I was a fair bit slower than yesterday’s, so I’d put this on the tricky side. Looking forward to see how it fares on the shiny new SNITCH: see here.
Myles’s fifth outing: two right back in the early days of the QC and then this is his third this year (info courtesy of Jackkt’s last blog). And yes, quite tough, I found, with a very sparse-looking grid after a first pass of the acrosses, and a number of mysterious-looking clues. The best kind.
The downs were more forgiving, and I finished in 9.28, three minutes slower than yesterday’s done just before. I was glad to remember the plant at 24ac, otherwise I think I’d have been quite a while staring at that and the tricky 17d.
A fine puzzle, I thought, with good clues and PDMs aplenty. Despite there being six pure double definitions and two or three closely related ones, it didn’t feel like it while solving. Many thanks to Myles!
Anagram indicators in italics
| Across | |
| 1 | Escargots? Certainly not! (4,4) |
| FAST FOOD – cryptic definition, snails not being noted for their speed. | |
| 5 | What sounds like distress call from rider to stop (4) |
| WHOA – sounds like WOE (distress) | |
| 8 | Handle badly — this round’s on me? (3-5) |
| ILL-TREAT – and I’LL TREAT = this round’s on me. | |
| 9 | Finishes off the music with no repetition of sound (4) |
| ECHO – take the “finishes” off thE musiC witH nO | |
| 11 | Grown improperly, right? On the contrary (5) |
| WRONG – GROWN improperly. A nicely misleading way to define WRONG, quite simply as the opposite of right. | |
| 12 | Monitor where bishop has authority (7) |
| OVERSEE – and OVER a SEE is where a bishop has authority, a SEE being a diocese. Similar type of clue to 8ac | |
| 13 | Like canary or chicken (6) |
| YELLOW – probably best broken up as a double definition (although chickens are of course yellow as well): the first describes the colour of the canary, the second describes the colour of a coward. | |
| 15 | Audibly, what could be you or I making assertion (6) |
| AVOWAL – YOU or I could “audibly” be called A VOWEL | |
| 18 | Something racehorse needs, a kind of shoe (7) |
| TRAINER – straight double definition | |
| 19 | Power and will possibly (5) |
| MIGHT – another straight double definition. Nice. | |
| 21 | Footballer on one side or another (4) |
| WING – cryptic definition, with a pun on SIDE = TEAM | |
| 22 | Tours all over the place, surrounded by seven experts (8) |
| VIRTUOSI – TOURS all over the place, surrounded by VII (seven) | |
| 23 | Revolutionary act or performance on stage (4) |
| TURN – double definition | |
| 24 | In revised order, cancel my plant (8) |
| CYCLAMEN – In revised order CANCEL MY | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Part of course that’s just fashion (7) |
| FAIRWAY – FAIR (just) WAY (fashion) | |
| 2 | Drunk also swallowing very many shots (5) |
| SALVO – Drunk ALSO swallowing V(ery) | |
| 3 | Spotlight pro, say, on game of golf (10) |
| FOREGROUND – FOR (pro) E.G. (say/for example) on ROUND (game of golf) | |
| 4 | Person making deliveries from part of laboratory (6) |
| ORATOR – comes from “part” of labORATORy | |
| 6 | Journalist understood tool for cutting (7) |
| HACKSAW – HACK (journalist) SAW (understood) | |
| 7 | A flower got from bed (5) |
| AROSE – A, ROSE (flower) | |
| 10 | Lead, for example, one kind of band (5,5) |
| HEAVY METAL – double definition, the second as in music | |
| 14 | Apprentice, one who’s being paid under pound (7) |
| LEARNER – EARNER (one who’s being paid) under L (Libra = pound) | |
| 16 | Awfully valiant citizen of Northern Europe (7) |
| LATVIAN – Awfully VALIANT | |
| 17 | Bright article found in sea (6) |
| BRAINY – the BRINY = the SEA, insert the article A | |
| 18 | Namely, what to do with broken-down car (2,3) |
| TO WIT – and to a broken-down car one could TOW IT | |
| 20 | Carefully prepare man starting union (5) |
| GROOM – double definition | |
24:24
It took me a long time to ‘get into Myles head’ with, as Roly says, a very sparse looking grid after the first few passes.
When I got there, I found more contenders for COD than I think I’ve ever seen: FAST FOOD (made me laugh), ILL TREAT, HEAVY METAL and BRAINY.
I stalled in the SW corner taking overly long to see 18dn TO WIT.
FOI: 9ac ECHO. LOI: 23ac TURN. COD: 18dn TO WIT.
Thanks Roly and Myles.
That was tough! My FOI was CYCLAMEN, the bottom-right clue, so I was starting to panic by that stage. Fortunately, the down clues proved rather more accessible and I started to get into it.
By the end, I was still left with some mixed feelings about some of the clues. FAIRWAY, WHOA, WING, FOREGROUND and ILL-TREAT all still sat uneasily with me – a sure sign that I hadn’t parsed them fully, so Roly’s blog was very helpful today.
Total time = 38 minutes. Not quick, but definitely more satisfying than yesterday’s 60.
Many thanks to Myles and Rolytoly.
Enjoyable but tricky. Some perhaps bordering on a little too tricky for a QC.
I’m one of those that didn’t like FOREGROUND. I can see how it works, just, but I feel the setter could have done better there.
I did like 18d.
Completed slowly with the cat helping me on 8a.
I seem to remember from my school reports well over half a century ago that ‘could have done better’ was one of the most damning remarks in the teacher’s lexicon!
What about “See me!” ?
I was thinking of end of term reports to parents rather than comments on work handed in for marking.
10.48 but typo with oversse.
I’m going to stop racing and do a spell check from now on!
didn’t like cyclamen, obscure word clued as anagram, or foreground.
COD to wit.
CYCLAMEN was about my FOI. So what’s obscure to one is easy to another 🙂.
I only remember TO WIT in Dickens, though.
Fired a SALVO at the starting gate and then went a FAIRWAY to solving 1a. I went the WRONG way about solving 3d but it came to the FORE eventually. Some great clues in this one. Needed full concentration. Eventually signed off with AVOWAL. 8:14. Thanks Myles and Roly.
Great stuff. Tussles with FAST FOOD (needed lots of checkers before a groan), ILL TREAT (knew what was going on but had to alphabet trawl to get to the answer), TURN (dunno what the issue was in retrospect) and FOREGROUND (just took a long time to see how the three elements combined). Pleasure only spoiled by AVOWeL, parsed, typed and later regretted. Not all green in 16.
After passing on the first five across clues I checked to see if I’d opened the 15×15 by accident. But I soon gained a toehold and finished in 8:48. Liked AVOWAL. Thanks setter and RolyToly
Dnf…
After 30 mins, still didn’t have a few clues in the SE corner.
I put Avowed for 15ac and Means for 19ac, which put me out for everything else. If I’d got the 16dn “Latvian” anagram earlier (and I should have) it may have been a different story.
Some good clues though. I didn’t mind 3dn “Foreground” – but am probably the only who doesn’t think a footballer is a “wing” – a winger perhaps or a wingback, but “a wing” is definitely on the edge.
FOI – 4dn “Orator”
LOI – dnf
COD – 8ac “Ill Treat”
Thanks as usual!
I enjoyed this, coming in just under six minutes. Fast food made me smile, but COD to AVOWAL.
I don’t remember coming across Myles as a setter before and it took me some time to familiarise myself with his whimsical style of clueing. In fact I only got 1 definite answer in my first pass of the acrosses, although I had thought of both FFAST FOOD and WHOA but wanted checkers before committing myself. Luckily the downs proved more accomodating but the complete solve still took me 22 minutes – outside my target zone of 15-20 minutes.
FOI – 12ac OVERSEE
LOI – 17dn BRAINY
COD – almost too many to mention! Liked FAST FOOD, ILL TREAT, AVOWAL, HEAVY METAL and TO WIT.
Thanks to Myles for a most enjoyable puzzle abd to Rolytoly for the blog.
I do the crossword in the newspaper and don’t time as I alway take so long! Am finishing them quite often now though and I loved this one. I thought as others have said that it was going to be really difficult but once I got started and was on the wavelength I quite raced through. I thought the clues were clever and funny. Particularly AVOWAL TO WIT and FAST FOOD
Some made me giggle out loud. Breath of fresh air. Thank you Myles I hope we see you again soon. Thanks for blog rolytoly. I find the blogs so useful.
13.00 I’ve already blown through my weekly target but this went much better than yesterday’s. I was also held up by WOAH. I think I would have struggled with BRAINY if briny hadn’t appeared quite recently, possibly in much the same clue. VIRTUOSI was nice. Thanks to rolytoly and Myles.
This seemed quite hard but the clues fell one by one. All done in 50 minutes.
I struggled with GROOM (only now understanding it) and for BRAINY I wanted the sea to be Irish as that fitted but IRAISH made no sense.
COD to AVOWAL
Thanks Myles and Roly.
12.15
Really struggled on this but at least all correct.
Stared at the checkers for BRAINY at the end for much longer than was comfortable. The snails also took some time but nothing unfair.
Thanks Myles and Roly
Brilliant QC. A few clues which looked odd but worked perfectly. Many clues edging towards 15 x 15. One of the very best. Loved VIRTUOSI, MIGHT, AVOWAL among others!
I solved only two on the first pass through the acrosses, but like rolytoly, I did better with the downs. I found this the most difficult of the week so far, but I have finished them all. I like To wit best. I also give a “grudgingly admire” award to Fast Food – I felt it was too difficult for a QC, but also I thought it was a brilliant clue. I’m loving the Snitch. I have found that the scores this week are broadly in line with my own experience, although I never time myself because I want to enjoy the crossword throughout the day and not feel pressured.
I finished in 25 mins but it felt much longer. I’m really not with it at the moment. I normally get to the QC after a 14-hour day, so I will take some consolation from the earlier posts concerning the time of day when one’s brain is at its best.
I struggled badly to get going and made things hard by inserting starter at 18ac. I had a couple of checkers and had a dim memory of wearing shoes with this name.
A lot of very clever clues and a tough day for the SCC regulars. Definitely one for the more accomplished solver.
Thanks for the blog.
22:18
Struggled with the top left, FAIRWAY and ILL TREAT which I dint think great clues but got there in the end.
Got this in around 45 mins with a few solving aids at the end. Fairly tricky I thought. Like @curryowen I couldn’t figure out BRINY = sea, one looked like an adjective the other a noun but Collins confirmed that it can indeed be a noun.
I thought 15 across was very clever indeed and my favourite clue. I didn’t get it and had to come here for an explanation, thank you @rolytoly.
Woodsprial
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Catch me on twitch at 9pm where I will solve the QC live, https://www.twitch.tv/woodspiral