Solving time: 5:24
A more relaxed solve than last time round – no mice in the jaws of death required rescuing – Teazel has served up a QC puzzle that should please many if not most.
How was it for you?
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 | Showy performances that may be right in front of your eyes (10) |
| SPECTACLES – Gently cryptic second half of clue i.e. if you are wearing SPECTACLES, they may be right in front of your eyes. | |
| 8 | Sailor to obtain mark (6) |
| TARGET – TAR (Sailor) GET (obtain) | |
| 9 | Motorist’s club (6) |
| DRIVER – Double definition | |
| 10 | Delighted PM losing stone (4) |
| GLAD – GLAD William Ewart Gladstone (Liberal) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom for 12 years, spread over four non-consecutive terms, between 1868 and 1894. |
|
| 11 | Deceives girl about principal role (8) |
| MISLEADS – MIS~S (girl) about LEAD (principal role) | |
| 12 | Gun shot by billiards player (6) |
| CANNON – Double definition
A CANNON in billiards involves striking the cue ball so that it hits, in any order, the other cue ball and the red ball on the same shot, earning the player 2 points. |
|
| 14 | Not all crews naturally returning solution (6) |
| ANSWER – Reverse [returning] hidden [Not all] in crews naturally | |
| 16 | Rejected beer, duff brewing (8) |
| REBUFFED – Anagram [brewing] of BEER DUFF | |
| 18 | Be depressed by exercise after very short time (4) |
| MOPE – MO (very short time i.e. short for ‘moment’) followed by PE (exercise i.e. Physical Education acronym) | |
| 20 | Uniform, black, fit for work (6) |
| USABLE – U (Uniform – NATO phonetic alphabet) SABLE (black)
SABLE can be a noun meaning the color black; a marten with a short tail and dark brown fur, native to Japan and Siberia; or the marten’s fur. |
|
| 21 | Shaving match involving two people, we hear (6) |
| PARING – Homophone [we hear] of PAIRING (match involving two people) | |
| 22 | Excited lad married fluttery little thing (3,7) |
| RED ADMIRAL – Anagram [Excited] of LAD MARRIED | |
| Down | |
| 2 | Piece of wisdom is a gem (5) |
| PEARL – A piece of wisdom may also be called a ‘pearl of wisdom’
“Pearls of wisdom” are valuable comments or pieces of advice that are considered wise and insightful, often shared by experienced individuals. Should a PEARL be considered a gem? While pearls are not classified as traditional gemstones since they are formed inside living molluscs, they are still regarded as precious gems due to their unique formation and market value. Pearls are composed of calcium carbonate and are widely appreciated for their beauty and rarity (approximately 1 in 10000 oysters contains a PEARL). |
|
| 3 | Charlie, very old at home, unable to get out (5,2) |
| CAGED IN – C (Charlie – NATO phonetic alphabet) AGED (very old) IN (at home) | |
| 4 | A foot to the rear (3) |
| AFT – A FT (foot – standard abbreviation) | |
| 5 | Personal servant’s dismal day, running around (5,4) |
| LADY’S MAID – Anagram [running around] of DISMAL DAY | |
| 6 | Pinch small tissue (5) |
| SWIPE – S (small) WIPE (tissue) | |
| 7 | Require half lens for one with small eye (6) |
| NEEDLE – Mildly cryptic definition. NEED (Require) and half of LE{ns} | |
| 11 | Staffs playing area in Notts town (9) |
| MANSFIELD – MANS (Staffs) FIELD (playing area)
Just up the road from Nottingham. |
|
| 13 | Maintains energy, being antagonistic (6) |
| AVERSE – AVERS (Maintains) E (energy) | |
| 15 | Japanese fighter, one with a curious case of arms raised (7) |
| SAMURAI – I (one) A RUM (curious) then end letters [case] of A{rm}S all reversed [raised] | |
| 17 | Brownish lead extracted from estuary (5) |
| UMBER – First letter (lead) removed [extracted] from Originating in the 1560s from French ombre or Italian ombra, both from Latin umbra meaning “shade,” umber is a dark brown earthy pigment. |
|
| 19 | Deadpan gangster carrying heavy knife (5) |
| PANGA – Hidden [carrying] in Deadpan gangster
The Panga is a heavy-duty machete, popular in Africa and the Caribbean, designed for tough cutting tasks, and characterised by its deep belly and curved blade.
|
|
| 21 | Irish party up for dessert (3) |
| PUD – DUP (Irish party i.e. Democratic Unionist Party acronym) reversed [up]
‘up’ is apposite as this is a down clue. |
|
13 minutes. Same experience as Templar re S_I_E. Did the full alpha trawl all the way through to W which was very frustrating. Otherwise not too difficult though SAMURAI was entered first, parsed later.
Thanks to Teazel and Mike
At 10:45, by far my fastest solve for one of Teazel’s offerings (I think 14:01 was my previous best for him) and my 17th fastest ever. Got most first time round and only really held up by my last three: SWIPE, CANNON and AVERSE. I was wondering why billiards cropped up in crosswords far more often than the (to me at least) far more familiar snooker. I thought it might be a class thing, especially as I am reading a book by Richard Dawkins at the moment and he has referred to billiard balls too. Upon looking it up though, I see that billiards can describe cue sports in general and so includes snooker. Now I know. COD to TARGET. Thanks Teazel and Mike.
16 has become my new geometric moving average with a time constant of seven days, same formula is used for acute training load (ATL) in Training Peaks.
Thankfully the doorbell rang before I could reel off a string of cycling puns.
Thanks Teazel and Mike
dnf for me after racing through the previous 2 days. Stuck on averse/usable/umber. Never heard of umber. Have heard of sable but can never remember what it means so wouldn’t have thought of it. Wouldn’t have got averse either, avers for maintains is hard, and I wouldn’t have thought of averse as a synonym for antagonistic anyway. I thought averse meant not liking something, and antagonistic meant being really annoying or actively opposing something.
Given the setter, I was very pleased to cross the line in just 24 minutes today.
SPECTACLES didn’t occur to me until quite late on, but the next three Acrosses and several of the early Downs arrived during my first pass, so I was up and running and hoping for a fast time. With 18 minutes on the clock and only three clues left to solve an SCC escape was possible, but reality set in and USABLE, AVERSE and (the NHO) PANGA conspired to delay me for a further six minutes.
Many thanks to Mike and Teazel.
Biffed SAMURAI and PANGA (NHO) and struggled to see AVERSE (LOI). Took some thought and took 23:25 to limp home.
9 mins…
So far a really good week with another sub-10 finish. Only doubt was my LOI 13dn “Averse” which took a while to get my head around. Dnk 19dn “Panga” so I was thankful it was a hidden word.
FOI – 4dn “Aft”
LOI – 13dn “Averse”
COD – 11dn “Mansfield”
Thanks as usual!
. . . can I buy one of your 9min clocks, please ?
So I have learnt two new facts today – how billiards is played and that a PANGA can be a machete or a fish! I wonder if it has ever been clued as ‘fish knife’. I struggled to get onto the crossword club through my Times account and had to use the link on the Quick SNITCH details to access the site. FOI was SPECTACLES and LOI SWIPE in 6:31. Thanks Mike
Put it away without SWIPE and AVERSE, fairly quickly gotto that point though
16a. Can I suggest ‘rejected duff beer brewing’. Homer Simpson’s favourite tipple. 25 today. Back to earth after Monday’s 7 min PB. J
A pretty straightforward 9:43, though without pausing to parse SAMURAI. POI and LOI SPECTACLES / PEARL. Thanks, Mike and Teazel.
6.05 I’m pleased with that after ruining a quick time on the Concise with two typos. USABLE and AVERSE took a moment but this was very straightforward. Thanks Mike and Teazel.
12:08, with the last two minutes trying to fill in S_I_E with only the “muscle” sense of “tissue” in mind. Before that, I had not distinguished myself by spotting “lady” in the anagram at 5d but putting it in the wrong half of the answer. At one point I had the complete nonsense MIDAS LADY pencilled in, sigh. The knife was new to me.
Thanks to Mike and Teazel.
Pleasant steady solve,thanks Teazel.
11:24
Really enjoyed this one from Teazel.
As others, biffed SAMURAI (thanks Mike for the education) and mentally groaned at the PDM for my LOI – not at the clue but at the time it took me to see it 😉
FOI: TARGET
LOI: SPECTACLES
COD: NEEDLE/MANSFIELD
Thanks to Teazel and MIKE
Three days finished in a row and being a gardener can’t possibly be pleased, expecting bad weather tomorrow. All thanks for Puzzle and Blog.
Late to this after golf.
9 minutes with LOI AVERSE.
Nice puzzle.
The site seems to be much better than yesterday. No delays or 5oo errors …yet.
David
PS I may have spoken too soon!
A relatively fast time for me at 9.22. I’d never heard of a panga before, so I’m looking forward to asking for one on my next trip to the garden centre. For any newer crossword solvers, “sable” is used for “black” in heraldry. It’s worth knowing this, plus or=gold and argent=silver.
happy to say 3 out of 3 so far this week
Have the setters gone soft while I have been away0
A poor 13 mins.
All bar 3 in 6 mins and then the usual inability to finish quickly. Annoying.
Missed 15 x 15 by one clue. Even more annoying. 😡😡😡