A pleasing Quick Cryptic from Breadman today. There are a few tricky bits of wordplay to unravel here but I wasn’t delayed unduly finishing in 6:05. My LOI was 6D and I liked 9A and 10A in particular. Thank-you Breadman! How did you all get on?
Fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic. This time it is Sawbill’s turn to provide the extra weekend entertainment. You can find the crossword here. If you are interested in trying our previous offerings you can find an index to all 129 here.
Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, {deletions} and [] other indicators.
| Across | |
| 1 | Son tucked into much loved duck and Italian sauce (5) |
| PESTO – S (son) in PET (much loved), O (0 runs scored; duck in cricket). | |
| 7 | French one meets American university supporter rarely (9) |
| UNUSUALLY – UN (one in French) US (American) U (university) ALLY (supporter). A 4-part charade. | |
| 9 | Jumped as plate smashed (5) |
| LEAPT – (plate)* [smashed]. | |
| 10 | Fantastic winger’s big match in US (5,4) |
| SUPER BOWL – SUPERB (fantastic) OWL (bird; “winger”). “Winger” for “bird” is a bit of a crossword cliche indicating “something with a wing”. “Winger” is not a position in American Football, the sport that has a Superbowl – the analogous position to winger in other sports is the wide receiver. Nice surface, though. | |
| 11 | Outstanding musical performance of couple shortened (3) |
| DUE – DUE{t} (musical performance of a couple) without the last letter [shortened]. Neat surface. | |
| 12 | Panel of vehicle mum found in terribly bad road (9) |
| DASHBOARD – Did you get led up the garden path as I was using “ma” for “mum”? But no, it’s SH (be quiet; mum), in [terribly] (bad road)*. I had a MER at this until I read in Chambers that “mum” can be an interjection meaning “Not a word”. A reminder that if you think a setter has got something wrong, it is probably you who’s wrong! | |
| 14 | Do a makeover on hair and blunder (9) |
| REFURBISH – RE (on) FUR (hair) BISH (blunder). | |
| 16 | Hideout finally had more protection (3) |
| DEN – Last letters [finally] of haD morE protectioN. | |
| 18 | Beware of dog with stick originally muzzled behind hole in rock (4,5) |
| CAVE CANEM – CAVE (hole in rock) CANE (stick) and first letter of Muzzled. A (somewhat pretentious, IMO) Latin phrase to be seen on some garden gates. | |
| 20 | Brownish-yellow brooch restored somewhat (5) |
| OCHRE – Hidden in, [somewhat], broOCH REstored. | |
| 21 | Motor car crashed trapping northern seabird (9) |
| CORMORANT – N (northern) in (motor car)* [crashed]. Oo I’m being picky this morning… Cormorants are coastal rather than oceanic birds and can also often be found inland on waters. We see plenty of them inland in Suffolk where I live. | |
| 22 | Harry’s outside hugging somebody dear (5) |
| HONEY – ONE (somebody) in the outside letters of HarrY. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Country’s body of water containing algae regularly avoided (6) |
| POLAND – Alternate letters [regularly avoided] of aLgAe in POND (body of water). | |
| 2 | Disease’s evidence of harm felt wrong always (7,5) |
| SCARLET FEVER – SCAR (evidence of harm), (felt)* [wrong], EVER (always). An anagram in the middle of a charade is rather unusual, I think. | |
| 3 | In public view, Dicky rides unfancied racehorse (8) |
| OUTSIDER – OUT (in public view) [dicky] (rides)*. I hope you weren’t misled into thinking “in” is an inclusion indicator here. | |
| 4 | Peculiar drink raised commotion (6) |
| RUMPUS – RUM (peculiar), SUP (drink) [raised] -> PUS. | |
| 5 | Initially, Ben uncovers Rolls Royce’s humming sound (4) |
| BURR – Initial letters of Ben Uncovers Rolls Royce. | |
| 6 | Picked up this writer covering part of Observer? (6) |
| EYELID – EYE sounds like I (this writer), LID (covering) with a whimsical definition. | |
| 8 | Canadian singer-songwriter played chord alone, half seen (7,5) |
| LEONARD COHEN – [Played] (chord alone)*, and second half of seEN. I didn’t know he was Canadian, but at least I’d heard of him. | |
| 13 | Giant winged insect under hebe fluttered (8) |
| BEHEMOTH – MOTH (winged insect) under (hebe)* [fluttered]. A bit of a Yodaesque surface, I think. Speak like Yoda, you too can, using this translator. | |
| 14 | Florid Australian native going round business clubs (6) |
| ROCOCO – CO (company) C (clubs), in ROO (Australian native). | |
| 15 | Single working Scotsman related to Ancient Greeks (6) |
| IONIAN – I (one; single) ON (working) IAN (Scottish forename). | |
| 17 | Knight in charge, see, in a pleasant way (6) |
| NICELY – N (symbol for knight in chess notation) I/C (in charge) ELY (a diocese or see). | |
| 19 | Imbecile Conservative group (4) |
| CLOT – C (Conservative) LOT (group). | |
oofaloof! I must be reminded that this is a cryptic crossword, and when I biff CAVE CANUM, I should at least check the spelling!!
Ditto, but hadn’t heard of ‘canu’ for stick so was saved.
same here on both counts, and thank you Jeremy for oofaloof – made me laugh out loud!
No problems except for biffing refurnish from the checkers instead of REFURBISH. CAVE CANEM took a while to see but I’ve seen it before in previous crosswords so got it. Lots of assembly clues today, I thought. COD to IONIAN.
Thanks J and setter.
Very clever, 9.18 for me, I particularly liked the construction of SCARLET FEVER. Took a while on EYELID and DASHBOARD and decided the ‘fantastic winger’ was going to be great something which didn’t help. I’ve never seen mum/sh before and must remember it but probably won’t. Many thanks to Breadman and John.
Biffed a few without parsing, including CAVE CANEM. What’s the point of warning possible trespassers in Latin? 5:44.
Stops Roman Catholic missionaries?
And classic graduates of Balliol.
😂
Rather like labelling dud merchandise “Caveat Emptor”. My ‘O’ Level Latin pass helped me with this one though.
My dog hates Romans.
Er, if the trespassers are Roman? I always understood this was an inscription found at Pompeii, and was famous as it illustrated the similar concerns of people thousands of years apart. Cave was also schoolboy slang for look out many years ago – someone would be instructed to “keep cave” (pronounced kayvee).
This was quite easy, and after a slow start turned into a biff-fest. I read no further than Canadian singer-songwriter before writing in Leonard Cohen – Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, and Gordon Lightfoot don’t fit! Scarlet fever, dashboard, Super Bowl, cave canem, and cormorant were also obvious, so no need to delay there. In the end, it was clot I couldn’t think of for my LOI.
Time: 6:30
11 minutes, so still well within my target 15 but ending my run of 10 or under on Monday-Thursday. There were two clues not fully parsed that I neglected to go back and check, the “mum” in DASHBOARD (I just spotted the answer from the available anagrist and moved on), and the source of LETF in SCARLET FEVER.
11:18 with plenty of half parsed biffing. Scarlet Fever, Eyelid, Superbowl, Rococo, cormorant, I won’t go on. Bifd Cave Canis until confronted by that behemoth which, as luck would have it, made me read the clue and solve the wordplay, hence avoiding Jeremy’s fate.
Good week methinks (solving in Cretan sunshine helps 😉)
Thanks John and Breadman
Half parsed biffing accurately describes my solve too, they were those sort of clues where the answer becomes too obvious with a bit of parsing to make it seem worth going into the finer detail. Apologies therefore to Breadman for not fully appreciating some of their finely wrought clues, but I enjoyed the puzzle.
I liked the giant insect although I was distracted by seeing the BEE in hebe and trying to work around to some sort of enormous honey monster until it clicked.
Thanks for the blog filling in the parsing that I was too lazy to do when solving initially.
I was another who had CAVE CANUM, my Latin being basically non-existent. Other than that, all done in a pleasing and enjoyable 10:31.
Thanks to Breadman and John.
Accurate typing for the first time in three days. Finished in a surprisingly fast 11.28, I felt I had to work hard in lots of places but especially for CAVE CANEM, EYELID and ROCOCO. Lots of cryptic content here, loved it. Special mention to SCARLET FEVER but I like the superb owl too.
CAVE CANEM!?
I have a strong dislike for other languages being inserted into an English puzzle. Perhaps we should brush up on our kanji and Cyrillic scripts.
No comment regarding PESTO then….
Pesto is a known word to me and anyone who eats pasta, Cave Canem is unknown to me. If I saw that on a sign it might as well say “Please pet my cat”.
An enjoyable and relatively straightforward puzzle today.
I’d only ever come across ROCOCO in the design/architecture sense before but the roo/Aussie native chestnut was very helpful and the singer songwriter became clear once a few checkers were in place.
Started with PESTO and finished with CAVE CANEM in 6.53 with COD to UNUSUALLY for the PDM (realising that it wasn’t going to contain MIT or YALE etc).
Thanks to John for the blog and Breadman for the puzzle.
Expecting a Friday level of difficulty, I was pleasantly surprised and not put into a state of depression by memories of Leonard Cohen’s tuneless miseries. Would have preferred Shania Twain but that was never an option.
At my school it was usual to call ‘CAVE’ to warn of an approaching teacher and Latin was a set subject. I thought mum/SH was relatively common Xword speak but perhaps ‘keep mum’ is not universal, which begs the question, what has ‘mum’ got to do with silence? COD SUPER BOWL.
Thanks John and Breadman
“Mum” mimics the sound of someone saying “m-m-m” with their lips closed, indicating silence. Nothing to do with ‘mother’.
Thank you! It would seem (gospel according to Wikepedia) that ‘mummers’ are so called, due to disguise or mockery, not due to silence, which they’re not. Now I know why they are not called Shushers
I was on Breadman’s wavelength today and achieved a PB of 14:50.
I liked many of these clues (CODs: CAVE CANEM, EYELID, BEHEMOTH). No problems with well-clued simple Latin phrases – crosswords regularly include other languages. Today there was French, and an adopted Italian word.
Leonard Cohen was a write-in. I have a playlist of his music and I think the melody of Hallelujah is wonderful.
Thanks to Breadman and John.
Another LC enthusiast here. He has the added bonus that my wife hates him, so if I want to annoy her (shame on me, I know) I can play his music and try to look innocent. Not advisable in the car however…
Also here! Absolutely adore Leonard. Had the joy of seeing perform twice a few years ago – once at the O2 in Greenwich -packed with 20,000 fans and then a few weeks later at the Albert Hall. Many standing ovations. The man was a genius. RIP LC.
Yeah, big fan since I first heard Suzanne at school in mid-teens. (Our English Lit teacher brought in a portable record player so we could hear it.) A week or so before he died I saw an interview in which he said he thought he might live forever…
Hear hear, and lucky you for seeing him live, I never managed to. The ‘Live in London 2009’ videos on youtube are just stunning.
Congratulations on the PB. LC was a genius. Far prefer to Dylan.
Oh yes, me too!
An enjoyable puzzle, all done in 9:14 but not quite all parsed as I did not unpick the parsing of the very biffable DASHBOARD. Slightly surprised at SUPER BOWL being shown as two words as I thought it was all one word, but it appears I know nothing about American Football. Another transatlantic favourite I DK was LEONARD COHEN, but the anagram was clear and the checkers kind.
Many thanks John for the blog and I look forward to Sawbill’s Sunday Special.
Super Bowl is definitely two words. American college football has lots of Bowl games … sugar bowl, cotton bowl, rose bowl, orange bowl off the top of my head.
Another enjoyable QC taking 25:24 to complete.
Could not parse EYELID so thank you John for the explanation. Must remember ‘picked up’ does not always mean ‘spell backwards’ on a down clue.
Seeing Cohen live was the most memorable concert I’ve been to. Charisma is an overused word but he had it.
11 minutes. Good QC which wasn’t as hard as Breadman can sometimes be. I was looking for one of his grid tricks but haven’t been able to spot one. Even though it’s not exactly a rara avis in crossword land, I still liked the SUPERB OWL. Favourite was the misleading surface for EYELID.
Thanks to Breadman and John
I approached this with trepidation having seen the ‘snitch’ rating of 133. However, I cruised serenely through with a (for me) decent time of about 16 minutes.
I think you must have been looking at the SNITCH for the main puzzle, Michael – the Quick Snitch, or QUITCH, has been in the 80s all morning.
You looked at the 15×15 Snitch. This is Quitching at 87 currently.
7.39
A few tricky things here like wanting red for florid which delayed ROCOCO and blanking on the slightly offbeat synonym for group in CLOT.
Thanks John and Breadman
17:03, after a very slow start.
CAVE CANEM is not exactly a common Latin phrase. Bournemouth Council has drawn up a list of Latin phrases which its staff are advised not to use, maybe it’s Banned in Bournemouth.
Canadian singer? The only one I could name was Celine Dion, but when I saw H-N at the end I guessed Leonard Cohen. With all the craziness in the US I expect more Canadians to more prominently boast their nationality.
Thought BOWL must be some kind of “winger”, as I reasonably had SUPER=fantastic.
The surface of “water with algae” cued up POND in my mind, so for once the surface helped, rather than distracted. Also made a mess of DUE, where I had {p}AIR for “outstanding musical performance”.
COD ROCOCO
Having lived in the area for 50 years I can’t say I’ve ever seen a sign with it on. And for what it’s worth we had a big council merger in 2019 so it’s now BCP Council (Bournemouth-Christchurch-Poole).
Canadian singers, you can add Neil Young, Michael Buble, Gordon Lightfoot too.
Alanis Morrisette, Bryan Adams and my personal favourite, Shania Twain. None of these fit the anagram however.
Canadians mostly just boast about how humble and modest we are.
8:46 but with a CAVE CANiM. Didn’t think to check the wordplay carefully for a phrase I didn’t know and went for dog=cani being some version of canine. My bad. Not a good week with this being 4th fail in a row.
Thanks to JohnI and Breadman
Edit: 9:17 for the weekend special – thanks to Sawbill (and JohnI)
Thank you. Great to see that the difficulty was about right.
I started off apace with the top half quickly completed, but got bogged down, down under. No trouble with Laughing Len, but BEHEMOTH, CAVE CANEM and finally refurbish all had me scratching my head for a while. 11:19. Thanks Breadman and John.
As others have said, this was a half parsed biffing fest leading to a faster than normal finish in 18:21. Thanks for the explanations!
11 mostly east side, bifd 7, 10 and 12 across and bbp 8 down. He was conned out of his fortune and had to do a tour late in life to recoup enough for a pension. Nice to have that much to lose I guess.
I was rubbish Wednesday and Thursday, had my mind on other things not least of which was attending a class on how to back wheel balance in a wheelchair, a prerequisite skill required for jumping up and descending kerbs, not to mention stairs and steps, although I don’t think I’ll be attempting the latter.
Sounds tough but I bet you master the trick in the end, and eventually it will be second nature! Good luck.
It’s a bit old dog and new tricks. At 72 I was competing in a UK qualifying event for the amateur TT worlds, hit a kerb at relatively low speed.
TT bike as in Bradley Wiggins not Isle of Mann….
Sounds like a very specific skill -am always amazed when I see such dexterity – good luck!
A bit old dog / new tricks. At 72 I suffered a spinal cord injury falling off a TT bike two years ago. Not the smartest move of my life obviously. It certainly raised my awareness of disability access issues.
TT bike in the Bradley Wiggins sense not the Isle of Mann event.
At the old dog stage I think all of us have a litany of ‘not the smartest moves of our lives’ moments. Hopefully the fitness that is tacitly referenced in your having been out there on a TT bike has, and will, stand you in good stead…
It’s so important (I think) to ‘get out there’ – to ‘rage against…,’ as that worthy chap said, knowing that inevitably some moments/outcomes will be less welcome… life is a tapestry and a travesty both.
I often think of Kahlil Gibran and his piece of white paper..worth a look up if not familiar.
Enough! Onward (and in your case, upward).
The edit doesn’t work well on my phone…
Thanks to setter and blogger.
Enjoy the weekend all….
Excitedly heading for a first ever sub 10, only to be delayed by 14A, 14D.. then in regrettable haste – entered REFURNISH instead of the obviously correct REFURBISH.
Also initially tried to make CHASM work for hole in rock (seemed reasonable…..though attempts to parse of course failed – then again, that is sometimes the case with right answers for us, so we have a chance…)
Ah well.
Very much enjoyed – thank you Breadman – and John, too for an excellent blog.
Very jolly morning fun. I went anti-clockwise from PESTO to EYELID in 06:18 for a Very Good Day. COD to REFURBISH for the snort it provoked when I saw how it worked.
Paused on the Canadian singer, since none of Avril Lavigne, Mariah Carey or the Biebs fitted, and now I find that Mariah Carey is American anyway. Thank goodness it was (largely) an anagram.
Many thanks Breaders and John.
Celine Dion was the one I was thinking of.
14m
Lots of nice surfaces.
LOI cave canem (Cerberus!)
COD refurbish.
Wondered if nish was another word for blunder, trying to make REFURNISH fit. Latin coming in useful if not in quite the way my Latin teacher would have expected. Hallelujah is a really great melody. Thanks Breadman for a fun puzzle and John for great blog.
9:35, with LOI HONEY.
COD to LEONARD COHEN, where the surface did an excellent job of referencing the lyrics of Hallelujah.
Thanks John and Breadman
Very pleasantly plain sailing today, thank you, Breadman. LOsI were the whole SE corner. Liked CAVE CANEM; not sure about the ethics, having suggested a few days ago that it would be wrong for Welsh PLAID to simply equate with “party” with no foreign language indicator. Here CAVE CANEM is well enough known but is actually not in Collins – maybe one of you can find it in a larger English dictionary?
Of course it’s SUPERB OWL (thank you, John); had SUPER, then winger = BOW (tie?) + big = L, almost possible?
CAVE CANEM is in Chambers, which says “a frequent inscription on Roman thresholds”.
Oh well done, John – thank you! Of course you’re right; I just invaded my wife’s study (which houses our Chambers) and there it is. But: equally Eintritt freilassen is a “frequent inscription on German thresholds” but would not qualify for inclusion in an English dictionary; so what’s the criterion, I wonder?
Struggled in several places for a sluggish 25min solve. The last few of those were self-inflicted, with a careless Sonian (🙄) holding up loi Refurbish until I spotted my error. The songwriter was unknown, and having had a quick listen will remain so, but gettable with crossers. CoD to 6d, Eyelid, for the pdm smile. Invariant
Enjoyed this for the most part so thanks. I’m not always convinced by the argument that if it’s in the dictionary it must be right. Sometimes entries in dictionaries reflect historic uses of word which are no longer relevant or ‘correct’ in modern usage. I expect in 2025 one might find the odd eccentric who puts ‘cave canem’ on the gate but I can’t imagine anyone saying mum and expecting silence to fall!
6:28 but…
…with a typo where I managed to insert RRFURBISH – I knew what I meant! 😉
Canadian singer bunged in from a couple of checkers – seriously, Leonard Cohen circa 2008 might not have been able to sing that well anymore, but was one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to for sound quality. Not sure I’d be able to say the same of fellow Canadian, Justin Bieber.
Wonder how long it will be before the SUPERB OWL becomes a chestnut. What’s that? It already has…?
Thanks John and Breadman
Where’s the love for the editor after he has “de-fanged” the quick cryptic, as he is so often entreated to do?
21:08 for the week, whereas if I took an average amount of time I should be about 31/32 mins.
Completed 90% biffed, 7
I was familiar with the expression CAVE CANEM having been an answer in a quiz that I participated in, but without taking the trouble to carefully parse it, would probably have spelt it with a U. I found myself on The Breadmans’s wavelength today finishing in a nice round 7.00, and every down clue went in at first reading.
Another good week where I was nicely under target with a total time of 42.26, giving me a daily average of 8.29.
On the wavelength today, fortunately. No problems, lots of guesses – was a bit worried about the Canadian singer-songwriter but he appeared with the anagram.
No problem CAVE CANEM. Clear from the cluing.
CNP SUPER BOWL, but I like it now!
Thanks vm, John.
I often struggle with Breadman puzzles so I was pleased to finish this in 13 minutes. Mostly parsed but one or two were biffed from crossers and I never went back to check the parsing.
FOI – 1ac PESTO
LOI – 14ac REFURBISH
COD – 10ac SUPER BOWL
Thanks to Breadman and John
I tend to like Ikea clues so I enjoyed this one, finishing in 10:45. I took a strange route to my LOI, CAVE CANEM, making the connection between “beware” and “cave” and assuming that the definition was therefore “hole in rock”. I don’t think I explicitly knew that “cave” was Latin, I just seem to have read it in ancient boys’ books like Stalky and inferred the general meaning.
19 mins…
Started off well but slowed down in the SW corner, with the 14ac/dn axis of “Refurbish” and “Rococo” taking a while to fathom along with the Latin expression in 18ac. A good puzzle though, albeit one that wasn’t as straight forward as it first seemed.
FOI – 1ac “Pesto”
LOI – 14ac “Refurbish”
COD – 4dn “Rumpus”
Thanks as usual!
No problems today, only 3 across clues remained after the first pass. Thanks Breadman and John
FOI PESTO
LOI REFURBISH
COD LEONARD COHEN*
TIME 3:46
* The beauty of this clue is that it’s up to 15×15 standard, with a very clever surface, yet remains totally accessible at QC level
Anybody who thinks the great man was miserable (my second wife called it “music to slash your wrists to”) really should pop onto YouTube and pick up his performance of “Tonight Will Be Fine” from the Isle of Wight Festival, complete with a country fiddle accompaniment.
Really enjoyed this, with COD SCARLET FEVER. I’ve just done the weekend one, too, which was excellent, with some really splendid clues.
Thanks Breadman, John and Sawbill – super stuff
Thank you. I hope others might give it a try over the weekend.
I need to learn the lesson of leaving at least one letter out on the LOI in order to check the parsing before (automatic) submission. A DNF in 11:27 through entering / biffing REFURNISH. Had I paused I think I would have recalled bish from previous crosswords. The rest of it was good anyway! Thanks, all.
10.52 today, LOI cave canem. Enjoyable puzzle, pleased with the time. Yesterday I tried the actual cryptic, which I occasionally succeed with. Yesterday I got one word in, and that was “the.” Sobering – hey ho, onwards and upwards from there.
9:30 I thought fantastic gave SUPER and wondered how to account for the B.
I warmed up for this by tackling yesterday’s offering from Bjorn, which I zoomed through …. until I didn’t. My last 5-6 clues (LALIQUE, ESPIAL etc.) took longer than all of the rest combined. Time: ~40 minutes.
Today’s QC seemed to be going the same way, as I started quickly by completing most of the top half of the grid at my first attempt before running into the sand lower down. However, some inspired biffing (DEN, NICELY, REFURBISH, RICOCO, CAVE CANEM) came to my rescue and I crossed the line with fingers and toes crossed in ~24 minutes.
An enjoyable intellectual workout!
Many thanks to John and Breadman (and to Rolytoly and Bjorn for their efforts yesterday).
11.11 I immediately thought of LEONARD COHEN’s music but I struggled to remember his name until there were several checkers. I spent a minute trying to convince myself that CLOD worked before getting LOI CLOT. Thanks John and Breadman.
11:52 PB. Progress at last! Thoroughly enjoyable puzzle and blog
Many thanks Breadman and John
12:51
Something of a landmark for me. The first time I’ve got through the week without a DNF or trip to the SCC. Obviously it all depends on how easy or otherwise the puzzles are and this one felt pretty gentle. CAVE CANEM was an educated guess but the rest seemed pretty straightforward.
12:45 with a lot of guessing and biffing. CLOT rang only the faintest of bells – it’s a fun-sounding insult but not part of my idiom. LEONARD COHEN and CAVE CANEM were immediate from the literals. The SUPERB OWL is an old joke around here. DUE had me well fooled, though I should know better by now. COD DASHBOARD for the, ahem, surface, and most of the roads around here are like that. I smiled at HONEY and quite a few others.
“Mum” for “shhh” is long familiar to me from reading Twain as a child. “Mum’s the word!”
Today I learned that cormorants are considered seabirds according to Wikipedia, though I live far from any salt water and (like our blogger) see them often on local waters when kayaking.
Thanks to Breadman and John.