Solving time: 5:19
Hopefully, you didn’t find this puzzle too troubling – to me, it appeared to be of the ‘fairly gentle’ variety. My only issues were the spelling of 20a (DAEMONIC, DEMONAIC or DEMONIAC – luckily, the crossing words were all very helpful in confirming the correct configuration of letters), and some uncertainty over the existence of 1d – I had not heard this term before, but again, checking letters guided me to the right answer.
What did you make of it?
Definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [directions in square ones]. I have also adopted jackkt’s use of the tilde sign ~ to indicate an insertion point in containment clues.
| Across | |
| 1 | Choose the French preserves to have with meals (7) |
| PICKLES – PICK (Choose) LES (‘the’ in French i.e. plural definite article) | |
| 5 | Fellow in short section of book (4) |
| CHAP – CHAP{ter} (section of book) curtailed [short] | |
| 7 | Bedlam when odd characters get lost in wood (3) |
| ELM – Remove odd characters from |
|
| 8 | A squire frenziedly crossing river hunted animals (8) |
| QUARRIES – Anagram [frenziedly] of A SQUIRE containing [crossing] R (river) | |
| 10 | Jolly good supporter, very old (5) |
| BRAVO – BRA (supporter) V (very) O (old) | |
| 11 | Crucial point editor put about alcoholic drink (7) |
| DECIDER – ED (editor) reversed [put about], then CIDER (alcoholic drink)
I had sport in mind when thinking about ‘Crucial point’ e.g. in a tennis tie-breaker, or a soccer penalty shoot-out. |
|
| 13 | Understand fool (4,2) |
| TAKE IN – Double definition | |
| 15 | Sign he’s not found in Roget’s reference book? (6) |
| TAURUS – T{hes}AURUS (Roget’s reference book) without HE’S | |
| 17 | Illegal players? They know the ropes (7) |
| RINGERS – The second part of the clue alludes to bell RINGERS who will be familiar with bell ropes.
As for ‘Illegal players?’, in 16th century criminal slang, the practice of substituting items of wildly differing values was known as ringing the changes (a phrase derived from campanology) and those who practised this con were known as RINGERS. The term ringer also turned up in 19th century horseracing where, as well as referencing the conman fraudulently substituting a slow horse with a faster horse, the term also came to mean the substitute horse itself. The term dead ringer (with dead meaning ‘exact’), when the two horses looked identical, may also come from this source. Fast forward to the present day, where a ringer means a secret professional, or someone posing as an underdog but who actually dominates. I used to come across the occasional ringer in my cricketing days when a friendly fixture might become distinctly unfriendly if a ‘cousin’ of a member of the opposing team, making up the numbers, went in as a tailender and knocked off a quick half-century… |
|
| 18 | Sarah’s leading a dance (5) |
| SALSA – SAL‘S (diminutive of Sarah’s) ahead of [leading] A | |
| 20 | Dreadful comedian is possessed by the devil? (8) |
| DEMONIAC – Anagram [Dreadful] of COMEDIAN | |
| 22 | Some strange episode? Gosh! (3) |
| GEE – Hidden [Some] in strange episode | |
| 23 | Try turning creatures of the night back (4) |
| STAB – BATS (creatures of the night) reversed [turning….. or back]
Not sure why there are two reversal indicators here other than for surface reading |
|
| 24 | Setter atingle with excitement (7) |
| GELATIN – Anagram [with excitement] of ATINGLE | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Elders of church arranging best prayers — ace output! (10) |
| PRESBYTERS – Anagram [arranging] of BEST PR |
|
| 2 | Mark and maiden in state of unconsciousness (5) |
| COMMA – M (maiden – the abbreviation comes from the world of cricket) inserted into CO~MA (state of unconsciousness)
The tilde ~ suggests where to insert the M, but could also be inserted at COM~A |
|
| 3 | Something alcoholic, something very cold and sweet (9) |
| LIQUORICE – LIQUOR (Something alcoholic) ICE (something very cold) | |
| 4 | Tolerates provision for spectators at matches (6) |
| STANDS – Double definition
As for the second definition, they are still called STANDS, even though fans have been sitting down for years. The term STAND in this sense, originated in the 15th century, when elaborate structures were built for spectators at tournaments and jousts. These STANDS were usually made of wood and could accommodate a large number of people. Over time, the term came to be used for similar structures at other events, such as races, sports matches, and theatrical performances. |
|
| 5 | Vehicle is endless worry (3) |
| CAR – CAR{e} (worry) without its final letter [endless] | |
| 6 | Word of prayer associated with the German reformer? (7) |
| AMENDER – AMEN (Word of prayer) DER (“the” in German – masculine singular definite article) | |
| 9 | Maybe crab and tuna, scarce at sea (10) |
| CRUSTACEAN – Anagram [at sea] of TUNA SCARCE | |
| 12 | Conservative girl I term “mostly traditional”? (9) |
| CLASSICAL – C (Conservative) LASS (girl) I CAL{l} (term) with the final letter removed [mostly]
Today’s IKEA clue, where the quotation marks should not prevent you seeing the need to lift and separate… |
|
| 14 | Most compassionate type, English saint (7) |
| KINDEST – KIND (type) E (English) ST (saint) | |
| 16 | Making request in the role of monarch (6) |
| ASKING – AS KING (in the role of monarch) | |
| 19 | Torch, say, not hard to carry (5) |
| LIGHT – Double definition | |
| 21 | Part of regalia held by senior bishop (3) |
| ORB – Hidden [held by] in senior bishop | |
Unfortunately found this one very difficult. Lots of new stuff learnt from it, but could only figure out three quarters of it. Thank you for the blog 😁
I’m interested in which bits you didn’t get compared to me….north west was mostly blank in mine.
Majority of mine missing was in the South East, so the opposite side weirdly enough 😄
3:23. Very gentle for Izetti. I needed ASKING to determine the spelling of DEMONIAC, but otherwise flew through this.
In my haste (or not, depending on your usual time) to secure a sub-20, I opted for Runners at 17ac. It sort of works, but certainly not well enough to beat Ringers. It did at least allow dnk Presbyters to emerge, so a small consolation. Like Plett, I’ve also lived under the misapprehension that Quarry, in the animal sense, was also its own plural. Invariant
DNF
Frustrated by the DNK PRESBYTERS. Failed to remove the A and tried presbetary. Close, but nowhere near. The rest was easy enough and done in 12.
Dear Dearhector,
Just to say that I DNF’d in precisely the same way – PRESBeTaRy.
From PICKLES to GELATIN in 6:06. I paused to consider the spelling of DEMONIAC, and my only other hold up was where, like Phil, I had RIGGERS at 17a which conflicted with KINDEST, so I changed it to RINGERS. Both answers work but the crossing letter confirms which one is required. “A rigger or slinger is a skilled tradesperson who specializes in the assistance of manual mechanical advantage device comprising pulley, block and tackle or motorised such as a crane or derrick or chain hoists (chain fall) or capstan winch.” That seems to cover “knows the ropes.” Thanks Izetti and Mike.
First DNF in a while, frustratingly, just held off by RINGERS – not heard of the players, and the bell ringers never occurred to me. Couldn’t see ‘fool’ for TAKE IN either, as I was stuck on it as a noun, and hadn’t come across DEMONIAC, though filled those both in from the other parts. Thanks Izetti and Mike!
Thanks Izetti and Mike Harper.
COD 24a Gelatin. Super anagram.
13d Take in LOI, never thought of the verbal meaning.
DNF 17a Ringers. I lightly pencilled runners, who may be acting illegally, and nothing knocked it out, but the rope trick doesn’t work. Bother.
11:24, nice to see that Izetti is maintaining his merciful streak.
Thank you for the blog!
With the exception of carefully constructing PRESBYTERS (knew of presbyterian but not presbyter) I didn’t find the puzzle too troubling. I slowed a little approaching the finish line with LOsI KINDEST, TAKE IN and RINGERS. 6:34 Thanks Mike
Slightly disappointed to only get 19. All the east side. 1a I’m not a fan of anything involving vinegar. 1d I’m not a big fan of organised religion in any form and a bit of a philistine compared to the company here.
Pretty sure we’ve had setter for gelatin fairly recently.
Cod crustatian for me.
Not as easy as the past two days, but got through it in reasonable time. Mostly held up by not knowing presbyters despite it being an obvious anagram, I needed all the checkers to spell it right and even then I wasn’t sure.
Ringers is pretty well known as far as I’m concerned, thought it was a good clue actually. To call in a ringer is usually to get somebody from a higher league to come and play for your team for a big game, seen as unsportsmanlike or in fact banned in various sports/levels.
6.16 DNF. I seem to be alone in having carelessly put QUARRIED. Otherwise straightforward. Thanks Mike and Izetti.
I found this pretty straightforward for an Izetti puzzle, crossing the line in 11 minutes with everything parsed. I originally had ‘daemonic’ at 20ac but was forced into a rethink when ASKING appeared at 16dn. Apart from that no real problems.
FOI – 1ac PICKLES
LOI – 15ac TAURUS
COD – 17ac RINGERS
Thanks to Izetti and Mike
Dnk PRESBYTERS, apart from that smooth run, albeit RINGERS took a bit of time
Our ecclesiastical friend Izetti kindly set me on my way with the write-in PRESBYTERS. I did have to think some things over and was surprised at my sub-10 time of 9:26. Slow to recognize the anagram at CRUSTACEAN, great clue. I’m getting more than a bit tired of the BRA thing. Glad I didn’t think of RIGGERS, a good answer I’d say, with a kind crosser to help one out of it, but still….
Thanks Izetti and Mike.
8:43. I’ve always spelled LIQUORICE with a C and have never come across QUARRY in the plural. AMENDER was a favourite although a word never spotted in real life! Priest is connected etymologically with PRESBYTER.
ODE gives ‘quarries’ as the plural of ‘quarry’.
I’m confused – we’ve all spelled liquoriCe with a C, haven’t we? Or is liquorish an alternative?
I thought this was a reference to the common spelling of liquorice as ‘licorice’ in the US.
Inconsistent spelling imo because liquor has a q not a c in the US. But then, we Brits can hardly claim to be consistent in our spelling!
Ah confusion resolved. Thanks Blighter.
Nice time CO 👍
I say the sweet stuff has nothing to do with liquor but is eminently LICkable!
I enjoyed this on the whole.
NHO PRESBYTER but the crossers, and the anagrist, made it clear. After I looked up the definition, I realised my uncle is one (he described himself to me as a church elder last time I saw him when I was up in Fife).
RINGERS was no problem for me on the first meaning, having played a lot of amateur sport, mainly cricket and football where they are a frequent occurrence. I thought it must be bell ringers for the second, but found that a bit weak, in common with others.
I noticed a few debating the turning…back reversal indicator. My tuppence worth, as I commented above, is that “back” is needed to disambiguate which word to reverse, which I believe the QC makes a point of doing so that every clue can be solved without crossers.
It was ‘fairly gentle’ until I couldn’t get Ringers. Not into illegal sports or thinking about ringing church bells at 1 am. But enjoyable nonetheless.
All-bar-one done in just 15 minutes (super fast for me), but then I DNF’d after bunging in PRESBeTaRy in despair at 1d. I doubted my answer, of course, but had no idea what ‘ace output’ was doing in the clue and gave up after several futile minutes spent trying to work it out. DEMONIAC, whilst correct, was also a guess.
An enjoyable QC with a sour aftertaste.
Thanks to Mike and Izetti.
Enjoyable puzzle, which we did finish albeit with a little help with the anagrams. eg 1d presbyters
My first thought for DEMONIAC was DAEMONIC but fortunately ORB settled that. Not so RINGERS where I’d made a mess by biffing RULING at 16d, despite it having no connection to making a request! With the checkers I only knew RONDEAU that would fit 17a which made even less sense. Much headscratching before seeing the very familiar RINGERS, leading to a doh! moment for LOI ASKING. Still faster than average at 11:06 but I’d made unnecessarily hard work of it which took the edge off the enjoyment today. COD GELATIN. Thanks, Mike and Izetti.
Yes, a gentle puzzle, but a work of art in the smoothness of the clues. A pleasure to solve and to enjoy the construction of the clues. Thanks Izetti
Yes, a gentle puzzle, but a work of art in the smoothness of the clues. A pleasure to solve and to enjoy the construction of them. Thanks Izetti
25 mins…
Probably me, but I found this on the harder side. Far too much time spent on trying to work out 1dn “Presbyters” and 20ac “Demoniac” – the latter mainly because my “O” in “Orb” looked more like a “D” (the one disadvantage of using a pen/paper is occasionally not being able to read your own handwriting).
FOI – 5ac “Chap”
LOI – 20ac “Demoniac”
COD – 2dn “Comma”
Thanks as usual!
10 mins.
Spent well over an hour on 15 x 15.
Thanks for the blog.
I really enjoyed this gentler Izetti and completed it fairly quickly, for me. I, then, saw the setter’s name on this blog, went back to see how long I’d taken and it was 15 min 10 sec.
Content with that.
Rather late, I know. “Ringing” or “car ringing” is a term used in the UK to describe a type of vehicle fraud where a stolen car’s identity is altered to match that of a legitimate, usually written-off, vehicle”