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.
Well done #5 – great minds think alike – margarine here too
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.
👍
Fabulous! ⚡
AMAZING!
I’m speechless
Gosh! Well played.
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
Congrats 💪
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. And Trelawney for cheering us up.
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
Yes!
Me too!
Indeed
Yes I did. but I never checked and put in LIGHT YEAR without realising it wasn’t an anagram! Only discovered when I read the blog.
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.
Congratulations
Congrats 👏
3:37 for a PB 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.
🔥🔥
Congratulations
Speedy stuff! Well done!
Well done #50
That’s an incredible time.
🚀
Congratulations!
Congratulations – a great time!
A sub 5 minute is the holy grail for me – and today’s puzzle was probably the best opportunity in a while I expect.
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.
Congratulations
Congrats ⚡
Excellent!
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!
🥂
Congrats 👏
Congratulations
👏
Congratulations! I’m a year or two into all this as well, and today was a PB by a long stretch. A nice experience. Congratulations!
Terrific!
Well done!
Wonderful, take a bow!
Mostly straightforward and very enjoyable so thanks. I don’t agree that macho is manly- it’s certainly not gentlemanly!
No PB here but achieved a sprightly 5:01 starting with SHAMROCK and finishing with DROP SHOT. I put in LIGHT YEAR but missed the hidden and thought it an anagram of earthling! Thanks Kitty
3:47
Fourth fastest time and a rare visit to sub-4 mins, so a welcome speed solve for a Monday morning. Of my top ten times, all have come on a Monday or Tuesday bar one (QC3231 last month). Only comment is that LIGHT YEAR went in from checkers, didn’t notice it was a hidden whilst in flight.
Thanks Kitty and Trelawney
A nice gentle start to the week. From SHAMROCK to HIDEOUT in 5:33. Congrats to all those who had PBs today!. Thanks Trelawney and Kitty.
My PB too, 5:39! If I’d known it would be such smooth sailing I would have tried to push for my first sub 5 but very pleased with it nonetheless.
Cheers all
Congrats ⚡
12:14
Thought I might be on for a PB after a lightening start but slowed towards the end.
All parsed bar the biffed LIGHT YEAR – as I was looking for an anagram and never spotted the hidden.
I could not get ‘trifolium’ out of my head for my LOI, which probably cost me the PB.
Ho hum – great QC though!
FOI: SCAR
LOI: SHAMROCK
COD: MARMALADE
Thanks to Trelawney and Kitty
All green in 5:25, my 6th fastest time
11 in the first accross pass, then all of the downs in one, and then the last three across. Only slight pause was thinking light year was an anagram as others did. If I had known it was going to be that easy I would have spent more time trying for a single pass solve which I have narrowly missed before but never actually done.
Very enjoyable, thanks Trelawney and Kitty.
There were a few clues on this puzzle that I was able to answer without really having to work out any cryptics, but this also lead me to jumping the gun and entering MARGARINE, which was foolish really as the clue really didn’t spell that out at all.
DROP SHOT and HAMPER refused to come to me without a gentle nudge. I’m annoyed with myself for not seeing the latter.
First Lap: 19
Answered (no help): 24
Answered (with help): 2
DNF: Nil
Time: 17:00
I also fell prey to the slipppiness of margarine!
Having finished this in a nippy 5.12, I guessed there would be a lot of PBs today; and having read the comments so far I see was right. Congratulations to all those who achieved it.
I’m actually a little disappointed with my time, which was a couple of seconds short of a minute outside my PB. I seemed to fill in nearly every answer on first reading it, and was expecting to be sub five minutes. My times however, will always be constrained by my wish to complete the puzzle by pen and paper.
Some years ago I carried out an experiment to see what the disadvantage was in terms of completing the puzzle by pen and paper, as compared to typing the answers on line. To satisfy my curiosity I repeated the experiment by completing this puzzle by overwriting the answers already in place. I reread each clue and gave myself two seconds thinking time on top of that before overwriting the answer. My finishing time turned out to be 3.52. There are 26 clues to solve, so if I deduct the two seconds I allowed myself as ‘thinking time’, this leaves a round figure of 3.00. This would be the time for reading the question and filling the answer straight in. The conclusion I reach from all this is that the pen and paper solvers take a good deal longer, perhaps a minute or so, to complete the puzzle compared to the ‘on-liners’.
I find the slowest part about solving pen&paper is orientating from clues to the answer on the grid and back – especially if you’re jumping around and then have to identify the clue number and its place in the clue list. Although I am probably also a quicker typer than writer. Get fewer typos on pen & paper 😀 but they still happen 🤣
I can assure you that typing on a phone on a moving train isn’t faster than solving on paper … especially not when you fitted a new screen protector at the weekend, with the result that you had to hit many of the letters two or three times to make them register at all!
My sympathies Templar. Phone + train is bad enough but add in a screen protector..!
I solve on an iPad mini and find it very much slower than pen and paper, one finger typing thanks to reduced keyboard size not to mention having to correct typos caused by that one finger trying to rush over said keyboard. All in the name of saving paper!
I take on board the issues that both you and Templar have with solving on line, but I bet nobody with a best time of 3.10 or under is a pen and paper solver. I’m more than happy to be proved wrong however ….
I believe JohnInterred solves on paper, but I may be wrong.
And the great Busman too, I think … Congratulations on your time today JPTC, rapid!
Thanks Templar!
Yes, I do. Touch typists have quite an advantage, I think.
And your quickest solve time is? …
Doesn’t seem to be holding you back too far, John! 🙂
18:36 and a PB by some distance! Spent a while trying to find an anagram of “mum and boy”, ended up spotting MARMALADE without parsing “spoil”. CoD LIGHTYEAR, I’m easily swayed by sci fi trappings.
Well done sir 🙂
Congratulations! Always nice to feel on the wavelength!
Congrats 👏
Failed on hamper with the thought of margarine rather than marmalade. Total time for all bar those two was 24 minutes. Some of the clues were a bit too easy, or does that just mean I’m getting better?
Thanks TandK
You’re getting better!
In at 10:03. Quickest I’ve done one. Some great clues in there. LOI 22a, couldn’t keep the orcs from my mind.
A nice start to the week, and I’ve shaved a few seconds off my PB, now sitting at 5:40.
Thank you for the blog!
4:47 ! Which I believe is my first under five minute solve. Lovely puzzle. Thanks Kitty and Trelawney .
5:37 and no reds! That’s more like it.
FOI SHAMROCK and then most went in straight off, with a wobble around 16D before coming back to it once more crossers were in. Hesitated with my LOI SQUASH, but very pleased to see all greens and well under 20 minutes for the first time in too long. COD CHIMERA.
Thanks, Kitty and Trelawney.
A pleasant enough sub-15, that would have been a bit more comfortable if loi Ogre had come to mind before going down the rabbit hole of thinking it must start Os (so/therefore).
CoD to the IKEA Marmalade. Invariant
I hope this isn’t one puzzle at the easy end of the spectrum to get us all excited, followed by 2 weeks of dnf’s….
We can only wait and see, but at least it’s a better start to this week than the previous one.
I got stuck trying to put the answer for 18 into the spot where 19 goes. I’m also solving on paper, so that is inherently slower. Nevertheless, since is was able to answer each clue as I read it, I did reasonably well.
Time: 5:11
What I really appreciate with Trelawney is the logical way he/she sets out the clues: a joy to read, absorb and then insert the answer. I avoided the MARGARINE trap by inserting MAR (spoil) MA (mum) and LAD plus E had to follow! One of my fastest times of 9 minutes – hooray start to the week! Flying start with topical SHAMROCK and loi HIDEOUT. Much enjoyment along the way with excellent blog by Kitty to follow: thanks to her and to Trelawney.
It’s a wheeeee from me. I don’t actually time myself except by how hot the cuppa is when I finish. Today it was still hot. Must have been one of my fastest times. Very enjoyable puzzle.
Thanks Trelawney and Kitty
Very happy with that – the first time ever I have completed a Quick Cryptic without getting either an incorrect word/letter and without using any aids such as a dictionary or an anagram helper…..and I’ve been doing them for over 18 months
Thanks Trelawney and Kitty
Great milestone, congratulations!
My thanks to Trelawney and Kitty.
Good puzzle, I enjoyed it.
16d Hideout held me up for a bit but in retrospect I can’t see why.
9 mins
First time ever sub 10 mins. Had to run through a few types of meat before the three letter one needed came to mind. Also manged to spell rattlesnake with 3 T’s until I ran out of squares. A very gentle Monday.
FOI Shamrock
LOI Hamper
COD Marmalade
Thanks Trelawney and Kitty
Wow! This is the first time I’ve completed a puzzle in one sitting! Even more surprising it took me just under 12 minutes!! Since I started doing these puzzles a year ago I would be lucky just to get a few clues correct in 30 mins. Then I started solving all but two or three in my allotted 30 mins! So this is a breakthrough moment! Many Thanks to Trelawney.
Well done! So satisfying to see progress isn’t it?
6:09 for us, which I think is a 3rd fastest. Might just have been a PB if we hadn’t spent time trying to justify MARGARINE. We didn’t actually enter it though so no backing out of letters was required. It wasn’t a straight through solve though and there were perhaps three of four more where we puzzled for a short while but, tbh, I think we’re at the stage now where we value a bit of a challenge more than the speed. Thanks nevertheless to Trelawney and Kitty.
7:18, it wanted to be faster but I never heard of Rob Brydon and know nothing of tennis. That would have been fine since the wordplay was crystal clear, except that I let my ignorance intimidate me. I really loved the long anagrams. Trelawney’s cluing is so smooth that it’s almost unnoticeable. A real artist.
Thanks to Trelawney and Kitty, and applause to all the PBs, near-PBs, and other milestones.
9 mins…
No PB for me, but a sub 10 minute is always welcome. I wondered whether it was going to be one of those puzzles that started easy then suddenly became rock hard further down the grid. Thankfully it didn’t.
Only issue was initially putting “Jump Ship” for 23ac, which seemed to parse, but as a tennis stroke didn’t make sense, unless it was some new fangled thing I hadn’t heard of. It was quickly corrected when I saw 17dn “Hamper”.
FOI – 1ac “Shamrock”
LOI – 16dn “Hideout”
COD – 18ac “Maramalade”
Thanks as usual!
10.05 Having biffed MARGARINE I spent nearly half of the time on LOI HAMPER. Congratulations to everyone with a PB. Thanks Kitty and Trelawney.
Thank you Hurley: a lovely start to the week. I think it was a PB for me in 10.28. Don’t think I can go much faster. I marvel at the supersonic speeds of some.
10 mins which is close to PB for me; liked OGRE