My puzzle backstory: I first came across cryptics in Dell crossword books (a US thing, I think), which I would work on assiduously during long train rides as a teenager, in an attempt to get as good as my grandfather. I was so taken by cryptics that I immediately became uninterested in US-style puzzles. I wrote some cryptics of my own, one even in Hungarian. Somewhere along the way I heard about the legendary Times puzzle, and when I moved to NYC was delighted to find that it was syndicated in one of our —how shall I put this?— more easily purchased newspapers. I can still remember sitting down to try my first Times puzzle, and standing up again a half hour later without having solved a single clue! Clearly this was a new class of puzzle, and as before there was no turning back.
Soon after, I found this blog, and with your help, I was finally able to start completing cryptics somewhat consistently. I owe it all to you folks, and I’m pleased to finally be giving back to the blog that has given so much to me!
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I thought this puzzle was very solid as a Quickie: straightforward but not too much, and a few nice beard (or whatever part of your body you tend to scratch) scratchers. I missed eight clues on first pass and two (22a and 12d) on the second. A few more scratches and I finished the final cross just under 12 minutes.
| Across | |
| 1 | Meissen bombed [in] retribution (7) |
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NEMESIS – MEISSEN (“Meissen”) anagrammed (“bombed”) Easy enough to get from the crosses, but I did not know this definition, nor the goddess by the same name! I suppose “She’s my nemesis.” would once have been written “She’s my Nemesis.”. Neat. |
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| 5 | Briefly obstruct alliance (4) |
| BLOC – almost all the letters of (“briefly”) BLOCK (“obstruct”) | |
| 7 | Young child attending a large comprehensive (5) |
| TOTAL – TOT (“young child”) + (“attending”) A (“a”) + L (“large”, on a clothing tag) | |
| 8 | Funny drawing [of] ring in box (7) |
| CARTOON – O (“ring”) in (“in”) CARTON (“box”) | |
| 10 | Standard box, not small (3) |
| PAR – SPAR (“box”) removing the letter (“not”) S (“small”) | |
| 11 | County’s oarsmen [in] opener (9) |
| CORKSCREW – CORK’S (“county’s”) + CREW (“oarsmen”) | |
| 13 | Alternatively, row about a decree (6) |
| ORDAIN – OR (“alternatively”) + DIN (“row”) around (“about”) A (“a”) | |
| 14 | First of sips, enough to taste (6) |
| SAMPLE – first letter of (“first of”) SIPS (“sips”) + AMPLE (“enough”) | |
| 17 | Not up to guarding ten? [That’s] indefensible (9) |
| UNTENABLE – UNABLE (“not up to”) around (“guarding”) TEN (“ten”) | |
| 19 | Beginning to love one English fairy tale (3) |
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LIE – first letter of (“beginning to”) LOVE (“love”) + I (“one”, in Roman numerals) + E (“English”) Perhaps someone can remind my why English = E. It’s an abbreviation as old as time, but I couldn’t find it in my dictionary. |
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| 20 | Almost put to death lone Star Wars character? (3,4) |
| HAN SOLO – almost all the letters of (“almost”) HANG (“put to death”) + SOLO (“lone”) | |
| 22 | Be at one match (5) |
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AGREE – double definition Wasn’t totally on board with the first definition. Last one in. |
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| 23 | Annoying child runs into club (4) |
| BRAT – R (“runs”, in cricket) in (“into”) BAT (“club”) | |
| 24 | One putting clothes on chest of drawers (7) |
| DRESSER – double definition | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Retired don feeling round top of machine of poor quality (3,2,2,4) |
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NOT UP TO MUCH – reversed (“retired”) PUT ON (“don”) + TOUCH (“feeling”, as in the sense) around (“round”) first letter of (“top of”) MACHINE (“machine”) I put this one in quickly without understanding the wordplay, assuming the definition was ‘retired’! Only later did I learn the British expression. |
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| 2 | Drove in limo to Redcar (7) |
| MOTORED – letters inside (“in”) LIMO TO REDCAR | |
| 3 | Pick leader in secret ballot (9) |
| SELECTION – first letter of (“leader in”) SECRET (“secret”) + ELECTION (“ballot”) | |
| 4 | Notice about vicious dog [in] stable (6) |
| SECURE – SEE (“notice”) around (“about”) CUR (“vicious dog”) | |
| 5 | Rail [in] pub (3) |
| BAR – double definition | |
| 6 | Smell nothing grim (5) |
| ODOUR – O (“nothing”, as in zero) + DOUR (“grim”) | |
| 9 | Warn one working outside this place miles away (7,4) |
| NOWHERE NEAR – WARN ONE (“warn one”) anagrammed (“working”) around (“outside”) HERE (“this place”) | |
| 12 | Draw old china (9) |
| STALEMATE – STALE (“old”) + MATE (“china”, in rhyming slang) | |
| 15 | Missile[‘s] power staggered sailor (7) |
| POLARIS – P (“power”, in physics) + anagrammed (“staggered”) SAILOR (“sailor”) | |
| 16 | A general out of the country (6) |
| ABROAD – A (“a”) + BROAD (“general”) | |
| 18 | Spanish gentleman has little time for second singer (5) |
| TENOR – SEÑOR (“Spanish gentleman”) has (“has”) T (“little time”, in physics) replacing (“for”) S (“second”) | |
| 21 | Not allowed in the shops (3) |
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OUT – double definition Now did the Lord say, “First thou pullest the Holy Pin. Then thou must count to three. Three shall be the number of the counting and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither shalt thou count two, excepting that thou then proceedeth to three. Five is right out.” |
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A note on my blog style: I write my answers so that you can read the words in parenthetical quotes (“…”) from left to right and see every word of the clue; or, you can read what’s outside the parentheses from left to right and see the wordplay recipe given precisely. The two are intertwined so that each piece of the clue and its corresponding wordplay are adjacent.
One could object that it is redundant to write something like TEN (“ten”) . But as a mathematician, I feel it is important to have a symbolic representation of nothing, like we have with the numeral 0, for example. Sometimes ‘ten’ signifies ‘X’ , sometimes it signifies ‘TEN’ , and I think it’s important to point out both equally.
You got a decent puzzle for your first one. 1d gave me pause–I wanted ‘not up to scratch’ but of course wasn’t going to get it, and spent–wasted–a lot of time trying to get 17ac and settle the matter before I finally realized that I’d put in ‘senor’ instead of ‘tenor’ (pays to read the clues). I’ve always just taken E=English for granted, but I see it isn’t in ODE (it is in my Japanese-English dictionary, for what that’s worth). ESL/EFL? 7:12.
The puzzle was a ‘back to normal’ for me, although fumbling around for several minutes until I could parse ‘not up to much’ pushed my time to 11:33. Again, I stumbled on the ‘corkscrew’ chestnut, even though I was thinking about it early today!
Thanks for the blog, Jeremy, and good luck in the future! I have added you to the official blogging calendar, as I have been doing after each new blogger makes a first appearance.
In my test blog I wrote a very short introduction and hello and was told I could write more for my actual first post. I dutifully followed orders is all.
Didn’t come back to parse the not up bit of 1d. Couldn’t see how Puton = teacher/don…
Thanks and welcome Jeremy.
COD stalemate.
Edited at 2018-05-30 06:10 am (UTC)
13 minutes, and with a rare error from me as I carelessly wrote in POLAIIS as my answer at 15dn and failed to notice I then had an incorrect checker for 22ac. I then bunged in ALIKE without giving it due consideration. Anyway, like our new blogger 22ac was my LOI.
I’ve never seen STAR WARS so I’d not even heard of HAN SOLO and had to rely on wordplay and hope for the best.
Welcome to the crew, Jeremy!
Edited at 2018-05-30 05:49 am (UTC)
My taste is to not have my explanations be in a sort of code, given that the clue is already cryptic enough. Especially since beginners are more likely to try their hand at the QC.
Also, I appreciate how each word has its meaning in a cryptic clue, and my explanation style is designed to do justice to this fact.
But give me some time and I may come around.
15 minutes exactly for me, so at the upper end of normal, and it cleared up one long standing misnomer of mine – I always thought it was HANS SOLO, never having knowingly seen it in print. Nice puzzle from Tracy and a nice blog.
(And ta Jackkt for the heartening words re the 15×15 yesterday. Onwards!)
PlayUpPompey
A warm welcome to Jeremy, especially after your detailed explanation of how 1d works. Invariant
Paulw
7. adjective [verb-link ADJECTIVE]
If you say that a proposal or suggestion is out, you mean that it is unacceptable.
That’s right out, I’m afraid.
Welcome to Blogland, Jeremy. 12 minutes here finishing with the same two as our new blogger.
Now did the Lord say, “First thou pullest the Holy Pin. Then thou must count to three. Three shall be the number of the counting and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither shalt thou count two, excepting that thou then proceedeth to three. Five is right out.”
I loved the misdirection in 12d… once the penny dropped and, unlike some others, thought 22a quite straightforward. FOI CARTOON, LOI BLOC – no idea why it took me so long! MM
PS Note to Jeremy: I have a daughter who is about to relinquish her Maths teacher role after 21 years and instead embark on a 4 year PhD in Meteorology and Chaos Theory. I think you’ll find more chaos staying home with a two year old!! Good luck with that.
Some great surfaces and clues today; I noted 7a, 24a, 4d and 15d as award winners.
And a warm welcome to our new blogger.
David
As for the crossword… Like others, OUT was my LOI when I finally convinced myself it could mean “in the shops”, remembering the phrase “Out now!” exhorting one to go and buy something. No real difficulties otherwise, finishing in a sub-average time.
I also don’t usually do the quick cryptic but I tried it today and found it quite resistant. I have had a few glasses of wine, to be fair.
I am now happily unemployed, and planning a trip to DC in September. I think I might try and fit a visit to New York into the same trip: I’ll keep you posted. There are some features of my last visit I’d like to replicate, and others I wouldn’t.