Hello, and welcome to Christmas Eve Eve. I hope you all have a lovely festive season and I’ll see you again on the other side.
EDIT: following comments, I can reassure you that today’s puzzle was clearly on the tough side for a Quick Cryptic. I must have been in the zone as nothing held me up unduly and I found plenty to like, my favourite clue being 16d. Thanks Pedro!
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 | |
| 7a | French food that is to the rear of British (4) |
| BRIE — IE (that is) after (to the rear of) BR. (British) | |
| 8a | Popular group, with leader away, failing to perform (8) |
| INACTION — IN (popular) + fACTION (group) without the first letter (with leader away) | |
| 9a | Oppose wild jumping Jack abandons (6) |
| IMPUGN — An anagram of (wild) [j]UMPING which J (jack) leaves (abandons) | |
| 10a | Former lover abandoned bottle, almost free (6) |
| EXEMPT — EX (former lover) + EMPTy (abandoned bottle) stopping short of its last letter (almost) | |
| 11a | Group of hunters satisfied bagging tail of grouse (4) |
| MEET — MET (satisfied) taking in (bagging) the last letter of (tail of) grousE | |
| 12a | Road marker from motorway with large English letters (8) |
| MILEPOST — MI (M1, motorway) + L (large) + E (English) + POST (letters) | |
| 15a | Bored concealing power provided by working munitions (8) |
| WEAPONRY — WEARY (bored) around (concealing) P (power) and ON (working) | |
| 17a | Web program beginning to harm two things (4) |
| BOTH — BOT (web program) + the first letter of (beginning to) Harm | |
| 18a | Church expert accepting new risk (6) |
| CHANCE — CH. (church) + ACE (expert) taking in (accepting) N (new) | |
| 21a | Liberal American backed attempt with passion (6) |
| SULTRY — L (Liberal) and US (American) reversed (backed) + TRY (attempt) | |
| 22a | Ran round Sidney, off-balance (8) |
| LOPSIDED — LOPED (ran) round SID (Sidney) | |
| 23a | Right to deploy plan (4) |
| RUSE — R (right) + USE (to deploy) | |
| Down | |
| 1d | Top politician going to European film debut (8) |
| PREMIERE — PREMIER (top politician) + E (European) | |
| 2d | Lustre going off in sequel (6) |
| RESULT — LUSTRE anagrammed (going off) | |
| 3d | Oral statement of offender on Monday is spicy stuff (8) |
| CINNAMON — CINNA here is a soundalike of (oral statement of) SINNER (offender) on MON (Monday) | |
| 4d | Create market that’s failing regularly? (4) |
| MAKE — MArKEt having regular letters deleted (that’s failing regularly?) | |
| 5d | Looks up to take in introduction of theatrical Hollywood star (6) |
| STREEP — PEERS (looks) reversed (up) to take in the first letter (introduction) of Theatrical | |
| 6d | Concession securing a TV series? (4) |
| SOAP — SOP (concession) around (securing) A | |
| 13d | Bet political advisor will keep source of scandal in reserve (3,5) |
| LAY ASIDE — LAY (bet) + AIDE (political advisor) will contain (keep) the initial letter (source) of Scandal | |
| 14d | Sort of comic artist is funny (8) |
| SATIRIST — ARTIST IS anagrammed (funny) | |
| 16d | Wordplay is hard to beat? (6) |
| PUNISH — PUN (wordplay) + IS + H (hard) | |
| 17d | Negative comment involving the French debut for Ravel — this piece? (6) |
| BOLERO — BOO (negative comment) containing (involving) LE (the, French) and the first letter of (debut for) Ravel | |
| 19d | Ring Houses of Parliament initially about nothing (4) |
| HOOP — First letters of (… initially) Houses Of Parliament around (about) O (nothing) | |
| 20d | Limits or borders of European domains (4) |
| ENDS — Outer letters of (borders of) EuropeaN DomainS | |
15:13. Gosh! I’m first. l’m afraid I did find a couple of things to hold me up, particularly EXEMPT where I spent ages at the end trying to justify it. Thank you Kitty for the PDM in the blog. WEAPONRY was hard too. I enjoyed Ravel’s Bolero
28:09 for the solve! Felt like I was stepping down from the 15×15 again. Only a tentative MEET, CHANCE and an unfinished MILE- on the first look of Across clues and felt bewildered by what most of it wanted. I’d have been quicker if I was a better biffer!
Liked this quite a lot. BOLERO was my last in and thought it clever being able to include the composer in the clue too. Liked MILEPOST after separating the wordplay from the definition. Liked EXEMPT and PUNISH.
Thanks Kitty and setter.
Boloro was foi and regrettably also loi
Way too tough for a novice.
17 minutes missing my extended target by 2. Oh for the days long gone when bottles were never abandoned because there was money back on the empties!
Those days are still here in the US, where Connecticut just doubled the bottle deposit. However, many are abandoned anyway.
13 minutes. Exactly the same as kapietro, I found first EXEMPT and then WEAPONRY quite difficult and almost gave up on the latter at the end. Favourite was MILEPOST which would almost do as a straight def as well.
Thanks to Kitty and Pedro
I found this tricky in places with some new (to me) definitions, such as sequel/RESULT and oppose/IMPUGN (although this is the first definition in Chambers 😳).
However there was some clever wordplay and I enjoyed eking out the answers – particularly in the bottom half of the grid.
Started with BRIE and finished with WEAPONRY in 9.42.
Thanks to Kitty and Pedro
That was a struggle, and my eyebrows were raised at several points. RESULT = sequel? “Failing regularly” = delete 3rd and 6th letter? SULTRY = with passion and IMPUGN = oppose also held me up but I accept others may think them more obvious. All led to a slow and bitty solve, but home eventually in 16 minutes. Not a day when I was on Pedro’s wavelength …
Many thanks Kitty for the blog
Cedric
This was almost word for word what I would have posted had I got here earlier.
FOI BRIE
LOI STREEP
COD PUNISH
TIME 7:42
Wow, a sub-Busman time (5:57)! I can’t remember that happening before. Thank you!
(I will add a note to the intro though to reassure people, as it’s now clear the puzzle was harder than I found it.)
Found this tough but fair throughout. MER at MAKE having every 3rd letter removed rather than every second… does that happen, is any regular deletion fair game?
I have seen “every third letter” before but not very often and possibly not in a QC.
A quick search throws up some recent examples including some Mephistos(!), a Sunday Times puzzle in June 2023 (where SAD was clued by every third letter of “squalid”) and a 15×15 in April 2022 where IGNEOUS turned out to be every third letter of “shiny granite close up is”. Thank goodness we didn’t get that one
I’d think as long as the deletions are equally spaced it’s doing what it says on the tin, so fair game. Though, if true, I definitely would like to see a longish word clued with every fifth or sixth letter removed from the fodder. (And, setters, if you try that and succeed, we’d appreciate an anonymous post telling us how long it took to create)
10:38
I can’t remember a previous case where regular deletion involved every third letter rather than every alternate one, but don’t see any reason against it.
Held up at the end by LOPSIDED and LAY ASIDE.
Thanks Kitty and Pedro
Not on Pedro’s wavelength at all so as a ‘sequel’ I didn’t bother!
I was way off Pedro’s wavelength, too. I found it a disconcerting puzzle and my slowest for months.
22.15. If I thought that my previous solving time was slow, this one was off the clock. I thought that some of the definitions were rather too loose, but that doesn’t excuse my tardiness.
Also MER at MAKE having 3rd letters removed – not sure that counts as regularly. COD PUNISH. Thanks Kitty and Pedro.
I agree it’s unusual, in that it’s usually alternate letters, but “regularly” doesn’t (to me) imply “alternate”, and I thought it was a very neat clue, playing on expectations, as setters so often do. It’s what makes it interesting and a challenge.
Thank you, Kitty – six to the bad, stumped by abandoned bottle = empty; bored = weary; ran = loped; Hollywood star = Streep; political advisor = aide; source = first letter; wordplay = pun. But will attempt to learn as always!
DNF.
Found this very very difficult. Felt a bit like pulling teeth.
I spent an age trying to fit torpedoes in having convinced myself boredom was torpor. Missed WEAPONRY totally.
Had heard of STREEP but had no chance of solving that one.
The regular missing letter indicating every third letter flummoxed me. Sadly, there were many other clues I missed totally.
Hoping tomorrow’s QC is at my level.
Thanks for blog.
Similar. DNF. 10 answers in 30 mins.
Sequel = result?
Another one that shouldnt really be a quick cryptic in my view. Or alternatively perhaps the times should review and restate what the point of a Quick Cryptic is.
😅 One of the most popular, and deeply debated, lines of discussion in the TfTT QC blog over the years.!
Probably summarised as “ it’s not as hard as the 15×15 ( usually). “ Personally, over time I can now do this nearly all the time; not so the Biggie. But nobody seems to have said that this was meant to be “easy”.
Found this a bit tricky, being held up by EXEMPY and LOI, WEAPONRY. I also raised an eyebrow at MAKE. 9:32. Thanks Pedro and Kitty.
Needed two coffees and a bit of perseverance but crossed the line eventually! PDMs included MAKE/EXEMPT/STREEP and LOI MILEPOST. Enjoyed constructing CINNAMON (very much my favourite clue type) and PUNISH. Thanks for the blog kitty. Felt a bit off-wavelength throughout but as usual that didn’t stop any enjoyment. Thanks Pedro, a much-needed and lovely distraction this morning.
Tough one. I’m overlooking the fact I couldn’t spell IMPUGN (impuin) despite having the anagram in front of me. Hardly matters if the puzzle takes almost 36 minutes. LOI an unparsed EXEMPT. Was pleased to get BOLERO as I wouldn’t have been able to connect composer and piece beforehand. Thanks (I think) Pedro and Kitty.
Found this tricky leading to a DNF as could not see WEAPONRY or PUNISH though when I see the answers they are reasonable clues.
I agree with Cedric that some of the definitions were a bit stretching and that, combined with a portcullis grid, added to the difficulty.
One up to Pedro and thanks Kitty for the blog.
PS I see the Qsnitch is 128 which is at the top end of ‘harder’ and is a fair assessment of this puzzle.
As Fabian, I needed two coffees to complete this, but it gave a warm sense of an achievement when done. COD BOLERO, memories of Torville and Dean, but a close run thing with MILEPOST and WEAPONRY. LOI BOTH.
Finished in the time it takes the train from Salisbury to Bradford on Avon (35 minutes or thereabouts). Took a while to get going but tiptoed through it finishing with CINNAMON – just couldn’t parse it but it couldn’t be anything else!! Thanks Kitty for the explanation(s) and Pedro for an enjoyable challenge.
Certainly not the easiest, and I’m fairly content to finish this in 11.02. The major cause of my holdup was the ne corner where EXEMPT and finally SOAP finally dawned on me. I suspect quite a few will find this a good test.
Super crossword, thoroughly enjoyed. I also haven’t encountered the third-letter removal ruse before, but seems perfectly fair, and wins my COD because of it. Nice!
Quite difficult I thought. LOI WEAPONRY, which took some unravelling.
DNF disaster. Way off the wavelength, esp on RHS.
The field or followers gather at the MEET before hunting, to be accurate.
SULTRY biffed but another doubtful definition, imo.
BOLERO v clever. Love Meryl but did not solve.
Blog much needed, so thanks Kitty.
I’ve actually finished a few 15x15s quicker than today’s QC from Pedro and, believe me, that’s saying something. The Punish/Weaponry and Exempt/Street intersections put up a rearguard equal to anything Jack Leach could muster (OK, bar that one with Stokes) and easily doubled my usual time. Some satisfaction in eventually finishing, but not my idea of a QC. Invariant
23:02 I found CINNAMON and IMPUGN very hard. BOLERO was my COD. I didn’t think SULTRY meant “with passion” but it’s a good by-product of solving these puzzles to find out what some words actually mean!
7 mins.
No dramas.
Thanks, Kitty.
31:03
Well I was held up unduly. This was a slow solve. One of those where the 4 quadrants were fairly separate and needed solving independently. The top right seemed the toughest with STREEP, EXEMPT and MAKE all causing problems but it was the NW that held out longest with LOI MEET.
19.38 with no errors. I too had to biff some of the less obvious (to me) definitions such as SULTRY and RESULT, although the wordplay was fair. MAKE was the first time I’ve seen (or maybe that should say solved/biffed) a clue with every third letter removed. I liked BOLERO for the clever inclusion of Ravel in the clue but will give COD to SOAP for bringing back memories of my favourite US sitcom from my teenage years (most unlikely that would be allowed on TV these days however). FOI – BRIE, LOI – WEAPONRY. Thanks Pedro and Kitty.
Failure in top right.
Thought about STREEP, but couldn’t see how SREEP worked. Thought EXEMPT was tough, and although I put MAKE in, didn’t like that “failing regularly” doesn’t mean alternate letters. A sequence of two doesn’t justify “regular”.
COD BOLERO
As I solved, I felt like I was progressing slowly, but only after opening quickly, putting in brie, premiere, impugn, and meet in a ten-second flurry. Things came to an abrupt halt after that! Well, I did see cinnamon fairly quickly, but after that I was hopping around the grid looking for easy clues. I finished up with satirist – oh, it’s an anagram! – and then ruse.
Time: 9:34
21 minutes.
Unenjoyable.
Not one for the novice. I revelled in Bolero. That was my only solve today.
I am encouraged that I did solve two clues in the Sunday Times cryptic.
10:50
Deffo on the trickier side, though looking back, there wasn’t anything too difficult. I could only pencil in RESULT as I too was unsure that it was synonymous with sequel. IMPUGN is an excellent word though. LOI was BOTH which I thought was clever.
Thanks Pedro and Kitty
Finished in just under 10 mins.
Bunged in RESULT as the only possible anagram of lustre with the available checkers, but for the life of me I can’t see how sequel=result.🤔
Terrible puzzle for a QC and much to hold up novices like me. Seems recently the beginners are not getting a break with any puzzles on the easier end of things. How about the editor stepping up and trying to get setters to differentiate between 15*15 and some genuine puzzles for those starting. Not asking for much but maybe a couple a week that are real QC for those that don’t do them in less then 5 minutes.
That’s my moan for today
Good idea, Tim.
Another fail by one clue on the 15 x 15 to go with just failing to beat the SCC cut off on the QC. Very frustrating!
Sounds like you did really well on the 15 x 15 to fail by only one – why no celebration?!
Third time I’ve just missed out. I was pleased with much of my performance, but mucked up a relatively straightforward one. Champagne on ice for when I finish one.
Agree with Cedric’s comments.
I did this after lunch and nodded off mid solve. Total time 28 minutes. LOI PUNISH.
Probably around 20 otherwise.
Some tough stuff here.
COD to LAY ASIDE.
David
I could see what the wordplay should be for 11a but simply couldn’t get MET for satisfied or MEET for group of hunters. A generally hard QC.
5:34
I guess I was just on Pedro’s wavelength today.
Thanks Kitty and Pedro.
Not on the wavelength at all today. Gave up after 20 minutes with 8 outstanding (11ac, 15ac, 16dn and the whole of the NE corner). MER at sequel = result but it had to be right.
FOI – 7ac BRIE
LOI – DNF
COD (of those I solved) – 3dn CINNAMON
Thanks to Pedro and Kitty.
I found the NW and SE corners relatively straightforward, but was forced to wrack my brains good and proper to populate the rest of the grid. After a lengthy barren period, however, I more-or-less biffed WEAPONRY, LAY ASIDE and MILEPOST in quick succession and these provide enough footholds for me to work my way into the SW and NE corners.
I never parsed EMPTY and was very unsure about MEET, but being unable to think of anything better, they went in with fingers crossed. IMPUGN also caused me some doubt, because I realise that I have never really understood the meaning of the word. Some (random) chaps have to lurch through life with only limited vocabulary.
However, with my team now up to (a scarcely believable and vertigo inducing) 5th in the PREMIERship, this one doesn’t mind in the slightest.
Many thanks to Pedro and Kitty.
Another great result over one of the big clubs for 🍒 The decision to take Iraola over O’Neill last summer now looking like a good one esp. as Wolves have now dispensed with the latter’s services.
I found that hard work; the festivities must take their share of the blame, though. Couldn’t parse LOI MAKE at all (desperate biff from “making a market”), and also held up by EXEMPT and INACTION, so it was the NE wot done for me.
Waddled home in 11:37 for a Rotten Day. Many thanks Pedro and Kitty.
22.03 The NW went in quickly but the rest was very slow. I was trying to parse most clues backwards, which I suppose is the sign of a good clue. LOI WEAPONRY. Thanks Kitty and Pedro.
After an encouraging write-in at 1a, I had some stumbles that took me out to 21:30 today: in 1d I got very hung up on the name of a certain politician here in my home country, which fitted the crossers and also had something to do with “top”. It took me a long time to accept IMPUGN as meaning “oppose”. The abandoned bottle at 10a took forever to see. MEET for a group of hunters is not a thing over here, except, I suppose, in rarefied social circles. INACTION started as a biffed INACTIve, which held me up for a while. I liked MILEPOST, PUNISH and BOLERO.
MER at BOT as a web program. To me it’s any program that exhibits vaguely human-like behavior.
Thanks to Pedro and Kitty!
Agree with you on Impugn – it’s in the dictionary and it made sense, but I still expect the QC to be first definitions, not the ones labeled ‘obsolete’.
I often expect it too, but experience is teaching me that I might as well stop expecting it!
Well, that was bracing 😬. Finally finished in 33:20, which is roughly double my normal time these days. Add me to the list of people who haven’t seen “regularly” used like that before – no doubt it’s perfectly fair, but I do hope that it doesn’t become a trend. I find it hard enough deciding which alternate set of letters to omit, without having to guess the interval too.
Thank you for the blog!
Dnf…
Totally off the wavelength today and couldn’t get anywhere near finishing – the NE corner proving particularly stubborn. A shame as I’d been doing pretty well for the last few weeks. I’ll blame having to rush in order to get out to do some last minute Christmas shopping.
FOI – 7ac “Brie”
LOI – dnf
COD – 17dn “Bolero”
Thanks as usual!
17m
Found this very difficult. Abandoned bottle = empty, bored = weary etc
LOsI streep, exempt.
CsOD milepost and boler0.
DNF
Around 8 minutes for all bar WEAPONRY. Just couldn’t see it after 5 minutes even though I had the PON bit. I just didn’t posit A as a possible third letter as I couldn’t think of a word starting _EE, by its sound. Other vowel sounds available!
Thanks Kitty/Pedro
Ps the eyebrows were in pretty permanent raised position…
Enjoyed this one a lot, some really nice clues. Definitely on Pedro’s wavelength today. Especially liked 3d.
Thanks Pedro and Kitty