Hi all. I liked this. It took me less time than usual, but there are some creative touches which I really enjoyed. My COD is 16d, SCRAWL. Thanks Trelawney!
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 | Two companies beginning to advertise drink (5) |
| COCOA — CO CO (two companies) + the first letter of (beginning to) Advertise | |
| 7a | Certain about one insect’s identifying mark (9) |
| SIGNATURE — SURE (certain) around (about) I (one) and GNAT (insect) | |
| 9a | A condiment knocked over reference book (5) |
| ATLAS — A and SALT (condiment) reversed (knocked over) | |
| 10a | After taxes, party game! (7) |
| NETBALL — NET (after taxes) + BALL (party) | |
| 11a | Leave with first aid device for young bird (7) |
| GOSLING — GO (leave) with SLING (first aid device) | |
| 12a | Unorthodox thinker’s quote recalled by that woman (7) |
| HERETIC — CITE (quote) reversed (recalled) by HER (that woman) | |
| 15a | Sense I’m developing deadly foe (7) |
| NEMESIS — An anagram of (… developing) SENSE I’M | |
| 18a | Sort wine for relatives (7) |
| KINDRED — KIND (sort) + RED (wine) | |
| 20a | Ruler’s parade carrying on (7) |
| MONARCH — MARCH (parade) containing (carrying) ON | |
| 22a | Safe place to eat starter of nigiri (5) |
| HAVEN — HAVE (to eat) + the first letter of (starter of) Nigiri | |
| 23a | Rough wood taken for martial art (9) |
| TAEKWONDO — An anagram of (rough) WOOD TAKEN | |
| 24a | Most of forest worker’s stove (5) |
| RANGE — All but the last letter of (most of) RANGEr (forest worker) | |
| Down | |
| 1d | Family close to deafening loud noise (5) |
| CLANG — CLAN (family) + the last letter of (close to) deafeninG | |
| 2d | I’m so confused with clue for amphitheatre (8) |
| COLISEUM — An anagram of (… confused …) I’M SO with CLUE | |
| 3d | Attack, alas, is going wrong (6) |
| ASSAIL — ALAS, IS anagrammed (going wrong) | |
| 4d | Pummel baseball player, perhaps (6) |
| BATTER — A double definition | |
| 5d | Piano technician caught fish (4) |
| TUNA — Sounds like (… caught) TUNER (piano technician) | |
| 6d | Substitute with extremely rare position (7) |
| REPLACE — The outermost letters of (extremely) RarE + PLACE (position) | |
| 8d | Old conqueror — he hangs king, unfortunately (7,4) |
| GENGHIS KHAN — An anagram of (… unfortunately) HE HANGS KING | |
| 13d | Poem subsequently receives enthusiastic praise (3,5) |
| THE RAVEN — THEN (subsequently) takes in (receives) RAVE (enthusiastic praise) | |
| 14d | Enliven an initially incapacitated pal (7) |
| ANIMATE — AN + the first letter of (initially) Incapacitated + MATE (pal) | |
| 16d | Quickly write introduction of symphony’s slow movement (6) |
| SCRAWL — The first letter of (introduction of) Symphony’s + CRAWL (slow movement) | |
| 17d | Secure inside ranch, ordinarily (6) |
| ANCHOR — The answer is hidden inside rANCH, ORdinarily | |
| 19d | Fool covered at first in pile of sand (5) |
| DUNCE — The initial letter of (… at first) Covered in DUNE (pile of sand) | |
| 21d | Require some gene editing (4) |
| NEED — Some geNE EDiting | |
A delightful 10:06 with no frustrations, but one typo costing me a pink square. The surfaces for SCRAWL and NETBALL gave me a smile (tax season here) and of course the clue for COLISEUM tickled me. And virtually all the clues are strikingly smooth, creating a real gem of the setter’s art as well as a lovely gentle tour of cryptic cluing for novices.
Thanks to Trelawney and Kitty.
It’s a leisurely Monday since the mover canceled, so I’m off to try the 15×15 in my still half-empty house, thanks for the tip Kevin!
PS: and did the Big Guy in 22:49, a PB by a bit, and the previous one was a good long time ago.
Good luck with the move SC – always a stressful time! But hopefully the 15×15 gave you the chance to relax 🤞
Thanks! I’m delighted to be in at last, furniture or not, so not stressful, but fellow-feeling always appreciated.
If you haven’t already seen it, have a look at The Chain (it’s on YouTube) – something of a house moving classic.
Lovely! Thanks to Kitty, Trelawney and of course, Jason Crampton! 😄
Great puzzle and great blog – thanks both! My only holdup was writing GHENGIS initially and then trying to figure out a game like HITBALL or HOTBALL – until the penny dropped. Rave review for 13d: all done in 19 minutes. I found the clueing both witty and approachable today!
Mrs T has returned to claim a share in our fastest for quite some time though, at 7:48, we are still about two minutes short of our PB. Liked NETBALL and TUNA.
I didn’t find this as easy as many others, coming in at 14:51, just inside my target. Enjoyed SCRAWL, NETBALL and TUNA a lot.
Thanks to Trelawney and Kitty.
Would someone please explain to me why I should have heard of “The Raven”? I’m at the maths and science end of the spectrum and am generally ignorant of poems beyond Pooh Bear’s.
Thanks
I’ve heard of it despite not knowing much poetry. “Quoth the raven, nevermore” is a famous refrain, and the fact the poem inspired a Simpsons episode helps it stick in my mind too.
There was a famous horror film in the 1960s based around the poem and called The Raven starring Vincent Price, Peter Lorre and Boris Karloff.
7.04 WOE. A quick start to the week spoiled by TAEKWANDO. The first few letters always look wrong but the checkers made them clear so I didn’t bother checking the anagram. LOI SCRAWL. Thanks Kitty and Trelawney.
12:14 Good fun.
Quick for us until the last few clues, The raven, heretic and netball.
15:25 which is about as quick as it gets for me.
“Net” for “After taxes” held me up longer than it should have done.
Thought clue for “scrawl” was great as well.
Many thanks to setter.
15 minutes.
No, I’m not happy with that when I see what the competition achieved. I should be able to do one like this in under 10 mins given my experience. Others seem to manage it without a problem. Why can’t I do that???
Solved 15 x 15 without any sense of achievement as it was really just another QC.
Thanks for the blog.
PS On checking, turns out I didn’t complete the 15 x 15 as I had one letter wrong (not a typo, just a typical piece of idiocy). So that’s a fail to go with a disappointing time on the QC. Another poor Monday. It never gets any better!
Well, even I managed to avoid the SCC today with a near perfect top to bottom solve. Didn’t even finish my Costa despite taking a deliberately leisurely pace. Will take a peek at the biggie later – thx for the tip-off.
3:12. Not a PB, but definitely a PB for the combined Quickie and 15×15.
Seems to have lifted a few spirits after Saturday! Thanks Trelawney and Kitty.