Hello all. I hope the new year is treating you well.
With some clever misdirection in wordplay and definitions, this felt like the kind of puzzle which might sit better with experienced solvers used to more advanced puzzles. Because I’m one of those (just realised I started blogging nearly ten years ago – eek!) I did ok timewise (about average) and enjoyed it immensely, but it kept me thinking a couple of minutes longer than did the previous Bjorn puzzle. You need look no further than the first couple of acrosses to illustrate. Once of those might have been my Clue of the Day, but I have to mention the deftly-hidden 3d, which I got from checking letters before I found it in the clue. Thanks to Bjorn for the entertainment.
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 | |
| 1a | Political philosopher worries about Republican group causing riot? (4,8) |
| MARX BROTHERS — MARX (political philosopher) + BOTHERS (worries) around (about) R (Republican). Riot in the fun sense: comedy rather than civic disturbance | |
| 8a | Object — one associated with Hull — pocketed by doctor (5) |
| DEMUR — EMU (one associated with Hull – Rod Hull, entertainer with puppet sidekick Emu) put inside (pocketed by) DR (doctor) | |
| 9a | Brownish vehicle male crashed (7) |
| CARAMEL — CAR (vehicle) + an anagram of (… crashed) MALE | |
| 10a | Facility with £50 off winter sport equipment (3) |
| SKI — SKI[ll] (facility) without LL (£50 off), the first L coming from Libra, pound sterling (£) and the second the Roman numeral 50 | |
| 11a | Disconnected and receiving no publicity (9) |
| UNPLUGGED — Two meanings. To plug something means to give it publicity | |
| 13a | Hey! Ad break periodically censored some stars (5) |
| HYDRA — With deletion of regular letters (… periodically censored) HeY! aD bReAk | |
| 14a | Very exposed lines become worn down (5) |
| ERODE — Without outer letters (… exposed) vERy + ODE (lines, of poetry) | |
| 16a | Got lather worked up somewhat slowly (9) |
| LARGHETTO — GOT LATHER anagrammed (worked up) | |
| 17a | Drink Strega on a regular basis (3) |
| TEA — sTrEgA, taking alternate letters (on a regular basis) | |
| 19a | Grip end of broken halter awkwardly (7) |
| ENTHRAL — The last letter (end) of brokeN and HALTER anagrammed (awkwardly) | |
| 21a | Angular figure seen in velour homburg (5) |
| RHOMB — The answer – a figure with angles – can be seen in velouR HOMBurg | |
| 22a | Spenser tenet reworked into part of speech (7,5) |
| PRESENT TENSE — SPENSER TENET anagrammed (reworked) | |
| Down | |
| 1d | Male said to be affected in unusual way? (5) |
| MIDAS — M (male) + SAID anagrammed (to be affected in unusual way), &lit. It is a broad description of King Midas, but not inaccurate, for it’s not usual for things to turn to gold at a touch | |
| 2d | Cue after grabbing a rest (9) |
| REMAINDER — REMINDER (cue) having taken in (after grabbing) A | |
| 3d | Humber Mud, a short story involving items found on the beach? (7,6) |
| BERMUDA SHORTS — HumBER MUD, A SHORT Story involving the answer | |
| 4d | Take possession of old trophy in 100 years (6) |
| OCCUPY — O (old) followed by CUP (trophy) in between C (100) and Y (years) | |
| 5d | A noted problem solver, I procure hotel undergoing refurbishment (7,6) |
| HERCULE POIROT — I PROCURE HOTEL anagrammed (undergoing refurbishment) | |
| 6d | Pack interior of streetcars (3) |
| RAM — This inner letters (interior) of tRAMs (streetcars) | |
| 7d | Shelf on which sits small toboggan (6) |
| SLEDGE — LEDGE (shelf) on which sits S (small) | |
| 12d | Where the residents have been spirited away? (5,4) |
| GHOST TOWN — A cryptic definition | |
| 13d | Detective Bjorn interrupts brief vacation (6) |
| HOLMES — ME (Bjorn) goes inside (interrupts) HOLS (brief vacation, “brief” referring to the shortened version of the word, not the length of the trip) | |
| 15d | Mark bored by Liberal, a notorious hard-liner (6) |
| STALIN — STAIN (mark) with insertion of (bored by) L (Liberal) | |
| 18d | Easily walk miles in Italian island heading north (5) |
| AMBLE — M (miles) in ELBE (Italian island) reversed (heading north, in a down entry) | |
| 20d | Pitch starts to turn at Rawalpindi (3) |
| TAR — The first letters of (starts to) Turn At Rawalpindi | |
Well we found that tough with LOI erode being a click and hope as we could not parse it. Will add ode=lines to the list! Thanks Kitty.
We nearly had Sherlock at one point so Holmes became a write in when we got there.
We spent quite a lot of our 33.10 looking for some philosopher called Mark, but having exhausted the Monty Python list were getting nowhere until the rest of the crossers made the answer obvious.
Mrs RH came up with emu quickly which was a life saver as I would have been fixated on the North East city for ages, especially with Humber in 1a!
Thanks Bjorn
13.30, so not exactly a walk in the park for me but a fun solve nonetheless. Are the MARX BROTHERS slapstick? In any event they were my LOI. Thanks Kitty and Bjorn.
Vaudeville really, though slapstick is listed as one of the genres in the Wiki article. I think I’ll delete “slapstick” from the blog as it doesn’t need to be there and could be misleading. Thanks.
19 minutes. I’d have saved quite a few of those if I had spotted the well-hidden BERMUDA SHORTS early in the proceedings instead of having to wait for checkers. I only noticed it was hidden after completing the grid.
MIDAS was my LOI and reluctantly entered from wordplay. I’d say the definition was loose for any puzzle, and I’d expect a QC to be a little more precise.
Also the clues seemed exceptionally wordy for a QC so there was a lot to process. The average is 6.7 words per clue, there are several with 8 or 9, and one stretched to 11. Two clues had 4 words but that was the minimum.
We’ve had a couple of &lits with strained definitions in here recently – VENEER springs to mind. Hope it’s not the start of a trend.
Hear hear! Will just steer clear of Bjorn puzzles
I’m going to put today down as a learning experience and move swiftly on.
I had a massive DNF as I called it a day on entering the club with several clues unsolved. A combination of a tough puzzle, a sluggish brain and some missing GK combined for a bit of a nightmare.
Thanks to Kitty for the much needed blog.
Yes, had this been a Friday it would have been acceptable. But on the first ‘back to work’ Monday of a new year?! Come off it!
12:09. Five minutes slower than the 15×15 today so I’m calling this a tough one.
My favourite clue and LOI was MARX BROTHERS, but it prompted me for the third time to check that this was in fact the Quickie.
I’m never conscious of the setter’s name whilst solving so 13dn was a complete head-scratcher until I looked further afield. Note to self.
Found the whole thing entertaining but I suspect there’ll be complaints…
Thanks Bjorn and great blog Kitty. Agree that BERMUDA SHORTS was a superb hidden (BTW you have it as 2dn in your introduction rather than 3dn).
Thanks. Intro now corrected.
Complaint incoming……..I am finding the QCs becoming increasingly harder and consequently less enjoyable and satisfying. More suited to expert solvers as a warm up for the ‘biggy’
I fully agree. A couple of years ago I used regularly to find the QC so easy it was unenjoyable. I have the opposite problem now!
Count me among the outclassed today. First day back to work and had to stop to go and wake my eldest for school with an awful lot of the LHS still empty. Came back to it once showered and dressed but still couldn’t get there. 100% solve rate for the year blown at the first hurdle.
New year resolution – to check the name of the setter before starting!! Might have helped me solve 13D quicker! NHO Larghetto which didnt help either
Quit at 37mins unable to get HOLMES having spent 13mins trawling with an “I” and just not realising I needed to shorten holidays in that way. Usually when it’s an abnormal shortening (i.e. not just the last letter), setters in the QC indicate. That said, on another day I would probably have banged that answer straight in but even so it had still taken me twenty-five mins to reach that.
I did enjoy some of the clues – Marx Brothers, Demur, Bermuda Shorts but in all honesty, I’m getting tired of the lack of Q in the QC. This is the 9th puzzle in the last 20 which has taken me out past 25mins – only two have been finished in under 15mins. As I feared, our new Crossword Editor is not doing those people wanting to take up cryptics any favours, they just seem to be a step down from the 15×15 which I suppose is a valid interpretation of Quick but not the one I’m looking for.
I don’t know how much the new editor’s had to do with the puzzles so far – I would imagine the lead time is a few weeks, and he only started in early December. I agree it’d be good to see more of a mix of ‘true’ quickies and practice-15x15s than we’ve had recently, though.
Perhaps I’ve been unfair in that case – I thought the appointment was mid-November. Of course there is a lead in and I’ve stated before, I suspect a large part of the Editor’s work is as much about meeting publishing deadlines, ensuring puzzles are received and payments sent to setters, going to other meetings etc, etc; as it is actually on the puzzles themselves.
I think it might have been announced then, but for some reason early December is in my head. You’re almost certainly right that the editor has an array of jobs, although reviewing the puzzles themselves is a (big) part of it!
100% in agreement with you
I was further confused by Google informing me that there’s a fictional detective called Bjorn Holm….
Oh blimey. In rertrospect, it now seems blindingly obvious especially as I’ve been reading Sherlock Holmes recently.
Bah humbug season not yet over for me: I generally do the QC via the Times app on an Android phone, so until it’s fixed to show the setter’s name self-referential clues like 13d seem a little unfair!
Thanks for the blog Kitty
100% agree. Come on Times, either solve the glitch in the phone app or tell setters not to use this trick. They can’t in the 15×15 as setters’ names are not shown there, so it’s not a big ask for them to desist in the QC.
The Saturday newsletter promised a revision of the app in the new year so hopefully this problem will be addressed.
I think the Saturday newsletter also said that, in practice, this week was the first under the control of the new crossword editor. So, I’m happy to allow him a bit of breathing space/bedding in before judging whether or not he succeeds in bringing the setters into line.
22:22 not helped by (yes another moan about the app not having the setters name; can it be so hard to fix?) not knowing Bjorn was the setter. Held up by difficulty of clues and refusal to get out pen and paper for anagrams.
many thanks Kitty and, as names aren’t that important, let’s call the setter Connors
Maybe those who couldn’t see the setter’s name could claim they saw some chalk dust.
I thought this was pitched more at the level of a Monday main Times crossword. Not sure that PRESENT TENSE works as ‘part of speech.’ Some fine stuff for all that, especially the two multi-word long ones, MARX BROTHERS and BERMUDA SHORTS.
I (noun) agree (verb) with (preposition) you (noun).
Well that has started the week on the wrong foot! DNF, did not enjoy, did not think it was fair (see 13D), did not think it was a QC.
LARGHETTO is quite specialised vocabulary. The link from Hull to emu is quite specialised GK. Defining MIDAS as a “male affected in unusual way” – true, he was, but it’s not exactly narrowing things down much. Is “present tense” a part of speech? I thought they were things like nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, interjections etc. Present tense is a verb form not a part of speech in my book.
That apart, Mrs Lincoln, how did you enjoy the puzzle …
Thank you Kitty for guiding us through this.
Cedric
Thank you; I agree with both of you (above) – I too had a MER at present tense = part of speech. What is the authoritative judgement here, please?
I agree “part of speech” calls to mind verb, noun, etc but I suppose in a very general sense many things, among them verb tenses, are “parts”of speech.
Found this very tough indeed and needed help to get the NHO LARGHETTO. Thanks for the blog to explain the several biffed items!
8:02. As others have said, very tricky in places for a QC. I was held up at the end by 1A and 1D, both of which are a bit of a stretch, and by 8A which I was trying (and failing, obviously) to solve using the clue for 9A, which was my FOI. I’m another to DEMUR at PRESENT TENSE being a part of speech. Thanks Bjorn and Kitty.
16:42 (start of the English Civil War)
I found this tough. I did not help myself by biffing ALLEGRETTO, despite it not being slow or fitting the letters. Only when I eventually spotted the hidden BERMUDA SHORTS was I able to sort out the SW corner.
I biffed ERODE, but could not parse it. Thanks Kitty for the explanation
Thanks Bjorn and Kitty
Another DNF.
Miles away, and now I’m not even seeing long anagrams with plenty of checkers. Didnt get HERCULE POIROT and LARGHETTO took too long (Lethargic kept popping up in my head)
Never check the name of the setter, so the Bjorn business had me confused, only Bjorn I could think of was Borg. And i thought of MARX, but couldn’t see how anything could follow, so worked on Sir Thomas MORE as a possibility.
COD DEMUR
Other Bjorn’s are available, I understand. One of the Bs in abba, for example.
DNF and had to give in after 40 mins. Seemed very hard for a QC although all fair now I have looked at the answers.
What a struggle! Hunted about for anywhere to start, then eventually alighted on TEA. After a long time, got all but 1a and 1d, both just too difficult for one born yesterday. NHO Rod Hull, and lines = ode was a step too far, but both were biffable. Hardly a friendly Monday QC IMHO. Thanks, Kitty.
I biffed both demur and erode as the obvious answers – well, it’s emu inside Dr, so maybe there’s a Hull in Australia?
16 minutes for me. I thought it was a tough QC as I solved, on paper- which meant I knew Bjorn was the setter; a big help with HOLMES.
My LOI was MIDAS with a shrug at the definition.
I share some of the reservations above but I had all the required GK.
COD to MARX BROTHERS- a very good clue and a reminder of some of my favourite films when I was younger.
David
DNF having made an early call for modus for one down and not going back for a rethink. Having said that, I think it’s a great clue with all the letters given, and a simple rearrangement giving the Doh! moment.
COD to Marx Brothers. I thoroughly enjoyed this, although I can see it’s towards the more difficult end of the spectrum. Thanks Kitty and Setter.
Unable to Log In to the QC, only to the 15×15.
DNF today. Defeated by the MARX BROTHERS, the SHORTS, and even HOLMES. Did manage to work out LARGHETTO. Laughed at EMU.
Countrywoman.
It’s a mystery as the site said I was Logged Out.
In Bermuda itself shorts are not for the beach. Chaps wear formal smart shorts in plain bright colours with a navy jacket and tie, but I can’t remember the colours of their long socks. (Now googled: navy knee-socks)
Thanks vm for vital blog, Kitty.
Wow, that was a toughie. Couldn’t find my anagram hat in all the clutter from Bjorn’s clues, and the bear traps were surprisingly well-hidden for a QC (still found them, though 😉), so this was a distinctly slow solve. Got there in the end, but with a sense of relief rather than achievement. That’s not to say that there were no highlights: Erode, Remainder and Demur (ah, not Rod then) were satisfying to parse, and CoD Ghost Town produced a broad smile. Not so sure about Present Tense as a part of speech, and who says Rhomb rather than Rhombus ? Still, I’ll take the solve. Invariant
From MARX to STALIN in a miraculous 07:27 … my first ever sub-BuriedJohn! Oh my days. Absolute scenes.
It did feel tricky but somehow the clues kept clicking. Much harder than Bjorn’s first puzzle, which I blogged back in November.
COD to MARX BROTHERS. Many thanks Bjorn and Kitty.
By today’s standard Templar that is quick. Well done! (See my time below for comparison).👏
Impressive, even by your high standards: tile duly lifted.
Thanks both. Some days the lettuce eats the rabbit.
Wow 🔥🔥
Well done!
I’ve only been doing the quicks for a couple of weeks and the fact that the setter was named hadn’t really registered. Lesson learnt. An enjoyable puzzle but, as others have said, PRESENT TENSE is not a part of speech. All is forgiven however for the excellent BERMUDA SHORTS and MARX BROTHERS.
Thanks to Kitty and the setter.
Well, having seen the comments above and the number of DNFs, I see it wasn’t just me that found this tough. In fact I would go as far as to say that this was the toughest QC so far produced. To a large extent it was 15×15 standard, and I’m sure would be too difficult for many just getting into crosswordland. I very nearly gave up on a couple of occasions, but persevered to eventually finish in 30.08. BERMUDA SHORTS and MARX BROTHERS in particular held me up, which meant the left hand side of the puzzle looked bare for a long time with a distinct lack of crossers. I eventually staggered over the line with HOLMES for my worst recorded time for a QC.
14:10
I too found it hard but enjoyable. HOLMES held me up for a while and then the whole of the NW, finishing with MIDAS and LOI and COD MARX.
Thanks Kitty and Bjorn
Would’ve popped into the SCC today except that I was barred out for a typo at 12d. GHOSS TOWN. Drat! I’d only just woken up and was a bit groggy, but this was a tough one! Never saw the hidden shorts so had to wait for crossers. I also raised an eyebrow at PRESENT TENSE, and thought MIDAS was a bit loose. Fortunately I couldn’t make MODUS fit the wordplay so reluctantly went with the man with the golden touch. 20,29 WOE. Thanks Bjorn and Kitty.
Look at it from the positive POV, John. Did a power of good to your SNITCH!
Talking of which, we haven’t heard from Kelvin yet. 🙂
Lol
I also thought of MODUS but not surprisingly couldn’t parse it. Agree with Kitty this QC is not for one Bjorn yesterday. My granddaughter has just started doing the QC and I know she would really struggle to finish this. A lot of PDMs and some great clues. Thanks Kitty and Bjorn
I almost solved this very early today (I was trying to take my mind off things whilst waiting for a robot to give me a total knee replacement in an hour or two) and, at the time, there were only three posts. I was not surprised because it was clearly a tough one. I confess that I ‘revealed’ my last 2 when I had reached the deeper regions of the SCC and lost the will to continue.
Despite this, I thought it was a very good, clever, thought-provoking puzzle but, yet again, simply not a QC. I am glad to see that many respected solvers above agree.
The SNITCH was at 145 and I am surprised to see that it is still at 145!
Good luck with your rehabilitation and recovery process, Blighter!
Yes, good luck, Blighter.
Thank you both for your kind comments. All now done and all good. Recovery begins….
You remind me what a great forum this is.
Gosh, encouraging you have been fixed so quickly.
Very tricky and full of misdirections taking me down endless rabbit holes, but I did persevere to a finish. Didn’t see that BERMUDA SHORTS was a hidden until trying to parse after the event. Liked DEMUR, MIDAS and HOLMES, all of which challenged the little grey cells, but COD to MARX BROTHERS which held out the longest. All seemed fair on reflection (apart from PRESENT TENSE) but it felt a bit of a slog at the time. Thanks for the blog and especially the parsing of ERODE kitty. Thanks Bjorn.
Very tricky (I missed my target), and a tough ask for the majority of those who regularly do the QC. but not the 15×15 – this was more like the latter on a smaller grid. Thanks to Kitty for the usual excellent blog.
FOI CARAMEL
LOI HOLMES
COD GHOST TOWN
TIME 6:25
6:58
Saw the hidden BERMUDA SHORTS from all but the first checker, which in turn gave MARX BROTHERS, finishing with MIDAS. I enjoyed the puzzle a lot and enjoy the variety that different setters can bring, but can see why there are some moans.
Thanks Kitty and Bjorn
Looked at this for a few minutes then decided it was far too hard for me.
Just gave up and looked at the answers which confirmed my initial thought.
A very depressing start to the week.
Some easy clues but on the whole way beyond my ability. Even looking at the answers, had to admit I would never have guessed what Bjorn was thinking of.
I’m obviously not in step with many posters as I rather enjoyed this. I started quite quickly but slowed down to finish in 13:11. I did wonder at one point if there was going to be a fictional detective theme, but it seemed to fizzle out.
It was quite tricky in places for sure but I really liked some of the more unusual definitions, especially MARX BROTHERS. I also liked SKI, DEMUR and LARGHETTO (would you like a head massage with the conditioner?).
8a was definitely one for the British of a certain age! Undoubtedly all the Kent residents here will know this, but I was amazed to discover that the house in Rochester that Dickens based Miss Haversham’s residence on was owned by Rod Hull in the 1980s, and he apparently kept the great chamber set as for her wedding party! Restoration House – there’s loads more info online if you’re interested.
FOI Demur LOI Marx Brothers COD Midas, closely followed Hercule Poirot
Thanks Bjorn and Kitty
DNF
Was v sluggish but as with others, solving on a phone meant that I could make nothing of the reference to Bjorn and assumed I was missing some GK.
Otherwise some very good clues.
On the difficulty, I like the QC being hard at times but it is just completely wrong for it to be harder than the 15×15 on the same day. Why can’t the puzzles get harder during the week so if there is a tricky one it is on a Friday and folks know it will be more of a challenge?
I found this right at the outer edge of my solving ability, but I did at least cross the line without error …. in somewhere between 50-55 minutes, I think. I was perhaps slowed a little by being slightly distracted listening to Ricochet by Tangerine Dream, an album I haven’t played in more than 20 years.
Unfortunately, 1a (MARX BROTHERS) ended up being my LOI, and 1d (MIDAS) and 13d (HOLMES) remained hidden for almost as long, so I had precious few starting letters to work with throughout the crossword.
LARGHETTO was a NHO and I never saw BERMUDA SHORTS hidden in 3d. I never parsed ERODE, MIDAS or MARX BROTHERS and ENTHRAL, DEMUR and REMAINDER were just hard. Phew!
Many thanks to Kitty and Bjorn, and respect to anyone who dashed this off quickly.
13:35. Seemingly unlike many I really enjoyed this one, and as with Bjorn’s previous QC there are a few contenders for COD. I’ve gone with GHOST TOWN but also really liked BERMUDA SHORTS (great hidden), MARX BROTHERS and REMAINDER with the misdirecting snooker references.
Strangely my recent performances bear little relation to the Quitch. Today, rated at 140 at the time of writing, was my best time since Mara’s crossword on December 17th (8:33) and since then I have four which I have yet to complete despite those having a rating of 92,94, 77 and 123.
FOI – CARAMEL, LOI – LARGHETTO. Thanks Bjorn for another great puzzle and Kitty for the great blog.
DNF; as Koppite above bunged in Modus for 1d and forgot to return. Doh!
Not an easy QC, but I never thought I would DNF (as I had forgotten about 1d.)
13a NHO Hydra as constellation, but it seemed pretty obviously right. Actually I know very few constellations, and those I do know are largely from Xwords.
3d B Shorts a superb hidden and COD just for hiding it so well.
12:30. Some very difficult clues- feel lucky to have gotten everything in a good time for me.
As an experienced solver, I started relatively quickly but then came to a sudden halt after getting the easy ones – which were caramel, unplugged, Hydra, larghetto, rhomb, sledge, ghost town, amble, and the chestnut remainder. The rest were rather difficult, although one could biff ski, erode, and demur. I even put in Bermuda shorts from the literal, never seeing the hidden, and moved on – that must be it!
Time: 11:51
12.15 None of the long answers came easily. I biffed BERMUDA SHORTS thinking it was probably an anagram and I couldn’t make any sense of the Bjorn reference in HOLMES. LOI MIDAS. An average time in the end for a puzzle that was hard but satisfying. Thanks Kitty and Bjorn.
Am I the only one thinking that 14a might read better as ‘wear down’ rather than ‘become worn down’ which I would say is eroded.
Chambers gives both as valid definitions, although I agree ‘become worn down’ is less common.
Totally! To the extent for me i refused to put erode in even with all the checkers! Glad i wasn’t the only one.
Took well over an hour to finish in two sittings but rather pleased to have done so.
I’ve been doing the QC for over two years now and this was one of the hardest. Not helped by 1a and 3d being the last ones in.
Hats off to the hidden BERMUDA SHORTS.
Thanks Kitty and Bjorn.
10.24. My only quibbles were ‘part of speech’ and ‘erode’. I can see how the latter works, but it still elicited a ‘Meh’.
Dnf…
Every now and then I come across a puzzle which makes me wonder if I’ve stumbled into an alternative reality, and I have to check I’m not doing some kind of entrance exam for MI6. I think I got to 17ac “Tea” before any semblance of an answer appeared.
Ok, upon reflection, it wasn’t that bad, and after 50 mins I only had a couple to get – but his was hard work. And to think, I thought I was having a good start to the year 😀. Fair play for “Emu” for 8ac – all I could think of was some kind of obscure fish. How on earth “Bermuda Shorts” appeared in 3dn I have no idea – I must have looked for hidden words about 20 times.
FOI – 17ac “Tea”
LOI – Dnf
COD – 13dn “Holmes”
Thanks as usual!
I studied technical drawing and crystallography but I never came across the word rhomb before. Rhombus and rhomboid but never just Rhomb….
Have to revise my view that Mondays QC is a warm up for the week. Answer came slowly or not at all in the cases of Marx Brothers, Midas and Larghetto (couldn’t find the term in musical references). Thanks Kitty and Bjorn
Gosh, that was a real struggle: almost an hour and I had to look up Holmes: didn’t see setter’s name.
Glad I wasn’t the only one with problems.
An earlier than usual solve for me. Def needed a change of gears to get anywhere near the wavelength. Worked on 3d as an anagram without seeing a hidden so was looking for that well known collection of stories ——/shores until all the crossers were in… I don’t understand why people needed to know it was a Bjorn to get 13d – a simple ‘me’ was all it takes (am I missing something?)
FOI 13a Hydra
LOI 1d the very (too) loose Midas
COD 1a Marx Brothers for the misdirection.
Yes very hard for a QC but mainly for the change of setter style rather than inherent difficulty eg managed to get 3d and 22a as well as some of the others just from working the clues extra hard.