DNF. Not an easy puzzle by any means, but also not as bad as I made it out to be. Some of the clues made me think this was going to be impossible, and I kept second-guessing myself. When I finally revealed the answers I couldn’t get, I thought, was that really all?
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Ducks again repelled predator (6) |
| SPIDER – RE-DIPS (ducks again) reversed (repelled) | |
| 5 | Hide crop [from] antelope on small preserve (7) |
| SJAMBOK – BOK (antelope) next to (on) S (small) JAM (preserve) | |
| 9 | Horse carrying protégé ran at the races (9) |
| STEWARDED – STEED (horse) around (carrying) WARD (protégé) | |
| 10 | Quiz show contestants perhaps left in flat coming last (5) |
| PANEL – L (left) in PLANE (flat) moved to the end (coming last) | |
| 11 | First thing honest outlaw admits, at great cost (6,3,5) |
| BRIGHT AND EARLY – BAN (outlaw) around (admits) RIGHT (honest) + DEARLY (at great cost) | |
| 13 | Are blunders by Washington Times what may prejudice hearing? (6) |
| EARWAX – ARE anagrammed (blunders) + (by) WA (Washington) X (times) | |
| 14 | 1,000 miles crossed by railroad traffic (8) |
| COMMERCE – M (1,000) M (miles) in (crossed by) COERCE (railroad) | |
| 17 | Bats acquire new means to fight chill (8) |
| REARMICE – RE-ARM (acquire new means to fight) ICE (chill) | |
| 19 | Useful bit of information, part of prescription for many (6) |
| STATIN – STAT (useful bit of information) IN (part of) | |
| 22 | One with rind — anagram rearranges it (8,6) |
| MANDARIN ORANGE – ONE + (with) RIND ANAGRAM anagrammed (rearranges) | |
| 25 | Tennis game old man was winning on return (5) |
| PADEL – PA (old man) + LED (was winning) reversed (on return) | |
| 26 | Leaderless Jedi pilot catches Oscar making script changes (9) |
| EDITORIAL – JEDI without first letter (leaderless) + TRIAL (pilot) around (catches) O (Oscar) | |
| 27 | Line extended by ruler? (7) |
| DYNASTY – cryptic definition | |
| 28 | Silly person with looks bored by books (6) |
| DOTISH – DISH (person with looks) around (bored by) OT (books) | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 2 | Principal before Scrooge giving away shillings (7) |
| PREMIER – PRE (before) MISER (Scrooge) – (giving away) S (shillings) | |
| 3 | Chest expander[’s] broken rim had gap (9) |
| DIAPHRAGM – anagram of (broken) RIM HAD GAP | |
| 4 | Pro-Reform Conservative has quit, going from centre to extreme (6) |
| RADIAL – RADICAL (pro-reform) – (has quit) C (conservative) | |
| 5 | Second exit Spooner’s passed in irritation (4,4) |
| SIDE DOOR – Spoonerism of (Spooner’s) DIED SORE (passed in irritation) | |
| 6 | Dominant peak that’s lovely from below (5) |
| ALPHA – ALP (peak) + AH (that’s lovely) reversed (from below) | |
| 7 | Incompetent musician who signals note has cracked (7) |
| BUNGLER – N (note) in (has cracked) BUGLER (musician who signals) | |
| 8 | Skirt that likely covers bottom up (4) |
| KILT – hidden reversed (covers bottom up) in THAT LIKELY | |
| 9 | Lower class eagle golf coach picked up (8) |
| SUBGENRE – ERNE (eagle) G (golf) BUS (coach) reversed (picked up) | |
| 12 | Have good aim? Poor, I suppose (4,4) |
| MEAN WELL – MEAN (poor) WELL (I suppose) | |
| 15 | Precisely circling globe after second launch, say (9) |
| MOTORBOAT – TO A T (precisely) around (circling) ORB (globe) after MO (second) | |
| 16 | Doctor cycles around area and runs not at all (8) |
| SCARCELY – anagram of (doctor) CYCLES around A (area) + (and) R (run) | |
| 18 | Having no restraint [in] back of Fiesta, belt attached (7) |
| ABANDON – last letter (back) of FIESTA + BAND (belt) ON (attached) | |
| 20 | These all downed on strike? (7) |
| TENPINS – cryptic definition
Very embarrassed to say I didn’t get this one. |
|
| 21 | Taking pen, draw over diamonds with something similar (2,4) |
| IN KIND – INK IN (taking pen, draw) + (over) D (diamonds) | |
| 23 | Kentish boy perhaps raised [in] Yorkshire countryside (5) |
| DALES – SE LAD (Kentish boy perhaps) reversed (raised) | |
| 24 | Second home — one affecting minister’s judgement? (4) |
| SPAD – S (second) PAD (home)
Didn’t know this term. |
|
Missed five in this. Didn’t twig to the anagrammed MANDARIN ORANGE even though it was signposted clearly. NHO REARMICE and failed to see ‘re-arm’, but saw the chill/ice at the end. Also failed on MEAN WELL and SCARCELY. Some tricky clueing and parsing today I thought. ABANDON came with enough checkers after thinking of ‘with gay abandon’. Don’t know about dip/duck in SPIDER but I suppose you might dip/duck your head in water. I picked up my statins from the chemist just before starting the crossword so STATIN came easily. Didn’t know PADEL but the wordplay pointed to it. SJAMBOK was a NHO but with all the checkers in place it had to be. Also failed to see STEWARDED. Didn’t think much of the Spoonerism. Liked MOTORBOAT. Overall, enjoyed it. I think SPAD is an abbreviation of Special Adviser.
Thanks PJ and setter.
65 minutes, but I checked the three NHO answers as I constructed them from wordplay during the solve before proceeding. PADEL, is making its first appearance here today, SJAMBOK appeared in one jumbo, a Club Monthly and a Mephisto none of which I tackled, and REARMICE has occurred once, in a Saturday 15×15 in 2021 I didn’t comment on so probably missed that day for some reason.
The NW corner seemed remarkably easy for any day, never mind a Friday, but elsewhere made up for it.
44 minutes. I was about to pull up stumps with one clue (the one that tripped up Jeremy) unsolved when TENPINS appeared out of who knows where; I’d earlier tried to convince myself that “tinnies” or “tonsils” might fit but not even increasing desperation could persuade me. BRIGHT AND EARLY, MANDARIN ORANGE and MOTORBOAT not fully parsed and the NHO DOTISH inferred from “dotage”.
This one solved mainly due to good luck but I’ll take it
Thanks to Jeremy and setter
Excellent effort, Bletchers. I retired hurt with around seven clues remaining, after more than an hour. Done like a kipper today.
At one point I thought it might have been PANTIES.
Got there in just under our self-imposed one hour limit, lovely but tricky puzzle. Several words we got from the wordplay and then had to confirm from the dictionary or google: SJAMBOK seeming a particularly implausible combination of letters.
Not so bad as some Fridays recently. My only nho was rearmice, but it looked plausible. I see I didn’t comment either when it came up before, though i must have done the crossword. There are padel courts in the next village along from me. Knew sjambok from somewhere, and SPADs familiar to any Private Eye reader.
The bottom took longer than the top, but unravelled once I found the 🍊 orange anagram
Tough but fair and enjoyable. Thank you setter! (and plusj of course). My only query was the spelling of rearmice, as I thought it should be reremice, which I had heard of. Both are OK apparently, and both archaic. Time around 50m.
You’re not wrong, but curiously, though reremouse is one word, its plural is hyphenated. REARMICE isn’t. Bats!
Half an hour, finishing with an extremely hit-and-hope SJAMBOK.
– MER over STEWARDED meaning ‘ran at the races’, though J guess it’s ran in the sense of organised
– Trusted the wordplay for the unfamiliar REARMICE
– Not sure I’ve ever come across DOTISH before
– Another MER over SCARCELY – does it mean ‘not at all’?
Thanks Jeremy and setter.
FOI Kilt
LOI Sjambok
COD Earwax
This steadily unravelled with LOI TENPINS having considered the same alternatives as BletchleyReject. As with all cd’s, that one was a wavelength clue. But, overall, very pleased indeed with a time of 35 minutes and everything solved and parsed. That does not happen often on a Friday. Funny how many times I considered and rejected JAM as an unlikely preserve, not even looking to see where it might fit, until suddenly the penny dropped on ‘Hide crop’: brilliantly done and, basically, the dictionary definition of the word. Other faves – selected from many – include EARWAX, COMMERCE, BUNGLER, SUBGENRE, MOTORBOAT and SCARCELY.
Thanks setter and blogger
Gave up when I resorted to aids for 5ac and got SJAMBOK (me neither). A puzzle for folks who have all day to tease it out.
The hardest one I’ve finished in quite a while. LOI the unknown/ forgotten REARMICE, constructed with all crossers in place. COD TO TENPINS. Major Eyebrow Raise to SCARCELY. Thank you Jeremy and setter for finding the wavelength I was on today.
DNF as I had to resort to aids to finish: SUBGENRE defeated me but it should not have done as the wordplay is clear. If only the eagle had swooped, it would have been my PB. I went through all the across clues without getting a start but the downs proved more rewarding. BRIGHT AND EARLY was a bit of a biff but shouldn’t have been as the wordplay is helpful. I have been waiting for another crack of the SJAMBOK for ages, it seems.
LOI SUBGENRE, COD COMMERCE.
A very fair and enjoyable puzzle.
Thanks to setter and plusjeremy.
WOE in ShAMBOK after about 50 mins. One NHO too far. Thought it would be a NHO hide crop following S leading to a NHO Asian pickle. Another enjoyable challenge though, I can live with that.
Faves include DIAPHRAGM, DYNASTY, SPAD and teasing out the NHO REARMICE was most satisfying.
Thanks to setter and PJ
PS forgot to mention – in 21d I think the “over” is part of INK IN. “Taking pen, draw over”.
Some tech help, please. I can download and print the puzzles, but can’t interact with them. Nothing loads, so I can’t do online entries. I remember something vaguely about emptying cookies, which I think I’ve done, but that hasn’t worked. Any advice?
Try a different browser or device. I have this problem at the moment using chrome on my laptop, but it works fine using Edge on the same device, or on my iPad.
Ta. Was using Firefox, but it works on DuckDuckGo.
Firefox works with the site for me. Try reloading the page with Ctrl-F5? Are you running any extensions? Could be that one of those interferes with the site?
Sometimes I’ve had to reinstall the Times app.
14:50, which apparently counts as thoroughly on the wavelength today. It helps when you know the words of course and for some reason even SJAMBOK and REARMICE are familiar to me.
I’m one of the many for whom 19acs are a prescription so that one came easily.
35.48, so obviously a Friday poser. I suppose it’s decades of doing these things (STATINs a write-in for me!) that means that the cruciwords like REARMOUSE, SJAMBOK, and DOTISH eventually emerge from the depths, but new ones like SPAD and PADEL have to be derived from the wordplay before being consigned to the list. In my day, a SPAD was something flown by Biggles (in books, I’m not that old!), or more recently a Signal Passed At Danger by steam engines.
RADIAL (with its crossing STEWARDED) almost did for me: too much politics!
Like everyone else, I hesitated over SCARCELY’s definition, but it’s 4th of 5 in Chambers, so I guess we’ll just have to put up with it.
Commiserations to PJ, but thanks for persisting with the blog and unravelling all.
Finished in just over 50′, almost giving up with LOI and NHO REARMICE until re-arm made sense. Also NHO SJAMBOK, and although unlikely, it had easier clueing.
Initially biffed “tinnies” as something that is “downed” though thankfully I thought again when it wouldn’t parse.
Like Quad, I had my daily STATIN just before starting. Now i just need to sort out my EARWAX. Might point to the demographic on here…
Thanks Jeremy and setter
Just under 17 minutes, so on wavelength, and it helps having done all those Mephistos and Listeners.
59:59 – a hair under an hour for a puzzle that was about as hard as they get. In awe of those posting times in the teens; “on the wavelength” seems like a modest description.
Nice puzzle with four left at the end as I called time (“subgenre”, “rearmice”, “statin” and “mean well”).
Pleased to get “sjambok” and liked “earwax” and “tenpins”. Nice to recall Rainbow’s Bungle as well.
Many thanks to our blogger for unravelling the unknowns and to our setter for a fun solve.
35:41 Tough going, REARMICE was a new word to me and I paused for a long time over SCARCELY but much to enjoy elsewhere. COD TENPINS.
All told, I’ve had four attempts at STATINs in the UK and France, but all have ended up given me severe muscular pains so I’ve given up trying.
Thanks to Jeremy and the setter.
Phew, thoroughly beaten today. Gave up on the hour with six to go: SJAMBOK, KILT, PANEL, STEWARDED, REARMICE and TENPINS. I might just have eked out PANEL, KILT and had a satisfactory stab at SCANBOK had I kept on staring deep into the second hour, but completing it would have felt like one of those ironic punishments dished out in Tartarus to an indolent puzzle enthusiast. More please!
After an hour I was left with 17a and going nowhere fast, when I suddenly saw REARM and stuck a chill on the end. Phew! Earlier I’d assembled SJAMBOK, but checked it as it seemed so unlikely. Otherwise, all my own work and all green in 66:44. Thanks setter and Jeremy.
Luckily I had today off work as this required two sittings. Don’t know the exact time but it is on par with some of the other monstrous Friday puzzles of the last year.
TENPINS penultimate one in before deciding if SJAMBOK or SCANBOK was the most likely nho. REARMICE also NHo but more confident of that one.
COD STEWARDED
Thanks blogger and setter
DNF again! Its getting boring. The western side had me completely snookered. Finally I saw ABANDON but I just couldn’t get STEWARDED, SUBGENRE & the NHO REARMICE. Oh , and I did not get SJABOK either. Oh well.
Thanks PJ and setter.
Done in unideal circs in press room of G7 summit. Bad time — 41’33” — and one error. I put down TINNIES, thinking it was all about Ozzie drinking, and that a STRIKE was an Australian binge.
Looked up a guessed SPAD in Chambers after the event: Signal Passed at Danger, as Z said.
DNF: the first half of mean well, cryptic tenpins and statins (daily dose for me) unfilled. Because a stat has many bits of information, not just one – a bit is 1 or 0. Similarly plane and flat don’t seem to match… adjective? Noun? One of each! Abandon too? Not so sure. Stewards monitor the races and write reports and apply penalties post-race. The racing club runs the races. Clerks of the Course run on the track, on grey or white horses (hereabouts), so another MER.
Sjambok known but slow, rearmice constructed happily enough, vaguely heard of padel which I suspect will no longer exist in 10 years time and have solvers scratching their heads when they revisit the old puzzles. Liked DYNASTY, SUBGENRE; DIAPHRAGM a difficult anagram.
Another tinnies. Oh well.
Thanks, pj.