Hi everyone. The setter name is missing from the puzzle online, but paper solvers have confirmed that this is a Wurm production.
It was a pleasant, trouble-free solve for me, helped by the fact that with a few checkers the long dramas came to mind readily. Had they not I would have been slowed down working out the anagrams. My favourite today is 1d. Thanks Wurm!
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 | Language read externally in two universities (4) |
| URDU — The outer letters of (… externally) ReaD in U U (two universities: two copies of the abbreviation for university) | |
| 3a | Reformed criminal he spared (8) |
| RESHAPED — An anagram of (criminal) HE SPARED | |
| 9a | Level area to coat with metal: gold (7) |
| PLATEAU — PLATE (to coat with metal) + AU (gold) | |
| 10a | Scenery firm returned red boxes (5) |
| DECOR — CO (firm) reversed (returned), which RED contains (boxes) | |
| 11a | Despicable type paper’s boss admired (5) |
| RATED — RAT (despicable type) + ED (paper’s boss) | |
| 12a | Judge fools solicitor at first (6) |
| ASSESS — ASSES (fools) + Solicitor at first | |
| 14a | Drama, initially unfolding in Mold, worked out (5,4,4) |
| UNDER MILK WOOD — The first letter of (initially) Unfolding + IN MOLD WORKED anagrammed (out). The Dylan Thomas drama, set not in Mold but in Llareggub (read it backwards) | |
| 17a | Heard witness trouble pirate (3,3) |
| SEA DOG — SEA, which sounds like (heard) SEE (witness) + DOG (trouble) | |
| 19a | No lead on dog hunting bird (5) |
| EAGLE — There is no first letter on (no lead on) bEAGLE (dog) | |
| 22a | Fruit Mike brought into Spanish city (5) |
| LEMON — M (Mike) brought into LEÓN (Spanish city) | |
| 23a | Anger to burden country (7) |
| IRELAND — IRE (anger) + LAND (to burden) | |
| 24a | Cheese, near Spam, going off (8) |
| PARMESAN — NEAR SPAM, anagrammed (going off) | |
| 25a | Ray’s broad smile (4) |
| BEAM — Two definitions | |
| Down | |
| 1d | Blow and cocaine perhaps adulterated? (8) |
| UPPERCUT — UPPER (cocaine perhaps) + CUT (adulterated) | |
| 2d | Romeo appears in silly sketch (5) |
| DRAFT — R (Romeo) appears in DAFT (silly) | |
| 4d | Film aired, cutting a shot (9,4) |
| EDUCATING RITA — AIRED, CUTTING A anagrammed (shot) | |
| 5d | Such a descent involves underworld (5) |
| HADES — SucH A DEScent contains (involves) the answer | |
| 6d | Pictures thus framing a Cubist pioneer (7) |
| PICASSO — PICS (pictures) and SO (thus) surrounding (framing) A | |
| 7d | Mysterious brunette (4) |
| DARK — A double definition | |
| 8d | Kind offer (6) |
| TENDER — Another double definition | |
| 13d | An emu three daughters trained for rider (8) |
| ADDENDUM — An anagram of (… trained) AN EMU with D D D (three daughters) | |
| 15d | One imagines deer and ram cavorting (7) |
| DREAMER — DEER and RAM anagrammed (cavorting) | |
| 16d | Goalie who’s unlikely to be transferred? (6) |
| KEEPER — Two definitions | |
| 18d | Hamlet perhaps round clubs for disco (5) |
| DANCE — DANE (Hamlet perhaps) round C (clubs) | |
| 20d | Fit windows in grand lounge (5) |
| GLAZE — G (grand) + LAZE (lounge) | |
| 21d | Fine cut to fail dismally (4) |
| FLOP — F (fine) + LOP (cut) | |
Pretty straightforward and once the long anagrams revealed themselves I made rapid progress to finish in 18 mins. COD UPPER CUT.
Thanks Kitty and the anonymous Wurm
I found this tough, and took 14:27. I needed the blog to understand UPPERCUT (Upper = Cocaine perhaps was well beyond me) and still don’t really see Land = Burden in IRELAND. Is there a phrase where the two are interchangeable?
For some reason the app is not showing the setter, either just below the grid or in the puzzle info. Following the debacle recently when Cheeko was “outed” and the first few answers shown, this is disappointing and suggests something needs looking at.
Many thanks Kitty for the blog.
I got landed with the bill.
One can be burdened / landed with a responsibility for something.
15:51 a numerical palindrome. Wurm did me with the uppercut (good class A knowledge on display)
Ta KAW
14:14 – good for me
Nice from Wurm which I finished in 7:33 taking over a minute for LOI and COD UPPERCUT.
Last time I trod the boards was as a 15 year old playing Dai Bread the bigamist baker in UMW.
Was that a take on Daily Bread? How many more of those in UMW are there? I’m not about to read it but I might ask one of the AI engines the question if I’ve enough patience to formulate a suitable prompt.
A gentle but enjoyable start to the week.
My only real issue was the spelling of BEAM – which is one of those words that I always want to have a ‘ee’ in the middle – so had to think carefully before pressing submit.
Started with URDU and finished with DARK in 6.02. COD to UPPERCUT.
Thanks to Kitty and Wurm
11 minutes with time lost by writing UNDERCUT at 1dn for ‘blow’ and not thinking through the rest of the clue. PLATEAU at 9ac forced me to think again.
LOI PLATEAU after an enjoyable tussle but DRAK, drat.
Nice straightforward solve in 20.10.
COD PLATEAU
Off to try the 15*15 next as the Snitch is currently 48.
Thanks Kitty and Wurm.
Thanks for the tip. I finished it in less time than some of my ‘QC’ solves last week but didn’t find it particularly easy. Perhaps my feeble brain cannot manage two cryptics within an hour….
I’m sure it was a PB for the 15×15, though.
Some neat clueing – thankyou. Enjoyed ADDENDUM and UPPERCUT. Quite pleased I managed the get the long drama from just three letters – not the most obvious drama ( i.e. not Shakespeare !), but I do live in Wales, which helped somehow.
Thanks to setter and blogger.
Anyone who struggled with this might like to try today’s cryptic, the easiest I can remember for quite some time…
I enjoyed that, lots of Wurm wit on display. UPPERCUT and UNDER MILK WOOD only came with checkers.
The original BBC recording of UMW, with Richard Burton as the Narrator, is absolutely brilliant and I highly recommend it. I used to fish for sea trout in Wales at night with friends, and as we drove back in the dawn (usually fishless) we would always listen to it. “To begin at the beginning …”
All done in 07:07 for a Decent Day. Many thanks Wurm and Kitty.
14 in 20, 21 in 40. I had trouble in the NW with 1ac and 1d. After another five minutes I revealed the 1ac / 1d crosser to solve 1ac and then 1d but I still didn’t get 2d and 11ac, even with RxxED.
CoD for me is 13d.
FoI plateau
LoI tender
Missing four before doing the letter reveal.
I will attempt the 15×15. I usually manage one or two.
Thanks setter and blogger
Much enjoyed today’s offering. All correct in one quick swoop.
Biffing UNDER MILK WOOD and EDUCATING RITA helped. But I wonder if younger QC-ers will have heard of the latter.
I didn’t think of SEA DOG as a pirate particularly.
Liked UPPERCUT, EAGLE (again), URDU, KEEPER and ADDENDUM.
Many thanks, Kitty.
10:12. I enjoyed this, a QC with a good mix of standard QC level clues, a few chestnuts like EAGLE and at least one tough one in my LOI UPPERCUT.
Thanks to Wurm (as I now discover) and Kitty
Flying along and looking good for a sub 10 finish, alas it was not to be. A prolonged alphabet trawl for UPPERCUT saw me finish in 11:45.
Very much enjoyed this and now looking forward to tackling the biggie after a dog walk.
Thanks Wurm and Kitty.
13:29, UPPERCUT LOI. Was sure it started UN-.
7:49
The golden spell is over and normal service has been resumed. This puzzle was mostly OK though I didn’t equate cocaine with UPPER, though it presumably is.
Thanks Kitty and Wurm
An enjoyable start to the week but the last few slowed me down to finish in 15.50. Like Cedric, I didn’t know who the setter was but it wouldn’t have made a difference.
Some nice clues and a steady pace for me with the same 2 biffs as Countrywoman, parsed later (as was UPPERCUT; I had to assume that cocaine was the ‘upper’).
COD: EDUCATING RITA
Thanks to Wurm and Kitty. I hope the week continues to offer proper QCs like this but I am not holding my breath based on recent experiences.
6:27. I thought this was difficult – nothing seemed to come particularly quickly. Might have been just me. The main hold up was EDUCATING RITA, where I didn’t see the anagram. COD to UPPERCUT.
5.39
Loved EDUCATING RITA (clue and film).
Thanks setter and Kitty.
A pretty straightforward start to the week as far as I am concerned, requiring only 7.28 to complete. Less than half the across clues solved on first pass, but I solved all but two of the down clues pretty much instantly. It took a while for me to parse UPPERCUT, but I got there eventually.
Despair at all the drugs GK necessary to do these QCs. Everyone seems happy to “assume cocaine = UPPER” but may we please have an explanation? I “assumed” it was a CUT of cocaine (or should that be “line”?) and then wondered about adulterated. This LOI took as long as all the rest put together.
Unsurprisingly, 1(d) was the one missed. I advise anybody wanting to try the 15×15 to give it a go today. I was only one short (not knowing one of what seem to be many medical acronyms), so it’s pretty basic.
I am not into drugs, and never have been, but I did struggle with UPPER- , which I associate with amphetamines.
I also recommend today’s 15×15.
5’29”, thanks Wurm and setter.
5:04. Nice one Wurm. I liked the cavorting deer and ram best. And thanks for the blog, Kitty.
From URDU to UNDER MILK WOOD in 7:56. Thanks Wurm and Kitty.
Exactly the same time as me!
🙂
Slowed down a bit by EDUCATING RITA, RESHAPED and to an extent UNDER MILK WOOD and UPPERCUT (I’d say that’s a fair clue but I shall ‘take the fifth’ if asked why!). Still finished in 07:56 though so less than half the time I did the main puzzle in today making it relatively easy but not to the extent many here claim.
A straightforward solve, with a slight delay over loi Uppercut preventing a sub-15 – much easier once I switched ends and gave up thinking blow would be Umph. Also helped along the way by Rita’s second appearance in the last week or so, and by an early spot of Under Milk Wood.
CoD to Addendum, though Uppercut ran it pretty close. Invariant