Solving time: 5:42
An enjoyable Wednesday morning grid from the Breadman who is perhaps muscling in on the self-referential malarkey with 16a – I am tempted to look at their previous grids to identify other references…
I had a minor eyebrow twitch with 2d – not sure that the apostrophised word in the clue and its counterpart in the answer are the finest synonyms? But hats off to the clever 3d, which foxed me while in flight, and only revealed its brilliance on writing up this blog.
How did you all get on?
Definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [directions in square ones].
| Across | |
| 7 | Creeper following Oscar, sheep-like (5) |
| OVINE – VINE (Creeper) following O (Oscar – NATO phonetic alphabet) | |
| 8 | Fellow mariners initially hand over navigational device (7) |
| COMPASS – CO (Fellow) then first letter [initially] of M{ariners} then PASS (hand over) | |
| 10 | Clever clogs not a boring thing, we hear (4-3) |
| KNOW-ALL – Homophone/aural wordplay [we hear] of NO AWL (not a boring thing)
Collins Online defines an AWL as “a pointed hand tool with a fluted blade used for piercing wood, leather” – ‘boring’ would seem to be a shade harsher than ‘piercing’ |
|
| 11 | E-fit organised to catch hard criminal (5) |
| THIEF – Anagram [organised] of E–FIT to catch i.e. insert H (hard) | |
| 12 | Unknown Parisian is ready to play Beatles song (9) |
| YESTERDAY – Y (unknown) EST (Parisian i.e. French for ‘is’) then an anagram [to play] of READY
Would probably be the top answer on Family Fortunes if asked to ‘Name a Beatles song’… |
|
| 14 | Black ducks show disapproval (3) |
| BOO – B (Black) OO (ducks – a duck is a zero score for a batsman’s/batswoman’s innings in cricket) | |
| 15 | Peripherally, uncover new vase (3) |
| URN – U{ncove}R [peripherally i.e. take the peripheral/end letters] then N (new) | |
| 16 | Brown cut of meat that’s on breakfast table? (5-4) |
| TOAST-RACK – TOAST (Brown – as a verb) RACK (cut of meat e.g. RACK of lamb)
Our setter’s self-referential signature perhaps? |
|
| 18 | University business graduate on variable programme of exercises (5) |
| ZUMBA – U (University) MBA (business graduate i.e. Master of/in Business Administration) on Z (variable)
ZUMBA is a fitness program involving cardio and Latin-inspired dance. After forgetting his usual music one day in the 1990s, aerobics instructor Beto Pérez used cassettes of salsa and merengue music for his class. Integrating the music into regular classes, it was initially called “Rumbacize”. Pérez and some colleagues created a company in 2001 to release fitness videos, and the name “ZUMBA” (now a trademark) was born. It was called ZUMBA because of its similarity to “rumba” – the Z came from Pérez liking the fictional character Zorro when he was a child. |
|
| 20 | French country residence with gas and water there (7) |
| CHATEAU – CHAT (gas) EAU (water there i.e. in France, water is ‘eau’) | |
| 22 | Partly hear a cheeky complaint (7) |
| EARACHE – Hidden [partly] in hear a cheeky | |
| 23 | The Italian in California rejected shade (5) |
| LILAC – IL (Italian for ‘The’) in CAL (California) reversed [rejected] | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Coniferous tree, with rascal on stump (6,6) |
| MONKEY PUZZLE – MONKEY (rascal) on PUZZLE (stump – verb)
‘on’ is apposite as this is a down clue. PUZZLE as a verb is from the 1590s, pusle meaning “bewilder, confound, perplex with difficult problems or questions” – possibly frequentative of ‘pose’ in an obsolete sense of “perplex” (compare nuzzle from nose)? To PUZZLE something out “resolve or discover by long cogitation or careful investigation” is by 1781. |
|
| 2 | Breed of cattle, large one prowlin’? (8) |
| LIMOUSIN – L (large) I (one) MOUSIN‘ (prowlin’)
The LIMOUSIN is a French breed of beef cattle from the Limousin and Marche regions of France. Is “prowlin'” the perfect synonym for MOUSIN’? Surely there must be a better one… |
|
| 3 | Great match, switching over at halfway (4) |
| MEGA – Switch the two halves of GAME (match) i.e. GA ME becomes ME GA
I failed to parse this in flight, only doing so when it came to writing up this blog. |
|
| 4 | Climbed peak in Scotland, then roughly showed the way (6) |
| SCALED – ‘peak’ indicates the first letter of S{cotland} then CA (roughly i.e. circa) LED (showed the way) | |
| 5 | Gemstone, in the morning, they mislaid on street (8) |
| AMETHYST – AM (in the morning i.e. ante meridiem) then an anagram [mislaid] of THEY on ST (street) | |
| 6 | Appreciated Greek character’s vehicle (4) |
| TAXI – TA (Appreciated) XI (Greek character)
XI is the fourteenth letter of the Greek alphabet. |
|
| 9 | Horse, somewhere in East Anglia, with striking power (7,5) |
| SUFFOLK PUNCH – SUFFOLK (somewhere in East Anglia) with PUNCH (striking power)
The SUFFOLK PUNCH is an English breed of heavy draught horse and is always chestnut in colour. |
|
| 13 | Access transport (8) |
| ENTRANCE – Double definition | |
| 14 | Boldly support religious school on Londonderry’s outskirts (8) |
| BRAZENLY – BRA (support) ZEN (religious school) on the end letters [outskirts] of L{ondonderr}Y
ZEN is a Japanese word for a school of Mahayana Buddhism originating in China during the Tang dynasty, emphasising the value of meditation and intuition rather than ritual worship or study of scriptures. |
|
| 17 | Cunning old monarch, a Sagittarius (6) |
| ARCHER – ARCH (Cunning) ER (old monarch – Elizabeth Regina)
Sagittarius is a southern constellation and the ninth sign of the zodiac – the Latin name means “pertaining to arrows”. The star-picture represents a centaur drawing a bow, which scholars suspect to have depicted originally, a Babylonian god, but which to modern observers, looks vaguely like a teapot. |
|
| 19 | Spot Mike on rescue boat (4) |
| MARK – M (Mike) on ARK (rescue boat) | |
| 21 | Clever student in Lincoln? (4) |
| ABLE – L (student i.e. learner) in ABE (Lincoln)
Crosswordland-friendly presidents that frequently visit these grids include ABE (Lincoln) and IKE (Eisenhower) |
|
15:22. Enjoyed KNOW-ALL, COMPASS, and BRAZENLY most. Thanks for explaining how to parse SCALED, and also for the interesting histories of ZUMBA and PUZZLE.
Inspired by Cedric’s sub-5 yesterday I resolved to give this one a red-hot go – and came in considerably slower than yesterday at 7.46. I started like a rocket but fell away in the lower half, not helped at all by the mysterious (to me) downs MONKEY PUZZLE – what a stupid name for a tree – and SUFFOLK PUNCH (ditto for a horse). FOI OVINE, LOI ARCHER, with too much time wasted on BRAZENLY, TOAST-RACK and ENTRANCE which is as much a chestnut as that aforementioned horse. Thanks to Breadman and to Mike for the comprehensive blog that wised me up to how good MEGA and SCALED were.
It is an odd name but what great name it is for a tree in a cryptic crossword. Monkey puzzle is of course the common name for Araucaria araucana which I am sure brings a smile to the face of fans of the late Araucaria who set such wonderful puzzles in the Guardian for many years.
The much-missed John Graham. We have him to thank for helping John Henderson (Enigmatist) to flower.
I suspect this may be apocyphral, but I was told as a child that the tree got its name because it was the only one that monkeys couldn’t climb! Very popular with the Victorians and you’ll see them in parks and gardens all around the UK, even though they come from South America.
there used to be one in my friends back garden and I can confirm I never saw any monkeys climb it
Ah, that explains why I see squirrels more in our parks
My mother has one in her garden planted in the 1960s. I was told it was because its branches moving in the wind look like monkey tails hanging down. While I can see the whimsy in this, I must also allow that I’ve never seen a monkey climb it either.
Great timber for wood turning
I’ve done a bit of googling and this is what I’ve found.
In the 1850s, the owner of Pencarrow garden near Bodmin in Cornwall had a young specimen of the Chilean pine. When he showed it to a group of friends, one of them – the noted barrister Charles Austin – remarked: ‘It would puzzle a monkey to climb that.’ As the species had no existing popular name, first monkey puzzler, then monkey puzzle stuck. Nowadays Pencarrow has an avenue of mature monkey puzzles.
But it’s also known as the monkey tail tree, which connects with DS’s comment.
Thanks Wikipedia! There’s loads more really interesting info about the trees online – the dangers of going down the Google wormhole 😅
Good research there, Penny 🙂
Great fact finding, Penny. I may wander down that wormhole for a bit too.
Well, as long as you can trust Wikipedia 😅
I was told exactly the same Penny! A relative living near to us had one in the garden and it always fascinated me.
I did OK for a while, but a carelessly biffed theft caused trouble. Yes, it doesn’t fit the literal, and it doesn’t fit the cryptic, but I put it in anyway. That made Suffolk punch and taxi impossible. Eventually, I saw the problem and finished.
I suspect Limousin, Zumba, and brazenly will give trouble to some solvers, and they were not easy for me.
I have given up solving online – I just can’t get rid of typos. Paper and pencil for me!
Time: 11 minutes
One advantage of solving with paper & pencil is no pink squares, so you can (if you wish) ignore minor errors!
I could make nothing of MEGA, which I biffed with a shrug: needed Mike’s explanation. 5:07.
Found this tricky in places, and not knowing SUFFOLK PUNCH (although I did guess it), or MONKEY PUZZLE (went for DONKEY), or ZEN (another guess), or MOUSIN (but luckily could biff LIMOUSIN since we’ve had it a few times i the last few months I think?).
ZUMBA also took me ages because although I saw U and MBA, it didn’t occur to me to put the variable at the start. I get caught out by this all the time, need to think about when I see “on” in a clue.
The rest were mostly not too difficult though, and I liked the clues for MARK and MEGA.
Overall though a slow DNF.
I found it tricky with an animal I can never spell and one I had to dig deep to remember and an exercise regimine I think I’m glad I don’t know much about.
It’s probably worth saying in this forum that the more formal name for Monkey Puzzle tree is Araucaria, which is what the Rev John Graham used as his pseudonym for compiling crosswords.
oh, not ‘meta’ then ….sulks!
12 minutes. NHO ZUMBA. I was missing the first checker but U and MBA were clear from wordplay and ‘variable’ had to be X,Y or Z so I chose the most likely one, Z. This was then immediately confirmed as I spotted MONKEY PUZZLE at 1dn.
I missed the parsing of SCALED. I associated SCA as being something to do with mountains and moved on. I’d been thinking of SCA FELL but it’s not in Scotland so that might have raised a query in my mind, but it didn’t.
3dn (MEGA) uses the recently fashionable ‘cycling’ device but avoids a direct reference to it.
‘Prowling / mousing’ seems okay to me as both can mean to move stealthily.
6,6 conifer, surely Norway Spruce – by the time I got to it Norway would still fit but not Spruce so I reexamined ZUMBA until MONKEY PUZZLE finally came to me. That put the brakes on an unusally high nine on the first pass of acrosses. Then I slowed on TAXI – not helped by having never heard (or retained perhaps) Xi as a Greek letter and typing in THeiF. Ended up all green for the first time this week in 15.39.
I found that hard taking 15 minutes. NHO ZUMBA, SUFFOLK PUNCH, LIMOUSIN.
A bit chewier than the past couple and would have been harder still had I not been able to dredge the horse and the unparsed cow from the memory banks of previous crosswords.
I had a bit of a block with a few remaining until ZUMBA led to MONKEY PUZZLE which allowed me to mop up the NW.
Started with OVINE and finished with MEGA in 8.53 with COD to BRAZENLY.
Thanks to Mike
Just scraped in within 15 minutes but with one pink square for the misspelled AMYTHYST. There seemed to be lots of Ys and Zs so it seemed right to have this one here. Like jackkt, I relied on Sca Fell to parse SCALED but it seems it is “fell” that is the more mountainy word. “Sca” must be something else. Thank you Mike for explaining everything in the blog
Beaten by LIMOUSINE.
Prowling’ and mousin’ unhelpful or clumsy to say the least.
Thanks though Breadman and Mike.
Third escape from the SCC in a row! That’ll probably be it for the rest of the year, but feeling very smug. FOI Compass, LOI Limousin. Great fun.
Thanks Breadman and Mike
Firstly thank you to those who were kind enough to remark on my time yesterday. It is one of the nicer aspects of TfTT that people take the time to recognise and applaud others’ achievements.
Alas the large thump you may have heard was me coming down to earth with a bump, as I found this much more challenging and took just over 15 minutes to complete it. I NHO ZUMBA (put in from wordplay) and only parsed MEGA and BRAZENLY after entering them (so today I learn that Zen is a school as well as a state of mind). And I never parsed SCALED at all – “peak in” Scotland meaning “first letter of” defeated me.
Many thanks Mike for the blog, much needed today.
Cedric
I’m sure you were delighted with your <k yesterday. An excellent achievement! Today I notched the equally rare (for me) <1 Cedric.
<1C is a much more crowded field! But well done, and many more to come I'm sure
A lot of Biffs (eg SCALED, MEGA), but no problem with LIMOUSIN having once had a dreadful family holiday in a mouse infested gîte on a farm outside Limoges where said cattle were prominent. Not a great clue IMHO, perhaps might have been better to base on LIMOUSINE somehow.
Know-All was my COD.
After yesterday’s speedy dash I was brought back to a crawl today and crept into the club for a celebratory croissant in my usual chair, awaiting assorted fellow stragglers.
Thanks Mike for the expansive blog and Breadman.
Parsed MEGA as I went (smug face) but struggled to get both SCALED (was trying to get BEN or NEB in there) and BRAZENLY (where I was fixated on “brave” somehow being involved). Got there in the end in a pleasingly exact 08:30 for 1.7K and an OK Day. John Interred will like the Suffolk Punch!
Many thanks Breaders and Mike.
4:33. I was pleased to see my local horse breed get a mention. LOI BRAZENLY as it took me a moment to work out the parsing. COD to the clever MEGA. No J or Q to complete the pangram, but I was impressed by the 3 K’s, Y’s and Z’s in the grid. Thanks Breadman and Mike.
I raced through this (racing for me anyway) in 14 mins, held up by parsing of MEGA which I didn’t achieve. Thanks for explaining that one Mike.
I parsed LIMOUSIN as ‘limousine’ being a large example of something with the last letter dropped. Worked for me.
It always amazes me the things that people say they have never heard of which are so familiar to me, and then at other times the things I have never heard of that people can have detailed discussions about. How we have all had such different experiences and then we meet here!
Thanks Mike for wonderful, fact-filled blog. Prof.
p.s. just realised the system had signed me out again so my last few days’ comments might have been anonymous for which I apologise.
I wish to whole-heartedly endorse this by Prof:
It always amazes me the things that people say they have never heard of which are so familiar to me, and then at other times the things I have never heard of that people can have detailed discussions about. How we have all had such different experiences and then we meet here!
Well said Prof!
5:04, helped by some hard-earned “crossword GK”, the words you pick up without having any real knowledge of their meaning. I’m looking at you MONKEY PUZZLE and SUFFOLK PUNCH. And don’t you laugh LIMOUSIN.
Pleased to come through unscathed. Thanks Breadman and Mike.
8:43
Could not parse BRAZENLY, I thought “support” was positional in this down clue. Also, I thought SCA might be a word for Mountain in Scotland, like SCA fell. This after playing around with BEN.
I thought prowling=mousin was a bit weak. “No awl!” was much better.
A little slower than yesterday but about the same as the day before. I had all the GK, parsed MEGA in flight, didn’t parse SCALED (thanks Mike H) but it was the old chestnut supporter = BRA that held me up a bit at the end on my LOI BRAZENLY, which I think gets COD.
4:42
The Monkey Puzzle was the first tree my little granddaughter learnt as there were two near our house, and they’re very distinctive. Biffed MEGA and SCALED. Thanks Mike for explaining the parsing.
Managed to finish within target at 9.37, but it was a close run thing. LIMOUSIN was my LOI, as I wasn’t confident on mousin’ for prowlin’. Fortunately I’d heard of the cheese, so took a chance on that basis. I would give my COD to CHATEAU, a very neat clue.
An excellent puzzle, with some obscure words that could be fairly arrived at via the first class surfaces, and a superb misdirection – like Templar I was tempted by “ben” as “peak in Scotland”, which only really works as a Down clue. Not quite my COD though. Bravo Breadman, and thanks for an excellent blog Mike.
FOI OVINE
LOI MEGA
COD TOAST-RACK
TIME 4:37
A good workout today with OVINE FOI, and LOI, BRAZENLY, holding me up for a while. Having COMPASS, KNOW ALL and YESTERDAY before looking at 4d helped and I saw the parsing quickly. 8:19. Thanks Breadman and Mike.
DNF due to mega.
Monkey puzzle didn’t spring to mind as a conifer.
Suffolk punch reminds me of my father’s petrol lawnmower.
Enjoyable as always and always improved by this blog.
Suffolk punch. My thoughts exactly! Have had one for a long as I can remember and it still mows perfectly.
13m
Held up on quite a few, esp limousin, mega.
Prowling for mousing is a bit hard for a QC.
COD from brazenly, know all, able, and scaled.
Congratulations to everyone who did so well yesterday – what a day for PBs!
Talking of which, how nice to see a new Penelope and a new Mrs B 😊
I can’t say I’ve been having much success recently – I finish but have got massively breezeblocked on my LOI nearly every day for the last couple of weeks. Sometimes I have to abandon the so-and-so for a break and come back to it – that often works, but means my 10 minutes or so can end up being a couple of hours plus 10 minutes! Today, I couldn’t be bothered so asked MrB to take a look – he biffed it within a few seconds 😅 Not enough lifting and separating, talking of which: bra = support – who’d have guessed?
FOI Ovine LOI Brazenly COD Zumba About 14 minutes, with half of that on my LOI, inc discussions with MrB. It was all going so well, too!
Thanks Breadman and Mike
Still having awful problems solving on the iPad. Swiped away from the puzzle at one point and when I came back all my answers had been wiped. Also timer problem has returned… and let’s not get started on the quintagrams!
Anyway, I enjoyed this one from Breadman and most of the answers flew in apart from SCALED which I never did parse (thanks Mike). Knew the tree, the horse and the cow, and do Zumba twice a week so no problems there 😄 Thanks Breadman.
Have you installed latest version of IOS and Times app? I’ve had no end of problems on the iPad, but all seems stable (touch wood) now.
Thanks Hector. I’ve got up to date IOS but have deleted and reloaded the app – fingers crossed!
6.57
BRAZENLY really held me up at the end. Excellent clue. Thanks Breadman and Mike
9:01
Got to the E in BRAVELY before I realised it didn’t fit, and repaired to ZEN just before LOI ARCHER. Saw Sag and stupidly recalled it as a goat! I don’t care for astrology, but that’s typical of a Cancerian.
Thanks Mike and Breadman.
Funny, I too for some reason imagined Sagittarius was a goat! That’s what I get for not believing in all that nonsense 🙂
18:44 today, all went fairly smoothly able to solve over half on first look. only struggled with…
Tricky ones:
toast-rack – Even with all the checking letters this one stumped me, such an obscure item and too many options for “brown” and “cut of meat”
chateau – only because I didn’t think of chat = gas, I assume this is using gas in the “gas someone up” type of way? I was able to solve it just from the checking letters.
Suffolk Punch – NHO but guessable.
Limousin – NHO and mousing is a obscure synonym for prowling. It’s not even recognised by spellchecker as a valid word. Then again neither is limousin.
FOI: Ovine
LOI: Able
COD: Zumba
I’d say to gas just means to chat – perhaps a slightly dated term?
A tip of the hat to anyone who started with Monkey Puzzle – I needed several crossers before seeing it. In fact, needing crossers was a common experience today, as I hopped around the grid picking off the more straightforward ones to help with Breadman’s little teasers. Some self inflicted problems – I thought at the time that Roast Pork was a bit of a stretch for bacon – and an age on loi Brazenly produced a sluggish, but still enjoyable, 24mins solve. CoD to 12ac, Yesterday, for the smooth surface. Invariant
Quite tricky but totally fair. Perhaps MEGA and SCALED edging towards 15 x 15? Liked CHATEAU, among others. Grateful thanks.
I like a good moan. But sadly all my fault, not Breadman.
NHO 18a Zumba, don’t want to know about any form of exercise, but an easy guess, confirmed after and added to Cheating Machine.
DNK 2d liMOUSIN’ in that sense; thought it was catching mice. Well it is but also means furtive prowlin’ apparantly.
Blocked on 20a Chateau looking for a gas like argon or something. DOH!
Liked 16a Toast rack but it was LOI.
Stumped by MEGA, liked KNOW ALL, biffed BRAZENLY until sudden shaft of sunlight parsed.
DNF @ 30mins due to Mega, Vera anyone?
Found some clues easy but others such as Brazenly and Monkey Puzzle, needed all the checkers.
Thanks Mike for parsing Scaled and great puzzle Breadman
Nothing to alarm the Suffolk Punches here – though it held me up a while, as I wasn’t thinking of breeds of horse. LOI SCALED, bifd, then post-parsed. I wasn’t sure of XI as a Greek letter, but it had to be. Liked CHATEAU.
XI – definitely a useful one for Saturday night Scrabble, especially if you can get the X on a triple word or letter score, as MrB is wont to do! See also QI and ZO 😅
This was a reality check after the previous two QCs. No NHOs, but that didn’t make it easier! Several misdirections for me, such as “support” in 14d and “hear” in 22a. Clever setting which really slowed me down. COD YESTERDAY, having rewatched the film of the same name over the weekend as it featured my home town of Lowestoft and my old school. LIO SCALED, too much time spent on trying to fit BEN into the answer.
Well. That was a very long solve, thanks to so, so many British things. TOAST-RACK, MONKEY PUZZLE, TAxi, SUFFOLK PUNCH, “clever clogs”??????? “Game” for “match” is not exactly my idiom either, which made parsing the cute MEGA very hard, but I could have known. “Peak” for first letter definitely new to me and not parsed. KNOW-ALL hahaha. Penny’s Rule prevailed. Over 35 minutes, must go lie down now.
Thanks Breadman and Mike!
Hope you’re feeling more relaxed now!
We’ve been doing the NY Times connections game for the last week or two – certainly quite challenging with US terms / brands etc! So you have my sympathy 😊
I have arisen from the fainting couch. Thanks for the sympathy!
Yes, Connections is very trendy. Too much so for me sometimes.
It’s based on a game from a terrifically hard BBC quiz show called Only Connect. If you can find it, it’s certainly one to check out, maybe on YouTube? There will be a lot of fans round here 😅
Aha! Thanks for the tip.
14:10
Didn’t know why L was a student and couldn’t parse MEGA but otherwise straightforward. LOI ARCHER.
9.27 I nearly went with TAPI as an unknown vehicle. I’m not sure I’d ever quite realised that chi and xi aren’t the same letter. SCALED was unparsed and LIMOUSIN was a biff at the end. I’d heard of mousers but not mousing. Thanks Mike and Breadman.
Interesting. Judging from the comments this was relatively straight forward for most people. I found it the hardest puzzle of the last week and got about 8 clues in. Not sure why but to me this was not a QC but a 15*15 level puzzle. Guess my brain was way off the wavelength.
Ditto. Biffed a lot with no idea how they were parsed. Had to use aids for a few. Found it very hard.
Unusually for me, I was going great guns through the acrosses, but then slowed down when it came to the downs. More commonly it seems to be the other way round. In any case, I had most of it done in under ten minutes, but then stalled horribly with KNOW ALL, ENTRANCE, TOAST RACK, SCALED and LIMOUSIN still to get. The first four of those I got fairly shortly, but not being as good on cattle breeds as I guess I should be, the last one took an age. I can’t remember ever coming across the word MOUSING meaning anything but simply catching mice, but after an alphabet trawl had come up with nothing better, I reluctantly went for it, thinking that there was just a remote chance that I vaguely remembered a breed of cow called LIMOUSIN. Perhaps “Luxury car tailed cow”, might have been easier, but I guess it’s not necessarily easy that the setter is aiming for.
Anyway, Time was 20:42, COD to ZUMBA. Thanks Breadman and Mike.
13:02 with what seemed like an age spent on BRAZENLY. We came to the blog to read about the NHO religious school ‘brazen’. Now we’ve been put straight it could be my COD. No problems with the other words. Mrs T, an occasional Zumba practitioner, even managed to parse MEGA. We also realised that we’ve been doing these long enough now to recognise ENTRANCE as a chestnut. Thanks Mike and Breadman.
37 mins…
Initially, I thought this was tricky, with the western side of the grid proving particularly difficult. However, upon reading the blog, I’m starting to think maybe it’s just me and I wasn’t with it today. 1dn “Monkey Puzzle”, 3dn “Mega” and 10ac “Know All” were all sticking points.
Who has a toast rack on their breakfast table nowadays?
FOI – 7ac “Ovine”
LOI – 3dn “Mega”
COD – 21dn “Able”
Thanks as usual!
My excellent start to the week continued today with another SCC escape (a rare occurrence, indeed). 17 minutes for me and a complete absence of breeze-blocks.
BOO and EARACHE both made me smile and TOAST ranks as one of my most favourite substances in the world – just as breakfast is one of the best (six) meals of the day.
Thanks to Breadman and Mike.
Needed the very helpful blog to parse MEGA and SCALED, but I seem to be in good company there. All done in a rather tricky 16:43, with a lot of post-BIFF parsing.
Thank you to Mike for the blog!
Having Norway Spruce was not a good start and we were very slow to get going. A much more challenging puzzle than yesterday.
Struggled a bit with this, but finally succeeded when MONKEY PUZZLE suddenly clicked, giving a load of first letters. Biffed SCALED and LIMOUSIN.