Hi everybody. Teazel puzzles seem to invariably* hit my expected solving time, and just to fit my expectations of a Quick Cryptic generally. 15d is my pick of the clues (despite being a little deprived of snooze due to the current heatwave), but I expect a range of different favourites today. Thanks Teazel!
* based on the huge sample of the three I’ve blogged
Definitions are underlined in the clues below. In the explanations, quoted indicators are in italics, explicit [deletions] are in square brackets, and I’ve capitalised and emboldened letters which appear in the ANSWER. For clarity, I omit most link words and some juxtaposition indicators.
| Across | |
| 1a | Hunted animals: one may be on board (4) |
| GAME — A double definition | |
| 3a | Tax scheme subsidising Christmas presents? (4,3) |
| GIFT AID — Someone unfamiliar with this scheme might guess it was one subsidising presents of some kind | |
| 8a | Mixing paint, slipshod in cleaning of equipment (4,3,6) |
| SPIT AND POLISH — An anagram of (mixing) PAINT SLIPSHOD | |
| 9a | Show displeasure with short volume (3) |
| BOO — All but the last letter of (short) BOOk (volume) | |
| 10a | Start in America to gain energy (3-2) |
| GET-GO — GET (to gain) + GO (energy) | |
| 12a | More inquisitive about one not so quiet (7) |
| NOISIER — NOSIER (more inquisitive) around (about) I (one) | |
| 14a | Checked fit (of clothes) and changed into red (5,2) |
| TRIED ON — An anagram of (changed) INTO RED | |
| 16a | Augustus the Architect has dog at home (5) |
| PUGIN — PUG (dog) + IN (at home). Unfamiliar with the architect, I put in a tentative CURIN at first | |
| 17a | An alternative name, not as Caliph (3) |
| ALI — ALI[as] (an alternative name) without (not) AS. The caliph is Ali | |
| 20a | Official permission to write verse? That stretches the truth (6,7) |
| POETIC LICENCE — Whimsically, this could be a licence to write poetry | |
| 21a | Fellow gets on and copes (7) |
| MANAGES — MAN (fellow) + AGES (gets on) | |
| 22a | Slob finally agreed extra runs (4) |
| BYES — The last letter of (… finally) sloB + YES (agreed) | |
| Down | |
| 1d | Good: a delicate form of illumination (8) |
| GASLIGHT — G (good) + A + SLIGHT (delicate) | |
| 2d | Principal Rhine city, not unknown (4) |
| MAIN — MAIN[z] (Rhine city) without (not) Z (unknown). I had to go through the unknowns before the city would come to mind | |
| 3d | Israel’s judge sounds a dizzy one (6) |
| GIDEON — GIDEON sounds like GIDDY ‘UN | |
| 4d | What’s at beginning of book is often spicier, somehow (12) |
| FRONTISPIECE — OFTEN SPICIER, anagrammed (somehow) | |
| 5d | An inner sleeve, we hear, getting straight (8) |
| ALIGNING — A LINING (an inner sleeve), homophone (we hear) | |
| 6d | Children’s author had to come up with line (4) |
| DAHL — HAD reversed (to come up, in a down entry) + L (line). Roald Dahl was not just a children’s author, but it is this part of his work that he is best known for | |
| 7d | Copy needs taking out for checking age (6,6) |
| CARBON DATING — CARBON (copy) + DATING (taking out) | |
| 11d | A batch of loaves? That’s odd, maybe unlucky (8) |
| THIRTEEN — An odd number, which is thought by some to be unlucky. The underlined definition refers to a baker’s dozen. I would also be happy to call this a double definition or one big cryptic definition | |
| 13d | Sent girl out for hair styling (8) |
| RINGLETS — SENT GIRL anagrammed (out) | |
| 15d | Almost deprived of snooze in Italian city (6) |
| NAPLES — Without the last letter (almost), NAPLESs (deprived of snooze) | |
| 18d | Junk guides picked up (4) |
| SPAM — MAPS (guides) reversed (picked up) | |
| 19d | Just nothing left in New York (4) |
| ONLY — O (nothing) + L (left) in NY (New York) | |
DNF. NHO GIFT AID, and I was hesitant to biff it. I didn’t know PUGIN’s first name, so ‘Augustus’ was the reverse of helpful; I would have got the answer sooner without it. I also didn’t understand 17ac.
POETIC LICENSE. I apologiSe for being an American!!
No worries!
13:02 Didn’t know PUGIN or GIFT AID but they both seemed likely(as a youngster I was in a “Christmas Club”, which was probably the same idea as GIFT AID). Liked NAPLES and GASLIGHT but COD to SPAM. Enjoyable blog! Oh wait-I just read Kitty’s link to GIFT AID and see it has nothing to do with putting aside money for Christmas. Must read blogs more thoroughly in future!
American solver here. Some editions of the QC are more “British” than others, and this was one of them. Very enjoyable tonight.
DNF. Couldn’t get the AID part of gift aid, and therefore ALIGNING was beyond me too.
I also couldn’t get MAIN nor the parsing of GET GO
I also nho pugin or Gideon but the wordplay fit.
I liked Poetic Licence 🙂
As in Gideons bibles you find in a drawer in hotel rooms. Reference to OT Judges.
Oh i didn’t know that! Know the bibles, of course. I think they even came around to my school and gave out little pocket ones to us, as if you know, I would ever need to whip out a verse from my purse. Also rather dated because I had the bible on various devices by then which all came with a handy search function.
I found some of this very hard for a QC and needed 15 minutes to complete the grid.
My LOI was GIFT AID. I was vaguely aware that the tax laws provide allowances for donations to charities but I’ve never heard of this being referred to as GIFT AID, nor any other particular name for that matter.
I had the P and the N towards the architect at 16ac, but until the G-checker arrived courtesy of 5dn I had been thinking PETIN and PUPIN, both of which I had rejected. As it happened, as soon as I considered PUGIN I remembered him for his work on the Houses of Parliament, and the ‘Big Ben’ tower in particular.
ALI as ‘caliph’ was another that delayed me until both checkers were in place. And GET-GO, an Americanism that needed to be dredged up from somewhere. I vaguely remembered that GIDEON was a judge.
If my timing is anything to go by I think there may be some less than happy QC solvers around today. I needed only 8 minutes more for the main puzzle.
6.32
I was on the wavelength for this one knowing all the GK but I agree with Jackkt that it felt quite tough for a quickie
Liked FRONTISPIECE and NAPLES
I see a few of the very top solvers had one error – licence maybe?
Sympathy for Kevin and other non-UK solvers pondering GIFT AID
Thanks Kitty and Teazel
Put PUP instead of PUG NHO so DNF 13 min. Thought ALI was s bizarre lurker and DNK there IS in the middle of frontpiece… Would have been a quick Teazel for me otherwise. Thanks Kitty and Teazel
GAME and MAIN held out to the end. Shouldn’t have missed what ‘board’ was doing but did. Needed football to come up with Mainz but didn’t know it was on the Rhine – I would put it on the list but the Tour de France has, as usual, filled my mind with a French towns. I know GET GO from having a colleague use it years ago and having to ask him what he was going on about – I’ve come across it a few times since but was surprised to see it here. NHO PUGIN and didn’t know what a Caliph was much less that Ali was the fourth. I accept SPIT AND POLISH makes things shiny but I don’t think it makes them ‘clean’ – definitely going to be busy should Teazel ask me to dinner. All green in 10.
I was in the rear coach of the morning crawler from Mainz to Naples, arriving at 18:30.
FOI 1dn GASLIGHT – popular in States presently.
LOI & COD 11dn THIRTEEN! Five thousand fish sarnies – dough!
WOD 16ac PUGIN the most eminent Victorian architect! Preferred to Scott.
I have decided to take a sabbatical – toodle-pip!
Enjoyed the varied vocabulary. Was reading about ALI the Caliph last night in a book about Vasco da Gama. Liked FRONTISPIECE and nap less in NAPLES.
19 minutes but with some NHO:
PUGIN, ALI and FRONTISPIECE all needing wordplay, crossing letters and some luck. Googled PUGIN post solve.
FOI: GAME.
LOI: GET GO. I left this ’till last as again I needed the crossing letters to be sure.
A bit slower than usual in 27.32 but was distracted by phone call.
GET UP/ON/AT/ON/IT before I gave up guessing and penny dropped.
LOI RINGLETS.
Thanks to all.
Couldn’t get into to gear with this one and it felt decidedly tricky in places. NHO the architect and toyed with Curin for a bit and FRONTISPIECE was also new to me. Very familiar with GIFT AID but took an age to see it but it did finally help me see what was going on with LOI GIDEON.
Crossed the line in a sluggish 13.34
Thanks to Kitty
DNF. I had no problem with GIFT AID and relied on the word play for the unknowns GIDEON and PUGIN. DNK FRONTISPIECE either but at least it was an anagram. I had GET TO instead of GET GO. Despite the mistake I couldn’t finish the grid because of MAIN and GAME . I’m unfamiliar with the cities on the Rhine. Had I got MAIN I would have seen GAME. Personally I think too much general knowledge was required to qualify for a QC!
Well this was quick for me at just inside 10 minutes – it’s not often that Jackkt and I reverse our relative positions! I’m not sure why – PUGIN, GET GO, GIDEON, MAIN all held their challenges, but came to me quickly for some reason. MAIN I was particularly lucky with – I had the right idea, but was thinking of a city called MAxIN or similar – but thems the breaks! Thanks Kitty and Teazel.
Rather slow, but got there in the end, various PDMs like FRONTISPIECE, SPIT AND POLISH, GIDEON, GAME, PUGIN, CARBON DATING (COD). Don’t know why I didn’t see GIFT AID sooner. Bottom half went in quicker than the top. Lots of wit and teases from Teazel. Yes, in napless in NAPLES. LOI with a groan ALIGNING.
Thanks for blog, Kitty.
Dnf…
Thought this was quite tricky and was one of those puzzles where it was easier to start at the bottom. I had everything after 30 mins apart from 11dn “Thirteen” which is now so obvious I’m kicking myself.
I was held up for quite a while by 10ac “Get Go”, where I just couldn’t get “Gusto” out of my head (even though the word count didn’t fit). At one point I even wondered whether there was an error.
NHO of 4dn “Frontispiece” nor 16ac “Pugin” but they were obtainable, however I have sympathy for those who aren’t familiar with “Gift Aid” for 3ac.
FOI – 14ac “Tried On”
LOI – dnf
COD – 1dn “Gaslight”
Thanks as usual!
I was looking for how to shove US into the GET-GO answer so I empathise with your GUSTO. I went with GET-TO as I couldn’t parse it and needed to GET ON with some other stuff!
Felt it was a bit of a naff clue with the setter between a rock and a hard place. If they clue it as “start” people complain that get-go is American. By shoving “in America” it created confusion to those of us who don’t see it as an American phrase.
Gave up with quite a lot remaining. Not enjoyable.
I join Rotter in what seems so far to be the minority in considering this quite getable – just under 9 minutes for me, and hard to pinpoint any serious holdups once the long anagram Frontispiece had succumbed – that nicely opened up the RHS.
Good fun and a good start to the week. Thank you Kitty for the blog
Cedric
I struggled to get started and the NW held out almost to the end, with only LOI, THIRTEEN, following it. I hadn’t heard of MAINZ, but eventually put MAIN in on the basis of the definition and the I from SPIT. That led to GAME and GASLIGHT. The AND in 8a was my first tentative grid entry. 12:42. Thanks Teazel and Kitty.
Seemed pretty regulation to me. Every single time you make a charitable donation you’re asked if you want to add GIFT AID. Spent a while trying to make “prey” work at 1ac but GASLIGHT sorted that out. Otherwise only delays were ALIGNING and GET-GO – and very very very fat fingers, having been stung by a wasp on my right hand yesterday!
FOI GASLIGHT, LOI GET-GO, COD NOISIER, time 07:35 for a Very Good Day.
Many thanks Kitty and Teazel.
Templar
I found this one quite difficult, but I did finish, albeit with one wrong answer (Get to rather than Get go). I did need a little help with 4d and 7d. Other than that an enjoyable puzzle.
I now have a week off work with no plans. Bliss!
Too hot for the cat. I told him not to wear his fur coat out, but he wouldn’t listen.
Really wish there was a Like / Laughter emotion button – to acknowledge your cat comment without have to type a whole reply
😀😀
L-P, I believe the ‘Like’ button is coming shortly.
Good to know, I looked back at the enhancement requests post and see it is extra work for the dev. team to integrate. They’ve done a sterling job to create an attractive, easy to use site this far and I think we’re all grateful for their efforts.
Very few on first pass but I was more successful when going through the clues for a second time. Eventually finished in 22 minutes but with one error at 10ac, where I had GET TO. I have heard the expression GET GO but didn’t know it was an American expression, so the clue didn’t mean a great deal to me. It also took me an age for the penny to drop on 7dn CARBON DATING. All in all pretty tricky I thought, although I had no problem with any of the GK except for the Americanism.
FOI – 3ac GIFT AID
LOI – the incorrect 10ac
COD – 3dn GIDEON
Thanks to Teazel and Kitty
I just got in under target at 9.33, and think Teazel presented us with a fairly tough offering.
I was pleased to see the name of one of my heroes Augustus Welby Pugin figuring in a clue (how ironic to note that auto correct changed his name to Putin!).
For anyone not familiar with one of the greatest architects who ever drew breath I would recommend the excellent biography by Rosemary Hill.
In short, he designed the Houses of Parliament at Westminster, although sadly Sir Charles Barry seems to get all the credit. Barry was more the front man with connections to the people that mattered, while Pugin was the true genius. The clock tower, or Big Ben to many, was a fitting finale to his design, and he died insane at the age of 40 having been a resident of Bedlam. Having spent most of his architectural life spending 18-20 hours working 7 days a week, it is little wonder he lost his mind.
👍
I’m not sure why it took me so long to remember AID as the second word of 3A as I’ve seen the phrase often enough. I wasn’t sure of the architect but remembered when I looked him up post solve I’d seen he was the architect of the Palace of Westminster before. I liked the baker’s dozen, POETIC LICENCE and RINGLETS best. Thanks Teazel and Kitty. 5:50.
This felt harder than my time would suggest.
Sure I have seen that GIDEON clue elsewhere recently, and POETIC LICENCE as well. I used to work with a guy from Mainz, so MAIN was a write in. ALI was my LOI and a “bifc” until coming here. NAPLES my favourite.
4:31
Slow start taking until the lower half of the grid to see THIRTEEN, NAPLES, POETIC-LICENCE – each of which I’ve seen recently in the book of QCs and highlights to me how much rote memory plays in this.
Steady solving took me to 42-mins with 5-6 unsolved in the middle/NW. Needed to getting on, I checked and discovered I’d made errors with LICENsE, GET-tO, FRONTeSPIECE. Licen(c/s)e, I’ve now looked at how to remember which version because I knew it was an issue while solving. FRONTISPIECE, my anagram paper misled me on the vowels available. Immediately able to put in NOISIER, GIDEON and BOO (in place of BLAre and GIDiah made-up word).
Corrected my errors and BIFD my last two in the car on the way to Tesco for around a 45-50 min DNF.
NHO MAINZ, CALIPH=ALI, GIDEON (as a judge), PUGIN (joining those who began with PUP).
Didn’t feel like the setter was giving us much help and I suspect the layout of the grid didn’t either. Lots of black squares where checkers would have been nice!
Thanks to Teazel and Kitty
Though neither as quick nor as ueasy as some, I completed this with only ALI biffed and no major struggle, so am feeling rather smug on reading the above comments. FOI GASLIGHT, COD TRIED ON and LOI MAIN, because I had struggled on GAME, wasting too long thinking of an actual animal, such as GOAT!
Thanks Kitty for explaining ALI and Teazel for the challenge.
DNF, could not see CARBON DATING.
I had ALI as in Muhammad Ali, an alternative name for Cassius Clay, and then “not as” meaning a containment indicator for cALIph. Impressive to get both parts of a clue “wrong”, but end up with the right answer.
Well! Having read (above) about the awkwardness and potential pitfalls within today’s QC, I’m even more amazed to be able to report that I achieved a rare escape from the clutches of the SCC. Despite having NHO PUGIN, not knowing what ‘caliph’ means or that GIDEON was a judge, and not fully parsing some of the other clues, I still romped home in just 17 minutes – much to Mrs R’s utter astonishment. Quite how I did so is a mystery to me, but I know that I will pay the price tomorrow.
Many thanks to Teazel and Kitty.
P.S. I loved NAPLES.
Beaten by FRONTISPIECE GIDEON PUGIN (quickie?!) and GIFT AID. Not a problem to be kicked in the QC nuts once in a while. Enjoyed the puzzle despite the failure and learned lots too.
Early solve in a slow hot day. All went well enough except I wanted 12a as Noisily and that stumped me for 13d starting with a Y when I could see the anagram. That extend my time unduly while I forced a rethink on 12a. Not so happy with 10a Get Go and first chose Get To but an alphabet trawl gave a more credible answer. No problem with the GK needed. Started with 1a as Prey and that needed revisiting once 1d was resolved. Not able to correctly parse 17a Ali but Kitty was able to enlighten me. FOI 3a Gift Aid. LOI 13d/12a Ringlets/Noisier. COD 20a Poetic Licence. Good fun from Teasel.
After a QC hiatus due to newspaper delivery failure and much tennis to watch, I rather liked this. Very familiar with Gift Aid, not so much with bible names and for some reason thought there was an architect called Augustus John but all fell in place eventually
Found this trick in parts, had get to for 10a. No problem with gift aid, but slow solving two of the long clues.
DNF. Only got gift aid, frontispiece, noisier, Gideon, thirteen and manages. Can hardly wait for tomorrow’s defeat.
Easy write in except for get go which I have never heard of
The randomness of QCs! This relative newbie thought this was easy, maybe because I had the relevant general knowledge. GIFT AID I know because I’m a church treasurer (also GIDEON). And really liked CARBON DATING and POETIC LICENSE. Thank you Teazel.
Strangely I found this quite straightforward. Just one of those days when I was on the wavelength. I suspect normal service will resumed tomorrow!
Seemed hard at first look, but solved a few and the rest followed with a little thought. A well pitched puzzle.