Time: 25 minutes. As reflected in my solving time, today we revert to the more traditional Tuesday puzzle on the easier side after last week’s offering caused some dissent in the ranks.
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.
Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, deletions and [] other indicators.
 Across |
|
|---|---|
| 1 | Spend little — pence on tough fabric (6) |
| SCRIMP – SCRIM (tough fabric), P (pence). ODE: Scrim – strong, coarse fabric, chiefly used for heavy-duty lining or upholstery. | |
| 4 | Whale’s smell attracting wolves round beach, every one going (8) |
| HUMPBACK – HUM (smell), P~ACK (wolves) containing B{each} [every one going] | |
| 10 | Popular film star is lead item, No.1 in play (7,4) |
| MATINEE IDOL – Anagram [in play] of LEAD ITEM NO 1 | |
| 11 | Gobble up something vegan leaves unstarted (3) |
| EAT – {m}EAT (something vegan leaves) [unstarted] | |
| 12 | Wrap the thing in a lot of earth (7) |
| BURRITO – IT (the thing) contained by [in] BURR~O{w} (earth) [a lot of…] | |
| 14 | Lettuce head eaten by deer (7) |
| ROMAINE – MAIN (head) contained [eaten[ by RO~E (deer) | |
| 15 | What returning space capsules can do is not much of a contribution (4,2,3,5) |
| DROP IN THE OCEAN – A cryptic hint precedes the literal | |
| 17 | Irregularity where son follows soldiers in red on manoeuvres (14) |
| DISORDERLINESS – Anagram [on manoeuvres] of SOLDIERS IN RED, then S (son) | |
| 21 | Extreme point on board? Quickly move mine back (4,3) |
| WING TIP – WING (quickly move), then PIT (mine) reversed [back] | |
| 22 | President Henry accepting current success (7) |
| TRIUMPH – TR~UMP (President) + H (Henry) containing [accepting] I (current) | |
| 23 | Vegetable growing medium’s running short (3) |
| PEA – PEA{t} (growing medium)’s [running short] | |
| 24 | He declared a criminal rational (5-6) |
| CLEAR-HEADED – Anagram [criminal] of HE DECLARED A | |
| 26 | Wary about time tailing bird in covert (8) |
| STEALTHY – S~HY (wary) containing [about] TEAL (bird) + T (time) | |
| 27 | Country ignoring former prime minister’s limitations (6) |
| ISRAEL – {D}ISRAEL{i} (former prime minister) [ ignoring … limitations] | |
| Down |
|
|---|---|
| 1 | So do be my madly significant person (8) |
| SOMEBODY – Anagram [madly] of SO DO BE MY | |
| 2 | Rubbish mostly ripped up (3) |
| ROT – TOR{n} (ripped) [mostly] reversed [up] | |
| 3 | Island people with island beachwear garment (7) |
| MANKINI – MAN (island), KIN (people), I (island) | |
| 5 | Civil servant short of confidence fairly regularly (14) |
| UNDERSECRETARY – UNDER (short), SECRET (confidence), {f}A{i}R{l}Y [regularly]. A senior position in the Civil Service, but not as high up as a Permanent Secretary. | |
| 6 | Verbal attack from European Marxists’ leader in charge (7) |
| POLEMIC – POLE (European), M{arxists’} [leader], IC (in charge) | |
| 7 | Large growth of transatlantic railroad supported by millions (8,3) |
| AMERICAN ELM – AMERICAN (transatlantic), EL (railroad), M (millions) | |
| 8 | Equipment to bag up litter may include this (6) |
| KITTEN – KIT (equipment) then NET (bag) reversed [up] | |
| 9 | Style of writing they said could introduce it (8,6) |
| REPORTED SPEECH – Another cryptic hint in support: ‘They said’ could introduce it | |
| 13 | Freshly adapt and consider taking in east repeatedly (11) |
| REORIENTATE – R~ATE (consider) containing [taking in] E + ORIENT (east repeatedly) | |
| 16 | Adolphe’s upset Lily (8) |
| ASPHODEL – Anagram [upset] of ADOLPHE’S | |
| 18 | Sight’s best when mass is invisible around speed of light (7) |
| OPTICAL – M (mass) in OPTI{m}AL (best) becomes invisible and is replaced by C (the speed of light) | |
| 19 | Old company head’s unfriendly attitude (7) |
| ICINESS – ICI (old company – Imperial Chemical Industries, defunct 2008), NESS (headland) | |
| 20 | Initially suspect more than one cleaner steals (6) |
| SWIPES – S{uspect} [initially}, WIPES (more than one cleaner) | |
| 25 | A factor in inherited nature (3) |
| DNA – Hidden [in] {inherite}D NA{ture} | |
11:32 to continue the good start to the week. Clearly I wasn’t fully awake as I started by confidently parsing SCRIMP as S + CRIMP. WING TIP is what took me the longest; undone by thinking about chessboards, dartboards and ships for too long, and nearly went with WIND TIP. I hope MANKINI doesn’t stick around forever, although Borat was in the NY Times today as one of the many films influenced by Rob Reiner’s Spinal Tap. Talking of the NYT, very minor eyebrow raise at DNA, as that’s the kind of abbreviation/initialism I’d more expect to see in their crossword.
Thanks Jack and setter.
24:15
POI BURRITO & LOI REPORTED SPEECH held me up for some time. I just couldn’t think of REPORTED for some reason; stuck at ‘indirect’. Like Dr. Shred, I was surprised to see DNA, although I suppose we’ve had initialisms before.
Took far too long to see DISORDERLINESS and biffed REPORTED SPEECH, but didn’t know it’s meaning. Thought WING TIP was clever. Liked the parsing of HUMPBACK and ISRAEL. COD to OPTICAL for having to know E=MC2.
Thanks Jack and setter.
Sorry, Q, but I’ve deleted the reference to an answer in today’s QC as some may not have solved it yet.
I did not find this that easy. While many were obvious, a few were not. I was strangely slow on American Elm, and just could not come up with burrito and reported speech for the longest time.
I suppose Imperial Chemical Industries will live on as long as Beerbohm Tree!
Time: 30:35
I’m hoping the well-deserved FIFA peace prize winner who features prominently today will get involved between Salah and Slot
15mins
A few of these proved very tough for me to crack and took me past the half hour. Culprits included ROMAINE, WING TIP, REPORTED SPEECH and LOI REORIENTATE. Enjoyable puzzle, thanks Jack.
From Up To Me:
There’s a note left in the bottle, you can give it to Estelle
She’s the one you’ve been wondering about, but there’s really nothing much to tell
We both heard voices for a while, now the rest is history
SOMEBODY’s got to cry some tears, I guess it must be up to me
45 minutes. I was doing well until I hit the two long anagrams and like Lindsay ROMAINE, WING TIP, REORIENTATE and especially my LOI REPORTED SPEECH. I’d never heard of it as a ‘Style of writing’ but in frustration I just bunged what I thought was a green paint answer.
All in all, not a v. satisfying solve but mea culpa, not our setter.
Thanks to Jack
37 minutes. LOI REPORTED SPEECH as for others. Why does railroad = EL please?
EL is a US term for elevated railway or railroad. I only know it from crosswords.
Thanks – another school day .
I only know the “L” (not “El”) from Chicago (and the “T” in Boston).
American space capsules were designed to drop in the ocean. The Russian/Soviet ones finish their descents from orbit on land.
The clue uses the word “can”, which is probably ok, but I’m not sure whether the Russian ones would float….
14.00
The long crossers should have made it easier, but didn’t entirely. I liked ‘east repeatedly’ in COD REORIENTATE, ‘Extreme point on board’ in LOI WING TIP not so much.
I’ve now got Echo & the Bunnymen’s ‘The Cutter’ back as my earworm, having just dislodged it after a play on BBC R6M at the weekend.
I’m a fan of the song!
I’m a fan of the song!
However whenever I see SOMEBODY, for a significant person, one of my favourite books, The Diary of a Nobody comes to mind.
43 minutes with LOI STEALTHY. COD to DROP IN THE OCEAN. A pleasantly steady solve. Thank you JAck and setter.
9:50. No dramas, although I wasn’t very happy with WING TIP: WING is a little oblique for ‘quickly move’ and I’m not sure the end of a wing qualifies as ‘on board’ an aeroplane, assuming that is the intended reference. Loose enough to make me unsure of the answer but I couldn’t think of anything else.
Might the wing be on a chessboard? Not a chess person but the term is used a lot in footie.
Hmm, that would require the WING TIP of a chessboard to be a thing, which I doubt.
20:26. I enjoyed having an easier one as opposed to last week’s battle. Thanks for the explanation of EL, I did a brief alphabet trawl to try and check it couldn’t be anything else, but hadn’t heard of American Elm.
14’47”, no issues. We had BURRITO last week. Nho AMERICAN ELM.
Thanks jack and setter.
25 minutes.
– Didn’t know (or had forgotten) scrim as a coarse fabric, but it sounded plausible for SCRIMP
– Biffed EAT and never figured out exactly how it worked
– Took ages to get ISRAEL even with all the checkers, as my Prime Minister trawl didn’t go back as far as Disraeli
Thanks Jack and setter.
FOI Rot
LOI Israel
COD Clear-headed
38 mins so standard fare today. Last two in, ICINESS & TRIUMPH for some reason. I managed to get most of the long ones early on which helped and I quite enjoyed them.
Same MER as others at WING for quickly move, but it is probably ok.
Thanks Jack and setter.
All very easy except I could only guess at “EL”, has the list of acceptable abbreviations been expanded to include ones not used in the UK? And how is the three-letter “word” “DNA” to be pronounced? Dnarr perhaps? Thanks for the blog.
“El” is not an abbreviation. It’s a short form of “elevated [railway, railroad],” sure, but a word on its own.
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/el
OK, thanks, a general knowledge failure on my part!
33 mins of breeze block. Thought I was on for a PB or at least a comfortable sub-20 until REORIENTATE floored me. Couldn’t make head nor tail of it, clever clue though.
The NHO writing style and the SW in general were slightly chewy but most was a decidedly easy romp.
Thanks Jackkt and setter.
Quick again today, LOI wing tip, but no complaints, just too fixated on chess, tables etc. I saw that 16dn was an anagram straight away, but couldn’t resolve it until the terminal L arrived..
No problem with wing: “to cause to fly or move swiftly. Eg, to wing an arrow” (Collins)
Enjoying these straightforward ones, I prefer breakfast time not to be an extended tussle of wits..
27:31
On the easier side.
Thanks, jack.
35.28, slowed down by clumsy biffing (eg REDUPLICATE instead of REORIENTATE – I saw “taking in” and leapt to “dupe”). I share what appears to be a general sniffiness about EL = railroad.
FOI SOMEBODY
LOI HUMPBACK
COD ISRAEL
Thanks Jack and setter
WOE. I whizzed through most of this in under 10 mins. Got stuck on REORIGINATE and WEST TIP (winner of the Grand National) ….. because they were wrong! Finally saw the correct answers and completed in 11:41. But I had BORRITO for BURRITO. Same error as recently I think. WOE is me!
COD: CLEAR HEADED
32:02 which would have been 15 minutes quicker if I had not convinced myself that DART TIP could not possibly be wrong, making the SW corner quite the slog. Finally SWIPES came to me and it all fell into place. The nho lily was the only apprehension when clicking submit.
Joining the REPORTED SPEECH as the LOI club. Thanks jackkt for explaining it as I didn’t have a clue.
COD UNDERSECRETARY
Thanks blogger and setter
22:06
A shade underwhelmed, having no idea about AMERICAN ELMs, nor about EL = Elevated Railway. Another that left me a little cold was WING for ‘Move fast’ – I suspect it’s in a dictionary somewhere, but I wasn’t aware of any common usage. Having not started well, nothing in the top half initially, built out from the SE corner and finished well inside my target for a Snitch of 103 (36.5 minutes).
Thanks Jack and setter
15.55. My last in was the whale, worried that it was a word I’d never heard of akin to ambergris. A flash of inspiration came up with HUM, but in truth I only realised that “every one” gave the deleted EACH after submission.
For the seasonal benefit of those unsure of a speedy WING: “Angels from the realms of glory wing your flight o’er all the earth”. You’re welcome, even if they also “bend on hovering wing” elsewhere!
Yes, I like to think of the angels winging it.
27:00 I enjoyed this and found it tougher than yesterday. Got all the long ones quickly but took a long time over PEA and WING TIP. Never heard of the tree; before the crossers arrived I toyed with AMERICAN PIE (apart from the song, is there such a thing?)
COD REPORTED SPEECH
Thanks to Jack and the setter
Steady but not fast today, 31 minutes ending with the WING- bit. Nice anagrams. So an American Elm is bigger than a UK elm? That’s today’s USA for you.
All was going very quickly it seemed until I became utterly bogged down in the SW corner. A few that I didn’t understand and had to come here for, and REORIENTATE for some reason held me up. WING TIP not very easy I thought: ‘on board’ weak? MER at DNA as (3) but we’ve has TV DINNER as (2,7) before. 47 minutes.
Despite the many MERs we must have had lots of these before. We’ve certainly had FAQs (4), USA (3) and CT SCAN (2,4). We were at least granted (1,1,5) for TS Eliot when he appeared
Me finishing it in under an hour without aids is the very definition of ‘on the easier side’, as was the case today. What I found frustrating is having to guess at an anagram as I had to for the NHO Asphodel which I luckily got right. A better clue would give me a chance at working it out.
Thank Jack and setter.
DNF as I needed aids for the last couple at 30 mins, but very much enjoyed. Puzzled by WING, didn’t know REPORTED SPEECH, and when I googled ‘EL RAILROAD’ I got “The Erie Lackawanna Railway (reporting mark EL)” which I thought was very obscure indeed, so thanks for the far-more-reasonable ‘elevated’ explanation, Jack!
My thanks to jackkt and setter.
I didn’t find it that easy… but in retrospect most was pretty straightforward apart from a few NHOs.
1a Scrimp, HHO scrim but it wouldn’t come to mind and I didn’t know what it is.
4a Humpback, couldn’t work out what was required until Doh!
14a Romaine, NHO (AFAIK) and needed all the crossers.
21a Wing Tip, not available as 2 words in Wiktionary (nor in Cheating Machine, added.)
22a Triumph, DOH! The easiest pres of all to bring to mind. Not that I’m a fan. Why did it take so long?
27a Israel, same problem as The Donald; a gimme but I didn’t think of Benjamin.
7d American Elm, NHO. I am a bit dim really; when I went to Chicago age maybe 40 Mrs F gave me a book based in the city and I wondered on the plane “what is the El?” and “what is a Beemer?” (I had a BMW at the time.) We are divided by a language in common as Winston C mentioned.
16d Asphodel, not that it matters but according to Wiki these have been removed from lilies and put in their own bucket. Good clue. And it caused me to look into the (not relevant) novel Adolphe.
25d DNA. I thought it would be kinder to call it (1,1,1) but I suppose that would make it too easy. I was looking in vain for a gimme at the time. Now I think about it would (1,1,1) come out as D N A with spaces?
From SCRIMP to STEALTHY in 17:55. A gentle offering. Had TIP long before WING, but no quibbles with it. DROP IN THE OCEAN was a write in, but REPORTED SPEECH needed a lot of crossers. Thanks setter and Jack.
Our AMERICAN ELM was wiped out (along with almost all the others in N America) by Dutch elm disease – the fungus was Dutch, not the elm. I was confused by “scrim” for the tough fabric because I’d always thought of it as the transparent gauze theatre curtain. There’s a famous one onstage at Lincoln Center right now which is lit through as the audience first sees the Christmas party leading into the Nutcracker ballet.
I interviewed a guy years ago who had been employed by British Leyland trucks before the company was taken over by DAF, the Dutch automaker. He described the subsequent decline of the combined entity as being due to Dutch Helm Disease.
😀
14:30 – the elm was the only uncertainty, never having heard of EL for elevated railway, but it seemed unlikely to be a sort of yam and there was nothing else I could think of. Otherwise fairly straightforward.
I’m another who zipped through a lot of this before getting bogged down in the SW, with REORIENTATAE my LOI by some margin. Finished up in 23:42, with a feeling that any struggles at the end were my fault rather than increased difficulty from the setter, so happy to be proved somewhat wrong. Thanks setter and Jack.
Finished in about 25′ this morning before rushing to the 1st tee. Fairly straightforward but had to do it on the horrible main puzzle page as the crossword club did not load, I should claim an extra few minutes for that handicap..
Strangely couldn’t parse PEA(t), nor REPORTED SPEECH, and needed all the setters to manufacture ASPHPODEL. Also for some reason I was convinced the lettuce was spelt as ROMAIgNE.
Anyhows, thanks Jack and setter.
Another lunchtime solve and no errors, unlike today’s QC.
Quite a few unparsed like LOI EAT. WING TIP produced a frown.
Anyway, confidence restored and quite a lot to like in this including ROMAINE.
David
Always envious of folks hereabouts who whip through these in under 10 mins, but today I was one of them – for once. A huge biff-fest, with some remarkably easy ones that wrote themselves in on sight.
I found most of it easy, but not all of it and didn’t complete it in the time available. I’m a bit cross about the four that I gave up on as two of them were very gettable (BURRITO, STEALTHY); I’d have needed more checkers than I had to get REORIENTATE – I was barking up a very wrong tree with that one, looking for an anagram. As for REPORTED SPEECH, again, I’d have needed more checkers – is reported speech a STYLE of writing?
40 mins of toil. Just couldn’t get into this. Guessed american elm , no idea about EL for railway. LOI wing tip having finally worked out swipes and reorientate.
Definitely not my finest hour( almost).
25:13. LOI STEALTHY. I liked DROP IN THE OCEAN
E.E. Cummings (as he signed his name—not how it is too frequently styled):
plato told
him:he couldn’t
believe it(jesus
told him;he
wouldn’t believe
it)lao
tsze
certainly told
him, and general
(yes
mam)
sherman;
and even
(believe it
or
not)you
told him:i told
him; we told him
(he didn’t believe it, no
sir)it took
a nipponized bit of
the old sixth
avenue
el;in the top of his head :to tell
him
I was on for a pretty quick time until I was stuck in the sw corner. I was so convinced DART TIP was correct, it took me some time to reconsider, and even then I solved SWIPES independently allowing me to finish up with WING TIP. I think the fact that the World Darts Championship currently being aired on tv may have coloured my judgement. Still a reasonable time of 29.32, but should have been a good deal quicker.
Surely we’ve had EL for railway loads of times. I certainly knew it, though I can never remember if it’s EL for Elevated or EL as in the letter. Like Duke Ellington’s ‘A’ train. Now I know. Until I forget again. I didn’t find any particular difficulty there and completed in 15’12”. Second time in a week for BURRITO, so once again: let’s hear it for the great country-rock sound of Gram Parsons with the Flying Burrito Brothers.
I was beaten by Reoriented, looking for an anagram. Nice clue, in retrospect.
I assumed that EL must stand for Eastern Line!
Still enjoyed the puzzle despite my DNF with my COD to Iciness.
Why is burrow synonymous with earth? I’m sure I’m being thick but I cannot see it.
I think it’s earth as in an animal’s den/lair/hideout.
Thanks Wil but I’m still not seeing it as being synonymous. As I said I’m sure it’s me but I cannot think of a sentence where they are interchangeable.
Saying an animal is in its burrow isn’t the same as saying it’s in the earth. It could be of course but it’s not always.
Cheers
G
But it’s not the earth, it’s just earth. So taking your example, an animal is in its burrow can be interchangeable with an animal is in its earth. Both are terms for a hole in the ground in which certain animals may live. An earth would usually be inhabited by a fox or a badger, although other terms may also be used depending on the creature.
A minor point: an ‘EL’/‘el’ – an elevated railway as noted – is clued by “railway supported” not just “railway” (and while “transatlantic” is doing its own work with ‘American’, it’s also contributing to that definition rather than being completely separate?)…
Cheers
I’m afraid I was screwed at the end because although I still think that “DART TIP” is a better answer to 21 across, writing it in spoiled my SW corner 🙁