We have a sparkling quick crossword from the late Corelli today with several characteristically witty clues. Favourites for me were 8A, 14A and the laudable motto at 20A. In all it took me a bit over target at 6:04, but I didn’t mind that.
Furthermore, it being a Corelli puzzle, we probably have a Nina. I think I’ve found it, but it is a bit mysterious. Have I missed something or seen something that isn’t meant to be there? Further thoughts welcome.
Fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic. This time it is my turn to provide the extra weekend entertainment. You can find the crossword, entitled “The City? Great! You said when?”, which is a clue (answer 6 letters) to the theme, here. If you are interested in trying our previous offerings you can find an index to all 106 here.
Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, {deletions} and [] other indicators.
| Across | |
| 1 | Defiant remark from drunk present (2,5) |
| SO THERE – SOT (drunk) HERE (present). | |
| 5 | Light contact from moving skis (4) |
| KISS – (skis)* [moving]. | |
| 7 | Swindler pinching girl’s large gun (6) |
| CANNON – ANN (girl) in CON (swindler). | |
| 8 | Arguing continuously? (2,1,3) |
| IN A ROW – Double definition, the first a cryptic hint. Nice one. | |
| 9 | Witnesses experiment, one with funds (11) |
| TESTIMONIES – TEST (experiment) I (one) MONIES (funds). | |
| 10 | Mission to go wrong, in addition (6) |
| ERRAND – ERR (go wrong) AND (in addition). | |
| 12 | Sparkler in use, weirdly, around Quebec (6) |
| SEQUIN – Q (Quebec in the phonetic alphabet) in (in use)* [weirdly]. | |
| 14 | Agree three letters with number inside for reading out (3,3,2,3) |
| SEE EYE TO EYE – SEE (c) EYE (i) TO (2) EYE (i). Sounds like 3 letters C C and I with a number 2 inside. What fun! | |
| 17 | Be undecided as doctor about one article (6) |
| DITHER – DR (doctor) about I (one) THE (article). | |
| 18 | Japanese entertainer’s portion of wage is halved (6) |
| GEISHA – Hidden in waGE IS HAlved. | |
| 20 | Live, I hesitate to say, for drink! (4) |
| BEER – BE (live) ER (I hesitate to say). | |
| 21 | Soldier dropped at party by ten? That seems impossible! (7) |
| PARADOX – PARA (soldier dropped) DO (party) X (ten). | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Is a play regularly seen in Cheltenham? (3) |
| SPA – Alternate letters of iS aPlAy. The ? indicates that Cheltenham is a definition by example. | |
| 2 | State in USA: it’s wild (7) |
| TUNISIA -(in USA it)* [wild]. | |
| 3 | Listlessness of some in jacuzzi unnerving, on reflection (5) |
| ENNUI – Reverse hidden in jacuzzI UNNErving. | |
| 4 | Their job may be to correct abuse of steroid (7) |
| EDITORS – (steroid)* [correct]. | |
| 5 | Knows how army kit is: primarily this colour (5) |
| KHAKI – Initial letters of Knows How Army Kit Is [primarily]. | |
| 6 | He’s in hose, busily polishing footwear! (9) |
| SHOESHINE – (he’s in hose)* [busily]. As the dictionary says, “(the act of) polishing footwear“. | |
| 9 | Entry barrier to alter appearance, we hear (9) |
| TURNSTILE – TURN (alter) STILE, sounds like STYLE (appearance). | |
| 11 | Outing presumably not a stumble in the dark (3,4) |
| DAY TRIP – Double definition, the second a cryptic hint. Ho ho. | |
| 13 | Doubted that French wine’s found around India (7) |
| QUERIED – QUE (that in French), I (India in the phonetic alphabet) in RED (wine). | |
| 15 | Alien female’s solvent (5) |
| ETHER – ET (Alien) HER (female) | |
| 16 | Big cat finally running inside bank (5) |
| TIGER – Last letter of runninG in TIER (bank). | |
| 19 | Bewitch bloke with 5 across (3) |
| HEX – HE (bloke) X (kiss; the answer to 5 across). | |
Just over 7 minutes for me. Lots of fun stuff here, especially the CI2I one. I was confused why Quebec was just Q since it is usually QC…then I remembered the phonetic alphabet.
I finished this in under 10 so either I’m on the mend or this was very easy.
I thought it was looking at a pangram but it wasn’t.
You’re on the mend 👍 fairly tough in my book.
Thanks to John and belatedly Corelli
Go Tina!
👏👏👏
10:55. Great puzzle- really enjoyed SO THERE, TURNSTILE, SEE EYE TO EYE, and TESTIMONIES. John, I think you have to ignore the S in it’s to make TUNISIA anagram work.
Oops. Thanks. Corrected.
8.30, nice puzzle, liked SO THERE and CI2I and TURNSTILE once I realised it wasn’t THRESHOLD which fits in many places even though it doesn’t actually make sense. John I’ll take your word for it about the Nina, that’s quite a complex bit of puzzle unravelling. I’m not at all au fait with the identity of setters and was unaware that Felix is sadly no longer with us, but the online version says it is by Corelli. I might be missing something…
If anyone is puzzled by the reference to ‘the late Corelli’, both Corelli and Felix were pseudonyms of the late Richard Rogan, Crossword Editor at The Times.
10 minutes.
Thanks. Updated.
Thank you gentlemen.
I didn’t bother with the Nina, and didn’t even parse quite a few of the clues. I started to put in testifiers, saw it was too short, and switched in mid-stream to testimonies. Shoeshine, dither, kiss, paradox – they all went smoothly in.
Time: 8:50
I think the NINA relates to Quine’s Paradox also known as the Liar’s Paradox. An example of this is ‘the previous sentence is false’. The first lines of the crossword say ‘So there is no nina’ – yet there is a NINA. Hope this makes sense?
Ah yes, Well spotted. That is a much simpler explanation. Blog updated.
Isn’t it “This sentence is false”? There’s nothing paradoxical about claiming, truly, that the previous sentence is false. “Two plus two is three. The previous sentence is false.”
I notice SEQUIN is an anagram of QUINE’S and PARADOX appears in plain view.
In fact, you can even pick out THERE IS NO NINA AND SEQUIN IS A PARADOX.
A subtle nod to the Nina perhaps, or am I just making things fit?
So good to run into Quine here!
Only four on the first pass of acrosses but things picked up from there. SEE EYE to EYE put up stiff resistance as did TESTIMONIES and TURNSTILE. Ended up all green in a pleasing sub-12.
We solved as a Corelli too.
Found this pitched really nicely for a 20.15 finish, in the challenging but doable bracket. Thanks John for the parsing of ci2i so clever.
Arriving in the bottom corner and getting the X with already other high scoring scrabble letters in the grid we too had a brief moment looking for a j to complete the pangram.
Many great clues but for me favourite is shoeshine for the mental image of wearing hose while polishing 😂
John, if your suggestion is indeed the Nina were so impressed that you pulled that out, bravo.
Thank you Corelli/Felix RIP
A very nice puzzle which took me 7½ minutes to complete. I started badly, thinking 1A was an anagram of “present”, but after straightening that out the rest was mostly plain sailing until my final two, the TESTIMONIES / TURNSTILE pair where, missing the first letter of both, it was a real case of “After you, Claude” – if I could get either I was sure the other would follow, but which to get first? Eventually one of them cracked and sure enough with the initial T the other followed quickly.
I am in awe of anyone who found the nina and still don’t really understand it, but then they usually pass me by and my enjoyment of the setter’s skills does not depend on nina-spotting!
Many thanks John for the blog and I look forward to the Sunday Special.
Cedric
Cedric, did my explanantion of the Nina help?
Yes. and thank you, though the concept of a nina that is not a nina remains tough first thing in the morning! And it does not stop me failing to spot it myself, or being in awe of those that do.
09:16, 4 fast finishes this week marred by one bad DNF yesterday
I can’t decide on the Nina, “There is no Nina”, since you have to delete random letters in the first two rows to see it. Perhaps that is the Paradox. The Liars Paradox is quoted by St Paul in the New Testament (Titus 1:12)
LOI and COD TESTIMONIES
Richard Rogan’s Ninas often used just parts of the answers, as is the case here.
Steady going but I got into a bit of a muddle over SHOESHINE which I wanted to end in ‘er’ or ‘ing’ neither of which fitted (obviously) so started wondering if I might be completely misunderstanding the clue. Fortunately sanity eventually prevailed
Started with KISS and finished with TURNSTILE in 7.41.
Thanks to John
The Nina totally passed me by, since I was looking for something billiards related early on with KISS and CANNON, and having discarded that theory I didn’t bother further. I struggled a little on the first pass, but the second pass saw the puzzle off.
FOI KISS
LOI ETHER
COD SEE EYE TO EYE
TIME 4:13
A lovely puzzle, but I wouldn’t have spotted the NINA in a million years
Fat fingered today. I spotted two typos when proofreading before submitting, but failed to spot a third, so had a pink square for KHAHI. Otherwise a steady solve in 9:27.
Completely failed to spot the Nina.
Thanks to John
Sorry, but what is this pink square about ?
Assumedly the result of an error after pressing ‘submit’
When solving using the Crossword Club, there is no “reveal” or “check” button, so you only know if the answers are correct once “submit” has been pressed. After pressing “submit” the squares with correct answers turn green, whilst any square with an incorrect letter turns pink.
18/24. One more than yesterday, so I am pleased with that.
Well done.
😊👍
06:59
Very nice, i’m ignoring my ethfr and grisha. Only hold ups were in a row, tunisia, and LOI cannon.
CsOD Day trip, so there, paradox.
No hold-ups apart from LOI TUNISIA where I had a problem with the anagrist -the S problem as noted above.
But still home in 10 minutes.
A lovely puzzle and, of course, I missed the brilliantly hidden message from Richard Rogan. He was such a talent.
David
Must be a straightforward one if mid 4 mins only gets me to half way down the leaderboard.
TUNISIA LOI, sorry to say I biffed SEE EYE TO EYE and never went back to it, but it’s very neat.
4:35
Perhaps the easiest QC for me this week. No help needed from the Orange One today.
Held up for a while on TUNISIA. I kept wanting it to be a state in the US.
19:15
My verdict: 👍
Pumpa’s verdict: out fertilising the garden.
Finished in 30 minutes- which is good for me.
The experts probably finished it in 30 seconds.
Still, I have plenty of time so no need to rush.
Glad that it was easier than yesterday’s disaster (disaster for me, I mean).
Mark Goodliffe solves it live at the end of today’s Crossword Master Class video on YouTube – 2:09. That’s probably as fast as anyone can go.
Re 5 Across: KISS and 7 Across CANNON:
Kissing the gunners daughter means getting tied to a cannon and being flogged.
(Sometimes cryptics can make you feel like this – not today’s puzzle, though).
The cannons were called the daughters of the gunner in charge. Therefore getting tied to a cannon you were kissing the gunners daughter.
Also, can anyone tell me what this NINA means, please ?
I would recommend viewing the entry in the excellent Glossary available via this web page
My quickest time of the week finishing in 5.53. That makes eleven consecutive QCs where I’ve beaten my ten minute target time, so either they’re getting easier or I’m getting smarter. My wife has just confirmed that it’s definitely the former!
As usual the Nina passed me by, and even when alerted that there was one couldn’t see it. Well done to John and Sawbill for spotting it and working it out.
My total time for the week is 35.33 giving me a daily average of 7.07.
Much gentler today. Only hold-ups were SO THERE which I wanted to be an anagram of present, and LOI SEE EYE TO EYE -biffed but COD on parsing. Liked all the unusual letters and assumed some sort of NINA but no chance I would ever spot one. That’s a job for all you clever people out there! Thanks for the blog John and RIP Corelli.
6:32
Squeaked under the 6:40 / 800 points barrier. Pretty straightforward puzzle with only the unravelling of TUNISIA and EDITORS and LOI TESTIMONIES slowing progress. Didn’t spot the nina, but rarely do – well done for solving that.
Thanks John and late Corelli
From SPA to TUNISIA and then EDITORS in 4:53. COD to SEE EYE TO EYE. Off to look for the NINA now!
22 mins…
A really nice puzzle with some clever clues. I particularly enjoyed 13dn “Queried”, 2dn “Tunisia” (took a little bit of sorting out) and 6dn “Shoeshine”.
Didn’t see the Nina, but then again I rarely look for them or ever find them.
FOI – 5ac “Kiss”
LOI – 10ac “Errand”
COD – 14ac “See Eye To Eye”
Thanks as usual!
Oh dear, feeling dim, had look up countries for TUNISIA, which gave me LOI TESTIMONIES.
Liked PARADOX, SO THERE, SEE EYE TO EYE, HEX.
FOI KHAKI.
Thanks, John. Everyone seems to have found this easy but I took a while to get going, then stuck at the end. As for the Nina???
Great puzzle, I spotted NINA and’there is no Nina’but never heard of liar’s paradox
I laboured a bit over this one and definitely didn’t find it easy. However I was finished in 15 minutes which is a decent enough time for me. Never found the nina (or even looked for it) but then I never do. Count me in with those who wasted time at 1ac looking for an anagram of present and those who were briefly looking for a US state at 2dn.
FOI – 5ac KISS
LOI – 9dn TURNSTILE
CODs – liked IN A ROW, SEE EYE TO EYE and DAY TRIP
Thanks John for the blog
An enjoyable puzzle, especially CI2I, but not fast for us, a more or less average 12:47.
From SO THERE to TESTIMONIES in 6:26. As usual I missed it:nina, what nina? Thanks John and RIP Corelli.
Much more straightforward than yesterday’s offering from Pipsqueak, thankfully. And, had it not been for a two minute hold up at the end over ERRAND (my LOI), I would have enjoyed a day out from the SCC. 21 minutes for me in the end.
My FOI was KISS and I enjoyed BEER and PARADOX the most. Slight MER at IN A ROW, because I don’t think it’s a good replacement for ‘continuously’.
Posthumous thanks to Corelli and thanks also to John who, despite his unusual surname, I hope is still very much alive and kicking).
I’ve always assumed John dwells somewhere near the buried noted saint. Not sure why.
Ho ho. Yes I live in Bury St Edmunds. the username is a terrible pun. Sorry.
Hmmmmmmmmmm
Forgiveness is yours.
What a gem of a QC. Such a great setter as well as a lovely human, it really makes me feel our loss.
13:43, fast for me. I experienced the common hold-ups. The Nina is a great one, thanks to those who remember to look for these things. It’s interesting to me that we have here a puzzle that includes two of the pet peeves of some of us solvers, i.e. a Nina and a clue cross-reference, and it is as smooth as any QC I’ve ever done.
It’s hard to pick a COD but I’ll go for PARADOX.
Thanks to Corelli and John!
Lots of smiles along the way (see eye to eye) (sot here) and a most ingenious paradox (G&S) but DNF for me, beaten by cannon and Tunisia. I decided 7a was a bagman, being a crook or swindler, and spent ages thinking of T-M place names: lesson learned. I thought Corelli must be Richard Rogan and what a clever puzzle he set: huge thanks (he is much missed) and to John for excellent blog. I think I need some of Tina’s restorative medecine!
Really well pitched puzzle, liked CI2I. Can never see the Nina’s and definitely wouldn’t today! Thanks Corelli (RIP) and John
With a K and an X I started looking for a pangram but was wide of the mark. Couldn’t see 8a in a RoW… but a a MER in any case. The Nina far too subtle for me!
FOI 1d – Spa – looking for the starter to 1a
LOI 8a – In a row
COD 21a – Paradox
DNF
Beaten by LOI SEE EYE TO EYE.
A very entertaining and well pitched puzzle. I enjoyed the challenge today.
16.29 Many solvers found this easy but it’s very late and I’m rather drunk so I was pleased to finish. SO THERE, TESTIMONIES and ERRAND were the holdouts. Thanks John and Corelli.
29 minutes.
I dare say no-one will read this or will care, but I am running out of words to describe the utter ineptitude of my performances. When I look at the other times today, I want to scream in frustration and self-reproach.
I have zero ability, zero confidence and zero enjoyment. This week has been horrific:
M – 10 mins (ok but very, very straightforward and I don’t regard it as anything particularly special)
T -27 (lousy)
W -50 (indescribably bad)
Th – 23 (poor)
F -29 (see above)
Total – 139
I am being left in the dust by those I was once on a par with and I am at the very bottom of the class. How is it that I go backwards not forwards? I make schoolboy errors and hit total blind spots most days.
I’ll return next week for more agony and humiliation, although I am losing the will to go on with this daily torture.
Thanks for the blog John and well done to those with good times. I can’t recall the last occasion I had a time that pleased me. I want desperately to enjoy and do well on the QC, but my brain simply isn’t equipped to achieve this. No improvement = no fun!