A nice puzzle from Trelawney, early in this new year. I thought I had completed in 9 minutes until I came to write the blog, when I discovered that I had made a mistake at 18d, which means a DNF for me. It was only when I tried to parse my original answer at 18d that I realised the error of my ways, and saw the light.
Thanks to Trelawney, and how did you all get on?
Across
1 PM and a baker initially studied unleavened food (5,5)
PITTA BREAD – There are two William PITTs to choose from as a candidate for the PM part of the clue. Whomsoever you choose, he is followed by A (a) and B{aker} (initially) and finally READ (studied). I like PITTA BREAD!
8 Small vehicle to rent out is red (7)
SCARLET – S{mall} CAR (vehicle) and LET (to rent out).
9 Commanding officer conceals dog (5)
DINGO – Hidden inside {comman}DING O{fficer}. A DINGO, of course, is an Australian wild dog.
10 A number flipped over for part of graph (4)
AXIS – A (a) and SIX (number) reversed (flipped over).
11 Scotsman wearing delicate fabric for sport (8)
LACROSSE – ROSS (Scotsman) inside (wearing) LACE (delicate fabric). I worried at first about ROSS only being a Scotsman, but looking it up afterwards, I found that Wikipedia gives it as ‘an English-language name derived from Gaelic, most commonly used in Scotland’, so I guess it is justified. Incidentally, I am a great fan of Wikipedia and its philosophy. I have just made my small annual donation, and urge others of you to do the same if you agree with its aims and are able to do so.
13 Agreement to have lunch, perhaps, during test (6)
TREATY – EAT (have lunch, perhaps) inside (during) TRY (test).
14 Fuss about a US soldier’s slow movement (6)
ADAGIO – ADO (fuss) containing (about) A GI (a US soldier).
17 Bowler, perhaps, might ultimately strain to get this? (3,5)
HAT TRICK – HAT (bowler, perhaps) {migh}T (ultimately) and RICK (strain). A HAT TRICK in cricket is achieved when a bowler gets three wickets with successive balls – a rare and difficult feat.
19 Food shop I ran in retirement (4)
DELI – I LED (I ran) reversed (in retirement).
21 One is playing music, perhaps (5)
NOISE – Anagram (playing) of [ONE IS]. As I attain an age in the mid-70s, I appreciate more and more that the difference between music and noise is a question of generation.
22 Run dramatic work with empty theatre (7)
OPERATE – OPERA (dramatic work) with the outside letters of T{heatr}E (empty theatre).
23 Crooned with young ladies in shades (10)
SUNGLASSES – SUNG (crooned) and LASSES (young ladies).
Down
2 Picture from one publication in English (7)
IMAGINE – I (one) MAG (publication) IN E (in E{nglish}).
3 Instruct famous archer (4)
TELL – Double definition, the second referring to William TELL, the Swiss folk hero who was a supposed marksman with the crossbow.
4 Cricketer leaving middle a hero (6)
BATMAN – BAT{s}MAN (cricketer, dropping middle letter – leaving middle).
5 Adore old ruined city that’s fabulously rich (2,6)
EL DORADO – Anagram (ruined) of [ADORE OLD].
6 Some Sudanese people found in Scandinavia (5)
DANES – Hidden (some) in {su}DANES{e}.
7 Father and uncle finally phone for VIP transport (10)
POPEMOBILE – POP (father) and {uncl}E (finally) with MOBILE (phone).
8 Device her postman misdirected (10)
SMARTPHONE – Anagram (misdirected) of [HER POSTMAN].
12 Fish with temperature taken in by medic (8)
STURGEON – SURGEON (medic) containing T{emperature}.
15 Something explosive seen regularly in class (7)
GRENADE – EN (sEeN regularly) inside GRADE (class).
16 Teach group of swimmers (6)
SCHOOL – Double definition.
18 Pursues one of two options (5)
TAILS – Double definition, the second being one of two options when flipping a coin. Initially, I entered TRIES for this, which wasn’t right and didn’t parse. I don’t know what I was thinking – probably rushing to get inside 10 minutes. Serves me right!
20 Soldiers’ dining room is a shambles (4)
MESS – Double definition.
After a good run of fairly speedy finishes I struggled a bit with this finishing in 13.07.
POPEMOBILE held me up for a long time, but my main problem was 4dn where I had BATTER for a long time, thinking BATT(L)ER was a bit on the weak side as a definition for hero! It was only when ROSS as a Scottish name occurred to me, that LACROSSE fell into place. My LOI was therefore BATMAN, where I finally returned to correct my mistake.
Solved steadily in 17 minutes. Failed to parse PITTA BREAD and GRENADE, so thanks to Rotter for the explanations. Otherwise no lengthy hold-ups, although I did spend a little time trying to think of a sport beginning MAC… at 11ac. Managed to avoid putting in TRIES at 18dn (only because it never occurred to me). Took far too long to see the rather obvious STURGEON at 12dn – should have been a gimme.
FOI – 8ac SCARLET
LOI – 8dn SMARTPHONE
COD – 23ac SUNGLASSES, closely followed by 14ac ADAGIO
Thanks to Trelawney.
A rare completion for me and needed couple of hints from friends! Took me just under an hour. Lacrosse was tough. Needed all the other letters to see the sport. Wasn’t getting Ross in lace.
Well done Adam.
Worth make a mental note of LACE as a fine material or delicate fabric as it comes up from time to time. I’m fairly sure the letters LACE are useful in a variety of words although I’m struggling to think of any beyond LACROSSE and NECKLACE!
18.21, having spent five minutes on NOISE and TAILS.
Minor nit: pitta is a leavened bread.
If you donate to Wikipedia I would recommend a look at where they spend the money. The encyclopaedia is surprisingly cheap to operate.
As I said yesterday – really inconsistent! Heading towards the SCC today, with 17 mins on the clock and one to go which I was stuck on, so I went away for a bit. That worked – LOI solved in a matter of seconds on my return. Phones seemed to have caused me a couple of problems today. SMARTPHONE and HAT TRICK took ages, I didn’t understand TAILS till I read the blog, and hiddens continue to be my stumbling block! So Not A Good Day 😕
But quite a fun puzzle for all that – the problem was definitely mine!
FOI Scarlet LOI Popemobile COD El Dorado
Thanks Trelawney and Rotter
A dnf after 1 hour (my personal time limit for 2023] with 7 clues still to go.
The hidden clues such as Dingo should be easy but are often, as in this case, well hidden so that gets my COD.
I also donate to Wikipedia as it is an invaluable resource.
Thanks to Trelawney and Rotter.
The usual advice is ‘when all else fails, look for a hidden’. The problem is, when you are new to this game, you can end up spending a lot of time looking for hiddens. . .
Very tired today after watching the panto at Leeds City Varieties last night. I laughed so much I was in pain. Anyone remember The Good Old Days, which was recorded there?
Busy at work as well so only a brief comment. Loved this QC by Trelawney and came in just short of 20 mins. A host of fine clues, with POPEMOBILE taking the laurels.
Great blog as always. Thanks Rotter!
Getting PITTA BREAD straight away set me on the path for a very fast solve (for me) – 18 minutes and a rare adventure out of the SCC.
The down clues put up slightly less resistance than the acrosses, but I found myself jumping around successfully all over the grid. I particularly enjoyed POPEMOBILE, SUNGLASSES and HAT-TRICK.
My LOI was BATMAN (I always struggle with clues where one or more letters have to be removed) and, for once, I fully parsed every clue.
Many thanks to Trelawney for a true QC and TheRotter.
👏
20/24. One better than yesterday. Thank you for the blog.
18 mins for me but it is still a good day if I finish it .
A device immediately made me think of smartphone – had the P and an H available made it jump out.
Completely stumped by Ross for Scot ?
Loved popemobile ……
10.12 – slower than yesterday, but better than earlier in the week.LOI SMARTPHONE – happy with device as the definition, since it allows the pun about everyone being left to their own devices.
Good to see Ross as the Scotsman instead of the usual Ian.
I am surprised that I am the only one who started off biffing BROWN BREAD and then WILL instead of TELL but I am not complaining as I still romped home with all correct in 6:51. COD to SUNGLASSES.
In my experience of cricket there is no such thing as a batman. There is a batter or a batsman.
It is BATSMAN as the cricketer, from which the middle letter (S) is dropped, to leave BATMAN (hero, as in BATMAN and Robin).
That’s why the clue said ‘leaving middle’. Take out the middle letter of BATSMAN and you have BATMAN, a comic book hero.
On edit: This post was intended as a reply to mozbadel’s question to me (above), but I have placed it incorrectly in the trail.
SCC = Slowcoach Club. The SCC is populated by those ordinary mortals who finish in 20+ minutes. I am fast approaching my 700th QC, but have gone sub-20 on fewer than 20 occasions. Good luck, mozbadel.
On edit (again):
I now can’t find mozbadel’s question to me. Am I going mad?
He could possibly have deleted it?
Some fun clues today but a DNF as I forgot that I hadn’t resolved 4d – Botham fitted but obviously incorrect solution then left it uncompleted. Doh. Surely an error in 1a as pitta bread is yeast leavened…….. (even says so in Wikipedia, to which I also subscribe). Missed the hidden Dingo but what else could it have been! Liked 10a axis, 17a hat trick, 8d smartphone.
FOI 1a Pitta bread – despite the error
LOI 9a Dingo
COD 23a the easy enough but engaging Sunglasses.
18:42 here. I tried to get the long ones around the edge first, but only SUNGLASSES came, so that tactic probably backfired on me. All parsed except for DINGO, my LOI, so that was a face-palm moment when I came here and saw the hidden.
I’ll echo chabuduo’s comment about pitta being a leavened bread: at least according to the Greek cooking lesson that I took last week! I held off on entering that answer until it could be nothing else.
Thanks to both Trelawney and TheRotter.
DNF
Romped through this 6 minutes inside my target only to find I’d been rather too hasty biffing TWINS for one of two options. D’oh!