New setter today, and a fine maiden outing.
Lots to like in this well-pitched debut from Jet Lag. It might be bolstered by seeing a new name atop the puzzle, but it had a breezy fresh feel to it, and I enjoyed the slightly different slant on some familiar clue types. Very light on anagrams (a mere two, right down at the bottom of the downs), and some lovely surfaces kept things entertaining (my favourite being the mysterious 12ac).
Around average difficulty with a couple of spicier things thrown in: I clocked in at 7:48, a touch quicker than the last couple of days.
Much enjoyed – many thanks to Jet Lag!
| Across | |
| 1 | Start to generate a little illumination (8) |
| GASLIGHT – G (“start” to Generate), A, SLIGHT (little) | |
| 5 | Just beautiful (4) |
| FAIR – double definition | |
| 8 | It’s unimportant what characterises a vacuum (2,6) |
| NO MATTER – double definition | |
| 9 | Initially, Forster may cut novel (4) |
| EMMA – E.M. are the initials of Forster, MA |
|
| 11 | Meagre score in skittles (5) |
| SPARE – double definition | |
| 12 | In the morning, catching companion opening letters? (7) |
| ACRONYM – AM (in the morning) catching CRONY (companion) | |
| 13 | A puzzle mostly concerning part of South America (6) |
| AMAZON – A, MAZ |
|
| 15 | Pack animal roughly east of mountain area (6) |
| ALPACA – CA. (roughly) east of ALP (mountain) A (area) | |
| 18 | Constantly established high point (7) |
| EVEREST – EVER (constantly) EST. | |
| 19 | Cast finished broadcast (5) |
| THREW – when spoken, or broadcast, sounds the same as THROUGH (finished). LOI, as I dithered over an unparsable THROW. | |
| 21 | Existential statement has at first mystified prayer leader (4) |
| IMAM – I AM (existential statement) has/eats M (“at first” Mystified) | |
| 22 | Pirate finished after char (3,5) |
| SEA ROVER – OVER (finished) after SEAR (char) | |
| 23 | Three attempt taking ecstasy (4) |
| TREY – TRY (attempt) taking E. The three in cards – and dice, according to Chambers, indeed “anything with a value of three.” | |
| 24 | Range of capabilities initially seen in piece of cookware (5,3) |
| SKILL SET – S (“initially” Seen) in SKILLET (piece of cookware) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Feeling angst about embracing hardcore rapper (7) |
| GANGSTA – is “embraced” by feelinG ANGST About | |
| 2 | Samuel and couple from Bath dance (5) |
| SAMBA -SAM and BA (“couple” from BA |
|
| 3 | Content to join them, one year, enjoying wealth (2,3,5) |
| IN THE MONEY – the “content” to joIN THEM ONE Year | |
| 4 | African scavengers laugh about hunger strike primarily (6) |
| HYENAS – HA (laugh) about YEN (hunger) and S (“strike” primarily) | |
| 6 | Country song engages roughly half the population (7) |
| ARMENIA – ARIA (song) engages MEN (roughly half the population) | |
| 7 | Actual beginning of Mongol Empire (5) |
| REALM – REAL (actual) M (“beginning” of Mongol) | |
| 10 | Subsequently going through ordeal with three participants (10) |
| TRILATERAL – LATER (subsequently) going through TRIAL (ordeal) | |
| 14 | Okay, state how old you are (7) |
| AVERAGE – to AVER AGE would be to state how old you are. | |
| 16 | Two-star novel — no less than that (2,5) |
| AT WORST – anagram (novel) of TWO STAR | |
| 17 | Run of luck confused skater (6) |
| STREAK – anagram (confused) of SKATER | |
| 18 | Rising trend to accept Conservative decree (5) |
| EDICT – TIDE (trend) “rising”, accepts C(onservative) | |
| 20 | Wanders through woods without leader (5) |
| ROVES – gROVES (woods) without “leader” | |
Dnf…
Probably in a minority, but I found this hard. Maybe the realisation it was a new setter created a sense of mild anxiety that befuddled my brain, but after 20 mins, I still didn’t have half of the grid. Upon reflection, nothing was too difficult (although I didn’t know “Trey”) so maybe it was just a fresh way of presenting the clues. Anyway, welcome to Jet Lag.
FOI – 1ac “Gaslight”
LOI – Dnf
COD – 24ac “Skill Set”
Thanks as usual!
Similar in difficulty to yesterday’s in my opinion, where my finishing time of 10.55 was a little above target. As others have noted, an adjustment is needed to get used to a new setters style, and this can affect times. Congratulations though to Jet Lag on a splendid first offering, I certainly enjoyed it.
Sometimes you need the most obscure sources of information to solve a clue, and the only reference I knew of the word TREY was from the lyrics of a dreadful pop song from the sixties I think called ‘Deck of Cards’ by Wink Martindale (what a name!). The story told in the lyric refers to an American soldier caught playing cards during a church service. He explains the cards are his bible, and each card reminds him of his religion. From memory I think he says something along the lines of ‘and when I see the trey, I think of the holy trinity, the father, the son and the Holy Ghost’.
Wow, what a memory! I think I must have heard that song too. I do hope he was really playing cards but had a well-rehearsed excuse!
I was defeated by ALPACA. I knew there were three Andean pack animals and llama and vicuña came straight to mind. The third eluded me completely and I couldn’t get anywhere with donkeys, mules or even yaks. Gave up once I reached 30 minutes as I usually do. I couldn’t parse GANGSTA or HYENAS but managed everything else.
FOI – 5ac FAIR
LOI – DNF
COD – 9ac EMMA
Thanks and welcome to Jet Lag and thanks to Rolytoly for the much-needed blog.
Enjoyable, but very tricky to finish. 45+ minutes for me, so definitely a tough day.
I couldn’t parse GANGSTA, IMAM, TREY or AT leaST (until I realised what the correct answer should be). I also had ROamS (instead of ROVES) for quite a while, which made SEA ROVER (is that a real term?) even harder to find.
Many thanks to Rolytoly and Jet Lag.
P.S. Given that AT WORST could also mean ‘no more than that’ (e.g. the number of strokes taken in a round of golf), shouldn’t the clue have finished with a question mark?
Finished correctly in 50 minutes.
Slightly easier than yesterday’s puzzle, though still quite tough I thought.
I liked 15 Across – ALPACA. It took me longer than it should have. I like alpacas – there is an alpaca farm near me where I have walked with the alpacas.
22 Across SEA ROVER. Not heard this term before, but got this maybe due to a half remembered line of poetry :
“To the gull’s way and the whale’s way where the wind’s like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover”
I found this pretty clever and rather hard, finishing in 17:54. Lovely hiddens, as others have mentioned.
Thank you for the blog!
24.12 DNF. Slow throughout. I thought of GANGSTA and then spent a very long time spotting the hidden. SPARE took a few more minutes and I received a well-deserved pink square for a biffed THROW. Thanks rolytoly and Jet Lag.
I found this tough, but enjoyable. I needed aids for the last couple. Took around 48 mins.
Several words/ meanings new to me: TREY, SPARE, SEA ROVER, though I found the first was clear from word play. SPARE was guessed. I checked SEA ROVER was a pirate which then opened up ROVES which took longer than it should.
I spent ages thinking of letters as post so ACRONYM was LOI.
COD ARMENIA Very clever.
I felt I was on Jet Lag’s wavelength for this QC, but my lack of knowledge about pirates and skittles tripped me up.
Thanks Jet Lag and Roly.
Another one who thought this was tough, though I wouldn’t have said out of place for a QC, just at the high end. NHO SEA ROVER or TREY, but they were gettable so that’s okay. Thanks to Ham above for sharing the info on where the term SPARE in skittles came from. Presumably, the origin of spare in bowling is the same, and when they switched to only having two balls, instead of putting the pins up again when you’ve knocked them all down and getting another go with your third/spare ball, you just get the first ball of your next turn counting twice. Anyway, most enjoyable, COD to IN THE MONEY, Time: 40:09. Thanks Jet Lag and Roly.
Excellent debut puzzle perfectly pitched (in my opinion) for a quick cryptic. Plenty to think about and it took me half an hour with a lot of head scratching, especially the S E corner which held me up but on reflection shouldn’t have been that difficult. How many seven letter countries starting and ending in A – I got to four before the right one came along! Thanks Jet Lag for a very enjoyable puzzle and Roly for the blog – I didn’t notice the hidden GANGSTA
37:10
I found that well beyond average, with the RHS particularly challenging. A real grind. LOI EMMA.
12:55. Luckily GANGSTA was a hidden as the term I know from the homies I pass the crack pipe around with is GANGSTRA.
11:27
Decent start but couldn’t keep up the pace – trying to shoehorn an F into the novel, and being baffled in the SE corner until AT WORST went in, after which the rest caved. New setter, new mindset, you’ll get used to it.
Thanks Roly and Jet Lag
Overall, we found this hard work. NHO SEA ROVER, TRILATERAL, GANGSTA — knew trey. ARMENIA was achingly slow to arrive, though not unfair… we were just slow. A PDM. Am sure a new setter brings a new flavour and we perhaps just need to familiarise ourselves with the taste! So thank you, fresh and different always welcome.
Can someone please explain the role of ‘finished’ in 19a ( Cast finished broadcast)?
Welcome JetLag and thank you Roly ( we, like many, failed to spot the hiddens).
Roly has it covered in his blog. THREW (cast) sounds like [broadcast] ‘through’ (finished) – over and done with.
28 minutes.
Another nightmare. Spent 2 hours yesterday reading the Chambers Crossword Manual and this is the result!
I am utterly incapable of doing cryptics in any kind of time that will make me happy. I try and try, and get absolutely nowhere. I don’t know why I bother.
At some point you need to recognise there is no time that will make you happy. Every time you set a PB, you will just want a faster time. Even if you were the fastest solver in the world, you would discover at that moment, just like so many Olympic gold medal winners that happiness isn’t gained from a particular achievement. Look inwards to uncover the source of your unhappiness rather than out there to find happiness.
Thanks New Driver. I take your point.
Good advice, N D.
Very wise words, very well said.
Don’t be hard on yourself. You finished in 28 minutes, which is a good time. Many others took longer, and several did not finish.
Thanks ALFWEARD, I appreciate your comments.
That was hard for a QC. Some unfamiliar words – TREY, SEA ROVER – and some tough cluing – ACRONYM, GANGSTA. But at 27:18 I still took longer than I should have. Enjoyable all the same and hoping to do better with the next Jet Lag offering.
A toughie for me. 27:27 with aids (which I allow myself after 20 minutes). Never spotted that IN THE MONEY was a hidden. Hard to pick a COD among many good ones, giving it to SKILL SET by a nose.
Thanks to Roly and Jet Set.
7:08
Thank you Jet Lag for an excellent debut.
Got GASLIGHT straight off and it all flowed towards LOI ACRONYM without spotting the companion, but it had to be.
Thanks all.
Just couldn’t let go of cleaner for char. Don’t think I was quite in Jet Lag’s wavelength. Did enjoy solving eventually sea rover. The others I liked were trilateral, skill set, Everest, in the money. The Ten pin bowling spare score didn’t strike because I thought par was the score somehow in SE for skittles . Thanks all!
Struggled mightily on 15 x 15.
Only 12 in well over on hour. Had parts of other answers but unable to see the whole picture. Very tough for me.
Thanks to rolytoly and welcome to Jet Lag.
Slightly unusual feel to this one, not especially hard but some new ideas and styles, some causing pause.
DNK 11a Spare in the skittles sense, but the wordplay made it 90% and the 3 checkers 100%.
19a Threw. Good one; I too puzzled awhile at Throw as the answer.
22a Sea Rover, not familiar, just a vague inkling. Added to Cheating Machine.
23a Trey, tricky!
1d Gangsta. Good job this has appeared before or I wouldn’t have thought gangsta was a word. Nor does Microsoft Note.
3d In the money, biffed; I assumed it was an anagram as I could see a lot of anagrist and passed blithely on. I often miss hiddens, and this was a good one. HiddenS added to CM as Wiktionary has it as a noun, relevant in crosswording. Crosswording (noun, uncountable) added too.
Quite a toughie but very nice to have a new setter – gets the grey cells working. Couldn’t parse HYENAS and mis-parsed THREW. I thought it was a triple definition with broadcast meaning ‘scattered’ or ‘thrown’, and finished in the sense ‘threw the towel in’ – very convoluted! 😆 COD ACRONYM. Thanks roly and welcome Jet Lag.
I’m another who found this very tricky – Jet Lag certainly has a very individual style which I hope to get to grips with in due course!
No chance of a sonic boom today. I stopped after 20 minutes, which is my usual cut-off point with 7 – yes 7 – to go, but I decided I couldn’t give in, so returned to try a couple more. To my surprise, I got them in all in less than five minutes. (Yes, I know some people could have done two whole ones of these in those 5 minutes!)
So at least it wasn’t a DNF, but I had a nice respite in the SCC.
The biggie is proving to be a bit of a challenge too 😅
25 minutes in two sessions FOI Fair LOI Amazon
Thanks Jet Lag (cool name) and Roly
Blimey the SCC is blessed with a rare appearance!
The value of taking a break is much underrated by many – and I think when you’re a decent solver (as you are) just an extra checker is enough to unlock the block.
Well, I’d be in the SCC rather more often if I didn’t bail out after 20 minutes 😂 Perhaps I should be more determined and stick it out for at least half an hour when I get stuck!
You’re right about taking a break – it does help clear a clogged up brain! Well, sometimes anyway 😉
I just gave the 15×15 a go and reached my last pair in an hour (persistence!) but couldn’t unlock them. Had another one wrong but it’s good to be pushed.
Easy in retrospect to appreciate it was a new setter as it had a fresh feel to it with some unusual answers as others have pointed out. We found it rather tricky, finally putting in LOI ACRONYM at 17:12. We were slow seeing the hiddens but thought they were particularly fine examples esp. 3d. Welcome, Jet Lag! Thanks too to Rolytoly.
10:25 with ACRONYM my LOI. Very good puzzle, liked MEN for “roughly half the population” and a few others eg ALPACA were cleverly constructed
Congrats to the new setter and thanks to todays blogger
A long time and a lot of biffing so thanks to rolytoly for the explanations. Not on Jet Lag’s wavelength (yet).
I enjoyed this. Struggled a bit initially but went away and came back to it and it all fell into place
Welcome Jet Lag and thanks blogger. I also struggled initially but as the answers filled in I began to enjoy the style. I thought 12 across and 3 down really clever clues.
Look forward to your next offering Jet Lag.
Oh dear. Got 5 clues yesterday. Came back today hoping to be more inspired and got another 5. Read the blog and realised that this resident of the SCC would never have finished this puzzle.