I've had the pleasure of blogging a few Hawthorn puzzles recently, and they have always been beautifully crafted. This one is no exception.
I've now totally given up on predicting degree of difficulty around the QC (when I think it's an easy one, others say it's hard - and vice versa). All I can say is I solved it in about 15 minutes, which is about average for me (but then again I am a slow - but thorough - solver), so for those who are interested in solving times I'm afraid I'm not much of a yardstick. I just enjoy the elegance of the challenge and the beautiful process, and the hell with how long it takes: in many ways, the longer the better.
Good QC fare I thought. No real obscurities (although you will need to be somewhat familiar with popular UK cars in bygone decades) and 18d might be unknown depending on your TV watching in the '60s (not to mention your geographic location) although the wordplay is generous. Thanks very much to our setter.
Definitions underlined: DD = Double definition: Anagrams indicated by *(--): Omitted letters indicated by {-}
I've now totally given up on predicting degree of difficulty around the QC (when I think it's an easy one, others say it's hard - and vice versa). All I can say is I solved it in about 15 minutes, which is about average for me (but then again I am a slow - but thorough - solver), so for those who are interested in solving times I'm afraid I'm not much of a yardstick. I just enjoy the elegance of the challenge and the beautiful process, and the hell with how long it takes: in many ways, the longer the better.
Good QC fare I thought. No real obscurities (although you will need to be somewhat familiar with popular UK cars in bygone decades) and 18d might be unknown depending on your TV watching in the '60s (not to mention your geographic location) although the wordplay is generous. Thanks very much to our setter.
Definitions underlined: DD = Double definition: Anagrams indicated by *(--): Omitted letters indicated by {-}
| Across | |
| 1 | Spin bowler’s trick presenting a problem for the author (7,5) |
| WRITERS BLOCK - *(BOWLERS TRICK) with "spin" as the anagrind. I had to wait until the cross checkers were in place before I finally got this, as our setter had successfully sent me up a few garden paths. Initially I thought the definition was "spin bowler's trick" so I was going through wrong 'uns etc. to no avail. Then I thought we were looking for an author. Got there in the end. | |
| 9 | Parrot of old lady put with cashew when she is absent (5) |
| MACAW - MA (old lady) + CAW - CA{SHE}W (cashew when SHE is absent) | |
| 10 | Adolescent is after food container in workplace eatery (7) |
| CANTEEN - TEEN (adolescent) 'after' CAN (food container) | |
| 11 | Rupture regularly found in noble gas particle (7) |
| NEUTRON - UTR (rUpTuRe regularly - i.e. every other letter) inside (found in) NEON (one of the noble gases) | |
| 12 | Delete Times puzzle at the end (5) |
| ERASE - ERAS (times) + E (puzzlE at the end) | |
| 13 | Southeastern upper-class type to embark on journey (3,3) |
| SET OFF - SE (south eastern) + TOFF (upper-class type). "Don't care if you've got a first class season ticket, mate - there's no trains today 'cos we're on strike..." | |
| 14 | Long narrow inlets start to join in Capri and Granada? (6) |
| FJORDS - J (start to Join) goes in FORDS (Capri and Granada - two of the most famous Ford cars from the '70s, '80s and '90s, but possibly unknown to younger audiences) | |
| 17 | State “I do”, securing a husband (5) |
| IDAHO - I DO 'secures' A H (a husband). Today's gimme... | |
| 19 | This country is in ruin — am I biased? (7) |
| NAMIBIA - The African nation is indeed 'in' ruiN AM I BIAsed | |
| 21 | Fate mostly dire, turning desperate (2-2-3) |
| DO OR DIE - DOO{M} (fate mostly - i.e. last letter missing) + DIRE rearranged (turning) | |
| 22 | Suffer at home with vicious mutt (5) |
| INCUR - IN (at home) + CUR (vicious mutt). Wondered a little at the definition to start with until I thought of "incur a penalty / suffer a penalty" | |
| 23 | Ado! Hungry dog barking in all-too-familiar situation (9,3) |
| GROUNDHOG DAY - *(ADO HUNGRY DOG) with "barking" as the anagrind | |
| Down | |
| 2 | Tell on Dracula? (7) |
| RECOUNT - RE (on - as in "about") + COUNT (Dracula?) | |
| 3 | Capital offences once punished here? (5,2,6) |
| TOWER OF LONDON - Cryptic definition based on London being the capital | |
| 4 | Modern recycling centre (6) |
| RECENT - *(CENTRE) with "recycling" as the anagrind. Neat clue. | |
| 5 | Stuff reckless mug in Jeep for extreme sport (6,7) |
| BUNGEE JUMPING - BUNG (stuff) + *(MUG IN JEEP) with "reckless" as the anagrind | |
| 6 | Come gallantly holding final letter (5) |
| OMEGA - Hidden in (indicated by 'holding') cOME GAllantly | |
| 7 | Where setters go for a holiday? (7) |
| KENNELS - Droll cryptic clue based on setters being dogs rather than our daily tormentors | |
| 8 | Sign depicting old fellows (4) |
| OMEN - O (old) + MEN (fellows) | |
| 13 | Part of leg found by excavation party (7) |
| SHINDIG - SHIN (part of leg) in front of (found by) DIG (excavation) | |
| 15 | Du Maurier book with short revolutionary chapters — ace! (7) |
| REBECCA - REBE{L} (short revolutionary - i.e. minus last letter) + CC (chapters - two of them) + A (abbrev. Ace) | |
| 16 | Tangle with men he’s upset (6) |
| ENMESH - *(MEN HES) with "upset" as the anagrind | |
| 18 | Love attempt to follow silver galore (1,4) |
| A GOGO - AG (chemical symbol for silver) is followed by O GO (love attempt). Whilst the wordplay was clearly pointing us to the solution, I was struggling with "what the hell is a gogo?" until I vaguely recalled "Discs A-Gogo" from watching TV during my teenage years in the late '60s. Must admit I had no idea it was a recognised term meaning "in abundance; galore" | |
| 20 | Crooked? Sounds like a grass (4) |
| AWRY - It does indeed sound like A RYE (a grass) | |
Page Summary
Adrian Bailey : 10:46 [+1] 
kevingregg : (no subject) [+0] - horryd : @@@@@ [+0]
- flashman : (no subject) [+0]
- jackkt : (no subject) [+3]
- robrolfe : Neutron star [+0]
- adelaide81 : Very satisfying today [+0]
- (Anonymous) : Googlys [+2]
- (Anonymous) : Awry [+1]
- rinteff : 3 hours 56 minutes... [+0]
- merlin_55 : (no subject) [+0]
- (Anonymous) : Solver's block [+0]
- john_dun : Going awry in Rumania [+0]
- (Anonymous) : (no subject) [+0]
JEFoxley : 20 down [+0] - andrew_turner : (no subject) [+0]
- andrew_turner : (no subject) [+2]
- plett11 : (no subject) [+0]
- (Anonymous) : (no subject) [+0]
Comments
Speaking of 7dn, it's hardly a cryptic clue, is it? When they see the word "setters" most normal human beings, a category which includes most QC solvers, will think immediately of dogs.
Speaking of dogs, "Ado! Hungry dog barking" is one of the daftest anagrams I've seen for a while... Ax
Filled it in top to bottom.
FOI 1ac WRITER'S BLOCK so avoided the garden.
LOI 23ac GROUNHOG DAY
COD 14ac FJORDS WOD ANAGRIND!
Couldn't parse 21a and 15d. For 21a I had DIE as mostly dire and fate=door! Oh well.
Favourite clues: 19a and 7d, and I'm finally spotting the hidden clues more quickly.
Thanks for the blog.
I marked 14ac as being particularly inventive (Incidentally, Nick, you have an S missing from FORDS in the second part of your explanation).
The topic of how many hiddens are "allowed" in Times puzzles came up re yesterday's 15x15 and in response I posted this, from the guidance on Times house style as published by Peter Biddlecombe in 2008:
Hidden words:- No more than one 'pure' hidden word clue per puzzle. (Reversed hidden words aren't 'pure' in this context.) (Limits like this are for 15x15 puzzles).
It's interesting that today's QC (set by the Times Puzzles Editor) contains TWO "pure" hidden words (6dn and 19ac) and it's only a 13x13. Of course I doubt it was ever a hard-and-fast rule, but it's worth noting that times change and exceptions occur.
Go-go, aside from its meaning as a music genre, became popular as an expression in the 1960s due to the popularity of go-go dancing associated with nightclubs, strip joints etc and there was (and still is) a famous venue in Hollywood called "Whisky A Go Go" whose name was copied around the world. This and Compton McKenzie's book (and the Ealing film of it) "Whisky Galore" provide us with an example of substitution for the definition in our clue today.
Today's was a middle-of-the-road for me: 1 second beyond my target time of 10 minutes; it was that extra bite of toast that did for me.
Yes, I'd completely forgotten about Whisky A Go Go and, indeed, go-go dancers... (probably just as well)
As a newbie, however, was pleased to get it finished despite quite a bit of "biffing". I know this does not seem to be the "done thing" but I get it done which is the main thing. I'm in awe of finishers who say 15mins is on the slow side......and under 10mins is less than 30secs a clue!! It takes me more than that to parse the clue properly. However progress is progress. Six months ago I was getting 3/4 clues a day. Now I finish most days, once with a glorious under 30minutes!!
To all newbies I say read this blog every day because it's not only enjoyable reading, it helps enormously in understanding what we are trying to do!! Many, many thanks to all the regulars!
All in all a good challenge with my COD being 1a for sending me down several wrong paths.
Is it usual to expect trade names in crosswords?