50 minutes. I solved all the LH side and half-a-dozen answers RH in 30 minutes but then ground to a halt before making progress slowly picking off the remainder one by one. 6, 8, 10, 12 16 and 19 gave me particular problems, but having solved them eventually I can’t see why they should have. For all that, I really enjoyed this puzzle and was very pleased to finish without resorting to aids as I had been beginning to fear at one point.
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 Caret 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 | Run from large snake (6) |
| LADDER – L (large), ADDER (snake) | |
| 5 | Left family member’s nursing home (8) |
| SINISTER – S⁁ISTER (family member) containing [nursing] IN (home) | |
| 9 | During trial it must establish critical indicator of success (6,4) |
| LITMUS TEST – Hidden in [during] {tria}L IT MUST EST{ablish} | |
| 10 | Bird missing front bit of foot (4) |
| INCH -{f}INCH (bird) [missing front]. I wasted ages thinking of the wrong type of foot! | |
| 11 | State failure over university essentially buried (8) |
| MISSOURI – MISS (failure), O (over), U (university), {bu}RI{ed{ [essentially] | |
| 12 | Relax earl beset by very painful condition (3,3) |
| VEG OUT – E (earl) contained [beset] by V (very) ⁁ GOUT (painful condition). I got to this after thinking first of PEG OUT which didn’t quite fit the wordplay and would have been a bit too relaxed! | |
| 13 | Writer’s guild met periodically (4) |
| GIDE – G{u}I{l}D {m}E{t} [periodically]. André Gide 1869–1951. | |
| 15 | Protestant man hared after boor, dropping ring (8) |
| LUTHERAN – L{o}UT (boor) [dropping ring], HE (man), RAN (hared) | |
| 18 | Anxious to have son in the lead for cushy job (8) |
| SINECURE – INSECURE (anxious) with S (son) moving into the lead gives us SINECURE | |
| 19 | Dance with heretic, but not bishop (4) |
| REEL – RE{b}EL (heretic) [but not bishop] | |
| 21 | Party to put back election (6) |
| BALLOT – BALL (party) then TO reversed [put back] | |
| 23 | Foolish European climber nearly slipping on ice at first (8) |
| IMBECILE – I{ce} [at first], then anagram [slipping] of E (European) + CLIMBE{r} [nearly] | |
| 25 | Distinguished singer against plugging charity, having retired (4) |
| DIVA – V (against – versus] contained by [plugging] A⁁ID (charity) reversed [having retired] | |
| 26 | Quietly looking embarrassed, journalist accepts penalty set in advance (10) |
| PREDEFINED – P (quietly), RED (looking embarrassed), E⁁D (journalist) contains [accepts] FINE (penalty) | |
| 27 | Possibly heading for a fall, not prepared to make king saint (8) |
| UNSTEADY – UNREADY (not prepared) makes R (king) into ST (saint) to become UNSTEADY | |
| 28 | Popular story remaining unverified on purpose (6) |
| LEGEND – LEG (on – cricket), END (purpose) | |
| Down |
|
|---|---|
| 2 | Defence of Area 51 not straight (5) |
| ALIBI – A (area), LI (51), BI (not straight) | |
| 3 | Obstruct American act in part of Middle Eastern city (9) |
| DAMASCENE – DAM (obstruct), A (American), SCENE (act in part – part of an act in a play) | |
| 4 | Suggestive question stops salary increase (6) |
| RISQUE – QU (question) is contained by [stops] RIS⁁E (salary increase) | |
| 5 | Eyes parcel, livid about courier service (7,8) |
| SPECIAL DELIVERY – Anagram [about] of EYES PARCEL LIVID | |
| 6 | Origin of new carbon-free business (8) |
| NATIVITY – N (new), A{c}TIVITY (business) [carbon-free] | |
| 7 | This person informed nurses taking legal action (5) |
| SUING – SUNG (informed) contains [nurses] I (this person) | |
| 8 | Support shut up about old United manager in the end (9) |
| ENCOURAGE – ENC⁁AGE (shut up) containing [about] O (old) + U (united) + {manage)R [in the end] | |
| 14 | Check that line’s removed from copy (9) |
| IMITATION – {l}IMITATION (check) [that line’s removed from] | |
| 16 | Improving the quality of river feature restricting current in England (9) |
| ENRICHING – R (river) ⁁ CHIN (feature) containing [restricting] I (current), all contained by [in] EN⁁G (England) | |
| 17 | Prevent vicar regularly touring topless bar in unsightly development (8) |
| SUBTOPIA – S⁁TOP (prevent) + {v}I{c}A{r} [regularly], containing [touring] {p}UB (bar) [topless] | |
| 20 | In flipping wellies, bafflingly descend with control (6) |
| ABSEIL – Reversed [flipping] and hidden [in] {wel}LIES BA{fflingly} | |
| 22 | Thin and tense, had a rest (5) |
| LEANT – LEAN (thin), T (tense) | |
| 24 | Continue to sleep with porky Italian on vacation (3,2) |
| LIE IN – LIE (porky – pie / CRS), I{talia}N [on vacation] | |
Broadly similar experience. Left hand side went in very quickly but then frustrated by some of the clues you mention, in particular ENRICHING where I tried to make ‘enhancing’ work. Always an unpredictable business what one sees immediately and what one can be held up by even when the construction is not particularly egregious.
A lovely Tuesday puzzle. Similar hold-ups to our blogger with VEG OUT being my second-last one in after also considering ‘peg out’, which didn’t parse. That then gave me NATIVITY, which I thought was a great clue. Sadly, I missed SUBTOPIA even with all the checkers as it was a NHO and didn’t quite get the wordplay to figure it out. COD to DAMASCENE. Jack, you need ST for UNSTEADY.
Thanks Jack and setter.
Thanks, I’ve added the missing T.
I biffed subtopia as my LOI without a clue to the parsing – all correct by dumb luck. I did appreciate the clever clue for alibi, and solved enriching from the cryptic without seeing what word the answer was – look what I found!
Time: 28:05
If I had ever heard of SUBTOPIA I might have finished in 25, but I hadn’t so I didn’t. That’s a DNF but it was a fun journey, thanks Jack.
From Tryin’ To Get To Heaven:
When I was in MISSOURI, they would not let me be
I had to leave there in a hurry, I only saw what they let me see
You broke a heart that loved you
Now you can seal up the book and not write anymore
I’ve been walking that lonesome valley
Trying to get to heaven before they close the door
That’s a great song. Used to sing it with the guitar I haven’t picked up for years. That A minor chord with the F sharp on the fifth line (“You broke a heart that loved you”)…!
Well that sent me scurrying…quite a strange chord pattern but it sounds fabulous on the old Gibson. Great song, great album.
Am6 then?
Well, the F# is on the low E string. The chord is marked in the chart as Am/F#.
Speaking of Heaven, you might be interested in today’s ‘Beyond Belief’ programme on R4 entitled ‘The Gospel According to Bob’, about Dylan’s religious jourmeying.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002wj7m
(Also, BBC4 are holding a Dylan Night this Friday, pror to his 85th birthday on Sunday.)
I always have a look at BBC4 on a Friday to what they’re dishing up (after the TOTP reruns!)
Hopefully not that clip of him duetting with Joan Baez again. Both great on their own but an awful caterwauling together.
And speaking of songs, there’s very little that will attract me to Europe from (peaceful) Patagonia at the moment, but this did: https://en.mercopress.com/2026/05/13/patagonian-tragedy-to-be-remembered-at-london-s-royal-albert-hall
I deserted Bob temporarily when he got God, but then I heard Every Grain of Sand and realised it was my loss, not his. That harmonica!
I’ve never heard of SUBTOPIA but managed to piece it together anyway. Similar expereince to others in doing the LHS quite fast and struggling on the RHS. My LOI was LEGEND because I thought it was some sort of cryptic definition and didn’t see the wordplay. It took getting ABSEIL for me to be pretty certain. Nice crossword without a lot of obscurities.
I enjoyed this, and kept myself otherwise distracted (the last Monday for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert!) as the last answers slowly came to light.
LOI SUBTOPIA.
I’ve read one book by André GIDE, when a neighbor left a paperback copy of l’Immoraliste on the stoop for the taking. The protagonist’s vaunted, though never frankly confessed, immorality is in sexual dallying with the local boys in northern Africa, where he is, unbeknownst to his wife and as only eventually surmised by his readers, a sexual tourist. I found it somewhat creepy. And I was, of course, reading the original, not a bowdlerized translation.
According to what I just read in Wiki
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Gide
that sounds autobiographical.
He was indeed an avowed pederast. Quite open about it. More than the character in that book.
Very quick until last two, SINECURE was on the tip of my brain but I couldn’t recall it, and NHO SUBTOPIA. I saw the STOP I A and tried to shoehorn in DYSTOPIA. Finally read and parsed the clue, and the U brought out SINECURE.
Like DIVA, IMBECILE where the angagram was unexpected, and SPECIAL DELIVERY.
2 short.
NHO SUBTOPIA, and spent time on the Bustopia web site, who convert double decker buses to glamping units. I had the STOP in the wrong place, and thought it would be something dystopian.
With ENG working with the N at the end, couldn’t get ENRICHING work. I still find chin=feature an odd pairing. Stuck on ENHANCING for a long time.
There was a saint called St John Damascene. As a choirboy I must have remembered him, he wrote such bangers as “Come ye faithful raise the strain” and “The Day of Resurrection”. Next up St John Chrysostom.
Liked this one, it has some very neat surfaces and overall concise clueing. I liked the LITMUS TEST and the LIE-IN best. I biffed subtopia; failed to fully parse it, but it was obviously going to end IA, so ..
36 minutes. I sat staring at my LOI 17d before coming up with the NHO SUBTOPIA as a plausible parsing, so in it went, though with no certainty it would turn out to be correct. Luck was on my side and I’ll probably pay later this week. I liked DAMASCENE, another crosswordy sort of word.
You know you’ve done too many cryptic crosswords when… you see ‘foot’ in a clue and immediately think of poetry, with daylight second and the body part and unit of measurement well behind in third and fourth place.
Thanks to Jack and setter
You would come across Damascene if you are into decorated shotguns (as I once was) or swords. Maybe not otherwise!
Yes, I’ve seen DAMASCENE in that sense but, not being a weapons collector, only in crosswords and not the real world.
One always spoke of damascene conversions (like St Paul)…but perhaps that’s for the older solvers..
Foot = daylight?? Am I missing something? I agree about poetry and then ‘pedestal’ for me before the obvious…
Australiansims… like when Secretariat ran in that race winning by 31 lengths: Secretarit frst, daylight second, … some other horse third.
Oh, I see… Never heard that before…
16.40
Excellent! (I think I’m starting to get the hang of these new-fangled unorthodox word-order clues.)
Biffed a few, guessed a couple. I liked INCH, a strange sort of semi-&lit.
LOI MISSOURI
COD ALIBI
19:49 Another one with very similar experiences to the blogger with the NE corner accounting for atleast half that time.
I had heard of SUBTOPIA though, with green belt development very much the hot local issue, it does get used a lot in the comments of locals on social media.
Favourite today INCH (yes a fell for the trick before the penny dropped)
Thanks blogger and setter.
21:47. Several minutes spent on ENRICHING and REEL alone. SUBTOPIA also took its time. NHO GIDE or SUBTOPIA, but gentle cluing.
Other than those, this was relatively straightforward. An enjoyable mid-weeker. Given the time I took on ENRICHING and REEL, I think I parsed everything in flight to make sure I hadn’t made any errors.
COD to ENRICHING for the nice surface.
DNF, defeated by SUBTOPIA. I thought ‘topless bar’ was giving (s)top, so spent ages looking for a three-letter word meaning ‘prevent’ that fitted _U_ to go before ‘topia’ before giving up.
– Missed that LITMUS TEST was a hidden
– Not sure I’ve ever come across VEG OUT in the wild so trusted the wordplay for that
– Also didn’t know / had forgotten GIDE
Thanks Jack and setter.
COD Predefined
About 30′. Different experience than others as it was the SW corner which held me up (again for no discernable reason once solved), though the “P” in pEG OUT was also a hindrance.
NHO of SUBTOPIA but I was able to construct it and haven’t seen IMBECILE as an adjective but it worked.
Nice hidden for LITMUS TEST.
Thanks Jack and setter
At 18A, I thought I could make a case for either INSECURE or SINECURE. Fortunately went for the right one.
My thanks to jackkt and setter.
I got stuck for a while in the SE.
12a Veg Out. Not a phrase often on my lips.
13a Gide. I thought NHO but he is in Cheating Machine so he must have come up before.
28a Legend. Didn’t see “on” so the leg remained unexplained. On seems to be doing double duty?
8d Encourage. Is encage a word? Yes, and already in C.M.
‘Purpose’ = END leaving ‘on’ free to cover LEG. ‘On’ also plays a part in the surface of the clue, but that doesn’t count as double duty in the forbidden sense.
Ah, thanks.
19:36. Quicker than yesterday, very much my cuppa. Certainly some biffed first but all satisfyingly parsed, double-entry bookkeeping style.
Liked LOI DAMASCENE and the surface with an Unready king but COD to INCH.
Thanks to jackkt and setter.
21.45, SUBTOPIA, (awful portmanteau) ENRICHING (I never think of CHIN for feature), IMBECILE (couldn’t see the wordplay) and LEGEND (thought “remaining unverified” was part of the wordplay) taking up probably more than half of the time.
I’ve noticed, having now had quite a few error-free weeks, that “slow” times like this play havoc with your ranking. Just as well I don’t really care!
Went through this quickly until the unheard of SUBTOPIA and the heard maybe once or twice VEG OUT. A DNF as a result. Enjoyable until it wasn’t. Thank you Jack and setter.
Undone by subtopia. Got completely thrown by thinking the topless referred to (s)top rather than the bar. Still enjoyed the puzzle.
All went in smothly enough although there were some slight delays at times. SUBTOPIA and VEG OUT new to me. VEG OUT was a bit familiar; it doesn’t seem to be in Chambers yet, but it is in Collins.
22:18 . Good puzzle. Reasonably straightforward with only SUBTOPIA causing any real problems. Several goodies but UNSTEADY was COD.
Thanks to Jack and the setter.
20:19. Nice puzzle.
COD: LADDER
Thanks to jack and our setter.
10:44. Mostly reasonably plain sailing but I got held up on a couple: ENRICHING, where I could see the answer but not the wordplay, and SUBTOPIA, where I didn’t know the answer so had to construct it from wordplay. Like ChrisLutton I got fixated on ?U?,
sTOP, IA so spent ages trying to think of a three-letter word meaning ‘prevent’. Eventually I reconsidered.Thanks Jack, lovely puzzle, but it took a while to get going, and like some others here, I found LH side easier. I got LITMUS TEST first, which took me back many years to my clue in a 2009 AZED competition:
“Resolution of what could be basic split must establish bond”
I was awarded a VHC for that one.
I finished with REEL and ENRICHING on this one.
Loved the surface readings on SUING and INCH
Thanks Setter
From LADDER to the NHO SUBTOPIA, which I eventually parsed correctly, in 25:35. I went through IAMB and IBIS before metaphorically slapping my forehead when ENCOURAGE arrived, immediately followed by INCH. REEL was held up by a biffed ENHANCING, which was replaced by ENRICHING when I noticed IMBENILE lurking across it. Nice puzzle. Thanks setter and Jack.
Struggled to get to the end , but made it. Fully expected the expert solvers to say how easy it was, so reassuring to see that it wasn’t that straightforward for the elite. I’m surprised that SINISTER was clued simply as ‘left’. I don’t think I have ever seen this word used in modern English ( apart from in Latin GCSE exams)
Ah, but it’s still used in heraldry for the left-hand side of a coat of arms…
Another nice one. I was a bit held up in the NE and SW, but finished up in 20:48 so not by much. Another NHO SUBTOPIA, an (intentionally?) ugly word that I can never imagine using: likely therefore to lodge in the memory banks at the expense of something better. Thanks setter and Jack.
Same kind of time as yesterday – 24 mins. Held up briefly by the NHO SUBTOPIA, and for rather longer by ENRICHING and REEL, having rashly inserted ENHANCING. PREDEFINED was also new to me, but all wordplay was understood (I particularly liked ‘on purpose’ = LEG END). GIDE: La Symphonie Pastorale was one of my A-level set books; it was said that the college porter at my Oxford college, knowing of Gide’s reputation, refused him admission when he wished to visit. First in was LADDER and last REEL. My favourite three clues: to LADDER, REEL and SPECIAL DELIVERY. Thank you Setter and Blogger.
Fell just short again with a predecided instead predefined and wondering what word for penalty was in there that I didn’t know! Obvious when you see two letters are wrong. Otherwise all done in around 20 minutes. Thanks to the blogger for his continued efforts, they are much appreciated.
Thank you! I’m glad to see it wasn’t just me who predecided it was predecided and therefore couldn’t see anything else
22.31
Bunged in SUBTOPIA at the end, with (like others) no idea how it worked.
Thanks Jackkt and setter.
I tried to justify “iamb” at 10A, and needed ENCOURAGE late in the day to put me straight.
NHO LOI held me up for half a minute while I successfully parsed it
FOI LADDER
LOI SUBTOPIA
COD SINECURE
TIME 7:22
About 9 min, easier than yesterday I thought. SUBTOPIA at the outer reaches of my ken, not sure I could have defined it in the wild. LITMUS TEST was a clever hidden.
Found this a relatively straightforward puzzle all correctly solved bar “subtopia” where I had two of the pieces but couldn’t quite get there.
Not heard of Gide and don’t think of a heretic as a rebel.
“Litmus test” was an excellent hidden that took a while to see.
Thanks to our blogger and setter.
Never heard of SUBTOPIA or VEG OUT, except as maybe vaguely American slang, so DNF. Like others I struggled with the RH side, although liked INCH and SINISTER. I thought IMBECILE was a noun, the adjective being imbecilic, so that was a MER. FOI LADDER and Missouri, LOI ENRICHING. COD LUTHERAN. Oh – took 50 mins, although DNF. thanks Jack and setter.
Never heard of SUBTOPIA or VEG OUT, except as maybe vaguely American slang, so DNF. Like others I struggled with the RH side, although liked INCH and SINISTER. I thought IMBECILE was a noun, the adjective being imbecilic, so that was a MER. FOI LADDER and Missouri, LOI ENRICHING. COD LUTHERAN. Oh – took 50 mins, although DNF. thanks Jack and setter. Now the website keeps telling me I’ve already submitted, but not that I can see!
Latecomer
I had a lot of time on my hands today, just sitting and waiting, so I plugged away at the puzzle until I finished, but with very much the same issues as Jack – all the ones he mentioned were very tricky and held out until the end, with LOsI being ENCOURAGE and INCH. I was unsure of LEGEND as I didn’t twig that the central part of the phrase was part of the definition. SUBTOPIA was of course NHO, but having got the TOPIA bit, I eventually, like Keriothe, worked out the parsing and was fairly confident it must be right. Glad to see the general and deserved ignorance of this word! A MER, however, at rebel= heretic, which made it one of the last to fall. Just before coming to the blog, I noticed the unparseable PREDECIDED, looked again, and realised it was PREDEFINED. Phew, a lucky escape!
Defeated by SUBTOPIA but I enjoyed it. Not sure that “informed” in the sense here would be SUNG rather than SANG but everyone else seems to be happy! Thanks for the blog.
PS. not sure why I’m having to provide my name and e-mail every time inspite of logging in?
I saw it as ‘he had informed/sung on his former friends…’
Unlike some others, I polished off the RH side quickly, and then had to concentrate on the LH side, particularly the SW corner. Never heard of GIDE. No probs with SUBTOPIA.
DNF
I entered PREDECIDED for 26a, and had NHO SUBTOPIA.
Thanks Jack and setter
38:43. I found that pretty hard TBH – like Jack, the first few sailed in but ground to a halt about halfway through. a strong urge to check SUBTOPIA was resisted and it paid off. excellent puzzle.
Last ten minutes on SUBTOPIA. I had TOP as the TOPLESS BAR (STOP without the S), meaning I was looking for a three-letter word (-U-) for PREVENT, and there ain’t none. Finally got it right, only to submit with a mistyped ENCUURAGE. Grrr. Otherwise 28’20”.
16:49
Seem to have bucked the trend with this, completing it a day late. Off to a very fast start, it was SPECIAL DELIVERY that really pushed things along quickly, giving plenty of offshoots – SINISTER, MISSOURI, LUTHERAN, IMBECILE, PREDEFINED and UNSTEADY (already had LITMUS TEST and didn’t get SINECURE until the last knockings). Finally left with 21a and 17d – but couldn’t make 21 work with a reversed POLL at the end, so eventually came up with BALLOT. Had been thinking that {p}UB and STOP would both somehow feature in 17, but the final checker made things clearer.
Thanks Jack and setter