Solving time: 65 minutes. The NW was a write-in and the SE didn’t require much more effort, but I really struggled in the NE and especially the SW quarters. I needed aids for one unknown at 23ac.
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.
 Across |
|
| 1 | Outline of potential reason one’s on a trip still (6) |
| PLACID | |
| P{otentia}L [outline of …], ACID (reason one’s on a trip) | |
| 5 | Name that is ushering in artistic work? (8) |
| CALLIOPE | |
| CALL (name), IE (that is) containing [ushering in] OP (artistic work). Calliope was the Muse of epic poetry. Somehow in America her name has also come to mean a set of steam whistles producing musical notes, played by a keyboard like that of an organ. | |
| 9 | Literary tale-teller working through holiday period (8) |
| SUMMONER | |
| ON (working) contained by [through] SUMMER (holiday period). The literary reference is to Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales in which pilgrims took turns to tell tales to pass the time on their journey. A summoner was a junior officer whose duty was to summon people to appear in court. | |
| 10 | Relatives loading recoiling weapon for zapping (6) |
| NUKING | |
| KIN (relatives), contained by [loading] GUN (weapon) reversed [recoiling). I’ve heard both definition and answer used with reference to heating up food in a microwave oven. | |
| 11 | Flounder to shrivel up, moving tail forwards (6) |
| WRITHE | |
| WITHER (shrivel up) becomes WRITHE when its tail letter – R – moves forwards | |
| 12 | Pitiful expression in ad removed from pine frontage (4,4) |
| LONG FACE | |
| LONG (pine), FAC{ad}E (frontage) [‘ad’ removed] | |
| 14 | He, when cold, is quite ill, wanting temperature humid, possibly (6,6) |
| LIQUID HELIUM | |
| Anagram [possibly] of QUI{t}E ILL HUMID [wanting – lacking – temperature]. A nice variation on the standard ‘He’ = helium device. | |
| 17 | Trim new garment dresses individual raising issue (6,6) |
| SINGLE PARENT | |
| SINGLET (garment) contains [dresses] PARE (trim) + N (new) | |
| 20 | Players worthy of the A team visit our ground (8) |
| VIRTUOSI | |
| Anagram [ground] of VISIT OUR | |
| 22 | Joke the wrong way about trouble or fix (4,2) |
| NAIL UP | |
| PUN (joke) reversed [the wrong way] containing [about] AIL (trouble) | |
| 23 | Korean side’s novel shot has no power (6) |
| KIMCHI | |
| KIM (novel), CHI{p} (golf shot) [has no power]. I used aids for this one but then kicked myself because I saw CHI{p} and knew I was looking for a 3-letter novel which in Crosswordland is usually SHE, but ‘Shechi’ wasn’t in the dictionary and I never thought of the other 3-letter novel, KIM. Apparently Kimchi is a raw strongly flavoured cabbage pickle and is the Korean national dish. NHO it and doubt I have missed anything. Other than one Monthly Special in May 2023, this is its first appearance here. | |
| 25 | One may hold wine container, put off consuming it (8) |
| DECANTER | |
| DETER (put off) containing [consuming] CAN (container -‘it’ reflexive) | |
| 26 | Tolstoy heroine, with energy, squeezing figure’s sensitive appendages (8) |
| ANTENNAE | |
| ANNA (Tolstoy heroine – Karenina) + E (energy) containing [squeezing] TEN (figure) | |
| 27 | Option for better tablets following wrench (6) |
| YANKEE | |
| YANK (wrench), E E (tablets). SOED: Yankee – a composite bet on four or more horses to win or be placed in different races. | |
| Down |
|
| 2 | Where to see art primarily like work snubbed by European (6) |
| LOUVRE | |
| L{ike} [primarily] O{e}UVRE (work) [snubbed by European] | |
| 3 | Appeared woke and frivolous (4,2,5) |
| CAME TO LIGHT | |
| CAME TO (woke), LIGHT (frivolous) | |
| 4 | Like a poet’s Hamlet, say, carrying quest off (9) |
| DANTESQUE | |
| DANE (Hamlet, say) containing [carrying] anagram [off] of QUEST | |
| 5 | Expert on the fiddle in business, one banking on a couple of pounds (7) |
| CORELLI | |
| CO (business) + I (one) containing [banking] RE (on) + LL (a couple of pounds). I felt the definition was a little misleading as one thinks of Corelli first and foremost as a composer. But nevertheless he was also fine violinist and his compositions were ground-breaking in the development of music for that instrument so he was certainly an expert on it. Handy that CORELLI made an appearance here only last Friday, and also seasonal perhaps as one of his most famous pieces is his Christmas Concerto. | |
| 6 | Left leader number 50 to get overthrown (5) |
| LENIN | |
| NINE (number) + L (50) reversed [overthrown] | |
| 7 | Son not showing up in brief class (3) |
| ILK | |
| {s}ILK (brief – barrister) [son not showing up] | |
| 8 | Computer stores in area to the north reportedly near shop with alarm (5-3) |
| PANIC-BUY | |
| PC (computer) contains [stores] IN + A (area) reversed [to the north], then aural wordplay [reportedly] “by” (near] / BUY (shop) | |
| 13 | Choice cut of movie limited by filming on set differently (5,6) |
| FILET MIGNON | |
| ET (movie) contained [limited] anagram [set differently] of FILMING ON. SOED has this as a slice cut from the small end of the tenderloin of beef, but according to Wiki if you order it outside the USA or UK you are more likely to be served pork. In France, if you want to be sure of steak you should order filet de bœuf. In the UK it’s more usually just fillet steak. |
|
| 15 | Protest from delinquent caned in haste heartlessly (3,3,3) |
| HUE AND CRY | |
| Anagram [delinquent] of CANED contained by [in] HU{r}RY (haste) [heartlessly]. The title of a rather fine Ealing comedy film made in 1947 with many scenes filmed on location in a London still battle-scarred and partially reduced to rubble in the aftermath of the war. | |
| 16 | Like the original Mafia’s crime, receiving lashes (8) |
| SICILIAN | |
| SIN (crime) containing [receiving] CILIA (eye lashes) | |
| 18 | Princess’s part in opera with revolutionary finale (7) |
| ARIADNE | |
| ARIA (part in opera), then END (finale) reversed [revolutionary]. In Greek Mythology, King Minos’ daughter, who gives Theseus the thread by which he finds his way out of the labyrinth. Her name is now also associated with a technique used in solving Sudoku puzzles, called Ariadne’s Thread. | |
| 19 | Dope visiting Brussels and eastern US city (6) |
| EUGENE | |
| GEN (dope) contained by [visiting] EU (Brussels) + E (eastern). The EU is sometimes referred to as Brussels because Brussels is the de facto capital of the European Union. The US city is in Oregon, but I can’t say I ever heard of it. | |
| 21 | Men amid boxing ring belted figure seen in the dark (5) |
| ORION | |
| OR (men) + IN (amid) containing [boxing] O (ring). Orion’s Belt is a prominent feature of the constellation Orion (The Hunter). It consists of three bright stars that form a straight line. | |
| 24 | Indication, forgetting line, one may need this? (3) |
| CUE | |
| I originally had this as a double definition but I think it works better as an all-in-one with wordplay C{l}UE (indication) [forgetting line] | |
Having taken over a half-hour to complete this, I was shocked to see the SNITCH at 27; it’s using the times from the QC.
I biffed a half-dozen or so, only parsing post-submission, so a rather disappointing solve. I did see the He right off, for once; I think the comma did it. KIMCHI was pretty much a gimme; I thought of it before recalling KIM. It hadn’t occurred to me that it would be little known.
This is due to the Quick Cryptic appearing twice on the Crossword Club. I will send an email.
10:54 with PANIC-BUY the last one in. I knew KIMCHI and EUGENE – the latter is fairly obscure, I know of it as the main campus of the University of Oregon.
I live in Eugene. Site of the World Athletics Championships in 2022 where Jake Wightman won the 1500 metres.
40 minutes. Found it tough to get a foothold, then the wheels began to grind.
Can’t hear filet mignon without thinking of Baldrick’s version with ‘sauce Bearnaise.’
‘Black Adder Goes Forth’ is the only instance I have ever heard of filet mignon in my 67 years.
Guess I must have been eating in the wrong restaurants all my life because i’ve never seen it on any menu….. who knew?
Not uncommon in France.
Liked this one for the last of the year. I had all of the NE and most of the SE and then hit a wall. SINGLE PARENT, PLACID and ANTENNAE then came to me but for the life of me I couldn’t see VIRTUOSI, even though I knew it was an anagram and had ?I?t?o?i. LIQUID HELIUM was clever. COD to YANKEE for the excellent misdirection.
Thanks Jack and setter.
I thought this was a really fine puzzle, since I had all the knowledge. Fortunately, I could biff kimchi, which led me to discover a wrongly spelt antennae that needed fixing. I saw princess’s part in opera, and wrote in Ariadne at once from the Strauss opera, a totally wrong interpretation of the clue leading to the right answer. Liquid helium and single parent kept me guessing for a long time, but panic buy was my LOI.
Time: 52:11
I ended up in the NW, after an early start there with CAME TO LIGHT. Kind of circled around the grid back to that quadrant. I know what KIMCHI is only thanks to my Korean American friend and coworker Haesun. EUGENE probably is so familiar to me because it’s a hotbed of leftist activism.
46:17 was slowed down by a few at the end. LOI was NHO KIMCHI, having guessed CHI(P) at the end, an alphabet trawl got me KIM though I thought a while about lucky JIM, decided no, then k was next.
The BUY of PANIC BUY took me much too long, till I realised I was misinterpreting the last part of the clue and I wasn’t looking for alarm but ‘shop with alarm’. Liquid He was also cleverly clued. The other one that took a while was WRITHE.
Thanks setter and blogger
8.55 – an enjoyable final outing for 2024. I know the Korean foodstuff rather better than the novel! I’ve seen a similar clue to CALLIOPE before, although I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it was arrived at independently.
I liked ORION, LIQUID HELIUM, and SINGLE PARENT the most.
Thanks both, and Happy New Year all.
I really enjoyed completing this puzzle – that is until I submitted and found “COME TO LIGHT” was wrong. Careless. Fuming.
DNF Two hours FOI CAME TO LIGHT then ILK and CUE. Got the wrong answer for 14ac and that was it. Did not really start.
Thanks Jack
In HUE AND CRY haste heartlessly you have removed the non-central R in HURRY. I only seem to be good at proof reading today.
Thanks
32:25
A bit slow this morning given that there were few real stinkers, but I thought the definition in 15dn (HUE AND CRY) was very loose – by far the most common meaning is the pursuit by a crowd of a fleeing felon. “Hot pursuit” would have been more accurate than “protest”.
I have to say, I’ve never heard of that meaning, but knew it as a protest/clamour! I think of it used slightly jocularly these days, when there is a lot of fuss about rather little.
Thanks – I can see your point, and I’m happy in general to take the descriptivist line (usage rules…), it’s just that in this particular case the word association exercise suggested (to me) a list of synonyms for “protest”, and “hue and cry” came right at the bottom. Perhaps between my “hot pursuit” and the setter’s “protest” we can settle on your judicious compromise of “fuss”?
“…the speech caused a hue and cry…”
The usual dictionaries designate the pursuit meaning ‘historical’ or ‘former’. It doesn’t really matter though – if a word has two meanings then either is fair game, irrespective of which is more common. In fact you might argue that picking the less common meaning is part of the setter’s job!
… Here is wine,
Alive with sparkles–never, I aver,
Since Ariadne was a vintager,
So cool a purple:
(Endymion, Keats)
40+ mins with brekker. I don’t know why I strolled through this, maybe to enjoy the delightful scenery as I went. I liked it.
On 14ac, I saw the “He,” opening and thought possibly Helium, then when I had H.L.U. as the second word, I spent minutes thinking – what the hell can that be?
Funny.
Ta setter and J
A steady solve for the most part, involving several passes, but nho KIMCHI, worked out, and unable to find VIRTUOSI. Hence New Year’s resolution to do anagrams on paper.
Thanks jack and all bloggers, and all setters, for this past year.
54 minutes with LOI the unknown EUGENE. COD to LIQUID HELIUM. The only NUKING I’ve heard of is bombing. KIMCHI wasn’t a CHI(P), it was a long shot. On the hard side, repaying the effort. Thank you Jack and setter.
41 mins. NHO YANKEE as a bet but otherwise nothing too obscure though I admit the only CORELLI I know had a mandolin.
Eugene, Oregon has a big athletics meeting often on UK tv.
Quite a few guessed first and parsed later, the other way round being a stretch in places.
About half an hour, but with lots of unknowns.
– Relied on the wordplay for CALLIOPE and SUMMONER
– Didn’t even see that LIQUID HELIUM was an anagram, let alone figure out the anagrist – the Q from DANTESQUE was very helpful
– Failed to parse SINGLE PARENT
– Couldn’t have told you what a YANKEE means in betting
– Took a long time to see that ‘set’ in the clue for FILET MIGNON was part of the anagrind, rather than the anagrist
– Had vaguely heard of HUE AND CRY without knowing what it meant
– Didn’t know for sure, but was very happy to believe there’s a US city called EUGENE – if there’s a Gary as well, then why not?
Thanks Jack and setter.
FOI Louvre
LOI Calliope
COD Decanter
30 mins
Thanks, jack.
20.56 for this excellent, foreign-stuffed and mildly TLS-y offering. I hesitated over HUE AND CRY partly because the anagram I thought it might be was missing some letters, and partly because in my inner dictionary it’s definitely a specific chasing of a criminal as regulated by the Statute of Winchester in 1285. I’ve never come across it as just raising a fuss. Still, never mind, eh?
I have tried KIMCHI, and Tesco’s sells the stuff. As far as spicy pickled cabbage goes, it’s cabbagy, spicy and pickled, and tastes exactly like that.
My last bit in was the BUY to follow PANIC-. I tried really hard to justify GUN (which might be a thing) but eventually remembered the Covid-sponsored acquisition of loo-rolls, eggs and pasta, when just about he only thing left on shelves was KIMCHI. How we laughed!
I’m inclined to regard “class” as a definition of “ilk” as an illiteracy.
FWIW this is what Wiktionary has to say about ilk:
A type, race or category; a group of entities that have common characteristics such that they may be grouped together.
Usage notes
In modern use, ilk is used in phrases such as of his ilk, of that ilk, to mean ‘type’ or ‘sort.’ It often – though not necessarily – has negative connotations. The use arose out of a misunderstanding of the earlier, Scottish use in the phrase of that ilk, in which it means ‘of the same name or place.’ For this reason, some traditionalists regard the modern use as incorrect. It is, however, the only common current use.
Collins defines ILK as ‘a type; class; sort’.
from the OED: “Originally: family, class, set, or lot, esp. in “of that ilk.”
16.10
Liked “He, when cold” for LIQUID HELIUM and “Korean side” for KIMCHI; disliked “banking” for enclosing (especially as “relier” kept going through my head).
Sting named one of his albums ‘Ten SUMMONER’s Tales’ in reference to the Chaucer and his real name of Gordon Sumner.
LOI CORELLI
COD KIMCHI
16:21
No problems with FILET MIGNON and KIMCHI as I’m a bit of a foodie. CALLIOPE ought to have been, but wasn’t, a write-in as it was almost identically clued as “Name that is embracing artistic work?” in Jumbo 1706 wot I blogged only last week.
This was pretty tough (but high quality). Having failed to get any of the first six acrosses I started on the downs, homed in on the setter’s wavelength and took it from there.
LOI was VIRTUOSI as I couldn’t bring the wretched word to mind.
Slow going but no complaints, even for the several I put in because they had to be but which I couldn’t parse, kicking myself when they were explained. 65 minutes. I was a bit thrown by the spelling of DANTESQUE, which looked wrong — I’d have expected Danteesque — but dictionaries confirm, so I’ve learnt something. Good clues, some (but not all) of which were quite easy.
44 minutes. Slowly as she goes, relying too much on crossing letters for many clues like SUMMONER, DANTESQUE and even the not too difficult LENIN. At the very end I appropriately had an increasing sense of PANIC for 8d, wondering what the two letters above and below the U could possibly be; well and truly misled by the sneaky def.
26:30 – a fun one to end to the year, though the clever definitions – once you saw them – gave the game away pretty quickly so an unusual number went in unparsed.
I loved this puzzle – I found it rewardingly challenging. No idea how long I actually took as it was in two parts – but probably around the 70 minutes mark. Took me a very long time to get started but once I was on the wavelength then I was able to make steady progress. Loved Calliope and Ariadne. I echo all previous mentions about Blackadder and Filet Mignon.
Nuking was last one in – I knew what was required from the start but had the loading the wrong way round was trying to fit the relatives around the weapon.
Great end of term puzzle. Thanks to setter and blogger
A very prosperous New year to everyone. I do not contribute regularly but am here everyday and enjoy everyone’s comments immensely
NW was a slow start. 9a Summoner. Had only ends in R. Cheated; looked at Canterbury Tales entry in Wiki when the remembered Pardoner didn’t parse. I read the Prologue which introduces all the tale tellers in year 8 so must HHO Summoner but totally forgotten. That reading was in 1961-2 so perhaps I can be forgiven. TBH I rather lost interest in Chaucer when there wasn’t a dictionary that worked for his era, and I was supposed to just know that “yclept” = named. Bah! I just about managed to plough thru the Miller’s tale while I was supposed to be on the Prologue….
23a Kimchi dimly remembered, I thought from here, but jackkt tells me otherwise.
15d Hue & Cry, biffed. Could not parse, had the CANED anagrist but never thought of HU(R)RY.
10a Nuking; had the greatly inferior Taking using the crosswordese Gat gun, which delayed 6d Comrade Lenin a while.
ps – anyone know why I have to keep entering name & email?
Has the site logged you out?
Yes, thanks!
9:27. Steady solve, no unknowns (although I would have expected another E in DANTESQUE), no real hold-ups.
The dictionary definitions of KIMCHI are a bit off: the defining preservation process used to make it is fermentation, not pickling, and it’s not necessarily either spicy or made of cabbage. None of which is relevant to the perfectly accurate definition in this puzzle!
From LOUVRE to KIMCHI in 31:33. I didn’t know the latter and the nearest I got to it was LITCHI. I saw the CHI(p) bit but couldn’t bring the novel to mind, so aids were used. Liked LIQUID HELIUM and SINGLE PARENT. The BUY part of 8d took an age to see. PANIC went straight in. Thanks setter and JAck, and Happy New Year to all.
Forgot to mention I knew EUGENE as I have a couple of acquaintances from there who log into my Zoom sessions!
A steady solve with no unknowns, though I was lucky with kimchi, because although I’m no great foodie my local has suddenly gone gastro and things like kimchi and chimichurri are now staples… we bring a suitable dictionary now.
Dantesque didn’t look right though apparently it is.
A good end to the year.
Tough but fair. All done in 44 minutes either side of luncheon. I biffed quite a few on the initial run through and spent most of the time trying to make the parsing work. I agree with others on the more obvious senses of CORELLI and HUE AND CRY, but one rarely (if ever) wins an argument against the dictionaries.
FOI – ILK
LOI – KIMCHI
COD – SICILIAN
Thanks to jackkt and other contributors, and all the best for 2025.
45 mins, all parsed ok but agree about Dantesque – I would say Dante-esque myself – and also don’t care for this use of ilk, which I think of as meaning ‘like’ or ‘same’. (I seem to remember that ‘ilke’ also appears in Chaucer!) Some very clever clues, though: I enjoyed this. one.
Call me thick as a brick but I was stumped. I have been doing The Times crossword since 1954 (I know, I should have finished it by now!) and invariably complete it but, today, apart from 2 dn and 3 dn I couldn’t get anything. I feel a complete idiot – but there it is.
Well, I spent ages staring at it blankly before filling anything in, so perhaps you just needed to give it a little more time!
Can anyone beat 70 years?
Oh, but there certainly is such a thing as being on the setter’s wavelength, and its opposite. I found today a struggle, but got there eventually – however, there is the occasional puzzle that I discover, after failing utterly, that everyone else found delightful and relatively easy!
38:01
I enjoyed battling with this. Perhaps not the smoothest set of surfaces. Lots of GK but the only one I struggled with was Eugene (I’d have preferred Delacroix or the man with the axe).
I liked SICILIAN , SINGLE PARENT and YANKEE.
Thanks to Jack and the setter
50 minutes with LOI/my COD Sicilian.
I’ve had Kimchi in Korea – it’s not to my taste, but at least it helped me today.
I thought this a really nice crossword.
As 2024 bows out, my thanks to all the setters and to the bloggers who put so much into this forum – your efforts are very much appreciated.
39.15 but a DNF. Just couldn’t work out panic buy, nearest I got was panic hub. But enjoyable so happy new year all, including the setter.
DNF. Gave up after 48 minutes, defeated by PANIC BUY. I had gone through all possible words including GUN and HUB, but missed seeing BUY.
SUMMONER vaguely remembered from studying the prologue for O Level half a century ago. Add me to the list of those who thought DANTESQUE needed another E in the middle.
Zapping to me means anything from using a TV remote control, to destroying cancer cells with radiation, so extending it to mean NUKING required a little thought.
Thanks Jack and setter.
Happy new year to everyone.
Distinctly a struggle, with, I have to confess, evenutally using aids for 24d CUE to get past the deadlock of an unfinished SW corner, with 16d and 23a still unsolved. Eventually, SICILIAN came to me, long after I’d thought of ‘sin’. I can’t explain why it didn’t occur to me beforehand. As for the Korean side, I was assuming we were looking for a football team, as I couldn’t think of any Korean food until KIMCHI dropped into my mind – I didn’t actually know it was Korean. I NHO EUGENE either, but at least the clueing was fairly unmistakeable. I found both WRITHE and PLACID very difficult to tease out. But an excellent puzzle overall.
About an hour, perhaps less to finish, as done in two sittings. In the end I fell at the last as 23ac eluded me. I had put in SHECHI only to find that what would have been my LOI SICILIAN didn’t tie in with it. I had to think again and the best I could come up with was XISCHI. I really should have thought of KIM, but there we are.
I managed this in around my average time of 20-25 mins, so not unusually easy or difficult but very enjoyable. KIMCHI and EUGENE I was vaguely aware of rather than knew but the cryptics got me there by which time I recognised them (although all I knew about EUGENE was that it was a place in the US).
I can’t see the word MIGNON now without remembering a garden in the Marais in Paris which had signs indicating the presence of certain plants and animals including TROGLODYTES MIGNON. I knew that MIGNON meant something like small, and the mind boggled at what a small Troglodyte might actually be. In fact it’s the French name for a small bird of the wren family and not a tiny caveman.
The latin name for the wren family is Troglodytidae..
It’s enjoyable to work through a well-set puzzle, like this one, while not being on the setter’s wavelength. Very few biffs, very many pleasant PDMs when the cryptics open up. thanks, setter. nice year-ending blog, jack
28:03
COD: SINGLE PARENT
42.00 on the button. Best wishes to everyone for 2025.