FYI following some discussion last week on levels of difficulty for Saturday QCs, we had a late post to last Saturday’s blog from the setter (Wurm) saying that it wasn’t written specifically to be a Saturday puzzle.
So to Juno’s puzzle today. It didn’t take me to the history reference section like last week’s and I can’t see too much GR or complexity but I still took 12 minutes. I thought there was a slight USA flavour but not enough to be a theme.
Definitions are underlined in bold.
| Across | |
| 1 | Popular custom, British into beer: fine for residents! (11) |
| INHABITABLE – popular (IN), custom (HABIT), British (B) inside beer (ALE). | |
| 8 | Offend again perhaps, producing plant extract (5) |
| RESIN – offend again (RE-SIN). | |
| 9 | Fabulous creature seen in tunic or nightgown (7) |
| UNICORN – seen in t(UNIC OR N)ightgown. | |
| 10 | Gas outage every so often set back big house abroad (7) |
| CHATEAU – gas (CHAT) then o(U)t(A)g(E) set backwards. | |
| 11 | Cause trouble with German outside team (3,2) |
| MIX IT – with in German (MIT) outside team (XI). | |
| 13 | Fabric imposing huge weight on bed (6) |
| COTTON – huge weight (TON) on bed (COT). | |
| 15 | Function to take hours in place of worship (6) |
| SHRINE – function (SINE) to include hours (HR). | |
| 18 | Resident abroad when returning quietly stopping taxes mostly (5) |
| EXPAT – when returning (all backwards) of quietly (P) inside taxes mostly (TAXE)s. | |
| 20 | Stage finales for popular stories (7) |
| LEGENDS – stage (LEG), finales (ENDS). | |
| 22 | One with large bill after ruining a nice LP (7) |
| PELICAN – anagram (after running) of A NICE LP. Watched pelicans diving for fish off Caracas many years ago. | |
| 23 | Method of convalescing perhaps organised by doctor (1,3,1) |
| R AND R – organised (RAN) by doctor (DR). | |
| 24 | Large drink put out for cheat (6-5) |
| DOUBLE-CROSS – large drink (DOUBLE), put out (CROSS). | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Second coffee? (7) |
| INSTANT – a double definition or is ‘coffee?’ a cryptic hint? | |
| 2 | Joint within generally not wholly visible (5) |
| HINGE – not wholly visible in wit(HIN GE)nerally. | |
| 3 | Old conspirator, very dry, on our side (6) |
| BRUTUS – yes – him too. Very dry (BRUT) our side (US). | |
| 4 | Journey mostly at universal speed, leading to success (7) |
| TRIUMPH – journey mostly (TRI)p, universal (U), speed (MPH). I remember the Triumph Trident being my dream bike as a lad when all I could afford were smaller, cheaper Japanese models. | |
| 5 | Trains once operating cross part of New York (5) |
| BRONX – trains once (BR British Rail), operating (ON), cross (X). | |
| 6 | We go down, ultimately, for a very long time (3) |
| EON – w(E) g(O) dow(N). | |
| 7 | Means to travel, etc, somehow with Cyril (8) |
| TRICYCLE – anagram (somehow) of ETC CYRIL. | |
| 12 | Brief indulgence certainly something highly valued (8) |
| TREASURE – brief indulgence (TREA)t, certainly (SURE). Certain/ly? It works of you allow ‘it sure/certainly was’. | |
| 14 | Capitol out of sight (7) |
| OPTICAL – anagram (out) of CAPITOL. | |
| 16 | Prize money, not the first, that batsman has (7) |
| INNINGS – prize money, not the first – w(INNINGS). | |
| 17 | Treatment centre using chlorine in one case primarily (6) |
| CLINIC – chlorine (CL), in (IN), one (I), (C)ase. | |
| 19 | Sauce turned up with gold rice dish (5) |
| PILAU – sauce as in cheek (LIP) turned upwards with gold (AU). | |
| 21 | Actress’s old boast recalled (5) |
| GARBO – old (O) and boast (BRAG) backwards. | |
| 22 | Supplier of material for writing home (3) |
| PAD – double definition. | |
Not a bad end to the week as I finished in 9:40 – apart from one annoying slip, it’s been a much better than last week.
I looked for a nina but couldn’t find one! It’ll probably be some punk band I’ve never heard of or a lesser known Dickens story, or possibly Juno’s neighbours’ cats 😂 Juno is another of RR’s identities, I think – could Richard and Rogan be hiding at 23a?
It was quite ironic that after we had a crossword about a Half Man Half Biscuit album (a band I was not aware of), I kept seeing their name over the following few weeks. There’s no doubt that these crosswords can expand your GK!
There were some fun surfaces here today – I liked UNICORN, LEGENDS and BRONX a lot.
FOI Resin LOI Shrine COD Pelican
Thanks Juno and Chris
New GK is always a pleasure. Tricky to remember it later though. One exception for me was ‘peregrination’ – still remembered many years after being tripped up by it in Crosswordland.
I couldn’t agree more about retaining the new GK – I wonder if there just isn’t the room when your brain is full of old stuff 😅
Hello Penny,
You will almost certainly have seen references to HMHB on and off over the years, but it’s just that it took something specific for you to start noticing those references. I have a book entitled Why Do Buses Always Come In Threes?, which explores the (mathematical) reasoning behind these strange things.
You’re absolutely right, of course. When we bought our Honda Jazz early 12 years ago (still got it), I’d never really noticed them before. Since then I see them everywhere!
I’ll probably see lots of references to Karnataka all over the place from now on too 😅
Had a lot of fun with this, although I thought at first “this is going really fast” only to end up at nearly 32 minutes (my current par is 25 minutes).
Like others I had PEN before I got PAD. NHO “gas” for “chat” and couldn’t see “stage” for “leg”, but of course had ENDS and it had to be LEGENDS.
First time ever, I put in 1A without hesitation. Hurrah.
Very enjoyable, and a relief that it was pitched at just about the right level (the Goldilocks level?) for a QC, IMHO. 28 minutes for me.
I started with TRICYCLE, BRONX and EON and then just followed the checkers around the grid as they appeared. My favourite clues were TRIUMPH and DOUBLE-CROSS, and my last three in were SHRINE (even as a mathematician I nearly missed this one), DOUBLE-CROSS and PAD.
Many thanks to Juno and Chris.
I found this a difficult but enjoyable puzzle hence a later post.
I had lots of PDMs and learnt the meaning of Capitol – strange that it had never registered as I have enjoyed a visit to Capitol Hill.
In discussing the puzzle with a younger relative my attention was drawn to the word BATSMAN and why the gender-neutral word BATTER, as used by many cricket commentators, was not used?
On Thursday David suggested that gendered derogatory words should not be used in crosswords. Can I suggested gendered words are not used unless material to the clue, which BATSMAN is not in this case? Whilst we’re at it can we also have a moratorium on all the many unnecessary words that have in the past been associated with people with mental illnesses or limited mental capacity.
Use of all such terms promotes their legitimacy and usage. Does the Times Style Guide have anything to say on the matter?
I was interested in Tina’s comment that the NYT had actively tried to find more female setters and sourced crosswords from the public. This is a good idea but I must also say that I think our current setters do a great job generally. I also thought back to Harry Wallop’s article of the same day advocating that leaders take time to talk to younger colleagues.
Let’s challenge ourselves to listen to other views and bring our great pastime into the modern era.
Thanks Juno and Chris
I agree entirely. I think I made the same point about “batter” vs “batsman” when the latter appeared in a puzzle when I was on blogger duty.
13:26 here, pleased to be inside my 15:00 target with no errors for – I think – only the second time this week. Or, looking at it the other way, I now have a 100% record for this new week!
Thanks to Juno and Chris.
I was a little slow with the across clues until I got to the easy pelican/double-cross at the bottom, so the downs were also a bit shaky. I didn’t help myself by biffing tricot, although I didn’t see how tri could be a huge weight. I wasn’t too sure about mix it, either, although the cryptic clearly points to hit. But eventually, all complete.
Time: 10:05
Gosh, now four really nice puzzles on the trot. Thanks for helping with the parsing of a couple. No problem with ‘mix(ing) it’ as it was quite familiar. After 2d, I was looking for Bracket to appear – maybe soon…
10.58, SHRINE holding things up at the end because of the aforementioned hours = HR thing. INNINGS also took much longer than it should, I was trying to solve a much more complicated clue. I liked that OPTICAL is an anagram of capitol. Thanks Juno and Chris.
In the spirit of being a day late for everything since January 1st, I was delighted to end the week with a quick cryptic on Sunday.
Very enjoyable with all resolved in no particular order and an overnight finish.
After a week of house plumbing woes I will indulge with a dog walk, driving range, swim, and some cookery before finding the mental discipline to organise and file a mountain of papers, resisting sons’ exhortation to go 100% digital. Can’t teach an old dog comes to mind.