Hi all. As is usual for a Trelawney puzzle, this all went very smoothly for me – not a monster at all. The blog heading refers to my two picks today, AMAZING (9a) and CHIMERA (6d). I’m also not a morning person, but much enjoyed this. Thanks Trelawney!
Definitions are underlined in the clues below. In the explanations, I generally italicise indicators unless it seems clearer not to. Where the removed part 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 | Fake stone emblem of Ireland (8) |
| SHAMROCK — SHAM (fake) STONE (rock) | |
| 5a | Mark’s brief fright (4) |
| SCAR — Without the last letter (brief) SCARe (fright) | |
| 8a | Fresh trove is plain to see (5) |
| OVERT — An anagram of (fresh) TROVE | |
| 9a | In the morning, a liveliness is remarkable (7) |
| AMAZING — AM (in the morning) + A + ZING (liveliness) | |
| 11a | Child good-natured without nanny at first (3) |
| KID — KI[n]D (good-natured) without the initial letter of (… at first) Nanny | |
| 12a | Flighty earthling covering astronomical distance (5,4) |
| LIGHT YEAR — A hidden, with fLIGHTY EARthling covering the answer | |
| 13a | Say no to rubbish (6) |
| REFUSE — Two definitions | |
| 15a | Waitress finally put down vegetable (6) |
| SQUASH — The last letter of (… finally) waitresS + QUASH (put down) | |
| 18a | Spoil mum and boy with European spread (9) |
| MARMALADE — MAR (spoil), MA (mum), LAD (boy) and E (European) | |
| 19a | Marry native of Stockholm after undressing (3) |
| WED — Having removed outer letters (… after undressing), sWEDe (native of Stockholm) | |
| 20a | Zoomed-in image of trophy outside shed (5-2) |
| CLOSE-UP — CUP (trophy) around (outside) LOSE (shed) | |
| 21a | That man will love greeting (5) |
| HELLO — HE’LL (that man will) + O (love) | |
| 22a | Man-eating giant therefore heading west (4) |
| OGRE — ERGO (therefore) reversed (heading west, in an across entry) | |
| 23a | Abandons trendy tennis stroke (4,4) |
| DROP SHOT — DROPS (abandons) + HOT (trendy) | |
| Down | |
| 1d | Playing OK Norse game (7) |
| SNOOKER — An anagram of (playing) OK NORSE | |
| 2d | Change chaps featured in commercial (5) |
| AMEND — MEN (chaps) featured in AD (commercial) | |
| 3d | Take antlers off venomous creature (11) |
| RATTLESNAKE — TAKE ANTLERS anagrammed (off) | |
| 4d | Attack accusation (6) |
| CHARGE — A double definition | |
| 6d | Within loch I’m eradicating mythical monster (7) |
| CHIMERA — The answer is found within loCH I’M ERAdicating | |
| 7d | Jolly chap’s message received? (5) |
| ROGER — Two meanings, the first being the Jolly ROGER | |
| 10d | Opaque hints disturbed vintage store (7,4) |
| ANTIQUE SHOP — OPAQUE HINTS anagrammed (disturbed) | |
| 14d | Passion over fur is moving (7) |
| FERVOUR — OVER FUR is anagrammed (moving) | |
| 16d | Mostly horrible time in lair (7) |
| HIDEOUT — All but the last letter of (mostly) HIDEOUs (horrible) + T (time) | |
| 17d | Meat for each basket (6) |
| HAMPER — HAM (meat) + PER (for each) | |
| 18d | Manly raincoat with hood displayed regularly (5) |
| MACHO — MAC (raincoat) + HoOd, taking alternate letters (displayed regularly) | |
| 19d | You and I left quietly like Rob Brydon (5) |
| WELSH — WE (you and I) + L (left) + SH (quietly) | |
I expect there will be a few best times today if my 15:53 is anything go to go by.
Only hold up was biffing MARGARINE which did not parse rather than MARMALADE which did.
Lovely accessible QC for a cold Monday morning.
COD WELSH
Thanks Trelawney and Kitty.
Flew through this. Ten on the first pass of acrosses and lots and lots of downs. The Q from ANTIQUE SHOP cleared up SQUASH and the checkers plus some careful parsing led to MARMALADE but it was CHARGE that added seconds at the end. Not too many though because I finished all green in 5.39 – according to the Quick Snitch my 4th fastest ever.
3:09 which is my 6th-fastest according to Starstruck’s marvellous machine. And whilst checking I noticed that six of my top ten times have come on a Monday, with three on a Tuesday. Can’t be coincidence.
Not much more to add other than thanking Kitty and Trelawney for a pleasant start to the week.
PB for me, my typing could barely keep up with the answers.
On read back there were a lot of very entertaining clues, but my COD goes to LIGHT YEAR.
Started with SHAMROCK and finished with DROP SHOT in 2.55.
Thanks to Kitty and Trelawney
HANG OUT THE FLAGS!! That’s warp speed. Hope you’re booking a hotel for the Championship.
👍
2:51. In my top 10 fastest and just a couple short of a clean sweep. LOI REFUSE. Had some of my own Seville MARMALADE on my toast before solving. Thanks Trelawney and Kitty.
7:26 another PB. I couldn’t refuse marmalade squash for long.
TaKAT
I do love a Trelawney. He gives me hope! 10:05.
Pi ❤️
Good fun. Very quick until I hesitated a minute over AMAZING and CHARGE.
SHAMROCK is topical, of course, as it is St Patrick’s Day tomorrow.
Liked MARMALADE, MACHO and WELSH, among others.
Thanks vm, Kitty.
10 minutes, no problems.
A very relaxed 11 mins. I could see it was going to be a fairly quick one so I refused to rush and suffer typos. Enjoyable and well-constructed, as always from Trelawney, and such a change from some of the clever setters of non-QCs.
Thanks, both.
Did anyone else waste time trying to anagram (flighty?) “earthling” into “light year”? Which ends up only one letter away with “light near”… Otherwise, a great start to the week! Thanks to Kitty and Trelawney
One of my quickest solves, but nonetheless very enjoyable. Some really clever surfaces. COD MARMALADE. Thanks Trelawney and Kitty.
A gentle Monday, but the Squire does have the gift of being able to make clues witty as well as straightforward, so still fun.
No records here, sadly, but a thoroughly enjoyed 05:34. COD to LOI DROP SHOT.
Many thanks Kitty and the Squire.
Another PB here – raced through in 10:52. No problems at all.
3:37 for the solve and playing with the big boys.
First time I’ve cracked five mins without a correction. Obviously no holds up, did bung margarine in on the way through but took it out when hamper went in. Amazing LOI and COD to LIGHT-YEAR hidden.
Thanks to Kitty for the blog and Trelawney who has consistently provided my PBs. Always great clues with no loss of quality in the surfaces.
🔥🔥
15 minutes for me and a welcome relief from the trials at the end of last week. A little slow to get started again, but once I had my pace picked up rapidly. No particular standout clues, but no real stinkers either (except that I DNK the meaning of CHIMERA).
Many thanks to Kitty and (the ever reliable) Trelawney.
DNF. Improving, as 4.5 clues (couldn’t get what type of shot it was, I was thinking “chip”) remaining when called time at 30 minutes. Frustratingly I feel I should have been able to complete this if I’d stuck with it.
3:19 – and a PB to add to the list.
None the less enjoyable for being straightforward. I thought LIGHT YEAR was a fantastic clue.
Quick but great fun. 7:30 for a most enjoyable start to the week.
Favourites were MARMALADE and CHIMERA.
Thanks Trelawney and Kitty.
I know the Quick Snitch had this as very easy BUT since I started my lovely QC journey with you folks less than two years ago this was my fastest ever completion. 14:43 might make the more seasoned wordsmiths raise an eyebrow I know. However I’m buzzing!