11 minutes, with four of those spent – for no good reason – on 9ac, 7d and correcting 12ac. A fine puzzle with good clues aplenty, my favourite I think being 18ac – many thanks to Teazel!
Across | |
1 | Energy wasted upon gadget (3-2-3-2) |
GET-UP-AND-GO – anagram (wasted) of UPON GADGET | |
8 | Children’s character strange to find in New York (5) |
NODDY – ODD (strange) to find in NY | |
9 | Hit rain, travelling: disappeared into it? (4,3) |
THIN AIR – anagram (travelling) of HIT RAIN. I don’t know why I was so slow seeing this. | |
10 | Author’s earnings from connections with ruling families (9) |
ROYALTIES – ROYAL TIES = connections with ruling families | |
12 | Curtsey for your uncle? (3) |
BOB – as in Bob’s your uncle. Thankfully not BOW, then, which might just work as a loose cryptic definition in a lesser crossword, as in an obeisance made by an uncle would be a bow (probably). I’ve seen looser clues elsewhere! | |
13 | Discover tragic figure, forlorn at the last (5) |
LEARN – LEAR (tragic figure) N (forlorN at the last) | |
15 | Bottle comes in plainer version (5) |
NERVE – comes inside plaiNER VErsion. As in to lose one’s bottle. In-depth etymology here. | |
17 | Sort of shirt, one of a set of eighteen? (3) |
TEE – double definition, the second in golf. | |
18 | Last drink? Cheers! (7,2) |
BOTTOMS UP – BOTTOM (last) SUP (drink) | |
20 | Heart perhaps shown by referee (3,4) |
RED CARD – cryptic hint | |
21 | Shy, having injured arm in this? (5) |
SLING – double definition | |
22 | Fond glances from one in woolly coat? (6,4) |
SHEEPS EYES – cryptic hint |
Down | |
1 | Army officers raced for corner shop (7,5) |
GENERAL STORE – GENERALS (army officers) TORE (raced) | |
2 | Now notice is put up in miniature (5) |
TODAY – AD (notice, bill, etc.) is put up/reversed in TOY (miniature) | |
3 | Settle account, always after pressure (3) |
PAY – AY (always) after P(ressure) | |
4 | Fool: a Belfast one? (6) |
NITWIT – a twit from Belfast could be an N.I. TWIT | |
5 | Needing to play, sad losing slide (9) |
GLISSANDO – anagram (needing to play) SAD LOSING | |
6 | Inoculator’s incomprehensible speech (6) |
JABBER – double definition. So there’s no word ‘jenner’ for nonsense. | |
7 | Where to find puzzles in paper? Advice here (7,5) |
PROBLEM PAGES – double-ish definition, the first whimsical | |
11 | California city began to collapse into lake (4,5) |
LONG BEACH – anagram (to collapse) of BEGAN into LOCH (Lake) | |
14 | A good finish on a list of tasks (6) |
AGENDA – A G(ood) END (finish) on A | |
16 | For example, spots upcoming heavy meal (6) |
STODGE – EG, DOTS (for example, spots) upcoming | |
19 | Reflective and retiring, keeping at home (5) |
SHINY – SHY (retiring) keeping IN (at home) | |
21 | Emergency call very singular (3) |
SOS -SO (very) S(ingular) |
7:45 mins
FOI 8ac NODDY
LOI 17ac TEE
COD 12ac BOB
WOD 22ac SHEEP’S EYES yum!
Edited at 2021-05-20 02:46 am (UTC)
Edited at 2021-05-20 05:20 am (UTC)
Thanks Rolytoly. My quickest Teazel solve to date just over 12. BIFD red card and still think I’m missing something…?
PDM thanks
Where else would Agony Aunts share their wisdom if not for the problem pages? After seeing some recent banal articles in TToL I wonder if that is next on the agenda.
COD LONG Beach, final resting place of the Queen Mary, for including Loch which took a while to spot.
Thanks Teazel and Roly
FOI: 1a. GET UP AND GO
LOI: 19d. SHINY
Time to Complete: 47 minutes
Clues Answered Correctly without aids: 21
Clues Answered with Aids (3 lives): 5d, 11d, 16d
Clues Unanswered: Nil
Wrong Answers: Nil
Total Correctly Answered (incl. aids): 24/24
Aids Used: Chambers
I thought I was in for a record time, or near to it, as my early answers just seemed to flow in. However, I came to a grinding halt with my final half dozen or so.
5d. GLISSANDO – Never heard of this word, so I shall demand it is a made-up word. Even though it is in the dictionary. A musical word I believe. I seem to always come a cropper with musical jargon. I need my nephew to teach me a whole list of such words.
7d. PROBLEM PAGES – This was one that held me up for a long time. Once I got PAGES, then PROBLEM came relatively quickly.
18a. BOTTOMS UP – I had this pencilled in for a long time before having the confidence to fill it in with pen.
15 minutes above my average time of 32 minutes, so I am quite happy with this one. Candy store proprietor: Open those doors!
… as all completed in 11 minutes but not all parsed. I needed Roly’s blog to explain 4D Nitwit to me (it didn’t help that I thought the Fool gave me Nit, which left …wit unexplainable) and Poison Wyvern to explain 20A Red card. Thank you PW! Also, DK the phrase Sheep’s eyes but answer had to be given the checkers.
Puzzled why the clue for 5D needs the words “Needing to …” or for that matter the comma. Made a slightly clunky surface and “Play sad losing slide” might have been neater? Also, surprised 21D SOS was shown as a 3 letter word not (1,1,1). Nobody pronounces it as a one-syllable 3-letter word!
Many thanks to Roly for the blog
Cedric
It also is a series of dots and dashes in Morse code
Finished in 6.13 with LOI the NHO SHEEPS EYES and my COD going to JABBER.
Thanks to rolytoly
Edited at 2021-05-20 08:33 am (UTC)
Red Card.
Why is ‘Heart’, perhaps, Red Card?
FOI GENERAL STORE, LOI GLISSANDO (I thought “needing to play” was a rather cumbersome anagram indicator), COD BOTTOMS UP, time 08:08 which is 2K but I’m still rating this a Good Day.
Many thanks Teazel and Roly.
Templar
Nice puzzle though, the anagram for GET UP AND GO was super.
5:09
Edited at 2021-05-20 09:20 am (UTC)
Am in total awe of those who can solve these puzzles so quickly. As an experiment, I typed in the single letter A in every square of the grid using my index finger, as quickly as I could, and without any thought process. It took me 2 and a half minutes to fill the grid. I note that yesterday someone finished in less than 3 minutes, which would work out at about half a second of thought for each answer. All I can say is Wow!
I hope you’ll have a go at my weekend puzzle that will appear in johninterred’s blog here tomorrow. I’m still a novice setter, but my efforts have been generally well received so far !
Slow on GLISSANDO and LOI NITWIT but otherwise zoomed through.
Liked TEE, RED CARD, SHEEPS EYES. BOB made me smile.
Thanks VM, ROLY.
My COD, GET UP AND GO was such a great anagram it was hard to see. Usually odd or contrived words are a signal, I’ve given up on anagrinds since there are so many.
‘S’ = singular? I suppose in a dictionary? Eg data (s. Datum)?
My cryptic def for Glissando — Harpy ? (9)
FOI – 8ac NODDY
LOI – 4dn NIT WIT
COD – 18ac BOTTOMS UP
Thanks to Teazel for a fine puzzle.
Hawk eye, eagle eye
I didn’t know Long Beach was a city in California either — I spent a bit of time trying to fit LA into the grid, and now I’m wondering whether along Beach actually is in the LA area.
Enjoyed 4dn “Nitwit”, 8ac “Noddy” and 5dn “Glissando” — however DNK “Sling” for Shy.
Been caught out by both 17ac “Tee” and 12ac “Bob” before, so was pleased to get them early.
FOI — 3dn “Pay”
LOI — 7dn “Puzzle Pages”
COD — 6dn “Jabber”
Thanks as usual!
Decided to start at SE corner for a change, FOI SOS and seemed to get on to the elusive wavelength right away. I’ve often wondered if where one starts a crossword has a bearing on the completion time. For example you may reach a clue with crossers in place that otherwise you might have struggled without that information. Not that you can exercise any control over the process I guess. Any thoughts anyone?
COD 1 ac with a neat surface. Thanks to Roly and Teazel
Impressive time 👍
FOI: GET UP AND GO
LOI: PROBLEM PAGES
COD: GENERAL STORE
Thanks to Teazel and Rolytoly.
Thanks, Roly and Teazel. GW.
FOI GET-UP-AND-GO
LOI NITWIT
COD RED CARD
TIME 3:06
Will post later. Many thanks
On edit: WD28? She’s certainly at least as useful as WD40 😅
Edited at 2021-05-20 04:35 pm (UTC)
I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle – lots of lovely surfaces and smiles along the way.
FOI Noddy
LOI Stodge
COD Bottoms up (and I think I will go and celebratein a minute or two!)
Cheers Teazel and good health Roly – thanks as ever 😊
Edited at 2021-05-20 04:33 pm (UTC)
A slightly weird start with FOI being RED CARD down in the SW corner, but it all then seemed to flow. I worked through the whole of the lower half of the grid, then 1a and 1d came before finishing in the NE corner. My LOI was GLISSANDO, which I had NHO, and for which I needed all of the checkers. In fact, I incorrectly thought that ‘slide’ was the anagrind and ‘Needing to play’ was the definition. Shows what I know!
I also misinterpreted 12a (I thought it was a hidden solution inside ‘eighteen’) and had not previously heard of the expression SHEEPS EYES. So, all in all, I think I was a tad fortunate today.
Mrs Random would have recorded an almost identical time, had she not suffered the curse of the LOI with PROBLEM PAGES. However, she did get it in the end and she enjoyed the rest of the crossword, so all is well here.
Many thanks to rolytoly (I needed some of the explanations today) and to Teazel.
Some great clues..did like jabber after all the covid stuff
Half way through I noticed that the grid seemed a little smaller than usual
Started with the accessible 3-letter words and worked round from there for a par-ish time
Thanks Teazel for the enjoyable puzzle and rolytoly