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) | |
6:50, which is positively glacial compared to many others. But very much enjoyed; as has been said, Trelawney’s clues may not be the most difficult, but they are always among the most well crafted.
Many thanks Kitty for the blog.
07:04
A fast one but could have been better without trying both EMERALD and BLARNEY for “stone emblem of Ireland”. FOI SNOOKER, even then I thought first
of “conkers”
COD DROP SHOT
9:58 today. No real issues, but I thought of “harp” as the emblem of Ireland for a while. Happy to finish under 10 minutes. Congratulations to everyone setting a personal milestone today.
Thanks to Trelawney and Kitty.
Very enjoyable with no hold ups ( even if I failed to spot the two hidden). Thank you for a good start to the week.
7 minutes for me. LOI MARMALADE. I had biffed MISMANAGE when I saw Spoil in the clue. Took a minute to unravel that.
Enjoyed it.
Congrats to all the PB merchants today.
David
Looks like I’m the only person who posted a DNF. And that took me half an hour.
Is this website for people who are learning how to solve cryptic crosswords, or for people who show off how quickly they can solve it in? Last week I asked a question about a particular clue and one response simply stated the the ‘blogger covered it’; which really didn’t help deepen my understanding, nor my enjoyment.
It would be useful if there was a way that those who can already do cryptic crosswords and want to get recognition from their peers can post their times, and those of us who are trying to learn can discuss how an answer was derived (and not just how the clue is parsed, but the actual thought process followed, and tips/tricks that can be learnt to apply to future puzzles).
Is there another (friendly) blog for us thickos trying to learn to ask questions?
The thing is, this blog was originally set up for people to compare their times, hence its name. But it has morphed into much more of a discussion group in recent years.
Some people never post their times, other like to use someone as a benchmark, some – like me – don’t usually compare themselves with anyone, but I still post my time because I feel it’s relevant. Honestly, it’s not about showing off and I’m sorry if you don’t think this is a friendly site. There is a site called Cracking the Cryptic which might help, but I think they only go through the 15×15.
You probably aren’t the only person to DNF today – just the only one to say so up to now. It may be a big ask to hope for more detailed explanations – don’t forget that all UK bloggers are doing this in the middle of the night! But there are some good books out there if you’re interested in delving a bit deeper – I recommend Two Girls, One on Each Knee by Alan Connor.
Finally, don’t be shy to ask questions or double check if you don’t understand something . Most people are more than happy to help.
Don’t know about other blogs but in your place I would (I did) continue to read and ask questions and not worry about either the motivations of the very fast solvers or whether I look stupid by comparison. The two+ years of doing that most days has been both pleasurable and instructive.
If someone seemed short with you, that’s unfortunate, probably unintentional, and all too common in any kind of written communication between strangers. If it was me I apologize! We’re all human here.
Some of us do enjoy writing about the thought processes of solving and will do so given time and encouragement. And I find an occasional visit to Cracking the Cryptic fascinating and helpful. Hang in there.
Robert, a useful definition of an easy clue is that it’s one where you know the answer. . .
Lots of the speedy solvers on here are really good at recognising the definition (target), and so can write in the answer based just on the word length and crossers. However, they can then miss out on the fun of understanding exactly how the clue works.
Please don’t be embarrassed to ask for more information about a clue – you may well be voicing the doubts/concerns of many others who read this blog but choose not to post.
I’m somewhat perplexed when you ask whether there is a friendly blog where you can learn.
I replied to you in detail last week about my thought process for WHOOPS-A-DAISY. Even if what I wrote was a little too wordy for your liking, Invariant and Templar also replied and there were 2-3 other posters who acknowledged your post.
Yet none of us received an acknowledge or reply from you.
I’m not sure where the lack of friendliness lies.
My first under 5 minute solve: 4.46. Lovely puzzle, too. Thanks Trewlawny.
Congrats ⚡
I was held up by my last three (4 & 17dn and 23ac) which probably cost me a rare sub-10 finish but not for too long. I eventually finished in 12 minutes with everything parsed except LIGHT YEAR where I didn’t bother to check what I thought was an anagram.
FOI – 1ac SHAMROCK
LOI – 23ac DROP SHOT
COD – 7dn ROGER
Thanks to Trelawney and Kitty
A PB of 4:04 for me, exactly 6 months since my previous PB!
Congrats ⚡
11 mins and fully parsed. One of my best results. Light year must be the longest hidden ever?
Thanks Kitty and Trelawney
A speedy one for me too and all parsed. Really good fun – lovely surfaces and, yes, not difficult, but what a super puzzle. Like Vinyl, I solve on paper, and I’m sure it’s slower than typing. As a matter of fact, now the grid printout is bigger, I think it makes it a bit slower still. Mind you, we’re talking a second or so 😂
I also thought earthling might be an anagram but then I saw the LIGHT! Congratulations to everyone who got a PB and other achievements today – what a cracking way to start the week.
One thing: I would have thought that tomorrow would have been a good day for a crossword beginning with SHAMROCK!
I liked CHIMERA and ROGER a lot.
6:17 FOI Shamrock LOI Charge COD Light year
Thanks Trelawney and Kitty
BTW MH remarked in the newsletter the other day that there is an opportunity to comment on the Concise Quintagram, but I have yet to work out where it is. Can anyone help? I rarely get the connections but I can guarantee that the one I do get is the one he refers to in the newsletter! Sod’s law.
Well, Trelawney, was this your end of term revision for the class. If I knew my time I’d admire it! I don’t think in all my QC years I’ve ever whipped through quite so fast. And I claim I never made a single slip or parsing failure. I’m not sure who my cohort are but I bet we all agree. Thank you.
I too completed quickly (for me) and chose to slow up a little to enjoy the clues and spin out a fun experience. Fortunately I was solving at home rather than in my usual Costa where I would have been stumped for something else to do waiting to finish my cappuccino! My first solve of 23a was Back Hand and then wasn’t sure it shouldn’t be Hand Back… but the R P and H forced a rethink and yielded up the T to help me out on LOI 16d Hideout.
FOI 1a Shamrock
LOI 16d Hideout – simply the last clue to present itself
COD 9a Amazing – nice construction
06.09. Pleasant and gentle start to the week.
PB for me in 8.31. Didn’t really stumble at any point but Ogre took me a while to see even with the checking letters in place.
Congrats ⚡
As usual late to the party. No time recorded but fairly fast Held up by putting on furious not fervour until brain kicked on and said parse
Do like Trelawney as a setter