This took me 11 minutes to solve, fully parsed. However, there were several questions arising from the solving and parsing, particularly in 13 and 14 down. Otherwise, I had no real problems, and expect to see some fast times.
There is a slight flavour of Alice about it, I thought, what with Nobles and hats and small rodents and stuff. How did you all get on?
Across
4 Flee from snakes initially invading European headland (6)
ESCAPE – S[nakes} (initially) inside E{uropean} and CAPE (headland).
7 Old bloke extremely negligent about a new contract (8)
COVENANT – COVE (Australian informal, or old British slang for a man or chap) and N{egligen}T (extremely) around A and N{ew}.
8 Fellow protégé, a pusillanimous type (6)
COWARD – A fellow protégé might be a co-ward. Pusillanimous is one of those words that I sort of know, but would be pushed to provide a clear definition for.
9 Communication from police officer’s district (8)
DISPATCH – DIS (D{etective} I{nspector}’S – police officer’s) and PATCH (common term for a police precinct or district.
10 Epic tale of silver found in South Africa (4)
SAGA – AG (chemical symbol for silver) inside S{outh} A{frica}.
12 Small rodent’s sleeping-place beside Yorkshire river (8)
DORMOUSE – DORM{itory} (sleeping place) next to OUSE (Yorkshire river).
15 Setbacks concerning poetic endeavours (8)
REVERSES – RE (concerning) and VERSES (poetic endeavours).
18 Leaders of expedition travelling near a volcano (4)
ETNA – First letters (leaders) of E{xpedition} T{ravelling} N{ear} A.
20 Surpass head of English in south, somehow (8)
OUTSHINE – Anagram (somehow) of [IN SOUTH] and E{nglish} (head of).
22 Bet involving north German composer (6)
WAGNER – WAGER (bet) containing (involving) N{orth}.
23 Nobleman’s make of car and ship (8)
MARQUESS – MARQUE (make of car) and SS (steam ship).
24 Tightfisted guy ultimately associated with scam (6)
STINGY – STING (scam) and {gu}Y (ultimately).
Down
1 Pith helmet: most superior one (4)
TOPI – TOP (most superior) and I (one). The TOPI is one name for the pith helmet worn by Europeans, especially in India.
2 Casual worker delayed making model (8)
TEMPLATE – TEMP (casual worker) and LATE (delayed). In my experience, TEMPs are far from casual workers!
3 Pale 1950’s youth sought by police? (6)
WANTED – WAN (pale) TED (teddy boy, 1950’s youth). For us old hands, this will bring back memories of Dorset Jimbo, once a respected member of this community, and staunch defender of TED’s reputations.
4 One who makes an impression as a craftsman (6)
ETCHER – Cryptic clue – we had a discussion about the difference between an ETCHER and an engraver only last week, if I remember correctly.
5 Sound reason for corvine cries (4)
CAWS – Homophone clue (sound) sounds like CAUSE (reason). Corvine here refers to the crow genus Corvus.
6 Quiet, skilled workman, one devoted to a cause (8)
PARTISAN – P (quiet – musical notation) and ARTISAN (skilled workman).
11 Rent a bar for a change, deviating from type (8)
ABERRANT – Anagram (for a change) of [RENT A BAR].
13 A specific person finished first we hear (3)
ONE – Homophone clue (we hear, although it doesn’t really work for me) sounds like WON (finished first). When I say ONE it sounds more like wan than won (wun?).
14 Carefully examine old vicar about spoils from robbery (8)
OVERHAUL – O{ld} and REV{erend} (vicar) reversed (about) and HAUL (spoils from robbery). MER at OVERHAUL = carefully examine. I see OVERHAUL more as examine and repair as needed, rather than a simple examination, however careful.
16 Wild moor originally featuring in literary work (6)
STORMY – M{oor} (originally), inside STORY (literary work).
17 Heavenly body giving son a sudden shock (6)
SATURN – S{on} and A TURN (sudden shock).
19 Article about unidentified writer (4)
ANON – AN (article) and ON (about) to give ANON (short for anonymous, often used to indicate that the writer of a piece is not known).
21 Shelter in Tyneside street (4)
NEST – NE (Tynesdie, north east) and ST{reet}.
Well, after two consecutive DNFs – a complete mauling by Teazel and a self-inflicted error yesterday – I was hoping for an easy ride today, if only to boost morale. However, with Orpheus as our setter, that was never going to be the case. On average, I break free from the SCC about once every five weeks, but never have I done so with Orpheus … and that trend continued today.
I struggled to get started, but the going got easier in the bottom half of the grid and I think I had only five clues to go as I entered SCC territory. Those five – DISPATCH, ETCHER, COVENANT, COWARD and CAWS (plus TOPI, which I had solved, but was very unsure about) – then put up much stiffer resistance and it was a further 25+ minutes before I finally put down my pencil. In fact, I actually gave up with two left to solve at the 45 minute mark, but COWARD suddenly came to me just as I was about to come here and CAWS was easy after that. I had Crow in for CAWS for some considerable time, which made COWARD impossible to find. Total time in the end = 47 minutes.
Mrs Random did it in 17 minutes. Her heartwarming comment was “Well, at least you’ll know what pusillanimous means next time”. She’s lovely, is Mrs R!
P.S. What does the word ‘Old’ signify in 7a? I thought COVEs could be almost any age.
Many thanks to Orpheus and Rotter.
The old is actually referring to the old British word ‘cove’, rather than it being an attribute of the man referred to.
Keep going Mr R. I went through a very sticky patch with the QC recently but came out the other side.
A mixed bag, I thought. Some went in very quickly (ESCAPE, SAGA, ETNA), but my last two took up 4 of my 14 minutes. COVENANT eventually came, and like Blighter, I wanted to get STAR into SATURN, but the crossers didn’t quite work. COD to COWARD.
Thanks to Orpheus and TheRotter.
Well this time I’m the one making the fuss. DNK COVE (= old bloke – thank you, Rotter, for explaining old = old word), and never heard of TOPI (obscure?), so DNF the NW corner. FOI SAGA.
Finished within our target, so pleased. DNK topi, and took some time to sort out 5d caws.
18.28 Not sure why I found this so hard, the SE especially so.
11 minutes for this interesting puzzle, and as so often one learns about alternative or additional meanings of words one only knows one meaning of. In this case both Overhaul (knew it meant repair, did not know it can also mean just examine before the repair) and Pusillanimous (knew it meant timid or showing a lack of determination, did not know it can also mean showing a lack of courage). Both put in from checkers, and after reading the blog one ends the day if not wiser, then certainly better informed.
Many thanks to Rotter for the blog
Cedric
4:19 this afternoon. Nothing too troublesome from Orpheus, which isn’t always the case.
No really standout clues but a good QC nonetheless.
Having had a rather disrupted day today, I only have a half hour window for the 15 x 15 which I fear is going to be insufficient!
Thanks to Rotter and Orpheus
If you crack the 15 x 15 in your half hour slot today, then you are a better man than me Mr P!
No need to worry Rotter, 5 clues short after the half hour! I’ve never made any secret that the high Snitches find me out!!
Finished but erroneous entry for 15 ac as put in recesses (which are set back in a wall).
Should have parsed it better
Thoroughly enjoyed this one and managed another 4ac from the SCC. I can however see how some folks found it tricky as there were a few hard clues to tease out. Just one of those days when I got on the wavelength early. I did guess TOPI. Nice to see my local river getting one of its regular mentions. I’m walking part of it at the weekend.
FOI – ESCAPE
LOI – CAWS
PDM – WANTED
COD – REVERSES
Thanks for the blog Rotter. It’s also great to see you coming back later in the day to add further comments. 😊
PS Hope to see the obituary in my printed copy of The Times tomorrow after reading the comments from others
29:19
Technically a DNF thanks to a spelling mistake onLOI MARQUESS which I’d always thought spelt with an I. That alone accounted for 10 minutes taking me way over target today.
Hard. Wild guess at TOPI – delighted it was right! LOI COVENANT. Not sure of OVERHAUL= examine carefully or WON sounding like ONE.