Solving time: 28 minutes!
Was it just me, I wonder? Perhaps I wasn’t in the right frame of mind, but I really had a problem getting any sort of flow to my solve today. Okay, I saw 1ac immediately and there were some other easy ones, but I had to hop around the grid to find them and every quarter had blanks where the answers didn’t come to me for far too long.
Lupa has set for us only 5 times to date and last time I gave up after 15 minutes with an answer missing, so I was absolutely determined to finish today without resorting to aids no matter how long it took. How did you all do?
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]. “Aural wordplay” is in quotation marks. I usually omit all reference to juxtaposition indicators unless there is a specific point that requires clarification.
 Across |
|
| 1 | Puzzle unravelled in game (6) |
| ENIGMA | |
| Anagram [unravelled] of IN GAME | |
| 4 | Composed note on a grievance (6) |
| SCORED | |
| SCORE (grievance – a score to settle), D (note) | |
| 8 | Complaints surround Long Island convictions (7) |
| BELIEFS | |
| BEEFS (complaints) containing [surround] LI (Long Island) | |
| 10 | Liberal first lady left a plane (5) |
| LEVEL | |
| L (Liberal), EVE (first lady), L (left) | |
| 11 | Joint covered in crackling (4) |
| RACK | |
| Hidden [covered]in {c}RACK{ling}. Rack of lamb, for example. | |
| 12 | Troubled boy tries temperance (8) |
| SOBRIETY | |
| Anagram [troubled] of BOY TRIES | |
| 14 | Thus Den sent back after trip cut (9) |
| TOURNEDOS | |
| TOUR (trip), then SO (thus) + DEN reversed [sent back]. Another cut of meat! | |
| 18 | Dodgy beer withdrawn by brewery ultimately (8) |
| SLIPPERY | |
| PILS (beer) reversed [withdrawn], PER (by – makes a change from ‘a’), {brewer}Y [ultimately] | |
| 20 | Plenty of luggage (4) |
| BAGS | |
| Two meanings. Bags of fun! | |
| 22 | Old German point of view (5) |
| ANGLE | |
| Two meanings | |
| 23 | Catty on a royal scale (7) |
| LEONINE | |
| Cryptic, the lion being King of the Jungle. I saw the word that fitted the checkers and recognised the connection with cats but took ages to understand why ‘royal’. | |
| 24 | Service re-ordered before prince becomes destructive (6) |
| LETHAL | |
| LET (service re-ordered – tennis, when a newly served ball touches the net), HAL (prince – in Shakespeare) | |
| 25 | Second small insult (6) |
| SLIGHT | |
| S (second), LIGHT (small) | |
| Down |
|
| 1 | Board sailing ship after enquiries made initially (6) |
| EMBARK | |
| E{nquiries} + M{ade} [initially], BARK (sailing ship). I always thought the ship was ‘barque’ and indeed that appeared in the QC only last Tuesday, but apparently it can also be spelt BARK. | |
| 2 | Unwell and in charge, before it is outlawed (7) |
| ILLICIT | |
| ILL (unwell), IC (in charge), IT | |
| 3 | Appropriate encounter (4) |
| MEET | |
| Double definition. As I wrote in a blog on a previous occasion: The first may be unfamiliar to some but I learnt it in church-going days long ago from a response that appeared in one of the standard services in the Book of Common Prayer “It is meet and right so to do”. I thought that was within the past year or two, but on checking the archive I found it was 9 years ago! | |
| 5 | State result of American bias and confusion (8) |
| COLORADO | |
| COLOR (American bias – no ‘u’), ADO (confusion) | |
| 6 | Variety show appraisal received (5) |
| REVUE | |
| Aural wordplay [received] REVUE / “review” (appraisal) | |
| 7 | Desmond takes set, causing holdups (6) |
| DELAYS | |
| DES (Desmond) contains [takes] LAY (set – e.g. the table) | |
| 9 | Villain directed cruel nods (9) |
| SCOUNDREL | |
| Anagram [directed] of CRUEL NODS | |
| 13 | Summon reserve before writer takes short nap (8) |
| SUBPOENA | |
| SUB (reserve – substitute in sport), POE (writer), NA{p} [short] | |
| 15 | Place a call after quiet communion (7) |
| SHARING | |
| SH (quiet), A, RING (call) | |
| 16 | Become unwell under donkey attack (6) |
| ASSAIL | |
| ASS (donkey), AIL (become unwell) | |
| 17 | Face the view! (6) |
| ASPECT | |
| Two meanings | |
| 19 | Finding Ottoman’s place of concealment for bar of gold (5) |
| INGOT | |
| Hidden in [place of concealment] {find}ING OT{toman} | |
| 21 | Monster has no right to ring (4) |
| TOLL | |
| T{r}OLL (monster) [has no right] | |
DNF in just short of 10 mins
This was on the harder side for me but no worse than other tricky ones but I just blanked on SUBPOENA at the end even though I am v familiar with the word.
Agree that the QC should be noticeably easier than the main fare which wasn’t the case today and that seems wrong
This was one of the hardest QC I have ever tried. I understand it is difficult to gauge how difficult a puzzle is but it seems to me this setter consistently misses the right level for a QC. Surely they need to learn how to tone them down.. as it stands now I will not even bother to look at a puzzle by this setter again, and that is a first for me. Definitely not an enjoyable experience today
Only 10 slots left for the Christmas puzzle, be quick to sign up. Link below:
https://timesforthetimes.co.uk/%f0%9f%8e%84-join-the-tftt-christmas-crossword-challenge-%f0%9f%8e%84
38.27 I did about half, mostly on the left hand side, got stuck for twenty minutes, made a cup of tea, got SHARING and picked away at the rest. TOURNEDOS appeared in the 15×15 last month, which helped a little. LOI SCOUNDREL was inexplicably hard. Thanks Jack and Lupus.
Well, what can I say? That was extremely tough and cannot be described as a QC. I no longer keep records, so I can’t check back, but I’m convinced that Lupa has done this to us before – and more than once. I needed three separate stints and around an hour and a half to reach the finish line. On arrival, I didn’t feel any sense of elation or achievement – just relief that I could eventually put the paper down and forget the puzzle had ever existed. I don’t attempt the 15×15 because it’s too challenging for me. If the QC goes the same way I won’t have anywhere else to go.
Thanks as usual.
Your records may have gone but this internet thing is pretty useful …
February – 18mins
July – 33mins
August – gave up at hour with an error and 4 unsolved
October – gave up at 40mins with 11 unsolved
I’ve just got around to recreating my spreadsheet of 2024 times after a mid-May crash.
Back ups are your friend New Driver…
Indeed they are. I hadn’t done one since November last year 🤦♂️ Really very stupid of me given the notebook had crashed out with the same issue a week before it died.
I was happy with RACK but TOURNEDOS was tougher than I expected. I constructed it from the wordplay and only remembered it as a cut of meat (Tournedos Rossini) when I read Jack’s blog. I also wondered how the B in EMBARK fitted in with the wordplay so thanks Jack for enlightening me on both counts. From ENIGMA to TOLL in 11:54. It wasn’t easy but there was a lot to enjoy.
Thought I was having a really off day and dnf with SHARING and TOURNEDOS unsolved, but how your posts have cheered me up! Yes, it was a tough QC – a bit obtuse in places I reckon. Composing and scoring are different skills and not entirely synomynous. And destructive is not necessarily LETHAL (but could be I suppose). Got COLORADO without really parsing it: do Americans spell differently because of bias? Excuses, excuses: real challenge, some great clues, lots of fun, 30 mins plus for a 2 clue dnf. Thanks to setter and blogger – and to all!
They don’t. But don’t let that colour your judgement
I did most of this in 10 minutes on the train, but a few clues really held me up, in particular LOI TOLL which required at least two alpha trawls.
I struggled to parse several including TOURNEDOS. DNK that meaning of MEET but it had to be.
This was a grown-up challenge and beyond what I would expect in a QC.
A good puzzle but very tough at this level.
David
Found this hard. Finished it by using aids for three of the clues. Biffed quite a few in without understanding how the clue worked.
No time as the app told me I finished this in 1 second.
Thanks for helpful blog.
Agree that this was above the usual difficulty level and needed two people and many aids to finish and further help to parse everything.
My worst QC for sometime, even double checked I hadn’t accidentally wandered into the big one. Needed Jacks excellent blog to complete 5 clues. But proud I battled my way through many of the tougher ones, like Slippery and Subpoena. May have done better if I not convinced myself that Royal Scale was Lineage (to hell with the Catty)
Thanks Lupa and Jack
31:18 but I don’t feel so bad now that I’ve looked at our blogger’s first sentence. This took quite a bit of stubbornness on my part to complete. Off to read the blog and commentary now. I don’t imagine I’ll have much different to add, so I’ll conclude with thanks to Lupa for the enigmatic and slippery puzzle and to jackkt for the ever-reliable blogging.
Gosh I guess I should add that although 31 minutes is a bit more time than I like to spend, it was still an entertaining puzzle and well worth my time! Thanks again setter!
27 mins…
Came to this late and was surprised to finish it based on its initial difficulty. Fingers were crossed for 14ac “Tournedos”, but I trusted the clueing and the checkers and thankfully it was right. Similarly, NHO of “Bark” for a ship, and was getting somewhat confused with the “ark” element. Was desperately looking for “Tutu” for 7dn, but, alas, it was not to be.
Definitely one of the tricker ones for a Monday.
FOI – 1ac “Enigma”
LOI – 7dn “Delays”
COD – 5dn “Colorado” – some clever wordplay here.
Thanks as usual!
Quick SNITCH at 134
The official Quick SNITCH is still playing up but I was curious enough to do some arithmetic. As of just now there were 80 flagged Reference Solvers. Their individual NITCH scores are shown in the SNITCH table, and I worked out the average. I think that is how it is done. This came out at 134. Certainly one of the big ones
56 minutes, 0 errors. FOI Enigma. LOI Subpoena. Incredibly hard. At no point did I think that I was going to finish it… except when I had just one clue to go and started to regain some hope. I’m afraid I have to say it was too difficult to be fun. But thanks Lupa, and Jack.
Why is the Snitch zero?
DNF for me – nowhere near it. Never heard of TOURNEDOS and as for LEONINE virtually impossible (for me) to know where to start with that one.
Spent over an hour – not on same planet let alone wavelength!
Thanks anyway Lupa and Jack
9:40
Not at all easy; couldn’t parse SCORED
46 minutes of pure hell.
I am wasting my time here and was so disillusioned that I barely attempted the big puzzle.
What’s the point? Face it Gary, you don’t have what it takes and never will.
Needless to say, I won’t be volunteering for the Christmas challenge. I don’t need any more humiliation!
We found this really tough and nearly gave up before a PDM on ASPECT and biffing the last 2. Definitely a biff and then parse day for a number of clues, and we were relieved to find others finding it challenging too. Delighted to solve TOURNEDOS fairly quickly, but struggled with LETHAL missing the tennis link, and the hidden INGOT. We still not convinced by the LEONINE clue despite all the explanations. Thanks Jack for the good blog.
FOI ENIGMA
LOI LETHAL
Not a fun start to the week. After finishing quickly (for me) most days last week I gave up on this one