A new setter! How exciting. And judging by this puzzle (which is full of wit and tricks but still well-judged as a QC), an excellent addition to the Setters’ Common Room. Welcome, Bjorn. I’m already looking forward to your next puzzle, which will be Bjorn Again. This took me 08:20 which is pretty much bang on my average, so I am nervously predicting a QUITCH of about 100 and some reasonably happy punters.
Definitions underlined in bold.
| Across | |
| 1 | Much-loved singer at No 1, one associated with a craggy face? (8) |
| CLIFFTOP – CLIFF is the “much-loved singer” + TOP for “at No 1”. A mountain face covered in crags might well have a CLIFFTOP. I knew that that post-it note saying “Living people are now allowed” would come in handy. [On edit: I should perhaps have explained for overseas solvers that Sir Cliff Richard OBE is a singer who has achieved huge popular success in the UK over a very long time: he is, for example, the only singer to have had a No. 1 single in the UK in each of five consecutive decades. He would qualify for unofficial “National Treasure” status and cluing him as “much loved” is fair enough.] | |
| 5 | Long bag containing sugar, perhaps unwrapped (4) |
| ACHE -my LOI and the parsing caused me much head scratching. I could see that “bag … unwrapped” meant that I needed to remove the first and last letters of a word meaning “bag” so as to leave a word meaning “long”, but just couldn’t see what it was. Eventually light dawned: it’s {s}ACHE{t}. The extra words “containing sugar, perhaps” were no doubt intended to be helpful but in fact just served to confuse this solver! | |
| 9 | Allow older female relative time (5) |
| GRANT – GRAN is your “older female relative” + T for “time”. | |
| 10 | Foxtrot jump I attempt finally in shabby theatre (7) |
| FLEAPIT – F for “foxtrot” (NATO alphabet) + LEAP for “jump” + I + T for “attempt finally”. A 1930s slang word for a rundown, grubby cinema or theatre. | |
| 11 | Rest while bar rustled up a tasty snack (5,7) |
| WELSH RAREBIT – anagram (“rustled up”) of “rest while bar”. | |
| 13 | With no-one at the helm following commercial split (6) |
| ADRIFT – AD for “commercial” + RIFT for “split”. Slightly loose definition since you could have no-one at the helm but not be adrift (eg when moored) and you could be adrift (eg having lost power or steerage) even though there is someone at the helm. But I quibble. | |
| 15 | The last word heard by one about to be shot? (6) |
| CHEESE – oh I did like this one, a proper cracker joke. The victim here is being “shot” with a camera, of course. I spent a while trying to think of a cinematic phrase which wasn’t “lights, camera, action”. | |
| 17 | Protracted groan wouldn’t hurt (4-5-3) |
| LONG-DRAWN-OUT – anagram (“hurt”) of “groan wouldn’t”. | |
| 20 | Student tucking into hot bread (7) |
| STOLLEN – L for “student” (think “learner driver”) which goes inside (“tucking into”) STOLEN for “hot”. Ah, that sort of “hot”, very good. STOLLEN is a rich, sweet fruit loaf, often including marzipan as well. | |
| 21 | Lifeless in Perth (excluding the outskirts) (5) |
| INERT – IN for “in” + ERT for the middle letters (“excluding the outskirts”) of “Perth”. | |
| 22 | Ladies’ fingers work bread regularly (4) |
| OKRA – every other letter (“regularly”) of “work bread”. OKRA came up in a puzzle by Alex which I blogged in August and the ensuing debate revealed that some people knew it in the guise of a “bhindi bhaji”; that lots of people tend to think of “ladies’ fingers” as long thin sponges; and that simjt was trying to grow OKRA in his allotment. Wonder how he got on? | |
| 23 | Supplement that’s sometimes removed by The Lancet? (8) |
| APPENDIX – double definition, the second being another cracker joke. A lancet (aka a scalpel) might be used to remove your appendix, and The Lancet is a well-known and highly respected medical journal, founded in 1823 by an English surgeon and still going strong. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Cautious about silver and yen (4) |
| CAGY – C for “about” (abbreviation of circa) + AG for “silver” + Y for “yen”. I’d have spelled this with an E (which the usual sources give as an alternative) but the wordplay was clear so in it went as FOI. | |
| 2 | Photo that is covering periodical (5) |
| IMAGE – IE for “that is”, going around (“covering”) MAG for “periodical”. | |
| 3 | Criminally falsified data — not a particularly healthy state (3,2,1,6) |
| FIT AS A FIDDLE – anagram (“criminally”) of “falsified dat”, which is “falsified data” eliminating one of the As (“not a”). Tricksy, especially because the “not a” in the surface makes you think that the definition is going to be the opposite of what it turned out to be. Until I spotted the “not a” device, I was working on this being “fat as a [something]” for an unhealthy state. | |
| 4 | Shoe kept in shoebox for dryness (6) |
| OXFORD – a very good hidden, inside “shoebox for dryness”. Oxford is a university for people who couldn’t get into Cambridge; its greatest claim to fame is that it has a shoe named after it. | |
| 6 | Clever dad featured in The Wire (7) |
| CAPABLE – PA is “dad” and he goes inside (“featured in”) CABLE for The Wire. Thank goodness this wasn’t about the TV show The Wire, which I decided not to watch after reading a review which said that the American dialogue was so incomprehensible that it was best to have the subtitles on. | |
| 7 | Having the right to a loosening of Lent diet? (8) |
| ENTITLED – anagram (“loosening”) of “Lent diet”. | |
| 8 | Internet tool arousing Chinese anger (6,6) |
| SEARCH ENGINE – anagram (“arousing”) of “Chinese anger”. Excellent, topical surface, given that China has banned Google. Bravo. | |
| 12 | Nymph stoical about circling lake (8) |
| CALLISTO – anagram (“about”) of “stoical” around L for “lake”. CALLISTO was a nymph who was seduced by Zeus (weren’t they all?), turned into a bear by his jealous wife and ultimately immortalised in the stars as the constellation Ursa Major (the Great Bear). One of Jupiter’s moons is named after her too. What a CV. | |
| 14 | Private soldier expressed bitterness (7) |
| RANCOUR – homophone/aural wordplay with “ranker”. Because the indication that this is aural wordplay is in the middle of the clue (“expressed”) I wasn’t sure which end was the definition, dithered and decided to wait for checkers. | |
| 16 | Doze during picnic at Naples (6) |
| CATNAP – hidden (“during”) in “picnic at Naples”. | |
| 18 | Gents might use this upper-class bow (1-4) |
| U-BEND – U for “upper-class” (stop moaning at the back, it’s just a code) + BEND for “bow”. Pipes connected to the foul drainage system have a U-BEND which holds water and so acts as a barrier to gases rising from beneath; thus the “gents” (or indeed ladies) loos might use one. | |
| 19 | Saint axes Charon’s location (4) |
| STYX – many belief systems have a being who acts as a guide to the spirits of the newly deceased; the rather splendid word for such entities (no doubt appearing in a Mephisto near you soon) is a psychopomp. Charon is the Greek psychopomp: he was the ferryman who took souls across the STYX, the river separating the realms of the living and the dead. The wordplay is ST for “saint”, then Y and X for the two “axes” on a graph. A wonderful bit of deception and my COD. | |
Some clever stuff here. Liked the misdirection in the clue for FIT AS A FIDDLE and thought the same about it starting with ‘fat’. And CHEESE for the last word before being shot is very good and had me thinking of words meaning ‘I DIDN’T DO IT!’. Knew STOLLEN but the wordplay works if you hadn’t heard of it. Didn’t know CALLISTO but the anagram fodder fell into place.
Thanks T and setter.
Failed with RANCOUR which I did not know was not pronounced ‘ran-coor’. Wouldn’t have come up with it even I did know.
Everything else was lovely, I’m assuming the singer is Cliff Richard? Is it weird that his first name is used? Is it another Cliff? My fave Cliff Richard song is Some People.
Yep it’s Cliff. Who, I learn, is still alive…
The man has released 49 albums.. Basically one a year including last year. What a man
Cliff is on tour in 2025 and coming to where I live in December. Should I? 🤔
All of my discretionary spending goes on live music, so I can do nothing but enable you here.
It’s good you should say that because … he’s in Melbourne this time next year – St Kilda Nov 6th
Hej Bjorn (as they say at Ikea) and welcome. Unlike Templar I made heavy weather of this and registered what I believe may be a PW, 17.11. I think I fell for every sucker trick already mentioned, especially at 3dn. But overall I enjoyed this clever puzzle though it sure didn’t seem all that quick to me. Took an age to get going and got nowhere with the acrosses, FOI was 1dn CAGY from which things started to flow. Thanks both.
I struggled a bit. This puzzle is a good answer to the commenter who razzed me for saying a puzzle was easy, because it used stock cryptic cliches which everyone knows. This one did not have many chestnuts – well, rancour is one, and stollen is another. I tried to biff Calypso, too! But I ended up having to laboriously work out the anagrams, as no obvious answers popped into my mind. I got stuck a little on Clifftop, my LOI, as Cliff Richards is before my time.
Time: 14:22
Cliff Richard (not Richards) is before your time? Are you under 25?
I didn’t find this so easy either, and also needed 14 minutes to get through it. CALLISTO was my last one in and I didn’t recognise it despite several appearances here over the years. I wasn’t helped by writing out the anagrist incorrectly.
I’m not sure how Cliff Richard can be before one’s time, although I’d be the first to acknowledge that it’s perfectly possible not to know of someone very famous or their work because one has no interest in their output.
Your last point nails it Jack – see also Harry Potter, as Kevin and I will concur.
Cliff Richard was, I believe, big in the 50s to 80s. But not so much for the last 3 decades so it’s perfectly understandable if he’s before someone’s time. That said, it’s no excuse. Mozart is before everyone’s time but we should all be familiar with The Magic Flute.
7.51
Also struggled to do the long anagrams in my head so had to work round the other clues to get some checkers.
Nice puzzle Bjorn – and thanks Templar too
DNF Is there some reason ‘much-loved singer’ should lead specifically to Cliff Richard?
I can’t say for sure but I’d say he’s been around long enough to be classed as a ‘National Treasure’ and therefore much loved. Perhaps others may have a better idea.
I should add that upon reading the clue Cliff was my first thought but can’t really explain why.
My first thought was Cliff, not so much thinking of the singer at first, but because the clue mentioned ‘craggy face’. Nothing to do with his complexion which I’m sure is very well-preserved for his age, but I immediately thought of rocks and rock-climbing. Also quite appropriate too on reflection, since he started out as a rock and roll singer.
Yes, that was how I got there – “what’s another word for a crag .. bluff no, ridge no, cliff – aha!”
I think that must be it. It was the craggy face that, perhaps subconsciously, made me think of Cliff.
I assumed that was a misdirection to Mick Jagger
😁
For the intrepid the 15×15 is worth a look today, I was three minutes faster solving it than this QC…
Absolutely loved axes clueing ‘yx’ – never seen that before. Didn’t know what the ‘Charon’ but was about but evened that up by whacking in ACHE without spotting the need to go via ‘sachet’. Testing throughout with only five on the first pass of acrosses but contained all the sparkle some recent puzzles have lacked. A little gem. All green in 15.15.
Thanks Bjorn. What a great puzzle. Brilliant anagrams and much cleverness. COD definitely to Styx – I do love a heteronym and who knew axes was one!
Ache was LOI and probably took 5 of our 31.48 although it didn’t feel that long, one of those mornings where a good bit of our time went to reflecting on the setters craft.
When I read “last word heard before being shot” my immediate thought was Fire! Mrs RH is still laughing
Great blog as always Templar, as usual we associate ourselves with many of your remarks 😀
Completely with you on “Fire!” – hence my stab at CHARGE.
Very good! Raises a smile here too
What a cracking debut. There was so much to enjoy and multiple contenders for COD. I did find it tricky in places but the wordplay was always fair. I also went down the ‘fat as a …’ route thinking that it was a bit rude for The Times until the penny dropped.
Finished in 9.53 with LOI, the very vaguely known, STOLLEN and STYX just getting my vote for COD.
P.S. The Wire is one of the best TV shows of all time in my opinion and definitely worth a watch even if you do need to turn the subtitle option on.
Absolutely loved this puzzle – some great devices with a particular chapeau to axes for YX. 10:44 for me slightly hampered by putting in CHERISHED for 1AC which with head down typing and very small font on my new work laptop didn’t spot that the word didn’t even fit leaving me wrong letters all over the place. As others have said, many contenders for COD – I quite liked CHEESE.
Thanks Bjorn look forward to more of the same.
Thanks @Templar for detailed blog – incidentally, I completed the QC in the Devereux public house the other day – I wonder if you are familiar with it?
Ah, the Devereux! It was my favourite watering-hole in my pre-retirement life as a Fleet Street hack.
I was a regular in there between 2003 and 2008 – pleased to see it’s still going and now being run as an independent.
Yes indeed! Right outside my Chambers.
Welcome Bjorn – I hope to see many more puzzles of this standard from you. My solve wasn’t quite 17A, given that my target is 6 minutes, but I certainly had to get my brain in gear.
FOI GRANT
LOI CLIFFTOP (saw Cliff, had to think about top)
COD CHEESE
TIME 5:11
Many thanks to Templar for another entertaining blog.
Raced to an almost full board on my commute, leaving only CALLISTO and STOLLEN (LOI). Second day in a row that I’ve been held up by bread, after the previous Private Eye puzzle: Roll over Beethoven initially composed with Erich (7).
Brioche
That’s a great clue, is Private Eye crossword always that good?
Mix of topical stuff and filth. Would recommend!
An example of mild filth from the same puzzle: “Is my arse suitable for an agent of the state? (8)”
Ugh, gave up after an hour, much too difficult for me. Too inaccessible compared to normal QC puzzles.
and UBEND isn’t just for gents, so shouldnt it have ‘say’ next to it?
Looking at the comments, all the serious crossworders loved it, so am reassured that this is not for QC solvers. Too clever by half Borg!
Wasn’t an easy one to get into. I can understand your struggles. Tough definitions to spot – how many “tasty snacks” are there? And clues with easier defs still had more complicated wordplay. Keep on plugging away
totally agree! really struggled with this one.
Enjoyed this. CALLISTO and OKRA were the only answers I wasn’t completely sure of, but I dredged them up from somewhere, assisted by the wordplay in both cases. I also didn’t know Charon, but again the wordplay helped me get STYX.
By the way, Bjorn is a guy called Rob Jacques (@KnutCrosswords on Twitter), who also set yesterday’s 15×15 for The Times.
COD Cheese
Rob also sets consistently good Telegraph Toughies as ‘Hudson’.
Also Knut in the Indy and Julius in the FT
21:01 for the solve! Struggled to get into it. Just taken into the SCC by CLIFFTOP where I couldn’t see the ending mainly because my mate who likes him calls him Clifford or Cliffton.
Anyway who doesn’t love a bit of Cliff during lockdown … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JL3rWlhTMG0
Didn’t you have a Cliff Richard calendar?! Much loved, indeed.
YES! Well remembered. I knew I’d mentioned him on here before.
18 mins…
Great puzzle this, and one which I think meets a perfect QC. However, I nearly mucked up by putting “Clifface” for 1ac. Apart from the misspelling, I was puzzled why the clue would contain part of the answer (which is always poor form in my opinion) – thankfully, resolving 4dn “Oxford”, I eventually saw my error.
Particular favourites included: 6dn “Capable”, 3dn “Fit As A Fiddle” and 15ac “Cheese”. Whilst I dnk 12dn “Callisto” – it was fairly solvable.
FOI – 1dn “Cagy”
LOI – 1ac “Clifftop”
COD – 19dn “Styx” – although I’ve seen this before, still a very clever clue.
Thanks as usual!
Not on the wavelength today but in the end managed all except six.
Oh – seven … I thought “the last word heard by one about to be shot” might be CHARGE?!
Loved FIT AS A FIDDLE, definitely COD. NHO CALLISTO (or ranker).
I see many awarding COD to STYX; I would disallow it on the grounds that while the wordplay was brilliant (too brilliant for me, indeed), the surface was so obvious that it hardly rated as a cryptic clue at all.
I add my welcome to Bjorn – by my count our fifth new setter this year, after Asp, Bubbles, Cheeko and Pipsqueak. And what a lovely debut, a puzzle full of wit, clever tricks (some completely new, to me at least) and challenges at what I found to be a very approachable level of difficulty. It took a little while to get into the rhythm of the puzzle, and the SW corner held out for a while at the end, but a 13 minute solve against my average of 11-12 minutes suggests that Bjorn has judged things very nicely.
I did not parse STYX completely at the time, but it is a cracker of a clue, and I had to dredge CALLISTO out of deep memory (I am more familiar with it as a moon of Jupiter). FIT AS A FIDDLE was also not fully parsed as I biffed it without counting the anagrist carefully enough to spot the significance of “not a”.
Thank you Templar for a blog that was itself a cracker and a very fitting way to welcome Bjorn to the setter’s roster.
Cedric
Found this to be enjoyably difficult with some witty clues needing some unravelling (and occasionally guessing- ACHE and STOLLEN: isn’t this more cake than bread?). Welcome, Bjorn!
Ah – thank you! I didn’t dare say this but you said it first. Yes, I would always have called stollen a cake. But I suppose we can’t win that one…..
I agree it looks more like cake but I rely on Wiki who says:
“Stollen is a fruit bread of nuts, spices, and dried or candied fruit, coated with powdered sugar or icing sugar and often containing marzipan. It is a traditional German Christmas bread.”
It’s made with yeast, which I think would exclude it from most definitions of cake. If anything, it’s like a big bun
Yes – there’s no doubt you’re right. I said there was no way we could win!
DNF.
Very, very clever. Far too clever for me. What did Wellington say about “clever devils” ?
N.B. to setters : now you can apparently use Cliff Richards in clues does not mean you should.
Richard, not Richards. And I think he’s a very good example of the sort of living person who is so famous (in the UK anyway …) that setters can take him as general knowledge. Anyone who has reached the point at which they are generally known by their Christian name alone (Delia, Boris, Cliff, Nigella) must be fair game.
And indeed over in Canada in the early sixties Bachelor Boy and Summer Holiday were big hits for us swingin’ teens to dance to.
Brilliant debut – thank you, and welcome, Bjorn – splendid stuff!
Well I can’t agree with Templar that this puzzle was about bang on average in difficulty for a QC, I found it pretty tough. So tough in fact that I didn’t finish, and threw in the towel after 20 minutes with one to get. For the life of me I couldn’t get 4dn, and on discovering the answer was OXFORD I am pretty mad with myself. It’s been used umpteen times over the years in crosswords as a description of a shoe, and never troubled me before. The main reason I’m mad with myself is that it was a hidden, and it was only in yesterday’s blog that I said how poor I was at spotting hiddens, and I needed to sharpen up. Doh!
I find that if I cannot make anything of the wordplay in a clue, or if there are words which don’t really fit, then it is always worth checking for a hidden. That was how I found OXFORD – the clue made no sense to me otherwise, so “when all else fails, look for a hidden …”
A really excellent debut puzzle from Bjorn, full of good clues and a select scattering of bear traps – count me as another who went down the Fat As A * route, and as someone left wondering how to stretch Fire! into six letters. . . Despite those diversions, and hesitations over Clifftop and the unknown Callisto, I still managed a comfortable enough sub-20, so clearly no wavelength problems today. CoD, by a country mile, to 19d, Styx, for the creative use of axes. You should certainly feel Free Bjorn to come back ☺ Invariant
PS Your blog was top notch as well, Templar
14:57. I found it quite hard, but very good. APPENDIX took longer than it should have – I had to have my ADDENDUM removed first, because it just wasn’t working. LOI ACHE. COD CHEESE for “last word heard before being shot”. Like Roundabout Here, my first thought was “fire”
I started these puzzles about three weeks ago and have just registered for this site so here goes with post #1. I thought this was really very good. Obviously I don’t have a lot to compare it to but I think it was the best I’ve seen so far. ACHE and STYX both instant gets but I wasn’t sure why for a while – the reference to sugar confused me in the former, whilst the “axes” in the latter was just a lovely piece of cluing that I was slow to pick up on. My time was glacially slow, but I did finish it, so baby steps and all that…
Hej, Fortinbras. We all started with a calendar.
Welcome and congratulations on finishing.
Welcome. If you only started 3 weeks ago, you are doing brilliantly.
Welcome! Finishing this one after three weeks? You’re a Championship contender!
The last I heard of you they were talking about making you King of Denmark- did that work out?
Well, there didn’t seem to be anyone else left!
Thank you everyone for the kind welcomes
We await a suitable avatar.
13:42, LOI STOLLEN. “L” for student was tricky but fair.
Got CALLISTO from its moon, and for what it’s worth, STYX accompanies Pluto and Charon, the minor planets at the edge of the Solar System. COD for the YX as axes, not that I saw it at the time.
Great puzzle, and on the above recommendation I will try the 15×15 a bit later.
Welcome Bjorn despite the fact I wasn’t on your wavelength. My particular struggles were with LONG DRAWN OUT, RANCOUR and my LOI CLIFFTOP. 10:18
Finished all correct in one go. Good fun, I thought, witty but not easy peasy. Smiled at LOsI CLIFFTOP, CHEESE.
FOsI included CALLISTO, OKRA, STYX, CATNAP.
Also liked RANCOUR, FLEAPIT.
Thanks, Bjorn and Templar. I cd not parse STOLLEN, ACHE or STYX , btw. I suppose I must have known about graphs at school, but t’was a long time ago. Charon was a big hint, of course.
Good to have a new boy on setting duties. Well done Bjorn.
Surprised to find 1a Clifftop absent from Cheating Machine. Added.
Had to use CM to resolve the sACHEt at 5a, but was happy with ache as a biff.
Andy, when are you going to patent your Cheating Machine and put it on the market? Asking for a friend, obviously.
Well you can have a copy for free, but you might not like it. Needs Excel.
Email me apwfisher@hotmail.com if you would like it.
Regards, Andyf
7:51
I agree with those who thought this a smashing debut. Thanks Bjorn.
FOI FLEAPIT, LOI CHEESE, COD STYX for the axes, which I didn’t see until Templar’s fine blog.
Thanks Bjorn and Templar. ‘Ache’ was also my LOI. Took me far too long to think of ‘ache’ instead of e.g. ‘pine’ for ‘long.’ Templar, your comment “The extra words “containing sugar, perhaps” were no doubt intended to be helpful but in fact just served to confuse this solver!” I assumed in the end that the ‘CH’ in it was just an abbreviation for carbohydrate.
I think “Long bag containing sugar perhaps” was a misdirecting reference to the long thin paper ones that you get with coffee in a café or restaurant.
Lovely puzzle that brought forth many grins, e.g. STYX, STOLLEN, CLIFFTOP and (LOI) ACHE.
COD: CHEESE – another grin there!
Not so easy – it took me to 24 minutes. It took a while to get on Bjorn’s wavelength – for instance I could only solve 15ac having rejected ‘fire’ as too short and ‘action’ as not fitting the crossers once the h from 8dn appeared. Excellent misdirection! Couldn’t parse STOLLEN or ACHE (like Templar, I couldn’t work out what the long bag was which I had to top and tail). All good stuff and thoroughly enjoyed despite drifting into the SCC.
FOI – 10ac FLEAPIT
LOI – 20ac STOLLEN
COD – many contenders but I think 23ac APPENDIX brought the biggest smile. Also liked FIT AS A FIDDLE, STYX and CHEESE
Thanks to Bjorn and Templar
Enjoyably challenging! Many thanks Bjorn. Took ages to get going but little by little I filled the grid. Got to cliff via craggy face (apologies to Sir Cliff). Always try to parse as I go along and had to spend ages on ACHE. Misdirected by 3d until I had the FIDDLE part. Shout-outs to STYX and CHEESE. Lovely puzzle and great blog.
Took me an age to get going. I didn’t see anything until SEARCH ENGINE, then things started moving. WELSH RAREBIT and CAPABLE came next and I was eventually off! CHEESE was held up by the expected “Fire!” FIT AS A FIDDLE was also the opposite of what was expected. CLIFFTOP was a late entry, but fittingly, APPENDIX was LOI after STYX. Great puzzle. Welcome and thanks to Bjorn and thanks to Templar for an excellent blog. 9:55 so just scraped in under my target.
Very much enjoyed this. It felt well pitched enough to give a sense of an achievement after working through wordplay. Unlike some recent ones, there was always a feeling of it’s definitely doable rather than trudging through. Looking forward to his next.
18m
Found this tough, biffed fit as a fiddle after counting the anagrist and finding it was 1 too many,
Liked styx, cheese (after action, fire etc)
An annoying DNF because I just couldn’t get “cheese” which was a very fair and lovely clue.
A really enjoyable crossword thanks!
You’re missing a treat if you don’t watch The Wire! Just put the subs on and settle down!
Went wandering off on wrong track with clifface rather than CLIFFTOP ( if indeed clifface is one word). Loved STYX which came to me pretty quickly.Well- pitched puzzle, but although a DNF, several ‘wuh’s that I should have got on reveal. Just tricky enough to keep me interested, rather than bored or exasperated
9:56. Well, CHEESE finally came to me just before the ten minute mark. Never thought of sACHEt! I liked the grid throwing up OXFORD CATNAP- wondered maybe if it was a counterpart to the fabled Porterhouse Blue from the other place?
Enjoyed this one, and not only because, at 10:59,we seem to have punched above our weight relative to the Quitch. We also puzzled about the ‘not’ in 3d but moved on assuming that all would become clear in the blog, as indeed it did so thank you Templar. And welcome Bjorn! Some very fine clues, especially STYX and CHEESE but also 3d now that I appreciate it’s cleverness!
Unusually early solve waiting for car to be updated. Aways wary of a new setter (wavelength and all that), but this was a real cracker. Lots of wit, mischievous misdirection, and helpful hints made this a real pleasure for a leisurely solve. So an enthusiastic welcome to aka ‘Bjorn’. Really enjoyable blog too from Templar, so a double pleasure today. I understand Sir Cliff Richard is also a big favourite in Australia so that makes him a global treasure! Stollen is def a bread for this home baker.
FOI 1a Clifftop
LOI 15a Cheese
COD – loads to like here but probably should go to 19d Styx – just so clever.
More like this please!
Super puzzle – welcome Bjorn! Got ACHE without parsing and several enjoyable moments as CHEESE, ADRIFT and STYX went in. A Stollen gazes at me as I type this: there are many recipes in Germany for this pre-Christmas treat, some more breadlike and some more cakelike than others. Dresdner Christstollen is a classic! Foodie theme noted: the CHEESE and the WELSH RAREBIT and the OKRA apart from the aforementioned STOLLEN. Highly enjoyable 12 minutes: thanks Bjorn and Templar
12:32 (Death of Ranulf III, Earl of Chester)
Stuck for ages on 1a, my LOI. I could see it had to be CLIFF-O-, but could not see what fitted, and needed a slow alphabet trawl before reaching TOP.
Thanks Bjorn and Templar
Yes, but what about your allotment??
10.16 Much of this was parsed after the fact except for ACHE, which bamboozled me. I’ve said before that the only types of shoe in crossword land seem to be oxfords and brogues so I was annoyed at myself when LOI OXFORD took me over the ten minute mark. It was a lovely puzzle though and I did enjoy STYX. Thanks Templar and Bjorn, and welcome!
DNF as I got OKRA wrong, I thought work = OP and bread regularly was RA so assumed OPRA was simply a word I hadn’t heard of and typed it in. Especially annoying as this was the most enjoyable QC for a very long time, and if this is an example of what to expect from Bjorn he will quickly become one of my favourite compilers. FOI – GRANT, LOI – the incorrect 22 across, Far too many excellent clues to only have one COD, I thought U-BEND, CHEESE, STYX, FIT AS A FIDDLE (great misdirection), and OXFORD (great hidden) were all brilliant. Thanks Templar and especially Bjorn. Welcome to the list of QC compilers, I’m already looking forward to your next one.
So… am I the only one that spent ages staring at a CLIFFACE before I saw the error of my ways, then couldn’t see past the ACTION that precedes being shot to find the cheese… be cheaper to buy a season ticket for the SCC atm. Still a thoroughly enjoyable ride with excellent commentary so many thanks as always.
14:33, just inside my personal target. I also thoroughly enjoyed this one and echo the comments of welcome to our new setter. I struggled initially: WELSH RAREBIT was my FOI, but the lower half of the acrosses and the downs were more tractable. Never parsed ACHE or the brilliant STYX.
Thanks to Bjorn and Templar.