Hello everyone. I didn’t run into any speed bumps with this one and enjoyed the ride. Hoping that my journey later to a secret exotic location is half as smooth. Thanks Alex!
Definitions are underlined in the clues below. In the explanations, I generally italicise indicators unless it seems clearer not to. Where the removed letter is specified, [deletions] are in square brackets, and I’ve capitalised and emboldened letters which appear in the ANSWER. I sometimes omit link words and juxtaposition indicators if it doesn’t feel necessary to explain them. If you have any questions, please ask in the comments section.
| Across | |
| 1a | Confine wild critters (8) |
| RESTRICT — An anagram of (wild) CRITTERS | |
| 5a | Heads of animal liberation seem outraged further (4) |
| ALSO — The first letters of (heads of) Animal Liberation Seem Outraged | |
| 8a | William’s financial statements (5) |
| BILLS — Two meanings | |
| 9a | Judge accepting revolutionary help to shine (7) |
| RADIATE — RATE (judge) taking in (accepting) the reversal of (revolutionary) AID (help) | |
| 11a | Nostalgic about car fragrance (11) |
| REMINISCENT — RE (about) + MINI (car) + SCENT (fragrance) | |
| 13a | Weak complaint about the French (6) |
| FEEBLE — BEEF (complaint) backwards (about) + LE (the French) | |
| 14a | Idle people on ignoring the odds become more intense (6) |
| DEEPEN — Even letters only of (… ignoring the odds) iDlE pEoPlE oN | |
| 17a | One is unable to enter state for a spell (11) |
| INCANTATION — I (one) + CAN’T (is unable) going into (to enter) NATION (state) | |
| 20a | Home dates changed as an alternative (7) |
| INSTEAD — IN (home) + DATES anagrammed (changed) | |
| 21a | A piano virtuoso is fast (5) |
| APACE — A + P (piano) + ACE (virtuoso) | |
| 22a | Blow something next to eye (4) |
| LASH — A double definition | |
| 23a | Teenager brewed drink (5,3) |
| GREEN TEA — TEENAGER anagrammed (brewed) | |
| Down | |
| 1d | Right medal for dress (4) |
| ROBE — R (right) + OBE (medal) | |
| 2d | Regularly supply press with extravagant display (7) |
| SPLURGE — Alternate letters of (regularly) SuPpLy + URGE (press) | |
| 3d | Blame screen distorting image (11) |
| RESEMBLANCE — An anagram of (… distorting) BLAME SCREEN | |
| 4d | Kind about group (6) |
| CARING — CA (circa, about) + RING (group) | |
| 6d | Depart field before victor enters initially (5) |
| LEAVE — LEA (field) before V (victor) and Enters initially | |
| 7d | Suggestion of plain individual (8) |
| OVERTONE — OVERT (plain) + ONE (individual) | |
| 10d | Team’s inside changing for broadcast (11) |
| DISSEMINATE — TEAM’S INSIDE anagrammed (changing) | |
| 12d | Waste material around circuit regularly authorised (8) |
| OFFICIAL — OFFAL (waste material) around even letters of (… regularly) cIrCuIt | |
| 15d | Nit-picker holding new medallion (7) |
| PENDANT — PEDANT (nit-picker) holding N (new) | |
| 16d | Look good with former queen (6) |
| GANDER — G (good) + AND (with) + ER (former queen) | |
| 18d | Firm starts to slash their sale prices (5) |
| COSTS — CO (firm) + initial letters of (starts to) Slash Their Sale | |
| 19d | Finally perturb the perfect ultra Greek character (4) |
| BETA — Last letters of (finally) perturB thE perfecT ultrA | |
20 minutes. A very slow solve along with my 15×15 today which suggests it’s me rather than the puzzle.
I am glad I am not the only one. With 5 minutes on the clock, I had only four left. And those four took me a break and at least another five minutes to get. The definition of ‘breezeblocked’ I think!
10.32. Got into trouble by putting NOSE instead of LASH (well it is next to an eye) so OFFICIAL came late. Thanks Alex and Kitty.
Took me forever to change nose to LASH – seeing that made OFFICIAL a lot easier. All green in 14.06.
A well pitched puzzle with no serious hold ups. It helped that the four longish answers all went in quickly which provided plenty of useful checkers
Started with with COD RESTRICT and finished with OVERTONE in 6.29.
20 in 30 minutes. Last four north east. Three more with help of the A for caring but couldn’t solve overtone. Is an overtone a suggestion? I guess it is in wine tasting circles.
Thanks blogger and setter
Wordle in two which brings no satisfaction at all.
Probably! “This has overtones of ………”
Jilly Cooper strikes again…. overtones of peach and walnut….
5.47
As an owner who washed and hoovered it yesterday, I did rather like RE MINI SCENT.
Thanks Alex and Kitty.
A blink with nose before LASH and LOI OVERTONE which took me to 22mins. Should have been faster as the crosses dropped in one after another but wasn’t in any hurry. DEEPEN took longer than it should as I was impatient and put DEEPER which contributed to my problem with LOI. Thanks Alex and Kitty. I hope your journey goes smoothly without any bumps in the road, unlikely in my pothole peppered county.
Well, luckily I didn’t think of nose – arguably a better answer – as I had the ‘s’ already. No problems, though not a super quick solve. Liked REMINISCENT, for which the cryptic allowed no spelling errors, and RESEMBLANCE, ditto, provided the anagrist was checked. Pleasant Monday puzzle, thanks Alex.
8:39. I flirted briefly with NOSE at 22a as well but it didn’t seem quite right and getting the first letter L from OFFICIAL gave the correct answer. Otherwise things went in steadily enough with the reference to the ‘car fragrance’ my favourite.
Thanks to Alex and Kitty
A good start to the week, all done in 9:02, very much helped by having my anagram hat on. Some very smooth surfaces too for an all-round enjoyable puzzle.
Many thanks Kitty for the blog.
I needed the L of OFFICIAL before I got LASH. I enjoyed the anagrams but was slowed by the NE corner at the end (after a smooth, quick solve and parse of most of the puzzle). I finished in 18.45.
GANDER raised a smile. RADIATE only clicked when I had the D and A when my brain returned to AID and I reversed it. Even with all the crossers, my LOI OVERTONE went in with fingers crossed; overt for plain took me too long.
Thanks to Alex and Kitty.
11:43, with over a minute spent counting and recounting the letters in the anagrist for DISSEMINATE, which otherwise I would have been unable to spell.
CARING was my LOI.
Thanks Kitty and Alex
Phew! Just about managed that, LOI RADIATE but then went back and corrected unparsed DEEPEr (= more intense?) and OVERTurE (= suggestion?). Lots of anagrams, fortunately all easy; three abouts all different (one reverse, one = CA, one = RE), many initial letters. Learnt GANDER here a few months ago. Thanks Alex and Kitty.
10.45 I snarled up the grid with TRANSMITTED, which vaguely resembles an anagram of DISSEMINATE if you don’t look too closely. Got there in the end. Thanks Kitty and Alex.
Couldn’t type for toffee today. Fortunately APDCE caught my eye just as I was about to submit and I realised that I’d started PENDANT one letter down, which would have been a host of pink squares.
Pretty straightforward Monday. I wanted the ICI in 12d to be part of “licit”; I wasn’t at all sure that REMINISCENT was the right spelling but in the end trusted the wordplay; and I took a while to see my LOI CARING. Otherwise smooth enough passage for 06:56 and a Decent Day. COD FEEBLE.
Many thanks Alex and Kitty.
I thought this slightly tougher than average, and my time of 10.49 at least confirms it as far as I’m concerned. I hesitated over LASH, at first considering NOSE, but OFFICIAL gave me the L and the clue was solved.
9:16, its 10am and Im outside the top 100 – i thought I did quite well but im not on the wavelength it seems
DNF, a careless RADIANT made the final one OVERTONE impossible. Tried to justify rant=judge.
Never really got going, to be honest.
A good start to the week for me. This one did not present me with too many problems, and the answers came to me fairly quickly.
First Lap: 6
Answered (no help): 24
Help Needed: Nil
DNF: Nil
Time: 25:26
I shot myself in the foot by putting DEEPER at 14a and failing to check the parsing carefully- even when I was stuck on LOI 7d. I could fit OVERTURE but it clearly did not parse. That’s when I came here.
I was “finished” in 11 minutes prior to my LOI.
A good QC.
David
13.38 For us, a not so common sub 15. On the wavelength.
Hesitated over NOSE/LASH – thought of lashing out..wind lashing at door.. receiving 20 lashes – still not able to come up with an exact blow = lash (though link b/w blow and nose tenuous).
POI GANDER
LOI SPLURGE (seems we never file press>urge, no matter how many times it appears….).
Thank you Alex and Kitty
A nice stroll in the park. Also had Nose, then Lose (As in blow your wages at the bookie), before sellting on Lash. Thanks to Alex and Kitty.
5:27
A gentle start to the week in my opinion. Enough acrosses on the first pass to make serious inroads into the downs. Only hold-up was having to write out the letters for DISSEMINATE – without its first checker as RADIATE was my last in.
Thanks Kitty and Alex
I think this was probably easier than I made it, coming in at around my average at 14:33. It took me forever to see RESTRICT – nice clue and no problem understanding it, but I seem to have left my anagram hat under a hedge over the weekend.
Thank you for the blog!
From ROBE to OFFICIAL in 6:39. Nose didn’t occur to me. Thanks Alex and Kitty.
A steady solve in 17 minutes, all parsed. I never considered nose at 22ac, instead waiting for the s from COSTS before entering LASH. OFFICIAL gave me the f for FEEBLE which I couldn’t initially parse but otherwise no great difficulties.
FOI – 5ac ALSO
LOI – 4dn CARING
COD – 15dn PENDANT
Thanks to Alex and Kitty
DNF
Romped through this in just over 10 minutes but came unstuck on LOI LASH. Failed to see the synonym for blow and went for LOSS more in desperation than expectation.
My thanks to Alex and Kitty.
No problems, but I wondered long and hard about 22a Lash. If I hadn’t already got Official at 12d I would have been MUCH happier with Nose than Lash.
Quite an odd solve, with two of the long answers, Reminiscent and Incantation, going straight in, whereas the two vertical anagrams needed a fair number of crossers to see. Throw in a few additional delays with Offal, Overtone and loi Splurge, and an aisle seat suddenly became the inevitable result.
CoD to the Reminiscent Ikea. Invariant
A nice start to the week, although as an a capella harmony singer I question OVERTONE being a “suggestion”; overtones are produced by the accurate alignment of sung notes although being higher frequencies are not always heard. Pedantic comment I know!
Only 3 clues survived the first pass. I thought this was perfectly pitched.
FOI RESTRICT
LOI GANDER
COD INCANTATION
TIME 3:14
6:19 for the solve. Didn’t help myself by biffing sentimental and nose but didn’t leave them in too long once the crossing clues began not fitting. Parsed everything as I was going apart from INCANTACTION which I did post-solve as was happy enough with the biff fitting the checkers.
Thanks to Kitty and Alex
All neatly tied up in 8 minutes which is fast for me especially since I was solving on my phone. A straightforward, well-pitched puzzle from my perspective.
COD to REMINISCENT.
Thanks both.
I was off to a good start with RESTRICT, ALSO, ROBE and BILLS, but a slow mid-phase put paid to any hopes for a fast time. Eventually, however, INCANTATION and DISSEMINATE revealed a themselves and helped me pick up speed again and I crossed the line in a respectable (for me, at least) 25 minutes.
I am another who spent too long with noSe at 22a, before OFFICIAL proved it to be wrong.
Many thanks to Kitty and Alex.
I don’t know why I too had such trouble with this: took me ages to work out RADIATE and CARING. brain definitely not fully working! Completed in 20.44.
This is a good day – the first time I’ve completed a puzzle. This time last year I was getting just a few clues. It took 30mins and at least 10 of those were on one clue – 7dn!
Well done Ragman, definitely worth celebrating. There’s hope for me yet then! Got 10 right today, a little off my PB of 13. I will persist with this…
Well done!
I thought there were some tough clues today – so very well done!
Bravo!
The first time I completed a puzzle, many years ago, I was surprised to find there were no more clues to solve – what? I finished it?
Well done – A Good Day indeed!
👍
20 mins, and relieved to see that my loi Overtone was correct – made sense from the clue but still felt that I might be missing something. Made hard work of the anagrams too. Good, fair puzzle though.
FOI Restrict
LOI overtone
COD incantation
thanks Alex and Kitty
16:18
All parsed.
Got the first 3 across clues (a first for me) and 3 more on the first pass.
Never thought of NOSE (fortunately), going straight for LASH.
Held up in the SW seemingly taking forever to parse FEEBLE which freed up OFFICIAL then INCANTATION then my LOI.
FOI: RESTRICT
LOI: GANDER
COD: REMINISCENT
Thanks to Alex and Kitty
29 mins…
Incredibly slow on this – mainly down to my last two of 12dn “Official” and 13ac “Feeble” – the former not being helped by initially putting “Nose” for 22ac, which it seems quite a few people did. Have to admit, when I put it in, I couldn’t see the cryptic element at all – now I know why.
FOI – 1dn “Robe”
LOI – 22ac “Lash”
COD – 7dn “Overtone”
Thanks as usual!
On the wavelength today, so not much hesitation. LOsI CARING and SPLURGE. Good clues. Also liked REMINISCENT (COD), DEEPEN, RADIATE and OVERTONE, among others.
An encouraging puzzle, especially after the last two. Luckily I had solved OFFICIAL so no problem with LASH.
Many thanks, Kitty.
As an experienced solver, I found little difficulty. I thought about nose, and said no, that’s got to be a trap, don’t put it in. The over/overt thing will be well-known to experienced solvers – overtone, overture, overtaking, etc.
Time: 7:07
20:34 – an average sort of time after a quick start and then stumbling along to finally see OVERTONE, OFFICIAL, DEEPEN and LASH.
Enjoyable puzzle, finished and suitable for our limited talents. Thanks, Alex.
12:53 for me, with GANDER responsible for the last couple of minutes. Just didn’t see the “G AND” concept at all. Ah well.
Thanks to Alex and Kitty.
Probably my first complete clear that felt smooth the whole way!
Clearly on the wavelength this morning. Thoroughly enjoyable puzzle!
Also, a timely reminder that “about” can mean at least 6 different things in crosswordland.
Cheers to setter and blogger as always.
Hep
A fast 7:20 to start the week for us. I hope this week I’m not jinxing the end as I seemed to do last week. Seemed to be a lot of initial / end / alternate letter clues but an enjoyable puzzle overall.
A friendly start to the week. The fragrant car made me chuckle – back in the 70s and 80s, my three ancient Minis all had their own smells, but the predominant one tended to be damp! I can’t say I feel very nostalgic for that – or the rust, the flat batteries, the leaky radiators, thebroken fan belts, etc 😅
8:47 FOI Robe (saw it before I even sat down!) LOI Gander COD Resemblance
Thanks Alex and Kitty
So fed up with my lack of progress that I didn’t properly time this. Somewhere around 20 minutes, which speaks for itself. I can’t catch a break with these puzzles.
7.10. A pretty smooth ride for me after a slow start.
A breeseblock session
Could not sort out NE corner for a while
Did like mini fragrance though.