Times Quick Crossword No 2964 by Wurm

Author   Mike HarperPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Solving time: 7:13

No Wurms for more than eighteen months, then two come along in succession. I quite enjoy Wurm’s puzzles, particularly the mildly cryptic definitions, but appreciate that they may not be everyone’s cuppa. I did note the proximity of 13a to 17d, and also 4d to 17d – could Wurm be a City supporter?

I liked 12a and 1d the most, and my LOI was 16d.

How did you find it?

Definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [directions in square ones].

Across
1 Train service often suspended? (8)
MONORAIL – Starting off with a mildly cryptic clue – MONORAILs usually hang from above i.e. suspended, though this isn’t always the case.
5 Exploited American newspaper employee? (4)
USED – US (American) ED (newspaper employee)

Not sure the ? is required
8 Baby carriage carrying one ancient ruler (5)
PRIAM – PRAM (Baby carriage) containing [carrying] I (one)

In Greek mythology, PRIAM (Ancient Greek: Πρίαμος, pronounced prí.amos) was the last king of Troy during the Trojan War, and father to Hector, Paris and Cassandra.
9 Hide treasure at last in small Greek island (7)
SECRETE – Last letter [at last] of {treasur}E in S (small) CRETE (Greek island)
11 Woman tempted the night before (3)
EVE – Double definition

According to the Bible, EVE was tempted by Satan in the form of a serpent. EVE was aware of God’s instructions but allowed her focus to fixate on what she could not have. Satan challenged the wisdom, Word, and character of God, and both Adam and Eve succumbed to temptation, taking the forbidden fruit. This act of disobedience marks the fall of humanity, introducing sin and death into the world.
12 Pick up the tab? Not me! (3-6)
NON-SMOKER – Tab being a slang word for cigarette, a NON-SMOKER would not pick it up.

The misdirection here is caused by the phrase ‘Pick up the tab’ meaning ‘Pay the bill’.

Why are cigarettes called tabs? One theory is that it was formed by clipping the Geordie (NE England) pronunciation of the word tobacco (tabaco).
13 Miserable face Sergeant-Major wears (6)
DISMAL – SM (abbreviation for Sergeant-Major) wears i.e. enrobed in DIAL (face)
15 Conservative way to reverse decay (3,3)
DRY ROT – TORY (Conservative) RD (way i.e. short for ‘road’) all reversed
18 Gave up group, one featured in commercial (9)
ABANDONED – BAND (group) ONE contained by [featured in] AD (commercial)
19 Female, adult with two names (3)
ANN – A (adult) with two NNs (names)
20 Outstanding ale isn’t drunk (7)
SALIENT – Anagram [drunk] of ALE ISN‘T

As an adjective, SALIENT means ‘most noticeable or important’ or refers to an outward-pointing angle.

As a noun, a SALIENT is a piece of land or section of fortification that juts out to form an angle.
21 Artist is English: Jack maybe (5)
RAISE – RA (Artist i.e. Royal Academician) IS E (English)

Jack – as in the jacking up of a car to change a tyre.
22 Enjoys food found in great steakhouse (4)
EATS – Hidden [found] in great steakhouse
23 Disciple’s end: Earth destroyed! (8)
ADHERENT – Anagram [destroyed] of END EARTH
Down
1 Crude poem had one shocked? (7)
MOPHEAD – Anagram [Crude] of POEM HAD

‘shocked’ here implies an awful lot of hair – MOPHEAD appears in both Collins Online and OED with this meaning
2 Sound inside volcano is eerie (5)
NOISE – Hidden [inside] volcano is errie
3 Brilliant device and line in Love Story (5,6)
ROMAN CANDLE – AND L (line) inserted into ROMANCE (Love Story)

A ROMAN CANDLE is a long, thin firework, which is banned in some countries (Finland, the Netherlands), and illegal to possess or set off in various states of the USA, due to a tendency to malfunction.

One gruesome theory as to why these fireworks are called ROMAN CANDLEs, is that in ancient Rome, Christians coated in pitch, oil, wax and other flammable materials were the ‘candles’, which were then lit…
4 Silly consuming son’s bananas (6)
INSANE – INANE (Silly) containing [consuming] S (son)

‘bananas’ in the crazy sense

If you are interested in why ‘bananas’ might mean INSANE or crazy, then this article might give some insight: etymology – Why does “bananas” mean “crazy”? – English Language & Usage Stack Exchange
6 Person who furtively steals footwear (7)
SNEAKER – Double definition, the first of which is mildly cryptic – ‘steals’ here as in ‘creeps silently’.

As footwear, SNEAKER (USA) = TRAINER (UK)
7 Dull and tedious day with parent (5)
DREAR – D with REAR (parent as a verb)
10 Friendship dear America ruined (11)
CAMARADERIE – Anagram [ruined] of DEAR AMERICA
14 Actor Johansson mostly red? (7)
SCARLET – SCARLETT (Actor Johansson) without the last letter [mostly]
16 An outside line to ring? (7)
TANGENT – Mildly cryptic definition.

Remember your maths? The dictionary says that a TANGENT is: (of a line or plane) touching, but not intersecting, a curve or curved surface
17 Red Devils brought together? (6)
UNITED – Arguably, this is another double definition.

You need to know that Manchester UNITED’s nickname is the Red Devils, and that because of Manchester UNITED’s domination of English football, particularly since the early of the 1990s, many refer to them simply as UNITED.

Of course, other UNITEDs are available and are probably/possibly referred to by that single word in the ten localities of Newcastle, West Ham, Leeds, Sheffield, Peterborough, Rotherham, Oxford, Cambridge, Colchester and Carlisle (neither Scunthorpe nor Sutton are currently in the top four divisions of the English football league pyramid).
18 Passage the author will read aloud (5)
AISLE – Homophone [read aloud] of I’LL (the author i.e. I WILL contracted)
19 Nimble goalie mistakenly dropping ball? (5)
AGILE – Anagram [mistakenly] of G{o}ALIE without [dropping] the O (ball)

 

93 comments on “Times Quick Crossword No 2964 by Wurm”

  1. No idea what was going on with 12ac and 17d, but with all the checkers in, NON-SMOKER & UNITED seemed inevitable. 8:37.

  2. A really cryptic quickie I thought, with the likes of MONORAIL, NON-SMOKER and TANGENT all pretty tricky. Had forgotten about ‘tabs’ and thought the setter was talking about a different ‘tab’. Everything else was gettable from the wordplay and anagrams. COD to ROMAN CANDLE.
    Thanks MH and setter.

  3. 9:17, and good fun. Did not parse SNEAKER as I was fixated on the thieving meaning of steal, but the checkers gave the answer readily enough.

    Many thanks Mike for the blog. Did not know that about bananas.

  4. This took me a while, 13.30 in fact. MOPHEAD (I’ve never heard this term used) was the chief culprit, with MONORAIL not far behind. Didn’t know tab for ciggie and was, like Cedric, stuck on the wrong def for steal. But all good, thanks Wurm and Mike.

  5. Funny how a contemporary pop singer caused such an outcry yesterday, however an obscure king of ancient Troy causes not a peep.

    A generational thing? Or am I so bad at QCs because I spent my time watching Glastonbury rather than reading Greek mythology;)

    1. Not a peep so far, Halfdan, but it’s a bit early in the day to be judging the reception that PRIAM will receive from other solvers. I can’t speak for recent generations, but most people of my era and many that followed were taught about the Trojan war, and in particular the story of the Trojan horse, so would have heard of Priam, King of Troy, as a matter of course. It’s the sort of GK that generations of people acquired over many centuries and passed on whereas an Albanian singer who came to fame only 8 years ago will inevitably be unknown to many solvers of Times crosswords.

      1. I did all about the Trojan war at school and we even built a cardboard horse, but if I learned that the King was Priam I’ve long since forgotten him!

      2. Very true what you say. And it wasn’t a hard clue, though I had to google both PRIAM and PRAIM to find out which one was right. And part of the fun for me is learning about the NHO clues, as where else would I learn about kings of troy

        If you made a Venn diagram of people who had heard of Dua Lipa and Priam I doubt they’d be many in the overlapping bit! But I think there is room for some obscurity from all areas of GK, especially from contemporary sources if QCs are to remain popular in years to come.

        1. The Illiad, the Odyssey and the story of Troy are all very deeply woven into European culture, with countless films/plays/novels/operas/paintings/sculptures/TV adaptations. But even leaving centuries of art and literature to one side, recently you might have seen the film “Troy” (2004), starring Brad Pitt as Achilles and Peter O’Toole as Priam; or you might be looking forward to “The Return”, with Juliette Binoche as Penelope and Ralph Fiennes as Odysseus. If gaming is your thing you might have played the Trojan War Saga in “Total War” or the Troy mod in Rome Total War. You might have read Pat Barker’s “The Silence of the Girls” in 2018. If you prefer comic novels you might have come across the Age of Bronze.

          Knowing that Priam was King of Troy really doesn’t fall into the “obscure GK” bucket, and there are huge numbers of “contemporary sources” for that knowledge. Totally fair for Wurm to include him in a QC.

          2. I agree PRIAM will be remembered long after random pop singers. He was a write-in for me.
            I have vaguely heard of Dua and definitely of Scarlett, though.

          3. Gosh, well I could reel off countless Dua Lipa songs but I can’t say I’ve ever heard of this Priam fella.

          4. It was obscure for me, whereas Dua Lipa was not. Others felt the opposite.

            In my view it was fair for both Dua and King P to be included. Obscurity is relative and diverse GK across the puzzles a good thing.

            Just felt it was a bit of a double standard that some were suggesting dua lipa was too obscure but you never see anyone saying it for the many classical or mythological references. I would place a big bet than many more people today are familiar with dua lipa than priam

            Good debate though. And must be the first debate involving these two subjects in history!

          5. I think you all forgot Michael Tippett’s opera King Priam, but forgive me if I’ve missed something at the end of the day.

        2. I’m bemused by this exchange. Scarlett Johanson and Dua Lipa are regularly mentioned in the Times newspaper. I naively assumed that people who do the crossword in that newspaper might also read it.

          1. I’d be more surprised if anyone claimed they read The Times from cover to cover including articles on subjects in which they have no interest.

          3. wrong! since the world turned to he’ll and a hand cart I barely read any paper!

  6. 14 minutes for this. No problems other than feeling I was generally a bit slow around the grid today. UNITED was easy from checkers and the straight definition and I knew Manchester United played in red because it has been referred to in previous clues. I didn’t know Red Devils, but took it on trust.

    The Beatles were affectionately referred to as ‘Mopheads’ particularly in their early days of fame.

    I first came across SNEAKERS in the Peanuts cartoon strip reading the adventures of Charlie Brown and his pals.

  7. 25 dead but DPS in camaraderie, should have double checked the anagrist!

    Some clever clues that took a bit of BTP . Didn’t know the noun meaning of salient, thanks Mike, but in the end convinced ourselves the salient/outstanding point was good enough and could not find a better word from the letters. We also could not see why Jack was raise, thinking of the flag only, and done up like a kipper by the capital J 😀

    Tangent is very clever and definitely COD

    Thanks Wurm

  8. United mophead salient nonsmoker all tricky. Priam generously clued and drifting about my synapses somewhere. 11:36 so quite content. I’m just not so good at cryptic DDs although I got sneaker on first pass. I was shocked to need all the checkers in place in addition to the anagram fodder to get mophead.
    Good brain food. Thanks Mike and Wurm

  9. A typically entertaining puzzle from Wurm and not as tricky as some of his offerings.

    No major hold ups but had to trust the wordplay for RAISE as I didn’t understand the definition and the SNEAKER/NON-SMOKER combo put up a bit of a fight at the end.

    Crossed the line a smidge under average in 8.06 with COD to the clumsy goalkeeper.

    Thanks to Mike

  10. Quite tough, I thought, though I breezed through most of it. NHO PRIAM, but the clueing got me there. RED DEVILS meant nothing to me, but then football means nothing to me. ROMAN CANDLE was my undoing, resulting in a DNF.

    Pi ❤️

    Edit: Upon re-reading my comment. I realise my first sentence has four words starting with T and with OUGH in them. Huh! 🤔

    2. Just add in a thoroughly and a trough and you’ve got a full house, I think. You should try explaining it to the French!

      1. Slightly cheating as I’m a geologist but a seasonal lake in a limestone area is a Turlough. That’s the sort of crossword answer I’d like to see rather than NHO Ancient Greeks.

    3. Reminds me of the “dough faced, rough coated ploughboy, coughing and hiccoughing..” Used to torment poor folk trying to learn English.

  11. Seemed pretty straightforward but took me over 10 mins (ok, 10:01).
    Thanks Wurm and Mike (pretty impressive, knowing all those Uniteds…)

  12. An enjoyably cryptic QC, but got stuck in the south, so 29 minutes. Comprehensive explanations Mike, thanks. I agree that the Trojan War and its aftermath will be around for a long time to come. They’re great stories with universal themes which we revisit again and again. (Ralph Fiennes appears as Odysseus in the recently released The Return, for example). There’s a nice diagram to show why the name tangent, a touching line to a curve, as Mike explains, is given to the trig function tan, (remember sin cos and tan?). The length of each line in the diagram gives you the value of sine cosine and tangent for any angle theta if the radius is 1 unit. You can find it here; go to the second diagram:
    https://www.mathsisfun.com/geometry/unit-circle.html

  13. A slightly better eight today.

    Solved 10d and 9ac which pleased me.

    Nowhere near 12a despite being a non smoker myself. Hung up on bill for that one.

    Needed the N from noise to twig monorail.

    CoD Tangent which I didn’t get as I was hung up on telephony. Sun kissed male perhaps?

    Thank you all…

  14. 14:32 for the solve. An enjoyable offering from Wurm (thank-you) where I particularly liked RAISE, DRY-ROT and the construction of ROMAN-CANDLE (my LOI). The pure cryptics of MONORAIL, NON-SMOKER, TANGENT were troublesome areas

    Wondering if USED is the most used chestnut. ABANDONED giving it a run for its money.

    Thanks to Mike for the blog.

  15. This took me an hour. Quite a lot of biffing but some of the parsing was fun to work out such as ‘rear’ for ‘parent’ and ‘raise’ for jack’ and ‘mophead’ for ‘one shocked’. I could not parse ROMAN CANDLE and UNITED was a guess.
    COD to DRY ROT.
    Thanks Mike for a very helpful blog.

  16. Dnf…

    I found this quite hard and struggled with a few clues in the bottom half. Upon reflection, nothing seems too difficult, so not sure why I found it so difficult.

    One to write off I think.

    FOI – 5ac “Used”
    LOI – Dnf
    COD – 17dn “United” – being a Man U fan (hard times I know) it couldn’t be anything else.

    Thanks as usual!

  17. I had no real problems today, although a higher than average pure cryptic count for a QC (I rarely get them without checkers) meant I had a lot of gaps on the first pass. PRIAM was no problem for me, I studied the Trojan war at school and UNITED was similarly no bother (although I can see it might be for non football followers). For the record I also had no problem with DUA LIPA yesterday.

    My biggest issue today was getting the right spelling for CAMARADERIE, but worked it out from the anagrist. I was done in 9:35, so not a bad time for me.

  18. Solved pretty steadily in 25.23, pausing over this definition of MOPHEAD and working out SNEAKER, not thinking American.

  19. If Würm is a (Manchester) City supporter, he’s given a barbed description of United’s current woes. Miserable/Dismal, Decay, Gave-up, One-shocked, Dull and tedious/Drear, Goalie mistakenly dropping ball (ouch!): all too accurate for fans of Scarlet United.

  20. Tricky but satisfying QC from Wurm. Thinking of Halfdan’s Venn diagram, I had heard of Dua Lipa but certainly couldn’t put a name, or song, to the face. However do know the story of the Trojan War, and Priam pops up in Hamlet’s scene with the Players, so no problem there. Liked the misdirection for NON-SMOKER. How times have changed since the Beatles were known as mopheads because of their ‘long’ hair. Biffed UNITED – didn’t know or had forgotten Man U’s nickname, but not a fan being from the other side of the Pennines. Thanks Mike for great blog – NHO SALIENT as a noun, so another learning day.

  21. Congratulations to all the above who managed this in just a few minutes. A DNF for me. After admiring Wurm’s cleverness whilst working hard to get all but 1a and 1d, this puzzle became a chore and I threw in the towel well into the SCC. I just couldn’t see MONORAIL without the M of MOPHEAD.
    Hard and not much fun. Clearly, Wurm didn’t get the recent memo.
    I have found all Wurm’s recent puzzles to be very tough and chewy (apart from 2917 which, strangely, was a doddle). Maybe our natural wavelengths are often out of phase.
    Thanks to Mike for a good blog.

  22. After my two regulation passes I was left with MONORAIL and my LOI. I could tell you more about PRIAM than DUA LIPA, the former from a classical education, the latter because my interest in popular music waned in the 90’s and was flat on its back with its legs in the air by 2003. I enjoyed this offering from Wurm though.

    FOI USED
    LOI ROMAN CANDLE
    COD NON-SMOKER*
    TIME 4:15

    *Viz magazine’s “Billy the Fish” plays in a stadium which carries a faux advertisement reading “Drink Beer, Smoke Tabs”. I’m open to correction, but I think it’s Geordie slang.

    1. Do both Viz and Billy the Fish fall under ancient or modern GK? – I’d say 1990s (when I was reading), but suspect may be unknown to many here… 😉

      1. Indeed! And I used to say that no self-respecting teenager would be without their copy of Roger’s Profanisaurus until a friend pointed out that no teenagers are self-respecting 🙂

  23. After wondering for some time what red devils had to do with the price of eggs, I entered LOI, UNITED, with a shrug and forgot to do even a cursory check elsewhere and was regaled with 3 pink squares, a totally unneccesary AGLIE at 19d, and my usual careless CAMeRADERIE. Drat and triple drat! eight minutes for that fiasco! Thanks Wurm and Mike.

  24. 8.14 with a spelling mistake

    Yes also can’t spell CAMARADERIE

    Otherwise I thought this was tricky but excellent with three top quality cryptics (MONORAIL, NON-SMOKER and best of all TANGENT). Having grown up in the NE tab for fag was so prevalent it was a bit of a shock to discover my fellow students at my southern Uni had no idea what I was referring to. Nor did many knew that there was a kind of football played with a round ball…

    Thanks Mike and Wurm

  25. Thanks Wurm and Mike for a return to sanity. United should have been a gimme for anyone who follows football in the UK. While they were getting their latest pummeling at the weekend, the commentary kept referring to United and everyone knew who were being described – even though they were playing Newcastle United!

  26. I am 100% blaming Plett for the fact that today I had the double whammy of proofreading and then getting a DPS anyway. Fuming I tell you!

    It turns out I can’t spell CAMeRADERIE. Gosh it made me happy to find that some other people can’t either. I love you all.

    07:20 but OWL. Arrgghh. Great puzzle, COD to NON-SMOKER. Many thanks Wurm and Mike.

  27. DNF, on a day when I did finish the 15×15.

    Stared at the POEMHAD anagram, but couldn’t see it, likewise SM in a word meaning “face”, for DISMAL.

    My 1a was CABLECAR, which is a better answer. I’m in Dubai at the moment, and the MONORAIL is not suspended.

    COD NON SMOKER

  28. Another day where everything just clicked. I took a seat on the MONORAIL and sped from MOPHEAD to DRY ROT in 5:23. My only guess was UNITED. COD to TANGENT. Thanks Mike.

  29. Another enjoyable QC, all correct though had doubts about my delayed LOI MOPHEAD.
    COD ROMAN CANDLE. Also liked SNEAKER, Non-SMOKER, SECRETE, DRY ROT. NHO Red Devils but biffed UNITED.
    Rather a lot of anagrams. Ashamed I cd not parse TANGENT.
    My military father used SALIENT as a noun, btw.
    Thanks vm, Mike.

    2. In the First World War salients in the battle lines were significant as they were very difficult to defend. A salient bulging out meant your troops were vulnerable from three directions. The Ypres Salient was probably one of the most well-known.

  30. After yesterday’s toughie, I found this to be at the other end of the spectrum, needing only 5.25 to complete. I fully expected everyone to be posting super quick times, but so far at least this hasn’t been the case. I suppose I was simply tuned in to Wurm’s wavelength today. Most clues were solved at first pass, and it was only my LOI 12ac NON SMOKER that frustratingly held me up, otherwise a rare sub five minuter was on.

  31. It has all been said before.
    12a Non-smoker. As an ex-smoker I don’t remember anyone equating tab with a cigarette or butt or anything else smokable. But it’s in Wiktionary marked as Geordie as Mike says, which explains my ignorance.
    COD 15a Dry rot. Very clever. Different split for Tory Rd.
    1d Mophead. Clever. Didn’t see the “one shocked” for a while.
    3d Roman Candle very clever.
    MER at 17d, United. I have no connection between Devils and United; as it is a footie clue then I don’t like it. A word is added which made me doubt the answer. Had it been a simple non-cryptic “brought together” it was very gettable. I put it in as the only word that fitted. However it is horses for courses; it was someone’s COD. For me footie is off the menu.
    Thanks to Mike Harper and Wurm.

  32. 9.05 With all the cryptic definitions I could easily have been very stuck but they were quite gentle. LOI ADHERENT. Thanks Mike and Wurm.

  33. Not on Wurm’s wavelength today (I find I rarely am). I gave it my customary 30 minutes and then, as I only had 2 to go, I continued. I finally gave up on 36 minutes with 1ac and 1dn still obstinately unsolved (the latter mainly because I was looking at the wrong end of the clue for the definition). Couldn’t parse 3dn or 16dn either.

    FOI – 5ac USED
    LOI – DNF
    COD – 16dn TANGENT (now I understand it). Also liked EVE.

    Thanks to Wurm and Mike.

  34. 8:31

    As so often, I didn’t see 1a and consequently came to both 1’s at the end. Only due to DISMAL did I believe there to be an anagram of poem had, and the M gave me LOI and COD MONORAIL.

    Fun puzzle, thanks Wurm and Mike

  35. Quite a tricky one I felt, but I was a lot quicker than yesterday, catching the SCC by a couple of minutes to finish with 22:15. Last two in were TANGENT and UNITED. I’ll give the former my COD. Thanks Wurm and Mike

  36. An odd solve: Monorail and Mophead were (for me) simple write-ins, whereas the so far unmentioned loi Drear was a tedious alpha-trawl and fingers crossed answer. Dreary yes, Drear no.
    At 30mins a far from a quick solve, but there was still lots to enjoy along the way. Non-Smoker was a belated pdm, and Roman Candle was nice to parse, but Dry Rot wins out for my CoD vote. Invariant

  38. 50 minutes.

    I had an absolute nightmare with this and found it harder than some 15 x 15s. Several NHOs.

    If I can’t do better than this, I might as well give up.

    Thanks for the blog.

    1. I feel your pain! Took a bit of perseverance today that’s for sure, but worth it I think.

  39. Great puzzle from setter today all good in 10.12 with plenty of outstanding contenders for COD. Thanks for detailed blog Mike

  40. I found this very tricky and must confess to an alphabet trawl for the initial M of MONORAIL and MOPHEAD (doh). Also biffed ROMAN CANDLE and never did parse. Wasn’t that sure of TANGENT either. I grew up in the south but very definitely knew what a tab was 😁 so NON-SMOKER went straight in. Justified ‘slipper’ for SNEAKER until SECRETE made me think again. Liked DRY ROT but COD to MOPHEAD – brilliant! Many thanks for the much-needed blog. Found this a slog but very glad I persevered as there were some top-notch clues along the way. Thanks Wurm. Nice one.

  41. Rather similar to yesterday. Some clever clues, we were a little slower than average and it was the more enjoyable for it. Also, another (post solve) doh! moment. TANGENT went in with fingers crossed, thinking it had to be but the ‘to ring’ part was perhaps referring to some NHO meaning along the lines of PLANGENT! 14:00 all in. COD MOPHEAD. Thanks, Mike and Wurm.

  42. DNF today, so used it as a learning experience. The last few clues I put in were from checking letters and unable to figure out the word play. Looking at the blog, all the clues make sense now, and some I really should have got, with my brother being a Man United fan! Thanks for the blog 😁

  43. A slow solve of 18:16 (and hit submit with fingers crossed) due to straight cryptics and lack of GK. But always happy to finish a Wurm successfully. DNK monorails could be suspended; went off to read about them and enjoyed the photos of very old designs on Wikipedia. NHO “tab” for cigarette or the Red Devils. COD MOPHEAD, really liked it, also ROMAN CANDLE. I had the weird experience of my inner voice telling me to put in DRY ROT without any crossers and not seeing why on a brief look. Threw it in, moved on and only saw TORY RD on review after submitting.

    Thanks Wurm and Mike, great blog, good sermon on Eve 🙂

  44. Gave up after standard half hour, with MOPHEAD left to go, I’m fine with king PRIAM, although generally speaking I find more modern-thespians and balladeers a lot harder

  45. 38:36

    Blimey that was tough going. Slowest solve for a very long time. Had less than half after 20 mins and it was only when I realised putting ONE into a word could be done literally rather than inserting an I that I got ABANDONED. The LHS then fell into place although NHO PRIAM which was a guess. Even then, it was still a struggle to see DRY ROT and LOI TANGENT.

  46. SCC again today but a very enjoyable solve so thanks to Wurm and to Mike for an excellent blog. Opera lovers will know King Priam and mathematicians will grasp the TANGENT so no problems there. Dear America was a great anagram and TORY backwards had to produce DRY ROT. I took longest over MONORAIL and MOPHEAD but got there in the end! Got used to the salients when on WW1 battlefield tours in northern France. Good mix of hiddens, anagrams and cryptic dds. Fun!

  47. I gave up and DNF. MOPHEAD, MONORAIL, ROMAN CANDLE and NON SMOKER all obscure to me. PRIAM was easy though 😉

    I thought 1A should have been STOPPING.

  48. 14:31 here, pretty much bang on my average time. Liked DRY ROT and TANGENT the most today.

    Thanks to Wurm and Mike.

  49. 6.20 so a good minute over my target.
    COD to the non-smoker for great misdirection.
    Of course any references to Manchester United are morally repugnant and should be avoided at all costs!
    Thanks for a great blog Mike, and thanks to Wurm.

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