Hi all. Fun from the wiggly one today, completed in a normal quickie-level time. There are a couple of living people, but living is generally how I like my people (they much better drinking companions for a start). There is also a clue that may divide opinion as it contains a non-word. My clue of the day is 5d, and the clues for the three-letter answers were good too, much more inventive than the tiddlers can often be. Meowny thanks Wurm!
Definitions are underlined in the clues below. In the explanations, most quoted indicators are in italics, specified [deletions] are in square brackets, and I’ve capitalised and emboldened letters which appear in the ANSWER. For clarity, I omit most link words and some juxtaposition indicators.
| Across | |
| 3a | Ginger Spice in queue for underwear (8) |
| LINGERIE — GERI (Ginger Spice) in LINE (queue) | |
| 7a | Be one about to lead nation (6) |
| BRUNEI — BE and I around (about) RUN (to lead) | |
| 8a | Party clothes news boss creased (3-5) |
| DOG-EARED — DO (party) + GEAR (clothes) + ED (news boss) | |
| 9a | Princess wanting some man necessarily? (4) |
| ANNE — For the answer we want some mAN NEcessarily | |
| 10a | Nailed body part to table finally? (3) |
| TOE — TO + the last letter of (… finally) tablE | |
| 11a | Sea dog in battered coastal location (3,5) |
| SAN DIEGO — SEA DOG IN anagrammed (battered) | |
| 13a | Wax for one red gemstone (4) |
| RUBY — Two definitions | |
| 15a | Anxious England gutted: Germany too! (4) |
| EDGY — EnglanD without inner letter (gutted): GermanY (gutted) too | |
| 17a | This writer maligns Samoan perhaps (8) |
| ISLANDER — I SLANDER (this writer maligns) | |
| 19a | With which each grebe generally starts? (3) |
| EGG — First letters of (with which … starts) Each Grebe Generally – &lit | |
| 22a | That West End mewsical? (4) |
| CATS — A jokey definition | |
| 23a | Everyone prepared to follow British sport (4,4) |
| BALL GAME — ALL (everyone) and GAME (prepared) to follow B (British) | |
| 24a | Raise dough — go north (6) |
| LEAVEN — LEAVE (go) + N (north) | |
| 25a | Beg while working fairground feature (3,5) |
| BIG WHEEL — An anagram of (… working) BEG WHILE | |
| Down | |
| 1d | Doctor treated Kurd, an alcoholic (8) |
| DRUNKARD — DR (doctor) + an anagram of (treated) KURD AN | |
| 2d | Popular exploit for sure (6) |
| INDEED — IN (popular) + DEED (exploit) | |
| 3d | Beach — nothing under cover? (4) |
| LIDO — O (nothing) under LID (cover) | |
| 4d | One unused to early retirement? (5,3) |
| NIGHT OWL — A cryptic definition playing on two meanings of retirement | |
| 5d | Times editor’s outside in rubber (6) |
| ERASER — ERAS (Times) + EditoR’s outside | |
| 6d | Thought middleman oddly ignored (4) |
| IDEA — Without odd letters (… oddly ignored) mIdDlEmAn | |
| 12d | Move abroad good coming into Arab state (8) |
| EMIGRATE — G (good) coming into EMIRATE (Arab state) | |
| 14d | Unusual three-bar rest (8) |
| BREATHER — An anagram of (unusual) THREE BAR | |
| 16d | Chicken or canary? (6) |
| YELLOW — Two definitions | |
| 18d | Delicious beverage Cretan brewed (6) |
| NECTAR — CRETAN anagrammed (brewed) | |
| 20d | One’s business is picking up or dropping off? (4) |
| TAXI — Cryptic definition, seeming to refer to how well business is doing rather than what it is doing. EDIT for clarity: The surface meaning is how well business is doing, but the definition is that the business of a taxi is picking up and then dropping off passengers | |
| 21d | Archer William to have noticeable effect (4) |
| TELL — Double definition | |
10 minutes with TAXI as my LOI.
As I posted here on 9th September re the 15×15: A reference to William TELL as an archer came up in a puzzle I blogged a couple of months ago when we established that technically he wasn’t an archer because he used a crossbow. That makes him an ‘arbalist’, ‘arbelist’ ‘arbelister’ or ‘arcubalist’ depending on the source, and probably other variations are available.
Thanks jackkt. You are quite right. Apparently Tell assassinated Gessler, a tyrant, using his crossbow, thus precipitating an open rebellion against the Habsburgs. So I will in future not refer to William as ‘an archer’. Not sure anyone will know what an arbelist is, apart from you, so we’ll have to get round that one somehow.
Cheers
W
“Revolutionary”, perhaps, or “Swiss revolutionary” in the QC to make it less challenging? Would be a change from our dear friend Che.
Many thanks for replying, Wurm. It’s not a major issue but this is one of the points of pedantry that are aired here from time to time. Probably if I hadn’t raised it today somebody else would have.
Tell is a legend so let’s stick to archer – one less nit to pick🙂
It is not nit picking as the two sports are very different. As an archery judge I would be less than happy to see a crossbow on the line.
The same applies to rifles / pistols.
Steady going today although it took me a surprisingly long time to untangle SAN DIEGO.
Started with LINGERIE and finished with LEAVEN in 7.38 with COD to TOE for the definition.
Thanks to Kitty
RUBY was my LOI, and I still don’t get the wax part. Also biffed DOG-EARED, parsing post-submission. ISLANDER keeps showing up (here? the 15x15s?) with virtually the same clue. Once again one of the poorest WITCH scores, 7:23.
Ruby Wax is an American comedienne.
Oh. Needless to say, NHO. But ta.
Of course, it’s all a matter of taste, but if I were you, I’d count myself lucky!
British-American, and has been active in the UK since the 80s as a writer, broadcaster, comedian, and mental health campaigner. I would imagine she’s better known in the UK than the US.
Nice to see some letter-friendly Spice Girls appearing. Probably won’t be the last time 😉
Imagine the joy a boyband/girlband/Britpop NINA would bring to the boards 😂
British-American. Been in the UK since the 1970s. Most of her work has been done over there, but she often plays an American character.
Even I (no fan of pop/US culture) have heard of her! But didn’t quite see how “one” worked.
I guess there are other people called “Wax”, but it is this one we want, Ruby.
Seemed straightforward and accessible. LOI TAXI for which I looked in vain for more beyond the obvious.
Fell asleep so no time, but seemed less than 20 mins overall.
Thanks Wurm and Kitty.
Started with Lingerie and ended in a Taxi!! COD 8A – a good start to the week!
15:55 for the solve! Found that a bit sticky in places – particularly LIDO=beach and RUBY where I was tempted to follow the word play and spell it RUBi. Think if you’re going to include living people they need to be famous, not someone I watched in the 80s and early 90s. Few others like LINGERIE, ERASE, BRUNEI and TOE where I struggled to parse which is unusual for me. Cats mewsical gave me a hearty laugh 😻
No real problems – I seem to be getting to grips with the “living people” idea. Thanks Kitty and Wurm.
FOI ANNE
LOI BRUNEI
COD LINGERIE
TIME 3:57
10 minutes. I missed GERI for ‘Ginger Spice’ in the parsing of LINGERIE and was slow on the uptake of some straightforward ones like INDEED, but overall this wasn’t too difficult. I liked the ‘mewsical’ but it mightn’t be to everyone’s taste; I think our blogger may be in a better position to give a more definitive opinion.
Thanks to Kitty and Wurm
Just over 7 minutes (and just under 1K) for a gentle start to the week – Wurm at his most generous today. I biffed ERASER (with 4 checkers out of 6 letters it could not be much else), but otherwise all parsed. The definition for SAN DIEGO (“coastal location”) is perhaps not the most helpful hint one could have had, especially for those like me who are only vaguely aware where it is, but otherwise a fun puzzle, much enjoyed.
Many thanks Kitty for the blog
Cedric
San Diego has an important U.S naval base containing over 35,000 personnel and home to the largest naval fleet in the world. That from Wikipedia- I just knew it had major sports teams and that it bordered on Tijuana, Mexico.
Tijuana provides all the services required by sailors, that are less available in California
All fun, but couldn’t see TAXI and always been vague about what LEAVENed bread is. Thanks, mewsy!
Raced through this only to come to a complete stop at the TAXI rank 🙁
Having carefully lifted and separated “Spice Girl” last week, I was determined not to fall for the obvious temptation to treat “Ginger Spice” as a unit. So 1a needed almost all the checkers before I saw the error of my ways. What a cracking good clue. I also liked EGG, LIDO and NIGHT OWL. Not so keen on “mewsical”; maybe Wurm’s opened the Christmas crackers early.
All done in 06:48 for a sub K and a Good Start to the week. Many thanks Wurm and Kitty.
13 mins…
Good start to the week. Not sure I’ve seen a clue like 22ac “Cats” before with its jokey-style cryptic, but it made me chuckle.
Like a few others for 11ac, I was looking for something like Skegness and ended up in San Diego. Quite a jolt. Never knew a lido was a beach either.
FOI – 6dn “Idea”
LOI – 24ac “Leaven”
COD – 20dn “Taxi” – after missing “liabilities” the other week, managed to see this one.
Thanks as usual!
8.31
Sluggish today – BRUNEI took far far too long at the end and I’ve actually been there.
Thanks Kitty and Wurm
This took me ages, twice as long as it should have. I am going to assume that I just hadn’t woken up. Last two in were TAXI and BRUNEI.
If you read down the first column, and head east at 23ac, it says baseball game. One of those random things, I guess
All good, slow in the NW with ANNE, DRUNKARD and BRUNEI, 7.49. Thanks Wurm and Kitty.
Gentle start to the week. Still struggling to remember the rule change around living people so took some time to parse LINGERIE. No such problems with RUBY – used to watch the brilliant sitcom ‘Girls on top’ when I was at uni in the 80s. Didn’t know LIDO was also a bathing beach. Wasn’t sure about CATS. LOI TAXI. Thanks kitty and Wurm.
A pleasant, fully parsed, sub-20 to start the week, with just a couple of convenient stop-overs (in San Diego and Brunei) along the way. I always thought a lido was an open air swimming pool, but I see it can also be a bathing beach, so that’s quite a versatile little word. CoD to 4d, Night Owl, for the smile, though personally I seem to struggle at both ends of the day. Invariant
17:03 for a good start to the week. No real hold ups for a change.
COD: 10a TOE for the amusing surface. There were a few of these today
LOI: SAN DIEGO
Thanks Wurm and Kitty.
After some struggles last week, I was only just over half way to the SCC today when I ran out of clues to solve, a very odd state of affairs. If I had been a bit quicker finding SAN DIEGO, and 1A, I would have been under 10 but such reckless times are not for the likes of me. My iPad might have combusted…
On fire!
Well, maybe smouldering gently…
Very well done P 🔥🔥🔥
As of last week my personal NITCH page is no longer picking up my times on the Qitch page, including today (where I am currently in the top 100, not that top 100 seems to be a requirement to be picked up any more!) Its such a nice resource to have I would be sad to lose it, can anyone explain what I may have done wrong, or what I might be able to do to fix it?
Thought todays puzzle was a fun test of speed!
A quick look at the list of reference solvers and some of the Quitch pages – I can’t find any reference to Blue92. It’s ard to suggest fixes with no idea when it was last working or examples of where it is working.
Fairly quick, on the wavelength today. All correct. But a lot of biffing and not all parsed, so thanks for blog, Kitty.
Ruby Wax is well known in UK. Like others, thought LIDO was a pool not a beach. Liked TAXI, TOE, CATS.
10:47 today which is a PB by about seven minutes, so pretty much obligated to like this one. Just one of those things where nothing held me up and the crossers were all helpful.
Many congratulations!!
Way to go 👏👏👏
Zowie! Watch out, you’re going to run out of things to solve soon!
Started slowly but then everything went in quickly. 8 minutes; LOI TAXI.
Could not parse RUBY -thanks for that.
A fun puzzle.
COD EDGY.
David
Started with IDEA and LIDO. DRUNKARD and BRUNEI held me up at the end. 8:27. Thanks Wurm and Kitty.
A fairly gentle start to the week giving me a time of 7.33. I started slowly but picked up speed only to be stopped by my LOI TAXI, which took my time over the seven minute mark. Like Kitty I’ll give my COD to ERASER, as it took me a while to parse with its unusual direction to use the outside letters of Editor instead of the usual Ed abbreviation.
DNF. Time was 25mins but I was making phone calls at the same time. Plain-ish sailing until ball game and taxi.
Last correct one in was ball game, though I did wonder if it was too generic a descriptive term to fit with the definition of sport. Was correct though.
Defeated by taxi. I still don’t really see how the clue works. Businesses pay more in tax, yes, but…. Made desperate guess of vari.
Couldn’t tell you names of Spice Girls but clue was OK without this knowledge. If wax refers to Ruby Wax, hmm ( even though I have heard of her). That clue was OK without that association.
Thanks for helpful blog, Kitty.
Doh! Taxis pick up and drop off their fares. 🙂
Yes, indeed, sorry for not explaining well enough. See my response to Prof just below.
Steady solve today and heading for a quick time until I became stuck on TAXI. Even an alphabet trawl didn’t reveal it but thankfully Mrs Prof got it in about 30 seconds.
@Kitty: I think the parsing of TAXI is not about how well business is doing. It is that the business of a taxi is picking up and dropping off people.
Prof
Tx. I now understand the clue.
I clearly wasn’t clear. I understood the clue, but was trying to explain the surface (i.e the misdirecting) meaning. This is because my initial thought was that it wasn’t a very cryptic definition – I immediately read it as picking up and dropping off people and when writing the blog had to think for a bit about what the intended misleading surface was. I added a that in an attempt to help rather than hinder explanation. Looks like I failed!
Very Amewsing. 10:37 Ruby Anne & Geri all helped me out and Will was pretty generous too.
Many thanks 👍
Very gentle I thought finishing in 8:12 of which a good couple of minutes at the end spent getting LOI: TAXI which I couldn’t see and was going about it all wrong.
COD: TOE for which I thought ‘nailed body part’ was a nice definition.
Cheers all
10 minutes for a fun, witty puzzle: loi BRUNEI because I was trawling mentally for a would-be leader. Spent a minute trying to make an anagram from news boss (creased the indicator) but LIDO put me right. The lido in Venice is a famous beach, setting for Britten’s Death In Venice and other fictional works. Enjoyed NIGHT OWL (shades of P G Wodehouse) and I SLANDER at 17a. Cracking start to the week – thanks Wurm and Kitty!
DNF, due to mis-parsing of 24a. I saw ‘go North’ as the definition and put LEAVEs (Leave South). It was my second last in and I was under pressure (from someone who shall not be named) to finish quickly. Galling! My LOI was ISLANDER and I stopped work at around the 25 minute mark.
Many thanks to Wurm and Kitty.
6:06
Gentle start to the week although it seemed to be a slightly odd puzzle. Aside from the three livers, there were ten answers of four letters or fewer. Must admit I missed the Wax meaning of RUBY though of course, she has been fairly well known in the UK for nearly forty years. Also missed the parsing of LOI ERASER whilst in flight. Also enjoyed the perhaps unintentional combination of EDGY EGG which reminded me of one of Marillion’s finest hours – the poetry that is one of their early hits, ‘Garden Party’.
Thanks Wurm and Kitty
Yes, I thought Wiggly Woo was less twisty than usual! Not a bad start to the week, although I wasted nearly a minute on my LOI, and – naturally – once I got it, I couldn’t see why it took so long. I wasn’t sure about ‘mewsical’ – I rather like a bad pun, but this one jarred somehow. And as for 10a (TOE), well the surface was just gruesome!
I took me a while to parse RUBY – along with GERI and ANNE, I make that three living people in one small crossword! I’m sure it makes the setter’s art easier, but I still have mixed feelings about this introduction. Someone recently commented that people whose fame reaches a really wide demographic should be allowed, but lesser known ones? Geri Halliwell and Princess Anne are undoubtedly famous enough to qualify but Ruby Wax? Not so sure … Of course, one person’s megastar is someone else’s B or C-lister!
9:30 FOI Anne LOI Leaven COD Egg – it made me smile
Thanks Wurm and Kitty
I had a strange time with the 15×15 today – I got half a dozen after about 5 minutes but couldn’t get to grips with it, so went and hung some washing out. On my return I rattled it off in about 15 minutes!
I didn’t bother with Geri and Ruby, just put in the obvious answers. Since William Tell didn’t actually exist, I’m not much worried about what kind of bow he used, and the clue was a write-in. I ended up with _ A _ I, in which many words could fit. I was thinking I wouldn’t finish, and then I saw it.
Time: 7:48
11:50. I too wondered like xwordnewbie if BALL GAME was too generic, but there is the song “Take me out to the ball game”, traditionally sung during the “seventh inning stretch” at many American baseball ballparks.
11.02 with no errors, my best time in nearly three weeks. I enjoyed this one particularly NIGHT OWL (Coincidentally I was listening to Gerry Rafferty’s excellent album of that name yesterday), TAXI and my COD – CATS, I love a good pun. FOI – ANNE, LOI – LEAVEN. Thanks Wurm and Kitty.
10:00 exactly today. Spotted all three of the living people, which may be a first. All are women with four letter names, but I’m guessing that that is just a coincidence. Certainly if there’s more to it than that, it has gone over my head.
Thanks Wurm and Kitty.
Struggled somewhat, not helped by storm burt crashing my IT
Had a really tough time with this one! RUBY, TAXI, and BRUNEI held me up.
5.18, so about par for me. An unjustified mer at lido, I happily stand corrected.
Purrhaps not to everyone’s liking, but mewsical made me smile and so gets me COD.
07:06
Didn’t spot the Ruby Wax connection.
LOI and COD breather.
Long time visitor but first time poster. First ever quick cryptic I’ve fully parsed in around the two years I’ve been attempting them. A quick glance over the 15×15 soon put me back in my place, but a win is a win and I shall take it!
Many thanks Wurm and Kitty.
Well done Matt
Thank you 🙂
Thank you!
Welcome Matt! Here’s to many more wins 👍👍👍
Thank you 🙂
Welcome Matt and well done! Do keep us informed of your progress, sure to involve many more wins. 🙂
Welcome and long may you solve! Well done!
Well done Matt. I first posted here about a month ago having completed my first QC – slowly getting better although sub 10 minute times still boggle my mind. Welcome to the blog
I’m outside the top 100 so many solvers must have found this accessible. My nemesis was yet again the simple cryptic, in this QC it was TAXI. 7:49
15:03
Another phone solve but no pinks this time. Really struggled with SAN DIEGO, even though I was standing in an immigration line in California at the time.
LOI BRUNEI
A rare day off and a chance to sit and do the days offering in one hit rather than catch up on the week’s fare at the weekend. Very enjoyable and all done in c.30mins. Thanks Wurm and Kitty.
9:21
Raced through and was ready to leave but the taxi didn’t arrive for three minutes.
Thanks Kitty and Wurm
7.37 Mewsical wouldn’t have been out of place in the The Beano. If it had a crossword. I do know Ruby Wax but I assumed wax was rub and didn’t give any thought to the extra “y”. LOI was TAXI, which I wasn’t very sure about. Thanks Kitty and Wurm.
18 mins. Slowed down by Brunei and wanting more evidence for Taxi. But fun and lots of great clues. Thanks Wurm and Kitty.
woohoo actually finished this in a quotable time 26.48. Thanks Wurm, thats a first for me.
COD lingerie
LOI Leaven
Half an hour to complete this entertaining puzzle.