34 minutes, but as I begin to write the blog I have a number of queries as to definitions and parsing. I hope they become clear as I progress. [Edit #1: I think I got most of them eventually. The exceptions being 1ac, possibly, and 18ac. Edit #2: Many thanks to Quadrophenia for pointing out my parsing error at 1ac, and to Kevin Gregg for correcting my answer at 18].
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 now use a tilde sign ~ to indicate an insertion point in containment clues. I usually omit all reference to juxtaposition indicators unless there is a specific point that requires clarification.
 Across |
|
| 1 | Something immune to challenge, customs-wise, landed aboard boat (6,3) |
| SACRED COW – ACRED (landed) contained by [being aboard] SCOW (boat) | |
| 6 | Person with plenty of time dismantled rifle (5) |
| LIFER – Anagram [dismantled] of RIFLE | |
| 9 | Funny mineral found in mountain pass (7) |
| COMICAL – MICA (mineral) contained by [found in] COL (mountain pass) | |
| 10 | Unplait curls for wedding (7) |
| NUPTIAL – Anagram [curls]of UNPLAIT | |
| 11 | Positions spectacles on one’s ears? (5) |
| SITES – Aural wordplay [on one’s ears]: “sights” (spectacles) | |
| 12 | Altercation between boozer and son, a wheeler-dealer? (6,3) |
| BARROW BOY – BAR (boozer), ROW (altercation), BOY (son) | |
| 13 | Mother stopping in city destroyed close relationship (8) |
| INTIMACY – MA (mother) contained by [stopping] anagram [destroyed] of IN CITY | |
| 14 | Solo number from West Side Story missing intro (4) |
| ARIA – {M}ARIA (number from West Side Story) [missing intro] | |
| 17 | Angry god from the east (4) |
| SORE – EROS (god) reversed [from the east] | |
| 18 | Fix data set for digital manager (4,4) |
| NAIL FILE – NAIL (fix), FILE (data set) | |
| 21 | Dictatorship decides pot is malevolent to some extent (9) |
| DESPOTISM – Hidden in [to some extent] {deci}DES POT IS M{alevolent} | |
| 22 | Trifle endlessly, frolicking (5) |
| FLIRT – Anagram [frolicking] of TRIFL{e} [endlessly] | |
| 24 | Articulate sign up for series of talks (7) |
| JOINTED – JOIN (sign up for), TED (series of talks). I have just learnt that TED is an acronym that stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design, and the term “TED Talk” has become a shorthand for short, powerful speeches. | |
| 25 | Drama (TV) where politicians took a stand (7) |
| SOAP BOX – SOAP (drama), BOX (TV set). When UK politicians used to hold meetings in the streets they often stood on soap boxes. John Major became quite famous for doing this. | |
| 26 | Stretch of forest habitat around bits of Thailand (5) |
| BAHTS – Hidden [stretch of] and reversed [around] in {fore}ST HAB{itat}. ‘Bits’ as in currency. | |
| 27 | Shabby, dilapidated home: a tent (4-5) |
| MOTH-EATEN – Anagram [dilapidated] of HOME A TENT | |
| Down |
|
| 1 | Caught half-a-dozen cats (5) |
| SICKS – Aural wordplay [caught]: “six” (half-a-dozen). I’ve heard this expression before, usually in ‘cats up’ | |
| 2 | Wake up, time for school — change, not having cold to get over (4,2,5,4) |
| COME TO TERMS WITH – COME TO (wake up), TERM (time for school), SWIT{c}H (change) [not having cold] | |
| 3 | Might I pass exam, scoring 50 per cent? See you at half-term (6,2) |
| EXCUSE ME – EX{am} [scoring 50 per cent], CU (see you), SEME{ster} (term) [half]. Dear me! | |
| 4 | State where Congress banned a bicycle, bizarrely (8) |
| CELIBACY – anagram [bizarrely] of A BICYCLE | |
| 5 | Rugby score underpinning victory characteristic of season (6) |
| WINTRY – WIN (victory), TRY (rugby score) | |
| 6 | US cops on leave picked up devoted admirer (6) |
| LAPDOG – LAPD (US cops), then GO (leave) reversed [picked up] | |
| 7 | Force freedom in hearing where criminals once hung mischief-maker (15) |
| FLIBBERTIGIBBET – F (force), then aural wordplay [in hearing] LIBBERTI / “liberty” (freedom), GIBBET (where criminals once hung) | |
| 8 | Tie once more, going round course at which most won’t reach finish line? (5,4) |
| RELAY RACE – REL~ACE(tie once more) containing [going round] AYR (racecourse) | |
| 13 | It could be theft of internal post (6,3) |
| INSIDE JOB – INSIDE (internal), JOB (post) | |
| 15 | Monkey to stroll scratching tail in souk? (8) |
| MARMOSET – MOSE{y} (stroll) [scrapping tail] contained by [in] MAR~T (souk). I was distracted for a while when parsing, thinking that ‘souk’ was to be ‘market’. | |
| 16 | Vintage candle, perhaps one separated from candle-holder? (3,5) |
| OLD FLAME – OLD (vintage), FLAME (candle perhaps). The definition refers to the expression in which a person attracted to another is said to hold a candle for them. | |
| 19 | Trade union beset by enemies, one needing Labour in due course (6) |
| FOETUS – TU (trade union) contained [beset] by FOES (enemies) | |
| 20 | Crown land regularly seized by parliament, but not last month (6) |
| DIADEM – {l}A{n}D [regularly] contained [seized] by DI~E{t} (parliament) [but not last], then M (month) | |
| 23 | Reject scripture being brought up — it’s poisonous (5) |
| TOXIN – NIX (reject) + OT (scripture) reversed [brought up] | |
I think ‘landed’ is acred inside scow. And customs-wise part of the definition.
Thought this was going to be quite hard but turned out to be very enjoyable. Had to spell check FLIBBERTIGIBBET. Didn’t parse COME TO TERMS WITH, thanks Jack. Liked BARROW BOY and EXCUSE ME. Thought the clue for JOINTED should have been ‘articulated’ but…
COD to BAHTS for bits of Thailand.
Thanks Jack and setter. .
Many thanks, 1ac now amended. I thought the same as you about ‘articulated’ until the dictionaries convinced me otherwise.
The data set is FILE. Wot Quadrophenia said about SACRED COW.
Ah yes, ‘file’ makes a lot more sense. Thanks, I have amended my error.
I initially wrote flibbertygibbet, which may be an alternate spelling, but had to correct it when I biffed nail file. I did biff quite a few, and if they seemed to work I did not parse them. I did enjoy the parsing of excuse me, which I saw very quickly after I wrote in the obvious answer.
Time: 18:53
I also spelt it with a Y at first. Whilst blogging I checked it as an alternative, but didn’t find it.
Sorry but I am at a loss why sicks means cats, can you enlighten a relative newcomer to the times crossword (although I’m 82!), EDIT thanks I’ve just seen Kevin’s interaction thanks
From the blog I inferred to CAT is to vomit, and presumably SICK can be a verb meaning to vomit. I’d never heard of either, and it’s not in Chambers or Oxford, so I was completely puzzled. Finally found it in Collins, definition 23.
18.22, quick for me. My LOsI included DIADEM, JOINTED and FOETUS, all good clues. Props to Jack for explaining EXCUSE ME and the mystifying MARMOSET where I had neither mosey nor mart.
From Every Grain Of Sand:
I have gone from rags to riches in the sorrow of the night
In the violence of a summer’s dream, in the chill of a WINTRY light
In the bitter dance of loneliness fading into space
In the broken mirror of innocence on each forgotten face
14:13 after falling foul of the ‘prime’ indicator yesterday for a poor start to the week. Quite a few novelties for me here including ‘scow’, ‘acred’, ‘bits’, ‘cats’. Hesitated on MARIA as seemed too obvious, wordplay-wise. Not too sure about ‘on one’s ears’ as a homophone indicator.
[Edit: I realised later I still didn’t understand ‘acred’ – now I see it is an adjective only, as in ‘the landed gentry’.]
Thanks Jack and setter!
29 minutes. I had difficulty parsing the same two as our blogger and have never heard or seen ACRED being used. Identifying the def for 3d and the ‘exam, scoring 50 percent?’ (easy now of course) also took some working out. I was glad to have the crossing letters for the spelling of FLIBBERTIGIBBET. Favourite was FLIRT which would do for me as an &lit which means it probably isn’t!
We have to call the clue for FLIRT an &lit as it is an all-in-one with too much wordplay to be a mere CD. However, as is so often the case and as it seems you noticed, the definition part is not perfect, because, as surely one can have a brief FLIRTation, “endlessly” is not essential.
Yep. Not a great clue. especially with no question-mark to indicate the all-in-one
Never heard of BARROW BOY (a term applied to men, which they may find annoying), which I needed to get my LOI CELIBACY. No complaints!
BARROW BOY has an immediate cultural resonance for Londoners, referring back to when goods were sold (hawked) around the streets. I come from a long line of costermongers on both sides.
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
You probably looked it up in 1968, got the ancillary Barrow Boy, and have just forgotten over time
The song says “Desmond has a barrow in the marketplace.” The phrase BARROW BOY doesn’t occur there.
(Recording sessions for the song were contentious, with McCartney’s perfectionism driving everyone up the wall, and led the recording engineer to quit. Wikipedia: « The lyrics of Harrison’s White Album track “Savoy Truffle” include the lines “We all know Ob-la-di-bla-da / But can you show me where you are?” Like Lennon, Harrison had been vocal in his dislike of “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da”. According to music journalist Robert Fontenot, the reference in “Savoy Truffle” was Harrison’s way of conveying his opinion of McCartney’s song. » Maybe Ringo liked it. “Savoy Truffle” is about gorging on things that are too sweet.)
Didn’t see your reply – when I looked it up back then the full explanation included barrow boy, plus some additional
Such as “Cream Tangerines Montelimar” (I think!)
20.53, better than my average time and an enjoyable solve over breakfast.
FOI LIFER
LOI DIADEM
COD CELIBACY
Thanks J and setter.
Would somebody please put SICKS in context for me please. What has it to do with “cats”?
‘Cat’ is (British) slang for ‘vomit’ (verb).
I’ve never heard it!
Hardly surprising that you had never heard of it; neither had I, nor I suspect the vast majority of the UK population.
According to Google’s AI thingy the use of “cat” as a slang term for vomit is obsolete and has been probably since the end of the eighteenth century.
Irksome clue imho.
I did complete the crossword in about 15 minutes, and enjoyed it, but there were a couple that I couldn’t fully parse – SICKS of course, saw how the wordplay worked but not how it could have anything to do with ‘cats’, and JOINTED, the ‘TED’ bit.
Is it? I’ve never heard of it, and I’ve run the full gamut of vomiting episodes from overdoing it on my eighteenth, doubling down at staff parties for a bit of practice, then several times a year in my time as a student.
But all that’s getting on for forty years ago, and I’m obviously not ‘cool’ anymore. So it must be a modern thing.
25:18 I was held up by misspelling FLIBBERTI(Y)GIBBET too. A word I’d never have come across if I hadn’t known the song “How do you solve a problem like Maria”. Not 100% convinced that FLIRT works.
Had no idea of the spelling of FLIBBERTIGIBBET, also known, as above, from The Sound of Music. Is it coincidental that Maria from another musical makes an appearance today?
13’19”, thanks jack and setter.
17.07 so a bit easier today. Flibbertygibbet nearly did for me till I recognised nail file and corrected my mistake.
15:03 is a PB for me. Bang on wavelength and only stalled at LOI FLIRT which I failed to parse in my hurry to dip under 15.
Unsurprisingly I liked all of it, thanks setter and jackkt.
Just over 20 minutes.
– Didn’t parse SACRED COW beyond the scow bit
– Got SICKS without being entirely sure of that meaning of ‘cats’, though we probably have had it here before
– Didn’t fully parse COME TO TERMS WITH
– Nearly biffed RALLY RACE for 8d before I thought of RELAY RACE, though I still didn’t parse it
Thanks Jack and setter.
FOI Aria
LOI Lapdog
COD Nail file
11:39
Only really delayed by SICKS. The slang meaning of cats has somehow passed me by.
28:58. Nice one, but I made heavy weather of it. My problem with FLIBBERTIGIBBET was the definition rather than the spelling; I thought it was a gadfly rather than a mischief-maker, but there wasn’t much else it could be. LOI DIADEM, COD BARROW BOY.
I arrived at this blog via a search from the remnants of the temporary site, but if it’s all now up and running I’ll see if I can get here properly. Thank you John
I got very confused by the various site moves but delighted to have found all right and ship shape now
A big welcome back from me
didn’t know Acred as landed but see if now! as in property
Strange that it’s no longer deemed necessary to indicate &lit clues with the customary ? or !
As far as I’m aware that’s never been a requirement.
No. But it sort of helps doesn’t it? Otherwise the clue is just suspended in mid-air as an undefined phrase.
Has it ever been? Are you confusing &lits with DBEs?
I would also say that FLIRT is a partial &lit at best, since the def. is the first word only…
Just under 30 mins, and frankly rather surprised to finish this so quickly and indeed at all. I had no idea what was going on with SACRED COW, though clue and crossers made it obvious. Likewise SICKS – NHO that sense. FLIRT seemed odd. I was lucky to see DIADEM quickly – on another day it might have had me baffled for ages/ever.
18 mins.
Cat = vomit (as a verb): see the novel Jill by Philip Larkin. Christopher Warner, an odious Hooray Henry in his first year at Oxford, gets roaring drunk and the following morning, inquires of his timid room-mate, John Kemp: ‘Did I cat?’
Thanks, jack.
I finished, eventually, in 25:37, so respectable for me (#8 in my all time list). Annoyingly, I took around 9 minutes for my LOI, which was 18ac. After failing to see it straight away I noticed (or thought I did, haven’t checked properly) that the puzzle was a pangram, just missing a Z. So I wasted a ton of time trying to fit it in. The only thing I could come up with was SIZE for the second word. When I finally saw it I was extremely annoyed as it wasn’t hard at all. If only I had seen it on the first pass, I’d have got a PB. Ah well…
If you’ve used a V somewhere I’d say you had a DNF.🙂
I clearly didn’t notice the absence of the V either, as I said, I never checked my work on the obviously failed pangram. Had I noticed the V also wasn’t there, that probably would have saved me the bother of that rabbit hole. 🙂
Bit late posting as I couldn’t get in for a while. All OK now. 28 minutes with LOI and COD NAIL FILE. I liked SOAPBOX too.I was grateful for the crossers in spelling FLIBBERTIGIBBET, which I thought was more of a gadfly type of person. Fortunately, it’s not a word `I’ve used. Not too tricky today, Thank you Jack and setter.
Acred and relace both words that seemed at the very edge of things, slowing the solving of SACRED COW and RELAY RACE. Otherwise no problems really. 26 minutes.
Many thanks to John for making this site run smoothly again. I couldn’t get near it yesterday (I tried in the late afternoon) and am surprised to see so many posted.
Agreed. 👏👏
13:55. Nice one. I Biffed FLIBBERTIGIBBET seeing something like LIBERTY in it, but already had NAIL FILE so didn’t have to worry about the alternative spelling (which I didn’t know anyway). Thanks Jackkt and setter.
16.48 A delightful, very wordy crossword which required a lot of lateral thinking. Looking through Jack’s well-worked comments, it’s clear I didn’t parse everything – RELAY RACE, EXCUSE ME and JOINTED in particular, where I got just enough to trigger the entry and made assumptions. TED especially I don’t recognise and assumed it had something to do with Father Ted, which is at least a series.
Quick today, though with one or two not fully parsed, didn’t spot acred = landed for example..
Late posting, only just got in. I am aware that there is heroic (and unpaid) work going on behind the scenes, and have no doubt that things will improve.
Moderate solve today, 25 minutes, ending with the Thai currency and SORE. I left the I or Y space blank in FLIBBERT*GIBBET until I had the crossing letter, as I thought both were possible spellings. FLIRT is a bit dodgy IMO.
Thanks John M for all the techie stuff getting TfTT moved over.
It is fine, provided you don’t mind the first word doing double duty as def. and wordplay too. If you do mind, it’s not fine. whether I mind depends on the day of the week, rather. 🙂
I read the whole thing as the definition. A bit over-elaborate, but perfectly valid.
Really? Endlessly? Frolicking?! Your flirting must be very different to mine (so far as I can recall it!)
I mean you might be! For obvious reasons there is often extraneous material in &Lit definitions so I’m inclined to cut the setters quite a lot of slack. The best ones are of course those where nothing is superfluous.
6:23. No problems today.
I don’t really understand ‘landed’ for ACRED. Both Collins and ODE define the latter as an adjective used in the context of phrases like ‘a many-acred park’ (ODE) or ‘a many-acred farm’, where ‘landed’ is not a valid substitute. Chambers defines ACRED as ‘landed’, but (rather typically for Chambers) without any helpful context.
My elderly NSOED has “possessing landed estates (mostly in comb., as large-acred)”.
It’s true that Burke’s “Acred” Gentry wouldn’t sound quite as impressive as “Landed” K. That sacred volume along with the baronetage and peerage used to be a fixture in the country houses of Britain!
Definition of ‘lifer’ amused me.
I think ‘cat’ meaning vomit came up recently but I haven’t tried to check. Definitely has a 1950s ring to it as per Larkin reference given above.
LOI was ‘come to terms with’. I had first two words entered and parsed fairly quickly but had trouble getting last two words even with all the checkers!
22:43 but one error. With SYCHS instead of SICKS. I did consider the correct answer but didn’t know cats in the vomit context so had a punt at an unknown breed. Cat breeds are far from my strongest subject.
Astonished to see FLIBBERTIGIBBET was correct but I trusted the word play.
Didn’t understand MARMOSET so thanks for the blog but it was the only ape that fitted the checking letters.
Enjoyed RELAY RACE
Cheers setter and blogger
15:32
I wasn’t totally sure about SICKS for ‘Cats’ but the wordplay was obvious and I similarly didn’t try to parse a couple of others whilst solving (SACRED COW, MARMOSET). Otherwise FLIBBERTIGIBBET was the only unknown in an entertaining solve.
Nice to be back on the board having made a stupid error yesterday.
Thanks to both.
Thanks jackkt and setter.
17a Sore, took an age. Didn’t think of Eros as a god although I know he is.
18a LOI Nail file. I had spelt 7d flibbertYgibbet wrongly and didn’t think a nail bYte was a thing.
24a Jointed, NHO TED in any context. Shrugged and moved on.
26a Bahts, I’m not good at hiddens and this was backwards too.
1d Sicks, very good. Delayed me.
2d Come to terms with biffed. Very clever.
29d Diadem biffed.
All green in about one hour, no aids. LOI FLIRT and BAHTS.
Pleased to bang in Flibbertigibbet first time, spelt correctly just after one checker.
NHI SICKS=cats, really don’t understand that one.
COD OLD FLAME
Cat = sick, is definition no. 23 in Collins. ’nuff said ..
but only no. 4 in the full OED
Sailed through this without much trouble until I got breezeblocked with 17a, 26a and the last 2 words of 2d outstanding. After what seemed like an age, BAHTS materialised and after some more pondering, I CaME TO TERMS WITH 2d. Lastly slapped my forehead mteaphorically and typed in SORE. 19:27. Thanks setter and Jack.
16:24
Pretty speedy though various bits passed me by. Some notes:
FLIRT – pencilled in until other clues confirmed this as the answer
TED – I have heard of TED talks, but didn’t know that TED was an acronym until today, so thanks for the enlightenment
BAHTS – LOI and only seen once the H landed and made the hidden more obvious
SICKS = cats? Big shrug
COME TO TERMS WITH – didn’t twig where WITH came from before coming here
EXCUSE ME – missed the SEMEster bit
MARMOSET – completely baffled, had been thinking MARKET rather than MART but obviously couldn’t reconcile it
FLIBBERTIGIBBET – no probs with the spelling – Y would have looked odd
Thanks Jack and setter
16:05 – Eased up considerably after a tricky start in which the NW yielded nothing on first pass. Haven’t we had CAT as vomit fairly recently?
28 minutes. Slow throughout. MARMOSET was an uncomprehending biff and I finished with NAIL FILE. Thanks Jack.
Thought this was a lot harder than yesterday’s but not according to snitch.
Failed as a result of the ‘y’ on FLIBBERTI ( which still doesn’t look right).
Liked the pairing of 4d and 13a but (pace Macguffin) didn’t like 1D.
Back to normal for me, 46:37, after yesterday’s moderately fast time (how is this crossword easier than that one? maybe if you’re British?). A number of NHOs and CNPs, but I had enough checkers to get there. Really liked CELIBACY (and, hmmm, it intersects with INTIMACY) though I imagine it’s probably a chestnut.
Thanks setter and jack.
About 10 today, though I was another to whom cat meaning to be sick was something new.
Poot Tom’s rant in King Lear includes the words “This is the foul fiend Flibbertigibbet. He begins at curfew and walks till the first cock………” Worth reading all of Poor Tom’s words, Martin Amis said they were among the finest prose ever. (Act 3, scene 1).
35 mins and quite enjoyable really despite large amount of inclusion clues. I’ve counted 6!
I liked LIFER, LAPDOG, BARROW BOY & BAHTS but FLIBBERTIGIBBET has to be word of the day.
As others have said, thanks to John for the tireless work on the site.
Ta Jack and setter.
FLIBBERTIGIBBET is a word that we’ve both used a lot (is it a northern thing?) so it went in quickly but sadly we never had to worry about its spelling until today! OLD FLAME ruled out HAND … being the digital manager in NAIL FILE and eventually led us to reconsider the Y we’d used in the F word. That was our major hold up, otherwise we flew through by our norms for a 15 x 15 and still finished in 24:34. Enjoyed the whole a lot.
PB for me slightly delayed by not being sure about Sicks, til i remembered from my father, ‘quick quick, the cats been sick! Etc! Not a clue exactly but it gave me the confidence to put it in! Good fun, Cx
23 minutes without error or aids. But it was in two bites. Stalled by 22, 23 and 25, returned after lunch to polish them off in a few minutes. NHO SICKS in the sense of vomits, tempted to say it had never come up before. And is it me, or is the MARMOSET a regular visitor? Enjoyed CELIBACY – well not literally.
A rare pleasure to not only finish successfully but also to access this page to crow about it after a frustrated attempt yesterday.
Thanks to a relatively kind setter and to jackkt.
20:31
Delayed at the end by never having heard of cats=sicks.
COD NAIL FILE.
Thanks Jack and setter
I remembered ‘cats’ from Stalky and Co. It’s what they do after smoking a cheroot. I was more worried about SICKS as a verb.
Fun puzzle that took me 22 minutes, my fastest in a while.
Of course I can spell FLIBBERTIGIBBET :
F L I I – whoops! The typos have got beyond a joke over the past fortnight – the leaderboard shows over a third of my puzzles were afflicted (though I do have two genuine errors in the past few days).
Done in 6:40 so all the more irritating, and the cause of a couple of utterances that won’t find their way into these puzzles.
I particularly enjoyed CELIBACY (but only in the puzzle) and LAPDOG.
Failed to get FLIRT and OLD FLAME but otherwise completed within 22 mins. I also went for the wrong spelling of FLIBBERTIGIBBET to begin with and NHO that meaning of ‘cats’.
Thanks for hold a candle for, jack. I’m always pleased when the puzzle brings a word like Cats, one which is in my memory but not readily available for use, to the forefront ready for conversation bombing over the next week or two.
There’s also SIC for SET A DOG ON, but that’s another story. Clue idea: GET DOG TO ATTACK CAT WITH MOUTH (3). 21’53”. Many thanks for work on site.