Times Quick Cryptic No 1842 by Orpheus

Author   plusjeremyPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Introduction

5:43. Thought I was on track for a really fast time, as most of these clues were straightforward. So I found it rather delightful when I got slowed down towards the end for some chewy ones. Wondering how everyone else did!

Solutions

A brief summary of cryptic crosswords —feel free to skip— :

  • Each clue has at least one “definition”: an unbroken string of words which more-or-less straightforwardly indicates the answer. A definition can be as simple as a one-word synonym; but it can also be a descriptive phrase like ‘I’m used to wind’ for REEL or SPOOL. A definition by example must be indicated by a phrase like ‘for example’, or, more commonly, a question mark (?). Thus ‘color’ is a definition of RED, while ‘red, for example’ or ‘red?’ are definitions of COLOR. Punctuation (and capitalization) is otherwise irrelevant.

  • Each clue may also have an unbroken string of words which indicates the answer through wordplay, such as: using abbreviations; reversing the order of letters; indicating particular letters (first, last, outer, middle, every other, etc); placing words inside other words; rearranging letters (anagrams); replacing words by words that sound alike (homophones); and combinations of the above. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but the general theme is to reinterpret ordinary words as referring to letters, so that for example ‘lion’s head’ indicates the first letter of LION: namely, L.

  • Definitions and wordplay cannot overlap. The only other words allowed in clues are linking words or phrases that combine these. Thus we may see, for example: “(definition) gives (wordplay)” or “(definition) and (definition)” or “(wordplay) is (definition)”.

  • The most common clues have either two definitions, or one definition plus wordplay, in either order. But a single, very misleading definition is not uncommon, and very occasionally a definition can also be interpreted as wordplay leading to the same answer. Triple definitions (and more) are also possible.

My conventions in the solutions below are to underline definitions (including a defining phrase); put linking words in [brackets]; and put all wordplay indicators in boldface. I also use a solidus (/) to help break up the clue where necessary, especially for double definitions without linking words.

After the solutions, I list all the wordplay indicators and abbreviations in a Glossary.

Across

1   Worker embracing girl [in] Central American state (6)
BELIZE = BEE around LIZ

5   Drink with everyone before work (6)
WALLOP = W + ALL + OP.
Didn’t know WALLOP is slang for beer.

8   Campaigner[’s] appeal accepted by simple king (8)
CRUSADER = S.A. in CRUDE + R.
Didn’t stop to parse ‘simple’ = CRUDE at the time of solving, but this is a lovely clue.

9   Mammoth’s tooth traveller originally / found by Welsh river (4)
TUSK = first letter of TRAVELLER + USK

10   Amphibian [in] river enveloped in thick mist (4)
FROG = R. in FOG

11   Quantity of liquid [served by] graduate / liable to err (8)
BASINFUL = B.A. + SINFUL
Delightfully tricky clue!

12   Sent on prescribed course [and] heavily defeated (6)
ROUTED = double definition
Was looking for something trickier here, but just a nice double definition.

14   Trendy act? Absolutely (6)
INDEED = IN + DEED

16   Reduce short skirt seen in vessel (8)
DIMINISH = MINI in DISH
You never know which kind of vessel you’re gonna get.

18   Boyfriend[’s] part of East End, according to report (4)
BEAU = homophone of BOW

20   For example, Sikes[’s] account? (4)
BILL = double definition
From Oliver Twist. I guess the question mark is because there can be other sorts of bills.

21   Holiday-makers — sort Uist cultivated (8)
TOURISTS = anagram of SORT UIST
I’m not even sure what the surface is driving at here. A rather bald-faced clue, if you ask me.

23   Brother at college, one from Saint-Malo, perhaps (6)
BRETON = BR. + ETON

24   Achievement [of] force invading eastern stronghold (6)
EFFORT = F in E. + FORT

Down

2   Mistake [made by] little brat losing head (5)
ERROR = TERROR without first letter
This same clue was in a 15×15 puzzle recently.

3   Perspicacity one / shows at first / in period of darkness (7)
INSIGHT = I + first letter of SHOWS in NIGHT
Subtle wordplay.

4   Long to get up [for] Muslim festival (3)
EID = DIE reversed

5   Skilled writer[’s] angry talk / with German / husband (9)
WORDSMITH = WORDS + MIT (‘with’ in German) + H
Tricky and lovely, though I hadn’t needed to parse completely during the solve. MITH = “with German husband” is not a rare construction.

6   Old language the French can put together (5)
LATIN = LA (‘the’ in French) + TIN

7   Little-known old remedy protecting Bachelor of Surgery (7)
OBSCURE = O. + CURE around B.S.

11   Inferior porcelain [in] place of horse trials (9)
BADMINTON = BAD + MINTON
Fortunately I could guess this from knowing the lawn sport of the same name. I’d never heard of Minton porcelain.

13   Distinguished actor, one appearing in musical (7)
OLIVIER = I in OLIVER!
Second reference to Oliver Twist. Checking now for some sort of puzzle theme…

15   Gather information [from] society girl on / raging fire (7)
DEBRIEF = DEB + anagram of FIRE
If it’s not ‘society girl’ it’s ‘girl coming out’.

17   Small detached territory [where] one’s allowed to meet (5)
ISLET = I’S + LET

19   Change table, in a manner of speaking (5)
ALTER = homophone of ALTAR

22   The purpose [of] American English? (3)
USE = U.S. + E

Glossary

Wordplay indicators

‘s = linking word
accepted by = containment
according to report = homophone
and = linking word
appearing in = containment
at = next to
at first = first letter
before = next to
cultivated = anagram
embracing = containment
enveloped in = containment
for = linking word
found by = next to
from = linking word
in = containment
in = linking word
in a manner of speaking = homophone
invading = containment
made by = linking word
(to) meet = next to
of = linking word
on = next to
originally = first letter
protecting = containment
put together = next to
raging = anagram
seen in = containment
served by = linking word
to get up = reversal in down clue
where = linking word

Abbreviations and little bits

American = US
appeal = SA
Bachelor of Surgery = BS
brother = BR
can = TIN
eastern = E
English = E
force = F
graduate = BA
husband = H
king = R
old = O
one = I
river = R
society girl = DEB
trendy = IN
with = W
work = OP

76 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1842 by Orpheus”

  1. Where Jeremy didn’t know of Minton porcelain, I didn’t know that Badminton had horse trials; in fact I never noticed that part of the clue. Although I agree with Jeremy that 21ac is pretty bald-faced, the surface isn’t problematic: holiday makers of the sort that Uist (islands in the Hebrides) cultivated. I slowed myself down a bit by trying to make MINIMISE work at 16ac. 5:29.
    1. I should have been clearer — I didn’t know Badminton had horse trials either!
  2. Was on for a rare sub 10 minute solve until I ground to a halt at BASINFUL. Saw BA and BASIN, but could not get it. Decided it must me some obscure French loan word such as Basingue or Basinque.

    NHO wallop for beer, or Minton for that matter. Also Die for “long” doesn’t seem quite right.

    COD WORDSMITH

    2. What a disappointment, I was looking forward to your rant even as I typed in BRETON!

      1. Don’t get me started. I thought it might be BRBOGSTANDARDCOMP but that didn’t fit.

        Edited at 2021-03-31 08:01 am (UTC)

        1. I must admit, I do now think of you whenever said school appears and keep my fingers crossed for your blood pressure!
  3. I fair raced through at the start but then came totally stuck with WALLOP (NHO) and BASINFUL. MINTON – NHO either. Not a good start to what promises to be an otherwise lovely day.
  4. Mainly straightforward but with some teasers at the end, particularly BASINFUL and CRUSADER. I also assumed that EID was spelt with an ‘a’ not an ‘i’ so spent some time wrangling with the parsing of it until the penny dropped. I was tempted by minimise but managed to resist putting it in until the ‘h’ from WORDSMITH put me on the right track.

    Plenty to enjoy today including WALLOP, which was new to me, but my favourite was BADMINTON. Finished in 7.47 with LOI EID.
    Thanks to Jeremy

  6. Thanks Jeremy

    I was the opposite – slow start followed by a quick finish until I was held up by an inability to see ROUTED for a couple of minutes.

  7. I’m another held up by BASINFUL and WALLOP. Submitted with fingers crossed for WALLOP which could just have easily been ‘wallon’ since I’ve never heard of either. BASINFUL I entered with full confidence but it took me an age to remember again that err very often = sin. Six on the first pass of acrosses which is OK and then a hop about the gird to finish all green in 11 which is pretty good. Nice to have no pink squares for once.
    1. Davy’s Wine Bars in London serve a beer called Old Wallop as do a number of other breweries around the country. Used to be fairly poor quality beer but much better today.
  8. Got nowhere with this one. I only managed to answer about half of the clues. The rest I just could not decipher. Just too hard for me.
    1. Strangely, I am doing much better in today’s Daily Telegraph cryptic than I did with this Times QC.
      1. I ground to a halt with four to go in today’s DT so you’re doing better than me!
        1. No, you beat me by one. I finished with 5 remaining in the DT. 9a, 29a, 2d, 11d, 17d)

          Edited at 2021-03-31 10:18 am (UTC)

          1. Three of those caused me trouble but 29a is close to here so went straight in. I would never, ever have parsed 9a!

  9. Slight delay over WALLOP and ROUTED, but otherwise straightforward (including WORDSMITH).

    Thank you, plusjeremy and Orpheus.

  10. Like Jeremy, I started quickly but was slowed substantially by some of the later clues. No trouble knowing MInton, wallop, die/long but BASINFUL, ROUTED, and even TUSK gave me pause for thought (Welsh rivers are one of my blind spots). As for SA, I can think of many more likely meanings/connotations. A bit desperate, I thought, and CRUSADER went in without being fully parsed. I did quite like OBSCURE and DEBRIEF but WORDSMITH was my COD. Thanks, both. John M.

    Edited at 2021-03-31 07:54 am (UTC)

  11. While I got CRUSADER I am lost as to S.A = appeal

    Otherwise despite some trouble with my french geography which put St Malo in Normandy and a dim moment over BEAU I found this a tough but enjoyable challenge

    Pb

    1. SA is short for ‘sex appeal’, a long-obsolete term that setters persist in resurrecting because they need SA. Ditto for IT, which must be 100 years old.
      1. Thanks for posting the explanation Kevin.

        It strikes me that SA isn’t particularly difficult to clue though. Off the top of my head you could have South America, South Africa, Salvation Army, Saturday, Saudi Arabia, and no doubt countless others before opting for something completely unheard of outside of crossword land.

        I know it’s like the MINTON and WALLOP clues where people could argue that you can solve the clue without having heard of all the elements, but it still makes me groan.

        1. True but all those stick out rather. If you clue SA by using ‘it’ that can slip by almost unnoticed by the solver.
          1. True, it’s just me I suppose. I find the obscure codes the dullest part of completing cryptic crosswords (just mechanical solving, like completing a codebreaker), but I appreciate that some setters and solvers love them.
        1. Not sure that Salvation Army as “SA” fits the intended cryptography, although there are those that do get a buzz out of folk in uniforms!
  12. … with another sub-10 minute solve for this very enjoyable puzzle. SW corner was the last to fall, but largely because I looked at it last, and the whole solve was helped a lot by all the “chestnuts” that Vinyl1 refers to in his early comment slotting into place very smoothly — along with work = op, appeal = SA, college = Eton, German with = mit, Welsh river = Usk (indeed one wonders if there are any other Welsh rivers in crosswordland) and so on.

    The Roman Emperor Vespasian is said to have said on his deathbed “I think I may be turning into a god”. In my case, after 18 months doing the QC “I think I may be turning into a crossword solver” — which is a much better thing to be than a god, and doesn’t require one to be on one’s deathbed to become it!

    Many thanks to Jeremy for the blog
    Cedric

  13. Absolutely hated this one. NHO WALLOP (for beer), BASINFUL (in any kind of common usage), SA (for appeal), or MINTON, though I did at least manage to get BADMINTON because there aren’t many other famous horse-trial locations…

    Not convinced by some of the other clues either, even if they are clever once you have the answers.

    Never mind, on with the week! Thanks Jeremy for the explanations.

    Edited at 2021-03-31 08:39 am (UTC)

  14. Two/three times my normal time 😬😬😬

    Couldnt see ROUTED for love nor money even after getting OLIVIER after trying to fit Hair, Evita etc in. WORDSMITH was a big hold up but LOI BASINFUL

    Ouch!

    Thanks Orpheus and Jeremy

  15. Wrong at 1a. Must remember yet again, don’t hurriedly pencil in mindless wild guesses you can’t parse. Had I thought longer I wd have cracked it.
    But otherwise enjoyed this one. BADMINTON made me laugh, liked BILL, BRETON will annoy some! Doubtful about WALLOP but it had to be. NHO of it meaning beer. BASINFUL amusing too.

    Thanks for ever helpful blog, Jeremy.

  16. My father used to talk about SA , so that was easy, and I finished all except the top right quarter.

    NHO EID ( although I admit it rings a vague bell from having been used here before now), or WALLOP as a drink.

    I also put MINIMISE at 16a to start with which muddled me.

    So dnf but enjoyed, thank you setter and blogger.

    Diana

  17. I thought I was in line for a PB at first, then came to a halt and was facing a massive DNF. BASINFUL came to my rescue after five minutes, the checkers fell in place, and I finished three minutes under my 20 minute target.
    I left a few un-parsed, so thanks to Jeremy for the blog.

    Brian

    Edited at 2021-03-31 08:47 am (UTC)

  18. Well under 10 mins – very enjoyable thanks setter and blogger. The reason wallop is new to many is because it’s very old fashioned slang. I havent heard it for many decades.
  19. My LOI was CRUSADER-not parsed fully -after less than 9 minutes.
    I had to leap around the grid after FOI ERROR but no hold-ups. Two traps I thought- nearly put WALLOW and ALTAR, both required attention to the parsing.
    Nice puzzle.
    David
  20. FOI was EID. LOI ALTER. WORDSMITH and BASINFUL held me up briefly. 8:19. Thanks Orpheus and Jeremy.
  21. If you know what you’re looking for — or looking AT — then this is quite fun and not too hard. Thus, SA for it, OP for work, DEB for society girl, etc then you’re fine but it takes a while to meet and learn these codes. It’s a similar journey for the chestnuts. But the view at journey’s end is very satisfying. I expect.

    Lovely clues, lots of fun. NHO WALLOP to mean a drink. Looking at the posts so far, it looks like no-one has. But the wordplay was pretty clear.

    Thanks Jeremy for your, as always, super blog and thanks too to orpheus

    1. I think quite a few solvers have heard of Wallop but, like me, didn’t highlight a word they recognised. I don‘t think I have ever used the term but certainly remember it from early years. Delays to my solving today came from other clues — not this one.
      Another similar general term for beer (and booze in general) is jollop. Worth remembering — a setter will use it one of these days, no doubt. John.

      Edited at 2021-03-31 01:03 pm (UTC)

      1. We use jollop to mean any sort of sauce (not another euphemism for alcohol this time), as in all the liquid left over from a stew after you’ve eaten the meat and veg! There’s always some in the pan 😋
        1. I always think of jollop as being some sort of medication (and not the alcoholic sort). I’ve no idea why.
          1. It is amazing what a chance remark can spark off. Thanks, both.
            Yes, I now recall jollop as Medicine.
            It is still more familiar to me as ‘a pint of jollop’ but less so than ‘a pint of wallop’. 🍺
    2. “You must have seen great changes since you were a young man”, said Winston tentatively. The old man’s pale blue eyes moved from the darts board to the bar, and from the bar to the door of the gents.
      “The beer was better”, he said finally. “And cheaper! When I was a young man, mild beer – wallop we used to call it – was fourpence a pint. That was before the war of course.”

      “Nineteen Eighty Four”, George Orwell

      1. Thank you! I’ve read this book at least twice but had utterly forgotten a pint of wallop!
  22. One minute outside target, delayed by sticking to MINIMISE (obviously not fully parsed) for too long, which delayed LOI WORDSMITH. I thought I was looking for an esoteric author until I reviewed 16a. WALLOP was only vaguely remembered, and spelling of EID was a bit of a vowel search, but no problems with MINTON. BASINFUL came quicker than it might have if I hadn’t remembered seeing the clue before. Thanks both.
  23. I moved fairly quickly clockwise round the grid although I had to revisit the top line for BELIZE and WALLOP which was a guess. I finally ended up staring for what seemed ages at my LOI BASINFUL. I twigged the answer and submitted in 8:12. 1.5K for a very good day. Thanks Jeremy.
  24. Seem to be going through a phase of failing to finish at the moment. After 30 mins I still had 11ac and 7dn to get, however I annoyingly put “Bassinner” for the former, which didn’t sound right but wasn’t a million miles away either until 7dn twigged — ultimately it didn’t help.

    NHO of “Wallop” for beer — I ended up putting Wallow thinking it had something to do with wallowing in water. Never seen the use of SA for appeal either — I have no doubt it’s been used here many times, but I don’t recall it.

    Liked 11dn “Badminton”, 22dn “Use” and 23ac “Breton”

    FOI — 1ac “Belize”
    LOI — dnf
    COD — 5dn “Wordsmith”

    Thanks as usual

  25. A full twenty minutes of entertainment in this for me. FOI Belize, LOI Wallop, NHO this as a drink and could not justify. The alternative was wallow which didn’t seem right either, so wallop went in toss of a coin-wise. Did not parse crusader but had all the checkers and it fit the definition. Dithered over alter/altar, too, finally deciding that change was the key word. Some write-ins, e.g. Belize, frog, indeed, tourists, beau etc., but some decidedly tricky riddles as well. Ten at first pass, so some of those helped with the rest. I had bested for routed which held me up until I saw Olivier, and realised that bested was wrong. All good clues, so I will single out Badminton as my COD. An odd mix of the clear and the obscure, I thought. A satisfying finish but a long time taken. Thanks, Jeremy, and Orpheus. GW.
  26. Really enjoyed this one although back to sub 40 minute solve. A pint of wallop is certainly appreciated, as is Minton (although not to my taste). Spent too long trying to unravel CRUSADER from the biff which would probably have had me sneaking in below 30. Really wondered if SA was what I thought it couldn’t possibly be. Gosh.
    A year ago I would have been defeated. At least at 30+ mins I had no time for exercising on the cross trainer, so that is a mixed blessing.
    Thanks Jeremy and Orpheus (don’t think I have got one of yours successfully completed before).
  27. then another 3:06 to get ROUTED. Total mind blank.

    I liked BASINFUL, OBSCURE, and WALLOP – especially the surface of the latter – it might be the only way to get through some days!

    I had INLET in for ISLET for quite some time, but kept coming back to it, as I was never happy with it.

    So, 8:06.

  28. You used to hear of “I’ll have a pint of old wallop” when the old boy in the corner was offered a jar.
  29. At a few seconds over 13mins, this was my quickest solve for quite some time. Helped along the way by the crossword chestnuts, and the fact that my dad (who was TT, save for a drop of whisky in his tea at Christmas) often referred to beer as a ‘pint of Wallop’ — the Wiki article on Codswallop is also worth a look. Basinful and Crusader applied the brake at the end, or this really would have been a red letter day. Lots of excellent CoD candidates, but for the nostalgia trip it will have to be Wallop. Invariant
  30. At 7 minutes, this must be close to a PB, so it’s definitely a Very Good Day! Lots of fun today, although I do agree with Vinyl that the chestnuts helped a lot. For all those who are still learning, you will get used to and start to recognise those types of clues sooner or later 😊
    No problem with BADMINTON – a long time ago I worked for the company that produced the china and the plates etc in the staff restaurant were Minton! Much posher than your average white stoneware or feldspar, that’s for sure. Also no problem with WALLOP for beer, although I have to say that I haven’t heard the phrase for decades – it’s very redolent of country pubs in the 50s, I’d say 🍺
    Incidentally, there’s a clue in the biggie today that took me ages to get, even though my next task is to do some work for said organisation 🙄 I’m not sure how QCers will find it – it took me about 45 minutes but I did finish it without aids.

    FOI Belize – although I started by trying to use ANT
    LOI Basinful – that amount of Wallop would surely give you a headache
    COD Badminton

    Many thanks Orpheus and Jeremy

    Edited at 2021-03-31 11:40 am (UTC)

    1. I didn’t think the 15×15 was too bad, certainly easier than yesterday’s, but then my daughter worked for the organisation in question… 😉
  31. I enjoyed this puzzle, although it took me my longest time of the week so far at 22 minutes. Never parsed CRUSADER (thanks for the explanation Jeremy) and only dimly remembered WALLOP as a slang term for beer. I would have been quicker if I hadn’t spent quite a while trying to parse MINIMISE at 16ac, obviously without success.

    FOI – 9ac TUSK
    LOI – 8ac CRUSADER
    COD – 11dn BADMINTON

    Thanks to Orpheus.

  32. According to my records, I find Orpheus the most difficult of setters (<30% solve rate). Even the few puzzles of his I have cracked have all been long and drawn out affairs (45-70 minutes). Imagine my delight then at reaching my final clue (18a) after just 22 minutes today. However, I couldn’t quickly see the solution and the 30+ minutes of alphabet trawling and clue re-interpreting that followed were also in vain. I did think of ‘Bow’ and I realised I was looking for a homophone, but I just did not see BEAU. So, at the moment I’m afraid, it feels like the best part of an hour wasted – and all because of one seemingly straightforward clue.

    Thanks to plusjeremy (and, I suppose, to Orpheus).

    1. Curse of the last one in — but at least you’ll remember it for next time.
  33. After allowing for an unexpected phone call we finished in 16 minutes. Most of the answers were write ins but we were slowed down by WORDSMITH, BASINFUL and CRUSADER. Steed was familiar with WALLOP so that wasn’t an issue for us.

    FOI: FROG
    LOI: BASINFUL
    COD: BADMINTON

    Thanks Orpheus and Jeremy.

    Edited at 2021-03-31 12:58 pm (UTC)

  34. This was a hard and a pig of a puzzle. Some of the clueing like basinful was in my view terrible. Certainly not a puzzle of those new puzzles. Did not enjoy this at all
  35. I have never heard of WALLOP, nor knew SA for ‘appeal’, and found BASINFUL a rather obscure answer, as was BILL, with a Dickens reference.
    Am happy to learn new vocabulary, but some of the answers today seemed not only to be cryptic but to involve cryptic abbreviations . I feel rather frustrated on days like this!

    Thank you for the explanations.

  36. All solved withi 20 m, good for us. No real holdups, dredged wallop from the distant past, noted olivier appeared again, seems to occur frequently. Thanks to Orpheus for a pleasant solve
  37. I liked today’s puzzle and had several chuckles. Eton and Latin seemed very routine but there were plenty of more entertaining clues. I was unfamiliar with the chestnuts and laughed at badminton. I’ve heard of the horse trials which Princess Anne used to ride in. I got wallop once I’d stopped trying to put all at the end and I got tusk once I found Taff wouldn’t work. Crusader went in without parsing and on seeing Jeremy’s explanation I couldn’t immediately remember what SA meant. I was very slow with Bill as I was thinking of him as killer/murderer etc and didn’t stop to think about his first name (not Eric!)
    FOI Belize ( I was pleased with myself for getting that)
    LOI islet (easy once I got Bill though I toyed with inlet. Clearly not enclave)
    COD badminton
    Thank you Jeremy and Orpheus
    Blue Stocking
  38. I was about finished with 25 minutes gone but stuck on 18a — and I thought of Bow but with the B-A- couldn’t see it. I know that this is an old chestnut and probably not even worth a second thought by the experienced…and maybe now me next time but it is such an antiquated term for boyfriend and this is where I forgot to put my Orpheus hat on.
    I was going to give the benefit of the doubt for this one, but the SA for appeal and Beau = boyfriend spoilt it for me. (and Eton again)
    45 minutes DNF
    Sorry still not a fan. But an improvement on the last two!!
    Thanks all,
    John George

    Edited at 2021-03-31 04:03 pm (UTC)

    1. I’m sorry to learn that you suffered the same fate as me, and on the same clue as well. It’s been niggling away at me ever since I gave up, but it’s somehow comforting to know someone else ended up in the same boat (or should that be BEAUt?).
  39. ….if I hadn’t erroneously biffed “minimise”, which stopped me from seeing WORDSMITH.

    FOI BELIZE
    LOU DIMINISH
    COD BASINFUL
    TIME 5:41

    1. Hi Phil, we just completed your excellent weekend puzzle and wanted to let you know that we thoroughly enjoyed it. Some very clever clues that were fun to solve. Many thanks!
      1. Thanks very much. Knowing that people are enjoying the puzzles makes producing them worth the effort !
  40. Davies Old Wallop is a very fine London beer available in all Davies wine bars
  41. For some reason SWMBO knew wallop which helped. Did like wordsmith and badminton (are the horses guilty or the riders?)
    Just under 2 courses
  42. A good day, though not quite as good as yesterday, coming in at 21:21. FOI BELIZE, LOI ROUTED. NHO WALLOP, but with the checkers in place the word play was obvious. Having said that, I wanted to put “wallow” as I thought that might be slang for going to have a drink, but I couldn’t see how “ow” could possibly mean work. COD to DEBRIEF but there were quite a few great clues. Thanks Orpheus and Jeremy.

  43. Finished in 15 minutes for my fastest time ever. I may finally be leaving the SCC. Alternatively, I’ll crash back to earth on the next one! I hadn’t heard of WALLOP but I’m getting better at trusting the wordplay.

  44. Is a clue that can have more than one potential answer considered a good or bad clue?
    6 down — Old language the French can put together (5) The French = LE; can put together NCA = LENCA = “The Lenca are a Mesoamerican indigenous people of southwestern Honduras and eastern El Salvador in Central America. They once spoke the Lenca language, which is now nearly extinct.” This answer works just as well as Latin…

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