Thanks to IO for a typically quirky puzzle!
I enjoyed this very much. As ever with IO, do share your thoughts as there may be nuances we see differently.
Thanks IO for the lateral thinking exercise. Hope to see you again soon.
In H[eated] + T[alks] (primarily): OLD THAT (time’s run out) + THOUGH (but)
*bit stuck on the ‘old that’ bit – any ideas?
“TIE” (cup match, “displayed with commentary”)
ILL OFF (sick from) dips in BARE (cold)
Cryptic definition
Triple definition
Cryptic definition
DO (party) in/wearing GOWN (graduation gown)
NO WELL (WELL (spring) yet to appear)
NOWELL is an old spelling of NOEL, hence ‘past’
T[he] (HE (man) to get away from THE); SAY (state) borders
(WITH FOG)* (*bad) on R (river) + AY (always)
ROD (bar) + RUNNER (manager) keeps A
“ROWS” (rankings, “announced”) + double definition
Justin Rose, English golfer; went up/ascended
Cryptic definition
2 x 8 is a standard timber size (in inches, and you can call it a “two by eight”)
(SHE THOUGHT ELIOT)* (*might review)
(MY TITLE DAD)* (*sorry)
CHUB[by] (plump, not BY (because of))
TOUGH OUT (endure), HR (personnel) cuts
Double definition
WAY (means) + SON (youth) will interrupt THERE (definitive) + SALE (new auction)
I love the nuance in the definition – there’s always one who will spoil things / spoiler alert 🙂
TA (you shouldn’t have) + (LIKE)* (*crackling)
Cryptic definition
A POWER LUNCH is a working lunch taken by important people (wearing suits/suited?)
Cryptic definition
AGA (chief), END (objective) hiding – semi &lit
HAD< (kept, <up) with L (Latin)
Triple definition
HOLD THAT THOUGHT
T has OLD HAT (run out pp–in the sense of outdated or tired)
Not convinced about ‘T has’. There should be a better explanation.
AS THICK AS A PLANK
Another layer: If IQ is 16…
FLY-TIPPING
A talking horse FLY giving a TIP! Is that it?
THERE’S ALWAYS ONE
WAY SON in THE RE-SALE (definitive new auction)
AGENDA
The whole clue is the def?
Thanks Io for yet another superb puzzle. Amazing stuff!
Thanks Oriel for the nice blog!
FLY-TIPPING – a FLY can be a horse-drawn carriage
Agree on THE RE-SALE (not just any old auction – the definitive new)
BILL OF FARE
Should it be said sick=ILL and from=OFF separately?
FREE-FOR-ALL
Are there three parts?
So a mass (a mass is so-a mass is FFA)
public brawl
no one pays
OLD HAT = out (dated )
OLD THAT = out when T ( time) has run.
Liked the &littish hidden AGENDA, but THERE’S ALWAYS ONE is the standout.
OLD HAT = exhausted = run out.
FrankieG@5
HOLD THAT THOUGHT
I had the same parsing@1 but I have difficulty getting T into OLD HAT.
T has OLD HAT was how I read it but I don’t know if it works.
Thanks for the blog, good to see IO again , just about in February. I hope we get one a month again this year and Wednesday the best day for me.
For 23d – I had to zoom in very close to see that it was “IQ” and not IO being self-referential. AS THICK AS A PLANK = 2 x 8
“as thick as two short planks” = 2 x (2 x 4)
“as thick as two short planks sawn in half and stacked on top of each other” = 4 x (2 x 2)
Thanks IQ&O
[I just Googled my last line and found something similar, “…nailed together”, posted by Mary Hinge – it’s a Spoonerism – 😀 ]
Peter@10
TALKIE
TA/thanks/you shouldn’t have
When someone helps you unexpectedly/without asking for it, you say ‘You shouldn’t have’ (whether you mean it or not).
That’s a way of saying ‘thanks’.
FrankieG@8
Good one.
A T A A PLANK (T A T S PLANKS)
Relative density expressed as 2x2x4? (5,2,3,5,6) Knut
Run is pierce, so time’s run out is T in OLD HAT
HOLD THAT THOUGHT
Thanks Roz@4 (I failed to read your post properly. Apologies) and James@13 for the explanation.
Please may I take this opportunity to remind people who comment here of the site policy. Especially number 5:
https://www.fifteensquared.net/site-policy/
KVa@14 I was in a rush earlier . Meant to say ……….. when time has run ( through) , you run through someone with a sword. . Pierce is a better idea from James @ 13.
I agree with RE – sale for the new auction.
FREE FOR ALL is usually a mass public brawl , so 2 definitions in total.
Sick from = ILL OFF I took as one short phrase. She was ill off the oysters she ate last night.
I found some of the clues a little too abstruse but an enjoyable challenge nonetheless.
Thanks Io and Oriel
I did not do this because I never have time for IO during the week. Skimming the clues, it looks challenging but interesting. It would be nice if the ed found him a weekend slot
KVa@12 – https://www.fifteensquared.net/2022/03/09/independent-11046-by-knut/ – before my time.
James@13 – Nice One! 😉
Admin@15 – I assume your comment is aimed at my comment@9. I’d just like to point out that I wasn’t using multiple identities there.
I Googled “as thick as two short planks sawn in half”, which returns only one result…
I saved this one for travelling with my daughter today, because Io tends to be chewy and for the second Io recently we solved it on the outward journey, although I needed the blog to parse some of the clues.
FLY-TIPPING – on the fly means making things up as you go along, so a tip from a horse’s mouth could be the horse giving a tip on the fly, as it gallops on the race? Tipping and tipsters being a big thing in horse-racing.
[I checked to see if the admin post was aimed at me, and if I’d posted here, because I managed to post as both Shanne and ShanneW in the last week, accidentally – posting from both a new phone and the laptop, and when I set up that phone, I couldn’t remember what I was using on this site.]
Thank you to Io and Oriel.
…“as thick as two short planks sawn in half and nailed together.”
I clicked on it, and scrolled down to the comment, actually laughing out loud when I twigged the Spooner, and thought I’d share the joke here.
Sorry if I’ve broken any rules. 🙁
Can someone explain 16d to me. I get AGA and END but why AGENDA?
A good AGENDA should contain the chief objective of the meeting , so this is hiding in the agenda ( IT ) as END is hiding in AGA .
Beak @23: I take it that the chief objective of a meeting is on (hiding in) the agenda thereof.
Yuk yuk yuk
Couldn’t do
Way above my pay grade and no fun for this solver.
My worst effort for months
Congratulations to all those who finished
And I managed the previous Io
Hmmm
Thank god for this blog. As without it I would have no idea there was a reasonable way to parse these clues and have actual answers in english!
Thanks for the blog Oriel. I didn’t find this “quirky”, I thought it was bloody awful!
Barry @ 28
Eloquently expressed.
Ditto.
I didn’t enjoy it at all. While judging from the comments above the puzzle appealed to some, I’m pleased I’m not alone in finding it horrible.
Pleased to see others found this as difficult as i did. Thought i might be losing it. Phew.
With quite a few of the single posters @29, @28, @27…
“You shouldn’t have”.. pretty much means “you shouldn’t have” whereas “ta” …
Flytipping is really only connected to the clue by the inclusion of “tip”, despite some pretty desperate attempts to convince otherwise..
Quicker to mention the clues with definitions which actually matched up, so special mentions for: 13ac, 13dn, 3dn, 5dn, 2dn, 20dn… in no particular order
Thanks IO n Oriel
Yeah, it’s really great to have so many comments from FrankieG and KVa. It was great also to see James, Martyn and Mathhew Newell.
paul b@31 – “(ONE)* big (TE[a]SE)*“?