Solving time: 9 minutes
I had thought Myles was a new setter but on checking my records I find he was around in the earliest days of Quick Cryptic puzzles when he set just two crosswords, QC#10 and #29. Both of these must have given me a lot of trouble in the solving as I needed 28 and 18 minutes respectively. Today’s I found quite straightforward and I hope you did too. The QC#10 blog posted on 21 March 2014 was the first ever to be written by pipkirby who now, as piquet, blogs the 15×15 for us every Wednesday
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 |
|
| 7 | What’s central in proclamation for holy man (4) |
| LAMA | |
| Hidden [what’s central in] {proc}LAMA{tion} | |
| 8 | Let out — or let out again? (8) |
| RELEASED | |
| RE-LEASED (let out again) | |
| 9 | Follow part of journey, arriving at sharp bend (3-3) |
| DOG-LEG | |
| DOG (follow), LEG (part of journey) | |
| 10 | Mark, for example, what’s indubitably true (6) |
| GOSPEL | |
| Two meanings although not entirely separate | |
| 11 | Curling and very short in style (4) |
| WAVY | |
| V (very, in short) contained by [in] WAY (style) | |
| 12 | Varieties of meat for someone on one’s side (8) |
| TEAMMATE | |
| A double anagram [varieties of] MEAT | |
| 15 | Borderline that’s awfully alarming (8) |
| MARGINAL | |
| Anagram [awfully] of ALARMING | |
| 17 | Wife accompanying that fellow? Fancy that (4) |
| WHIM | |
| W (wife), HIM (that fellow) | |
| 18 | Everything put into naughty traditional song (6) |
| BALLAD | |
| ALL (everything) contained by [put into] BAD (naughty) | |
| 21 | Pulverized earth (6) |
| GROUND | |
| Two meanings | |
| 22 | Confused Romeo and half of Verona also (8) |
| MOREOVER | |
| Anagram [confused] of ROMEO, then VER{ona} [half of…] | |
| 23 | Quiet spell university had in fifties (4) |
| LULL | |
| U (university) contained by [had in] L L L (fifties) | |
| Down |
|
| 1 | View old river in place of canal (8) |
| PANORAMA | |
| O (old) + R (river) contained by [in] PANAMA (place of canal) | |
| 2 | Crop that’s barely changed — just slightly (6) |
| BARLEY | |
| Anagram [changed — just slightly] of BARELY | |
| 3 | From what we hear, become more sunny in this English resort (8) |
| BRIGHTON | |
| Sounds like [from what we hear] “brighten” [become more sunny] | |
| 4 | Second record is a big hit (4) |
| SLOG | |
| S (second), LOG (record) | |
| 5 | Romans adjusted price of freedom (6) |
| RANSOM | |
| Anagram [adjusted] of ROMANS | |
| 6 | You and I are — or used to be (4) |
| WERE | |
| WE’ RE (you and I are) | |
| 13 | Move right into passage for story with moral (8) |
| ALLEGORY | |
| GO (move) + R (right) contained by [into] ALLEY [passage] | |
| 14 | Altering in new arrangement for percussion instrument (8) |
| TRIANGLE | |
| Anagram [in new arrangement] ALTERING | |
| 16 | Information about antique, kind of mean (6) |
| GOLDEN | |
| GEN (information) containing [about] OLD (antique). The golden mean is the middle course between two extremes. | |
| 17 | Altogether saintlike pronouncement (6) |
| WHOLLY | |
| Sounds like [pronouncement] “holy” (saintlike) | |
| 19 | Terse reassurance from me that’s run by people in frenzy (4) |
| AMOK | |
| AM OK (terse reassurance from me) | |
| 20 | Like enthusiast, turning up for such a temperamental singer (4) |
| DIVA | |
| AVID (like an enthusiast) reversed [turning up]. A diva is a leading female singer in grand opera, but as the definition here suggests the word is also associated with a female performer who is temperamental and demanding. I was surprised that of the usual sources only Chambers records this secondary meaning. | |
The two anagrams of MEAT were particularly cute.
I needed the checkers to get LULL. 4:17.
6:40. I guess a clam isn’t a holy man? And I see it’s not in the exact centre like LAMA. Everything pretty well solved in order till I got to AMOK, which I saw only after I got the two checkers . Entered TEAMMATE on seeing the first anagram and then saw there was a second after finishing the whole puzzle. COD to DOGLEG.
Yes, quite simple. I got most of the across clues on the first past, which made the downs easy, and I only had to clean up a little to finish. I did like teammate and amok, but got hung up a bit on the chestnut panorama, where the setters are always thinking of new versions.
Time: 5:51
In the club. Literally and figuratively, 22.20, back to USA I go for more building work. Liked TEAMMATE and several others.
6:45 for me, well under the 8 minutes that is my target. DOG-LEG was my favorite too.
I was 6.43, there’s quite a cluster around that general area. Got held up on WAVY and had a brain-fade at BALLAD (like, how many song forms have ALL in the middle?). A bit of a groan at BRIGHTON and BARLEY was BARELY cryptic…liked DOG-LEG too.
I did really well this morning coming in inside 20 minutes – until I made the rookie error of putting in BRIGHTEN instead of BRIGHTON. Doh! So one pink square. ☹️
GOLDEN seemed an obvious parse but made no sense to me. I spent too long over DOG LEG and GOSPEL.
Today’s two favourite clues for me were MARGINAL and WHOLLY.
It’s yet another cloudless morning down here in Dorsetshire but I could selfishly do with a good day of rain for the garden and allotment. Call me never satisfied…..
This was my first unaided solve to completion after getting into cryptics a couple of months ago. Managed to do so in just under 20 mins.
Time to celebrate with a second cup of tea 🙂
Congratulations! Long may it continue.
Congratulations!
Well done Ibo
Well done Ibo – and you missed the SCC too!
👏👏👏
A well-pitched QC. Thanks Myles and jackkt.
After my first pass through the clues, some of which were chestnuts, only 3 remained. They went straight in. My fastest for some time.
FOI LAMA
LOI TEAMMATE
COD WAVY
TIME 3:02
A gentle start to the week with only LOI GOSPEL putting up any resistance. Glad I got LULL before WHOLLY as I would have probably tried spelling the latter with and ‘e’ in place of the second ‘l’.
Finished in 6.10 with my favourites being TEAMMATE and AMOK.
Thanks to Jack
Pleasant puzzle solved quickly on line , would have been faster if I waited for delivery. Needed crossers for some, eg GOSPEL which took too long. FOI RELEASED, LOI and COD GROUND. Thanks Myles and Jack
Rather gentle, and somewhat replete with anagrams, but entertaining nonetheless. I liked the double meat TEAMMATE. Thanks Myles and Jackkt. 3:25.
Just over 8 1/2 minutes. Nothing too taxing though I took a while to get and parse ALLEGORY. The ODE also has “a woman regarded as temperamental or haughty” as the third sense of DIVA. Favourite was the TEAMMATE double anagram.
Thanks to Myles and Jack
At about 9 1/2 minutes, probably my fastest solve, although speed is never my aim. All but 2 across clues on the first run through and everything fell into place as I went onto the Downs.
Liked TEAMMATE and GOSPEL.
👏👏👏
8’31” with an inexplicable couple of minutes of head scratching over LOI GOSPEL.
I enjoyed the double anagram of TEAMMATE and also the simplicity of BARLEY with a lovely smooth surface.
Welcome back Myles and thanks Jackkt
Thank you Myles for a friendly one today. FOI LAMA; Mrs M came up with ALLEGORY, which got me GROUND, and finally WHOLLY. COD to MOREOVER.
But oh! I now see I qualify only for a pink, with 11a VAPY. Can that not be allowed? A curling wisp of smoke could be vapy = v (very short) + apy (in style). No?
From the deafening silence below I’m guessing I don’t get any sympathy……….
“What’s so holy about a clam?” I thought, as I messed around at 1a. “Is an Amat a sort of imam?”
Despite that spot of blindness the rest of this succumbed swiftly and I romped home in 05:45, which is fast for me. That’s 1.3K and an Excellent Day.
COD to TEAMMATE. LOI AMOK was quite a tricky definition.
Many thanks to Jack and to Myles for an elegant puzzle.
Templar
9 minutes, which I was happy with, and then came here to see the stellar times quoted above – with which I am unable to compete. I need to read the clues carefully to avoid misreading them – I must get my eyes tested. Well done to all the speedsters, I think about 8 or 9 minutes is my limit. COD to the clever double anagram of MEAT.
By the way, the 15 x 15 is worth a punt today.
A good QC to start the week. An interesting mix of clues with just a little head-scratching over selected ones. Like others, I needed ALLEGORY to see GROUND; AMOK just had to be after MOREOVER emerged but the penny took a moment to drop. I was slowed a little in the top right because I biffed SLAP for 4d on the ludicrous basis that it was derived from S, LP, and A. (Yes, I know….) That made the clever GOSPEL impossible but I smiled when I sorted it out.
3 Mins under target and my favourites were LULL, DOG LEG, and TEAMMATE.
Thanks to Myles and Jack. John M.
23 mins…
Think I’m suffering from completion panic, as I thought this was going to be another DNF, and fairly straight forward clues just wouldn’t come.
However, I did finish, even if I spent a good 8 mins staring at 10ac “Gospel”.
After 9ac “Dogleg”, the only checker I had for 3dn was “g” – but I’m not sure “Skegness” was going to cut it.
FOI – 7ac “Lama”
LOI – 10ac “Gospel”
COD – 23ac “Lull”
Thanks as usual!
A gentle one to start the week, and I join others in posting a faster than usual time, in my case 6 minutes. So straightforward enough, but not without some lovely clues. I particularly liked Barley for its simplicity and Teammate for its cleverness.
Many thanks Jack for the blog
Cedric
I was pleased to finish under target at 9.10 after a shocker last week culminating in a DNF on Friday. Having said that, everyone seems to have achieved times far better than their norm, so perhaps I am still not quite at the races.
My biggest holdup was my LOI 10ac where it must have been over a minute before the connection with Mark being one of the gospels finally came to me.
An enjoyable puzzle from Myles needing some thought in places but nothing too intimidating. COD TEAMMATE – a neat idea.
Completed but needed help with 19d, which, to me, was a completely nonsensical clue which spoilt an otherwise great puzzle.
It is pretty ugly, isn’t it?
Neat and straightforward, though I was struck by “lasttwoitis” again, but less calamitously than last week. I thought a new setter, but I see Jack has put me right in his blog.
LOI and COD TEAMMATE.
4:32
Enjoyably quick.
Liked AMOK, GOSPEL, BRIGHTON and many others.
Thanks vm, Jack.
I’m usually an early-evening solver, but today I was free to join the morning crowd. Whether it is a clearer head in the morning or an easier QC I’m not sure, though I really nipped through this one. My only problem was 4d, where S, LP for record and A gave a quite reasonable (I thought) SLAP for ‘big hit’. It was only after struggling with 10ac that I had to go back and rethink 4d.
Yes, I had SLAP for quite a while – for the same reasoning.
Me too! Show me a trap and I go in headfirst!
5.53
Almost a minute at the end on AMOK – still missing something about the definition but obviously just me.
Great start with AMAT for holy man but all sorted in the end
Thought WAVY was very good
Thanks all
Ps Run amok. Got it!
5:13
No big hold-ups, just a couple of pauses for thought along the way.
Thanks Myles and Jack
No problems. LAMA to AMOK in 6:19. Thanks Myles and Jack.
In the end this was a comfortable enough sub-20, but I made it slightly more difficult by repeatedly reading barley for barely in the clue for 2d. I can only think my mind registered ‘crop’ and immediately jumped to barley, so I was trying to find yet another crop with that anagrist – not easy. Sorting it out helped with loi Wavy, which wins my CoD vote for the parsing, though 13d Allegory ran it a close second. Invariant
A nice gentle start to the week. LOI AMOK after MOREOVER provided the necessary checkers. I chuckled at WHOLLY as a homophone of ‘holy’ – not in my residual Brighton accent in which ‘wholly’ rhymes with ‘goalie’ 😂
Liked surface for SLOG, although initially biffed ‘slap’. Also liked DOG LEG. Many thanks Myles. Very enjoyable. Thanks Jack.
Enjoyed this- some humour in it.
Loi amok
A most enjoyable sub 30m spoiled only by putting RELEASES for 8a. It almost parses but not quite.
Enjoyed parsing AMOK.
My time reflects a shaky start but in retropect I am not sure why. I wasn’t sure about GOLDEN as a kind of mean and I really overcomplicated BARLEY which was my LOI. 7:54 and COD to LULL.
Really enjoyed this one even if I was held up for a full six minutes by GOSPEL at the end. Never crossed my mind that Mark might be a person. Safely home in 16.
6.31 All of the top went straight in until TEAMMATE, which I did like but had to come back to and I hesitated over BARLEY because it seemed too easy. The bottom was a little slower but this is by far my best time for ages. Perhaps it was the magnesium tablet I took yesterday?
Having read through Jack’s blog and the 40+ comments above, I can see that my experience completely buck’s the trend today. Despite getting LAMA and RELEASED early on, I found this a really awkward puzzle. I felt sort of off-balance throughout and almost nothing came easily. Only eight clues solved in the first quarter of an hour and my last three (WHOLLY, GOSPEL and AMOK) took >20 minutes at the end. Time = 49 minutes. Poor, even by my low standards.
Seeing words like gentle, simple, easy, fastest, straightforward … makes me feel rather inadequate. However, well done to everyone above and tomorrow is another day, as they say.
Many thanks to Myles and Jack.
Don’t despair, SRC, and don’t pay too much attention to other people’s solving times. I consider myself experienced at the 15×15 yet there’s hardly a day goes by when I don’t read a comment ‘Hard one today’ or similar, but the accompanying solving time posted is in the region of 10 minutes when I have taken far longer if I’ve finished at all . Set yourself a target if you wish but otherwise enjoy solving on your own terms.
Maybe I started out with the wrong mindset, as I noticed Myles had used a full portcullis grid. Note to self: don’t allow the setters to psych you out.
Very much agree with Jack’s thoughts about solving on one’s own terms. Comments are fascinating and often highly instructive but performance reflects our varied crossword and life experience – there is no benchmark save enjoyment in my book!
It’s a Monday Mr R. I often find that Mondays can be a complete lottery. Occasionally they go well because I’ve had a weekend to declutter my mind but often it takes a while to blow away the cobwebs after 2 days without the QC. Better luck tomorrow.
12:30 with about two of them on my LOI! Quite straightforward, I suppose, so I’m not sure why I was comparatively slow – clearly I wasn’t on the same wavelength as all those who have recorded such good times today 😅 I also seem to be in the minority that didn’t much care for AMOK. I did feel there was a slight difference of tone here, which made it interesting. Funny if it turns out to be another of RR’s pseudonyms! I liked LULL and SLOG.
FOI Lama LOI Gospel COD Teammate
Thanks Myles and Jack
13m. Like SRC I wasn’t on the wavelength.
Liked teammate and moreover.
I enjoyed this easier puzzle which, I feel, showed some wit and ingenuity. A good start to what will be a busy week.
Enjoyable puzzle to start the week finished in our modest target time with a minimum of help. The many anagrams were helpful.
Enjoyable steady solve in 14 mins. Didn’t like AMOK but much to like such as TEAMMATE and WERE which I thought both cleverly clued.
Golden Mean has a philosophical definition as Jackkt says in his blog but also a mathematical definition. It is another term for the mathematical Golden Section or Golden Ration in which a line segment is divided into two sections so that the ration of the line to the longer section is the same as the ratio of the longer section to the shorter section. Denoted ‘phi’ in greek and very useful to architects and artists.
The Golden Ratio/Mean is also very prevalent in the natural world.
Looked like it could be a really good time for a while (maybe around 11 minutes), but GROUND to a halt with three to go (TEAMMATE, ALLEGORY and GROUND). I spent about five minutes (and felt like longer) puzzling over each in turn until finally I got TEAMMATE, which gave me ALLEGORY, which made GROUND obvious. Stopped on 16:27. Lots to enjoy despite the disappointing hold up, so thanks Myles and Jack.
Well done to some of the new contributors who are already leaving us SCC regulars behind. I huffed and puffed my way to a solve in about 25 mins. I fear that may be our ‘easy’ one for the week. Seeing some of the other times makes me feel that 25 mins was really not good enough.
There were some great clues from this rarely seen setter , but I was frustrated with my time as, on reflection, I could have done far better.
A mediocre start to the week time-wise, made worse by my inability to spot the wordplay on a number of occasions (12ac; 9ac; 2dn). It’s been far too long since I properly got to grips with a QC, instead of groping around like this and relying far too much on the checkers.
Thanks for the excellent blog.
A day late, but for me this was the most straightforward solve I’ve ever done, and at sub-10 minutes I believe my fastest solve ever as well. Still enjoyed many of the clues, notably GOSPEL, TEAMMATE and LULL. Clearly an easier than average puzzle, but I’m nice and relaxed and my brain seemed to work well too. Thanks to Myles for the novel (to me) experience of everything just falling into place.