Hi everyone. As this will be my last Times blog to be published this year, I’d like to wish you all a lovely festive season, however you celebrate or don’t. See you on the other side!
It’s a while since I’ve had the pleasure of blogging a Teazel puzzle. My highlight today is probably the household in 15d, but I also liked the city with a lack of curry (19a) and more. Thanks Teazel.
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 | Clothe oneself in grass? Corrected (9) |
| REDRESSED — DRESS (clothe oneself) in REED (grass) | |
| 6a | Very quiet concession (3) |
| SOP — SO (very) + P (quiet) | |
| 8a | Help is about after a car breaks down in idyllic location (7) |
| ARCADIA — AID (help) is reversed (is about) after A CAR is anagrammed (breaks down) | |
| 9a | Discover taking drug is punished (5) |
| FINED — FIND (discover) taking E (drug) | |
| 10a | Earn lots of money as sniper? (4,1,7) |
| MAKE A KILLING — A sniper also literally “makes a killing” | |
| 12a | Fairy king seen in October once (6) |
| OBERON — The answer is seen in OctOBER ONce | |
| 13a | Shantytown in much-loved Californian city (6) |
| FAVELA — FAVE (much-loved) + LA (Californian city) | |
| 16a | I could add opinion about torture ignoring right (3,2,7) |
| NOT TO MENTION — NOTION (opinion) around (about) TO[r]MENT (torture) ignoring R (right) | |
| 19a | Maryland city has no more curry (5) |
| BALTI — BALTI[more] (Maryland city) lacks (has no) MORE | |
| 20a | Walking unhurriedly with jewellery on in the morning (7) |
| AMBLING — BLING (jewellery) on AM (in the morning) | |
| 22a | Timid cast (3) |
| SHY — A double definition: cast as in throw | |
| 23a | Coming out slowly in crisis, Yankee loses place to European (9) |
| EMERGENCE — In EMERGENC[y] (crisis, Y (Yankee) is replaced by (loses place to) E (European) | |
| Down | |
| 1d | Eating nothing, sheep wander about (4) |
| ROAM — Taking in (eating) O (nothing), RAM (sheep) | |
| 2d | State cleared criminal (7) |
| DECLARE — An anagram of (… criminal) CLEARED | |
| 3d | Aim to finish (3) |
| END — Two definitions | |
| 4d | South Park’s flashes of wit (6) |
| SPARKS — S (south) + PARK’S | |
| 5d | Stripper floated in, dancing (9) |
| DEFOLIANT — FLOATED IN, anagrammed (dancing) | |
| 6d | Mount first of solutions in artificial intelligence (5) |
| SINAI — The first of Solutions + IN + AI (artificial intelligence) | |
| 7d | Run into pagoda, somehow getting pain in foot (7) |
| PODAGRA — R (run) goes into an anagram of (somehow) PAGODA | |
| 11d | Save money — some I once wasted (9) |
| ECONOMISE — SOME I ONCE anagrammed (wasted) | |
| 12d | Raise contribution in brief moment for transport (7) |
| OMNIBUS — Reverse (raise, in a down entry) SUB (contribution), IN and MO (brief moment) | |
| 14d | Reduction in rank dismissing leader’s strong feeling (7) |
| EMOTION — Removing the first letter (… dismissing leader), dEMOTION (reduction in rank) | |
| 15d | Long period supporting males in household (6) |
| MÉNAGE — AGE (long period) underneath (supporting) MEN (males) | |
| 17d | Correspond in time with colleague (5) |
| TALLY — T (time) with ALLY (colleague) | |
| 18d | Those first in office give long, embarrassing stare (4) |
| OGLE — Initial letters of (those first in) Office Give Long, Embarrassing | |
| 21d | Large island captured by Great Britain returned (3) |
| BIG — I (island) in (captured by) GB (Great Britain) reversed (returned) | |
Going from bad to worse here. A DNF to start the week off! Two obscure words intersecting in the NE did for me, PODAGRA (making its debut here outside one Jumbo) and FAVELA which has appeared before before not frequently enough for me to remember it. Pah!
Ditto.
12:41. Oh Teazel! PODAGRA and FAVELA crossing on the A! That is more than a teaze. For the first, I went with the most likely looking arrangement of letters once I had the crossers. I very vaguely remembered the second from a previous appearance here long ago, but I wouldn’t have got FAVE otherwise. But all good fun. I saw SPARKS straight away but it looked like a trick so I didn’t dare write it in until the end. I liked BALTI. Thank you Teazel and thank you Kitty for the blog
23:39, around my average time. Some quite chewy clues. NHO PODAGRA, but with the crossers I knew POD meant foot, so it had to be podagra. Many thanks to all the bloggers and those who maintain this excellent website. Best wishes to all for the festive season.
7:14
NHO PODAGRA, but with the checkers in there was just a choice between PODA & PADO, and ‘pellagra’ suggested the former. But rather obscure for a QC; especially when crossing FAVELA, which I knew but it looks like many didn’t. I didn’t care for 4d (park/park).
This is where classical languages come in – the Greek word for foot, πούς, which gives us words like podiatrist. So it must start with pod-, leaving only two letters to place.
8:24. Just right for a QC, mostly not too difficult but with FAVELA needing some sorting out, both to identify the def and to parse correctly. I knew PODAGRA though fortunately not from personal experience; it might be a comedy standard to have the overweight old drinker with his red, swollen foot up on a stool but it wouldn’t be fun to be suffering from it.
Thanks to Teazel and Kitty
Alas another DNF for me too. Both favela and podagra were unknown to me. I knew how both worked and might have guessed podagra, but would have needed favela in place first.
Many thanks to Kitty and Teasel.
30 mins which is good for me. NHO of Podagra or Arcadia but got there eventually with the word play
15:52, felt hard
LOI NOT TO MENTION
NHO PODAGRA, guessed it must start with “pod” (from the Greek)
SPARKS felt a bit too easy, so left til almost the end.
COD MAKE A KILLING
No problem with PODAGRA thanks to past profession and travel to S America. Could not parse NOT TO MENTION but it seemed right and fitted. Liked BALTI as Baltimore came to mind without further thinking. SSpent a good chunk of the weekend making enough Thai curry to feed sundry visiting offspring and partners inbetween traditional non-turkey sit down family gatherings. Freezer now full. Let the festivities begin.
Thanks Kitty, Teazel and all the setters, old and new. 26 mins with a lot of hopping round the grid.
A slow start lead to a finishing time that was slightly over average. No problem with FAVELA as for some reason they were important to my GCSE geography lessons and needed all the checkers for LOI PODAGRA.
Started with ARCADIA and finished with the sore foot in 8.19.
Thanks to Kitty and Teazel
5:55. I hesitated over the unknown PODAGRA and took a while to remember FAVELA, other wise only getting the corrrect ending to EMOTI
NGVEON held me up. LOI NOT TO MENTION. BALTI my favourite. Thank-you Teazel and Kitty.7:50 which is well under my 10:00 target. Like most others I dithered over PODAGRA, but plumped for the right option given I knew what a Podiatrist dealt with. Also enjoyed the clue for MENAGE.
15:43 Not to mention, my fave, with Arcadia and Defoliant my least faves…
but had to Google Favela so a technical DNF.
Podagra known from medical school (gout is not confined solely to foot joints no pun intended)
Ta KAT and season’s greetings to all
9:50
Similar experience to others – just about remembered FAVELA, and constructed the NHO PODAGRA by assuming it must start POD.
OMNIBUS and BALTI were my last two in.
Thanks Kitty and Teazel
21:43. A steady solve needing some hard thinking in places. Managed to work out the unknown PODAGRA, which was pleasing. A typical quite challenging and entertaining QC puzzle from Teazel.
The number of people not knowing the word PODAGRA suggests it was perhaps a “brave” choice for a QC, but with the checkers and clear wordplay it was either that or PaDoGRA, and fortunately I guessed right. I remain not a huge fan of clues where the answer has one asking “is that really a word”, as I prefer to see these puzzles as exercises in unravelling wordplay to get at words one knows, but I know others consider extending one’s vocabulary to be part of the point of crosswords.
That apart, a nice puzzle, solved in 11:29 with few hold-ups. Many thanks Kitty for this and your other blogs over the year.
Could also have been PODAGAR, he says bitterly …
Ha, I nearly went for that but realised”Run into” suggested that the R was not going to be the last letter
If only I’d thought of that. You’re quite right. I need you on “Phone a Friend” speed-dial, Keith.
Isn’t he a cyclist?
🙂
Pogacar but I hate the expression goat.
Found this quite tough. Fortunately knew FAVELA so worked out the unknown PODAGRA as assumed it had to start with pod-. Biffed NOT TO MENTION and needed the blog to parse. Thanks Kitty and Teazel.
A good test from Teazel but I did not quite rise to the challenge, finishing in 22 mins. I was slow to start and plodded around the grid until it began to take shape and crossers allowed me to fill a few gaps. I accelerated after NOT TO MENTION clicked and made OMNIBUS possible. I then had to tussle with the NE corner and, like others, deduced the NHO PODAGRA which then allowed my final PDM FAVELA. It seems many others hit the same hurdles.
BALTI, AMBLING, EMERGENCE…….. too many good clues to list them all.
Thanks to Teazel and Kitty (not least for confirming and augmenting my parsing).
Mostly fast but got properly stuck on the Terrible Two, where I had plumped for PODAGAR (it had to start with “pod”, being related to feet, and I already had the G, so that meant PODAGAR or PODAGRA and PODAGAR somehow looked more likely). That made FAVELA impossible until I did a proper rebuild. As soon as I thought “Maybe it’s PODAGRA after all” FAVELA dropped in.
That bit of uncertainty was compensated for by flying through other bits of the grid and I ended up in a pretty standard 07:17. COD to DEFOLIANT, great surface.
Many thanks Teazel and Kitty.
So similar! At least you knew of FAVELA
Spooky!
I was very quick until I wasn’t. I had a lot of trouble, like most here, with my last two – the unknowns FAVELA and PODAGRA. I had POD from podiatry and the G checker so my options were limited. I thought the shantytown probably ended in LA but after an alphabet trawl for the first letter I cheated and looked up synonyms for shantytown. Hence 7:20 but not all my own work. Thanks Kitty. Have a good one!
Did it! LOI (after an abc trawl) FAVELA which kind of rang a bell so worth trying – got away with it. Uncertain about cast = SHY, thanks Kitty, yes cast = throw, but is that shy? Well I suppose that’s what a coconut shy must be all about, or so I assumed. Liked the BALTI (Kitty, maybe you have it the wrong way round? We get the curry but not the more!)
Oh a slight MER: not convinced that opinion = NOTION.
Maybe I’d better explain how on earth I knew PODAGRA: there’s a piece by Telemann called Ouverture, jointes d’une Suite tragi-comique whose second movement is Le podagre, the gout-sufferer, “suggesting both halting physical movement and pain shooting through the sufferer’s joints through frequent disruptions in the dance’s harmonic and melodic progress” (says the CD booklet). There!
Whoa! I forgot all about that Telemann piece! Program music of that time is so interesting, you wouldn’t get anything about gout from the Romantics.
16 mins…
Thankfully I knew “Favela” and could work out “Podagra” thinking podiatry might be involved in some form. The rest went in steadily.
FOI – 1dn “Roam”
LOI – 22ac “Shy”
COD – 23ac “Emergence”
Thanks as usual!
7.06. Some interesting vocabulary, but all pretty clear from the wordplay.
Needed help with FAVELA, which I had vaguely heard of, come to think of it. NHO PODAGRA but then biffed.
Rather slow today. At first I had only a few answers dotted around the grid. Had to correct Roaming to AMBLING.
Liked NOT TO MENTION, MENAGE, ARCADIA. COD BALTI.
Many thanks, Kitty.
13.13 I enjoyed this after having a torrid time with last week’s puzzles. Didn’t know PODAGRA but made lucky guess. Fortunately I did know FAVELA because my granddaughter is working in one in Rio!
My thanks to Teazel and Kitty.
Mainly easy except where it wasn’t.
18a Not to mention, I could not parse this.
20a Ambling, I had Roaming for a bit, AM in RING, could not explain the O and thought it unlikely in view of 1d being Roam.
4d Sparks, could not believe it was so easy.
7d NHO Podagra.
15d I smiled about a menage at trois.
Too hard for me
I was quick to put in FAVELA from the parsing, and once the crossers were all in place, PODAGRA rang that faint bell that says “I’ve heard the word, but what does it mean”. I differ from Cedric in enjoying a clue of that type. Also, I agree with Kevin, and others, that SPARKS is a poor clue.
Best wishes for the Festive Season to Kitty (and all her fellow bloggers), to all the setters who keep us entertained, and to all visitors to this blog.
FOI REDRESSED
LOI PODAGRA
COD ARCADIA
TIME 4:09
All green in 9:20 so just better than par for me. Also never heard of the foot one but no probs with FAVELA so deduced it.
Thanks Kitty for parsing NOT TO MENTION which I had lazily given up on.
Raced through until grinding halt at 7d and 13a, finally dredged up Favela, but still managed to guess the vowels in the wrong order in 7d (pod means foot, but so does pad and ped). All enjoyable except the last gasp, thanks to Teazel and Kitty. My two least favourites in one, a race through and stuck on the last 2 or 3 and an anagram leading to an obscure word so there is no way of checking guesses against the word play. Ho Hum.
SPARKS: A bit lame
MAKE A KILLING: Nice clue
PODAGRA: My doc called it gout when treating me for it a couple of weeks ago. Fortunately gone now and I don’t want it back. Did vaguely remember that podagra was a medical condition, so in it went
Nice puzzle.
Thanks Teazel and Kitty
Couldn’t parse OMNIBUS (thanks Kitty) and didn’t bother to parse NOT TO MENTION as it was obvious from the crossers. Knew FAVELA but the pain in the foot was unknown. I was left with either podagra or padogra so I cheated and checked with an outside source.
FOI – 1ac REDRESSED
LOI – 7dn PODAGRA
COD – 10ac MAKE A KILLING. Also liked AMBLING
Thanks to Teazel and Kitty
Did this in an insomniac interlude early this morning, before having a shower and going back to bed, where I managed to fall into the arms of Morpheus for several hours. I sadly missed a typo, thus nullifying my seven forty six. Knew FAVELA, fortunately, so was able to work out PODAGRA. At 17d, however, too light a touch on the L key resulted in TALYY. Drat! Thanks Teazel and Kitty, and Season’s Greetings to all.
Not having heard of FAVELA I tried a rather desperate RAVELA and was not surprised to get a fail.
Pleased however to have solved the rest including PODAGRA.
Thanks Teazle and Kitty.
Managed 11:03 after getting lucky with PADOGRA
15:17
A few tricky ones. Failed to parse OMNIBUS, not clear on meaning of MÉNAGE and NHO PODAGRA. LOI SOP.
17:45 for the solve. Held up by NOT-TO-MENTION, MENAGE, FAVELA and not helped by putting in defoliate instead of DEFOLIANT and NHO PODAGRA but went for the correct starter based on podiatry. FAVELAs got a bit of a mention when the World Cup / Olympics were in Brazil a decade ago and Bolsonaro was trying to sportswash the poverty.
Disheartened by encountering this puzzle on a Monday; whereas if it turned up on a Thursday or Friday I’d be okay with it. I realise now my expectations of what a QC should be are both about its contents and also that Monday will be straightforward with any particular tough puzzles cropping up later in the week. It leaves me wondering what we have to face over the Christmas period.
Anyway thanks to Kitty and Teazel
It feels like Teazel has hit the Goldilocks (just right) level for a QC. I prefer workable wordplay to get to unknown words. Thanks to Kitty and Teazel.
9.19 SPARKS seemed too easy and I’d NHO of LOI PODAGRA. Thanks Kitty and Teazel.
I sped through this one without much difficulty – ah, a Monday Quickie. If you have been solving these puzzles for years, you should end up with a rather large vocabulary and a fair stock of chestnuts – Balti(more), reed as grass, t-ally, bling as jewellery. This will definitely speed up your solving.
Time: 6:57
Well never heard of podagra and I’m a retired doctor! also never heard of Favela.
DNF! The NHO PODAGRA and the unrecallable FAVELA. Very tough for a QC, IMHO. Approx. 45 minutes on the clock when I gave up. BALTI was a very good clue, but I didn’t much care for many of the others. Not sure why.
Many thanks to Kitty and Teazel.
Yet another typo – worked out what PODAGRA must be and typed POGAGRA anyway, so mucking up FIEND too. I was quite pleased with having solved it until the piubnk squares revealed themselves.
A very enjoyable 10:59. FAVELA went in pretty quickly for us helping with the NHO PODAGRA which, by then, was the obvious choice if you knew words like podiatrist. Liked BALTI and AMBLING amongst others but COD to MENAGE. The ‘can it really be that straightforward’ SPARKS was our last one in.
Late getting to this today after battling my way through the M&S food department this morning to get the Christmas goodies. I was fortunate to know FAVELA which seems to have been a problem for some, the most infamous example being in Rio which has been well covered in many a travel programme. If anyone was to find themselves in Rio, they say if you value your life the favela is best avoided. Getting this helped a lot with PODAGRA which I didn’t know, but it had to begin with POD didn’t it. In the end I managed to finish within target at 9.12.
13 minutes today; LOI EMOTION correcting a biffed Elation.
NHO PODAGRA but was able to work it out with all the checkers.
Struggled to parse OMNIBUS.
COD to BALTI.
David
16 minutes.
NHO PODAGRA and could easily have got this wrong.
Shared the pain with Podagra and Favela… and the slight MER at 4d Sparks. Otherwise a goldilocks experience QC.
FOI 9a Fined
LOI 13a Favela
COD 19a Balti
Disappointed not to remember FAVELA but rather glad I didn’t know PODAGRA it looks awful.
Took a break from this with 2 gaps. Knew how the podagra clue worked but didn’t want to bung it in without the missing crosser. Managed to dredge favela from the deep recesses, to complete in heaven know how long.
FOI Shy
LOI Podagra
COD Not to mention
Thanks Teazel and Kitty
Toughish workout but as usual Teazel’s wordplay spot on even after a good guess!