Solving time: 11:27
Dangle has tended to be one of the gentler setters, but although I got off to a reasonable start, I didn’t find this puzzle, which is the first I have blogged of theirs, particularly straightforward.
However, after an enforced break at 9 minutes, I returned to mop up pretty quickly, so maybe the little grey cells weren’t quite firing before that point.
I found 13a, 6d, 10d and 16d all on the tricky side, even with a few checkers, but apart from the term in 6d which may not be familiar to all, and the restorative at 16d, there’s nothing on reflection, that should seriously impede the dedicated solver.
Let me know how you found it…
Definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [directions in square ones]. The tilde ~ indicates an insertion point in containment clues.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Note time taken by needlework (8) |
| CROTCHET – T (time) inserted into [taken by] CRO~CHET (needlework)
CROTCHET is a 15th century word for a “staff with a hook on the end”, which definition also applies to the tool used in crochet work (both the handicraft and the surgical instrument). Both words are diminutives of croc “hook”, from which we get the shepherd’s crook. Its figurative use in musical notation for “quarter note” is from the shape of the notes. |
|
| 5 | The last word of elegy being “discovered” (4) |
| AMEN – |
|
| 8 | In Dubai, perhaps, good to change state permanently (8) |
| EMIGRATE – G (good) in EMI~RATE (Dubai, perhaps) | |
| 9 | Ladies rejecting wife — a sign of things to come (4) |
| OMEN – |
|
| 11 | Tail of small aquatic bird (5) |
| STERN – S (small) TERN (aquatic bird) | |
| 12 | Vacuous Tory organised city’s oppression (7) |
| TYRANNY – T |
|
| 13 | Commit fraud, ultimately, before European election (6) |
| DEVOTE – Last letter [ultimately] of {frau}D before E (European) VOTE (election)
Example: She decided to commit/devote more time to improving her piano playing. |
|
| 15 | Powerful cycling cheat spurned by member (6) |
| STRONG – Lance ARMSTRONG achieved international fame for winning the Tour de France a record seven consecutive times from 1999 to 2005, but was stripped of his titles in 2012 after an investigation into doping allegations found that ARMSTRONG used performance-enhancing drugs during his career. |
|
| 18 | Quarrel in the aftermath of an explosion (7) |
| FALLOUT – FALL OUT (Quarrel) | |
| 19 | Bird run over next to ditch (5) |
| ROBIN – R (run i.e. cricket abbreviation) O (over i.e. another cricket abbreviation) next to BIN (ditch) | |
| 21 | Fine old ox sent back (4) |
| OKAY – O (old) then YAK (ox) reversed [sent back] | |
| 22 | Indonesian’s baseline shot (8) |
| BALINESE – Anagram [shot] of BASELINE | |
| 23 | Foul sort (4) |
| RANK – Double definition | |
| 24 | Junior to pursue outsider (8) |
| UNDERDOG – UNDER (Junior) DOG (pursue)
‘Outsider’ as in someone with an outside chance of doing well |
|
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Rumpled Republican has stopped going outside (7) |
| CREASED – R (Republican) with C~EASED (stopped) around it [going outside] | |
| 2 | Intimate individual cuddling Greek character (5) |
| OPINE – O~NE (individual) containing [cuddling] PI (Greek character) | |
| 3 | Nothing in my country is ceremonial event (10) |
| CORONATION – O (Nothing) inserted into COR (my) NATION (country) | |
| 4 | Going topless, with Will, in large car (6) |
| ESTATE – |
|
| 6 | Reminder of internet phenomenon not unusual (7) |
| MEMENTO – MEME (internet phenomenon) then anagram [unusual] of NOT
In internet terms, a MEME is an image, video, piece of text, etc., typically humorous in nature, that is copied and spread rapidly by internet users, often with slight variations. The word was coined by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in “The Selfish Gene” (1976) as follows: “We need a name for the new replicator, a noun that conveys the idea of a unit of cultural transmission, or a unit of imitation. ‘Mimeme’ comes from a suitable Greek root, but I want a monosyllable that sounds a bit like ‘gene’. I hope my classicist friends will forgive me if I abbreviate mimeme to meme… It should be pronounced to rhyme with ‘cream’.“ |
|
| 7 | Fool children in nylon clothes (5) |
| NINNY – Hidden [clothes] in children in nylon
Believe to have originated from the Latin ninnus meaning “fool, simpleton” and likely evolved through Italian dialects. |
|
| 10 | Nastier ref’s corrupt associate (10) |
| FRATERNISE – Anagram [corrupt] of NASTIER REF | |
| 14 | Evil found in conceited rogue (7) |
| VILLAIN – ILL (Evil) found in V~AIN (conceited)
This 13th century insult to a “base or low-born rustic” (ultimately from Medieval Latin villanus “farmhand”, from villa “country house, farm”), was attested in English by the late 14th century as a bondsman, the lowest class of unfree persons under the feudal system, hence generally and in contempt, “one low-born, a commoner lacking a gentleman’s manners.” By the mid-16th century, this had sharpened to “scoundrel, man capable of gross wickedness,” which was also sometimes used humorously or affectionately. The meaning of “character in a novel, play, etc. whose evil motives or actions help drive the plot” is from 1822. |
|
| 16 | Alcoholic drinks English restorative (7) |
| GINSENG – GINS (Alcoholic drinks) ENG (English)
The word GINSENG originates from the Chinese term “rén shēn” (人蔘), which literally means “root of the man.” This name reflects the shape of the ginseng root, which often resembles the human body. |
|
| 17 | Air pressure (6) |
| STRAIN – Another double definition | |
| 18 | Baking ingredient left in square … (5) |
| FLOUR – L (left) inserted into F~OUR (square i.e. the product of a number multiplied by itself – in this case, 2 x 2) | |
| 20 | … and the possible product’s generated audibly (5) |
| BREAD – Homophone [audibly] of BRED (generated)
The definition refers back to the previous clue. |
|
STERN! TYRANNY! RANK! STRONG! FALLOUT! VILLAIN!
Several words with strong negative energy today, so watch out if you are starting you day with the puzzle as it may negtively affect your chakras. Maybe realign with mediation and crystals or orbs if you have access to one
I’m not sure about others, but my experience of mediation (during my divorce) was not something that dispelled negative energy! 🙂
😁
Would a tantric massage count?
Do they come with happy endings?
In my experience, it depends on who the masseuse is and how nubile they are.
Go to your room!
I think he probably did!
I’m sorry to say that nubile means marriageable, which is, probably, not what you had in mind. 😉
Fortunately, it has another meaning…
I started out all right, but seeing the parsing of amen made me suspect that difficulties lay ahead. I did biff fraternise – I have been watching too many WWII documentaries lately. Underdog proved rather elusive, but it was a brilliant clue. My LOI was fallout, which was easy enough with the checkers in place.
Time: 11:47
16 minutes. A tough one on the QC scale because there’ weren’t just one or two difficult clues. I had no idea about the Armstrong reference of course. At one time we could have relied on it being to Satchmo or the man on the moon.
Back in August 2012, I saw the headline “Armstrong admits to cheating”; unfortunately it was the same week that Neil died – my first thought was the conspiracy theorists were right and he hadn’t really gone to the moon 😄
I suppose you saw cycling and thought at once of moving letters around.
A tough one judging by the Snitch. Too much Yoda speak for me. Good for me it was. Thanks Dangle and Mike
Started slowly but gathered pace before slowing again to mop up the SE with GINSENG, UNDERDOG and STRAIN. Couldn’t parse AMEN but balanced that with a nice penny drop for DEVOTE and then VILLAIN. All green in 12.31 to duck under my new best ever average on the QSNITCH.
I got off to a quick start, got bogged down in the middle and finished at a canter to finish in a slightly over average time but with a DPS for a typo, grrrrr.
I particularly enjoyed the Lance Armstrong clue.
Thanks to Mike and Dangle
A pretty tough workout, but all done finally in 14:44. Not all parsed though as I had no idea what was going on in AMEN, put in from definition and checkers alone. And I also learn today that a yak is a type of ox – never knew that.
It is one of the quirks of these puzzles, I find, that enjoyment is not connected to difficulty. I found this much more difficult that yesterday’s, but also much more enjoyable. Some very well-constructed clues and a succession of light-bulb moments not MERs. Many thanks Dangle for the challenge, and Mike for the blog.
100% agree on the non-correlation between difficulty and enjoyment. If I enjoyed an easy crossword I’d do the concise (which i often help my partner with when she gets stuck).
The yak isn’t an ox. Wiki:
“The yak (Bos grunniens), also known as the Tartary ox, grunting ox, hairy cattle, sarlak or sarlyk, or domestic yak, is a species of long-haired domesticated cattle found throughout the Himalayan region, the Tibetan Plateau, Tajikistan, the Pamir Mountains, and as far north as Mongolia and Siberia. It is descended from the wild yak (Bos mutus)”
That quote literally calls a yak an ox. Twice.
😂 I love the internet….
I noticed that, too. 😉
I started quickly, getting the first half of the across clues and most of the downs in the first pass but then hit a brick wall. Took an age to see FRATERNISE, BALINESE (didn’t even work out for ages that it was an anagram), STRAIN and VILLAIN. Finally left with UNDERDOG (I often struggle with such compound words), GINSENG and LOI STRONG. Didn’t consider for a moment that the cycling cheat would be an actual cycling cheat. Was stuck for ages thinking it was that new toy that setters seem to have fallen in love with over the past few years. Nicely done on that one, Dangle.
Finally fell over the line in 16:01.
Thanks Mike, thanks Dangle.
Quite a few clues didn’t yield at first glance, but once I had a few checkers I made steady progress. CREASED was FOI. Didn’t fully parse STRONG as crossers gave it to me. LOI was DEVOTE where it took a while to lift and separate “commit fraud.” 7:49. Thanks Dangle and Mike.
25:05. That was hard. Felt sure it would be a DNF.
OPINE for INTIMATE took some sorting out.
Couldn’t parse AMEN, OMEN or ESTATE.
Weird isn’t it. I’m always in the SCC, mostly as I don’t even try to do a crossword quickly, but today despite it feeling like I took my time I was done all correct and parsed in 18minutes. 😃
👏👏👏👏👏👏 Great stuff Austin!
Someone after my own heart!
Started slowly – and then got slower, finding this a real struggle. Way off the wavelength and needing alphabet trawls to limp home in a disheartened 30 minutes – worst time I can remember.
Yesterday I thought perhaps at last I was beginning to get the hang of the QC after all these years but today pieces came dropping slow.
I did smile at STRONG when the penny dropped and I did finish all correct…eventually.
CNP AMEN or ESTATE. FOsI BALINESE and FLOUR. LOsI FRATERNISE and STRAIN.
I liked CROTCHET, EMIGRATE (COD?), CREASED and DEVOTE.
Thanks vm, Mike.
Like Lichdb, I started slowly and then got slower. I was in the high twenties, too.
Up until this point, Dangle has been a clever but fair and enjoyable setter for me. Perhaps it is just a wavelength thing but I cannot describe this as a QC. A curate’s egg: good in (a few) parts.
Disaster. Worst puzzle I’ve ever seen. What an awful start to the day. After some enjoyable puzzles Dangle has apparently decided he(?) was being too childish and has gone to the other extreme. Managed BALINESE and OMEN, then stared at it for an hour with no even conceivable routes to a solution (except that 10 must be an anagram of Nastier ref’s). In the bin it goes and I’ll try and put a braver face on the rest of the day – and hope for better tomorrow, maybe?
Did in the end wade through Mike’s amazing blog complete with Chinese characters – golly, well done, Mike. None to reproach myself with; they’re simply all very, very difficult.
I agree with you. Totally inappropriate for a QC and consequently, zero enjoyment for me I’m afraid
Well done for getting twice as many as me! I got OMEN and in spite of trying hard got no further. Definitely my worst puzzle ever 😥
That’s very funny, thanks. I concentrated on BALINESE ‘cos Mrs M who is an Indonesianist was sitting just there and wouldn’t have let me get away with failing that one! (Oh yes, Balinese, she then said, that’s the only bit of Indonesia anyone knows. No satisfying some people….) Yes, absolutely worst ever.
8.00 with a booboo
Somehow I managed to end up with EMIRATES rather than EMIGRATE. Dont ask me how. Otherwise, yes, tricky. Unlike Vinyl I knew from the AMEN clue that this was a toughie; unlike him it went in ftom definition and checkers; unparsed.
Hard yards today! There were a few tricky definitions (opine/intimate, devote/commit, bin/ditch) and some intricate cluing. I really enjoyed it and became very absorbed.
Got there in 11:29, well into the red zone, for a Rewarding Day. COD to STRONG, which I got straight off and made me snort in appreciation. LOI STRAIN, you either see a DD fast or … you don’t.
Many thanks Dangle and Mike. Really interesting to learn about the connection between crotchets and crochet hooks.
I think this was one of those puzzles where it’s best to forget about the clock and just enjoy the journey. In other words, I was quite slow (26mins), but still found Dangle’s quirky cluing very rewarding – once I got the hang of what was going on. My thanks to Mike for sorting out the more obscure parsings.
I thought (Arm)Strong was a bit of a niche clue, but it would still have been worthy of CoD most days for the mischievous use of ‘cycling’. Sadly, it was pipped at the post by the wonderfully smooth surface for Coronation. Well done Dangle. Invariant
I was not on Dangle’s wavelength and struggled to parse some of the clues, for no real reason. Some really good surfaces, but definitely needed Mike’s blog today.
18:09 for the solve. Got bogged down in the SW after ten mins where I only had FLOUR. There seemed to be a lot of noun/adjective misdirections and insertion/deletions. We don’t often get follow on clues where the … is actually used and I almost bunged in BlEnD for BREAD. Had to parse AMEN post-solve.
Thanks to Mike and Dangle
Fairly tough one but eventually struggled through without parsing some. Still cant see strain = air. Thanks Dangle and Mike. Had mOmento, a mistake I have made before, no wonder I couldnt parse it. Massive yipee though, Pi finally clued as greek character rather than the ridiculous swivelly-eyed bible basher.
Ah – yes I can, its musical! belated PDM.
Ah, thanks, I was struggling to parse that one, too.
19:40, very slow for me for a QC.
Got into a muddle as I had MEMONIC for 6d (assumed it was an alternative spelling), which is supported by the fact that 15a looks like it could be the word ‘cheat’ cycling, so I was left in a difficult spot for a long time. FRATERNISE also took ages. All this left GINSENG and UNDERDOG impossible. That whole corner probably added almost 10 minutes for me.
Didn’t really enjoy this but may have just been inadequate sleep on my part.
All green in a pretty much at for the course 9:12.
Good puzzle.
I found this on a par with yesterdays puzzle, although times submitted so far would suggest it was harder. I was a second slower than yesterday at 12.26, and like others found it hard going. I did at least manage to parse everything as I went with the exception of AMEN, which I still couldn’t parse after I’d stopped the clock. The ‘discovered’ device was a new one on me, but fair enough though. A tough start to the week.
17:43
Thought this was going to be another trip to the SCC with 5 still needed as the clock passed 16 minutes but they fell into place fairly quickly once I had a few extra checkers. Failed to parse AMEN or STRONG. LOI UNDERDOG.
Very slow at 27 minutes but at least I completed it. Couldn’t parse AMEN, STRONG or UNDERDOG.
FOI – 9ac OMEN
LOI – 23ac RANK
COD – I noted 18ac FALLOUT as a favourite in the course of my solve but now that I understand the reference to Lance Armstrong in 15ac (which had completely passed me by) I think I have to give it to that clue. I also liked 3dn CORONATION.
Thanks to Dangle and Mike
My thanks to Dangle and Mike Harper.
Yes, not easy I thought.
1a LOI Crotchet, I thought that was how you spell crochet, wrongly, so I was scratching my head here. I’ve no idea why I can’t spell crochet, the clue is in the pronunciation.
5a Amen biffed, doh!
15a Strong, was foxed by the “cycling” into thinking we had to rearrange the letters.
21a Okay, but yak=ox is wrong.
16d Ginseng biffed.
Brutal, 24:51 for me and very nearly my third DNF in four days.
Thank you for the blog!
Not my cup of tea. I managed six and five sevenths having got meme and then the N from tyranny, essentially the NE, mostly bifd / guessed, plus Balinese which was an easy anagram for a dyslexic like me.
Didn’t get strong despite thinking Armstrong. In the final analysis he was disclosed whilst many others were not. We now have cycling professionals using artificial means to simulate altitude training instead of pharmaceutical means. Not sure I’d want to go down the path of using CO to trick my body into raising my heamocrit levels.
That is somewhat dubious and potentially dangerous.
Neither would I.
16:27. Found this tough but also experienced a strong sense of satisfaction to complete it correctly. For the first time I’m aware of improving at separating the individual words in a clue and building the answers brick by brick. Yup, that’s satisfying.
I try to do anagrams in my head but needed to trot off and find paper and pen to decipher FRATERNISE my LOI.
CROTCHET is my CoD, liked that.
Thanks Dangle and Mike
Not for me. Yet another DNF (three in a row). Sometimes I’ll start a tough puzzle but continue as I know I’ll get there. However, there are puzzles that I start and I just know in myself that I’m going to get nowhere. Rather than waste my time I’ll give up and try my other daily cryptic (The Daily Telegraph, though I do occasionally attempt the Grauniad’s weekly “quick cryptic”). This crossword is an example of the latter.
With this one I was relying on aids too much. A sure sign to stop and move on.
I didn’t find this particularly difficult, but I biffed my LOI and came here for the parsing. I certainly didn’t expect to be currently 5th on the Leaderboard.
FOI EMIGRATE
LOI AMEN
COD UNDERDOG
TIME 3:27
Found this even harder than yesterday’s. Couldn’t break in at all until I got down to the bottom half, so decided to work from the bottom up, and eventually finished it in about 22 minutes. Like others have said, I’m not in it for the speed but the enjoyment. Didn’t parse AMEN, sort of got it from Mike Harper’s blog. Thought CROTCHET was clever and liked STERN and EMIGRATE. LOI was OPINE – rather mindboggling but that had to be the answer. Knowledge of famous sportsmen not my strongpoint – NHO Lance Armstrong, but biffed it. I agree it’s rather a niche clue.
Many thanks to Mike Harper.
A lack of write-ins, but nothing ungettable, eventually battled through in 20 minutes. Top left was particularly sticky.
I found this hard but enjoyed unravelling the clues taking several rests between attempts. It’s funny how one letter can suddenly unlock a clue e.g. getting GINSENG led to UNDERDOG which in turn resolved STRAIN – incidentally as I write I have finally realised that it’s ‘strain’ as ‘song’ rather than an invisible gas.
Rather liked OPINE.
So thanks Dangle and Mike.
Hmmm! Another slow day for me. Cuppa got cold. All parsed and correct though.
COD: FRATERNISE
LOI: OKAY
Thanks Dangle and Mike
I must have been on the wavelength judging by the snitch
12:50
TYTBAS
Tough indeed. I got nowhere with the 1s and started with a doubtful and unparsed AMEN. I had to revisit at least half the clues and finished back in the NW corner with EMIGRATE and OPINE. I never did parse AMEN. 11:38 Thanks Mike
I had to persevere to finish this one but very much enjoyed the process. Held up by FLOUR even though I had the initial F – dearie me 🙄 Needed BREAD for UNDERDOG to appear. Couldn’t parse AMEN, but will add the sneaky ‘discovered’ to my list of deletion indicators (thanks Mike). Everything else went in fairly smoothly apart from COD CROTCHET which caused no end of difficulties until the penny dropped. Thanks Dangle.
15 mins…
Contrary to some above, I didn’t find this too bad – although there were a couple of clues: “Crotchet” and “Emigrate”,where I was first trying to put in “Crochet” and “Emirate”. Luckily I saw the Lance Armstrong reference straight away for 15ac “Strong”.
Only question was 17dn “Strain”. I can see the “pressure” relevance, but still not sure about the “air” definition.
FOI – 6dn “Memento” – a good early Christopher Nolan film for anyone interested
LOI – 17dn “Strain”
COD – 12ac “Tyranny”
Thanks as usual!
Music related I believe. air=piece of music comes up fairly frequently, and i think a strain is a fragment that you hear.
It’s either that or something to do with your cooking and putting it out afterwards.
Agree about Memento.. the Dvd came with an Easter egg which allows you to play it in order!
14:16 so quicker than average for me although I couldn’t parse Amen so thanks for the blog Mike.
Another tough one which was a DNF – couldn’t think of YAK for old ox.
Never parsed AMEN or NINNY. So, another curate’s egg!
STRONG fitted but I spent ages trying to think of a word for Cheat that needed “cycling” after removing the required limb from Strongarm. None of that made sense but got there in the end.
Thanks Mike for the MEME etymology. I have read the book but clearly too long ago to remember that.
Tough was how we found it so very pleased to get through in 13:49 which is somewhere in the region of 1 1/2 minutes over our average. As Jack said, more than just one or two difficult clues. We knew of Lance but didn’t even think of him until we’d guessed at our LOI STRONG from the checkers: had initially thought of something involving ‘doper’. Didn’t parse AMEN, hadn’t even seen that NINNY was a hidden (well done, Dangle!) so both of those went in late on a wing and a prayer. Thanks, Mike, for clearing up the parsing, and the rest.
I can’t think of a sentence in which ’strain’ can replace ‘air’.
Think of a sentence with “a melody” in it and you can replace melody with either air or strain.
9.10 Much quicker than yesterday. I often seem to do better after a walk. AMEN was biffed and I needed an alphabet trawl to find LOI OKAY. Thanks Mike and Dangle.
19:57 with one error: I invented the word TYRANCY, having apparently never heard of New York. Ho hum. Didn’t manage to parse AMEN, either.
Thanks to Dangle and Mike.
22:32
I thought I was making a meal out of this one, but the comments above suggest the consensus is this was a toughie – so please I persevered.
Three I could not parse – AMEN, CORONATION (that’s what ‘my’ means!) and ESTATE.
Seemed to take an age to see FRATERNISE and not seeing 1d and then 1a until the last left the NW corner looking worryingly empty.
Another learning day!
FOI: OMEN
LOI: CORONATION
COD: FALLOUT
Thanks to Dangle and Mike
21:28 to finish this very entertaining puzzle. I didn’t exactly get stuck but had to ponder for a while quite a few times, and after my initial pass found myself staring at a nearly empty NW quadrant with few crossers to give me a foothold. CROTCHET should have been a write-in but my Americanness got in the way until C appeared. Loved AMEN, my FOI, and OMEN. TYRANNY was a fine lesson in “just start writing it in, you’ll see it as you go;” too bad I stared for so long before doing that. STRONG made me feel a tiny bit sorry for Lance, what a way to be remembered. COD CORONATION. I really enjoyed doing this puzzle and didn’t think to look at the clock until I was done.
Thanks to Dangle and Mike.
Well, I think I bucked the trend today. Just 18 minutes, so a rare day out of the SCC for me. No idea why. A few biffs – e.g. MEMENTO and STRAIN (my LOI) – but most clues fully parsed as I went along.
Many thanks to Mike and Dangle.
Cracking time, well done, . . .but I somehow hope Martinů misses your post
Well done Mr R 👏👏👏👏