Hello everybody. I expect many happy campers today. My Clue of the Day was the failing undergrad at 18a. 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 | Remain silent, as dads traditionally did? (4,3) |
| KEEP MUM — Traditionally the dad in a household would support or “KEEP” MUM financially while she did all the domestic work | |
| 5a | Heartless boss — someone like Gordon Ramsay? (4) |
| CHEF — Missing its middle letter (heartless) CHiEF (boss) | |
| 7a | Not doing too well, crying in wife’s absence (6) |
| AILING — [w]AILING (crying) without W (in wife’s absence) | |
| 8a | Rough programme announced (6) |
| COARSE — COURSE (programme), soundalike (announced) | |
| 9a | We sanction a corrupt scientist (5,6) |
| ISAAC NEWTON — WE SANCTION A anagrammed (corrupt) | |
| 10a | Dormant snake taking shelter (6) |
| ASLEEP — ASP (snake) holding (taking) LEE (shelter) | |
| 12a | Sweet thing vacated exotic hideaway (6) |
| ECLAIR — With inner letters removed (vacated) ExotiC + LAIR (hideaway) | |
| 14a | Outstanding Texan police misrepresented (11) |
| EXCEPTIONAL — TEXAN POLICE anagrammed (misrepresented) | |
| 17a | Where you might find shoemaker in the end (2,4) |
| AT LAST — You might find a shoemaker AT a shoemaker’s LAST | |
| 18a | Undergraduate ultimately failing to pass (6) |
| ELAPSE — The last letter of (… ultimately) undergraduatE + LAPSE (failing) | |
| 20a | Woman who’s a bit of a looker (4) |
| IRIS — Two definitions | |
| 21a | Royal Engineers deal with withdrawal of troops (7) |
| RETREAT — RE (Royal Engineers) + TREAT (deal with) | |
| Down | |
| 1d | Japanese swimmer, shy in conversation (3) |
| KOI — It sounds like (… in conversation) COY (shy) | |
| 2d | Yours truly upset and angry in Dubai? (7) |
| EMIRATE — ME (yours truly) reversed (upset) + IRATE (angry) | |
| 3d | Trickery of American soldier wearing raincoat (5) |
| MAGIC — GI (American soldier) in (wearing) MAC (raincoat) | |
| 4d | Friend acquiring revolutionary weapon (7) |
| MACHETE — MATE (friend) acquiring CHE (revolutionary) | |
| 5d | Plan church paintings (5) |
| CHART — CH. (church) + ART (paintings) | |
| 6d | Vital lease isn’t altered (9) |
| ESSENTIAL — LEASE ISN’T anagrammed (altered) | |
| 9d | Police officer crept in so awkwardly (9) |
| INSPECTOR — An anagram of (… awkwardly) CREPT IN SO | |
| 11d | Some alcopops targeting famous singer (3,4) |
| POP STAR — Some alcoPOPS TARgeting | |
| 13d | Family falsehood about new era (7) |
| LINEAGE — LIE (falsehood) around (about) N (new) + AGE (era) | |
| 15d | Stupid to put His Majesty on donkey (5) |
| CRASS — CR (His Majesty) on ASS (donkey) | |
| 16d | Incompetent writer held up in centre of city (5) |
| INEPT — PEN (writer) reversed inside (held up in) the centre of cITy | |
| 19d | Glass of whisky maybe leaving husband drunk (3) |
| SOT — S[h]OT (glass of whisky maybe) omitting (leaving) H (husband) | |
8:54
Only my 3rd solve under 1o mins and 9 sec away from my PB – a truly happy camper 😊
FOI: CHEF
LOI: ECLAIR
COD: IRIS
Thanks to Kitty and Pipsqueak
My thanks to Pipsqueak and Kitty.
8a Coarse. I wasn’t sure about course=program so I waited for all crossers. I liked Che’s Mate at 4d. Nice to see His Maj turning up in 15d Crass.
23 minutes for me, so into SCC territory, but not by all that much.
I reached what I thought was my last clue at 17 minutes, but then spent 3 minutes trying to fill in E_A_t_ at 18a before realising my biffed tOT at 19d was wrong. SOT was then easy to find, but E_A_S_ proved much harder to complete.
I beg to differ with Kitty about 18a (being COD), because of its weird and ambiguous word order. For that reason, it comes 24th in my COD rankings.
Many thanks to Kitty and Pipsqueak.
A straightforward and pleasant 12 min solve. If only I could remember to stop spelling Koi with a ‘y’, I might have been a lot closer to 10mins, but loi Coarse would still have stopped a sub-10.
Iris may well be a chestnut, but they are always entertaining the first time round, so that gets my CoD vote. Invariant
Thought I was going to break the magic 4 minute barrier for the first time but got breezeblocked on COARSE. Still a massive PB at 04:10! and that was after triple checking ISAAC – it just looked wrong.
Very entertaining. Agree with Kitty on COD going to ELAPSE but IRIS a close second.
Many thanks Kitty and Pip.
PS I meant to say that the KEEP MUM joke was even used in a WW2 “careless talk costs lives” poster https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/22550
And another great time! Felicitations!
Thank you!
Boom!
Lovely start to the week. Well within my original 10 minute target for the first time in a goodly while. Thanks Kitty and Pip.
Followed this with Saturday’s quickie. Gosh!!
Sweet!
Also, gosh indeed.
I don’t ever time myself, but this puzzle was definitely on the quick end of the spectrum. An enjoyable romp. COD ELAPSE, LOI COARSE
Thanks kitty and Pipsqueak
A gentle start to the week, demolished in two straight passes. Thanks Pipsqueak and Kitty.
FOI KEEP MUM
LOI LINEAGE
COD KOI
TIME 3:09
4:10
Just a couple of pauses at the end for ELAPSE and COARSE but otherwise, a pleasantly gentle introduction to the week.
Thanks Kitty and Pipsqueak
Another boom!
Well, that was very different to the last few QCs! Romped through this one with plenty of coffee left over. Paused only for last two in – ELAPSE/SOT. I prefer working the grey cells a little more but still much enjoyed. Thanks both.
Thanks Pipsqueak and Cedric
Very cheering QC!
Biffed a couple then wasted some time unbiffing them, notwithstanding balance straightforward
12 mins…
As everyone has noted above, a lovely straight forward puzzle for he beginning of the week. Thought I might be on for a sub-10, but then got held up by 18ac “Elapse”.
FOI – 1ac “Keep Mum”
LOI – 18ac “Elapse”
COD – 20ac “Iris”
Thanks as usual!
Not a PB but 6:30 is not so far off. Liked KEEP MUM, ELAPSE and SOT. TOT tempted us as a biff but it didn’t parse and ELAPSE came to the rescue quickly enough. A good quickie. Thanks, Pipsqueak and Kitty.
Definitely a happy camper here after some of last week’s trickier ones, getting everything in just under 27 minutes, and all but ELAPSE and COARSE in by 20. Thanks Kitty and Pipsqueak!
8:42. Pretty straightforward!
4.44
Not quite as romp-ish as some of the other times but always happy with a swift no error solve.
Thanks Kitty and Pipsqueak
I’ve identified an annoying pattern I seem to have fallen into. If I forget to get a pen and paper ready to help me with anagrams, there are a lot of anagrams. If the pen is to hand, fewer anagrams. I don’t profess to have any psychic powers and, even if I did, they would clearly be working against me. Mini-whinge over, I thoroughly enjoyed this for the 6:29 it took me and I’m now off to gird my loins and tackle the 15×15.
Thanks to Pipsqueak and Kitty.
It went pretty smoothly, though I didn’t know Gordon Ramsay, until I got hung up on IRIS (ha ha). 9:52 to finish it. Really liked both of the police anagrams. I would be happier with myself if I could remember E-LAPSE instead of having to figure it out every time it crops up here; great surface this time.
Thanks to Pipsqueak and Kitty. Congratulations to all in PB territory and outskirts!
I’ve only had the app (and thus a timer) for a few weeks, but at 15:35, a PB by about 7 minutes.
Mondays are the hardest, right?
A few clues held us up, particularly 18a elapse, pleasant solve to start the week.
DNF
Done in 16 but spelt KOI with a Y at the end.
started at 1a with kept mum. only realised when 2d was difficult to solve
Like most went very well for me, but … while I am having my [generous] ‘tot’ of whisky, as usual, how can I imagine my answer ought to be a SOT! Didn’t help with ELAPSE of course. The QC gods were looking kindly on us today I think. By the way I’ve just looked up the goddess IRIS and in 1960’s patois she’s quite a looker, it never crossed my mind of any other meaning!
13:47 here. I confidently biffed TOT for “glass of whisky”, which made ELAPSE impossible for ages. You can also add me to the list of people who had to do an alphabet trawl to find IRIS. But a fine puzzle overall, much enjoyed.
On the flip side, my first guess was correct on the Wordle today. 😀
Thanks to Pipsqueak and Kitty.
Analogue timing of sub 10 mins so a PB. Solved so many at first pass that the checkers unravelled the longer anagrams and tricker solves such as Eclair and Elapse. Thanks Pipsqueak and Kitty
On for a PB with 3:43 on the clock but just couldn’t see ELAPSE despite realising how the clue worked. Spent longer on that than the rest of the puzzle for a 8:48 after an alphabet trawl. Bit disappointed.
Liked KEEP MUM
Thanks blogger and setter
10 mins, so nothing particularly special given the Snitch. Should have been quicker as I made 2 silly mistakes that held me up.
Solved 15 x 15, but much slower than the other QCers, so limited satisfaction there. I dare not post on the 15 x 15 blog!
Thanks for the blog.
PS 2 hours on Sunday Times cryptic yesterday. Got about half. The penny just isn’t dropping with these puzzles.
Approximately 6.03.
We were on for a PB by some way until breeze-blocked by 18A ELAPSED; after a further 50% of our time, we threw in the towel. The rest of the QC was great and very enjoyable so thanks to Pipsqueak and Kitty.