So our first Saturday QC has landed – and I’ve been hauled out of retirement to fill the unexpected blogging space. It’s a pleasure to be with you once again. They say you never forget how to ride a bike – it turns out blogging is much the same. Very rusty at first but great fun – you should give it a go sometime (Templar is flying a standard from his charger and showing the way!).
I had hoped for a gentle reintroduction but found this not to be the case. I found this to be very challenging and took north of 15 minutes – which may be no bad thing with it being the weekend when there’s always an excuse required to delay the gardening.
Please find my explanations below – and let me know if I’ve missed a trick!
Definitions are underlined in bold italics.
| Across | |
| 1 | Broken patterns in cathedral wing (8) |
| TRANSEPT – anagram (broken) of PATTERNS. | |
| 5 | Obscene Oxbridge sportsperson (4) |
| BLUE – double definition. | |
| 8 | Knock-out verse about Irish city (5) |
| KIROV – knock-out (KO) and verse (V – it seems most things can be reduced to their first letter) around Irish (IR – or in this case first letters). NHO KIROV – it’s about 500 miles north east of Moscow. | |
| 9 | Cop lied — somehow did his job? (7) |
| POLICED – anagram (somehow) of COP LIED. | |
| 11 | Vengeful cook spreading only brie on roll (5,6) |
| BUNNY BOILER – a reference to Fatal Attraction. Anagram (spreading) of ONLY BRIE after (on) a roll (BUN). An extra bit of difficulty having a synonym before the anagram – but I liked the clue. | |
| 13 | Unpopular time for power cut (6) |
| OUTAGE – unpopular (OUT), time (AGE). | |
| 14 | Plantagenet king inside unleashed war dogs (6) |
| EDWARD – inside unleash(ED WAR D)ogs. With apologies to the history buffs out there here’s a quick summary to get the rest of up to speed – the name Plantagenet is used by modern historians to identify four distinct royal houses; the Angevins who were also Counts of Anjou; the main line of the Plantagenets following the loss of Anjou; and the houses of Lancaster and York, the Plantagenets’ two cadet branches. The family held the English throne from 1154, with the accession of Henry II until 1485, when Richard III died. Right, there we are, so let’s carry on. | |
| 17 | Ferocious creature let in — beggar devoured (6,5) |
| BENGAL TIGER – anagram (devoured) of LET IN BEGGAR. | |
| 20 | Aquatic mammal seen in play regularly — big draw? (7) |
| LOTTERY – aquatic animal (OTTER) seen inside pLaY. | |
| 21 | One making new life abroad — former postman? (5) |
| EXPAT – jocular reference to Postman Pat (and his black and white cat). | |
| 22 | Not the white team according to report (4) |
| YOLK – I think the homophone (to report) of team is yoke (as in oxen). Presumably you can team/yoke two beasts together. | |
| 23 | Fastest guns to win this international competition? (4,4) |
| ARMS RACE – a gun is a side arm – so the fastest arm will win the race? Took a while to get and I wasn’t sure I liked it when I did. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Capture bear (4) |
| TAKE – double definition. Capture/take a position, bear as in bear/take the strain. | |
| 2 | Tumbler‘s performance involving wild boar (7) |
| ACROBAT – performance (ACT) inside which is and anagram (wild) of BOAR. | |
| 3 | Economy by good people shows redeeming quality (6,5) |
| SAVING GRACE – economy (SAVING) by good (G) people (RACE). | |
| 4 | Dad holding a fork out for fruit (6) |
| PAPAYA – dad (PA |
|
| 6 | Number close enough? (5) |
| LOCAL – as in local anaesthetic. Close enough I take to mean in the local area – so near at hand – although I’m not sure I was too happy about that. | |
| 7 | Drunken ordeal and party in fabulous place (8) |
| ELDORADO – anagram (drunken) of ORDEAL and party (DO). | |
| 10 | Lumbermen accepting fine: DA to direct piercing glare (4,7) |
| LOOK DAGGERS – lumbermen (LOGGERS) around fine (OK) and DA is, erm, DA. | |
| 12 | Book kept in PO Box for corporation (8) |
| POTBELLY – book (B) inside PO=PO and box (TELLY). | |
| 15 | Roman commander having a vice we hear? (7) |
| AGRIPPA – a (A), homophone of vice = gripper. Neat. History buffs – you can switch off again – this chap, amongst many other achievements I’m sure, apparently defeated Anthony and Cleopatra and was responsible for building the Panthenon – on edit should read Pantheon. | |
| 16 | Street philosopher one unlikely to give up (6) |
| STAYER – street (ST), philosopher (AYER). Apparently he promoted ‘logical positivism’ – I think I may have liked him. | |
| 18 | Beat up a Liberal in old province (5) |
| NATAL – beat (TAN) upwards then a (A) liberal (L). ‘Old’ as it’s now called KwaZulu-Natal. | |
| 19 | Line dropped from fashion — problem for looker? (4) |
| STYE – line (L) dropped from fashion (STY)l(E). The ‘looker’ being an eye. | |
At 15 minutes I had a few problems getting going on this one but closed out just within my revised QC target. Fot all that, it was a great puzzle that I thoroughly enjoyed, so many thanks to Mick H, Wurm and everyone else involved in bringing us the first of our Saturday bonus puzzles.
Also, it’s great to see you back in the blogger’s chair, Chris.
I knew KIROV, not as a city, but as the name of a world class ballet company that used to tour and visited London many a time. I’ve now learned that despite their name they were based in St Petersburg. They were originally The Imperial Russian Ballet and ‘Kirov’ was the name they adopted during the USSR era. When that came to an end they became ‘Marinsky Ballet’ named after their theatre of residence.
They were named after a revolutionary called Kirov, though his name was a shortening of his birth name Kostrikov so perhaps nothing to do with the city of Kirov. The theatre has had several different names, starting out as the Mariinsky from 1860 until 1920, and then assuming that name again after the fall of the Soviet Union.
Is there a printed version, I can not find it today’s paper?
No, it’s online only.
I found this harder than usual too, held up at the end by (nho) BUNNY BOILER. I thought of Fatal Attraction, but it is in Chambers with a more generic definition. You have a typo in one of your historical discussions, PANTHENON for PANTHEON at 15D. It is still the world’s largest unreinforced concrete dome. The Romans knew how to make concrete better than we do today.
Updated – thank you.
POTBELLY got me. Not sure how it relates to corporation. Great to have a Saturday QCC.
I assume LOCAL means a local telephone number rather than anaesthetic.
SOED: corporation – a protruding or prominent abdomen.
I took 6dn LOCAL as a double definition: ‘anaesthetic’ and ‘near enough’, although ‘enough’ is not needed other than for the surface.
Another school day, not heard of that before 🙂
It’s often used humorously as euphemism for ‘beer-gut’.
Anaesthetic is a number, pronounced like nummer.
I looked forward to this blog to explain a quarter of the clues today. I wouldn’t mind if the Saturday was this hard every time though. A nice bridge to the big one. I’ll come back and edit the rest of my post when I have time
Edit:
Forgetting my lack of GK of history and geography, I never thought of being round bellied when seeing the word CORPORATION
I didn’t really like ELDORADO being one word when it was two words in a previous crossword this week
Me too! Ultimately I gave up on CORPORATION (never heard of this) and its crosser YOLK (should have seen it but despair set in. Deep, deep despair.)
Fun puzzle!
It does appear that the Saturday Quickie will be a bridge to the Biggie, as Tina suggests. BUNNY BOILER did for me, at any rate, even if I had seen Fatal Attraction.
KIROV was known to me through the Soviet evacuations of the appalling war in the east.
I think we probably have to wait a while before assuming Saturday will be different from any other day. I’d imagine the level will vary.
Just under average time for me today so, judging by earlier comments, must have tuned into the mysterious wavelength. Only real delays were with my last two in – YOLK and ARMS RACE. Have heard of KIROV but initially thought I was looking for an Irish town, which always fills me with dread.
Finished in 8.14 with COD to POTBELLY.
Thanks to Chris, it’s nice to see you back, and to the people at the Times for putting on a Saturday QC.
I had the same dread, for the same reason – even though I’m Irish!
“Guns” is body-building slang for biceps, i.e. an upper arm muscle. I think this is what 23 across is getting at.
That works very neatly, but does it need to?
Might not ‘supplying arms’ to someone include the delivery of guns? Or ‘Careful, he’s armed!’ – he’s carrying a gun.
6:49. That was tricky. Held up by SAVING GRACE, KIROV and YOLK at the end. Thank-you Wurm and Chris. Great to see our lobbying has paid off in getting a Saturday QC from the Times. In case anyone is wondering, as there is still no Sunday Quick Cryptic, the fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic series will continue. My latest is with our test solvers now.
Glad to hear about the Sunday QC – always well received. Thanks to you and the gang.
First, John, Jeremy and Sawbill,
Thank you so much for all your wonderful qcs, which I enjoy every other Saturday. Appreciated, so much.
Second, I am thrilled that you are prepared to keep providing them, so that there’s only one day, per fortnight, that we’ll be qc-less.
Fantastic news!
Hear hear
Hoorah and three cheers for a Saturday QC!
Very much appreciated 👍
Failed on the first Saturday. ARMS RACE and YOLK were both beyond me. YOLK is nearly a lovely clue, never got near separating ‘white’ and ‘team’ and just gave up on the other thinking it was some unknown sporting contest having been softened up by stretching my GK for AGRIPPA and KIROV. I’d previously bunged in POTBELLY – haven’t heard ‘box’ for ‘telly’ in many years – so wondered so about ‘Yale’ given the Y.
Gogglebox is still running on C4 as one of their most popular programmes.
Ha, yes that’s true! So I suppose it’s only a few days since I heard it!
My Dad used to call the TV ‘the box’ but it they were boxlike at the time – and in my (partial) defence ‘gogglebox’ means telly as a standalone word.
Maybe the Saturday QC will turn out to be the equivalent of the Friday 15×15, but only time will tell. Thanks to Chris for stepping up at fairly short notice for the blog. This was certainly at the tougher end of the scale, and took me over my new 6 minute target by about 3.75%.
I only knew KIROV from the ballet company, which I’d assumed was named after a person rather than a place. Apart from its beer-swilling connotations, 12D also occurs in the name of the Vietnamese pot-bellied pig. It was my LOI, partly due to me expecting two words or a hyphen.
FOI TRANSEPT
LOI POTBELLY
COD BUNNY BOILER
TIME 6:14
Actually yesterday’s 15×15 was very mild. I did better on it than in yesterday’s or todays QC.
Quite the step up from a weekday QC, with a number of “two-step” clues (number = anaesthetic = local, team = yoke = yolk for example) and a fair sprinkling of less-than-routine GK (Kirov, Agrippa, the philosopher Ayer). LOI Arms Race held me up at the close – the arms race is a rivalry certainly, contest perhaps, but competition? – and I was also momentarily confused by El Dorado being clued as (8) not (2,6) as it was in the QC as recently as just two days ago.
In fact, a slow solve all round, coming home in 19 minutes. For once though I will not be going down the route of “not a QC harrumph”, as we are at the start of learning what the Saturday QC is and how our editor intends to use the new slot. If it is going to be routinely a bit harder, a bridge to the 15×15, then actually I will cheer and welcome it and set my expectations accordingly. It’s the unexpected toughies – like finding a really hot chilli in what purports to be a mild curry – that cause angst, but (to continue the analogy), if one is expecting the Saturday QC to be at the vindaloo end of the QC scale, one is forewarned and forearmed and able to savour the extra spiciness.
Many thanks Chris for the blog; welcome back, and your retirement did not last long!
Cedric
I have learnt the hard way to be very careful when eating padron peppers. . .
A very nice first Saturday QC. At 11:42 I came in towards the lower end of my usual 10-15 minute range. I might have gone sub-10 but for the bottom line with YOLK and ARMS RACE. Knew KIROV because I’d heard of the ballet – didn’t know it didn’t still exist – and panicked when I saw we needed to know a Roman Commander. But AGRIPPA was a name I knew, and he’s my COD
Biffed POTBELLY (was convinced it was two words) and didn’t see YOLK so a DNF for me.
Tough but fair puzzle though with some clues definitely worthy of the biggie. Thanks Wurm and nice to see you back Chris with a fine blog.
NHO Ayer, so waited for crossers before deciding there must be such a person, POTBELLY biffed, YOLK LOI.
Below average time, so must have been at one with Wurm going by comments above. Popped over to QUITCH to check, but Saturday doesn’t figure.
6:08
DNF. Failed on POTBELLY, YOLK and ARMS RACE.
I dislike the “joke” for corporation = tum, belly etc. Never come across it in the wild, and it appears in crosswords with depressing regularity. Try and use it on someone under 50 and see how they respond.
Some tough old GK in there, but fair enough. This might be more of a bridge between the QC and Mondays GK crossword.
I don’t mind a tougher challenge on Saturday, I can now stop doing the Jumbo which takes an age.
I think cryptic crosswords are squarely aimed at the 50+ year old demographic so it’s to be expected! I do wonder why we don’t see many/any contemporary phrases used, there is a lot of new language that could be well used in QCs surely.
Lol
roflmao
Super QC, perfect fare for any day of the week, in my book.
Thank you Wurm, and Chris for the excellent blog.
9:30
According to the leaderboard, I was actually first to finish the inaugural Saturday QC and temporarily at least top of the pile, until Verlaine dropped by and of course, beat my time very easily.
As for the grid, it was a worthy starter, perhaps a smidge harder than the weekday stuff, with some amusing touches? Nothing ungettable though, just worked through it at an even pace until I reached LOI BUNNY BOILER.
Thanks Wurm and welcome back Chris
Had POT-BELLY and YOLK left at my 20min cut-off. Stared at them for another 5-mins and even though I know corporation can relate to the stomach, I was never getting either. Needed the blog to explain POT-BELLY and LOCAL.
Plantagenets are my thing as all the local streets, roads, drives, closes are named King John, Eleanor, Crusader, Lionheart, Runnymede as well as Stephen Langton which always seemed like it was named after an egotistical councillor until I knew better!
Noting El-DORADO came up on Thursday where it was designated as (2,6) where today it was (8).
So Pam Ayres wasn’t the philosopher?!?!
😁
10:05
Huzzah for the new Saturday puzzle!
Chewy but only real hold up was LOI arms race.
COD potbelly.
thanks
10.49. I found this a bit tricky, although misparsing LOTTERY for a while didn’t help (I was looking for a marine creature as the def). Enjoyed BUNNY BOILER and the devious ‘number’. Not sure I’ve seen ‘devoured’ as an anagrind before – Chambers gives ‘to consume or waste with violence or wantonness’ as its third definition, which I suppose works, but it still feels a bit stretchy, especially for a QC.
Thanks Wurm & Chris.
Chris – a very nice blog and welcome back.
A side question if I may. I was looking at a 2014 blog for QC182* you wrote where you mentioned something being a “samosa feast” and to take a look at linxit’s glossary for an explanation. Unfortunately this no longer seems to exist and the term isn’t in this site’s glossary. Do you happen to recall what it meant?
* https://timesforthetimes.co.uk/quick-cryptic-no-182-by-izetti
Well, 9 years is a long time! Looking at the clues, I think I must have thought that there would be some quick times as a lot could be got from definition. Perhaps the term morphed into biff-fest? Having said that – looking at the times the ‘pros’ posted it doesn’t seem to have proven all that easy.
https://www.crosswordunclued.com/2014/11/crossword-bloggers-jargon-decoded.html
Thank-you 👍
Great to have a quick cryptic on Saturday. Thanks to all who made it happen. Took me nearly twice as long as my average but enjoyed the work out. Delighted when yolk finally surfaced so I could finish.
Dnf…
I’d like to think it was the shock of a Saturday QC and the convoluted manner of having to email myself the crossword to print it out (if there is a simpler way, then please let me know) – but I struggled with this – particularly the SW corner.
I’m presuming the “Potbelly” of 12dn refers to the stomach kind rather than the business/firm. As I’d totally forgotten it, I’m not sure I would have got this even if I’d carried on for another 5 hours. Similarly, 22ac “Yolk” was another to pass me by – the irony being I was eating an egg as I was doing it.
Other than that, great to have something to do at the start of the weekend and before the dizzy heights of League 2 football this afternoon. Thanks to Chris for coming out of retirement.
FOI – 1ac “Transept”
LOI – Dnf
COD – 10dn “Look Daggers”
Thanks as usual!
If I use my phone, I have to rotate it 90 degrees to get the option to ‘print’ in addition to ‘play’. Odd but there it is.
I was using the app via my iPad – but couldn’t find any print option whatever way I looked at it. Thought it would be with the menu to turn on/off the timer etc.
That is strange.
I get Email, Print, Resize, Clues icons just above the Timer, Skip, Work breaks sliders
Using Windows laptop/desktop with Brave browser
I get Email, Resize, Clues and then a space, where I’m guessing the Print option should be, but isn’t. I’m using the Times Live app by the way.
Doesn’t help much but at least you know where it should be.
I wonder if there’s a permission stopping you from being able to print from that app? 🤷♀️ Something on the phone or iPad itself
Have you tried going via the crossword club rather than the live app? That’s how I print it off from my Windows laptop – I’ve never had any problems. It may work for you too 😊
I haven’t Penny – but I just assumed it would be the same. If you’ve had no issues going through that, then I’ll try it. Thanks.
You’d like to think so, wouldn’t you! Hope it works😊.
Hey Chris, for 4D I think you mean ‘Pa’ instead of ‘papa’
Thanks! I could pretend that I put these things in to keep everyone on their toes – good spot.
I was very pleased that we now have a Saturday QC.
Some made me smile: EXPAT and POLICED.
NHO AGGRIPPA but I made up a new Roman Commander called AGROPPA.
I was offended at the use of the word BUNNY BOILER. As I have mentioned before we have such a rich language it is unnecessary to perpetuate the use of words that some of us find derogatory.
I’m guessing you haven’t seen the film ?
8.05
Also thought this was a bit tricky but no harm in that
Thanks Wurm and Chris and everyone who had a hand in getting the Quickie to a Saturday
DNF. Gave up after 21 minutes with YOLK and ARMS RACE not solved.
Thanks Chris and Wurm.
Finished after a long struggle in stages, tho I did reveal AGRIPPA by mistake.
Am not used to solving on line.
I do remember that Corporation is often stomach in Crosswordland so managed LOI POT BELLY eventually. Had a simultaneous PDM with YOLK. Guessed KIROV from the ballet.
Thanks all, esp Chris.
Hoorah for the Saturday QC 🥳
I managed to complete all but POTBELLY (nho) and YOLK to bring to an end a dismal week of no completions at all! Ho hum.
This was a nice puzzle though, so thanks to Wurm and Chris.
10:29. This was delightfully challenging, and it is a treat to be doing a quickie on the weekend!
Definitely did not know BUNNY BOILER but I was able to get it. Happy weekend, all!
15:15. NHO Pat as postman nor BUNNY BOILER as the vengeful cook. I knew of Fatal Attraction and basics of plot but don’t think I ever actually watched the whole movie. I would have guessed KIROV was a person and don’t recall hearing of it as a place. SAVING GRACE was my COD. Thanks for new Saturday QC and news John’s fortnightly will continue!
You’re going to love this … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmfriXprSRk
5-1 to you this week
Haha-thanks- very catchy and cheerful. I’ll know to watch out for Postman, Pat, or Black and White Cat in future puzzles!
NHO Postman Pat? Maybe you are too young.
If this is a joke, pls forgive me, I’m terrible at tone on the internet
But new Postman Pat episodes aired from 1981 to 2017, a truly excellent career for a post man, so I don’t think it’s youth that’s the issue!
Well, I’m blaming my DNF on the fact it took me a very frustrating 10mins to print the thing off in the first place. Like James, I couldn’t see a print button anywhere, and although emailing is not an obvious second choice it was still preferable to messing around with screen grabs.
As for the QC, I thought this was definitely a step up from the normal fare. A slow start (for some reason 🙄), and even slower progress left me three short (Potbelly, Yolk and Arms Race) at my 30min cut off. Invariant
16.14 I’m delighted to see a Saturday QC. This was a bit tougher than usual but very enjoyable. The parsing of LOCAL eluded me. I hope that’s the last time I don’t twig to “number”. YOLK and ARMS RACE took some thought. Thanks Chris and Wurm.
Crikey! Oink at the tougher end of his scale. I wonder if Saturday QCs are going to challenge us more rigorously. 31 minutes, which is not bad for me, but several clues remained un- or only partially parsed.
I started well with the two across clues at the top of the grid, but I couldn’t build on them for quite a while. I did not parse LOCAL or LOOK DAGGERS and didn’t work out every element of SAVING GRACE or YOLK. However, they went in and stayed there once I’d got their crossing clues. Also, I had NHO the philosopher or the Russian city.
My LOsI were LOTTERY and ARMS RACE and I breathed a big sigh of relief as I crossed the line.
Many thanks to Oink and Chris (great blog!).
It was wurm.
That explains a lot. Thankyou Flashman.
hello – can anyone help me find Wurm’s Sat QC in the actual folding hard copy paper? or is it only on the e-version??
Thanks! Enjoy reading the blog and posts…
It’s only available electronically.
There was a response on this to jackkt’s earlier post announcing the arrival of the Saturday QC. As Plett11 says it’s not in the paper version.
Definitely trickier fare today from Wurm, but a nice challenge. TRANSEPT was a quick starter, but I’d NHO AYER and LOCAL needed the crossers. BUNNY BOILER was a while coming but was obvious when I remembered the film. Took ages to see LOI, YOLK. 10:50. Thanks Wurm and welcome back Chris!
Is this online only – can’t find it in my printed version
yes
Thanks – do you know why – I’m paying more for my hard copy subscription
As Mick Hodgson the Puzzle editor has explained there isn’t room for it in the printed version, but due to demand they have started an online Saturday QC, but online only.
Thanks John
Maybe at some point they might do a proper overhaul. Currently they run a prize competition which has become a joke. All the answers to the jumbo cryptic can be googled on the day, so if like me, you do it honestly there is no real point in submitting an entry.
The answers to ALL the prize puzzles can be Googled on the day and there is nothing that the Times could do about that even if they wanted to. That said, given the frequency of repeat Jumbo winners, I would guess that filling in the larger grid is too much of a faff even for cheaters so don’t be putting off from entering the Jumbo competitions.
Sorry I don’t understand any of that. Why can’t the Times protect its content. Is it because none of the clues are original? I can do most of the cryptics in less than an hour so to top up the odd few clues by cheating is no real hassle. Why would I want to support the Royal Mail by wasting best part of a quid? Thanks for your interest though.
I should add years ago the Torygraph published a letter from a guy who admitted that he’d posted correct entries for a number of years without a sniff! I stopped submitting my own after that.
Where is the grid in the newspaper please
It’s not in the paper version.
How nice to welcome Chris back, and to see all the gang convening on a Saturday. I found this quite challenging – Wiggly Woo up to his usual tricks – so was glad to finish, but was definitely heading for the club. I wouldn’t say no to a cappucino and a pastry on a Saturday morning. It’s been a varied (and very slow) week but in the end it was Setters 2 Penny 4. Not sure of my overall time, but definitely more than an hour for the four that I completed.
On reflection, I thought there were quite a few dark, if not violent, clues today – vengeful cooks, Plantagenet war dogs, drunken ordeals, beaten up liberals etc. But I did like LOTTERY, EXPAT and SAVING GRACE, and despite being unable to parse POTBELLY, the clue amused me! No problem with corporation for a large tum – maybe it’s because I’m somewhat more than 50, but it was certainly a jokey term when I was growing up, aimed mostly at my father!
You know you’ve been doing these too long when your first reaction to seeing number is ‘anaesthetic’. However, I was looking at all the wrong options – LOCAL only appeared after quite a lot of puzzling, not helped by the fact that I thought ‘close enough’ was a bit loose.
FOI Transept LOI Local COD Policed
Thanks Wurm and Chris
Thank you, and surely if you recognise a clue quickly, you haven’t been doing them too long – only long enough to make a quick start. Well done and keep going!
I’ve just realised that the QC will be 10 this March!
So the SCC has had to start Saturday opening, but I was pleased to finish this chewy little number. Pleased also to remember the Xword centric meanings of corporation and number. Maybe I am learning, slowly. I wait to see what level next week’s weekender is pitched at – Saturday Izetti anyone?
Mmm – look forward to it!
21:51 here. I was held up in the SW corner, where I had dismissed POT BELLY as “definitely two words”, but eventually enough crossers came to make it impossible to be anything else. It probably didn’t help that I’d had the same thought about EL DORADO. I had parsed PAPAYA as “A Y in PAPA”, I’m glad to see a better explanation.
Thanks to Wurm and welcome back and thanks to Chris.
Thanks Chris. As it is a Saturday I started this off in the morning and had to abandon it with 18 mins on the clock in order to get to my gym session (tardiness earns you a black mark). I then completely forgot about the advent of the Saturday QC. I had only 1 clue to go. It is now the evening and the missing answer YOLK just came to me. So glad I didn’t bung in YELL. Room for improvement on my part.
Not used to solving in the evening when tired! Took an age to finish. Needed the blog to explain YOLK, LOCAL (doh, that sort of number…) and EDWARD (totally missed the hidden). Many thanks Chris. Will try to do in the morning next Saturday 🥱 Thanks Wurm.
Quite difficult. NHO BUNNY BOILER – had to look it up to see if it existed. (Never seen Fatal Attraction).
Guessed YOLK and LOCAL. Knew KIROV from the ballet – not the most obvious city! Not seen ELDORADO as one word before. Thanks to Chris for taking on the blog.
A tougher weekend QC is a great idea, it would be nice if it continues like this.
That being said, I did struggle mightily and DNFed with 5 clues outstanding, BUNNY BOILER, KIROV, YOLK, NATAL, and TAKE.
The amount of GK was quite frustrating, a real pet peeve of mine.
The multiple-part clues are definitely more complicated than “regular” QC clues are, having to find a synonym of a word then do something else to it makes a clue much harder since there are so many more possibilities to check.
One of the things I love about cryptics is that you can get answers you’ve never known from the cryptic – learning is fun imho.
I agree in principle, it’s very satisfying getting the solution from the wordplay, and knowing it’s correct even if it’s a word you didn’t know before. My annoyance comes from clues where the wordplay requires you to know some fact in order to solve it. I often feel I am stuck because I don’t know the reference. It’s a hard line to walk for the setters obviously between obscure and well-known GK, and I probably am at a disadvantage being relatively a bit younger and not English compared to the main cryptic crossword demographics.
13:22. Late comment on Sunday am our time here. As others have said great to see a Saturday QC. I’m with the majority in finding this harder than average with BUNNY BOILER unknown and LOCAL unparsed. Last in was YOLK which came after just as I was about to embark upon an A-Z trawl.
Very enjoyable all round; let’s hope this one sets the tone for future Saturday QC’s.
Welcome back to Chris – a big thanks to him and Wurm.
Another late-comer (I only found out by accident that this QC existed) and another DNF, beaten by LOCAL, BUNNY BOILER – very annoying, I’d seen the movie and the term has been widely used – and YOLK which was too clever for me. Got KIROV from the ballet company, and the arms/guns linkage from Anchorman.
Hmm… 100 comments on this, and no one noticed “Crytic” in the title?
That’s how I make the big bucks, y’all…!
I did, but didn’t want to say it…and the “cmments” in your post! 😜
Ha!
Ta
Thank you. Better late than never!