I didn’t get 1ac at first pass so had to dip into the grid. I ended up chasing all around it until finally finishing in the SE with 22ac. There doesn’t seem to be anything overly difficult but I only just crept inside my target of 10 minutes.
Definitions are underlined.
Across | |
1 | Something naughty I’d found in gift for politician? (4,9) |
VICE PRESIDENT – something naughty (VICE), I’d (ID) found inside gift (PRESENT). | |
8 | Spice starts to change unappetising milkshake into nectar (5) |
CUMIN – (C)hange (U)nappetising (M)ilkshake (I)nto (N)ectar. | |
9 | More imposing old lady turned red (7) |
GRANDER – old lady (GRAN), ‘red’ turned around (DER). | |
10 | Dog to go astray inside bank (7) |
TERRIER – go astray (ERR) inside bank (TIER). | |
11 | Character in Barnet Hospital (5) |
ETHOS – hidden in the clue – Barn(ET HOS)pital. | |
13 | Nick overheard beginning to design strange instrument (5,4) |
STEEL DRUM – homophone (overheard) of nick- steal (STEEL), (D)esign, strange (RUM). | |
17 | Fool around next to big hole (5) |
ABYSS – fool (ASS) around next to (BY). | |
19 | US state region briefly features in song (7) |
ARIZONA – region briefly (ZON)e inside song (ARIA). | |
20 | Computer kept DOS running (7) |
DESKTOP – anagram (running) of KEPT DOS. Good surface. | |
22 | Reverse stylish vehicles (5) |
TRAMS – stylish – smart – reversed (TRAMS). Traps wanted to go in but I wouldn’t let it! | |
23 | Barely examined? (5-8) |
STRIP-SEARCHED – humorous cryptic definition, |
Down | |
1 | Leave caveat in motion (6) |
VACATE – anagram (in motion) of CAVEAT. | |
2 | Afraid of being shot? (6-3) |
CAMERA-SHY – another crytpic definition. Shot as in to shoot a picture. | |
3 | Writes four editorials, initially, being thoughtful (7) |
PENSIVE – writes (PENS), four (IV), (E)ditorials. | |
4 | Writer glad aeroplane is fixed! (5,5,3) |
EDGAR ALLAN POE – anagram (is fixed!) of GLAD AEROPLANE. | |
5 | Picture of one wizard (5) |
IMAGE – one (I), wizard (MAGE). Mage is an archaic word for wizard. | |
6 | Finish last pieces of stale Italian bread (3) |
END – stal(E) Italia(N) brea(D). | |
7 | Push heroin in confidence (6) |
THRUST – heroin (H) inside confidence (TRUST). | |
12 | Alternative healer‘s residence on old road (9) |
HOMEOPATH – residence (HOME), on top of old (O) and road (PATH). | |
14 | Celebrate sushi finally being in list (7) |
ROISTER – sush(I) inside list (ROSTER). | |
15 | Small cars for Middle Eastern folks (6) |
SAUDIS – small (S), cars (AUDIS). | |
16 | Expired pedals falling apart (6) |
LAPSED – anagram (falling apart) of PEDALS. | |
18 | Arrange winning a tennis match? (3,2) |
SET UP – double definition. | |
21 | A title some desire (3) |
SIR – some of de(SIR)e. |
I’d heard that every day, without exception, there was a theme. I get the theme some days, on others even having completed the grid, cannot see the theme..
Is there a link you can share to put me out of my misery, or is the daily theme just a myth…??
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/puzzleclub/crosswordclub/forums/general/1/concise-quintagrams/18080
Strange=rum only ever appears in crosswords.
Plenty of pleasing clues, COD to PENSIVE
Finished in 6.31 with LOI ABYSS. WOD goes to ROISTER.
Thanks to Chris
FOI: 1a VICE PRESIDENT
LOI: 14d ROISTER
Time to Complete: 35 minutes
Clues Answered Correctly without aids: 24
Clues Answered with Aids (3 lives): Nil
Clues Unanswered: Nil
Wrong Answers: Nil
Total Correctly Answered (incl. aids): 24/24
Aids Used: Nil
At 35 minutes this was 4 minutes off from beating my personal best of 32 minutes. I found this puzzle to be easy for me, with a few clues that had me thinking for a while.
1a. VICE PRESIDENT – I saw this one immediately. After all, I thought, how many politicians are there with 4 and 9 letters?
23a. STRIP SEARCHED – My favourite clue, but still took a bit of thinking to find it.
19a. ARIZONA – At first, I had ATLANTA pencilled in. I then realised that Atlanta is a city and not a state.
Very happy to have completed this one in quick time (for me) with no aids used! I think that calls for two candy bars today!
P.S. I had ALABAMA to start with, before I realised my error — and that is a state.
… with all done and dusted in just under 9 minutes. It doesn’t often happen but I found this quite straightforward, almost a write-in for most of the puzzle. Which merely increases my respect for those who regularly solve in 3-4 minutes — I can’t even write that fast, let alone think that fast.
Minor hesitation over 20A Desktop, as I wondered whether Desktop could be the actual equipment as well as the place one puts icons (the meaning I’m more familiar with) but I see that it can.
Many thanks to Chris for the blog
Cedric
Edited at 2021-05-11 07:56 am (UTC)
Suffering from a touch of ‘brain glue’ I think. That eloquent description reminds me — where is louisajaney these days? Hope she is well. Thanks to Trelawney and Chris. John M
Edited at 2021-05-11 08:56 am (UTC)
Welcome back soon! John.
I well remember the army-quantity catering we had to do, then, when they left home, all the big pans went to the back of the cupboard and the portions we were buying/cooking seemed ridiculously small.
I love having them home. It will be so quiet (though much cheaper) when they’ve (re-)flown the nest.
P.S. I used to have piles of university exam scripts, coursework submissions and dissertations to mark at this time of year, so I know the feeling.
Wish I could say the same about the marking (although, it’s not, in reality so bad, being probably a 3 – an Interesting Challenge).
Best wishes.
SAUDIS made me smile. Also amused that glad aeroplane is an anagram of EdgarAPoe.
Good to be on the wavelength today.
Thanks vm, Chris.
Thought 17a was OS for big after a word for fool reversed- BOYOS was the best I could see.
Eventually I got SAUDIS and then LOI ABYSS (COD to that).
Another 8 minutes or so for those three.
Good puzzle.
David
Thanks Trelawney and Chris
Diana
I’m sorry to see CAMERA SHY dismissed as a chestnut because I hadn’t come across it before (or if I have, my goldfish brain has forgotten it) and it made me laugh.
FOI VACATE, LOI TRAMS, COD STRIP SEARCHED, time 07:53 for 1.7K and a Good Day.
Many thanks Chris and Trelawney.
Templar
Diana
Thought of STEEL BAND for a moment before the obvious DRUM banged loudly in my ear. Sun shining, QCC completed, hello world.
LOI ABYSS. Thanks Chris and Trelawney.
ROISTER is a tremendous word. Always reminds me of Hugh Laurie’s Prince George.
7:03
FOI 1dn VACATE
LOI 14dn ROISTER
COD 8ac CUMIN I failed to p-arse!
WOD 4dn EDGAR ALLAN POE
A smooth solve followed with my only hesitation being STEEL DRUM where I was thinking of nick being either a cut or a prison but not what would potentially get you there. Just under 7 minutes for an excellent day.
My two FOIs were both of the 1 clues so that was encouraging. No hold-ups anywhere, really. Great surfaces, je pense, and much to enjoy. I especially liked 23 across, STRIP-SEARCHED, and 2 down, CAMERA-SHY, both of which may well be chestnuts to some but were delightfully new (and entertaining) for me.
Thanks so much for the blog, Chris, and many thanks, too, to Trelawney for facilitating a Very Happy Tuesday.
FOI – 13ac STEEL DRUM
LOI – 15dn SAUDIS
COD – a toss up between 13ac and 2dn
I don’t get Russian or Greek at the top but for some reason since yesterday the instructions around the comments box appear in German!
Last two were SMART as I trawled the list of 4 letter vehicles and ROISTER
Thanks Chris and Trelawney
Ps tend to the view that trilobite is not in the same category of some of the lesser known words here but as everyone says one person’s gk is another person’s gi
Lots to biff here which helped my time enormously : 1ac “Vice President”, 23ac “Strip Searched”, 2dn “Camera Shy” and 4dn “Edgar Allan Poe” all went in pretty much straight away.
The rest flowed from this happy scaffold.
FOI — 1dn “Vacate”
LOI — 14dn “Roister”
COD — 15dn “Saudis” — made me smile…
Thanks as usual!
FOI: VACATE
LOI: TRAMS
COD: STRIP SEARCHED (Mrs Peel liked SET UP too)
Thanks Trelawney and Chris.
Both IMAGE and ROISTER were entered faintly and with question marks to start with, but on review they couldn’t really be anything else. I used to get a little narked by clues requiring knowledge of archaic or obscure vocabulary, but I’m more accepting of them these days if, as Trelawney has achieved here, they are clued fairly and precisely (as did Izetti with PLUTARCH and POMANDER yesterday).
N.B. Mrs R is visiting her parents today, so she will tackle this puzzle later or tomorrow.
Many thanks to both Trelawney and chrisw91.
FOI Cumin
LOI Roister
COD Desktop
Many thanks Trelawney and Chris
I echo gcook’s comment re the biggie – it took me about half an hour. I thought it was a nice friendly puzzle with some entertaining clues. 1d was a cracker!
Very happy not to be anon but after many attempts I have never managed to join the club. Can anyone help? If it gets rid of the young Russian girls then I’d be happy. There’s better websites than this for such entertainment. Johnny. PS. All done in target 25.
Follow this link: https://www.livejournal.com/create.bml
Enter your information as instructed on the page.
Press “Create” button.
NB: Don’t forget to open your email and confirm your email address.
FOI: 1D VACATE
LOI: 15D SAUDIS
Poor time today – all went reasonably well until I was held up by ABYSS. Needed to pause for work commitments and then returned and solved with SAUDIS following shortly after.
Thank you, chrisw91 and Trelawney
Anyone know who to contact? Johnny