Solving time: 8:02
I think this is Heron’s second visit to the setters’ enclave, the first being for QC3160 at the beginning of December.
I enjoyed the challenge, picking up six or seven acrosses on the first pass, however my eyebrows twitched once or twice during the solve due to a couple of synonyms which, I felt, pushed the boundaries a little (see 8a and 7d).
However, I did think that 2d, 5d and 16a were together worth the price of entry.
Interested to know what you all thought…
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 | Huge tunnel blown up with ammo (10) |
| MONUMENTAL – Anagram [blown up] of TUNNEL with AMMO | |
| 8 | Walk quietly from edge to edge of edge (6) |
| TIPTOE – TIP (edge) TO the first (or last) letter [edge] of E{dge}
I had a question mark over whether TIP and edge could be synonymous. |
|
| 9 | Break tea urn in temper (6) |
| NATURE – Anagram [Break] of TEA URN | |
| 10 | Starts to play energetic sport for country (4) |
| PERU – First letters [Starts to] of P{lay} E{nergetic} RU (sport i.e. abbreviation for Rugby Union) | |
| 11 | Ancient civilisation taking on European expansion (8) |
| INCREASE – INC~AS (Ancient civilisation) containing [taking] RE (on) then E (European) | |
| 12 | Clergyman who might be seen on board? (6) |
| BISHOP – gently cryptic – a BISHOP might be seen on a chessboard | |
| 14 | Choice of mixing up elixir’s first two ingredients (6) |
| OPTION – POTION (elixir) with the first two letters (ingredients) swapped around [mixing up] | |
| 16 | Notes similarity of hosts for the audience (8) |
| COMPARES – Sounds like [for the audience] COMPÈRES (hosts) | |
| 18 | Feature in techno session (4) |
| NOSE – Hidden [in] in techNO SEssion | |
| 20 | Mail runs entertaining article in paper (6) |
| MANILA – Anagram [runs] of MAIL gives M~ILA, containing [entertaining] AN (indefinite article)
MANILA paper is a relatively inexpensive type of paper, made through a less-refined process than other types of paper, and is typically made from semi-bleached wood fibres. The manila component of the name originates from manila hemp (also known as abacá leaves), which was named after Manila, the capital of the Philippines. Beginning in the 1840s, recycled abacá rope fibres were the main material for manila paper. Towards the end of the 20th century, papermakers replaced the abacá fibers with wood pulp, which cost less to source and process. Despite the change in production material, “the name and colour remain.” |
|
| 21 | Quickly pull on fashionable jacket (6) |
| JERKIN – JERK (Quickly pull) on IN (fashionable)
A JERKIN is a man’s short close-fitting jacket, made usually of light-coloured leather, and often without sleeves, worn over the doublet in the 16th and 17th centuries. The origin of the word is unknown. Thanks to Johninterred for the correct parsing. |
|
| 22 | Doctor omits blame in process (10) |
| METABOLISM – Anagram [Doctor] of OMITS BLAME
process as a noun here. Note that early doors, the answer in the puzzle was given as METABOLISE (which works as a verb but does not work with the wordplay) – this has now been corrected. |
|
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 2 | He wanted some more cut fruit (5) |
| OLIVE – Remove final letter [cut] from OLIVE In the Charles Dickens novel, OLIVEr Twist, an orphan, driven by extreme hunger and forced by other workhouse boys, asks for another portion of gruel with the words, “Please, sir, I want some more.” |
|
| 3 | Account ruthlessly suppresses falsehood (7) |
| UNTRUTH – Hidden [suppresses] in AccoUNT RUTHlessly | |
| 4 | Regularly nervier the day before a festival (3) |
| EVE – Alternate letters of nErViEr | |
| 5 | Persistent chartered accountant after tax returns and debtor’s notes (9) |
| TENACIOUS – CA (chartered accountant) NET (after tax) all reversed [returns], then IOUS (debtor’s notes) | |
| 6 | Unit set fire to centre of forest (5) |
| LITRE – LIT (set fire to – past tense) then middle letters [centre] of {fo}RE{st} | |
| 7 | Servant returned company artwork (6) |
| FRESCO – SERF (Servant) reversed [returned] then CO (company)
Dictionaries appear to differ on whether SERF and servant are synonymous. A servant is hired to perform regular household or other duties, and receives compensation, while a SERF was a partially free peasant of a low hereditary class, slavishly attached to the land owned by a feudal lord and required to perform labour, enjoying minimal legal or customary rights. |
|
| 11 | Bring in social worker of influence (9) |
| IMPORTANT – IMPORT (Bring in) ANT (social worker) | |
| 13 | A biro’s broken making line on chart (6) |
| ISOBAR – Anagram [broken] of A BIRO’S
An ISOBAR is a line on a map or chart connecting points of equal atmospheric pressure. The etymology comes from the Greek words isos, meaning “equal,” and baros, meaning “weight,” indicating its function in representing equal pressure. ISOBARs are crucial for understanding weather patterns and are typically measured in millibars (mb) or hectopascals (hPa). |
|
| 15 | Hard-bitten drill-sergeant clutches strand of hair (7) |
| TENDRIL – Hidden [clutches] in Hard-bitTEN DRILl-sergeant | |
| 17 | Shape public relations ideology (5) |
| PRISM – PR (public relations) ISM (ideology) | |
| 19 | Pack contains four of these outfits (5) |
| SUITS – Mildly cryptic – a pack of cards contains four suits | |
| 21 | Work book (3) |
| JOB – Double definition | |
I couldn’t decide on METABOLISM or METABOLISE, and trusted the anagram, assuming there was some way in which METABOLISM is synonymous with “process”.
Otherwise I enjoyed this, although I didn’t parse OPTION and wasn’t convinced by NATURE=temper. Can you say good natured and good tempered?
Yep – both are in Chambers as hyphenated words too 🙂
‘Omits blame’ isn’t an anagram of ‘METABOLISE’ (nor is metabolise a process*), but it is an anagram of METABOLISM (which is). Surely this is an error. *on edit: but to metabolise is to process something
I got a pink square on METABOLISM, and I agree it must be a mistake. I assume the solution in the computer is METABOLISE (haven’t checked on the non-crossword-club version of the puzzle) but that is neither a correct anagram nor a match for “process”. Otherwise no issues. TIPTOE was my LOI.
Well, metabolise would fit the literal if process were a verb, but metabolism is valid if process is a noun. The anagram letters clearly point to metabolism. A large number of highly skilled solvers have one error, and that’s probably it. The scoring will be probably be corrected in the morning.
I found the whole puzzle rather difficult, with a few tough literals: temper = nature, notes similarity = compares, of influence = important, choice = option. All fair, but maybe a cut above the usual Quickie.
Time: 13:12
10 minutes for this very enjoyable puzzle. METABOLISM is clearly the intended answer at 22 across. As has been said already that’s where the anagram takes us and the definition works as a noun (confirmed by ODE) so I look forward to a correction appearing in due course.
11:29. I’m currently a victim of the METABOLISM error (I presume) at 22a. I liked this, particularly the mix of the not so difficult clues and the less common words such as JERKIN. Glad to have avoided the potential COMPERES trap.
Favourite bit was having PERU and the reference to the INCAS – apt surface- side by side in the fifth row.
Thanks to Heron and Mike
As of now, 51 solvers with only 12 “correct” – they don’t include me, and no doubt that metabolise is an error of the setter or perhaps the editor. Never mind. Found some clues quite tricky, including manila which needed all the checkers for me. Thanks for the history lesson Mike! 15:29.
Only four on the first pass but the early downs were more accessible so plenty to work with. Very carefully spelled out METABOLISm from the anagrist so I’m pretty sure it must be an error – but if Verlaine got METABOLISE (he has not errors) I’m not ruling out having been outsmarted! SUITS added quite a lot of time at the end, not sure why since I’d been through playing card numbers but S_I_S made me wonder about ‘skins’ – do they come in fours? – and also ‘shivs’ – commonly used when texting was first popular – because of four. COMPARES took ages too. (Not) All green in 14.04.
I know that this may smack of schadenfreude, but does mean that the ‘Mighty’ Verlaine has ended up with a DNF? 🤔
Runs as anagram indicator spoiled the fun for me with the manila paper. Also, jerkin took a while because of the jerk.
Enjoyable still.
Thanks Mike and Heron.
Maybe it’s a test to see who checks before submitting 🙂
Careless checking of the anagrist gave us metabolise so that was helpful! Otherwise lots the enjoy until with 19 on the clock and just one answer to go thought this might be a third day out of the SCC ,but we were totally breeze blocked by compare.
COD to 1a for the fun of revisits, started thinking it was a huge tunnel as anagram of up with ammo, then the crossed E moved us to the other end looking for ammo as an anagram of huge tunnel, until the O crosser put paid to that and the penny dropped.
Thanks Heron and Mike
METABOLISM. I feel cheated. 22 mins.
Sincere apologies for the error in the published solution. I’ve asked for the correction to be published on-line as soon as possible.
Thank you, Jason
👍🏻
No! Leave it!!!
Hi – I’ve just done this on the newspaper app and got the error when following the anagram for METABOLISM. Comments further down says this has been fixed – but not in the app.
I went with METABOLISE because I didn’t think metabolism was synonymous with process – but I see that more erudite commenters say that it is. So at the moment I don’t have a DPS but fear that might change later.
Other than that an enjoyable puzzle that I completed with LOI FRESCO in 8.10.
Thanks to Heron and Mike
6.36 WOE
My error was so bad I’ll need a few stiff coffees before fessing up! Thought this was on the trickier side so was pleased with a fully parsed “correct” solve until the pink square appeared…
Some very nice clues on review – and lots of smooth surfaces. Particularly liked OPTION.
Thanks Mike and Heron.
I’m not seeing the QC on the Android phone app…. anyone else not seeing it?
I’ll try the web…
Found via crossword club which I don’t think I had access to before?
19 in 40 minutes roughly.
Do I recall three hiddens and five anagrams?
Was on for super fast time but held up in SW eventually getting LOI MANILA to come home all green in 8:02
13.42 I had METABOLISM and was pink squared – then himself had METABOLISM and was not! So – presume sorted.
Almost nothing on first across pass then raced along hoping for a sub10 until held up for a good 3+ minutes by TENDRIL/JERKIN and LOI MANILA. Spent too long equating MAN with male and trying to parse… a v delayed PDM.
Thank you all!
The METABOLISE/METABOLISM thing has been fixed by now, because I entered METABOLISM without hesitation (well it is an anagram) and was all green. However, I was left scratching my head about how a regulation 07:30 had put me 24th on the leaderboard, and now I know!
Main delays were trying to anagram “huge tunnel”, being slow to see LOI COMPARES, not being able to parse OPTION for the life of me (thanks Mike) and thinking that “contains four” at 19d meant that IV was going to be in there. Otherwise smooth passage.
Many thanks Mike and Heron.
DNF just couldn’t see TIPTOE.
That was my LOI too. I had to do an alphabet trawl on all three unchecked squares before I saw it.
Bizarre because that was my FOI….I think I saw the t oe and bifd it from there.
I originally put METABOLISE, but then checked the anagrist and changed it to METABOLISM. Turns out the publishing error had been corrected by the time I submitted. Otherwise, from MONUMENTAL to SUITS in 9:08. A bit tricky I thought. Thanks Heron and Mike.
Another day, another struggle, another failure in the SE corner. Thanks, Mike … but I think 22 is METABOLISM. (Sorry, now see this has been fully discussed above.) Is “pull on” = JERK? (Thanks, John, below – yes of course.) Suppose I should have got the JOB, but …
Oh one more thing: temper = NATURE is surely unacceptable, one temporary, t’other permanent.
I think JERK is just “pull” and the “on” is a juxtaposition indicator.
7.02, but WOE, having put LAMINA (thin layer, sheet = paper?) for MANILA, which fits the checkers and seemed to work well enough for me to move on. Frustrating.
Me too with LAMINA
Manila envelopes, probably a thing of the past.
My first Heron was a genuine ‘quickie’ (around 10 mins) but this one certainly wasn’t. Much chewier and I was not helped by having a super active granddaughter join me soon after I began my solve.
I’ll go through a post-mortem later (with help from Mike’s blog) but interruptions (and some uncertainty over METABOLISM) took my completion into the SCC.
4:13. LOI COMPARES. I solve on paper so didn’t notice the METABOLISM/METABOLISE error. Nice puzzle. COD to TIPTOE. Thank-you Heron and Mike. P.S. Mike in 21D I think JERK is just “pull” and the “on” is a juxtaposition indicator.
Thanks John – blog updated as suggested.
12:23
Delayed by 19d, where I went through the cards in a pack, and on reaching six remembered my time in the 3rd Llanishen cub pack, where I was sixer of the yellow six, and confidently entered SIXES, despite a nagging doubt as to whether a group of six boys could really be described as an outfit. This somewhat delayed seeing JERKIN.
LOI was FRESCO, with a MER at serf be defined as servant rather than peasant.
Thanks Mike and Heron
14:38, and definitely chewy. I did not have my anagram hat on today, which didn’t help, and i was slow to see Temper = NATURE, or work out MANILA, where like JPTC I first thought of Lamina until careful parsing shows it doesn’t quite work as there is no article in it. SE corner was last to fall, with the simple JOB taking time to emerge, upon which JERKIN and LOI SUITS finally completed the puzzle for a Challenging Day.
Many thanks Mike for the blog.
Enjoyable SCC adjacent solve, late enough to avoid the confusion. Needed the blog to understand OLIVE but otherwise no headaches. 3 not too hiddens helped. Liked POTIONS.
I made heavy weather of this one. Needed hint for LOI COMPARES (doh). Also slow on INCREASE, PDM TENACIOUS which helped with that corner. Managed METABOLISM and MANILA. Liked TIPTOE, OLIVE, SUITS and NOSE among others.
Thanks vm, Mike.
Not with it at all today. I gave up after 30 minutes with 21ac and 21dn outstanding. I had difficulty with the anagrams, even the 6 letter tea urn (although not 100% convinced by temper = nature). I was also very slow to see the hidden at 15dn and missed the one at 3dn completely. Never mind – tomorrow is another day.
FOI – 10ac PERU
LOI – DNF
CODs – 14ac OPTION and 11dn IMPORTANT
Thanks to Heron and Mike
For what it’s worth, at the time I parsed 9ac using Temper (rage) as the anagram indicator to produce a (tea urn)* nature break, and moved on without further thought.
I found this very tough today, labouring to a slow time for me of 14.55. I didn’t even have the conundrum in solving METABOLISM, as in the printed version it’s a straightforward anagram which didn’t delay me. A fair enough puzzle though, even though I had my doubts about NATURE being the answer.
I found this one easy and fun which I judging by the SNITCH means that the Setter and I are on a wavelength. That said, I failed to properly check the anagrind and put in metabolisE instead of metabolisM – a careless mistake on my part spoiling an otherwise pleasing 8:15 solve. My COD goes to TIPTOE.
16:30 – I found this hard!
I think for the jerkin clue, “quickly pull on” must be jerk, and then fashionable is “in”. Because it’s an across clue if “quickly pull” was supposed to be “jerk” and this was on “in”, that would give “injerk” instead.
Yes, I parsed JERKIN the same way Rob
Still got a pink square on public version on iPad
My thanks to Heron and Mike Harper.
I found it rather hard for a QC.
10a COD Peru.
14a Option, I DNK what was going on here, now I do know, thanks Mike Harper.
20a Manila, I thought it had 2 Ls. Doh!
22a Metabolism, one advantage of doing it on paper is that I didn’t get a pink square.
15d LOI Tendril, again the clue foxed me for a while.
I found this quite a struggle, from a wasted (huge tunnel)* search to a well- hidden Tendril via far too many biff then parse answers. Clearly I’m not yet anywhere near Heron’s wavelength.
CoD to Option for the parsing. Invariant
Luckily I was late on parade today, so had no problems with METABOLISM. If only real life fixes to one’s health were so easily rectified! I felt as if I struggled at times, but the clock says I didn’t.
FOI NATURE
LOI TENDRIL
COD MONUMENTAL
TIME 3:42
Tricky but enjoyable. I started off slow, sped up and then slowed down again.
COMPARES was my last answer and I needed help with that one, certainly.
First Lap: 6
Answered (no help): 21
Answered with help: 4
DNF: Nil
Time: 34:19
Had to work at this but pleasing to complete.
At one point I was so stuck I had to ‘check the grid’ and then wished I hadn’t as I was error free. Remembering that board = chess broke the brain blockage to finish just outside of my 15 minute target.
Fun. Thanks both.
iPad edition shows METABOLISM as correct – thanks JC. Lots of fantastic surfaces, especially for TENACIOUS. Didn’t parse OPTION – thanks for explaining the obvious Mike. LOI TENDRIL – why do I never see a hidden! Great puzzle. Thanks Heron.
Dnf…
Had a complete brain block on 19dn “Suits”. It’s so obvious now, it’s borderline embarrassing, however I couldn’t stop trying to fit “iv” in there, and when that didn’t work I opted for “Skins” which I knew didn’t really parse.
FOI – 4dn “Eve”
LOI – 19dn “Skins” (Incorrect)
COD – 2dn “Olive”
Thanks as usual!
Only 6 clues solved after 15 mins then gave up. I don’t see why RU (rugby union) should be an immediate association for 10ac when there are so many other possibilities? Is it a common association in crosswords? Also why is Ant = social worker. Of course ants live in colonies and they are workers – it’s a stretch to me given the proper usage. Maybe again it’s a precedent set in other crosswords, which demonstrates you can only improve by plodding away for years and then it defaults more to a memory test!
Ants are known as social workers as they live in “social communities”, they are “social” insects.
Yes Rugby Union/RU is often used in crosswords
In crosswordland there are a limited number of sports that will fit into the grid as a component of the answer – hence FA and RU, particularly RU, are very common. For races TT; eight often refers to rowing and vice versa (even when disguised as argument in the wordplay) and exercise is PE. Piece, man on board etc often means a chess piece and game frequently implies GO, a rarely played board game originally from China. It is well worth memorising these and other terms as you come across them, as they will recur regularly. And yes, social worker is more often than not a useful indicator of the suffix ‘ant’, as is soldier.
You are right that there’s a need to learn crosswordese if you want to do these puzzles in a reasonable amount of time. Of course it’s a memory test anyway since you have to remember vocabulary, cultural lore, and obscure meanings of familiar words too. Fortunately each clue has two angles of attack – the literal definition is there as well as the wordplay so you can get by without knowing, or being able to recall, everything.
When is a tendril a lock of hair?
I initially thought that too, but my Chambers dictionary had a lock of hair under Tendril. I think it was the third definition.
Struggled to finish this with MANILA LOI. Just not on Heron’s wavelength at all, taking 38:08 over two sessions to finish.
I enjoyed this crossword, though a technical DNF because I too wrote LAMINA (I corrected it to MANTILA when told it was wrong). Missed the hidden words TENDRIL and UNTRUTH (I often seem to) but biffed them easily. Also never quite parsed TIPTOE. Corrected version done in 18.15.
17.21 Very much off the wavelength today. SUITS, JERKIN and JOB were the last few. I corrected LAMINA so it could have been worse. Thanks Mike and Heron.
Spent too long wondering if ruthlessly could be UNRUTH so how do I get a T from account? Got there in end and kept it sub-10. Nice quickie, testing but not too much.
Thanks Mike and Heron
Oh dear. As predicted after a good day yesterday, today I have been punished with a DNF, courtesy of MANILA. No excuses, I’m familiar with manila envelopes and I just couldn’t see it. I thought it was a good puzzle, though, and I enjoyed it until my brain stopped working.
Thank you for the blog!
20:10
Stuck for ages trying to make an anagram from huge tunnel, not helped by the checkers fitting right up until I saw OLIVE which I really must remember as it’s not the first time it’s come up as a fruit. Nothing too tricky elsewhere so disappointing time.