An interesting and at times inventive puzzle that I ran through in 26 minutes.
As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones]. “Aural wordplay” is in quotation marks. I usually omit all reference to juxtaposition indicators unless there is a specific point that requires clarification.
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1 | Inability to see approach quoted verbally by head (4-11) |
NEAR-SIGHTEDNESS | |
NEAR (approach), aural wordplay [verbally] SIGHTED / “cited” (quoted), NESS (head – headland). Aka ‘myopia’, this is not an inability to see, just things clearly that are in the distance. | |
9 | Fix male a part in song and dance (9) |
RIGMAROLE | |
RIG (fix), M (male), A, ROLE (part) | |
10 | Plot left half-finished for tree (5) |
MAPLE | |
MAP (plot), LE{ft} [half-finished] | |
11 | Problem with fool replacing oxygen in space (6) |
HASSLE | |
HOLE (space) becomes HASSLE when ASS (fool) replaces O (oxygen) | |
12 | Never to be? Almost that, translated (8) |
VERBOTEN | |
Anagram [translated] of NEVER TO B{e} [almost]. German for ‘forbidden’ which I suppose might be loosely translate as ‘never to be’. Edit: I am assured by those that know about these things that the definition here is &lit. | |
13 | Herb is sage, essentially, in unlimited clover (6) |
LOVAGE | |
{s}AG{e} [essentially] contained by [in] {c}LOVE{r} [unlimited] | |
15 | Ability to read what’s on low-fat labels — juicy or fruity? (8) |
LITERACY | |
LITE (what’s on low-fat labels), RACY (juicy or fruity). I must admit that I first thought of racy/juicy/fruity as synonyms for risqué or scandalous, but it seems that all three terms are used more innocently in wine-tasting. | |
18 | One thing in another — that’s the answer (8) |
SOLUTION | |
A semi-cryptic hint refers to chemistry where one substance is dissolved in another to make a solution. | |
19 | Pay homage to former queen always being recalled (6) |
REVERE | |
ER (former queen) + EVER (always) reversed [being recalled] | |
21 | Kingdom’s leading name is a married poet (8) |
ISAMBARD | |
IS, A, M (married), BARD (poet). Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806 –1859), civil and mechanical engineer. | |
23 | High time for something new (6) |
UPDATE | |
UP (high), DATE (time) | |
26 | Girl embracing Italian in friendship (5) |
AMITY | |
AMY (girl) containing [embracing] IT (Italian) | |
27 | And I learn about what increases blood pressure (9) |
ADRENALIN | |
Anagram [about] of AND I LEARN | |
28 | What sides in Crécy might indicate? Conflict, a long one (7,5,3) |
HUNDRED YEARS WAR | |
HUNDRED / YEARS (what sides in C{réc}Y might indicate), WAR (conflict). The definition refers back to ‘conflict’. Inventive! |
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1 | Mounting, note pale outside of river mammal (7) |
NARWHAL | |
LAH (note) + WAN (pale) containing [outside of] R (river) all reversed [mounting] | |
2 | Protection of key island beset by rising waters (5) |
AEGIS | |
G (key – music) + I (island) contained [beset] by SEA (waters) reversed [rising]. From a Greek word for ‘shield’ this is sometimes used in the expression ‘under the aegis of’. | |
3 | Sailor seen in minimal weak illumination (9) |
STARLIGHT | |
TAR (sailor) contained by SLIGHT (minimal) | |
4 | Silly to continue (4) |
GOON | |
GO ON (continue). ‘Silly’ as a noun meaning a foolish person still grates on me but at least I’m aware of it now. | |
5 | Article on control needed to hold minute instrument (8) |
THEREMIN | |
THE (definite article), then REIN (control) containing [to hold] M (minute). Notably played in the theme to Midsomer Murders – the old episodes anyway. In the recent ones it’s drowned out by an orchestra. | |
6 | Protest with British farewell to the army? (5) |
DEMOB | |
DEMO (protest), B (British). Short for demobilisation. | |
7 | One living abroad losing right to wander about (9) |
EXPATIATE | |
EXPAT{r}IATE (one living abroad) [losing right]. The definition ‘wander about’ is listed as ‘rare’ in some sources as the meaning these days is more usually to elaborate or expand on a subject. | |
8 | Brought up OK around new favourite London area (7) |
STEPNEY | |
YES (OK) containing [around] N (new) + PET (favourite) all reversed [brought up] | |
14 | Ill-bred person, very European, going topless (9) |
VULGARIAN | |
V (very), {b}ULGARIAN (European) [going topless]. My LOI. | |
16 | Judgement on top batsman’s early drink of alcohol (3-6) |
EYE-OPENER | |
EYE (judgement – as in an eye for detail, getting one’s eye etc), OPENER (top batsman – the best usually go in first). A North American definition apparently that comes as news to me and gives new meaning to the title of a favourite stride piano piece. | |
17 | Chap surrounded by fruit who loves eating (8) |
GOURMAND | |
MAN (chap) contained [surrounded] by GOURD (fruit) | |
18 | Greens succeeded getting area covered by press (7) |
SPINACH | |
S (succeeded), then A (area) contained [covered] by PINCH (press) | |
20 | Queen in European country upset Reagan, perhaps (7) |
ELEANOR | |
E (European), LEA (country – tract of open ground, esp. grassland), then RON (Reagan, perhaps) reversed [upset]. There are loads of Queen Eleanors to choose from, but the English queen was Eleanor of Aquitaine who married King Henry II. | |
22 | Young man, a king or Russian noble (5) |
BOYAR | |
BOY (young man), A, R (king). NHO this despite having ancestors from that part of the world. Its only two previous appearances here were in Mephistos. | |
24 | Sanction unproductive without fine (5) |
ALLOW | |
{f}ALLOW (unproductive) [without fine] | |
25 | Interpret the meaning of when Conservative society’s abandoned right (4) |
TRUE | |
{cons}TRUE (interpret the meaning of) [when Conservative Society’s abandoned] |
DNF
Couldn’t get UPDATE or TRUE. MER at ‘inability to see’, which kept me from thinking of NEAR for a while. HUNDRED YEARS WAR was clever, although ‘Crécy’ plus the enumeration invited biffing. (I wondered in passing if CY was an abbreviation for ‘century’.)
About 5o minutes. I found many clues quite easy and had most done in under 30 minutes. I began with HUNDRED YEARS WAR as a write in (what else could it be). I soon had solutions all over the puzzle. I came to a grinding halt with the SW corner and my LOI TRUE which was a complete guess as I had no idea why it may or may not be right.
Thanks Jack
LOI TRUE, which is probably the most difficult clue here (though the use of C and Y in Crécy is a close runner-up). Enjoyed this!
A disappointing fail, with an E instead of an A for BOYAR, which I probably had heard of. Lots of good clues, with my favourite being VERBOTEN, which would do as an &lit for me.
Another BOYER here. NHO BOYAR but had we followed the wordplay exactly we’d have got it – BOYER seemed familiar in some recess of my brain, obviously incorrectly😡
Same as Kevin, could not see TRUE or UPDATE. But pleased with my confident guesses of LOVAGE and BOYAR, both NHO.
Only 35 mins: definitely getting better at this game.
COD ISAMBARD : brilliant clue.
Agree on ISAMBARD – for some reason I wanted to spell it Isembard but the wordplay saved me
After a shocker on the Quickie, this crossword played to my strengths, with no unknown vocab and strategic biffing opportunities. Even a mis-biffed ‘long-sightedness’ didn’t hold me up for very long.
TRUE was cunning. 16:11
Well, I did construe true, but only after thinking a bit. On the other hand, near-sightedness and Hundred Years War were write-ins, which gives you a lot of letters to work with. I knew aegis, theramin, boyar, and narwhal, but I did not know lovage, which the cryptic will supply. I knew Isambard was something, and used to cryptic to get the answer, but had no idea of the literal.
Time: 26:50
Very good puzzle I thought, mostly, but I was stopped dead by TRUE and surrendered at around 28. I would suggest the theremin on Good Vibrations is the most well-known use of this weird and quite wonderful instrument thus far. Never paused to parse the war but thanks Jack for explaining the Crecy bit and several more as well.
From (checks title) (checks it again, yes I’m reasonably sure) Workingman’s Blues #2:
There’s an evening haze settling over the town, STARLIGHT by the edge of the creek
The buying power of the proletariat’s going down, money’s getting shallow and weak
The place I love best is a sweet memory, it’s a new path that we trod
They say low wages are a reality if we want to compete abroad.
Not to split hairs (moi ?!), but that was an electrotheremin, a variation on the original (I was actually thinking it was a mellotron before I looked it up), of which Clara Rockmore (1911–1998) is generally considered the world’s greatest (along with being the first) soloist and whose use by a late-’60s rock band pointedly called Lothar and the Hand People (“Lothar” was the name of the THEREMIN) I read about in Hit Parader as a teenager.
Oh thank God, when I saw a reply from you I thought I’d done something stupid with Bob again, two days in a row. But it’s just a theremin quibble, and no doubt you are correct. From this day forward anyone who says there is a theremin on GVs will be told, by me, it’s actually an electrotheremin. Still sounds good.
Another good exponent of the (electro)theremin is Sameer Khan of the band Karma Sheen which for obvious reasons should appeal to many on this site (anagram, plus homophone of Car Machine). I have seen them twice live and think they are brilliant. On stage I think someone else actually does theremin duty but I haven’t got to grips with all the personnel yet. If they are passing your way I thoroughly recommend them. Here’s what their online bio says:
“Karma Sheen is a psychedelic Sufi rock band from London. The love child of Songwriter and guitarist, Sameer Khan. Karma Sheen have created an eclectic mix of nostalgic 60’s psychedelia inspired music from the likes of The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Cream and The Doors, mixed with the flair of 90’s grunge coupled together with creamy Indian classical sounds and Sufi inspired lyrics that complete the mountainous cake of sound that is Karma Sheen.”
Enjoyed the puzzle and the blog, thanks to both.
That characterisation is…startling!
I know. A mountainous cake of sound sounds even more insurmountable than Phil Spector’s ‘wall’. Sadly Bob is not cited as an influence. But then again I guess he’s an influence on anybody who is involved in modern music so maybe not worth mentioning…
35m 28s
Thanks, Jack.
4d surely brings back memories of The GOON Show?
I see the OUP Word of the Year is ‘brain rot’. An associated word I’ve come across very recently is doomscrolling. If it hasn’t already appeared in a cryptic (Jack?), it can only be a matter of time, surely?!
It will also fit in a Concise…just!
Now I have a word for what someone near me does!
🤣
Not so far.
It’s been in the (non-cryptic) New York Times puzzle.
Moreover, I believe when the Goons first pitched up at the BBC, one executive actually asked who these Go-ons were.
That may well have been said at some stage, but the show was originally called Crazy People and only changed to The Goon Show in its second series.
Did anyone actually tell them that ‘brain rot’ is two words?
It would appear not, Mike!!
8:35. I was about to finish with TRUE and fingers crossed when the cryptic came to me and allowed me to submit with confidence. Misconstrue came to mind before construe, the former feeling to me like it is more commonly used than the latter.
I sympathise with Bletchley Reject’s BOYER. I did consider that but thankfully plumped for BOYAR.
Billy Bunter was often told to consTRUE his Virgil by Mr Quelch
That’s how I worked out the answer, another thank-you to the Fat Owl.
A disappointing DNF. Thought I was on for one of my fastest times ever with everything completed in under 9 minutes, and was doing a final spellcheck when I realised I still had one clue unfinished, -R-E. Gave up about 10 minutes later. Just couldn’t see what was going on.
Fun crossword though. Thanks jackkt and setter.
21.30, which is quick for me. Like a few others I couldn’t parse TRUE, but no problems with any other clues. The two long across clues were write-ins, giving lots of easy in-roads.
I sympathise with the people who gave up on _R_E as it took me an age to see which way round the clue worked, two alphabet runs to find something that fit the definition and then another minute to work out the wordplay. Still, the rest fell into place quickly enough, so I join Jack with his 26 minute time.
Pleasant memories of the Goon Show, classic theremin-themed science fiction films and a hat-tip to my local area—you can’t chuck a half-brick without hitting something made by Brunel around here—along the way.
Just wondering G where that is?
Hotwells, Bristol. Not too far from his Suspension Bridge, even closer to “BoB”—Brunel’s “other” Bridge—and my lunchtime walk today took me across the underfall system he built for de-silting the harbour around for a coffee at the marina adjacent to his SS Great Britain. He’s quite difficult to avoid once I step outside!
Thank you. Fascinating.
7.59
I started quickly with NEAR-SIGHTEDNESS, and largely kept up the pace from there. Didn’t know BOYAR, and TRUE could easily have held me up. One of those clue types that tends to either come quickly or take forever.
Thanks both.
18:05
lovely Tuesday runabout. COD – VERBOTEN
19 minutes with LOI TRUE. DNK BOYAR nor EYE-OPENER as a drink. COD to VERBOTEN. I zipped through this. Can we have this setter every day, even if she/he does call a batter a batsman?
especially because he/she calls a batsman a batsman
Listen, my children, and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere
(Longfellow)
20 mins pre-brekker left me with the one that turns out to be True. Quite a gentle one, but with some eye-brow raising moments. Judgement=eye, really? Country=Lea, really? And who ever called Reagan, Ron? That Eleanor clue is a clunker from start to finish.
Ta setter and J.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Reagan
.. and the lowing herd has to wind slowly oer something, and it is not a suburb or city
Oh, I don’t know. I rather like it. As for ‘Ron’ for ‘Reagan’, it does say ‘perhaps’. I had no qualms at all writing it in.
Well, all going swimmingly until I was left with T-E-E-I- and had no idea what was going on. After 5 mins of head scratching I gave up and looked it up. Stupidly I didn’t see REIN for control and I’ve never heard of the instrument unfortunately.
I liked the « WAR »
Thanks Jack and setter.
36 mins with, as usual, half that time on the last few especially TRUE.
Cant say I enjoy these where half the clues are QC or write-ins or biffable then a couple poop the party. Disliked LAH with an H and LEA for country.
Grumpy.
8.30
Much more manageable than yesterday’s effort, with some marvellous wordplay (including a proper &lit).
One recalls the VULGARIANs, ruled by Baron and Baroness Bomburst in ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’, and the middle-class woman of a certain age in ‘Lettice and LOVAGE’ -“Enlarge! Enliven! Enlighten!”
LOI SOLUTION
COD VERBOTEN
About 15 minutes.
– NHO LOVAGE or BOYAR but the cluing was kind in both cases
– Never sure whether ADRENALINE has another E on the end, but happily the enumeration left no option
– Likewise benefited from the cluing to spell THEREMIN correctly (I might otherwise have put an A rather than the second E)
– Didn’t know that meaning of EYE-OPENER
– Had no idea how the ‘lea’ part of ELEANOR worked
Thanks Jack and setter.
FOI Maple
LOI Eleanor
COD Isambard
15’21” for this entertaining puzzle. Spent several minutes on VULGARIAN, despite having been to Bulgaria this year. UPDATE LOI. Thanks to Billy Bunter for TRUE, as Merlin mentions above.
Thanks jack and setter.
9:02. Mostly a breeze but I got bogged down in the SE corner. TRUE in particular took a while.
I read 12ac as &Lit: the words ‘almost that, translated’ are required for the definition since VERBOTEN doesn’t really mean ‘never to happen’ (hence ‘almost that’) and isn’t an English word (hence ‘translated’).
BOYAR my only unknown today.
Thanks. I have added &Lit to the blog. I am always wary of including this as I usually get it wrong or someone argues that I have.
But, getting one wrong or providing material for an argument, is an added bonus that everyone appreciates …
TBH, Jerry, after 17 years of blogging here I’ve rather lost interest in the whole subject of &lit /semi&lit clues and variations thereon, and that’s why I avoid the subject. Sometimes even the seasoned experts don’t agree and fall into lengthy discussions which I now scroll past. That’s fine, and I’m not criticising, but I just don’t feel the need to risk getting involved by setting hares running myself.
I like Simon Anthony’s check: can the whole clue be read as wordplay, and also read as definition?
But I agree, best to avoid the debate and just enjoy the craftsmanship of the setter
That’s *always* been the test.. dunno who this Simon bloke is
23a Update LOI except for 25d True which I didn’t get.
5d Theramin NHO but remember Good Vibrations well enough! Cheated by confirming its existence.
22d Boyar. Surprised this has not been seen before as I sort-of remembered it, and discover that I have placed boyars in the Cheating Machine myself (a lot of plurals were missing from the original dictionary I started with.)
DNF 25d True, DOH, construe, damnit! I was focused on C and Soc rather than Con and S.
Also queen Eleanors of Provence and Castile, to name but a few.
14.12, with TRUE appearing in a flash of light at the end, with very little waiting once I concentrated on it.
Recently in an effort to clear my error score on the leaderboard, I’ve taken to a final check muttering the words to myself -fortunately not overheard, I hope – and uncovered a typo today. Probably adds about 30 seconds to the time, but saves me from being grumpy all day.
I liked SOLUTION, with that very exact, but could be anything, wordplay.
Thanks Jack for that EYE OPENER reference: found a fine, virtuoso duet version which confirms your enthusiasm.
Is that the version with Stephanie Trick? I’m not so keen on duet versions as they inevitably diminish the pure stride element, but I liked the bit in the middle when Paulo left her on her own for a while, which was great. I’d like to have heard her play the whole piece solo. The only recordings I know of Eye-Opener are by Ralph Sutton, of which there are two or three on You Tube. I think this one is the best of them.
It is: the first two Google came up with were that and Ralph Sutton at a Church in Bristol, which in that version rather failed to engage in the opening bars, sounding chaotic to my untutored ears. The Trick version sounded and looked more fun!
27.43, with much of the time trying to work out 25d, where I couldn’t dislodge ‘parse’ from my brain. I’m reassured by finding that I’m not the only one to struggle with the clue.
DNF
Under 20’ with two to go, but gave up on UPDATE and TRUE.
Thanks all.
42 minutes which should really have been less since as I looked at the blog and the comments it all seemed very easy, except perhaps for TRUE. The ELEANOR clue may be ‘a clunker from start to finish’ but that didn’t stop me from getting it quite easily; Ron is clued as ‘Reagan, perhaps’, and the ‘perhaps’ does what seems to me to be quite acceptable double duty. Although lea = country is perhaps a bit of a stretch.
Yes, a stretch of open land! 😉
At 22′ I found this much easier than yesterday; as others have said a few long write-ins helped, though I couldn’t parse the WAR. The parsing of SOLUTION also escaped me and the meaning of EYE-OPENER was NHO.
Much of my limited German comes from 60’s Commando comics (they were a bit gory if I remember correctly), and VERBOTEN certainly falls into that vocabulary.
LOI TRUE took some staring at, but an alphabet trawl came up with the answer which I then parsed.
Thanks Jack and setter.
DNF. All but 2 done in 12 mins. I biffed TRUE and eventually went with UPRATE.
COD: UPDATE.
Pleased to see how TRUE worked, early on, and romped away with the long war and 1a, 1d and 18d thinking a PB was on, but slowed down by my LOI ELEANOR (in spite of having recently read Alison Weir’s excellent book on her). LEA for country is a stretch. Just under half an hour. Nice puzzle otherwise.
That is at least the third time that I’ve forgotten the word NARWHAL. I appear to be incapable of committing it to memory.
My knowledge of Henry II and Eleanor of Acquitaine stems from Who Wants to be a Millionaire? where I think it was the £1,000,000 question for Judith Keppel when she became the first person to scoop the jackpot.
18 mins, but ages spent at the end trying to justify OPIATE. Being unconvinced, I came here to find out why, only to discover it was UPDATE. So not really a complete solve after all. Unknowns BOYAR, THEREMIN helpfully clued.
FOI NARWHAL, COD TRUE
Indirect tip of the hat to the fat owl of the Remove (as for a couple of others) for allowing me to get TRUE quite quickly. I had biffed THERAMIN, which made VERBOTEN impossible until I realized why that the A shouldn’t be there.
LOI SOLUTION, which was really quite simple, no idea why it required all the checkers!
Always a good confidence booster to get a long 1 across immediately, and so it proved today.
13:45
7:02. Thought this was a good puzzle. No quibbles today.
15:30 – no unknowns, though TRUE and UPDATE took some puzzling out and I never saw the other meaning of solution. Firm but fair.
Really liked this one.. nho THEREMIN (and not for the first time, I suspect) but got it right, also TRUE despite never thinking of CONStrue. Pleased 🙂
For me, a strange mixture of extremely easy and impossible – failed to see TRUE or the NHO THEREMIN.
“and there are meads towards Haslingfield and Coton
Where das Betreten’s not verboten.” (Rupert Brooke, The Old Vicarage, Grantchester).
No problems with today’s offering – much easier than yesterday’s for me.
I can’t compete with HoneyBadgers time of seven minutes. I was happy with 17 minutes, and thoroughly enjoyed the puzzle.
A toss up for COD between Solution and True, but the former was brilliant so gets the nod from me.
I will now investigate the unknown Theremin!
I found this surprisingly easy. Either that or I happened to be ‘on song’ today, for no apparent reason. Most answers were virtually write-ins, had a bit of delay with UPDATE, but once ‘UP’ occurred to me for ‘High’, it clicked. LOI STEPNEY, which I’d struggled over at first because I’d written in LITERATE rather than LITERACY, became suspicious of it, so took another look.
21.53. NHO eye opener connection to drink, nor rigmarole as connected to song and dance. Otherwise, an accessible and entertaining puzzle.
Done at varying speeds post gym. A slow start, until I had 1ac, then rapidly filled the grid for 30 minutes or so, and then got stuck on ELEANOR, SOLUTION and VULGARIAN. Had to put the puzzle down and do other things for a while- online Christmas shopping proved very tedious!
Thank you Jack and Setter. Nice puzzle!
Done it in three bursts over the day. Easier than most to start with, but TRUE and others in that corner (UPDATE LOI) held me back.
Aegis btw isn’t a shield, I believe, but a kind of scary tasselled cloth Zeus used to terrify the enemy with?
Not my area of knowledge, but Collins has AEGIS as the shield of Zeus, often represented in art as a goatskin.
fair enough!
Prob said before but IM(not so) HO the best batsmen do not go in as openers but at first or maybebsecond wicket down. Never realised verbotten now counts as English but one is here to learn. Yesterday gave up today rocket through in my best ever 11 mins. Thanks all.
‘Schnell’ appeared as an answer in the Championships a few years ago I seem to remember? Justified apparently by its appearance in one of our (not so) esteemed dictionaries, helpfully defined as ‘German word meaning quick’.
That a German word should appear in an English dictionary complete with definition, seemingly wasn’t an issue for the compilers of said dictionary (Chambers probably).
Neither was it an issue for the bloggers at the time-which I have to say, rather amazed me. I have similar reservations about ‘verboten’.
My AI assistant offers this explanation re VERBOTEN and I imagine it’s much the same for ‘schnell’.
The word “verboten” is a German adjective that means “forbidden.” It entered the English language through a process known as borrowing, where words from one language are adopted into another.
German Origin: The word “verboten” comes directly from the German language. It’s the past participle of the verb “verbieten,” which means “to forbid.”
Early English Usage: The earliest recorded use of “verboten” in English dates back to the 1860s. It was initially used in a limited context, often associated with German culture or customs.
Increased Popularity: Over time, the word’s usage grew, particularly in the early 20th century. This was likely due to increased cultural exchange between English-speaking countries and Germany, as well as the impact of German culture on popular culture.
Lexical Inclusion: As “verboten” became more widely used and understood, it was eventually included in English dictionaries. This inclusion solidified its status as a recognized part of the English vocabulary.
Today, “verboten” is a well-established word in English, often used to convey a sense of strict prohibition or taboo. Its inclusion in dictionaries reflects its widespread acceptance and usage in the English-speaking world.
[Note: Verboten is in Collins, Chambers and all the Oxfords. Schnell is in Collins and Chambers but not the Oxfords.]
Agree re batsmen
Yes, I reckoned top could mean top of the order.
10:53
My fastest for a while. Shortest of hold ups at the end to shoehorn in UPDATE and TRUE (didn’t understand cryptic after a couple of passes, but could see ‘right’ might be the definition, so bunged in sharpish to secure a quick time)
Thanks Jack and setter
As a QC devotee who normally can only do a few of the Cryptic clues, I was cheered by managing to complete a puzzle last week and so I had a go today and managed it in just over 72 minutes, admittedly using a dictionary to get THEREMIN (NHO) and guessing TRUE (LOI), SPINACH, EYE OPENER, AEGIS and HUNDRED YEARS WAR once I had a few letters in. Today’s puzzle must be on the easy side.
19.43 WOE
VOLDAVIAN went in with some completely unjustified confidence. Other countries could have applied.
Also stuck on UPDATE and TRUE at the end
24:02 and would have been faster without TRUE and UPDATE at the end. Good fun. I liked RIGMAROLE