Solving time: 10 minutes with one wrong answer. When blogging I noticed there are rather a lot of containment clues – 7 out of 14 Acrosses and 3 Downs. I don’t think the puzzle would be easy for all so I look forward to reading how you all got on, especially those of you who are still finding your feet in the world of cryptic puzzles.
Our aim here is to encourage and support all solvers who wish to improve their skills, regardless of their current ability, and I’d like to thank all bloggers and commenters, new and old, who contribute to that.
Note: 04:30 GMT 19 January 2021. I have taken the rare step of disabling further comments since discussion of the crossword puzzle has long ceased and there is argument continuing about other matters. That is not what this forum is for.
As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones]. I usually omit all reference to positional indicators unless there is a specific point that requires clarification.
Across | |
1 | Reflect and act as go-between? About time (8) |
MEDITATE : MEDIATE (act as go-between) contains [about] T (time) | |
6 | Heroic tale from South Africa about a guerrilla leader (4) |
SAGA : SA (South Africa) contains [about] A + G{uerrilla} [leader] | |
8 | Excellent form of punishment (4) |
FINE : Two meanings | |
9 | Roguish artist’s friend, caught breaking in (8) |
RASCALLY : C (caught – cricket) contained by [breaking in] RA’S + ALLY (artist’s friend) | |
10 | Gather by old retreat in Scottish battlefield (8) |
CULLODEN : CULL (gather), O (old), DEN (retreat). I didnt know this meaning of cull found in SOED: verb trans. Gather, pick, (flowers, fruit, etc.). The battle took place in 1746 and I have visited the memorial at its site. | |
12 | Entomological specimen at university in Pennsylvania (4) |
PUPA : UP (at university) contained by [in] PA (Pennsylvania). You need to be ‘up’ at university so that you can be ‘sent down’ if you disgrace yourself! | |
13 | Rubble found by young socialites touring Rhode Island (6) |
DEBRIS : DEBS (young socialites – débutantes) containing [touring] RI (Rhode Island). The last presentation of débutantes at Court was in 1958. | |
15 | Intrusion of popular Head of Art accepted by staff (6) |
INROAD : IN (popular), then A{rt} [head] contained [accepted] by ROD (staff) | |
17 | Exchange prisoners from the East (4) |
SWOP : POWS (prisoners of war) reversed [from the East] | |
19 | Stupid-sounding moggy beginning to eat salt (8) |
SILICATE : SILI sounds like “silly” [stupid], CAT (moggy), E{at} [beginning] | |
21 | Filmed report showing gatecrashers finally invading recent dance (8) |
NEWSREEL : {gatecrasher}S [finally] contained by [invading] NEW (recent) + REEL (dance) | |
23 | Woman comes back to have a meal (4) |
DINE : ENID (woman) reverses [comes back] | |
24 | Report of one purchasing shelter for cattle (4) |
BYRE : Sounds like [report of] “buyer” (one purchasing) | |
25 | Small Spaniard, possibly, or a native of Omsk? (8) |
SIBERIAN : S (small), IBERIAN (Spaniard, possibly) |
Down | |
2 | Gourmet‘s dog tucking into last of nice baked dish (7) |
EPICURE : {nic}E [last], then CUR (dog) contained by [tucking into]+ PIE (baked dish) | |
3 | Perfect declaration of one involved in trade (5) |
IDEAL : Plus we have a cryptic definition of the alternatively spaced I DEAL | |
4 | Bearing of man who’ll succeed when speaking (3) |
AIR : Sounds like [when speaking] “heir” (man who’ll succeed) | |
5 | Eat in less irregularly — that’s vital! (9) |
ESSENTIAL : Anagram [irregularly] of EAT IN LESS | |
6 | Beat a retreat in one’s car periodically (7) |
SCARPER : Hidden [in] {one}S CAR PER{iodically}. SOED advises this was probably orginally from the Italian scappare = escape or, get away, but later reinforced during or after the First World War by rhyming slang ‘Scapa Flow’ = go. I have my doubts about the second suggestion but it’s nevertheless quite interesting. | |
7 | Dance composed by young woman before work (5) |
GALOP : GAL (young woman), OP (work). A lively ballroom dance in 2/4 time. I’m not sure there is a rule about it but it seems the dance is most usually spelt with a single L whereas the fast pace of the horse takes two. Both words come from the same source. | |
11 | Catastrophes involving policeman’s plants (9) |
DISASTERS : DI’S (policeman’s – Detective Inspector’s], ASTERS (plants) | |
14 | Ceremony welcoming pilot officer’s return (7) |
RIPOSTE : RITE (ceremony) containing [welcoming] PO’S (pilot officer’s) return | |
16 | Woman representing a nation? (7) |
ANTONIA : Anagram of [re-presenting] A NATION | |
18 | Puny little child, happy at last (5) |
WEEDY : WEE (little), {chil}D + {happ}Y [at last] I was a bit careless here, plumping for WEENY. I wouldn’t say I biffed it because I did consider the wordplay but evidently not closely enough. ‘Weeny’ is perfectly valid as a ‘little child’ and anything small so I thought it might also mean ‘puny’, but I realised that it wasn’t a double definition clue and ‘happy at last’ needed to be accounted for. So in my haste I decided that “wee’n”might be short for ‘wee one’ meaning “little child” leaving the y from ‘happy’ to complete the answer. | |
20 | Tree leading journalist planted in estate, perhaps (5) |
CEDAR : ED (leading journalist) contained by [planted in] CAR (estate, perhaps) | |
22 | Look at first of bodies — and throw up! (3) |
LOB : LO (look at), B{odies} [first]. The surface reminded me of TV series such as Silent Witness and Waking the Dead in which a lot of throwing up goes on at the sight of bodies. Not recommended viewing for supper time! |
Incidentally, I see a lot of good solvers on the leaderboard have errors today. It would be nice to hear about the traps people fell into, as we did with your WEENY. (Ahem.) SWAP nearly did me.
Edited at 2021-01-18 02:55 am (UTC)
Edited at 2021-01-18 08:19 am (UTC)
Samples of the delights that await you just from the last 48 hours include “James Packer’s heiress niece Francesca Packer Barham steps out in skintight leggings and $995 heels” (Daily Mail, where else?) and “DNA under fingernails links British ex-soldier to Riviera heiress kidnapping, court hears” (Daily Telegraph).
what is essentially a British institution, The Times Crossword.Regarding the -ess suffix, Kevin is dragging his Political Correctness (PC Kevin) into a forum that doesn’t appear to share his concerns.
And on the very day that the Chief Moderator, who is also American, asked us all to avoid politics on the TFtT blog.
Is that aimed therefore at us Brits only? I note that the House of Commons where ‘Churchillian’ rebuttal is a popular sport and is a far more raucus assembly than the House of Representatives in Washington.
And was it not Jeremy, who I believe is also from US, who blasted me with a very bad word or two last year when I deigned to criticise one of his early blogs. He was warned for his expletive by the Chief Moderator.
Under these circumstances, should we be not be informed of our first amendment rights?
America is going through a particularly difficult period presently, and I sympathise deeply and hope the Biden inauguration passes off peacefully.
We Brits have not given cause for complaint since August 1814. That was in retaliation after the city of York (Toronto), Ontario, was plundered and torched in 1813. The Upper Canada Mace was removed to Washington and not returned until 1934.
Of course we all want a liberal and happy blog, but will we all eventually have to dutifully ‘thank the setter and blogger’ or take the fifth, in order to pass muster. I sincerely hope not. Meldrew.
I don’t remember the circumstances exactly, but my recollection is you were being a bit of a troll and I responded in kind. We were both asked to keep it civil, and all comments (yours and mine both) were removed, and my understanding was you were nearly removed from this community entirely. Which only goes to the show the the First Amendment has nothing to do with moderation rules for a blog!
As for ‘heir’ vs ‘heiress’, my opinion is that there is nothing wrong with the clue as stated. It would be harder if ‘man’ was replaced ‘one’, because then the word we’re looking for could be either HEIR or HEIRESS (though only one works of course). By using the more specific ‘man’, it becomes clearer we are looking for the word HEIR.
That being said, I also didn’t take Kevin as being political in the slightest — though only he knows his intentions. I took him to be saying, why make a clue overspecific if it doesn’t need to be? It seems anti-Ximenean, in a sense. I’m not sure whether I agree with this point, but I don’t think he’s being political.
Edited at 2021-01-18 02:45 pm (UTC)
Sadly I thought getting a thumbs down from Poison Wyvern was inevitable.
Only two days and all will back to normal.
https://times-xwd-times.livejournal.com/2147621.html
I presented a full blog. In addition, I listed the order of solving, but I did not provide blow-by-blow commentary, which some people found useful.
As my link shows, the problem with truth is not restricted to the states, I’m afraid.
It is true that the amendment symbolizes freedom of expression, which is a value all Americans are held to venerate, though it is often invoked disingenuously while ignoring the less-popular values of critical thinking and reality-testing.
Edited at 2021-01-18 09:20 pm (UTC)
I was being ironic – we Brits do not have a constitution, nor therefore a first amendment. Neither can we take ‘the fifth’. So I was being contemptuous of the American way. On the 15×15 last week, long time blogger George led with his appearing to regret the fact he took American citizenship.
I am not happy about the appearance of American-led dictats being imposed on this forum, especially with no right of reply and that are disappeared within 24 hours.
It is unfortunate that both blogs (QC aand 15×15) usually start the day with several American views which then set the tone: be it the ess- suffix; never heard of Scunthorpe or ‘spot the gerund’. Politically correct in the UK differs from that in the US. We do call cigarettes ‘fags’and you have ‘fanny bags’ etc. Both sides of the Pond, suffer from small time ‘golf-club fascism’, but the word ‘liberal’ in UK does mean liberal, not socialist and certainly not communist.
‘America First’ does not work here and thankfully it has failed, once again, in America. After a new POTUS arrives on Wednesday I hope believe that America will show the rest of the world a little more respect.
Guy, you always have.
Edited at 2021-01-19 02:39 am (UTC)
I don’t believe you really mean to say that your objection to Vinyl’s strictures is rooted in your resentment of being told what (not) to do by an American—as if you wouldn’t have a problem if Peter B. were laying down this law. I can see nothing particularly American about the roughly demarcated rules (which I am probably overstepping here) that Jonathan has requested (not for the first time, I think) that we follow. I don’t quite get the prohibition on photos (which seems new), but I’m not in a mood right now to argue over something so trivial.
LOI RIPOSTE
COD: MEDITATE, still hard with all checkers in place.
Also made good start to top half of 15×15 today, at QC speed. Although did not get over the line its certainly easier than usual, as is often the case on Monday.
Rather a pity, because I was definitely on the wavelength, and biffed newsreel and Culloden with hardly a pause.
Edited at 2021-01-18 06:48 am (UTC)
FOI 6ac SAGA
LOI 23ac DINE
COD 17ac SWOP
WOD 24ac BYRE – where Jesus was born.
All four letter words! Time 13 minutes -far too long for a Monday.
Edited at 2021-01-18 07:27 am (UTC)
My other issue was wanting to put SWAP in for 17a as SWOP looked so wrong but, like Jeremey, had to trust the wordplay. Finished in 10.50 with WOD going to RASCALLY and COD to BYRE.
Thanks to Jack
Edited at 2021-01-18 08:49 am (UTC)
Thanks Orpheus and Jackkt.
COD to 15A Inroad, for a nice surface and for the fact I finally remembered that staff also means rod as well as people!
Thanks Orpheus and Jack
What with that and one thing and another I was pushed out just over target by this very enjoyable puzzle. Many thanks Orpheus and Jack.
FOI MEDITATE, LOI FINE (no first letter, only vowels as checkers …), COD DEBRIS (so neat), time 1.5K for a Decent Day.
Templar
(PS Vinyl – are we allowed to be just a weeny bit sharp with anons who come on only to say what a rotten puzzle it was and how unfair the setter was and how stupid it all is? They’re the only ones who get my hardy domesticated ruminant.)
Edited at 2021-01-18 10:17 am (UTC)
FOI: 6a SAGA
LOI: 11d DISASTERS
Time to Complete: DNF
Well, if this is one of Orpheus’ Quick Cryptics, I would not like to tackle a 15×15 of theirs. I found this one incredibly tough. So much so that I really got nowhere. But I won’t harp on about it. Instead I would like to ask two questions:
1. 18d WEEDY. The blogger showed that “D” was obtained from “child” ({chil}D.
I do not understand how D means child. I looked up child in Chambers and the shortest it had for child was “CH”. I could not see where in the clue I was asked to take the last of child, for example. How does the solver get D from child?
2. Yesterday I attempted a QC in the The Times Quick Cryptic Crossword book – volume 1 (puzzle 3) by Tracy (from 2014). A clue there was:
Nothing left in safe (3,5)
Due to some letters being present from intersecting answered clues, I managed to get the correct answer of “All Right”. But I do not understand how that answer is obtained from the clue. It appears that All is the opposite of Nothing, and that Right is the opposite of Left. I am not sure if this is intended as I see nothing in the clue that suggests taking the opposite of “Nothing left”. Also I do not understand what “in safe” could represent.
Could somebody please explain how the answer to the clue was “All Right”.
Thank you.
Hopefully I will have better luck tomorrow.
2. Assuming everything must be on one side or the other, if you have nothing on the left (NOTHING LEFT), then everything must be on the right… i.e. ALL RIGHT. They are synonymous.
Hope this helps.
Thank you for your helpful reply.
I guess the comma in the clue threw me.
Brian
Brian
Edited at 2021-01-18 09:52 am (UTC)
Edited at 2021-01-18 09:57 am (UTC)
As for today. Never heard of BYRE, or UP meaning “at University”, or seen GALOP spelt with one “L”, or CULL meaning “gather”.
I have attempted to solve The Times 15×15, and the Daily Telegraph and Grauniad equivalents.
Of those three I do find the Grauniad to be the easiest. But surprisingly, at least for me, I find the Daily Telegraph the most difficult. It’s almost as if the Telegraph setters went to a different school of cryptic crossword setting. Their clues seem to be so different from that of The Times or Grauniad.
15×15 phobia – which is surely better than dropping to one puzzle a day.
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Ah, of course! Can’t believe I didn’t think of that.
Thank you very much.
I liked the stupid cat clue but both AIR and LOB were brilliant: joint CsOD.
David
5D – ESSENTIIL – shoddy typo
6D – SCAMPER instead of SCARPER – (rushed without thinking)
Held up too long, along the way, by:
SWAP – later corrected
BYRE – originally entered as BYER before spotting error
WEENY / WEEDY – I’m tempted to write WEAKY here too, to summarise my performance.
Thank you, jackkt and Orpheus.
Edited at 2021-01-18 10:32 am (UTC)
I hesitated a bit over FINE (excellent? ) and the parsing of PUPA (forgot what “up” meant ) and stuffed up for ages all attempts to solve 21 across, NEWSREEL, by putting in wimpy for WEEDY, 18 down. I’m glad I wasn’t the only one to trip up on this one. NHO of GALOP to mean dance and was briefly tempted to put in gavot instead but the wordplay was clear.
Lots of great clues today. I particularly liked SILICATE, SIBERIAN and my FOI, EPICURE. I liked the subtle misdirection of “estate ” in 20 down, CEDAR, too.
Thanks, jackkt, and thanks too to orpheus.
PS. Glad I wasn’t the only regular who struggled today!
I’m kicking myself over 17ac “Swop”. Like a few above, I fell into the “Swap” trap, thinking “Paws” was some kind of obscure phrase for a prisoner (I was fixated on domestic jails). But then I had “Tab” for 22dn (look = tabs on) and then put “Newsbeat” into 21ac which in hindsight used to be a news programme on Radio 1. All the more annoying as I nearly put Antigua for 16dn and was feeling rather pleased with myself.
FOI – 8ac “Fine”
LOI – 16dn “Antonia”
COD – 19ac “Silicate” – but could have been many
Thanks as usual.
Edited at 2021-01-18 11:50 am (UTC)
Edited at 2021-01-18 04:48 pm (UTC)
But today’s Times 15×15 took me over three quarters of an hour.
Edited at 2021-01-18 10:10 pm (UTC)
DNK that, in terms of a dance, GALOP is spelled with one L, but I trusted my parsing on this one.
Many thanks to jackkt and Orpheus.
Found RH side easy but in NW had to look up Bearing and felt silly not to have thought of AIR. Also struggled with MEDITATE which again seemed obvious afterwards.
FOsI SAGA, CULLODEN, DISASTERS, SILICATE, ANTONIA, PUPA, RASCALLY.
Also liked DEBRIS, SWOP, EPICURE.
Actually it was all pretty clever. Thanks for blog, Jack.
Edited at 2021-01-18 12:15 pm (UTC)
Thank you blogger. Tim
Avoided the bear trap with SWOP as thought of POWS before the definition. And I’ve been caught at least twice on 15x15s getting SCAMPER and SCARPER mixed up so skirted that one as well
Did all but my POI and LOI in around 8 minutes but those two accounted for me going a few seconds over 10 minutes.
Enjoyable. Thanks all
I was another who failed to spot the national heroine ANTONIA ANAGRAM straight away, and almost missed my target.
FOI SAGA
LOI ANTONIA
COD BYRE
TIME 4:56
Now that you’ve brought it up though – it does seem odd we do that.
Of course when Mrs. Penfold says “fine” it rarely, if ever, means excellent.
And best wishes to Mrs Penfold!
FOI: meditate
LOI: Antonia
COD: silicate
Thanks for the blog Jackkt.
Beaten by the NE corner today. 9 and 12 across and 6 and 7 down. Missing the hidden is annoying as those and anagrams are my usual bread and butter to get going.
However on reviewing this blog, absolutely no complaints as ever.
One day….
Graham
Sal
Just a reminder, you can always delete or edit your own comments.
Time differences of blogs and comments can be confusing but the puzzles are all available to solve online at the same time i.e. midnight UK time.
It’s not only the puzzles, the whole Times of London magically flips to the next day at precisely midnight.
Did at least manage to avoid the SWAP/SWOP and WEENY/WEEDY traps. Good puzzle though – thanks Orpheus and thanks also to the blogger for confirming my parsings.
FOI – 6ac SAGA
LOI – 16dn ANTONIA
COD – 19ac SILICATE
FOI Saga
LOI Meditate
COD Epicure
Time 12 minutes
Thanks Orpheus and Jack
ps I found the biggie very approachable today, with one particular clue bringing one of our regulars instantly to mind 😊 Hope I haven’t given anything away.
Edited at 2021-01-18 05:27 pm (UTC)
Came to it late, did it in 6:08, all the while thinking it was quite sticky and that there were some traps.
My LOI was FINE – double alphabet trawl. Fine is not equal to excellent in my internal lexicography!
I thought this was a very nice puzzle, mostly mainstream and very doable but with one or two tricky ones. My LOI – deliberately because I could not parse it – was 18D Weedy, where like many I toyed with Weeny but in the end fortunately guessed correctly (it sounded marginally more plausible). I also biffed Cull in 10A Culloden – not a meaning of cull I had heard off but it sounded plausible and anyway the answer was clear enough.
Other than that all was parsed for a 9 minute finish; of the other talking points others have raised, Orpheus’s helpful cluing enabled me to sidestep the Swap/Swop dilemma – he was very clear, I thought – but I did share the slight hesitation over Fine = excellent, and I remain slightly dubious despite all the explanations given above!
Many thanks to Jack for the blog
Cedric
Dnf Friday
Yes, it’s a relief not to be lonely, isn’t it?!