Quince makes his appearance to entertain us today although this is the first one that we have blogged. If we are correct in our googling, it is great to see that there are some young setters out there.
As we have come to expect from this setter, there were some very crafty definitions and the inclusion of a number of well-known characters from music and sport in the clues. Being very pernickety, we weren’t happy with a few of the clues, as mentioned in the parsing below, but overall this was an enjoyable (but tricky) puzzle with some very inventive and innovative clues.
IRON (decrease – as in ‘remove creases’) wAGE (salary) missing or ‘cutting’ the ‘w’ (with)
ANTONY (Mark Antony, Cleopatra’s lover) M (first letter of many)
TRACK and RECORD are both examples of songs
GO (move) D (middle letter or ‘heart’ of Freddie)
An anagram (‘cooked’) of NO RED MEAT – we assume that the ‘hotspot’ is a reference to the fire in 2019 – are we alone in thinking that this is a rather unfortunate choice of words to describe this historic building?
MOT (‘driving test’) + E L (first letters or ‘starts’ to exhaust learner) – we’re not too happy with MOT as a ‘driving test’ – it is a test of the car, not the driver
We think this is intended to be a cryptic definition – ‘retire’ meaning ‘go to bed’. CRIB can be an alternative word for ‘cot’ (a baby’s bed) or ‘home’, but neither is ‘mobile’ – as far as we can establish, a crib is not the same as a carrycot
An anagram (‘wrong’) of HERE and TYPOS
lEGlESS (drunk) with the two ‘l’s (left) changing to Rs (right) or ‘changing hands’ + EggnogS without the middle letters or ‘drained’
S (first letter or ‘opening’ of Simon) + ART (Art Garfunkel) after M (millions)
E (European) + a reversal (‘about’) of AMEN (final word)
An anagram (‘astray’) of LED SCHOOL
On a qwerty keyboard T U and B are two keys to the right of ‘e’ ‘t’ and ‘c’. This is the first time we have come across this device in a clue – very original!
DAD (old man) round or ‘taking’ E (drug) + AS (when) A (first letter or ‘heading’ of adult) DO DO (parties)
Double definition
Hidden in (‘impressed by’) piecES SAY EDitor
Successful chiropractic treatment might lead to my posture (I STAND) being CORRECTED
ON (playing) A STRING (bit of a tennis / squash / badminton racket)
An anagram (‘harry’) of KANE round or ‘describing’ L (length)
EYE (opening) L (50 in Roman numerals) ASHES (test series)
AT ONE (united)
A homophone (‘reportedly’) of TIED (fastened) + MARKS (tags)
NIGH (almost) T (last letter or ‘close’ of debt)
R is the MIDDLE letter OF ‘THE ROAD’
An anagram (‘out’) of ASKED + D D (dates) + LE (‘the’ in French)
Y (last letter or ‘end’ of journey) ESP (extra-sensory perception – ‘sixth sense’) LEASE (rent)
SOLO (single) orGY without ‘or’ (other ranks – ‘men’) round or ‘catching’ CAT (flogger)
A reversal (‘over’) of WOBbLE (hesitate) missing or ‘rejecting’ a ‘b’ (bachelor)
HEARtS (card game) missing ‘t’ (time)
CHA (tea – ‘leaves’) + PunterS without the middle letters or ‘discontented’
I found this quite tough but I did enjoy it on the whole.
I share B&J’s reservations about 11a, 12a & 13a, and I took the (awful, in my opinion) expression “my bad” to be the definition in 1d.
Initially I entered PIQUE (PIQUET minus T) as a plausible but wrong answer to 22d.
Many thanks to Quince and to B&J.
Thanks Rabbit Dave. Being of a certain generation, ‘my bad’ is not a phrase that we would ever use. However……… ‘my bad’ or should we say ‘our bad’?
I took 1d to have both ‘my bad’ and ‘review’ as a definition in two parts. Doesn’t detract from the enjoyability or trickiest of the puzzle.
It became clear after a while to take no words at face value. Though CHAPS last in so I wasn’t following that train of thought through well enough.
All very good but agree about NOTRE DAME comment. ‘Interest in passing’ was an “oh for goodness sake” moment.
Thanks Quibce and B&J
Oops. Apparently I have a cold.
One of my favourite puzzles of the year. Also had “my bad” for 1d definition. Wondered if some cribs have a rocking facility. Didn’t mind the MOT in 12a. It tests that a car is suitable for driving, so a “driving test” seems ok to me. Lovely innovations.
TUB was outstanding yet simple. A suitable struggle for a Saturday (bring back the prize!) but most enjoyable, so thanks Quince and B&J.
I agree with Hovis. United take a penalty is beautiful. I had prams for CRIBS to start with. I wonder if Mobile is meant as the American city, so a ‘Mobile home’?
James – we think you may be right about ‘Mobile home’. Apologies to Quince.
Yeah, on rereading agree with ‘My bad’ on its own for 1d.
Plenty to like today. As Tatrasman says, TUB was an absolutely superb spot. GOD, MOTEL, HEY PRESTO, SMART, ANKLE, MIDDLE-OF-THE-ROAD, SKEDADDLE and YES PLEASE were all splendid clues imo.
I’m another who found the NOTRE DAME allusion slightly distasteful and I don’t like the definition for CRIB. No-one else seems to have queried, so this is probably my bad, but I didn’t like the def for IRON AGE either. I appreciate defs are often there more to confirm the wordplay than to actually give the solver a chance of spotting the solution but I’d defy anyone, on being presented with the definition ‘a division of Human Resources’, to hazard IRON AGE, or any other period of history for that matter, as a likely synonym.
Thanks Quince and B&J
I’m never sure what to make of this setter’s style but doubtless it’s an ‘age’ thing! I certainly shared our bloggers concerns over a few of the entries.
Top clue for me was that for TIDEMARKS.
Thanks to Quince and to B&J for the review and the help with CHAPS – I was still staring at it……..
I liked the definition for CRIBS, once James had explained it (D’oh). To be honest, when solving, I read NOTRE-DAME as a tourist hotspot with ‘briefly’ referring to its full name of Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris. I didn’t think of the fire but had a chuckle over the possibly wicked humour (hope nobody hates me for that).
I suppose IRON AGE is one way of dividing human history according to the resources they used, compared to bronze, stone etc., but it didn’t quite work for me, either. Still I am happy to trade some slight iffiness for the originality of this puzzle. CRIB had me singing “Stuck inside of Mobile, with the Memphis Blues Again” Thanks, both.
I thought of “mobile” as those hanging toys that distract babies, so “cribs” are homes for mobiles as well as places for the young to retire. I also read “Notre Dame” as a shortened version of the full name of a major tourist attraction in Paris.
New setter to me, many thanks to Quince. Hope to see more from him/her.
Found this tough but exceptionally clever. I like naughty “Pauline” clues, of which there were several fine ones.
We found this quite tough and needed two sessions, plus wordfinder help for 17dn. Too much like hard work to be really enjoyable. And as well as agreeing with most of the reservations/comments already expressed we have quibbles about 25ac – we’ve always heard the expression as ‘dead as the dodo’ – and 4dn – isn’t it eyelids that are batted (or not) rather than eyelashes?
Thanks, though, to Quince and, of course, B&J
allan_c @16 Where I come from it’s definitely dead as a dodo and wouldn’t bat an eyelash but YMMV.
I also took the briefly in 11 to indicate it wasn’t the full name and, as Hovis @5 was happy enough with MOT as driving test after a moment’s thought.
Really enjoyed the invention on show today so thanks to Quince and to B&J
I’ve never heard dead as the dodo, but if it came up in a puzzle I hope I’d check it before assuming it was wrong. Collins only has ‘dead as a ..’, though some dictionaries acknowledge both. Batting eyelids and batting eyelashes are different things. Batting eyelashes is more fun.
It seems hard that referring to a pile of stones by a fire that damaged it is criticized for being distasteful. Unlike Covid, the Ukraine war, child sex trafficking, all of which have featured in clues recently, it is speedily fixable, thanks to very rich people making it their urgent and expensive priority.
Thanks both. Solved unaided, but many not fully parsed. Was reminded of a stand-up act where the comedian shared that he had visited a chiropractor for help with his bad back, and had been recommended an orthodontic bed….’you mean orthopaedic’ someone chirped to which the reply was I STAND CORRECTED
Creativity on display. Thank you, Quince! Loved the QWERTY clue.
Very late to comment, but I want to add my appreciation of the originality of this puzzle. Excellent.
Thanks to Quince and B&J
Also very late but just to say ‘here here’ to James@18. And thanks for an engaging puzzle, blog and all comments
I’m only an occasional solver of the Independent, but I’m very glad I did this one – an excellent crossword, the best daily puzzle I’ve seen in a very long time. I’ll try to make sure I return to Quince’s puzzles in the future.