34:17, with much time spent on one clue in particular. I found this to be a rather gentle puzzle for a Friday, with many familiar devices. Nevertheless it was a bit sticky, and the SNITCH seems to reflect this.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Rocky 6 — in a rut, Hugh Jackman? (10) |
| AUSTRALIAN – anagram of ALAS (6ac) IN A RUT | |
| 6 | Festivals starting late, unfortunately (4) |
| ALAS – {g}ALAS | |
| 10 | Biblical messenger[’s] talk that is splitting sides (7) |
| GABRIEL – GAB + IE in L R | |
| 11 | Do musical score? (7) |
| HAIRCUT – HAIR (musical) CUT (score?)
To score is to make a light incision. |
|
| 12 | Most intense part [of] impressive dish that’s unfinished (9) |
| EPICENTRE – EPIC ENTRÉ{e} | |
| 13 | Like croissants without ends, say (5) |
| UTTER – {b}UTTER{y} | |
| 14 | Open banana avoided by worker, perhaps (5) |
| PLAIN – PL{ant}AIN | |
| 15 | Confectionery with marijuana? It’s a bit of a racket (5,4) |
| SWEET SPOT – SWEETS POT | |
| 17 | Glance over young professional[’s] football skills (5-4) |
| KEEPY-UPPY – PEEK reversed + YUPPY | |
| 20 | Did row ultimately undo American revolutionary? (5) |
| OARED – {und}O + A + RED | |
| 21 | Shape [of] mug that H&M cut apart (5) |
| RHOMB – ROB (mug), interrupted by H and M | |
| 23 | Inferior work following exclusive about a French duke (9) |
| POUNDSHOP – OP after POSH (exclusive) around UN (‘a’, in French) + D | |
| 25 | Sweetheart for many encapsulates poetry? (3,4) |
| ART FORM – hidden | |
| 26 | Most tacky introduction for Iggy and Stooges briefly broadcast (7) |
| GOOIEST – anagram (broadcast) of I{ggy} STOOGES | |
| 27 | Notice essay has page replacing it (4) |
| ESPY – ESSAY with P instead of SA (it = Sex Appeal) | |
| 28 | Churchgoers welcoming corrupt female swimmer (10) |
| PARROTFISH – PARISH around ROT F | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Two lines required to capture this / fish (5) |
| ANGLE – double definition
Capture as in represent visually. |
|
| 2 | Petition to eat BLT with filling that’s extended [and] purified (9) |
| SUBLIMATE – SUE (petition) around B + LIMA + T
Radio language. |
|
| 3 | Act surprised as Obi-Wan, Rey and ultimately Luke Skywalker are cast (5,2,7) |
| RAISE AN EYEBROW – AS OBI-WAN REY + last letters of LUKE SKYWALKER ARE anagrammed | |
| 4 | They show unqualified person recently breaking records (1-6) |
| L-PLATES – LATE in LPS
Learner plates. |
|
| 5 | Two articles about permitted jumper? (7) |
| ATHLETE – A THE around LET | |
| 7 | Legitimate Literature 101 dons (5) |
| LICIT – CI (101 in Roman numerals) in LIT | |
| 8 | Dripping [is] like some fat (9) |
| SATURATED – double definition | |
| 9 | Abrupt Times editor: undo changes [in] our masthead text! (4,2,3,5) |
| DIEU ET MON DROIT – TIME{s} EDITOR UNDO anagrammed
Here I confess I just cheated and looked at the front page. But this was after close to ten minutes of playing with anagram fodder. My problem was I really couldn’t see what to use, and if I’m being unkind, I’m not sure what I think about ‘abrupt’ to mean ‘remove the last letter’. (Actually I’m quite sure what I think about it.) (Chambers doesn’t agree with me.) |
|
| 14 | Useful feature for table fork, with peace shattered (5,4) |
| POKER FACE – anagram of FORK PEACE | |
| 16 | Aha! House of Commons censure over game (9) |
| PARCHEESI – I SEE + HC + RAP reversed | |
| 18 | Channel covering mixed martial arts after 12 (3-4) |
| PIP-EMMA – PIPE MMA
Radio language. |
|
| 19 | Who’s looking at this African nation, ignoring one more recently created? (7) |
| YOUNGER – YOU (who’s looking at this) N{i}GER
Easily my favorite clue of the bunch. |
|
| 22 | Someone paid by the state to stock books, available as needed (2,3) |
| ON TAP – OAP (old-age pensioner) around NT (books) | |
| 24 | Way to conceal Conservative plot (5) |
| PATCH – PATH around C | |
Fortunately, I knew Dieu et Mon Droit, and after I got a few letters I biffed it. I wasn’t so swift with raise an eyebrow, however, even if it should have been obvious. I was a little worried about poundshop – is that a thing – and couldn’t parse sublimate. I did like rhomb – that was pretty good.
Time: 52:31
Poundshop has come into the language quite recently in political discourse, even in our august organ: here’s a headline from The Times in 2025 “Teaching union head calls Nigel Farage a ‘pound-shop Trump’”. In the interests of neutrality on Day-After-Election Day, I could cite more, but examples are easy to find.
In the US it’s Dollar Store – more poundshop than the tradition all purpose Five and Dime.
But note, hyphenated pound-shop. Can be 2 words.
I knew DIEU ET MON DROIT aussi, vaguely remembered seeing it on the Times logo. But… KEEPY-UPPY…?! (don’t adults play this game?). I also had to cheat (after an easy week! Merde !) for… ACK-EMMA? No, it’s PIP-EMMA—also “after 12”!
Enjoyable nonetheless… well, maybe a little less… 😉
POUNDSHOP: over here, we have “dollar stores.”
YOUNGER is indeed a great clue.
Sorry, Guy, I should’ve read all the way to the bottom before cutting in ahead of you on Dollar Store. You got there first.
But what does adult have to do with Keepy Uppy?
I also thought “12” instead of “twelve” was a little naughty.
KEEPY-UPPY sounds like baby talk.
I thought 12 meant a cross-ref so a MER there.
There is a scene in 2026 (the BBC satire on the upcoming World Cup in the USA/Canada/Mexico) where bemused Americans are introduced to the game of keepy-uppy.
Considering I was never going to get either KEEPY UPPY or PIP EMMA, which appear to have slipped in from another state of consciousness alien to me, I’m proud to say I finished all the solvable clues though it took me close to an hour. I liked YOUNGER and PARROTFISH and turned up some weird options with the POKER FACE anagrist. Never heard of a POUNDSHOP and I also cheated on the Times motto. Thanks J.
From My Back Pages:
Ah but I was so much older then
I’m YOUNGER than that now
I did better than I had expected after a very slow start but still needed aids a couple of times to reboot my efforts. Shall I ever remember PIP-EMMA?
My best moment was working out the unlikely-looking and NHO PARCHEESI from wordplay. Until today its rare appearances here have been limited to Mephisto puzzles, which of course I never tackle.
Nearly completed in an hour, only error was ART ROOM for ART FORM.
Spent time trying to get ADUC (a French duke) in POUNDSHOP. It’s now an adjective for inferior as in the much quoted “Nigel Farage is a poundshop Enoch Powell”.
Got PARCHEESI early on (what Americans call Ludo). DIEU ET MON DROIT was tricky as I couldn’t figure any thing out. Good clue.
Needed an aid for LOI EPICENTRE, got stuck on epitome.
COD the unexpected KEEPY UPPY.
My apologies – you got there before I did. We’re probably both for the naughty step!
We always called it PARCHEESI growing up. Not really heard of Ludo.
Straightforward for a Friday. Dieu et mon droit, being the motto of the royal family as well as The Times, should be a write-in for most.
I’ve heard of pachesi, but not parcheesi, an Americn brand name. And not seen poundshop used as an adjective like that. No other difficulties though .. a shame that our setter could not work MER into the clue for 3dn!
As for pip emma, a blast from the past that is. Along with ack emma, toc-H etc it comes from a signalmen’s alphabet that is more than 100 years old, a distant uncle of the NATO alphabet. It is where ack-ack (anti-aircraft) comes from. B was beer!
28:41. In a rut and, alas, confused. That’s me today!
Very challenging Friday puzzle, tending towards Mephisto-ish in parts. I happened to know the awful KEEPY-UPPY, was eventually able to construct DIEU ET MON DROIT with some confidence and took a white-knuckled stab at PIP-EMMA.
I sort-of knew PARCHEESI and POUNDSHOP but the one that gave the most grief at the end (and yes I had a little peek to confirm it) was SUBLIMATE. Just couldn’t see how IMA worked with “filling that’s extended” until the penny dropped. Clever clue.
Thanks setter and Jeremy.
Me too, with Lima. Went from “What the…?” to “Brilliant” when clarity arrived
GOOIEST is one of about 40 words with 4 vowels in a row, I was interested to learn
17.55
Yes, a fairly gentle Friday offering. Biffed both the long anagrams, helped in one by turning the paper over and in the other by an expression commonly used on this site; not helped by entering L PLATES in the wrong place. We’ve had Iron Maiden and Iggy and The Stooges in the past few days – HMHB next week?
LOI SUBLIMATE
COD AUSTRALIAN
Now that would left field!!
Shamefully I had to Google it!
HMHB tends to be the preserve of The Magpie puzzles…
I had not heard at all of PARCHEESI but was able to construct from cryptic with some checkers. A board game mainly played in America it seems.
13:07. On the wavelength again today it seems. I was helped by having the required knowledge, which was a mix of the old (PARCHEESI, PIP EMMA) and the new (KEEPY-UPPY, POUNDSHOP).
POUNDSHOP as an adjective has become very common in recent years: it is usually used in the form ‘X is the POUNDSHOP Y’ where the meaning is that person X is an inferior version of person Y. I can’t think of any examples that wouldn’t fall foul of our rules on political neutrality!
43mins but just couldn’t work out epicentre. Annoying as I felt I’d done well until the fog descended. Particularly pleased to get parcheesi which was a NHO.
Stopped after 30′ without the NW. Had heard of the actor but couldn’t have told you his nationality. Doubt if I’d ever have got SUBLIMATE.
Off to watch election results and the Giro.
Thanks jeremy and setter.
Thanks for the parsing of SUBLIMATE 😃
63 minutes. Slow going, not helped by not being familiar with KEEPY-UPPY or POUNDSHOP and spending too long (in vain) trying to parse SUBLIMATE. PARCHEESI was the most Fridayish clue but overall this wasn’t a Friday beast and I should have been quicker.
Miserable fail. NHO SUBLIMATE, PARCHEESI, PIP-EMMA andKEEPY-UPPY (despite playing quite a lot of football when I was YOUNGER).
Grrrr.
I liked POKER FACE and SWEET SPOT (I used to play a lot of tennis too!).
Thanks pj and setter.
There’s also a sweet spot on a golf club, or so it’s rumoured…
If I ever find it, I’ll let you know!
Happy with 40′ for a Friday (albeit a fairly accessible one).
VHO PARCHEESI without knowing what it was. PIP EMMA a complete unknown but MMA and crossers made it straightforward. Stuck on AUSTRALIAN thinking VI (6) was part of some other anagram fodder. Once solved it opened the NW corner to finish.
KEEPY UPPY a write-in, I think I got to about 50 as a youngster which I thought was good until I met proper footballers.
Thanks Jeremy and setter.
22:04 – must have been on wavelength today, because 95% of this fell in 10-15 mins, and I really enjoyed it. What a great set of clues – lots of fun easy ones and some more challenging ones to merit the Friday spot. All witty and well created.
AUSTRALIAN and ALAS went straight in as a pair, without even really needing to read the clue for 6ac.
PIP-EMMA (POI) is a total NHO for me. Also NHO PARCHEESI but again managed to build it from the parts. LOI was EPICENTRE. COD to RAISE AN EYEBROW.
42 mins with the EPICENTRE of slowness in the NW where I took forever to enlist ALAS into the Aussie and only after finally spotting the very neat ANGLE. LOI SUBLIMATE unparsed.
NHO the cheesy game. COD to the actual MER.
Good fun, proper Friday stuff for me.
Thanks to pj and setter.
Plus I have reached one of my targets of a full 28 completions and <= 3 errors on the leaderboard. Happy days.
Like others, NHO PIP-EMMA and PARCHEESI, which were too weird as words even to make a guess at, so failed on both. I thought ‘buttery’ was quite a big stretch for ‘like croissants’, but hey.
Croissants are often marketed as “all butter” – seemed fairly natural to me.
Well beaten. Gave up after 35 minutes. Doubt if I’d ever have got YOUNGER, PARCHEESI or POUNDSHOP. SUBLIMATE biffed.
COD KEEPY UPPY. I was a dab hand (or foot) at this back in the day.
Thanks to Jeremy and the setter
Got a good start in the NE with ALAS, LICIT and UTTER, then proceeded slowly clockwise. RAISE AN EYEBROW and POKER FACE were big helps en route. DIEU ET MON was no problem but it took me a while to replace BRAVE with DROIT, thus enabling GOOIEST and PARROTFISH. NHO PARCHEESI, but assembled it as instructed. GABRIEL opened up the NW. Took quite a while to account for IMA in POI, SUBLIMATE, but got there eventually. LOI was EPICENTRE after I spotted EPIC. A bit of a challenge! 48:13. Thanks setter and Jeremy.
21.57 for this great fun puzzle: the Start Wars riff was excellent, and I laughed out loud when I realised that I too am “someone paid by the state”.
I put in PARCHEESI thinking it was a Pakistani game like Kabaddi, which we had recently: sometimes it’s OK to be wrong but right.
EPICENTRE was my last in, but only because I had misread 1d and put in the ANGEL fish rather than the oblique ANGLE.
But what a joy overall to have current idioms like KEEPY UPPY and POUNDSHOP alongside archaic crossword stuff like PIP EMMA and our beloved organ’s use of the royal crest.
Another Friday to result in a failure, not helped by the comments above which suggest it was a bit of a doddle.
How have I lived so long and never heard of the 3 ‘P’s- PIP -EMMA, PARCHEESI and PARROTFISH?
27:40 – didn’t parse ON TAP, know PARCHEESI or see the well hidden ART FORM until the last minute, but on review it feels like it should have been faster.
SUBLIMATE should have been sublimated, surely? And Chambers seems to agree with me since it only has sublimate as verb. But then I checked in Collins and it is indeed an adjective meaning (what else?) sublimated. Never heard of POUNDSHOP as an adjective but yes modern usage justifies it I think, even though the dictionaries haven’t caught up with it. Well yes they have, some of them anyway, it’s in Collins but not in Chambers. A good crossword.
DNF after two attempts, defeated by the unknown PARCHEESI (which didn’t look likely enough to me to bung it in, even though ‘I see’ had occurred to me for ‘Aha’).
– MER over Churchgoers=parish for PARROTFISH, as there are many people in a parish who do not go to church
– Thought ‘Petition’ in the clue for 2d was giving ‘suit’, so I eventually put in SUBLIMATE with no idea how it worked
– Took ages to think of DIEU ET MON DROIT, and the unlikely-looking U at the end of the first word also had me questioning whether UTTER was right
– Trusted the wordplay for the unknown PIP-EMMA
Thanks Jeremy and setter.
COD Australian (don’t mind cross-reference clues when they’re that good!)
I had the same MER but Collins has: “the churchgoers of such a subdivision ”
.. which lets the setter off, sadly. Yetagain 🙂
I presumably live physically in some parish or other but I would rather object to being called a parishioner.
I thought the p replacing sa in espy was because SA sounds like essay
Neat idea but that would require a homophone indicator. ‘It’ for SA is a crossword staple (long past due retirement if you ask me!)
I recognized Pip Emma from these pages (from haning around this Parish?), which started me thinking the puzzle had a kind of old-fashioned flavour until I bumped into Iggy and the Stooges and Keepy Uppy.
I could not have spelt Parche(e)si without directions. As children we were told it was an Indian game (and I think there are some similar board counting games from ancient Asia) which came to the US via Britain and the Raj. But then we were also told the proper name is Clue (true), that proper Monopoly geography is from Atlantic City (also true) and, maybe less true, that it’s Shoots (playground slides) and Ladders.
Not chutes & ladders?
Probably is chutes – long time since I thought about it, and my fingers just typed. Thanks
Its proper name is just Ludo, I think!
copyright theft, endemic these days ..
I knew the game was owned by an American company – but until today didn’t realise that Cluedo was invented in Britain.
I found this reasonably solver-friendly for a Friday but, as per, you know what you know. I did know DIEU ET MON DROIT from the royals but not that it appears on the masthead. But I had the anagram fodder and the crossers. PARCHEESI was a very vague memory and I would have spelled it with one E but it fitted. SUBLIMATE was not properly parsed – I did not correctly interpret ‘filling that’s extended’ – very cunning. PIP EMMA, I have clued before so it rang a bell. And, whilst I was never any good at it, I certainly recall KEEPY UPPY from schooldays. Pleased to wrap up 5 seconds short of 25 minutes.
Thanks to setter and blogger
Much easier than expected for a Friday. No unknown words, easy spots for KEEPY-UPPY, PARCHEESI and PIP EMMA (and for info ‘before 12’ is ACK EMMA), great!
An excellent and highly enjoyable puzzle all correctly solved bar the crossing “poundshop”/”pip-emma” and “sublimate”/”plain”.
Pleased to have got “parcheesi” (my kids enjoy ludo which I do know) and used to love a bit of “keepy-uppy” and could hit a 100.
Lots of ticks on the paper and too many good clues to single just the one out.
Thanks to our blogger for parsing the unknowns and our setter for a cracking challenge.
Fantastic puzzle, completed in around 40:00 with a work colleague.
NHO pip-emma and did not parse sublimate (that’s actually a lovely clue). Thankfully knew 9d as it was around the edge of old pound coins (and maybe new ones too?)
COD to 15a.
Thanks setter and blogger.
My thanks to plusjeremy and setter.
Easy until it wasn’t; DNF. I got marooned in the SE. Oddly my Cheating Machine had Sea Parrot but not 28a Parrotfish. It also has paddlefish which didn’t help but almost parses but pish is nothing to do with churchgoers. Oh well, onward and upward.
23a Poundshop, MER? I wrote it in but thought it was a reference to Poundland, but no. All pound-shop refs I found are either hyphenated or two words. Since reading the contributions I see it is an adjective, so maybe one word is okay.
2d Sublimate biffed I would not think of expanding L to Lima without a hint when the L is buried in a BLT, the filling in the sandwich.
3d Raise an eyebrow biffed; didn’t have the patience to locate the anagrist. NHO Rey.
9d Dieu etc; ditto, and like plusjeremy looked at front page.
16d Parcheesi, VHO, cheated, stone me plusjeremy how did you work that out? I got the reversed RAP and shrugged.
19d Younger shot straight over my head and exploded on the nearby hillside. In retrospect a clever clue… but too clever for me.
43:12. I found this high quality, not overly tricky for a Friday. Some weird vocab that I’d NHO, PARCHEESI in particular… Fun though!