Quite a straightforward one today, I thought, confirming Dangle’s position on Starstruck’s stats table as the second easiest setter. I was slow getting either of the 1s or this could have been very fast; even as it was I clocked 05:34 so I’m expecting warp speed from The Lord Verlaine and other gods. [On edit: TLV clocked in at 01:56 … left in the dust by mohn at 01:34. Look on their Works, ye Mighty, and despair!]
Accessibility did not come at the expense of quality cluing and I thought this was a terrific puzzle. Many thanks Dangle; hope you all enjoyed it too.
Definitions underlined in bold.
| Across | |
| 1 | Congratulatory gesture seconds before friend returned (8) |
| BACKSLAP – BACKS [seconds, as in “backs the motion”] + LAP [“pal” backwards, i.e. “friend returned”]. | |
| 5 | Unaccompanied male’s second name (4) |
| STAG – S [second] + TAG [name]. | |
| 9 | Discard attempt in game (5) |
| BINGO – BIN [discard] + GO [attempt, as in “have a go”]. | |
| 10 | Red mark on skin from really minor injury? (7) |
| SCARLET – definition with a cryptic hint. A scar could come from an injury, but if it was a really small scar it would (whimsically) be a scar-let and thus in turn the product of a “really minor injury”. | |
| 11 | Shelter from swimmer going the wrong way (3) |
| LEE – “eel” backwards [swimmer going the wrong way]. | |
| 12 | Avoid losing money from holiday flat (5,4) |
| BREAK EVEN – BREAK [holiday] + EVEN [flat]. I could do with a break, roll on the Christmas vacation. | |
| 13 | Most pleasant flying insect (6) |
| NICEST – anagram [flying] of “insect”. Well-disguised. | |
| 15 | Makes great effort to lose Romeo in Cornish town (2,4) |
| ST IVES – ST{r}IVES. | |
| 17 | Muscular gent inappropriately entertains country (9) |
| ARGENTINA – hidden. | |
| 19 | Very eager to finish early in the past (3) |
| AGO – AGO{g} (i.e. “very eager” [agog] without its final letter [finishing early]). | |
| 20 | Good girls in spectacles (7) |
| GLASSES – G [good] + LASSES [girls]. Such a neat surface. | |
| 21 | Sick following doctor’s training exercise (5) |
| DRILL – ILL [sick] coming after [following] DR [doctor]. | |
| 22 | Grass on editor (4) |
| REED – RE [on] + ED [editor]. | |
| 23 | Bruce and Dicky’s vegetarian paste (4,4) |
| BEAN CURD – anagram [dicky] of “Bruce and”. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Infant left on “wonderful” location (7) |
| BABYLON – BABY [infant] + L [left] + ON [on]. One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World was the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and so Babylon was a “wonderful” location, geddit? I didn’t geddit until the end of my solve. Very good clue. | |
| 2 | Ocean tossed around small vessel (5) |
| CANOE – anagram [tossed around] of “ocean”. | |
| 3 | Appear to be fully employed in the field of entertainment (4,8) |
| SHOW BUSINESS – jokey cryptic; to “look busy” is to appear to be fully employed, and “show busi-ness” sort of equates to “look busy”. | |
| 4 | Passage in church I will broadcast (5) |
| AISLE – homophone [broadcast] of “I’ll”. | |
| 6 | Attendant upset four in city in Israel (3,4) |
| TEL AVIV – VALET [attendant] going backwards [upset] + IV [four in Roman numerals]. | |
| 7 | Grow old, say, after turning 100 (3,2) |
| GET ON – EG [say] going backwards [after turning] = GE + TON [hundred]. | |
| 8 | Denmark great for development as place to sell fruit and veg (6,6) |
| MARKET GARDEN – anagram [for development] of “Denmark great”. | |
| 14 | Connected up Echo, Tango, Charlie (7) |
| COGNATE – reading backwards [up] this goes E [echo] + TANGO [Tango] + C [Charlie]. This one really stumped me because I blundered straight into the trap of treating “Tango” as simply indicating a T. That gave ETC, so I mucked around wondering whether “etcetera” could also be shortened to 7 letters or whether I was looking for a synonym of it, and also whether “etc” or some equivalent could mean “cognate” anyway. Eventually light dawned. COD from me, clever clue. COGNATE means “akin” or “related”; it comes from the Latin co-natus, literally “same born”.
[On edit: given the number of people who think this is a reverse hidden, I need to explain myself more clearly. It’s not a reverse hidden: that would give you “cognato”. It operates as C [Charlie] + OGNAT [reverse tango] + E [echo]. That’s why it’s so clever, because all three words are from the Nato alphabet but only two of them are being used in that way.] |
|
| 16 | Grimaced, as small farmyard animal was ahead (7) |
| SCOWLED – S [small] + COW [farmyard animal] + LED [was ahead]. | |
| 17 | Fury in most of French city (5) |
| ANGER – ANGER{s}. The Crosswordland map of France largely consists of Nice, Tours and Angers. | |
| 18 | One’s to make legal claim for children (5) |
| ISSUE – I’S [one’s] + SUE [make legal claim]. A pedantic lawyer writes: “As a matter of law, the word ‘issue’ ordinarily means more than simply ‘children’, and encompasses all descendants.” In other words, if you leave a gift in your will to your “issue” you probably bring in all the grandchildren too. However, the dictionaries are less pedantic, so Dangle’s in the clear. | |
| 19 | Gold pens stop working in farewell (5) |
| ADIEU – AU [gold] contains [pens, as in penning up sheep] DIE [stop working]. | |
Not at my brightest at 2 in the morning but happy to stroll in under 10 minutes.
No doubt there will be some seriously speedy solves and an easier puzzle should be well received after a toughie yesterday.
Yeah that was super straightforward because I parsed every clue as I was doing it today.
8:34
Not to be all Asian about it but.. Is bean curd really a paste?
I had the same question.
As far as I remember from my time in Asia, bean curd is the same as tofu, so not a paste.
6:50
Biffed a couple: STAG, SCARLET, TEL AVIV (city in Israel, 4, 3). Didn’t get, or need, the ‘wonderful’ of BABYLON; and now that I’ve got it, I can’t say I like it.
I didn’t have any difficulty, even though I didn’t get the Babylon clue, didn’t bother to parse the obvious Tel Aviv, and put Argentina as my LOI without seeing the hidden. I did like cognate, the use of tango was very deceptive.
Time: 6:08
7.27, thank you Dangle and Templar.
6:30 for me. I, too, put ARGENTINA in from the checkers and didn’t even notice it was hidden. TEL AVIV basically from the enumeration (how many cities in Israel are well known enough for the quickie anyway…I think two, maybe HAIFA too).
I had both V crossers in, so I didn’t even really need to read ‘city’ or ‘Israel’, lol, it was very kind.
Jerusalem?
Of course. I said “two” meaning TEL AVIV and JERUSALEM, and “maybe HAIFA”
I’m putting in a shout for Nazareth and Acre!
COGNATE was my LOI after finally seeing what was going on, didn’t know the meaning of the word. SCOWLED had me thinking if ‘spigled’ was a word as for reasons unknown ‘cow’ didn’t enter my head despite having several thousand at the end of my garden. Don’t know if BEAN CURD is a paste or not and don’t really want to find out, give me lemon curd any day. I always thought AGOG was more like standing open-mouthed and amazed but now know better. Mostly write-ins from definitions today. COD to BABYLON for the ‘wonderful location’.
Thanks Templar and setter.
9 minutes. COGNATE gave me the most trouble, not knowing if the three words would be represented in the answer by the words themselves or by their single NATO alphabet letter. To the crossword land map of France, I would also add Nancy.
I liked the ‘”wonderful” location’, the SCAR-LET and my LOI SHOW BUSINESS.
Thanks to Templar and Dangle
So easy that I finished it. Only the 2nd one ever!
🎊
👏👏
Well done!
Woohoo! 🎉
Excellent work!
A lovely romp with more time spent enjoying the parsing than solving the clues, 16.38.
Thanks Templar for explaining “ago” and also “busi-ness” which now our COD.
Thanks Dangle
I didn’t find this as easy as some of the earlier solvers. Only four on the first pass of acrosses before things picked up with the downs. Ended up all green in 9.33 after a tussle with ST IVES, SCOWLED and AGOG.
13.45 for us with last minute or two spent on COGNATE.
Needed blog to fully grasp BUSI-NESS, BACKS (had S for seconds, no idea about ‘back’), ‘little scar (SCARLET)’ and to see the otherwise missed ‘wonder’ in BABYLON – thank you Templar!
– and thank you Dangle. An enjoyable time was had.
Thanks for the blog. Appreciate the explanations. A really enjoyable puzzle.
I couldn’t keep up with our speedy blogger today but a brisk solve nonetheless.
Started with BACKSLAP and finished with COD COGNATE in 6.19.
Thanks to Templar and Dangle.
I saw COGNATE as a reverse hidden, wondered where the hidden indicator was, but put it in anyway. No other hold-ups on the way to a 9:09 solve – both TEL AVIV and ST IVES largely wrote themselves in from the enumeration alone.
Many thanks Templar for the blog.
Well that was nice ‘n’ easy, thank you, Dangle, for a true QC. Couldn’t quite see where BACK came from, thank you Templar for reminder that seconds = BACKS.
16:07 How do you hide something as big as Argentina? I tried to collate the devilishly clever cognate and eventually entered scarlet with embarrassment.
Go Tina btw!
Ta TAD
Top to bottom solve without much stress except over COGNATE which I decided in my ignorance was possibly related to cogitate. Now wiser and shall immediately discard it from my aging memory. 16 mins for a brisk same day solve. Thanks Templar and Dangle.
Very nice puzzle I thought, as Templar said, accessible with no loss of quality. I agree, for me COD was COGNATE. I finished in 8:03, so on the quicker side of average for me, but that was with a sizable delay caused by semi-biffing (I identified the anagram but didn’t check it, clearly) COVENT GARDEN for 8 down. After failing for a couple of minutes to get anything in for 10ac and 12ac, I finally worked out the it had to be BREAK EVEN and realised the error. Also wasn’t quite sure how SCARLET worked (probably would have worked it out if I’d looked longer but it was the LOI so I came straight here), so thanks for that.
Thanks Dangle, thanks Templar.
21:25, so not finding this as easy as many others today. Several write-ins but a few unparsed – COGNATE, STAG, SCARLET, BABYLON ….
9 minutes exactly, with ISSUE my LOI.
A MER at MARKET GARDEN being defined as “place to sell fruit and veg”. I always thought it was a place to grow fruit and veg, to take to a market for sale.
Thanks Templar and Dangle
Yes, that’s the only way I’ve heard MARKET GARDEN used.
I had the same thought.
I think you are right re Market G but I was speeding along and failed to engage brain’s critical faculties.
18 mins…
I didn’t find this as straightforward as some, and there were a couple of answers: 7dn “Get On” and 19ac “Ago” that I never properly parsed. For a while I stuck in “Lee” (Bruce) in for the first three letters of 23ac thinking it had something to do with Leeks.
FOI – 4dn “Aisle”
LOI – 7dn “Get On”
COD – 12ac “Glasses” (purely for the amusement factor)
Thanks as usual!
COGNATE, BABYLON & SCARLET – all great clues when the penny dropped. COGNATE my COD. Thanks Dangle for clever puzzle and Templar for the enjoyable blog.
I hadn’t realised that Dangle was supposed to be one of the easiest. I do like them because they have proper cryptic clues, which I find more straightforward to solve than vague definitions that stretch your credulity rather than your vocabulary or your little grey cells! COD to COGNATE.
I am another who did not find this as easy as the speedsters. I did not find myself ‘on wavelength’ at first but I steadily got through it and enjoyed it more as I progressed.
Finished in 16.50 (all parsed apart from AGO) but delayed by a couple of stupid fat-fingered typos which needed sorting along the way.
CsOD Argentina and my LOI, the clever COGNATE.
Thanks to both.
5:48
Can’t say I would have known what COGNATE actually meant, but found the reverse hidden so bunged it in. Didn’t see the ‘wonderful’ BABYLON until coming here – very amusing. BEAN CURD paste seen recently while in Japan – must admit, I was not tempted…
Thanks Templar and Dangle
It’s not a reverse hidden! That would be COGNATO.
Slow to get going on this lovely puzzle but then a steady solve in 27 minutes.
I worked out COGNATE as an anagram without noticing the reverse hidden.
Thanks Templar and Dangle.
Well done Ian. COGNATE isn’t actually a reverse hidden – that would give you COGNATO. It’s broken down as a reversal of two Nato letters and the full word “tango”.
Or it is an E with a reverse hidden for the rest, which is how I got it
Up=reverse
But what’s your hidden word indicator? And how is that telling you to only apply it to Tango, Charlie?
Thank you. I do admire the precision of our setters and bloggers.
Did you remember issue=children #5?
Got it on one #50.
Nice 👍 Better than me then – think I took three looks at the clue and it was fourth from LOI
11:28
Much easier today. Would have been sub-10 but for a struggle to parse COGNATE. LOI REED.
Didn’t see 1a at first, so started with TEL AVIV and worked clockwise. I seemed to get hold of the wrong end of a lot of clues, so was slower than some of you. Last 3 in were BACKSLAP, BINGO and BABYLON, where the wonderful bit escaped me until it was pointed out. Perhaps I’m not quite awake yet! 8:24. Thanks Dangle and Templar.
8:22. A fine puzzle. I mis-parsed COGNATE as a reverse hidden (a dodgy one) but it seems I’m not alone. I liked the simple elegant GLASSES and my LOI SCARLET. Many thanks to Dangle and Templar
Very enjoyable. Thanks to Dangle and Templar. Not as quick as others, partly becuase I immediately spotted the “market” in 8d, but pencilled it in as the second word.
Pretty much a top to bottom solve with just one corrected error having bunged in ADIos for ADIEU. Also saw bung for discard in the BINGO clue before the penny dropped. My LOI was COGNATE and my COD (to add to the mix) is BREAK EVEN. Thanks Templar 6:02
Well I was as quick on this today as I was slow on yesterdays, finishing in 5.29. No interruptions today helped, and I seemed to be entirely on Dangle’s wavelength. My only hesitations were in the parsing of SHOWBUSINESS and SCARLET, which I eventually parsed as Templar did, but there was an initial seed of doubt. I thought COGNATE was a very neat clue.
Very fast but slowed on LOI COGNATE, eventually guessed.
Enjoyable encouraging QC. Biffed ARGENTINA, missing the hidden. Liked SCOWLED, SCARLET, CANOE, BINGO, among others.
Thanks vm, Templar.
9:26, enjoyed it all very much.
Thank you for the blog!
Had my mind on other things today, which is the excuse I’m using for my 24:17. COD to ARGENTINA. Thanks Dangle and Templar.
12 minutes up to LOI 10a; a normal time for me.
But then, like yesterday, I got stuck on a clue.
After another 4 minutes I bunged in STABLET thinking this might be a mark on the skin.
So another DNF.
A nice puzzle overall. COD to COGNATE which I did parse correctly.
David
Lots of interruptions today but still came in at 18 minutes marking my first completion of the week. I didn’t parse everything and missed the significance of wonderful at 1dn so thanks to Templar for the explanations.
FOI – 11ac LEE
LOI- 14dn COGNATE
COD – plenty to choose from but I particularly liked MARKET GARDEN.
7:22 for the solve. LOI ARGENTINA
Thanks to Templar, particularly for explaining the meaning of COGNATE – no issues getting to the answer.
And thanks to Dangle for hitting the QC spot on and good surfaces for lots of the clues.
14:07 but took an age to get started. NW corner was empty until the end.
14 enjoyable minutes. Cognate and Bean Curd slowed me a little- both very clever.
CofD to Stag
Thank you Templar and Dangle
9:29 on phone
4:44. A bit slow getting started but a steady solve once I got going. Nothing marked on my copy other than underlining the anagrists for 23A and 8D. Neat puzzle. I enjoyed the clever COGNATE most despite not knowing it meant “connected”, confusing it with “cognisant”. Thank-you Dangle and Templar.
Very pleasant puzzle, nicely pitched after the stinkers in the last couple of days. A top to bottom solve and all parsed (makes a change), but would agree with Simjt’s comment above about MARKET GARDEN being clued as somewhere to sell fruit and veg. Definitely a MER at that.
Like Templar, I couldn’t initially see either of the 1s, despite a valiant effort trying to make Clapping work, and so Stag teed up what turned out to be a pretty straightforward clockwise solve. By the time I worked back round to Babylon, Backslap and Bingo, they were practically write-ins, resulting in a very comfortable sub-20.
The thoroughly explained (x2) Cognate was very good, but my CoD is Scowled, a classic IKEA. Thanks to Templar and Dangle. Invariant
18:06
Interesting reading the posts of others, I join the minority who found this quite difficult.
Many tours of the grid to build up the checkers for an eventual solve.
Never parsed COGNATE (thanks Templar) and slightly more than a MER with the clueing of SHOW BUSINESS and SCARLET – though that could just be my inexperience.
FOI: LEE
LOI: ST IVES
COD: BINGO
Thanks to Templar & Dangle
COGNATE known from linguistics but couldn’t parse. Hadn’t fully appreciated SHOW BUSINESS – brilliant! Many thanks Templar. Much more gentle than yesterday. COD BABYLON. Thanks Dangle.
Great puzzle and my first finish in a long time. Really like this setter.
👍
7:28, fast for me. As it grew on me that it was going to be very fast, I felt as if I should wake up properly and go for a PB, but I couldn’t, and dreamed and floated my way through it. Very entertaining, with most clues parsing themselves as I wrote them in. SCARLET was cute. I didn’t understand why BABYLON was “wonderful”. COD to COGNATE for the misdirection.
Thanks Dangle and Templar, generously helpful blogging as always.
5.27
Just snuck in under our illustrious blogger so not a bad day at all. Also a bit slow to get started but they flowed pretty well after that. With the C and G checkers , COGNATE immediately suggested itself. Blame too much Classics at school (though obviously I had no idea what it meant).
Thanks Templar/Dangle.
Finished correctly in 35 minutes. Pretty good for me, considering yesterday’s
disaster.
Only one clue that I thought was really bad :
“14 Down : Connected up Echo, Tango, Charlie (7)
COGNATE”
The wordplay on this was very complex- if I had not known the word cognate then I would never have worked it out.
Templar wrote “… That’s why it’s so CLEVER, because all three words are from the Nato alphabet but only two of them are being used in that way.”
Rather than “clever” I would say “unfair”. These puzzles are supposed to be Quick Cryptics.