t have an answer in mind and had to resort to alphabet trawling.
10:09. Enjoyed this – ELOPE, SALES TAX and RAINSTORM probably my favourites.
Thanks setter & Jeremy
9:23. My only problem today was parsing LACROSSE, which took a minute or two.
SAUTERNE always looks wrong to me but I’ve learned from previous puzzles that it’s an American imitator.
Collins defines ‘craft’ as ‘an occupation or trade requiring special skill, esp manual dexterity’.
I’m not arguing with Collins, and my eyebrow relaxed long ago, but we distinguish between craftsmen and tradesmen, do not we?
It depends on the context, as with almost all words.
Each letter of the alphabet appears at least twice in the grid, which is an unusual achievement by the setter.
I see no J, K or V. You must have different answsers to me.
😁
Q?
Or Q, indeed. The Q I remembered was in the Concise, which IS a pangram.
Yes, I will be thy priest, and build a fane
In some untrodden region of my mind, …
(Ode to Psyche, Keats)
30 mins mid-brekker. I liked it. It is not great that we have had Ring-Fence two days running.
Ta setter and PJ
13:40
Very enjoyable, especially the wordplay for LIME TREE and SALES TAX, and the cryptic definition for ELOPE.
LOI SWEDEN (incidentally, there hasn’t been a State Enrolled Nurse qualification since the last century, as it was abolished as part of the Project 2000 reforms. SEN now stands for Special Educational Needs, an area which does require nursing).)
No problem with SEN. My wife was SEN SCM (state certified midwife).
43 minutes with TIRADE last one in by a reasonable stretch, though I suppose I’m here trying to learn this trade/craft a bit better… Also didn’t get the LE bit of LACROSSE, but apart from that it all seemed reasonable, if lengthy. The SW was definitely my most difficult quarter.
“By trade he was a carpenter”, does it work? After all, we have the word ‘tradecraft’.
14’35”, delayed in NW until I got SALES TAX.
Thanks jeremy and setter.
36 minutes with LOI SALES TAX. I biffed RAINSTORM. Pity the two clues weren’t RING-FENCED. I’ve just read that SAUTERNE is an intentional misspelling by American producers, confirmed above by Keriothe. What bounders! Thank you Jeremy and setter.
17:56. Nothing too hard, I was just a bit slow seeing things this morning. LOI SALES TAX. I liked the surface for RE-ENACTMENT. Thanks Jeremy and setter.
I’m with you Jeremy, gave up eventually with TIRADE unanswered. Bah humbug. Ran out of steam.
Some clever stuff I’ll admit.
Thanks j and setter.
About 25 minutes.
I misparsed YES as coming from ‘ayes’ rather than ‘eyes’; I thought of RAINSTORM early on but held off until I had all the checkers as I initially couldn’t parse it; vaguely remembered ZLOTY, though not that it’s Polish.
Thanks setter and blogger.
FOI Ring-fence
LOI Zloty
COD Loose ends
43:44
Another enjoyable Friday puzzle. FOI RANCH and LOI SALES TAX.
COD – ELOPE.
Thank you to plusjeremy and the setter
19:24
Relatively mild for a Friday and acting against all my instincts I took an extra minute or two to check my work. Luckily I did as a fat-fingered EHHANE would have ruined an otherwise enjoyable crossword.
The NW presented the most difficulty for me, with the excellent SALES TAX going in last.
Thanks to both.
42 mins.
Steady solve – no dramas.
Thanks, pj.
I didn’t find any of this easy!! Finally finished in 30:25. LOI was ELOPE which I reckon was also my COD. It was actually my penultimate clue SWEDEN which really held me up, I’s forgotten about SEN for a nurse and also SWEDEN as a country (I was mentally going Spain, Senegal, … and getting nowhere). When I finally got that, elope became obvious.
I had seen Jeremy’s headline and wondering which would be the problem clue, when I got enzyme I thought that would be it, ironically tirade went straight in.
Thanks setter and blogger, a good challenge for me today
Did all but the SWEDEN/ELOPE nexus in 16 mins…. and then stared at those two missing answers for another 10 mins before throwing in the towel. Both fair clues. No idea why I couldn’t see them.
16 minutes, with that excellent and devious top left corner resisting until the end. I’m sure variations on ELOPE have been seen before – it’s a very tempting word to serve up as a CD – but nonetheless enjoyable.
I had to enter a tentative RAINSTORM before seeing how it worked, and also took my time to get LIMETREE and SALES TAX.
I wouldn’t mind too much if we had RING FENCE every day: it’s an unusual pleasure to have a clue which is fresh in the mind: it’s much more annoying when, as on Sunday/Monday, one clue prompts a wrong answer in the next grid.
Commiseration on the DNF PJL we’ve had much more distant synonyms than TRADECRAFT
This is the UK. We have VAT, which replaced Purchase Tax. SALES TAX NHO, but successfully worked out. That and the endless SAUTERNE lead me to suspect encroachment into the setting pool from across the Pond.
Not a bad puzzle despite that, no quibble with “craft = trade” (when I finally saw it), and three Z’s in a non-pangram is a decent achievement.
FOI LOOSE ENDS
LOI TIRADE
COD SIERRA LEONE
TIME 11:56
Enjoyed this for 33mins plus change on the train from Bratislava to Prague. Nothing to frighten the horses, I’d say.
10:42, and enjoyed. I was puzzled by the missing S from SAUTERNE, so I’ve learned something today (clearly I’ve been spoiled by only ever having the real thing). TIRADE was my LOI as well; there must be something that makes it hard to see, so alphabet trawl it was. And obviously I did a doube-take at RING-FENCE, remembering that occasion when the same puzzle was published twice in quick succession and lots of us only noticed this quite late in the repeat solve, and some of us not all…
All went pretty well with this until I failed to get SALES TAX even with crossers. Couldn’t believe we had RING FENCE again. Took me a while to parse TRAILBLAZER, not seeing the Baz for Barry. Thanks Jeremy and setter.
56 minutes, caused largely by general dimness and the feeling that because it was Friday it must have been difficult. Took ages to see the simple SIERRA LEONE anagram, how pathetic. Never even noticed the RING-FENCE repeat, but perhaps we should be cutting them some slack — after all there is no official editor at the moment and someone is no doubt acting as a locum.
27 mins. Quite straightforward till I got stuck on 1a, largely to an incorrect SHE instead of EWE. SALES TAX clever clue.
A good test but certainly one I enjoyed finishing in a reasonable 36.50. I figured out that 1dn was a sort of tax but it took me a while to think of SALES TAX. This assisted me with my LOI which was LOOSE ENDS. All parsed as I went with the exception of RAINSTORM which I never managed to untangle. It couldn’t have been anything else however.
1a Sweden, biffed, thanks plusjeremy. Easy when someone shows you!
11a is unusual as I can’t see the definition. The clue just spells out RAN-C-H but that uses all the clue words leaving nowt for the def.
14 FAN(g) I biffed this, thanks again.
19a TIRADE DNF couldn’t think of anything. That meant I had too little ammunition for 20d EXAMINE also undone. Poor effort Andyf; must try harder.
It’s an &Lit, so the whole clue is both wordplay and definition (you’ll see that Jeremy has underlined the whole thing).
16:46 – a relatively easy and unFridayish romp through a grid of many zeds.
From SWEDEN to LACROSSE in 15:19. Biffed RAINSTORM and TRAILBLAZER. Thanks setter and Jeremy.
No real problems with this one – no obscure vocabulary, which tends to be my Achilles’s heel.
Unlike most above, I didn’t find the clue to ‘elope’ remotely entertaining, but the answer was obvious given the checkers I had.
Didn’t like the clue for ‘enzyme’ either, as the convention that “setter” is the setter referring to himself in the third person and therefore gives ‘I’ or ‘me’ in the answer is an extremely tedious one, IMHO.
23.22 with LOI sales tax. Didn’t parse it but it couldn’t be anything else. Thanks blogger for explaining.
Satisfying end to the week. If only my golf had been the same😠
It took me the home (ferry) commute as well but got through quite steadily, a tidy puzzle, I especially liked ELOPE. Maybe 11ac was deserving of a question mark? Thanks for the blog! PS. Apologies for putting my reply in the wrong place.
44:20
Slowed down by the NW corner, with AIRHEAD, SWEDEN, SALES TAX and ELOPE my last four in.
30 minutes exactly. Enjoyable puzzle, my favourites being Booze and Incurious.
A nice way to end the week, and I liked Sweden. For the reason Busman gave I struggled to fit Stamp Duty in, and I noted the trade / craft nicety but figured we all live in crosswordsville.
Didn’t do at all well yesterday including failing to get RING-FENCE so it was good to write in today without hesitation.
Nice to complete a Friday one even if it was much easier than usual.
FOI RANCH
LOI BOOZE
COD EXAMINE and SALES TAX
32 minutes. This started off normally for a Friday, since I went through several clues I couldn’t solve before reaching FAN, but then everything fell into place so quickly I couldn’t believe it, especially after the puzzles earlier this week. The clue I liked least was RING-FENCE, because I was able to biff it immediately from its previous appearance. I can understand that setters tend to reuse some of their answers, but doing that with such long and to mind uncommon one in short succession spoils all the fun and should be a no-no. Some of the other clues were quite good, though: SALES TAX and SWEDEN, for example. In LIME TREE. “just over three feet” immediately led me to think of METRE. And TIRADE was my LOI, but it didn’t take that long to come up with the answer.
55 minutes, a personal best! Always try very seldom finish. Today was my day!
Glad to say I finished! Set it aside late last night with (I thought just two but it was) three unsolved, and have just now got SWEDEN, ELOPE and EWE. Probably not the hardest but I was just tired. Not a bad puzzle!
Done Sunday evening. 17’30. Turned out to be not so hard.