I had great problems in the NW with 3dn and 8ac. The rest went in surprisingly smoothly in 6-7 minutes but, having done the blank-staring bit, I managed to break them down and ended up on 10 minutes.
Some tricky GK
Definitions are underlined in bold italics.
| Across | |
| 1 | Cut off brewer’s cart reversing in naval establishment (8) |
| DOCKYARD – cut off (DOCK), brewer’s cart backwards (YARD). | |
| 6 | A function originally held in church eating-place (4) |
| CAFE – a (A) and (F)unction inside church (CE). | |
| 8 | Gesture of great importance (6) |
| SIGNAL – a tough double definition. | |
| 9 | Customer’s legal right protected by court (6) |
| CLIENT – legal right (LIEN) inside court (CT). | |
| 10 | Spiritual leader, one with mother in Newcastle? (4) |
| IMAM – one (I), mother in Newcastle (MAM). | |
| 11 | Frivolous old man after power in N Wales town (8) |
| FLIPPANT – old man (PA) after power (P) inside N Wales town (FLINT). Dnk Flint is located in north-east Wales, adjoining the estuary of the River Dee to the north of the town of Mold. | |
| 12 | Indian peasant at entrance to university (5) |
| HINDU – peasant (HIND), (U)niversity. Dnk Hind which has lots of definitions as well as peasant – deer, back, skilled farm worker, steward, a fish. | |
| 13 | Fireplace in entertaining legend (5) |
| INGLE – in enterta(ING LE)gend. | |
| 15 | Good Scottish party welcomed by eg assistance animal (5,3) |
| GUIDE DOG -good in Scottish (GUID), party (DO) inside eg (EG). | |
| 17 | Cover over, at first, open-air swimming pool (4) |
| LIDO – cover (LID), (O)ver. | |
| 19 | Sheets of cloud included in illustration (6) |
| STRATI – in illu(STRATI)on. | |
| 20 | Post tablet a doctor finally supplies (6) |
| PILLAR – tablet (PILL), a (A), docto(R). | |
| 21 | Old PM without teeth leaving gallery (4) |
| EDEN – without teeth (EDEN)tate. Dnk Edentate but gallery is usually Tate and the PM is well known. | |
| 22 | In Irish county, see Scottish cow, perhaps (8) |
| GALLOWAY – inside Irish County (GALWAY) put see (LO). | |
| Down | |
| 2 | Tranquillising drug, one taken with hesitation after work (5) |
| OPIUM – one (I) with hesitation (UM) after work (OP). | |
| 3 | Fellow clan member finally seen in mask, surprisingly (7) |
| KINSMAN – see(N) inside an anagram (surprisingly) of IN MASK. | |
| 4 | It sounds like everything a cobbler needs (3) |
| AWL – homophone (sounds like) all. | |
| 5 | Refusing to be going downhill (9) |
| DECLINING – double definition. | |
| 6 | A great ape caught him up at last (5) |
| CHIMP – caught (C), him (HIM), u(P). | |
| 7 | Prospective groom accepting new money (7) |
| FINANCE -prospective groom (FIANCÉ) holding new (N). | |
| 11 | Abandoned infant worrying don in gulf (9) |
| FOUNDLING – anagram (worrying) of DON IN GULF. | |
| 12 | Searched around area regularly visited by ghosts (7) |
| HAUNTED – searched (HUNTED) around area (A). | |
| 14 | Old astronomer’s girl and boy touring island (7) |
| GALILEO – girl (GAL) and boy (LEO) outside island (I). | |
| 16 | Represented on paper as tired and haggard (5) |
| DRAWN – double definition. | |
| 18 | Doctor with a degree in theatre studies (5) |
| DRAMA – doctor (DR), a (A), degree (MA). | |
| 20 | Drink brought up for friend (3) |
| PAL – drink upwards (PAL). | |
I’m pleased to have been able to download the Times today having finally been able to access the slow, slow Wi-fi on Queen Victoria. I took a couple of minutes over target after enjoying a good lunch and still buzzing from a fine piano recital.
Now I can try to download yesterday’s puzzle and try to maintain my 100% record for the QC.
Thanks to both, John M.
Much relieved to get in in 27 minutes today (a good time for me), as Orpheus is my most afeared setter and I was struggling at about the halfway point. However, I managed to correct the carelessly biffed shipYARD to DOCKYARD and several things then seemed to fall into place.
Like some above, I DNK the meaning of HIND, I had forgotten the meaning of LIEN and I failed to fully parse a number of other clues, so I count myself quite fortunate to cross the line unscathed.
Many thanks to Orpheus and Chris.
Struggled again with a few clues: galloway, foundling, hindu, signal.
LOI Eden
COD Dockyard.
Queen Victoria sounds nice, I’ll have to make do with the lido booked for this weekend.
dnf…
Seem to be against the grain today, but I found this hard and really struggled with the NE corner. Didn’t help that I biffed 7dn “Fortune” without parsing it properly which then scuppered 11ac “Flippant” and 9ac “Client”.
Nearly put “Hand” for 12ac until the penny dropped (DNK the other meaning of Hind) and had a bit of a mare trying to spell “Galileo”. Couldn’t quite convince myself that a Chimp was a great ape either.
FOI – 2dn “Opium”
LOI – dnf
COD – 11dn “Foundling”
Thanks as usual!
Very slow in sorting out 1a dockland and 3d kinsman. Put in Eden without knowing the tate part. As others dnk hind as peasant, not in our reference books, but answer was obvious.
Thank you for the very useful blog. As ever, I DNF.
As a soft southerner married to a Geordie, Mam didn’t bother me (although he never called his mother Mam!) But what did confuse me was that – I thought – the structure ‘A with B’ means you put the B first, so I was struggling to work out what a MAMI was!
I’m glad to be in such illustrious company as Phil – lustra / strati!
When I was a child I had a wonderful jigsaw of all the counties of England and Wales. The pieces were the shapes of the counties, and I remember Flint being absolutely tiny – there was always a danger it would get lost, and I suppose in some ways, it did 🙁
As the years have passed, I’ve got to like Orpheus’s puzzles a lot but I’m afraid I found this one a bit of a trudge – nothing really stood out as COD. However, congratulations are in order for another double century – long may all our setters continue to baffle / amuse us!
10 minutes FOI Awl (stared with the downs today) LOI Flippant
Thanks and congrats to Orpheus and thanks Chris
I think the “A with B” structure is interchangeable – I’ve certainly seen it used both ways.
What threw me more was the fact it had Mother in Newcastle. We used to use Mam in the North West all the time, so it definitely isn’t Newcastle specific.
Found this one hard going at first and only got the shorter words in my first pass through the acrosses. Thankfully I found the downs easier and even though I slowed myself up by initially writing FOUNDLING where DECLINING should be, I came home in 21:21 which isn’t too bad for me. NHO guid or INGLE and had forgotten lien, but remembered the farmworker meaning of hind, so it didn’t seem too much of a stretch for it to mean peasant too. Edentates are the group of toothless mammals that includes anteaters, so that was okay once I’d got a checker. Anyway, COD to DOCKYARD. Thanks Chris and Orpheus.
Managed this one easily, just for a change! Zipped through with crossers making HINDU (NHO = peasant) obvious.
Another finished, so a happy day. But biffed HINDU, GUIDE DOG and EDEN. Really not happy about Indian = Hindu, what about the Muslims and Christians (amongst others). Can someone please explain. Thanks.
Think “Hindustan” one of the old names for India. And hence “Hindustani” the main language of India. The words Indian and Hindu both derive from the Indus River – India was the land beyond the Indus. In previous times the term Hindu referred more generally to Indians and their culture,cuisine, way of life etc. You’re right though nowadays Hindu is used just for the religion. To me it’s similar to the question as to whether Jewish refers to a race or religion.
Per Collins: “an inhabitant or native of Hindustan or India, esp one adhering to Hinduism”
Technical DNF as put ALL for 4dn. Otherwise on the setter’s wavelength. Great puzzle and blog.
13:10
Pretty straightforward today. Only parsed IMAM after the fact seeing as how mam is hardly Newcastle specific.
The Times Quick Cryptic – a fun shorter version of the main puzzle, for those who are short of time (…and who were also born before 1960, went to Oxford or Cambridge, have a smattering of Latin, and enough general knowledge to beat the Eggheads on every episode. No knowledge of the 21st Century required…)