Hi everybody. An enjoyable start to the quickie week – thanks Pipsqueak!
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 | Group backing US city’s electric car (5) |
| TESLA — SET (group) reversed (backing) + LA (US city) | |
| 7a | Doctor not masked? I’ve no idea (4,3,2) |
| DONT ASK ME — Make an anagram of (doctor) NOT MASKED | |
| 9a | Philosopher quietly left at end of concerto (5) |
| PLATO — P (quietly) + L (left) + AT + the last letter of (end of) concertO | |
| 10a | Bald Cockney is so stuffy (7) |
| AIRLESS — A bald person is hairless; a cockney who is so might drop the aitch and be ‘AIRLESS | |
| 11a | Stormy rains engulfing America from land west of Alaska (7) |
| RUSSIAN — An anagram of (stormy) RAINS surrounding (engulfing) US (America) | |
| 12a | Loves anecdotes one collects (5,2) |
| DOTES ON — A hidden: anecDOTES ONe holds (collects) the answer | |
| 15a | Increasingly irritated with scruffy attire, right? (7) |
| RATTIER — An anagram of (scruffy) ATTIRE + R (right) | |
| 18a | Helpful purchase for the climber? (7) |
| TOEHOLD — A cryptic definition. The intended first reading of the clue is something helpful a climber might buy. | |
| I’m so well adapted to look for alternative meanings that I often see them first, as might you, but if we were to ask a normal person their thoughts on the clue as if it were a straight crossword I’m sure it would pass the test | |
| 20a | Sounds like con man spotted cat (7) |
| CHEETAH — Sounds like CHEATER (con man) | |
| 22a | Still time for meeting (5) |
| EVENT — EVEN (still) + T (time) | |
| 23a | Unknown person going round lake, a killer perhaps (9) |
| STRANGLER — STRANGER (unknown person) going round L (lake) | |
| 24a | Ready to drop, tried pushing Republican back (5) |
| TIRED — TRIED moving the R (republican) to the |
|
| Down | |
| 1d | Grass up gutless editor, a drunkard (5) |
| TOPER — POT (grass) reversed (up, in a down entry) + EditoR without the middle letters (gutless …) | |
| 2d | Clicks on recent photograph (8) |
| SNAPSHOT — SNAPS (clicks) on HOT (recent) | |
| 3d | A Mafia boss is a handsome chap (6) |
| ADONIS — A + DON (Mafia boss) + IS | |
| 4d | What might persuade a couple of Romeos into bed? (6) |
| CARROT — A and R R (couple of Romeos) go into COT (bed) | |
| 5d | Island broadcaster’s announcement (4) |
| SKYE — A soundalike (announcement) of SKY (broadcaster) | |
| 6d | Nice to get rid of large worker on the land (7) |
| PEASANT — P[l]EASANT (nice) taking out (to get rid of) L (large) | |
| 8d | Ancient relative’s northeastern heartland destroyed (11) |
| NEANDERTHAL — NE (northeastern) + HEARTLAND anagrammed (destroyed) | |
| 13d | Boat sure to be wrecked — by me? (8) |
| SABOTEUR — BOAT SURE is to be anagrammed (wrecked) | |
| 14d | Summary going over everyone’s head? That’s correct (7) |
| PRECISE — PRÉCIS (summary) above (going over) Everyone’s initial letter (head) | |
| 16d | Keen camper sleeping here (6) |
| INTENT — IN TENT (camper sleeping here) | |
| 17d | Go AWOL in the Sahara perhaps (6) |
| DESERT — Two definitions | |
| 19d | Old-fashioned duke had died (5) |
| DATED — D (duke) + ATE (had) + D (died). | |
| My first thought, PASSED, just would not fit! | |
| 21d | Nobleman in good time? Not quite (4) |
| EARL — EARLy (in good time) without its last letter (not quite) | |
we had trellis for 18a for a while, enjoyable puzzle.
Some easy clues but also some tricky ones.
I missed ‘doctor’ as an anagram indicator which made ‘don’t ask me’ tough to spot.
SABOTEUR was a very good clue with the spelling helped by the anagram.
COD to LOI TOEHOLD.
Thanks Pipsqueak and Kitty.
24:07
My first QC since Monday 10th March 2025 – which coincidentally was also Pipsqueak. So pleased with my time, more so as my last QC was a DNF.
A really enjoyable puzzle with some lovely clues – CARROT, TOPER & SABOTEUR to name but a few.
Thank you to Pipsqueak and Kitty.
Interesting to have two firms in the grid – Tesla & Sky(e). Fast for me, costa still warm at the end
FOI 1a Tesla
LOI 4d carrot – it just got left behind!
COD 9a plato
A steady solve with TOEHOLD my LOI, as with other contributors.
7.06. Gentle Monday.
I did this several hours ago and am very pleased to report an (increasingly rare) SCC escape. Approx. 16 minutes to be precise, if that’s not a contradiction in terms.
And, but for my final two or three clues (e.g. TOEHOLD and my LOI, STRANGLER), it would have been 2-3 minutes quicker.
Many thanks to Kitty for the blog and Pipsqueak for a true QC.
Nice one SRC 😊
👍👍👍
Relative newcomer to the cryptic world but very much enjoyed this one, especially TOEHOLD and CARROT. Thanks Pipsqueak and Kitty.
Hello Katy – hope you continue to enjoy the cryptic world. Keep posting 😊
13 minutes
Barely adequate performance. Took 5 mins to get TOEHOLD. Saw it quickly but couldn’t parse, so not a good day given the Quitch score.
My newspaper failed to arrive on Friday and so I missed the opportunity to achieve my target (5 solves in 100 mins).
That did not put me in a good mood (no, I don’t solve online). I had 4 solves in 63 minutes, but would probably have made a hash on Friday.
PS Just looked at Friday’s blog. I would have failed comprehensively on this one, no question.
Thanks for the blog.
And my lousy day continues. Failed on 15 x 15 by one letter. An unforgivable spelling error.
Every day there’s something I get wrong!!!
5.52 for this one on phone Tuesday morning so very much on my wavelength particularly as I have just really struggled with today (Tuesdays) puzzle….