Solving time: 15 minutes. I was doing well on this one but lost at least 5 minutes on my last two in, CANDLELIGHT, which I saw as a word that fitted but was reluctant to enter until I’d explained it, and HERD which required a lengthy alphabet trawl.
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 |
|
| 1 | Performing in just one role with kind acts, running around (8) |
| TYPECAST | |
| TYPE (kind), anagram [running around] of ACTS | |
| 5 | Only some of the choirboys return (4) |
| ECHO | |
| Hidden in [only some of] {th}E CHO{irboys} | |
| 8 | Lord with nothing to hide in farm building (5) |
| BARON | |
| O (nothing) contained by [to hide in] BARN (farm building) | |
| 9 | Charm of northern church apprehended by English worker (7) |
| ENCHANT | |
| N (northern) + CH (church) contained [apprehended] by E (English) + ANT (worker) | |
| 11 | Gruesome times for holy learner to join religious journeys (11) |
| PILGRIMAGES | |
| PI (holy – pious), L (learner), GRIM (gruesome), AGES (times) | |
| 13 | Repetitive noise from rodent let loose (6) |
| RATTLE | |
| RAT (rodent), anagram [loose] of LET | |
| 14 | A team’s casual comments? (6) |
| ASIDES | |
| A, SIDE’S (team’s) | |
| 17 | Representative groups idle on stage unfortunately (11) |
| DELEGATIONS | |
| Anagram [unfortunately] of IDLE ON STAGE | |
| 20 | Sound of our country composer (7) |
| BRITTEN | |
| Sounds like [sound of] “Britain” (our country) – The Times being a British newspaper. Celebrated (if that’s the right word) by Flanders & Swann here on a rare excursion into cruel parody. | |
| 21 | Within Lincoln I would stay (5) |
| ABIDE | |
| I’D (I would) contained by [within] ABE (Lincoln) | |
| 22 | Finishes with more than one goal (4) |
| ENDS | |
| Two meanings, the second being the plural (more than one) of goal | |
| 23 | Sent communication to a good journalist after muddle (8) |
| MESSAGED | |
| MESS (muddle), A, G (good), ED (journalist) | |
| Down |
|
| 1 | Name of male bishop hugged by model (4) |
| TOBY | |
| B (bishop) contained [hugged] by TOY (model) | |
| 2 | Fortification where you may see soldier and dog? (7) |
| PARAPET | |
| PARA (soldier), PET (dog?) | |
| 3 | Ability to see through something wicked? (11) |
| CANDLELIGHT | |
| Cryptic. A candle being something containing a wick that produces light enabling one to see. | |
| 4 | Reticent about sin creating alcoholic drink (6) |
| SHERRY | |
| SHY (reticent) containing [about] ERR (sin) | |
| 6 | Sound of tribe heading for glory (5) |
| CLANG | |
| CLAN (tribe), G{lory} [heading for…] | |
| 7 | Most stupid old boy facing ordeal, getting you and me involved (8) |
| OBTUSEST | |
| OB (old boy), TEST (ordeal) containing [getting…involved] US (you and me) | |
| 10 | Happens to arrive somewhere in the mountains carrying small son (5,2,4) |
| COMES TO PASS | |
| COME TO (arrive) + PASS (somewhere in the mountains) containing [carrying] S (small – abbreviation of – son) | |
| 12 | Like food given to King? It’s within the bounds of possibility (8) |
| CREDIBLE | |
| CR (King – Charles Rex), EDIBLE (like food) | |
| 15 | Stylish Gandhi’s on the move (7) |
| DASHING | |
| Anagram [on the move] of GANDHI’S | |
| 16 | Expert entertaining a hundred without hesitation (2,4) |
| AT ONCE | |
| ACE (expert) containing [entertaining] TON (a hundred) | |
| 18 | Landowner died, to be buried under den (5) |
| LAIRD | |
| LAIR (den), D (died) | |
| 19 | Crowd perceived to be heartless (4) |
| HERD | |
| HE{a}RD [perceived) [heartless] | |
10:47 and HERD was also my LOI.
Just before that, TYPECAST and TOBY held me up for a minute or two, also 🙂
Thanks Jack and setter
11:44. I enjoyed putting PILGRIMAGES together while CREDIBLE was my COD. I had CANDLEPOWER at first thinking power could equate with ability but then the crossers made that impossible.
[Off topic, though still related to 13×13 crosswords. Hope you don’t mind me asking this, but do you happen to do The Globe and Mail cryptic crossword? I’ve just started doing it again after a gap of many years and have really enjoyed the four or five I’ve done. A few more cryptic defs and quite challenging].
I used to be a dedicated Globe and Mail reader when I lived in Toronto and could easily access the physical paper. When I moved to smaller towns outside Toronto it became harder and harder to get my hands on this and I was too set in my ways to go online. That being said cryptic G and M puzzles brought me a lot of pleasure over many years, especially the Fraser Simpson Saturday cryptic- some really ingenious clues.
Thanks. I haven’t done a Saturday one yet, but I’ll give it a go next week.
🫠
+1
also 🫠. In the SC Plus lounge. Some more complex clues but was working through them steadily until the same last two as jackkt. Stared at POI HERD which I also had to alphabet trawl – felt silly when i found it, HERD/CROWD is a chestnut. Then just stared at 3d until CANDLELIGHT came to mind. Stared at it even longer afterwards, completely unable to parce, but gave in and bunged it in anyway. Thanks for the explanation jackkt and thanks Izetti for a good challenge, more deserving of your reputation than of late. And a big weekend for all (both?) the Mebournites here, if F1’s your thing. Your local boy done good!
I’m a huge F1 fan. I was a teenage girl when I discovered handsome rich men in fast cars and it stuck
Oscar did a great job
Not sure how many there are in Melbourne but I suspect when we finally organise a get-together a phone box would suffice – except there aren’t any. I like the F1 and maybe next year I’ll actually go, to one of the lead-up days at least. This puzzle was a struggle to get into and some (HERD and TYPECAST) held out until the very end. 13 for me, extended because I had BRITTAN and couldn’t find where I had gone wrong. I got CANDLELIGHT quite quickly from crossers but still don’t get it. Thanks Izetti and Jack.
I didn’t find CANDLELIGHT the easiest of clues to explain so I’m sorry if haven’t quite nailed it. Rather than have another go I’ll leave it and hope that somebody else can clarify it.
You have it exactly right a candle is wicked it’s as simple as that
The explanation was fine, it’s just the phrasing of the clue that doesn’t do it for me. I’m happy with the old wicked trick but less happy with ability to see meaning light. But overall this was fun.
I read it as ability to see using (through) something that has a wick.
I was doing quite well until I was slowed down and finally defeated by TOBY. Like others I bunged in CANDLELIGHT without really understanding why and HERD took longer than it should’ve. My time was around the 25 minute mark so I might as well go straight to the Special Table rather than unpacking my things this morning.
Thanks to Izetti and Jackkt.
Spend so long on HERD I’m not sure what else happened. CANDLELIGHT took a long time too as did TYPECAST – I’d have needed “same sort of” in place of “just one” to have got there quicker. All green in 19.
Typical Izetti. Thanks the parsing of POI candlelight, wick-ed, something with a wick, ouch!
We needed that last crosser to get LOI typecast which was then obvious.
41.50 and also didn’t quite parse comes to pass.
Thanks Jack for the explanations and Izetti for the challenge
12 minutes when the clock stopped but Candlelight not parsed. I thought the surface for the clue looked odd -a bit clunky, with Candlelight not really given by “Ability to see”- but I always forget to consider a “whole clue is cryptic” clue.
That apart, a good mixture of headscratchers and simpler clues, and for once nothing too obscure. A good start to the week.
Many thanks Jack for the blog
Cedric
There’s an even more wicked parody of Britten by Dudley Moore with his rendition of Little Miss Muffet. Always makes me smile.
Oh, and I found this puzzle particularly difficult. I suspect that’s just me with a sluggish Monday brain though.
Ah, I’d forgotten that one, but it’s as nothing compared with Lord Benji of Britten by Kit and The Widow which is barely disguised filth. I believe they performed it before royalty at a private cabaret at Windsor Castle or one of the palaces, where it was met with a mixed reception.
A typical Izetti puzzle – tough in places but all clearly and fairly clued.
Spent some time trying to make a musical phrase (not my strong point) out of an anagram of rodent until I realised there simply weren’t enough vowels available.
Like others, my last two in were CANDLELIGHT, which I annoyingly couldn’t parse as I’ve seen the ‘wicked’ thing before, and HERD.
Finished in 8.29.
Thanks to Jack
A tough and satisfying solve in 11:30. Like Cedric all good bar the parsing of CANDLELIGHT – thanks Jackkt for the fine blog and Izetti for some terrific clues worthy of the biggie.
My COD is 13A as I was entirely misdirected, looking for an anagram of ‘rodent’ in which I could not see past ‘drone’ + a stray ‘t’
12:34. My usual problems starting off in the NW corner, exacerbated by seeing Izetti’s name as the setter, so I relocated down to the SE to get going. Everything slowly in after that, with the same difficulty in explaining CANDLELIGHT to myself as others. I’ll go for my LOI TYPECAST as COD.
Thanks to Izetti and Jack
Quite a bad DNF. Threw in the towel after 29 mins.
Happy Monday. Pi
4:27. Typical Izetti, I thought. I liked the wordplay for CREDIBLE. Thanks Izetti and Jackkt. P.S. Some here might enjoy giving today’s 15×15 a go – it took me only 3 minutes longer than this QC.
9:58 (Owain ap Hywel Dda invades Glamorgan)
I liked CANDLELIGHT, but have got used to “wicked” in crosswords referring to candles. LOI was HERD.
Thanks Izetti and Jack
16:58
Tired Monday head. Last few were credible, candlelight, parapet, and LOI toby.
I had model=kit, and kindcast in my head!
COD Candlelight or credible.
Thanks Jack for explaining CANDLELIGHT. It was the only word that fitted, so in my mind I had a vision of someone searching for (wicked) spirits with a candle. Vivid imagination or just the 7D of solvers today!
14:46, similar to others. Slow to get started as both TOBY and TYPECAST ended up being LOI. Got going eventually with SHERRY.
Did not see CANDLELIGHT parsing. Sorry Pi-curious but PI is on the list of Merlin’s Pet Peeves.
COD COMES TO PASS
Quite right to be peeved by pi. I’d hoped we’d seen the last of it.
It’s on mine too, along with “it” for sex appeal or the sexual act – it’s 2024, for heaven’s sake!
Sorry, I don’t see what’s wrong with IT; certainly it’s not obsolete, like PI, which must have gone out with the ark.
I don’t take it personally, so don’t worry. I never knew it was shorthand for pious, though the revelation is amusing as I’m anything but! I’m too moral to be pious…
I found it harder than the QUITCH, as I went over my average by a minute or so.
I had most problems up in the top left – trying to make an anagram out of kind acts. TYPE=kind eventually occurred to me, which allowed me to fill in PARAPET and TOBY, which had also been eluding me.
7:21
Like several others, I struggled to get CANDLELIGHT which I couldn’t parse at all and just bunged in, and saw HERD = CROWD very late. Pleased to finish!
My COD is contentious it seems, and I’d nominate it among the best of the year so far – though in fairness it’s really a 15×15 clue.
FOI TYPECAST
LOI HERD
COD CANDLELIGHT
TIME 4:30
DNF
13.42 on the clock when I plumped for SE[EM]ED, hoping I didn’t know a SEED was a crowd in some obscure way.
Tough start to the week, thanks all.
A slow start, but then a rush to the finish with PILGRIMAGES LOI after 11 minutes.
FOI was BRITTEN and I was thinking this would be a long day; but, as ever, Izetti offered a fair test and I followed his instructions. It helps to know the wicked thing.
COD to CREDIBLE.
David
4:49
Blasted through this – always fun when everything you think of seems to work – minor hold up at the end writing out the letters of DELEGATIONS before LOI CREDIBLE. No issues with CANDLELIGHT – seemed the obvious cryptic answer (from ‘wicked’) so bunged it in.
Thanks Jack and Izetti
Delayed for a short while on CANDLELIGHT thinking of a wicked/evil connection before the penny dropped. I don’t have any problem with the parsing of the clue as others have adequately explained. My only comment on parsing relates to COME TO PASS, where we seem to have one s too many perhaps. If the s in the middle of the answer is son, why is small required? Perhaps I’m missing the point.
I crossed the line in 8.23 for a quickish start to the week.
I agree ‘small son’ seemed a bit odd but assumed it was to help with the surface by specifying that the son to be carried was small. But in any case I’ve definitely seen ‘small’ used in other clues to indicate an abbreviation even when the abbreviation would have been valid in its own right.
DNF due to TOBY, ABIDE. 25 minutes till giving up.
Lots of crossword land learning such as Abe Lincoln, wicked.
Liked this one. CREDIBLE was tricky! Thanks for the blog, jackkt.
On a separate note, can anyone here confirm that it is possible to access the Crossword Club if one subscribes to Times Puzzles only? I’m thinking of downgrading from the subscription to the paper, as I literally never read it.
Hi, Jeremy. Have you seen a subscription to Times Puzzles only advertised somewhere? If it gives access to the Crossword Club I imagine the take-up will be very high as many of us at TfTT don’t read the paper. But as far as I’m aware the Crossword Club only subscription was stopped years ago – maybe 10 or more – and our only option since then has been to subscribe to the paper. I’ve a vague idea that subscribers overseas can get a discounted rate on the newspaper, or could at one time. Others would know about that.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/puzzles
I was directed there this morning because for some reason I keep getting logged out. I spoke to a representative who said that you do have access to the crossword club through that subscription.
That page may not look representative for those of you who are logged in, so open a private browsing window and see what it looks like there.
Thanks, Jeremy. I explored the Puzzle Only sub after your original posting and had a ‘conversation’ with an on-line advisor which still left me in some doubt as to what I would get. One thing she seemed sure of though is that Puzzles Only has to work through a browser so is of no use to anyone wanting to use the app, and that might excluded a lot of our regulars.
I suspect the limited sub won’t meet my needs as a member of TfTT Admin but it’s certainly worth exploring. To that end I intend to subscribe for one month under a different name, taking advantage of the £1 offer, and seeing exactly what’s available.
This appears to be the same as the Light Digital package, which is what I’m currently subscribed to. You do indeed have access to the Crossword Club, as well as the puzzles section on the main website – neither of these count towards your entitlement to 30 free articles per month (though of course there are ways you can get behind the Times article paywall without any membership at all anyway …) It’s £4.99 per month for UK subscribers – is it the $ equivalent for you or less? I seem to recall the international digital package for the whole paper was much less than the UK one. No idea about how this fits in with the app as I only ever use a browser.
I got quite stuck in the NW corner so this was pretty much a clockwise solve from the NE. I’m wondering how many commenters will have tried to make an anagram from rodent. It took me some time to abandon that route. Like others here my LOsI were HERD and CANDLELIGHT the latter which I constructed incorrectly from LIGHT and then CAN for ability. I properly parsed it with a bit of a doh moment post submission. 8:44
Count me as another rodent anagrammer, but only fairly briefly as there isn’t one I could find.
Ditto
Oh dear, I immediately thought of BRITTEN but put Britain, which made CANDLELIGHT impossible, though I might not have solved it anyway.
Also slow on TYPECAST/TOBY, ABIDE/COMES TO PASS. Well, I got ‘Comes to’ quite quickly but wasn’t sure of 3rd word.
FOI BARON, ECHO.
Liked PARAPET, SHERRY, RATTLE, CREDIBLE, PILGRIMAGES.
Thanks vm for blog, Jack.
Forgot to Log In.
I did exactly the same with Britain/Britten! Only realised my mistake when trying to get CANDLELIGHT.
15 mins…
Apart from a dilemma about the spelling of Parapet (Parapit? – Pit being short for Pit Bull?) – once I got a few in, the rest seemed to drop into place.
FOI – 8ac “Baron”
LOI – 4dn “Sherry”
COD – 3dn “Candlelight”
Thanks as usual!
Started off with Baron,so thought 2d would be barrack i.e. bark and rac,Royal Armoured Corps. But no
Some challenging clues today. Never did parse RATTLE or CANDLELIGHT (doh). LOI HERD (could only think of seen rather than heard). Wanted 1a to be an anagram of ‘kind acts’ for far too long. Favourite was CREDIBLE. Very enjoyable overall. Thanks Jack.
Well, I certainly wasn’t confident of Se(em)ed for loi 19d, but having just spent several minutes on Laird and poi Toby (not [Mr] Tibs, then) I decided that 25mins was enough for a Monday QC. I agree Herd is a tad more common for crowd. . . CoD Candlelight on the othed hand was almost a write-in, having been caught out several times in the past by ‘wicked’. Invariant
I spent ages, without success, trying to parse “candlelight”, which I was sure had to be the answer and eventually just wrote in; having read the explanation, I don’t think the clue really works at all.
enjoyable puzzle, candlelight great answer
11.50 No real hold ups but a lot of hopping around the grid. I also finished on CANDLELIGHT and HERD. Thanks Jack and Izetti.
Failed HERD (crowd = HERD and perceived = heard both difficult). CANDLELIGHT became obvious but CNP it, confused by “through” (see through = transparent?). Also CNP COMES TO PASS, found “small” superfluous, after all “son = S” is also common. (Sorry, I see this is already discussed above.) Otherwise all pleasantly mild for an Izetti – thanks.
Took me a while to see the hidden ECHO, which needed FOI, CLANG, before I saw it. TYPECAST didn’t arrive until much later. I suspected CANDLELIGHT from the start, but it took me a minute to view the clue from the right perspective. Great clue! CREDIBLE was good too. No problem with HERD. DASHING was LOI. 8:12. Thanks Izetti and Jack.
Delighted to finish an Izetti in 21 minutes, despite just missing out on an SCC escape.
ECHO was my FOI, and I was able to progress quite quickly by jumping around the grid to utilise checkers as they arose. My L2I were TYPECAST and CANDLELIGHT.
Many thanks to Izetti and Jack.
👍👍
26:11, about par for me so I am pleased and a little surprised. Like many of you I’d never seen the “wick-ed” = “wicked” trick so couldn’t parse CANDLELIGHT. PI-ous was new to me too, I think. But April is coming so Chaucer and pilgrimages are in my head. I could only sort of parse COMES TO PASS, there seemed to be a lot of redundancy in the clue, so thanks Jack for clearing that up.
Also thanks to jackkt for the cruel, cruel F&S bit about my dear BB. (If you’ve never seen Turn of the Screw, it is to see. One of the most terrifying theatre experiences of my life, in a good way.)
And thanks Izetti for a possible puzzle!
Slightly more challenging than usual, and distracted by having to work at the same time. Otherwise, much the same comments – liked the misdirection of CANDLELIGHT (what does one see through?) and CREDIBLE. LOI HERD, of course.
17:48 with one error: BRITTAN 😩. Like many others, I didn’t spot the “thing with a wick” trick, although it was an, “oh, of course!” moment when I read the parsing, as I’m sure I’ve seen it before. Also add me to the list of people who tried to make anagrams of “kind acts” and “rodent”. Well played Izetti.
Thanks to Izetti & Jack.
Rather slow throughout today with the NW corner remaining obstinately blank for some time. I eventually finished in 24 minutes without being able to parse CANDLELIGHT.
FOI – 9ac ENCHANT
LOI & COD – 12dn CREDIBLE
DNF. Found many of the clues 15×15 difficult. But nearly got there in the end. Once I got Typecast from Jacks blog the remaining few fell into place, except Herd
COD Dashing it works with both ends of the clue being the definition and anagram indicator
Thanks Izetti and Jack
11:13. It’s Easter week – maybe why we started with an Izetti and a few religious references?
I had the same issue with kind acts and rodents – it was interesting to note that both followed the same structure, with part anagrams. Just enough misdirection to send me down the wrong path, but not remotely unfair. I presumed the definition at 15d was stylish, but agree with Sam that you could read it either way.
FOI Baron LOI Herd COD Dashing – I did like the idea of Gandhi being stylish! I suppose he was in his own way (as are many of us 😅)
Thanks Izetti and Jack
I was thinking that it was surprisingly gentle for an Izetti, right up to the point where I was roundly defeated by CANDLELIGHT / TOBY / TYPECAST. Oh well, I enjoyed the rest of it.
Thank you to jackkt for the blog!
Nice puzzle from Izetti. I also tried hard to make an anagram from rodent. Very much enjoyed CANDLELIGHT. Thanks jackkt for blog.
22 minutes
I tried – I really tried – to relax and simply enjoy the challenge, and accept whatever time I got. But my competitive side is just too strong, and so I am a bit frustrated with my performance.
By Izetti’s standards, this was straightforward and an SCC escape was there for the taking. How could I not see ECHO, BARON and ENCHANT immediately? Aargh! I get the hard ones and fail to see what is staring me in the face on the easy ones.
A slightly disappointing start to the week, as I was hoping for a sub-20 to get me off to a strong start.
Thanks for the blog.
PS I did appreciate the skill with which this QC was constructed. One of Izetti’s best, IMHO.
Annoyingly the app reset my time when I had to turn the potatoes down on the hob halfway through. Clocked 13 minutes but the real time was probably somewhere around 20.
Not too bad for an Izetti. Struggled with TOBY and TYPECAST but it was the longer downs CANDLELIGHT and LOI COMES TO PASS that had me scratching my head.
I thought this was tough but I managed to finish with the use of one aid(my other half). Glad to finish an izetti. There were lots of lightbulb moments as I found an answer and could then parse it