My third Mara in a row, a blogger’s hat trick. Starstruck’s “setter difficulty” table gives Mara an average rating of 91, and true to form the last two QUITCH scores were 100 and 83. I solved this one in 08:20, a fraction below my average, so I suspect it will score in the 90s. But if you got 1d quickly (I didn’t) it could go a lot faster.
Lots of fun with a couple of outstanding clues, I thought, at 8a and 18a. Thank you, Mara.
Definitions underlined in bold.
| Across | |
| 7 | Try dissent, ultimately, for red card (5) |
| HEART – HEAR [try, as in what judges do – hear/try a case] + T [dissent, ultimately]. | |
| 8 | Roasting is what it is — ace! (7) |
| HOTSHOT – HOT’S HOT [roasting is what it is]. A brilliant clue and COD from me, bravo. I needed all the checkers. | |
| 10 | Instinctive turn, a lad briefly bamboozled (7) |
| NATURAL – anagram [bamboozled] of “turn a la{d}” – removal of the final “d” of “lad” is shown by “lad briefly“. | |
| 11 | Fly from central Germany initially, then east (5) |
| MIDGE – I got a bit tangled on this because I thought the M was “central Germany”, and then couldn’t parse the rest. Eventually I saw that it was MID [central] + G [Germany initially] + E [east]. I’m off to spend August in the Highlands and the word MIDGE does not fill me with joy. | |
| 12 | Something in back of car, fat round the middle (5,4) |
| SPARE TYRE – double definition. Lots of cars now come without a spare tyre to save money: you just get a can of foam to inflate the flat enough to limp home. | |
| 14 | Hardened lot (3) |
| SET – double definition. | |
| 15 | Some priceless diamonds (3) |
| ICE – hidden [some] in “priceless”. | |
| 16 | Make a contribution soon and debit sorted (2,4,3) |
| DO ONES BIT – anagram [sorted] of “soon” and “debit”. | |
| 18 | Playwright partial to Osborne’s big retrospective (5) |
| IBSEN – a reverse hidden [partial … retrospective] in “Osborne’s big”. Another excellent clue: what a surface. Henrik Ibsen was an outstanding C19 Norwegian dramatist; A Doll’s House remains one of the most performed plays in the world. | |
| 20 | Follower bitter perhaps about job (7) |
| APOSTLE -ALE [bitter perhaps] going round [about] POST [job]. “Apostle” comes from the Latin for having been sent out, rather than following, so I did pause over the definition but Chambers has “any enthusiastic champion or supporter of a cause, belief, etc” and a supporter is a follower, so fair enough. | |
| 22 | Refined bloke, slippery character? (7) |
| GENTEEL – GENT [bloke] + EEL [slippery character]. | |
| 23 | Proper choice at junction? (5) |
| RIGHT – definition with a cryptic hint. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Holiday, time with actor Tom, generous (12) |
| THANKSGIVING – my LOI. I wasn’t sure which end the definition was, and for “actor Tom” I couldn’t get Mr Cruise out of my head. And it’s an American holiday, so it doesn’t really count anyway (I’m not bitter). It goes T [time] + HANKS [actor Tom, very good] + GIVING [generous]. | |
| 2 | Drat! Gear ruined clothing business (3,5) |
| RAG TRADE – anagram [ruined] of “drat gear”. Punctuation in a clue is almost invariably designed to distract and mislead. | |
| 3 | Celebrity’s heavenly body (4) |
| STAR – double definition. | |
| 4 | Cold spice, we hear? (6) |
| CHILLY – definition with a cryptic hint. The “chilly”/”chili/chilli” joke is so old that it goes back at least to 1847, when it appeared in Chapter 3 of “Vanity Fair” (Thackeray) – ““A chili,” said Rebecca, gasping. “Oh yes!” She thought a chili was something cool, as its name imported, and was served with some. “How fresh and green they look,” she said, and put one into her mouth. It was hotter than the curry; flesh and blood could bear it no longer.” | |
| 5 | Charge made, pets treated (8) |
| STAMPEDE – anagram [treated] of “made pets”. | |
| 6 | Drop off cabin (4) |
| SHED – double definition. | |
| 9 | Score after score, crystal clear (6-6) |
| TWENTY-TWENTY – as in 20/20 vision. A “score” is of course “twenty”. | |
| 13 | Foot and spleen put at risk (8) |
| ENDANGER -END [foot, as in the last part of something] + ANGER [spleen]. Tricky. | |
| 14 | Tea bag so damaged in act of destruction (8) |
| SABOTAGE – anagram [damaged] of “tea bag so”. Very neat. | |
| 17 | Zero improve — how might medicine be taken? (6) |
| ORALLY – O [zero] + RALLY [improve – the patient rallied a little today]. | |
| 19 | Dip in last of liquids, coloured fluid (4) |
| SINK – S [last of liquids] + INK [coloured fluid]. | |
| 21 | Monster or ghoul, rather eerie originally (4) |
| OGRE – first letters [originally] of “or ghoul, rather eerie”. | |
I was going quite well until my last three (MIDGE, DO ONES BIT and ENDANGER) which took me to the 20 minute mark. I couldn’t parse MIDGE thinking that central Germany was represented only by the ‘m’. For DO ONES BIT I couldn’t see the anagrist for some reason and for ENDANGER I failed to equate spleen with anger.
FOI – 7ac HEART
LOI – 13dn ENDANGER
COD – 8ac HOTSHOT. Also liked THANKSGIVING which I biffed with a few crossers in place and then parsed.
Thanks to Mara and Templar
Around 16m – Another day happily well clear of the SCC.
What a clever puzzle!
Very much enjoyed, we had nearly all by 12 minutes then took way too long to equate HEAR with TRY and to nut out ENDANGER. PDMs x 2. Fixation on Mr Cruise also slowed progress a little.
Many lovely clues, many smiles – though COD in our humble opinion must go to THANKSGIVING.
Thank you Mara and Templar!
I enjoyed this.
I found down clues easier, and I also insisted on trying to make M the centre of Germany, but I eventually got there in just under 30mins.
Thanks Mara and Templar
A chewier one today, but nothing unfair, although I was worried about HOTSHOT for a bit and never properly parsed it. LOI was DO ONE’S BIT. The use of ONE’S often holds me up as I naturally say ‘your’, although I think one has started to use one occasionally in recent years as I have become (slightly) more proficient at these. COD to HEART. Time 22:35. Thanks Mara and Templar.
30:44
Despite the slow time, I loved this.
Putting pen to paper for THANKSGIVING helped, biffed MIDGE (sharing Templar’s original logic) but my 2 COD’s and LOI pulled me well into the SCC.
FOI: SPARE TYRE
LOI: TWENTY TWENTY
COD’s: HOTSHOT & APOSTLE
A big thanks to Mara & Templar
Very enjoyable and mostly doable with a little prodding. Just had to give up at the end cause I couldn’t see the right double definition for shed, and couldn’t solve midge either. Was convinced that central Germany would be the M I had at the start, was never going to think of mid for central.
6.41 Another simple one though I biffed HOTSHOT at the end and parsed it afterwards. Thanks Templar and Mara.
All correct, without a single wrong letter for once, in 20 minutes. Very enjoyable solve and as others, was looking for a holiday with Cruise in it!! Like Templar, I can’t understand why modern cars don’t have a spare tyre – a bit similar to removing the hard shoulder on a motorway. Because both are rarely used doesn’t mean that they will no longer be required!! Thank you Mara and Templar.
Some cars do have a ‘temporary’ spare tyre. Mine does, anyway, and I have been obliged to use it twice recently, thanks to pothole punctures.
Mine too, they are rubbish. But it gets you home legally, whereas few tyre failures are recoverable with a can of that foamy stuff; usually the carcase is dangerous and could easily get you a licence endorsement even if the foam works.
I agree, strongly, about the need for both a spare tyre and a hard shoulder.
The spare tyre and tyre cover are items I source, as soon as I buy a car, but the hard shoulder is more challenging.
Enjoyable and quick. Comments lost twice. Third go. Thanks, Templar.
A quick start over in the NW, with Thanksgiving my third write‐in after Heart and Star. The NE corner however was a different kettle of fish later on, with Shed, CoD Midge (wonderful misdirection from Mara) and loi Hotshot (meh) combining to deny me the chance of a window seat. And to cap that, my back aches like mad after too much diy yesterday. Not a good day, but thanks for the blog, Templar. Invariant
Tom Cruise did not help otherwise dismal effort
DNF. Completely beaten by HOTSHOT (a very weird clue) and SHED. Untimed, but probably around the 45 minute mark when I gave up. So, a tough day here and, I’m not sure why, I didn’t really enjoy the journey. Best to forget and look forward to tomorrow.
Many thanks to Templar.
18 mins…
A good cocktail of tricky clues I think. With only a few checkers, I nearly biffed “Cruiselining” for 1dn, thinking the actor was the legend and maverick that is Tom Cruise. I might be in the minority, but I think that was a great piece of misdirection by Mara. Luckily, I avoided oblivion, and subsequent collateral damage on the grid, by keeping my eyes wide open for the rest of the puzzle.
FOI – 3dn “Star”
LOI – 7ac “Heart”
COD – 1dn “Thanksgiving”
Thanks as usual!
PS Anyone else having issues accessing the site?
Yes!
Yes
14:23. I took a long time to get a start on this on. SPARE TYRE was my FOI, and only 3 more acrosses came on the first pass. Fortunately the downs were more tractable. COD to THANKSGIVING, which is also my favorite holiday. (It felt all wrong to use the British spelling of “favourite” when praising Thanksgiving!)
Thanks to Mara and Templar.
Thanks to Templar for explaining the clue for Hotshot. Still, this was a fair QC.
I got midge quick enough because I see swarms of them in my long park walks.
I was also held up briefly by shed because I just couldn’t see a hospitable cabin as my own garden shed.
Stumped by 1d, otherwise a fairly quick solve for us. Thanksgiving as a holiday is bound to cause comment.
Well over 20 mins but a finish with Endanger being my LOI. I panic when I see foot because of those strange terms relating to poetry.
Very slow start with 12a being FOI. After that the across clues got easier as were most of the downs. Never parsed Hotshot. But easy enough to put in.
Thanks Mara and Templar
Solved in just under 23 minutes, a very good time by my standards. COD: “HOTSHOT”. LOI: “HEART”. Thanks, Mara and Templar.
Done on my phone in a noisy coffee shop. Not nearly as enjoyable as at home on my trusty iPad. Some fantastic clues which were biffed then parsed (ENDANGER, HOTSHOT, THANKSGIVING), however it was HEART that took the longest to solve – no idea why! COD MIDGE. Many thanks Mara and Templar.
I don’t know whether to say 18 done or five not done. Of the 18 probably a third were bifd or semi bifd. I lose a few seconds selecting the largest typeface on my phone. Today I got mostly downs first, about seven and one across. Then put the phone down for an hour or two, came back to it and got 10 more in about 15 minutes.
And I’m feeling better today thankfully.
I had a rough night but I’m definitely better than I was yesterday.
I’d say 18 done! Glad you’re feeling a little better.
That’s a very good score, well done! Chin up and don’t forget to drink plenty of whisky, which cures everything.
I was a Brandy man myself. Not had any alcohol since January 2023. Originally that was for fitness but it’s because it doesn’t mix well with my medications.
STIs are a side effect of paraplegia particularly spinal cord injuries, something to do with inserting a catheter five or six times a day. Complications from a UTI leading to Sepsis are the main cause of death in spinal cord injury patients, so my medical brother-in-law informed me early days. All that from just riding a racing bike at 72 🙂 I was quite good at it for my age 😉
20a Apostle; DNK def as someone sent out so biffed it in happy ignorance.
1d Thanksgiving, I too was fixated on Tom Cruise, so not a quick one.
4d ChillY, unlike vinyl1 I put chilli, until the spare tYre put it right. Paused for a moment in case it was a US spare tire, like AndyPandy.
5d Stampede; was pursuing fees for ages.
CODs 8a Hotshot and 11a Midge.
My thanks to Mara and Templar.
What a twit! I put CHILLI in, being a bit annoyed by the US spelling of TYRE, only to discover that it was me who was in the wrong 😭 I just didn’t read the clue properly.
I’m clearly in the minority, as I didn’t much care for HOTSHOT, although I can see it’s a clever (too clever?) clue. The actor Tom I first thought was Hardy, who I think we had here recently.
Otherwise not much to report – I thought this was fine, I particularly liked IBSEN, and GENTEEL made me giggle.
8:38 but WOE FOI Heart LOI Hotshot COD Midge
Thanks Mara and Templar
I was convinced MIDGE was MANGE (centre and initial of Germany) although that’s a mite not a fly. Just couldn’t get hotshot, great clue.
5:42
Pretty gentle.
Thanks Templar and Mara
6:55 and our fastest for quite a while. Incidentally saw that mohn did this in 1:30! Incredible. I’m not sure I could type it in that quickly even if I knew all the answers. Like others, liked HOTSHOT and MIDGE. Thanks, Templar and Mara.
11 mins for QC.
Flying on 15 x 15 and then hit a brick wall as my usual incompetence came to the fore. Several answers incomplete after well over an hour.
How can I be doing so well and then so badly? Having read blog, I had at least three answers that I didn’t insert as I couldn’t parse them – idiot, idiot, idiot!!!!
Another day to forget (as usual). I’m not enjoying the journey.
8:24. I rather liked this one, HOTSHOT and IBSEN were both rather good, with lots more to like.
Like others, we were stuck on Tom ( Shout out for Tom CHAMBERS who was stuck in my head) so 1D LOI. 6D dropped easily as when we replaced our grotty old shed with an upmarket version, it seemed a crime to call it a SHED so it became our CABIN! HOT SHOT was also NFPd.