14:55. As the SNITCH would have it, we’ve had milder Fridays lately, compared to the last several months. I’ve gotten used to a struggle, but I don’t mind feeling like a champion every now and again!
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Skirt with narrow opening ignored by a model (9) |
| MINIATURE – MINI (skirt) + (with) APERTURE (narrow opening) – (ignored by) PER (a) | |
| 6 | Christian celebration rejected by American state (5) |
| ASSAM – MASS (Christian celebration) reversed (rejected) next to (by) A (American) | |
| 9 | Devil retreats with feeling of disgust in possession (7) |
| DICKENS – DENS (retreats) around (with … in possession) ICK (feeling of disgust) | |
| 10 | Soup lid covering nothing — you might snap at this! (5,2) |
| PHOTO OP – PHỞ (soup) TOP (lid) around (covering) O (nothing) | |
| 11 | Take action against publication erasing lives (3) |
| SUE – ISSUE (publication) – (erasing) IS (lives) | |
| 12 | Peel off tape to cook sweet treat (6-5) |
| TOFFEE-APPLE – PEEL OFF TAPE anagrammed (to cook) | |
| 14 | Fish tongue ultimately lacking strong ingredient (6) |
| GARLIC – GAR (fish) LICK (tongue) minus last letter (ultimately lacking) | |
| 15 | Unopened finest china keeping current value (8) |
| ESTIMATE – BEST (finest) minus first letter (unopened) + MATE (china) around (keeping) I (current) | |
| 17 | Perhaps Sun King regularly stripped hearts bare (8) |
| STARKERS – STAR (perhaps sun) K (king) + every other letter in (regularly stripped) HEARTS | |
| 19 | Fail to justify force[’s] conviction (6) |
| BELIEF – BELIE (fail to justify) F (force) | |
| 22 | Editor taking back tasteless, ignorant curse (3,3,5) |
| EFF AND BLIND – ED (editor) around reversal of (taking back) NAFF (tasteless) + BLIND (ignorant)
I knew NAFF but hadn’t quite heard of this expression, though it sure sounded like something naughty. |
|
| 23 | Cover for priest arrested by Special Branch (3) |
| ALB – hidden in (arrested by) SPECIAL BRANCH | |
| 25 | Free time visiting Wild Bill (7) |
| LIBERAL – ERA (time) in (visiting) anagram of (wild) BILL | |
| 27 | Eye copies of Zulu retaining a stylish energy (7) |
| PIZZAZZ – P.I. (eye) ZZZZ (copies of Zulu) around (retaining) A | |
| 28 | Thin and weak, like Oliver at the cinema? (5) |
| REEDY – REED-Y
A reference to Oliver Reed, whom I did not know, but whose existence I could surmise. |
|
| 29 | Female inside criminal court [is] clean (9) |
| DISINFECT – F (female) INSIDE anagrammed (criminal) + CT (court) | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Leader with magic touch, misunderstood at first, is winning promotion after promotion (5) |
| MIDAS – M{isunderstood} (at first) + IS around (winning) AD (promotion) reversed (after promotion) | |
| 2 | Like weapons of mass destruction: in doubt once UN turns up (7) |
| NUCLEAR – UNCLEAR (in doubt) with UN reversed (once … turns up) | |
| 3 | Fearful article covering strain between west and east (3-8) |
| AWE-STRICKEN – AN (article) around RICK (strain) in (between) WEST and E (east) | |
| 4 | Dangerous [and] nefarious leaving Rio in chaos (6) |
| UNSAFE – NEFARIOUS – (leaving) RIO anagrammed (in chaos) | |
| 5 | Unnatural ability originally rattled providers of Fuel drink (8) |
| ESPRESSO – ESP (unnatural ability) + first letter of (originally) RATTLED + ESSO (providers of fuel) | |
| 6 | Previously advanced onto Monopoly square (3) |
| AGO – A (advanced) + (onto) GO (Monopoly square) | |
| 7 | Australian mangetout of the moment quietly added into main (4,3) |
| SNOW PEA – NOW (of the moment) P (quietly) in (added into) SEA (main) | |
| 8 | Drake maybe covering page upon page [in] Canadian flag (5,4) |
| MAPLE LEAF – MALE (drake maybe) around (covering) P (page) + (upon) LEAF (page) | |
| 13 | Everyday media, unusually, bother enlightening school? (1,4,1,5) |
| A DIME A DOZEN – MEDIA anagrammed (unusually) + ADO (bother) ZEN (enlightening school?)
Funny. |
|
| 14 | Bible reader[’s] acceptable idea about exorcism? (9) |
| GOSPELLER – GOER (acceptable idea) around SPELL (exorcism?)
A little loose, here, I feel, but Chambers defines ‘exorcism’ as a formula for exorcising, and a formula certainly sounds like a spell. |
|
| 16 | Inverted winger ran [and] took the ball forward? (8) |
| DRIBBLED – reversal of (inverted) BIRD + BLED (ran) | |
| 18 | A very loud Mediterranean island turned warm (7) |
| AFFABLE – A FF (very loud) + ELBA (Mediterranean island) reversed (turned) | |
| 20 | How friend may introduce herself [in] Islamic territory (7) |
| IMAMATE – “I’M A MATE” (how friend may introduce herself) | |
| 21 | Big beasts in position (6) |
| HIPPOS – HIP (in) POS (position) | |
| 24 | Business class initially ejected French composer (5) |
| BIZET – BIZ (business) + SET (class) minus first letter (initially ejected) | |
| 26 | Charles who performed [in] Shaft (3) |
| RAY – double definition | |
Yes, somebody must have mixed up the Thursday and Friday puzzles – yesterday was definitely a Friday! When I started to solve, I was braced for a toughie, and took a while to loosen up and solve naturally. I started by putting in Midas, unsafe, and nuclear, and thought the next answer must be miniature, but I didn’t put it in. Part of the puzzle were surprisingly biffable – Maple leaf, a dime a dozen, dribbled, Bizet. I did get stuck a bit at the end in SW, but getting eff and blind from the cryptic helped me break it down.
Time: 25:03
57 minutes, nearly twice my target time, but I found this a very enjoyable solve unlike so many recently – especially some of the Thursday and Friday offerings. There were a few gimmes but plenty of more complex clues to exercise the brains. No answers unknown to me (a rarity these days) and the only unknown (or I now suspect forgotten) piece of GK was the Vietnamese soup in the wordplay at 10ac. One of my earliest successes today was PIZZAZZ, which was a real boost to the confidence.
Yep. Even I thought this was quite a decent offering.
Started with MIDAS and NUCLEAR, ended with DRIBBLED, and forgot to fully parse a few, almost like a speed solver!
Yes not too hard this, nho the soup but that was all. Though I’m more of a cheap as chips man than a dime a dozen one.. a dime is 10c, isn’t it? Can’t be much that costs 10c per dozen, nowadays.
When I hear that expression, I always think of the 1930s, when they said that sort of thing. A silver dime in the 1930s is like $3-5 today.
16:15 – easiest one of the week, which is weird. What am I supposed to do with all this spare time on a Friday now? COD perhaps to MIDAS which raised an early smile.
The Listener comes out at 4….
*gulp* maybe I’ll take a peek …
28A – Oliver Reed played the part of Bill Sikes in the film version of Oliver.
Coincidence?
I think that’s the idea. And it’s Oliver!
And he was the grandson of Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree.
With the modernisation in the puzzle’s editing, do you think that this might be the last time we see HBT in our comments? I’d put the over/under at about 95%.
I’ve made a diary note to mention him, in a year or so’s time. And Ellen Terry. And Sarah Bernhardt…
Don’t miss Gerald Finzi out.
All done and dusted in 57 mins and a good but fair challenge today, I thought.
Got stuck at the last in the SW like vinyl with last 3 in, GARLIC, GOSPELLER and REEDY once I’d seen EFF AND BLIND, all falling in together.
I rally liked PHOTO OP & PIZZAZZ.
Thanks PJ and setter.
35.35, like others I imagine quicker than yesterday. No real problems after a slight hold-up at the beginning where I biffed mannequin instead of MINIATURE.
FOI UNSAFE
LOI AGO
COD ESPRESSO
Thanks Jeremy and setter.
This felt pretty Fridayish to me, or at least Thursday eveningish. I knew it was A DIME A something, but I had to wait for PIZZAZZ to get the DOZEN. Spelling PIZZAZZ was then the challenge. On the other hand, EFF AND BLIND was a write-in. I suspect it depends which side of the Atlantic you’re from. I’ve been an Anglican since I was christened eighty years ago, but I’ve never referred to the preacher as a gospeller, hot or otherwise. I knew he wore an ALB though. And one Americanism was very welcome, the great Ray Charles. Sing the song, children. Thank you PJ and setter.
29 mins today (yesterday 62 mins!), so quite happy and relieved. (Surprised by Mudge’s comment above, as Wednesday’s puzzle took me only 13 mins). Apart from a brief struggle with the NW corner, no real problems. I hadn’t met SNOW PEA before or EFF AND BLIND as a verbal phrase (as opposed to ‘effing and blinding’); I’m not sure whether I’ve met AWE-STRICKEN before but it seemed a plausible word, and A DIME A DOZEN I vaguely remembered. Thank you, Blogger, for explaining MINIATURE. First in was PHOTO OP and last MIDAS. Favourite three clues: to REEDY, DISINFECT and DRIBBLED. Enjoyable puzzle. Thank you to Setter and Blogger.
I thought I was heading for a best time until LOI, DICKENS, which took me several minutes all on its own leaving me with a 21 minute solve which I would take any day of the week. I just felt on the setter’s wavelength from the off. Which was certainly a relief after yesterday. GARLIC, ESTIMATE, BELIEF, MIDAS, NUCLEAR and HIPPOS my faves.
Thanks to setter and blogger
15 minutes or so.
– Was glad I didn’t biff a lazy ESTER for 6a (Easter minus A)
– Only parsed STARKERS post-submission
– Didn’t fully parse AWE-STRICKEN
– Didn’t know the SNOW PEA is Australian
– Biffed A DIME A DOZEN from the checkers
Thanks Jeremy and setter.
FOI Reedy
LOI Assam
COD Toffee apple
25:07. Probably should have been quicker but who cares, it was fun.
It actually felt similar in style to yesterday, verbose and some complex wordplay but all turned down several notches.
The DOZEN and STRICKEN partials took a while as did trying to fit Bland = Tasteless into the curse.
Too many CODs to list but let’s go for REEDY. Thanks both.
I had an almost identical experience, though I liked STARKERS best.
19’36”, a relief after yesterday’s nightmare.
GOSPELLER not a word used in the UK – and only four of the 66 books are Gospels.
Thanks jeremy and setter.
Chambers notes on GOSPELLER “a Wycliffite, Protestant or Puritan (often in derision; historical)”. The UK had them before it was the UK!
19.31, slow to get the NW corner, otherwise steadily working through these lengthy clues. I mean, 12 words to provide the 5 letters of MIDAS!
I think my main difficulty with the NW corner was my perennial inability to get to PER from A, which manifested itself even after I had thrown in a trial MINIATURE.
Quite a bit of covert political comment today. I particularly liked 2d’s take on WMD.
Cheers PJ!
Ha! Should have done the Quickie first! There was a ‘per’ for ‘a’ which eluded my parsing, set by our esteemed crossword editor!
16:56 for a big Friday PB. One I felt I could have been quicker on having wasted a lot of time on some straight forward ones. For example, my first thoughts for both the performing Charles and Oliver were wrong.
COD MIDAS
Thanks blogger and setter
Done and dusted in 14 mins – a breeze after yesterday’s, which I abandoned almost instantly. Lots of biffing, with only MINIATURE resisting parsing. Thanks for explanation.
Just under 30′ which is certainly not a normal Friday. Would have been quicker had I approached this with a Monday mindset.
MIDAS was first in though I thought the clueing a bit overwrought and suspected the rest of the puzzle would be similar. However others came quite quickly and straightforwardly. Worryingly some were write-ins (TOFFEE APPLE, MAPLE LEAF, REEDY). I was waiting for the sting in the tail which never came.
Enjoyed EFF AND BLIND,and PHOTO OP.
Thanks Jeremy and setter.
For some reason I was puzzled by ‘in chaos’ at 4dn, thinking it was an anagram of ‘Rio’ and failing to see that it was simply the anagram indicator of the whole. The order this week has been all over the place: Wednesday’s and Monday’s could have been swapped, likewise Thursday’s and Friday’s. Perhaps the editor is trying to avoid having a steady increase in difficulty through the week.
I always miss those little words, ‘a’ in 1ac, ‘in’ in 21dn. Otherwise pleasant and not the usual Friday agony.
21.39
Plenty of interesting words; some clever cluing; and in the right difficulty zone. What’s not to like? Well, I still found myself thinking of the answer from the literal before getting near to the w/p quite a lot but maybe it was just me. In any event, I particularly liked SUE TOFFEE APPLE and EFF AND BLIND.
Great blog and thanks setter.
28:04, which seems to be a bad time based on others. I must have been off-wavelength. I thought this was quite hard in places. I think it was the definitions which I found hard, though nothing was particularly obscure and I made steady progress.
I enjoyed this a lot though, the only downside being my apparent slowness this morning.
thanks pj and setter.
i loved it.
27a am i the only one who thinks an investigator is a pe private eye?
Magnum, P.I…. ‘Private Investigator’ is I think the standard gumshoe description in the US
Well, I was pleased to finish a Friday in under 20 mins until coming here and the SNITCH and discovering it was easy! I think I got the three letter clues yesterday, then gave up, so this is far more at my level.
Very enjoyable puzzle for me.
19:09
21:50 – after yesterday’s car crash it was difficult to see how Friday’s could follow the usual pattern of being the hardest of the week – and it didn’t although I wasn’t expecting it to be quite so easy.
Well that was a pleasant surprise. From SUE to DICKENS in 26:40 and I didn’t even make the top 100 on the Leaderboard! An enjoyable challenge. Thanks setter and Jeremy.
Some buffage necessary, but Orl Korrect in 24 mins. Tx for the parsing, esp PIZZAZZ – all I could think of was the immortal words of Dean Martin – “When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that’s amore”.
Didn’t know SNOW PEA was Australian.
The expression “What the Dickens”, a muffled oath for “What the Devil” precedes Charles Dickens, in fact it occurs in The Merry Wives of Windsor.
Terrific puzzle today, some ingenious clues but not too difficult.
Another easiest of the week for me at 15:24, with the enumeration and checkers making it all a bit too biffable to be fully satisfying despite some lovely clues. Was rather hoping for a reappearance of the Friday beast, with yesterday’s 40ish minute tussle providing a mere warm-up, but I do quite like mixing the days up a bit to keep us on our toes.
Just over 47 mins so on the easy side as I rarely seem to finish a Friday puzzle.
36:39 but dawdling quite a bit in the middle. I enjoyed this a lot. It was great fun to be regularly wrong-footed. I particularly liked A DIME A DOZEN, IMAMATE and DICKENS
TOFFEE APPLES are pommes d’amour in French. A prettier name but equally unappetising.
Thanks to Jeremy and the setter,
I’m a sucker for clues with a [word] something something [same word] structure, so Maple Leaf gets my COD.
8:31, slowing myself down a little bit with a careless UNCLEAR. Very nice puzzle.
I didn’t know that SNOW PEA was specifically Australian (Collins says also US). I’m sure I’ve encountered the term in the UK.
Not the usual Friday tester, but I found it more difficult than some, getting home over a slowish lunchtime pinta in 47 minutes. No issues. NHO 7dn or 13dn but the answers were reasonably accessible from the clueing.
FOI – SUE
LOI – RAY
COD – PIZZAZZ
Thanks to jeremy and other contributors.
DNF – pink square which was just a silly typo. Enjoyed the puzzle though and light relief after yesterday’s monster.
Absolutely torched this one, 14:52, my fastest Friday by probably 20 minutes…
Felt a bit like a “final exam” for the CtC masterclass, as I was able to plop in GOSPELLER, EFF AND BLIND, and STARKERS largely due to Simon’s voice rattling around in my head!
Snow Pea Australian? Who knew? Certainly not this Australian!
Liked it, quick, but nowhere near PB. More in this style, please, but perhaps slightly harder.
Get well soon George.
Yes indeed, more of a challenge on Fridays, please!
Quite easy until I couldn’t spell PIZZAZZ. The eye bit passed me by
After failing miserably yesterday I hoped that today’s would be easier, and so it came to pass.
However unlike anyone else I wasn’t familiar with IMAMATE and put IMAJANE so a DNF unfortunately.
A fairly gentle and enjoyable offering today, though with several biffs that are easier to get than parse. FOI PIZZAZZ and LOI GARLIC after POI GOSPELLER. I thought SNOW PEA was just a rare alternative band for mange-tout rather than being specific to any particular country like Australia and NHO GOSPELLER or IMAMATE but they were highly plausible and easily guessable to anyone who’s heard of the more prosaic words ‘gospel’ and ‘Imam’. I did briefly consider ‘dispeller’ as a possible synonym for ‘exorcist’ instead but as the clue said ‘exorcism’ I rejected it. 24:07 to complete.
Loved this one – a Friday that wasn’t a beast. Better still, many of the clues were quite literally pieced together from wordplay, resulting in an answer – AWE-STRICKEN, for example, which I would never have got from biffing or even part-biffing. Liked STARKERS – another construction from wordplay alone. Also EFF AND BLIND, only part bifd. ALB was the only one I was unable to parse, and of course it was a hidden. Loved RAY and REEDY. An impassioned plea for more wit like this and less deliberate obfuscation, from this solver…
Managed 4.5 clues today. (The half was I knew it was some type of pea…) Doesn’t sound much, but it was 4.5 more than yesterday’s attempt…
I understand the concept behind wordplay, but I still (after 25 years of trying) can’t understand how you can get to an answer by applying wordplay to words that aren’t even in the clue!
24:47 with everything understood and parsed.
Unprecedented for a Friday.
Thanks Jeremy and setter
40 or so for me, but relatively fast for a Friday puzzle, at least for me. 28a was clever in it being a double-pun: the setter probably knew that Oliver Reed was indeed in the movie, and that it was directed by Carol Reed.
I finished a Friday puzzle, put it on the calendar because it won’t happen again for a long, long time. About an hour, very enjoyable.
Very enjoyable. Didn’t know DICKENS is devil, and took an age to get MIdAS. I spelt PIZZAZZ wrong.
Thank you blogger and setter.
More of these please crossword editor
Sunday evening. 28’47”. I thought my time was okay, but everyone else seems to have found it a doddle! Maybe the lateness of the hour, to quote Bill Withers.
Had to return to this now that my computer (desktop iMac, about 19 years old) has finally turned up its proverbial toes. So I won’t be busily engaged first thing in the morning for a while – might even have to get on with the day instead! Quelle domage!
Very enjoyable.