A rather tricky Quick Cryptic to stimulate the brain cells during the Dog Days of Twixmas from Cheeko today. Some clever clues that wouldn’t be out of place in a 15×15, but row 3 reminds us what this crossword really is. I enjoyed this a lot, but it took me 8:27 which is more than 50% over my target time, so you too may find some perseverance is required to finish it. LOI was the clever 23A and COD to the excellent 10D. Lovely job (as they say around here). Thank-you Cheeko! How did you all get on?
Fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic. This time it is Phil’s turn to provide the extra weekend entertainment. You can find the crossword (which is rather easier than this one!) here. If you are interested in trying our previous offerings you can find an index to all 119 here.
Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, {deletions} and [] other indicators.
Across | |
1 | In which you’d find some features promoted? (4-4) |
FACE-LIFT – Cryptic definition… and not an easy one. | |
5 | Dull poet makes a comeback (4) |
DRAB – BARD (poet) reversed, [makes a comeback] -> DRAB. | |
8 | Question essentially put by unconfined picky brief (5) |
QUICK – One of today’s tricky ones. Q (question), middle letter of, [essentially], pUt, and all but the outside letters of pICKy. I liked the idea of an “unconfined picky brief”. I wonder if a certain fellow blogger here is as amused? | |
9 | Secret vault mostly very cold (7) |
CRYPTIC – CRYPT (vault) and most of the letters of IC{y} (very cold). | |
11 | Terrible lot, betrayal causing mêlée (6,5) |
BATTLE ROYAL – [Terrible] (lot betrayal)*. | |
13 | A lot of quiet, clear swimming (6) |
PARCEL – P (piano; quiet), (clear)* [swimming]. Sneaky, and it fooled me for a while; “of” is a link word, not part of the definition. For those who have reservations, Definition 9 of “parcel” in Chambers = “A lot”. | |
14 | Southern 70s pop group backing, say, Blur (6) |
SMUDGE – S (Southern) MUD (70s pop group), EG (for example; say) reversed -> GE. I’d be interested to know how many solvers under the age of 50 have heard of the band. | |
17 | Habitual fake laid into art (11) |
TRADITIONAL – [fake] (laid into art)*. | |
20 | Republic that crosses the line? (7) |
ECUADOR – Cryptic definition… the “line” being the equator. | |
21 | Shy boy meets retiring girl (5) |
TIMID – TIM (boy’s name), DI (girl’s name) [retiring], i.e. reversed, -> ID. | |
22 | Discard outhouse (4) |
SHED – Double definition. My wife insists on calling our utility room the “outhouse” even though it is an integral part of the building rather than being separate. I’m sure she does it just to annoy me! | |
23 | Die having secured No 1 in record contract (8) |
DECREASE – My LOI as I took a while to parse it, thinking the definition was die. First letter of [No 1 in] Record in DECEASE (die)…. and “contract” the verb not the noun! |
Down | |
1 | Common queries old message format delivered (4) |
FAQS – FAQS sounds like [delivered] FAX (old message format). That one had me baffled for a while until I got the checker from 1A. | |
2 | Hillary, say, ultimately athletic and agile (7) |
CLIMBER – Last letter of [ultimately] athletiC, LIMBER (agile). | |
3 | Rapidly approve of article with Independent (4,3,4) |
LIKE THE WIND – LIKE (approve of) THE (article) W (with) IND (Independent). A neat 4 part charade. | |
4 | Beginning to fight — awfully close quarters? (6) |
FO’C’SLE – A contract of FORECASTLE; First letter of Fight, [awfully] (close)*. I knew the answer but struggled to remember how to spell it. Shouldn’t there be a third apostrophe in the official spelling after the S to indicate the T is missed out? Not that it matters for the crossword as the apostrophes aren’t shown in the grid. | |
6 | Irritable character in Wind in the Willows (5) |
RATTY – Double definition | |
7 | Still married, trapped in absurd debacle (8) |
BECALMED – M (married) in [absurd] (debacle)*. Neat, if sad, surface. | |
10 | Mad Monk tries to divide your church (4,7) |
YORK MINSTER – [Mad] (monk tries)* inside, [to divide], YR (your). My COD – it made me laugh when I saw it. | |
12 | Immaculate paths at last weed-free? (8) |
SPOTLESS – Last letter of pathS, POTLESS (without marijuana; weed-fee), Another great surface. | |
15 | Turn over cover on novel, Catch-22 (7) |
DILEMMA – LID (cover) reversed -> DIL, EMMA (novel)… but by Jane Austen rather than Joseph Heller. The dilemma of Catch-22 is described in the Joseph Heller novel as follows…”There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one’s safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn’t, but if he were sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn’t have to, but if he didn’t want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle“.
A corollary is that all your bloggers are mad as only a mad person would continue to do them… |
|
16 | Savage punch, with force rather than power (6) |
FIERCE – {p}IERCE (punch a whole) replace the P (power) with F (force) -> FIERCE. | |
18 | Blue Arizona river (5) |
AZURE – AZ (Standard abbreviation for Arizona), URE (river in Yorkshire). | |
19 | Unemployed star in audition (4) |
IDLE – sounds like IDOL (star) [in audition]. |
Once I got QUICK, FAQS was obvious (I’d got “fax” but it doesn’t have a homonym). But I have never heard anyone pronounce it “fax”, always “eff-ay-queues”. Several clever clues here, as you say worthy of the 15×15. I spent a bit of time wandering what sort of MONSTER was a “mad monk” before I saw how it worked. I always find it surprising how far south the equator is, crossing ECUADOR (and Singapore is north of the equator). 12 minutes for me.
Very difficult one for me at least. I had FACE BOOK AT 1a for ages before seeing FOCSLE. I saw QUICK right away which led to FAQS but I agree, they don’t sound similar. NHO MUD as a band but managed to get what was going on. Too tricky for my liking as a quickie.
I think the YOUR in YORK MINSTER is just YR as the ‘e’ is in the angrist.
Thanks J and setter.
re YORK MINSTER. Oops.So it is. Blog corrected. Thanks.
A very rare QC DNF here. With two unsolved after 20 minutes (5 over my extended target) I lost interest and resorted to aids for the intersecting answers FIERCE and DECREASE.
I also made a careless slip when writing in 1dn, possibly distracted by thinking to myself – quite correctly according to the dictionaries – that the plural of FAQ (frequently asked question) is FAQ , so an S is not required.
Exactly the two I gave up on as well.
But it’s rendered everywhere as FAQs or FAQS isn’t it? That’s certainly the case on The Times Crossword Club website, as well as the few others I checked.
Although as Paul said you don’t usually hear it pronounced as “fax”.
That was obviously meant as a reply to Jack, but my “edit / delete” privileges seem to have disappeared.
(A minor glitch compared to what we’ve had to put up with on the Times website in the last couple of days).
That’s odd. Everyone should be able to edit/delete their comments for 12 hours, I think. Is anyone else having this problem?
Funny you should ask. I just posted a reply to Cedric and it appeared as a new comment. I deleted it and tried again and this time it came as a reply. Can’t be 100% sure it wasn’t my fault though.
I think Wiki says FAQs is used to indicate a plurality of lists, not of questions.
Yes, Kevin, that’s supported by implication in the ODE. It has FAQ as ‘a list of frequently asked questions’ so logically based on that interpretation if you have more than one list you have FAQs. The clue just has ‘common queries’ though.
For the record it wasn’t my intention to suggest the clue is invalid or unfair, only that it distracted me for the reasons stated and as a result of that and the lack of a homonym I wrote in a wrong letter as a result.
I’m (well) over 50, and I’ve never heard of Mud–or Blur, for that matter, until it showed up here somehow. ai got QUICK quickly enough, but then started to doubt it because I couldn’t think of any word that could fit 1d, whatever the clue meant; it took getting FACE-LIFT to drop the penny. Does any site have one frequently asked question? I would think FAQ itself stands for Qs in the plural. And of course as has been pointed out already, it’s not pronounced ‘fack(s)’.
Tough but fair and I had a number of very enjoyable PDMs.
As a 52 year old MUD rang a very vague bell and I’ve no problem with FAQS as a homophone for fax as I pronounce them the same.
Started with DRAB and finished with DECREASED in 10.41.
Thanks to John and Cheeko
Finished in 17 minutes through gritted teeth and with much biffing. And even so several left unparsed. Kind of Cheeko to include QUICK CRYPTIC in row 3 because without that I would never have guessed that that was what it was meant to be.
FAQS is a nasty word to find top left, arguably wrong (see above discussion) and seldom pronounced FAX. And when does an acronym moved from being (1,1,1) and become a word? Would BBC be shown as a 3-letter word?
FOCSLE is another tough one – one never sees without 2 (or indeed3) apostrophes, and it was a good job the wordplay included an anagram or I would not have found it (my word-search engine didn’t).
Never parsed QUICK – “essentially put” = middle letter? Never parsed Cryptic, as I didn’t see ICY. Never parsed SMUDGE, biffed from the checkers and the definition Blur. (Though as it happens I do remember Mud, and probably their best known hit “Tiger Feet”).
So, not one I enjoyed much. But all green, though goodness knows how.
Many thanks John for the blog
Cedric
And you’ll notice our kind setter followed Quick Cryptic with Battle Royal, as if to taunt us.
FAQ is an abbreviation, as in your mention of BBC, ABC, etc. An acronym is a pronounceable word, as in NATO.
Oh dear, yesterday I heard a very edgy comedian’s new interpretation of what the abbreviation BBC stands for in the light of recent and not so recent scandals and I doubt I shall ever see the letters again without thinking of it. Most definitely not for polite society!)
Jumbo 1706 (14 Dec) SPOILER
I bet BBC would be enumerated as (3). I noticed in a recent Jumbo TS ELIOT (1,1,5) and CT SCAN (2,4). Just noted. It doesn’t help me construct a single unified theory
Tough, but I rather enjoyed this one, despite it taking some time.
NHO FAQS pronounced as “fax”, but apparently it is, based on some quick googling.
Happy Twixmas
Pi
18:39, with one pink square for a carelessly entered EQUADOR.
A very tough puzzle. COD to CRYPTIC.
With QUICK CRYPTIC appearing across the third row, I was expecting some self-referential theme, but none emerged that I could see.
Thanks Jack and Cheeko
Much like the leftover Christmas pudding this was too rich for me!
Liberal use of the reveal function I’m afraid, and then revert to the blog to find out how the heck the answers fit the clue.
As for Mud – I am decidedly middle aged, have teenage children of my own, and I learn from Wikipedia that their last hit was a couple of years before I was born.
Thanks to John and, somewhat more grudgingly, to Cheeko
As is so often the case, I follow Cedric’s mindset, albeit taking on average twice as long to complete.
After a surfeit of chocolate indulgences, I shall forego my petit pain in the club for a softly boiled egg with a few marmite soldiers.
That being said, thanks John, Cheeko and CS.
Also failed on FIERCE /DECREASE.
FAQs would never be pronounced facks, since it would sound just like facts, or fax. For Faqs sake.
Australias SMUDGE back in the runs this morning again, I see.
I see the reference to Catch -22, but still doesn’t explain why Heller chose this odd formulation. Maybe it’s a concise crossword clue, for REINSTITUITIONALISATION.
I gather Heller was once asked why he hadn’t written anything else as good as Catch-22. To which he replied: Has anyone?
Have to say I’ve made at least two attempts to read Catch-22 and failed. Just looked at my copy of Catch-22 which was on the bedside table for a few years, the bookmark is currently at page 173.
It’s Potteresque in its size at nearly 600 pages but just seems to be repeating the same paradoxical joke albeit in different scenarios of a military context.
It could probably all be written as a 25-page story but then if that’s all there was it wouldn’t be publishable as a book …
I ground this out and much of it was enjoyable so thanks Cheeko and of course Johninterred.
I doubt that it is a quick cryptic for many. I’m in my 70’s so know of Mud. However focsle, with or without apostrophes is new to me and I’ve never heard anyone say fax for FAQ’s.
An interesting challenge for a holiday solve. I had a few PDMs but I spent too long on this (almost double my previous worst time).
I was pleased to get FOCSLE but only because the clueing was clear ( I didn’t really believe it was a word). I managed to reach DECREASE successfully but then failed on FIERCE (so a DNF).
I am conflicted. It was a fascinating experience but it could not have been described as a Quick Cryptic in a month of Sundays. As Merlin succinctly put it: ‘for faqs sake’!
A couple more lines in each direction and it would have made a challenging 15×15. I think the Crossword Editor must have taken a holiday break.
FAQ MER SCC TVM
😂 Looks like a Latin inscription!
😉
DNF
Got FIERCE but the clever DECREASE did for me. Very slow to that point but nothing unfair.
Thanks John/Cheeko
This was tough but I enjoyed it overall.
Some issues as described above; FAQs are always said as the letters in my experience.
My LOI was a despairing ECUADOR. I had deleted EQUATOR; originally I thought Line was the definition.
I had no idea Ecuador crossed the line -too high up surely. I must check.
All done in 19 minutes.
CODs to QUICK CRYPTIC. Had not spotted that whilst solving. Thanks to Cedric for pointing this out.
David
Ha ha. I also pointed it out in the blog introduction.
So you did. Thanks, John.
Frustrating: stuck on just the last two, FIERCE and DECREASE. And now that I read about them, no wonder! Thank you, John.
Oh, John: sorry to be a PEDANT but you have a couple of typos in your excellent blog, one more serious than the other: 12d obviously free (not fee), but 16d hole (not whole). Thanks again!
My finishing time of 25.43 was my slowest for a completed QC, and it was sheer will power and determination that enabled me to get DECREASE and finally FIERCE after vacantly staring at it for ten minutes. My only excuse is that my seven year old grandson was test piloting the new electronic keyboard we bought him for Christmas, about six feet away from where I was trying to solve this puzzle.
12,38 but with a careless EQUADOR and a FOCSEL that became FOCSLL wjhen BATTLE went in. I should’ve know better as I frequently attend the Focsle(Southampton) Folk Club Zoom session. I’d have had a better chance if it hadn’t been a down entry. BATTLE ROYAL sums up my experience with this puzzle! No problem with MUD. I saw them at my local Workmen’s Club in the late 60s. Thanks Cheeko and John.
Having completed one clue, SHED, on the first pass I knew this was going be a toughie and the QSnitch confirmed it.
However I plugged away and with only a little help managed all but DECREASE taking over an hour to (not) finish.
I looked upon this as good preparation for the 15*15 but definitely not a quick cryptic.
Thanks both.
35:02 for the solve! Alphabet trawl for FIERCE (kind of obvious for savage in retrospect) with DECREASE biffed but not passed. FOCSLE dug from the recesses. Five Cheeko puzzles this year – all taking 25-35mins. 15×15 territory. Any enjoyment of QUICK and SPOTLESS long forgotten by the end of it.
Slow week but 5 puzzles out of 5 and scraping in with 1hr55 for the weekday puzzles.
As for Mud – I’m just over the 50-year barrier and love Tiger Feet* especially if it comes on at a party. Also “Lonely This Christmas” comes up on the Christmas album. Not sure I can name anything else by them though.
* How great is the dance … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQfidTOTsLo
Those are my go-to dance moves at any family function…regardless of the music being played.
🤣🤣🤣 Can’t beat the diamond step footwork
That’s quality dancing – must try some of those moves next time I’m near a dancefloor (fortunately I could be in for a long wait😂)
Epic dancing!
Well done on achieving my target – 5 solves in under 2 hours.
You’ve made amazing progress this year.
👏👏👏
Thanks GA – I’m not that far ahead of you. Think I’m just more willing to take DNFs than you which means I bung some things in on intuitive trust.
Still working on this. ( Haven’t checked blog yet). Wanted to see if others were struggling. I noticed the snitch is 140+.
Got FAQS but was unsure whether that was allowed so checked.
On first pass I produced shed. I did wonder if 20 across could be rubicon. Have now found answer thanks to crossers. Am struggling so will give it a break, but looks like a definite DNF looms.
Thanking you in advance for blog!
Wonder if 15×15 is easier today.
It ain’t. It’s worse.
DNF. With quick snitch now at 149 I do find the 3rd row across ironic.
Cryptic yes , quick . No way.
This was not a QC. Find it dispiriting when the Times publishes crosswords like this.
They would not publish Super Fiendish Sudokus under the heading of Easy so why put off newbie crossword folk?
There were some good clues there, ( decrease for instance). They were just in the wrong cryptic crossword.
Blog was helpful in trying to make sense of it. ( I missed the sounds like Fax for FAQS which is just as well as that just doesn’t hold for me. I still don’t see why catch 22 in clue- woolly esp. for QC. )
Ho hum.
Off to friends now to help them eat up Christmas Cake.🙂 That will cheer me up.
Thanks johninterred!
I would do a “like” if it was possible. Totally agree with you, xwordnewbie!
13:24, very slow for me for a QC
27.07. I really made hard work of this. Perhaps post-Christmas torpor, but I think that I was just outwitted by the clever misdirection in the clues. Thanks to setter and blogger.
Lovely crossword, thoroughly enjoyed. Several excellent clues – indeed, as I solved them, I was muttering to myself “that’s neat! that’s neat! that’s neat! that’s neat!”. And then I got my hat.
Today’s jCoDs, Face-lift and Spotless, were being asked to do a hell of a lot of heavy lifting to make up for the time spent trudging through this Row 5 offering from Cheeko (spoiler: they failed). I was so stuck on my last pair, Fierce/Decrease, that I even tried to work the missing J,V and X into the answers!
This is exactly the time of year when someone brand new to this game might be tempted to have a go at the QC. I hope they give it a second chance. Invariant
Good point about the time of year, I hadn’t considered that. And perhaps the crossword editor hadn’t either, which seems a bit remiss.
See the comment from New Bug below.
DNF
Nope, too hard. There have been easier 15x15s. It was like running uphill all the way. FOCSLE!
Eventually threw the towel in with 2 unsolved, FIERCE (which tbf was gettable) and DECREASE (which wasn’t, that’s not a synonym for either end of the clue or anything within it).
I had wondered whether Cheeko was trying to FO’C’SLE
Very good!
DNF disaster. Could not solve various inc 1a, 1d. Like others, not heard FAQs pronounced fax.
Did manage a doubtful FOCSLE and so shd have got CRYPTIC. NHO Mud but biffed SMUDGE.
Threw in the towel with others unsolved. Did not enjoy.
But many thanks, John,
Two – way to hard for me.
It’s easier to create clues sometimes.
A flower is the key to this girl.
Naughties recording artist.
FAQs pronounced fac(t)s was quite common in the tech industry in the 1990s, particularly with the west coast / silicon valley fraternity.
1990s Silicon Valley is a bit niche though! Perhaps The Listener standard??
FAQ pronounced FACK and FAQs pronounced Fax were totally normal for me in the 90s. Never gave it a second thought. I was in IT but didn’t spend a whole lot of time in Silicon Valley.
Me too, which is why I didn’t raise a metaphorical eyebrow in the blog. I pronounce FAQS as FAX too.
I somehow reached my final two clues fairly comfortably in maybe around 25 minutes. Even FAQS and FO’C’SLE didn’t hold me up for too long. Those final two clues (the DECREASE/FIERCE pairing), however, took probably the same amount of time again.
I got there eventually, but only after a stupidly long alphabet trawl for each. FIERCE for ‘savage’ and pIERCE for ‘punch’ are a real stretch, IMO, and to find both in the same clue makes the clue virtually unsolvable for the likes of me. Needless to say, it was my LOI.
Many thanks to John and Cheeko (but with a plea to Cheeko to lighten up just a little when setting the QC).
Completed over what turned out to be a rather long lunch! Glad I persevered as there were some lovely clues. Not much on first pass but gradually began to fill the grid. Luckily I knew FOCSLE and CRYPTIC helped me sort out the wordplay for YORK MINSTER. Biffed SMUDGE (wouldn’t have thought of MUD even though well-known to me). LOI DECREASE also biffed but not parsed (wrong definition). I loved the tongue in cheek QUICK CRYPTIC in the third row, possibly preempting a ‘what constitutes a QC discussion’. I loved it of course, even though I took over the half hour mark. Favourites included BECALMED, DILEMMA (PDM) and BATTLE ROYAL (haven’t heard this expression for a while). Thanks for your help John. Nice one Cheeko!
Way too difficult for me. Got about 8 answers.
Just the kind of QC to discourage new solvers like us. A dismal experience.
Don’t be too despondent – this was a stinker. When you come across really hard ones like this, try writing in the Across answers from the blog, and then see how you get on with the downs using the crossers to help. . . .though Fierce might still have been a step too far 😁
11 minutes. Fortunate to get the FACE LIFT and ECUADOR cryptic defs without much trouble, otherwise this would have been a real struggle. Favourite was the surface for YORK MINSTER.
Thanks to John and Cheeko
A horrible puzzle. Never heard FAQ’S expressed as a word, biffed YORK MINSTER. The leaderboard suggests that it was just me, but I considered this too tough for a 8/9A.
FOI DRAB
LOI DECREASE
COD SMUDGE
TIME 7:21
DNF after one hour.
Failed to get 23ac and 16dn.
My misery here continues. Neither clue was difficult but I simply cannot get my brain to think laterally.
I will now ‘attempt’ the 15 x 15. TBH, I’m dreading it. After that QC, I have no confidence at all and will probably spend 2 hours getting absolutely nowhere.
Thanks for the blog John.
My brain doesn’t think laterally either so I do sympathise. The trick is to enjoy the practice and be able to smile at how different our thought processes are. Pressure is your enemy; practice, humour and appreciation of the setter’s art are your friends. Comparing yourself with others is futile and will always end in disappointment. Today’s 15 x 15 is very hard but there’s no point beating yourself up if you can’t do it – just enjoy what you can do. If you absolutely HAVE to compare yourself with others then know that most people wouldn’t be able to solve much of the biggie. Rethink why you engage in this hobby and stop doing it if you’re not deriving any pleasure from it.
Thanks fabian. I appreciate you taking the time to give me your thoughts.
Unfortunately I only enjoy this if I can see an improvement. Banging my head against a brick wall day after day only demonstrates the limits of my ability.
I regard this as a competition (if only with myself) and I can’t change that.
DNF Couldn’t solve FIERCE/DECREASE. I learned back in school ECUADOR was Spanish for equator and just now learned that when it first became independent of Spain it was as the region “of the equator” of Colombia and subsequently separated from Colombia to become Republica del Ecuador.
Somebody I know sent me a picture of herself photographed in Ecuador with one leg on either side of the equator so she was in both the northern and southern hemispheres at the same time. Very cool!
Struggled a lot with this. Couldn’t see why “delivered” = sounds like, so didn’t get the FAQS = FAX, never having needed to pronounce FAQS. DECREASE was LOI, just after SMUDGE. I thought Mud were good – Tiger Feet and Lonely This Christmas especially. Not the best QC ever, this one.
I’m glad to find it wasn’t just me that found this one hard. I eventually finished in 28:27, with liberal use of aids. I never thought of Sir Edmund Hillary for 2d: I had CLINTON pencilled in for ages, hoping that “linton” was an obscure synonym of “agile”.
Thanks to Cheeko and John.
I didn’t quite finish but as someone still generally only on the nursery slopes I’ve got no complaints about the occasional harder-than-usual QC.
Well, it took me 23:20 but I got there in the end. I needed John’s help to parse a handful of them, and I still don’t really understand why my biffed ECUADOR is correct – aren’t there several countries which straddle the equator?
Over the years I’ve been directly or indirectly responsible for the creation of many FAQs, and never once has anyone pronounced them as “fax”. “Eff eh queues” in 100% of cases. Oh well, the checkers eventually forced me into it.
I’m under 50, though not for much longer, and I’m aware of Mud but couldn’t name any of their songs.
Thank you for the sorely-needed blog!
I did enjoy this though I did not finish–FAQS and QUICK (oh the shame) did for me. Many, many fine clues that made me stop and admire them before plodding on, but abandoned my efforts after 27 minutes. I especially liked DECREASE and BECALMED. Cheeko certainly took the WIND out of my sails. I’m well over 70 and Mud as a band means nothing to me.
Thanks Cheeko and John!
Dnf…
After 35 mins, I completed everything, but wasn’t sure about 1dn and 4dn, putting “FAQO” and “Focels” respectively – both which turned out to be wrong. A definite challenge from Cheeko and one that took an age to get going.
FOI – 5ac “Drab”
LOI – 4dn “Focels” (incorrect)
COD – 21ac “Timid”
Thanks as usual!
I spent 2 hours on the 15 x 15 and got just 12 answers.
An awful week. Nowhere near the level of ability required by the 15 x 15 and a shocker on the QC:
M – 21 mins
Tu – 17 mins
Th – 38 mins
F – 60 mins DNF
2 hours, 16 mins for just 4 QCs. I look at the performance of those I was once on a par with and despair.
Hours and hours spent on 15 x 15 with nothing to show for it but frustration and disappointment.
In footballing terms, I’m deep in the relegation zone with little chance of overcoming the competition for the remainder of the season. I thought trying the 15 x 15 might help me to improve. It hasn’t!
Phew! We were doing well on this until POI FIERCE and LOI DECREASE on which we spent a good 5 minutes. Kudos to Mrs T for breaking the impasse on both when a DNF seemed to be looming, though DECREASE was a fingers crossed (albeit sensible) guess parsed post completion at 17:03. Thanks to Cheeko and John.
Having seen the Snitch for the yet to be attempted 15 x 15 we may have to dig in for the evening!
Found this one took a lot of work but really enjoyed challenge. I just couldn’t get FIERCE or DECREASE but no complaints as I just didn’t see the answers at the time.
Thanks Cheeko and John!
Good grief! A ‘ quick’ cryptic – I don’t think so! Impossible for those of us who struggle anyway – arghh! Happy Twixmas y’all.
16.50 I’m quite hazy after a pleasant day of wine and port and pleased with a 90 on the WITCH. Unusually for a tricky cryptic definition FACE LIFT went straight in, then out again when I couldn’t get any of the downs hanging from it. It sorted itself out after a fair bit of biffing. DECREASE and FIERCE were the last two. I never twigged that QUICK was next to CRYPTIC. Thanks John and Cheeko.
dnf