A few trickier things brought this up towards par for our most prolific setter of the last couple of years.
With the great new Quitch tool, I see that over that time Joker has set 63 puzzles at an average nitch of 99, so if that isn’t the perfect yardstick for an “average” QC, I don’t know what is. Except, I generally find a 100 rating feels more difficult than average, with both the QC and the 15×15. I’m not really sure what to make of that. Perhaps I somehow routinely think that Times puzzles are easier than I find them. Whatever that means.
In any case, I don’t think today’s puzzle will alter Joker’s average very much – I raced though a good half of it before getting slowed down with Joker’s typically devious misdirection, finishing up in 8.22. Very much enjoyed – many thanks to Joker!
| Across | |
| 1 | Bring out ecstasy sanctioned by law (6) |
| ELICIT – E (ecstasy) LICIT (sanctioned by law) | |
| 5 | Boost following quiet approval (6) |
| PRAISE – RAISE (boost) following P (piano = quiet) | |
| 8 | Initially met a more methodical killer? (3-5) |
| MAN-EATER – M (“initially” Met), A, NEATER (more methodical) | |
| 9 | Government regret keeping Labour’s leader (4) |
| RULE – RUE (regret) keeping L | |
| 10 | Give up, taken in by police detail (4) |
| CEDE – “taken in by” poliCE DEtail | |
| 11 | Shoes perhaps are of two shapes (8) |
| FOOTWEAR – a well-hidden anagram (shapes) of ARE OF TWO. “Perhaps” in the definition because other, non-shoe footwear formats are available. | |
| 12 | One offering insight keeping non-drinking dog (6) |
| SETTER – SEER (one offering insight) keeping TT (Teetotal = non-drinking) | |
| 14 | Where planes fly over area of golf course — but not loud (6) |
| AIRWAY – fairway (area of golf course) but not F (forte = loud) | |
| 16 | Way speed is limited (8) |
| MODERATE – MODE (way) SPEED (rate). MODE for way, etc seems to trip me up fairly consistently. | |
| 18 | Dismiss rather shapeless dress (4) |
| SACK – double definition. Either simply an ill-fitting dress, or “a loose, tube-shaped dress” (Collins). Chambers only has a somewhat unrelated historical usage (also spelt SACQUE), being either a “woman’s loose-fitting gown” or a “woman’s hip-length coat with a loose-fitting back.” Which could have caused confusion: the diligent witch hunter would ideally have asked in what variety of sack the witch |
|
| 20 | Look after home in outskirts of Milford (4) |
| MIND – IN (home) in “outskirts” of M |
|
| 21 | Train gone? Nearly frantic, not knowing (8) |
| IGNORANT – anagram (frantic) of TRAIN and GON (gone, “nearly”) | |
| 23 | Dynamism new in excerpt from Peer Gynt (6) |
| ENERGY – N (new) goes in EER GY (an “excerpt” from pEER GYnt). Unusual clue, and very nice. | |
| 24 | Unusual all pea dish (6) |
| PAELLA – anagram (unusual) of ALL PEA | |
| Down | |
| 2 | Make happy when abolishing penny rent (5) |
| LEASE – PLEASE (make happy) when abolishing P (penny) | |
| 3 | Attlee maybe being merciful (7) |
| CLEMENT – double definition | |
| 4 | Endlessly carry small child (3) |
| TOT – TOTE (carry) “endlessly” | |
| 5 | Part of volume about crime in church establishment (9) |
| PARSONAGE – PAGE (part of volume) about ARSON (crime). LOI, which I found quite tricky for some reason. | |
| 6 | Director of public school in East End (5) |
| ARROW – HARROW (pronounced ‘ARROW in the East End) is our public school, distinguishing itself from Eton by teaching its pupils how not to piss on their hands (according to Churchill, anyway). | |
| 7 | Aunt Sal cooked dried fruit (7) |
| SULTANA – anagram (cooked) of AUNT SAL | |
| 11 | Scores holding African country ceremony (9) |
| FORMALITY – one score = twenty; two score = scores = FORTY (other multiples are available), which holds MALI (African country) | |
| 13 | Possibly hate having made changes to omit one (7) |
| EMOTION – anagram (having made changes to) OMIT ONE | |
| 15 | Book place to see game (7) |
| RESERVE – double definition, the second as in nature reserve. | |
| 17 | Bush senior (5) |
| ELDER – double definition. Very good! | |
| 19 | Preserve a lake waterway (5) |
| CANAL – CAN (preserve), A, L (lake) | |
| 22 | Pinch a drink (3) |
| NIP – double definition | |
Thrown by ‘over’ in 14a AIRWAY, thinking it would be ‘air’ over another three-letter word. Think it would have worked without it, so ‘where planes fly, area of golf course…’ but open to thoughts.
Everything else pretty straightforward except FORMALITY where I was slow to cotton on to ‘forty’ as scores.
COD to MAN-EATER.
Thanks roly and setter.
I agree it could work with out it, does that mean it *should*?
Is using extra words to finesse a surface or to misdirect a valid setting tactic?
My gut says yes
I absolutely agree. The surface of the clue should never be “obviously a crossword clue”, but should read smoothly in its own right. “Over” serves precisely that purpose here.
I biffed MAN-EATER and FOOTWEAR (never saw the anagram). I liked ENERGY; don’t think I’ve ever seen that kind of clue. Roly, you’ve got a typo at MAN-EATER: you meant ‘initially Met’. 6:32
Thanks, well spotted, will amend the blog.
ENERGY was indeed very clever, and also a new construction to me. Trying new tricks is an essential part of the setter’s armoury, but it needs to be done in a way that the solver can parse without undue difficulty. This filled the bill perfectly.
I had a complete nightmare finishing this one. I had completed all but 16ac within 10 minutes but then hit a wall. After another 10 minutes of no further progress I went away and did other things, but on my return I saw the answer immediately. I’m counting this as a 20 minute solve but adding a note to my records that this does not reflect the whole story.
From the intro I assume the Snitch analysis goes back to January 2022 as that’s the month in which its run of 94 Joker puzzles would have begun. He has actually given us 283 puzzles to date. Without checking the output of other long-term setters I can’t be sure whether that makes Joker the most prolific, but he’s certainly among the top two or three.
Ah yes, of course, 63 puzzles did seem a touch light – I was completely forgetting the snitch analysis was only for the last couple of years. Thanks for the stats, will amend the intro.
Ditto, left the puzzle 16a unsolved and alphabet trawled until reaching m! 20 minutes too.
7 minutes. Steady progress with no long delays though I can easily imagine being held up by MODERATE, as Jack was, on another day. Yes, I liked the “insertion in a hidden” ENERGY and my LOI FORMALITY.
Thanks to Joker and roly
You mean anagramming a hidden , right?
I thought the same as BR – N is inserted into a hidden
Got it, thanks
I parsed it as “new” meaning an anagram of an excerpt (drop first and last letters) from Peer Gynt…
A very enjoyable puzzle, which I completed in a sprightly 9:17 to continue my excellent run this week. The wordplay trick in the the clue for ENERGY, “excerpt from Peer Gynt” giving EERGY, was unusual and interesting – not sure I’ve seen that before in a QC. Otherwise no holdups.
Many thanks Roly for the blog.
Lots to enjoy in another speedy solve of 16.10
Started well in NE but had some flitting about to get another foothold. Thought of parsonage early on but couldn’t parse until it was obvious with all the crossers and the penny dropped.
COD to footwear, so well misdirected by a smooth surface, thanks Joker and Jack
IGNORANT and especially FOOTWEAR were both excellent anagrams,really quite shocked to see all the letters were there. A solid seven on the first pass of acrosses but still left with hard work to do to mop up with those two, FORMALITY, PRAISE and finally ELICIT all needing careful consideration. Good one! All green in 10.31.
After a slowish start this one didn’t put up too much resistance.
I was relieved/fortunate that SULTANA was an anagram because, left to my own devices, I would have spelt it with an extra ‘a’ and no ‘u’ – it’s one of those words I have a blind spot over regardless of how many times I see it.
Started with RULE and finished with MODERATE in 6.12 with COD to the clever ENERGY.
Thanks to Rolytoly and Joker
Right on the sweet spot for me, slightly chewy but never too frustrating, although MODERATE and PARSONAGE caused delays, even with all the other checkers. COD to ENERGY as a novel clue type for me.
NHO AIRWAY, so biffed taRmAc, hence stared at 5d for ages. Finally twigged reference to golf course, then it had to be LOI PARSONAGE, but thanks to Roly for explaining why. Those and MODERATE held me up, but otherwise it was a pleasurable breeze. Liked scores = 40.
I know what you mean about them seeming easier than you find them.
Nice puzzle; only ‘arrow’ for ‘director’ was not understood when putting in. 5:02.
Appalling- minimal -progress after on first run through of across clues, then a flurry filling NE corner – would have finished well out of the SCC (c 15m) were it not for 16a which for whatever reason took us minutes.. and minutes…>21.55m
Delightful puzzle. Thought 23a particularly clever.
Thank you Joker and rolytoly
Very satisfying. Some great anagrams, as others have said, especially FOOTWEAR. I liked ARROW and its clever use of director as the definition. 11:11.
A really fine offering from Joker that was practically the perfect QC. FOOTWEAR would have been COD on most occasions, but it was an honourable runner-up here.
FOI ELICIT
LOI FORMALITY
COD ENERGY
TIME 4:13
DNF. Breezeblocked by MODERATE. Took ages to see speed=rate, but just could not see mode=way. Went for TOLERATE as couldn’t make anything else fit. Also struggled with RESERVE.
African country, in a shortish clue, always try MALI.
7:09 (Offa of Essex and Coenred of Mercia both abdicate, and retire to Rome to become monks).
Good puzzle. No particular issues.
LOI was RESERVE.
Thanks Roly and Joker
7:24 for the solve. Easily my fastest Joker puzzle of the year. I thought the FOOTWEAR anagram was fab and was pleased to then get FORMALITY off just the initial F.
Re: the Quitch – I stated recently I feel average is more like 85-90. I appreciate the 100 is maths-based so must be accurate but I suspect the distribution of QC times is much narrower as it is predominantly based on the leaderboard of the best solvers who will all rip through it, error or not submit.
Thanks to Roly and Joker
Re re the quitch: yes good point, I think those elements definitely skew it up from around that 90 mark which does feel more like average. Very similar over on the 15x as well. And very nice solve btw!
Many answers went in quickly at first but I found this harder than most JOKERs. I biffed ENERGY, entered ARROW without much hope, and came to grief with MODERATE and PARSONAGE. DNF after I staggered into the SCC and retired to do other things.
Thanks, Joker and Roly (p.s. 5d really WAS tricky IMO).
A nice puzzle and another quickie for me, 5.56. Biffed ENERGY without fully reading the clue but that is, indeed, a neat construction. L2I were PRAISE and PARSONAGE. Thanks Joker and roly.
i enjoyed this – we seem to have had a run of sensible puzzles lately – thanks to all! I’m not sure what the fine points are as to whether an elder is a bush, a tree a shrub or all three. I’m only allowed to pick the ones that hang from what looks like a tree. The ones which look like they are sprouting on a bush (from the ground) are usually cow parsley and no use for elderflower recipes!
Biffed MAN-EATER as LOI, but plodded steadily through the rest to finish in 19:11.
I biffed “arrow” but why is it a synonym of “Director”?
It indicates the direction. Look out also for pointer.
Doh, of course it is!
Thank You
More biffing than usual (footwear, man-eater, energy) and came a cropper with governor for 16A which combined with trying to fit 11D over it caused me problems; got the forty bit but had Bali in mind but knew it was not in Africa. Got there in the end when reassessed 16A and avoided the Gates of SCC, for a change. Too early in the morning for me.
Thanks to Joker and Roly.
6:38
Slow start to this one meant I was always on the back foot, looking to pick up the easier answers. In the end, it didn’t turn out too bad, even though I did biff my LOI FOOTWEAR from the checkers, not having seen the anagram.
Thanks Roly and Joker
I also thought this was a really good puzzle. None of the unnecessary GK or other obscurities which I feel have spoilt so many QCs recently.
5:45 (okay, with one pink square due to the mistyped ARROO…)
8:57. Very nice. LOI PARSONAGE.
I’m a bit worried by the construction device of the ENERGY clue. Hiddens can be hard to see even when they are complete words; it will be even harder to spot a non-word string of letters, that then needs further processing. But we’ll see.
Thanks to Joker and Roly
A tricky one for me, delayed by PARSONAGE and PRAISE (and CEDE – once again, stumped by a hidden). Finally finished just outside the SCC in 19:11.
The point about average difficulty is an interesting one, and I agree that the “average” feels quite difficult. Possibly it’s pushed down by some of the extra-tough puzzles skewing the numbers?
Thank you for the blog!
I was very quick until I wasn’t. The four clues that held me up at the end were FOOTWEAR, FORMALITY, ENERGY (unusual device) and LOI MODERATE. 6:25 Thanks Roly.
For me this was the easiest Joker puzzle to date, and I fully expected most to be reporting a similar opinion. However, comments so far would suggest that this was not necessarily so, and so I assume I was just fully tuned into the Joker’s wavelength. I crossed the line in a fairly speedy 6.21, and although about a minute slower than yesterday, I’m more than happy that The Joker managed to put a smile on my face.
22:15
Well, that was frustrating. All done in 12 apart from LOI MODERATE. Thought speed might be pace but nothing seemed to fit so had to resort to an alphabet trawl, but with 4 unknown letters and plenty of words which fit (coverage, tolerate, etc) that took an age.