Author   BletchleyRejectPosted on 18th June 2024 at 2:30 AM18 June 2024Categories Quick Cryptic
I found this on the harder side but maybe it just wasn’t my day.
My favourites were along the top and bottom of the grid, especially the cryptic definition at 1a. Plenty though to get the brain into gear for the day ahead and I needed all crossing letters for my last in at 11a.
At one stage it looked as though the SCC was beckoning before I eventually limped over the line in 14:00.
Thanks to Teazel
Definitions underlined in bold, deletions indicated by strikethrough.
| Across | |
| 1 | New Age greeting? (8,4) |
| BIRTHDAY CARD – Cryptic definition Well and truly sucked in. I was looking for various hippy practices; chakras, incantations and things like that (I think). | |
| 8 | A minute part in range (5) |
| AMBIT – A (‘A’) M (‘minute’) BIT (‘part’) Constructed as instructed. | |
| 9 | Son hauls up bundles of crops (7) |
| SHEAVES – S (‘Son’) HEAVES (‘hauls up’) | |
| 10 | Dug tins out for cleaning (7) |
| DUSTING – Anagram (‘out’) of DUG TINS A gentle anagram and my first in after the preceding clues refused to yield. | |
| 11 | Oriental fighting to finish in knockout (5) |
| KENDO – END (‘to finish’) contained in (‘in’) KO (‘knockout’) Form of Japanese martial art with participants using swords made of bamboo and wearing protective armour. | |
| 12 | Granny arranged to return in French city (6) |
| NANTES – NAN (‘Granny’) then reversal (‘to return’) of SET (‘arranged’) | |
| 14 | Be flexible about home for unsold wine (3,3) |
| BIN END – BEND (‘Be flexible’) containing (‘about’) IN (‘home’) | |
| 17 | Slightly damages computer parts (5) |
| CHIPS – Double definition | |
| 19 | Put into words with great speed (7) |
| EXPRESS – Another double definition | |
| 21 | Employ these people and you might get slated (7) |
| ROOFERS – Cryptic definition Very good. To be seen as a cryptic clue, ‘slated’ could be taken in the surface reading as meaning harshly criticised. | |
| 22 | Put nothing on bottom of face cloth (5) |
| CHINO – O (‘nothing’) following (‘on’) CHIN (‘bottom of face’) ‘Put’ as an instruction to the solver. CHIN as ‘bottom of face’ seemed a bit odd but I suppose it’s anatomically correct. One of the ones that held me up. My knowledge of clothes is very limited. I know CHINO as a cotton fabric used for making trousers, called, surprisingly enough, chinos. | |
| 23 | Stay calm, unlike Anne Boleyn (4,4,4) |
| KEEP ONES HEAD – Definition with cryptic hint | |
| Down | |
| 1 | With this pass, one may take flight (8,4) |
| BOARDING CARD – Cryptic definition I was sure that ‘flight’ was going to refer to “stairs”, so I spent too long trying to make “stairway” fit without the crossers in place. Once this ambiguity was resolved, not a very cryptic definition | |
| 2 | A puzzle for the Inspector (5) |
| REBUS – Double definition The protagonist of the series of detective books written by Ian Rankin. | |
| 3 | The lion is restless: call this urgently (7) |
| HOTLINE – Anagram (‘is restless’) of THE LION Arguably just ‘this’ is really the definition, even though it is not at the end of the clue. | |
| 4 | Transfer a small notice (6) |
| ASSIGN – A (‘a’) S (‘small’) SIGN (‘notice’) | |
| 5 | Examine an American method of payment (5) |
| CHECK – Double definition The ‘American’ spelling of “cheque”. | |
| 6 | Income concerning chosen location (7) |
| REVENUE – RE (‘concerning’) VENUE (‘chosen location’) | |
| 7 | Almost grand and mature, very well-behaved (2,4,2,4) |
| AS GOOD AS GOLD – AS GOOD AS (‘Almost’) G (‘grand’) OLD (‘mature’) The enumeration was very helpful here. | |
| 13 | Chart-topper, a little offensive (7) |
| NOISOME – NO I (‘Chart-topper’) SOME (‘a little’) | |
| 15 | Troublemaker gets to work creating strong effects (7) |
| IMPACTS – IMP (‘Troublemaker’) ACTS (‘gets to work’) | |
| 16 | Endlessly insolent boy is individual (6) |
| PERSON – PER | |
| 18 | Having great inclination to soak (5) |
| STEEP – Double definition | |
| 20 | The best chocolate finally with fewer calories (5) |
| ELITE – I know it’s in the dictionaries, but I’m not a big fan of LITE. What’s wrong with good old “light”? Anyway, according to the OED it’s been around since 1955 so it looks like it’s here to stay. | |
The four long peripheral clues went in almost immediately, but NANTES and LOI NOISOME took some time, bringing me over my 6′ target. 6:44.
Reply
12:15. Pert for insolent, as good as for almost, a little for some, and notice for sign all held me up. I tried to fit Nancy, Nice or Nîmes in before finally just following the wordplay and seeing Nantes. I liked NOISOME, PERSON, and BIRTHDAY CARD the most.
Reply
There were some clues that sowed doubts – we have the boarding pass in the US, but since pass already appeared in the clue, it can’t be that. Card has already appeared in birthday card – can it be boarding card as well? I had to wait for the crossers. I also put keep your head, but quickly corrected when I saw person. For my LOI, I biffed noisome and then parsed it.
Time: 9:08.
Reply
Had the same hesitation about BOARDING CARD. Such repetitions are usually avoided.
Reply
Me too, both the repetition of Card and the unusual choice of word – it is Boarding Pass in the UK too. I used to fly over 100 times a year and I can’t ever remember it being called a Boarding Card. But “pass” is in the clue, which gave me a hint it wasn’t also in the answer.
Reply
Add me to this list – couldn’t believe there was going to be a double CARD, and anyway have never heard of a “boarding card”. LOI with a shrug and was half expecting the DPS.
Reply
#Metoo
Reply
8 minutes. I had the same thoughts about BOARDING PASS (I’m sure that’s what we call it here too) and then the duplication of CARD, but there was something symmetrical about that so I wondered if something else was afoot. If there is, I didn’t spot it. Nothing more to bother me here.
Reply
I also wondered (briefly, and then forgot about it) if CARD/CARD was intentional. ODE has sv ‘boarding pass’ ‘(also boarding card)’.
Reply
Having recently discarded one of my attempts at compiling a QC because of just such a double, the “card” trick caused a MER. The first five clues all went straight in, but then I failed to get the next three. Eventually it took three passes before NOISOME led me to my LOI.
FOI BIRTHDAY CARD
LOI CHIPS
COD NANTES
TIME 4:07Reply
We found this tough, particularly the SE where we spent most of our 35.20.
Not helped by putting in keep YOUR head and not seeing person or impacts for a long time. In the end pressed check to see the pinkies and start again!
Still struggling, so resorted to googling lists of cloth to find chino (clang) then LOI impacts revealed itself. We had imp but alpha trawls had got us nowhere.
Thought birthday card very clever and our COD
Thanks Teazel and BR for the blog and parsing of person
Reply
It’s worth remembering that in crosswords (in The Times at least) it’s always ONE’S except on the rarest of occasions when it isn’t. So if you start by assuming ONE’S you will only have to change it if it causes problems with the intersecting answers.
Reply
Thanks Jack, that’s a good tip which I shall add to the list of things I’m supposed to remember but don’t. I just left it blank today and waited for a checker to tell me which it was.
Reply
Yes thanks Jack. Templar, at least you considered the possibility – we just boldly stuck it in without a thought as to any alternatives 🙁
Reply
#MeToo! Add my thanks to jackkt for that tip which I’ll try and remember.
Reply
Went for BOARDING PASS without hesitation, drawing on my time working at Heathrow but that left SLATERS as the only viable answer for ’employ these people and you might get slated’ – so I had to revisit. Had to alphabet trawl my way to NOISOME at the end and wasn’t 100% on its meaning but in it went. Ended up all green in 13.46.
Reply
Despite not being able to get either of the 1s and all those helpful starting letters on the first pass I found this fairly gentle.
Had similar MER to others re. double cards and no passes but other than that I thought this was an excellent puzzle, full of lots of Teazel’s usual wit and clever wordplay.
Started with SHEAVES and finished with CHIPS in 7.11 with CsOD to BIRTHDAY CARD and NOISOME.
Thanks to BRReply
For a change I found this simpler than our blogger – it’s usually the other way round – and came home in 8 minutes, well under my average. I was helped by getting 90% of the 4 long edge clues fairly quickly; the 10% was PASS at the end of 1D, as already commented on at length by several people above, but it was soon corrected by the crossers at 17A and 21A.
I was misled by the wordplay for KENDO, thinking that the definition was just Oriental and the construction was “3 letter word for fighting” plus “KO”. But Warko or Boxko didn’t look plausible, and when I got CHECK the penny dropped.
Many thanks BR for the blog
CedricReply
I’d pay to watch Boxko.
Reply
13:16 here. Helped on 21a by having just watched an episode of Escape To The Château with “roofer mate Steve”. (I’m very ambivalent about that show: on the one hand their abilities are obvious and impressive, but on the other hand I suspect a lot of reality manipulation.)
Anyway, back to the crossword: didn’t know the phrase BIN END, although it’s clear enough in retrospect; liked NOISOME because I fell for the trick of looking for a word that ended in ONE.
Thanks to Teazel and BR.
Reply
17:58 for the first sub 20m in a long long time.
The clues felt different in style to previous puzzles and I seemed to be on Teazels’s wavelength as they all dropped into place with no breeze blockers.
Couldn’t parse 16a PERSON as NHO pert for insolent.
Thanks bothReply
👏👏👏
Reply
Very enjoyable.
DNF but all gettable on review … except for REBUS which I’ve NHO either as a puzzle or as an inspector … my lack of knowledge I guess.
COD for me was NOISOME, very nice.
Reply
If you are in UK, the recent REBUS on TV was good, if rather dark and violent in parts. Set in Edinburgh, but far from Alexander McCall Smith.
Reply
I recommend the Rebus novels if you’re into gritty police procedurals.
Reply
Maybe an example of not being able to see the trees for the wood, but the two CARD(s) at 1a and 1d completely passed me by. I had a look for something else, but like Jack I couldn’t spot anything; if it’s a REBUS though I’d probably miss it.
Reply
As above re double cards. Otherwise some head-scratching over NANTES, CHIPS and IMPACTS slowed me up a little and I finished up in 09:03 for 1.4K and an OK Day. COD to BIRTHDAY CARD.
Many thanks Teazel and Bletchers.
Templar
Reply
DNF, but enjoyed what I could do. 1a/1d straight in (although, as others, surprised to see CARD repeated) which helped the top and left. Then a stubbornly wrong ‘KEEP your HEAD’* was the beginning of the rot in the bottom and right. Could probably have unpicked it – although even with the blog ‘PERSON’ seems tough (insolent = pert?… not my first thought) and IMPACTS was never going to happen with my seemingly plausible R at the end.
FOI BIRTHDAY CARD
LOI DNF after 20 minutes – maybe a bit of a stretch for this rookie
COD AS GOOD AS GOLD – very satisfying once I worked out what was going onThanks for the very helpful blog! (* thanks Jackt for the hint on it usually being ‘ONES’!)
Reply
12 minutes so definitely on the harder side for me – SteveB
Reply
4:05 Held up by a careless BOARDING PASS for 1D, quickly corrected, but I then couldn’t read the first letter of 21A. Odd to have two answers ending in CARD. I liked the non-fattening chocolate surface. Thanks Teazel and BR.
Reply
9:32 (Arthur and his knights set out on search for the holy grail – according to Monty Python)
I liked BIRTHDAY CARD, and had no objections to the CARD in 1d.
NHO KENDO, but obvious from the wordplay.Thanks Teazel and BR
Reply
16:53. Like others I was unsure about the second parts of BIRTHDAY and BOARDING, trying wish, cake, suit and gate, pass.
GOOD AS GOLD was late in, and that held up the RHS.
LOI REVENUE
Reply
Thought I was on the wavelength today, for a change, with all the edges filled in quickly. But finally stuck temporarily at NOISOME, so set the puzzle aside for 15 mins until the penny dropped and CHIPS then seemed obvious too.
I knew 1d couldn’t be Pass as ‘Pass’ was in the clue so just biffed CARD, though these days it’s on one’s phone.
NHO KENDO but it had to be. Enjoyable puzzle, liked many inc ROOFERS, CHINO, REVENUE. FOI SHEAVES.
Thanks vm, BRReply
Just under 10
Below my par today, inexplicably struggling with SHEAVES and also falling into the ___KO camp for the longest, creating the momble GINKO which also caused issues with the easy CHECK.
Thanks Teazel and BR
Reply
7 minutes for me, well below my average. LOI CHIPS after NOISOME which seemed the only slightly difficult clue to me.
I didn’t notice the double CARD when solving. I already had ROOFERS which prevented the obvious Boarding Pass.
COD to BIN END for reminding about something I don’t seem to come across any more.
DavidReply
On good form today finishing in 6.52. I was about to LOSE ONES HEAD for 23ac before reading the clue properly and inserting KEEP. Like others never heard of a BOARDING CARD, but it couldn’t be anything else. It was nice today to see a fair number of straight cryptic definitions, I don’t think we see enough of them. I’m sure that many moons ago when I started doing cryptic crosswords, there were a much higher percentage of clues such as ROOFERS at 21ac.
Reply
Annoying: FOI KEEP your HEAD (equally plausible), so no chance of getting PERSON or IMPACTS. Also failed CHINO, otherwise fine.
Reply
It’s usually ONES here, see above.
Reply
7:23
Saved the your/ones decision until IMPACTS went in. Similarly, didn’t enter the second CARD until LOI CHIPS emerged.
Lots to like and chestnut free: thanks Teazel and BR.
Reply
All fair, but on the difficult end of things for me, a personal NITCH of 144 being the highest for a month. 17:19 was the finishing time in the end, with every clue a bit of a hard fought victory. Most were beyond my biffing remit as well, like SHEAVES and KENDO which should really have gone in immediately but needed delicate parsing on my end.
Reply
15m
Still slow but still catching up on sleep.
Stuck on last few: kendo, chips, chino, impacts, noisome, and LOI steep.
Liked dusting, elite, birthday card, and hotline.Reply
I seem to have slightly bucked the trend by finding this fairly straightforward, finishing in 12 minutes – a good time for me. I noticed the two cards which I thought a bit strange. I am a bit surprised that so many people seem to have never heard of a boarding card – this is what I always call them, I guess stemming from the days when they were made of a fairly stiff piece of paper.
FOI – 8ac AMBIT
LOI – 17ac CHIPS
CODs – I particularly liked BIRTHDAY CARD, IMPACTS and ELITE, but lots of good clues here.Thanks to Teazel and BR
Reply
17 mins…
Would have been quicker, but got held up in the SE corner as a result of putting 23ac “Keep Your Head”. Eventually I did, and realised it should be “One’s” – but I have noted the tip above about this being the default option for future crosswords.
Still not sure whether 1dn “Boarding Card” is at all cryptic.
FOI – 11ac “Kendo”
LOI – 15dn “Impacts”
COD – 1ac “Birthday Card”Thanks as usual!
Reply
Sub-5 minutes, which is unusual for me, so clearly on the wavelength today. COD NOISOME.
Reply
Finished correctly in 40 minutes.
A relief after Monday’s disaster.Birthday card & boarding card. For some reason I did not think that there would be two types of card in the same crossword. Finally accepted that there were.
Thought of ‘Nantes’ because I’ve been there.
Kendo. Spent ages thinking about Karate and Kung Fu (I have studied both) – before I remenbered this Japanese martial art involving face masks and (I think) wooden swords.
Rebus- got this because I read many Rebus novels by Ian Rankin.Reply
Off the pace today. I got 1d before 1a and stared at the C_R_ thinking surely not 2 of them in the grid but a least it did get me belatedly to the answer for 1a. I didn’t KEEP ONES HEAD and stubbornly refused to change ‘your’ so PERSON and IMPACTS were my LOsI. 9:11
Reply
Couldn’t see 1a, so tackled the downs first. After first 3, ASSIGN, REBUS and HOTLINE, BOARDING CARD was my next thought and PASS didn’t occur to me. BIRTHDAY CARD was next, and I noted the unusual dual appearance of card. NOISOME took a while to see. I thought about YOUR for 23a, but stuck with convention which proved a sound choice. ELITE was LOI. 6:07. Thanks Teazel and BR.
Reply
BOARDING CARD ok with me, not so sure that ‘pert’=‘ insolent’. Finished quick enough though
Reply
BOARDING CARD ok with me, not so sure that ‘pert’=‘ insolent’. Finished quick enough.
Reply
I agree that insolent is ruder than pert!
Reply
Breezeblocked, good and proper! Just 13 minutes for the first 22 clues, which is almost PB territory for me. But then, a further 18 minutes to crack BIRTHDAY CARD (no idea why it took so long) and (the NHO) NOISOME. So, 31 minutes in total, which is about average for me at the moment. I feel rather deflated, given how close I got to a podium performance.
Many thanks to Teazel and BR.
Reply
12:01 for me so one of my quickest solves ever. I always call it a Boarding Card.
Reply
5.23 Thirty seconds off my PB. After a few poor days I’m well chuffed. The top half took only two minutes but there was a lot of toing and froing at the bottom. Last two were CHINO and IMPACTS. Thanks BR and Teazel.
Reply
13d NOISOME; was delayed quite a while by thinking that chart topper had to be N(orth), was OK with SOME, but where did the OI come from? DOH, PDM, top of the pops, and my COD.
Was a bit offended by the 20d E-LITE (quite popular with other readers as I see, with some CODs) because I just don’t like seeing “lite” written down. Just me being snotty I suppose.Reply
Birthday card and boarding card went straight in and I thought a festive travelogue might be the theme, but apart from an express to Nantes it didn’t materialise! I fell into the keep your head trap (thanks for the tip!) and only amended when 16d had to be person. Very enjoyable overall and just avoided the SCC. Thanks setter and blogger.
Reply
I thought this very straightforward with a pretty well a top-down solve. The bottom half was probably slower than the top. Boarding Card very acceptable to me – maybe it’s an era-thing as I did the majority of my business flying (N America & Europe) mid-1970 to 1990 when ‘card’ was quite frequently used alongside ‘pass’. Pleased to have stopped commercial flying, and not bothered if I never have to again. I did make an exception for the visiting Lancaster and a couple of Spitfires…Mosquito taxy next up!
FOI 1d Boarding Card
LOI 8a Ambit – needed to revisit the north to put the omission right.
COD 7d As Good As Gold – very neat with 3 words clued by just one, then one word clued by two.Reply
Straightforward, no probs, no sweat, no sven, no time.
Reply
7:04
Slightly perplexed by what 1d might end with, which left both 17a and 21a without a starter letter. Missing 13d and 16d both required to fill in the blanks. BOARDING PASS would seem to be the norm these days, as well as being online rather than physical, but they certainly have been made of card in the past.
Thanks Bletch and Teazel
Reply
Just doing this waiting for take off from Mallorca to Luton and mine says pass but I assumed card. Not having solved 1a which took a very long time. All done in 14 which is good for me. Just going into flight mode. J
Reply
Took me all day on and off, but finally succeeded after checking to see if KENDO existed (NHO). Hard work!
Reply
I often find Teazel a bit tricky but was on the wavelength today. As a non flyer I had no hesitation over CARD for pass having got the c from CHINO.
Reply
Not progressing yet. 14/24.
Reply
Keep going Ian. I’m not making any progress either!
Reply
Lots of PDMs for me today especially BIRTHDAY CARD.
Thanks Teazel and BR.
Reply
Struggled to a 30 min finish. Roofers (COD) and Noisome my LOIs. No hang up about card being used twice, but waited for checkers before writing in. Does Pert = Insolence?
Thanks Teazel and BRReply
No real hold-ups, but plenty of pondering took me to a 22:54 solve. Not very slow for me, especially considering Teazel’s name strikes fear into my little solving heart.
Same experiences as most commenters, only to add that I loved the restless lion at 3D. A-wimohweh a-wimohweh etc. Add my applause to 1A BIRTHDAY CARD.
Thanks to Teazel and Bletchley!
Reply
Last! 😎
Reply
