17:35, quite a tough one today from Wurm I feel. One very novel construction (11d) and one that I really struggled to parse (19d)
Across
| 1 | Mahler playing for Manhattan community (6) |
| HARLEM – (MAHLER)*
The settlement was originally named Nieuw Haarlem after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands. When the English took over Manhattan we changed the name to its current spelling, “Harlem,” as the AA “looked foreign” |
|
| 5 | Preserve wood business graduate cuts (6) |
| EMBALM – E^LM (wood) contains MBA (graduate) | |
| 8 | Paper hat on court jesters (8) |
| FOOLSCAP – Double definition. A court jester wears a “fool’s cap”
The name FOOLSACP comes from the traditional watermark of a jester’s cap and bells that was used on this paper by European papermakers as early as the 15th century. It is longer and slightly narrower than the common A4 (8.3 x 11.7 in) or US Letter (8.5 x 11 in) formats. |
|
| 9 | Stolen goods: ring put in bundle (4) |
| LOOT – O (ring) contained in L^OT (bundle) | |
| 10 | Cheese knife Tamsin holds (4) |
| FETA – hidden in knife Tamsin | |
| 11 | Renovated line and tram station (8) |
| TERMINAL – (LINE TRAM)*
I think TERMINUS is the more common term for an end of the line station, I know the Americans say Bus TERMINAL, but we brits say Bus Station. |
|
| 12 | Soft bed for sporty sort (6) |
| PLAYER – P (soft) + LAYER (bed)
I think the best example of bed=layer is in Geology. “A thin bed/layer of limestone” |
|
| 14 | Attempt to cover butt and hip (6) |
| TRENDY – TR^Y (attempt) contains END (butt)
A Cigarette Butt is an example of butt=end. |
|
| 16 | American in resort tailored garment (8) |
| TROUSERS – US (American) contained in (RESORT)* | |
| 18 | Dreary Celtic poet returned (4) |
| DRAB – BARD (Celtic poet) reversed | |
| 20 | US state I see and I love (4) |
| OHIO– OH! (I see) + I + O (love) | |
| 21 | Baker ate crackers in rest period (3,5) |
| TEA BREAK – (BAKER ATE)* [“crackers” as anagram indicator] | |
| 23 | Romeo stops to provide food bowl (6) |
| CRATER – R{omeo} contained in C^ATER (to provide food) | |
| 24 | Old copper kitchen utensil (6) |
| PEELER – Old slang for a policeman, from Sir Robert Peel who first conceived of a public Police Force. |
Down
| 2 | Make amends by 60 minutes after midnight? (5) |
| ATONE – AT ONE (o’clock) | |
| 3 | A noted soporific? (7) |
| LULLABY – Cryptic definition, “noted” as in made with musical notes | |
| 4 | Old woman cold in raincoat (3) |
| MAC – MA (old woman) + C{old} | |
| 5 | Superheat liquid in Asian river (9) |
| EUPHRATES – (SUPERHEAT)* [with “liquid” as the anagram indicator]
Great anagram, though probably not original. I was thrown by “Asian”, forgetting that the Middle East is of course nearly all in Asia. |
|
| 6 | Endless sea food served in dish (5) |
| BALTI – BALTI{c} (sea)
The definition of “dish” works in both ways, as a Balti is both a curry and the metal dish it is served in: Urdu for “bucket”. Like chicken tikka marsala, it is a uniquely British-Indian creation that originated in Birmingham in the late 1970s. In my younger days, we used to drive all the way up to Sparkbrook to get one. |
|
| 7 | Edgar Allan kept up by fat cat? (7) |
| LEOPARD – POE (Edgar Allan) reversed (UP) contained in L^ARD (fat) | |
| 11 | One persecuting people in high places? (9) |
| TORMENTOR – TOR (high place) + MEN (people) + TOR (high place). So the people are in (contained in) the high places. Clever construction. | |
| 13 | Dog that finds walking awkward? (7) |
| LURCHER – Cryptic Definition
Not a formal pedigree breed but a crossbreed (often a whippet/Greyhound with a terrier/collie) valued for its unique combination of speed and intelligence. |
|
| 15 | Doreen’s bad back (7) |
| ENDORSE – (DOREENS)* | |
| 17 | German sub moving about (1-4) |
| U-BOAT – (ABOUT)*
U-Boat is an anglicised version of the German word U-Boot, which is an abbreviation of Unterseeboot. Literally translated, it means “undersea boat”. |
|
| 19 | Bodies in ground beneath a stone (5) |
| AGATE -A + GATE (Number of bodies in a sporting ground)
This was tough to parse, but referring to a “gate of 20,000” is how sports reporters would refer to the number of people attending a match. I think its probably quite dated now. |
|
| 22 | Peak of Aerosmith’s debut album? (3) |
| ALP – A{erosmith} + LP (album)
Fitting clue since the Winter Olympics are on. Although pretty rare in the singular, its not clear what one Alp is. We don’t say one Cairngorm or one Himalayum. |
9.40 with no idea about the parsing of LOI AGATE which was just a wild guess on my part because I couldn’t think of anything else fitting the letters. And it meant stone. Thank you Wurm and thank you Merlin, I always wondered why FOOLSCAP was called that…
I went with AMAZE – which I think I hallucinated as a synonym for stone as in “stone me!”
Stone the crows is a widespread, if dated, term of amazement. Sadly it doesn’t fit the other half of the clue.
TORMENTOR was a smashing clue. 5:48
A Happy Lunar New Year to all who celebrate such things!
15:16 stupefied by lullaby, couldn’t get the measure of foolscap which might atone for the delay in the NE.
Ta MAW and a rare Quicker Than Blogger
I found this moderate, although I couldn’t make anything of the cryptic for agate. The two tors and the paper hat were mildly amusing. Interestingly, ALP- was the catalog prefix for the famous EMI mono classical records in the 50s; they were a sort of mountain range of musical greatness.
Time: 8:09
8 minutes. No major problems and an enjoyable puzzle. Fortunately I remembered GATE for “attendance” / ‘Bodies in ground’, otherwise the A_A_E as my LOI could have been very frustrating. FOOLSCAP brought back memories of schooldays though I doubt it would be used much now.
Good to see Alfred from “Heartbeat” making an appearance at 13d. Favourite was the LULLABY cryptic def.
Thanks to Wurm and Merlin
12 minutes. GATE in this sense has come up here many times before but perhaps not in a QC .
4:45. I thought this was a superb example of the setter’s art. Clever constructions and plausible surfaces everywhere you looked. “Doreen’s bad back” is a perfect clue imho, but there were plenty of good ones.
Thanks Wurm and thanks for the blog Merlin. BTW I think the definition at 6d has to be “food served in dish” for the clue to work.
Very similar experience to our blogger, with my L2I being TORMENTOR (I had to be very careful here as I would spell it -ER) and AGATE, where like LindsayO I biffed the answer from definition and checkers and had no idea at all how the parsing worked. Generally slow throughout though, with a 15.37 finish – but very satisfying as I worked out some of the tougher clues. EUPHRATES a great anagram and my COD.
Many thanks Merlin for the blog. Slightly surprised to see the SNITCH as low as it is, around 100 only.
This is the second time I’ve gone -ER when it was -OR in recent days, careless. Today I thought TORMENTeR was just a quirky definition and never thought of what ‘high places’ was really doing. Loved AGATE once I saw what was going on and similarly with LULLABY and CRATER when I had utterly failed to separate ‘food’ from ‘bowl’. Good one, just a bit outclassed! One pink in a little over the quarter hour.
One of those very satisfying solves that feels really difficult at first glance but then comes together without too many headaches.
Started with HARLEM and finished with an unparsed AGATE in 8.25. COD to LULLABY.
Thanks to Merlin and Wurm
A rare two consecutive days out of SCC at 19.22. So many beautiful clever surfaces but peeler was our favourite.
Thanks Merlin for parsing of agate and tormentor which we BNP’d. Liked fools cap too and surprised to come here and find that is indeed where it came from, who knew?
Thanks Wurm
a lovely puzzle. just under 10 minutes. COD to Doreen’s bad back. Merlin, you need ‘provide food’ in 23a. thanks Wurm and blogger.
Fixed now, thx
I thought I was going quite smoothly but my time of 28 mins showed I was a bit more puzzled than usual. I liked ATONE hoho and the anagrams but TORMENTOR was COD with PEELER close on its heels. As others, I couldn’t parse AGATE as I was not thinking of that kind of ground. All in all, a good puzzle.
Thanks Wurm and Merlin
What Plett said, except slower (09:04) and my COD is OHIO. Cracking puzzle and a Decent Day.
Many thanks Wurm and Merlin.
14:27 for this lovely puzzle. Started with HARLEM, finished with the unparsed AGATE and several contenders for COD in between.
FOOLSCAP fooled me for a while because I wanted it to start with ‘woo’ and my initial reaction to TORMENTOR was muted until the penny dropped and I was wowed. Also much enjoyed EUPHRATES.
Thanks Wurm and Merlin.
A very good puzzle. I slowed towards the end but was so deeply immersed that I was surprised to see 16.19 on the clock when I finished. I crossed my fingers and guessed AGATE and LULLABY but parsed the rest. My COD has to be Doreen’s bad back but TORMENTOR ran it very close.
Some very good clues so thanks to Wurm and to Merlin for a good blog.
Glad it’s rated tough ‘cos for me it was at best a struggle with some parsing queries, finally stumped by SE corner. NHO bodies = GATE. Thanks, Merlin. But (sorry):
Drat: had ENBALM; know BA and MA but NHO MBA – what’s that?
What’s Celtic about bard – surely Shakespeare was a bard?
If (as I think) you’re saying PEELER is an old word for policeman, surely it’s a double definition and “old copper” should also be underlined?
Master of Business Administration.
Had me stumped too but it’s actually “business graduate”. MBAs used to be all the rage a few years ago. Maybe still are, I’m out of touch.
A tougher offering. From HARLEM to FOOLSCAP in 10:42. Lot of misdirection for me at least. Doreen’s bad back was good. I was distracted by Indus until EMBALM arrived. Thanks Wurm and Merlin.
13:05
Count me among the crowd of those who biffed AGATE with no idea how to parse.
EUPHRATES took a while to untangle. I got bogged down by seeing that the anagram contained ..PUTRA , and wasted a while vainly trying to remember rivers in the wrong part of Asia. I suspect the Brahmaputra may be the only one that ends that way.
COD to TORMENTOR.
Thanks Merlin and Wurm
I absolutely staggered myself with an ALMOST top to bottom solve, coming back and biffing my LOI on the mere basis of “stone”. I parsed it fairly quickly afterwards. I saw “carter” before CRATER leapt out at me.
FOI HARLEM
LOI AGATE
COD OHIO
TIME 2:47 (still 14 seconds slower than Verlaine though!)
Mind blowing! Both of you!
*applause*
Wow, well done!
Blimey! Very well done!
I had just two clues (HARLEM and EMBALM) written in and was working on my third (LEOPARD) by the time you finished. I’d drawn a blank with each of 2d, 3d, 4d, 5d and 6d.
10.40 Quite a bitty solve. I eventually biffed LOI AGATE with fingers crossed. Now it’s been explained it’s very good. As were EUPHRATES and TORMENTOR. Thanks Merlin and Wurm.
6:20. Rather slow today, e.g. in seeing EUPHRATES was an anagram and parsing BALTI. Slow too with LOI AGATE taking some time to see “bodies in ground” = GATE. Nice one Wurm and thanks for the blog Merlin.
6:03
Pretty swift – only really had to think at all about the bodies in ground for my LOI. Needed all the checkers for FOOLSCAP though, I’d forgotten about that sort of paper.
Thanks Merlin and Wurm
I don’t know what it was about this puzzle but it gave me no motivation to complete. I just found it so dull. Looking at the comments I seem to be the only one.
I did manage to complete half it if before deciding to stop. It wasn’t so much it’s difficulty … I can’t put my finger on it. I just found it uninspiring.
I am with you on that Poison Wyvern. I found it just a run-of-the-mill crossword. It had none of the style and verve of The Times, and just as easily been The Evening Standard.
Just the eight today. Slightly distracted.
Thought of terminal but discarded it DNK the Americanism, had to reveal that and Lurcher, otherwise plain sailing if rather slow. Thanks to Wurm and Merlin.
14 mins…
However, I was completely crossing my fingers for 19dn “Agate”. I couldn’t see what else it could be, but the parsing of “gate” was beyond me. Seems obvious now, but not the sort of thing that I would conjure up out of the blue. The rest went in steadily.
FOI – 4dn “Mac”
LOI – 19dn “Agate”
COD – 7dn “Leopard”
Thanks as usual!
I found this really difficult – just not on Wurm’s wavelength. However, enjoyed the clues when I finally cracked them. Never parsed AGATE. Finally finished in 30.22.
Very, very slow today, but limped to the finish in one piece. Finally biffed AGATE unparsed – rather worried by corpses. Also slow on FOOLSCAP (still possess files that size), PEELER, EUPHRATES, BALTI, PLAYER – et al!
Phew. COD ENDORSE.
Thanks for blog, Merlin. Actually in German Alp can be singular anyway.
On the wavelength today – 7:59, which isn’t an outright PB but is probably my best performance compared with the overall TftT field. I will make the most of it, as the comparison is rarely in my favour! Biffed AGATE after a brief panic and then managed to parse it (a tricky one, particularly with those miserable checking letters).
Thank you for the blog!
Great puzzle which I completed in 7:43. COD BALTI. LOI which I didn’t parse was AGATE so thanks for clearing that up.
Just right for a QC. Cuppa still warm when I finished. Lots of cunning clues. The EUPHRATES may be an old chestnut to some but was new to me. Delightful! LOI was AGATE which I refused to write in until parsed. Doh! Very entertaining puzzle
Thanks Wurm and Merlin
U BOAT here was obvious from the anagram but I have seen U Boot appear in crosswords too. Is there any rule of thumb for when the English spelling is used and when the local language is correct?
Tough, tricky but engrossing, as many have said already in various ways. The river anagram was delightful once it clicked, the tors were locally topical, Doreen was simple but so neat. AGATE – biffed so thanks for explaining, I’d never have seen how bodies=gate. A satisfying solve.
DNF. Nudged into the SCC by poi Balti (not a shortened seafood then 🙄) and pulled stumps a few miutes later when the muse threw her hands up at the thought of A*a*e at 19d. I did at least spot the parsing once I knew the answer.
An ultimately disappointing end to what was a high quality and very enjoyable QC, with CoD to Tormentor for the (very useful Tor * tor) parsing. Invariant
Judging by the times posted so far I think I must have been on form to finish in 7.25. A very good puzzle from Wurm I thought with some clever misdirections. A classic example being AGATE where burials are your first thought. I did however think of ‘gate’ in the way the setter intended, and as a regular attender of football matches I often ask my seating companion what he thinks the gate is today.
A little over 4,000 on average, perhaps?
Yes Random, 4,000 is about average for us, which considering we are bottom of the league is relatively good. When we played Man City, Man Utd, and Tottenham in the F A Cup, 10,000 ‘supporters’ suddenly turned up!
I solved 1a (HARLEM) and 5a (EMBALM) quite early on, but struggled to build from there. The lower half of the grid proved more fruitful when I got there, but I slowed significantly towards the end. My L4I (TORMENTOR, PLAYER, LURCHER and CRATER) took >10 minutes to solve and I then spent a further 3-4 minutes unsuccessfully alphabet trawling A_A_E for something more likely than AGATE.
Total time ~43 minutes. Hard work!
Many thanks to Merlin and Wurm.
Went through most of this no trouble, but the Celtic bit threw me for a while in 18a and for some reason CRATER took me well into the SCC with a final time of 23:31. Some excellent clues though, with EUPHRATES and LEOPARD being my favourites I think. Thanks Merlin and Wurm.
25:50
A good puzzle but completely stumped by LOI AGATE which not only took me to the SCC but towards the back. Failed to parse it and biffed from the definition after a 6 minute alphabet trawl.
09:17. Enjoyed this one – I think everything was parsed or nearly so. I liked CRATER and TROUSERS. Bit slower than I’d have liked but will blame that on poor sleep!
Strange how the brain works: tough to start with, so stopped for a quick doze, then the remainder were almost a write-in. Great puzzle, some beautiful clues, and thanks to Würm and our blogger (umlaut courtesy of Apple’s spell-checker!).
I failed on AGATE, gave up in the end and hit reveal.
RE: TERMINAL, I didn’t think of it as an Americanism. Whenever I used to buy a ticket to London, the option on the ticket selling machine always said “London Terminals” as the destination. If I bought a ticket via London it would say “via London Terminals, any valid route” or something like that. No idea if that is still the case as we now have contactless payments for travel so I never buy a physical ticket. So these days (since I never commute any more), when I go to London, as I did yesterday for a meetup, I get drunk then forget to tap out when I get home and end up paying a penalty fare. EDIT – although I was pretty plastered, it appears that I did actually tap out correctly. That’s a first.
Another lovely puzzle with some brilliant surfaces and a couple of head scratchers throw in. Didn’t parse AGATE and hadn’t fully appreciated TORMENTOR – brilliant. Will not forget FOOLSCAP in a hurry (thanks for extra info Merlin). Slow to solve CRATER and BALTI. COD EUPHRATES for reminding me that liquid can be an anagram indicator 🙄Thanks Wurm.
All done in 19 minutes (seemed quicker) but alas a typo at 5ac – enbalm for embalm. I couldn’t parse AGATE, never considered that sort of ground.
FOI – 1ac HARLEM
LOI – 19dn AGATE
COD – 11dn TORMENTOR
Thanks to Wurm and Merlin
20 mins, which is quick for me. Another who plumped for agate without working out why. Spent too much time trying to think of random sea food and obscure food bowls before working out what was needed. Comtemplated an obscure welsh poet “Llud” too, so where I could be misdirected, I was.
FOI Hatlem
LOI Agate, with fingers crossed
COD Leopard
Thanks Wurm and Merlin
Ha! I mused upon possible poets, Llud and Krad, then put in Drab, with a shrug, as I’m a Celt and didn’t think the word ‘bard’ was specific to us, but….
12 clues solved in 20 mins! At least my average is going in the right direction!
I was taught at school that an ‘alp’ was a lower meadow used for grazing.
43:35 – my slowest time ever, needing two sessions to finish and then only with 3 alphabet trawls. and some biffs (LULLABY, AGATE, CRATER). Just not on Wurm’s wavelength at all, especially on the left hand side. Disheartening. How on earth Busman can do this in 2:47? I can’t even read the clues in that time never mind solve them! Hats off indeed!!
DNF: beaten by CRATER. I even cheated, looked at all the words Chambers offered that matched _R_T_R and still failed to spot the winner. Sigh. Other than that, I thought this was a sparkling puzzle. COD to EUPHRATES, which was a new anagram to me.
Thanks to Wurm and Merlin.
DNF, with two embarrassing errors. SLAYER, really? And the excellent TORMENTOR somehow became TORMENTeR, spoiling all the fun. Also I couldn’t parse LOI AGATE so dithered over it for a long time and was too frustrated to check the grid before submitting, it’s not my fault, wah. Also enjoyed OHIO and FOOLSCAP. I’m not familiar with PEELER but somehow have heard of Sir Robert so it was gettable.
Thanks to Joker and Merlin. I would in fact be more likely to say “bus station” than “bus terminal”. Himalayum, cute.