Times Quick Cryptic 1797 by Felix

Author   william_j_sPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
I hope I’m not alone in finding this one a bit of a struggle. The problem with blogging after solving is that in trying to break clues down and make the parsing clear, it all starts to look very easy and you wonder what all the fuss was about! I’ll give myself a pass on 14ac (despite having seen this tricky defintion before, it still went straight over my head) and 21dn which I think (assuming I’ve understood it correctly) crosses the line from ‘creativity’ to “wilful obstruction’.

Still, there was lots to be enjoyed along the way (the surface readings made me chuckle, as did some of the crafty definitions), as well as afterwards. Hat-tip to Jackkt for reminding me of this setter’s penchant for sneaking something extra into his grids…

Across
7 Proceeded casually — risked losing the lead (6)
AMBLED – gAMBLED (risked) minus the first letter (losing the head).
8 Feeble Hollywood movie: but it’s hard to shake off! (6)
LIMPET – LIMP (feeble) and ET (Holywood movie).
9 Dumbest fool, finally moving, nearly fell (8)
STUMBLED – anagram of (moving) DUMBEST with the last letter of (finally) fooL.
10 Got larger plug rewired, partially (4)
GREW – hidden in (partially) pluG REWired.
11 State of king meeting an elite army unit (6)
KANSAS – K (king), AN, then SAS (elite army unit).
13 Sporting events: matches? (5)
MEETS – double definition, the second as in ‘meets/matches the specification’.
14 I turn on stove in the end (3)
EGO – GO (turn) next to (on) the last letter of (in the end) stovE.
15 Did DIY in bathroom I’d let out (5)
TILED – anagram of (out) I’D LET.
17 Expedition’s endless voyage, covering a great distance (6)
SAFARI – SAI{L} (voyage) without the last letter (endless), containing (covering) FAR (a great distance).
19 Try second helping of this? Just starters (4)
SHOT – first letters from (just starters) Second Helping Of This.
20 Singular spicy dishes can give you runs (8)
SCURRIES – S (singular) and CURRIES (spicy dishes).
22 Stop to deliver outside of zone (6)
FREEZE – FREE (to deliver) then the first and last letters from (outside of) ZonE.
23 Article first put together for believer (6)
THEIST – THE (article) and IST (first).

Down
1 Skip round little boy, jumping up (4)
OMIT – O (round) and a reversal of (jumping up) TIM (little boy).
2 Article borne by diminutive, climbing, pack animals (6)
LLAMAS – A (article) inside (borne by) a reversal of (climbing) SMALL (diminutive).
3 I had poor Isolde worshipped (8)
IDOLISED – I’D (I had) and an anaram of (poor) ISOLDE.
4 Cruel old ruler’s verse on youth (4)
VLAD – V (verse) then LAD (youth).
5 One who’s fled bad regime? (6)
EMIGRE – anagram of (bad) REGIME.
6 One turning back from minister and queen twice embracing son (8)
REVERSER – REV (minister), then ER ER (Queen twice) containing (embracing) S (son).
12 Unconventional star upset before hit national shows (8)
ANTIHERO – reverse hidden in (upset… shows) befORE HIT NAtional.
13 Ticks abandon old fly (8)
MOSQUITO – MOS (moments, ticks) QUIT (abandon) and O (old).
16 Permissive character? (6)
LETTER – cryptic definition.
18 Person having stock of bacteria for germ warfare — murder, ultimately (6)
FARMER – last letters from (ultimately) oF bacteriA foR gerM warfarE murdeR.
20 Appear to understand spy chief (4)
SEEM – SEE (to understand) and M (character in James Bond, spy chief).
21 Rest of newspaper oddly skipped (4)
EASE – every other letter from (oddly) nEwSpApEr then reversed (skipped). Chambers has ‘skip” = ‘overleap’ = ‘to leap over’ so I suppose it’s a very clever reversal indicator that is easily misconstrued as part of the instruction to remove letters. MER from me though.

The perimeter squares around the grid read: OLIVER TWIST ASKS FOR MORE

89 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1797 by Felix”

  1. Surely “oddly” can only mean take the odd-numbered letters? Unless we’re counting from zero (actually, as a programmer…that makes a lot of sense)

    So “oddly skipped” must therefore mean to leave out the odd-numbered letters, and there’s no reversal indicator – probably the original clue was “Rest of newspaper oddly skipped over”, and the editor mistakenly removed what they thought was an unnecessary word

    Anyway I agree not an easy puzzle, 8 1/2 minutes here

    Lou.

    1. Well, I was hoping that this wasn’t the second puzzle in a row that I’ve blogged containing a mistake.

      I also tried to find a word that could have been missed off, but couldn’t — your suggestion seems very likely, thanks!

  2. With the last four minutes, I kid you not, spent on the very-well-hidden ANTIHERO.

    I agree that there must be a word missing from 21 Down.

  3. I also ground to a halt at the end on the cunning ANTIHERO hiding in plain sight. At 21D the instructions were so explicit that I wondered for a moment if ESAE was a word, before deciding it must be EASE despite the lack of a reversal indicator. MOSQUITO took far too long since I always forget the rule to try Q when there is a U there.
  4. is one of the best hidden clues I have ever seen in my short crossword career. I spent 10 minutes before giving up thinking the answer was ARTSH_R_ for some sort of TV show, but now that I think about it the word “national” is kind of out of place. Oh well…
  5. Following on from yesterday’s DICKENSIAN at 1ac, today we have a Dickensian Nina around the edges of the puzzle as mentioned by William. I was looking for something today as 9 out of Felix’s last 12 puzzles have contained a theme or Nina, and the last 2 involved Dickens characters, David Copperfield (#1698) and Mr Pickwick (#1763).

    Nearly forgot…

    The puzzle took me 14 minutes, so I missed my target 10 for the first time in more than a week. I share the opinion of those thinking there’s something missing from the clue at 21dn.

    Edited at 2021-01-27 05:29 am (UTC)

  6. 21:05 today, so into the SCC. But with good reason. LOI ANTIHERO. I took a long time with LLAMAS too and too many others. I thought I had extracted EASE successfully but I relied on “oddly” just meaning every other one, leaving “skipped” as the reversal indicator as the blogger says. SCURRIES provided some welcome light relief. And for the first time ever I saw the something extra.
  7. I can’t imagine how anyone could take that as a reversal indicator.
    Nice puzzle, except for that.
  8. Only three on the first pass of acrosses. I don’t usually count the downs but since there were only four I hadn’t built up a head of steam and then struggled from there to a finish in a recent personal worst (definitely for 2021, perhaps for 2020 too) of 25m. Now it’s been explained to me I think ANTIHERO is a great clue and also enjoyed TILED for giving me the biggest groan after quite a struggle, similarly with SCURRIES where I definitely over complicated — although S for singular is new to me — and LIMPET where it was LIMP for feeble that took time to arrive. Well below my usual gang on the leaderboard so many of the problems must have been self-inflicted.
  9. Timing be damned, I was just pleased to finish this entertaining puzzle. Liked the LLAMAS when it eventually clicked, groaned at SCURRIES which was so obvious after, and EGO, for which I needed both ends first. ANTIHERO was all it could be after much staring, and failing to find anagrams, but needed William to explain why; very neat. FARMER similarly. Not clever enough to parse it all but good enough to complete and enjoy. Thanks.
  10. That was tough, with hold ups throughout the grid. I thought that ANTIHERO was both brilliant and brutal as I spent a long time thinking that it was going to start with an anagram of star, which sent me down an awful lot of blind allies. I also spent a while trying to parse LOI EASE before giving and coming here to be educated and SAIL/VOYAGE took some spotting.
    After difficult puzzles I tend to do a more thorough read through than normal to check for typos/errors so I actually spotted a nina for once!
    Finished in 18.24, which is 2 seconds under the average solving time so far!! (Normally it’s between the 7 – 10 minute mark at this time of the morning).
    Thanks to william
  11. I see I’m not the only one to be stuck at the end on ANTIHERO persisting too long in thinking we had an anagram of STAR at the top of the word. In my case it added nearly 2 minutes. I was tempted by TESTS for 13A, but it didn’t quite work and I was saved by the checkers. I agree 21D is a bit tricky. COD to MOSQUITO, and thumbs up for the Nina. 6:37.
  12. DNF on Day 3, so a good week of finishes still eludes.

    The SW corner got me. Refused to let go of 12d starting “ASTR”. as plenty of words seemed they might fit. Although I should have been looking for a “hidden”.

    SHOT was confusing with both Starter and Second in there, I knew it was something to do with ordering letters, but could not make it work with a vowel in 2nd position (see ASTR above)

    And FREEZE was beyond my scope today. I targeted different letters for the fifth spot, and never consider Z. “Outside of” usually indicates a word outside another, and I didn’t consider the terminating letters of the word itself. Bring back “on vacation”, all is forgiven!

    COD : TILED

  13. Date: Wed, 27 Jan 21

    FOI: 3d IDOLISED
    LOI: 9a STUMBLED

    Time to Complete: DNF

    Clues Answered without aids: 4 (9a, 11a, 3d, 4d)

    Clues Answered with Aids (3 lives): Nil

    Clues Unanswered: 21

    Aids Used: Nil

    Total Answered: 4/25

    I found this one to be ridiculously difficult for me. After an hour I had only managed to answer 4 clues. Even trying to use an aid did not help me at all.

    1d – I cannot see how TIM = “Little boy”. Yes, Tim can be a boy’s name, but why “little”? Why “boy”? Why not just say “guy” or “boy” without the little? I was left thinking little boy meant perhaps just part of that word; “b” perhaps.

    16a – How on earth does Permissive character mean Letter?

    Did not enjoy this one at all.

    On the bright side, surely I can’t do any worse tomorrow.

  14. Good point on letter. As I solved I thought it was a double definition as I got it from ‘character’ as in character count in Word and then moved on as permissive and letting seemed close but I can’t now see how it works as a cryptic definition (or at all).

    Edited at 2021-01-27 09:46 am (UTC)

  15. Tim is usually short for Timothy, hence “little”. Misdirection is part of the game, I was hunting a B as well.

    1. Hi Merlin_55

      Many thanks for the reply. Yes, I can see why little would refer to a shortened name. I do, however, still feel that “little” was unnecessary. But, as you say, misdirection is part of the game. 🙂

  16. And “let” =allow, so a “letter” is someone who lets a lot of things pass, hence permissive. The ? Mark indicates something odd like this.

  17. Ah, “letter” – some who “lets”. Nice play on words there. Now I get it. Thanks again. 🙂
  18. Nowhere near wavelength. Gave up after 17 minutes. Eventually saw ANTIHERO – brilliant hidden, then just could not get FREEZE, so gave up in a huff! 🙂 I kept on thinking “outside of zone” looks very clumsy, what does that mean…

    Severe brain glue, nothing wrong with the puzzle. Well, except the lack of reversal indicator to get EASE.

  19. I, too, struggled to get a foothold and progressed slowly and increasingly wearily around the grid. Much too clever-clever for a QC IMO. Like others, I didn’t believe some of my answers but crossed my fingers, put them in, and failed to get the usual feeling of achievement when it came up all clear. The Nina was just an added kick in the ***s. This will do nothing to encourage newer solvers to persevere and improve. Horses for courses.
    Why would we have a 15×15 and then set another, slightly smaller puzzle of a largely similar standard? I stopped admiring the good clues and just wanted it all to end. This was the least satisfying QC of the 1797 that I have completed. Perhaps I will get more pleasure from the 15×15 today? Thanks to William for a valiant blog. John (grumpy) M.

    Edited at 2021-01-27 10:15 am (UTC)

    1. I did have a go at the 15×15 today. Slow but steady and, frankly, much more enjoyable than the QC today. John (not quite so grumpy now) M.

      Edited at 2021-01-27 04:25 pm (UTC)

  20. Well I enjoyed the ones I could complete, but got totally stuck on EGO, EAST (definitely something missing there) and VLAD. I ought to have remembered him, he’s not rare in Crossword Land.

    The hidden was very clever, I wish I’d spotted it.

    Diana

  22. 7:26, so about the same as other recent QCs. Maybe it was a little harder but having no long anagrams helped me. Interesting nina, which as per usual passed me by.

    21dn looks like an error to me, rather than clever. Maybe “over” has been missed off the end.

  23. My heart sank when I saw it was Felix, but to start with everything seemed reasonable and I made good progress in the top half of the grid. Ego was a struggle, and that seemed to set the tone for the bottom half. I took ages to spot Antihero (via star permutations) and Freeze didn’t exactly jump off the page. The upshot of all this was that after about 35mins I was left with 13ac/d and 20d. At that point I would normally stop and then come back to finish it off, but I was getting very little enjoyment so pulled stumps. Invariant
  24. On the tricky side today, but EASE must have been an error by the setter and/or editor – I agree with the suggestions above that there’s a missing ‘over’ at the end of the clue.
  25. 21 minutes for me, but all completed and parsed, with some very devious and chewy clues. I spotted the Nina, and on this occasion, I don’t think it has ‘forced’ a chewy puzzle — I think the puzzle was intended to be difficult.

    I disagree with the possible error hypothesis for 21d. I parsed it as follows. REST = definition, newspaper is the operand, the thing we need to work on, skipped is the instruction to take alternate letters, which then become the anagrist. The anagrind is then oddly. Answer EASE.

    Similarly, I parsed 16d differently to William, seeing it as a double definition rather than as a cryptic. Permissive gives letter (someone who lets things happen), and character is a letter, e.g. letter of the alphabet.

    Some great clues here, and definitely a 13 x 13 rather than a QC. Thanks to setter and blogger.

  26. Surprised that only 30 mins had passed until I got to the dreaded 12dn. I also didn’t see it — and spent ages doing the anagram of Star and trying to fit “Artshirt” and various combinations.

    A cunning puzzle from Felix with an amusing Nina around the edges. Strangely, it was one of those ones where I had hardly anything for 20 mins and then they all fell in at once, 13dn “Mosquito” being the catalyst for inspiration.

    Not sure where this falls on Louisa’s exasperometer, but there might be lots of teeth gnashing and finger clenching.

    Like many, I wasn’t sure about the reversal indicator for 21dn — but do they have to be in order? Thought “diahorrea” might be a fit for 20ac, but alas it wasn’t to be.

    FOI — 10ac “Grew”
    LOI — dnf
    COD — 14ac “Ego” — but could have been many

    Thanks as usual.

  29. A struggle on and off half the morning but I got there eventually. With 3 to go I went out to deliver the Parish mag, and thought of ANTIHERO on the way so virtue is its own reward. (failed to spot reversed hidden word though). Then solved FREEZE and LOI biffed EASE but could not work out the skipping in the latter.

    FOsI GREW, EMIGRE, KANSAS, TILED, THEIST

    LIMPET made me smile, ditto LETTER, REVERSER.

    Thanks for crucial blog, William.

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