Solving time: 10 minutes, but only just! There are a few clues that may be a bit tricky for newer solvers but there’s easy stuff too, hopefully sufficient to get some early answers in the grid on which to build.
Puzzle 1800 marks another milestone in the history of The Times Quick Cryptic and as we enter the next ‘century’ the audience for the puzzle as reflected by the number of commenters at TfTT has never been greater, and that is very satisfying. Many thanks to all who contribute to that success and to the setters and staff at The Times for giving us high quality puzzles to write about.
Last Thursday’s special topic with reports of individual solving experiences was extremely interesting and I look forward to reading more of these in the daily blogs.
And following on from that, this might be a good moment to emphasise that TfTT is a forum open to all solvers whatever their current standard, including newcomers who are trying their hand at cryptic crosswords for the very first time, and our aim is to be supportive and constructive at all times. Comments that attempt to diminish the efforts of other solvers or disrupt the prevailing atmosphere of friendly discussion will be removed.
And now to the business of the day…
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 | International initiative to get trial on the move? (4,5) |
| TEST DRIVE : TEST (international – cricket, rugby etc), DRIVE (initiative). The definition is cryptic. | |
| 6 | Dorothy‘s brief point (3) |
| DOT : Two meanings. ‘Dot’ being short for Dorothy, famously ‘Dot Cotton’ a character in Eastenders, every crossword compilers’ s favourite soap as it gives them a way of cluing the dropped ‘h’. | |
| 8 | Opposed to once more going to street (7) |
| AGAINST : AGAIN (once more), ST (street) | |
| 9 | Previous religious head (5) |
| PRIOR : Two meanings. Head of a Priory. | |
| 10 | Darn green kit needing repair for school (12) |
| KINDERGARTEN : Anagram [repair] of DARN GREEN KIT. These days it can mean any nursery school but originally it involved tuition according to enlightened methods devised by the German, Friedrich Fröbel. I had the good fortune to attend one such Kindergarten in the early 1950’s in leafy Stanmore, Middlesex, and it was a wonderful beginning to my education. I was less fortunate with my next school where I started at the age of 7; this was also run according to principles devised in a previous era, but they were those of Wackford Squeers at Dickens’s Dotheboys Hall. | |
| 12 | By the sound of it, worked in education, far from relaxed (4) |
| TAUT : Homophone [by the sound of it] of “taught” (worked in education) | |
| 13 | Mountains are lovely places, scenic first of all (4) |
| ALPS : A{re} L{ovely} P{laces} S{cenic} [first of all] | |
| 17 | Get decent air for a change after disposing of this? (9,3) |
| CIGARETTE END : Anagram [for a change] of GET DECENT AIR. A brilliant &lit. | |
| 20 | Fruit, round, as it happens (5) |
| OLIVE : O (round), LIVE (as it happens) | |
| 21 | Reverse taxi into printer’s sign? Disaster! (7) |
| DEBACLE : CAB (taxi) backwards [reverse] contained by [into] DELE (printer’s sign indicating a deletion]. I didn’t know ‘dele’. | |
| 23 | Extract from southern article (3) |
| THE : Hidden in [extract from] {sou}THE{rn}. The definite article. | |
| 24 | Nth sortie amazingly and the most difficult? (9) |
| THORNIEST : Anagram [amazingly] of NTH SORTIE | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Vehicle in trading centre heading north (4) |
| TRAM : MART (trading centre) reversed [heading north]. ‘Mart’ came up here very recently and some contributors claimed that it was obscure, but here it is again! | |
| 2 | Am captivated by newly-made Saint’s endurance (7) |
| STAMINA : AM contained [captivated] by anagram [newly-made] of SAINT | |
| 3 | Daughter in from France finds secluded room (3) |
| DEN : D (daughter), EN (in, from France) | |
| 4 | Following sequence from popular performance (2,4) |
| IN TURN : IN (popular), TURN (performance – a speciality act, for example) | |
| 5 | In Cowes, plan a delightful walk (9) |
| ESPLANADE : Hidden [in] {Cow}ES PLAN A DE{lightful} | |
| 6 | Move gradually away — ultimately sad breach (5) |
| DRIFT : {sa}D [ultimately], RIFT (breach). I have a slight issue with ‘away’ as part of the definition here as drifting doesn’t involve movement in any particular direction unless specified. | |
| 7 | Seat flung in the air, we hear (6) |
| THRONE : Sounds like [we hear] “thrown” (flung in the air) | |
| 11 | Discourage fellow cleaner (9) |
| DETERGENT : DETER (discourage), GENT (fellow) | |
| 14 | Glass accommodating a church’s style (7) |
| PANACHE : PANE (glass) containing [accommodating] A + CH (church) | |
| 15 | Challenge air conditioning price (6) |
| ACCOST : AC (air conditioning), COST (price) | |
| 16 | Boss overseeing ten in workshop (6) |
| STUDIO : STUD (boss of a shield) , 10 (ten). Stud, boss and umbo, meaning the nobbly bit in the middle of a shield are all standard crossword fare and worth remembering for the future. | |
| 18 | Dirt, unpleasant, at bottom of scuttle (5) |
| GRIME : GRIM (unpleasant), {scuttl}E [bottom] | |
| 19 | Those remaining take it easy (4) |
| REST : Two meanings | |
| 22 | Prohibition of financial institution? Not entirely (3) |
| BAN : BAN{k} (financial institution) [not entirely] | |
Today’s QC was just the right level for me, with a few easy ones and a few head scratchers. I don’t time myself as I just want to enjoy the puzzle without any extra pressure.
I’m not sure how many see these entries that appear later in the day, but if you do then HELLO.