Introduction
7:02, with some dithering about 9 Across to take me over the seven-minute mark. I had intended a surprise for everyone: the plan was to live-stream not only the solving of the puzzle but the writing of this blog. In fact, I am live-streaming the very sentence you are reading as I write it, and you read it. No wait, probably not as you read it, unless you are following me on Twitch, which you may do here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1121710897. Sadly, my solve stream was interrupted after only a few minutes, but you can watch that here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1121701558.
In any case, I can promise that two Wednesdays hence, you can tune in for what will undoubtedly be a special and slightly boring treat.
Head to https://www.twitch.tv/plusjeremy and Follow me so you can be notified when I go live. Also consider following the esteemed blogger Verlaine, who streams at https://www.twitch.tv/opheliafailure.
Solutions
A brief summary of cryptic crosswords —feel free to skip— :
- Each clue has at least one “definition”: an unbroken string of words which more-or-less straightforwardly indicates the answer. A definition can be as simple as a one-word synonym; but it can also be a descriptive phrase like ‘I’m used to wind’ for REEL or SPOOL. A definition by example must be indicated by a phrase like ‘for example’, or, more commonly, a question mark (?). Thus ‘color’ is a definition of RED, while ‘red, for example’ or ‘red?’ are definitions of COLOR. Punctuation is otherwise irrelevant. Proper nouns will appear capitalized, but otherwise capitalization is irrelevant as well.
- Each clue may also have an unbroken string of words which indicates the answer through wordplay, such as: using abbreviations; reversing the order of letters; indicating particular letters (first, last, outer, middle, every other, etc); placing words inside other words; rearranging letters (anagrams); replacing words by words that sound alike (homophones); and combinations of the above. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but the general theme is to reinterpret ordinary words as referring to letters, so that for example ‘lion’s head’ indicates the first letter of LION: namely, L.
- Definitions and wordplay cannot overlap. The only other words allowed in clues are linking words or phrases that combine these. Thus we may see, for example: “(definition) gives (wordplay)” or “(definition) and (definition)” or “(wordplay) is (definition)”.
- The most common clues have either two definitions, or one definition plus wordplay, in either order. But a single, very misleading definition is not uncommon, and very occasionally a definition can also be interpreted as wordplay leading to the same answer. Triple definitions (and more) are also possible.
My conventions in the solutions below are to underline definitions (including a defining phrase); put linking words in [brackets]; and put all wordplay indicators in boldface. I also use a solidus (/) to help break up the clue where necessary, especially for double definitions without linking words.
Here is a Glossary of all the wordplay indicators and abbreviations in this puzzle.
Glossary
Wordplay indicators
Abbreviations and little bits
Across
7 Sikh cafe cooking your supper? (8)
FISHCAKE = anagram of SIKH CAFE
8 Reminder [of] the code word for an E (4)
ECHO = double definition
9 The Speaker’s flummoxed, displaying weakness (6)
FLAWED = homophone of FLOORED
10 Former wife finishing with Bill? Spot on (5)
EXACT = EX + ACT
Do I have it right that a bill is an example of an ACT, so that the question mark is necessary here?
11 Sad when daughter goes? [That’s] personal (3)
OWN = DOWN without D
12 Trainee in / the wrong from time to time (6)
INTERN = IN + odd-numbered letters of THE WRONG
14 Club [for] AA member? (6)
DRIVER = double definition
The question mark is necessary here because a driver need not be an AA member. (Definition by example.)
16 Woman in Madrid[’s] preposterous reason (6)
SENORA = anagram of REASON
18 Reportedly excluded / Italian, a crook (6)
BANDIT = homophone of BANNED + IT
19 Airline covering up a beastly cry (3)
BAA = B.A. around A
British Airways, that is.
20 Poet [has] house by river (5)
HOMER = HOME + R
21 Good-looking chap holding article from Copenhagen? (6)
DANISH = DISH around AN
Definition by example! I mean, Definition by example?
23 The smallest one[’s] somewhat disgruntled (4)
RUNT = hidden in DISGRUNTLED
Your Oink clue of the OSI (Oink Setter Interval).
24 Dislike analyst’s initial / interpretation (8)
AVERSION = first letter of ANALYST + VERSION
Down
1 Force [of] evil once let loose (8)
VIOLENCE = EVIL ONCE anagrammed
2 Female elephant scoffing hot dog (4)
CHOW = COW around H
Apparently, a COW is a female elephant. For me, CHOW was the only dog I could think of with an H in it.
3 What prisoner might long for, / eh? (6)
PARDON = double definition
This was my favorite clue. It might be a chestnut, but I’d never heard of it, and I was fooled until the penny dropped.
4 Fed up / with border guard (6)
DEFEND = FED reversed + END
5 Crackpot oriental aunt? (8)
RELATION = anagram of ORIENTAL
Another definition by example?!
6 Gossip [with] Jean-Paul Sartre’s feline friend? (4)
CHAT = double definition
CHAT is French for ‘cat’. Another definition by example?!?! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLgJvqyZNjs
13 Outrage [of] Tory men I abused (8)
ENORMITY = TORY MEN I anagrammed
15 Leak [from] European / delegation (8)
EMISSION = E + MISSION
17 A / body of water overseas (6)
ABROAD = A + BROAD
Chambers has the second definition of ‘broad’ (noun) as “(in East Anglia) a lake-like expansion of a river”.
18 Harry, / a character in Wind in the Willows (6)
BADGER = double definition
A plate of fried ham had just been cleared and sent back for more, when the Badger entered, yawning and rubbing his eyes, and greeted them all in his quiet, simple way, with kind enquiries for every one.
20 Beautiful woman ignoring one [for] a time (4)
HOUR = HOURI without I
22 Inquisitive boss regularly / visiting New York (4)
NOSY = every other letter of BOSS inside N.Y.
I was the only audience member for Jeremy’s attempt at a stream, which he didn’t realize had died as he was so intent on solving the puzzle – which he did. He also did pretty well in today’s very difficult 15 x 15, in which I doubt the SCC solvers here could get more than two or three answers. I do enjoy very hard puzzles, and sometimes spend days trying to finish.
Very enjoyable. Apart from RUNT (often associated with pigs as in ‘runt of the litter’) we also have DANISH which is (or was at one time in the UK) synonymous with ‘bacon’ thanks to a relentless marketing campaign by exporters of Danish meat. There’s more farmyard stuff with BAA at 19ac and a COW reference at 2dn, although the elephant may be taking things a bit too far!
Bruce has already explained the difference between ‘bill’ and ‘act’ in British parliamentary law, so unless there is another context that hasn’t occurred to me they cannot be taken as synonymous. In view of the answer to the clue it’s mildly amusing that an act may be thought of as an ‘ex-bill’.
Edited at 2021-08-18 05:38 am (UTC)
Edited at 2021-08-18 06:15 am (UTC)
I thought this was a bit tricky in parts, and struggled a bit with the anagrams. I’m not sure why outrage=enormity?
A bill becomes an act once it receives royal assent from Her Maj. I liked this clue and also pardon once the penny dropped.
Thanks for the blog, I needed it to understand intern which I biffed.
LOI: 23a. RUNT
Time to Complete: 53 minutes
Clues Answered Correctly without aids: 20
Clues Answered with Aids: 6
Clues Unanswered: 0
Wrong Answers: 0
Total Correctly Answered (incl. aids): 26/26
Aids Used: Chambers
I found this one to be very tricky in places, leaving me relying heavily on aids to complete. Even then it took me 53 minutes, which is 2 minutes above my average solve time.
I watched plusjeremy’s Twitch solve. I found it very hard to hear what you were saying, the volume was so low. I had to turn up the volume to full in Twitch and almost full on my PC to be able to hear you clearly. Having forgotten I had turned my PC volume way up, I watched a YouTube video and thought I was going to blow my speakers out. Probably a Twitch thing rather than on plusjeremy’s side as I also found the volume to be very low with Verlaine’s Twitch video.
An enjoyable crossword for me? I’m wavering between yes and no.
Edited at 2021-08-18 11:12 am (UTC)
I really like Oink’s puzzles and this was no exception
Thanks Jeremy — good luck with the live streaming
Ps quite a few esteemed solvers Kevin, Mohn, Barracuda and Verlaine had one mistake but I can’t immediately see what it might be
FOI FISHCAKE
LOI INTERN (only parsed afterwards !)
COD CHOW
TIME 5:38
P.s. An old joke prompted by 23a.
Q. How do you describe a pig that has lost its voice?
A. Disgruntled.
Please yourselves……
Edited at 2021-08-18 08:25 am (UTC)
… which on retrospect i might/should have got, but I was fixed on Blowed (as in a flummoxed speaker saying “well I’m blowed”).
NHO Houri in 20D either (my spellchecker doesn’t know it either I see) but guessed answer from H-U- checkers.
A more difficulty puzzle from Oink than his usual fare. Perhaps that is why it had two porcine references in Runt and Danish.
Many thanks to Jeremy for the blog
Cedric
I thought oriental =Asian in 5d (RELATION), as that fitted the 3 checkers perfectly.
Really struggled with ENORMITY, needed all the checkers which is a poor effort for an obviously clued anagram.
Pulled HOURI from deep in the memory banks. Did not parse INTERN as did not know “from time to time” as clueing alternative letters (seems like a weak indicator to me). And having ‘wrong’ in there was a bit mean, chosen no doubt for additional misdirection.
COD PARDON, very nice, replaced my pencilled “ransom” when the Penny Dropped.
Finished in 17.06 with LOI PARDON after another alphabet trawl and with a pink square for BADGEE (grrr!)
Thanks to Jeremy
“Usage
Enormity traditionally means ‘the extreme scale or seriousness of something bad or morally wrong’, as in residents of the town were struggling to deal with the enormity of the crime. Today, however, a more neutral sense as a synonym for hugeness or immensity, as in he soon discovered the enormity of the task, is common. Some people regard this use as wrong, arguing that enormity in its original sense meant ‘a crime’ and should therefore continue to be used only of contexts in which a negative moral judgement is implied. Nevertheless, the sense is now broadly accepted in standard English, although it generally relates to something difficult, such as a task, challenge, or achievement.
“Origin
Late Middle English via Old French from Latin enormitas, from enormis, from e- (variant of ex-) ‘out of’ + norma ‘pattern, standard’. The word originally meant ‘deviation from legal or moral rectitude’ and ‘transgression’. Current senses have been influenced by enormous.”
In the end I finished in 25 mins — but at one point I thought I was heading for a dnf with only half the grid completed.
Lots to smile about though, including 3dn “Pardon”, 2dn “Chow” (for some reason I though a female elephant was a calf) and 9ac “Flawed”.
FOI — 8ac “Echo”
LOI — 24ac “Aversion”
COD — 19ac “Baa”
Thanks as usual!
PS. I mistakenly thought 12ac was a homophone as well, thinking “time to time” was synonymous with “in turn” — although I couldn’t find the word that signified it as such. From reading the blog, I now see it was something totally different!
Edited at 2021-08-18 08:32 am (UTC)
Another horrid grid. With these formations I tend to start in the middle so I began with 12ac, which I couldn’t do and ended up as my LOI! (Was anyone else fooled by “The Speaker’s” at 9ac into looking for “my” or “mine” or “I’m”?)
FOI DRIVER, LOI INTERN, COD HOMER, time 08:10 for 1.2K and a Very Good Day.
I see from the Club leaderboard that lots of the great and good (even including the Lord Verlaine) had one pink square – I wonder what it was?
Many thanks Jeremy and Oink.
Templar
Didn’t have the general knowledge regarding HOURI or BADGER, but biffed in the answers.
Many thanks for the explanations in the blog
Regards
A
I liked this and no problems with the vocabulary.
I nearly came a cropper trying to justify BEA (an old airline) at 19a where it is hidden; but I paused to parse for once. FISHCAKE my favourite.
David
Confused myself originally by putting OUR at 11a (Removing D from Dour).
Thanks, Jeremy, for great blog.
Had a mental block over 8 ac “E for Echo” until M Sartre’s feline came to the rescue.
COD 3 d “pardon” which I really liked.
Thanks to Jeremy for the blog and to Oink.
I put in INTERN, without fully seeing why it was right. I vaguely wondered if it was connected to “in turn” as a weirdy reading of “from time to time” pronounced “wrong”. Thanks, Jeremy, for explaining the correct parsing and for all the magnificent energy and thought that you put into the blog. Thanks, too, to Oink
FOI – 8ac ECHO
LOI – 19ac BANDIT
COD – 4dn DEFEND
Thanks to Oink for the challenge
I had no difficulties today, and was well under target, sub-Phil, and evens with pitcaithlie.
The Sikh cafe knocking me up a FISHCAKE tickled my fancy, and was my FOI and COD.
5:04
I struggled throughout the whole puzzle today. Only six or seven clues solved after 20 minutes or so, and virtually every clue from then on was hard going. In the end, I gave up with INTERN and PARDON unsolved, even though I had correctly parsed both clues. I’d simply spent far too much time wracking my brains for words that just would not come.
I’m sorry to say that my experience today was rather reminiscent of many of my solving attempts of last Summer, shortly after I started these QCs – bleak and dispiriting. I wonder why I kept at it last year.
Many thanks to Oink and plusjeremy.
Edited at 2021-08-18 12:20 pm (UTC)
Incidentally, Mrs Random had some words of ‘encouragement’ for me, as well: “Man up and do better next time!”.
She’s lovely, is Mrs R, and she was mighty pleased to race through all three of this week’s QCs to date in such short order (for her). She is now making a batch of cucumber pickle and a birthday cake for her Mum.
But if I were you I would take a break after say 30 minutes. (I just fell asleep today and had something else to do so looked up the answers)
I know it has been said many times before, but when you revisit the puzzle, often you instantly see some answers.
If you don’t take a break it can send you potty looking at the same clues and banging your head.
Good luck. PS. I enjoy your Mr and Mrs comments.
I know that solving it is not all about lightning fast times, but it is surprising how he darts about if the answer doesn’t come readily to mind and by the time he revisits the clue it is with a fresh view.
Anyway good luck.
FOI: ECHO
LOI: DEFEND
COD: DANISH OR PARDON (we liked both if them)
Thanks Oink and Jeremy.
33 mins which is about average for me now. But quite a few not fully parsed (hour, intern, runt, flawed) where I needed the checkers. My COD was 18d as I enjoyed thinking through the WITW characters!
Edited at 2021-08-18 11:32 pm (UTC)