Tough enough.
I rattled through yesterday’s in 6 minutes just before today’s, where I took twice as long to get to my LOI at 23ac: cue three more (slightly frustrated) minutes to finish just over the 15 minute mark.
Plenty of relatively easy entries into the grid; and plenty of quite tricky things, like superfluous words and offbeat definitions, that meant I never quite felt on top of things. All perfectly fair, of course, so lovely setting Hurley, and many thanks for the workout!
| Across | |
| 1 | Job very much linked to this card game (8) |
| PATIENCE – double definition, the first as in the biblical Job. | |
| 5 | A little added in rush (4) |
| DASH – double definition | |
| 8 | Numbers game, British? Popular move (5) |
| BINGO – B(ritish) IN (popular) GO (move) | |
| 9 | English parliamentarian with Queen — or another ruler? (7) |
| EMPEROR – E(nglish) MP (parliamentarian) with ER (Queen) OR | |
| 11 | Poem model outsiders ignored (3) |
| ODE – |
|
| 12 | Hard to follow rite? I can’t unfortunately (9) |
| INTRICATE – anagram (unfortunately) of RITE I CANT | |
| 13 | Enthusiastic judge, extremely timely (6) |
| HEARTY – HEAR (judge) TY (“extremely” T |
|
| 15 | Drink I brought in — part of my job (6) |
| WAITER – a semi-&lit clue (see glossary): WATER (drink) with I (one) brought in. | |
| 18 | Means of escape, a cure, path that’s unusual? (9) |
| PARACHUTE – anagram (that’s unusual) of A CURE PATH | |
| 19 | Poor actor that may be cured? (3) |
| HAM – double definition | |
| 20 | Port levies after review taking in pounds (7) |
| SEVILLE – anagram (after review) of LEVIES taking in L (libra = pounds) | |
| 21 | Find algebra regularly hard work? One avoiding it (5) |
| IDLER – f I n D a L g E b R a “regularly” | |
| 22 | Friend in motoring competition failing to start (4) |
| ALLY – |
|
| 23 | Pay, mind, for piece of extra information? (8) |
| FOOTNOTE – FOOT (pay, as in the bill) NOTE (mind). Foot sprang to mind quite quickly, but was quickly discounted as having nothing possible to do with “extra info”. It felt like there could be quite a lot of options for _O_T_O_E, but the Chamber’s app only gives six that would ever appear in a QC (bolthole, footnote, footsore, porthole, postcode and postpone, if you’re interested). | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Scottish music pub choir, non-U, performed? (7) |
| PIBROCH – anagram (performed) of PB CHOIR (P |
|
| 2 | Suggestion some present in German (5) |
| TINGE – “some” presenT IN GErman | |
| 3 | Boastful European got First in chemistry — awful loudmouth initially (11) |
| EGOTISTICAL – E(uropean), GOT, IST (first), ICAL (In Chemistry Awful Loudmouth “initially”) | |
| 4 | Be cause of echo in large container (6) |
| CREATE – E (Echo in phonetic alphabet) in CRATE (large container) | |
| 6 | Side by side a bishop, rook — direction to follow (7) |
| ABREAST – A B(ishop) R(ook) with EAST (direction) to follow | |
| 7 | Mob’s hidden supply, by the sound of it (5) |
| HORDE – is HOARD (hidden supply) “by the sound of it” | |
| 10 | Greek letter, recent, on series of items for stamps fan (11) |
| PHILATELIST – PHI (Greek letter), of LATE = of recent, LIST (series of items) | |
| 14 | A Republican opponent, he’s got to his destination (7) |
| ARRIVAL – A R(epublican) RIVAL (opponent) | |
| 16 | Regret referring to change in mores (7) |
| REMORSE – RE (referring to), anagram (change in) MORES | |
| 17 | Trade union cross with editor at first over formal jacket? (6) |
| TUXEDO – TU (trade union) X (cross) with ED(itor) O (“at first” Over) | |
| 18 | Food preparation set out in history article (5) |
| PASTA – seen in PAST (history) A (article) | |
| 19 | Greeting musical instrument that’s getting new start (5) |
| HELLO – CELLO (musical instrument) with a random new start. | |
I was left with footnote as my LOI too, but saw it almost at once, although the crossing letters are not very helpful. I was a bit worried because I didn’t get too many across clues, but the downs came in bunches, giving me plenty of letter to work with. I put in pibroch without any crossers – easy if you know it, what else could it be?
Time: 9:10
Yesterday I was pleased to achieve my target 10 minutes after six consecutive misses, each of them in my amber zone (>10 to 15 minutes) but it was to be only a brief respite. Today I crashed and burned with this one at 18 minutes, venturing into my red zone (>15) for the first time since 23rd September. I was slow throughout although PIBROCH had gone in very early to give me a start in the NW corner. The ones that pushed me over the 15 minute line were PATIENCE, DASH and FOOTNOTE. I’m still not entirely convinced by ‘mind/NOTE’ although I eventually found it one-way only in a thesaurus.
No problems apart for having to wait for all the crossers for the unknown PIBROCH
I don’t recall any problems, but then I don’t recall anything about this puzzle. Should have been faster. 6:27.
Needed all the checkers for WAITER and needed all the checkers plus crossed fingers for PIBROCH. FOOTLOOSE was LOI and was just hard – had me searching for the definition in all sorts of places. All green in 15. A little slower than hoped after getting eight on the first pass of acrosses.
Footloose and fancy free!?
I’d like to blame autocorrect but I think that one may be down to me. Off to listen to some Kenny Loggins.
Thanks for the excellent earworm … I am about to go on a long flight … may have to watch Caddyshack.
I saw 10D and immediately thought of you. Hope you’re doing OK.
23 minutes all parsed the SE corner the last to fall and I took some time to see and parse my LOI: WAITER.
NHO the Scottish music but luckily got the letters in the right order.
Tough enough indeed. I got stuck on the NE corner with my last 2, DASH and HORDE taking me to my slowest time this month. None of the anagrams went in straight away apart from PIBROCH. The surface of 6D made me twitch as of the two pieces only the rook can move east on a chessboard, but there’s nothing wrong with the clue, really. COD to 21A as my wife’s a maths teacher and has to put up with many students who can’t be bothered with the work. Thank-you Hurley and RolyToly. 6:50.
1a is a cryptic clue? I’ve heard of the patience of Job but not as Job meaning patience.
Dom, it’s a double definition rather than a cryptic clue although there’s a cryptic element to the first definition. It’s not Job = patience, it’s Job very much linked to this = PATIENCE, with reference to the well-known saying. The second, literal definition is card game.
There was, I think, a better Job reference in yesterday’s Private Eye cryptic:
Job declaration? Can’t wait! (9)
Btw, the 1a clue was: ‘Job very much linked to this’ which seems fine to me.
Oops! Sorry jackkt. I had not refreshed the page when I replied so I didn’t see your similar response. John
Thanks both.
Roly hits the nail on the head with “plenty of quite tricky things, like superfluous words and offbeat definitions”. I seemed to be on wavelength, though, and only had to chew my pencil in the SW. Was relieved to know PIBROCH since it seems an obscure word at 1d in a QC!
COD to IDLER, which is an excellent surface. Time 07:22 for 1.1K and an Excellent Day.
Many thanks Roly and Hurley.
Templar
I can imagine Pibroch being one of those “easy if you know it, very hard if not” words – hardly an everyday word for many I suspect. It was though very familiar to me and my FOI – I am going through a phase of trying all the down clues first for a change – as I was brought up by a father who adored the bagpipes and played pipe music a lot despite being about as much a southerner as one can be. Much to my mother’s dismay – she hated them, and was once heard to say “the best place for bagpipes is outdoors … up a mountain … 500 miles away”.
Getting 1D straight off set the tone and I streaked through this in just under 9 minutes for a Good Day. A very nice puzzle, and only the most minor of hold-ups on my last two, with the Dash/Horde combination taking some time to see. Neither of the checker combinations narrowed things down much!
Many thanks to Roly for the blog
Cedric
Found this a bit of a struggle, with an unparsed PATIENCE and the NHO PIBROCH proving particularly difficult at the end. The anagrams didn’t leap out at me today and FOOTNOTE also needed a lot of thought (an alphabet trawl).
Not a good day to try doing the clues in order, as opposed to my usual approach of getting a foothold and seeing where the clues take me.
Crossed the line in 11.37
Thanks to Roly
I had no luck with 1a /d and so ended up hopping around the grid picking off the relatively ‘easy’ ones. Even that didn’t give me much of a start, so I settled in for a slow solve. 25mins later, I was finally down to the last three – Waiter, Remorse and Footnote. They took another 5mins or so for a finish that was anything but triumphant. No CoD, but Golden Raspberry for 1d, Pibroch. Granted there was no other plausible way of arranging the missing letters, but in a QC ? Invariant
Thank you for reminding me about the Golden Raspberry award. I forgot how much I liked the term.
Quite testing, I thought. It took me 2 mins over target which was disappointing after yesterday. WAITER needed the crossers. I don’t know where I dredged up PIBROCH from but it had to be. Quite a few other trip-wires but I managed to step over them until my LOI FOOTNOTE which I did not like and which was difficult, I thought. Perhaps Friday will offer an easier ride?
Thanks to both, John M.
NHO of PIBROCH and struggled with PATIENCE. I needed all the other checkers before I could solve 1a and then construct 1d from the anagram fodder. PARACHUTE fortunately came to mind immediately, perhaps something to do with the fact that my son, who qualified as a commercial pilot in May, is at this very moment flying a single engine plane over Mallorca. Surprising I didn’t struggle with FOOTNOTE but DASH and my LOI WAITER pushed me over target. 10:57
Finished in 23 mins today. Crossed fingers with PIBROCH, and hadn’t thought of biblical Job in PATIENCE so this was unparsed and my LOI. Also held up by PASTA and FOOTNOTE even though I had all the crossers. Guessed it was FOOT- but just couldn’t get mind = note for far too long. Hoping to be back out of the SCC tomorrow… many thanks to Hurley for an enjoyable workout and to roly for the blog. COD HEARTY.
15 minutes for me. LOI was WAITER.
That was after devising the unknown PIBROCH. I have a Scottish side to my family and I cannot recall ever seeing or hearing this word. Or perhaps people were talking about pub rock?
This wasn’t that easy but I found all the clues pointed me in the right direction. Just needed a bit of time to get there.
COD to FOOTNOTE.
David
Not at my best this morning and took 18 minutes to complete this as a consequence. PIBROCH was vaguely known from my time as an apprentice artificer in Rosyth (and from being married to the proud Scot Mrs R for 52 years). Amazingly, HELLO was LOI. I think I must have missed the clue earlier. Thanks both.
Progressed steadily through this, starting with TINGE, until I was left with 1a and 4d. At that point I was well withing my target time, but by the time the penny dropped on CREATE and PATIENCE quickly followed, I was up to 16:56. Doh! Thanks Hurley and Roly.
I worked my way steadily through this without, I thought, encountering any undue hold-ups and was surprised to find at the end that 20 minutes had elapsed – it had seemed quicker. No real problems except that the clue for WAITER referenced “my job” so I spent a little time wondering whether the job was connected to crossword setting. PIBROCH rang the faintest of faint bells although I was hard put to it to remember whether it was connected to music or whisky-drinking.
FOI – 9ac EMPEROR
LOI & COD – 1 ac PATIENCE (loved the biblical reference which I only got when I’d entered the answer and was looking at my time)
Thanks to Hurley and to Rolytoly
NHO PIBROCH. Guessed PATIENCE – didn’t see the biblical link, which is very neat. Don’t like TINGE = suggestion much. LOI FOOTNOTE, nothing else that fitted made sense of the clue.
25 mins…
I thought this was a tough workout and at one point wasn’t convinced I was going to finish.
Took ages get 10dn, not that I didn’t know it, just wasn’t convinced that I was spelling it correctly. As for many, NHO of 1dn “Pibroch” but at least there were some checkers.
I also thought there were a few misdirectional definitions. Wouldn’t think of 13ac “Hearty” as being enthusiastic and 18ac “Parachute” wasn’t the top of my list for a means of escape unless you’re James Bond or one of his villains.
Toyed with the idea that 2dn was actually something to do with a present or gift in German (which is Geschenk), but even I thought that would be too much for a QC.
FOI – 8ac “Bingo”
LOI – 2dn “Tinge”
COD – 18dn “Pasta” – obvious when I got it, but made smile anyway.
Thanks as usual!
15:51 continuing my week of slow solves. I was another one held up for ages by FOOTNOTE, but it seemed a fair clue.
A tough test today as many of the times so far recorded would suggest. I finished in 12.10, so over two minutes beyond target. I finished in the top left corner with PATIENCE and finally CREATE, and trusted that I had correctly interpreted the cryptic on the unknown PIBROCH.
“PIBROCH” is an instrumental by Jethro Tull from their album “Stormwatch”, which I listened to only last week. The word also appears in Andy Stewart’s “A Scottish Soldier” which was a standing dish on “Two Way Family Favourites” back in 1960’s.
That was a shoo-in for me, but I missed my target through being slow to spot FOOTNOTE, then being unable to get my LOI until the penny finally dropped on HORDE (which shouldn’t have really been a problem).
FOI PATIENCE
LOI DASH
COD SEVILLE
TIME 5:09
There was a stirring Walter Scott poem “Pibroch of Donuil Dhu, pibroch of Donuil …” we learned at school.
Much the same as upthread.
FOOTNOTE LOI, due to the unhelpful checkers. waited for checkers for the NHO PIBROCH. I liked PATIENCE and WAITER.
7:43
DNF though I enjoyed the clues I solved. Liked PATIENCE (unsolved). Obviously I didn’t have enough of it today, as I failed on FOOTNOTE and WAITER and DASH. NHO PIBROCH.
Thanks vm, Roly.
15:40. Took the longest on FOOTNOTE and CREATE. I thought PIBROCH was a musical instrument so glad to learn here what it actually is.
Found this one to be a struggle and needed to resort to aids for a number of clues. Never heard of PIBROCH, but the word did spring to my mind. I didn’t know if it was a word so I looked it up in the dictionary before entering it. Although PIBROCH is in the dictionary, I class it as a made up word the setter created in order to get a word that fits. 🤣
I knew PHILATELIST, though had to check the spelling.
Not a bad puzzle at all, but would not have been able to complete without aids.
Got there in 33 minutes, so quite satisfied today.
My FOsI were EMPEROR and ODE, but I then had to wait until I was much further down the grid to make any further progress. In fact, the bottom half was completed entirely before I came back up to do battle with the much harder (IMO) top half.
Like others, I had NHO PIBROCH, and put PIrbOCH to start with. BINGO eventually forced a correction. My last two in were HORDE and DASH.
Many thanks to Hurley and rolytoly.
Going against the grain today. I thought this was quite easy and whizzed through in 7:30 – half of yesterday’s time – so A Pretty Good Day 😊
I didn’t remember PIBROCH until I wrote it down (if you see what I mean!) but it must have been lurking somewhere in the memory vaults. A bit too obscure for a quickie though? 21a made me smile – I wasn’t an IDLER but I just couldn’t do algebra, or geometry come to that. I used to sit with my English set book hidden on my lap in those lessons – of course that didn’t help so it’s amazing I got my maths O level 😅
FOI Patience LOI Dash COD Ham ( bit Oinkish)
Thanks Hurley and Roly
Really odd that FOOTNOTE was so tricky – I was another held up here! Perhaps it was the bland checking letters – F-O-N-T- would have been easier! Liked WAITER…….
Did this at work in between emails so happy with a time of about 45 mins. Spent ages on 23ac but thought it was a great clue.
I often struggle with this setter so finishing is a cause for celebration.
Thanks as always for the blog.
dnf by two due to incorrect parsing
DNF
Stopped the clock at 20 minutes. Didn’t see how I was ever going to get 1ac/dn. On seeing the answer glad I didn’t bother persevering.
Eight today.
DNF. Usually complete Hurley’s puzzles but this was too tough.
Didn’t get patience or crate. Put in Postcode – footnote was too tricksy for us.
The Seville I know is nowhere near the sea. Is there another one ? Biffed postcode for 23 ac so DNF.
How does anyone finish in under 7mins. It would take me that time to read the clues let alone answer them and then pencil them in !
A port does not have to be by the sea, though most are.