Solving time: 5:27
An enjoyable offering from Wurm which, to me, seemed easier on the downs than on the acrosses, with a bumper four, yes four, double definitions to enjoy.
Certainly, a couple of UK-centric answers across the top line may furrow a few brows abroad, though seasoned solvers will most probably be familiar with 5a, and should certainly have heard of both the specific component and the answer at 1a – if not, then checkers will be very helpful.
I liked the old browser at 17a, and the faraway land (for many of us) at 23a. My LOI was the lengthy 3d which required all checkers to finally see where it was going.
Do let me know how you found it….
Definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [directions in square ones].
| Across | |
| 1 | Type of tweed nothing new for Beatle (8) |
| HARRISON – HARRIS (Type of tweed) O (nothing) N (new)
George Harrison (1943-2001) was the lead guitarist of The Beatles. I don’t expect there will be too many here who will not have heard of that particular beat combo. HARRIS tweed is a cloth made from pure virgin wool, dyed, spun, handwoven and finished in the Outer Hebrides. This definition, quality standards and protection of the HARRIS tweed name are enshrined in the Harris Tweed Act 1993. |
|
| 5 | Court order fans abhor regularly (4) |
| ASBO – Alternate letters [regularly] of fAnS aBhOr.
ASBO is an acronym which stands for ‘anti-social behaviour order’, which was a civil order introduced in the UK in 1998 (though abolished in England and Wales in 2014, where they were replaced by the less snappy ‘civil injunctions’ and ‘criminal behaviour orders’). The orders restricted behaviour in some way, such as: prohibiting a return to a certain area or shop; or restricting public behaviours, such as swearing or drinking alcohol. |
|
| 9 | Stick man (5) |
| STAFF – Double definition | |
| 10 | Usually like beer taking in rugby (2,1,4) |
| AS A RULE – AS (like) ALE (beer) containing [taking in] RU (rugby union acronym) | |
| 11 | Keep this and give nothing away (8,4) |
| STRAIGHT FACE – Mildly cryptic – if you can keep a STRAIGHT FACE e.g. at poker, you may give nothing away and successfully disguise whether or not you have a good hand | |
| 13 | Support feature in newspaper (6) |
| COLUMN – Another double definition. Lift and separate… | |
| 15 | Burning paintings outside study (6) |
| ARDENT – ART (paintings) containing [outside] DEN (study) | |
| 17 | Our boss with a turn fixed old browser (12) |
| BRONTOSAURUS – Anagram [fixed] of OUR BOSS with A TURN
Before Google was ever thought of, a browser was defined as an animal that feeds mainly on high-growing vegetation. |
|
| 20 | Discover tofu near the sandwiches (7) |
| UNEARTH – Hidden [sandwiches] in tofu near the | |
| 21 | Account subtraction in notes and coin (5) |
| DEBIT – D E (notes – of the musical scale) and BIT (coin e.g. threepenny bit) | |
| 22 | Food hamper’s first on Pluto (4) |
| DISH – H (hamper’s first letter) added to [on] DIS (Pluto)
Pluto or DIS was a chthonian god of wealth and the Underworld, the world of the dead. His name means “Rich One” and Dis Pater means “Rich Father”. |
|
| 23 | Spoil Dylan broadcast in US state (8) |
| MARYLAND – MAR (Spoil) then anagram [broadcast] of DYLAN
Officially, the new “Maryland Colony”, as it was termed in 1632, was named in honor of Henrietta Maria of France, wife of Charles I. The Lord Baltimore (2nd Baron) had initially proposed the name “Crescentia”, the land of growth or increase, but the King proposed Terra Mariae [Mary Land], which was concluded on and inserted in the charter. |
|
| Down | |
| 1 | Crowd keen to consume seconds … (4) |
| HOST – HOT (keen) containing [to consume] S (seconds) | |
| 2 | … cooked meat in pan (5) |
| ROAST – Double definition, the second being a severe reprimand or criticism | |
| 3 | Drunk man from Italy likely to cause trouble (12) |
| INFLAMMATORY – Anagram [Drunk] of MAN FROM ITALY
This is in the sense of arousing or intending to arouse angry or violent feelings. My LOI – having all of the checkers really helped. |
|
| 4 | Old stove in Dutch royal house (6) |
| ORANGE – O (Old) RANGE (stove) | |
| 6 | Wise importing Australia’s food (7) |
| SAUSAGE – SAGE (wise) containing [importing] AUS (Australia)
SAUSAGE comes via Old French salssice and via Vulgar Latin salsicus “seasoned with salt”, ultimately from the past participle of Old Latin sallere “to salt”. |
|
| 7 | French pop in over-the-top American musical work (8) |
| OPERETTA – PÈRE (French pop i.e. French for ‘father’) in OTT (over-the-top) A (American) | |
| 8 | Any date’s sure to change for movable feast! (6,6) |
| EASTER SUNDAY – Anagram [to change] of ANY DATE’S SURE | |
| 12 | 100 among Bedouin somehow stranded in Arctic? (8) |
| ICEBOUND – Anagram [somehow] of BEDOUIN with C (100 – Roman numeral) inserted [among] | |
| 14 | Pound is small housing single feline (7) |
| LIONESS – L (Pound – abbreviation of the Latin libra) IS S (small) containing [housing] ONE (single) | |
| 16 | Complaint from mum after time in volcanic dust (6) |
| ASTHMA – MA (mum) after T (time) inserted into ASH (volcanic dust) | |
| 18 | Shadow inside Museum Brandhorst (5) |
| UMBRA – Hidden [inside] in Museum Brandhorst | |
| 19 | Here you might see stallion bolt (4) |
| STUD – Lift and separate for the double definition | |
I didn’t realize ASBO’s had been abolished (is/was it a[s]bo or a[z]bo?). I also didn’t know that browsing was specifically for high-growing stuff. The BRONTOSAURUS, by the way, has for some reason been renamed Apatosaurus. I biffed INFLAMMATORY, EASTER SUNDAY, ASTHMA. 7:29.
This was my first guess today in the Blossom daily word puzzle. https://www.merriam-webster.com/games/blossom-word-game.
Anyone else trying it?
Maybe then “old” is usable in two senses – “extinct” and “used to be called…” ?
I found this really tricky. Didn’t see STRAIGHT FACE for a long time and BRONTOSAURUS only came after I got the ‘B’ from ICEBOUND. Failed to see the ‘French Pop’ until after the answer went in. Couldn’t get ‘Ducat’ out of my head for 21a until UMBRA went in and saw DEBIT. INFLAMMATORY took most of the crossers before I saw it. Liked HARRISON and MARYLAND.
Is there a connection going on with the ellipses in 1 & 2d?
Thanks M and setter.
If I wanted to test of general knowledge I’d do a quiz. HARRIS, HARRISON, ORANGE, ASBO, DIS, “BROWSER” etc. should all be unnecessary. I knew some of these and didn’t know others, but it makes for an unsatisfying solve.
The rest I found a bit complicated but doable, for a very forgettable puzzle.
Thanks for the blog Mike.
I too am slightly miffed by the GK sometimes. It is axiomatic that “general knowledge” is anything that the speaker knows, so that anyone who doesn’t know those things is (comparatively) ignorant. Conversely anything that they do not know is, by definition, obscure or irrelevant. (otherwise they would know it). I DNK Dis despite being a big fan of the various gods in my teenage years.
I did know all the UK-centric answers, but I was still rather slow. This may be because of the many long words; this is grid has a very low clue count. I really should have seen Harrison right away, and didn’t, and inflammatory took much too long – never suspected it was an anagram. Straight face was my LOI.
Time: 7:03
Tricky. NHO DIS=PLUTO. LOI STRAIGHT FACE. Needed all the checkers for BRONTOSAURUS. Assumed BIT was from US ‘Two bits” to make some sense but appreciate the blog for much background knowledge.
Thanks Mike and Wurm. Time 35 mins.
10 minutes, making this my third solve this week to finish within my old target. Such a change from last week when I missed by extended target (15 minutes) four times.
Like Quadrophenia, my first thought at 21ac with the D-checker in place was ‘ducat’ and I needed the B-checker from UMBRA to see past it to DEBIT.
I was amused by the idea that it may be possible to devise puzzles that don’t require general knowledge, but at least with cryptic puzzles solvers have an opportunity to get round such gaps because most clues contain an alternative route to the answer.
10.05 and quite a tricky puzzle in places. Took a long time to untangle the letters for INFLAMMATORY and the prehistoric browser took a while to lumber into view. Got ASBO from the excellent Martin Amis novel. Good to see George and Bob featuring in the same puzzle, thanks Wurm and Mike.
Who let the dogs in? 🙂
Enjoyed BRONTOSAURUS very much – even if there is no such dinosaur! A young APATOSAURUS was incorrectly identified as a whole different dino according to Stephen J Gould in the excellent Bully for Brontosaurus. Either way I can’t say it properly because I entered BRONTaSAURUS to earn a pink square. Not all green in 13.35.
A struggle, as the long anagrams refused to come, pushing me out to 13:36. Bit for coin also remained elusive for a long time, and Dis for Pluto was only very vaguely remembered after solving the clue.
With ASBO, is there a convention for when a set of initials becomes a word? Does it have to be pronounceable? Would BBC be shown as (1,1,1) or (3)?
Many thanks Mike for the blog and extra info.
SSCC (30:21!) Dis Pluto on the cusp fir QC methinks. Capitalised Beatle threw me off the fab four and spent ages thinking of tweeds that could make an insect ending in on…
Debit took far too long as did straight face, lioness, Brontosaurus and host. Cross that I thought of the kitchen rather than the crossword pan for an age…
Ho hum tomorrow’s another day.
Thanks gir the blog Mike and Wurm… apologies, it’s not a ‘YES’ from me today
Started off very quickly but it soon settled into a steady solve as the long answers all needed a bit of head scratching. NHO (or long forgotten Dis/Pluto) led me up a few garden paths until the ‘s’ checker made the answer obvious even though it remained unparsed. However I did eventually manage to parse OPERETTA which gets my COD for the PDM.
Started with HARRISON and finished with MARYLAND in a bang average 8.41.
Thanks to Mike for the blog and Wurm for the enjoyable solve.
14:47, slower than Mon and Tue.
Held up by the very obscure DIS, which combined with LIONESS to be the last ones in.
Maybe I’m old fashioned but the renaming of things we learnt at school like Boadicea, Canute, Brontosaurus is tiresome. Brontosaurus is no more an academic word than “cow”, and the others are modern English spellings of old English. No one spells like Chaucer any more.
I don’t know if this is the first time in a QC, but Dis shows up often in the 15x15s; you can see why.
Am I the only one that parsed 21a as Bitcoin rather than thruppeny bit?
Harrison made me smile after running through a number of insects in my head to see if anything worked! And like many others, I suspect, I have never heard of Dis for Pluto, so biffed that with the checkers.
Thanks to Wurm and Mike
I also parsed Bit as Bitcoin and assumed (wrongly) that DE was another term for Deutschmark but DEBIT was obviously the right answer.
From memory DE is the IATA code for both Germany and Deutschmark (not DM which was Dominican Republic).
About 30 minutes working around the grid.
Enjoyed assembling OPERETTA and particularly ASTHMA which just appeared from the wordplay.
Put in LOI DISH with fingers crossed. Another one to note for the future.
Thanks Wurm and Mike.
17:34 with a poorly spelled BRONTaSAURUS – should have checked the anagrist but was so underwhelmed by the definition that I never thought to do so.
There were some good clues in here (ICEBOUND, MARYLAND, ASTHMA) but I was put off by others – NHO Pluto=DIS despite having read a fair amount of mythology, BIT=coin, the dinosaur.
Ended up glad to have got through it rather than coming away with a sense of enjoyment. For me, the QC means I don’t want to be too vexed by complicated clueing/obscure words.
Thanks to Mike and Wurm
I thought this was on the easier side of average, my time was 8:48 with no major blockages. Like our blogger, I found the down clues easier, getting all bar one on the first pass. Having only got about half the across clues, they all fell in pretty quickly on the second go.
On BRONTOSAURUS, I feel like the “old browser” definition has come in a few times now. My usual metric for “is this an old chestnut?” is whether I immediately think of it. In this case, as soon as I read the clue I thought BRONTOSAURUS (or similar dinosaur) and only then spotted the anagram.
Biffed DISH (NHO DIS = PLUTO) and struggled to see BRONTOSAURUS and INFLAMMATORY. ASTHMA and OPERETTA also not parsed initially. Took 26:28, somewhat slower than my average, which isn’t that quick!
12 minutes. The anagrams, particularly INFLAMMATORY, were slow to come and I only worked out a few of the short answers like DEBIT near the end.
Not a theme but a few chicken DISH answers today: MARYLAND, ROAST and (À L’) ORANGE.
Thanks to Wurm and Mike
A steady solve but with a few tricky anagrams thrown in for good measure. Loi Dish resisted several visits during the solve before I remembered the Dis/Pluto connection, just in time to secure a window seat, around 23mins. CoD to Maryland for the parsing, though I also liked the surface for 20ac. Invariant
10:28 (Cnut adds Norway to his empire. Birth of William the Conqueror).
LOI was INFLAMMATORY which needed a careful count of the letters in the anagrist to spell correctly.
Thanks Mike and Wurm
… And that is why Canute is a better name for this king.
Hear, hear.
I have a vague memory that an ASBO may have become a ‘badge of honour’ for some of those on receipt of this award from the Magistrates. Did this have something to do with its replacement? Happily one can still be thus punished in Crosswordland, which is of course peopled by rogues, scamps, scallywags, louts, cads and many other undesirables!! I suppose TWOC is also an allowable word? Took ages to see HOST and DISH. Thanks to setter and blogger.
Usually find Wurm doable so with determination got there in the end. LOI SAUSAGE. NHO Pluto = DIS, but we learn. Liked the old browser.
No problems, all parsed, but thank you anyway, Mike.
First thought for STICK MAN was Lowry until INFLAMMATORY went in. COD OPERETTA. PDM with BRONTOSAURUS. Is there a connection between 1D and 2D?Thanks Wurm for great puzzle and Mike for interesting and informative blog.
16:44
Quite tricky.
Thanks, M.
Bad biffing brought delays but I was still home in 12 minutes.
LOI DISH after LIONESS (had biffed Leopard).
Also had Oklahoma for 7d which took a while to unravel.
An enjoyable puzzle.
COD to Brontosaurus.
David
7.39
The browser foxed and delayed me at the end. Elsewhere, I thought INFLAMMATORY was a great anagram.
I drew a blank in the NW and started with AS A RULE, working clockwise from there. When I got back to the NW it all fell easily into place with the F from INFLAMMATORY giving me STAFF. I finished with a STRAIGHT FACE. 8:18. Thanks Wurm and Mike. The mentions of ASBO above reminded me of a song written by Martin Nesbitt who grew up in Middlesbrough. He’s no longer with us, but left some memorable songs behind. Here’s a link to me singing his ASBO Song. https://youtu.be/raDC1wtaBOw?si=7gpRhYoNyWyqx7a0
Thanks, John. I did enjoy that.
Oh, and the puzzle, no problems.
🙂
That was great! Thanks for the link.
Thank you. Glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Great song. Thanks for the link.
You’re welcome 🙂
Great song, talented singer.
Thank you, very much.
Thank you Pam. Much appreciated 🙂
ROAST is one of the weakest clues I’ve seen in a while. Two very closely related definitions and using the rubbish ellipsis to follow on from the previous clue. Thought it wasn’t a good puzzle overall but that was the low point
After two quick solves on Monday and Tuesday, back to earth with a bump with a completion time of 14.40. I was on target for a ten minute solve with about eighty percent completed, when I was utterly bamboozled by the sw corner. Quite why ICEBOUND took me so long to figure out I’ve no idea, but once solved the rest slowly followed. COD definitely goes to BRONTOSAURUS in spite of being my LOI, where it took me some time to realise that time wise I was millions of years away from the digital age.
Very nice crossword (8:35), and a terrific blog, Mike – nice to get ‘chthonian’ in there, because it’s a splendid word. I would point out that Google isn’t a browser, but it matters not a jot.
COD DISH.
Thank you Mike H and Wurm.
FOI 1a Harrison. I couldn’t believe how long this took me so I shan’t tell. Doh!
17a Brontosaurus. This extract from Wiki:
“For decades, the animal was thought to have been a taxonomic synonym of its close relative Apatosaurus, but a 2015 study by Emmanuel Tschopp and colleagues found it to be distinct.[3] It has seen widespread representation in popular culture, being the archetypal “long-necked” dinosaur in general media.”
so it still is a thing! Excellent!
18:30
The first half flew in but then had to tease out the rest. Failed to parse OPERETTA, DISH and DEBIT. LOI MARYLAND.
Nice puzzle and a great blog.
About 10 mins.
Held up by staff! inflammatory, asthma, and LOI Harrison. At the start I think I got as far as Lennon and McCartney before moving on…
COD unearth, with maryland and bronto runners up.
12:10, far slower than target. While the rest was pretty straightforward, and done in about 6 minutes, DEBIT, MARYLAND, STRAIGHT FACE and BRONTOSAURUS took a very long time indeed.
16.26 The first two went straight in and then the wheels fell off. I spotted that INFLAMMATORY and BRONTOSAURUS were anagrams but struggled to solve them. NHO DIS. Last three STAFF, ROAST and HOST just wouldn’t come. Thanks Mike and Wurm.
Just in the door of SCC.
Found Monday’s offering one the easiest for us – and today, so, so slow on HOST, OPERATTA, STRAIGHTFACE, ORANGE. Pink square for bad spelling on my part for the browsing dinosaur…
Overall not one of our favourite crosswords.
Blog and comments very edifying – now know more about all sorts of things.
Thanks to Wurm and Mike Harper
Solved intermittently. Various garden deliveries and dilemmas distracted me, so made a mistake and, without much thought, failed on DISH. I know Pluto, but NHO Dis. Could have guessed though. And now I see I failed to pencil in ASTHMA. Why did Ash have to be Volcanic, I wonder.
I didn’t see the long anagram signals at first so a bit slow there too.
FOsI HARRISON and ASBO. Encouraging start, or so I thought.
Liked ICEBOUND, HOST, EASTER SUNDAY, STUD.
Thanks vm, Mike.
I was very slow to see HARRISON because I was looking for a beetle! Most of this went in smoothly although I biffed OPERETTA and guessed DISH. Apart from HARRISON the other two clues that slowed me down were INFLAMMATORY and LOI BRONTOSAURUS. My COD for the surface is UNEARTH. Thanks Mike. 9:46
22 mins…
For a while, I actually thought 17ac “Brontosaurus” was literally an old browser akin to Mosaic or Netscape from the early days of the internet. So thanks for the clarification 😀
Like a few above, NHO of Dis = Pluto for 22ac, and initially put “Straight Hand” for 11ac until I sorted out 7dn “Operetta”. The rest went in fairly steadily.
FOI – 1dn “Host”
LOI – 9ac “Staff”
COD – 7dn “Operetta”
Thanks as usual!
A bit of a struggle today and had to use an aid to get ASTHMA thinking it was some unknown word for volcanic dust. No time as I was interrupted several times. Didn’t know Dis=Pluto.
FOI – 5ac ASBO
LOI – DNF
COD – 11ac STRAIGHT FACE
Thanks to Wurm and Mike
DNF. Not on the wavelength today.
I got really bogged down in the NW. HARRISON eluded me completely.
Otherwise, tricky but enjoyable. Thanks Mike and Wurm.
A great start took me passed halfway on first pass (very rare for me), but I found the remaining clues posed a much tougher challenge. A few of those succumbed to some careful thought and I had perhaps seven clues left as I was ushered into the SCC. There then followed a lengthy period (10+ minutes) of no progress at all until INFLAMMATORY came to mind and provided enough checkers to enable me to accelerate away to the finishing line. Approx. 37 minutes for me which, given the setter, I will happily take.
DIS for Pluto was a NHO and, before I’d solved LIONESS I seriously wondered whether DogH was a real word. Strange!
Many thanks to Mike and Wurm.
34 minutes.
Total nightmare, topped off with 10 mins or so to get STRAIGHT FACE.
I’m wasting my time here. There’s nothing I can do to improve and days like this are soul destroying. It’s no fun being this bad.
Don’t give up. 34 minutes isn’t a bad time, you are comparing yourself with people who a) do the 15×15 as well and b) are the cream of the crop who have been doing all sorts of crosswords for years. Its like joining an athletics club that has the olympics on on the telly. Apart from about 10 15x15s (3 completed ever, fastest an hour), I have only ever done the QC and still enjoy it every day even though my times are never anywhere near the fastest. Or stop timing. I now have three speeds – less than one cup of coffee (2 this year) 1-2 cups, and longer than 2 cups.
Well said Ham!
Thanks Ham. 😊
Excellent advice. I’ve never timed myself, as I can’t see the point. It just seems to put additional pressure, on some solvers.
As usual, did this several hours before getting round to the blog. A good excuse today – coffee and cake with a fellow TfTter (😋) followed by watching the storks at Knepp. We will compare notes shortly.
I found this a bit tricky – I’m not very keen on solving online as I like to see the whole grid and clues altogether – and it was all the 4 letter words that made me *! @* 🤣
I liked AS A RULE, MARYLAND and EASTER SUNDAY.
16:37 FOI Harrison LOI Host COD Brontosaurus
Thanks Wiggly Woo and Mike – an excellent blog as usual 😊
I did this late after settling into our base in N. Norfolk for an impulse short break.
I found this (relatively) easier than recent Wurm QCs (apart from no. 2917 which I found uncharacteristically straightforward).
My comments have all been made by others already, although I will add that DIS was too obscure for me to do anything other than biff it and the plant eater was my COD.
Thanks to both.
12:28 I think I would prefer to ROAST a BRONTOSAURUS rather than a LIONESS to make SAUSAGE because the former’s vegatarian diet would produce a tastier DISH. Maybe add an ORANGE to offset the greasiness?
In which Wurm kicks me firmly back into the SCC at 24:08. I was completely thrown by DIS and struggled with many of the anagrams. Oh well.
Thank you for the blog!
NHO Dis but it had to be…
FOI 1a Harrison
LOI 22a Dish
COD 6a Sausage – couldn’t figure it out and wondered whether the AUS was A US (American other than Australian!)
Grateful for the blog for a few parsings today!
11.41. I found that easy to start and surprisingly hard to finish. LOI was HOST which probably added two minutes to my time (it just was not jumping out at me for some reason). Great puzzle with some slightly crunchy clues to keep one occupied.
I think I found this a lot trickier than some of you! Completed in a few sittings but seemed to make a right meal of everything. LOI OPERETTA which gets COD as I was totally misdirected for absolutely ages and grinned broadly when the penny finally dropped. Also liked HARRISON and DISH (as I learnt a new word 😁). Didn’t know there was no such thing as a BRONTOSAURUS – well I never. Very enjoyable. Many thanks Wurm and Mike.