Solving time: 7:46
The Squire’s brow engulfs us with a wealth of interesting words here – and challengingly-enough clued, I’d say, to push the Quitch towards 90 perhaps?
15a was my LOI, but I was amused by the notion of 10d which might result in a watering of the eyes, thanks to a firm thump on the nose (though that may depend on the type of concert suggested to you by the clue).
How did you all get along?
Definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [directions in square ones].
| Across | |
| 1 | Ancient period‘s character captured by wise person (5,3) |
| STONE AGE – TONE (character) inside [captured by] SAGE (wise person)
To put it into context, the Stone Age i.e. human use of stone for tools, lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, ending less than 6000 years ago with the advent of metalworking. It therefore represents more than 99% of human history! |
|
| 5 | Revolutionary secretly listens to argument (4) |
| SPAT – TAPS (secretly listens) reversed [Revolutionary]
The derivation of SPAT is a bit fuzzy – it started out as an informal abbreviation of the word ‘spatterdash’, which referred to a type of protective leg covering worn mainly by late 19th/early 20th century men. While spats protected socks and shoes from the elements, a minor verbal clash or argument somehow became a SPAT – an example of how language can evolve informally, drawing on existing words and associations to create new terms. |
|
| 8 | Underwear extremely visible? Bold! (5) |
| BRAVE – BRA (Underwear) then the end letters [extremely] of V{isibl}E | |
| 9 | Mock fool carrying amplifier (7) |
| LAMPOON – LOON (fool) with AMP (amplifier) inserted
In amplified music, AMP is a standard abbreviation for an amplifier. LAMPOON as a noun, is described by Dr Johnson as “A personal satire; abuse; censure written not to reform but to vex”. It came from the French lampon (17c.), a word of unknown origin, said by French etymologists to have derived from lampons (“let us drink!” – a popular refrain for scurrilous drinking songs), which itself came from lamper “to drink, guzzle,” a nasalised form of laper “to lap”. |
|
| 11 | Chill pitcher regularly (3) |
| ICE – Alternate letters of pitcher | |
| 12 | Spider is natural at scuttling (9) |
| TARANTULA – Anagram [scuttling] of NATURAL AT
The only spider that exists in Crosswordland |
|
| 13 | Companion’s corset adjusted (6) |
| ESCORT – Anagram [adjusted] of CORSET
ESCORT was initially a 16th century military term for an armed, protective or honorary guard, from Italian scorta “a guiding”, which is from the verb scorgere “to guide”. The sense of “person accompanying another to a social occasion” is from the mid-1930s. |
|
| 15 | A herb finally mailed out (6) |
| ABSENT – A then final letter of {her}B then SENT (mailed)
Don’t be shy now! – you can admit that you were looking for a five-letter herb to follow A…. Think this might be a breezeblock for one or two – very cunning setter, very cunning! |
|
| 18 | Somehow win orange from Scandinavia (9) |
| NORWEGIAN – Anagram [Somehow] of WIN ORANGE
You have no doubt asked yourself frequently, why do only NORWEGIAN and Glaswegian, have the -wegian suffix? |
|
| 19 | Vehicle found in Nicaragua (3) |
| CAR – Hidden [found] in Nicaragua | |
| 20 | Worst and best part of a motor race? (3,4) |
| PIT STOP – PITS (Worst) and TOP (best) | |
| 21 | Silly cousin an embarrassment, partially (5) |
| INANE – Hidden [partially] in cousin an embarrassment | |
| 22 | Boy eats last of leftover fat (4) |
| LARD – LAD (Boy) eats i.e. insert last letter of {leftove}R
LARD is the rendered fat of a swine, and comes directly from the Latin lardum “lard, bacon, cured swine’s flesh”. This is also the source for lardon “a cube or strip of bacon fat inserted into meat for roasting”, and the 14th century larder “a supply of salt pork, bacon, and other meats”. |
|
| 23 | Piece from tabloid chaps inserted into broadsheet (8) |
| FRAGMENT – RAG (tabloid) MEN (chaps) inserted into FT (broadsheet i.e. Financial Times) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Wonderful fruit at the bottom of U-boat (7) |
| SUBLIME – LIME (fruit) at the bottom of SUB (U-boat)
The positional indicator is apposite here as this is a down clue and LIME is ‘at the bottom of’ i.e. underneath SUB SUBLIME comes directly from Latin sublimis “uplifted, high, borne aloft, lofty, exalted, eminent, distinguished,” possibly originally “sloping up to the lintel,” from sub “up to” + limen “lintel, threshold, sill”. The word limit comes from the same source. |
|
| 2 | Give a speech, primarily on robbery and tax evasion (5) |
| ORATE – First letters [primarily] of on robbery and tax evasion | |
| 3 | See Croat jet crashing? This could be used! (7,4) |
| EJECTOR SEAT – Anagram [crashing] of SEE CROAT JET. The second part of the clue is the definition, indicating that the answer could be what to use if you are, say, the pilot on a Croat jet and you see that is about to crash…
It’s never very clear to me when a clue is an &lit or a semi &lit or neither so I won’t even try to guess. |
|
| 4 | New lager includes oxygen in abundance (6) |
| GALORE – Anagram [New] of LAGER with O (oxygen – chemical symbol) inserted
From 17th century Irish go leór, and equivalent Scottish Gaelic gu leóir meaning “sufficiently, enough”. |
|
| 6 | Get hold of professional remedy (7) |
| PROCURE – PRO (professional) CURE (remedy) | |
| 7 | Country not upset over general assembly at first (5) |
| TONGA – NOT reversed [upset] over the first letters of [at first] G{eneral} A{ssembly}
Again, the positional indicator is apposite as this is a ‘down’ clue, and the first part (TON) is ‘over’ i.e. above the second part (GA) |
|
| 10 | Astounding request to a tall person at a concert? (4-7) |
| MIND-BENDING – If you were stuck behind a tall person at a concert, you might ask if they would MIND BENDING so that you might see better. However, you might expect to receive an answer along the lines of ‘Get knotted!’ if you did… | |
| 14 | Clergyman, mostly, or museum director (7) |
| CURATOR – CURAT |
|
| 16 | Arranged rent and MOT? Agony! (7) |
| TORMENT – Anagram [Arranged] of RENT and MOT | |
| 17 | Captain discards small fish (6) |
| KIPPER – KIPPER comes from Old English cypera “male salmon,” perhaps related to copper on resemblance of colour. The earliest attested uses of the verb are related to the curing of salmon, the more modern “kippered herring” comes from the mid-1860s. |
|
| 18 | Writer heads north over a large country (5) |
| NEPAL – PEN (Writer) reversed [heads north] over A L (large)
And again, the positional indicators here, ‘heads north’ and ‘over’, could only be used with a ‘down’ clue. |
|
| 19 | Machine used for lifting bird (5) |
| CRANE – Double definition | |
Well done Nigel and to everyone who had a good time or even a PB today. Great achievements. Enjoy your celebrations.
5:41
About as quick as I’m able to write them in.
Started with SUBLIME and never stopped, with LOI FRAGMENT, just ‘cos it was.
Did actually have to return to one clue, COD MIND-BENDING.
Thanks all
15 mins, despite the slow start. Reading the across clues, 11a was my FOI. But after that they flowed. Slowed down again by wrongly entering The Pits (a la John McEnroe) but corrected once the down checkers came in. LOI Absent. Thanks Mike and Trelawney
Couldn’t parse 5a. Wasn’t sure if it was SPAT for argument or SPIT for revolutionary.
Homo sapiens has only been around for 300,000 years rather than 3.5 million, I think. That’s still a heck of a long time.
Very enjoyable and nicely pitched for a QC imho. Done & dusted in one Costa but unparsed 10d Mind Bending – so grateful to our blogger for today for that PDM. Otherwise pretty well a top to bottom solve.
FOI 1a Stone Age
LOI 10d Mind Bending
COD 23a Fragment.
17/26. I thought this was very hard! I solved 10 across clues quite quickly, then seven downs, and that was the end of that!
Keep going Ian. You’re not alone in finding this one hard. I hit a wall today and found many clues were tough.
I hope that one day, for both of us, it all comes together. 🤞
What a nice fun puzzle.
Thanks to setter, blogger and all the comments. I learn a lot from them
10:05
Just denied a rare sub-10 by SPAT and LOI FRAGMENT. A very straightforward puzzle today.
Very nice puzzle and entertaining, informative blog.
Although I didn’t find this too difficult, I thought it was a really nice crossword – lots of entertaining wordplay and fun surfaces. Smiles went next to BRAVE and MIND-BENDING. My COD got a rueful grin, because it is certainly how the Times feels these days.
FOI Stone age LOI and COD Fragment 7:53
Thanks Trelawney and Mike – another fascinating blog!
Well this was very nice – 9:46, which I think may be my second ever sub-10. Would have been faster if I hadn’t tried MIND BLOWING (with a risible attempt at a justification of “would you mind lowering yourself a bit?”). Fixed when I realised that ending NORWEGIAN with an O was going to be tricky.
Well done to everyone with a new PB, and thank you to Trelawney and Mike!
Just to make my misery complete, I spent about 3 hours on the ‘big’ crossword today, only to then read that the blogger described it as ‘undemanding’. I’m sure they are right, but it would have destroyed my confidence had I got any left.
I have spent over 4 hours today on the quintagram (1/5), the QC (over 30 mins for a Trelawney!) and the biggie (see above).
What a way to spend a day off work. ☹️
I still can’t understand where I go so wrong. I limber up by reciting the NATO and Greek alphabets, and then try the quintagram. You might have thought that this would set me up nicely for the QC. Alas, no. By the time I get to the starting point for the QC, my brain is in turmoil. I’ve tried going straight to the QC, but that is even worse as it takes minutes to blow away the cobwebs. Really not looking forward to tomorrow.
If you look at the Snitch it’s been a tough couple of weeks on the biggie. The week usually starts with a puzzle or two down in the sixties, but not this fortnight. I’m also quite new to the biggie and I find a 105 puzzle very much harder than a 65. The scale feels almost logarithmic. I eased myself into it by sticking with the sixty-somethings and below to start with.
https://times.xwdsnitch.link/
Thanks chabuduo, I’ll bear that in mind.
A rare finish and an even rarer sub 45 minute finish. Doubly enjoyable 😁
9:19, greased lightning for me. COD to PIT STOP for the sheer elegance.
Thanks to Trelawney & Mike.