Hi all. I thought this puzzle from Pipsqueak was pitched well: it took me a little under my average time, which is normal for a Monday.
My clue of the day is 15d because it just does everything a cryptic clue should do, beautifully. I’ll also highlight the bishop unable to go first class (23a) and 10a’s early bird, the inspiration for the blog title – although no worm is in danger from a bird that early! Thanks Pipsqueak!
I’m a busy early worm today, so I’ve kept things brief and will be unlikely to check back in until late. If anyone does have any questions, though, the comments section is always full of lovely people who are willing to help.
Definitions are underlined in the clues below. In the explanations, 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 | First couple of thuds below make an alarming sound (7) |
| THUNDER — The first couple of letters of THuds + UNDER (below) | |
| 5a | Friends lying about blow (4) |
| SLAP — PALS (friends) backwards (lying about) | |
| 7a | Public school backing son’s remarks (5) |
| NOTES — ETON (public school) reversing (backing) + S (son) | |
| 8a | Order soldier to drop back (7) |
| COMMAND — COMMANDo (soldier) removing the last letter (to drop back) | |
| 10a | Breakfast for the early bird? (3) |
| EGG — The definitions, the second whimsical. The egg came first, by the way | |
| 11a | Somehow admire Pep’s fanciful hope (4,5) |
| PIPE DREAM — An anagram of (somehow) ADMIRE PEP | |
| 13a | Giggle time after time in bank (6) |
| TITTER — T T (time after time) in TIER (bank) | |
| 14a | Moneylender safe in ancient city (6) |
| USURER — SURE (safe) in UR (ancient city) | |
| 17a | US prop one thumped deliberately (2,7) |
| ON PURPOSE — US PROP ONE anagrammed (thumped) | |
| 19a | Row endlessly about nothing (3) |
| NIL — LINe (row) without its last letter (endlessly) reversed (about) | |
| 20a | Attendant pulls back, holding note (7) |
| STEWARD — DRAWS (pulls) back containing (holding) TE (note) | |
| 22a | Gather for each church service (5) |
| AMASS — A (for each) + MASS (church service) | |
| 23a | Bishop had to return second class (4) |
| BETA — B (Bishop) + ATE (had) going backwards (to return) | |
| 24a | Inspected, as one’s bags may be? (7) |
| CHECKED — Double definition | |
| Down | |
| 1d | Controversial student, one I mistreated (11) |
| TENDENTIOUS — STUDENT, ONE I anagrammed (mistreated) | |
| 2d | Out of bed, stiff and tense (7) |
| UPTIGHT — UP (out of bed) + TIGHT (stiff) | |
| 3d | Be rude to a contemporary in speech — and scarper! (9) |
| DISAPPEAR — Sounds like (… in speech) DIS A PEER (be rude to a contemporary) | |
| 4d | Instructions of great length queen overturned (6) |
| RECIPE — Reversal of (… overturned) EPIC (of great length) and ER (queen) | |
| 5d | Problem a few reported (3) |
| SUM — SOME (a few), sounds like (reported) | |
| 6d | Come to American and Irish funeral festivities (5) |
| AWAKE — A (American) and WAKE (Irish funeral festivities) | |
| 9d | Disheartened soldier made off (11) |
| DEMORALISED — SOLDIER MADE anagrammed (off) | |
| 12d | Beside themselves, as TV housewives were (9) |
| DESPERATE — Two definitions, the second referring to the 2004-2012 TV series Desperate Housewives | |
| 15d | Managed to get rid of loot (7) |
| RANSACK — RAN (managed) + SACK (to get rid of) | |
| 16d | Lexicon or dictionary featuring this type of language? (6) |
| NORDIC — LexicoN OR DICtionary is featuring the answer | |
| 18d | Bit quiet, might one say? (5) |
| PIECE — PEACE (quiet), homophone (might one say?) | |
| 21d | Two articles about heroin, I see (3) |
| AHA — A A (two articles) around (about) H (heroin) | |
Started well but then really had to work hard. Eight on the first pass of acrosses meant I had plenty of checkers to work with but STEWARD, COMMAND and BETA made me sweat. Adding ‘Irish’ to the clue made it harder to get to AWAKE. Had SLAP backwards at first. Enjoyed EGG. All green in 12.40. Thanks Kitty and Pipsqueak.
7:54 I found this very straightforward, under 8 minutes is for me a good time
9 minutes, without understanding ‘TV housewives’ re my LOI at 12dn.
A fairly gentle start to the week.
Started with the 1s and finished with BETA in 5.35 with COD to DISAPPEAR.
Thanks to Kitty and Pipsqueak
3:19, agree RANSACK great clue and word. Yesterday was leafing through Einar Haugen’s classic ‘The Scandinavian Languages’ so NORDIC was near the front of the old mental storehouse. Good puzzle!
Your username cost me a life in Connections the other day! It turned out that Dr Shred was not one of the four doctors needed…
Haha sorry, that’s great though! Yes, it’s a stupid old username based on nothing more than a lifelong love of shred guitar.
I must start today by apologising to Kitty for annoying her last week. I made a feeble attempt at humour which rather misfired – I promise, my tongue was so far up my cheek that my cap fell off! No offence was intended.
As for Pipsqueak’s pretty decent puzzle, despite missing 5 clues on the first across pass, and backing out STEWARD before reinstating it, I still finished in two complete passes, and just inside my Qsnitch average.
I see that damned school is here yet again!
FOI THUNDER
LOI DEMORALISED
COD RANSACK
TIME 4:37
Absolutely no need to apologise, Busman! I knew you were joking (it helped that I’ve met you) and thought that mock outrage was a good tone for a response. Sorry I didn’t make clear that I wasn’t really offended.
(I remember deciding against underlining the point with a winking emoticon as I think you aren’t keen on those. But I’ve just looked back and see that it could look like I took it badly.)
Straightforward, so far as I can recall. Never saw ‘Desperate Housewives’, but the title was familiar. 6:10
Yes that was all fun, thank you, Pipsqueak. LOI BETA. A few parsings difficult (drop back? Irish funeral? 9’s soldier? oh it was an anagram!), so thank you, Kitty, for your good explanations. DNK there was anything Irish about a WAKE.
Chambers doesn’t mention wake being specifically Irish, but the second definition in Collins is “(in Ireland) festivities held after a funeral”.
Kitty: thank you so much for finding the time to comment on this when you’ve had such a busy day. How kind of you! I should have looked in Collins earlier … but I suppose the point is that “wake” is (now, at least) so common here that it’s unexpected to find it (still?) cited specifically in association with Ireland. But if that’s what Collins has, that’s the explanation! Thanks so much. By the way, sorry not to see you at the gathering last month (if you were there) – there was another event that same afternoon!
We, Irish, started wakes. Traditionally, anyone and everyone arrived at the home of the deceased, laden with food and drink. The idea of food was to donate to the widowed family, to keep them going for a few days, without having to work. The drink was to toast the late family member, friend, workmate, or neighbour.
However, so much food and drink were shared that it turned into a long ‘celebration of a life’, perhaps three days of stories and songs, without sleeping.
Throughout this time, the deceased would be lying on a low table, or trestle and a brief service, led by the priest, would happen at some point and the body buried.
When all the food, drink, songs, poems and memories were finished, the ‘wake’ was over and all would return to their own lives.
Nowadays, it’s a three-hour gathering, after the funeral, hosted by the bereaved family.
What a beautifully-crafted exegesis – thank you so much. Pity it’s so late that few will see and read it! That being so, I can also stretch the hospitality of this blog to add that having let slip that my wife’s (Chinese) mother died the other day, we will be having (what we call) a wake next week. But it won’t be anything like the huge ritual you’ve described so excellently. Best wishes.
10 minutes. No major problems though RECIPE needed coming back to and I only parsed COMMAND after solving. A good level of difficulty puzzle to start the QC week.
Thanks to Pipsqueak and Kitty
I managed to remember a programme called something like “Real Housewives of Cheshire”. It didn’t help. So solid breezeblock, eventually trawling for a word to fit. If the puzzle is going to start being full of American TV instead of Greek mythology I’m in trouble!
Otherwise straightforward enough, with the bonus of Pip’s customarily smooth cluing. COD BETA from me, a really clever clue.
Got there in 06:35 for a Good Day. Many thanks Pip and Kitty.
I also couldn’t get the Cheshire housewives out of my head! I did remember Desperate Housewives once I had the checkers in place but it’s not surprising it wasn’t front of mind as the last series aired 13 years ago. I think it was something of a talking point at the time, however, so probably not that obscure. 11:24 for me – should have been quicker.
An early and enjoyable solve for me today. All done in 22 minutes, so I had a choice of one of the better seats in the club for a change.
Solving each of THUNDER, SLAP and TENDENTIOUS at the first attempt provided lots of useful starting letters and I continued to make decent progress until my last few clues towards the bottom of the grid slowed me down somewhat. PIECE and BETA (I never see ATE for ‘had’) were my L2I and my joint CsOD were THUNDER and DISAPPEAR.
Many thanks to Kitty and Pipsqueak.
I got into a mess by putting Neighbours for 12 down.
For once, I did this one on the day. Don’t time myself, just happy to finish without resorting to aids! Done over breakfast, probably under 20 mins. Struggled a bit with BETA as I didn’t think of it as second class. CNP COMMAND, I don’t remember coming across commando for soldier before.
Thanks Pipsqueak for an enjoyable Monday morning QC and Kitty for the blog
A good QC with a nice mix of off-beat and straightforward clues, I thought. Managed to finish in 16.20 which is OK for me after a busy weekend and a disturbed sleep. Quite a few biffs but all just about parsed, apart from COMMAND.
I wanted to lazily biff CONTENTIOUS for 1d but 1a (entered late in my solve) and a careful anagram check put me right. I needed AHA before BETA clicked. Lots of other good clues.
Thanks both.
Pleasant easy romp, thanks Pipsqueak and Kitty.
Took me 30 minutes today, a very enjoyable puzzle. Think my COD goes to BETA, though one I think others would have found very easy, took me a while and felt very accomplished when I figured it out 😁 Thanks for the blog today
Very good puzzle and nice start to the week. 8:56 for the completion, all parsed on first run through (or, as Magnus Magnusson used to say on Mastermind, “no passes”).
Many thanks Kitty for the blog
15 mins…
Once I had the longish anagrams sorted, the rest went in fairly steadily. Nice start to the week.
FOI – 5ac “Slap”
LOI – 20ac “Steward”
COD – 8ac “Commando”
Thanks as usual!
8.24 without ever really feeling like this was on my wavelength. Never really understood EGG and had tried both LUG and RAG as possible types of worm.
LOI was TENDENTIOUS once I had abandoned the above.
Cheers kitty.
13:09 (death of James Steward, 5th Steward of Scotland)
A slowish day for me. I took a while to see DESPERATE, and needed pen and paper to get the correct spelling for TENDENTIOUS.
Originally entered PERCH for 22a (although it did not account for the “service”), but changed it after getting RANSACK.
Thanks Kitty and Pipsqueak
14, a good start to the week for me.
Customary thanks (after reading the blog I have trouble remembering the setter and blogger – kitty and pipsqueak?).
Good result! Today wasn’t particularly easy for us non 15x15ers, so you are getting the hang of it.
Enjoyable puzzle. Many thanks, Kitty.
5:17
Gentle opener for the week. Didn’t know LOI TENDENTIOUS but clear once letters written out. Knew the TV show.
Thanks Kitty and Pipsqueak
A nice quick quickie, 5.30. I was puzzled by 23-across because I’ve heard of B-grade but not BETA anything, and as for DESPERATE Housewives…well, crikey. Otherwise good fun, thanks Pipsqueak and Kitty.
Enjoyed it and completed without problems but I was very slow today. I might stop drinking away Sunday evening gloom. I’ve realised that my anagram ability is truly appalling, something to work on..
Not for the first time I had some difficulty with Pipsqueak’s slightly whimsical style. Nevertheless I made steady if rather slow progress finishing up all parsed in 24 minutes. It could possibly have been under 20 if I hadn’t stopped to parse my biffs. A nice puzzle though with some great clues.
FOI – 7ac NOTES
LOI – 24ac CHECKED
CODs – COMMAND, EGG and DISAPPEAR in a crowded field.
Thanks to Pipsqueak and Kitty.
Good morning everyone! I haven’t done the crosswords yet but hope someone can let me know what’s going on with the Crossword Club site. We’re away at the moment so I haven’t read the blog for a few days, so apologies if this has been mentioned before.
I simply can’t get past the leaders’ page to open any grids in the club site – we’ve tried on my tablet and phone and on MrB’s tablet too, but no luck. He checked when the latest app update was, which was 27 June, but my problem only started at the weekend. I can access the crosswords directly from the Times app.
Anyone else had a similar experience?
Yes.
I can access crossword club landing page.
I can then click on a crossword and get to “Play Now”. Can’t get further. This is for current and past ones. Very annoying.
Started Friday. I had been having problems (other) before that which have now resolved.
Have reported it at length.
Customer services wanted the same info again and again and again (and to repeat the same steps each time). Really made me cross. Have reinstalled, cleared caches, disabled everything on phone, restarted it, checked for updates countless times etc etc. Grrrr. Finally, finally they have agreed to ask IT. That will take up to 14 days.
Use Android 15 . Samsung S23
Customer service can’t replicate it their end on their android / Samsung.
It might help to report it – if you have a couple of hours to jump through the hoops – and then to put everything in an email despite having told them over the phone.
Many thanks XWN – we haven’t contacted the customer service team yet (and tbh probably won’t as we’re on holiday) but it’s very helpful to know it’s not just us. You have described exactly our problem and what we’ve done re re-installation, caches, etc.
Fingers crossed others have reported the problem too, and something will happen.
I use a Galaxy 7 lite tablet, Android 14, my phone is a Motorola, and my husband’s tablet is a Lenovo – we can’t open crosswords on the club site on any of them 😡
I really appreciate your reply.
Off to Dungeness now!
Best wishes, Penny
Enjoy your holidays.
Took about 30 mins. I enjoyed this. Some I found tricky. Missed the NORDIC hidden. I guessed it correctly, so perhaps my brain had seen it after all.
Hard choice but THUNDER and DISAPPEAR are top runners for my COD.
Thanks Pipsqueak and Kitty.
I think I was simply off the pace today finishing in 11.02. I find it is like that sometimes, when relatively straightforward clues just won’t come to you. I’ve heard of the word TENDENTIOUS but if asked to state what it meant I wouldn’t have been able to. I’ve heard of the program DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES, but never watched it, neither am I likely to! I did however once watch an episode of the aforementioned ‘The Real Housewives of Cheshire’, only because my son’s partner was a producer on the program. Suffice to say that it was one viewing too many!
Approximately 8.22.